A/N: Don't you feel spoilt? Two chapters of Unbound in less than a week. Hahaha. And why does everything seem a little funnier when it's 4.45 am? Don't ask me why I'm up now, I do NOT have a clue.

Thanks to: raquelvalente91, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Penelope Louise, WingfieldLegend, lisbon69, yaba, HOUSEMDFanForever, NellietheMarvelous, Divinia Serit and Chiisana Minako for reviewing part 13.

And thanks to lil smiles for betaing. Ugh... tired already, but I know I won't sleep. Boo.

x tromana

Part Fourteen - What Have You Done Now?

Lisbon allowed her fingers to run through the various sheets of paper enclosed in the manila folder. When she had first heard Minelli's voice on the other end of the line, she had initially suspected that Red John had struck again. It was only natural because whenever she received a middle of the night telephone call, it almost always seemed to be regarding the serial killer these days. To hear that somebody else was responsible was almost a relief, it made them feel more tangible, less elusive. She shook her head, disgusted by her own thoughts. Regardless of who the culprit was, someone had still died and it was her job now to make sure that the killer was brought to justice. It's what she has dedicated her life to for so long now, after all.

They'd already seen the body of the Caucasian male, mid-forties, at the crack of dawn and whoever had carried out the murder, certainly hadn't planned it. Nor had they done a particularly clean job, a fact that made their lives somewhat easier. Lisbon had stood, watching as her team carried out their duties. Something had happened between Rigsby and Van Pelt, though what, she couldn't be certain. The rookie was courteous to Rigsby, by all means, but there was something in her eyes that stated she was angry with the arson specialist. When she felt Jane's hands on her waist and he whispered confirmation into her ear, she had to swallow down a smirk. It seemed that some of his skills had been rubbing off on her. Still, it was a relief to be back at the office, on her own, researching the paper trails as she had done so regularly under Agent Bosco. Rigsby and Van Pelt were scouring the victim's office at work, a good experience for them both and it provided them with a good opportunity to thrash out whatever it was that was going on between them. Cho and Jane, meanwhile, were meant to be questioning the victim's family. She'd specifically sent him away with the Asian agent as she needed a short break from him, if only for a while. It was just a shame that her phone had to ring every five minutes, disturbing the peace.

"Lisbon."

"It's me."

"What do you want, Jane?"

"This is boring, this woman doesn't know anything."

Lisbon tapped a pen against her desk, busying her free hand while the other cradled the telephone by her ear. The moment she had seen who was calling, she had frowned slightly. She couldn't deny that it was kind of sweet that he wanted to speak to her constantly, but she needed some privacy. Peace and quiet. A break from his daily insanity. It didn't help that she was growing suspicious. Apart from being unable to keep his hands to himself, Jane hadn't pulled a crazy stunt for a while so she was fairly certain that he was due to pull one off without a moment's notice.

"Jane?"

"Yes, Teresa?"

"Go speak to Cho. You're meant to be working, as am I."

"Fine."

"Stop pouting."

Jane froze for a second.

"How'd you know that I was pouting?"

"You always do whenever I tell you off."

"Tease."

"Troublemaker," she replied promptly. "I'm putting the phone down. Now, behave, okay?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"That's boring."

"Tough, I'll see you when you get back."

An hour later and Lisbon nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of a crash coming from the bullpen. Rigsby and Van Pelt had arrived back about half an hour earlier and were already at work on their computers and stubbornly ignoring one another. She was certain, however, that neither of them were responsible for the noise. Hurrying out of the room, she spotted Jane kneeling in the middle of the bullpen, surrounded by a menagerie of files relating to the case. She approached tentatively, unsure as to whether or not he had dropped them on purpose.

"Teresa!" he called brightly, once he spotted her hanging warily near Van Pelt's desk.

"It's Lisbon at work, Jane," she called back wearily. "Lisbon. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"What? Even if I'm going ask for your hand in holy matrimony?"

"Ye- what?"

"I think he just proposed, boss," Cho remarked as he sat down at his desk with a coffee in hand and Van Pelt nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"…oh."

"Oh?"

"Well, it's not… what… I was expecting."

She could feel her cheeks burning as everyone watched her expectantly and knew that she had flushed a rather brilliant shade of pink.

"But…"

There appeared to be a collective intake of breath and had she the opportunity, Lisbon was certain that she would have laughed.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, okay, if you wish to ask me to marry you while we're at work, you may call me Teresa."

Lisbon knelt beside him and began to help shuffle the papers together. The rest of the team looked on in bemusement, not quite sure what had just happened. The brunette was right, he hadn't exactly asked yet; he'd simply asked if it was alright for him to use her first name if he were to propose. But whatever was going on, it was typical of them. Rather sweet but completely and utterly confusing. With a sigh, Jane crawled over to Lisbon and plucked the paperwork out of her hands with ease. He prodded her in the side and she stared at him, wide-eyed.

