A/N: Almost there, people! If you're still reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH. It seriously means the world to me!

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

'The Great Mr. Jane'

Chapter Six

Christina chuckled, Teresa frowned and I knew for a fact that my cheeks had turned a deep shade of red.

"What did you tell her?" Teresa asked, slightly amused. I shook my head and averted my eyes, looking instead at the big painting of her and Walter on the wall.

"She said that Patrick is a good kisser!" Christina quipped, and mimicked kissing sounds that now made Teresa blush. When I looked at her, she simply started laughing. She fell back against the backrest of the couch, Christina still on her lap, consequently causing the little girl to now lie on her mother's chest, her head against Teresa's bosom.

"Well, he is a good kisser," Teresa said when her laughter had died down a bit, enough to be able to breathe controllably and without hiccups. She sighed, slightly wistfully.

"Do you know who you are going to choose yet?" I attempted. Teresa shook her head.

"No, but as soon as I find out, you'll be the first one to know, I promise."

I smiled softly. "I'm glad, but shouldn't your daughter know first."

"Knowing you, she will know either way as soon as you do."

My cheeks burned again as I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry, okay, it won't happen again."

Teresa chuckled, and shrugged.

"Jane's here, isn't he?"

I became solemn. Yes, of course she knew he was, because she could probably feel his presence. Something that years later still wills you to fight for it couldn't be bad, could it? And they had a beautiful child from that little mistake, so really much to complain wasn't there.

I nodded. "He's in Walter's office."

She groaned. "They won't kill each other, right?"

"No, they won't. Maybe hurt the other, yes, but not killing."

She groaned again, and gently pushed Christina off her chest, getting up and almost running out of the living room. Christina followed her mother without thinking, and I felt I had to stop her before she would do anything stupid. So I ran after the two, and was barely able to snatch Christina's arm before she went into the room with Teresa.

"You're staying here, Chrissie."

"But I want to talk to Daddy and Patrick!"

"I know, honey, but let Mommy talk to them first, okay?"

She pouted, but stopped fighting me. She sighed and trotted over to the couch on the hallway that was located directly in front of one of the many big windows. I didn't sit down beside her, merely started pacing the hall up and down.

"What did Mommy tell you, Christina?"

She shrugged. "That my Daddy isn't my Daddy, but Patrick is my Daddy."

I nodded. "And what do you think about that?"

"I don't know."

I sighed, and decided to sit down beside her, if only so I could swing and arm around her small frame this way.

"I don't know what your Mommy said about any of this, but I'm sure that your Daddy will still be your Daddy, if you want him to. He still loves you."

"Does Patrick love me too?"

"Yes he does. In fact, every time I go home, he asks me how you were doing."

"Really?"

I nodded, and the girl's wistful expression disappeared a bit, to be replaced by a happy one. I could imagine that would cheer her up, after all, she really did care a lot about Jane. I wasn't sure what the revelation would do to her feelings for Walter and Jane but she was taking it well so far.

"Christina?" a soft voice asked, and we both looked up. Teresa was standing in the doorway, Jane now standing behind her. She seemed to ignore him but he didn't allow it, gently touched her shoulder. She waved for Christina to come inside and the girl did, skipping over to her mother, then Teresa motioned that I could come inside as well.

Who was I to deny any of this? I wanted to know if they had come to an agreement after all.

Jane turned around, his expression showing hurt as though he had burned his hand, by the way Teresa was acting. But in her defense, she wasn't paying attention to Walter either so he had nothing to be feeling sad about.

"Chrissie, we are going to stay at Auntie Grace's home for a few days."

"Really?" Christina exclaimed, already clapping her hands and bouncing on the couch she was seated on. An obvious involuntarily smile appeared on Teresa's lips as she nodded.

"We are going to focus on you, little one. It's going to be about you and not about any of us anymore. You get to choose where we'll live – with Walter or with Patrick. It's up to you, but if you don't want to choose, that's fine as well. And you'll get as much time as you need."

Christina looked from her mother to Jane to Walter, then back to Teresa again.

"I want to-"

"Not yet, Chrissie. At least wait until tomorrow. A lot has happened today."

Christina sighed, nodded although she was pouting. She then jumped up and ran towards Walter for a big hug.

Jane and Teresa's eyes crossed, and I could see it hurt for the blonde man. No surprise there.

Then Christina surprised all of us by pushing away from Walter and running into Jane, wrapping her arms around him the same way she had done with Walter.

