A/N: Wow guys. Yes it took me this long, but here we are at the end of my first long The Mentalist story here. I feel kind of sentimantal about it, to be honest. But I guess every writer does.
I want to thank all of you for your contunied support, for all the favs and follows, for your reviews and the clicks. You don't know how much this means to me, so a big THANK YOU and cookies for all of you!
Special thanks of course to Nerwen, who helped me a lot and betaed my story so it wouldn't flow over with grammar and writing mistakes. Well even for her it's sometimes impossible to find all of them, but as a non native speaker it's double as hard... so I hope you forgive me ;)

Now... This is the last chapter and I attached the epilogue, so... I hope you enjoy our last ride to San Diego with Jane and Lisbon ;)

(14)

"Jane, dammit!" Lisbon mumbled and pushed his suit jacket aside to see how badly he was hurt. There was some blood on both sides of the jacket, so the bullet must have gone through him right away.

"Lisbon", Jane mumbled, opening his eyes a peek and reaching for her small hand.

"Everything is going to be okay, I promise", she whispered and she knew it. The shot wasn't as serious as she thought it would be from what she saw. She'd been shot in the shoulder by O'Laughlin about two years ago and could tell. It hurt, but it wasn't life-threatening.

Maybe Jane was using bio-feedback to calm his body down so he could get rid of the pain that must be shooting through his bones.

"Lisbon, it hurts", he said weekly, his breathing going slow. He pulled her down to him so their faces were close and almost about to touch. She gave in and pressed a soft kiss on Jane's forehead, sighing when she bent up again.

"Everything is going to be okay, Jane."

"Teresa… I… I just want you to know…"

"Jane", the agent said, rolling her eyes. If she'd known he was such a Drama Queen she'd have gone alone. Did he really think he was breathing his last?

"Shht", Jane said, "I'm not sure if I will survive this, so I want you to know… Teresa, I want you to know that I love you. I really do, with all my heart."

Lisbon gave him a serious look, confused on why he would choose this situation to declare his love to her. Did he really think he was about to die? Maybe she should just play along, since Jane was known for his overly dramatic acting skills.

"You're going to be okay, Jane. I promise."

"Can't you just for one time call me Patrick?", he asked a bit offended. Lisbon just grinned and pressed a sweet kiss on his lips. They both cherished the moment, not caring for all the police officers from SDPD or the FBI running around and clearing off the crime scene.

"Fine. You're going to be okay, Patrick. And just so you know… I love you, too."

Jane closed his eyes with a smile on his face, before he waited for consciousness to leave him. Lisbon was still holding the hand of his uninjured arm and he could feel her critical gaze on him. His shoulder was driving him mad with pain, but somehow he didn't make the dramatically leaving he'd planned to do.

He waited for a minute; before he peeked an eye open again looking into Lisbon's grinning face. "Hm. This is weird. I planned for me loosing consciousness now and waking up at the hospital again with you on my bedside being relieved that I finally woke up."

The agent couldn't stop her laughter anymore and started chuckling: "Oh you're such a Drama Queen, Jane. The bullet went right through your shoulder and it seems like you were lucky and it didn't hit any important parts of your body."

"But it hurts", he said offended like a five year old child.

"Of course it hurts", Lisbon explained with a smile and patted his head, "It'll hurt even more after the adrenalin that must be flooding through your body right now is gone, but I'm sure the hospital has some good pain medics. You know what? I'm glad your little scene here didn't go as planned, so you have no chance to pretend you forgot saying it after you woke up at the hospital."

Jane rolled his eyes: "You'll never let me forget this, will you?" Her reassuring smile told him that she wouldn't. He tried to sit up against the wall, but a wave of pain shot through his body and let him stay where he was. Actually he started to feel a little nauseous because of the pain and the blood loss.

"Don't move, otherwise the bleeding might increase", Lisbon said, stroking his chest carefully. She seemed to be a little soft on him because of his injury after all. "I know it hurts. I can't tell for sure it didn't hit anything important, so just stay where you are. I can remember the pain from when I was shot by O'Laughlin, but the bullet was stuck back then."

Of course, she'd been shot by the Red John disciple about one and a half years ago – all because of him.

"I'm sorry, Teresa", Jane whispered and he was. O'Laughlin could have killer her easily and he wouldn't have been there. She could have died because of him.

