I have had a lot of inspiration since Thursday's episode. I mean, honestly, who wouldn't? The season finale made me smile for days. Even though I know I should probably be working on Broken Hope (which will be up sometime this week, I promise) this little oneshot suddenly came to me, and I couldn't not write it. It practically wrote itself.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

"So he's your boyfriend now?"

Teresa looked over to her eldest niece and cringed. "Eh. I don't like the way that sounds."

"What? The word boyfriend?"

It wasn't necessarily the word that bothered her. It was the thought of calling him her "boyfriend" that disturbed her a bit.

"The word just seems wrong," Teresa explained to Annie.

"But that is what he is, right?" the young girl asked her aunt impatiently.

Lisbon shrugged. "I suppose."

Annie smiled and glanced across the room to Patrick, who was mingling easily with her father's two sister-in-laws, her Aunt Betsy and Aunt Paula. The two women would occasionally glance over to Teresa with approving looks in their eyes, bringing a blush to her cheeks. The get-together at Uncle James' house had been Annie's idea, and she had insisted that her favorite aunt bring Patrick along.

"So you don't like the word boooy-frieeend." Annie dragged out the word with a smirk. "What is he? Your lover? Your sweetheart?"

Teresa shot her niece a brief glare but pondered Annie's words. It was true that Jane technically was all of those things. Boyfriend. Lover. Sweetheart. But Teresa Lisbon had never really been one for labels, and the sound of all three of those words coming from her niece's mouth was somewhat unsettling.

"I guess," she finally said.

"How would you describe him?" Annie wondered. "In your own words."

Teresa rolled her eyes at her niece's forwardness. "Well, he's… he's uh…"

"He's what?" Annie pressed.

Lisbon's eyes flitted across the room to Jane, who was now making small talk with her youngest brother, Luke. Teresa smiled affectionately as Jane laughed at something her brother had said, and his eyes moved to meet hers as if he had sensed her watching him. He smiled back, that smile that she absolutely loved, before turning to Luke again.

Teresa glanced back at her niece again, a smile still fixed on her face, and answered her question.

"He's mine."

I know, it's short. I would still love to hear your thoughts.