Distracted Chapter Fourteen:

When he walked over and pushed to door aside, it revealed Lisbon. She looked up at him and her emerald eyes seemed even brighter than usual.

They stood close to each other.

"Come in" Jane said, but had no intention of stepping back and thereby away from her. She brushed past him. He turned around and walked in after.

They went to stand in the middle of the room, both looking at each other. Lisbon inhaled deeply and broke their stare. She pointed half-heartedly at his shirt.

"Good, you changed your shirt" she said rather shyly.

Jane looked down at his shirt as well.

"Yeah, that eh, that was no problem at all."

"Good, good. And thank you" Lisbon blurted out without looking at him.

Jane nodded. "No problem" he said and wondered how everything had gotten so awkward between them.

Lisbon looked up at him.

"I mean thank you for saving him" she said sincerely. "Especially since I know you never liked him."

Jane let his head fall and looked down.

"It's not that I don't like him… It's just that I don't like that another man makes you happy. But I guess I hate seeing you unhappy even more…"

Jane kept looking down and Lisbon kept looking at him. Neither of them spoke. How was it that opening up to the person you loved was so hard?

"So…" Lisbon started barely audible, "What's the meaning of all this?" she asked and nervously avoided looking at him.

Jane looked up. He hesitated for a moment. What did she mean? What's the meaning of his words? Or their conversation? Or did she mean her boyfriend being kidnapped because his obsession with their relationship imposed on his obsession with haunting Red John?

Of course he knew what she meant. But telling her exactly what his feelings were proved to be difficult since he himself didn't even know it for sure. So he struggled for words but couldn't come up with any.

"You mean the meaning of life? Pfft…" he sighed jokingly.

Lisbon didn't respond and he stole a guilty glance at her.

Jane knew that she must have had at least a clue about his feelings for her, but he also knew she wouldn't believe it until she heard him say it himself. And though he might fail miserably, for her he would give it a try. Looking down at his shoes, he started.

"Well, I… The meaning of it is…" he stuttered uncomfortably. He noticed her moving her head, trying to catch his eye. He looked up at her and smiled shortly.

Lisbon looked at how he stood there. With his blonde curls and shy smile he almost had a boyish look over him, and for once not the troublesome, naughty kind. His sea green eyes locked onto hers. He seemed completely lost. She knew how hard this must be for him. She knew how far he had come telling her what he had already told her. She wanted to give him a soft smile, telling him it was alright and leave it at that. But she needed him to go on, to say what needed to be said. So she waited.

He inhaled suddenly and spoke up.

"I guess I always expected that you and me would end up together."

He waited for her reaction. She blinked.

"Silly me, huh?" he added and tried to laugh casually.

She kept looking at him with those big eyes, and try as he might, for the life of him he couldn't figure out what was going on inside her head. If nothing ever came from this night, he should at least be completely honest with her and not have to regret holding back or spending too much time weighing his words. He stared deeply into her eyes like he had wanted too for a long time, and sighed.

"I know I'm lousy with you, but without you I'm a loser."

'And I love you' he said in his head.

She blinked again and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Thank you" she said.

She doubted for a second if she should hug him instead, but she allowed herself to kiss him on the cheek.

She brought her face close to his and let her lips touch his skin for the shortest of seconds. She had intended to leave it at that, but she couldn't make her body retreat. Her hand stayed placed on his chest, her body so close to his she could feel his warmth and smell his scent. Her lips lingered just above his skin, so close Jane could feel her breath on his cheek and it made his heart beat faster. He turned his head slowly. Lisbon didn't move. He looked down at her face. She had closed her eyes. Her lips were slightly parted, as were his and her shallow breathing was like his own. If there was ever a time to give in to his desire for her, it was this. Their mouths were directly in front of each other, separated only by the smallest fraction of an inch. He closed his eyes in anticipation and arousal. And then he moved – or maybe she did, he wasn't sure. Their lips touched, softly brushing against each other.

She felt it was only right, to let their lips meet for once in their lives. After all, it would be a farewell as well as a thank you. Of course it was the sweetest kiss she ever had. Even the knowledge that she could never have more couldn't make it bitter, but it did make her realize she should stop.

It cost all her discipline to end it and retreat, and when she did she almost cried.

But she had to. She had chosen Ardiles. This was goodbye. So she broke the contact between their lips and tried to put some space between them. But to no avail, because Jane's lips still hovered near hers and when she retreated, his mouth kept following her. He threw his arms around her body and pulled her close. It was all the resistance she could muster and in one wave of blissful surrender she let her mouth be drawn in by his.

Their lips came crushing down on each other and they were kissing, feverishly. He pulled her body flush against his and kissed her and kissed her.

She had always known kissing him would be unlike anything she ever felt. God, how she loved him. He was her soulmate and the most amazing man she ever met. And at last, he was finally showing her his feelings.

