Chapter 12
xxx
Jane was staring at her.
Okay, fine. Maybe he wasn't actually staring at her, but he was definitely watching.
She could feel it.
He'd been like this all day, longer really.
He'd only actually said anything about it once after their final walk (which had been mostly silent, though not uncomfortable, thankfully). It'd been while they were walking to their cab. He'd taken one last look at the bungalow, and sighed. "I'm going to miss this place."
"Me too," she'd agreed.
Jane had turned to her with a wistful smile and said, "You sure you won't change your mind?"
Lisbon had been quite reasonably annoyed with him. She didn't deserve to be pestered by a lunatic who'd gotten a fool idea in his head. "No!" she'd said a bit sharply.
Jane had simply opened the door of the cab for her and ushered her in. He'd then spent the rest of the ride being perfectly cheerful and not alluding to their living situation in the slightest. But Lisbon hadn't been fooled. She knew he'd been thinking about it the entire time. She certainly had. And she knew how his mind worked. Jane had subtly steer the conversation back around to moving in together somehow. Probably something about how much he enjoyed her company, or some other nonsense. And then he'd smile at her, with those damn hopeful looking eyes, all full of affection. And she'd feel guilty.
Guilty. And over what? A crazy whim of Jane's. That was obviously all this craziness one was. That was all. One of them needed to remember that. To remember that he was vulnerable, and really, just starting to move on with his life. She would not be swayed by his nonsense.
Even if they would be in rather close quarters for the next couple hours.
And he wouldn't stop staring at her. The jerk.
Which was why, now that they were actually on the plane, Lisbon was pretending to be asleep.
Jane knew she was pretending, and she knew he knew, but that was the way it was. If she was asleep, they didn't have to have a conversation about this. There was really nothing more to say anyway.
She scowled to herself, not care if it destroyed the illusion of sleep. What did it matter? They both knew she wasn't sleeping.
Lisbon heard a member of the cabin crew come by with the drinks cart. "Would you like anything sir?" the woman asked Jane.
"I'll take a bottle of water, if you have one," Jane told the woman.
Lisbon guessed that he wasn't willing to take a chance on the horror that was airplane tea, finicky about it as he was.
Lisbon heard the shuffling of bottles among the drinks cart. Then the woman hesitated. "Uh, do you know if…"
"Why don't you give me a ginger ale for my friend," Jane said with a charming smile. Lisbon could practically see his stupid face. "If she wakes up she can have it, if not, no harm done."
"Certainly sir," the woman said cheerfully. Lisbon heard Jane exchange further pleasantries as he paid for their drinks. She burrowed slightly deeper into the seat, trying to hide another scowl.
She did want a ginger ale. Curse him for knowing that. And he'd probably be so smug about it too.
And she was kind of thirsty. Was she really planning on faking being asleep for the whole flight?
Stupid, irritating Jane, with his stupid, insane plans.
This was really all his fault.
xxx
Jane glanced over at the woman next to him. He wondered if she was going to ignore him for the entire flight. That was really all she was doing, albeit in a socially acceptable manner.
He hoped not. He didn't like it when Lisbon ignored him, and she didn't look very comfortable curled up against the side of the airplane. Her neck would hurt tomorrow if she kept that up. He'd have offered his shoulder, but he knew it would be immediately rebuffed.
It was a nice image, though. Lisbon curled up against him, catching a cat nap.
Not that she was catching a cat nap of course. They both knew she was wide awake.
He hoped she stopped sulking soon. He'd hoped the ginger ale would lure her out of her funk, but so far no luck.
Jane considered his situation for a moment. He was willing to admit (at least to himself) that he may have gone about things the wrong way. It was just, it had been such a spur of the moment thing. And he did want to live with Lisbon. He wanted that very much. He'd realized that now, and he was trying to do it better, but she wasn't exactly cooperating.
He knew that it may have been a bit unrealistic to expect that she'd just let him move into her condo as soon as they got back to Sacramento.
But he'd fallen hard and fast, or more accurately, he'd realized the truth of the situation hard and fast. Jane knew very well that this had started long before either of them had come to Portland.
