Title: Will You Marry Me?

Disclaimer: I'm only allowed to play in the sandbox. :)

Thanks to Brown Eyes Parker, nitakb, Flamey to the 27, blueMnM415, MK, Jbon, Famous4it, dogeatdog, Streak of the Sun, shepweir always, Jisbon4ever, Frogster, lysjelonken, lucyyh, JackSam, VEEBS8, waterbaby134, ShunKickShunKers, lisbon69, and Mrs. Peeta for the reviews.

I had wondered when I was going to use my favorite proposal, considering that I've been holding onto the idea of it for sometime. I didn't want to use it at the beginning, I certainty didn't want to wait until the very end of the story, but because I believe that fourteen is a really good number, and I'm nowhere near the end of this story at the current moment, I felt like it was a good time to use my favorite proposal. :D

I should have another update for you all soon, provided that college stops throwing homework at me…

XIV.

After thirteen disastrous attempts of trying to get her to say yes, it only takes one late night in the bullpen to realize, that maybe, just maybe he's been going about this marriage proposal thing all wrong.

(It's not because he hasn't been proposing to her with a ring. Personally, he doesn't quite trust her enough yet to not try and flush the ring down the toilet, as a new form of rejection.)

Instead, he reasons that Teresa Lisbon, is an ultimate thrill seeker (or even if she's not a thrill seeker, she's still a sadist of some sort, and she probably gets a thrill out of causing him pain.) He doesn't even have to convince her to drive him out to the next proposal site, because their next case is at the carnival, and the carnival is where he plans for proposal number 14 to take place.

"Lisbon," he pulls her aside, as they start toward their dead victim. "It might be a good idea to get a view high above our crime scene." Lisbon views him suspiciously, and he only grins innocently. "Can we try this my way, once please?"

Lisbon narrows her green eyes, "No."

"…I don't think there's anything wrong with what I'm suggesting, Lisbon."

"Sure," she snorts in disbelief. "If you think I don't know what you're up to, Jane, you're sadly mistaken." Time to play the innocent card again.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Lisbon; I only want to find out who killed our victim..."

"Since when?" She still stares in disbelief.

"I'm offended." He scoffs. "Ihave always cared about…"

"No, you haven't." Lisbon tells him, before she starts to walk off from him. "I know you're up to something Jane, so no, we're not doing this your way." He grins, she'll change her mind later, and he knows that, because she always does.

(After several hours, two cups of coffee, and tons of paperwork –for her-, two cups of tea and a punch to the nose –for him— later, she finally concedes to his idea.)

"See, Lisbon." He beams. "You're already having loads more fun doing it my way."

"Yeah," she snorts again. "Loads."

"Could you be anymore sarcastic?" He asks, jokingly and Lisbon rolls her eyes as they continue toward the hot air balloon, that he somehow manages to secure for the both of them.

"Could you be anymore irritating?" She shoots back in response, and he chuckles.

"I could try, but somehow I doubt you'd appreciate it." Lisbon only shakes her head and continues on, as he follows close behind her.

O.O

"I don't know if anyone looks anymore suspicious up here, than they did on the ground…but then again, we're not that high up." Lisbon muses out loud to him, while their hot air balloon towers slightly over one of the smaller tents—a rope tethering them to the ground. "What do you think?" He glances over the edge of the basket, and he notices that if he somehow manages to jump, it wouldn't be that far off a fall.

"I'm sorry." He mutters, and she glances at him.

"What do you…?" She sounds confused, and he turns to her, places his hand on her arm before he begins to move toward the edge of the basket to glance down at the ground below.

"Lisbon, if you don't say yes…I will jump."

(Okay, so he knows this is a low blow to get her to say yes but…well…he doesn't exactly have an excuse for this one, besides the fact that if she really does cares for him, she won't let him jump at all.)

"What?" She sputters. "You're…"

"Yes Lisbon, I'm going to jump from here if you don't agree to marry me."

She narrows her eyes, and crosses her arms against her chest.

(He's in so much trouble—if he survives this and Lisbon's wrath of death, he's going to have to buy her something huge as an apology.)

"You're going to do what if I don't what to marry you?" She's outraged, and he merely shrugs. "Jane, this isn't…"

"If you say yes, I won't jump."

"You're bluffing." She calls, and he grins as he swings his leg over the basket edge to where one leg dangles, dangerously over the edge.

"Am I now, Lisbon?"

(…the jumping out of the hot air balloon, in hindsight, wasn't the best idea ever, as he's got a small fear of heights and now, as one leg dangles out. Lisbon's probably not going to say yes anytime soon…)

Instead of saying anything, she moves closer to him and places her hand on his arm.

"If you do this, you're an idiot."

"Say yes then."

"No."

"Lisbon, I'm seriously going to jump."

"No, you aren't."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you aren't."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Yes." Lisbon smirks.

"No…w-wait a minute." He pauses from their argument of whether to jump or not, to glance at her. "You can't do that!"

"I believe I just did, now get back in the basket before I purposely push you out." She shakes her head in disbelief.

"I can't…because if you don't say yes—I'm really going to jump." He continues, as he starts to bring his other leg over the edge of the basket.

"Is a yes really that important to you?"

He nods with a huge smile, "it is."

Lisbon sighs, as she looks over the edge of the basket, down at the ground, and then she pushes him out of the basket—if anything, as he hits the ground, he's grateful that they weren't any higher up, or that would have hurt.

"Are you alright?" She calls down to him, and he lifts his head off the ground to glance up at her.

"No…" She furrows her eyebrows in response, and he frowns to continue. "You didn't say yes!"

Lisbon's shoe meets his abdomen, to which he only groans and allows his head to hit the soft ground with a soft thud.