Lisbon gets promoted to the job in DC, but Pike doesn't exist in this version. Bluebird con still happens, because Jane still doesn't want to lose her to a new job & city. She deserves the promotion, but why hadn't she asked him to come too?

"I can't live without you, Teresa," he half-whispered into the night as she slept in the adjoining room.

At least he thought she was sleeping.

He had no way of knowing that Lisbon was pressed against the other side of their shared door, deep in thought and a bit emotional already, confused by her feelings for him. Feeling sad at their impending separation after so many years as partners. At the CBI, sure - at the FBI, surprisingly - but she realized she had been hoping for more from him for a long time now. As she pressed herself into him (at least as closely as she dared to, wishing that she was leaning into his warm skin rather than the cold surface of a hotel room door), she had caught the last part of an imaginary conversation he was having with her - one he'd been too afraid to have in real life, not willing to lose their friendship if she didn't feel the same way. He couldn't live without her? She felt pinpricks on her face as the shock of it hit her. Did he really mean that? Maybe he'd been dreaming? (Maybe she had?) How was she going to get to the bottom of this before it was time for them to leave?

It was frankly petrifying just thinking that a relationship with Jane might actually be possible. She'd been secretly wondering about him for such a long time now, but what if they truly could have a life together?

Careful what you wish for. It might come true! Her mother's words of advice from long ago echoed in her mind.

She stood frozen, jaw hanging just a bit open, trying to recall every word Jane had said leading up to the line that had caught her so off-guard.

She was jolted out of her thoughts and slightly alarmed by a knock from the other side of the door she was leaning on. She waited a prescribed amount of time before opening it, rolling her eyes at how Jane-like that pretend hesitation seemed. (But she also thought she would die of embarrassment if he deduced that she'd been hugging the door, longing for him, moments ago.)

As expected, when the door swung open, he was standing on the other side.

Not expected were his puffy, red eyes. She grew immediately concerned - she couldn't remember ever seeing him cry (or any evidence that he ever did so - though she knew he'd probably shed his share of tears, with all he'd been through).

"Jane? You alright?" She asked gently.

Suppressing a fresh wave of sobs, he pulled her close, nestling into her hair and breathing deeply.

Lisbon wrapped her arms around him tentatively, unsure what exactly was happening. Was this an outcropping of his earlier statement of affection for her? Did he need comfort for some other reason? Her eyes flitted back & forth with unease - not from being held by Jane, but from not knowing what she should do next. So she simply tried again:

"Jane? You alright?"

His strained voice was barely audible, "Lisbon, I can't do this."

"Can't do what, Jane?"

"I don't want to work with anyone else… I don't want to be with anyone else." He worked on his breathing for a few minutes, as if preparing for a monumental statement. (And it was just that - at least for the two of them).

"I can't live without you, Teresa"

There it was. She couldn't believe he'd actually said it out loud. She was simultaneously proud of him for sharing feelings she knew must have been terrifying for him, and also totally flummoxed at what to say or do next.

"Jane, I…"

"Jane?"

She stuttered a non-response, eyes wide like a deer frozen in headlights. She was so paralyzed by shock that she couldn't get the words out. She wanted to tell him that she felt the same way, but her throat constricted at the enormity of what he'd just admitted to her. She wanted to throw her arms around him and push him back into his own bed, where she wouldn't need words to let him know how amazed and happy she was at his admission, but her body felt like lead and refused to move.

"Teresa please… say something," he pleaded, his eyes getting redder by the second from the threat of fresh tears. He had laid his cards out. If she didn't receive them well, he honestly had no idea what he would do then. Behind his tears he was terrified that he'd ruined the one good thing in his life. He wanted to move beyond friendship with her, but if that admission ended or ruined their friendship, he wasn't sure he could take it.

She still didn't know what to say or do, but she couldn't let him continue to be tortured by her lack of response. Somehow, she willed her body to move (in a less than coordinated fashion), nearly tackling Jane back into his room. He was completely unprepared for the push of her full weight being thrust suddenly upon him, (slight though she was), so they both landed on top of one another, unceremoniously collapsing onto the floor.

They looked at each other, stunned, then slowly began to giggle at themselves. Then it grew to laughter. Then a full-on belly laugh, mixed with cackles. An unsuspecting passerby would have thought that they were involved in the world's biggest game of tickle-torture, they were laughing so hard.

Once they got control of themselves, Jane quipped, "Okay, Lisbon, maybe I can't live with you either!"

"Hush!" She gave him a playful slap on the arm as she joined him in more laughter.

"Oh Jane, I am so sorry about this!" She chuckled.

"Oh Lisbon, I am so not sorry about this!" He smiled freely, holding her tightly. Locking his eyes on hers.

She had never seen him look so light and happy. His eyes were holding her captive with their sparkling intensity, and she felt her indecisiveness melt away in the caress of his gaze. "Jane, did you mean what you said?" She had to be sure.