Lisbon's smile faded when she saw his worried gaze. "Don't be sorry, everything is fine. I'm fine. You're the one who got hurt this time. Maybe you learn something out of it. Now be quiet and wait for the ambulance. Talking is too exhausting."

"You just want me to shut up", he said.

"Oh I don't need to tell you to shut up anymore, I got a better idea." She bent down and kissed him on the lips, slipping her tongue inside when Jane opened his mouth in surprise. The woman knew indeed how to shut him up efficiently.

Lisbon reluctantly broke the kiss when the horn of the ambulance came closer. Jane grunted, raising his arm to pull her back down, but the wave of pain that shot through his body made him wince.

"Don't you worry, I became addicted to your kisses way too quickly, so this won't be the last one you get from me. I'm afraid you just won't be able to do any exhausting activities for some time, but since you're lying on your couch the whole day anyways I don't see a problem."

The consultant gave her one of his looks before he started to smirk: "No exhausting activities, huh?" She got his hint immediately, her hand gliding down from his chest to his lower half.

"Oh don't worry, Patrick, with exhausting activities I meant scheme plotting and doing stupid things on your own. Concerning the other thing… I think I can handle that. Maybe it's good for you to let me have the upper hand for a while."

"My, Agent Lisbon! Are you going to dress up as a nurse and take care of me for the rest of our vacation?"

"Perhaps", she grinned and could see Jane's pupils dilating heavily. She didn't need to be psychic to be able to tell what he was just imagining. Perv.

They weren't able to talk for much longer, since the ambulance finally arrived to take Jane to the hospital. Lisbon wasn't allowed to ride along with him and because she was needed at the crime scene for some wrap up and interviews, she stayed, promising him to visit him later.

"Behave", she whispered silently, pressing her lips on his one last time, "I don't want to hear complaints when I arrive at the hospital."

"I try", he answered smiling. "I love you, Teresa."

The agent waved her hand before the ambulance closed the backdoors and drove off to the hospital. "I love you too…"

"Agent Lisbon?", a police officer of SDPC asked formally, "Would you mind accompanying us to the precinct to get your statement and some help with the wrap up? We need to know exactly what happened, especially since Mr. Jane was wounded during the job."

"Of course", Lisbon said and followed the officer to one of the black FBI SUVs, where Agent Dexter was already waiting for her. He welcomed her with a smile a firm shaking of hands.

"Agent Lisbon, it's good to see you again. And here I thought the case was done already. The FBI has to thank you and Mr. Jane for your work and brave to try and stop Mrs. Brenner and her friends from getting away with this."

"You're welcome", answered Lisbon and took her seat on the passenger's side. "Are your people taking care of the ship?"

"Yes, we alarmed the coast guard and sent some of our people off to stop the ship from shipping out of the harbor. We'll get them rather sooner than later. Now please tell me what happened. When Mancini said it wouldn't get boring if Mr. Jane was involved, I hadn't expected… this."

The female agent couldn't hide a laugh and fastened her seatbelt, just when Dexter drove the car away from the crime scene. She told him how she and Jane found out about Nikki's involvement, how she'd contacted her team to trace the bank accounts and finally how they were caught at the warehouse and Jane got shot.

Of course she left out the romantic parts, like when Jane had declared his love to her or when she'd kissed him goodbye. That wasn't anything Dexter needed to know, neither did Mancini if he told him.

"You should have waited for backup", Dexter mumbled after she finished.

"Yes I know, but then they'd have been gone before we got to them and we wouldn't have a confession."

"True. You're a good agent, Lisbon. I thought Mancini was giving you more praise than necessary, but he was right. No wonder your unit has the highest crime solving rate in California."

Lisbon blushed a little and rolled her eyes. "Thank you, but it's my team that does the great work, not me."

"You're their leader. You're strong, intelligent and know how to handle tough situations. I bet that are only a few of your assets. Would you like to go out for a drink some time?"

Dexter's straightforwardness let Lisbon blush and speechless at the same time. She wasn't used to people just asking her out on a date, especially not cops she met 2 days ago. Jane had told her she was a desirable woman, but this…

"I'm… I'm sorry, Agent Dexter, but I'm not the type to date colleagues. Furthermore… I'm in a relationship at the moment." A relationship. Well… was she? Was the thing between her and Jane a real relationship? He'd told her that he loved her and so had she. They'd slept together; they'd worked together for almost ten years…

"Lucky bastard", Dexter said with a smirk on his face.

