Disclaimer: I still do not own Jane or Kurt or Blindspot or anything remotely related to the GooGoo Dolls. Writing about Jane and Kurt is simply the outlet for my obsession, and a fun way to escape reality.

A/N: Just to clarify, in case there's any doubt and because I want to reiterate it after seeing ep 207, the "Allie having Weller's baby" and "Weller and Nas" storylines do not exist in any part of the timeline of this fic. Because as much as I'm loyal to canon storylines, I'm just not going there. (Because after all, this story is a happy place)

The sun was high overhead as each of them brought their bags outside, setting them one by one on the driveway behind the SUV, where Kurt stood loading them into the trunk. Sawyer came bounding outside first, carrying a backpack and a small duffle bag, followed closely by Sarah with her purse and a larger bag slung over her shoulder. The two of them were their usual selves, as far as Kurt could tell, leaving their things and then walking back toward the house for a final look around.

However, one glance at Jane, who came out of the house last, told Kurt that she was getting anxious again. Her smile was forced as she passed Sarah and Sawyer, and she looked away from them quickly. She set her own bag down on the cement, giving him barely half of a forced smile, and started to walk away. Instead of letting her go, he caught her arm gently and she turned back around, looking at him in surprise.

"Jane," he said quietly, "Are you okay?"

She nodded unconvincingly, looking away and whispering, "Yeah, I'm fine." When she looked back at him and saw the obvious disbelief on his face, she rolled her eyes at him, annoyed that he could read her so easily. "I just hate to see it end," she conceded. She glanced at the ground, then back up at him unsurely.

"We're going to figure it out," he assured her for the umpteenth time, moving his hand up her arm to her shoulder and squeezing gently. She nodded, looking down again, but she didn't look convinced. He put down the bag he'd been balancing in his left hand and turned to face her, pulling his arms around her and then leaning back to kiss her forehead. "I love you," he whispered. "You know that, right?"

Her arms had wound around him almost as if they had a mind of their own, and suddenly she felt as though she was hanging on for dear life. "I know," she said, nodding slowly. Her expression softened then, and he saw the hint of a smile. "I love you, too," she replied.

He smiled at her sincerely, then whispered, "If we can survive Sandstorm and come out the other side, then surely we can handle a change in relationship status."

For the first time in an hour or so, her lips curled into a genuine smile, and he felt a great sense of accomplishment. "Yeah, I know," she conceded, immediately feeling silly for being worried. He was right. They had survived so much worse. Granted, there had been many, many painful bumps along that road, ones that they almost hadn't survived, but they were here, after all, and that was what mattered.

They reluctantly released each other and Kurt finished putting the bags into the car, while Jane walked around awkwardly to the passenger side, waiting to be told which seat to take. She joked with Sawyer, who had come back outside at Sarah's instruction, and was standing and waiting by the car while his mother did a final sweep of the house.

While she waited, Jane fished inside the green bag on her shoulder for her phone, realizing that she had neglected to check it since she'd texted Patterson and Zapata the night before. When she saw that she had two short texts, one from each of them, she couldn't help but smile. She knew that she was going to get some good natured teasing from them on Monday, but she also knew that her friends were happy for her. After reading their texts – Patterson's contained lots of exclamation marks – she clicked her screen back off and put her phone back in her bag.

When Sarah came out of the house a minute later, locking the door and replacing the key where she'd found it, she walked past them to where Kurt was closing the trunk and said mischievously, "I'll drive."

Kurt looked at his younger sister for a few seconds, trying to process the words she'd just uttered. It was the first time she'd ever offered to drive them anywhere. Ever. "You… want to drive?" he repeated back to her, confused.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, smartass, I want to drive." It wasn't that she couldn't drive, she'd just always been perfectly happy to let Kurt have that job to himself when they were together. Her older brother was a little bit of a control freak, after all, and she didn't care one way or the other.

She's up to something… he thought, watching her carefully as he nevertheless slowly laid the keys to the SUV in the palm of her now outstretched hand.

Taking them from him before he could change his mind, she walked around to the passenger side. "Hey, Sawyer, you want to sit in front?" Sarah enjoyed watching his eyes widen in surprise, since she had never let him sit in front before. But she figured, he had to start sometime, and he was just about old enough.

