A/N: Here we are folks, last chapter! Thanks for sticking with my rambling long-winded way of getting to the end once again. I've got a couple other TM stories in the hopper but will likely pause in posting for a bit while I work on writing for a while. Stay safe and well, everyone.

xxx

A week later, Lisbon paused as she unlocked the deadbolt to her apartment, glancing at the dark blue paint on the front door. She shuddered, thinking of Rubin's body lying on the doorstep where she stood now, Red John's mark painted on the door over him.

The door showed no signs of the macabre smiley face now. Grace had told her that she, Rigsby, and Cho had come over to fix it in her absence. They hadn't just repainted it—they had replaced the whole door. Not without much grunting from Cho and swearing from Rigsby, according to Grace, but they'd managed in the end. They'd fitted the new door and replaced the welcome mat. No remnant of either Scalzi's or Red John's presence remained.

"Everything okay?" Jane asked from behind her, his hand coming to rest at her waist.

Lisbon shook her head to clear it and opened the door. "Yeah. It's just weird to be back, after everything that's happened."

Jane followed her into the apartment, setting their duffels inside the door, then flipping on the lights. "Home sweet home."

Lisbon grunted in acknowledgment, dropping her keys in the dish on the table next to the door and surveying the place. Despite the long period of vacancy, it looked exactly the same as it had when she left. She'd expected it to be dusty and stale, but it looked clean—cleaner than she normally left it, even. She might have just stepped out for groceries, for all the differences it betrayed since she'd last set foot in the place.

She looked at Jane suspiciously. "Did you do something?"

Jane crossed the room and opened the blinds, letting in a shaft of early evening light. "I sent Grace some money last week and asked her to hire a team to clean the place. I see they aired it out as I asked them to. I hope Grace tipped them well." He went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "Ah," he said, pleased. "She had the groceries I ordered delivered, too."

He began opening all the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen, occasionally hm-ing to himself in disapproval as he worked his way through the kitchen. He opened the last cupboard and frowned, then shot Lisbon an accusing look. "Teresa," he said, appalled. "You don't own a tea kettle?"

She shrugged. "I only drink tea when you make it for me."

Jane continued to putter around and deplore the state of her kitchen under his breath. Lisbon stood in the doorway and watched him with suspicion.

Finally, he stood, shaking his head. "All right, I'm obviously going to need to go to the store tomorrow for a few necessities, but I suppose it's not as bad as it could have been." He shuddered. "Though just barely. No tea kettle, honestly."

He moved on to the living room next. "No major changes needed down here," he decided after conducting a thorough survey. "Little stuff—plenty of time to negotiate the details later." With that, he headed up the stairs.

Lisbon trailed after him, bemused.

He tutted over the bathroom, too. "Too bad you don't own this place," he said with a frown. "This would be all right if we could remodel a bit."

Lisbon's eyebrows rose to her hairline. "You've been here five minutes and you're talking about remodeling the place?"

"I suppose we could just buy a place of our own," Jane said as he brushed past her on the way into the second bedroom. "Would you rather buy a house or stay here?"

"I…hadn't thought about moving," Lisbon said, blinking. She also hadn't thought about Jane inviting himself to move into her apartment without consulting her first, but really, she shouldn't have been surprised.

"I figured you'd rather stay here at first, and that we could buy a house next year some time." He found a pile of boxes she'd finally migrated out of the living room but not actually bothered to unpack. He gave her a reproachful look. "You should really unpack these, you know."

"What's the point, if you're planning to move me out of here anyway?" Lisbon asked, her eyebrows narrowed.

"I suppose you have a point," Jane said. "All right, we'll table the issue of the boxes for now." He closed the lid on the top box. "Does this building allow pets?"

"Yes," Lisbon said, her eyes narrowing further. "Why do you ask?"

He finished his inventory of the guest room and stepped past her to make his way towards the master bedroom. "Just wondering if I'm going to need to hypnotize the building manager to let us get a dog."

Lisbon ignored the hypnotism comment and focused on the salient point. "Now we're getting a dog?"

"Of course. You love dogs. I love dogs. Obviously, we should get a dog." Jane went into the master bedroom and inhaled deeply. "Mm, this is more like it," he said in approval. He looked over at her and gave her a brilliant smile. "It smells like you in here. How did Grace manage that, I wonder?"