Jane didn't bother with covering up the sigh of relief he let out. He bent his knees a bit and picked up the girl. He whispered something in her ear and although I was sure Teresa and Walter couldn't hear what he was saying, I read his lips.

He was telling her he loved her.

I saw Christina had made up her mind in that moment, but I decided not to comment on it. It was going to hurt for Walter either way, it was probable that he was going to lose both Teresa and Christina now, and that couldn't be easy for him. Or perhaps it was, maybe I had made an error in determining his character after all.

Teresa gently touched Jane's shoulder, and he reluctantly put down Christina. He turned towards Teresa and sighed wistfully, then nodded and left the room.

When he was gone, everybody was eerily quiet. Not a word was uttered, even Christina wasn't producing any sound. That changed when she, after a few long moments, ran after Jane. Teresa was just in time to stop her.

So it was settled then. If Teresa would let Christina choose for her, which in my opinion was a weak move but perhaps it was the only option she had, she would come back together with Jane. I hoped Teresa realized this now – Walter didn't stand a chance, which was unfair, but it wasn't my call.

-YulianaHenderson-

Teresa busied herself with helping Wayne and Cho cooking. She was good at it, I had to admit, and as I studied her movements, I saw she enjoyed doing this. It was unmistakable though that she did this solely to forget about the whole Walter/Jane matter.

Wayne and Cho were in the kitchen now, and Teresa went to get something when I pulled her aside.

"Are you and Jane being intimate?"

She couldn't have been more surprised. She actually gasped at my question, but I had to know. I had to know what drove her to the decision she had made.

"No, we are not," she said, determinedly. I made her turn around, so that I could look into her eyes when she was lying to me, but I found she wasn't. She was telling me the truth, and I hadn't seen that coming. Well, there went the whole theory I had come up with.

"No, Grace, we are not," she said. "I'm not making that same mistake again, even if I decide to choose for Jane. Now that I'm still married to Walter, I'm not sleeping with Jane. I'm not even kissing him, or hugging him, or doing anything friends won't do-"

"I understand, Teresa, calm down."

She sighed.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered, and I heard the panic in her voice, even though she desperately tried to mask it. "It doesn't feel right. It doesn't. I want to give Walter a chance as well, he's my husband, but every time I'm close to Jane I feel like I made up my mind already. I know I want to be with Jane, but I shouldn't."

I looked at the kitchen, where Wayne and Cho seemed to be discussing something. I pulled her with me into the living room.

"You're in love with Jane," I whispered. It was not a question, and Teresa was more than aware of it.

"Yes I am. And now that I have to choose it just doesn't feel right anymore."

"But do you want to be with Jane?"

"Grace..."

"Just answer my question, Teresa. Do you want to be with Jane?"

She swallowed several times, and already moved to walk away, but I stopped her.

"Teresa-"

"Yes. Yes, I want to be with him. I want to choose for him."

"Then what's the problem?"

"My marriage is the problem. It may not look like it but I'm actually the loyal kind of person."

"Why did you cheat on Walter?"

"I'm going to help in the kitchen-"

"No, Teresa, you're not. This is the source of the problem and we need to get rid of the source so that the problem can go as well. Wayne and Cho will manage on their own, that's what you hired them for."

Teresa stamped her foot on the floor angrily, making her look like a stubborn child, before she ran a hand through her hair and angrily walked over to the couch, sitting down.

"Dammit Grace," she muttered, then straightened and started explaining. "When Walter and I got married, I was in love with him. I really was. Or I thought I was. Because surely, if you're in love then you stop looking for other men, don't you? Well, I didn't, and it wasn't before... Virgil, of all people, made me realize that what Walter and I had was nothing special, it was not true love, that I began looking at our marriage differently. I know it was wrong, I should've stopped looking at that very moment, that would've spared both of us a lot of trouble, but I couldn't. I couldn't stop. I couldn't push away the thought that Walter didn't give me what I was craving. He was looking after me, alright, even though I knew that he didn't do it from a genuine love perspective. He had specifically told me so. And then I met Jane, and the rest is history... I didn't mean for it to happen, I swear! But it just happened. And I would do everything to go back to that moment and just ignore Jane, not act on anything he was telling me. But he made me feel happy and loved, I hadn't felt like that my entire life. I was so in love with Jane, Grace, you wouldn't even believe it... and then I got pregnant. And I was ready to shoot myself.

