Disclaimer: I don't own a single thing. If I did. . . well, you know what would happen if I owned anything! So, you know that I don't own anything.

Shout-Outs: a huge thanks to colours and carousels, AngryLittlePrincess, chymom, and StephB9417 for reviewing chapter 11.

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Chapter 12

Van Pelt watched as Jane stopped Lisbon by his car and whispered something in her ear; she laughed and then wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head in the crook of his neck. He put his arms around her waist and rested his hand on the small of her back. With the ocean in the background and the moon bathing them in its ethereal light, it painted quite a beautiful picture and she felt like she could go on looking at it forever. Even though Lisbon and Jane's frequent displays of affection did make her miss Rigsby all the more.

It had been a month since she had last seen him, and he hadn't made any attempt to contact her. At first she had been thankful for the space. But then Jane and Lisbon had started to come down to Malibu every weekend to check in on her and the kids. She had tried to get them to tell her something (anything) about him, but no matter how much she hinted, they wouldn't say a word to her about what was going on with him.

She sighed as she looked out the window again. Jane had Lisbon leaned up against his Citron and was kissing her fervently.

She turned away and made her way to the bedroom she was sharing with Austin while Jane and Lisbon were visiting.

As she lay in bed, running her fingers through Austin's hair and staring at the ceiling her mind wondered to Rigsby again. She had known in the first week that she wanted to be back with him, but for once in her life she was decided to be stubborn and wait out the two months she had given them apart. She found herself wishing that she wasn't determined to be so stubborn. She found herself wishing that Rigsby wouldn't be so respectful of her wishes and that he would come down to Malibu to persuade her to come home again.

But most of all, she found herself wishing that things hadn't left in the first place. She wished that she could have just looked in Rigsby's eyes and told him the truth about everything that had happened. It's what he had wanted in the first place, but she had been so angry with him for Bianca. . . for making a big deal about Steve that she had wanted to punish him. And that had been her downfall.

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"She still hasn't come back yet, has she?" Bianca asked on the morning she and Rigsby were going to sign the annulment papers.

"How did you know?" Rigsby asked, taking the seat across from her.

"I ran into Summer at the park the other day," she replied. "She told me everything. So, why haven't you gone to her yet? Summer said that you know where she is—"

"She wants to be left alone," Rigsby answered.

Bianca signed her name with a flourish and grinned. "I don't think that should stop you from going to see her, she needs to be wooed again Wayne. Woo her."

"And how do you expect me to do that?"

"You could start out by purchasing her a big present," Bianca answered. "Something expensive, something that she's always wanted."

"You women make it sound so simple."

"Because it is, men complicate things."

"You keep telling yourself that sweetie," Rigsby quipped.

"Fine, if you're not going to buy her a present, then you should at least go to her!" Bianca said. "You might lose her forever if you don't."

"You wouldn't be happy with that?" Rigsby asked. "I might come back to you if that happened."

"Actually—"

"You met somebody?"

She blushed. "Yeah, but we're not too serious yet but we're getting there. I don't want to spend the rest of my life sitting around and pining for you to come along and rescue me from my ivory tower again."

"I understand," Rigsby said, adding his signature to her's. . . signaling the end of their marriage. "And I wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your life waiting for me to rescue you again. It could get awfully boring for you if you did that."

Bianca smiled and got up, walking around the table to go and see him. She stood on her tip-toes and planted a chaste kiss on his cheek. "Goodbye for real this time, and best of luck."

"Best of luck to you too sweetie," Rigsby replied, wrapping his arms around her in a quick hug. "And if anything. . . anything serious happens between you and Mr. Anonymous, I want to hear about it from you first hand and not the Los Angeles Times."

"Deal," Bianca said, stepping away from him and smiling again. "Now go, go. I think you've put off getting back together with her long enough.

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"I saw you and Uncle Patrick kissing on the porch last night." Ella smirked at Lisbon as she helped her make waffles.