Everything he had secretly been feeling for all these years, been wanting to tell her and show her came out in this kiss. He had her, in his arms, kissing him back. It was unlike anything he had known his life to be so far.

They broke their kiss. He stared at her with a bewildered expression. She didn't know what to do now that reality seemed to hit them in the face. He looked at her for a little bit longer, and then left the room.

A couple of days later, Jane walked down from his attic. He hesitated for a moment to go over to Lisbon's couch, but chose his own instead. They hadn't really talked after their… moment. In all honesty, he knew she would never dare to bring it up, too embarrassed and probably too afraid that he would hurt her like she knew he would. So she soldiered on, acting as if nothing happened. She hadn't visited his attic again though, and he hadn't lain down on her couch.

Jane walked past her office through the bullpen. He knew that if they were ever going to talk about it, he should be the one to initiate it. But frankly, he wasn't planning on it. Did he regret kissing her? Not at all. Did he keep thinking about it? All the time. But he wasn't ready, whatever the outcome of their chat would be. Yes, she was beautiful and hot and sweet and smart and… perfect, really, but it would all be wasted on him. He wasn't looking to be in love, and he wouldn't be able to give her what she deserved.

So, that's that, he thought to himself as he got to the couch, glad to have finally regained control over his feelings again. Just as he was about to plop down, he heard a voice calling out his name.

"Jane!"

Jane watched with surprise on his face as Ardiles made his way towards him. Instead of his usual fancy suits, he wore a dark grey t-shirt, jeans and a black sweat vest. Aside from seeming a little skinnier, he seemed well, especially considering…

Jane greeted him and decided to leave out the sarcasm for once.

"Ardiles. Glad to see you're doing well."

Ardiles was silent for a moment and nodded. He sported the same solemn look he had had when they were about to enter the house during the case they worked together a lifetime ago. Jane took this moment to look around and saw Lisbon standing not far from them, a somewhat worried look on her face. He broke their eye contact when Ardiles spoke up.

"Yes, I am doing well. And I want to thank you for that, Jane" he said and looked him in the eye.

Jane was a little taken aback. It almost felt awkward to have Ardiles say thank you to him, while he kissed his girlfriend when Ardiles was still hospitalized. He looked over Ardiles' shoulder to see Lisbon looking just as awkward and confused as him.

"Teresa told me what you did to save my life. I know we haven't always been seeing eye to eye, but I wanted to say how much I appreciate what you did for me… Thank you for rescuing me, I know it must have been hard for you to help the guy that has stolen Teresa from you. It takes a great man to do that" he ended his speech and extended his hand to Jane.

Jane knew the smart thing to do was to accept his words of gratitude and shake his hand. Leave it at that, everyone happy… or at least content. But Jane felt that was not going to happen. He may not be ready yet, and he may not even know for sure how Lisbon felt about him. They may keep dancing around it for years and years to come and it may all end in disaster.

One thing Jane knew for sure: whatever it was between him and the beautiful woman looking so uncomfortable right now, it was worth waiting for and he was going to love every second of it. There was just too much that needed to happen between them. She was special. Who knew were they would be five years from now? He would be damned if he let this guy take it from him.

'It must have been hard for you to help the guy that has stolen Teresa from you. It takes a great man to do that'. Pfft… The arrogance! So Jane accepted his hand and shook it.

"Yeah… about that…" he started with a quasi-apologetic smile on his face. Before going on with this particular story, he figured it'd be best to avoid any physical contact so he ended the handshake. Ardiles fought hard to keep the annoyed look off his face, while Lisbon went in full panic mode.

"We kissed" Jane said matter-of-factly, unable to keep his trademark smile off his face. Ardiles smile faltered and Jane had never been happier to see his smug, dominant, condescending attitude crumble to pieces.

He glanced over at Lisbon. She looked down at the floor, careful to avoid looking at both of them. In fairy tales, he would sweep her off her feet and carry her out with him while he left, but he knew that probably wouldn't go over very well in real life. Lisbon peered up slightly, secretly stealing a glance at him. Their eyes locked. At least the future is still open for anything, who knows, he thought and it caused the brightest of smiles to spread on his face. When he saw a hint of the smile Lisbon was trying to contain, he knew they would be alright.

He made the mistake of looking back at Ardiles before he left, and had to pay for it by the feeling of Ardiles' fist landing hard on the side of his nose and his cheekbone.

THE END

A/N: A huge, enormous thanks to everyone who has read this story. It has been an honor. I appreciate every single reader, reviewer and follower more than I could ever tell you. Also, I'm very sorry for taking so long with this story. There are no excuses. I wanted to complete this before tonight's finale and I'm glad I managed to do at least that. So, now that's done, I'm going to try to mentally prepare myself for the show's ending, all the while trying to keep believing there will be another season some day.

Lots of Love,

PP