A/N: Sunrise is still two or three chapters east of here, so a very, very, very heartfelt thanks to the few brave and patient people, who are still sticking with this story and hopefully still like it a little bit. Thank you for still being here. It means more than I can say.

Letting her pace up and down for a while to get rid of all her anxious energy before taking up their conversation again had seemed like a good idea. At least two mild cardiac events (him), a dizzy-spell (him), a strained muscle (neck, left side, also him), three minutes and an avalanche of growls and mutters that were in clear violation of any public profanity law (her) earlier. Lucky for Lisbon, that particular piece of legislation had been abolished in Florida in 1978. He wasn't going to point this out to her, though, as it might have led to her raising her voice — and therefore getting fined for swearing in public after all.

Most likely by the state of Wisconsin.

But pacing had seemed like a good idea at the time, because after careful consideration, he'd decided it was the least painful way of stress relief in this kind of scenario.

Particularly for his already quite dishevelled, sore and limping charming self.

The reasoning behind his thoughts, was this:

There was, of course, a pleasant and obvious method of releasing energy. A method that, being still new and probably unexpected in circumstances like this, would produce very quick and satisfying results for all parties concerned. But when he'd smiled at her and she'd growled at him, he'd deleted it from his list. And emptied the trash, just to be on the safe side.

Getting her mad enough to punch him, was out of the question as well: They'd both hurt like hell afterwards — albeit for different reasons.

Which left letting her use her usual method of coping with anxious energy: Straightening, re-arranging or discarding anything and everything within her reach.

He had watched her, as she had — with the kind of fierce concentration that was only required for brain surgery — smoothed out the wrinkles from the front of his shirt and tugged at the collar to adjust it for the second time in three minutes. Both shirt and collar had surrendered to her determined touch at once, leaving no wrinkles and creases and her hands once again with nothing to do. She gave an exasperated huff then and Jane had wondered briefly if choosing a care- and wrinkle-free fabric for his shirts had not been such a good idea after all.

He'd made a swift scan of the area, to see if there was anything else in close proximity she could lay her hands on. The second post to their left was a bit out of alignment with the rest, but even though Lisbon was angry, she still wasn't even close to developing the kind of super-powers necessary to push the post back into its original position. Lisbon did look a bit green, though, he'd thought with a concerned frown.

The frown had deepened, when he'd realised there was only one thing within her reach that she actually could move, re-arrange or discard.

Him.

And since he'd had no intention of catching hypothermia while going for an involuntary midnight swim, he'd put a hand on the small of her back and with the tiniest bit of gentle pressure against her spine, had sent her into pacing mode.

On the forth sharp turn at the end of the jetty she'd almost lost her balance and tumbled into the sea, which had nearly given him a heart-attack, since he'd been too far away to reach her at the moment. So once his pulse was steady again, he had started to move closer to the end of the jetty, but had not factored in that his limp slowed him down and so he'd managed to cross her path at the worst possible time: Lisbon had been looking at the deck and had walked straight into him with the force of an oncoming steam-train. It had sent him stumbling back and his heart into shock for the second time in two minutes. Before he could fall off the jetty, Lisbon had almost casually grabbed his arm and pulled him to safety, then turned on her heels and padded on without blinking, stopping or uttering a word, as if nothing had happened.

Jane had proceeded to a convenient rescue spot — although after what just happened, he wasn't really sure which one of them was in more danger here — and then just started to watch her. Since he was blocking her original path to the end of the jetty, she was now pacing from one side to the other. Which meant a sharp turn every six and half feet for her, as well as dizziness and neck-pain for him.

It was at this point that he decided, that hypothermia might have been the less painful and more efficient option after all.

Lisbon knew that pacing back and forth like a tigress with tooth-ache in a cage was not going to solve anything. She had expected, though, that it would calm her down a little. But being bare-foot on a small wooden jetty, and thus not being able to make angry appropriate pacing noises and, thanks to an obstacle by the name of Patrick Jane, not reaching a satisfying pacing speed either, somehow made the whole thing a lot less efficient than she would have hoped.

Lisbon sighed.

