Author's Note: I figured that after the total trauma of the season premiere (OMG KURT LET ME COMFORT YOU!) we could all use a little fluff. This is mostly just a recap of the five years post-Sandstorm and the dynamics of the team, but there's also Kurt being a little giddy about his date. ;)

Kurt spent the next couple of hours on the beach, walking along the shoreline in his bare feet, before finding a quiet spot to sit and stare at the incoming tide.

Had he really just gotten a tattoo to impress a pretty girl? He laughed quietly to himself, digging his toes into the sand as he glanced down at the dressing covering his new ink.

If not for Jane, he would never have considered getting a tattoo, but when Patterson had told him about NYO Ink, Jane's new business venture, he'd wanted to somehow show her his support. It had been five years since she'd left New York, and her contact with him had tapered off to nothing, less than eighteen months after she'd moved to the West Coast. It had been so obvious that she was barely invested in their friendship that he'd almost been glad to put her out of his mind. It had hurt less that way than getting two-word replies to his text messages.

But when he'd heard the news about Jane's studio, and he'd checked out her website out of curiosity, there had been a picture of Jane tattooing some guy's back. She hadn't been looking at the camera when it was taken, and was completely absorbed in her work. It had reminded him of how she used to look when she'd sat at her desk in SIOC, her head bent over paperwork, her hair curling against her jawline as she'd given a thoughtful frown.

All the old feelings had come rushing back, memories he'd suppressed coming to the forefront of his mind again. How she'd catch his eye and silently signal her intent before they'd take down a suspect together, determination in her face. The way she'd look up at him through her lashes sometimes, a slight smile on her lips. The tentative touch of her hand against his neck when they'd kissed.

He'd known he at least had to see her, to figure out if she was happy, to see if that indefinable spark between them was still there. He could pretend he was over her for the rest of his life, but without closure—without her telling him in no uncertain terms that she wasn't interested in trying to rekindle their relationship—he'd never allow himself to be truly happy with anyone else.

He could have just called her studio when he got into town, asked if she wanted to go grab a coffee together. But part of him had been afraid she'd just turn him down, and he wouldn't even be able to see her face to face. Neither had he wanted to show up at her studio without a reason, because her business was still new, and he didn't want to distract her from her clients or take up time she could be using to make money.

As he'd browsed through her online portfolio, he'd come across the broken hourglass tattoo design, and he'd instantly guessed she'd been thinking of Sandstorm when she'd drawn it. That was when he'd begun to consider getting a tattoo of his own. The Sandstorm case—though he hadn't known anything about Sandstorm when Jane had first been brought to the NYO—had changed his life, and it was very unlikely any other case he landed would be as critical or as far-reaching as that one had been. Since tattoos were integral to the Sandstorm investigation, it seemed fitting that he should mark it with a tattoo of his own.

And, yeah, he'd hoped that while Jane was tattooing him, she'd remember the way things used to be. So in essence, he guessed he really had gotten a tattoo to impress a pretty girl.

But had she been impressed?

He'd been surprised by how warm her welcome had been; she'd crossed the room to hug him as soon as she'd gotten over her initial shock. As she'd prepared things before actually sticking him with the needle, they'd fallen back into the easy, friendly conversation they'd shared during their best times, catching up a little. Things had gotten a little awkward when he'd pointedly told her he considered them friends and therefore he was interested in her life, but the reserve he'd expected from her hadn't been there.

Then the endorphins from the needle had sent him a little high, and when she'd tried to explain why, she'd mentioned spanking. His inhibitions had been lowered enough by the hormone rush that he'd been unable to resist flirting a little, and she'd responded by asking how Nas was.

How was it possible that she hadn't heard about his break-up? He'd assumed that Patterson would have talked to Jane about him, the same way she talked to him about Jane, but evidently that wasn't true. Had Jane never asked how he was doing? Or had Patterson deliberately kept the information about his break-up from her?

Either way, Jane knew he was single now. And she'd quietly confirmed that there was no one in her life, either.

Part of him knew it was selfish to try to rebuild something with her when he didn't have any intention of moving away from New York. But her studio was named NYO Ink, and she had a tattoo of the New York skyline on one arm and a phoenix being reborn from a duffel bag on the other. It didn't take a psychology degree to figure out that she missed her old life—not her life as Remi, but as Jane Doe, FBI asset.

As the sun drew closer to the horizon and the first tinge of orange hit the clouds, Kurt grabbed his shoes and got to his feet. His hotel was only a couple of blocks away, and he wanted to shower and change before their dinner date.