But Lisbon wasn't impulsive. She also had issues of her own. Deep set issues that she probably wasn't even aware of, at least not entirely. She had issues with trust (which Jane hoped they were getting over), issues with relationships, and probably issues with intimacy itself. And where her emotions were concerned, she wasn't cautious. She was Fort Knox. Once you were in, you were in but until that time you had no hope.
Well, he was in. Sort of. Just not the way he wanted. But maybe he could work to change things, slowly. Give her a little time to adjust.
He could be patient; he was good at that. If the end product was worth it.
Jane flashed back to cooking dinner together and her teasing smile. He was sure she'd be worth it.
He just hoped that she'd 'wake up' soon. He wanted to explain to her that she didn't need to worry. He had a new plan.
Or at least he'd modified the old one.
xxx
Ten minutes later, Lisbon gave up all pretence of sleep. She was getting a crick in her neck anyway.
Rubbing it, as she sat up, blinking, she heard Jane beside her. "I got you a ginger ale," he said neutrally, holding the bottle out to her.
"Thanks," she muttered.
"So I was thinking," Jane said, ignoring her tensing shoulders. "I may have gone about this the wrong way."
"Oh?" Lisbon asked, trying to sound casual.
"Obviously you're not ready to move in together," Jane said.
"Not ready?" Lisbon sputtered. Because yeah, that was the issue here.
"And that's fine," Jane continued. "I totally understand. It was a bit impulsive."
"A bit?"
Jane ignored her. "So, I've decided to take things back a step for you."
Lisbon blinked, wondering exactly what he meant by back a step. With Jane, you never knew.
"I do still want to live with you Lisbon, but I thought I'd give you some time to get used to the idea," Jane told her. "In the meantime, I thought I'd woo you."
"You… What? NO!" Lisbon insisted.
Jane turned towards her with an unbelievably charming smile. "Yes."
Laughter bubbled up in her throat before she could stop it. "Jane, that's ridiculous."
"It's not," he told her. "I want to spend time with you Lisbon. I like spending time with you. And unless I'm very much mistaken, you like spending time with me."
"I do," Lisbon agreed. "But…" There was a but. There had to be a but. Jane couldn't just start… whatever the hell he was talking about doing.
Jane grinned. "We can talk about it more at dinner in a couple of days. It'll give you time to get used to the idea," he told her. "I'm by no means discouraged by your attitude. Like I said, I understand that this is too fast for you. We can slow down. And if you do decide that you do want to move in together ASAP, you know where to find me."
Lisbon took a sip of ginger ale. "This is not happening. None of this is happening. I'm just sitting here, on a plane, drinking ginger ale. And that's it. That's absolutely it. I'm just going to drink my ginger ale. And in a few minutes, maybe I'll talk to you. And you will be talking about something normal, like the weather. Or sports, or movies. Or the serial killer case. I don't know, something normal."
"Alright dear," Jane agreed cheerfully. "But if you decide that you want to take another nap, you should really lie on my shoulder and not the wall. It'll be far more comfortable for your neck."
Lisbon rested her head on the seat in front of her and tried very hard not to panic.
xxx
The panicky feeling was still there as Lisbon drove to her condo after dropping Jane off at his preferred motel room (something he'd consideratey told her she didn't need to do if it was uncomfortable for her, thereby making her feel even worse. Jerk).
He'd told her he'd see her at work the next day with a cheerful grin. Like everything was exactly as it'd been before they'd left.
Like he hadn't said barely two hours before that he was going to woo her.
Jane wasn't in a position to be wooing anyone, least of all her. Okay, fine. He actually was in a position to be wooing someone. He definitely was. He deserved that. She'd just never expected he'd ever actually get around to it. She never thought he'd be ready. It was surprising. And she'd absolutely never thought it would be her he was wooing. Her. Teresa Lisbon. His boss. She couldn't...
They couldn't do this. He was her friend. Her best friend. And she was his supervisor, nominally. He couldn't pursue her romantically. It wasn't technically forbidden since he was a consultant, but... But that wasn't the point! The point was... The point was, he was Jane.
