They all agreed. They would hold the cards close to the vest here, make Newman think everything was still going according to plan. Matt called his mechanic at the airfield and told him to get the Lear Jet ready for a long flight and that he would file a flight plan once he arrived. Hoyt agreed he would arrive with the police about 20 minutes late and be loud when he left the department so the press would follow, keeping only Det. Warren in the loop about what was going on and Seth made sure his contacts in the Cayman Islands would be there waiting to help.

Hoyt and Seth left Matt and C.J. in the penthouse, they had a court hearing to stop. They figured that the two needed to wait until later that night to sneak her on the jet before he made his great escape for the press. That left them with the rest of the day to be together. He called security to tell them absolutely no one gets up to the penthouse unless he called ahead himself and then turned back to C.J. Finally, he could tell her everything that was on his heart and there would be no interruptions this time. He wasn't wasting any more time.

First thing Matt did was close all the blinds. C.J. sat down on the couch and patted for him to join her. The entire time, since she had been in that penthouse, she hadn't returned his "I love you". She wanted to make sure he knew, she loved him more than anything. The revelations he made the night before when he saw her standing in there with that pizza overwhelmed her. The comments he made didn't make a whole lot of sense, but she figured he had been drinking. Still, it seemed like he knew every fear she ever had and was trying to allay each one, in between the most amazing kisses, that is.

He sat down beside her, facing her and took each hand in his own, bringing them to his lips and he kissed them. "I love you so much….I don't think I'm ever gonna say that enough now, even if I say it over and over again…god, C.J., I love you so much." He kissed her again, slower this time, not slipping his tongue inside right away, but soon enough, his hands on her face. He broke their kiss for only a second to say "I want you in every way…my partner in this agency and my partner in my life." He kissed her again and started back down her neck.

She broke their embrace and she asked him, "Partners in life? Where did you get that?"

Matt looked up at the ceiling for a moment, Uh oh, he thought. He knew why he read her journals last night. He needed her, he needed some way to connect to her and they were his only link, but he knew she was not going to be happy knowing he took her most intimate of thoughts and brazenly read through each one.

So he closed his eyes for a second, then looked into hers which were telling him he probably was going to regret telling her the truth, but he knew he could make her understand so he started, staring straight into her eyes….

"C.J., when I got to your house, they didn't want to let me inside….Hoyt tried to hold me back, but I saw your bedroom. I saw the ropes and I saw the blood and I didn't think I was going to make it out…I didn't think….I…..I couldn't feel you anymore. I could always feel you, sense your presence even if we were continents apart, but I couldn't feel you. All I felt was cold." He said as he started to get choked up again.

C.J. put her hands on his chest and softly reassured him she was still there and to go on.

He continued, "They led me out and took me down to the…the…morgue" he closed his eyes. He opened them and kept going, "I just stood there thinking 'no, no, how…how is this happening? I just had you, just had you in my arms not 2 hours ago.' Hoyt took me in and I felt like he stabbed me in the chest when I saw you lying there….the bruises, the burns on your neck from that damn rope….I grabbed on to you, screaming your name when they had to pull me off. After I woke up from the sedation I made Uncle Roy bring me here. I needed to feel connected to you in some way. The pain, C.J. it was the most intense pain I have ever felt in my life…..I found myself in your office, I don't even remember walking in there….I could still smell your perfume" he looked down and gave a small chuckle through the tears, "I saw your signature on that stack of papers I had Murray bring up that morning….I ran my fingers over it….that's when I saw the drawer open and your journals….I know you're probably going to be mad at me for reading them, but C.J. I needed you more in that moment than I have ever needed anyone in my life. And there wasn't a thing in there you could ever feel like needing to keep from me…I love you, all of you, every thought, every word, everything. I love all that you are."

He took a deep breath and continued, "And I will be more than happy to share anything you want to know about me with you…we could start with the reason I bumped into you that first week you were at my school when I was 10….I was late for class and my daddy said if I was tardy one more time I would have to feed the pigs for a month….or in high school when I told almost the entire male population to stay away from you….or" and he took a deep breath again, "how much I thought about you when we were apart in college and then when I went to Vietnam….I told Will I was going to marry you, in fact it was one of the first things he asked me when I found him last year, if we ever got married….I just couldn't deal with losing him there, like that…" he continued as she put her hands on his. "Then, when I left to get away and fell in love and got engaged later…I know that relationship didn't last that long. When I lost her, I didn't think I could go on, but you, you helped me through all that even though I pushed you away…."