Lisbon detected the traces of her favorite fall spice candle in the air. "She's quite the magical helper," she said dryly.

"Yes, I definitely owe her," Jane mused, making his way to her closet and sliding the door open, revealing several neatly pressed men's three-piece suits hung next to her blouses and blazers.

"You had her move your stuff in here?" Lisbon said, exasperated.

"Well, naturally," he said, surprised. "I didn't think you would want to move into the extended stay hotel."

"You got that right," Lisbon said with a scowl, thinking of the horrible place Jane had stayed the entire duration of their acquaintance prior to their removal to Salt Lake.

"So it only made sense to bring my things here, since I didn't think you would want to move right away," Jane went on. "It doesn't matter to me where we live, though. Home is where you are. So if you'd rather start looking for a new place sooner rather than later, that's fine with me."

This was how she always ended up letting Jane get away with all his nonsense, she reflected. He'd do something outrageous, then throw in an offhanded comment that melted her heart despite herself.

All right, she thought to herself with a sigh. Guess I've got myself a roommate now.

Of course, they had been living together for several months now, Lisbon reminded herself as she headed back downstairs. She supposed it wasn't completely unreasonable for Jane to assume that the arrangement would continue now that they were back in Sacramento. It would just be nice if he thought about asking her about it first instead of acting like it was a foregone conclusion and just expecting her to catch up. But Jane was Jane—she was never going to change him.

His hand landed at the small of her back as they re-entered the living room. She looked over at him, exasperation mingling with affection. No, she was never going to change him. The maddening thing was that most of the time, she didn't even want to.

She stopped him at the bottom of the stairs with a kiss. "I'm glad you're here," she said, sliding her arms around his waist.

He kissed her back, then hugged her tightly. "No place I'd rather be," he murmured into her hair, his voice a little hoarse.

She leaned her head against his shoulder. Red John was dead. His network crippled, thanks to Lorelei's information. Scalzi was in jail, his organization destroyed. They were free. And Jane was staying. She tightened her arms around him and buried her face deeper into his shoulder. He was staying, and he was hers. "Can we still go skiing on Valentine's day?" she mumbled into his shoulder.

He smiled against her hair. "Certainly, my dear."

"Good," Lisbon said, snuggling closer.

He kissed the top of her head again, then drew back and tilted her chin up so he could look her in the eye. "Remember the day we got married?"

Lisbon's eyebrows rose. "I'd hardly be likely to forget it, considering the circumstances."

"You called it a pretend marriage," he reminded her.

Lisbon bit her lip. "I remember."

"You seemed to be under the impression that I treated the whole idea of marrying you as a game."

"Not a game, exactly," Lisbon hedged.

"As part of one of my usual schemes, then," Jane insisted.

"Well—yes," Lisbon admitted. "I mean—it obviously meant a lot to me that you wanted to protect me enough to leave the Red John case behind, at least temporarily. But you acted like the marriage aspect was nothing but a minor bureaucratic detail. An inconvenient obstacle in the course of action you intended to follow."

Jane grimaced. "I suppose I did. In some ways, to me, the marriage is a minor bureaucratic detail. The part on paper, anyway. But I know it isn't to you. I should have made my position clearer."

"Your position?"

Jane nodded. "That the marriage was not so much about a convenient bureaucratic loophole, but more about—seizing an opportunity when it presented itself."

"Seizing an opportunity," she repeated, tilting her head to the side. She let her hands fall from around his waist. "What do you mean?"

"I fought against my feelings for so long," he said. "Everything in my head told me it was a bad idea to pursue anything with you. You were a threat to my revenge, and I was worried about putting you more firmly in his sights. But after Vegas, I missed you so much—" he bit his lip. "When Montrose said the only way I could come with you was if we were married, I was—relieved."

"Relieved?" Lisbon said, incredulous.

He nodded. "I've never been good at letting myself be vulnerable with anyone. And I already felt so—exposed, when it came to you. So the bureaucratic detail—it was a convenient shortcut. I would get to stay close to you, but I wouldn't have to—I could let you believe that the only reason I was going along with it was my concern for your safety." He looked into her eyes. "I wouldn't have to tell you how much I wanted it to be real." He took another deep breath. "But I'm telling you now." He gripped her hands. "I don't want to pretend you don't mean everything to me. I want this to be real." He kissed each palm in turn. "You and me."