Hope. That was one word she really thought she could finally cross off her list of most over-used terms and phrases now. Right along with "worst case scenario" and "damn it, Jane."

Lisbon sighed again.

No such luck then.

Okay. Worst case? Maybe she could get her old job back. And if she did, she'd sure as hell drag him up there with her this time. Eternal boredom was the perfect punishment for getting her yet into another mess.

The honeymoon suite! Not just any room, but the freaking honeymoon suite! It was bad enough knowing she had to go back to work trying to face or ignore all the general "Oh my god, did you hear she ditched Pike and hooked up with Jane just like *that*"-gossip behind her back. But she was prepared for that. Not comfortable with it, but prepared for it. What she wasn't prepared for, was the utter and complete humiliation if anyone ever found out, that mere hours after "ditching Pike", she'd spent the night in the freaking *honeymoon suite* with Jane. Images of whispered conversation in the break-room, the elevator, the briefing-room and the corridors rushed into her head, unbidden and unwelcome and bringing with them a headache and a cold, clammy feeling in the palms of her hands. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the voices suddenly ringing in her ears.

"Oh my, she's really desperate to get a man, isn't she? With Pike it was at least a few weeks. This was mere hours."
"I blame hormones. Her biological clock is ticking fast."
"I blame Jane. Poor woman, I bet he only wants to keep his favourite pet and tricked her into this so she wouldn't leave."
"As I said: Desperate. If she falls into that kind of clichéd and obvious trap."
"You really have to feel sorry for her…"
"Nah. I think beneath that saintly exterior is a real man-eater. Deep waters and all that. You know."

And then there was one serious deep voice, pushing through all the others. She saw Abbott rising out of his chair in slow motion, like Poseidon out of the sea, holding a hotel-bill in front of her face, while Jane was standing next to her, grinning, hands clasped behind his back and rocking back and forth on his heels in amusement.

"Agent Lisbon, care to explain the meaning of this?"

Maybe she didn't even need her old job back. Maybe the floor would just open and swallow her up. Or she'd spontaneously combust out of burning shame after all. And in the process turn Jane's smug grin to ashes as an added bonus.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that he wasn't grinning.
Smug or otherwise.

He looked at her like a whale stranded in front of a sushi-beach-bar which was occupied by a bunch of investment bankers and a girl with braces.

He also started to gasp for air like a beached whale.

What the…?

It was then that Jane completed the picture by giving a short high-frequency alarming sound of distress — the very moment Lisbon slipped and lost her balance.

The stars and the moon were suddenly falling towards her, the sea reaching up with cold, greedy fingers and then, just before it could grab her, there was a hand around her upper arm and one around her waist and then the world didn't contain any more stars or ocean waves or wooden planks or plastic palms or hotel bills not even thoughts of humiliation and spontaneous human combustion.

Only Jane.
And nothing else.

She leaned into him, breathing in deeply, letting her hands rest on his shoulders, closing her eyes, as his grip loosened and he slowly let go of her, drawing his hands away in a soft caress over her arm and her back. Somehow she wasn't ready to let go yet and so she reached up and pulled him down, until her forehead was resting against his.

"You okay?", he asked after a while, still a little breathless, but not sounding like a beached marine mammal anymore.

"Yeah. Thanks. Sorry. Just a bit… freaked out."

He raised his eyebrows in mild, amused disapproval, which felt funny with her forehead resting against his.

"Okay", she admitted. "More than just a bit."

"Why?" he asked.

She opened her eyes and took a step back, hands brushing over the front of his shirt in a nervous, not quite straight line.

"Why? You want to know why? Jane, if anyone finds out about this…"

Jane interrupted her by taking her hands in his and squeezing them with gentle reassurance.

"Okay. Before we get to your "why", let me just add mine to the mix."

He ducked a little and lowered his head, so his face was level with hers and he could look into her eyes. When her gaze stopped flickering and he had her complete attention, he said.

"Why would anyone find out? The hotel doesn't loose any money as I've agreed to cover any possible additional costs exceeding the government-rate for two single rooms, so they don't care. They will probably even add one, two or three creative service-charges, knowing fully well that we won't be able to dispute them."

He shrugged with a lopsided grin and without letting go of her hands.

