Reality Bytes

"Goddammit Jane! What have I told you about doing that. It's going to be all over the newspapers tomorrow. Bertram will go mad. Honestly when will you ever learn?" Lisbon looked to the heavens before strutting back to her office, her face flushed and angry.

She flopped down in her chair and grabbed the stress ball off the desk, squeezing it so hard that her knuckles went white. Narrowing her eyes at the sound of approaching footfall, she glared belligerently in the direction of the open door. At first a white handkerchief was flapped round the door to signify surrender, tentatively followed by Jane's head. He looked warily at the potential missile in Lisbon's hand, she didn't throw like a girl and her aim was notoriously good. Dropping a precautionary hand over the crown jewels, he cautiously slipped into her office, a nervous smile played on his lips.

"Honestly Lisbon, how was I supposed to know that the mayor's wife was sleeping with the groundskeeper? Although I must admit Mellors was looking decidedly pleased with himself." Jane vainly tried to talk his way out of trouble, but was met by a stony silence. "I was only joking about Lady C, and no one was more surprised than me when the mayor attacked Mellors."

"The frigging mayor's wife is called Constance. She naturally assumed you knew something from the way you spoke. It would never have entered her mind that someone would just randomly shoot from the hip, without regard for collateral damage - but there again she's never met you before." That stress ball was really earning its keep Jane mused, averting his eyes from Lisbon's contemptuous glower.

She shuddered at the recollection of the mayor beating seven bells out of the groundskeeper in front of the assembled press. There was no up side to this story. Lisbon's wrath knew no bounds "So now we've dragged the mayor's family through the gutter, besmirched the reputation of a fine man and his office, and yet we're still no closer to finding the murderer."

Resisting the temptation to say he'd never met an honest politician, seriously Lisbon really did look fit to explode, Jane hung his head and examined his feet sheepishly. Finally he raised his eyes slightly to observe the profile of the angry woman pumping the stress ball with all her might, getting redder and redder as she seemed to get caught in some involuntary repetitive cycle.

-ooo00ooo-

"Circuits are overloading again, switch to power saving mode." Fischer watched as Wylie tweaked some parameters, and they watched Lisbon visibly slow down until she sat back with a deep sigh against the back of her chair.

"Demand reducing, circuits normalising." Wylie looked from his screen to Lisbon, who was breathing more regularly now that she had reverted back to idle mode.

"Boss, she's in danger of burning out unless we reset that perception filter back to normal. She's picking up on everything." Fischer cast a worried look in Abbott's direction; there'd be hell to play for if they lost another droid. It was bad enough that the Kristina one seemed in a permanent state of standby, the communication interface had been mysteriously blocked.

Abbott tapped his lip as he considered the best option. "Just back it off 10%, the whole point of the exercise is to see how they cope under pressure. We need to see how far Jane can adapt to being challenged; this artificial neural network algorithm is getting a lot of attention from upstairs."

"Ok Boss. You heard that Wylie, adjust the threshold." Fischer turned back to her screen to observe the effects.

"Bullshit filter set to 90%." Wylie said with a grin. Abbott chuckled in the background as Fisher gave Wylie an icy stare. Did he have to make a joke out of everything?

-ooo00ooo-

Jane couldn't believe his luck; she seemed to be calming down of her own accord, without him even having to go through the usual routine. There was something strange about Lisbon at the moment that he couldn't put his finger on. Unaccountable mood shifts, signs of overheating, but there again she was in her forties now, perhaps... Whatever, all he knew was that he was walking on eggshells trying to predict her moods, on top of everything else.

He quickly sorted through the available data and computed the next logical step. "What if we could find the cause of death before the press get their teeth into this?"

"Uh?" Lisbon shook her head, as if re-engaging with the conversation.

"You know Lisbon, how about we do some real detecting - who knows it could be fun?" Jane chanced a cheesy grin, to test the waters. So far so good.

Lisbon blinked a few times before launching back into offensive mode. "Detecting!? That's what we're supposed to be doing, not going round acting like a wrecking ball."

Jane glanced into the bullpen to check for reinforcements. Ah good there was Cho. Jane narrowed his eyes and stared intently at Cho, and then almost as if bidden Cho rose from his chair and stiffly made his way towards Lisbon's office.

