A/N: Hi, and thank you so much for your reviews last chapter. I wasn't sure if people were still reading this! I've got two jobs now, so it is a little harder to update. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Enjoy! I'm also loving all the hatred for Riley... :)

Chapter 11: Non-Commital

Lisbon was naked like she promised when he got into her room forty-five minutes later, but she was also nearly asleep. He grinned down at her as he stripped off his own clothing and slid within the tepid sheets in his boxers. His body gravitated against her bare back, his arms reaching out to encircle her waist, his hands splaying transversely on her belly. His lips kissed the nape of her neck, causing her to stir and moan drowsily.

"You awake, love?" he asked between kisses behind her ear. "I came back and you were delightfully naked, but also disappointingly asleep."

He heard her chuckle sleepily and turn herself to face him, her eyes half-lidded with sleep and a smile on her face. "Almost asleep," she corrected. "You took too long with Aiden," she told him. "He stopped whining five minutes after you left me."

"I'm sorry, baby," he whispered, laying a blazing hand on her exposed butt. "I was discussing some things with your son. We had a pleasant talk," he told her, leaning in to kiss her lips.

"Oh?"

"His use of the word 'ta' was very enlightening," Jane murmured. "Very educational."

She kissed him lightly and brought a hand up to lazily billow through his hair. She loved that he was being so tender with her son, whom he only just realized she even had. Not only that, but he was still here with her even after all her pretenses. He was committing to her. To Aiden.

"I don't want to kill this little mood of yours," Lisbon said, "but he's a baby. He can't have pleasant talks," she teased.

Jane's hand traveled from her bare butt to the curve of her spine, lightly urging her against him, her warm, ample breasts pressing into his chest. He pulled back a whisper and tipped his head. His blueish-green eyes plated hers, intense and persistent.

"What?" she questioned. "If you want to make love, Jane, you better do it before Aiden wakes back up or I fall asleep. If that occurs, you just be sure to cover me up when you are finished," she snorted.

"I asked him something," Jane told her, bringing his free hand up to cup her cheek. "He was very serious in his reply."

"Mmm," Lisbon told him. "And what did you ask?"

Jane smiled and shook his head. "Not yet," he told her. "Soon."

"Okay," she said. "Well, he's asleep, and we have two options, here," she yawned. "Which one do we take? Sleep or sex? Or both at the same time?"

"How about I stake my claim, as we called it? If you'd let me?" Jane asked seductively. "Finish what I started this morning?"

"Huh?" she asked, confused.

Jane elevated himself enough to move his hands to her shoulders, pressing her flat on the mattress. He leaned over her as his hands coasted around her collar bone, past her bare shoulders, dipping past her breasts (taking care to linger at her nipples), and belly until his palm rose just above her pubic bone. His fingers inched slowly down toward the curls between her groin as he bent to kiss her lips.

She gasped as she felt the slight tickle of his fingers at the annex of her heat. In automatic response, she opened herself up by lifting her legs up and rolling her hips out. He slid his curved fingers down further until he was at her entrance. He could feel that she was wet already in anticipation. Slowly, he slipped his index finger inside her core, making her pant against his mouth as he crooked his finger at the knuckle.

"Jane..." she whispered, placing her fingers around his wrist between her legs.

"Shh," he told her. "Don't wake up the baby."

He moved his finger inside her in a compact circle, causing her to whine softly. As she lubricated his fingers, he pressed his middle finger inside her, crooking it from the knuckle. His speed was lazy and torturous at first, making her fingers tighten steadfastly over his wrist as he moved in a semi-circle.

"Everything all right?" Jane asked, listening as she whimpered with each pass of him inside her.

"Yes, yes!" she told him desperately, relishing him stroking her.

She was seeing fireworks in all variations as she felt his fingers inside her. They were exploding all around her in dark, colorful bursts. The feeling of elation buzzed from her in waves as his fingers kept up their torturing explorations. She was on the edge, now, and there was no turning back. She had to make the leap.

He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose as his rhythmic pace picked up, his fingers fervently stretching her as she moved her hips up to get more contact and leverage with his fingers.

"Jane, uh!" she called out as he felt her come, contracting around his fingers. Her free hand pushed out to grip his shoulder. "Oh, God."

Jane kissed her lips as she came a second time. He pulled his fingers out of her and pressed his hand flat against her belly. He reached his lips to her ear and breathed unevenly with the intensity of feeling her orgasm.

