Title: Bloodletting
Disclaimer: I think it's better if I don't own The Mentalist.
Rating: M
Summary: Sequel to "Chasing the Storm". AU Pirate. "Just because Red John, O'Laughlin and Carter are dead, it doesn't mean everything died with them."
*waves* I am baaaack. (I never really disappeared, but uh, the past few months have been extremely busy and full of things that I could not avoid.) Anyway, this is the excitedly-anticipated sequel to Chasing the Storm; you know, the first AU pirate story that you should probably read before attempting to read this one. :)
Anyway, I have to thank my partner-in-crime (loveconquersallxxx) for the lovely title and all of the help with this entire story. Major props also go to Frogster, who poked me into posting this.
"Where's Jane?"
Kris crossed her arms against her chest, as she leaned against one of the many railings on the Scarlet Oasis helm with the roll of her eyes. Kimball Cho and Wayne Rigsby (the two other members on the Scarlet Oasis) had ignored her question for the past six times, as it seemed that the both of them were more interested in the blueprints for the ship.
She watched Cho glance up from his navigation table. "In his office; where else would he be?"
"In hell, hopefully." Rigsby muttered and Kris moved from the railing to smack Rigsby upside the head, before he turned around to stare at her. "Hey!"
"Just let it go." Kris urged with another roll of her eyes. The men on the crew were idiots, obviously. "You're not going to change his mind. You're not going to get anywhere with insulting him. He doesn't care."
"Jane doesn't care about anyone." Cho replied with his attention still on the blueprints. "Aside from Kris, that is."
"He cares about himself also." Kris pointed out, choosing to ignore Cho's comment. "He's an egotistical bastard, who thinks the world of himself." She grinned at Rigsby, who shook his head with a scowl. "What? You can insult him, but I can't?"
"That's not the point, Kris." Rigsby argued.
"Obviously, you don't have much of a point." Kris said. "I'm allowed to insult the Captain, because I'm his first mate. You're allowed to insult Mashburn, because well…" Kris paused; even after being on the Scarlet Oasis crew for over a year, she still was a little confused about Walter Mashburn's purpose on the ship. While Mashburn had cash for their little voyages, many islands refused to accept money from well-known pirate crews anymore. "…he's Walter Mashburn, and he wears a rhinestone vest still."
"I actually like Mashburn." Rigsby replied. "I'm not a huge fan of the Captain right now." Kris huffed. For the past three months, Rigsby and Jane had been at odds with one another; and to her, it was becoming quite annoying to deal with the childish men. Rigsby refused to follow Jane's orders, Jane refused to listen to Rigsby and she was stuck in the middle; neither of the idiots realized that she actually didn't care why they were fighting, she just wanted them to stop. "You're just annoyed, because he's your…"
"Don't you even finish that sentence." Kris interrupted, hastily. "I'm annoyed, because you two can't be in the same room together. I'm annoyed, because you're both important in the grand scheme of things. I'm annoyed, because you both are grown men; so please start acting like it, before I decide to take a sword to all of you." She took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. Cho kept quiet, while Rigsby turned back around to face the blueprints.
This is ridiculous, Kris thought, I could get more work out of a mute parrot than Jane or Rigsby.
Red John's death (as Jane had finally managed to kill the pirate, who had killed his wife and daughter) had caused nothing but trouble for them all. Part of the reason, in her opinion, on why Rigsby and Jane hated each other had to do with the knowledge that everybody on the Scarlet Oasis was marked for death.
After the outlying islands had gotten news of Red John's demise, some of the islands had put a bounty on their heads. Apparently, nobody had wanted the evil pirate captain Red John dead, aside from the Scarlet Oasis (and the individuals affected by the Captain's domain).
With another shake of her head, the brunette first mate turned on her heels and started toward the main deck.
"Where do you think you're going, my dear?" Kris almost smacked herself. Of course, Jane would choose that moment to come bother them all. "Don't you want to help us fix the ship?"
She turned around to face him. "I would rather feed myself to an ocean full of flesh-eating fish than to spend another moment with you." Kris watched Patrick Jane's face light up with a smile and she scowled. "Don't you have better things to do, Captain?"
