A/N: You all might have noticed that I changed the thumbnail on this story to one made by the lovely Phoenixx2812. She's incredibly talented with photoshop as you can see, she also made me one for my last multichapter In the Details, but aside from that she is also an excellent writer as well. Check out her story Endgame. It's fantastic.
Why would she settle for Ashley when Walter Mashburn was here, eager and willing?
He pointed at the hickey. "Did you sleep with Walter?" he whispered but with so much intensity, she looked up at him startled.
He watched her face as she realized what he must have seen, the hickey having been at too weird an angle for her to see herself, and set her jaw. "If I did, it's my business, not yours." She pushed her shoulders back. "I know I said I didn't want you on the team the other day, but I've changed my mind. You belong here, with us, but not with me. A years a long time, I've moved on."
"No, you got even," he snapped. "And you got your wish, I'm done trying." He turned, unlocked her office door and left.
Chapter 8
The doorbell to Jane's house chimed as he fired up his big, brand new, stainless steel barbeque grill. It had taken four men to unload, bring around the back of his house and lift up onto his porch. The fresh smell that wafted up to his nose caused him to smile before shutting the lid. He made his way quickly through his back screen door into his kitchen, across the living room and to the door.
Walter stood on his porch holding a small brown package with a smile on his face. Jane could feel his lips start to quirk up at the sight of his friend, but stopped abruptly when Teresa's hickey popped into his head.
"Walter," Jane said opening the screen, "I assume those are our steaks?"
Walter nodded as Jane allowed him entrance. "Two, one-inch-thick steaks perfectly marbled. Nice house."
Jane took the steaks from Walter then looked around his living room. It really was much smaller than his last house, but beautiful and cozy. He'd spent the last couple of months ensuring that it was, and bribing Cho into helping. "Thank you," he said. "The grill's out back."
When they reached the backyard Walter removed his jacket and sat in a deck chair, while Jane put the steaks on the grill. He then made his way to the chair next to Walter's at the small glass table, so he could look out over his backyard. He grabbed the pitcher of lemon water and both glasses he'd set out earlier and poured.
Both men sat silently as Jane swished the ice in his glass around, until Walter yawned and Jane suddenly found he couldn't help himself. "Late night, Walter?"
Walter smiled. "I knew you had a motive for having me over," he looked at Jane and quickly raised a hand as he amended with, "not that I don't think we're actually friends."
"We are friends, Walter," Jane said without an inflection in his tone.
Walter's grin grew. "I know and it's great fun. You're absolutely more diverting than any of my other friends, if they could even be called that."
"They can't," Jane said, "but either way I'll take that as a compliment." Jane took a sip of his water.
"You absolutely should." Walter shrugged back into his seat and crossed his legs. "I have to say, Jane, I'm surprised that you bought a home in Sacramento. I honestly thought that you'd kill Red John and spend the rest of your life on the run, perhaps on a little island in South America where they couldn't extradite you."
Jane nodded. "I got lucky."
The alarm on the grill went off and Jane jumped up and walked over to it. He heard Walter get up and follow him as he opened the grill and flipped the steaks. He reached over to a tray he'd brought out earlier and grabbed two vegetable kabobs that he'd prepared before Walter arrived, sticking them on the grill.
"It's been awhile since I've had a steak off a grill," Walter said appreciatively as Jane closed the lid and set the alarm again. "By the way, I didn't have a late night."
Jane looked over at Walter and appraised him. He hadn't really believed that Teresa had slept with Walter, but was surprised nonetheless when he felt relief wash through his body. Walter was telling the truth.
Walter continued, "Not that I wouldn't have if she'd allowed it, but Cho stopped by and threw me out."
Jane felt his brow furrow. "He threw you out?" He knew that Cho was rooting for him, but it was completely unlike him to go over there and make Walter leave. Something must have happened.
"Literally," Walter reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I own a dozen houses in seven different countries, own thousands of people, I am a billionaire and none of that did me any good last night when he grabbed my arm and shoved me out the front door." He chuckled.
"Why did he do that?" Jane asked facing him.
"Well, it seems, our Teresa had taken sleeping pills before I arrived," he looked at Jane and raised a hand, "which I did not know about, and because I didn't know we shared a bottle of wine."
Jane felt momentarily confused by the story and shook his head a little. "Wait, what?"