-ooo00ooo-

Fischer breathed in deeply. "How the hell does he do that? Manipulate the others at will."

Abbott sat up in his chair and glanced at the readouts. "Did you see that spike in Cho's neural waves coincides exactly with the one in Jane's. Any theories Wylie?"

Wylie shook his head, perplexed at the implications of what had occurred. "It can't happen in theory. It's as if he's tapped into Cho's program somehow, but I've no idea how he's done it."

"Any news on the Cho upgrade yet? That facial compound is way too inflexible, it's as if he's had Botox; the face doesn't move at all when he speaks." Fischer had put in the requisition weeks ago.

"We could try altering the gain on the expression loop to see if that helps." Wylie tweaked the adjustment towards its upper limit.

Abbott pulled a face as he observed Cho's face contort into a forced smile. "Ughh. Turn it down Wylie, that's just so wrong, it just looks like he's got gas."

-ooo00ooo-

"Ah Cho. What do we know about the victim then?" Jane looked at Cho curiously, what was with the weird grimace? Perhaps he was ailing.

Cho stood unblinking in the doorway, a study in impassivity. "Sofia Burnett. Twenty six years old, worked for the mayor's office for the last three years. Single, no dependants or relatives in the area." Cho recited the information robotically, in that monotone way that cops did when giving evidence. Neither deviating nor offering any insight beyond the question asked of them.

The body had been found in the margins of the lake beneath the willow tree, the victim's coat had caught on the roots of the overhanging tree leaving her eerily suspended in the water. Wide eyed and at first sight undamaged, she floated on her back in the water like Ophelia. As Jane had knelt down at the waterside, he saw no signs of a struggle on the lakeside, it was as if she had fallen from above somehow. If he wasn't mistaken there was a faint smell of pear drops. There were no telling marks on the corpse which was oddly serene, they would have to wait for the forensic report to find the exact cause of death.

"Have the tox results come back yet?" Lisbon started to run through the process of elimination with her usual efficiency.

"Nothing yet Boss, I'll get Van Pelt to chase it up." Cho turned abruptly and made a direct line to Van Pelt to transmit the message.

The gorgeous red head was perfectly formed, but her dead eyed expression gave her the appearance of an inaminate doll at times. Her glazed look of concentration as she pounded away at the keyboard belied the quickfire computations going on in the background.

On hearing the chair pulled out behind her she stopped and turned. Her lips curled into a smile when she saw Rigsby taking off his jacket. Her smile was reciprocated with a sideward look at Cho, to see if he had noticed anything.

"Hi Grace." Rigsby said with a smile.

"Hi you." One eyebrow of her doll like face quirked suggestively.

Cho sent out a timely grunt to remind them he was present; that reminded him he had cheese again for lunch.

Van Pelt put her work face back on and read the report that had just come in. "That's interesting the victim was about 6 weeks pregnant according to the ME."

"Bingo!" The team looked over to Jane, who was back on his sofa. An ear splitting grin manifested his glee as his prepared to present the reveal. "It's obvious."

"Just spit it out Jane." Cho jerked his head to where a small figure was making her way over to the bullpen.

Impervious to the belligerent look on Lisbon's face, Jane continued with his game. "It's all in the report. The final clue was the faint hint of pear drops."

Lisbon rubbed her temples irritably, feeling the onset of another headache, then she suddenly perked up as she pieced the evidence together. "Ketones."

"Oh you always have to spoil it Lisbon." Jane's face fell in disappointment, damn Lisbon was unusually perceptive today. "She may have been suffering from gestational diabetes. Sometimes the deficit of food caused by excessive morning sickness causes the body to convert its own muscle for fuel thereby forming ketones. The ME estimated the time of death at 1.30, so she was meeting someone around lunchtime and probably missed another meal. That combined with her already low blood sugars would lead to drowsiness and confusion. She had no hope of escaping when she fell in the lake - it was all an unfortunate accident. Although I hazard a guess she was supposed to be meeting the father, who stood her up, so in some ways he was to blame."

Cho glanced up from the medical records and gave a quick nod to indicate Jane was right about the diabetes.

"Grace do we have the last number she dialled? That will tell us who the father is." Jane tapped the number into his phone, but after a short delay it went to answer phone. He tried again a few minutes later, and noticed the mayor, who was just about to leave, glance down at his phone without answering. Another grin crossed Jane's face, he pointed at the mayor. "Lisbon, now this is getting very interesting." Honest politician be damned! Jane pressed redial and the mayor's phone went off again, this time he answered.

