DISCLAIMER: The usual not mine, just playing with them spiel.
A/N: Hello all! :D Sorry it's taken me so damned long to get something written, but life has been hectic lately. Thank you all for being so patient, here's an extra long one for as a reward. Enjoy!
Their decent into Sheridan, Wyoming is anything but smooth.
Wind seems to buffet the plane from all directions and she leans over Jane to get a look out the window, unable to see anything as they fly through thick snow clouds.
When the plane finally drops below the cloud cover they can't be more than a couple hundred feet from the ground; rattling over tree tops, the engines fighting to keep them steady.
The plane hits the runway with a bone jarring thud, bouncing and skidding across the snow covered pavement.
As they come to stop, she looks out the window again; wind blowing, gusts of snow rolling across the flat plains of the runway, swirling and changing direction as they collide with opposing squalls, leaving only vague impressions of the trees and buildings in the distance.
She feels as if she's looking in on a snow globe that's been tossed about, unable to decipher up from down and left from right.
Jane presses his mouth to her ear and whispers. "I hope you remembered your long johns, Lisbon."
The combination of his breath, hot against the shell of her ear and the cold glass of the window pressed against her palm leave her shivering, both for entirely different reasons.
When the plane finally connects to the airport, they grab their carryons and head straight to the car rentals.
She goes about renting something big with four wheel drive while Jane fiddles with brochures, opening them up only to put them back in the wrong spot seconds later. By the time she walks over to him, keys in hand, he's got the entire brochure stand shuffled and rearranged by colour.
She rolls her eyes and gives him a quick tap on the shoulder. He spins, turning to follow her out into the cold.
It takes them nearly ten minutes to remove the snow and ice from the truck. Jane insists on sitting in the cab while she does the work but she chucks a second ice scraper at him, threatening him with bodily harm if he doesn't 'get off his ass and help.'
By the time they get back into the relative warmth of the truck, the snow is falling harder, blanketing the windshield with each moment they sit stationary.
Their connecting flight from Denver had been delayed by over two hours and it's now late afternoon. The sun is invisible behind the clouds but is clearly setting as the bright white world turns grey, visibility near gone as gusts of snow wrap around the truck.
She rubs her hands together for warmth as she unfolds a map. It's only a twenty minute drive south to Big Horn but with this snow she's beginning to think it might be better to find a hotel and stay put.
The truck moves along at a crawl and the ten minutes it takes them to reach the outskirts of town convince her it would be best to turn around and find a place to stay.
Pulling into an empty driveway she turns to Jane.
"See anywhere to stay back in town?" She asks.
"There was a Days Inn just a ways back." He replies, head still facing the window, gaze fixed on the swirling snow beyond the shelter of the cab.
She places a hand on his forearm, drawing his eyes away from the snow, to meet hers.
"You know we need to talk, right Jane? We can't just keep putting it off forever."
He nods, sullen and resigned to the fact that she's not going to let him avoid this. He's not entirely sure what 'this' is, but at the moment it seems to be a whole mess of things, ranging from what happens when they catch Red John, to him being pressed oh so intimately against her this morning.
She looks at him, her eyes searching his for a moment before she moves her hand back to the gear shift, reversing and heading back into town.
One hour, a couple hamburgers, and two adjoining rooms later, they're finally out of the cold and getting settled.
She swaps her work clothes for something more comfortable, pulling on a second pair of thick socks and cranking up the heat in her room.
She unlocks and opens her side of their adjoining doors and moves to sit on her bed, propping pillows up against the headboard and leaning back. A quick look at the weather channel confirms that the snow is supposed to die down over night so they'll be back on schedule tomorrow morning.
She makes a quick call to Van Pelt to make sure they arrived all right, bidding her and Rigsby good night after a quick conversation.
Just as she's about to dial Cho's number, her display lights up, cell ringing. She can't help but smile. Cho's reliability helps to make up for some the calamity Jane brings to her life.
She's saying goodnight to Cho and closing her phone when Jane peaks his head through the doorway between their rooms. She waves him in and he comes to sit on the end of the bed by her feet.
He's facing her, but his gaze is on her feet and the fuzzy red and white striped socks that adorn them. She wiggles her toes and watches as the corners of his lips curve into a slight smile.
She doesn't understand how they can be so relaxed around each other when everything they need to discuss sits just to the side; a giant pink elephant in the room, impossible to ignore.
