A/N: Hi everyone - I'm so sorry for leaving you hanging this long. It was not my intention, life just got very very busy. I'm posting a short chapter that was supposed to be part of a bigger chapter. The rest of it is almost done, I just didn't want to make you wait any longer. Please know that I will finish this story.

Jane's POV

The scene that greeted him when he entered the bar was comical. He'd scanned the restaurant in search of Lisbon and had made eye contact with her on the first pass as expected. There she was, sitting in a rounded booth beside Kim, their dates on either side of them, two empty chairs on the other side of the table.

He didn't have to think too hard to imagine the scenario that caused both Lisbon and Fischer to be sitting in the middle of the two men. He'd seen Lisbon stare down Cho when he'd taken the last available seat facing the door. Anyone who knew her knew that she never sat with her back to the door and anyone new to her acquaintance learned quickly her seating preference... so she must have insisted on sitting in the booth so she could face the door and the men must have already been sitting there when they had arrived and had made room for both of them, leaving the two chairs unoccupied.

He smiled widely as he made his approach, slowly. Her eyes held his and he could see that she was suppressing a smile. She was happy to see him but didn't want to show it. Fischer followed Lisbon's gaze to settle on him; her face froze in disbelief.

"Well, well, well... small world," he said, grabbing the back of the empty chair.

"Patrick... hi..." said Kim with high pitched voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, grabbing some food... I hear the burgers are great here."

Kim introduced their dates and he let his eyes linger on Teresa for a few seconds before acknowledging the men. A server arrived at the table and he took advantage of the distraction to sit down and ask for a menu.

"Hope you don't mind if I join you, I'm a widower, you see and it's always less lonely eating with friends."

The men looked annoyed but recovered quickly by inviting him with fake enthusiasm to eat with them. He smiled to himself; taking advantage of others' good manners in a group setting was always a great way to get compliance. Teresa shook her head imperceptibly in disbelief and looked down at her menu, avoiding his gaze with a tiny smile. Kim was visibly annoyed, her jaw clenched tightly as she aggressively turned the page on the menu. Tonight was going to be fun, he thought.

From this seating position, he had an optimal view of all the parties at the table; Teresa was seated directly in front of him with her date to his left, and Fischer, sitting beside Teresa and her date to his right. He noted that because the booth was rounded, both men had a clear line of sight to each other and their dates, which still allowed for conversion to flow easily between everyone.

After they ordered, he took a few minutes to observe the group dynamics. They'd already ordered drinks and appetizers when he arrived, so they'd been getting acquainted for at least 45 minutes. He surmised that the men didn't work in law enforcement because Lisbon appeared guarded in their presence. His guess was confirmed a few seconds later when he asked the men about their field of work; Eric, Teresa's date, was a Veterinarian, and Vincent, Kim's date, was the head of cyber security for a big national financial company. Kim indicated that Vincent and Eric were long-time friends, but they were very vague about how that came about.

He smiled at Teresa and she gave him big eyes and looked in the direction of the washroom. She wanted him to follow her.

"Excuse me… I just need to use the ladies' room," she indicated to her date so he would let her by.

He watched her go with zero intentions of meeting her as she requested.

Conversation resumed and he continued to scratch the itch in his brain about the two men. Vincent was the traditional tall, dark and handsome type, with muscles bulging against the fabric of the shirt he was sure he bought one size smaller to achieve that effect. He had a modern short haircut, and an expensive watch, and chose to drink wine instead of beer in a pub. The man nodded at something Kim was saying but he couldn't help but notice that his eyes kept darting to the washroom where Teresa had gone; it was subtle, but his interest was clearly with her and not his date. Eric was also an attractive type, but not as muscular. He was well dressed and groomed, his wavy jet-black hair on the longer side with a short beard and piercing blue eyes. Both men appeared to be in their mid-30s and were younger than their dates.

Fischer's POV

She smiled politely as Jane conversed with her date about some obscure fact about wine. She couldn't believe that he'd invited himself on their date, or more accurately, he got Vincent and Eric to insist on him joining them tonight. She was in constant awe of his skill to manipulate people and situations. He made sure that if she or Lisbon protested, they would seem rude and unfriendly. What she couldn't figure out was why he was here at all. She could only surmise that this had something to do with Lisbon, it always did. He'd wanted something from her earlier, and she obviously didn't give in, so he probably decided to exact his revenge by crashing their date.

Jane's phone pinged with the sound of an incoming text, once, twice, and then a third time, a few seconds apart. It was probably Lisbon telling him to leave. She watched in frustration as he turned off his phone without glancing at the messages.

Teresa returned from the washroom and she looked visibly annoyed. She'd known her long enough now to recognize her fake smile as she sat back in her seat.

"Everything okay?" Jane asked Lisbon as though poking her on purpose.

"Everything is great," she responded with a high-pitched voice.

Jane just smiled brightly at Lisbon and resumed his conversation.

She took a bite of her pasta, feigning interest in the subject Jane and Vincent were discussing… another random and niche topic of conversation about the types of trees where Vincent grew up.

