"Boss!"

"Gun!"

"Lisbon get down!"

The yells from her teammates came a split second too late as Lisbon felt a white hot pain rip through her stomach. Their voices, all swirling together in shouts of concern and fear, were the last thing she heard before she lost consciousness.

Beep. beepbeep. Beep. beepbeep.

The noise hovered at the edge of her brain, growing louder and louder every minute. Lisbon swatted around uselessly in an attempt to shut it off, but without opening her eyes, she was unsuccessful.

Everything was fuzzy. Her head felt stuffed full of cotton, and her body felt sluggish and heavy. But not painful. More like she was moving through syrup. Every thought, every motion was slow and took more energy and planning than it should.

She slowly pried open her eyes one at a time. Ugh, too bright! Lisbon scrunched up her face in displeasure and groaned as she tried opening her eyes again, but slower this time.

"Boss?" The soft voice came from her right. She turned to see a run down but very pleased redhead stretching in an uncomfortable looking chair. "You're awake! Oh thank God! We were so worried, but the doctor said you're going to be just fine now, you just need lots of rest so you can recover."

Lisbon gave her best approximation of a grin, which was really more of an enthusiastic grimace but the intention was there. "Right, recover. Why 'm doin' that, again? And what's your name….no, I have it. It's...Ace. You're Ace. 'Cause you're a good….whatever we do…."

The redheaded woman chuckled and looked away. "The nurse mentioned you might be pretty out of it when you woke up. You had surgery because you got shot in the side. A suspect pulled a gun and we didn't have vests. It was so fast, and no one expected it. It was a clean shot, through and through, but you lost some blood, so they had to take you to surgery right away." The woman, who quickly reintroduced herself as Van Pelt, went through the rest of her questions, including mentioning that the rest of their team was out getting food and stretching their legs.

Van Pelt - Lisbon felt so foolish for forgetting. How could she forget her rookie agent!- leaned forward and squeezed Lisbon's hand as she spoke. She noticed the watery look in Van Pelt's eyes, her gaze darting to Lisbon's midsection almost without realizing, and her attempts to subtly wipe at her face without drawing attention to it. Lisbon reached up with her other hand and wiped at the remaining tear tracks on Grace's face.

Or, she tried. But her aim was off slightly and the motion ended up being more of a gentle-and clumsy- pat to the temple. But it made Van Pelt smile and let out a watery laugh, so it must have been good enough.

"Awww you were worried 'bout me, Vam Pelch that's cute. You're cute." Lisbon kept clumsily patting Van Pelt's head but quickly found herself distracted by the junior agent's hair. "And your hair is so soft."

Van Pelt grinned. "Wow, they've got you on the good drugs, huh boss?"

Lisbon's eyes went wide. "Grace, 'm not on drugs! We work for the gov-the govermnenm-we're cops! That's illegal!" Her eyes started to water as she worked herself up. "They could fire me! I love my job! Grace I don't want to do drugs!" Tears running down her face, Lisbon contemplated her fate if her boss found out she was on drugs. Van Pelt schooled her face into a more serious expression and wiped away her boss's tears.

"It's okay! You're not in trouble- you're in the hospital, recovering from surgery. I shouldn't have said drugs, I just meant they have you on strong painkillers. You don't have to do drugs, I promise," she swore, though she may have giggled a little as she did.

A wave of exhaustion crashed over Lisbon making it nearly impossible to keep her eyes open any longer, no matter how hard she fought. She muttered a reply to Van Pelt as she drifted off: "Maybe just once 'kay? But don't tell, shhhhh."

The next time Lisbon woke up, her world felt a little less hazy. She experimentally moved her fingers, lifting her hands to test her ability to control her movement. Thankfully, her motor control was better- it didn't feel like trying to move her limbs through thick syrup or against the tide of the ocean the way it did before. But something about her hands felt….wrong. She stared as she flexed her fingers, turning her hands over in front of her face. It was there, just out of reach of her mind, but she couldn't grasp it.

A noise by the doorway pulled her attention from her examination of her hands. Now that she had Lisbon's attention, the nurse standing at the door walked in and smiled.

"It's nice to see you up and alert, Agent Lisbon. You gave us all quite a scare for a while!" She took note of Lisbon's vitals from the machines by her bed and wrote them in the chart in her hands. Her eyes stopped on the vase of flowers on the small bedside table- a small but lovely bundle of blue violets, jasmine, and forget-me-nots. Lisbon followed her gaze and stared at the flowers with wide eyes. "Such a thoughtful bouquet from your husband. Not many men would take the time to learn the meaning behind the flowers and put something together like that! Doesn't hurt that he's so handsome, either!"