"Now, Kris." Jane responded, brightly. "You're just upset, because you haven't had a chance to kiss me good morning."
"No," Kris scoffed. "You just wish that was my reason."
"My, my." Jane replied. "You should go back to bed. I'm sure Cho and I can fix the ship on our own." Kris placed her head in her palms. Jane had absolutely no right inferring to other things, while Rigsby and Cho were nearby; they already knew more than she wanted them too and that was because of Jane. "After all, how hard can it be to fix a mast?"
"You do it then." Cho said. "I'm sick of working on it." Kris could only imagine the disaster that Jane would bring by doing the work himself; they couldn't continue to stay on Governor's Island forever, especially as someone was bound to report the Scarlet Oasis eventually.
"Now, if you'll excuse me." Kris stated. "I have a ship to run and you boys have a score to settle, so I'll leave you girls to that." Before they could say anything else, Kris hurried from the helm and started toward her first mate bedroom. If she could get there in enough time and lock the door, Jane wouldn't be able to bother her.
"Don't worry, Kris." She heard Jane call out from behind her. Kris didn't spare him a glance. "We'll be away from Governor's Island in a few days; everything will be fine." She shook her head. Jane was ever the optimist and his so-called feeling of everything will be fine didn't settle so well with her; things were better than fine, but they weren't completely back to normal.
Jane could ignore all of the problems on the ship: the broken mast from the Red Rum's cannon obtained from the final battle months ago, the lack of supplies due to other islands refusing to barter with them, and the worry about the hits on their heads.
But she couldn't.
Kris noticed that her clothes hadn't been fitting properly on her for some time, mainly because she didn't have the time to eat. Something was always going wrong with the ship when she sat down for a meal; between the leaks in the ship, the fights on the crew or the dismay that everyone still felt over Red John's death, she just couldn't get a break.
And her crankier-than-usual behavior was because of her lack of sleep. The nightmares that she had (always about Craig O'Laughlin and Patrick Jane repeatedly) made her feel weary about something, but she couldn't quite guess what made her feel that way. O'Laughlin was dead. Carter was dead. Red John was dead. Yet, she was casting all four men as the villains and Jane most certainly wasn't a villain.
He was just Jane.
"You need to rest, Kristina." Kris tensed at the use of her entire first name. Closer or not, she didn't like him using it. "You're running ragged and we need you to keep us on course."
"I'm fine." She lied.
"No, you aren't." Jane argued. She flung open the door to her neatly organized bedroom, clean of all the previous clutter and lit a candle, before Kris turned to face Jane. "Don't think I don't notice. You're not sleeping, you're not eating, hell, you're not yourself." Kris rolled her eyes.
"You just know me so well, don't you?"
"I am your boyfriend, after all." Kris cringed at his words. She hadn't wanted a label to their pseudo-relationship, but Jane had insisted. It made him feel normal, but it just made her feel nervous and ill for some reason. She liked Jane, but a relationship with him wasn't something that she had been wanting.
It had just happened.
Almost a fortnight after Jane had killed Red John, he had asked her out and she had said yes. With him, she felt the sickness within the pit of her stomach disappear and she realized that the sickness was actually guilt; she had allowed for Jane to go kill Red John on his own, without rushing in to save him and maybe her yes to his question was because she felt as if she owed him.
"If you keep pushing that phrase around, you'll need to add ex to that sentence." Kris threatened and Jane laughed.
"You wouldn't leave me." Jane answered. "We've been through too much together. You're the only other person who understands how I feel about…" He stopped and she nodded. There were some things, even after three months, that they just couldn't talk about and Teresa Lisbon was one of them. "See, Kris. Nobody else understands."
"I know what you mean." Kris muttered, trying to keep her stomach from churning at the thought of the bloody body that she and Jane had found in the Red Rum's brig months ago. "I still think of the body and wonder…" She couldn't finish her sentence. Jane grabbed her hand. "It's a silly thought, isn't it?"
"Everybody is allowed to think of what if's and the how come's, Kris." Jane explained; she felt his thumb circling the back of her hand. "You're just not allowed to attempt what if's or how come's. Everything, whether you want to believe it or not, is fine."
