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October brought many changes to Lisbon’s life. Not only were the changing temperatures and weather affecting her work, but it was also the first time in years that she had a steady boyfriend. She and Jane had gone quickly from work colleagues to something more, adapting and adjusting their individual lifestyles to reflect something more of a routine. Like most couples, they spent as much time together outside of work as possible, something that they cherished and soaked up every minute of on account of their demanding work schedules.
Going into this, Lisbon had assumed that it would be full of stolen moments, kisses, and cuddles in between shifts and cases, but she had been very wrong. Yes, there were plenty of stolen moments. Hugs in her office, a kiss or two in the car, and the very occasional snuggling up together on Jane’s couch while she reviewed case files. All very romantic. However, the thoughtful gestures that Jane showed her outside the work setting were so much better than she could have imagined.
He had all but moved in with her at this point, spending every moment of his free time with her. Not that she minded, of course. It was a lot better than the dingy motel or the CBI attic that he spent most of his time in before. Or, heaven forbid, his house in Malibu. But now, little signs of his residence with her showed up prominently in her apartment. His suit jacket would be slung over a kitchen chair, his toothbrush and shampoo were in her bathroom, and every night when they got home from work, his brown loafers found a spot tucked away by the door.
Lisbon had been very used to living alone for some time, and while at first, it was slightly jarring to have another person living with her, she had eased into it and it had become second nature for her to wake up in his arms. Which is exactly where she found herself one Saturday morning.
She had been pretending to stay asleep, reveling in the feeling of him running his fingers gently through her hair. The first time he had stayed, he had commented on how soft and silky it was. Ever since, he seemed to have some sort of obsession with playing with her hair whenever he could, wrapping the curls around his fingers or stroking the softer strands toward her scalp.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” he murmured against her neck.
“Morning. What time is it?”
“Ten. I figured I’d let you sleep in.”
“Mmm,” she groaned, rolling over to face him. “Thanks.”
He moved one of his hands from the ends of her dark hair to rest on the curve of her hip. “I thought you might need the rest, we didn’t get back from the office until pretty late last night.”
He was right. She had a huge pile of paperwork built up from several consecutive cases, and he had kindly waited for her. By the time they had gotten home, it was well past midnight, and they didn’t have much time to do anything else before practically collapsing into bed. Not that Lisbon minded.
“You’re sweet,” she said, leaning in to kiss him gently.
Jane took that opportunity to pull her closer to him so that she was practically laying on top of him. She dipped her head to kiss him again, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Lisbon was enjoying the feel of Jane’s mouth against hers when suddenly her stomach growled loudly.
“As nice as this is, I can tell good morning kisses are no longer top priority,” Jane said, laughing.
She sighed. “Nope. Neither of us had time to eat last night, so breakfast is quickly becoming the number one priority for me right now.”
“Point taken,” he said, raising his arms in mock surrender. “Come on, let’s go find you some food.”
Lisbon rolled out of the bed and grabbed one of his white button-up shirts from where it had been sitting on top of her dresser. Putting it on, she left it open over the top of her pajamas, a champagne-colored tank top, and loose gray sweatpants. Noticing her choice of clothes, Jane grinned.
“It’s a bit big on you, isn’t it?” he asked.
“No,” Lisbon said as she wrestled with rolling up the sleeves. “I like to wear it this way.”
“It looks lovely. Come on, let’s go make breakfast.”
If it had been up to Lisbon, breakfast would have been whatever energy bar she could grab first out of her cupboard. Out of the two of them, Jane was the cook, putting lots of time and effort into making her favorite foods and new dishes for her to try. Before he had moved in, her pantry looked as if no one lived there, whatever meager offerings sat on the shelves were probably expired. She was on the go so much that it had hardly mattered to her what she ate.
But now that Jane lived with her, he insisted on going to the grocery store at least once a week to stock up. In comparison, her once empty refrigerator was now full of different foods, some leftovers from meals earlier that week as well as ingredients for dishes Jane had yet to get around to cooking.
They sat down at her little table, plates filled with toast and scrambled eggs, Jane’s breakfast food of choice.
“Do you have any plans for today?” he asked.
“Not really,” she said, pausing to take a bite of her eggs. “Just planning on enjoying my day off. Why?”
