A/N: I hate writer's block, as twin knows. She's been putting up with the brunt of my complaints. I also hate migraines, especially those with nausea. On the plus side, I've stopped attempting to look like Elphaba with Glinda hair now. I've kept the Glinda hair, of course. Er. I should explain. Saw Wicked for the first time at the weekend - was absolutely amazing. Dianne Pilkington = cutest thing ever as G(a)linda. And yes, it is my newest obsession... er. I get obsessed easily.

Can't believe this has already hit 10 chapters and 20,000 words. Slightly odd considering we're not even half way yet. *squeaks nervously* You guys aren't getting bored are you? Because I can pick up the pace a bit if necessary...

Thank you to: lalez, NellietheItalian, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Divinia Serit, Penelope Louise, CaterinaCarmela, wisher93 and Patrick for reviewing the previous part and of couse, lil smiles for betaing.

This is for dizzy - in - the - izzy. I hope this is a suitably fluffy chapter. Let's just ignore the end, fluff wise, shall we?

x tromana

Part Ten - Well, That Was Unexpected

Three weeks later and Lisbon was getting a little sick and tired of the knowing smirks she was receiving from the rest of the team. Not only was she missing Jane terribly and it was a blessed relief that he would be home the next day, but she was certain that the team had worked out that she and Jane had forged a relationship of sorts. She sighed, knowing full well she needed to sort something out before the situation got completely out of control. The case they were working on was going slowly and they hadn't managed to find many breaks as of yet. Lisbon couldn't help but think that if Jane were there, they'd probably have closed it already. She knew she was a good cop and they could get there without his expertise, but it was just frustrating knowing that there was someone out there getting away with murder, literally. Still, the stakeout might give them a few answers and quickly she decided that she'd do it for a change. It would provide her with the perfect opportunity to corner one of them and get some much needed information. She decided Van Pelt would probably be best. After all, the rookie was young, enthusiastic and eager to please. Lisbon was also fairly certain that she wouldn't want to cross her boss.

The day went by smoothly and Lisbon soon found herself sitting beside an apprehensive Van Pelt inside the SUV, watching the perp's house with eagle eyes. She settled down in the car seat, periodically sipping on a cup of coffee, eyes not once leaving the house in front of them. Van Pelt, however, kept nervously glancing at her boss. Normally, stakeout duty was used as a punishment and she knew that Lisbon had threatened Cho and Rigsby with it a couple of days ago. However, she obviously seemed to have changed her mind as they were the ones who were going to be sitting there for an indefinite amount of time. The boss was definitely up to something.

"Has there been any interesting gossip in the office recently?" Lisbon asked lightly.

Van Pelt choked on her drink. Lisbon didn't even need to be looking at her for Van Pelt to know where this was going. She knew that she could always lie, but also knew that she'd be caught sooner rather than later.

"Well?"

"Er…"

"Come on Van Pelt, this isn't rocket science."

"Well, people have been saying that you and Jane might be…"

"Yes?"

"In a relationship."

The last three words came out in a squeak and Van Pelt quickly buried her nose in the polystyrene cup, which was filled with a rather luxurious hot chocolate. She swore she could feel her boss's penetrating stare switch from the door in front of them to herself and it was making her feel incredibly uncomfortable and justifiably so. Suddenly, she felt extremely guilty. A close friend could quite easily kiss another on the cheek. It didn't necessarily mean that they were dating. She sighed. It would have been so sweet if they were though.

"Have you been helping the gossip along?"

"No, well, yes. I'm so sorry, Boss," she replied, shame-faced. "It's just that…"

Lisbon raised an enquiring eyebrow.

"You two do seem incredibly close," she admitted,"and he does look at you in a way…"

"He looks at me in a way?" Lisbon snorted, not quite sure why she was denying it. "You do realize just how ridiculous that sounds, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess so," Van Pelt mumbled, flushing a bright red, "but you have been missing him."

"Yeah I have," she admitted, before falling back into a restive silence. She suspected it was going to be a long night. As usual, she was right.

Come morning, Lisbon dragged herself into the CBI HQ, yawning sporadically, having reminded herself exactly why she hated stakeouts. Aside from her quick discussion with Van Pelt, nothing had happened and it had turned out to be a complete waste of her time. She cursed silently to herself when Van Pelt walked in behind her with a spring in her step. It was terribly unfair that she felt like she had a hangover minus the nausea purely due to sleep deprivation and the younger woman was her normal cheery self. Lisbon quickly slipped into her office, hoping not only to find some painkillers but that she would have a quiet day until Jane got back.

"Boss?"

"Come in, Cho," she shouted. "Have you found anything to implicate…"

"Yes, Van Pelt's worked out the money trail."

