Author's Note: Writing is going pretty slowly at the moment, but here's the next chapter! As always, thank you to my biggest cheerleaders, Ansku and Camila. And thank you to the guest reviewer who went through the whole fic recently, leaving reviews every few chapters - you definitely made a crappy month a little bit brighter, because that was a lot of reviewy goodness! I can't tell you how much that meant to me. :)

"Jane? Kurt's in the locker room. I think he could do with a hug." Nas leaned against her desk, looking sombre.

Alarm surging through her, Jane immediately put down the pencil she'd been using to decode one of Shepherd's documents.

"Is he all right? What happened?" she demanded.

"I'll let him tell you himself. But I think you should go see him." Nas touched Jane's arm gently, and Jane stifled her instinct to grab the woman's wrist.

Calm down. This place is safe. No one's gonna attack you out of the blue in Patterson's lab.

This isn't the compound.

"Thanks," she said, hoping Nas hadn't noticed her irrational fight-or-flight response. "I'll go check on him."

She took the trip from the lab to SIOC at a swift walk, knowing she'd attract unwanted attention if she outright ran to Kurt's side. I shouldn't have been so quick to get upset before. Is that what's bothering him?

Jane pushed open the door to the locker room and found Kurt standing at the washbasins, bracing his arms against the counter, his head bowed. He straightened almost guiltily as she came in, but she'd glimpsed the moment of raw pain just before he'd hidden it.

"Hey," he said, looking concerned. "You okay?"

He's still worrying about me, even though he's struggling right now.

Jane wrapped her arms around him and held on tight, unsure how to answer. He let out his breath in a slow sigh, pulling her closer, holding her for long, comforting moments.

"I'm so sorry about earlier," Jane murmured against his shoulder, breaking their emotional silence.

"Me, too. I should have handled it better." His lips brushed the top of her head. "What are you doing in here?"

"Nas told me you needed a hug." Unwilling to let him go completely, she pulled back only far enough to look up into his face. "What happened?"

He gave her a rueful smile. "Remind me to thank her later."

Jane raised her eyebrows, a wordless, emphatic repetition of her query. After a second, he sighed and relented. "We went to give the news to the family. Marie Morris' family."

She swallowed the thick, choking shame that had threatened to overwhelm her earlier. "You went yourself?"

"I owed it to them. And to you." From the pain in his eyes when he met hers, it had been a difficult meeting—not that it could ever have been easy.

"Thank you. It must have been awful." She bit down on the urge to ask for details—he didn't need to retell it, and she would gain nothing from hearing about the family's outpouring of grief.

"We did what we had to do." He shrugged. "I took Nas along. We were the taskforce leaders, so the responsibility was ours."

No, it was mine. And Shepherd's, not that I'd let her anywhere near the family.

"I'm sorry I couldn't go myself. It would have made things worse, I guess."

"Yeah." He straightened a little, pulling himself together. "Anyway, now it's done. They don't have to wait and wonder if they'll ever see her again. They can…start to process the truth."

Oh, Kurt. His mind was clearly on his own experience with missing persons—with Taylor Shaw, who'd been dead for twenty-five years by the time he'd found her body.

"What can I do to help you feel better?" she asked, hating how helpless she felt.

"You're doing it." His smile was sad, but genuine. "Just knowing you're here is enough."

Jane rested her head on his shoulder again, hugging him close. "I'm not going anywhere, Kurt. And this wasn't your fault."

The locker room door opened to admit Zapata, and they reluctantly drew apart.

"Hey. Hirst said you can take the rest of the day off, both of you." Her tone was firm, but Jane could tell their friend was resigned to an argument.

"But I had the morning off," she pointed out. "I've been here two hours, if that."

"And I have a mountain of paperwork to do," Kurt said.

"Okay, now we've gotten the token arguments out of the way, turn around. Face the mirror." Zapata came over to stand beside them, indicating their reflections.

Both Kurt and Jane frowned at the mirror, looking from each other to Zapata. "What?" Kurt asked.

Tasha rolled her eyes. "You are both exhausted. You can barely stand up straight." As both of them straightened defensively, she rolled her eyes. "Hirst knows you're running on fumes, and she said it's better if you take a few extra hours off today than working until you collapse, then needing a month or two off to recover."

It was hard to argue with the truth—no one who looked at them could fail to see the signs of stress they were both showing, the main clue being the dark shadows beneath their eyes. Jane couldn't deny that she'd welcome the rest of the day off, even though her stubborn side insisted that she could be useful here, and that she could handle the strain.

"But with Pellington gone—" Kurt protested.

"Hirst, Reade and I can put out any fires that come up. Anything that can wait until later in the week, you can deal with then. Just go home, you guys, please. No offence, but it's giving me anxiety just looking at you."

"I have less than a week to convince the CIA not to put Shepherd in a black site, so I—" Jane tried.

"You can't do anything about that until Nas gets you a meeting with the right people. What are you gonna do in the meantime—stare at Shepherd while she says nothing? She's not gonna talk, Jane."