Walter nodded, as he looked out into the backyard. "Admittedly she was being slightly friendlier than I was expecting…"
A very unwanted image of Walter with a doped up Lisbon popped into Jane's head and before his brain caught up with his body Jane's fist made contact with Walter's nose. Walter stumbled to the side, his hands lifting to his nose in the process.
Walter said, "You hit me!" at the same time Jane's hand recoiled to his chest and he cried, "Ouch!"
Jane started shaking his hand vehemently as Walter's blinked back tears.
"What do you have in there, Walter," Jane hissed, "a metal plate? I think I broke my hand."
Walter shot him an incredulous stare. "Why'd you hit me?" he barked.
"For taking advantage of Teresa!" Jane looked down at his hand and flexed it open and closed a few times. His knuckles were bright red.
Walter stood tall, one hand still holding his nose. "I didn't know I was taking advantage. Teresa's a big girl, Jane. She knew she'd taken those pills and she chose to drink the wine, and I am not you. I can't read people the way you do."
Jane clenched his fist to his chest again as he looked up Walter's nose. He felt a little remorseful when he saw the dark red that covered it that he suspected would shortly be turning purple and blue. "I'm sorry, Walter. I don't know what I was thinking."
Walter lowered his hand a little and looked at Jane. "You really do love her don't you?"
Jane swallowed. "Come on, I'll get something cold on that," he said before leading Walter into his kitchen. He filled up a dish towel with ice and handed it to Walter, before doing the same thing for himself.
The two of them stood silently for several moments before Walter finally spoke again. "A month ago I got a call from Cho," he said removing his ice from his nose. "He told me that he needed my help, that you and Teresa hadn't seen each other in near a year and that it was imperative that you do so. Even though Cho is a very convincing man I almost said 'no', but I always liked you and you know I liked Teresa. I thought 'why not, it'll be fun,' but I had no idea you were in love with her."
"You don't have to explain Walter," Jane said. "I figured as much when I got your invitation."
Walter smirked then cringed before putting the ice back on his nose. "Really? How?"
"I told Cho that I was going back to Malibu that week to get some things taken care of on the house so I could put it up for sale. A week after I told him I got a very abrupt invitation from you that happened to fall on the very same weekend I was going to be there. I wouldn't have gone to your party otherwise. Cho had been acting a little strangely, he was a little more abrupt with me. I also figured that Teresa would be invited and decided that it was time to reconcile," Jane said as he removed the towel from his hand to look at it. It was already turning blue and Walter's nose wasn't looking great either. "What I didn't expect was that she'd be so angry with me and that she'd turn to you."
Walter shifted his position against the counter. "I'll back out."
"No, don't," Jane said quickly before looking up at Walter. Walter removed the ice and looked at Jane. "If you do that it'll only make things worse. If she wants to see you and you want to see her, then you should. If she decides she wants me, it has to be because it's what she wants, and not because you backed out."
"I'm not sure it'll matter after I meet with Cho at the CBI tomorrow," Walter said. "He was not happy with me last night. I wouldn't be surprised if he finished me off."
Jane chuckled.
"Are you going to be there?" Walter asked hopefully. "Maybe you can run interference." Jane shook his head. "No. I won't be there, but I don't think he has any intention of hurting you, especially not in the same building Teresa's in. She's a force to be reckoned with."
Walter smiled. "That she is. I suppose I don't blame you for steering clear for it."
Jane smiled, but briefly wondered if he should tell Walter the real reason why he wasn't going to be there. Then he remembered something and his face dropped.
"What, what is it?" Walter asked.
Jane pushed past him toward the porch. "The steaks!"
Cho sat at his desk looking over paper work for their last case. He was glad it was over, but was worried about what that meant for the team, specifically for the part of the team that included Jane and Lisbon. He looked at his watching noting that it was now ten-fifteen, then turned toward the elevator when he heard a ding.
He breathed out as he saw Mashburn step off the elevator and head in his direction. He was right on time.
Last night Laroche had requested that he go to his office at nine and Lisbon at ten. He figured Laroche would spend the entire hour with each of them, and had done so with him at least that morning. So after he'd been requested he'd found a secluded spot and had called Mashburn, not so much asking as demanding that he come by today at ten-fifteen.