"Really?" he asked in surprise. When Sarah nodded, only about a split second went by before he cried, "Yes!" and lunged enthusiastically toward the car, throwing the door open and clambering into the front seat. Jane smiled, watching him get so excited over something so simple. It was nice to watch someone do something for the first time that she herself had already done – she still didn't get to have that feeling very often.

Kurt was now leaning against the back corner of the car on the passenger side, also watching Sawyer in amusement. Sarah had already retreated back around the front of the car to the driver's side, so when Sawyer closed the door, suddenly he was just standing there watching Jane. "Looks like we're riding in back this time," he said, his arms crossed, still leaned against the side of the car and not moving.

"I guess so," Jane nodded, wondering if this was something Sarah had done purposely.

As she stepped forward and reached for the door handle, suddenly Kurt was standing beside her. "Just so you know, Sarah has never offered to drive before," he said softly into her ear, and then turned and walked around to the other side of the car to get in. Jane couldn't help blushing slightly.

So he doesn't have to pay attention to the road the whole way back? Or… at least part of the way back, if they take turns driving… she couldn't help but think, unable to help the smile on her face.

She was still smiling when she climbed into the car, setting the green beach bag down by her feet and reaching for her seatbelt as Kurt opened the door on the far side of the car. Before she knew it, he'd climbed in as well, but instead of sitting by the opposite door, he scooted into the middle so that he was sitting right next to her, no space left between them – which, of course, was just fine with her.

Glancing at him over her shoulder, she felt her cheeks heat up and knew that she was blushing… and from the look on his face, it had not gone unnoticed. As soon as he had buckled his seatbelt, he took her hand and held it in his, resting it against his knee. She sighed happily, leaning against him, letting her head fall against his shoulder. She was still tired from a late night before, followed by a very early morning. Both had been worth it, but she was now paying the price, despite the coffee she'd already had.

"Everybody ready? Buckled? Comfy?" Sarah asked, glancing in the rearview mirror with a grin.

So this was a plan, he thought to himself. His sister was apparently thinking farther ahead than he was when it came to Jane…

"Doing great back here," Jane volunteered, still smiling happily.

Sarah Weller knew exactly what she was doing, and she had known all along. She'd invited Jane and Kurt to the beach house that weekend after realizing that, at the speed the two were going on their own, they would be retired before anything whatsoever happened between them. She'd known that there were only two bedrooms at her friend's beach house, and despite not knowing exactly what had already happened between her brother and the woman that he had so obviously been in love with for so long, she'd known that everything would work out fine.

Though she'd been accused of interfering too much in his life in the past, this was obviously different – a public service to both of them. As she watched them in the rearview mirror, both looking deliriously happy, she could see that she'd been right. Smiling with satisfaction, she shuffled to a playlist on her phone that would set the tone for the drive that she felt was appropriate for her passengers.

The car backed out of the driveway of the little beach house, and with that, they were on their way back to New York, and real life. As happy as Jane was to have a few more hours to sit and cuddle with Kurt, she couldn't help but already be anxious about getting back. What would happen once they were back to their everyday lives and routines? As they steered towards the highway, crawling through traffic of other departing beachgoers, she found herself lost in thoughts that she didn't like. As much as she wanted to enjoy where she was, she couldn't help but worry – even though home was six or more hours away.

It wasn't difficult for Kurt to sense Jane's slowly increasing tension. He knew that her thoughts were running away from her, and he knew why. After all, the reality they were returning to was very different than the one they'd been living for the past few days… they'd already talked about it, but he knew that she wouldn't relax completely until he could show her that it would be okay, once they were actually there.

Turning her left hand over in his right, so that his own hand now rested on his knee, his left hand came up and with his index finger, he began tracing the lines on the back of her hand absently. One thing that he'd learned this weekend was that this motion was soothing for both of them, and judging from the way she began to relax when he did it, it seemed to do the trick once again.

She'd gotten the message loud and clear. Don't worry, he'd said without actually saying it. After all, how much he cared about her had always been there, in his eyes, when she thought back… So she shouldn't be worried… right? She wanted to believe that going back to New York wasn't going to break the spell, that it wasn't going to put things back to the way they'd been. She wanted to believe that when they got home, it wouldn't feel like all this had never even happened.

