"Guess what's coming up," Jane said one morning over breakfast.
"I don't know," Lisbon answered, even though she did know what was coming up. She just wanted him to be the first one to say it. She set a bowl of Cream of Wheat in front of him.
"Come on," Jane prodded.
"Eat your breakfast."
He took a huge bite. "MMH. . . delicious. You make great Cream of Wheat."
Lisbon sat down across from him with a cup of coffee and sighed. "So, what's coming up?"
"Where's your breakfast?" Jane asked, instead of answering her. "Here, open up."
"Why?"
He put a spoonful of his cereal in her open mouth, and smiled at her. "Eat some breakfast."
She returned his smile. "Fine. We can share."
He shielded his bowl protectively. "Get your own hot cereal.
"I don't think so." She stuck her fingers in the bowl, but instead of licking them, she smeared it all over his face.
"No fair!" Jane said.
Lisbon smirked. "Who said anything about being fair?"
"Apparently, you never went to school," Jane said, taking a handful of the Cream of Wheat and rubbing it all over her face.
"That was totally. . . unfair!" Lisbon squealed.
Fake fear filled Jane's feature's and he got to his feet, putting his hand out to protect his face. "Don't hit me Lisbon! I didn't actually think it was you!"
"No mercy!" She replied, jumping on his back as he started to run.
He struggled to get her off his back, but she held on all the tighter when he did that. A few minutes later, they landed on their living room couch, laughing and trying to talk at the same time.
Finally, Lisbon looked at Jane, all of the playfulness gone from her features. She whispered, "I know what's coming up."
"We've almost been married for a year," Jane said quietly.
Lisbon chewed her finger for a moment, then she looked back to him. "We can. . . we can stay married for another year, if you'd like."
"Another year of torture?" Jane asked. "No. But thank you for the offer anyways."
Lisbon stood, and tried to control her emotions, the fact that she wanted to break down and sob. The fact that she had hoped Jane would have said, I don't want to stay married for another year. . . I want to stay married to you for the rest of our lives. She took a deep breath and reached for her jacket. And with quiet control , she said, "Well, I'm sorry that I made your life so miserable for the past twelve months. You'll have the annulment papers before tomorrow."
Jane cringed as she stalked out the front door and slammed the door behind her. He didn't need to be a Mentalist to know that he had probably just blown his last chance with her.
TBC. . .