(A/N: as promised, the fluff gets even fluffier in this final chapter. It wanders into M territory toward the end, but it's more poetic than graphic; a little descriptive, but not explicit. Enjoy!)

The next day at work, Pike noticed the ring hanging beside Lisbon's gold cross.

"New necklace?"

Embarrassed by how she'd treated him last night, Teresa replied sheepishly.

"I'm so sorry, Marcus… Yes. The ring is Jane's. I hate that my heart was throwing me so many conflicting messages, and I hate that you got caught up in that. You are an amazing man, and some woman is gonna be lucky to have you."

The two shared an understanding look, that was quickly broken by a third voice.

"Oh she already is!" Kim Fischer rounded the corner, and threw her arms around Pike with a lusty grin.

Teresa's jaw hung open as she smiled in relieved surprise. "So… you two…?"

"It's true!" Pike grinned. "Seems you and Jane actually did us a favor!" Kim nestled into him more snugly at his words.

"Ain't love grand?!" Jane grinned, as he took in the scene, teacup in hand, walking in from the break room.

"Yeah! Thanks for dumping us!" Kim joked, before turning her attention back to Pike.

"I can't wait to arrest that annoyingly smug prosecutor today, Marcus. Wanna come with?"

"Depends… Can I help you celebrate after?"

"Absolutely! I have some ideas…" Kim glimmered, as she and Pike moved toward the elevator, laughing happily to each other on the way.

Lisbon beamed at Jane, as he rested his teacup and saucer on her desk. "Wow, that's such a relief, isn't it?"

"You've no idea how glad I am about those two," Jane hummed sincerely. "I know you, Teresa, and my heart was breaking at the thought of the guilt I knew you were feeling after last night. But there's no need. There were apparently two perfectly-matched couples at dinner after all. We just had the order all wrong!" He slid his arms around her comfortably, and leaned in to sneak a tender kiss while they were still alone. "I love you, my dear," he whispered.

"I love you, Patrick," she breathed back.

"Well, well! It seems that the dinner surveillance was a success!" Abbott's voice happily crowed, as he came through the open elevator doors.

Jumping away from Jane, snapping to attention, Lisbon agreed. "Absolutely, Sir! We figured out that they were delivering the information about the hits by sewing notes into the lining of a jacket!"

"We figured out?" Jane questioned, with a raised eyebrow at her.

Lisbon rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Okay, obviously Jane figured it out."

Dennis laughed freely. "Yes, indeed. I'm glad to see that Jane figured it out." It was clear, in his tone and expression, that he wasn't referring only to the case.

Jane smiled gratefully, and nodded his thanks to Abbott. His discernment, and his insistence on the guest list at dinner had changed everything. For the better.

"And I hear congratulations are in order?" Dennis went on.

"It's true!" Teresa answered. "We're getting married!" She looked at Patrick with pride, and he nearly melted into a puddle when he saw the way she was glowing at him.

"I've pulled off my greatest trick ever, convincing this one to put up with me for life," he sparkled at his lovely fiancée.

"Oh stop!" Lisbon slapped his arm, playfully.

"Well I, for one, am ecstatic for you both - and for Pike and Fischer too!" He said with surprise. "Didn't see that one coming!"

Soon after, Cho and Wylie entered the space, having just returned from cracking the human trafficking case and reuniting two of the victims, sisters, Daniella and Amy.

"Is it true?!" Cho exclaimed with a subtle grin. You two are engaged?!"

"And Pike and Kim are going to DC?!" Jason chimed in.

Jane and Lisbon smiled genuinely at one another. It felt even more real, now that their friends were discussing it out loud. Patrick couldn't believe that his one-sided island fantasy was actually coming true. Lisbon exuded immeasurable gratitude at the turn her life had suddenly taken, and at the confirmation that her supposed reads of Jane's affections had always been accurate, after all.

"True story!" Teresa chirped, smiling wide and never breaking eye contact with her beloved partner, moving to put an arm around his waist.

"All's well that ends well!" Jane glimmered back, giving Lisbon a squeeze.

The bullpen erupted into cheers, applause, hugs, and shoulder-slaps, as the team and all within earshot joined in celebration. Abbott turned the morning briefing into a makeshift engagement party, wheeling in a cart of coffee, tea, and snacks from the break room, and quickly assembling a fitting playlist of songs, piping them through the PA by leaning his cell phone speaker against the receiver of his office phone. Yes, there was work to be done, but for the length of time normally reserved for the daily meeting, their team - and all the teams in proximity - celebrated and offered congratulations to the happy couple.