But was that too much to hope for? After all, familiar routines and everything… would they fall back into what was also familiar between the two of them…? The care with which he was tracing the tattoos on the back of her hand just then said no. So she tried to tell herself to simply enjoy where she was – because sitting in the backseat with Kurt like this was one of the more pleasant ways that she could have hoped to spend the long drive home. She tried her best to put the rest of it out of her mind.

"You guys! Look! This bridge is huge!" Sawyer called out excitedly. They were just barely out of the city of Virginia Beach, and were now heading out onto a bridge that appeared to go on forever. Sawyer hadn't seen the bridge on the way down, since he'd been long since sleeping by that point, and it had been pitch black outside. Jane picked up her head off of Kurt's shoulder, and the two of them looked up, out the window at the water stretching out to the horizon. The sky was blue and cloudless – the view couldn't have been any more perfect.

"Wow," Jane whispered, feeling Kurt's hand tighten around hers slightly. She vaguely remembered the bridge from the trip down, when she'd been exhausted but still awake, helping Kurt stay awake as he drove.

"It's the… what's it called again, mom?" Sawyer asked, looking at Sarah.

"The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel," Sarah replied.

"Bridge Tunnel?" Jane asked in confusion from the back seat. How did I miss that part? she wondered.

"It's a bridge, but then it goes under the water in a tunnel. It actually does it twice," Kurt explained. He remembered it well, having been the one who'd been driving the last time. "You don't remember that? I swear you were awake…" She just shrugged, laughing at herself quietly.

"That's crazy!" Sawyer exclaimed, turning around to look at Jane and Kurt.

"Did you see the sign for the gift shop and restaurant?" Sarah asked with a grin.

"On the bridge?" Jane asked.

"Yep," Sarah nodded. "Weird, right? I guess that's how you know it's a long bridge."

"Wow," Jane said, shaking her head in surprise. Kurt chuckled beside her. It was almost twenty minutes before they got across the bridge tunnel – it was about seventeen miles long, after all – and Jane's head had landed back on Kurt's shoulder long before that time. The motion of the car and the soothing sensation of his fingers tracing the ink on her hand meant that she was already having trouble keeping her eyes open, even though it wasn't even mid-afternoon.

The scenery was moving by without her even noticing, as lost in thought as she was, and they hadn't even been on the road for an hour when she felt herself start to yawn. It's too early to be tired, she reminded herself, glancing at the clock and realizing that it wasn't even one o'clock in the afternoon. Still, she couldn't help it… with the help of the car, it was almost as though Kurt was managing to lull her to sleep just by moving his fingers across her skin.

He shifted beside her, suddenly letting go of her hand, the feeling of which she immediately missed. She was about to protest when she felt him turning towards her, and then felt his hands on her shoulders, turning her as well. He'd pulled her seatbelt a little looser so that she had room to move in the direction that he wanted her to, toward the passenger side window. When the shifting stopped, he was sitting slightly behind her as they both angled towards the passenger side windows. Somehow, they had accomplished this while still wearing their seatbelts. He leaned down and spoke into her ear, as he had so many times that weekend. "I saw that yawn. Lean back, relax. Take a nap."

She couldn't help but smile, because he was doing it again… being thoughtful and attentive, and reading her mind. She did as she was told, because there was no reason in the world not she leaned back against him, most of her weight fell against his right shoulder, which pressed now against the seat. Her head was tilted to her left, tucked under his chin toward his left shoulder. She couldn't help but sigh in absolute contentment. They weren't turned completely sideways, but enough that she was facing the front window beside Sawyer, who was enjoying his time in the front seat probably almost as much as she was enjoying her time in the back.

Kurt's right arm had found its way between the seat and her waist, and he leaned his head against the seat, looking over her right shoulder at her. He simply couldn't get tired of looking at her. His hands held onto hers securely once again.

He saw Sarah glance at them in the rearview mirror, and he gave her a small smile of acknowledgement. At that moment, he forgave her for all the times he'd felt like she'd meddled in his life. He understood now that she had simply wanted him to be happy, which had always been the one thing that had alluded him. She'd certainly accomplished her goal this time, because this weekend had been one example of what made him happy after another. In short, it was Jane that made him happy. It seemed strange now that he'd taken so long to see that, as simple as it was.