Lisbon choked on her breath. Husband?! Her eyes flew to her left hand without thought. No ring. That must be why her hands felt wrong.

The nurse misinterpreted her alarm as concern for her ring and rushed to put her at ease. "Your husband has your ring, hon. We took it off before going into surgery and he was right there with you, insistent he would keep it safe until you woke up."

Lisbon frantically scanned the rest of the room and the doorway for any signs of her supposed husband, but she found a whole pile of coats and things in the chair by the door. She breathed out in some relief. It must be the team's stuff.

The nurse watched her with a grin. "Oh don't worry, Agent. He'll be back any minute now. We've had to damn near drag him out a few times to send him to get something to eat and get cleaned up with the promise he would be called as soon as you were awake. Terrified you would be alone. You found a good one," she reassured.

Lisbon sat with the strange idea as her nurse left the room. A husband? She didn't remember anything about a husband; in fact, she didn't much care to see this stranger yet. She was exhausted and groggy and there was only one person she really wanted to-

Jane.

As soon as she thought the name, he appeared in her doorway, eyes traveling over her quickly, reassuring himself she was alright and awake and here.

God, Jane was HOT. It wasn't fair for him to stand there looking like….that….when she's married and can't act on her thoughts.

Jane's eyes lit up and his grin was practically splitting his face. "Well that's some welcome, my dear. You have no idea how glad I am to see you conscious again."

Lisbon smiled as he took a seat next to her bed and covered her left hand with his own, absentmindedly stroking the back of her hand. His touch ran lightly over her fourth finger, in just the spot where her ring would have sat, and Lisbon shivered, watching Jane as he sat, seemingly content to simply look at her and sit in their closeness.

Lisbon felt the tears in her eyes and the lump rising in her throat before she could even explain the feeling that had come over her as a result of their peaceful scene.

She wanted, so badly, for the ring on that finger to be Jane's. She loved him so much.

No sooner than she had thought it, Jane tightened his grip on her hand and looked in her eyes, smiling. "You love me so much you want to marry me, huh? Well, that's certainly nice to hear."

Sheep dip.

Lisbon froze, eyes wide. "How did you- you're not-" she stumbled over her words, desperately trying to find exactly what she wanted to say in her drugged mind. "You can ACTUALLY read minds?! All this time?!"

Oh God, this was bad. If Jane could actually read her mind then he knew….everything. Every dirty thought she'd ever had about him. How much she loved those vests. That she didn't actually hate all his stupid stunts and even found some of them charming. How much she wanted to kiss him when he did that stupid thing with his face. Which he happened to be doing right now. No! Stop thinking incrinimanin-incriminaning-things that will get you in trouble!

The glee on Jane's face was undeniable and clear even in Lisbon's drugged state. "You like to think incriminating thoughts involving me, Teresa? About me and my vests?"

"No Jane, stop reading my mind! It's not fair! You said you couldn't so I let my guard down! Now you're using it against me!"

Jane chuckled and took pity on Lisbon, who looked like she was going to try and make an escape from the hospital bed, drugs in her system be damned, just to get away from his supposed powers. "It's hardly reading your mind when you're saying your every thought out loud, Lisbon. Like I said before, I can't actually read your mind. You're just speaking without any filters and didn't realize it." He kissed the back of her hand before clasping it between his own. "And it's only because I'm such a kind, caring, and truly magnanimous person that I'm not keeping up the pretense that I can read your mind because really, this is an opportunity I'm going to regret wasting."

Lisbon eyed Jane warily. "So you still can't read minds?" Jane shook his head with a smirk. "And I said all that about thinking you're…..you know….out loud?"

"The nurses are undoubtedly right outside the door listening in to the soap opera level entertainment it's provided."

"Oh fuck."

A loud bray of laughter burst from Jane, who was surprised by Lisbon's sudden, and vocal, profanity. As he turned to grab the cup of tea hidden behind the vase of flowers on the table, Jane's hand came to rest on top of her blanket covered knee. Lisbon jerked in surprise, and Jane turned back to her, tea forgotten, looking concerned. "Did I hurt you? Are you alright?"

