Shout-Outs: Ebony10, julia pitt, Annabella Prinx, In The Name, mamacrime25, idon'thaveaname, reig, Totorsg, Mark Joseph, , spanky1944, thoughthebelldidring, mbarca, couchpotato565, AngryLittlePrincess, Mo, Wildwmn, & TheLifeILive. . . thanks for taking the time to give me feedback on this story. I wish I could thank all my reviewers personally today, but I was gone all day! Sorry about that.

Author's Note I:

Okay, here's my Christmas gift to everybody. You guys get a chapter every day this week! Hope you guys like that deal!

Chapter 7

"Did you have a good afternoon?" Maura asked as she opened the door for Jane and Lisbon.

"We made cookies!" Lisbon answered, holding up the plate of festive sugar cookies that she and Jane had frosted and decorated.

Maura's face fell. "That's all?"

"We watched Holiday Inn," Jane added.

"You guys are boring," Maura said.

"Thank you?" Lisbon replied, kicking the door closed with her foot.

"Well, dinner's ready and your brothers still aren't home from their little trip," Donna said coming out from the kitchen and wiping her palms off on her jeans.

"Donna cooked tonight," Maura told them. "She made her special three-meat meatballs."

"I'm surprised that your pantry is so well-stocked. I only had to pick up ground pork."

"Oh. . . that's Patrick, he always picks up my groceries," Lisbon said vaguely. "Or he'll take me. . . it's one of the things we do for fun."

"Wow! And I thought my relationship with James was dull!"

Lisbon and Jane exchanged looks before heading to the kitchen to put away their treats. Annie and Damon were there, boiling pasta and setting the table for the younger kids.

They smiled at them before continuing their heated discussion about Lady Gaga versus Katy Perry.

"Kids these days," Lisbon joked lamely.

"Yeah," Jane agreed, reaching out to gently push some hair away from her face. "I'm going to get going, but today was fun."

Lisbon nodded, not wanting him to leave but figuring, it was for the best. Maybe some time apart was exactly what they needed to remind them that it was just pretend. Nothingwas really going on between the two of them.

"Do you want some dinner to go?" Lisbon asked.

"You're not staying?" Annie asked looking up from setting the table and trying not to look disappointed.

"I'll be back tomorrow," Jane promised.

"Did you and Auntie Reese have an argument?" Damon asked bluntly.

"No, we didn't fight," Jane assured him. "I just think you guys need a night alone."

Lisbon wanted to tell him how right he was. . . that they did need a night without him (before her family decided to keep him and get rid of her.)She didn't voice these concerns to Jane though as he kissed her goodnight and whispered a goodbye meant only for her.

The evening passed by slowly. Maura and Donna went off to put the younger kids to bed and to wrap presents. This left Lisbon alone with Damon and Annie, they wound up watching a Christmas movie on the Life time Movie Network. Eventually her brothers showed up, hiding bas behind their backs and trying not to look contrite for being gone all day. Maura appeared to scold them and to heat up their dinners.

Lisbon realized that Jane kept things interesting, and she found herself wishing for that he hadn't decided to leave that evening. This thought caused her to mentally talk herself out of a real relationship with him for the umpteenth time in three days.

Finally, Maura and Donna were done using her bedroom to wrap presents. So, Lisbon decided to go to bed because she didn't think about Jane when she was sleeping.

It wasn't until she was getting ready for bed that she realized she was still wearing Jane's shirt. She whipped it off and replaced it with a roomy jersey, kicking the article of clothing under her bed, all the while wondering how her family hadn't noticed her wardrobe change.

She decided not to let it phase her as she crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep.

.

Lisbon's eyes flew open, her alarm clock was blaring loudly in her ear startling her out of a dream where she was married to Jane and having his baby. She glanced over at her clock and saw that it was only 3am. She guessed one of her nieces or nephews had gotten into her room while she had been at Jane's house.

After she was awake, she couldn't seem to go back to sleep. Her mind kept thinking about her unfinished dream and the possibilities of what could happen.

Somewhere in the course of her long, sleepless night, she came to a decision. Even though she didn't really have a good reason for it, she was just going to have to end things with Jane.

TBC. . .

Author's Note:

Ooooh, cliff-hanger! (Ducks fruitcake and snowballs being tossed at her.) Stay tuned, it's about to get a little angsty!

Sorry if this chapter wasn't spectacular. It was kind of a filler chapter for me, and I was kind of getting sluggish with the story at this point. . . I had been writing it non-stop for days. But I took a break before writing chapter 8, so hopefully it's a little better than this one.

Hope this didn't turn you off to reading the rest of the story.

Holly, November 22, 2011_