As the party was breaking up, Lisbon noticed a call waiting at her desk.

"Lisbon!" She answered cheerily.

"Boss?! Is it true?!" It was Grace Van Pelt.

"Grace?! Hello! Why the early phone call? It's barely dawn on the West Coast!" Lisbon was still amped up from the mini-engagement-party, but was hoping the early call wasn't due to an emergency.

"Cho called Wayne, and… is it true?! Are you and Jane?! Is it for real?!" Grace's joyous enthusiasm only amplified that which Lisbon was already feeling in spades.

Teresa wanted to squeal into the receiver, but had enough presence of mind left to remember where she was, so kept her response to a slightly muffled squeak. "Yes! It's all true! We're engaged!" With a hand covering her mouth as it pressed into the phone, Lisbon walked her friend through the whole story, starting with last night's dinner surveillance. The two women smiled and giggled and basically acted like teenagers discussing a prom date, both completely fulfilled by the conversation.

From a slight distance, Jane quietly smiled as he watched his future bride trying to conceal the bubbly, joyful conversation she was having about their recent change in status. She was so incredibly beautiful, inside and out. The thought of sharing the rest of his life with her caused tingles to course through every inch of him.

"Well, I am overjoyed for you both! Wayne and I send our most heartfelt congratulations!"

"Thank you so much, Grace… For everything… for the listening ear, and sisterly support over the past several weeks… for the prayers regarding my heart… and Jane… I'm just… Thank you."

"You're so welcome. I love how this turned out! I knew you and Jane were meant to be!"

"Thanks again, Grace! We'll let you guys know when we have a date set." She smiled as she hung up with her friend, buzzing with anticipation for the future.

Then she remembered, with a jolt, that her brothers all still thought she was moving to DC with Marcus Pike. With her adrenaline taking a sharp left turn toward anxiety, she composed a quick group text, inviting her family to a video conference later in the day.

"Everything alright, Lisbon?" Her favorite baritone rumbled comfortingly in her ear, as Jane leaned over her left shoulder, balancing himself with one hand on her desk, the other resting between her shoulder blades.

With a stress-relieving sigh, she turned back to face him, nose to nose. "I'm fine," she hummed. "Just remembering that I need to let my brothers in on my change of plans… all of them…" she couldn't hide the overwhelm she felt at the thought of explaining things. From why it didn't work out with Marcus at the last minute (after having endured multiple brotherly doubts regarding the overall light-speed nature of that relationship to begin with), to how she'd managed to fall in love with her eccentric, tragic partner who had only seemed to infuriate and use her, in their threefold estimation, based on the venting she'd done over the years.

"It will be fine, Teresa. They don't need to understand the 'whys', all at once. Only the 'whos' and the 'whats.' Plus, they will immediately notice your change in demeanor and joyful outlook from the moment they see your face, my dear. You are absolutely luminescent right now." They spent a few seconds just looking into one another, meditating on their limitless future together. Jane smiled wide as he saw the stress and worry fall from her shoulders.

"Thank you, Patrick. You're right. Our future is so bright it outshines any worries I may have about what those twerps think!" She chuckled at her 'big sister' jab.

"Agreed!" He smiled at how light she seemed, having let go of her previous concerns. Jane wanted to spend his life prying her even more completely out of the grip of worry. He wanted to give her a life full of fun, love, limitless enrichment and experience. She deserved the world… the sun, the moon and the stars… she deserved everything he could give and more…

She also deserved a proper night of romance.

"So, Teresa, I was thinking, since things sort of devolved into a 'perilous cop chase to save my life,' last night after dinner,"

"Like with all our cases, you mean?"

"Touché, my dear!"

Lisbon loved this so much. It was like old times, with teases and pokes and sparkle. She loved this, and she loved him. And the honesty they shared, now, amplified everything even more. Life had never been so full of… life!

"Okay, Jane. You were saying?"

"What if I tailored an evening for us tonight? I want to make it up to you, after the abrupt end we had yesterday, and give us ample time to celebrate our amazing new direction. I have not been this ecstatic to be alive in over a decade, my dear, and I want to wrap you up in that ecstasy too."

"Mmmm… I like the sound of that!" Teresa suddenly wondered how she was going to survive the full day at work, knowing that Jane and ecstasy awaited her tonight. Her imagination toyed with her for the entirety of her shift.

Jane gleamed for all of that time, from his reclined position on the couch, fully enjoying his glimpses of the translucent daydreams that played across her face without pause.

Jane had promised to prepare them a fabulous and romantic meal, in Lisbon's own kitchen. He didn't want an audience for the night he had envisioned. Teresa was always a bit more inhibited in public, and 'inhibited' was not what he was looking for.