The songs that had been floating from the front seat had blended into a harmonious string of soothing background music for Jane's anxious thoughts, but now, completely wrapped up in Kurt's arms, she was finally able to push those thoughts away for the time being and focus on where she was and what was happening around her. Of course, she didn't know any of the songs, but she liked what she was hearing.

Just when she was sure that the moment couldn't get any more perfect, she heard Kurt's voice in her ear. Actually, it was more accurate to say that before she realized that she was hearing his voice, she felt his breath against her cheek. That was what made her turn toward him slightly, listening. His voice was soft, and at first she couldn't tell what he was saying. It took a minute, but slowly she realized that he was singing along with the song that Sarah was playing in the front seat. At almost the same moment, she realized that she'd heard that song the night before, at the concert.

Knowing that, she focused on hearing the lyrics. Kurt sang slightly out of tune, and quietly enough that she was the only one who would hear him, his voice barely a whisper beside her ear. That just made it that much more special, because it was something that was only between the two of them.

"So take these words and sing out loud
'Cause everyone is forgiven now
'Cause tonight's the night the world begins again."

There was a pause while the music got faster, and she turned to glance at him, then turned back so that her ear was beside his mouth, so that she could hear his quiet singing.

"I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days…
"

Between the lyrics to the song and the person singing them softly into her ear, she was suddenly overwhelmed. She hadn't been able to focus as well on what the song was saying during the concert, as in awe as she had been of the whole experience. Now, the words were sinking in.

Forgiveness? That was something that she'd never dared to hope for, and yet over the past year, that seemed to be what both of them had achieved somewhere along the way – forgiveness of each other, and of themselves. How it had happened wasn't even important anymore. They had talked about some of it, but neither of them had ever been great with words. More of the healing had been accomplished through their actions towards each other, and a slow but steady rebuilding of trust. They'd both been painfully aware of their mistakes, and the way those mistakes had shaped their present.

Like the song said, it was as though the world had begun again – for Jane, it had now done so for the second time, and this time she was determined to get it right.

As for love...? She'd known the word, of course, but it was a concept she'd only just begun to understand. She still couldn't believe it… That was what it had been for so long between herself and Kurt, that thing that she hadn't known how to identify, the pull that seemed to both save her and kill her at the same time.

By the time she'd suspected that that had been what it was… back before things had gone so badly last year… well, by then she had already been so deeply entrenched in the lies that Oscar had demanded of her, she had thought that there was no coming back. But, as love sometimes does, it had surprised her by refusing to be crushed by the weight of the lies they had told each other. She'd meant what she'd said when she'd told a scared teenager that it was possible to lie to someone, and still love them very much. When the dust had cleared around everything that involved Sandstorm, there it had been once more – the impossibly complex and yet frustratingly simply way that they felt about each other.

Kurt had stopped singing at some point, but she'd tumbled so deep into her thoughts that she'd hadn't even noticed. It was only when his voice in her ear interrupted her thoughts, speaking this time, that she realized that he was no longer singing to her.

Too bad, she thought, hoping that she might hear him do that again sometime.

Instead, she heard him say softly, "Hey, do you see the sign just up there? We're crossing into Maryland in a second."

She nodded slightly, turning her head towards him a little to reply just as quietly, "That's a shame… I kind of liked Virginia."

"Did you?" he teased her, making her blush all over again.

"Yeah," she heard herself say. She still couldn't figure out how he had such an effect on her, but it only seemed to be getting stronger.

Jane needed to look away from him, out at the world outside the car, just to come up for air from the way he was looking at her – not that she minded. She leaned her head against his chin, feeling him kiss her temple. The cars around them, which had been gradually slowing down for some time now, seemed to be moving even more slowly… or maybe it was just her imagination.

And then, as if the universe decided to be just a little bit kind to them for once, the cars in front of them came to a complete stop. She sat up straighter and looked ahead of them as far as she could, feeling Kurt behind her doing the same. A line of stopped traffic stretched ahead of them past the bend in the road, so they couldn't see the problem, only the fact that they weren't going to be getting out of that traffic any time soon.