"I believe you're meant to be standing up for this part."

"Jane…" she whined, unimpressed by the spectacle they were causing, not to mention having her brain finally catching up with her mouth. "Are you sure this isn't too soon?"

"I'm ready, if you are."

Not entirely sure what she was agreeing to, she nodded slightly, rolled her eyes out of sheer irritation and rose to her feet carefully. Jane beamed in response and ensuring that he said them as loudly as possible, he uttered the four words: "Will you marry me?" She didn't even have a chance to reply with a simple 'yes' before the round of applause began and Jane had stood, throwing his arms around her waist. After they shared a quick kiss, Lisbon gently pushed him away and the blond let go rather willingly, quickly revealing a simple diamond ring in his right hand which hadn't been there before.

"Hey, where'd…" she started before narrowing her eyes. "That was in my pocket, wasn't it? You put that in there this morning before we left for work."

"I did," he grinned. "D'you like it? And are you going to let me put it on your finger or not?"

"It's beautiful, Jane," she answered and obliged by holding out her left hand, beaming unashamedly as he slowly slid the ring on. "Now that we've got over all these hysterics, we have work to do. This case isn't going to solve itself."

"Oh that's what you think," Jane stated.

He headed towards his couch, sat down as if testing the give before swinging his legs up onto the arm and reclining backwards. Ignoring the mess that she had started cleaning up before Jane had proposed, she stormed towards him, hands on hips.

"Jane, what do you mean?" she queried. "What have you done now? Is this another one of those cases where you think you'll have the murderer coming to us within a set period of time? You haven't done anything illegal have you? Jane!"

"Of course not, dear."

"Jane," she growled at him, glaring.

"Lisbon," he rectified. "Hey, when we get married, will you be changing your name? Or will you just change your name personally? Or should I change my name? Patrick Lisbon has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Stop changing the subject."

"Calm down, woman, I haven't done anything wrong."

"Then what have you done?"

"The son did it."

"I thought you said your visit to the family with Cho was boring?"

"Oh it was," he answered, somehow managing to wave dismissively from his lying down position. "Because you weren't there. No offense, Cho."

"None taken."

"He's going to kill me later, isn't he?"

"He is," Lisbon agreed.

"I am still here, you know. As is the rest of the team. And half the CBI."

"Are you going to tell me how you came to the conclusion that the son did it?"

"Later, he's here."

Jane nodded behind her, where a nervous seventeen year old was shifting from foot to foot. After instructing Van Pelt to pick up the paperwork that was still strewn across the floor of the bullpen, she approached the boy and invited him into one of the interrogation rooms, with Cho and Jane following behind. Much to her surprise, he admitted everything within seconds, right down to where they could find the murder weapon, not so cleverly hidden in his bedroom. Despite the case being closed, Lisbon found herself frowning. It wasn't the fact that they had found the murderer within twelve hours, they'd managed that before, it was more of a case of how and why the boy decided it was a good idea to come clean. Even once she got home and was relaxing on the couch, curled up in the arms of her new fiancé, it was troubling her.

"Stop thinking," Jane whispered. "I can hear the cogs whirring in your mind."

She smiled slightly as one of Jane's fingers lightly brushed her cheek and she found herself burrowing into his arm even more. Though she knew full well that she could not only look after herself, but look after him as well, there was something comforting about the position they had found themselves in.

"How'd you know though? How did you know he was going to confess?"

"I just planted a thought in his mind and voila…"

Jane twisted his free hand theatrically in the air, as if performing some kind of magic trick. Lisbon smirked in response and batted his hand down before yawning expansively. She smiled when Jane placed a kiss on her forehead before scooping her up in his arms, her clinging to his neck and shoulders for dear life.

"I think somebody needs her bed."

"Hmm…"

"And maybe we won't get woken up at the crack of dawn…." he contemplated as he carried her upstairs.

"Are you sure this is right, for us?" she interrupted. "I mean this is a huge life changing…"

"Are you happy?"

"Mm hmm…"

"I think you've answered your own question there," he grinned. "Besides, I heard that long engagements were all the rage these days."

He placed her down on the bed and slipped his shoes off before kneeling beside her.

"Now, are you going to behave or…"

"I reckon that's a trick question," she smirked, "and that whatever I answer, you would want to have your own wicked way with me."

"Now that's the right answer."

Lisbon smiled contentedly and reached over to stroke Jane's cheek. As he leaned in to kiss her throat, she beamed outright. Today had been a good day. Confusing, but all in all, good.

TBC…