"Excuse me?", Lisbon asked.

"I was just thinking that your consultant is a very lucky bastard to have a woman like you. Here we go." He stopped the car in front of the main building of the precinct and got out, dutifully waiting until Lisbon recovered from her shock. Was it this obvious?"

"Don't worry, I saw you two kissing in the ambulance. My lips are sealed. It's still too bad you aren't single."

Lisbon didn't say anything, just gave him an apologetic shrug. They went into the precinct and one of the bullpens, where Dexter recorded Lisbon's statement. He wasn't as macho as Lisbon first thought he was. Maybe it'd been because of Mancini, but it turned out he could be really nice to talk to.

Dexter offered her a coffee out of the building's coffee dispenser, before he asked her to give him the key to Jane's car that was still standing at the harbor, so someone could pick it up.

She had to call Van Pelt once again so she could send the evidence she'd found to SDPD. Bit by bit the case fell into place and all inconsistencies were cleared off.

In the evening, Dexter got a call from his agents at the harbour. They had been able to stop the ship with the help from the coast guard and arrest the criminals, who hadn't been cooperative. From what Dexter told her, there had been a shooting and two SDPD officers and one FBI agent had been wounded; four people of the crew on the ship had been killed.

Half an hour later, mere police cars arrived at the precinct, loaded with Nikki, Veronica and Rebecca and parts of her crew. Most of them were put in a cell, but Lisbon insisted on being part of Nikki's interrogation, so Dexter and her were standing in the observation room, looking at Nikki who was sitting on a chair, arms crossed in front of her chest and a bored expression on her face.

"What do you think? Shall we do the good old "Good Cop - Bad Cop" thing?", Dexter asked. Lisbon liked that he was asking for her opinion, even if this wasn't her case nor did she have any right to interfere with the investigation.

"Nikki is tough. I'm not sure she'll go for it." Darn, she'd give everything to have Cho here right now. He knew how to handle this kind of criminal and he was one of the best interrogators she'd ever seen. "We must not underestimate her. She fooled all of us with her acting, even Jane though he wouldn't like to admit it."

"You're right, Lisbon. Do you want us to go together?"

Lisbon hesitated a second, since she didn't knew how Dexter liked to interrogate his criminals, but she decided to give him a shot. "Fine, let's go together and see what we can do. She already confessed to me so with what we have against her she'll hopefully try to cooperate so we will commute the sentence."

"Ladies first", the FBI agent grinned and opened the door for her.

Nikki didn't even bother to look up, when they entered the room. She kept staring at the one way mirror, raising nothing but an eyebrow when Dexter and Lisbon took the seats opposite to her. Dexter seemed to ignore her and looked through the file he brought with him.

After a while, Nikkis gave wandered from the mirror towards Lisbon, who was reading in the finished parts of Dexter's file.

"You want some coffee, Lisbon?", he asked about fifteen minutes later. No one had said a word until now.

"Yeah, I think I could use some coffee, thanks."

Dexter gestured towards the mirror, so Lisbon suggested there must be someone watching them. Probably a rookie or an officer. He watched Nikki for a second as if he considered asking her if she wanted something to drink, but the agent just shrugged with his shoulder.

"I'm not saying anything without my lawyer", Nikki blurted out.

Lisbon and Dexter gave each other a look: "We didn't ask you to say anything Mrs. Brenner. But thank you for stating this fact. You look a little worn out, if you ask me."

"I'm not asking you."

"Of course you don't, I was just saying. What do you think, Lisbon? The orange of the jail overalls won't suit her that much, would it? Oooh and think about the fact she's not allowed to have any make up… That's gonna be hard, is it?"

Nikki sat up straight, giving Dexter a death glare: "If you think I'd start talking just because you're insulting me, you're wrong."

"Oh well that's too bad", Lisbon said, "Because Rebecca sang like a little frightened bird when our colleague asked her some questions. It looks bad for you, Nikki."

"You're bluffing", the woman said, her voice carrying a little insecurity she desperately tried to hide. "I can tell when you're lying."

"Try me", the CBI agent answered with such coolness in her voice Dexter gave her an adoring look.

"Well I think death penalty is off the question, but you can start to grow accustomed to the thought of a life in prison for the next thirty years."