"Because I knew in that moment that that small hint of happiness that I had felt with Jane, that I would never get to feel that again. I knew that Walter would never forgive me. He interpreted it personally, quite understandably, of course, but he was angry. He reminded me of my dad in those moments. But I knew it was because he was afraid to lose me. I was the only stable factor in his life, the only person who genuinely cared about him, despite all our flaws in both our marriage and our personalities individually. We didn't belong together, but still it worked, up to a point, because I appreciated that stability in my life, and he did too. That security. Jane didn't have that. Believe it or not, but at the time I became pregnant, he didn't have anything. Trust me, the house he's living in, he wouldn't have been able to afford that himself – that was all Walter's doing.
"But the moment he got placed in that house... it was like he became a different man. It was as though he wanted to get revenge, for missing out on big chunks of his daughter's life. Because at that time, he didn't know for how long it would last. I think he had hoped that it would pass after a few weeks, or months. I don't think he thought it would last seven years." She paused, and I didn't dare interrupting her. She was facing the truth, it was important that she kept on talking.

"I saw him changing, Grace. Jane isn't the man he used to be anymore. He used to be carefree, youthful, full of joy. He's not that man anymore. And Walter changed too. It's all my fault. I'm a terrible person."

I shook my head. I sat down beside her on the couch and wrapped an arm around her frame, not caring if she liked this certain gesture. But judging by the way she placed her head on my shoulders, she didn't mind.

"You're not, Teresa," I whispered. "Of course I don't know all sides of this story, but to me it looked like you just wanted to be happy. Nobody can blame you for that, Teresa. Even if they say you didn't act the right way. There is no right way when it comes to love."

"I don't want to hurt him," she whispered. I nodded.
"I know, Teresa. I know."

That moment, Walter decided to walk in, and as soon as he saw the two of us, I could witness a switch being hit in his head, I saw the wheels churning and turning but not for long, as though he had been going about this for a very long time now.

"I want you to live together with Jane."

Teresa pushed away from me and jumped up.

"No-"

"Teresa, I've found someone else."

Teresa froze. It took a while before his words sank in. To be honest, I was shocked too. Was he genuinely doing all of this now? Was he acting indifferent? Glad to be rid of Teresa? After all he had told me about, after all the love he had shown for her? He had fought for her, dammit, but this wasn't the bitter end.
"You're kidding, right?" I asked when Teresa had nothing to say. Walter's gaze switched from her to me, and he nodded.

"Well, I don't have someone else now, but I will eventually, I hope. Teresa, don't you see it? We don't belong together. I still love you, but a simple break up will destroy both of our lives. This way, I get to be the macho man that moved over you fairly quickly and you get to be the strong woman that learned to live with it as well and moved on too. And you are strong. You can get over this, you can ignore what people say about our behavior. It was a mutual decision, and people will know that now. I know what you deserve.

"I want you to be happy, I don't want you to have any illusions about that, Teresa, my love. I love you, but not in the way I should love you, the way you deserve to be loved. The way your daughter deserves to be loved. I'm... not the father type, I'm really not, but I tried. She's amazing, Teresa, she's like you, but this is not the kind of life I had imagined for us. I didn't marry you just for your good looks, Teresa, despite what everybody might have told you, or despite what you might have thought yourself. I love you, and I have always loved you. I've shown it in the wrong ways, yes. I have hurt you plenty of times, but I was afraid of losing you."

He moved closer, gathered her in his arms, placed a kiss on the top of her head. Teresa's breath caught in her throat.

I could clearly notice the next words she whispered were heartfelt, but had to be forced out of her mouth.

"If you really want to give me what's best for me, then help me leaving you, Walter."

He nodded, kissing her forehead, over and over again, until Teresa couldn't stop the tears anymore, letting them fall freely down her cheeks.

"Don't cry, Teresa," he whispered. "This is not a goodbye. This is merely my gift for you – happiness. Something I could never give you myself."

"That's not true," she managed to choke out.

"It is, though. I gave you stability, security, money. Everything you wanted but it wasn't what you needed nor deserved. I think we both knew what you really needed – a baby. I could never have given you a baby, and you know that. Just promise me that you will be happy with him, Teresa. I hope I can trust Jane enough with you, with your life and with Christina's. Promise me you'll be happy with him."

She nodded, and wrapped her arms around his chest. She couldn't stop nodding. He wrapped his arms tighter around her, and whispered sweet nothings into her ear.

"Thank you, Walter," she managed to whisper, then she drowned in his embrace.

"Did we miss something?" And of course the moment had to be ruined by the oblivious workers in the Mashburn Mansion. Yet one look at the still-married couple showed me that they weren't about to explain anything, finding this moment too difficult to stop it.

