Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me, am simply borrowing them for the purposes of this story.

AN: Been a long time since this was updated, but I thought I would return to this universe one last time. This happens about two months after chapter 15, and is fluffy and saccharine fuelled. You have been warned!

Falling Slowly Chapter 16

I have been sitting waiting in this seat for an hour, which is frankly about 58 minutes longer than I'm usually comfortable waiting for anything. But Lisbon has banned me from picking her up at the airport tonight so I am resigned to keeping my vigil from our apartment.

She has been in Denver for most of the last week, and I know I won't be responsible for any of my misdeeds if she doesn't return to our home in the next hour or so. I miss her, clearly.

I have a whole weekend of doing a lot of nothing with her planned, now I just need my partner to come home so that we can do nothing together. Did I mention I miss her?

She has been on a management training course for the last few days, and for the first time since we have been together I have been lying in bed and not sleeping. I apparently find it impossible to rest without a Lisbon shaped comforter next to me. Although, she would maim me if I were to be caught thinking of her as a comforter. I definitely have more loving words to describe her, but I am saving them for when she is actually near enough for me to hold her against me.

She should be home any minute and I'm trying to demonstrate an air of calm and composure so that she might not guess how very much her absence has affected me – though as she always does I know she will see through my façade in moments. She's adorable like that. And also I have been calling her and texting her to the point of stalking, and she's called me on the inappropriateness of that so many times over the last few days I've lost count.

So I'm sitting on the balcony, in our favourite spot, looking out at the city while wandering through the Lisbon room of my memory palace. Right now I am cataloguing all of the times she has smiled at me while trying to hide the delightful burst of colour and blush on her skin.

"Hey old man, you really must be getting old if I can sneak up on you like this."

I can hear the affectionate amusement in her voice and I think she may be right, which is potentially worrying but I don't have time to obsess about that just now as my lovely Lisbon is back in our home.

I stand to move towards her at the same time as she rushes towards me, and I don't have time to focus on the details of her presence, just the warmth of her in my arms. She smells amazing which is ludicrous after what must have been a packed flight from Denver, but I think I may keep her against me like this for the rest of the night. I might even hold her a little tighter and beg her never to leave me alone to pine after her ever again. So I do tighten my hold on her ever so slightly, but instantly I can feel Teresa start to pull away from me.

"I'm sorry Patrick, but that was a little too much affection for me right now."

As I try to process her words, I finally take in her entire appearance rather than just how warm she feels in my arms. Her right wrist is strapped and she looks paler than she should. And I didn't know to expect this despite our many conversations over the last few days.

"You're hurt."

I know that wasn't the most insightful comment I could have made, but I am not very good when Lisbon is hurt or unhappy. I usually just want to make it all go away.

"I'm fine."

"And yet I don't get to hold you because it hurts, and still we're going to go with I'm fine."

She's looking at me with unreadable eyes, which terrifies me as I am almost always able to see what she is feeling. She steps back towards me, our bodies touching as we are so close together and already I start to calm down – I know her presence will always have this powerful effect on me. She reaches up with her uninjured left hand and draws the tips of her fingers across my lips. I almost collapse with pleasure, and move to curl a hand around her waist for the joy of at least having her partially in my arms again.

"I am fine. Not great, but fine. It's not a big deal, there was a little bit of car crash yesterday."

"A little bit of a car crash. Are you kidding me, Teresa?"

She instantly leans up to press her lips against my own, and for a few seconds I am lost in the smell and taste of her. She whispers her love against my lips and I am undone by those words, as I always am and always will be.

"I'm okay, Patrick. And I didn't want to worry you and tell you until I was here because I wanted you to know and feel how okay I am. Right?"

I pull her back against me and hold her with as much tenderness as I can. I move my lips to rest against her hair, and marvel that I get to do this whenever I choose. And marvel that Teresa needs this contact every bit as much as I do.

"You were in a car crash Teresa I think that means I'm allowed to worry."

She rubs her hands over my back in the random, loving patterns she knows will always lull me into a state of absolute enslavement to her. I wish I could bring myself to complain about this, but her touch is too perfect and now I just want to lift her up into my arms and carry her to our bed.

"I was a passenger in the car, we were going about twenty miles an hour at the time – it was a very minor incident. I have a sprained wrist, and some bruises – I'm happy and healthy and very pleased to be home. And can we go inside; I want to talk to you."

I move my lips from her hair to kiss her cheek, smiling against her skin so she knows just how happy I am too to have her here with me.

"You want to talk with me, is that what we are calling it now Agent Lisbon?"

"Patrick, you know if I wanted to drag you inside and have sex I would have just used those words."

I squeeze my arms around her gently, laughing against her skin.

"I'm going to feel so used, Teresa – I've been waiting for us to make love."

"Move old woman, it's getting cold out here."

I release her from my arms and take her good hand in mine and lead us back indoors. I love the feel of her small fingers entwined with mine – and the sensation of her engagement ring against my skin reminds me all over again that we need to have a wedding discussion pretty soon. I'm very happily engaged but the time has come for us to be very happily married.