"It is real, Patrick," she insisted. "I'm sorry I said it wasn't, okay? It is real. I don't want to pretend, either."

"No, I mean—I want to be married to you for real." He stepped back, then slowly knelt down on one knee.

Lisbon's eyes went wide and round.

"Teresa." He took her hand. "I never want you to doubt what this means to me. What you mean to me. I love you, and I forgive you for pushing me into the pool." He reverently kissed the finger with her rose ring, then gazed up at her, his heart in his eyes. "Teresa, will you please stay married to me?"

"Yes." Her answer was immediate. She didn't need to think about it. She squeezed his hands and leaned down to steal another soft kiss. "Yes."

Jane kissed her back with enthusiasm, rising to meet her.

She slid her arms around his waist again and kissed him once more. "So we're getting a dog, huh?"

"Yep."

"And this house that you want to buy next year." She took a deep breath, her heart beating too loudly in her ears. "Is it going to have a nursery?"

"I'd like it to," Jane said, running his fingers through her hair. "If you're amenable?"

She affected a neutral tone, but she suspected the smile threatening to split her face in two undermined the effort. "As long as you don't decorate it pink, I think I could come around to the idea."

"Good thing we already have the Prius," Jane commented, smiling down at her.

Lisbon gave him a skeptical look. "You're getting rid of the Citroen?"

"Well…" Jane hedged. "I thought I would just keep both."

She raised her eyebrows. "Does that mean I get to keep the BMW?"

"Of course," Jane said. "It's far safer than the Mustang."

"We're not keeping four cars for two people," Lisbon said firmly.

"We have plenty of time to sort out the details," Jane said. "I'm far more interested in whether we're looking for a house with a nursery or…multiple nurseries."

"Don't be silly," she chided him. "Of course we only need one nursery. By the time the second kid comes along, the first will be ready for a regular bedroom."

"Ah," he said, his smile brightening the whole room. "Silly me."

She stroked his face. "Are you going to keep the beard?"

"For now," he said. "It drives my wife wild, apparently."

She wasn't in a position to contradict him on this point, so she kissed him instead.

"On that subject," he said a few moments later, a little breathless. "What would you say to the idea of a proper honeymoon at some point?"

"Skiing?" she said hopefully.

"If you like. Or we could go tropical and try surfing. Or snorkeling. Or go to Europe and visit Stonehenge and the Coliseum. See the jewels in the sultan's palace in Istanbul. Or climb the Great Wall of China."

"Or go on that road trip you mentioned back when we were driving to Salt Lake," Lisbon suggested.

"Does that mean you changed your mind about the Airstream?" Jane said, delighted.

"Let's just say I'm not ready to rule anything out."

Jane's eyes lit up. "We could buy a boat. Sail around the world."

"Except that," Lisbon said. "I hate boats."

"I've always wanted to do that," Jane protested.

"Not happening," Lisbon said firmly. "Keep pitching."

Jane warmed to his theme. "Maybe we'll start with a long weekend in New York. Do all the most touristy things we can think of. Eat dinner somewhere absurdly expensive. Take in a show. Oh, and then later, on the road trip—we should make it a goal to visit every national park in the country. And as many state parks as possible. Did you know there are almost three hundred state parks in California alone? We could go to Morro Bay, Mount Tamalpais—on a clear day, you can see the whole city of San Francisco from Mount Tam, did you know that? Oh, and we could go to the caverns in Calaveras County—that's technically a state historic landmark, but I think it would be cool to check out the caves, don't you? And I'd like to visit the redwoods at some point..."

Lisbon listened, weighing in with her own opinions when Jane paused for breath or asked her a question about her preferences. But mostly, she listened. The sound of Jane, Patrick Jane, talking about having a life, about the two of them having a life, together, was a balm to her soul. She couldn't get enough of his voice describing all the things they'd do together, the places they'd see. It didn't matter to her which they chose first, as long as Jane would be by her side, whatever came next. Any of it—all of it—sounded absolutely wonderful.

She, for one, was really looking forward to their next great adventure.