Chapter 5 – Engaged & Enraptured

"He's coming back to the CBI?" Van Pelt asked, wide eyed.

Lisbon nodded, "Yeah, just for this case. He made that abundantly clear. Although when I spoke to Wainwright he practically did a cartwheel. Guess he's hoping once he's back he'll stay longer," she sighed.

"And you're okay with this, boss?" Rigsby asked.

She shrugged. "As long as he can act professional then it'll be fine."

Raised eyebrows were exchanged between her team members at her response.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, acting professional is hardly his thing but he wants this murder solved and wants us involved so I guess he'll fake it if he has to."

Cho crossed his arms over his chest. "What did he tell you about Janet Walker?"

Lisbon blushed and averted her eyes for a second. "He implied they were lovers but...not much else. He said he'd tell us more once he's back in Sacramento and has spoken to Wainwright and got his credentials approved as a consultant again."

"So, he doesn't trust any one of us," Cho replied.

"Doesn't look that way," Lisbon said as Morris waved to her to grab her attention. As she was about to walk away she added, "He'll be here soon enough. Just act normal around him and I'm sure everything will be fine."

When she was outside of hearing range Rigsby shook his head. "What land is she living in? That's the second time she's said things will be fine in less than a minute. Who's she trying to kid?"

Van Pelt exhaled, "She's living in cloud cuckoo land if she thinks Jane is going to make things easy for any one of us."

Cho commented, "He'll work with us. He obviously needs us to do the drudge work as he sees it or there'd be no point in coming back at all. Besides he doesn't see us as betraying him like she did. We just went along with covering it up. Like the boss said, he'll fake it with us to make it work."

"But with Lisbon?" Van Pelt interjected.

"With Lisbon? Even he's not a good enough actor to pretend he won't have a problem working with her again."

Van Pelt nodded, "Yeah, and Lisbon's not going to be able to brush it under the carpet for long that she's investigating the murder of his lover and that it doesn't bother her."

Rigsby puffed out a breath. "Well, it's going to interesting around the office again, that's for sure."

As Rigsby finished speaking he nodded a greeting as Jane strolled over in the direction of his former colleagues. Jane glanced quickly at Lisbon a short distance away who was talking to Morris and who, he guessed, was getting details of the Walker case and the Costas case as part of the handover to the CBI. He'd assumed correctly she'd want both investigated by her and her team because of the likely link between them.

"Hey," he said brightly as he approached the trio. "Grace, good to see you again," he smiled.

"Hey Jane, how have you been?" she smiled nervously.

He studied her for a second and tilted his head to the side. "Well, not as busy as you if that ring is anything to go by," he replied, glancing at the diamond solitaire on her engagement finger. He immediately turned his attention to Rigsby, "So, you finally came to your senses, did you?"

Rigsby put an arm around his fiancée and grinned. "Yeah, I guess we did."

Jane looked from one to the other and nodded, his lips pursed. "Well...good for you. Many congratulations to you both," he said politely but little warmth to his tone.

Van Pelt stammered as the silence grew into discomfort for her. "Wedding's in a month, we'd love for you to come." She smiled awkwardly at the end of the sentence.

Jane immediately looked to the ground and bit his lip. "We'll see," he said quietly. "But I doubt I'll be around that long."

Jane dropped his hand from her cheek and sighed. "Lisbon, I want to...I need to say some things to you. Before-"

"Please Jane, don't say before it's too late."

He thought for a moment. "Okay then, before I lose my nerve. Will that do instead?" he smiled.

She nodded quickly. "I guess."

"Teresa, I want you to know that...well I want you to know that it's not just you." He stared into her eyes. "I want you to know that it's not one sided. That I...that I feel it too. This...this thing between us. I didn't want you to think afterwards that...it was unrequited. I need you to know that, Lisbon-"

"Please stop," she whispered, her voice quivering. "Stop talking, please."

He shook his head. "I've thought about this and maybe it's selfish telling you all this now but I need you to know how important you are to me. How much you mean to me. I don't want you to doubt that-"

"Stop it!" she shouted silencing him before her tone quietened again. She let out a shaky laugh. "You know you're going to be incredibly embarrassed pouring your heart out to me when a cure's found in a few hours."

He sighed loudly. "You know that's not going to happen."

"You don't know that," she said determinedly, her voice rising, "Not for sure. You still have two days. There's still time. You can't give up, Jane. Not yet." She laughed through her tears. "It would be typical of you, to find a cure at the last minute, no?"

