A/N: the epilogue! Thank you for sticking with me for this amazing ride, to all the guests and the signed reviewers who left me know what they thought, and to kathiann Superwoman who gave me an great hand: she cheered me up, helped me out, betaed the story and made awsome arts!

"Are you sure this is the point?" Teresa asked, looking at the wall with her hands on her hips. At her side, Jane stood, with a huge hammer in his hands. It seemed too big for him, and despite the fact that she knew he was… fit, he was still having few troubles; just this made being with him worth it.

He nodded, with his usual cat got the canary look. "You sure you want to do it?" She nodded, and went to sit on the kitchen island. Her naked little feet didn't reach the floor, and they were swinging mid-air. As soon as she had gotten back home, Jane had "high jacked" her plans with a passionate encounter in said kitchen, so now she had clothes scattered all over the floor, and she was dressed with just his unbuttoned shirt, while he was parading through the apartment in jeans and undershirt- still too much, for Teresa's taste.

"Teresa, you don't have to do it." he asked, and yet she knew what he really meant. He was saying something with his voice, and yet his eyes were pleading her to take this step. "You can still think about it." Jane was gulping down saliva, and Teresa wondered if he knew that he looked like a lost puppy- or that his eyes were betraying him yet again.

"Nope." She shook her head, and once again she joined him, hands crossed at her back. "No more long-time plans. Just here and now!"

It was quite a new development, and it hadn't been completely her intention, to be honest. But after she and Jane had made peace, they had somehow worked out a new sort of routine for the time being, that had transformed furthermore after he had showed her how things worked out when he was the one making schemes and plans.

Jane had worked as a free-lance consultant for the LAPD Major Crimes Unit for a couple of weeks, closing eight cases- a personal record for the department- included a very problematic internal affairs situation. Then, thanks to Captains Raydor and Johnson and Chief Delk's recommendation (and a little trick- even if getting the hated agent Hannigan to hit him and mentioning suing if they didn't allow him on a case hadn't been that smart, as Teresa didn't talk for him for the longest two days of his life) he had been able to get a consulting jig at the CBI Major Crimes Unit- Teresa's unit. Jane had thought that it would have been easy, and yet, it hadn't been- it still wasn't, even now that he had been with them for over six months. When he did something crazy or stupid (which happened daily) it was Teresa who paid, but at least, if at the beginning it had unnerved her, well, as soon as she started to see the results, she decided to stop caring about long-term consequences. Maybe her record was not any longer spot-free, but she already had the highest close case rating of the whole CBI- and Jane wasn't wearing his wedding band any longer, which made her feel so much better.

"Jane, either you move your ass or I'll do it!" she said, grunting. "C'mon, you've been the one suggesting it!" She pouted like a child, and Jane sighed. He wasn't sure what he felt for that pout- all he knew was that it forced him to do as she wanted, as it stirred sensual memories and desires in his whole body. Memories and desires… and hopes.

"Ok, Ok, here I come." He said, sighing, lifting one hand in surrender. But Teresa knew he wasn't serious, there was fun and laughter in his voice, something that had always been there, from the start, with her. But now that he was always with her, the mirth was back in his whole life, and he had started to smile a lot more, even when he was with other people, or when he suddenly remembered his family. Loving again- and talking with Teresa- had gotten him to understand that there was much more than that last call he didn't answer, that last fight, there had been many happy years, filled with love and good memories. What he had to concentrate on if he wanted to honor the lost ones.

"Ok." He said, and took a big, huge breath as he lifted the hammer and hit the wall with as much strength as he could. Teresa closed her eyes, and she kept them closed when she heard a thund, followed by another and another and another more; only when she heard the sound of falling rubble she opened them, slowly.

"Can I look? Move?" she asked, carefully. She didn't dare to fully open her eyes and move; she had been the one to tell Jane to go on with his crazy plan, and yet, here she was, scared, and for more than the obvious reasons.

"Be careful where you put your feet!" Jane screamed, his hands on his hips, the hammer on the ground. Teresa joined him, careful of where she put her bare feet, and looked at what they had just "discovered". What Jane had told her about the secret passage had been true, and in fact here there was, the proof right before them, that the apartments had been linked a long time before. A wall had been erected in each apartment, masking the passage, but right before them there was an arch that covered almost the whole high of the wall. So far, it didn't seem to have anything to do with the building's architecture, but Teresa took it as a good sign; it was something completely different from the rest, and yet, it worked, just like her relationship with Jane.

Teresa smiled, imagining the rest of the walls abated, the arch dividing- and uniting – the rooms. It was going to be too big for just the two of them, but she knew that Jane was already making plans to put the space to good use- she did too, she just hadn't told him yet. She would be happy to have a guest room or two, a place where she could host her brothers, or her niece Annie on occasion. Jane had mentioned something along that line too, but he had also explained to her that there was still a couple of rooms that could find better use than mere storage; he was thinking about building her a small office, so that she could work at home in complete tranquility, and then… Then, he had dropped a bomb that had scared, and yet thrilled, her.

"This room would be perfect for a nursery..."

He had been shy and worried when he had told her, and Teresa knew that it had been his own, particular way of telling her that One day we should get married, but she didn't care. Her heart had stopped beating, the breath had died in her throat, and then, even if she had always wanted to be alone, even if she had never wanted to have a man in her life, fearing that he would become like her father because of loss… suddenly, everything made sense. She had kissed him on the corner of the lips, with a simple "Yeah, I can see it already" to set things straight.

And now, here they were, the two of them, working together at the CBI, and living together in the huge apartment they were going to create around what was left of their old homes.

"It's perfect." She said, smiling a little.

"Yes, he answered, kissing her neck and nuzzling her soft skin. "It really is." Just like the white polka-dotted red dress that she had almost tried that day at the flea market.

And that he had bought before leaving for Los Angeles. For her, and her alone.