A/N: So here I am at last starting a sequel to one of my own personal favourites (I'm hoping for a similar tone to the original but anyone who follows me probably knows I do like my angst at times so be aware!). I'm hoping to challenge myself once I complete Reconnect & update Broken to update this story more frequently than I have of late but for now I thought I'd publish a little taster.

For those who haven't read Deception I have included a very quick summary of how that concluded in the first chapter below so it's not required to read the original to make sense of this story (but it might prove helpful to read the last couple of chapters if you wish to understand where the characters finished up). But really all you need to know is that Jane and Lisbon are together in this AU universe and are working together for the FBI (but still based in Sacramento, not Austin). Oh...and they also have a rather clever golden retriever named Victor.

Deception II

Chapter 1

She wrapped her legs around his torso, encouraging him to thrust deeper. He grunted gutturally as he did so, beads of sweat turning the lines of his tanned face into glistening trenches. Her arms circled his neck and she tugged on his golden curls to bring his lips to hers. She kissed him, her mouth hot and hungry as her tongue fluttered against his, dancing wildly together for seconds.

"Patrick!" she murmured in a half sigh, in that tone of hers that made him grin, the one he knew meant she was close.

He pushed deeper, faster, harder until he felt her fingernails scratch the back of his neck and silence replace her pants.

As she orgasmed he quickened his pace, rushing at full speed to join her. She read his intentions immediately and encouraged him, tightening her hold on him until he groaned in delight as he released inside her.

Jane flopped back to the other side of the bed moments later. "So," he began, taking a deep breath, "how was that training course of yours, anyway? What was it again? Advanced covert manoeuvres?"

Lisbon laughed as she turned her head towards him. "Now you want to ask me how it went, huh?"

He turned to lie on his side facing her and pecked her lips with a cheeky grin full of satisfaction. "You never gave me the chance to ask you sooner, woman. You ravished me as soon as you came home."

"You are such a liar," she grinned. "Just for that, I might tell you exactly how it went. In detail."

He made a face and moaned theatrically. "Keep it for bedtime, then, darling. Hearing about how you play grown up hide and go seek will send me straight off to dreamland later on."

She whacked him with a pillow playfully (earning her the obligatory ow in response) before she settled her head against his bare chest with a sigh of contentment. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

"I missed you," he said softly. "Four days is much too long to rattle around here with just Victor for company."

She smiled and kissed his chest. "Missed you too. When will he be back? I missed him as well."

Jane stretched until he could see the clock on the nightstand. "Another hour or so." He cuddled her again and closed his eyes. He yawned, "Still time for some more relaxing."

She threw a leg over his thigh and nestled further into his arms. "Mhm, sounds good to me. Can't remember the last time we've had a lazy afternoon together just the two of us."

"Lazy? I'd hardly call what we just did in any way lazy," he chuckled. "Don't tell me I'm losing my touch after two years together."

She giggled, "You know what I mean. Work has been crazy lately."

He began to draw slow patterns on her back as they rested in silence, eyes closed. Then, after a moment or two, he asked quietly, "So...that question I asked you at the beginning of the year...have you thought much about it lately?"

Her head whipped up to face him again. Panicked, "Uh...I-I thought we both decided it was too soon to talk about...that step."

He smiled gently at her. "No. What you decided was that it was too soon to discuss marriage. And then you said we should talk about it again in six months time." He motioned to the open window in their bedroom, a gentle summer's breeze rattling through the closed wooden slats. "Summer is here, Teresa. Six months passed a fortnight ago."

Her gaze shifted to the window and a line appeared between her eyes. "Oh." A pink flush came to her cheeks. "I hadn't realised..."

As her voice trailed off, Jane said, "Look, I'm not pressurising you into something if you're not ready. But...but we've been together for some time now. Don't you think it's time we talked about it? Or...or talked about why you're so reticent to be my wife at the very least?"

"I'm not!" she replied immediately, her tone defensive. She took a breath. "I just...well, you just surprised me by suddenly bringing it up like that out of the blue."

"Yes, perhaps it was sudden and maybe you had a point the first time I mentioned it. Hence why you wanted the six months so you had time for the idea to...gestate. By your reaction, I guess you haven't thought about it all, though, have you?"

"Of course I have!" Redness crept over her collarbone. "I mean after you mentioned it, of course, I thought about it. But then work got so crazy with Abbott sending me on all these management training courses never mind trying to get myself up to speed on working for the FBI. It might seem the same to you but it's a world apart from the CBI. Plus, I've had to become acquainted with and and mentor a brand new team. I mean, Wylie's great technically but he's still green where field work is concerned. And Vega is just out of the Academy. It's a big change from Rigsby and Van Pelt. And it's not like I even have Cho anymore, either. It takes time and hard work to get a team to gel, Patrick-"

"Hey," he interrupted her tirade with a soft smile. "I know you've been busy. We both have. I'm not saying otherwise and you don't need to justify what you've been doing to me. I live and work with you, remember? I know how hard you work and how hard it's been since...well since everything changed eighteen months ago."