"She might get the chance to parole", Lisbon threw in, but Dexter raised a hand to wave it aside.

"No sane judge would go for that, not after what her friends said. Well, they could be lucky and get out after ten, fifteen years." Dexter closed the file and leaned back in his chair, giving Nikki a bored look as if he was eager to get this over with.

"You won't get away with this. My friends didn't talk and I'm done talking! I want my lawyer, now!", Nikki said. She was starting to get a little anxious, something Dexter was looking forward to.

"Oh well let's see… drug and arms deal, defrauding of taxes, corruption of an officer of the law…", Dexter listed with a neutral expression as if he was reading the weather on a TV channel.

"Insulting and assaulting of a state agent, assaulting of a state consultant… Oh the list is long, Nikki…"

For the first time since she entered the room, Nikki looked at Lisbon, a sour expression on her face. She straightened her shoulders and blew air out of her nose, her lips forming a cold smirk. "Oh please agent Lisbon, stop being so petty about the little slap. You deserved it at that time. By the way how is Patrick? I heard Beretta did for once what he was supposed to."

"I don't thing the well-being of my consultant is any of your business. Let's get this over with, you already confessed to me. This is only about commuting your sentence. If you don't want to talk that's fine, but your friend did talk and it's not looking good for you. We know you're the head of the operation, so I'm asking you again. What were your motives, why did you do it and foist the guilt on your husbands?"

"If Rebecca and Veronica had talked to you, you would know", Nikki stated, but her insecurity grew with every moment passing by.

Lisbon rose from her chair, propping her arms up on the table and leaning closer to Nikki. "This is not about them, but you. If you don't want your pretty little ass to rot in jail for the rest of your life, you should do better and cooperate, otherwise this doesn't look good for either of you!"

The woman watched her for a few seconds, her mouth slightly opened, before she sighed and dropped her arms down. "Fine, all right ask me anything you want."

The CBI agent gave Dexter a triumphant smile Nikki couldn't see and sat down to hear the FBI agent questioning the criminal.

It took about half an hour for Nikki Brenner's lawyer to arrive who stopped the interrogation as soon as he could burst into the interrogation room, but Lisbon and Dexter already had everything they needed.

To Lisbon's surprise, her former friend seemed to have lost her tough-as-nail demeanour and rather looked exhausted and worn out. She was right behind Dexter when they left the room so Nikki could talk to her lawyer in private, when the woman called her back one last time.

"Liz."

She looked surprised, since "Liz" had been her alias during the operation. "Yes?"

"I wish Jane and you all the best."

It wasn't the criminal talking to the cop, no. This time Nikki spoke to her as the friend she lost due to the operation. Who knew, if they hadn't been the people they were, if they'd have been able to become friends at all…

Lisbon put up a smile and nodded: "Thank you… Take care." She meant it.

Walking out of the interrogation room, Dexter greeted her with a sly smile, directing her into the big bullpen of the SDPD where they've been before. "Good work, Lisbon", he said, giving her the coffee he'd asked for about an hour ago. To Lisbon's surprise it was steaming and fresh.

"Thank you. It's been nice to work with you, Dexter, but I'm afraid I have to go to the hospital now and see how Jane is… I haven't talked to him since the ambulance drove off with him. I should have called him by now."

"That's understandable. Thanks for your help with the case, we really appreciate it. If you need a favour of any kind, you just have to ask."

"I'll get back to that eventually", Lisbon smiled, "I guess we'll see each other in court next time. You will keep me updated on the case, will you?" He didn't have to and Lisbon knew that, but she was interested on how things would be going, since she'd been a huge part of the undercover operation. They shook each other's hands and said good bye, afterwards Lisbon grabbed her jacket and went out of the building.

Dexter was a good agent and she started to realize why he and Mancini didn't get along so well. Somehow it was hard to imagine him getting along with anybody rather than himself. But now she had more important things to think of. Jane was waiting for her.

Smiling, Lisbon got into Jane's car, one of the officers picked up for her at the harbor.

Oh god. This was the first time she ever sat on the driver's side… "Oh please don't turn your back on me now", she whispered, putting the key into the key hole and engaged the first gear.

This car was Jane's most precious object. If one asked her, it even came before the brown leather couch in the bullpen. To her own surprise the engine started without a problem, but when she pushed the gas a little, it died. Darn it, this stupid thing had a clutch.