"Hello..."

Jane sped over to the mayor followed by Lisbon in close pursuit, she was dreading what that damn fool consultant going to do next. The mayor just glowered at them, still smarting at the incident with the press.

"We've found out who killed your assistant. It was you." Jane winced at the sharp dig in the ribs from Lisbon.

The mayor just glared at Lisbon. "That's it, I've had enough. You'll all be looking for new jobs by the end of the day."

Lisbon bristled angrily at the attempted intimidation."I think what Jane is trying to say is that you inadvertently caused Sofia's death by not turning up for your appointment. Did you know she was carrying your child?"

Jane grinned, way to go Lisbon. Annoyingly Jane pressed redial again to push the point home. "The last number she dialled was yours, in fact she had dialled it several times in the last hour. If you hadn't have stood her up, in all likelihood she would still be alive today. Ergo you killed her."

Lisbon just rolled her eyes, honestly there was no controlling him.

-ooo00ooo-

"Mmm Didn't take him long to reason that one out, we'll have to make the next one more challenging? You doing the re-sequencing tonight Fischer?" Abbott read down the software updates they were due to upload.

"Yes we've got the personality upgrade for Rigsby, see if that makes any difference and we've got a whole new load of memories for Jane. Seems a bit extreme what they're planning – are they trying to push him over the edge?" Fischer frowned, it was undeniable she had a soft spot for Jane.

"Fischer, you seem to be forgetting he's not real. This is groundbreaking work the boundaries need to be pushed from time to time." Abbott reminded her.

"Just sayin..No worries boss I'll make sure it's all done by morning." Fischer put her head down and started to read through the list again.

Fischer had waited until they were all in standby mode before setting the uploads going. Making sure no-one was around, she swiped her access card and let herself in to the controlled area, making a beeline for Jane's resting place. The flickering light at the socket indicated the wireless upload was underway. It wasn't the first nocturnal visit Fischer had made to Jane; she was fascinated by him for some reason. The soft curls and lightly etched lines on the face all added to the allure, unable to resist she reached out and stroked the cheek of the sleeping face trailing her fingers over his lower lip. He was so real but so unattainable, she felt her pulse quickening as she imagined what it would be like to be with him in the real world. She lowered her head and placed the lightest of kisses on his cheek only to jump back with a start when his eyes suddenly opened. Crap! That shouldn't have happened. The blue green eyes just stared ahead unfocussed. Trying to keep out of the direct line of sight Fischer noticed a slight quirk of a smile on the lips before the eyes closed and Jane returned to standby.

Quickly making her escape, Fischer checked the other uploads were in progress before letting herself out of the compound. She was haunted by that look, and although she knew she was breaking all the rules, she decided to chance another visit on her next night shift.

The next time Fischer visited Jane woke again, he was seemingly more cognisant of her presence, his eyes focussed on her and his hand reached out to touch her. Fischer felt a real connection between them that she couldn't explain, it was as if he were looking into her soul.

As the days went on Fischer developed an irrational jealousy of Lisbon, and was more than happy when the next stage of the program was implemented.

-ooo00ooo-

Another day, another homicide. It hadn't taken Jane that long to identify the killer, who had taken an innocent bystander hostage in an attempt to avoid arrest.

It wasn't really Jane's fault, he'd sensed something was wrong the minute they had walked in, but the suspect was unpredictable and none of the usual talking down techniques seemed to be working. Sensing they were getting nowhere, Lisbon ignored Jane's warnings and approached the suspect, talking very slowly just trying to calm her down, and the next minute Lisbon was lying in a pool of blood on the floor bleeding out.

Distraught, Jane held her hand and kept talking to her, all the while pressing down on the wounds in a vain attempt to stem the flow of blood until help arrived.

-ooo00ooo-

"So which scenario have they chosen. Live or die?" Wylie wasn't quite as dispassionate about the outcome as his professionalism required, he was rather fond of Lisbon.

"Die." Fischer muttered under her breath, causing Abbott to turn his head sharply.

