A/N People seemed to have lost interest in this fic… I do have some bigger plotlines for this story… but I'm not so sure if I should continue with them or not… there's not really much point if hardly anybodies enjoying it anymore…

Anyway big thanks to those of you who did review and follow. It means the heaps. =] x

When Lisbon woke up the next morning, she was greeted by the sound of soft snoring coming from the recliner. Sitting up she looked at said chair, to see her blonde haired consultant curled in a ball with his hands tucked under his chin, sound asleep.

She smiled fondly at his for once peaceful form, as a nurse came in with a breakfast tray.

She introduced herself as Rosie, before placing two slices of dried toast in front of her. Rosie smiled at her, noticing Lisbon's seemingly incapability to take her eyes off of the sleeping man.

"He stayed awake all night watching over you." the nurse piped up. Lisbon tore her gaze away from Jane to look at the nurse with slightly flushed cheeks. "I work the night shift." Rosie continued, her voice not much more than a whisper. "He refused to sleep until he knew you were ok."

Lisbon, not missing a beat, blinked up at the nurse.

"So… he's asleep now… does that mean…?"

"Your vitals stabilised overnight, and depending on how well you hold down food for the rest of the day, we don't see any reason why you can't go home tomorrow morning." Rosie smiled cheerfully at her.

Lisbon felt a rush of relief wash through her. She had been driven to exhaustion worrying about what would happen if she was to grow worse.

"That… that's great. Thank you." she said after she had managed to find her voice.

"That's alright Ms Lisbon. Eat your toast… but let your husband sleep. He really needs it. It really isn't healthy to force your body to stay awake that long." The nurse said, a look of genuine concern on her face.

Lisbon only nodded in reply, at a complete loss for words.

Husband!?

She vaguely heard Rosie say something about her doctor coming to see her soon, before leaving her room.

She couldn't believe the nerve of the man. Here he was pretending to be her spouse, and he hadn't even warned her?

Lisbon bit into a piece of the toast almost unconsciously. She felt so many different emotions flit through her brain and heart. But it really only took a moment before her face turned soft again. The reason he had told the paramedics he was her husband was so he could ride along with her… and now he seemed to be keeping up with the story so he could stay with her. She was touched.

It felt odd almost, because she hadn't really seen him since he got back from Vegas. He had been totally obsessed with Lorelei and she had almost forgotten about how it used to be… back when they were a team and she had thought he trusted her. She had never felt so distant from him in all the years she had known him, and now, having him here beside her… she couldn't help but feel her heart flutter slightly.

The night he had taken her out for dinner… the night she had gotten the seafood, he had been half apologising, half thanking her for finding him after he was 'kidnapped' by Lorelei. It was the first act of kindness he had expressed towards her in a very long time.

Before she had even realised it, she had made her way through both pieces of toast. She steadied herself for the oncoming nausea, and was ecstatic when it only came in weak, manageable waves. Pushing the tray away, she leant back into the pillows and contented herself with watching Jane's peaceful slumber. This brought back the memory of when they first met and he had fallen asleep on the couch.

It never failed to amaze her that someone with so much rage, or with so much emotion, could look so peaceful in sleep. She almost found him… dear she think it… cute.

She smiled softly to herself, then busied herself reading a book someone had left her… probably Cho.

X-x_THEMENTALIST_x-X

As promised, Van Pelt came to visit her that morning. Lisbon looked up from her book to see the young red head standing in her doorway, and motioned for her to be quiet, pointing at Jane's sleeping form.

Van Pelt smiled girlishly, before taking a seat on the vacant chair beside Lisbon.

"How are you?" she whispered.

"I'm much better actually." Lisbon replied with a happy smile. "The doctors say if all goes well I can leave tomorrow morning."

"That's great boss!" Van Pelt exclaimed as she leant forward and gave her a soft hug.

Lisbon laughed softly, but also brought her finger up to her lips, again signalling for them to be quiet.

Grace smirked at Lisbon's action, shooting her a raised eyebrow in question.

Lisbon shrugged in response.

"He's been awake all night. The nurse said he wouldn't sleep until he knew I was alright."

Grace's features softened.

"That's really sweet boss."

Lisbon nodded.

"He has also told the entire hospital that we are married so he can stay in my room."

Grace's eyes widened at that.

"He really does care for you, doesn't he." It wasn't a question.

Lisbon nodded again, before muttering, "Even if he's been a little less obvious about it lately."

Van Pelt shrugged.

"We all know he's had a lot on his plate lately…" she paused for a moment, thinking about how to word this. "…it's just a shame it took you getting so ill for him to realise what he was doing to all of us… what he was doing to you. We've all seen the way he looks at you boss… and the way you look at him. I… I know you love him Teresa."

Lisbon spluttered at that. Never, in her right mind, would she have thought her youngest agent would have the guts to say something like that to her face and live to tell the tale. But who was she kidding? She would never get angry at Grace over something she knew was true. Even if she didn't know what kind of love she was feeling for her pain in the ass consultant… she still know her affection for him runs a lot deeper than she would care to admit. Still, she felt it was still necessary to at least try to run Van Pelt off of her trail.

