Authors Note: In case any of you reading this also read "Say it With a Smile", good news, I found my flash drive! Yea! Now I can continue to torture you all (insert evil laugh here). Anyway, thanks for all the fabulous reviews, and to demonbunny7, so is an absolutely phenomenal beta, and fast too. I guess that's what a 16 hour time difference will do for you. I go to bed and wake up with new chapters to post, I love it.

Disclaimer: They are so not mine it's not even funny.

Chapter 4: Thursday

Jane laid on his couch at the CBI headquarters. It was late, or rather, very, very early. He had wanted to be with Grace tonight, but she had told him in no uncertain terms that she had choir practice and then she was going to come home and go to bed early. And when he showed up at her apartment he had found her gone with a note taped to the door. He flexed his hand where the note was and pulled it up to look at it, hoping for the millionth time that it would show something different

P,
I bet you thought I was kidding. I will be going to bed early tonight. I will see you at work tomorrow. Take me out on another date and we'll see where it goes. We never did get to go star gazing last night.
G

He sighed. Nope, still the same. He had hoped that she wasn't going to shut him out, but it wasn't looking good. She was just so beautiful, and her skin had been so soft and warm. He knew that she had only promised him that she would go so far, but he had held out hope. He should have realized that she wouldn't be the kind of woman who would do it on the sofa on the first time. He should have taken her into the bed room, not to the sofa.

Mentally cursing himself for trying to take it faster than she had agreed with, he thought back to earlier and that Popsicle. It was clear that she hadn't realized what she was doing. She wasn't a tease; she was too sweet and innocent to be a tease. He was sure given time he could change that, but wasn't sure he wanted to. She was just too sweet.

He closed his eyes and let his mind drift to the afternoon before. The Popsicles. Cho, bless him, had brought Popsicles and Grace decided to eat one. And oh, how she ate it. He groaned thinking about it. And then Rigsby came to his mind. He hadn't meant to be staring at her like that; he didn't think anyone would notice. But Rigsby had.

"Keep looking at her like that little man, see if you make it out of here today"

That's all he said, a barely veiled threat. Jane told himself that wasn't the reason why he was sleeping on the couch at CBI tonight, but knew it was the truth. In actuality he had just gotten used to sleeping with Grace, either in her arms or in the same house as her, and was finding it impossible to sleep now. He sighed, hoping that his mind would stop working so that he could get some rest.

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He felt a warm breath on his check and smiled. He didn't open his eyes, but reached out to stroke the face he was sure was right there. When he felt hard jagged muscles and not soft, smooth skin, his eyes flew open. "Rigsby!" He croaked out. "What are you doing here so early?"

"In the dog house Jane?" Rigsby asked standing up from where he had been crouched next to Jane. "What are you doing sleeping on the couch at work?"

Jane could tell that he was amused at him not being with Van Pelt. "No, she had plans tonight. I don't need to be with her every waking moment."

"Be with whom?" Cho asked walking into the room catching the tail end of their conversation.

"His new girlfriend." Rigsby answered before Jane could say anything.

Cho just looked at him and shook his head. Jane dating, there was now much less hope for the rest of them.

Rigsby didn't say anything more on the subject and they just sat there doing their regular work while waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. Jane was lying on his couch when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He could tell by the sound of them that it was Grace, and he said a silent mantra in his head as she approached. Please not a skirt, please not a skirt.

"Good morning Jane, how are you doing today?" He opened his eyes and looked up at her smiling.

"Good morning Van Pelt, I'm doing well, yourself?" He was keeping it polite and formal, following her lead.

"I brought you some tea, I hope you like it." She placed a cup on the table next to him then walked to her desk. Jane watched her leave, noting thankfully that she was indeed not wearing a skirt today, but instead a nice pair of black pants. He smiled slightly and sat up to pick up his tea, noticing that she had left behind a note written on a napkin.

P,
Tonight, 7:00, my place. Don't be late.
G

He smiled; this was going to be a good day.

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At 6:58 Jane pulled up outside her apartment and went up to her door. He knocked quickly, waiting for her to answer. He had gone home and changed into a simple pair of jeans and a casual button down shirt. He had figured that they were going to be going star gazing, as promised, and hoped that his outfit would be ok. He swallowed hard when she opened the door and he tried not to stare.

"Have I told you lately how gorgeous you are?" He asked lazily looking her up and down. She was wearing a similar outfit to his own, a causal pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a loose braid and she was smiling shyly at him.

"Thanks, you don't look to bad yourself." She said stepping aside so he could enter.

"What are the plans for the night?" He asked leaning up against the back of the sofa that had been the cause of so much pleasure and pain just a few nights ago.

"I was thinking we could go on a picnic up to the hills, and then do a little star gazing." She smiled sweetly at him. It was all he could do not to take her in his arms right now and kiss her senseless. As it was he walked up to her and placed his arms around her waist giving her a tender kiss. He broke it off without trying to deepen it; there would be time for that later.

"That sounds like a good idea." He said quietly letting her go.

"I'll grab the blanket if you can get the basket." She said pointing to the basket by the door.

"You have a picnic basket, how sweet." He said in a teasing tone as he released her and picked it up. "Are you driving?"

"Of course, you don't know where we're going."

They loaded up her jeep and drove towards the hills on the outskirts of town. The ride was pleasant, and they didn't feel the need to talk as they drove. Grace pulled off the main road onto an unpaved path. Jane was about to question if she knew where she was going, but decided that it wouldn't be a good idea. They drove for probably 5 miles before the road opened up into a clearing.

"It's beautiful, how did you know this was here?" Jane asked as he got out of the car and looked around.

"One of the women at church told me about it. She said she comes up here with her husband and kids all the time for picnics on the weekends." They laid the blanket down on the grass and unpacked the meal Grace had prepared. It was standard picnic fair. Fried chicken and potato salad, with fresh fruit and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. They left the lights on in her car so that they could see until they finished eating. The conversation was easy, with Jane asking about her family and Grace joking with him about the magic tricks he was always doing at work. When they were done, they packed back up the basket and put it in the car. They turned the lights off and lay on the blanket looking up at the stars.

"When I was a little girl we used to go camping. My favorite thing was to sit on the tail gate of my dad's old pickup and tell stories about the stars. I'd make up stories about the planets that would orbit the far off stars and what life might be like. My brother would always laugh at me say that there was no way I could know that. He preferred to make up stories about the consolations." Grace knew she was rambling, but couldn't help it. She was nervous. "Did you ever do anything like that?"

Jane pulled her closer and nuzzled his head into her neck. "I used to pretend that I was an astronaut. I'd fly into the night and look at the stars up close. I would pretend that I was Captain Kirk, piloting the Enterprise." He chuckled slightly at the memory, "I thought he was so cool."

They sat in comfortable silence, watching the stars and marveling about how many more were visible without the lights of the city. Jane felt Grace shift slightly beside him and knew she was going to mention the other night.

"Patrick, about the other night." She said, clearly nervous. "I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry if I lead you on, I didn't mean too."

He pushed himself up on one elbow, looking her in the eyes. "Grace, I would never want to you feel uncomfortable around me, never. I understand if you want to wait. I'm in no rush."

"Thanks for understanding." She said. She reached her arms up and wrapped them around her neck, pulling him down on top of her and pressing her lips to his. She had always liked the great outdoors, and thought that now was a good a time as any to show Jane just how much.