"Perhaps, but not yet. The experiment must run its course." Abbott frowned at Fischer's emotional involvement. Security had alerted him of Fischer's contact with Jane and it was highly irregular. Wylie was currently investigating how Jane had overridden the standby setting. Rather than sanction Fischer, it had been decided to let the situation run its course and see what transpired.

-ooo00ooo-

Jane held a silent vigil at Lisbon's bedside; the culprit had been apprehended so there was no need for him to be back at the office. Left alone with his thoughts, he replayed events in his head. It all seemed unreal to him, he kept glancing up at the blinking light in the corner of the room. He had noticed that whenever he went to do anything, it seemed to precipitate the onset of some new activity. His whole reality seemed skewed at the moment, the nocturnal memories had seemed very real to him, but how could they be? They were like a siren call into another world; next time he would force himself to wake up.

Returning his thoughts to Lisbon who lay pale and unconscious before him, he really couldn't bear to lose her. He ran his fingers over her face tracing out her eyes and lips moving his hand down to her wrist until he felt a connection. With his head bowed low he contemplated Lisbon's deepest thoughts.

-ooo00ooo-

"Abbott, Fischer look at this – he's reading her." Wylie saw the synchronised brain patterns.

Abbott peered closely at the screen, shaking his head in amazement. " He's overcome the communication protocol and tapped into her network somehow."

"Do you think he knows what he is doing, or does he think this some psychic vibe he's tapped into?" Fischer wondered how deep he had probed into Lisbon's psyche, and whether he would discover her destiny.

-ooo00ooo-

Jane lifted his head sadly, knowing his presence at Lisbon's bedside now served no purpose. His mind was in turmoil as he struggled to get his head around what was going on, of course there was no such thing as psychics, but his premonition felt very real. He gripped Lisbon's hand hard, trying to send her a message, never wanting to let her go. It was all to no avail, her breathing become shallower and shallower until eventually she flat lined. He'd never had the chance to tell her how much she meant to him, how much she could have meant to him.

Secretive at the best of times, Jane spiralled into a pit of despondency, only communicating when absolutely essential. In truth, he was playing over events in his mind and nothing seemed real, it was as if Lisbon's fate had been pre-ordained, it went beyond all logic. These thoughts bordered on the last refuge of a madman, seeking refuge in some far flung theory. Somehow he knew those nocturnal visits were the key to things.

-ooo00ooo-

Glad as she was to see Lisbon out of the way, it still tugged at her heart strings seeing Jane descend into this sea of despair – who knew their grief could ever be so real? The nocturnal visits increased in frequency, and her fingers would linger over the stubble on the gaunt face. Each time she felt a deeper connection between them, sometimes he would wake up and stare deep into her eyes, and her heart would flutter as she stood transfixed by his attention. Of late he had started reaching out to her, holding her hand to deepen the connection and running his hand down her side. No words were ever spoken.

When Fischer was sure he was back in standby mode, she went to swipe her card to access the concealed entrance, only to find it was missing. She retraced her footsteps to Jane's resting place, dropping on her hands and knees to see if it had fallen on the floor, then searching the bed , but it was nowhere to be seen. Quickly punching in the override code Fischer let herself out, a sense of panic overwhelmed her; she didn't want that falling into the wrong hands.

-ooo00ooo-

Jane peered through half closed eyelids watching Fischer's every movement, he fingered the card tucked up his sleeve, guessing this held the answer to his problem.

Fearful that the card would be cancelled, Jane decided to act quickly. He guessed his visitor Kim, who he had managed to get a good read on, would not want to admit her loss straight away in case her card turned up, so he reckoned he had a few hours to play with. It was probably better to wait until daylight, when his absence could be explained by him going off on one of his jaunts. Jane tentatively placed the card against the reader disguised as a light switch and watched the bookcase move aside.

Feeling conspicuous in his waistcoat and shirt sleeves, he noticed everyone was wearing white coats and dipped into the first open room to grab a white coat, It was a bit big but better than nothing. He surveyed the room inquisitively, it seemed like a workshop but not one he could get his head around. Approaching the slab in the middle of the room it crossed his mind that this resembled an operating room rather than a conventional workshop. The metal doors that led to the room beyond were sealed but not locked, the gentle hum of a refrigeration unit caught his ear and he approached with caution.

