I am so sorry it's taken me nearly 3 months to get this chapter up! It's been sitting 90% completed on my laptop, and my life has just been crazy busy with moving house, working abroad and suddenly losing a close family member

I hope you enjoy it, there's probably one more to go after this!

Thanks again for the lovely reviews

Lisbon yawned, as the words swam in front of her eyes yet again. Normally she didn't mind doing the case closed paperwork (as dull as it was), but this stack of pages seemed to be never-ending.

"You ready?" Jane's head appeared at her door.

"For what?"

"Dinner"

"What dinner?"

"It was you that I organised this with two days ago, wasn't it?"

"Sorry" Lisbon stifled a yawn "I remember now"

"Good, so can we go?"

"I really need to get this in tonight" Lisbon said, biting her lip.

"How long will it take?"

"Less than an hour hopefully"

"Then I'll go and get started on the food, you can catch me up"

"Thank you" Lisbon said gratefully "sorry about this"

"You just need to relax a bit" Jane said, walking to stand behind her "you're too tense"

Lisbon jumped a little when Jane's hands first came into contact with her back, but then relaxed as he started to massage her shoulders.

"Jane…" she warned, worried that this would soon turn into more than just a massage.

There was a slight jingling noise and Jane stood up suddenly behind her.

"What have you done?" she frowned.

He held up her apartment key and grinned.

"Well I can't cook the Michelin Star worthy dinner I promised you from my hotel room can I?"

"I thought you said you had an apartment sorted?"

"And I can't move in for another two weeks" he reminded her.

"Maybe you could wait here until I've finished and we can go together, or we could reorganise this for another night" Lisbon suggested.

"You don't want me in your apartment when you're not there" Jane smiled "I'm not going to look through your lingerie or whatever it is you're worrying about"

"It's not that" Lisbon told him "it's just…I don't know"

"I promise you, I won't do anything bad. I only want to use your kitchen"

Lisbon thought carefully for moment, and then relented.

"Fine" she nodded "but don't touch anything outside of the kitchen"

"Not even the front door? Or the carpet?"

"You know what I mean"

"See you later" Jane said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head "don't fall asleep"

"Trust me, I'll get through this much more quickly now I know you'll be wandering around my apartment" Lisbon said dryly.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Lisbon decided that it felt very weird to be knocking on her own apartment door. It was even weirder when Jane opened the door to let her in, wearing her apron.

"This smells good" Lisbon commented, quickly checking her living room to see if everything was still in place.

"My famous Spaghetti Bolognese" Jane announced.

"Famous?" Lisbon snorted.

"In certain circles" he shrugged "beer?"

"God yes"

A few minutes later and Lisbon was comfortably settled on one of the stools at her breakfast bar with a cool beer in hand, watching Jane stir a large pot of Bolognese.

"…and I don't know what he was expecting me to say. It was one of the most awkward experiences of my life"

"I think you've fared pretty well if that comes up top of you most awkward moments"

"Did you not just hear that?" Lisbon asked "the banana? The hamster? How could it have been any more awkward?"

"I had a few back when I was starting out as a psychic. There was one reading, with this elderly woman down in LA when…"

Lisbon sipped on her beer and laughed at Jane's stories until the food was done, and then they ate in a comfortable silence before moving to the couch to share a tub of ice cream and watch some game show. Everything felt natural, as if they just slotted in together perfectly. This Jane was miles from the one she had first started sleeping with several months ago. He was interesting, funny, a perfect gentleman…in fact his hand was resting on her leg right this minute and he hadn't so much as hinted at moving it anywhere else.

Shooting him a quick smile, Lisbon snuggled into his side and let his arm slide protectively around her waist. Life was good.

oooooooooooooooooooo

The following morning, Lisbon awoke before her alarm went with the last moments of her dream still etched in her mind and a smile tempting the corners of her mouth. She turned over in bed, expecting to see a blond head resting on the pillow beside her, only to find it empty. Patrick Jane wasn't there; in fact the other side of the bed didn't appear to have been slept in at all.

