A/N: It's so typical. I started this one-shot weeks (no even months) ago, but I never felt motivated or inspired to finish it. And now that I started a multichapter and should work on that, my muse decides that she wants to finish this. Sigh. Here you go.

Takes place a few month's after White Orchids.

Jane smiled as he walked into the bullpen. Lisbon had been on a stake out the whole night and he decided to surprise her by taking her out for lunch. At least that was one reason, he also intended to trick her into going home earlier that day. However, he needed to be careful doing that. The pregnancy was something he wasn't allowed to mention during that conversation, otherwise she would stay at work until 7pm, at least. She hated it if he, or anybody else for the matter, used the pregnancy as an argument for why she should or shouldn't do something. Lisbon was five months in and she didn't want to hear a word about slowing down, or taking a break more often. Jane grinned. He'd expected nothing else from her. He nevertheless had his methods to make sure that she did get enough rest and eat properly… of course without her realising what he was doing.

Lisbon's desk was empty and Jane sighed.

"Jane?", Cho came out of his office, he seemed surprised to see him. Very surprised. Jane suddenly felt a queasiness in his stomach. Something was wrong, very wrong.

"Where is Lisbon?", he asked, without wasting time for a greeting.

"She didn't call you?", Cho asked him in return, clearly stunned.

"No, she didn't", Jane's voice sounded louder than he'd anticipated. "What happened, Cho?"

There was a short pause and Cho took a deep breath that made Jane's heart miss a beat. Something bad must have happened.

"There was an incident this morning - Lisbon got shot." Jane felt all the blood drain from his face and Cho hastily added, "She was wearing her vest, of course. They took her to the hospital for a check-up."

Jane felt the panic rush trough him. "Is she ok?" He swallowed, "Is the baby ok?"

Cho put a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, Jane. Everything is all right. She called me from the hospital about an hour ago and told me that they're discharging her. The baby is perfectly fine."

"What about Lisbon", Jane didn't miss that Cho hadn't mentioned her, "what about her. How is she?"

Cho sighed. "She has two broken ribs and a few bruises, but she told me not to worry. A few days of rest is all she needs."

The agent shook his head in disbelief. "I was sure she called you. I asked her whether I should send someone to drive her home and she told me that it wasn't necessary. I naturally thought that this meant you were going to pick her up."

Jane sat down on Lisbon's empty chair for a moment. Cho put a hand on his shoulder. "She's fine, Jane. They're both fine."

"Lisbon?", he opened the door and stepped over the tiles on the floor that were intended to adorn their bathroom. He'd planned to work on them that afternoon. Lisbon personally had chosen them just a few days ago. The house was a long way still from being finished, but this didn't stop them from spending most of their time already in here. The living room was more or less finished and Jane stepped around their bed that found it's place here, until he managed to finish the floor in their actual bedroom.

"Lisbon?", he called again, but his heart sank already. She wasn't here. Just to be sure he checked the bathroom and the kitchen, but he would have been more than surprised to find here in either of those rooms. They had more resemblance to a construction site still than an actual place to live.

The last room he went in was the nursery, the only room in the house that was completely finished already. Empty, she wasn't here. Jane took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself and took his phone out once more. He'd tried to call her several times, in vain. He stepped out of the house and out of the corner of his eyes he saw a silver flash. The sun reflected on the airstream, they'd parked on their land. Suddenly he knew where she was. He cursed at himself for not thinking about this before. She was in pain and scared, and trying to avoid him. Injured animals tended to crawl into small dark spaces, and while she'd kill him if she ever learned that he made that analogy, she she'd done the equivalent. She chose the airstream to hide from him.

Lisbon closed her eyes and tried to ignore the buzzing of her phone on the table. Each time it vibrated it moved closer to the edge of the table. Each phone call she ignored drove it further towards the edge and the inevitable fall. If she hadn't been in that much pain, she might have laughed. It was strangely symbolic of her situation. She couldn't avoid talking to him forever, each missed call, each minute passing only would make the fall harder.

The buzzing stopped and Lisbon opened her eyes. The end of her phone already was in the air; one more call would finish it.