"Claim laid," he told her, kissing her earlobe and skin behind her ear.

"It's yours," she told him raggedly.

He smiled and let her body come down from the high before he pulled her against his chest once more and kissed her bare shoulder. It felt good to give her what she wanted. Both her desire and a peaceful night's sleep.

"Are you still awake, Teresa?" he asked her after a few moments.

It was now or never. He had waited over a decade to be this far with Teresa, and he had known he wanted to do this since he came back. The opportunity never announced itself, but he had to take the time given to him. He knew her secrets, now, and they didn't scare him away. Nothing in Teresa Lisbon's life could ever scare him away. Certainly not now that he had met Aiden or made love to her. He couldn't drop everything and leave them. He wouldn't. He already loved them. What he was about to ask her was huge. But it was important to him.

He'd never tell her how many nights on that stupid island that he dreamed of this. Of him pleasing her and holding her close at night. He would never tell her how many times he fantasized about having children with her. Though Aiden was not his, his heart was already tattooed with this kid's name on it. Patrick Jane was utterly at the mercy of a little baby and a woman who only sought him for his power to keep her dreams pleasant and sweet.

"Yeah," she said.

"I love you," he told her. "You know that already."

"I do," she replied.

"And you love me."

"Yes."

"I've asked Aiden, this," he said, pressing his lips to her ear. "He was okay with it."

"Spill it, Jane," Lisbon laughed.

Jane was silent for a minute; a deep, reflective minute. "I want you to marry me, Teresa."

"What?" she asked, half-laughing, pushing away from him and sitting up.

Jane followed her and sat up, placing a hand into his hair apprehensively.

"I want you to be my wife. That's not all," he told her instantly, watching her expression change.

"Oh, really?"

"I want to formally adopt Aiden as my son, Teresa," he said quietly. "I want all of you, and he is included. I love that little boy. I was a goner as soon as I saw him, Teresa." Jane sighed. "I want him to be mine. I want both of you to be mine."

"You do know I'm already married, right?" she laughed. "And my son is with my husband most of the time? My custody is minimal?"

"Unhappily, and getting out of it, yes," he responded. "I mean once the divorce is done. I want to fill his vacancy, Teresa." He didn't bother with the custody issue. He'd address that later.

"Jane... we've only been... I mean, we are only just together that way for a few days," she said, turning to him and covering herself with the sheet.

"We love each other. Besides, we've essentially been married since we met, Teresa. The two years and the six months aside, we weathered a lot of crap," he told her. "We've only just consummated things last night, but the marriage has basically been unofficial for years."

She was silent for a moment before she spoke again. "Jane, I would love to say yes," she told him. "I really would."

"Then do it," he replied, smiling. "Make me the happiest man in the world and let me be your husband and father to your son. Let me have a family again, Teresa."

"Jane..."

The smile slipped from his face when he realized Lisbon was declining his proposal. His joy fell away and was replaced by the sting of rejection. He watched her twist to turn on the bedside lamp and extract herself from the sheets. They were both silent as he watched her move toward her dresser and pull open a drawer, lifting panties and a t-shirt from their places and putting them on.

"You don't want to marry me," he said matter-of-factually. "Why?"

She paced at the edge of the bed, crossing her arms and biting her lip. She looked at him and sighed. "It's not you, it's me," she told him.

"The dreaded line no male wants to hear," Jane stated softly.

"I'm serious," she told him. "I've been hurt before with this whole marriage thing, Jane. It was bad for me. It was bad for Aiden. It still is. I can't go through that again, Patrick. It's why I took off from Greg. Why I told Riley I couldn't do it anymore. I didn't want to get hurt."

"I'm not your husband, Teresa," he answered. "I'm not Riley. I'd never hurt you, Teresa. Ever."

"Jane," Lisbon said, coming around and crawling back into the bed and sitting on her legs, facing him. "I appreciate the thought and the fact you love Aiden, but I really don't think I want to get married again. I just don't think I am cut out for it."

"If you married the right man, you might be cut out for it," he told her.

"Jane..." she sighed. "I mean this with the best intentions, but if they took my son from me for having nightmares and what happened with McAllister, what makes you think they'd let you adopt Aiden? I don't have to explain it. You know what I mean."

"I understand," he whispered dejectedly.

Lisbon slid herself into the sheets alongside Jane and placed her head on his chest. His arms came to enfold her and his cheek burrowed in her hair. She was silent for a long time. They both were. He only hoped she didn't feel the tears dropping into her hair from his eyes.

