Okay...here we go...the possible ending. I feel like my baby's all grown up or something. Wow.

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides.

And when it subsides you have to make a decision.

You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together

that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

--Captian Corelli's Mandolin

Lisbon and Cho rushed into the waiting room, followed quickly by Mr. and Mrs. Offerman. They were escorted back to see their daughter, who had only minor injuries. Lisbon breathed a sigh of relief. They had found the girl. Her mood quickly changed as she saw Grace Van Pelt sitting in the corner of the room, wearing a bloody tank top and clutching a handful of tissues.

"Van Pelt, what happened?" Lisbon exclaimed.

"Rigsby got hit. It....it was my fault." She said through tears. Jane walked into the waiting room, just in time to hear her recount the events. Lisbon didn't say anything to comfort the crying agent. But comforting was never her strong point. Plus, they knew very well that they needed to wait for backup. Cho walked down to the food court to get Jane tea and Lisbon coffee. Lisbon went to the front desk to demand information on the wounded agent. You could hear her arguing from across the room. Telling them that she was with the CBI, and that she needed to know what was going on with her agent. The woman at the front desk only shushed her, and told her that she couldn't release any information at this time. Jane sat with Van Pelt, wishing there was something he could say.

"It wasn't your fault." He said softly. This only made the tears run faster, as she stared at the ceiling, trying to hold herself together.

"Yes it was. He told me to stay in the car, but I was too stupid to listen." She replied.

"It comes with the territory. There's always a chance that something will go wrong. It probably would have happened if you had listened anyway." He said with a comforting smile.

"He was covering me," she said as the put her head in her hands, "it should be me in there."

"He would never forgive himself if it was you laying in there." Jane pointed out. She let out a small laugh as she shook her head.

"Well partners or not, he didn't need to do that." She replied, being quickly cut off by Jane.

"You really believe he did it because you're partners?" Jane probed. She shook her head "no". She knew why he did it. It was the same reason she ran down that hill in the first place.

A small framed woman wearing blue scrubs, came out of the elevator across the room. She walked into the middle of the waiting room and asked "Which one of you is Grace?".

" I have someone in intensive care asking about you." She said, when Grace stood up. Grace looked at her and said a silent thank you.

"How is he?" She asked on the ride to the second floor.

"He won't let us put an IV in, until he sees you." She said with a hint of smile in her voice. Grace let out a sigh, at least he was alive. They'd find a way to deal with everything else later.

The white walls of the hospital did little to encourage her. There was hardly any color anywhere, except for the dark blue tiles every couple feet on the floor. She never liked hospitals, they were cold and un-welcoming. She stopped in front of room 212 and thanked the nurse for allowing her to see him. The nurse only grunted in response.

As she walked in, Rigsby was lying under white sheets, yelling at the band of nurses who were strapping him down.

"Sir you need an IV. You've lost a good bit of blood. Don't you want to get better?" One asked while holding the needle.

"I don't care about that. I just want to see her!" He bellowed, while struggling against five pairs of hands. Grace walked from around the curtain, and he stopped moving. His right arm was bandaged from his elbow to his shoulder. He laid completely still, and let the nurses fill his left arm with IV's. He had a few monitors hooked to his chest, one that she noticed was beeping. She didn't know much about medical equipment, but she decided that it was probably for his heart rate. The nurses walked out of the room shortly after, and she walked closer to him.

"Are you okay?" He asked her softly. She smiled and wiped another tear from her eye.

"You have blood on your shirt." He noted.

"That's from you." She said, and let out a small laugh. He mouthed an "oh".

"I was so worried about you. You didn't come with me in the ambulance. I thought maybe you were hurt too." He said, as she grabbed a tissue from the side stand.

"They wouldn't let me come. I begged them...I wanted to..." She said before breaking up.

"Why are you crying? You're far to pretty to be crying." He teased, and she laughed.

"It was my fault." She said slowly.

"No. No, don't you ever say that." He replied quickly.

"I should have stayed in the car." She argued.

"Hey, hey, hey." He said shooshing her. He pulled her down to his level where she, without hesitation, wrapped her arms around him. He moved his left arm as far as he could without ripping out IV's, and rubbed small circles on her lower back.

"This stuff happens sometimes. I don't want you to think for one minute, that it was your fault. You weren't the one firing at me." He said softly.