She couldn't believe him for one second.
Jane had lied many times before; he had also kept secrets from his previous first mate, which probably could have saved her life and Jane wanted her to trust his word? She almost laughed in his face.
"You need some sleep." Jane tried to pull her toward her bed and she nearly pulled out her sword. What part of I'm fine did the idiot not understand? "Come lie next to me and after five minutes, I'll let you up." Jane let go of her and she watched him walk over to her bed and lie down. "Come on, Kris. It's comfortable."
She threw her head back. "I'm not doing anything with you."
"I know." Jane reassured her. "I just want you to relax. You can't keep working my crew into the ground, my love." Kris ignored his jab about the Scarlet Oasis being his crew, as she was just too tired to care. Jane patted the spot beside him and with a sigh, she moved closer to him. "You need sleep, because we're all going to need to be at the best of our peak; especially, if we're going to stay alive and keep others safe."
As much as she loathed admitting it, Jane was right. The crew needed their first mate and Captain at the top of their games to sail on and if they couldn't do that (especially with a crewmember down), they would never stay alive or fix the ship.
"You're also busy with other things." Jane had lowered his voice and she nodded again. Words or thoughts weren't needed about what those other things were; Kris knew, Jane knew, the entire crew knew, but she was the only one who kept trying to make things right.
Everyone else just hates the silence, Kris told herself.
With a strict warning glare, Kris slid into her bed with Jane and put her head onto his chest. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep. She was hungry, but she couldn't eat. She felt Jane's hand in her hair and she stilled at the foreign contact.
His heartbeat pounded into her ear and Kris smiled, faintly. The man who comforted her wasn't the same man in her dreams, who tortured the people on his crew; he wasn't the same man, who had killed Lisbon with nothing more than his bare hands and a sword.
He was just Jane; the man, who enjoyed labeling them and their relationship with silly titles such as boyfriend and girlfriend, even though she completely disagreed with him and had tried telling him so ever since.
Kris closed her eyes and for the first time in three months, she allowed herself to drift off into a peaceful sleep.
Jane smiled faintly at the brown-haired woman pressed against him, as he continued to stare up at the yellow-tinted ceiling. He'd never admit it to her, but he was worried about the lack of sleep that she had been getting lately; the dark circles under her eyes and the waves of tension that continued to roll off her shoulders had been a topic of discussion between Cho and himself weeks ago.
Cho had briefly warned him about pushing Kris to her limits and he hadn't listened. Kris (much like Lisbon) always took her duties beyond and above the required standard; and if the first mate wanted to work herself into a fit of exhaustion, he couldn't exactly stop her. She had always been stubborn and arguing with her, in his opinion, just wasn't worth the time or the energy.
After all, they did have more things to focus on.
The aftermath of Pirate Captain Red John's demise was one of those things. Jane's smile diminished. Although, sinking the blade into the bastard's chest had felt cathartic, the action hadn't brought anything good afterwards.
Because Red John had been Governor Gale Bertram's closest "friend" and ally, the lovely governor had decided to condemn everyone upon the Scarlet Oasis to death. Jane had expected the declaration, as Bertram hated him anyway and the man certainly didn't like Kris either.
Kris had been the only good thing to come out of Red John's death. She had agreed to be with him two weeks after he had killed Red John; and to be honest, it still surprised him that she said yes. Kris had never seemed like the dating type (aside from James Bertram, who Jane hoped was never coming back) and the last time they had brought up the subject of her dating him, she had told him that he didn't know what he wanted.
It had only taken two weeks after Red John's death for him to realize that he needed Kris; she was the only female on the crew, who was mentally stable enough for a relationship. She was also the only other person, who knew how difficult it had been trying to chase after Red John to find Lisbon.
Of course, that whole journey hadn't been an easy time.
Kris had hated him; he wasn't stupid. She had taken the first mate role, because she felt that she owed her best friend. Kris had been by his side from the very beginning of the long journey to the end; and although he had done several things to her that he wasn't proud of, Kris had stuck by him even after they had found Lisbon's body.