As Walter got closer to his desk, Cho noticed that his nose was shaded in light blues and purples. He felt a little disappointed that someone had literally beaten him to the punch, but reminded himself why he'd asked Mashburn to come and reined in his anger.
Mashburn stopped at his desk and Cho stood, resting his arms on his hips.
"Good afternoon Agent Cho," Mashburn said glancing over his shoulder toward Lisbon's desk. "I see you asked me here when you knew Teresa would be out."
"We had a deal," Cho said.
Walter smiled at him. "No beating about the bush, I see."
Cho ignored him and plowed on. "Four months ago I went out of my way to make sure the fraud charges against you were dropped and in exchange you agreed to help me with Jane and Lisbon."
"I remember the deal Cho, even went forward with the party aspect of it," Mashburn said in a singsong voice. "But if you recall, you were the one that said we wouldn't make Teresa do anything she didn't want to…"
Cho grit his teeth as Rigsby and Van Pelt both chose that moment to come back into the bullpen.
"Mr. Mashburn," Van Pelt started. "It's good to see you again."
"Please, call me Walter," he said. "Mr. Mashburn is my mother."
Cho huffed and looked away. He was sure this wasn't the first time Mashburn had used that line.
"All right, Walter then," Van Pelt continued. "Boss isn't here, but if you come back in an hour you could probably catch her. Unless you'd like to leave a message with one of us?"
"Yeah," Rigsby said in a tone that made it clear he thought that Mashburn's business was done here and that he should leave. "What are you doing here?"
The whole team knew that Teresa and Mashburn had slept together, and while Van Pelt didn't seem to be particularly bothered by it, Cho knew that he wasn't the only other member of the team that had been completely repulsed by the idea. As a matter of fact he and Rigsby had never been able to stand the idea of Lisbon being with anyone, except Jane, and for the life of him, Cho couldn't figure out the exact reason for that. He supposed it was because within the team they all knew they were safe, but outside of it was another story. Even after Red John was gone and Jane was gone, the team still always felt permanent, unshakeable. Distance couldn't break them.
Jane could be arrogant, egotistical, obnoxious, rude, irritating and lots of other unflattering things, but he'd proven that he was their friend, that he would be there for them, that he would never let anything bad happen to any of them if it was within his power to stop it, and he had saved them and they him on numerous occasions. You just couldn't buy that kind of trust, no matter how much Mashburn would have liked to. As far as he and Rigsby were concerned Jane was the only one they'd ever trust her with. And even then Jane would have to be careful.
"Cho invited me," Mashburn told Rigsby.
Rigsby glared at Cho, then started on some paper work. Van Pelt however, kept a barely subtle watch on the two, and the last thing Cho wanted was to have to explain himself to them later. "Come with me," Cho said heading to Lisbon's office.
He opened her door and let Mashburn enter first then followed behind. The two men came to a stop in the middle of her office and Mashburn turned and waited for Cho to finish.
"I should give you a good beating for the other night," Cho said. "I thought you liked Jane?"
"First of all, I didn't know she had taken sleeping pills. If I had I never would have let her drink the wine. Second, I do like Jane, but I like Teresa more, and she was throwing herself at me," he raised his hands in a supplicating manner. "I dare far better men than I to resist that."
Cho's fist twitched. "I want you gone; out of this. Go home, or far away or whatever, but leave here. You've done more damage than good."
"I can't do that," Mashburn said looking truly contrite. "Jane figured the whole thing out and made me promise to not drop out. He made me promise to let her choose, so that if she did choose him he would know it was because she wanted him, and not by default."
Cho clenched his jaw and suddenly felt like punching Jane as well. "That is the stupidest thing I've heard in a long time. You listen to me," he said stepping toward Mashburn who looked suddenly a little nervous. "Lisbon is one of the two most important people in my life, and if you hurt her you'll wish I never helped you with those fraud charges, do you understand?"
Mashburn's face dropped. "One of two? Teresa and…Patrick?"
Cho's face contorted. "No not Jane—my mom," he told Mashburn as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Jane's a major pain in the butt and has been driving me crazy for the last six months—moping around, making me help him remodel his house, asking too many questions about Lisbon when all he had to do was drive ten minutes to be at her house. No."
Mashburn seemed a little taken aback, but said, "But you'd still prefer him with Lisbon to me?"