Their conversation stalled abruptly as Jane's head whipped in Teresa's direction when a peel of laughter erupted from her at something Eric said. She caught a strange look on Jane's face but he masked it so quickly, that she wasn't able to put her finger on it. It was clear that Eric and Teresa were hitting it off because he had his arm around her shoulders. Vincent asked her a question and she brought her attention back to him, but not before she noticed that Jane was staring down at Eric, his lips set in a thin line as he joined their conversation and abandoned the one he was having with Vincent.

Her attention was drawn back to the other side of the table when Eric suddenly got up from his seat, rattling the table. The man's lap and the bottom of his shirt were wet, and his glass of beer overturned on the table. Apparently, Jane had knocked it over by accident and was apologizing. She exchanged a look with Teresa, but she only saw resignation in her features.

Eric excused himself to go clean up and Jane got up from his seat and sat beside Lisbon. She found it curious that she wasn't fighting Jane on his appropriation of Eric's seat; perhaps she should follow her lead since she knew him best.

Lisbon's POV

The air outside was cooler than in the restaurant and she shivered through her thin leather jacket. The men, Vincent and Eric had just left, leaving the three of them to walk back to headquarters where their vehicles were still parked. They fell in step together silently, as the heels from her shoes and Kim's clacked on the sidewalk.

"Patrick... would you mind explaining why you crashed our date?" asked Fischer with a fake pleasant voice.

"I was just getting some supper. Imagine my surprise to find you both here-"

"Yes, imagine that. In the future, you can say 'hi' and then leave. You were like a fifth wheel all night."

"Third wheel is still the correct term regardless of the number of people in the equation and you should be thanking me... I livened it up for you guys... your dates were boring."

"That's your perception."

"Oh, come now, Kim. Vincent would've just droned on and on about the fancy cars he'd driven and all the places he's been, trying to impress you and Lisbon. And Eric's only topic of interest was horses and their insemination… I saved your date if you ask me. You can do better."

Kim rolled her eyes and walked more briskly ahead of them. Jane shrugged and smiled down at her. She couldn't help but smile back. He was right but Kim would never admit it. The men had been good dates, as in they were cordial, polite, and attentive, but not very interesting in her estimation.

This whole experience reminded her why she hated dating in the first place and how happy she'd been when she'd met Marcus; their dates had been so easy because he was a nice guy and they worked in the same field and had so much in common. It also helped that he was very attractive. Everything had been so easy between them; he'd been perfect, everything she had ever thought she wanted in a man.

Jane brushed his fingers with hers, sending electrical shocks through her body as his eyes caressed her briefly before he started goading Kim again. But Marcus never had the effect Jane had on her when he touched her and he never held her attention like this exasperating man walking beside her.

She chuckled at a glib remark Jane made and Fischer glared at her expecting her to back her.

"I agree with Jane… Vincent did do a lot of primping and flexing, it was a bit distracting."

"He only started doing that when Jane arrived."

Jane seemed intrigued by this and started to question Kim about how she met Vincent. When she wouldn't tell Jane that they met in an online group unrelated to dating apps, he started guessing, which annoyed Kim. They were almost back at headquarters when Kim asked him to drop the subject completely but Jane finally drew the correct conclusion about how they met and his eyes twinkled with mischief.

He fell back in step beside her, brushing his arm against hers briefly in camaraderie, then he winked at her. The look of amusement on his face was exactly the same look he had when he crashed their date earlier tonight. She immediately remembered the thrill she felt when she made eye contact with him from across the room; her entire body had hummed with excitement.

She actually hadn't wanted to go on this date tonight, but Kim had begged her and since she was single in everyone's eyes, she didn't have a good reason to turn her down. Kim had decided to re-enter the dating scene after months of swearing off men. Vincent, her date, had called her at the last minute to let her know that his friend Eric was in town and asked if she had a girlfriend who could join. That's how she ended up in this situation; she had never intended to actually make good on her threat to Jane about dating other men but when she saw how annoyed he was when he found out about it, she'd decided to let him believe whatever he wanted because he deserved it after the way he'd treated her the last few days.

The intensity of their love-making in the private office still had her in a state; the suggestions he planted before she left had stayed with her and were at the forefront of her thoughts the entire evening. She had squirmed in her chair periodically, her eyes seeking Jane's in those moments and every time he would smile knowingly at her and she would feel herself blush. Watching him eat, drink and talk had a different effect on her tonight; she had to actively remind herself to stop watching his lips and staring at his intelligent and mischievous eyes.

She still remembered the intense look in his eyes when he noticed Eric's arm around her shoulders; she wasn't surprised when he arranged the man's departure from the table and took his seat. When Eric had returned, Jane had insisted that since he'd caused the mess on that side of the table and that the tablecloth was soaked, he should be the one to sit there and had graciously given the man the dry side of the table. Then he had engaged the man in another topic preventing him from continuing the discussion without seeming rude.

Because he was bigger than Eric, the seating area was more cramped with the four of them occupying it, so Jane took advantage of the situation and kept his arm around her the entire evening. That position gave everyone more room but had made it harder for her to concentrate with his manly scent surrounding her and the heat of his body warming her. She kept herself apart from him as much as possible and continued to engage with Eric. Jane joined their conversation and was on his best behavior to her complete relief.