Jane's frown deepened.
Lisbon was the one touchy subject with everyone. No one knew what to say or what to do without fighting and even though he was perfectly sure that Kris was tired of avoiding the subject, Jane knew it was best for everyone if they just moved past the events on the Red Rum.
However, moving past the events three months ago wasn't exactly easy.
The other reason for Kris's lack of sleep had been her nightmares. The brunette-haired woman had been excusing her lack of sleep as having too much to do, but he wasn't stupid; Jane knew the signs of someone having continuous nightmares and that was why he had cornered her within her bedroom. Another presence sometimes cut down on the nightmares and it didn't take more than a pirate captain to figure out that her nightmares were mainly about Red John.
Who doesn't dream about Red John? Jane quietly wondered, as he continued to stroke Kris's hair. Red John had been the hugest part of their lives on the ship and it didn't surprise him that everybody still had those dreams. On the Red Rum, he and Kris had found Rebecca's head; and that sight alone was worthy of nightmares.
Jane heard Kris mutter lightly in her sleep as she shifted away from him, but he couldn't tell what she was saying.
"Everything will be okay." Jane tried to reassure the sleeping first mate. It was a lie, of course, but nobody needed to know that. Kris was already having enough problems with the crew, especially Rigsby.
Rigsby, who for whatever reason, couldn't get over the events of three months ago. Jane had tried to remind the officer that he was the Captain of the ship, but Rigsby had merely scoffed and turned away to focus on something else. The constant ignoring and disrespect (almost the same behavior he had gotten from Kris, eight months ago) was grating on his nerves and if the man didn't stop it, Jane was going to remove him from the crew.
Kris said he was being childish also, but Jane disagreed. Rigsby hated him for no good reason and Jane couldn't understand why; he hadn't kicked Rigsby, Kris or Cho off the ship after he had "fired" them and he had gotten them all (with the exception of one) back to ship safely.
He felt Kris shift again and with a sigh, Jane removed himself from the bed. While Kris slept, he would go attend to the various things on the ship; he had a few things to discuss with Mashburn and Cho, but he also had one other stop to make. Snuffing out the candle with his hand, he quickly left Kris to her sleep and started back toward the main deck of the ship.
The ship hadn't changed much in three months, aside from the damage gained from the battle with the Red Rum. He had no idea to fix it, which was why he had put Cho in charge of gathering the materials to fix the ship; but they were having a minor problem getting ahold of said material, because the locals on Governor Island hadn't been so friendly to sharing a public market with a crew of wanted criminals.
Whether Kris knew it or not, the only reason why nobody on Governor's Island (so far) had turned them in was that people on the island owed him favors. Cashing in on Red John's death had never been his intention, but he had an entire crew to think about and if he found himself in a cell, the Governor would execute him on the spot for being the nefarious pirate who had killed Red John.
Regardless of all that though, Jane certainly didn't regret killing Red John. He also didn't regret killing Timothy Carter (the Red Rum's navigator) or Craig O'Laughlin (Red John's first mate), who had been behind Lisbon's kidnapping. Jane hadn't killed them for the praise from his own crew, he had killed them to keep them from trying to kidnap yet another member upon the Scarlet Oasis.
Aside from Lisbon, the entire crew of the Scarlet Oasis had gotten out unscathed and Jane wanted to keep it that way.
"Good afternoon, Patrick!" Jane heard Walter Mashburn greet him from behind and Jane spun around to find the rhinestone-wearing pirate sporting a rather large grin, which interrupted his dark thoughts and put him into a better mood. "Where is our dear first mate, Kristina?"
"She is finally sleeping." Jane told him and Mashburn's grin (if possible) grew.
"With you, I know." Mashburn answered. Jane shook his head; he hadn't said anything to anyone about him and Kris, but apparently the other members on the crew had figured it out. "I'm surprised you aren't with her right now. You two are usually attached at the hip." Jane shrugged. He wanted to be with Kris, but other things needed his attention before he could refocus primarily on her.
"I came here looking for you."
