A/N - Sorry this took so long, i just couldn't get it right! The next one is up soon, I promise.

Her head lay over his heart, and her hair spread over his chest. her chest rose and fell at a steady beat. It was almost too perfect to be real.

If it wasn't for this intimate morning scene, he would have almost convinced himself that the whole thing had been nothing but another one of his dreams. Dreams in which he was a man worthy of Teresa.

Glancing at the clock and seeing that the numbers read 6:30 he silently cursed his insomnia, but then again if he hadn't woken up, he wouldn't have had this time to just stare at her face and store every detail away in his memory palace.

Careful not to wake her, he artfully slid his body from beneath her and placed the covers back over her naked body. He scanned the dark room for his underwear, trying to remember whether he actually made in into the bedroom last night with or without them.

He found them in a puddle, rumpled on the floor along with his pants and belt, not bothering with anything else, slipped back into them with ease.

Turning to leave, but then reaching over to turn off her alarm clock that would usually wake her up for work in about a half hour, he placed a butterfly kiss on her forehead and her body visibly relaxed and a sigh escaped her lips.

Fumbling his way to the kitchen, he went straight to the coffee machine and cancelled its timer, her back up alarm he assumed.

Her apartment was a maze of boxes and bin bags, ready to be shipped or given away. Any romantic day he'd had planned was going to have to wait because there was no way Teresa would leave her apartment looking like this.

So he set to work unpacking and restocking her kitchen so at the very least he could make her breakfast in bed.

He knew exactly where She would put all of her dishes and mugs. It only took him a half an hour to put her kitchen back together, when he realised that she was missing a toaster, he zigzagged his way through the piles of boxes that invaded her living room looking for another box labelled kitchen

At the end of the hall closest to the front door, he noticed a lone box it was slightly smaller than the rest and written across it was the letter 'J' and a little more sellotape was keeping its contensce a little more of a secret than the rest.

Grabbing her keys from the little table fixed into the wall, he decided to dig a little deeper; doubting he'd find her toaster in here but it gave him an excuse to snoop.

On the surface of the box was a few framed team photos, one of which had been taken two Christmases before he'd killed Red John, they all looked so happy.

He had managed to get Lisbon into a Santa hat, and Cho had some reindeer ear placed obscurely on his head and looked very unimpressed but the smile was in his eyes. Rigsby and Grace were both looking festive in their hideous hand made Christmas themed jumpers and he himself had a father christmas suite on and a brown sack draped over his shoulder supposedly looking like Santa.

The table in front of them was piled with presents. The best part about the photo was that they were all smiling and they looked genuinely happy. Being reminded of the old days at the CBI made him sad, enough so to miss his couch.

He was in fact surprised to find her toaster in this box, but he was more surprised at what else he found.

Wedged between the toaster and the side of the box was box of tea, to be more specific his tea, it looked a little battered and upon further inspection was missing half the tea bags.

Under his tea was a padded envelope stuffed to the brim with paper.

When he realised what they were, it hit him like a ton of bricks, they were his letters and she'd kept every single one of them.

His eyes prickled with tears, this was the his box, a box full of things that remind her of him.

'J' as in Jane.

Damn it, he thought in frustration, he really was a selfish son of a bitch.

He removed one of the tea bags and careful re-sealed the box, she didn't need to know he knew about this and she defiantly didn't need to know how much it had upset him.

XXX

Her fingers stretched out across the bed in search of his warmth, then recoiled as she found he was not there.

A sudden wave of panic spread through her. He hadn't left her ad he? She didn't care what he said that was the best sex she'd every had, each time topped the last although she had stopped counting after the 3rd time because her mind had been concentrating on more important things.

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw his pants lying haphazardly across her floor along with his shoes and socks. He couldn't have gone very far without them.

She eased her head back onto the pillow and curled her body into the tangle of duvets and her under sheets that had come loose at some point during the night; and allowed herself to be happy in that moment.

She listened to the silence of the house, the surreality of the situation overwhelmed her, not a week ago would she have ever believed that she'd be lying in her bed remembering the sex she'd had with Patrick Jane just a few hours ago, and that she would be pining for more.

"God damn it" a voice shouted from downstairs, that was chorused with a loud crashing of pans and a frustrated sigh.

She suppressed a giggle, but let the smile spread across her face.

She rolled out of bed groaning in frustration, why couldn't she just sleep in like everyone else?

Scanning the room for anything to wear, she decided on Patricks' shirt from last night. She retrieved in from the crumpled pile it was in on the floor.

As cliche as it was, it smelled like him and she liked that, she has also decided that it would be safer to slip on some underwear.

And once she had butted up a few buttons in the middle of the shirt to just about cover up, but still look sexy she made her way downstairs to reminisce with her lover.

XXX

He had his back to her as she walked into the kitchen. His body swayed as he poured some batter into a pan and hummed a tune, she smiled at the thought of a domesticated Jane.

She tiptoed quietly towards him and raised her arms to throw them around his neck, when he spun around and caught her, stealing a soul churning kiss. She gladly welcomed him into her mouth gaining him entrance immediately and he probed the roof of her mouth with his tongue and gently squeezed her hips.

He kissed slowed and he reluctantly pulled away from his mouth and smiled.

"Good morning" he whispered into her hair

"yes…" she agreed "Yes it is"

"You know" he mused as his hands found her hair and her head found his chest "Maybe you should wear my shirts to work, you look much better in them than i do"

"Does that mean you get to go shirtless? I'd defiantly look forward to work if there was a shirtless Jane waiting for me"

He stifled a laugh, was she always like this after sex?