"At least that's what I would do."

Lisbon narrowed her eyes and glared at him. His grin widened and there was that familiar mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

"Plus, there is… uh … another incentive for the concierge to keep quiet about this special arrangement."

Lisbon's eyes widened and she let go of his hands to raise hers in a gesture of disbelief.

"You bribed him?"

Jane shook his head with a chuckle and pointed a finger at her.

"Ah. No. Guess again."

Lisbon tilted her head, her shoulders slumping down in resignation. She groaned, then pressed a hand to her forehead, to make sure her temperature was still well below combustion-levels.

"Please don't say you blackmailed him…"

Jane leaned back against the rebellious post to give his foot a little rest. It was starting to pulse with a quiet angry pain again. He shifted his weight a little more, then raised his hands up his chest, almost as if he wanted to pad something that wasn't there, Lisbon thought. Not knowing what else to do with his hands, which, she assumed, was due to a lack of pockets to burry them in, he finally crossed them in front of his chest.

"Ah. Well. Not as such. You know… just a friendly suggestion that he might want to conceal his… uh… amorous activities a little better. I don't believe he took it as a threat, I actually think he was quite grateful for my advice."

Lisbon took a step closer towards him, her frown shifting from anger to curiosity.

"What?"

Jane leaned a little forward, looked with an overly dramatic gaze to their left and right, as if to make sure no one was listening and whispered in a low voice:

"When he's on the night shift, he's pretending to be the general manager of this place to impress various lady friends. He's also stealing oysters from the kitchen at regular intervals and using the guests-only swimming pool… and the sauna."

He leaned back again, arms still folded, and blinked at her expectantly like a happy golden retriever waiting for his human to throw a rubber ball. Or in this case: for Lisbon to ask him how he had figured it out. That adorable expression on his face made her laugh, a warm happy feeling pushing the anxiousness aside for a moment and — before she could stop herself — a hand into his hair. He closed his eyes at her touch, and suddenly it was a little like looking into a mirror, when she saw that same warm happy feeling inside of her spreading in a wide, content smile across his face. She put her hands on either side of his face and brushed her thumbs in a soft caress across his cheeks, then left them there, waiting for him to open his eyes again. When he did, she first smiled at him, waiting for his eyes to focus on hers, before moving her eyebrows in the general direction of a frown and giving him a long serious look, with just a hint of amusement.

"Will you please stop smelling other people while you're going out with me?"

When she let go of his face, he lowered his head and pressed his nose against her neck, then nudged and pushed it beneath his shirt, until he had managed to locate a suitable warm, soft resting place between the shirt-collar and the strap of her black top. He drew the air in through his nose in a long, soft sigh, while his hands reached round her, pulling her against him in a tight embrace. Then he held his breath for a moment, before letting it out in a soft whisper against her ear.

"Okay. You smell nicer anyway."

She laughed. "Than the man smelling of sea-food, chlorine and fake pinewood? I hope so."

"Than all other people", Jane clarified from somewhere between her two thin layers of clothing, before moving a hand to the nape of her neck and using the other to rub soothing, soft circles across her back.

Both of them were equally surprised, when, in about ten seconds, it did the job that pacing, straightening and cursing had failed to accomplish in ten minutes and Lisbon finally let out a long sigh of relief. Jane waited a little while longer, then lifted his head, so he could look at her again.

"So. On to your "why". Why does it bother you so much?"

She leaned back in his arms to look at him, but before she could say anything, he shook his head, plucking that very first word she was meant to say straight out of her mind and off her tongue.

"And do not say "disciplinary action" or "travel expense irregularities", because I know that's not it."

He tilted his head from side to side, then admitted.

"Weeeeell, okay, it is, since it was the first thing you wanted to say just now, but there's something else that bothers you more than admin thinking there's been a mixup with our travel expenses."

She raised her eyebrows and her voice.

"A mixup?"

Jane grinned and leaned a little back, hoping that gravity would force her to lay back against his chest.

"Obviously. What else would it be?"

She put her hands on his arms, not trying to get out of the embrace, but to grab his attention and, since she refused to give into either Jane or gravity, to steady herself.

"Jane… this is really serious."