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw a shadow pass the window of the airstream. She tried to sit more upright, a hand pressed against her injured ribs.

He opened the door and his eyes searched her's immediately. The relief on his face obvious, and a wave of guilt washed over her. He must had been terrified.

"Hi", she said, trying to sound as normal as she could, ignoring the stabbing pain.

"Hey", his voice was strained and Lisbon swallowed; he was angry. She couldn't blame him.

He walked over and in passing moved her phone back onto the smooth surface of the table. One fall prevented, another one still outstanding.

He sat down on the couch on the other side of the trailer, just looking at her as if waiting for an explanation. She knew she owed him one, but she just couldn't find the right words. She took a deep breath, and her visions blurred for a moment as a new wave of pain shot through her.

"You're early, today", he noted drily and Lisbon laughed, which immediately turned into something close to a sob, as her ribs protested. It took all her strength not to cry out in pain.

He was by her side before she even realised it, a hand on her knee.

"What happened, Teresa", he asked her softly. He should be angry, she half wished him to shout at her, but instead there was so much love in his eyes; it made her only feel worse.

"It was nothing", she said, only taking shallow breaths to minimise the pain. "I got shot but the vest prevented any real damage."

His grip on her knee tightened and she didn't even think, but took his hand in his.

"I thought Cho doesn't allow you to go out to the field anymore, why were you even there?"

"I was supposed to wait in the car", she didn't look at him. "It escalated so quickly. They went to arrest his father and suddenly the boy was in the door with a gun-"

"The boy you told me about yesterday?", he asked her.

Lisbon nodded. "He was just scared. I thought he might listen to me, he seemed to like me in the interview, so I tried to talk to him...".

She blinked the tears away. "He didn't do it on purpose. Local police entered the house from the back and he panicked. It was all a misunderstanding."

It had all gone so fast. Suddenly she'd heard the shot and found herself on the floor.

"I... I couldn't breathe." She remembered and her hands immediately went to her baby bump, as they had when it happened.

"I hardly felt any pain in the beginning I just was so afraid that he might be hurt."

Her memory of everything that happened immediately afterwards was fuzzy. They'd taken off her kevlar vest to help her breathe again, but with each breath pain had soared through her. The boy had been crying, asking over and over again whether she'd be fine. They'd took her to the hospital and she'd almost wept as they told her that her son was fine. Cho talked to her, but she couldn't recall his words.

"You should have called me."

She looked up at Jane. His face was pale and his hands were shaking.

"I'm sorry", she whispered.

He sat down beside her. "Can you imagine how I felt when I entered the bullpen and you weren't there? Or the moment I saw Cho and knew something happened?"

Droplets of sweat had formed on her forehead and she just hoped that he wouldn't see them. He was annoyed at her, and he had every right to be. She almost killed their son. A wave of guilt washed over her as she realised that he didn't even know this yet. They'd hoped to learn their child's sex next week during her doctor's appointment. And now she'd even taken that from him. The doctor in the hospital had led it slip accidentally as he checked whether everything was ok with the baby. She hadn't even realised it at the time. A boy, she was going to have a boy.

"Are you listening to me, Teresa?" Jane's voice brought her back to the present. The pain made her dizzy and she had difficulties to focus on what he said.

She nodded, but she had no idea what he'd asked her.

"Are you ok, Teresa?", he seemed worried now. She closed her eyes as he gently brushed a strain of hair out of her face.

"I'm fine", she said, putting his hand on her belly, "and so is he."

He pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "And how is the pain?"

"It's not too bad", she lied.

"Liar", he whispered against her hair. "Didn't they give you something against the pain?", he asked her.

"They did give me something." She'd hesitated just a moment too long with her answer and she could see a frown appear between his eyebrows.

He moved back a bit to better look at her.

"They gave you something, but you decided not to take it?"

He didn't wait for her answer, but stood up and took her purse from the small table. It didn't take him long to find the still closed bottle.

She shook her head as he turned the cap.

"I don't want it", she said stubbornly.

Jane sighed and went to fetch a glass of water. "They wouldn't have given the meds to you if they would be bad for the baby", he reasoned with her as he came back to sit down beside her.