"You're kidding me," Sarah sighed in frustration from the front seat, hitting the steering wheel in annoyance with one hand, gripping it tightly with the other and glancing at Sawyer, who was staring out the window contentedly. "Jessica said there's never traffic on this road."

Kurt had never in his life been happy to be stuck in traffic, but that was exactly how he felt. While he would rather have been somewhere slightly more comfortable with Jane, and possibly somewhere without his sister and nephew, the fact that they were now going to be stuck in the car together indefinitely was more than okay with him. Yes, they would need to get home at some point. The logical side of his brain knew this. After all, they had to work tomorrow, and somewhere in between there sleep would have to happen.

Imagining sleeping alone at his apartment, however, was now much less than appealing. He didn't allow himself to sigh at the thought, instead pushing it away quickly. There was plenty of time for thoughts of that when they got there, and he wasn't exactly excited about them.

Feeling odd for doing so, Jane smiled at the traffic. We'll see if you're so grateful for that stopped traffic later, when you have to go to the bathroom, a voice in Jane's head assured her. But at that moment, the fact that they were no longer moving seemed like a favor that was being done for them. After all, if the cars didn't move, they didn't get home. And if they didn't get home… well, she knew that it couldn't last forever, but she would take what she could get.

"I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a traffic jam," he whispered in her ear, her smile widening. Of course, he'd said what she was thinking once again. She closed her eyes and leaned against him, as happy as she had ever been – at least as far as she could remember.

XXX

It was nearly midnight when they pulled up in front of Jane's house. She'd been asleep for a little while, after fighting for most of the long trip to stay awake. "I don't want to waste the last of this weekend sleeping," she'd insisted, almost desperately.

"Ssshhh," he'd whispered. "I'm not going anywhere, Jane."

Still, she'd continued to fight sleep, despite how tired she obviously was. Finally, however, about thirty minutes before they arrived, she'd finally fallen asleep against his shoulder.

He hated to have to wake her. Hell, he hated the fact that they'd reached their destination at all. He'd have happily ridden in the car until the end of time if he could have, if it meant not letting go of her.

Shaking her slightly, and whispering her name into her ear, he felt her shift against him, tightening her hold on his hand. He assumed that it was accidental, a reaction to waking up groggy.

"Jane," he whispered, "we're at your place." That was when he figured out that her tightened grip hadn't been an accident, because it tightened again as she groaned slightly.

"Not yet," she said quietly.

He couldn't help but smile. What should have been a six hour drive had just taken almost twelve hours, thanks to traffic that lasted the entire way back, but yet she wasn't ready to be home. Of course, he knew the feeling, and he wasn't ready to see the weekend end, either. Letting go of her hands, which was no easy feat considering the way she was trying to hold on, he leaned back slightly so that he could unbuckle both of their seatbelts. Since she wasn't exactly helping, he then leaned around her and opened the handle on her door, pushing it open with his foot. She glared at him as she climbed unhappily out of the car, stretching her stiff muscles.

Kurt climbed out after her, following her around the car to the truck, opening it and taking out her bag for her. He put the strap of her bag over his shoulder and then closed the hatch again, putting his free arm over her shoulder as they continued around toward the driver's side of the car. He had the distinct impression that if he didn't force her towards her door, she'd have stubbornly remained standing outside. They stopped by the driver's side window, and Sarah rolled it down, smiling at her. "Thank you so much, Sarah, this weekend was just… amazing," Jane said sincerely, her less than happy face relaxing into a smile.

"I'm glad you could make it, Jane," Sarah said. "And I'm glad you guys had so much fun." There was a twinkle in her eyes and told Jane that Sarah had known all along just how much fun they would have, even though the two of them hadn't. Maybe all of the Wellers have superhuman powers, Jane thought fleetingly as her feet began moving again, carrying her against her will to her front door. Kurt helped propel her there, stopping behind her as she took out her keys and walked the last few steps, unlocking the door and reaching along the wall inside to turn on the light.

He took a small step forward and glanced over her shoulder, checking the interior for any unseen dangers. Old habits die hard, he told himself, remembering the days when she'd lived in a safe house, and he'd been one of the people in charge of her security. These days she no longer had a safe house or a protective detail, but that didn't stop him from wanting to protect her.