How the hell was she supposed to know how to drive a car with a clutch?! She'd never driven anything else but automatic. Cursing, she hit the wheel with her hand and sighed loudly.

Okay, remember what you've seen in old movies, she thought.

"Come on… I want to bring you home to your daddy… Jane's gonna kill me if anything happens to you!"

Lisbon tried to start the car a second time and this time, while kicking the clutch, it worked. She sent a short prayer to heaven, hoping she and the… thing here would arrive at the hospital in one piece. Carefully, she let the clutch come and when the car finally started to drive, she let go.

The blue Citroen made a jump forward and Lisbon kicked the gas, so it kept rolling. "I'm gonna kill Jane", she cursed, "I'm gonna kill him for making me drive this French piece of junk!"

It was almost past ten by the time Lisbon got to the hospital. She hadn't dared to push her luck and drove the whole way with the same low speed, so some people honked at her angrily. The worst thing were the traffic lights, because every time it jumped on red and she hit the breaks, she killed the engine. By the time she'd made it to the hospital, the car didn't sound very health at all, but she made it, hadn't she?

The parking lot for visitors was closed, so she had to park in an alley not far from the hospital. Hopefully no one decided to break into Jane's car… Whatever. From what she knew he had a whole collection of these old clunker's somewhere.

Although it was still bright, she decided to take her gun with her, since one never knew what kind of figures were running around here.

The doors didn't open for her, so she waited until someone came out and slipped inside. It smelled strongly antiseptic and like this weird smell all hospitals had. She hated it. Hospitals always reminded her to the bad things that happened in her life, for example when her mother had been hit by a drunk driver, or when Jane had been in here after he lost his memory and drank the belladonna.

"Excuse me, Miss", a guard who'd spotted her said, "Visiting times are over. I must ask you to leave now and come back tomorrow."

Lisbon flashed her badge and nodded towards the elevators: "I'm sorry, my name is Special Agent Teresa Lisbon with the CBI. I'm looking for my colleague who was hospitalized this afternoon because of a gunshot wound. Could you maybe manage for me to see him? I was busy with wrapping up the case and couldn't get here on time."

She smiled towards the older man who seemed to think about her request and got over to the nurse at the night desk. "Hey Bethany, could you tell Miss Lisbon here on which floor her colleague is? What was his name again?"

"Patrick Jane", the agent answered over the guard's shoulder.

When she heard the name, the nurse immediately jumped out of her chair and buzzed on a phone button: "She's here, someone come and get her!" Lisbon raised an eyebrow, seeming a little confused over the nurse's action.

"Oh Miss Lisbon you have no idea how glad we are that you finally got here! My colleague is coming to get you and will bring you to Mr. Jane immediately." In just this moment, the elevator doors opened and a small, tired looking nurse got out.

"Is this her?", she asked Bethany, who nodded.

"Oh thank goodness you're here, Teresa. May I call you Teresa? Come on, let's go we don't want to lose any more time." Lisbon gasped, when the nurse pulled her into the elevator and pushed the button to the 4th floor.

"You must excuse my rude behavior. I'm nurse Jennet. You must know we are so glad you are finally here, because Mr. Jane has been asking for you since he came here! I don't want to say anything inappropriate, but he's been a kind of… pain in the butt."

The agent sighed and gave the nurse an apologizing smile. Stupid Jane. She'd told him to behave, hadn't she?! "I'm so sorry for any trouble he caused. He can be a pain in the ass sometimes."

Nurse Jennet giggled: "First he wrapped us all around his little finger but after you didn't arrive and he wasn't allowed to use his cell phone, he got bored. I just guess he had fun annoying us. The only one who still enters his room when he calls is Amber, but only because she has a crush on him."

Yeah, that sounded like Jane, Lisbon thought rolling her eyes.

They arrived at the fourth floor and got out, Jennet ushering her down the hall way. The looks some of the nurse staff gave her made her feel a little uncomfortable, but she tried to ignore it.

"There we are, Teresa. Please make yourself feel comfortable around here and call if you need anything."

"I will, thank you", Lisbon said. She knocked on the door, carefully opening it when she got an annoyed "Come in!".

"I buzzed you like ten minutes ago, what the hell took you so… oh! Teresa!"