Lisbon turned back and the smile quickly turned into a frown. Of course Jane wouldn't be there, because he hadn't spent the night with her after their dinner last night. Nor had he spent the night after their late night ice creams last week, or the two dinners the week before that - in fact, since they had started seeing each other properly there had been no more than a few kisses between them.

She thought she had made it perfectly clear from that first dinner that she wanted him, and from the way he reacted, she had been pretty sure that the feeling was mutual. Since then however, he hadn't mentioned anything about it. Every time they kissed goodbye and she hinted at more, he promptly shut her down and left. Lisbon just didn't understand what was going on. It couldn't be any anxieties about them actually sleeping together, because god knows they had done it more than enough times in the past. It had now been a date or two too many for it to still be passed off as 'moving too fast'. She had even contemplated the fact that Jane didn't want to sleep with her, but the way he'd spoken after that first dinner went completely against that.

To put it simply, Lisbon wasn't happy in the slightest. She'd let it pass up until now, but she was changing tactics. She would do what it took to get exactly what (or in this case, who) she wanted, and she wasn't planning on stopping until she got it.

Forcing herself out of bed and opening her closet, Lisbon made a private promise to herself that Patrick Jane would be in her bed before the week was over.

ooooooooooooooooo

"Morning"

"Morning Boss"

"Did you get the report back from forensics about the Peterson case?"

"It came in this morning" Van Pelt said "no signs whatsoever that it was anything other than suicide"

"Damn" Lisbon muttered "I was hoping for something to back up Jane's hunch"

"I might have that" Van Pelt shot her a smile "The coroner also found a fairly high blood alcohol reading, which wouldn't normally be suspicious but-"

"The victim was a teetotaller" Lisbon finished "I want you to go and talk to the victim's friends and the waitress at the bar again. Find out for sure if she drank anything there, and then search the apartment for any traces of alcohol. Take Rigsby"

"Ok" Van Pelt looked over at Rigsby and smiled, who in turn looked a little confused and shrugged at Cho.

"Uh Boss?" Van Pelt said as Lisbon began to walk away "you look really nice today"

"Oh…thanks Van Pelt" Lisbon nodded.

Lisbon pushed open her office door and wasn't in the slightest surprised to find Jane sitting on her couch with his legs crossed and a cup of tea in his hand.

"Good morning" she nodded to him, continuing to her desk to put her bag down.

"And it is a good morning it seems" he commented, placing his tea on the table beside him and standing up "is that a new shirt? It looks great on you"

"This? I've had it for years" Lisbon said nonchalantly.

"Yet you've never before worn it to work. Today must be a special day" he took a few steps towards her.

"Nope" she shrugged, sensing that Jane could see through her already (and not just her shirt) "I just felt like a change"

"Then it's most definitely a change I like" Jane decided as he ran his hand lightly down her side, letting it come to rest on her waist.

Lisbon eyed the hand with suspicion, but didn't move at all.

Jane slid his other hand up her neck, tangling the tips of his fingers into her soft hair as he leant in to press a lingering kiss to her cheek. For a few seconds he looked like he was about to ravage her right on her desk, and then he let go of her and stepped away.

"I have a lead on the case to check out"

"Ok" Lisbon murmured, still frozen to the spot.

"See you later" Jane picked up his teacup from the table, and promptly left.

Lisbon slumped into her desk seat with a scowl on her face; this was not going well at all.

ooooooooooooooooo

"Hey Boss, I've got the copies of the documents from the victim's house" Van Pelt said, handing Lisbon a sheaf of papers.

"Great, thanks Van Pelt" Lisbon flicked through them quickly "This should be more than enough for a warrant"

"No problem"

"Uh Grace?" Lisbon asked, an idea suddenly coming into her head "can I ask you for some help with something?"

"Sure" Van Pelt shrugged "a case thing?"

"More of a…personal problem"

"Ok" Van Pelt nodded, perching on the edge of the couch.

"There's this guy I've been seeing" Lisbon began, regretting the idea to ask for help almost the moment she started talking "for a few weeks now, and everything's great but we haven't…well…"

"Exchanged numbers? Kissed?" Van Pelt guessed.