“I thought we might do something together.”
“Well that’s a given, isn’t it?” Lisbon asked, smiling softly at him. “As if I would ever give up the little amount of time we have outside of work.”
He cleared her empty plate and coffee cup, rinsed them, and set them along with his to dry.
“You know, I was thinking we could do something for the fall,” Jane hedged. “It’s not long until Halloween, you know, and you don’t have a single pumpkin.”
Lisbon had never really been one for decorating or going all out for holidays, so she had almost forgotten that Halloween was so soon. She knew that Jane was far more exuberant about holidays than she was, so his reaction to her lack of decor wasn’t at all surprising.
“Are pumpkins really necessary to celebrate Halloween, Jane?”
“Yes!” he exclaimed. “Come on, what other time of the year are you going to get one?”
“But they don’t even do anything,” she argued.
“Not everything has to have a function to have a purpose, Lisbon. Sometimes things just exist to spread festivity or have a little bit of fun. Don’t you enjoy carving pumpkins?”
“You know what, I haven’t done that since I was little. My mom would take my brothers and I to pick out a pumpkin, and we were allowed to carve whatever we wanted into it. It’s been years since I’ve done that,” she said, a wistful lilt in her voice.
“I used to do that with Charlotte and Angela,” he said quietly.
In the short time they had been in a romantic relationship, Lisbon had learned that Jane sometimes felt uncomfortable talking about his past around her. He didn’t want her to feel like she came second in his life. To prevent that, he usually refrained from telling her stories about them or talking about his life in general before he had met her. But if she was being completely honest, it didn’t bother her at all when he talked about them. They were a part of his life, and moving on doesn’t mean forgetting.
“Tell me about them,” she asked gently. “But only if you want to.”
“Charlotte really enjoyed it, the whole aspect of getting her hands messy while cleaning out the pumpkin was her favorite thing. We had to put newspaper down all over the kitchen floor because she would fling seeds everywhere. It was a nightmare to clean up,” he said, eyes smiling. “But she loved it so much, we didn’t mind.”
“That’s sweet. You know, I don’t mind it when you talk about them.”
“I know. But I don’t want you to feel like you’re not special, because you are.”
“Jane, I get it. You love me, and you loved them too. Really, it doesn’t bother me. I think all the stories you remember are nice,” she said, moving in to hug him.
He buried his face in the hair at the top of her head and breathed in the spicy cinnamon scent of her shampoo. “I love you, you know that, right?”
“I love you too. What do you say we get dressed and go find a pumpkin patch?”
“Sounds like a great plan. First one up the stairs gets a kiss!” he decreed before dashing up.
_
Lisbon towel-dried her hair after getting out of the shower. Jane stood next to her, shirt unbuttoned as he brushed his teeth. She hummed appreciatively at the sight and planted a quick kiss on his collarbone before scampering off towards the closet in search of her favorite jeans.
Jane finished brushing his teeth and hair and went to join Lisbon in their bedroom. It had been very odd to refer to what was once her space as ‘theirs’, but it very quickly slipped into his vocabulary. He watched as she pulled on the navy blue v-neck he liked so much and layered her favorite leather jacket over it.
“Quit staring, mister,” she joked, upon catching his gaze.
“It’s very hard not to stare when you have the most beautiful woman on the planet standing in front of you.”
“Stop flirting,” she said, her face turning a very pleasing shade of pink. “You already have me, remember?”
“And I’m so glad I do. Falling in love with you was definitely not in my life plan, but I’m very happy that it happened.”
“Stop, I’m blushing,” Lisbon said.
He looked, and sure enough, there was a visible pink tinge to her cheeks. He pulled her in and kissed her nose softly.
“Ready to go?”
_
Lisbon mapped them to the closest pumpkin patch to her apartment, one which happened to be set up outside one of her favorite ice cream places. It was surprisingly crowded, although she shouldn’t have been surprised. It really was the perfect day to be out and about.
Jane was like an excited little kid, something that honestly came second nature to him. He grabbed her hand and practically pulled her out of the car and over to where pallets of pumpkins in all sizes and shapes lined the grassy area. Lisbon inhaled deeply and was surprised to find a hint of cold in the air. It had been too warm for weeks and she hadn’t quite felt the change from summer to fall.