"I… I know you think you know something Grace… but…" Lisbon sighed, feeling defeated. "There's too much history Grace… to even think about something like that… he's my best friend… but I have a lot of trouble trusting him. There's too much baggage separating both of us… the damage has been done… a long time ago." She stopped for a moment, looking back at Jane's slumbering form. "I know we will always be there for each other… in the end anyway… and for the important stuff… but he has to catch Red John… he needs to catch Red John… and if he needs to push me away to do that… then I need to let him… no matter how much it hurts." Lisbon finished, still taking in Jane's features. He had dark shadows smudged under his eyes and she knew it wasn't just from looking over her last night. He hadn't been looking after himself. He had been so tied up, keeping his nose firmly inside of his little book, that he had driven himself to the point of exhaustion. She had even found a used coffee cup in his attic… and she knows he hates the stuff. He had once told her that coffee literally makes him sick to his stomach. She really needed to have words with him about taking better care of himself.

"Boss… I know this has been hard on both of you… but I'm really glad he's here for you now… and that your letting him too."

Lisbon smiled at that.

"So am I Grace… so am I."

What neither of them saw was the small smile splaying across the man's face… the man who was meant to be sleeping.

X-x_THEMENTALIST_x-X

After leaving the hospital, Grace went straight to work to find the boys in the bullpen going over Mark's file.

"How did the interview go?" she asked them as she sat down at her desk.

"Good… didn't really get much out of him." Rigsby replied. "He said that he wasn't anywhere near Robbie's room the night of the murder. Said the cleaning lady must have either heard wrong or is lying." Rigsby shook his head. "She looked terrified when we found her though… and Jane would have picked up on the lie."

"Yeah… but he was worried about Lisbon when we were there… he was busting to get away… he might have made a slip up?" Grace replied.

"Come on guys… this is Jane we're talking about. He doesn't make mistakes like that."

"Rigsby… he's only human."

Cho snorted.

"Every man has his weakness." Cho retorted.

Grace shook her head.

"Did we find out anything useful?"

"Not really. I'm checking out his alibi now. We'll see what happens once it's been confirmed." Cho said.

"So where do we go from here then?" Van Pelt asked.

"I'm gonna go back and see the cleaning lady. See if she has anything else to add to her statement. Something tells me she wasn't telling us everything." Cho deadpanned.

There was a short silence that followed, minus the soft tapping of keyboards and the rustling of paper.

"I went and saw Lisbon this morning." Grace said breaking the silence.

"How is she?" Rigsby asked, chucking a screwed up piece of paper into the bin.

"She's actually doing a lot better. The doctors say if all goes well in the next twenty four hours she should be able to go home tomorrow morning."

"That's great!" Rigsby exclaimed.

Grace smiled at his school boy antics. He really was such a gentle giant. The BFG… that's what he was.

"And Jane? He's behaving?" Cho asked without even looking up from his file.

"He was asleep when I got there… he apparently stayed up all night watching over her… told the nurses they were married to gain all night access to her room."

Rigsby looked surprised at this and Cho… well you would never know what Cho was feeling… although the slight twitch of his mouth gave away his feelings on this particular matter. He was just as happy Jane was finally being a better friend to Lisbon as Grace was.

X-x_THEMENTALIST_x-X

Jane opened his eyes groggily a few hours after Grace had left. He had heard the end of their conversation, but had drifted back to sleep once the ladies had taken up a new topic. He blinked the bleariness out of his sight and sat up, stretching his back with a soft groan. Sure he slept on the couch at CBI, but he was usually lying down. The recliner didn't adjust back all the way so he had been sitting in a half upright position the entire night.

He sighed. He was getting old. And he hated it.

"Hello sleepy head." He heard a voice say from the bed.

He flashed a tired grin her way before relaxing back into the chair.

"Jane… you really shouldn't have stayed up all night… it's not healthy."

He brought his hand up to his face, trying to rub away the lingering sleepiness.

"I wanted to."

"I know but you shouldn't have." Lisbon sat up higher in the bed so she could face him properly. "I'm glad you're here Jane, but I really wish you would pay more attention to yourself… you look like crap."

"Thank you for that analysis Lisbon." Jane replied, a hint of playful sarcasm in his voice.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit Jane."

"Ahhh… that it is Lisbon, but pointing out a man's weakness is the lowest form of bullying."

Just as he intended, Lisbon cracked a smile.

"Aww, is the big mean agent being mean to you Jane?"

Jane pouted and nodded, but then smiled evilly.

"Actually no… the mean agent is picking on me… she's not so big… actually… she is quite small."

Lisbon shot him the death glare. Her height had always been a touchy subject.

"I'm sorry Lisbon… I didn't mean to belittle you."

Lisbon reached out and smacked him on the knee with her book.

"Geez Jane! Way to pick on a sick person."

But Jane could see the spark in her eyes. She had missed this. They both had. The playful banter that had helped keep him sane over the years. The last few weeks he had really missed their talks, he had been pushing her away, and he had been hurting her. He knew it… but for reasons only he could understand, he didn't do anything to stop it. He had sworn to be there for her… and if staying away from her to keep her safe was the best way to do that… he would take the missed conversations and the hurt looks she had been sending him.

She was too important to him to let her get really hurt… he was hurting her to stop her from getting hurt… it didn't make a lot of sense… but he knew it was the right thing to do.

Her getting sick and being in hospital really was a great reason for him to excuse himself from staying away from her. He still wanted her to know that he cared.

God… here he was going in circles again… would he ever get a clue?!

He shook his head.

"I'm really glad you're going to be ok Lisbon."

Lisbon smiled at that.

"Me too… and thank you for being here for me Jane… it really does mean a lot." She reached out and took his hand.

Jane looked down and their intertwined hands. Before looking back at her, a smile ghosting his lips.

"Anytime Lisbon. Anytime."

And in that moment he really meant it.