"Teresa, don't you think after last night, you could call me Patrick?"

"Sorry" she said "Old habits die hard i guess"

She didn't sound sorry as she began to rake her nails over his stomach and lightly over his nipples, and back down again with her fingertips. For a man who as far as she knew was a couch potato 24 hours a day he was remarkably well toned.

"I see you're going to be insatiable for a while" he breathed grabbing her hands and halting them in their tracks.

"Here" he said, handing her a mug of coffee "Why don't you go and sit you're pretty little ass down and I'll bring you some pancakes?"

She sighed and stepped away reluctantly turning on her heel and making her way to the dining room table, he swore he saw her undo another button on the shirt.

After a few minutes he joined her cup of tea in one hand and stack of maple syrup covered pancakes in the other.

"I'd have added on some strawberries, but you don't have a single fresh item of food in your house, my dear"

"Mmmm" she said in between mouthfuls of pancakes "To be fair less than 4 days ago i thought i would be living in DC for the foreseeable future"

He slipped his leg between hers under the table and ran the arch of his foot up and down her leg, loving the smoothness of her skin. She reached across the table with her hand and tightly grasped his although she never planned to let him go.

She looked into his adoring eyes and saw her own love mixed with long fulness reflected in them, she loved him so much it hurt.

She inhaled deeply and gave out a content sigh.

She caught a whiff of the tea in his hand and she froze.

"Did you go out while i was asleep?" she questioned him

"No why" he asked, bewildered

"Where did you get that tea, then, i know i had some left over coffee in the cupboards but i don't buy tea"

Shit she thought, he'd found the box hadn't he? How would she explain this without sounding all needy and whiny?

"You found the box didn't you?" she said, slightly exasperated, she shifted in the chair and drew her knees up to her chest hugging the in comfort.

"Yes" he confessed rather easily "In my defence, I was just looking for the toaster and it was the only box i hadn't checked yet" His tone sounded truly sorry, but with a quick assessment of her body language he added on the end "Im sorry i didn't mean to upset you"

"No" she said "I'm not upset I'm just a little shocked that you found it and you probably have some questions about it now, don't you?"

Her hand played idly on her chest, searching for her mother's cross he assumed, but then he noticed that her hand didn't wander that far up instead in settled where his ring hung. And she rhythmically rubbed her index finger over it. Seeking calmness.

He wondered how absent minded she was doing it, he was sure she'd be embarrassed if she caught him looking. After only a few days he could tell she grown attached to it, and she'd cherish it like she did her mothers crucifix.

Carefully choosing his question, because he'd probably only get one in before she cried

"Why do you have a half empty box of my tea?"

"When you were in Venezuela i missed you… a lot and i didn't know what to do. I had no job because the CBI was gone, my entire team and myself were all under investigation by the FBI and with you were gone, we were left to clean up the Red John mess.

When things got really bad and I felt alone, I'd make a cup… not to drink or anything, but i'd just put it in the middle of the room and let the smell drift around, so i could convince myself for a little while that you were still here just in another room sleeping on that damn couch of yours. It made me feel better"

He looked at her expectingly, begging her to answer his next question without him saying it.

"The photos are my only happy memories, when i miss the CBI i look at them, but eventually i have to remind myself that theres nothing left to miss. The letters…" she looked a little sheepish "The letters smell like you and i like that. But i kept the tea just in case things got really bad again in DC and i needed you…"

A small tear rolled down her face, and into her lap.

His chest contracted and his throat felt like it might swell shut, how could she be in so much pain without him noticing it? He stood up from where he sat opposite her on the table and picked her up in one gentle movement. She was so light he carried her to the couch with ease, and settled her down on his knee, burying his face in her hair and kissing her temple.

This wasn't like Lisbon, his bad ass cop Teresa, who could take down perps twice her size and make grown men cringe in her presence didn't cry over a box of tea, a photograph and some letters. He'd really broken her, ruined everything she was.

"Shhshss it okay, it okay" her rocked her fragile body

"Patrick" she whispered, looking up into his eyes, her green emeralds blazing into his ocean blue "Please don't ever leave me again i don't think i could survive it another time"

"Never" he confirmed "Remember Teresa i will always try to save you" and this time he had no doubt in his mind that if he couldn't save her, he would at least die trying.

XXX

They made love again, this time instead of the wild and slightly rough encounters of last night, it was slow and steady, he whispered in her ear the whole time, reminding her that he was still here.

His name was on her lips when she came and he screamed her name throughout his own climax.

Later they lay together on her couch in the midst of boxes as they whispered their promises of love and forever in each others ears.

XXX

Sat in a puddle of her things accumulated from her teen years, Jane found it the perfect time to delve a little deeper into her past.

Jane decided to take it upon himself to sort out her book shelves and was intact delighted when he stumbled across her high school yearbooks.

"Teresa" he chided holding up the book "Look what I found"

"No Jane there is nothing in that book you need to see" she pleaded with him leaning across a mess of China plates and taking a swipe at him, but he evaded it with ease.

"Oh Teresa" he chuckled "Why did you hate your hair?"

"I did not" she said indignantly "I'll have you know that was the style back then, I would have hated to see your hair in the 80's. What did you have green highlights?"

"Tuche Lisbon, tuche"

XXX

This is how they spent their weeks together, in each others arms, in each others presence.

Not even to shower did he let her out of his sight during their 3 weeks together they moved as one.

XXX