-YulianaHenderson-

Nothing fundamental had changed over the next few days. I don't suppose anyone told Jane the news, and I didn't get the feeling that anyone was going to before the party.

I had heard Walter telling Teresa that the party was a sort of goodbye, but a goodbye from their marriage, since quite obviously, they were going to get a divorce rather soon.

The only one I knew for a fact they had told about their plans was Christina. The girl had been out of her mind with excitement, but unfortunately, she had to keep it quiet for just a few days more. Honestly, I didn't know why she was so excited. I assumed that at her age, as long as you were looked after and were given the idea that someone cared about you, it didn't matter where you were living. Apparently though, for her it did matter, and she'd rather live with Jane than with Walter – understandably so. When Walter had told Teresa he wasn't the fatherly type, he wasn't lying alright. Jane was a better father, or let me rephrase that: he actually genuinely cared about her, about her feelings and not just about her being there or what she might add to his reputation.

I felt Teresa was getting excited as well. Walter was letting her go, promising her not to make a fight and ruin her reputation any further, and he had even told her he would help save what little was left of her reputation. Not that she needed a reputation anymore, she didn't have to find a man since she had already done so.

I had regretted asking her if she and Jane had been intimate. I should've known that this was a probable trauma of Teresa, and she would never ever make that same mistake again. It was a shame I hadn't realized that before she had had a semi-breakdown.

But she was getting pretty excited, because she knew what was going to be in her future – being with Jane, the man she loved with all she had, the man she was in love with. The man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with – quite obviously not the case with Walter but I had seemed to have gotten used to this sudden change.

She reminded me of a giddy teenager in love – giggling uncontrollably at the most inappropriate times, staring into nowhere when she was most likely daydreaming, smiling like a loon for no reason at all. It was so not her that it made me smile from ear to ear – even the most controlled people could be taken off guard by true love.

I simply hoped she would tell Jane before he would do something terrible because of the long wait.

I had now completely changed my view on Walter, though. I still didn't know how I could have been so wrong with my assumptions, but it was the case, and I had genuinely apologized to him, even though I had never voiced any of these thoughts out loud. I had reacted biased and I never should have done so. He was a nice, loving man, not the family type but he obviously couldn't do anything about that – it was simply the way he was. I learned that very same day Walter announced that divorcing would be the best way to solve all of this that he was infertile – he had known from the absolute beginning that Teresa's child wasn't his. It was funny, how these kind of things happened to the people who weren't at all thinking about having children. Teresa might have wanted it, but if Walter couldn't get her pregnant... and I had learned that in the beginning, Walter had definitely noticed things going on between her and Jane but had simply allowed it – if Jane was able to give her that baby she so desperately wanted, then he had supposed he would have to sacrifice himself, in a way. He obviously hadn't figured she would actually fall in love with Jane. If Walter had in fact been fertile and had in fact been able to get Teresa pregnant, then this whole mess wouldn't have existed. But it was better this way – you couldn't change the past anyhow.

That was what I had told the three countless of times – you can't change the past. What's happened, happened. You can't alter it.

But I knew they weren't changing the past – they completely agreed with me on that point. They were simply changing the future.
Walter's party was tomorrow. The whole mansion was freaking out to try and get the last things done. Jane was still oblivious – when me, Teresa and Christina went home the previous night, we had seen him secretly sneaking through the curtains to catch a glimpse of the two girls. Really, Christina had been so tempted to tell Jane, but Teresa and I had been able to stop her.

I really didn't get why Teresa wanted to let Jane wait this long, but I wasn't going to question it. Perhaps she wanted to make the moment in which she told him about her undying love for him special, wanted to make it matter. She obviously didn't want to make hasty decisions again for the rest of her life.

If Teresa wouldn't tell Jane the next day, though, I would do it for her. And this would be different than telling Christina about the truth, since that was the past and the new, altered plans were the future.

I sighed. I was going to have to stalk the couple a little bit more to know if everything ended up well, but I was willing to do so. Honestly, the only thing I wanted to see was a little kiss and them admitting their love. That was it.

I hoped they would be able to give me that. Only time would learn.

A/N: Next chapter will be unofficially the last chapter, because after next chapter there will be an Epilogue, but I think we can establish that all of you know what will happen next chapter, right? It's the last chapter, people, and I can't stand ending stories on a negative, depressed note because seriously, I'm the fluffy kind of person so yeah, be prepared for some fluff - it's not much though, but it's still fluff.

Let me know what you think in a REVIEW, or a FAV or ALERT or whatever way you deem appropriate, just do it, it will mean everything to me and I will actually feel like this story is a good one.