She shook her head again. "I don't need them, the pain isn't too bad", she said, while each breath cut through her like a burning knife. "I don't want to put the baby in any more danger, even if the doctors said it would be ok."

She very carefully leaned against him with her uninjured side.

"Is that really the only reason?", Jane asked her carefully. "You're not tormenting yourself because you think you deserve the pain, aren't you?"

Lisbon wanted to laugh at his comment, but to her horror she felt hot tears on her cheeks.

"No", she managed to choke out between sobs, that silently shook her and sent waves of pain through her body. Jane cradled her against him, very gently not to hurt her even more.

"This wasn't your fault, Teresa", he whispered.

"It's just, what if something had happened to him", she sobbed, unable to calm down.

"The baby is fine", he insisted and stroked her hair. "And even if...", he had to try again, "even if something would have happened. I would never have blamed you, Teresa."

He looked at her. "Do you hear me? I'd never blame you!"

Slowly her sobs ebbed away, but he didn't let go of her.

"I know what this job means to you. I won't lie, I'm scared, I'll always be scared, but I never would blame you if something happened to you... or our child." He pressed a gentle kiss to her head.

"I love you, Teresa."

Lisbon closed her eyes and focused on him; not the pain, not what could have happened; only on him.

"Being in the office more often isn't as bad as I thought", she murmured against his chest.

"What?", she could hear the confusion in his voice.

"It's not that bad being less often in the field", she said. "I like doing interviews, even more so if you're there too." She knew that her words didn't make a lot of sense, but she was sure he would understand her nevertheless.

"Maybe I'll stay back at the office more often, even after our child is born."

Jane pressed another kiss to her hair.

"You don't have do decide anything now, Lisbon. You're scared and you're in pain. You shouldn't make such decisions now, ok?"

She nodded against his chest. "Okay." She felt so incredibly tired, but she could never sleep if each breath made her lungs feel as if they were on fire.

"Are you gonna take the painkillers, now?", Jane asked softly after a moment. She shook her head.

"I said I don't want them."

She could feel Jane's sigh more than she heard it.

"Then let me help you with the pain, at least."

She frowned even if he couldn't see it, because she was too tired to lift her head.

"I'm not letting you hypnotise me", she said to him, with more force in her voice than before.

"It's one or the other, you can choose. I'm not going to watch you suffer any longer, Teresa. Either you let me help you, or you take the pills. Besides, it's not really hypnosis-"

"That's blackmail", she protested.

Jane shrugged, "I never said I'd play fair. The painkillers, or me, it's your choice. But you have to choose now, or I'll do it for you."

"No painkillers", she murmured. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction to tell him in her own words that she wanted the hypnosis.

He settled her more comfortable against him, still stroking her hair.

"I want you to concentrate on the pain for me, Teresa?" He laid one hand very tenderly on her broken ribs, barely touching her.

"Can you feel it, can you feel the pain with every breath?"

She nodded, small droplets of sweat appearing on her forehead.

"I thought you said you're gonna help me, not making it worse", she panted.

"Patience, woman", he whispered close to hear ear.

"Inhale deeply now, embrace the pain", he instructed her, "and now exhale, very slowly. I want you to imagine how you push the pain away. Inhale again and then push it away."

His voice was very soft and she felt herself relax.

"With each breath the pain will fade away. More and more." She'd closed her eyes, concentrating on his voice.

"Breathe in...and out again, pushing all the pain away. In... and out. Can you feel it fade away? Breathe in...and out."

"Jane", she whispered after a few minutes, the pain only a dull ache in her chest, barely noticeable.

"It's a boy." She suddenly remembered that she hadn't told him yet. "The doctor let it slip", her tongue felt very tired and she had difficulties staying awake. "It's a boy."

"I know", he said and she fancied herself to hear a smile in his voice. "You called the baby him a few times."

She felt his hands on her stomach. "You have to sleep now, Teresa. You need the rest so that you can heal quickly and be strong for our son." She closed her eyes again.

"I love you", she managed to murmur.

She hardly heard his reply, already half asleep.

"You are safe now and you are loved. Both of you."