Jane had a single room, his bed on the opposite wall right next to the window. He was lying in his bed, wearing some kind of hospital nightgown, his arm in a sling, just like hers had been when she'd been shot by O'Laughlin. His hair was tousled and he looked sleepy, as if he was fighting the pain medics to stay awake until she came to see him.

Seeing him lying there so helpless and vulnerable, made her put up a warm smile. "How are you feeling?", she asked. She walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge, her hand brushing the tousled hair on his forehead away.

"A thousand times better now that you are here", Jane answered honestly, suppressing a yawn. He took her hand in his and pressed it softly. "I missed you. Where have you been the whole time?"

"I helped Dexter with the wrap up of the case. Furthermore, I had to give him my statement on what happened and when the FBI agents brought Nikki in, Dexter asked me to interrogate her with him."

Jane frowned a little by the mention of agent Dexter, but he let her speak without interrupting until the point where she told him she had to drive his car to the hospital. His eyes widened in fear when she complained how she'd made it here and how many times she'd killed the engine.

"Seriously Jane, this car is a bunch of crap! I'm glad I survived this damn trip here. I will never drive this thing again. Ever!"

"My poor baby. Oh god. After what you told me I'm sure she needs to go to the repair shop immediately. You could have caught a cab, Lisbon!"

"Yeah well I know that now! I won't drive it back to Sacramento, not even for money." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave him one of her famous Lisbon looks.

"Let's just say I won't let you drive her anyways. Not until you took driving lessons for cars with a clutch."

"That won't happen", she told him.

"Fine. I'll see how I get her back home. Now go on. You came here and…?

"I came here, just to hear that you've been behaving just like I told you not to! You scared off every single nurse on this station!"

"Well not every single one! Nurse Amber seems to like me."

"But only because she has a crush on you", Lisbon repeated the words she'd heard from sister Jennet a few minutes ago. "Whatever. I'm glad you are okay. Does it hurt?"

"They gave me a bunch of pain medics although I refused to take any… They always cloud my mind… I'm feeling a little tired. But I wanted to wait until you came here."

Lisbon smile knowingly. Depending on how much he annoyed the nurses, she wasn't sure if they gave him the pain medics for his actual pain, but for keeping him quiet for the night. The consultant really looked tired and worn out now, so she patted his stomach and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"You should get some sleep, Jane. It's been an exhausting day."

"You don't look very fit either, my dear… Come on." He scooted over, grimacing with pain. "This bed has enough space for two. Maybe you will join me this time…"

She knew what he was referring too. Last time he'd asked her to join him in a hospital bed, he'd been in his fugue state. God he'd asked her if they were sleeping together… It was funny, because now she could admit that they did.

"No, Patrick. You need to sleep and rest. I will drive home and visit you tomorrow morning." Lisbon wanted to get up, but Jane fastened the grip on her hand.

"No, Teresa… please stay with me. I need you."

The agent swallowed hard, a lump forming in her throat. Jane watched her with so much tired desperation in his eyes that she couldn't refuse his plea. "Okay, fine… I'll stay. But just for tonight. Now scoot over."

While she put her shoes and jacket off, Jane could only grin winningly. He ushered his body to the edge of the bed, so Lisbon would have enough space to cuddle into him if she wanted to. She laid down next to him and put some of the blanket he offered over her small frame.

Jane was able to put his non-injured arm around her, so she could snuggle her head on his chest. "You smell good", he whispered softly in her ear, inhaling the scent of her hair.

"Just sleep, Patrick", she yawned. Oh she must have had a hard day, since her body was asleep almost immediately. Jane smiled, because she'd called him Patrick and started to draw circles on her back.

"I love you… even if you almost wrecked the engine of my car." The answer was just a tired growl that made him grin.

Now that his little woman was save at his side, he allowed the medics to overwhelm his senses and putting him to sleep.

About two hours later, when nurse Amber made her nightly ward round, she opened the door of Patrick Jane's single bedroom and was surprised to find a woman lying next to the patient in bed. Carefully, she switched the light back off and ran towards the nurse's station to inform her superior.

Nurse Jennet raised an eyebrow, looking at the clock. It was past twelve and she'd totally forgotten about the woman who'd come to visit Mr. Jane. Well, he hadn't called once since she was here and she seemed nice.

Jennet stood up, following Amber into the room and put her small flashlight on, so they wouldn't disturb the patient and his company.