He was Jane. And her relationship with Jane was not romantic. Jane did not pursue her. He did not take her hand in anything other than a platonic manner when one of them needed comfort. He didn't meet her eyes in a way that was oddly intense. He didn't use words like 'woo' when she was his object. He didn't do romance seriously at all. Not after his wife's death. Not Jane. That was supposed to be a given.
He wasn't allowed to change that.
She didn't know how to deal with this.
She would unpack. She would stop thinking about this, and she would unpack.
Lisbon grabbed her back, hauled it upstairs and dropped it on her bed. She would unpack right now. Her breath caught in her throat when she unzipped her suitcase to find a single origami flower balanced on the top.
And just like that, her apartment felt unbelievably, hideously lonely.
Well, she'd just have to get used to it. That was all there was to it.
She was going to kill Jane for doing this to her.
xxx
Jane was lying on the centre of the bed in his motel room.
He really hated his motel room.
He'd never exactly liked it per se, it'd always been more of a necessary evil, but right now he really, really hated it.
The bedroom he'd been using in Portland had been impersonal too, but at least it had homey touches. And Lisbon had been there. Lisbon had been there to cook breakfast for, and to watch TV with, and to pester.
Now he had to watch TV alone. He couldn't quite stomach old movies, but somehow his old standby of nature documentaries seemed even worse.
Going for a walk was definite a no-go, and he wasn't hungry. So now he was just lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.
After all, he had nothing better to do.
Suddenly Jane smiled slightly. Actually, that wasn't true. He had something very important to do. He needed to devise a plan. He was still going to pursue Lisbon. He'd told her as much. And if he wanted to win her (and he did), then he needed to be smart about it.
He could understand that she was frightened and tentative. Relationships weren't exactly her strong suit (his either, if he was honest), and he imagined he'd disturbed the safe emotional boundaries that she'd constructed for herself. But that didn't mean those boundaries were insurmountable. He just needed to find chinks in the armour.
And he needed a game plan to do it. Because it was going to be a delicate process. Whatever he did next, he was almost certainly going to cause Lisbon no small amount of stress. Jane smiled to himself. Oh, Lisbon. She'd try and take down a man three times her size without blinking, but add any kind of emotional attachment into the mix and she was running scared. Jane would just need to make her see the advantages to living with him, and what she was missing out on with him gone.
He didn't want to make her feel sad or unhappy, but he did want to make her miss him. It was a fine line.
He'd have to back down for a day or so though, because she was obviously a bit overwhelmed. Jane nodded to himself. Probably best to keep things relatively low key until Wednesday, let her get settled back into her life in California, and then slowly start inserting himself into it.
Yes, that might work.
Jane closed his eyes. It was plotting time.
xxx
The next morning, Lisbon walked into work feeling cheerful even though she'd had to make her own coffee. She was pleased to see her team back together again.
"Morning everyone," she said as she breezed into the bullpen.
"Morning Boss," Cho replied from his desk.
"Morning Lisbon," Van Pelt chorused from hers.
"Boss," Rigsby said as he walked in behind her. "Heard you helped catch another serial killer."
"We did," Lisbon agreed. "But I thought you weren't supposed to be back until later in the week."
Rigsby shrugged. "Agent Messing improved over the weekend and wanted to get back on the job, even if it's just desk duty, so they sent me back here."
"Well, we're glad to have you," Lisbon said, patting him on the arm.
"Yeah, it's nice that we all came back at once," Van Pelt agreed. "I think it would be weird otherwise."
"It would have been three days," Cho pointed out from his desk.
"Yeah, thanks man," Rigsby said.
"Not that I'm not glad to see you," Cho added.
"So how was Fraud?" Lisbon asked him, deciding to change the subject.
Cho shrugged. "A lot of people lying," he told her. "We don't believe what the criminals say anyway, but..."
"Murder's more honest?" Lisbon asked with a smirk.
"Yes," Cho agreed.