Lisbon paused, searching for the easiest way to say it.

"You know what? Forget I said anything" she decided quickly.

"Are you sure?" Van Pelt asked.

"Yes" Lisbon said quickly "actually I have a call to make, so if you don't mind…"

"No, of course" Van Pelt stood up quickly and headed towards the door "uh Boss? Try a romantic dinner" she winked at Lisbon, and then left.

Lisbon felt the colour flood onto her face as the door closed after Van Pelt. For a few seconds she was mortified at the fact that she had just tried to discuss her sex life with anyone - let alone one of her team - and then she started to think about what Van Pelt had said. Maybe she was going at this the wrong way; instead of waiting for Jane to initiate something, maybe she would have to be the one to start it…

oooooooooooooooooooo

Lisbon rearranged the cutlery on the table for the fourth time, and then she smoothed down her dress and fiddled with a loose tendril of hair. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous about this; it wasn't like it was a first date or that they had never slept together before. She wandered back through to the kitchen and decided that maybe pouring herself a glass of wine would calm her down, even though she had intended to wait until Jane arrived.

At seven o'clock on the dot there was a sharp knock at the door, which Lisbon opened to find Jane standing with his normal relaxed smile.

"Hey"

"Hey you" Lisbon couldn't help but smile back at him "come in"

"I brought wine"

"Oh thanks. I've already opened a bottle actually, do you want a glass?"

"Sure" he shrugged "is this…actual cooking?"

Lisbon rolled her eyes and dug a fork into the rice to test it.

"I didn't know you ate anything other than takeout"

"Oh ha ha" Lisbon said, nudging him out of the way so she could get to the oven "I did salmon by the way"

"Good choice. You look absolutely stunning tonight, that dress…"

"Oh thanks" Lisbon shot him a shy smile.

"Not that you don't always look beautiful"

"Liar. You've seen me after chasing a suspect for half a mile"

"Still beautiful" he insisted, taking a sip of wine "in a hot, sweaty way"

"Is 'hot and sweaty' even a type of beautiful?" Lisbon wrinkled up her nose a little as she pulled a tray out of the oven.

"Definitely. You do it very well"

"I just need to serve this up, do you want to go through and sit down?"

"I can wait"

"It'll only take a minute. You can light the candles"

"Candles? Someone's pulling out all the stops tonight" Jane commented, putting down his wine glass and coming to stand right behind her.

Lisbon continued to spoon rice onto the plates as Jane slid an arm around her waist and pressed a few kisses into her neck.

"What are you doing?" she murmured, putting the spoon down.

"You want me to stop?"

"Did I say that?"

Jane kissed her once more and then stood back.

"We better eat this lovely food before it gets cold. Where are the matches?"

"Second drawer down on the left"

Jane dug around in the drawer for a few seconds and then wandered out of the kitchen to the table, a box of matches in hand. Lisbon let out a happy sigh as she scooped a salmon fillet from the tray and arranged it on a plate. Maybe, just maybe, this would actually work.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"I take everything back" Jane said, stifling a yawn "you are an excellent cook. That" he pointed at the empty plate "was absolutely delicious"

"You should never have doubted me in the first place" Lisbon smirked at him "I just got some ice cream for dessert. I thought we could eat it on the couch?"

"You're the boss" Jane winked at her.

Lisbon tried not to snort at Jane's wink as she cleared the plates up and carried them back through to the kitchen. She was in fact, very pleased with how dinner had gone so far. Jane had actually moaned at one point when he took a bite of food, and he had spent half the time gently nudging her foot with his own in a way which was most definitely not accidental.

When she returned with two bowls of ice cream (which actually appeared to contain chocolate fish), Jane had moved to the sofa.

"More wine?" Lisbon asked, noting his empty glass as she placed the bowls down on the coffee table.

"I shouldn't, I have to drive" he declined.

"You could always stay" Lisbon pointed out, settling into his side and picking up her bowl.

Jane picked up his own bowl of ice cream and took a spoonful. The unanswered suggestion was very telling to Lisbon, who flicked the TV on and tried to prevent a scowl from creeping onto her face.