"Do you think we should bring them another bed?", Amber asked. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sleeping man, who lay there deeply entangled with a lady.

"No, we should let them sleep. Look at them. It doesn't seem to me they would give up each other's presence for anything else in the world. As long as Mr. Pain In The Ass doesn't terrorize our station anymore I'm fine with it. We just have to make sure Miss Teresa gets an extra pair of fresh towels and a breakfast tomorrow."

The younger nurse nodded and sighed happily. "Look at them, they look so peaceful. They must be deeply in love…"

Nurse Jennet laughed quietly. "Don't you worry, you will find your man soon, Amber. Come on, let's finish your ward round together before Mrs. Morris in room 415 needs to use the loo for the third time in two hours."

They closed the door smiling and left the sleeping lovers alone.

Epilogue

After three more days, Jane discharged himself out of the hospital. He'd just stayed there because Lisbon had asked him, but he felt better now and didn't want to spend the last days of their vacation in an antiseptic impersonal bedroom, although his girlfriend had been with him almost the whole time.

The doctor had prescribed some more pain medics and asked him to come to the hospital for a last checkup before they left for Sacramento.

To his annoyance, Lisbon had promised the doctor to take Jane to the hospital when they arrived in California's capital.

Although Jane declared he wouldn't take the pain meds, he'd caught Lisbon mixing him some into his tea one time. After she gave him her explanation, he couldn't even be mad with her, so from that moment, he took them in her presence, knowing she only wanted the best for him.

On their last evening in San Diego, Jane took her out to a small casual restaurant where they had delicious seafood with a nice piece "Death Of Chocolate" afterwards. Jane knew it was Lisbon's favourite, and although she was still complaining she would get fat if he continued taking her out to so many nice places and making her have the most delicious food, she ate her piece in no time.

Afterwards, Jane paid a cab to bring them to the beach close to Carmel Valley, where they'd met one morning. It was their first time together at the beach as a couple, which made the visit a little more magic than it already was.

The sun was about to go down and dipping the dunes into a golden light.

"It looks like the sea only exists out of crystals… Thank you for the nice evening, Patrick", she whispered and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Jane wrapped his uninjured arm around her small frame, kissing the top of her head. "I must thank you for the lovely company, my dear. It wouldn't have been half as fun without you."

They went along the beach, until they reached the place where they'd met last week, when Lisbon came back from her run and Jane used his free time to surf.

The agent gasped, as she saw a blanket lying on the ground close to the water, on it a basket with a bottle of champagne and a long white surfboard. "What is this, Patrick?"

"A little surprise for you for your last evening here", the consultant answered and sat down on the blanket, pulling the brunette with him.

Lisbon giggled, strapping off her sandals. "This is beautiful… I can't believe we have to leave in the morning… Time went by so fast and so much happened… I mean look at us!"

"You know… I bought this house for real; we can always come back if you want us to. But we can also go and visit other places. Just tell me where you want to go and I'll take you there, Teresa. The East Coast, New York, Miami… France, Italy, Spain… We can do everything we want."

Lisbon smiled sweetly at him. It sounded so promising but yet so naive. She didn't know what would happen once they got back to Sacramento. With Red John and everything…

"Stop thinking so hard, my love", Jane said and opened the bottle of champagne. "I mean what I say and after all what happened I know I want you. I want nothing but you and I promise you everything is going to be all right. We don't have to tell anyone at work if you don't want to, although I'd love to see their faces. Did you know we had a pool on us?"

"No way!", Lisbon gasped a little embarrassed.

"Oh yes, dear. Cho's got quite the money on us, the old romantic. Still, I don't ever want to give this up again, Teresa. I came here with the destination to win your heart and…" Oops, he shouldn't have said that.

"You did what?!", Lisbon asked, her eyes widened. "Are you really telling me you came here with the goal to get me into bed?"

This made him laugh: "No, I did not come here to get you into bed, although I've thought about it…"

She hit him, hard. Not that he hadn't deserved this, but she'd managed to catch his injured shoulder, so he winced in pain. "Oh my god, Patrick I'm so sorry…"

"It's okay, I deserved it. I just… I love you, Teresa and I will do anything, you hear me? Anything to make you happy."

"Would you even give up Red John?", she asked without looking. Jane got very silent, staring at her and then at the sea. Would he even give up Red John for her? She was his chance to get a new life, the life Angela would have wanted him to have. Since he got her, he was truly happy.