"I like you Mashburn, but one thing I have never known Jane to be is a womanizer. He's made a lot of mistakes, but he's been there for all of us and I want him to be happy." Cho let that sink in a minute before adding, "That aside, if I thought that Lisbon really wanted you, if I didn't know that she was in love with Jane, I wouldn't get in your way."
Mashburn stood a little taller and folded his arms over his chest. "You're the second person who's told me that Teresa's in love with Jane." He shrugged. "Jane was the first, so I didn't give it much thought, but after hearing you say it I must admit that I'm feeling more inclined to believe it. That doesn't really leave me much of a choice, now does it?"
"There are always choices." Cho placed his hands on his hips. "You just have to decide if you want to be the guy that stood between Lisbon and the man she really wants to be with, or the one who decided not to be a douche."
Lisbon stopped outside of Laroche's office and took a deep breath. After Jane's little show yesterday, she'd been expecting to get called into his office. She'd actually been expecting it yesterday, but all she'd gotten was a summons for today. A part of her had been grateful at the time, but right now she was wishing that it was already over with.
She looked at her watch seeing that it was one minute to ten, then straightened her peach buttoned down blouse and ran a hand through her hair before knocking.
"Come in," she heard Laroche's distinct voice call out and pushed into his office. He was standing at a filing cabinet and when he saw her he shut it and motioned for her to take a seat, before sitting himself.
She moved to the chair that sat in front of his desk and sat down, wriggling a little in her seat as he looked at some papers that sat out on his desk. After a moment he lifted the stack. "Do you know what these are, Agent Lisbon?"
"I don't know how I would."
Laroche smiled. "Guess."
The immediate thought she had was "complaints," but that was the last thing she wanted to guess out loud. She was already cranky enough as it was. She hadn't slept at all well last night, and Jane was two hours late to work today. Plus she was having a frustratingly difficult time pushing aside Jane's proclamation yesterday that he was done trying. So she went with, "A recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?"
"From your snarky remark I can safely assume that you know exactly what these are," he said as he grabbed the one from the top and sat it on his desk. "Rude and incompetent," he grabbed the next one also setting it on his desk, "out of line," he grabbed the next one, "careless and insensitive. The list goes on."
Lisbon sat tall in her seat. "You know how Jane works, he gets complaints, but he also has the highest closure rate on record."
"I'm really not concerned about Jane's action's anymore." He waved off her rebuttal. "However, you were his supervisor and therefore responsible for his actions…"
Lisbon's brow furrowed at his use of the past tense and she quickly cut him off. "What do you mean 'were'? Did Jane transfer to another unit?" She felt a small pang of sadness at the idea, but then thought that in the end it might be for the best. At least they'd be in the same building and she knew the team would keep an eye out for him.
"No," Laroche started in his singsong voice, "Jane quit—yesterday afternoon." He said it as though he believed that she should've known it before he looked down at the stack of complaints. "I must admit that I was somewhat relived, it saved me from having to fire him. I've always liked Jane, but Director Smith received a call at his residence yesterday afternoon from Senator James. Director Smith is more of a handful than Bertram ever was."
Lisbon's head was spinning, it felt as though she'd just gotten a huge hunk of information and was having a really hard time processing it.
"I absolutely would have fired Jane if I had too, but was grateful it never came to that. Regardless, that doesn't change the fact that complaints were made and that someone has to be held responsible." He made eye contact.
Lisbon stopped breathing and her heart sped up. The room seemed to tilt a little on its access as what he said finally sunk in. It was all she could do to keep herself upright. "He quit?"
"One case, Agent Lisbon, he hadn't even been back a week and we got more than half a dozen complaints. The deal was that he would be given a shot as long as you could keep him in line. So tell me, what happened?"
She could feel nausea building in her stomach.
"Director Smith wants me to suspend you. I'd rather avoid that, but you're going to need to give me a very good reason why. We both know that no one can control Jane, so if you'll just…
She leaned forward in her chair and took deep breaths as Laroche continued.
"Agent Lisbon?"
Her face began heating up so she started fanning herself.
"Teresa!"
She looked up at Laroche's somewhat concerned face and blinked. "What?"
"Are you all right?"