He wasn't expecting what he found behind the doors, individual pods held bodies in suspended animation. As he traversed the line of pods he recognised some of the bodies as being people from his cases. His heart lurched when he came across one he knew so well, it was Lisbon. Examining the controls on the pod he flicked the switch from de-activate to activate and his heart raced when he saw some colour return to Lisbon's face replacing the ghastly pallor of her inanimate state of a few minutes ago. A furrow appeared between her eyebrows as she started to return to consciousness. Her eyes shot open then squinted as they accommodated the light and slowly her green eyes started to focus. A flicker of recognition turned to blind panic as she realised that she was trapped. A surge of hope welled through Jane, and he desperately tried to open the pod, but as soon as the alarm sounded he knew he would have to abort that idea for now. Realising that it would be torture to leave her activated while still trapped, he mouthed "I'll be back", pressed deactivate and watched as she slowly reverted to dormancy, before making his escape.

Jane now realised his dreams were not the ravings of a lunatic, he had stumbled on something deeply disturbing. Getting as far away from the scene as he could, he dipped into an empty office on hearing the sound of approaching footfall. Jane waited until the coast was clear before slowly making his way to what looked like a control centre.

Fischer was watching an array of screens which contained images of the bull pen and various familiar locations. She was talking animatedly to Abbott, Jane guessed she was coming clean about her card. The recording of her in Jane's room was replayed back to her. Jane smiled slightly at that point, he knew something that she didn't know, but he needed to get to the next level to find out the truth.

-ooo00ooo-

Dr Joe watched proceedings with some annoyance, things certainly hadn't gone to plan. A rogue specimen was now on the loose, and they seemed to have no idea what he was going to do next. Still he couldn't go far and they could always activate the tracker system. Although it wasn't planned, Dr Joe took a perverse pleasure in seeing how far the adaptive controls would work.

Abbott was a disappointment to him, he really hadn't got control of the situation and he'd gotten far too close to his staff. Perhaps it was time for a reboot, Rigsby and Van Pelt were getting boring, maybe it was time for the control room staff to spend some time in the field.

First things first they had to find Jane, a rogue droid was always an unknown quantity.

Erica came up behind him and rubbed his neck lightly, "problems?"

Dr Joe leant back into her touch "Umm nothing that can't be put right." He watched appreciatively as she walked around the room, it was like Jell-O on springs.

"Anything I can do for you?" Erica's formfitting dress accentuated her every curve, his eyes raked over her.

Dr Joe smirked and looked south, he'd personally programmed Erica and she knew exactly what he liked... his knuckles went white as he gripped the arms of the chair in response to her ministrations.

-ooo00ooo-

Fischer had never seen Abbott so angry, a security breach like this was unheard of. Unlike Fischer he hadn't shirked his duties, he'd phoned Erica straight away to alert HQ of the problem. The GPS had picked up Jane making his way to command HQ, and without further delay Abbott organised a team to collect Jane. All attempts to remotely deactivate him had failed, the trusted communication protocols had been breached, and the signals were not being processed.

They had watched the footage of Jane's escape and his attempts to wake Lisbon. Guessing this might be his weakness, Abbott ordered that Lisbon be reactivated and brought back into service.

The plush carpets underfoot alerted Jane that this section belonged to the hierarchy, he would find out what was going on once and for all. As he entered the atrium an exotic beauty with a pixie haircut confidently made her way over to him. "Mr Jane we've been expecting you, do take a seat."

Refusing to co-operate, Jane perused the room picking up on the general layout, and seeing the door beyond he immediately made his way over to it. The sound of Erica's voice filtered through. "Mr Jane please wait a minute, Dr Joe is busy." When her pleas went unheeded he heard the sound of the intercom."Sorry Sir, he's coming through I couldn't stop him." Erica tried to make it to the door ahead of Jane, but there was no stopping him. Jane quickly read the nameplate Dr Joe NH before marching in.

Abbott and his team arrived and ran straight into the room before Jane could do anything. Lisbon and Fischer soon followed. Dr Joe picked up a control and flicked a switch, they all stopped dead in their tracks apart from Jane, who walked around the frozen figures examining them carefully slowly taking everything in – finally realising they were all just figments of their creator's grand plan.

After a brief standoff that established Dr Joe's supremacy, the switch was flicked back and with a faint blip they all continued as before, none of them aware of the pause.