"I…"

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked that. I know you can't give him up, but I don't want our relationship to suffer because of him."

He grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently: "I can't promise you to give him up. I owe it to Angela and Charlotte, but I can promise you that he won't be the centre of my life anymore from now on. Please don't get me wrong, I want to get him and I'm sure you already got a target on your back because of me. But you will always come first, Teresa, okay? Do you think you can live with that?"

"Yes", she whispered.

He pulled her closer to seal his promise with a kiss, that heated up too quickly. Although he'd love to, he wasn't in the condition to have a quickie at the beach. They'd do it next time.

Lisbon took a sip of her champagne, before her gaze fell on the white surf board that was resting on the sand next to the blanket. "So… what is this for?"

"I'm glad you asked, my dear. Here." He opened the basket and took out a green bikini he eyes him suspiciously, before she too the two pieces of fabric and raised an eyebrow. "Take them on", Jane encouraged her grinning.

"Where?"

"Oh please, Teresa. No one is here and I've already seen you naked – a very pleasant sight if you want to know."

"So, where are your swim shorts?"

"Right under here", the consultant answered and stood up, to take his trousers off. Afterwards he unbuttoned his shirt and let it glide down his strong arm muscles to the ground. He could see Lisbon's pupil dilating hungrily, but he nodded towards the bikini in her hand. "Come on, otherwise we'll miss the rest of the dawn."

Lisbon made it a torture for him to watch her undress. She took her clothes of so slowly and erotically he had a hard time to not just take her there on the blanket. Darn it, he couldn't, not here! After she got rid of her t-shirt, she pretended to rub little corns of sand from her breast and stomach, which made Jane growl.

"Please, woman, stop the torture!"

"May I remind you that you were the one to ask me to undress?", she asked with a wink, before she carefully put the upper part of her bikini on.

Together, they carried the surf board into the water, until it was about hip deep. Then Jane asked her to hop onto the board and sat down, following her with a little bit more effort, since it wasn't easy to get up with just one arm to use. They paddles farer away from the beach, until it felt like they were just surrounded by water, the only thing in front of them was the glittering sea and the down going sun.

"It's beautiful", Lisbon whispered, leaning backwards against his chest. He tried to not think about the pain that shout through his shoulder, but about the woman in his arms.

"Take it in", he asked her, "The view, the salty smell and the sound of the sea. Can you feel it?"

"Yes I can… I can fell the water around my legs, taste the salt on my lips… and hear your heart beat."

"Good", the consultant said, "I want you to remember this forever…" The moment was so magical and unique, it felt like they were the two only people left in the world.

"I will. I love you, Patrick."

"I love you too, Teresa… Oh my God, what's that?", Jane called, pointing towards the ocean, where a grey dorsal fin was coming close to them.

"Shit. It's a shark, Jane, it's a… We gotta get back to the beach Jane, otherwise…" Just then, the grey animal jumped out of the water, making a funny noise and splashed with its tail fin. "Oh."

The consultant burst out in laughter. "You're an idiot", Lisbon screamed, turning around and shoving him off the board. Jane let her and landed in the water, still laughing and steadying himself with one hand.

"You knew this was a dolphin all along!"

"Yes. But it was funny to see your face when you thought we were attacked by a shark. Come on, pull me up."

"You know what Jane?", she said, her voice more than annoyed, "I think you can swim back to the beach on your own. I don't care if there's really a shark out there and eats you. You deserve it!"

With this, she started to paddle the board towards the beach, leaving Jane out in the ocean.

"Oh Teresa! You know I can't swim with my injured arm. Teresa…? Lisbon…? Hey? Please? Come back!"

The agent rolled her eyes, an amused grin on her face. It wasn't this far to the beach, but Jane was injured and she didn't want to risk anything, so she moved back to him. "Come on, you damsel in distress, let's get you out of here."

Laughing, she helped him to get back on the board and together, they paddled back to the beach, into a new future.

A/N: here we are... I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did :) I'd appreciate if you told me in a review whether you log in or not. Thanks guys and take care :)
P.S. I already have another story in planning, so if you like AU and fluff, you should watch out for it! You can also follow me on twitter (glindaloveshoes) or tumblr (glindalovesshoes) for updates on The Mentalist, my writing or sharing theories about Red John and everything :)

Liefs Glinda