Jane chuckled. "I was just showing her how much I appreciated how beautiful she looked in the moonlight."

"I've never seen kissing like that outside of movies," Ella said innocently. "I have a friend who said that old people shouldn't kiss the way that you two were kissing last night."

"Are you insinuating that we're old?" Lisbon asked.

Ella smirked again. "Am I?"

"Why weren't you in bed?" Jane asked.

"Because, watching the two of you is a lot more interesting than watching my eyelids," Ella replied.

Lisbon blushed. "How much did you exactly see El?"

"Enough," Ella answered, smirking a third time.

"You better watch Ella," Jane teased Van Pelt as she came into the kitchen. "She's turning into a peeping Tom."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Van Pelt asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"She was watching me and my wife kiss last night," Jane replied.

Van Pelt blushed. "Well. . . it's completely normal for a ten-year-old girl to be curious about that kind of stuff. Isn't it? "

"I would watch my parents sometimes," Lisbon admitted.

"For me it was my father and his one-night stands," Jane said.

"That explains so many of your problems," Ella quipped, dipping her finger in the maple syrup that Lisbon had put aside to heat up when the waffles were ready to eat.

Van Pelt frowned. "What's that supposed to mean Ella?"

"Oh I don't know Ariel, it's something that I've wanted to say ever since I heard it on a movie."

"Ella, we need to talk. . ." Van Pelt started.

"About how you've been lying to Austin and me ever since you came back from wherever you are? Well, I know."

"You know?" Van Pelt repeated.

"Yeah, I stole a picture of you from dad's desk once," Ella replied smoothly.

Van Pelt's jaw dropped open and she searched for something (anything) to say, but words were lost on her.

Lisbon turned the waffle maker off and took Jane's hand, dragging him away. "Come with me while I get dressed, okay?"

"Sure," Jane answered, glancing at Van Pelt and Ella one more time before following her out of the kitchen.

.

"I'm sorry that I lied to you Ella," Van Pelt said quietly. "It's just. . . your father was with Bianca, and he wasn't ready to tell her that I was alive yet—"

"So! Dad's always teaching us that honesty is the best policy!" Ella burst out. "How does he expect us to live up to that when you two are constantly lying? And it isn't the way that Uncle Patrick lies so he can catch the bad guy either! I don't even know why you're lying, Bianca's a big girl. She could have handled the truth."

Van Pelt took a deep breath. "It was wrong of me to lie, I know that Ella. But can't you forgive me for it?"

Ella sighed. "Are you going to tell Austin the truth?"

"Of course," Van Pelt said.

"And you're going to get back together with Dad?"

"I'm hoping to," she answered.

"I'm still angry with you," Ella whispered.

"I know, I know," Van Pelt soothed, coming over and pushing a lock of Ella's red hair behind her ear. "And you have every right to be angry at me. But for the future, when you're not angry with me anymore. . . I just want you to know that I love you, and I never stopped loving you."

"Not even when you didn't have any of your memories?" Ella asked.

Van Pelt hesitated for a second, and then she shook her head. "I don' think so."

"Good," Ella said, throwing her arms around Van Pelt's neck and squeezing her tightly. "Because I never stopped loving you either."

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It was later on in the afternoon, and Van Pelt was all alone in the beach house. Jane had taken Ella, Austin, and Lisbon down to the beach to build sandcastles. It had been a very emotional morning for the red-head and she needed the break.

She was sitting on the porch, sipping tea when a familiar car pulled up next to Jane's Citron. Her heart started to pound harder when Rigsby stepped out of the driver's seat, a little rumpled from the long drive, and a dozen red roses in one hand, an empty cup of McDonald's coffee in the other. She could hear the faint sounds of their song coming from the speakers of the car.

At first she was too shocked to move. His showing up at the Malibu beach house was something that she had only dreamed would happen. When she noticed that he wasn't moving either, she got put down her cup of tea and went to see him.