"Good."

Grabbing her jacket and instinctively slipping it on, she followed the Asian agent out into the bullpen. She walked purposively over to Van Pelt's desk when she felt a delicate tap on her left shoulder. Swallowing a shriek and turning around, she beamed as she was greeted with Jane's sunny smile. The other agents eyed the pair suspiciously and Lisbon swiftly made a very rash decision, partially due to sheer exhaustion. Her fingers deftly curled around the lapels of his jacket and rather quickly closed the gap between them. With a mischievous look in her eyes, she rolled onto her tiptoes and firmly placed a kiss onto his lips, much to the surprise of Jane himself as well as the rest of the team. That didn't stop him from responding, however. His arms snaked around her waist, pulling her in even closer, relishing in the contact he had missed so terribly. Eventually, he pulled away, breathless and gave her a cheeky wink. Jane had every intention of showing her just how much he'd missed her while he had been away that night.

"Well, that was unexpected," Rigsby spluttered.

"And that," Jane whispered, "is not keeping it out of the office, my dear."

"They were gossiping anyway," she hissed in return. "At least they have their answers now."

"It's about time you told us," Cho said. "I've known about it for a month. Not that the others believed me."

Lisbon left Jane in the bullpen to chat with the others, but not without stealing another kiss and insisting he left her alone until clocking off time. She had suddenly become very aware of the amount of work she still had to do, especially now she had a reason to go home on time. After all, when Jane had called the night before, he had told her that he wouldn't be home until evening. Jane seemed happy enough to update the others and chat enthusiastically about what he had been up to in his time away. The team were all suitably impressed with the recent developments, even if it did mean he would be spending less time with them.

At six p.m. on the dot, he knocked cheerfully on her office door. When she failed to reply, he tentatively walked in anyway, to be greeted with her jolting awake, with a post-it note stuck to her cheek. Smiling, he placed the bunch of roses on the desk in front of her and gently pulled it away, reading it with interest.

"Hmm, did you pass your message onto Minelli?"

Lisbon promptly ignored Jane's statement and moved onto more pressing matters.

"Flowers, Patrick? Really?" she asked, while stifling another yawn.

"Well, I would have bought you a kitten so that you and Pop didn't get so lonely next time I go away, but I didn't think your landlord would approve. One pet is probably enough."

Her lips curled slightly at the corners.

"I don't think Poppy would have approved either, for some reason."

"She probably wouldn't," he conceded and kissed her lightly on the nose. "Now, are we leaving or do you intend to spend the whole night here?"

She found herself unable to disguise a yawn for the second time and he chuckled in response.

"I'll take that as going home," he grinned and pulled her to her feet.

Despite her drowsiness, she still insisted upon driving back to her apartment. By the time Lisbon pulled up in the parking lot, she had woken up considerably. As she killed the engine, she noticed her neighbor, the same one who had had words with Jane before, standing by her doorstep and Poppy sitting by his heels with her tail wagging eagerly. Quickly, she glanced over at Jane before coming to a decision. With Jane on her tail, she rushed over to the elderly gentleman with a weary smile on her face.

"Mr. Peters…" she spoke, breathlessly.

"George, Teresa, call me George."

"Yes, sorry… George," she muttered, "would you and your wife be able to look after Pop for the rest of the night?"

"Of course, Dear," he replied, smiling genially. "Should I bring her back tomorrow night instead?"

"If you don't mind?"

"Certainly not. You enjoy yourself with your boyfriend."

She blushed and nodded in gratitude as he walked unsteadily away, his walking stick tapping against the concrete. As soon as her elderly neighbor and her dog had disappeared around the corner, she grabbed Jane roughly by the shirt and placed a crushing kiss against his lips. They barely made it inside before they started shedding their clothing, never mind her bedroom. Lisbon had been meaning to ask him exactly what had happened in L.A., but instead, they were both overcome with emotions that had led to their frantic urgency to just touch, feel, be with each other. Once sated, they curled up in one another's arms, both exhausted and more than ready to sleep.

When Lisbon awoke, it was still pitch black and her digital alarm clock informed her that it had just gone past three a.m. It took her about half a minute to realize that the reason she had woken up was because her cell phone was ringing incessantly. She smiled briefly as she carefully tried to extract herself from Jane's vice-like grip. Eventually, with some moaning and an elbow to the gut, he relinquished his hold so that she could answer the call. She frowned as she saw Minelli's name flashing on the screen and quickly pressed the device to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Lisbon?"

"Yes, Boss?"

"Sorry for disturbing you this early in the morning, but…" he sucked in a breath before he continued, "it appears that 'Red John' has struck again."

TBC...