Jane shrugged, a little stung by the tactless retort, though it was nothing but the truth.

Zapata sighed. "If you won't go home for yourselves, at least do it for each other. Or for everyone out there in SIOC, who need to feel like you've got things under control. Today you're not exactly projecting an image of strength. It's making everyone nervous."

Jane could pinpoint the moment that Kurt decided to relent, and hid a smile. He'd battle on through anything as long as it didn't affect anyone else, but if it was better for Jane, and for the rest of his people, he'd rest.

"Fine. But tell Hirst I'll be back first thing tomorrow morning."

Zapata nodded. "I will. Now, go. Take care of each other."

Kurt looked at Jane with a slight smile. "Yes, ma'am."

The sensation of fingertips skimming over his face brought Kurt's slumbering mind back to consciousness, and he smiled without opening his eyes. Jane. She's home.

This was their third day back together, but he still had to mentally pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He opened his eyes to find Jane gazing at him, her face just a few inches from his. The love and concern in her eyes stole his breath. He was the luckiest man on the planet, to have a woman like Jane by his side.

She returned his smile as she registered he was awake. "Sorry I woke you."

"I'm not." He leaned over to give her a lazy kiss, relieved that their argument from earlier seemed to be forgiven and forgotten, on both sides. "What time is it?"

Jane lifted her head from the pillow, looking past him to the digital clock's readout at the side of the bed. "Still about an hour before we have to get ready to pick Roman up," she reported, returning to her original position. "You can go back to sleep if you need to."

They'd gravitated towards the bedroom as soon as they'd arrived home, wearily stripping out of most of their clothing and taking refuge from the world under the blankets. Kurt had fallen asleep almost immediately, as though his brain needed to reboot, to erase the grief-stricken face of Marie Morris' mother from his mind's eye.

The memory flickered through his thoughts again, but now it was easier to ignore. He concentrated on the present moment, banishing the guilt. "Did you sleep?" he asked.

"Yeah, for an hour or so."

Relieved, he brushed a lock of hair clear of her eye. "Good."

God, I'm so glad she's home. It was probably the hundredth time he'd thought it this week, and it was only Wednesday.

Something akin to wonder dawned on Jane's face, warm and beautiful—but then the emotion seemed to recede as quickly as it had appeared, and she closed her eyes, leaving him feeling as though he'd missed something important.

"Where did you just go?" he asked softly.

She opened her eyes once again, and though he tried to read her, it was impossible to get a sense of what she was thinking. "It doesn't matter."

"Does to me."

She bit her lip, indecisive, before capitulating. "I just thought… The way you look at me sometimes, it reminds me of how you used to look at me, before we found out I wasn't Taylor. I know it's not the same, but my brain just…made that leap."

Kurt took a moment to process the words, the unexpected mention of Taylor making his heart ache. He pushed through the familiar grief, focusing on Jane's comparison, not on the loss of the friend he'd loved so dearly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad." Jane's expression grew guilty.

"You didn't. He did."

Dispelling thoughts of his father from his mind, he gazed at the woman who now meant everything to him. Since their separation, Taylor had been far from his thoughts. The case, and his own hidden history with Shepherd, had featured heavily, but every spare moment had been consumed by fear for Jane's safety, just as it had been for Taylor, all those years ago. Taylor had always been beyond help, but Jane…

Unlike Taylor, Jane really had come back to him, and there were moments he couldn't believe it was true. Part of him had been braced for the worst, the whole time she'd been undercover, and he was still adjusting to reality, now she was home.

"You're right," he said. "It wasn't for twenty-five years, but there was a part of me that had to believe you weren't coming home, just in case you didn't. Now that you're back, sometimes I think I must be dreaming."

"I know that feeling," Jane admitted, her voice almost a whisper.

Unable to help himself, he kissed her, reminding her without words that this was real—that they were real. Jane was close enough that he could feel the ripple of pleasure that passed through her as she kissed him back, just as softly.

She pulled away after a moment, her voice taking on the lazy huskiness that always revealed her arousal. "You know, this will be the last time we'll be alone in the apartment until Roman leaves."

"We should probably make the most of it." His body was way ahead of him, his pulse speeding as his cock began to stir.

"Think we can have enough fun to keep us going until after the weekend?"

Frowning at the idea of abstaining that long, he asked, "You don't think we can be sneaky?"

Jane laughed. "Do you really want to take the chance, and risk making things awkward?"

She had a point, but as she slid her hand into his underwear, he couldn't help but try to convince her. "We could be quiet."

She didn't try to hide her teasing scepticism as she began to stroke his cock. "Okay, show me."

He swallowed a groan at the pleasure her touch brought, already knowing it was hopeless. Still, he couldn't help but rise to her challenge, in more ways than one. "You're on."

Before he could kiss her, Jane slipped down under the blankets, trailing kisses down his chest as she went. Anticipation tightened his muscles as his imagination skipped ahead. It had been over a month since she'd last gone down on him.