She swallowed as they shared a look, each remembering how Red John had made them cross paths in the first place and their falling in love while they hunted him as the serial killer's obsession with Lisbon became more unhinged and personal. Red John's death had sparked a myriad of changes for them both.

First off, the CBI had been swallowed up by the FBI as Lisbon's boss and de facto father figure Minelli had retired and been replaced by Dennis Abbott of the FBI.

Cho had completed his training at Quantico and had recently moved to San Francisco to manage a team of his own.

Rigsby and Van Pelt had married and started their own Investigative Practice when Grace soon fell pregnant with their first child, both preferring to work mostly from home and their own hours than eighty hour weeks as FBI agents.

Lisbon had also eventually gained a new friend in the form of Kim Fischer, a woman of the same no-nonsense attitude as herself. Jane had chided Kim initially and still did occasionally for his own amusement when bored, delighting in winding her up and helping her make a fool of herself before she was unaccustomed to his more devious machinations. Lisbon had felt sorry for her new colleague and, months later, often wondered if he had treated Kim quite so abominably, in the beginning, to make a friendship grow between the two women over a shared kinship. He knew his girlfriend had little to none female friends, after all. But she'd never know his plan, she'd realised soon enough. She'd asked Jane one evening that question and all she'd received back was an enigmatic smile as he turned a page in a book he was reading.

Patrick Jane loved her dearly and was not afraid of telling her that every day. But, on the flipside, he still liked to keep some things close to his chest He said that a soupcon of mystery was good for a relationship. While that depended on the mystery she'd responded back firmly to that remark she had to admit that a part of her liked that he still sometimes kept her guessing and on her toes.

With Kim, it had been a shaky start as Fischer had expected a promotion on her relocation to Sacramento and was already one of Abbott's people when she arrived. But he'd chosen Lisbon over her to lead the FBI Serious Crimes Unit in California. He'd cited that she knew the key players better and had wanted the transition from CBI to FBI to go as smoothly as possible with local law makers and law enforcement. It had been a shrewd move as early cases where local sheriff departments may have stymied an FBI presence Lisbon, who they knew and, albeit sometimes begrudgingly, had accepted as a person who could provide results, could be called upon to smooth waters. Of course, if they had known they would also gain a new FBI consultant in the form of Patrick Jane as well as the steadying hand of Lisbon they may not have accepted the changeover quite as quickly as they had initially.

Personally, there were quite some changes too.

After Red John's death, Jane and Lisbon had lived in Jane's apartment for a few months with Victor, the golden retriever who was once Jane's sole responsibility and now firmly 'their' dog. The apartment was small, though, for two adults (not to mention a sometimes hyperactive dog who, at times, still acted like an overgrown puppy) who were so used to living alone for many years.

Soon after they moved in together some niggling disagreements had turned into silent sulks and shouting matches over the smallest matters, especially when preceded by a long day at work where Jane had played mischief maker to incite a confession or two and where Lisbon had done everything in her power to rein in his shenanigans.

More fresh air was required Jane had theatrically announced over a quiet breakfast one Sunday morning and they had recently rented a detached house in a tree lined avenue with a lawn front and back in Sacramento. As they sipped on some wine together on the stairs of the back of the wraparound porch and watched Victor delightedly chase a ball in the enclosed rear garden they had clinked their glasses as the tension of living in such close quarters for months began to slowly ebb away.

Upstairs, each had commandeered a bedroom to use as a home office for when they needed their own space after particularly long stressful days crime fighting together. Jane had turned his into more of a music come reading room while Lisbon's was more of an extension of her office at work. A shared master suite along with a comfortable and cosy kitchen/dining area completed the property.

Jane's next words brought Lisbon out of their thoughts.

"Look, if you don't think marriage is for you-"

"I never said that!"

She sighed and moved to the edge of the bed and picked up her ruby blouse that had been carelessly thrown to the floor as they'd hurried to undress an hour before.

He rubbed the small of her back. "Just tell me what it is, Teresa. What can I do-"

She turned to face him, tears in her eyes. She whispered, "I-I don't know what it is, that's just it, Patrick. I love you so much and you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I should be shouting it from the rooftops the fact you want to marry me. I know I'm lucky."

"But?" he pressed, frowning.

She exhaled. "But every time I think about it I want to think about something else. Anything else. I-I feel like I can't breathe or something."

"Hm. I've heard of pre-wedding jitters but never post proposal jitters before." He attempted lightness in his tone but he couldn't keep the hurt out of it.

