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Married life, Jane discovered, was just as sweet as he remembered. Sweeter, even, with his change in perspective. He had always known he was lucky to have Angela as his wife, but without meaning to, he knew he’d taken her for granted. He took for granted the time he had – never recoverable, but he had been given a second chance, and would be a greater fool to repeat his mistakes. Having someone to come home to at the end of the day (or in his case), waiting on his someone to arrive home changed everything.
Leaning ever so slightly over the table saw, he was determining the width of the built-in bookshelves he had planned for the living room, when someone gripped him from behind, wrapping small, freckled arms around his waist.
“Hey sweetheart,” He quickly shut off the saw before reaching back to rub her forearm. “You’re home early.”
“Mmhm.” Lisbon rested her head on his shoulder. This was cause for consideration. She had become better at showing affection since they had started seeing other romantically, and much more so during their marriage, but still, it made his heart ache, seeing as how she closed herself off for years.
“How’d the Templeton takedown go?” He asked carefully, remembering her commentary on the embezzler turned murderer a few nights before. Even Cho had slipped up and shared details of their ongoing investigation over a medium-rare steak. Jane knew they were close to success.
“Surprisingly according to plan. Well, since you weren’t there, I mean.” She threw in a dig. “He was too much a coward to put up a fight,”
“Most likely, it was you he was afraid of, m’dear.” Jane slipped off his safety goggles and brought an arm around her waist, leading her towards the house. He had seen firsthand the quicker temper of his pregnant wife firsthand, brought on by hormones, which had the effect of striking fear into the hearts of Texas outlaws everywhere. Only once a relatively new transfer had joked that in order to get information out of a suspect, they should rile up Lisbon and leave the two of them alone, before Jane had stepped in with; I’m not using my pregnant wife to get a confession. If she wants to do the job, by all means, but I’ll know if you’ve worn her out. The agent might have thought Jane joking – but he meant every word. The woman in question was becoming better at listening to her doctor’s advice and her own body’s cues, but the ingrained urge to put her nose to the grindstone would take time to be tampered down with the need for rest. Jane knew it came from years and years of being the one solely responsible for her wellbeing.
“I missed you today,” She stopped to toe off her shoes at the door, gripping the hutch for support.
“You did, did you?” A grin stretched across his face.
“Mhm. Now that the house is finally coming along, would you…” Came around she to meet his sky-blue eyes, “Ever go back?” There wasn’t a question of what it is Teresa asked, even if it took him by surprise. And he knew that he might, but not readily, not without cause.
“Is it important to you that I do? Or are you asking because you think I’ll be lonely?” Both, Lisbon wanted to say.
“I do miss working with you,” She felt her cheeks flush. “I’d understand if you’re finished with that…chapter of your life, but…it’ll be strange knowing you’re not coming back.” For weeks, she had caught herself glancing back at the patch of carpet that had housed his couch, now sitting sideways in her condo’s spare room.
“For the both of us.” Nodded Jane. “I’m willing to help out, if I can, should Cho ever ask. But I would prefer not being involved.” He knew the stench of death all too well. The leave he’d taken before when in exile brought about a reprieve unlike one he’d ever known – a chance at waking up and trusting he wouldn’t see a corpse or have a serial killer taunt him. Those two years in exile were blessed in that respect, but although his surroundings may have been quiet, peaceful, restful, he’d been stuck in a limbo of a different kind. Though he slept well at night, there was nothing to be accomplished during the day – and if there were, again, there was no one to come home to at the end of the day.
At the slight look of disappointment that crossed his wife’s face, he cleared his throat. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere.” More than anything now, he wanted her to know that. He would take it day by day.
“I guess this is going to take some getting used to,” said Lisbon, sure that he could see through her attempts at concealing her disappointment. They had over a decade of working together – that had to be enough, no, she chastised herself, it was enough that they were out of danger. Seeing Jane at peace after everything he’d been through, hadn’t that been what she had prayed for? Ever since their first year working together, she had remembered him in her prayers, rosary beads clutched in her hands as she stood before stained glass. Taken by a sudden, unwelcome wave of emotion, Lisbon scrubbed a hand over her face, willing herself not to cry.
“Lisbon,” He sighed, reaching down to stroke her hair. “What is it?”
“You.”
“Me?” His voice hitched.
“You’re happy.”
“I am, you know that.”
“I wanted this for you…even at the CBI when I didn’t believe it could happen, and now, it doesn’t feel what I expected.”
“What did you expect?” Asked Jane carefully. He suspected she had not been able to see a future for the two of them, even as she may have hoped they’d both make it out unscathed. The former seemed an impossibility, or a luxury neither could afford.
“I don’t know. But this is better than anything I could have hoped. It is,” She nodded to herself, “It doesn’t feel real sometimes. Seeing you always makes my day,” Even if their investigation was the most depressing one they had all month, or even if she’d been stuck at her desk all day (and Tork had taken from her secret chocolate stash, again), she knew that the man who had been by her side for the better half of fourteen years was waiting. She could accept that they would no longer be partners in the field – it was a small price to pay for all God had granted her.
“Teresa, my love,” Jane gripped her shoulders, “did you need to sit down?” Belatedly, it occurred to her that she was standing in place trembling.
“I’m okay.” She said, leaning into his chest.
“Are you hungry?” The small growl that had spoken into the near silence made him chuckle. “I wasn’t planning on cooking for a while, but there’s ice cream in the freezer.” He hadn’t resisted against purchasing a small icebox for the house as soon as Jimmy had begun to wire their electric, stocking up on the best store-bought ice cream money can buy.
“Sounds perfect,” She said. Nothing else mattered then, she thought. None of the stressors that came with pregnancy nor the tension that cut in like a knife during work. “One more thing,”
“Hmm?”
“Tomorrow you’ll have to help me get the couch from my condo. It belongs here with us instead.” That way, she knew she’d still have another piece of her old Jane, one that smelled of old books and spilt tea. One that watched her office and her expressions, took her out to eat in the spur of the moment, one that knew when she was hungry and knew when she was scared.
Later, as Jane would finish off his rapidly melting vanilla ice cream on the front porch with his arm around his wife’s shoulder, he would be reminded (and not for the last time) of how lucky he was.