She'd turned to lean against the door frame, now facing him, and he took another small step closer, reaching out to hand her the bag he'd been holding. She took it slowly, not wanting to give him an excuse to go by taking it. Finally, knowing she had no choice, she did, though she immediately set it down beside her in the doorway, just continuing to stare at him intensely, wishing there was something she could do to freeze time and stop him from leaving.

Anything, she thought, I'll do anything.

There is one thing you can do, though it won't freeze time… she told herself.

"I guess I should be going," he said, staring into her eyes and not moving. "Sarah and Sawyer are probably ready to get home." Sawyer had been asleep in the car for the past three hours or more, but poor Sarah, of course, was not so lucky. Kurt had tried to get her to let him drive part of the way, but she had refused, even as the traffic delay made their drive longer and longer.

You kissed him first, she reminded herself, a long, long time ago. Of course you can say it. It's only words… Besides, you already know the answer.

"Do you have to?" she asked quietly, feeling her face turn pink.

He took yet another small step closer, now standing only inches from her, though she was shorter in front of him than usual because she was still leaning tiredly against the door frame. The blush on her face hadn't escaped his attention, even in the limited light from behind her. Smiling, he reached up and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, a simple gesture that he never got tired of… the fact that he was allowed to do even that much, such a tiny and intimate touch, still seemed unbelievable to him.

"Not if you don't want me to," he replied in a whisper, smiling at her earnestly. There simply seemed to be no end to the depths of his feelings for her.

She looked as though she was going to choke on her words for just a second, but she managed to whisper, "I don't want you to." He smiled, leaning forward and reaching for her right hand, holding it loosely. His thumb moved gently across the back of her hand once again, back and forth across the honeycomb pattern that he could not see in the dim light.

The butterflies in her stomach were now churning up hurricane force winds. Surely, adults were not supposed to feel like this.

He didn't look surprised to hear her say that she didn't want him to go, but he certainly did look happy. It was as though he had already known before she'd told him, and he was just waiting for her to catch up. Of course he knew, the voice in her head replied. He always knows. It was simply one of a million things that she loved about him…

Love. There's that word again, she thought nervously.

That's right, she told herself. And you know that you love him, just like you know that he loves you. You've both said it, for goodness sake. You may as well accept it, finally.

She had planted her eyes firmly toward the ground, feeling like her cheeks would catch on fire from the heat they were giving off. When she felt him squeeze her hand, she looked back up at him and saw nothing but happiness dancing in his eyes.

"Okay," he said simply, as if he'd suspected that that would be her answer all along. "Good thing I have all my stuff in the car, then, huh?" he asked her with a grin. He dropped her hand reluctantly, turned without another word and jogged back to the driver's side window, which Sarah had already rolled down when he got there.

She was grinning at him, and he couldn't figure out why at first, but she spoke before he had a chance. "The trunk is open, and yes, I'll park it in your usual spot and leave the keys on the kitchen table so you can pick the car up before you guys have to go to work in the morning." Enjoying the stunned look on his face, she added, "Have a good night." He continued to stare at her, shocked that she'd known precisely what he was going to say. Then, shaking his head and grinning, he simply leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you for an amazing weekend," he said. "And for taking such good care of me."

Shrugging, she smiled happily and replied, "What are sisters for?" Seeing him truly happy for the first time since he was ten years old was worth more to her than any thanks he could have given her. She was just relieved that finally, the two of them could see as clearly as she and everyone else around them could – how right they were for each other.

Watching as he grabbed his weekend bag, plus a small, spare bag that he always kept in his car just in case, which she knew contained an extra work outfit, she couldn't help but feel grateful that she was there to see her brother so happy, and that she had had something to do with it. She glanced at Jane, standing in the doorway, the same smile on her face as on Kurt's, and thought that it could not have happened to two more deserving people.

Kurt closed the trunk and walked by Sarah again, waving as he passed the window and then jogging back to the door, where he slowed as he approached Jane. She stood up from the door frame and he stopped just for a second, looking into her eyes intensely. "Are you sure?" he asked.

She knew for certain that if she had changed her mind, he wouldn't have been upset with her, that he would simply have accepted it and gone home. It was another one of the things that she loved about him.

