Jane woke to a dark room and the steady sound of breathing. He checked his watch: two in the morning. The next thing his gaze fell on was the hospital bed in the room and its occupant, who was currently moving about under her covers. He leapt up from the couch he'd dozed off on and went to her, reaching out a hand for her shoulder. Her head turned to him; her eyes were glazed and her limbs were moving slowly and seemingly without purpose.

"Jane?" her voice was rough and slurred.

"I'm here," he replied softly, reaching out a gentle hand to cup her cheek; his thumb began to rub back and forth under her eye.

"Oh,'" she breathed softly, gaze shifting about the room.

Silence reigned for a while before Jane broke it, "Are you in pain?"

She didn't respond, looking instead at the couch Jane had just vacated.

"Lisbon," her head lolled toward him, eyes still unfoccused, "Do you know what happened?"

She frowned, "That's not your couch. Nope."

He wasn't sure what to make of that, "Pain medication that good, hey?"

But she had drifted off again before he had the chance to finish his question. He smiled to himself, brushing across her cheek one last time before heading back over to the couch and settling on it, spending the rest of the time before sunrise watching Lisbon and, to a much lesser degree, his other teammates.

Jane stretched and rose with the first streaks of dawn, making his way down to the hospital's cafeteria to round up some breakfast and coffee for the other three. He returned to find Van Pelt up but looking a little tousled; Rigsby was still out cold beside her.

"Where's Cho?"

A hand flew to her chest, "Oh! Jane, you startled me! He's just headed to the bathroom, I think."

"Ah. Here you go, then."

She accepted his offer of coffee with a grateful smile. Cho returned just as Rigsby was waking and after eating the four spent the morning in companionable silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Lisbon woke several more times, always babbling about nonsense. The doctor's assuered them that it was completely normal but it didn't stop Jane from worrying; Lisbon couldn't tie her shoelaces at this point let along do her job as a CBI agent. He didn't know what he'd do if he didn't get her properly back.

The team ate lunch together at noon before the other three headed out to assist the local PD with Roy. Cho had received a call informing them that the man had been caught and the team was needed for identification purposes and statements. Jane was wanted as well but he steadfastly refused, insisting that Lisbon would have all of their heads if she were to wake up with none of them anywhere in sight.

As it was Jane was on a washroom run when she finally woke up coherent, and he had walked back into her room, whistling happily to himself, to be greeted with the sight of her trying rather awkwardly to sit herself up. He rushed forward to assist her, smiling when she sent him a trademark glare.

"And how are you, Lisbon? Back to your old self again?"

"Just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you've been up a couple times, but-"

"Jane," she cut him off and he abruptly fell silent at the look of confusion on her face, "Did I throw up in front of you?"

He frowned at her, "Uh, yeah, but-"

"Oh. Because I think that I'm going to again."

The colour drained from her face and Jane thrust the silver pan in front of her just in the nick of time. She heaved until she couldn't anymore, Jane holding her hair and rubbing her back once he'd gotten her trembling hands to hold the container. She collapsed back against the pillows he'd stacked up at some point when she was done, shaking and sweating slightly. She felt him remove the bucket from her limp fingers swiftly and just as quickly a damp cloth had wiped across her mouth and another was placed upon her forehead. She sighed in relief.

"Best to get it all out of your system," Jane piped, far too cheerily for Lisbon's liking, "Feel any better?"

She didn't bother opening her eyes to glare but tried for her best growl all the same, "No."

"You will. One fish, two fish, red fish..."

She cracked open one eye to look at him, "Blue fish?"

He clapped his hands together, "Excellent. You've clearly not lost any of your mental capacity."

"Because I remember Dr Seuss?"

"Yes," he replied, happiness reaching his eyes and threatening to spill over, "Because you remember Dr Seuss."

Lisbon was released from hospital by dinner that night due in part to her stubbornness but mostly because she indulged in Jane for once and allowed him to work his magic on the doctors. She let him lead her out to the car and settle her into the front seat, sighing tiredly while she sank into the fabric. Thank god he'd brought her nice, big SUV and not his silly little contraption.

"Let's go home, Jane."

There you are: today as promised. I'm really happy with the way this one turned out and hopefully you all are too! Should be just one more chapter; epilogue-ish I guess. I'm aiming to have it up within the week but it's all weather-dependent. That and I work a 130am shift tomorrow, have a date Wednesday, and a friend who's visiting one last time before he's getting deployed. Busy, busy as usual, haha.

Thanks again for your stellar reviews. I always love to hear from you!

Ciao, Moksgmol