The first thing she did was reach out to make sure it wasn't a dream, that he was really standing in front of her. When she knew that he was real, she cleared her throat and said the first thing that came to her mind.

"There's still another month Wayne—"

"I know, but I couldn't wait anymore!" Rigsby said, shoving the flowers in her face. "Grace, I love you. . . I love you so much, I don't know what to do with myself. And I don't know what I am without you, please say that we can get back together now. I think I might die without you."

Van Pelt's lips twitched. "How did you survive when you thought I was dead?"

"I had Ella and Austin to think about," Rigsby answered. "But now, I don't even have them. You do. . . please Grace, say you'll come back. If you do, I'll marry you again."

"I don't know Wayne—"

Rigsby groaned in frustration. "Why is it when it comes to me, you're always so hesitant?"

"Am I?"

"Since the day I met you," he confirmed.

Van Pelt looked down at the bouquet of roses in her hand. "Come on, we better get these in water before they die."

He followed her into the house and watched as she took a vase from a cabinet and filled it with water.

"Where are Austin and Ella?" He asked as she placed the vase in the middle of the island.

"On the beach with Jane and Lisbon," Van Pelt answered, centering the flowers and standing back to see if they were straight enough.

"Are you going to answer me, or not?" Rigsby asked.

"I told you they're on the beach—"

"I heard you the first time," Rigsby interjected. "I want to know if you and I have a future together, or not."

"If we don't, are you going to run back to Bianca?" Van Pelt asked.

"No," Rigsby answered. "She met somebody new. Are you going to run back to Dr. Burkett if we don't get back together?"

"Doctors do make a lot more money than federal agents. . ."

"Please, stop teasing me and just put me out of my misery already!" Rigsby pleaded.

"My answer is. . . yes," Van Pelt said finally.

"Yes we are going to get back together?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes," Van Pelt answered. "But maybe at Christmas—"

"Christmas!"

"I want to make sure that you're going to stay true to me!" Van Pelt answered. "Can you blame a girl wondering?"

"Yes!" Rigsby answered. "Especially after I've assured you of my love for you a million times already."

"But how do I know that you're being completely honest with me?" Van Pelt asked. "You could be saying what I want to hear. No, no. . . I think Christmas is the perfect time to get back together, it'll give you a lot of time to make sure this is what you really want."

Rigsby sighed in frustration, he felt like he was banging his head against a brick wall. And then, suddenly a thought came to him. He smiled slyly and glanced at Van Pelt. "You just wait here, I'll be right back."

"Okay," Van Pelt replied, humming and going over to the coffeepot. "Coffee?"

"No, I'm good! I drank my weight in coffee on the drive over here," Rigsby answered as he left the kitchen.

He made his way to the attic and looked at assorted boxes until he found the one marked 'Christmas'.

Where does he keep it? He thought as he rummaged through the box, when he was just about to give up, he found what he was looking for. Stifling his laughter, he got dressed quickly and then made his way back to Van Pelt.

"What are you doing?" She asked when she saw him standing in the kitchen doorway dressed up like Santa Claus."

"Ho, ho, ho?" Rigsby replied lamely.

"Is that Jane's Santa outfit?"

"Maybe," he answered.

Van Pelt burst out laughing and started towards him. "Okay, okay. I get your point."

"Do you?" He asked as she took the hat off before wrapping her arms around his neck and planting kisses on his cheek.

"Yep," she replied, finding his lips with her's.

"And this means we're back together. Right?"

"Yes Wayne," Van Pelt answered, pulling back slightly and smiling at him. "This means that we're back together."

He picked her up and kissed her enthusiastically.

"I love you," she whispered against his lips.

"I know," he whispered back. "I know."

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"Dad's here!" Ella exclaimed as she ran up the pathway that led to the beach.

"The mountain finally came to Mohammad," Jane said to Lisbon. "This could only mean one thing, they better not have—"

"Shut up Jane!" Lisbon replied, smacking him in the arm, smiling inspite of herself.

"Come on Austin!" Ella yelled over her shoulder. "Dad's here!"