Not a date, he reminded himself, as he walked back the way he'd come. Just old friends, catching up.

And he was taking a cold shower because a warm one would open his pores and affect the ink on his new tattoo. Sure, Kurt.

It took effort to keep his dressing out of the shower spray, but he managed, emerging from the cubicle shivering, but with something other than Jane on his mind—for a few minutes, anyway.

Everything had changed since Sandstorm had been neutralised. Patterson had moved down to Los Angeles independently of Jane, founding a software company that had produced a hit game app named Wizardville—to which his nephew, Sawyer, was completely addicted. Wizardville 2 was highly anticipated and now in its final stages of development, and Patterson was considering putting her company on the stock market, after holding out for a long time.

Reade was a lecturer at Quantico, settling into the academic side of the FBI like he was born to it. Weller missed working with him, but his friend's PTSD had been severe enough to affect his fieldwork, and he had to admit that Reade seemed happier these days. They visited each other now and then, and Reade often directed promising rookie agents his way once they'd completed their training.

Zapata had joined the CIA, working for Jake Keaton, the same man who had tortured Jane for three months. Weller's friendship with her had deteriorated rapidly because of it. "There's more to being a CIA agent than black sites and torture," she'd insisted.

"Yeah? Tell that to Jane," he'd shot back.

They still talked once in a while, but things were strained between them. Reade, on the other hand, had cut her off entirely, disgusted with her lack of morals. Only her friendship with Patterson remained intact.

As for Kurt? Nas had moved into his apartment, and they'd made a go of it for around three years before she'd been offered a job in the British intelligence network. They'd been happy together, but by that point, they'd been treading water, their relationship more a live-in friends-with-benefits deal than anything else.

"In any case," Nas had told him, as they'd talked about breaking up, "I never had your heart, Kurt. Not really. Maybe it's time for you to think about why that is."

He hadn't been able to argue. She'd spent the first few months of their relationship quietly observing the way he interacted with Jane, though they'd never actually discussed it.

Why had he settled for Nas? When they'd started sleeping together, he'd still been angry with and conflicted about Jane, still grieving for Mayfair and unable to put Jane's involvement with her death aside. By the time he and Jane were on more even footing, she'd been tentatively dating a man she'd met while undercover at a charity gala.

Meanwhile, he and Nas were being more open about their relationship around the team, and though Jane had ended up single again after a couple of months, he had been busy battling Matthew Weitz, who was intent on throwing Kurt to the wolves as a terrorist sympathiser in order to impress Congress. Nas had found enough dirt on Weitz to get him to back off, but it had been a stressful time, and he'd had no breathing room to consider whether he should think about ending it with Nas to try something with Jane.

Then they'd had to stop Phase Two, and it was then that Jane had mentioned moving to California. He'd wanted to protest, but he was in a relationship, and cheating wasn't his style. Instead of telling her how he felt about her, he'd rationalised that Jane deserved to build a life for herself, and he'd let her walk away.

It was probably the third-biggest mistake he'd ever made—the first being letting Taylor get killed, and the second being letting his father back into his life.

He'd known Patterson and Jane met regularly for coffee, and so he'd kept tabs on Jane through her once Jane had stopped responding to his messages. When he'd broken up with Nas, Patterson's first response to hearing the news had been, "I know it's probably too soon to ask this, but I'm drunk, so screw it. Are you finally gonna come down here and tell Jane how you feel about her?"

"No," he'd said immediately.

"Chicken," she'd retorted.

"She made it pretty obvious that she wasn't interested in staying in touch, and she's thousands of miles away. Even if she did want to start something, I'm the Deputy Director of the NYO. The job's important to me. I'm not moving to Los Angeles, and Jane's put New York behind her. It just wouldn't work."

"Okay…" Patterson had said, her voice carrying the sing-song tone of someone who clearly disagreed. He'd heard her take another gulp of whatever she was drinking on the other end of the phone connection. "But no one gets a tattoo of the skyline of the place they've put behind them."

Kurt gave himself a quick once-over in the mirror before heading out. He didn't look as nervous as he felt, which he was grateful for.

He'd end tonight either on top of the world, or with a broken heart. And if tonight went the way he hoped, he'd worry about tomorrow when he woke up, with Jane in his arms.

I haven't decided if the next chapter should be Kurt's point of view, or Jane's. Any preference? Let me know what you think of where the team are at these days, too. And any other thoughts you have. :D