Everything that had happened over the last year hit her with such ferocity that she twitched…violently. Here she was in Laroche's office, once again being told to throw Jane under the bus. She knew Laroche liked Jane, knew why he was doing this now, to help her, to try and keep her from being suspended. He couldn't help Jane anymore, but he could help her.
So who was going to help Jane?
She stood up. "I'll take the suspension," she said before turning and exciting his office. She heard him call out to her from behind, but she just kept walking.
Once in the elevator she grabbed her phone and dialed Jane. Three rings later it went to voicemail. She almost left a message, but didn't know what she could possibly say in a message that would cause him to see reason, so she hung up instead. The elevators opened, and she turned toward her office just in time to see Cho exiting it with Walter in tow.
"Teresa," Walter said, and she couldn't help but notice the happiness she heard in his tone. "Aren't you looking fetching today?"
She was sure she did not look fetching. She had barely slept last night, had taken a shower this morning, but for the life of her she couldn't currently remember if she'd washed her hair, she knew her face must still be red because it was hot, and on top of all of that she still kind of felt like throwing up.
"Hi Walter," she said with a small shrug, then really looked at him. "What happened to your nose?"
He reached up and touched it briefly then shrugged with a small smile. "It was nothing."
Cho turned to leave, but she reached out and grabbed his arm. He seemed a little surprised at first, but it faded quickly. After she had spent the night crying on his shoulder a couple nights ago, she suspected that the touch barrier that the two of them had was more like a flimsy screen now.
"Could you wait a second please?"
Cho nodded.
She turned back to Walter. "I know you and I probably need to talk, but I'm really not in the mood at the moment. I just took a suspension and I really want to get out of here."
"Wait, you got suspended? Why?" Cho demanded.
She briefly nodded in Cho's direction, then looked back at Walter. "Are you going to be in town much longer?"
Walter clenched his jaw. "I hadn't decided, honestly. It thought I'd see how some things panned out here first."
"Great, I'll call you later then," she said before looking back at Cho. "I'm hungry. Want to get lunch?"
Cho nodded, stepped around Walter as she turned toward the elevator. She felt a hand on the small of her back and nearly flinched before she realized it was just Cho.
"It's all right, Teresa," he whispered after they got on the elevator. "Everything is going to be fine."
She felt a small lump forming in her throat and her eyes started to tear, but she bit it back and simply nodded.
The bucket seats in Cho's car were surprisingly comfortable, Lisbon decided, and sank down in them, closing her eyes in the process, at almost the exact moment she and Cho pulled out of the CBI parking lot. They weren't going to lunch. She'd known that he wouldn't take her to lunch the moment she'd told him she'd been suspended.
She had immediately assumed that he would either be taking her to her apartment or to his house, but after only about a fifteen minute drive, ten minutes shorter than the distance from HQ to her apartment or his, Cho pulled over and parked.
She opened her eyes and squinted at the brightness of the sun. She didn't have a headache yet, but she could feel that there was one trying to come on.
She took a quick glance around the residential neighborhood where they parked, her eyes stopping on the gray house with white shudders and large front porch, then looked at Cho.
"Where are we?"
Cho took a deep breath before looking over at her. "As much as I would love to hear the whole story about why you were suspended, I have a feeling that it'd be more productive for you to discuss it with Jane, seeing as he is probably the reason you were suspended in the first place."
"I can't work it out with him, he quit and he's not answering his phone," she said quickly. She couldn't explain the shame she was suddenly feeling, and while she wanted to look away, she kept her eyes on Cho.
He saved her the trouble and looked away, clenching his jaw before throwing his fist into the steering wheel, causing the horn to let out a strangled honk. "Damn it, Jane. Stubborn…"
She flinched.
He turned to her. "You two have got to figure this out, because I can't be the go between anymore. He loves you and you love him, but instead of trying to work things out, you torture each other, and I'm sick and tired of watching it."
She felt heat going to her face. "Go between? He's only been back a week. I never thought I'd be calling you out, of all people, for being too dramatic."
"He hasn't only been back a week," Cho said calmly.
She felt a lump forming in her throat again. "What do you mean?"
Cho shook his head then pointed to the house next to where he'd parked his car. The one she'd just looked at. "Jane's in there."
She looked from the house back to Cho. "Jane's in there?"
Cho nodded. "It seems to me that you have two choices, you can either go in there, and talk to him, or I can take you to lunch. What's it going to be?"