She took his hand. "Have some patience, please? Until I can figure this out and stop being an idiot."

He bent over and kissed her softly. "Of course, my dear."

She smiled and got off the bed, throwing their clothes scattered over their bedroom floor in the laundry basket. "So, how about houses? You find anywhere you want us to buy yet?" she asked him brightly.

He yawned loudly. "Yes, actually."

She turned quickly with a surprised smile as she tied her short while terrycloth robe around her waist. "Really? I was starting to think you'd never find anywhere and we'd be stuck here renting for years."

He smiled at her comment, slightly mollified. Commitment to him wasn't the problem, then, obviously - just marriage to him. She was a mystery to him since he'd met her and still was more times than not. "You make me sound like I'm hard to please or something."

She raised an eyebrow as she came back to sit on the bed. "I wonder why? You've only looked at twenty properties or so this past month and found something wrong with each one of them." She ruffled his fair curls and teased him, "Maybe I should start calling you Goldilocks."

"Not if you value all the things I do for you around here and at the office, you won't." He tugged on the tie on her robe and brought her lips to his for an earth shattering kiss.

When they separated she asked, "So? Have you got a brochure for me to look at?"

He grinned, opened the drawer on the nightstand and removed a white folder. Lisbon opened it with excitement as he watched her. Her expression turned from enthusiasm to baffled within a second as she turned over photograph after photograph. "Patrick...where's the house?" she asked him slowly, suspicion creeping into her tone.

He pulled himself up to sit against the headboard. He smiled his best charming smile. "I'm glad you asked me that-"

"No," she said, slamming the folder shut and shoving it back towards him. "We talked about this. No housebuilding. You agreed!"

Calmly, "If you recall what I actually said was that I would do my best to find us a house I'd be happy to live in within Sacramento city limits. But unfortunately, I could not."

"Seriously? You can't find a house for us? Of all the properties for sale, you can't find one? I'll tell you what, I'll start looking-"

"No."

"No?"

"No. You said...and I'll quote you verbatim...'I don't have time to look at goddamned houses every minute I'm free. YOU do it. You're better at that stuff than I am, anyway. You know better than me what I like and what I hate. And I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than look at someone's old ratty carpets day in day out'."

He stared at her triumphantly.

"But-"

It was a pain in the ass having a boyfriend with his own memory palace sometimes.

"No more buts. I promise you're gonna love it when it's finished. When have I ever steered you wrong?"

"Recently?" she scoffed.

He licked his lips. "Let's leave work out of it, shall we?" He turned his tone softer and more pleading. "Please, Teresa, it's the only place I've seen I've fallen in love with. And I know you'll love it too. Just trust me. And think of all that outdoor space for Victor. And there's a duck pond on the property-"

"And why do we need a duck pond, exactly?"

Quizzically, "To feed the ducks, what else?"

She rolled her eyes as she opened the folder that was lying in his lap again. Her eyes strayed to the calming green fields, the cute pond. It was idyllic and looked a beautiful place to relax. She looked into his expectant and loving eyes. "How much does it cost? It says there are five acres. That amount of land in California isn't cheap."

"Meh, don't worry about that. We can afford it."

"You mean you can afford it."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, if you actually agreed to be my wife then it would be us. Just because I can't get a damn ring on your finger and make an honest woman out of you shouldn't mean I have to be penalised, does it?"

"Patrick, we talked about this too-"

Determinedly, "Yes. And we said we'd split the house cost between us." He tapped on a photograph of a green field. "And if you look here there is no house – just the land to build it on."

"That's just a loophole and you know it."

He smirked at her victoriously.

She shook her head and looked at the photographs again. "You really want this?" she asked him softly. "You must do to resort to such petty manipulation."

"I do," he smiled.

She shook her head with an exhale and a small smile in return. "Okay, then, I'll take a look-"

As he grabbed her face and kissed her she drew back quickly. "But you're in charge of this? This is your project if I decide I'm in!"

"I wouldn't want it any other way," he grinned.

Realising she'd just inadvertently given him carte blanche to build whatever house he wanted and recalling the extravagant Malibu mansion he'd owned when they'd met she added, "But on one condition!"

"Which is?"

"We split the house costs evenly as agreed. Just in case you decide to go crazy and decide you want to build a castle or something."

He kissed her with a smile. "Fine. No castles." He winked at her, "Perhaps just a medium sized chateau."

She got off the bed again with a shake of her head and he pulled her hand to stop her walking away. "Hey, thank you," he said sincerely.

She bent down and kissed him slowly. When she withdrew her lips she said sweetly but assuredly as if he was a suspect in an interrogation, "And don't think I don't know why you chose that exact moment to bring up marriage again. You knew I'd give in on the property that way, didn't you? That I couldn't very well say no to both."

He shrugged. "Maybe I just hoped you'd say yes to both."