"Did you finally decide my idea of threesome was a good idea?" Mashburn questioned, before Jane rolled his eyes. He liked Walter, but the man was a little…eccentric. "No? You obviously have something else in mind then."
"I need you to go onto the island." Jane instructed him and he watched Mashburn frown. Even though he had explained to the entire crew that they were safe, nobody wanted to step foot out onto the island. "I'm concerned about something and you're the only person, who could do this job without interruption." Mashburn's brows furrowed.
"You want me to take someone along, don't you?"
Jane nodded. "You'll need money, of course. I am also going to order Lewis to join you both; he's the only person, who is equipped to handle the temper tantrums." Mashburn said nothing, which meant that the rich pirate had probably understood the order without needing to drag names through the mud. "Will you be okay with that?"
"I would rather not have Lewis tagging along, Patrick." Mashburn answered. "You know he and I don't agree with…"
"He's the only other person I trust with this job, Walter." Jane interrupted. He had known that his order would raise some derision; most of the crew preferred to work alone and an order to do something with another person never made anyone happy. Mashburn's mouth opened and Jane interrupted him again. "I'm the Captain, Walter. It's my decision on who I send out and if you disobey my order, well…" Jane shot the man a grin. "…you and Red John may share the same grizzly end." Mashburn frowned. "Are we clear?"
"I'm going to Kristina about this." Mashburn challenged and Jane rolled his eyes again.
"Kris is sleeping. If you wake her, you and I will have a problem." Jane informed him. "You also know what she'll tell you if you complain to her about this. She'll say I don't care, because she knows it's none of her business." While he and Kris had problems about agreeing on how to run the ship, Kris had learned to let some things go finally. "Now, I have business elsewhere. I'll make sure everything is ready."
Jane left Mashburn, before the man could argue his order again. He had no doubts that Mashburn wouldn't find Kris later and tell her about their conversation, but he knew she'd brush his concerns off; after all, the orders he gave his crew didn't exactly affect her or their lives (and if they did, he knew she'd be the first to raise hell).
Climbing the steps to the helm, he grinned out at the bright, blue sky and the calm weather. Jane couldn't wait until they were sailing again, as they had all been stuck on Governor's Island for longer than he had planned.
"Where's Kris?" Cho asked, as Jane approached the trusted navigator with a grin.
"Sleeping." Jane told him. "And hopefully, she'll stay that way till sunrise tomorrow. She needs her sleep." Cho shrugged, while he continued to stare down at his blueprints for the ship and Jane changed the subject. "How much longer do you think we'll be on this island?"
"Until I fix the ship." Cho answered.
Jane chuckled. "Obviously." He glanced up at the large mast. Red John's cannon had done a damn good job of screwing up any of their plans to sail away from Governor's Island, as the weather hadn't been kind enough to any of them lately to work on the mast without the fear of being struck with lightening. "If you need any more materials for the ship repair, you should tell Mashburn. He's going onto the island today."
"You're letting Mashburnonto the island and we're all being wanted for murder." Cho stated. "Seems smart."
The sarcastic barb from the navigator didn't go unnoticed by Jane, who merely chuckled in response.
"Mashburn will be safe." Jane waved the man's concern off. "He'll have Lewis to go with him, so he'll survive to see another day." Cho glanced away from the blueprints to stare at him. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"My opinion doesn't matter." Cho went back to his blueprints, while Jane continued to smile. "As far as materials go, we're fine. If I need any, I'll have Rigsby get them." Jane raised his eyebrow. "Mashburn wouldn't know what I'm looking for and Lewis has other concerns on his mind." Cho had a point. Lewis was only going as a precaution and Mashburn, while having been on the ship for nine years, probably wouldn't understand exactly what Cho needed for the ship.
"You could always ask me."
"You?" Cho stated in disbelief.
"Yes, me!" Jane replied, brightly. "I know the ins and outs of this ship, my good friend. I also know what wood the ship is made out of." Years ago, the selection of the wood and the size of the ship had been the most important thing in Jane's search for the perfect ship. He had wanted something sturdy to outrun the Red Rum, yet he also wanted something large enough for all the crewmembers without becoming a ghost ship, much like the Red Rum had become.