She swallowed the lump in her throat, and grabbed the door handle. This was what she wanted, right? A chance to confront him about his quitting, a chance to remind him that the team cared about him and didn't want him to vanish again.
She looked back at Cho one more time before stepping out of the car and closing the door behind her. She could've almost sworn that outside of the relieved expression he was blatantly wearing that she'd seen a small smirk.
Despite the fact that she felt her nerves escalating, Lisbon couldn't help but to really take in the appearance of the house now that she was standing in front of it. The garden was full of yellow and white roses and a variety of other flowers in purples, pinks, and oranges, there was an apple tree in the yard and she was pretty sure that she had spotted a hibiscus before climbing the steps to the large and very welcoming porch.
A porch swing sat abandoned with a blanket draped across the back to the right of her and to the left were several potted herbs and vegetables. She stopped at the door, wondering what she should do when she saw that it was open with only a screen between her and the house. She looked for the doorbell, but found only two wires sticking out of the space where the doorbell should've been, so she reached up and knocked on the wooden frame of the screen.
"Hello?" she called out, right before she heard Cho's car pull away from the curb. She turned in time to shoot him a dirty look. She called out again and again, but got no response.
She temporarily thought about calling for a cab and leaving, but decided against it. If Cho said Jane was here, she really didn't have any reason to doubt him. Sure, she couldn't for the life of her figure out why Jane would be here of all places, but he obviously must know the owner of the house.
The screen pushed in easily and she took a tentative step inside, and became suddenly captivated by what she was seeing. The living room had beautiful hard wood floors, a box ceiling and a fire place, walls painted in an egg shell white, with a lovely sofa and classic furniture. It seemed to her that whoever it was that had decorated this room seemed to have plucked it out of the very part of her brain that would've chosen this, if she'd ever thought about it in the first place. She moved a few steps further into the room and stopped, taking it in.
"Lisbon," Jane's voice called out before she took a closer look at the pictures on the mantle of the fireplace, "What are you doing here?"
She jumped and turned toward an entry across from the front door where Jane was standing. He was in his suit as normal, but his jacket was off and his sleeves were rolled up. He was holding a box with a doorbell in one hand and a screw driver and needle nose pliers in the other. He didn't look his normal confidant self, but she had the feeling that had nothing to do with installing the doorbell and everything to do with her. It made her gut wrench.
He raised his brow at her when she said nothing and she took that as a sign for her to speak.
"You quit?" she asked.
He walked past her and set all the items he had with him, except for the pliers, on a small table next to the door. "I didn't really see any point in staying with the CBI. Despite what you may think, I am not actually a gluten for punishment. I won't stay where I am not wanted."
She swallowed hard, desperately trying to remember her argument. Remember how she was going to get him to reconsider. He started fiddling with the pliers, twisting his arm and she followed the movement to his hand. It was then that she saw the bruise.
She moved forward quickly, causing him to stiffen his posture, and grabbed his hand lifting it to get a better look. "Jane what happened…" She made eye contact when she remembered Walter's nose. "You punched Walter?"
Jane's startled expression immediately morphed to proud. "As much as I enjoy and have fantasized about you nursing me, it was never because you had to, and often involved you wearing a little white uniform." He pulled his hand away. "I'm not yours to worry about anymore, dear. Just go home and get on with your life. I certainly need to."
She felt like she'd been slapped. The idea that she could just simply stop worrying about him was ludicrous, and over the years she'd known him only half the time she worried about him because she had to. The other half had just come naturally.
Was he eating well? When was the last time he slept? Was his nose broken after being punched on it? Was he sad? Did he know what he was doing with this woman or that? Was he lonely? Did he need a friend?
Worrying about him was a full time job that had nothing to do with her full time job. He would always be hers to worry about whether he was near her or far away. And admittedly she preferred he be near, because it limited the worries she had. Hell, if she had her way, she'd handcuff him to her so she'd always know what he needed, would always know he was all right.
She snorted. "Yeah, right." His brow furrowed and she had to admit that it was nice catching him off guard for once, and decided to try for twice as her feelings and desires and irritation snapped into sharp relief. "You are a selfish, conniving…" she searched for another unflattering word, but after a moment of mumbling went with, "troglodyte!"
She saw Jane bite back a smile and saw red.