However, she was also sure that she wanted him to stay, so she simply nodded and stepped back to let him walk in past her, reaching for his hand this time, to pull him inside and then closing the door behind him. A few seconds later they saw headlights moving as Sarah pulled back out onto the street, headed back to the apartment she and Sawyer still shared with Kurt – despite the many times she'd promised to move out over the past few years.

She'd dropped his hand so that they could walk up the narrow stairs more easily, both carrying their bags, and already she missed the contact. He was one step behind her, walking at the same slow pace she was. At the top of the steps she stopped abruptly and he almost bumped into her. She turned around quickly and their faces were suddenly very close together, almost perfectly aligned, since he was one step down. Her eyes searched his for a second, and she found herself unable to look away.

"Keep going, silly," he said softly. In her bedroom, she put her bag down on the bed and rummaged inside for her small toiletries bag, taking it out along with a small bundle that he easily recognized as her pajamas, and went into the bathroom.

It occurred to him then that he knew what her pajamas looked like, and how she looked when she was sleeping, as well as how she looked when she'd first woken up… the little things that most people don't know about each other. These were small, intimate things that he knew about her that no one else, to his knowledge, did. He couldn't help but smile at that thought, feeling lucky.

It was ridiculous, she knew, asking him to stay – with all that that implied – and then going into the bathroom to change into her pajamas. Still, in her head it made sense, and she knew that he was fine with whatever she wanted. Thinking back, she'd always known this about him, but somehow she'd only just realized it now.

When she came out of the bathroom, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, wearing the same pajamas he'd been wearing that weekend, holding his toothbrush and toothpaste loosely and looking adorably sleepy. She smiled at him, saying, "Your turn," quietly and then brushing past him as he walked toward the bathroom and she walked toward the bed to move her bag to the floor.

With her bag set to the side to be dealt with tomorrow, she crawled into bed and got under the covers, which, in her tired state, had never felt so comfortable. She lay on her side facing the spot where Kurt would be in a moment. Scooting herself closer to the middle of the bed than she usually slept, she felt the tempest of butterflies in her stomach returning once more.

I have to be too old for this, she thought.

The feeling only intensified when the bathroom door opened and he emerged, turning off the light and walking slowly toward the far side of the bed. She watched his shadow move, the only light in the room filtering through the curtained window from the streetlight outside. The mattress shifted as he laid down, pulling the blankets back over him and then scooting toward her, until they were once again lying close together, facing each other, as they had now done a few times over the past few nights.

Despite the lateness of the hour, there was no longer the promise of another lazy day spent together the next day – though they would be at work, so they would be physically in the same place. After this, it would all be different. Or rather, it would cease to be different, and it would go back to the way it had been.

Or would it?

She refused to think about that now, not with him lying there so close to her. For once, she didn't want to think, and she willed herself to stop.

Instead, she focused on a happier thought. You did it once before, and you can do it again, she reminded herself, thinking back to the first time she'd kissed him and smiling at the memory. They were staring at each other now, and she knew that he was waiting, taking his cues from her.

"What?" he asked her as she smiled at him fondly.

"I was just thinking about…" she began, but her voice trailed off as she leaned towards him. She was thinking that it felt much easier to be the one to kiss him first this time, after the weekend they'd had. After all, their feelings were already abundantly clear. There was no uncertainty, and she suddenly no longer worried that she would have regrets. On the contrary, the only twinge of regret that she felt was that they had taken so long to get here.

And just like that, everything in the world but them seemed to simply disappear from existence. All he could think was, Finally… His senses were being bombarded with information, and the only other thing he could think coherently was, Jane. Really, those two words summed it all up.

She'd thought that she would have hesitated, that she wouldn't have been the one to make the first move, but as soon as he'd been there in front of her, it was as though the attraction between them – that had always been between them, but that was now so much stronger – simply pulled her toward him. It was unlike any feeling she'd ever experienced… a simple longing for him, more powerful and more important than anything else in the world.

The closer she got to him, the more she knew that she was exactly where she was supposed to be. And when she kissed him, insistently this time, surprising herself with her relative boldness after mostly flirting with him all weekend… Well, she'd heard that timing was everything, and somehow, the time seemed to finally be right for the two of them.

