A/N: So, here it is, the last chapter. Thank you so much for reading to the end. And over 400 reviews for an AU piece, I'm astonished at the response.

Chapter 37 – New Life

On Friday morning Lisbon woke up in the Vegas hotel room they had made love in the night before. Minelli had ordered her and her team to take time off until Monday after the past couple of weeks of working around the clock. Jane was standing at the window looking at the Strip in front of him. She could see a ghost of a smile playing on his lips as he sipped his tea, the white hotel room bathrobe pulled around his waist. He was normally so attuned to her presence but this morning she watched him unobserved. Her stomach pleasantly flip-flopped. He was hers. She thought back to their first meeting and how he had undressed her with his eyes and leered at her. So much had changed in between. He had been there for her when any sensible man would have fled, refusing to be intimidated or allow her to push him away. She had never felt such devotion before and, although still a little frightened at the prospect, she had known when she fell asleep in his arms the night before that she was truly in love for the first time in her life.

She knew life would never be boring with Patrick Jane and that he would undoubtedly be both the best friend she could hope for and the biggest pain in the ass simultaneously. With her temper and his stubbornness (and hers too she had to admit), they would argue often but that it would be tempered with the passion of their making up afterwards or a smile from him that would melt her heart and her resolve. She felt the longing for him in her stomach and let out a small sigh.

He turned suddenly finally, realising he was being watched.

He took a sip of his tea and looked at her with a smug smile. She was lying on her front, the sheet covering the bottom half of her body. She had her head turned to the side and was watching him but hadn't uttered a word. His eyes floated to her bare back, its freckles tiny points of brown seashells in a sea of porcelain white.

He walked over to the bed and sat down on its edge, putting his tea down on the bedside table. His fingers trailed along her back slowly. He felt her shiver at his touch and he studied her face, his fingers still dancing over her skin.

"Penny for them," he asked quietly.

She blinked lazily. "I can't believe it's over. I've spent the last couple of years devoting myself to catching him and-"

"And you did," he said in the same gentle tone, his fingers running over her lower back.

"We did," she corrected him. "I'll never be able to thank you for everything you did."

His eyes glinted with arousal. "I can think of a few things. But I think after last night I might be in your debt instead."

She laughed and sat up on the bed, putting her arms around him and hugging him tightly. The hug began to turn into passion as he nudged her hair away to kiss her neck. But she pulled away and stared into his sea green eyes. "I was thinking about how much you've changed too."

He shrugged. "I can't make the past disappear but I'm looking forward to the future. I was thinking we should find a bigger place in Sacramento."

"What's wrong with your place? It's big enough."

"I'm just planning ahead. Not right now but in the next few years maybe. There's only one bedroom-"

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you?!"

He shrugged, kissing the tip of her nose. "You don't want marriage, kids?"

She stammered, "I-I don't know. I've never really thought much about it."

"Then I suggest you start," he smiled.

She smiled back at him. "Okay, I will. But let's see how living together works out first."

"It's going to be great." He had such assurance in his voice that she merely nodded.

After a moment she said, "But remember you're unemployed now. You shouldn't even be thinking about splashing out on a bigger place."

"I can if I sell the house in Malibu."

"But why? It's a beautiful house."

"Meh, I can't see myself sleeping there again after what happened to Selina. But there's a smaller place not far down the coast on sale. Has much of the same view but more of a cottage style. It would mean we could still take Victor down there at the weekends."

"Sounds like you've made up your mind. And maybe it's good I'm moving in with you. I might not be able to afford the rent on my place for much longer. I might not have a job myself in the next few days." She said it as a joke but her brow creased, the worry about her future beginning to hit her hard.

"You really believe that? They can't fire you, Teresa. If it wasn't for you and your team this whole Blake Association thing would still be going on."

"Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't work like that. CBI is small potatoes compared to the FBI. It's the easier option to shut us down and give the public back some piece of mind. Guess I'll know come Monday. There's a big meeting then."