"Troglodyte? That's a bit uncalled for don't you think?" he asked.
She stepped forward and jabbed a dainty finger into his chest. "I have spent well over a decade looking out for you, caring about you, and the last year patiently waiting for you to come back, and after one uncomfortable week of you not getting exactly what you wanted from me, like you always do, you're done with me?"
His face dropped.
"If I mess up a million times, that'd be nothing compared to all the times I forgiven you for screwing up." She jabbed his chest again and huffed. "You…jerk!"
"Is this why you came here? To yell at me?" His voice was low, but his tone was harsh.
Tears began to fill her eyes and she stepped back, suddenly realizing how hard she'd been jabbing him. "Yes…no. I came here because… I just wanted…"
"What Teresa, what do you want?"
"I want this hurt to all go away, and I am angry with myself because I don't know how to do that. And I'm angry with you Jane," she emphasized her words with emphatic hand gestures, "I'm so mad at you for leaving me here, for not fighting for your right to stay with the team in the first place, for allowing them to smear your good name, because that's what is Jane. You're a good man. You stopped a serial killer and you reward was to leave and live in solitude. And worse than all that you didn't even think of taking me with you." The anger she was speaking with dissipated with her last words.
She placed her hands on her hips and looked down before taking several deep breaths. She felt a chill run down her body when Jane unexpectedly stepped into her personal space and took her face in his hands. She sniffled.
"Teresa, look at me," he said in tone that immediately started working to soothe her.
She looked up, but not into his eyes. "What?" she said obstinately.
"Look at me," he repeated, then slid his hands down to her shoulders. She made eye contact and set her jaw in an angry line that she knew was in direct contradiction to the tear that was sliding down her cheek, so she lifted her chin defiantly. A small smile lit his face and eyes, and he wrapped his arms up under hers before pulling her tightly to him.
She rested her arms on his because she didn't know what else to do with them, before he leaned his forehead against hers.
"It hasn't been a hard week. It's been a hard year," he said, "and a tiresome six months and a nightmare of a week. And I did think of taking you with me. And I thought about coming and getting you. Then the six month mark came and you refused to take my calls and I took the first flight back here."
"You did?" she said trying for disbelief, but achieving only stifled sob and hopeful.
He continued. "Imagine my horror when I found you and called you, to see you turn your phone off on me."
"Wait," she tried to pull back, but he refused to let her move an inch. "You were spying on me?"
"I wish," he muttered. "You're a great cop Teresa, don't think for one second that I don't know you would have caught me at it had I been spying. It wasn't a risk I could take. I thought you were mad at me for being gone so long, and I wanted to make it up to you." He pulled his head back and looked her in the eyes. "I sold my house in Malibu and bought a home here so I could be close to you. I'm committed to you. Don't you see that?"
She pulled her eyes away from his and looked around the house, a lump growing in her throat as she thought about what he'd just said. This was his home, not Malibu. When she looked back at him again, he nodded a "yes" at her then slowly bent his mouth toward hers, stopping only a small distance from her and waited for her to decide.
She knew he must have seen the moment when she finally did, because they both moved into the kiss simultaneously. The first brush of his lips on hers sent a jolt through her body causing him to chuckle against her lips. She couldn't be bothered to care about his smugness though as their mouths moved with and against each other. Never had kissing someone ever felt this amazing and she shivered from it.
Lisbon moved her arms up around his neck, allowing one of her hands to push into his silky hair, as he rubbed his hands up and down her back. She went up on her tip toes when she felt him hunch down into her, trying to get closer. And she wanted to get closer. As a matter of fact, she was reconsidering the handcuffs that had popped into her head earlier. Maybe that hadn't been such a crazy idea after all.
She felt herself start to smile against his lips, and knew it was probably because he was doing the same. She was happy. Really and truly happy, for the first time in a long time. Even while their breathing became ragged, she felt a burden lift from her shoulders and as though she was breathing clearly for the first time in years. Why had she fought this all week? Why had she fought it for six months?
Jane placed a few butterfly kisses on her lips in rapid succession then pulled away from her lips and kissed his way over to her ear. "If I'd known quitting would get me this kind of response," he whispered, "I'd have done it long ago."
She smiled. "You did quit before and it didn't get this response, remember?" It was then that the reality of their situation kicked in and she frowned. She pulled away but not out of his grasp and looked at him. "You quit."