"Yes," he hummed, without breaking eye contact, "I meant every word of it."

He was so close. She was lost in the scent of him. His slight stubble tickled her cheeks as he tenderly kissed each one.

"Good," she smiled, "because I feel the same way." She couldn't look away from those baby blues of his, transfixed by the confirmation he'd just given her. Relaxing her head down to brush his lips with hers, she answered with a wordless confirmation of her own. After a long moment, she questioned, "Jane?"

"Teresa," he breathed, "you can call me Patrick."

Smiling back, she started over, "Patrick?"

"Yes, my dear?"

"Do you know how long I've waited for you to say something like that?"

"Obviously not!" He laughed.

"Some fake psychic you are!" She teased, garnering a tickle.

He couldn't contain his delight at the squeal that escaped Lisbon's lips then, and began kissing her with abandon. "Do you know how long I've dreamed about doing this?" He asked.

She stopped so she could look directly into his beautiful eyes, "I know how long I've been dreaming of it," she said, in a sultry register he'd not heard before. "And for the record, Ja-… Patrick," (she loved how his first name felt as it rolled off her tongue. And she loved the way he looked at her when she said it),

"I can't live without you, either." She leaned down to continue their long-postponed festival of loving kisses, as he soaked in every word, and every kiss, in genuine disbelief.

After a while, his back reminded him that he'd been on a hotel floor for too long and that he wasn't getting any younger. "Teresa, I don't want to break the mood or change the subject, but could we take this to a softer surface? My spine is currently in disagreement with this hard floor." He grimaced slightly to punctuate his point.

"As long as you don't go back on your word to never be without me," she grinned.

"Never, my dear!" He glimmered back.

"Good! On that basis, we can move to the couch." She grinned, knowing how he loved a good sofa.

With a minimum of groaning, he got up, then guided her to the overstuffed loveseat by the far wall, his hand gently placed on the small of her back.

Once they were comfortable, he leaned back, arm around her shoulders, and beamed. "So, my dear Lisbon, tell me about your hopes and dreams!"

Lisbon giggled, and answered, "To start with, every one of them involves you, Patrick." Her eyes glimmered in the half-light of the space.

He smiled and blushed just a little at that. Pulling her close with his outstretched arm. Then his expression changed. With a tinge of hurt he whispered, almost to himself, "Except for the one about DC…"

"Huh?" Her eyebrows squeezed a line above the bridge of her nose.

He spoke fully, but carefully, this time. "Your hopes and dreams all involve me, except for the one where you land your dream job in DC and leave me in the dust of Austin?"

If the pink hadn't reappeared in his eyes so quickly, she might have thought he was joking or being facetious, but the hurt he was failing to hide made his words shake and quiver, which crushed her just a little.

"Jane -"

"Please, Teresa… it's Patrick to you, especially when we're alone, cuddling on a sofa," he regained himself enough to wink.

She smiled and shook her head, relaxing a bit then, "Patrick, I'm so sorry about how all of this went down. Honestly it was a surprise when I got the news, then that news spread before I had a chance to properly announce it to everyone, and the whole thing just got out of control."

His face brightened a bit, with a glimmer of hope daring to sparkle cautiously in his eyes.

"I'm still not sure how much, if any, leverage I have to bring a consultant on with me in DC, and you are such a big part of the team here in Austin that I didn't want to presume you'd drop everything to come with me."

Jane's face suddenly and clearly morphed into incredulous shock. "How could you think I would even consider staying in Austin if you are moving to DC?" He stuttered. "True, I have friends here, but none closer than you, Teresa! If you'd asked me, I would have said yes without hesitation - job offer or not!"

Lisbon was taken aback. "You would quit altogether just to be with me?"

"Teresa I would walk to DC barefoot if it meant I got to see you every day!" He insisted, eyes pleading.

She looked deeply into his eyes, her own tears beginning to form at the realization that her heart had been right all of these years. It had suspected it was she who had kept him working with law enforcement. Yes, he had needed to get Red John, but afterward he had only stayed to be her partner. Not for his own ego. Not for the team. It was for her.

"Patrick?" She breathed, "would you like to move with me to DC? Even if it means you're unemployed?" Despite what he'd just said, she still held her breath waiting for an answer, eyebrows up, expectantly.

His whole face smiled then, and he didn't wait long to agree. "I would follow you anywhere, Teresa, and would endure any circumstances to have you in my life."

She threw both arms around him and squeezed tight, as her tears dampened his shoulder.

He folded around her, squeezing his eyes closed in a vain attempt to hold his own tears in. "I'm so sorry," he whimpered.

Pulling back in surprise, Lisbon asked, "Why are you sorry? You've just made me so incredibly happy, Patrick!"

"I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark about my intentions. I had a plan in mind for our future - if one was possible - dating back to our earliest days. Then those years on the island made me even more sure - if I could just get back to you.