She gaped at Jane. What was he doing?! Her head was swimming, from the drugs or the high of Jane's constant touches she wasn't sure but either way she was having an increasingly difficult time with coherent thought.

"The nurse said I'm married, Jane. That my husband brought in these flowers. And you're just…..touching me like that and making me forget how to think and breathe and, and, just-" Lisbon gestured frantically before finally grabbing Jane's face and squishing his cheeks forward with her hand. "-doing that stupid thing with your stupidly kissable face and it's not fair!" Lisbon pouted.

"This is just my face, Teresa. It's always this stupidly kissable," Jane mumbled as his face was still squished. He gently lowered her hand, eyes twinkling, and softly kissed her palm.

"Jane," she softly admonished, eyes watery. She lifted her left hand to gesture again but the sight of a ring on her fourth finger drove all other thoughts out of her head. "When did-? But the nurse said….How did this get here?" Her eyes searched Jane's face for answers.

"Well, my dear, I put it there. Just now and the day I married you. I have to say, it's a definite bruise to my ego you don't remember, but your very vocal attraction to me in your drugged up state nearly makes up for the sting to my pride."

Lisbon's mind worked overtime trying to process Jane's revelation. She was married to Jane? Her eyes flew back and forth between her ring and Jane's face, sorting through the shock and confusion she felt. But beneath it all, this somehow felt….right? The uncomfortable, anxious weight that had taken up residence in the pit of her stomach when she learned she was married had disappeared and in its place was something lighter, something like...relief? Contentment? Happiness? A grin slowly spread across her face. Yes, happiness.

She grabbed Jane's hand, tangling their fingers together. As she stared at their intertwined hands, she giggled softly. Married. To Jane.

Suddenly, Lisbon was struck by a realization. "Wait!" She yelped, tugging their hands apart. Before Jane could express the concern written on his face, she rushed on. The realization was important, and it really couldn't wait.

"We're married! That means I can kiss you! Jane why didn't you say anything?!" Lisbon's distress grew with every word and Jane's poorly concealed laughter did nothing to soothe her.

"No need to pout, Lisbon dear," Jane murmured as he tucked a few strands of wayward hair behind her ear.

"I'm not pouting," she interrupted, visibly pouting. He ignored her and continued.

"Feel free to make up for the lost opportunities whenever you want, starting now." Leaning down, he placed a sweet kiss first on her lips and then on her forehead.

She tried to look at Jane with a cross expression, but the effect was ruined by the small smile that continued to stubbornly tug at the corners of her lips. A yawn interrupted her before she could respond.

"On second thought, starting after sleep a bit more."

"I'm not even that tired Jane." Lisbon tried to argue. She was rendered quite ineffective by a second, larger yawn as soon as she finished speaking.

"Of course you're not, just like I'm actually a by-the-books boring cop who never solves a case."

Lisbon frowned. "You're not a cop. Or by-the-books."

Jane just smiled. "Sleep, my dear. I want to take a nap and you're keeping me up."

Lisbon woke again a day later feeling sore and generally run down, but the persistent fuzzy feeling in her head was finally gone and she could think clearly again.

The first thing she noticed was Jane seemingly asleep in the chair by her bed, bent over with his head on her thigh and one of his hands on hers. A frame of some sort was sticking out from under his suit jacket on the table.

"Jane?

"Jane, are you awake?"

With a groan and some very unpleasant sounding popping noises, Jane sat up quickly and smiled seeing Lisbon awake and fully alert.

"Welcome back, dear." He reached behind himself to grab his jacket, pulling out their framed marriage certificate. "I thought this time I should bring proof, just in case you forgot I was your husband again and got upset about not being able to kiss me." He beamed, proud of himself.

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Good, now I have the receipt so I can finally return you." Her pride was not so easily fixed as the wound in her side. "You claim you can't read minds, but what am I thinking right now?" Her glare was more than expressive enough for Jane to infer from.

"I'm sorry, Teresa. It really was just too good to resist.

"I was sick with worry until the nurse told me you were alright and had woken up- they had to threaten me with security to force me away from your bedside more than once." Lisbon's ire instantly faded, her heart instead aching as she thought of what Jane had gone through while she was unconscious.

"I can think of how you can make it up to me," she said, taking Jane's hand and instinctively interlocking their fingers.

"Oh?"

"I believe you said something about making up for lost opportunities? You could start with that."

Jane pressed a long kiss to her lips, resting his forehead against hers when he pulled away. "Happily."