He had just gotten back from the store, and was organizing ingredients on the counter when he heard her voice from upstairs.

"Find everything you need?"

He smiled wide. Thinking of how he truly had done that. And not just pertaining to groceries. "I have! Thanks for asking."

"So, what's on the menu, handsome?"

Jane stopped what he was doing and turned, ready to flirt back, fiercely, with his favorite cop. But he froze for a moment when his eyes focused on her at the top step. She was like a dream.

Lisbon smiled as she descended the staircase, wrapped in the stunning black sheath she'd bought in Seattle. She hoped that Patrick wasn't turned off by it, knowing she'd worn the garment to her last fancy dinner with Pike.

When Jane caught full sight of her, though, he gasped involuntarily; and he seemed to be almost trembling. His eyes were shimmering with the start of tears.

"Look at you…" He whispered, in a quite different tone than he had used the last time he'd taken in the gorgeous sight of her in that amazing dress.

"I have a confession to make." Teresa said, shyly.

"Confess away." Patrick murmured, clearly entranced.

Lisbon walked up and leaned against him, one hand wrapped around his waist, the other gently pressed against his chest. In a sultry whisper - a tone of voice she had been practicing for years, for his ears only - she breathed: "This dress… was always meant… for you."

With that, Jane panted a heavy sigh, this confession from his dearest love knocking the wind out of him. "It's like you read my mind, and pulled out a wish, my dear." His eyes were shimmering madly. He was so beautiful. "I laid awake on my couch behind your empty desk, that entire night - wishing that it had been me you had dressed up for."

Resting her forehead gently on his, Lisbon giggled, "Really? That's exactly how I spent that night too."

"No, you… you're kidding me. After he spent all that money on a gourmet meal?" He seemed much too amused by the idea, Teresa giggled to herself.

"I'm not kidding!" She sparkled, knowing he had assumed a very different ending to her fancy date with Pike. "I kissed him goodnight on my porch and sent him home. I felt a little guilty about it, but the truth is that I was deeply conflicted." She looked down, self-consciously, then looked back up to hold his gaze. "I wanted it to be you. I spent the whole night sprawled on my bed, next to this dress… that I'd worn on a date with the wrong man… and I just watched the ceiling fan turn for hours… praying that somehow, someday, you might want to be with me."

Patrick's face twisted with pain, that he had allowed her to think he had ever wanted anything else. "I'm so sorry Teresa. That's what I've always wanted, too. I just didn't know how to say it. I was trying to do what was best for you, after you made a great point on that New York flight - we had been apart for two years. Then I had scared you by disappearing again. So, I thought you would be better off without me. I hate that I caused you pain, love. You are the only one I want. And that's been true for longer than I can remember."

"Jane… Patrick… I'm so sorry for those airplane words. I didn't mean them. I was angry and hurt that you'd left me again, and I was just reacting, not thinking. It wasn't until later that I realized those words were what had pushed you away. That wasn't what I wanted. I wanted the opposite. I wanted this."

He kissed her tenderly, and she allowed herself to fall deeply into him, until they were both thoroughly breathless.

Eventually, they enjoyed a delicious Italian meal together - complete with a congratulatory bag of cannoli from Mr. & Mrs. Aurelio. Patrick topped the dining experience off with the magical appearance of what may have been the world's most beautiful sundae.

They were both wholly gratified at the reappearance of this ritual they had so missed, since arriving in Austin. They gazed at each other lovingly, with every bite. As they neared the end of the ice cream, Jane slid a small fortune cookie across the table.

"Your fortune, my love." Patrick cheerily announced.

"You can take the boy out of the carnival, but you can't take the carnival out of the boy." She teased with a grin, scooping up the cookie with curiosity.

"Indeed!" He shimmered. "What does it say?"

As Teresa crumbled the cookie in half, she gasped when she saw a ring wrapped around the thin strip of paper containing her fortune. She looked up at Jane with surprise- hadn't he already given her a ring?

"Jane?"

"Read the fortune, my dear." He smiled knowingly.

Putting the diamond setting safely on the tabletop, she cleared her throat and read out loud:

"No more disappearances. You will be cherished and treasured your whole life long."

She paused to hold his hand across the table. "Thank you, Patrick... This ring is beautiful and so are you." Her eyes glistened with overwhelmed tears; tears that had formed instantly upon her first glance at the promise ingrained in the opening sentence of the fortune she'd just read. That promise imprinted itself directly on her heart, just beside one that had impressed itself the night before: All of me, forever.