As Lisbon got out of the shower she heard Jane on the phone as she walked back into the bedroom. He put it away when he saw her.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"Oh, someone looking a reading. I told them I had retired."

"You should change your number," she said as she dressed.

"Yeah. Good idea."

The weekend was made up of Lisbon moving her belongings into Jane's apartment. Victor was so excited Jane had Brian take him for a walk or they would be at it until midnight as he danced around distracting them.

Monday morning came and Lisbon got ready to go to work. She would find out today if she still had a job at the end of the day. Jane ran his fingers down her arms to calm her as she drank a cup of coffee. He held her around the waist.

"It's going to be okay, I promise," he said softly.

She turned round to face him. "How do you know?"

"Until just recently I was a psychic. Still a little bit of the gift there," he smiled.

She rolled her eyes. "And what are you planning on doing today as you're a gentleman of leisure now?" She put down her coffee and circled her arms around his waist.

"Oh, I don't know. Walk Victor. Do some Sudoku. Have a nap on the couch."

"I hate you," she smiled.

"No you don't. You love me, remember? Besides if that was your day you would be bored by 10am."

She nodded. "You're right. You better at least arrange dinner. And you need to start thinking about what you're going to do now. I don't want to live with a fulltime layabout."

"Yes, ma'am."

She walked into the Capitol Building where the meeting was to take place. She had told the rest of her team she would let them know what transpired when she got back to the CBI and for them to continue working as usual.

The only people she recognised were Minelli and some other senior agents from the CBI. She guessed the others present were from the FBI. Minelli introduced Director Schultz from the FBI, a woman in her mid-forties with dark hair and a commanding presence. She began by thanking Minelli and Lisbon for all the work and dedication in capturing and killing Red John and uncovering the Blake Association cover up. Lisbon's cheeks blushed at being the centre of attention as all eyes turned to her. But she didn't like the sound of where the conversation was going and felt like this was the sweetening up before the death blow. That came moments later when Schultz announced the closure of the CBI. Lisbon's temper flared despite instinctively knowing this would always have been the result of this meeting. Minelli noticed and shot her a look that said 'wait'. Schultz then went on to say that while the CBI would be formally shut down the staff (all that remained after the Blake Association clean up) would be kept on and be offered positions with the FBI. The building would be turned into a FBI field office. She mentioned that some extra training at Quantico may be required for some staff and that salary scales may need to be looked at but assured them that no CBI agent would be negatively affected financially by this change in leadership.

After she finished, Minelli added his thanks and appreciation to everyone in the room before announcing his retirement formally. Lisbon could see the man tearing up but he kept a lid on his emotions. One of the other senior agents asked who would replace him. Minelli nodded to an African-American gentleman sitting opposite Lisbon who was bald and wore glasses. Minelli introduced him as Dennis Abbott.

He stood up and said a few words thanking Minelli for all his service and added his appreciation to the other agents.

Director Schultz was adding a few more comments about press releases and so on but Lisbon could feel this Abbott character staring at her. She glanced over at him but he merely raised his eyebrows and nodded to her.

He caught up with her outside.

"Agent Lisbon, I just want to give my thanks to you personally. I know how close you and Virgil are but I want to reassure you that I will be a fair boss. I will not be a pushover but I will give you the respect to run your team the way you see fit."

She arrived back at CBI (or was that FBI now?) a short while later with a spring in her step. Abbott seemed to have done his homework on her team and was hitting the ground running. He had plans for Van Pelt to take some extra courses to improve her already remarkable computer skills and Cho to be put into a programme that would expedite his progression within the FBI. When she asked him about Rigsby and herself he said that he would wait and talk with Rigsby to see the path he would like to take within the FBI. He told her with a smirk on his face that she would have enough on her plate.