Ah, fuck… Her mouth was warm, and wet, and irresistible. He bit back a growl of encouragement, kicking away the bedcovers that prevented him from watching her suck his cock. Quiet. I can do quiet.

Amusement gleamed in her eyes as she looked up at him, as though she knew how much he wanted to moan her name. She fluttered her tongue against the underside of the head, and he felt the effects of the tease right down to his toes. God, yeah…

She hummed a short laugh around his cock, and he realised he'd spoken aloud, despite his best intentions. "Damn it."

A long, spine-tingling suck later, she lifted her head enough to speak. "In your defence, you were pretty quiet for about ninety seconds, there."

Despite the pleasure he knew she would continue to give him if he let the comment pass, the alternative was just too hot to pass up. "You think you can do better?"

She stroked up his shaft slowly, as though she wasn't sure she wanted to be dissuaded from her current activity. But something in his face seemed to sway her, as though she could tell how much her struggle for silence would turn him on, and she sat up. "I know I can."

He pulled her up into a heated, needy kiss, already tugging up her shirt. Jane didn't break the kiss as she stripped from the waist down, only drawing back enough to allow him to get rid of her tank top. She gasped against his lips when he stroked between her thighs, but didn't vocalise her pleasure.

Kurt toppled her to the bed, trailing hungry kisses down her neck, then lower, his lips tracing a route he knew by heart. Jane's breath caught as he parted her legs and nuzzled her inner thigh.

Sensing her impatience, and conscious of the time remaining before they had to leave for the hospital, he didn't keep her waiting. Her hand rested on his head as she shifted her hips up to meet his mouth. He tasted her, savouring her familiar flavour, before seeking her clit with the tip of his tongue.

Where usually she'd give a soft murmur of appreciation, now there was nothing but stubborn silence, and he wanted to laugh at the way she'd seized the gauntlet he'd thrown down. It reminded him of their sparring matches in the gym—each of them determined, breathless, the atmosphere between them charged with mutual attraction.

When they sparred, Jane could best him nine times out of ten, her superior training tipping the scales in her favour—but here, in their bed, Kurt knew he had the advantage. He'd spent months learning everything that made her moan, and cry out, and gasp his name. She'd last longer than he had, but it was only a matter of time before she'd forget all about being quiet, and he was fully committed to proving it.

In the end, neither of them was sure how long she lasted, panting and writhing against his tongue, arching up in welcome when he slid his fingers inside her. All he knew was that she was on the edge of climax, reaching out to grab a fistful of the blanket, when he hit a spot that tore her breath from her lungs in a half-shocked cry.

He could have commented on finally getting her to break her silence, but he was too busy working out what he'd done, and how to build on that reaction. Jane didn't disappoint him, guiding him along with pleading instructions, rewarding him with cries of ecstatic relief as she came.

As soon as she began to calm, Kurt moved up and over her, his cock demanding attention. Jane guided him into her before he could move to do it himself, and he sank deep, inhaling her sigh of pleasure.

"Talk dirty to me?" She nuzzled his neck, and he tried to form a coherent enough thought to meet her request.

"Remember that date we were planning, the day you got the news that you had to leave?"

It took her a distracted moment, but then a shiver ran through her, sparking a similar response in him. "Oh, the classy date, with the formalwear, and the dancing?"

He rolled them over, wanting to watch her reactions. "And the pretending we weren't thinking about tearing each other's clothes off the entire time."

She sat up, the shift of her tattoos mesmerising him, and gave him a smile tinged with mischief. "How could I forget that?"

Kurt stroked his hands up her sides, then over her breasts, unable to get enough of touching her as she began to ride him. "I'm thinking we should do it about a month from now. After things have settled down a little." And when your brother will be nowhere near us when we get home.

Jane leaned into his caresses, biting her lip for a second as he teased her nipples. "Something to look forward to."

"I'll even wear a tux. That's how much I love you."

"As much as I loved seeing you in that, I liked the suit you wore to the charity gala even more."

The mention of the gala just drew his mind back to what had happened in the locker room just before they'd left, when he'd zipped up her dress. "I'll bear that in mind."

"How about me? Any outfit requests?" she asked, breathless now.

He could barely think straight, each seductive shift of her hips distracting him, but somehow, he managed to pull his mind together. "I bet you'd look great in red. Not fire-truck red—I know bright colours aren't your thing."

She smiled, as though his knowing she'd be uncomfortable in bold colours had touched her, somehow. "I'll keep it in mind."

He pulled her down for another kiss, finding her clit with his thumb at the same time. Jane half-whimpered into his mouth, beginning to take him faster, and he wanted to laugh at how far they'd strayed from their original goal. Maybe it was the way they'd spent so long pretending they were just friends, or the way she'd shut him out during sex when they'd eventually collided. Now that they were connected on every level, silence wasn't an option.

When they finally came, his relieved groan of ecstasy mingled with Jane's husky cries, they were anything but quiet.

Author's Note: Next chapter, Jane settles Roman into the guest room like the protective big sister she is, because it hurts that they never got to have a happy future in canon. I promise not to make it too sappy and domestic. :D