I smile a little when I notice she has brought me a gift; there are 6 bottles of the Japanese beer Lisbon hates on the coffee table.

"Thinking you need to get me drunk, Teresa?"

"I was thinking I was being sweet and bringing my partner a gift to let him know I've missed him and been thinking about him. Apparently that won't be happening ever again."

I laugh in delight that she is here, and she can tease me, and get grouchy with me and look as beautiful to me as she always has. I pull her down to sit beside me on our ridiculously comfortable couch and kiss her like I've been wanting to since she left here four day ago. Teresa curls her hand around the back of my neck and holds me against her as we brush our lips together and share how pleased we are to see each other without the annoyance of words.

Before I become too lost in the taste of my delightful fiancé I am conscious of the strapping around her wrist. I pull back and rub my thumb over the skin of her good hand, tracing the scars made almost a year ago. They have faded so much now, and I suppose only Teresa and I notice them these days – but they are a remembrance to me every day how very lucky I am that she is still with me. I lean down and kiss her palm, her wrist and then rest my lips on the knuckles of her left hand – I've missed sitting with her like this.

"Are you in pain, Teresa?"

"No, it's just a little uncomfortable. I was feeling something better than pain a minute ago when I was being kissed, but apparently that got boring for you."

Never; so I meet the challenge in her eyes by pulling her back into my arms and I slide my tongue against her own until we can't breathe anymore. While I still have a semblance of sense remaining I sit back on the sofa and curl my arm around Teresa's shoulder so that we might relax together.

"I had intentions to cook for you tonight my dear, but now I am disinclined to move. You shouldn't be so seductive."

Teresa turns her head from where it has been resting against my shoulder and kisses my upper arm. I love her lazy affection more than I can express.

"Take out is good, I'm just so happy to be home. I like being around so I can keep an eye on you."

She returns her head to my shoulder and rests her injured hand on my stomach; I could sit like this with her forever. Truly. I am genuinely, and utterly happy in this moment.

"I need to talk to you, Patrick."

And just like that the happiness has lessened a little, Teresa sounds apprehensive and more than a little afraid of the words she is about to say. I think I know what she wants to talk about, and I should be more ashamed than I really am but I refuse to be apologetic over my tendency to be protective of her.

"Teresa can I apologise now, and then maybe you'll forget about it and we can go back to holding each other?"

She takes her wonderful softness and warmth away from me, and sits up on the couch, her hand on my thigh as she sits facing me, glaring at me.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Then why are you apologising? Patrick I've been gone four days, you couldn't stay out of trouble for four days? What did you do, and who do I need to call?"

I lean forward and kiss the lines of tension on her forehead, so happy to have her home.

"I have gotten into no trouble while you were away. I have gone to work and boringly done everything Cho instructed me to. I came home and missed you. I lay in our bed and missed you. And then I got up the next day and did it all over again. I have been boring and well behaved, I promise Teresa. The only thing I have done in your absence is to miss you. I promise."

I kiss her cheek this time, and then move back to watch her lovely eyes as she processes all that I have told her.

"So why were you apologising Patrick?"

"I assumed there might be residual anger over the Sherriff Boulton incident."

I know she was so angry at the time I almost had to spend an evening on the couch the night before Teresa went to Denver.

"No, I just filed that in the place labelled 'Jane being an insufferable jackass."

"I wasn't being a jackass with Sherriff Boulton Teresa."

"Yes you definitely were, and I remember yelling that at you at the time and you couldn't disagree. You tried to hypnotize him Patrick."

"I did not; I merely tried to suggest certain things to him."

"That he had feelings for Cho."

She's magnificent when she's trying not to be mad with me, I know I shouldn't but I love the light in her eyes when we bicker like this.

"Yes, I remember that. In my defence he was staring at your ass a really long time before I decided to teach him a lesson."

I take her hands in mine, lonely for her touch and intent on communicating that to her.

"You didn't need to teach him a lesson, I can take care of myself you idiot."

"As can Agent Cho and I'm less possessive of him."

"You shouldn't need to be so possessive of me. Not at work Patrick, please try and be less like yourself when we're at work. I really can take care of myself you know."

"I do know that my dear, but I don't enjoy watching other men's interest in you. I never will, whether we're at work or not. And I would very much like to turn our conversation towards our wedding; you know how much I want to be your husband."

I know I'm being unforgivably manipulative with those words, but I've never been above manipulation to get what I want. And I very much want to be married to Teresa.

This time it's Teresa who lifts my knuckles to her lips and kisses me. It looks like she is almost on the verge of tears and I remember she wanted to talk to me about something, and I feel the beginnings of unease in her presence for the first time in months.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about Patrick."

"Okay."

Please don't have gotten cold feet Teresa, please. I will do anything, say anything but please don't run out on us. I can't believe I am thinking like this, but she looks so afraid right now.

"I don't know how to say this Patrick; I don't want to make you sad. I'm so tired of watching you be sad."

What?

"Darling I'm not sad, I've been nothing but happy since we've gotten together, you must know that."

I haul her forward so she can rest against my chest, perhaps more for my comfort than Teresa's. I rest my lips against her forehead and try to regulate my breathing.