Jane watched as Abbott and Fischer crossed the room "It's not real, none of you are real." His cries were in vain as they regarded him pityingly. It was a shame when a droid went off the rails, but they could fix it. One glance at Lisbon told him that she was confused and disorientated, she hadn't got a clue what was going on.

Grabbing Lisbon's hand, he made a dash into the bowels of the building until they finally found an exit door on the far side. Triumphantly he pushed the door open ready to make a bid for freedom, only to have his hopes dashed when he was confronted by a blank canvas of infinite emptiness, devoid of any sign of life or light. There were no stars in the sky just complete and utter darkness. They looked back to see the Doctor standing in the doorway.

"Come on back Mr Jane – there's nothing there for you." The tone was hypnotically commanding.

Jane scanned the horizon helplessly, there were no distinguishing features, no light pollution from some distant settlement. Just a big fat zero, zilch, nada - hell he couldn't even see the faintest curvature on the horizon. There was no breeze to hint at being outside, to give hope of some sign of life. It was just sterile and dark, there was no escape. Lisbon would soon tire if they tried to walk; the only certainty was death, or more likely endless purgatory. He looked at Lisbon's worried face and knew he couldn't put her through that.

He pushed her back gently towards the door – "Go on Teresa it will be alright, it's just a bad dream, it will all be over soon." After seeing her welcomed back into the fold, he turned his back defiantly, if they wanted him they could come and fetch him. A firm hand on his shoulder announced Abbott's arrival. "Come on Jane, it's time to go."

"You know that you're no better than the rest of us, you're just another cog in the machine. How do you know that Dr Joe is real and not just part of the plan?" Jane started when he saw a brief smile flicker on Abbott's face.

"Well of course that's entirely possibly, but don't tell him, he still thinks he is in control." Abbott's phlegmatic manner was curiously calming. "Relax, it's like the Hotel California, we are programmed to receive, you can check out any time you want but you can never leave."

"You know?" Jane stared deep into his eyes, this time the connection worked both ways. Abbott saw him as clearly as Jane saw Abbott.

"Look it may not be life as we imagine it, but it's the only existence on offer, and few know any different so why spoil it for them? There's an art to going with the flow and making the most of it, besides when did we ever control our own destiny? Anyhow from what I hear your next gig sounds like a good one, so enjoy it."

"But what about Teresa?" Jane looked anxiously towards the door.

"Hush don't worry, you'll see her again sometime. It will all work out fine." Abbott patted Jane comfortingly on the back as he led him back inside.

-ooo00ooo-

Charlotte pulled away from his hand without warning, and ran off in the direction of the little terrier that was running loose, followed by their owner in fast pursuit. "Cagney come back here this moment." Cagney just put her ears back and raced towards the blonde haired toddler. They collided and Charlotte plopped down on the floor laughing, putting her arms around Cagney, who licked her face all over.

"Cagney, you bad girl. Are you alright sweetheart?" The dark hair woman looked concerned.

Charlotte just chortled. "I like dogs. I'm Charlotte."

" I'm Teresa, and I like dogs too honey, but Cagney's a bad girl." She looked apprehensively in the direction of Charlotte's father who was making his way over, he didn't look too angry, so she relaxed a bit.

"This is Teresa and this is Cagney." Charlotte beamed as she introduced her new found friends.

"I'm so sorry, my little boy let Cagney off the lead..." Teresa began to apologise.

"Meh, children and dogs, who'd have them?" His breathing hitched and was a little laboured, Teresa assumed he was a little out of condition. The eyes crinkled as he smiled, it was quite disconcerting the way he looked at her.

"Look I'd better be going. Bye Charlotte, see you around." Teresa lead Cagney away, with a fleeting look over her shoulder. Charlotte's father seemed oddly familiar.

Patrick ruffled Charlotte's hair as he watched Teresa walk away, he composed himself knowing Angela was following up behind, and put his game face on in time to greet her.

"What happened are you alright?" Angela gathered Charlotte up in her arms, following Patrick's eyes in the direction of the dark haired woman now reunited with her family.

"Nice dog." Patrick turned and pressed a light kiss on Angela's cheek.

Abbott was right, just make the most of things. Patrick was happy and he wouldn't swap his family for anything, even if his happiness was only fleeting. Anyhow what could possibly go wrong...