"Thank you for saying yes, dearest Teresa." He beamed, through his own heavy emotions. "Nothing and no one outshines your beauty, my dear. A diamond is the perfect complement to your own sparkle." He beamed, sparkling quite a bit, himself.

"I love it, and I love you, gorgeous! Thank you for giving me a more traditional engagement ring, love. But you didn't need to, you know. The one I wear on my necklace means the world to me already."

"Well, my dear, that ring is a symbol of the promise of my gift to you. But it's about time I began delivering on the gift itself." Jane hummed.

Lisbon turned her head to the side in curiosity, lips in an anticipatory smirk, wondering where her amazing partner was going with this.

After sliding the diamond gently onto her finger, Jane led her upstairs, and twirled her into the bedroom - garnering some delightful giggles from his breathtaking partner. He took her left hand, wrapped his free arm around her waist, and gently slow-danced her over to the nearby bed, cradling her back as he laid her down, with all the care of an artist caressing a sculpture.

"Here is my first payment on your gift," he kissed her bare shoulder. "And here's another," he kissed her navel. "And…" Jane continued his payments, removing fabric as necessary, until every last inch of Lisbon's bare flesh was trembling with anticipation.

When he least expected it, she turned the tables, offering some payments of her own. Each one further knocking the breath out of him with disbelief and want; lingering awhile, where his neck met his freckled shoulder… then where a delightful patch of blonde curls covered his breastbone… then following a path to his surprisingly defined abs… then continuing…

After ample time for mutual gifting and pleasurable exploration, the two lovers looked deeply into each other… suspended… as if asking permission, soul to soul.

The seconds hung in the air…. Two lovers, panting with anticipation… Both, hearing only the pounding of their own hearts… Waiting… seeking… longing…

A smoldering gaze…A tender kiss…A closer embrace…

Blue eyes adoring… begging… Please

Green eyes caressing… sighing… Yes

All at once, pent-up desires erupted, and the two desperately wrapped fully around one another, in a burst of urgent passion; as if all their years of wishing and backpedaling, dreaming and denying, wanting and needing, had hit them simultaneously, with full force.

Old fears and worries melted away in the heat of two hearts fusing into one; healing the cracks and crevices that once remained.

At long last, after more than a decade of dancing around the truth, Patrick and Teresa were finally one with each other. And the joyous rapture was too much for either one to contain; tears, screams, giggles and sweet whispers accompanying the most powerful, most loving experience either had ever achieved before.

"Thank you, God!" Lisbon was so delirious from Jane's magical touches, that she didn't realize she had prayed that prayer out loud.

"Teresa… you can call… me Patrick." He panted, grinning full wide before pressing a tender kiss onto the curve of her neck, the combination procuring a delightful giggle from his truest love.

"You are incorrigible!" She swatted his arm lightly. "And I wouldn't have it any other way." Her gaze softened, as she allowed herself to steep in the joy of this gift he had given her; this gift they had given each other. It had been such a long time coming.

"See?" He twinkled, "Ecstasy."

"You've never been so right, gorgeous." She purred.

"You are infinitely beautiful, Teresa."

"So are you, Patrick."

"I dreamt of this, so many times. On the island and even after."

"Really? So did I!"

Jane beamed a smile "the reality far surpassed all those dreams combined, my dear"

"Mmm… I couldn't agree more" Lisbon cuddled warmly into his embrace. Jane's arms felt more like home than anyplace she'd ever been - even the yellow house in Chicago's northern suburbs. Gratefully, she took a long, deep breath. "So, we don't have to be anywhere tomorrow, right?"

"Nope."

"We can just stay here, and make up for lost time?"

"Absolutely, my dear."

"Good."

Jane rolled to his side and passionately kissed his pint-sized fiancée. "Good, indeed." His voice rumbled adoringly in her ear, provoking the most delightful goosebumps and shivers from her.

"I have never been so happy, Patrick. I'll never be able to put it into words… just how much I love you… how much I have loved you… for so very long…"

"My dearest Teresa…" His eyes held hers, intimately… speaking countless promises for the full and glorious life he wanted to share with her, from this day forward, "I feel the same way."

THE END

(A/N: Thanks for sticking around til the end! All that angst was hard to write, but it helped me to try and make sense out of their choices on the show during the Austin years. They seemed much too distant from each other, but then would shoot these pained and longing looks at each other, with no explanations given in the plot, so it helped my heart to create a whole 'plan' that would explain it. Hope the fluff was worth the wait - let me know in the reviews [especially since stats are still broken on the site] :) Thanks for reading!)