"No...but..." She said before he cut her off.

"No buts. I'm just glad it was me and not you." He said whole heartedly. He suddenly tensed. He felt her begin to move, letting her lips graze over his cheek. He felt, what seemed to be a hundred small kisses land on his face. He was in shock as one brushed the corner of his mouth. He felt as though he was on fire, like waves of electric were coursing through his system, leaving little tingles behind where her lips were. Suddenly, the door opened and they were greeted by Lisbon, Cho, and Jane. Jane stood at the by the window holding a pot with six white flowers. Grace looked at him quizzically.

"Rigsby, Grace forgot these downstairs when the nurse came to get her. I wanted to make sure you got them." He said, handing him the flowers.

"Thank you..." Rigsby said looking from Jane to Grace then back to Jane.

"She knew how much you liked tuberose's." Jane said, smirking. Rigsby immediately went red, suddenly understanding the inside joke. Then he looked back at Grace, who was just smiling innocently, probably because she just playing along, and had no idea there was anything more to it.

Lisbon ran over a hundred questions with Rigsby; starting from when he and Van Pelt got there, to when he fell.

"Well then, who shot Scott Cordell?" Cho asked immediately. Lisbon and Jane looked at Grace suddenly.

"I did." Grace said quietly.

"Nailed him right between the eyes, Boss. What a shot!" Rigsby said from the bed. Lisbon smiled, throughly impressed by the rookie agent. Jane just stood in the back smiling, he didn't want to ruin the moment. Just as a nurse brought in Rigsby's dinner, Lisbon stood and motioned for them to leave. She turned and asked Van Pelt if she was coming, but she only shook her head "no". Lisbon was about to rebut, mentioning the paper work that needed filled out, but Jane tugged her arm.

"Let her worry about it later." He told her quietly.

"But she shot someone and that paperwork has to be do--". Jane instantly cut her off.

"Later."

Van Pelt opened the container of pudding and brought a spoonful to Rigsby's mouth.

"Van Pelt, you don't have to feed me. I'm capable." He said smiling.

"How? You can't work either arm." She pointed out. He didn't argue. She was right, plus, this was much better than some male nurse feeding him.

"Dessert first?" He asked her in a mock-tone, though he was actually pretty shocked.

"I think you've earned it today. Plus, I like pudding." She said, snatching the bite that he wasn't taking and then laughing.

"Here." She said again, bringing the spoon to his mouth. His looked concentrated on her face.

"Grace?" He asked shyly.

"Yeah?" She answered.

"Ask me again." He said just above a whisper. She took a moment to think, and for a minute wasn't sure what he was talking about. And then it dawned on her, and she knew that the moment was coming.

"What do you most want to be doing right now?" She replied, blushing slightly. He looked around the room, not seeing anyone hanging around outside to yell at him. He motioned for her to come and sit on the bed. She moved quickly, sitting on the edge closest to him.

"When you asked me, you caught me off guard. I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't even know how to narrow it down." He said, his cheeks turning pink.

"I want to love you." He said, as she smiled back at him. "I want to be able to hold you, and, hug you, kiss you, protect you, and comfort you...I want to be loving you." He said. She smiled.

"Wayne?" She asked blushing wildly.

"Yeah?" He asked, half expecting her to move away.

"Are you done?" She asked instead. He chuckled and said "no".

"No. There's a million more things, most of them physical, that I want to be doing to you right now. But--" He continued, completely startled as she cut him off with her mouth. It started off slow and soft, but quickly grew to rushed and demanding. And just before Grace had time to swoop her tongue into his mouth, his heart monitor started beeping dangerously fast.

"Okay, ask me now." She said smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

"What do you want to do right now?" He asked, pinching his leg to make sure that this wasn't just a dream.

"I want to sit like this," she said, straddling his thighs, "and I want to kiss you until the nurses demand that I move." She said, as he looked back at her wide eyed, and let out a soft groan.

"Then, in a few days, once you're released, you're coming home with me. And I will make sure that you're nursed back to full health." She said kissing his nose lightly.

"Then what?" He asked, trying his luck.

"Then...then we go talk to Lisbon." She replied.

"I love you, Grace Van Pelt." He said with complete sincerity.

"I love you, Wayne Rigsby."

So......what do we think? Was it worth the trip?