"I'm afraid my news is going to make you sad."

Okay.

"You know you can tell me anything, and you also know that I can face anything if I have you by my side. So all you have to do is say the words."

"When I was away I was feeling odd, and at first I thought it was Patrick Jane withdrawal…"

I chuckle against her skin, relieved beyond words that Teresa is attempting humour. Whatever is to come, it can't be that awful if she is attempting humour.

"So you missed me when you were gone, what woman wouldn't? Was there another reason for the oddness you were feeling?"

"I'm pregnant."

Her words are whispered, almost insinuated more than said aloud. For a few moments I think I may have imagined them. I use all of the focus I have to trace my fingers across the small of Lisbon's back and try to remain tethered to the earth with her. I am silent for perhaps two minutes and then I move to take her treasured, wonderful face between my hands.

"Say that again, Teresa."

She has tears in her eyes now, and for some reason she doesn't look as joyful as I would hope she would."

"I'm pregnant Patrick."

I don't risk words, simply bend closer to her and kiss her precious lips. I whisper to her that I love her, and try and find a big enough response to this news.

"I'm sorry Patrick; I don't want to make you sad."

Well at least I know what the tears are for now.

"Why would this make me sad, Teresa? This is… This is everything. Beautiful."

"Well we didn't plan this."

"No we didn't darling. Are you sorry?"
My palms remain against her face; I'm going nowhere until I understand what is bothering my stoic Teresa. And this way I can brush the tears from her cheeks.

"Well I'm scared that I'm too old, and I'm scared that I won't be able to do this right, but mostly I'm scared of hurting you and sending you back there. You've been a husband and a father and I don't want to force you into doing that over again and bring back sadness to you."

Sometimes I don't know whether to hug her or yell at her. As she will soon be the mother of my child I should probably only ever hug her.

So help me, Lisbon is going to be the mother of my child.

"Teresa Lisbon nothing you could ever do will bring me closer to sadness, unless you're sad. You understand that, don't you?"

I kiss her lovely face while she nods her agreement.

"Darling, loving you and having a baby with you will never make me sad. And I will always have been a husband and a father already, but doing it over again won't take me back to those memories and make me any sadder than I already can be. It'll always be yesterday that I lost them, it will always be raw and painful and an unbearable absence. I could be having the best day; making fun of someone at work, smiling at you, drinking tea… And suddenly I will feel again all that I have lost as though it happened yesterday. That will always be true darling."

I kiss her again, and this time move my fingers to trace the damaged skin on her wrist. Tracing the scars as lovingly as I can, feeling her pulse beneath my fingers.

"And sometimes what he did to you happened yesterday too, I know it always will. I can live with that because I wake up next to you, and then get to go to sleep with you beside me again. I can manage all of that; I can deal with all of those yesterdays because of you. Nothing you could ever do to me will make me sad, I promise. This is happiness Teresa, what you're telling me – this is happiness. What we've done, what we'll have, is tomorrow and every day after that. So tell me our news again, and allow yourself to feel every little bit of happiness you feel but have been too afraid to show me."

This time I move my hands away from her face, all the better to enjoy her full smile. I look intently at her, and am overwhelmed by the joy I see reflected in her beautiful green eyes. She curls up close to me again, climbing onto my knee to bring us as close together as possible. I feel her breath against my neck before I hear her beautiful words.

"I'm pregnant Patrick."

And this time I laugh and cry and kiss her until we're both breathless from the joy and bliss of the unexpected news and our changed lives.

I hold Teresa tight against me for long moments, my fingers tracing her spine while my lips rest on her skin. I have been trying to formulate the best way to introduce my new plans for the weekend to her.

"Teresa. We're going to get married."

"I know."

"No, this weekend. We're getting up in the morning and we're flying to Vegas and we're coming home as a married couple."

"I'm not getting married in Vegas Patrick."

"Yes you are, we're getting married tomorrow – I refuse to spend another day not being your husband."

She's looking at me now like I'm crazy, but there's love in her eyes which gives me such hope that I'm actually going to win this particular argument.

"Patrick, we have plans for our wedding."

"We don't have plans, darling – we have plans to be married to each other, but beyond that we haven't done anything to organise a wedding. I want to be married to you now; I want to be married to my child's mother. I don't care about the wedding, other than it's legal and I get go kiss you after promising to love and cherish you for the remainder of my life."

"I care about the wedding; I'm not getting married in Vegas."

"You care about the marriage my darling, as do I. The marriage is the important bit, being married and being parents will be the breathtakingly wonderful bit – and that lasts forever. Please Teresa, indulge me, let me whisk you off to Vegas for a weekend of luxury and we'll come home as husband and wife. It's taken us so long to get here, let's be impulsive this one time – and by this time tomorrow we'll be husband and wife with a beautiful baby on the way."

She's still looking at me with wonder and love, and delightfully she is wearing the biggest smile on her lovely face. She curls around me yet again, her face against my neck as she makes herself comfortable in my arms.

"We'll see."

And those are beautiful words.

We're getting married tomorrow.