He smiled sadly at her. Saint Teresa still looking for her miracle. "Yeah, who knows," he said softly, trying to sound hopeful for her.

Lisbon averted her eyes to stop herself falling apart completely. "You know how much you mean to me too," she said quietly.

"I do."

After a moment she drew her eyes back to him and cocked an eyebrow. "I see your ego hasn't been affected then," she smiled through glassy eyes.

Grinning, "You know how I recognised how I felt about you? When I finally allowed myself to admit I saw you more than a friend? When I was told the prognosis my first thought wasn't that I wouldn't catch Red John because of it. My first thought was no longer seeing you every day, that I wouldn't see your smile or experience being yelled at by you. Those were the things that mattered to me first, not him. It told me where my priorities lie. Just wished I'd figured that out a little sooner. I'm sorry for not making some different choices."

He laughed softly. "It's true what they say. Dying...it gives you a new perspective on how you've lived your life."

She swallowed a lump in her throat. "It's okay, Jane. I understand why you made those choices. What I don't understand is why you're not as angry about all this as I am. I mean, you're the worst patient I've ever seen and you seem so...so at peace with this."

He shrugged. "Who says I'm not? I'm royally pissed off to be honest but unfortunately I don't have the energy to put much vigour into it. But at least...well at least I didn't die by his hand and I know he'll be almost as incensed as I am that he's lost his playmate through something he didn't plan himself. That...well that thought gives me some peace of mind, I guess."

"Is there anything I can get you? Some tea maybe while you're awake?"

He shook his head. "Not tea but...well there is one thing I'd very much like to do that you can help me with."

"What?" she sighed, drying her tears once again. "I can't get you out of here if that's what it is."

"That's not it."

"Okay then, what?"

He gnawed on his bottom lip for a few seconds. "Well, I'd very much like to kiss you."

She gaped at him. "But...you're hardly in any condition for that-"

He smirked back. "Just a kiss, Lisbon. Now unless you have some superpower where kissing is concerned I think I'll be able to manage one or two without dying on the spot." He added, "You know I'm not contagious if that's what you're worried about-"

"I know that! It's not that at all! But still..."

Smiling smugly, "Well then perhaps I've misread the situation entirely all these years. Perhaps you're not attracted to me whatsoever. That would certainly also explain your reticence."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Jerk," she muttered under her breath.

"I'm nervous too if that helps. Or I could use it as my dying wish," he smiled.

"Stop talking like that."

"Make me," he grinned, a faint twinkle in his weary eyes.

She looked off to the side to escape his gaze and the reaction her body was having to the thought of kissing him. "If we're both nervous then maybe that tells us that we shouldn't even be contemplating it."

He reached up and cupped her cheek, noticing how it flushed as he did so and the accompanying tremor of her hand still entwined in his. He spoke softly. "No, it just means that by doing it we know it also means we drop our guards. It's a scary prospect for both of us."

"Things will never be the same again," she reasoned through hitched breath, her eyes full of trepidation.

"That's going to be true whether I'm cured or not. Now, let's stop stalling, shall we? Time's a wasting."

He moved his hand from her cheek to the back of her neck and pulled her face gently towards his. He stilled his movements as her lips were inches from his and he intensified his gaze, dropping his mask completely and finally showing her the affection and desire he had for her. A feeling of liberation ran through them both as she allowed herself to return his look with an openness she had never let him see before, with no pretence and no disguise of the thirst for the man in front of her.

She closed the gap as their eyes shut, their lips meeting tentatively in a soft closed mouth kiss. Again, he kissed her; placing both hands on her face and pulling her closer as their mouths began to move against each other. A soft moan escaped from his lips as she ran a hand through his hair, the other lightly on his chest. He began to feel light-headed but moved his tongue to circle her lips and she groaned in response, parting her lips until their tongues were entwined in a slow and sensuous journey of discovery. Flushed she pulled away but kept stroking his hair gently as they looked at each with a new awareness. He smiled as tiredness took over him once again. "Wow," he whispered.

"That's all I get?" she smiled.

He shrugged, "When something's as perfect as that, words would only spoil it."

She blushed and looked down.

"Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" he murmured.

As a silent response she laid her head on his chest as he encircled his arms around her shoulders. Within two minutes he was sleeping peacefully, a smile on his lips as his chin rested on the top of her head.