"Um, Ella!" Jane called. "Don't just go barging into the house, okay?"

"Why not?" Ella challenged.

Lisbon laughed at the look on Jane's face as he searched for a plausible reason to not go barging into the beach house.

"Because, I promised Austin that we'd walk down to the pier and get ice cream!" He finally said.

Ella's eyes lit up. "Any kind we want?"

"Any kind you want," Jane confirmed, glancing at the house again.

"But dinner's supposed to be in an hour," Ella said.

"We can get dinner there to," Jane replied. "There's a little restaurant next to the ice cream shack."

"And they have mac & cheese for Austin?" Ella double-checked.

"I haven't been there since last summer," Jane answered. "But the last time I was there, they definitely had macaroni and cheese."

"Will Dad and Mom meet us down there?"

"We'll text them and tell them where we're going," Lisbon answered, pulling her cell phone out of her shorts and punching in a quick message. She pressed the send button and then reached for Jane's hand, intertwining their fingers as they led Ella and Austin down to the pier.

.

Van Pelt woke up with a start when her phone beeped, signaling that she had a text. She yawned and picked it up, it was from Lisbon telling her that they had taken the kids down to the pier, it also asked her and Rigsby to join them whenever they got the message.

She shook her husband awake. "Wayne, wake up! We just got a message from Lisbon!"

"Crime really never sleeps, does it?" Rigsby asked, yawning as he turned over on his back.

"You silly man!" Van Pelt replied affectionately. "There isn't any crime to solve, we're in Malibu. Lisbon said that they want us to meet them for dinner and ice cream. The kids are dying to see you."

"Well, in that case!" Rigsby said, stretching before getting out of bed. "What are we waiting for?"

Van Pelt smiled and followed suit, pulling on her clothes as she followed him out of the guest room, down the stairs, and out the front door.

It didn't take them long to walk down to the pier or to find the Janes and their children. They were sitting at a picnic table, snacking on fried mozzarella sticks. Jane was sitting impossibly close to Lisbon, his hand resting on the small of her back as he told the younger Rigbys a story about the time he gave Lisbon a pony for her birthday.

Ella was laughing hysterically; marinara sauce was flying all over the place as she waved her mozzarella stick in the air. She stopped laughing when she saw her mother and father holding hands.

"You're back together!" She squealed.

Van Pelt nodded. "Yeah."

"We're a family again!" Ella screamed, jumping off the bench and running to her mother and father. She threw her arms around both of them and screamed some more.

"Congratulations man," Jane said standing and clapping Rigsby on the back.

"Thanks!" Rigsby grinned, tightening his grip on Van Pelt's hand.

Lisbon came over and hugged Van Pelt. "Good for you, I'm glad you finally stopped the foolishness and took him back," she whispered.

"I guess this means that you don't need to use the beach house anymore, and that we'll all be going back to Sacramento now?" Jane asked.

"Yeah," Van Pelt answered, smiling up at Rigsby. "We can all go home now."

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Author's Note II:

That's all she wrote folks. Hope it was the ending that you were expecting. In all honesty, it wasn't the ending that I was expecting. But sometimes, creativity takes over and that's that. Hope you'll give me your feedback on the last installment of this chapter.

Call me crazy, but I'm DYING to write one-shots to "I Won't Say I'm In Love" from Hercules and "Beauty & the Beast" from Beauty & the Beast (obviously). Why the heck does it seem like Disney songs make wicked good Jane and Lisbon stories? Well, I guess the "I Won't Say I'm In Love" idea comes from something my dad said about Lisbon. . .

Anyways, until next time (which won't be long, I have a couple one-shots and the prequel to this up my sleeve. Plus, I'm working on a new multi-chapter story that revolves around Jane and Lisbon. . . and only them. Hey, I wrote a Rigsby/Van Pelt story, yes. . . but my heart still lies with Jisbon and it ALWAYS will!).

Love,

Holly 4/20/2012_