At her more than mildly distressed tone, he shifted his body back into an upright position and instead of trying to pull her towards him, moved his hands from her back to her arms and curled his fingers around her forearms, mirroring her earlier movements and steadying them both.

"Okay. Okay. If it bothers you so much, then I'll hobble straight back to reception right now and ask them to not bother billing the FBI at all, as we will be paying the room ourselves."

Her fingers snapped around his wrists like hand-cuffs. Only, unlike Lisbon's iron grip, hand-cuffs tended not to apply any more pressure once they were properly attached. Heavens, he'd almost forgotten how strong she was. He winced.

"Ah. That's a no then?"

She blinked at him in confusion, then, when he pointed his gaze at her hands in explanation, she loosened her grip.

A tiny bit at least.

"Sorry. Well. I… I don't know. I mean, how do you intend to explain that to Abbott?"

Knowing fully well, that his answer might trigger the crushing of bones in his wrists, he smiled at her, leaned suddenly forward and kissed her, a long, slow, deep kiss, to draw both tension and attention away from her hands. It was the short, quick and light one he pressed on top of her nose, though, that made her let go in the end.

He grinned, then gave a big shrug. "I don't."

Lisbon sucked in a sharp breath.

"Oh no… no, no, no… "

When she clenched her fists, Jane was very glad his wrists were no longer in there.

"You are not seriously expecting me to…"

He chuckled, waved a dismissive hand at her and put it down on her shoulder in a very slow and very careful motion.

"No. I don't. I just don't think any kind of explanation will be necessary. I very much suspect he'll know why."

Lisbon groaned and let her head fall back against his chest: "This is EXACTLY what I was afraid of."

Jane squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and pressed a quick and equally reassuring kiss into her hair.

"There is no need to be afraid of good old Dennis. Trust me, even though he hides his true self rather well behind those Clark Kent glasses and the sharp suites and the wide variety of stern and serious expressions he has accumulated and mastered over the years…"

Lisbon lifted her head just in time to see him demonstrate that last point with rather disturbing accuracy.

Then his expression shifted back from dark, hovering, slightly annoyed rain-cloud to happy sunny afternoon and he continued.

"Inside, that big scary man is a big softy. He's a romantic at heart, Teresa. He wouldn't hold it against you or think any less of you, even if he were to find out about this. And if he does, I'll simply pretend that it's my fault."

Lisbon hit him flat on the chest.

"It is your fault."

"Well, technically…."

"Jane…"

"Yes, Lisbon?"

"You do want this very good day to stay good, don't you?"

"Preferably."

"Then I would suggest not finishing either that sentence or that thought."

He gave this some consideration, before he tilted his head and nodded.

"An excellent suggestion."

He leaned in and kissed her forehead. Then said.

"Might I make another one?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. The gesture translated into a big "proceed at your own risk"-sign. So he did: By placing his other hand on her free shoulder and looking into her eyes.

"Don't worry about Abbott. Or the gossip."

"I'm not worried…"

He didn't have to say "high voice", because by the time the words were on his tongue, she'd already flinched at her own impromptu soprano performance. Jane grinned. Lisbon glowered at him. If any of their colleagues had been watching them now, they would find the scene normal and reassuringly familiar, Jane thought.

Well, except for their current state of undress, of course.

Lisbon sighed. "Alright", she admitted. "It does make me very uncomfortable to think what everyone would say if they knew about this. You know I don't like gossip. And I certainly don't like suddenly finding myself at the center of it."

Jane grinned.

"This might come as a shock to you, love, but you and I have been at the center of gossip ever since I stumbled into the CBI for the first time."

Lisbon scoffed at him in indignation and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"We certainly have not. At least…"

She shrugged and blushed a little, avoiding his gaze. "You know… not for that reason anyway."

Jane laughed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh yes, believe me. For exactly that reason. And no other."

Lisbon frowned.

"Why? Why on earth would anyone bother? I mean, I didn't even like you at the beginning."

Jane put a protective hand over his heart.

"Ouch."

"Oh, you know what I mean."

He gave her a mock hurt look and whined.