Once they had both finished eating Jane slid an arm around Lisbon's waist and gently pulled her into his side, pressing a kiss onto the side of her head as he did so. Lisbon turned to smile at him, and Jane surprised her by leaning in to kiss her.

Lisbon decided that the evening had taken a turn for the better as they kissed slowly and gently. She twisted slightly in his arms and reached her free arm around his neck, to play with the hair on its nape. Just as the kiss was becoming more urgent and passionate, Jane pulled away. Lisbon stared questioningly at him for a few seconds before speaking.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, everything's great"

"Then why did you…" she paused, searching for words before deciding to bite the bullet and go for it "It's been over 3 weeks of us properly seeing each other and we haven't slept together yet. Is there something wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you" he reassured her quickly.

"Then why? It's not like we haven't slept together before"

"You are incredibly special to me, Teresa" he began to explain "I didn't want you to think that this was an extension of what we had before. I needed you to know that this is so much more than just sex"

Lisbon looked at him carefully for a few minutes, and then a smile filled her face.

"Why didn't you just tell me that? I've been worried sick that I was doing something wrong"

"Trust me, you're doing nothing wrong. You've been incredibly difficult to refuse"

"How long exactly were you planning on waiting?" Lisbon asked, picking up her wine glass and taking a long sip "until I full on threw myself at you?"

"I don't think I'd have lasted that long"

"You are so stupid sometimes" she murmured, shaking her head and smiling.

"In hindsight, maybe I am" he smiled back "This was your attempt to seduce me wasn't it?"

"No" Lisbon said quickly.

"Look at you, trying to lie to me. If I didn't have such amazing self control it definitely would have worked"

"You're just saying that to make me feel better"

"I so am not" he insisted, pulling her back into his side "salmon is a massive turn on, you know, and don't get me started on ice cream"

"Shut up" she murmured against his chest. They remained in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, with Jane absentmindedly tracing patterns on Lisbon's arm.

"I guess there was another reason I've been putting it off" Jane said quietly "I've only been in one proper relationship in my life, and we both know how that turned out"

"You're scared?" Lisbon looked up at him and frowned "Patrick Jane doesn't get scared"

"He does around a certain CBI Agent"

"Huh" Lisbon looked pleased "There's no need to be scared. As long as you're good" she shot him a cheeky grin, and then nestled back into his chest with a yawn.

Jane wrapped his free arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

"CBI Agents aren't so scary when they're half asleep you know"

"Planning a romantic dinner is surprisingly tiring" she replied, her voice muffled by Jane's chest.

"What if…I stayed here with you tonight?"

"I think I'd be ok with that" Lisbon said, her smile apparent in her voice.

"Obviously I can stay on the couch, if you'd rather…"

"Come on, I'm not going to force you to sleep on my couch when we both know I have a double bed"

"Lucky me then"

"But no funny business. As it turns out, this evening has been ironically counterproductive"

"I promise, nothing funny"

oooooooooooooooooooo

"Jesus, that's good" Lisbon groaned, closing her eyes in pleasure.

"Patrick, not Jesus"

"Now is so not the time for jokes" Lisbon muttered "not when you're…ahhh"

"Jesus would probably be offended to know that you had confused the two of us" Jane commented, continuing to work the knots and tension out of Lisbon's back.

"He'd get over it" Lisbon sighed.

Jane shuffled off her back and lay down beside her. Lisbon glared at him for a few seconds and then pulled her top down her back and sat up, leaning against the headboard.

"Why did you stop?"

"I need to talk to you, and you were much too distracted"

"Wasn't my fault" she shrugged "about what?"

"The CBI is having a fundraising ball in 2 weeks time"

"I know" Lisbon frowned at him "Minelli is making us all go, before you try and beg your way out of it"

"I wasn't planning on it. I was more thinking…what if we went together?"