“We’re each getting one, right?” Jane asked, eyes sparkling with delight.
“If you want,” she said, trying not to laugh at his expression. “I’m not an artist, I can’t guarantee I’ll be any good at actually carving something into it.”
“Come on, Lisbon, you don’t need to be good at it! It’s just for fun. And for what it’s worth, I think as soon as you start, you’ll remember how to do it,” Jane said sagely.
Lisbon knelt down and knocked on the top of one of the pumpkins, causing Jane to burst out laughing.
“It’s not like picking out a watermelon!” he cried, still unable to stop laughing.
She turned on him, face red with embarrassment. “It’s been a while, Jane, okay? I’m not exactly skilled at this.”
“Then it’s a good thing you have the pumpkin expert with you.”
“Oh, so modest,” she teased.
He bowed dramatically.
“Okay, pumpkin expert, what do you recommend?”
“Well, if you’re not cooking it, it doesn’t matter what it sounds like. Since we’re just making jack-o-lanterns, we just need to look at the outside.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Patience, Lisbon,” Jane chided. “I’m getting there. You need to make sure that the stem won’t come off, so you have somewhere to carve around. There needs to be at least one flat side so that the pumpkin won’t roll around, and you need to check for soft spots. If you can find one that fits all three of those, it’s a good pumpkin.”
She nodded. “Where did you even learn this?”
“Years of experience, my dear. Is there a certain shape of pumpkin you prefer?”
“Hmm, not really. I like the tall ones the best, but the round ones are also nice. Does the color matter?” Lisbon asked, gesturing to a white pumpkin.
“Sometimes. It doesn’t matter whether you get an orange one, a white one, or a green one even, but if you do decide to go with an orange one, get a lighter orange. That way it’ll last longer.”
Although she would never admit it to him, for fear of inflating his ego, Lisbon found it very endearing that he knew so much and took so much pride in being able to pick out the perfect pumpkin. He walked up and down the rows alongside her, one arm in its usual resting spot around her waist. Jane pointed out pumpkins that he liked every so often, but never stopped to pick one until she had found one that she liked.
“Hey, what about this one?” Lisbon asked excitedly, crouching beside a tall orange pumpkin. It was one of the bigger ones they’d seen, and it had a cute curled stem.
“That looks great,” Jane said, too preoccupied with the giant smile on her face to even give the pumpkin a second look.
“Perfect, I’m getting it,” she said, still beaming.
One of the red Radio Flyer wagons used to transport the pumpkins to people’s cars was sitting at the end of the row they were on, so she quickly ran over and claimed it. With little effort, she put her pumpkin in the wagon and continued to pull it behind them as they walked.
“You haven’t picked one yet, Jane.”
“I know. You just looked so happy about choosing yours, do you want to help me find one?”
“Yes!”
They made their way a couple of rows over to where the smaller pumpkins were. Jane eyed every single one of them carefully and meticulously. He knew that they were all perfectly fine pumpkins, but he wanted one that Lisbon picked for him.
“Teresa? What do you think?” he asked, watching her as she examined the pumpkins.
“I’m thinking...this one.”
She handed him a pumpkin that was short and round, a perfect shade of pastel orange. The stem was brownish-green, meaning it had just been picked recently. Surprisingly, for its height, it had a nice side to carve, just big enough to fit a jack-o-lantern face.
He grinned at her and gently placed his pumpkin in the wagon next to hers. “It’s perfect.”
After he had paid for their pumpkins and put them in the trunk of her car, they decided to get some ice cream before heading home. Lisbon was thrilled that all of the seasonal flavors were out and quickly decided on a cone of pumpkin pecan ice cream. Jane, ever true to his favorite flavor, chose vanilla.
Sitting down on one of the benches outside, they quickly ate the rapidly melting ice cream.
“This was a really great idea, thank you,” Lisbon said truthfully. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone to do seasonal activities with, and I probably wouldn’t have even thought of it if you hadn’t suggested it.”
“It’s what I’m here for, Lisbon. And besides, the fun hasn’t even really started yet. But if you’re interested, I know just how you can repay me.”
She raised her eyebrows. “How?”
“Kiss me.”