"yeah, but sti…illl…"

Since she knew he was expecting a kiss as compensation for her words, she poked him in the ribs instead. Jane gave a surprised yelp. Lisbon grinned. He glowered at her, crossed his arms in front of his chest and hobbled to the post to lean back against it, so he could once more take some weight off his injured foot. When he saw the fast approach of guilt in her eyes, he flicked another wide grin on his face and continued in an amused, light tone.

"Why would anyone not think about this. I mean, if you look at it from their point of view, it's actually hard to avoid."

He opened his arms and pointed at her with both hands.

"Smart, witty, brave and beautiful brunette woman with solid career in law enforcement, a firm set of moral believes and a heart of gold hidden behind a wall of solid sarcasm, deep frowns and regular fits of impatience and fury…"

"I am not impatient", Lisbon protested.

"…meets…"

He turned his hands to point at himself.

"… mysterious, clever, charming…"

"… irritating, childish, reckless…"

"… handsome…"

"Ok, that one is true, I guess…"

"well, thank you…mischievous but loveable blonde scoundrel with a colourful and tragic past."

Jane waved a hand back and forth between them. "Despite their differences they make a great team and catch the most dangerous criminals. It's perfect. Like something straight out of a light-hearted crime procedural on Sunday night television."

Lisbon snorted. "Yeah, right. A tv-show that starts with you sauntering across a crime-scene and making yourself a nice cup of tea in the victim's kitchen…"

"I remember that tea was exquisite…"

"… before starting a conversation with a grieving woman, by the end of which, she turns around and shoots her husband."

"What? He was the guilty party!"

"So not the point, Jane. Still so not the point. Anyway, since all of this crazyness happens even before the opening credits, I am pretty sure no audience would buy it and we'd get cancelled after the pilot episode."

Jane huffed in indignation and let his chin fall towards his chest.

"Oh ye of little faith."

He lifted his head again and grinned at her. She grinned back. He looked up at the night sky and finally made a deep long sigh, shaking his head, before jumping back on the tracks of their original conversation.

"Anyway. What I'm saying, Teresa, is this. There will always be gossip. About me, you, Fischer, Cho…"

"What could people possibly have to gossip about Cho?"

"I'll tell you later… the latest story is quite amusing actually and involves Koi carp, a roll of duct tape and a can of soda."

She shook her head and laughed, a little more of the tension leaving her body in the process, which Jane noted with a mixture of relief and satisfaction.

"OK, this is one piece of gossip I definitely want to hear about", Lisbon said, when she'd caught her breath again. Jane chuckled softly.

They fell silent for a moment, just looking at each other, for the first time both aware again of the sound of the waves, the light of the full moon and the twinkling stars above them. Finally Jane smiled and stretched a hand towards her, his index-finger just barely reaching her arm and trailing down across her skin in a light, inviting gesture. She smiled back at him, took a step closer and let him pull her into his arms, before turning in his embrace, so she could look up at the same stars as him.

Although, when he wrapped his arms around her in a delightfully possessive gesture and pressed a long kiss into her hair, she forgot all about the stars again and just closed her eyes with a sigh. After a little while, Jane started swaying them gently from side to side and asked very quietly.

"Still freaked out?"

She nodded.

"A little."

"Try not to be. It doesn't matter."

"But it does matter. To me."

Her voice was so quiet and light now, Jane almost didn't catch her words drifting almost silently above the soothing white noise of the midnight ocean.

"I just don't… I'd hate to be ridiculed because of… you know…"

Jane's reply was equally quiet, but rolled heavy and just a little sad along the jetty and into the deep blue of the night.

"So, you're saying what? That you're embarrassed about this?"

His arms tightened around her. She shook her head against his shoulder in fierce disagreement.

"No! But this is a lot easier for you than it is for me. You don't care what anyone thinks."

He stopped the swaying motion and dropped his forehead against the back of her head.

"That's not true. I care about what you think."

And just before the rushing sound of the waves could carry his words away into the night, Lisbon heard him whisper against her ear.

"I always have."

A/N: *drops head on keyboard* That. Took. Ages. And almost drove me insane. And I *so* hope it was worth all the tears of frustration and all the yelling at the screen and that you liked it :-)