A/N: Last chapter up.

Chapter 3 – Running Together

'A plan? What kind of plan?'

Jane removed his hand from her face and placed it on her hand. 'Honestly, I don't know. I have some ideas in mind but...it's not just up to me. I want us to come up with one together.'

'So...you're not leaving?' she replied, needing the confirmation.

Jane shook his head. 'Not without you.' He laughed softly. 'I couldn't find you for an hour tonight and I was worried sick.'

She raised her eyebrows. 'Yeah, well you do realise that behaviour isn't exactly normal. Nor does it fill me with optimism that you're willing to give a little on the job front.'

'I know. I know. I'll try to lighten up on the over protectiveness.'

'If it were that easy then you'd have done it before now.'

He looked deep into her eyes. 'All I can do is promise I'll try, Teresa. This isn't a problem that's going to disappear overnight.'

She nodded. 'Fair enough.'

He intertwined their fingers. 'Do you ever regret it?' he asked softly, looking at their joined hands.

'Regret what?'

He looked back up at her. 'Getting off the plane.'

She was taken aback and pulled her head back a little. 'No. Of course I don't. How could you think that?'

He shrugged. 'You could be married to a good man by now who wouldn't put you through the hell I do on an almost daily basis.'

She tightened her grip on his hand. 'A man I wasn't in love with. I'd have always wondered what being with you would have been like.'

He chuckled. 'And now you know. And you still don't want your money back?'

She laughed. 'Like I said before. Love...it isn't logical. But...I have been thinking about when Marcus asked me to move to D.C. to be with him.'

'Oh?'

'Yeah. Well when he first asked me I didn't have a job lined up. But...I was considering it anyway. I was actually considering moving to another state with a man I barely knew. What I don't understand is why...well why-'

'You considered giving up your job for him but not for me?'

She pursed her lips. 'Well...yeah. I don't understand why this is such a problem for me. Giving in a little on the job issue in light of that. The more you want me to stay out of danger, the more I seem intent on digging my heels in on the matter.'

Jane pondered for a few moments, rubbing his fingers over his stubbled chin. 'I have a theory. With Pike, you didn't have over a decade of baggage to sift through when he asked you the question. Perhaps you saw it as a romantic gesture of a man who had fallen hard for you. Who was willing to be open and honest to you about his feelings. He never gave you reason to doubt the authenticity of his feelings, of his love. You were free to come to a decision without the weight of wondering if there was some kind of hidden agenda behind it. On the other hand, with me...well you've had plenty of occasions to doubt the sincerity of how I feel about you. Not just since we've together in this way. But before. Unlike me, he didn't have a history of manipulating you or tricking you. Of making you do things you weren't comfortable doing. Of making you unsure of where you stood in my life. Of how important you were to me. So, when I ask you to give up your job you can't help see it as something else you sacrifice for me after a decade of already doing the same. Something else where you get nothing out of it and I get my way.'

'I guess if we want this to work then I need to let go of some things in the past too.'

'But your assumption is correct in any case. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Even if you're not willing to...move a little on the job front I don't want you to think nothing's going to change for another ten years. Maybe you were right before, about dipping my toes in the water. I think it's time I dived in.' He cleared his throat and pulled the wedding ring from his finger. Lisbon watched wide eyed and open mouthed as the metallic object hit the coffee table in front of them. In a second Jane took her hand in his again.

'Jane, you didn't have to-'

'I did have to. It's time, Teresa. To be honest it's probably well overdue.'

'But I don't want you to think I pushed you into this.'

'I don't. But even if I did sometimes I need a little pushing.'

She felt the indentation on his finger. 'I...I don't know what to say.'

'You don't need to say anything.'

A few moments passed as she continued to rub her finger over the bare skin. 'You know what you said at the cemetery about how you dying wouldn't hurt you-'

'You thought I was being selfish.'

'Well, you were. Jane, you've been there. You want me to go through that? You know how much I would have blamed myself if you had gotten yourself killed the other day.'

He nodded. 'You're right. It was selfish. But...that can hardly be a surprise to you. But I didn't think about the guilt you might have felt. You believe in an afterlife. I thought if something did happen to me then you could tell yourself I was hanging off a cloud playing a harp somewhere. Although, the more likely scenario would be for me to be somewhere getting my ass roasted.'

She gave him an icy glare. 'It would devastate me, Patrick. It would destroy me, losing you.'

He kissed her softly. 'Teresa, you're the strongest person I've ever known. Much stronger than me. You would endure. Of that I'm certain.'

'So would you.'

'I'd like to think that was true but I'm not so sure.'

'You've done it before.'

'Barely.'

'So, what does that mean for us?'

He shrugged. 'I love you, Teresa Lisbon. Love you so much I'm absolutely terrified. But that will probably never go away even if you do decide to quit your work so we move on with that as a given. So, here are my suggestions for the plan. We buy a house. Nothing too large but in a nice neighbourhood. Maybe one in a good school district if that kind of thing is important to you. We get a dog. We get married. We can do any of these options in any order you like. Or some of them. Or none of them and you tell me what kind of future you've envisioned and we talk about that.'

The shock of Jane removing his ring was nothing compared to what Lisbon was hearing now.

'A house? A child? And you're...you're proposing?'

'No, of course not. Not like this. This is just the plan I've come up with. The proposal will come later. Although I really would like to get a dog soon.'

'Jane, I was hoping for a little more commitment from you, I didn't expect you to...to...' Lisbon shook her head and got off the couch and began to pace in front of it, trying to catch her breath.

'Meh, you know I don't like to do things by half measure' he grinned. Now he had articulated a plan he was actually feeling a lot better.

When she could finally breathe she asked, 'What about my job?'

His expression turned serious again. 'It's part of who you are. If you want to keep doing it then I can't and shouldn't stop you. But...I'd hope you would consider a less risky job in the FBI as a favour to me. But...I can't watch you do it for much longer. It's only going to cause us more problems if I do. I probably won't be able to help myself interfering. And besides that, I need to stop seeing death and murder every day. Maybe there's a specific gene cops have that allows them to cope with that for a lifetime but if there is I don't have it. I want to see and enjoy beautiful things every day, not corpses. I'm leaving the FBI, Teresa. Of that I'm certain and it's non-negotiable. I'll stay in Austin or move wherever you want but...I've had enough of that life.'

She sat down beside him and nodded, studying the worry lines etched across his face and understanding the finality in his tone. 'I'll see what less risky options are available. If we're willing to move from Austin there will most probably be more possibilities.'

'I'd appreciate it' he said softly.

'What about you, though?'

'Oh, you mean the 'mental stimulation'?' he grinned.

'Well, yeah.'

'I was thinking of going back to school.'

'Huh?' she smiled.

'Get my High School Diploma for a start. Then look into some college courses. Literature Degree, maybe.' He took both of her hands. 'Maybe something that wouldn't take up all my time if...well if...well if the house got a little more crowded.'

She smiled under her eyelashes before looking up at him with a straight face. 'Why? How many dogs are you thinking of getting?'

- THE END -