Lisbon laughed, closing the distance between them. She still had the sweetness of the pumpkin ice cream on her lips, and Jane could taste a hint of her cherry chapstick under it. To anyone passing by, they looked like just another couple, madly in love, out enjoying the perfect fall day. But to anyone who knew them, who knew what they had gone through for each other, it was bigger, so much more than a chance encounter.
On their way home, they stopped at a store to get some tealight candles for the jack-o-lanterns. Jane, true to form, insisted that they buy the cinnamon-scented ones, claiming that it would make the house smell like pumpkin spice.
Back at the apartment, Lisbon moved the kitchen table out of the way and spread old newspapers all over the floor to make it easier to clean up the seeds that were certain to get all over her kitchen. Jane grabbed permanent markers, spoons, and knives from the kitchen drawers and laid them out along with the pumpkins.
“Okay, this is the part I don’t remember how to do,” Lisbon said.
“Easy. You just draw the face you want to carve, and then cut a circle into the top so that you can get all of the strings out of the inside.”
Once they had each drawn their jack-o-lantern faces, Jane expertly cut the top off of his pumpkin. Lisbon followed suit but ended up with a more lopsided cut than anything.
“Don’t you want to change first?” Lisbon asked him upon seeing that he was still wearing the white button-up shirt. “What if you get pumpkin bits on it?”
“It’ll be fine. I’ve never gotten it all over me, so there’s no real need to change.”
“Suit yourself. I’m going to at least put a different shirt on, this is one I usually wear to work and I don’t exactly want to have to explain why there’s orange all over the front.”
When she came back to the kitchen, she was wearing an old Chicago Bears shirt, one that she usually wore around the house whenever she was cleaning or fixing something. It wasn’t her beloved jersey, she would never risk getting something on that, but Jane had noticed when he moved in that she had a ridiculous amount of shirts with the logo or the colors on it.
Of course, when he cleaned out the inside of his pumpkin, hardly a seed or string went astray. As soon as Lisbon started cleaning hers though, the kitchen floor started to look like a paintball competition had taken place.
“Lisbon, slow down,” Jane protested, laughing a little to himself. “You’re getting pumpkin everywhere!”
She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead, leaving a streak of bright orange. “This isn’t as easy as you make it look!”
One look at her face caused him to double over in laughter again. “Lisbon, you’ve got, uh, pumpkin on your face,” he said in between laughing fits.
She raised one hand to her face and felt the pumpkin streaked across her forehead. Standing up, she ran into the bathroom to look. He could hear her laughing as she made her way back to the kitchen, collapsing in laughter next to the half-empty pumpkin.
“Jane, come here,” she said, beckoning him closer to her.
Without warning, she raised her pumpkin covered hands to his face, and dragged her fingers across the bridge of his nose just underneath his eyes, creating an orange version of the black stripes that football players put under their eyes.
“Lisbon!” He said in surprise. “Come back here!”
She squeaked and had run out of the kitchen to the living room, but he was right behind her. He picked her up by the waist and swung her around in a circle.
“Put me down!” she shrieked, still not used to how easy it was for Jane to lift her off the ground.
“Nope!” he said gleefully, carrying her back to the kitchen and setting her down on the newspaper-covered floor.
As she looked at him, she realized there were small orange handprints on his once-clean white shirt, having found their spot there when he picked her up.
“Sorry about your shirt,” Lisbon said, pointing at the places where she left handprints.
“It’s fine, I told you I never got anything on it. I never said anything about other people getting pumpkin all over my clothes,” he said with a smile.
They finished carving faces into their jack-o-lanterns, stopping only for a kiss every once in a while. Jane’s pumpkin turned out almost perfect, the eyes were the same size and the smile nice and even. Lisbon’s, on the other hand, was slightly messier, the eyes not lined up the right way, and the smile was lopsided and off-center. But to Jane, it looked perfect. When it got dark out, they put the candles inside and lit up the pumpkins, casting a warm orange glow across the floor.
“I’m so glad you had this idea,” Lisbon said, resting her head against Jane’s shoulder.
“They look lovely,” he agreed. “Just perfect.”
As the candles died down, he kissed her slowly and gently. And for that moment, nothing else existed but the two of them, loving each other and being loved in return.