"And you've got a tan," Lisbon observed, looking at Van Pelt.
"Two weeks on a beach," Van Pelt said with a shrug. "And I spent the last one with my family."
"Good," Lisbon said with a nod. "So everybody's ready to get back to work."
"Or at least catch up on what they've missed," Jane put in, walking up behind her.
Lisbon turned. "Well, we don't have a case yet," she agreed. "But I'm sure we'll be able to keep busy."
"I'm sure you will," Jane agreed, handing her a cup of coffee.
Lisbon's eyes brightened as she took it. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Jane said with a smile. "I'm just glad to have my couch back," he said.
"Your chaise longue wasn't an acceptable substitution?" Lisbon asked.
Jane smirked. "On behalf of my couch I'm insulted by the question," he told her. "That chaise longue didn't even come close."
"Yet you still laid on it for three weeks," Lisbon pointed out.
Jane shrugged. "Uncomfortable as it was, it was still better than sitting at a desk."
"Of course it was," Lisbon agreed indulgently, pleased that Jane was acting so normal that morning. She'd been a bit worried after the whole moving in together insanity.
"So you closed the Portland serial killer case, huh?" Rigsby asked, fishing for details.
"We helped," Lisbon told him. "Portland P.D. certainly did more than their fair share."
"I made a couple of key observations to help catch the guy," Jane assured them.
"And I kept Jane out of the chief's radar," Lisbon added.
"Probably wise," Cho agreed.
"I wasn't that bad!" Jane objected. "Tell them Lisbon."
She just grinned. "I brought you pasta salad for lunch, since I'm sure you didn't bring anything."
"I just got home last night," Jane objected. "And is it one you bought at a store, or one you made?"
Lisbon just smiled at him.
"Really?" Jane asked, obviously pleased. "I'm never making my lunch again."
"When have you ever made your lunch?" Lisbon wondered. "Anyway, I'll be in my office if anyone needs me. Glad everyone's back."
"You too, Boss," Rigsby told her. He turned to Jane, "So, come on. Tell us what happened in Oregon. How did you catch the guy?"
Jane smiled, watching Lisbon. "Just let me get my tea," he told Rigsby. "I'll be right back." He caught up to Lisbon in the doorway, briefly putting his hand on her elbow. "I tucked the entertainment section of the paper in your desk drawer. Just in case you didn't get to it this morning."
"Shut up, Jane," she said good naturedly. "Or I'll take back your lunch."
"Then how could you be sure I'm eating well?" he asked.
The team could hear them bickering down the hall.
Rigsby was the first to break the silence. "Well, that was different."
"What do you mean?" Cho asked.
"Jane and the boss," Rigsby tried to explain. "He brought her coffee, she brought him lunch..."
"I think it's sweet," Van Pelt said loyally. "They both need someone to look after them a bit, I think."
"Still weird," Rigsby muttered.
"They lived together for three weeks," Cho pointed out. "What did you expect?"
That got Rigsby's attention. "What do you mean they lived together?"
Cho slowly turned towards the other man, putting down the file he'd been skimming. He was going to enjoy this. "Didn't you hear? Portland's chosen place to put them up was a house they sometimes use for ops. Jane and Lisbon had it to themselves for three weeks."
Rigsby turned back towards Lisbon's office. "Three weeks, huh? And she didn't kill him?"
"He brought her coffee this morning," Van Pelt said slowly.
"And she made him lunch," Rigsby added, meeting the redhead's eyes.
Cho smirked. "I told you, inevitable."
Rigsby's smile grew. "This could be fun to watch."
Van Pelt tossed a pen at him with a laugh. "I think it's sweet."
"That too," Rigsby admitted sheepishly, refusing to look at Cho.
"But mostly fun to watch," Cho said, just before Jane ambled back into the bullpen with a cup of tea.
"So, who wants to hear how we caught Oregon's worst serial killer?" Jane asked cheerfully.
All three agents exchanged looks. Van Pelt went so far as to roll her eyes, but Jane did have an eager audience of three for the rest of the morning.
xxx
TBC