A/N : Thank-you all so much for the reviews and advice! Very much appreciated! This one is a tad shorter, but the next will be longer (i hate short chapters, but I like leaving cliffhangers :) Enjoy and reviews make me smile :)

The warm sunlight bursting in through the windows is what woke her the next morning. Lisbon slowly rolled on her back, carefully not to push Jane off the whatever it was they were sleeping on. Jane adjusted, but still didn't wake and Lisbon was now lying on her back, very aware of the hand that somehow managed to slip under her button down shirt and now rested on her stomach. "Jane, Jane," Lisbon whispered, not wanting to startle him.

His eyes slowly fluttered open and a lazy smile spread across his face. "Oh, hi Lisbon,"

Lisbon couldn't help but smile at a such a whimsical greeting. "Hi, yourself,"

Jane blinked a few times and then let his gaze rest on her. "You fell asleep,"

"I gathered,"

"I was gonna just lay you down and go over there, but you kinda pulled me down..."

"Oh, really, I pulled you down?"

"Yes, surprisingly strong and persuasive when you are alseep,"

"Hmm..too bad I can't get you to comply this easily when I'm awake,"

Jane smirked and looked away, unconsciously drawing circle patterns with his thumb that rested on her stomach.

"Uh Jane,"

"Yes?"

"You're um...hand..."

"Oh, right..sorry..I guess..I...sorry," Jane quickly pulled his hand away and Lisbon went to get up. "No, wait," Jane reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could get up. They caught each other in an intense stare of blue and green. "I don't want to this to be weird for us," he said quietly.

Lisbon cocked her a head a little, "How so?"

"To any other two people in our situation..something like this..things could get awkward, pushing the other away, completely shutting out, I...I don't want that," Jane looked down at his hand now, where it had slid down to hers and was now running his thumbs over her knuckles.

Lisbon was silent.

Jane took a deep breath before continuing. "This was nice, it...I haven't even laid down next to another women since Angela. I don't...I don't take it lightly, it's not something I do..to..to con someone,"

"I know," Lisbon slid her hand out from under his and wrapped it around his. "How you saw me last night isn't really a side-"

"I know,"

They stood there a moment in silence, holding hands, neither wanting the moment and the security they felt with each other end.

"I should probably..."

"Yeah," said Jane, reluctantly pulling his hand away.

...

A few weeks passed, a few more cases, life went on after their moment in the attic. Though something had shifted in the dynamic of their relationship. Jane going out of his way to to do subtle things for her and ,she accepting without complaint and with a grateful smile. Jane found himself finding reasons to place a hand on her shoulder or at the small of her back or casually brushing against her leg or anything that gave him some sort of contact with her. And Lisbon accepted, with no disapproving looks or snarky comments. But on this particular day, it would the end of their platonic-read-between-the-lines friendship, and it wasn't all smiles and laughs.

They were coming to an end of a case. Somebody had kidnapped, ransomed, and killed the niece of the DA, in some political gesture that disgusted the whole team. Nerves were high and jaws locked in tension as they all suited up with vests outside the kidnappers home to take them down. Even after the little girls body was found, the team worked night and day to track down who it was, leading them here, to a rundown shack in the middle of a bad part of town.

"You see any of them with a gun in hand, you shoot to kill. Don't give these sons of bitches a chance," Lisbon ordered to her team as they all checked their guns.

Jane stood next to Lisbon, his flickering from her to the team as they the nodded with approval.

"Let's go, Rigsby and Van Pelt, go around back take team 2. Cho, Team 1, you're with me,"

"Lisbon," Jane reached for her wrist, keeping her in place as the rest of the team moved out. "Be careful," he whispered, almost pleadingly as his eyes locked with hers and she saw the raw emotion being put out.

Lisbon nodded. "Stay in the van Jane. Lock the doors,"

His hand slid from hers as she ran to join up with the rest of the team.

Jane slipped in the van passenger side of the van and rolled down the window slightly so that he could at least hear what was going on. He watched as his ever fearless counted to three and kicked in the door of the house. He heard yelling, saw the beams of flashlights, heard gunshots and yelling. He winced with every shot he heard, praying the team and Lisbon were staying safe. He heard furniture crashing, more gun shots and yelling and then he was sure he heard Rigsby yell of "Boss" amidst the noise and Jane's heart started racing. Fumbling with the door handle he fell from the car in his attempts at hurrying and his breath caught in his throat as he hesitated. Commotion was still going on inside he could hear everyone's shouts of "put the down the knife". He never liked this part of the job, and he didn't want to consider himself a coward or that he was scared of getting hurt or dying since he was practical running to his own death by continuing to chase Red John. And he wasn't even entirely sure of WHY he was so skiddish when it came to this stuff, when he himself planned on taking Red John's life. A moment later as he was still hesitating by the front walk way weather to rush inside or not, more gun shots and yelling went off, then all was silent.