Riley Dallon sat in Judge Hilton's judicial chambers, his finger tapping his bottom lip as he waited for the old man to finish up another parental custody case. He looked around in familiarity at the room; the old wood desk, the dark maroon paint on the walls, the pictures of the Judge's wife and kids in a photo on his desk. It was all familiar. He'd been here not a year ago asking him to rule in his favor when it came to his son with Teresa.

He had stopped off to see the Judge special before he went to the airport to fly to Quantico for his interview with the FBI. He'd get there just in time for it, but this was important. This was his pawn in this divorce or not game.

He didn't like playing dirty with Teresa. In fact, when she kicked him out of her apartment and told him she wanted a divorce, he had been amicable at first. However, as time went by, he had gotten angry and despondent over her refusal to give him another chance and show their son that he had two parents in love. Kids are impressionable, and he wanted his son to be in a good, healthy atmosphere. That environment was one he could manage. One he could observe. Teresa alone with his son with her... issues, just wasn't something he was willing to let happen. If she wouldn't take him back and let him be there with her for their baby, then he would take control of Aiden and force Teresa to come back to him. So far, it hadn't worked. But this...this would. And Patrick Jane would be nothing to her once again.

"Sorry I'm late," Judge Hilton said from behind him, closing his chamber door and stepping up to his desk. "Riley! We have to make this brief. I have another case in twenty minutes. Lots of people getting divorced," Hilton said, sitting down. "Want to know why that is, Riley?"

"No, sir," he told the Judge. "Why is that?"

"Because they got married!" the Judge laughed, pounding his meaty fist on his desk. "Oh, I love my job!"

Riley laughed at him as he watched him drag a file from the heap on his desk and open it. The Judge's eyes scanned the file and looked back at Riley, leaning forward on his desk and sighing.

"You want me to grant you permission for full custody? As well as an out-of-state petition for Aiden Patrick Dallon?" the Judge inquired. "You want to take the little custody I surrendered to your wife and allow you to move with him, correct?"

"Yes," he told Hilton. "Pretty much. I might be getting a job cross-country. I'd like my son to come with me."

Hilton sighed. "You know I love you like a son, Riley. I really do. The only reason I gave you primary custody of that boy is because you brought me proof that your wife has had...issues with her mental health and a felony for helping an escaped con, and some other charges related to that whole debacle."

"That's why I am here, Sam," Riley told him, pressing himself forward. "She's shacking up with Patrick Jane. They're lovers."

"Are you afraid for Aiden's safety?" Sam asked, leaning back, his face screwed up in thought. "The guy has a rap sheet at the CBI for being unruly, and he's been off-the-hook for quite a few murders."

"Exactly. I don't want him around my son, Sam," Riley told him. "And Teresa is head-over-heels in love with this jackass. She doesn't see him for what we do. I don't want my son subjected to that."

Sam Hilton bowed his head. "I can see your concern. It's a very disturbing development. An innocent child around a man who kills with no remorse and gets a free card. No child should be subordinate to that."

"So, you'll award me full custody of Aiden and the petition to move?" Riley asked.

"You're sure she is actually involved with this man?"

"I discovered them in bed together yesterday morning, Sam."

Sam breathed deeply. "Alright. I will set up a date for the informal hearing. I can't promise you anything, Riley."

"I understand," Riley replied, standing up and shaking Sam's hand. "Thank you, Sir."

"Yeah, yeah! Tell your mom and dad I said hello!"

"I will!"

Riley got up and left Sam Hilton's judicial chambers feeling better than ever. Teresa had two alternatives: get back with him and kick that son of a bitch to the curb, or lose her son because she wants to lay up with a known ex-fugitive and murderer. The ball was officially in Lisbon's court.

The mental issues Judge Hilton had referred to was the birdy in his ear that she would wake up screaming at night, scaring the baby and causing Aiden to have his own nightmares. Riley knew it was a little exaggerated, but it did the trick. The court automatically looked into her records and found her felony arrest for aiding and abetting a fugitive in the commission of a crime. He had just subtly steered the Judge to the fact that they had found her service weapon at the scene of two of the murders Jane committed. A charge she did not deny. Though the weapon was never used or discharged, she still was found guilty of reckless endangerment. It was enough to allow Aiden to be placed with him ninety percent of the time.

The ball was most definitely in her court.