Just when she thought she had everything under control, Jane surprised her. At the end of the evening, when everyone was distracted with the server as he took all their plates, his hand had slipped under the table to caress her leg and had inched up slowly under her dress to the apex of her thighs; it took everything she had to continue to focus on what the server had been saying. When Jane's hand had stilled and she heard the audible intake of his breath, her eyes had shot to his and had caught his surprised, then questioning look. When his eyes had turned lustful without regard for the other members at their table, she had to avert her face to avoid being caught out. Her heart had been fluttering fast against her chest when she heard a clank on the table. Jane had clumsily knocked over his glass of beer for real this time and she had smiled to herself at the effect his newfound knowledge had on him. He hadn't expected her to remain in the condition that he had created before she left the office, it would seem. He must've thought that she would've cleaned up but she hadn't.

She hadn't given it much thought because there had been no time, but she enjoyed being possessed by him, to have him claim her; she wanted to drive him crazy. She had always felt like he held more power in their relationship, that he could walk away more easily and break her heart. But knowing that she did in fact have an effect on him helped to balance the scales and gave her more confidence in his feelings for her. She didn't like jealous men, but this playful possessiveness he had introduced earlier tonight had been exciting.

She looked up at his face as he said something to Fischer; he had a little crooked smile and his eyes were twinkling with pure enjoyment from annoying his colleague.

"Why aren't you dating Simms?" Fischer said suddenly changing the subject.

That took her by surprise; Kim was going on the offensive obviously annoyed with Jane.

"Not interested," he said deadpanned.

"Don't give me that. I saw the way you looked at her at the ball," she coaxed. "You were very interested and she's definitely interested. You should date her."

The lightness of the evening lifted as her eyes darted to Jane's but he seemed unperturbed by Fischer's line of questioning.

"Like I said… not interested."

"You shouldn't give up. Try dating other women and see how it goes. Linda in accounting likes you. There's also Natalie in ballistics-"

He chuckled and Fischer looked more annoyed if that were possible. Jane was definitely on her bad side now, so she remained silent. There was no way to stop this train now.

"I thank you for your concern, but I can get my own dates," he said with a wink in her direction.

"I've seen your game, remember? It needs brushing up if you ask me," she shot back.

His eyes darted to her so briefly that she would've missed it if she hadn't been looking at him already.

"I'll take that under consideration," he said flatly, his lips pressing together briefly in annoyance.

Jane didn't know that she knew about his date with Kim on the island and that comment definitely hit a nerve with him. He didn't defend himself which signaled to her that it wasn't an oversight on his part forgetting to mention it to her and she wondered if it was because there was something he didn't want her to know.

They walked in silence the rest of the way which wasn't far and Fischer bid them goodnight and headed to her vehicle.

"Did you have fun tonight?" she asked with a tiny smile as she opened the door to her car.

"Which part?" he asked raising his eyebrows.

"Crashing our date," she answered, toying with the button at the bottom of his shirt.

"Yes, I did."

"You know that I actually wasn't trying to make you jealous. I was just supporting Kim. We are friends and she thinks I'm single. I couldn't say no."

"Then why don't we change that?"

"I'm not ready. Look… I don't want to play games. You just get under my skin and you made me so mad."

"I'm sorry about that. I was wrong."

She stared into his eyes... she sometimes thought she could get lost in them searching for answers there and never quite finding them. But right now, his eyes were gentle and seeking on hers and she could see that he was truly regretful.

"You're forgiven."

He smiled a little smile and it made her smile back at him.

"So why are we doing this? Just talk to me."

Jane's POV

Her eyes searched his as though she were trying to figure out what to say and what not to say.

She sighed and grabbed his hand with both of hers. Suddenly his hand became her focus as she explored his fingers with hers. He knew he wouldn't like what she'd say by the way she was fidgeting.

"We were moving too fast. We were practically living together."

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's just… it's too fast, okay."

She let go of his hand and smiled wanly at him.

"Thanks for walking me over."

"My pleasure."

They stared at each other for a moment. He wanted to kiss and hold her.

"How about I come over to your place and we can talk?"

"Jane… I haven't changed my mind."

He resisted the urge to pass his hand through his hair in frustration. He missed her but he needed to play this her way.

"Okay," he conceded. "But I do want to kiss you."

She looked around at the almost empty parking lot. It was almost 11 pm and he knew only the swing shift and cleaning staff were on.

"We can't," she concluded.

He was disappointed but decided to let it go.

"Okay," he said, letting his fingers brush hers. "I'm gonna miss you."

She smiled brightly and he knew he made the right move.

"Date night tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yes! I'd love that. Goodnight," she returned, her eyes caressing his face.

She brushed the back of her hand across his belly discreetly in a comforting gesture and got in her car and drove away.

A/N: Next chapter they go on their date and lots of conversations you've been hoping for will happen. That chapter is almost done, so you won't need to wait too long for it.