Lisbon couldn't hear herself think what with the crashes and bangs and the fact that she was preoccupied with shielding her own head from oncoming rubble.

Her main priority was to get to Jane to see if he was okay but she couldn't see him; there was so much dust in the air. Lisbon closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle, prayed for Jane to be okay, prayed for the shaking to stop.

It was another few minutes before the quaking eased, allowing her to crawl out from under the table. The walls and ceiling and caved in a considerable amount, leaving only a small space left in the room. Lisbon was horrified to see that the doorways had also collapsed and there was no gap left big enough to crawl through therefore meaning she had rely on outside help alone if she was to get out of this.

Her breathing hard and fast, Lisbon crept out of the shelter and, scanned the room for Jane whilst getting very slowly back to her feet. Still crouched a little, she edged around the room terrified that she was going to cause another avalanche and rubble.

What is the whole building collapsed?

There was no possible way of telling how the surrounding rooms had been affected. Not many other people had remained inside the building when the earthquake had occurred though Lisbon was sure that all of the colleagues that she was closest to had been just down the hall.

Oh she hoped they were okay.

Lisbon's heart plummeted when she caught sight of a hand. Dropping all caution, she scurried to Jane's body, all the while uttering his name in a desperate way.

'Jane, damn it Jane wake up,' she demanded, placing both hands on his shoulders and shaking him. She pressed an ear to his chest to make sure he was still alive.

Thank god, he was breathing.

Nevertheless his breathing was much slower than usual.

'Jane,' she said in an urgent voice, 'if you can hear me please just hang in there. We'll be out of here soon, someone will come and get us,' however seeing his broken and limp body made her throat burn involuntarily as a strange stinging sensation tortured her eyes, 'Jane please,' her voice was strangled, 'please be okay.'

Before she could help herself, tears began to role thick and fast down her cheeks, falling onto Jane's gradually rising and falling chest as she clutched at it, her grip tightening as the impact of what had just happened began to crash down onto her.

'I'm sorry Jane,' she said through gritted teeth, shaking her head and hoisting up so that the back of his head was resting on her chest.

'Just please, please, please, don't die.'

She absentmindedly stroked Jane's hair, running her fingers through his curly golden locks.

To Lisbon's jubilation, Jane turned his head a little to the side.

'Oh my god,' choked Lisbon, feeling a hundred times lighter than she had done a few seconds ago.
Jane turned his head again and groaned softly.

'Jane,' Lisbon made to kneel beside him, still supporting his head with her hand, 'Jane, can you hear me?'

'Yeah,' moaned Jane very quietly, 'just don't be so loud. My head… ow,' he raised one hand weakly to his head, his fingers softly brushing Lisbon's, 'my head feels like crap.'

'But you're alive,' laughed Lisbon, unable to contain her blind happiness, 'you're not dead.'

Jane slowly sat up and propped his back up against the wall- or what was left of it.

'What happened?' He muttered, massaging the back of his neck, 'the ground was shaking… but that's all I can remember.
Lisbon's smile faltered a little bit however she remained relieved as she sat cross legged facing him, 'the whole room was collapsing. I couldn't see anything. By the time it had stopped you were out of sight so I come out from where I'd been hiding and went to check on you but you were out, not moving,' her expression turned stony, 'I thought you'd died.'

Jane held her hand. Without really realising it, she tightened her grip on him.
'Well,' mumbled Jane, smiling encouragingly, 'I'm not… so… when are we gunna get out of here.'

Lisbon shrugged, breathless, 'I don't know. I hope soon though.'

Lisbon sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulders.

Still holding hands, they sat in silence, listening to each other's breathing.

After a while, Lisbon said, in a much high voice than she'd intended, 'Jane.'
'Mm?'
'I don't hate you,' her eyes filled with tears once more and her breathing became uneven though she did her best to conceal this from Jane who noticed it anyway but tried to ignore it all the same.

Jane didn't speak however he gulped and squeezed her hand in thanks.

'So much for leaving tomorrow,' said Lisbon, merely to fill the screaming silence.
'What, aren't you gunna?'
Lisbon snorted, 'after all this? If I make it out of the building by tomorrow, I won't feel right leaving you and the rest of the FBI in this state.'

After another pause, Jane shook his head, 'no, I think you should go.'
'Really?' Lisbon sounded disbelieving.
'Yeah. You really do have to escape from this and from me. You shouldn't let us drag you down anymore.'

Lisbon buried her nose into his arm so as to convey her gratitude. Neither of them said anything else. Jane stroked her head.

Both of them were thinking the same thing: about what they wanted. Lisbon ached to tell Jane the full extent of her uneasiness about the following day.

She knew it would be good for her to get away from Jane altogether however she just didn't feel like she was able to do that- mainly because she was scared of what life would be like without him. She'd gotten so used to him.

The thought of having Pike all of the time and nothing but Pike was… okay… but not amazing.

Jane was full of surprises and was enigmatic. Not the sort of guy a woman would normally want to spend the rest of their life with…

…But then, Lisbon thought…

…Perhaps that was what separated her from all other women…