They sit silently, neither lifting their eyes nor speaking a word. The air is heavy, burdened with words to be said, situations to be discussed, and problems to be solved.
She knows that they're on the cusp, on the edge of a proverbial cliff. One sentence, one push, and they'll be over the edge, falling fast with only each other to hold onto. She's not sure what's been happening between them the last few days, but she's finding that she enjoys it, that she's reluctant to let it slip away, fade into nothingness. She's not sure when exactly it happened but she's come to care for him, more than she ever should have allowed herself to. Her happiness, her life have become entangled in his, twisted and knotted so tightly that she doubts it possible to unravel the mess. Even if she could, she imagines they'd both be left bent out of shape and full of kinks.
She's about to break the silence when he speaks.
"I meant what I said before, Lisbon. When we find Red John, I'm going to cut him open and watch him die slowly." He says unhurriedly, clearly enunciating every word.
"Damn it, Jane." She curses tiredly, fingers rubbing her temples. She pauses for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts.
"Lisb-" He starts.
"Just shut up, Jane. Let me say this."
She runs her hand through her hair, sighing. Before her position was clear; no one deserves murder, no vengeance, obey and uphold the law. Now the murder of those little girls has left her view point shaken, sitting atop a wobbling pedestal, swaying more with each night she lets Jane into her bed. If she can't stop him, she doesn't know if she'll be capable of arresting him.
"You'll go to jail, Jane." She points out the obvious.
"I know." He nods.
She sighs. "So you're content to spend the rest of your life in a cell, then? Don't give a damn about yourself, do you?"
He just shrugs and she has to fight the urge to either bang her head against a wall or beat him into submission, instead she settles for letting out a frustrated groan.
"You don't give a damn about the rest of us either, do you? I thought maybe, just maybe I'd gotten through to you a little bit down in that cellar. I don't know why you can't see it, but we care about you, Jane. We need you. Hell, I'll make it clearer for you. I-" she points to herself "care about you. I need you. So grow up, Jane. We're going to catch Red John and he's going to rot in jail for the rest of his miserable life."
She watches a myriad of emotions play across his features, finally settling on a look of pure anguish. She feels her own eyes dampen as he squeezes his shut, tears leaking slowly down his cheeks to bead in the few day old growth along his jaw line.
A lump forms in her throat when he sniffs and swipes the back of his hand across his eyes. She's unaware of her own movement until she finds herself sitting at his side, hand coming up to cradle his head against her shoulder, his stubbled cheek rough against her neck.
They sit in silence for a minute, breathing deeply, eyes closed, before he leans back and speaks.
"You don't understand. How could you? I can't live, I can't move on. Not while he's still alive." His voice is low, full of sadness and she gives his hand a squeeze.
"He'll be on death row, Jane. He'll be executed by the state."
"Do you have any idea how few people have actually be executed by the state of California since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976? I grand total of thirteen. There are nearly 700 on death row."
She sighs, weighing her options, as she makes tallies in her mind.
"This is the best I can promise, Jane. When we catch him, if I get any legitimate excuse, I'll shoot to kill. It won't be slow or painful, and it won't be by your hand. It will be quick and it will be by the law, but he'll be dead."
She watches as he nods, seeming to accept this.
"In return, can you promise to at least -try- not to do anything stupid?" She asks, the corner of her mouth quirking upwards.
He returns her slight smile. "I'll try."
They sit there for a moment, studying each other, until suddenly he's grabbing her hand and pulling her up off the bed.
"Let's go play in the snow." He says, grinning excitedly.
She rolls her eyes. "Seriously, Jane? You want us to go outside and freeze?"
He nods enthusiastically, tugging on her hand and dragging her toward the chair where her coat was tossed earlier.
"Come on, it'll be fun. I'll even let you beat me at a snowball fight." He says, smirking, eyes bright.
"You'll let me, will you?" She raises an eyebrow, dropping his hand and shrugging into her coat. He disappears back into his room as she's putting on her boots but returns within moments, tuque on his head, another in hand which he places on her head, pulling it down snugly to cover her ears.
He smiles down at her and she just shakes her head at the strangeness of the situation. Less than five minutes ago they were having a serious conversation, now they're dressed up and headed out to play in the snow.
He opens the sliding glass doors and they step out into the snow. The street lights mark the cloudy sky with a yellowy haze, brightening their surroundings as light reflects off endless snowy white surfaces. Snow falls heavily, blanketing the ground in layer after layer. The wind has died down but the occasional gust still blows, sending the snow on the ground upwards to dance lazily with that falling from the sky, a gentle spiral, momentarily suspended in mid air before descending slowly to settle upon the ground once again.