"Well the team do tend to-"

"As a couple"

"But then everyone would know about us"

"Yes" Jane said simply.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"Teresa law-abiding Lisbon, I have read through every single clause of the CBI handbook and not once does it mention anything about a relationship between an Agent and a consultant"

"Minelli would kill me, and it doesn't exactly scream 'professional'"

"Stop looking for excuses"

"I'm not looking for excuses. I'm just being realistic"

Jane looked at her carefully for a few seconds.

"This isn't about professionalism or Minelli, is it?"

"It is" Lisbon protested "completely"

"You think that your 'tough boss' appearance will be in some way compromised if you admit to actually having feelings for someone"

"That's so not true" Lisbon scoffed.

"It's a perfectly valid concern" Jane said, ignoring her denial "although trust me, they all have so much respect for you that they wouldn't care if a sex tape got-"

"What?" Lisbon demanded "Fine, I will consider – but only consider for now – going with you to the CBI fundraiser. Happy?"

"Happy enough" he shrugged.

"What more do you want?"

"Well, if you'd like to join me under your comforter I'll show you"

"Oh" Lisbon raised her eyebrows "now you want me to sleep with you? Funny how things change"

"I thought I made it up to you last night"

"I don't" Lisbon shrugged.

"Then we'd better get going" Jane patted the bed beside him.

"I put together a beautiful meal, complete with candles, and you expect a 'get in here' to persuade me?" Lisbon smirked "I'm a bit peckish, I'm gonna go find a snack"

"Ok fine, maybe that was a little presumptuous" Jane conceded as he entered the kitchen a few minutes later, after he realised that Lisbon really had gone to find some food.

"Apple?" Lisbon waved towards the fruit bowl.

"No thanks"

Lisbon shrugged and took another bite out of hers.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"This is nice" Jane commented.

He and Lisbon were seated at the edge of the park, his arm draped loosely over her shoulders. They'd bought crepes from a vendor on the way and Lisbon was currently struggling to control the Nutella oozing out of hers.

"Are you ever going to come back to me about this fundraising ball?"

Lisbon froze for a second, and then swallowed the last of her mouthful and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Do you think…maybe it's too soon?" she said eventually.

"No" Jane said simply.

"We've only been together for-"

"Over a month. And in normal people timelines this would equate to about 6 months worth of relationship"

"How so?" Lisbon frowned at him.

"We saved ourselves about two months of 'dating' and then another two of sorting out what was what in the relationship. And then the final two have been condensed into one because we see each other so often and we're basically living together across both our apartments"

"Ok" Lisbon nodded, still frowning "the other problems still stand: Minelli is not going to be ok with this, my authority will be compromised and my leadership questioned"

"Those problems will still exist whenever we tell people. Why not get it over with?"

Lisbon shrugged, her eyes glued to a dog which was sprinting the entire length of the park.

"You were planning on telling people at some point, right?"

"Of course" Lisbon said quickly "I just didn't realise it would be so soon"

"No time like the present" Jane grinned, reaching his hand out to wipe a missed piece of Nutella from her chin.

"Thanks" Lisbon muttered "you know what? You're right. Let's do this"

"Really?"

"Yep" Lisbon turned and smiled widely at him "I have nothing to be ashamed of"

"There's my feisty scared-of-nothing Agent Lisbon" Jane grinned, leaning to peck her on the lips.

"We should get back" Lisbon said.

"In a minute. There's something I'd like to do first" Jane leant in to kiss her again, lingering a little longer this time.

"Done?" Lisbon smirked at him.

"Nearly" Jane grinned as he went to kiss her a third time.

This time it was passionate and lengthy, and both of them soon forgot that they were sitting in the middle of a park where anyone could have walked past.

"We really should get back now" Lisbon admitted, finally tearing herself away.

"Or we could nip back to my apartment; it's only 10 minutes from here"

"I have work to do Jane" Lisbon sighed, getting to her feet.

"That could wait an hour" Jane pointed out as he reluctantly stood up as well.

"Patrick" she warned "I'm not taking time out of work to…I need to get these reports off. People will start to get suspicious if we keep disappearing for lengthy lunches, anyway"

"They won't do after next week" Jane muttered "we could just put the blinds down in your office, I've always wanted to-"

"Jane" Lisbon warned him again "stop it"