"I'll tell you anything you want to know, everything….how I could barely breathe when Castanos had you or Duval….how the earth stood still when for a split second I thought you died when I turned away for only a moment on the Peg Allison case….how I couldn't get to you fast enough when Dean came back and I got that call from you or when you went missing in Arizona, or how much I needed you when Bill died..." He looked down for a minute, "how you held me when I told you I was adopted, when my friend committed suicide, when I thought Vince Novelli was going to die…you have always been there for me….and even though I knew you could handle yourself in Lake Etah I was still packed and planned to head up there when you called that night….I said a silent 'thank you' when we left the police station after Connie died because you had me get the phone and we went together, because if you had gone alone, that shooter might have shot you then…" He took her in his arms for a minute and he knew what he had to say next.

He broke their embrace and looked into her eyes, "I also remember all the times you put me on the mat, all the times you chastised me for putting myself in danger…cases like the one a couple of months ago when we were held hostage in that restaurant, I knew you could handle yourself…I know you can take care of yourself….and I know those journals were private, but my reality was it wasn't enough to stop Robert…but I can't let fear decide how I live my life and I've already waited too long to be with you."

C.J. sat there, stunned, a little angry that he didn't feel the need to respect her privacy, but more than all of that she felt his love for her. She kissed him, almost as intensely as she did when she first walked in that penthouse last night. She broke the kiss and only got out, "I love you, I've waited so long, I've loved you so long" and then they kissed again. This time, with her arms around his neck and his hands around his waist, he moved over her, laying her back on the couch. He wanted her so bad, she wanted him so bad….too bad they both heard the elevator again.

He told her to stay down as he slowly looked over the edge, just in case it was someone connected to Newman. It wasn't though, it was a very exhausted looking Uncle Roy.

Matt said, "Uncle Roy I…" but before he could say anything else, the look on his Uncle's face made him think he was having a heart attack. "Uncle Roy, are you alright?" he said rushing over to him with concern.

Roy walked slowly past him , "C.J., C.J. is that… is that…really you?" She got up and went right over to him and hugged him as he started to cry. "How?" he asked and then he steeled himself, he had been in these types of covert operations before and he was sure mad. "You two, you two set something like this up and you didn't tell me!"

Matt quickly said, "Uncle Roy, no…well at least I didn't…" oh that got a look from C.J. but he continued anyway, "No, look Uncle Roy,… Robert attacked C.J. yesterday and he did almost kill her" Roy looked back at her again and then back at Matt. "But a friend of hers in the U.S. Marshal's Office found her in time and staged her death with a toxin to protect her. Its complicated, but it has to do with a case both us and the Marshal's Office are working on."

Roy seemed to digest that, "Ok, well first things first, C.J….I'm pretty sure I've had that toxin myself, how's the head feeling?"

C.J. looked shocked but stuttered out, "Fine, well fine now, but when I woke up, well it was worse than any hangover I ever had."

Roy nodded his head, "It wears off soon enough, the numbing feeling in your mouth though takes a little longer."

Matt thought to himself, it did seem to take that long for her mouth to warm up. He smiled and looked down to cover it.

"Look, I came over because your airplane mechanic said you called him frantic about having to get away, and well, I thought you might very well be losing control. I've never seen anything like I saw yesterday from you."

Matt patted him on the back and walked him over to the wet bar, "Uncle Roy you have nothing to worry about, C.J. and I were just about to take a little trip."

Roy looked confused, "Trip? What are you thinkin boy? Don't you have a case you should probably finish first?"

Matt put his arm around C.J. "Yes, yes we do, but we need to take this little trip to the Caribbean first to do just that, and we might just stay a few extra days when we're done. We have some time to make up for." He bent over and gave her another scorching hot kiss. He just couldn't resist kissing her again even though he knew they both were going to hear, 'I told you so' for the rest of their lives, Matt didn't care about that all he cared about was her.