His hands were on the bare skin of her waist, in the space between her t-shirt and her pajama pants. He hesitated there, looking intently into her eyes and trying to read her – ever the gentleman. "You know what? I think this time I do need help with that shirt," she whispered with a grin, alluding to the multiple times he'd innocently asked – or helped – her to take off her shirt over the course of the weekend, for the purpose of applying sunblock.

A grin flickered across his face, but then faded, and the intensity of emotion that remained in his eyes just then threatened to take her breath away – not because she'd never seen it before, but because she finally understood what it meant. He simply stared at her, and she started to wonder if something was wrong. As she tilted her head slightly in confusion, her smile dimmed just a little in confusion.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly, concerned.

He shook his head, the smile slowly returning to his face. "Absolutely nothing," he whispered.

Removing his hands from her waist completely, which confused her for a second, he brought them out from under the covers and gently laid them on her cheeks, gently moving this thumbs against her skin and smiling at her for a few more seconds. In those few seconds, his eyes said more than words ever could have, and she almost felt as though time stood still. Then suddenly, before she knew it, he was leaning towards her for yet another kiss, this one lasting even longer than any of the previous ones.

Finally, as he stopped to allow both of them to catch their breath, their foreheads leaning against each other, his hands slid back down to the bottom edge of her t-shirt. He tugged it slowly but surely upward as she shifted, this time without being told, in order to help him do so.

The shirt in question ended up on the floor, followed shortly by his own, and after a split second hesitation they moved slowly back towards each other. The feeling of bare skin on bare skin wasn't completely foreign, of course, after so many sunblock applications, but still they paused, proceeding slowly and smiling at each other as he ran his hand up her side and then across her bare back. The feeling was familiar, and yet new.

Time ceased to be a factor… in fact, it ceased to even exist, as did all thoughts of anything but the two of them. The rest of it – labels and relationships and the small detail that he was her boss – well, they'd worry about that in the morning… or maybe the afternoon… but just not now. Because when it came down to it, none of that mattered. Not really. The only thing that mattered to either of them was the two of them, plain and simple. Everything else faded into background noise.

Neither of them knew if they believed in the idea of things that were 'meant to be.' Both of their pasts were more than a little too painful and complicated for them to easily swallow the idea that the way things had happened was the way things were supposed to have happened. However it had happened, they had ended up here, together, and that was really all that mattered.

And so, this time sleep could wait, no matter how tired they had thought that they were or how few hours remained until morning. After all, things between them had already waited fartoo long… and now the time was finally, finally, right.

Much later, Kurt craned his neck as much as he could without moving the rest of his body so that he could watch Jane without disturbing her. She had fallen asleep against his chest, her ear positioned just over his heart and her left arm draped over him. His left arm was wrapped loosely around her waist, his hand moving slowly across the lines on her lower back that he could just barely feel, but not see, from his angle. Her face was peaceful, and as he watched her, he saw her smile in her sleep. It was a far cry from the nightmares from which he knew that she'd once suffered, and for that he was extremely grateful.

He kissed the top of her head, pulling the blanket up higher over them, and then draped his right arm around her as well, trailing his fingers down her back almost reverently, then back up again to the spot where he knew that his name was, even without being able to see it. He was still in awe that this was all really happening, after so much time and so many mistakes.

A small part of him wanted to wake her up so that he could look into her eyes and reassure himself that all of this was real, but he vetoed that idea, knowing that morning would come soon enough, and that they both needed their sleep. For the time being, the feel of her skin against his would have to be proof enough of how real she was.

Looking down at her once more, he couldn't help but think that there was nothing in the world that would convince him to let her go. He may not have always appreciated the bond between them the way he should have, but he did now, and that was all that mattered. With that thought in mind, he allowed his eyes to close, perfectly content to be exactly where he was – with Jane.

A/N: I had actually written most of this chapter before this story was even halfway done, just because inspiration struck. This was supposed to be the last chapter, but thanks to MonkeyPajamas' awesome fic, Friday Night Gossip, that fits so nicely with this one, I decided to add one more chapter to include what actually happened when they went back to work. So there's one chapter left… You're welcome. And thank you all for reading, I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter… I've been looking forward to sharing it with you for quite a while.