When she arrived in the bullpen her agents crowded around her for news. Van Pelt hugged her when she told them they all still had jobs and about their new boss. Then a voice from behind them caught her attention.

"See? I told you everything would be fine."

She pushed past the wave of people around her to find Jane lying on the brown leather couch, a Sudoku puzzle and pen in his hands. He didn't look up at her but filled in a number on the page in front of him, a smile playing on his lips.

"What are you doing here? I thought we agreed to...well, you know...keep things low key and professional." Her tone became quiet at the end of the sentence, sensing the other agents were enjoying this domestic spectacle.

She had told him the day before that he couldn't just pop into work to see her when he saw fit, that she was still a boss and had to maintain that persona at work. He had agreed but she had noticed a glint in his eye she couldn't figure out at the time.

He finally looked up at her and smiled fully. "I am being professional, Lisbon."

The use of her surname threw her for a second. "In my office, now," she growled.

He sighed, putting down the pen and paper and followed her in, grinning to the others.

He took a seat on the couch in her office and crossed his legs, looking her up and down with one of his enigmatic but seductive smiles.

"And you can get that idea right out of your head, Patrick!" She glared at him. "I thought we talked about this. You can't just drop by like this and distract me. My new boss is going to be here soon for god's sake!"

"Ah, so you admit I'm a distraction. Well, you'll need to build up some kind of a defence to that, Lisbon."

"What are you talking about? And why do you keep using my surname?"

He got up from the couch, produced a laminate from his pocket and showed it to her. Her eyes widened. "FBI? Consultant? When did this happen?"

"Last Friday. I got a lovely call from Dennis, told me he was taking over and offered me a job. You almost walked in in the middle of it. Hence...Lisbon. We're at work now so we should use surnames, most of the time anyway like you do with Cho, Rigsby-"

"Goddamnit, Patrick! I know their names."

"Jane."

"What?"

"You should call me Jane. We're at work. Better get used to it, Lisbon."

His calm tone made her want to throttle him. She pushed the palms of her hands against the desk in front of her to stop herself.

"Why didn't you tell me about this on Friday...Jane? You know I've been worried sick about my job!"

He shrugged. "I wanted it to be a surprise. And I only got my pass this morning."

She shook her head, knowing this was about as much as an explanation she was ever going to get. "Hang on, why would Abbott offer you a job?"

"Minelli talked me up. Told him I was outstanding in the field, told him you all would have been lost without my help."

"I doubt that, sincerely."

"Meh, well maybe I'm paraphrasing. Anyway, the result is the same. Abbott obviously thinks I'm worth a shot. He even offered to help organise training Victor into being some kind of police dog, hone in his tracking skills. Should help us in the field sometimes, don't you think?"

"But...what about us? We can hardly be together and work together at the same time. It's against the rules."

"Maybe the archaic CBI rules but FBI's a different ballgame. He already knew. He said as long as we keep it out of the office he doesn't have a problem with it. And I report to him, not you, I'll just be working with you, a partnership if you will. I told him we would contain ourselves at work so you better learn to control yourself, woman."

Jane's eyes turned to Van Pelt and Rigsby in the bullpen. "I see another couple who will be happy with this change in the rules too."

He came around and perched on her desk, about 80% confident that the chance of a punch on the nose was not likely at this stage. She shot him a withering look but could see her resolve falter as he smiled at her.

He spoke softly. "Come on, it'll be fun. Let's see what kind of trouble we can make."

- THE END -

A/N: So there you go, hopefully, a satisfying conclusion for everyone. Thank you again for all your lovely words and kind reviews. You've no idea how much they've meant to me. How much they mean to me (to paraphrase Jane).

I have a new story called 'Crossroads' but it may not be everyone's cup of tea so read it at your peril! It's pretty angsty and you may not like how the characters are set up initially but it is much fluffier in later chapters. I'm also planning on a few one/two shots of some other ideas (mainly fluff) to write alongside it to cheer myself up.