"Yes, but…"
She cut him off, "I'm sorry I didn't figure things out sooner. If I had talked to after you butt dialed me, it might have saved us this entire mess."
"That would have been nice, yes, but as you so elegantly put it only moments ago, if you screw up a million times it'd be nothing compared to how many times I have. You don't have to apologize to me."
"Yes, I do, I shouldn't have said that. You're not all that bad. You are bad, just not that bad," she said in a near whisper. "I let my emotions cloud my logic and I hurt both of us in the process. Besides it makes me feel better to apologize."
Jane placed another quick kiss on her lips. "You're a far better person than I, my love."
"Maybe, maybe not," she jabbed him in the chest again, only this time more gently. "But if you ever leave me again, I'll hunt you down and make your life a living hell, do you understand."
He laughed, a sweet and joyous laugh that made her smile out right. She could learn to live with this Jane, she supposed. She grabbed him in a fierce hug.
"Then it's settled," he sighed into her hair. "Finally. You know I really wasn't expecting this. I thought it'd be a week before I saw or heard from you."
"Well, I did call your phone earlier, but you didn't answer."
He pulled away. "Yeah, sorry about that. I was strategizing…and irritated."
She felt herself blush out of embarrassment when his eyes lowered to where her hickey was beneath her blouse. She reached up and grabbed at her blouse, but his hand came up and grabbed hers.
"It's okay, Teresa," he said. "I can't say I'm particularly happy about it, but it's never going to happen again and I'm sure I'll be replacing it with one of my own soon anyway."
She felt herself blush anew, but for an entirely different reason. He smirked at her and she bit her lip to keep herself from smiling back. "I don't like hickeys-at all. So, whatever dirty thought you have in your head about them, kick um, cuz it's not going to happen."
"You let Walter mark you," he said only partially teasing.
"Yeah, well I was a little out of it, taken sleeping pills because I couldn't sleep because I was thinking of you. So, really, I blame you for this nightmare." She pointed to the hickey and sighed loudly. When she looked up again Jane was grinning from ear to ear. She shook her head. "Stop it. Why don't you take me on a tour of your house," she signaled with a sweeping gesture, desperately hoping it'd get his mind out of the gutter.
He rubbed his hands together. "Ah, the ten cent tour. Absolutely. Follow me," he said heading toward the entry past the stairs and across the room from the front door as she followed.
"Heck, I'd even take the dollar tour. Might as well, I won't be going back into work anytime soon," she said, slamming into his back when he made an abrupt stop.
"Teresa, what happened?" he said, turning to her concern coloring his tone.
"Nothing you need to worry about, I promise," she said reaching up and brushing a curl out of his face. "This time, I've got it covered. Now, where's my coffee maker?"
A/N: I realize this took me a very long time and I just want to apologize for that and thank you for sticking with me. I have been in and out of my home state of Utah for the past two months, up visiting with my sister, have been proofing an 80,000 word book for a friend who is about to start sending her manuscript to publishers, have been sick several times and my little seven-year-old nephew was in a pretty nasty accident when I was in Seattle and I got caught up helping my sister with her other four children while he went to the hospital and other subsequent doctor's visits. He's okay now, by the way. All of this has made writing of any kind, difficult. I try to stay away from excuses, but alas here are mine. Just wanted to let you all know that I have been trying to get this done and hopefully will be able to work on my stories more regularly from here on out. Thanks for reading, reviews are greatly greatly appreciated.
Anonymous Reviews:
Ilovetea: I'm glad that the name Ashley surprised you. That's actually what I was going for. I have actually only ever met two male Ashley's in my life and strangely both on the same day. Go figure. Thank you so much for your wonderful and encouraging review. It was very appreciated.
Guest: No, thank you for reviewing, especially after such a long wait.
Guest: Wow, thank you! That's so nice.
sinopsisWww: Thank you for your review! I hope this chapter was what you were looking for.
Guest: Oh no! I didn't mean to kill you, but I guess I'm glad it was in a good way. Thank you so much for your lovely review. It made me smile!
Guest: You know Jane well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well and thanks again for the review! It was cute!
Guest: Here's the update. I'll be faster next chapter, promise. And I can, because I have time now. Yay! Thanks for your encouraging review!