She stands there mesmerized, taking in the beauty surrounding her when suddenly her neck is freezing, a handful of snow melting down her back.
She spins to face Jane, watching as he attempts to look innocent.
"You're so going down, Jane." She grumbles, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Before he even has a chance to run, she's bending down, gathering a snowball and hurling it at him, nailing him square in the chest. He turns to run and the next hits him in the back of the head.
"I grew up with three brothers, Jane." She calls. "Don't even think for a second that I'm gonna go easy on you."
She laughs when he ducks behind a pine for shelter and she takes the opportunity to put her plan into action.
She crouches at the back of the truck and when he's busy gathering ammunition she makes the move from tree to tree. She knows he'll be able to see her footprints in the snow when he looks up but that's all part of her plan.
She's directly behind him when he stands up and peers around the tree.
When he doesn't see her, he calls out her name, questioningly. "Lisbon?"
She watches as he turns his head, following the wide arc of her footprints. When he finally turns to face her, she's only a foot from him, grinning broadly.
"Hi." She says, proceeding to shove the first large handful of snow down the front of his coat, the second down the back.
She stands back and watches as he squirms, frantically attempting to shake the snow out of his clothes. When he finally stops moving, he's out of breath and his cheeks are an adorable rosy red.
She's got another couple handfuls ready for her next attack but he raises his hands in surrender.
"Enough! Enough! You win!" He yells, attempting to fend off the handfuls of snow that she's approaching with.
She doesn't appear to be accepting his surrender so he does the only thing he can think of, he bends, grabs her around the waist and hoists her over his shoulder.
She squeals, a high pitched, musical note that he never would have guessed she was capable of making.
He's mentally congratulating himself on his clever manoeuvre when she shoves her remaining handful of snow in the only place she can reach; directly down the back of his pants.
He lets out an inhuman yelp, letting go of her and trying desperately to scoop the snow out of his pants.
She's on her own two feet now, but is trying her best to restrain his arms, wrestling awkwardly with him as he curses.
He finally gives up and she's laughing hysterically at the look on his face when they back up onto an unnoticed patch of ice.
Before either of them has a chance to right themselves they've both collapsed into a heap, their attempts to hold onto each other landing them in a tangle of limbs.
He's on his back in the snow and she's on top of him straddling his hips, arms holding her up off his chest.
"You alright?" She asks, looking down at him.
He nods, beaming at her, his eyes full of laughter. It's a real smile, one that she rarely sees.
As she looks at him, it dawns on her that this is probably the happiest she's ever seen him, and before she can stop herself, she's leaning down, bringing her mouth closer to his.
She stops an inch from his lips, looking into his eyes, wanting him to make the final decision.
His hand on the back of her neck, gently pulling her down is all the encouragement she needs and she lets their lips meet. It's soft and unhurried, just the gentle brushing of mouths, lips slightly parted as their breaths mingle.
His hands run lazy trails up and down her spine and she barely notices the cold when he tucks them under her jacket exposing her lower back. She shifts against him to change the angle of their kiss and inadvertently moves against his hips. He hums low against her lips, the vibrations making her smile.
He breaks the kiss, ducking his head beneath her jaw and pressing his lips lightly to her skin as he hums again, lifting his hips against hers.
She moans and is returning the gentle pressure against his hips when a car door slams and someone yells, "Get a room! For god's sake, you're right next to a fucking hotel!"
She feels Jane tense and can't help but laugh at the situation, burying her face against his chest to stifle her giggles.
"Something funny, Lisbon?" He questions with a smirk on his face.
"No. Well, yes. This. Us. Well, not us, but the situation. God, Jane. We're practically dry humping in a snow bank." Her own blunt words send her into another fit of giggles as she imagines what they must look like.
When she finally stops laughing, she stands, offering her hand to help him up. Now that the adrenaline has worn off she's tired and cold.
"Let's go get out of these clothes." She says, pausing when he raises an eyebrow. "And get into some dry ones I mean."
If her cheeks weren't already red from the cold, she'd be blushing furiously right now.
He just tugs her to him, enveloping her in a quick hug. "How do you feel about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Lisbon?"
A/N: Usually I try to come up with something clever to say here, but I think I'm all out of words.
You know the drill. :D