But the FBI was so very different than what we had before. And I became unsure of where we stood with each other. And if I had suggested something that ended up ruining the friendship we already shared I wouldn't have been able to live with myself, Teresa."

"Oh, Patrick," she kissed him with empathy and understanding. "In that case, I'm sorry, too. You're my best friend. I should have been more honest with my feelings and I should have called you before anyone else to share the news of my promotion. Maybe then you would have felt secure enough in our friendship to let me in on your own thoughts and feelings?"

"Perhaps!" He smiled, and sat up, leaning closer to her with excitement at the thought of them becoming closer, and being able to share more honestly with each other. It had been so very long since he'd felt that safe, that 'at home' with another person. The walls he'd built around his true self began to crumble at the memory of being loved so truly - At the possibility of having that closeness once again.

"So, what would you have said?" Lisbon asked, eyebrows high.

"What would I have said, when?" He puzzled.

"If we hadn't been holding out on each other? And if I'd called you before anyone about the promotion?" Her anticipation was palpable.

"I would have said something like this:"

He moved off the couch to his knees, so he could be directly in front of her, looking into her eyes as he spoke.

"I am ecstatic for you, Teresa! You are so deserving of this reward - of this honor, my dear! But, I will be completely lost without you, here. I cannot even bear the thought of waking up knowing that I won't see you." He couldn't stop his tears from falling at the possibility.

"Please take me with you? I won't get in your way, and even if there's no room for me at the FBI there, it would still be completely worth it just to have you in my life."

Lisbon swallowed hard,

"Patrick, I can't bear the thought of not seeing you, either. It would feel so sad and strange not having you beside me every day." Her eyes glistened with tears of her own, "It's been weighing on me, heavily, these past weeks, and has honestly been making me feel a little sick about my new position."

"Let me finish, Lisbon - I didn't get to the crux of my plan, yet!" He winked & grinned (reflexively putting her on alert)

"Teresa, I'm afraid there will always be new jobs, new people, new places that could threaten our being together, and I just can't tolerate these threats to our partnership."

Lisbon looked at him with alarm now. He was sounding a bit desperate, which was always a precarious thing with Jane.

"I see only one real solution. And it should have been obvious to me from the first day I realized the truth of what I feel."

She held his gaze, unable to move - barely able to breathe.

"The truth is, Teresa, I love you. I have been in love with you for years. I don't feel like myself without you. You are my guiding light, and you are my heart. Would you please make this partnership permanent? Please, Teresa, would you marry me?"

For a second she couldn't speak, angling her chin. Was he proposing for real, or was this still his hypothetical answer to 'what would you have said?'

"Teresa?" He pleaded, "what do you say? Is it a good plan? Will you be my wife? Please say yes - this is real!"

He was seriously, really asking her to marry him! Her hands covered her mouth (which was gaping open with a surprised smile) as the word 'real' escaped his mouth.

"Patrick! For real?!"

"Yes, for real!" He laughed at her incredulousness. She was so adorable when she was surprised. He'd always found her anger to be amusing and attractive, but the joy in her eyes right now far surpassed that.

She worked to control her breathing, then held his face gently, leaning in close. "Patrick Jane, I have dreamed of this moment for at least as long as you've been afraid of it. I cannot imagine ever marrying anyone but you. I am ecstatic and my answer is yes!"

He responded with a multitude of kisses across her arms, shoulders, neck, face, and pretty much every inch of exposed skin, procuring giggles and payback kisses from her.

A few days later, back at the Austin field office, Lisbon could swear she was being watched. By everyone. She thought she noticed sudden quiet - the truncation of every conversation within her earshot - every time she turned a corner or entered a room.

"Penny for your thoughts?" A comfortably familiar voice offered from the leather couch behind her desk.

"They know."

"Who knows what?"

"Everyone in the FBI knows about us."

"Don't be ridiculous, dear, even we only just found out - and we haven't breathed a word of it to anyone."

She snapped back, "I'm not being ridiculous- I'm a detective and I know what I'm seeing!"

"High voice…" he grinned.

Lisbon rolled her eyes as she moved over to sit beside her favorite consultant and recent fiancé. "Okay maybe I'm a little paranoid but I still feel like I'm under a microscope today."

"What if we threw a surprise engagement party this afternoon right here in the bullpen?" He, personally, wanted every human in the world to know their new status.

"Today?" Lisbon's eyes were wide as she contemplated planning something appropriate by days end.

"Teresa, let me take care of everything - I enjoy planning, you well know, and my schedule is less taxing than yours today. Please? I can't keep this wonderful news to myself much longer anyway." He gushed.

His excitement completely disarmed her, attenuating her worries just enough for her to agree. With her blessing, he jumped to his feet and began his mission. She smiled and shook her head as he skipped toward the elevator.

"God, I love you, Jane!" She whispered to herself.