Cho stared at him again. "You're an idiot."
"I'm also your Captain." Jane reminded. "In case you've all forgotten again, I'm in charge around here."
"Kris should be in charge around here." Cho commented and Jane continued to raise his eyebrows.
"Whatever happened to my opinions don't matter?"
"They still don't matter, as you're the Captain." Cho said. "I just thought you should know what most of your crew thinks." Jane made no movement; he was aware of how the entire Scarlet Oasis crew viewed him, especially with his decisions as of late.
"And do they know I don't care?" Jane asked him. Cho remained silent. "I created the Scarlet Oasis…"
"Lisbon created the Scarlet Oasis." Cho interrupted. "You're just the figurehead; Lisbon did all of the hard work then. Kris does all of the hard work now."
"Kris is sleeping right now." Jane reminded again and Cho shrugged. Jane almost wanted to inform the man that he had led them all through a battle with Red John, relatively unscathed and that fixing a ship paled in comparison to that.
"So? She actually works, you don't." Jane fixed the navigator with a stare. "She also has more to deal with than you do."
"She's the first mate, not Captain."
"She's honorary captain, until you get your crap together." Cho answered. Jane furrowed his brows again. He had all of his crap together, what in the world was Cho even talking about? "A Captain doesn't fight with his or her crewmembers; you've been jumping down Rigsby's throat for the past three months. Rigsby helped…"
"Rigsby is angry with me, because of Lisbon."
"As he should be." Cho admitted. "You really screwed that one up." Jane nervously swallowed; he didn't want to talk about Lisbon. "I won't say anything more; Kris has probably said enough."
"Kris doesn't say anything about it." Jane lied.
"You're lying." Cho called his bluff and Jane cursed under his breath. "Kris isn't you; she's not going to let certain things slide. It's why she's honorary Captain, once again."
"My crew likes me."
"Your crew tolerates you." Cho admitted. "You killed Red John, O'Laughlin and Carter. It took you nine years to kill Red John; the crew is tired of chasing after your demons, but they keep you around, because Kris asks them to." Jane crossed his arms against his chest, as leaned against the railing of the helm. "Maybe you've forgotten, Jane, but you're the reason why Lisbon was kidnapped."
Jane scowled, as his stomach tensed. He didn't want to be reminded about why Lisbon had been kidnapped. O'Laughlin had been running off his own insane agenda (prompted by Red John's sick need to up the game) that kidnapping Lisbon had been easy for him, especially as the damned woman hadn't listened to his order to stay with Mashburn eight months ago.
"And you're the reason she's the way she is now." Jane shot back at Cho, who merely shrugged in response. "If you and Rigsby had shot…"
"Yeah, we didn't shoot O'Laughlin." Cho admitted. "But our attentions weren't on two hookers or a glass of mead either." Jane glanced down at the deck for a moment, unsure of what to say. "Maybe things would have turned out differently, but regardless, this is your fault."
"It's O'Laughlin's fault too."
"O'Laughlin just had good opportunity, because you were an idiot." Cho replied. "O'Laughlin also wasn't the Captain, you were." Jane said nothing. "And if Kris had been Captain, Lisbon would have never gone off on her own."
"You don't know that."
Cho blinked. "Yeah; maybe I don't, but it's a good predication anyway."
"Kris isn't captain material, so you know." Jane stated. Kris was smart, but she didn't have the common sense it took to become captain of a pirate ship. She hadn't had the material eight months ago when Lisbon had been kidnapped by O'Laughlin, and she most certainly didn't have it now. "She's still temporary first mate."
"And you're captain material?" Cho asked and Jane nodded. "Could have fooled me."
"I caught Red John." Jane said. "If that isn't captain material, I don't know what is."
"Red John would have caught you in a year." Jane narrowed his eyes. Was Cho calling Red John a better captain? While Red John had been one to kill and torture various members of his crew throughout the years, Jane had never laid a hand on one of his male crewmembers. "Red John had Lisbon for five months; and look what that did for her."
"Have I ever treated you badly, Cho?" Jane questioned.
"No, but you've hurt everyone else." Cho responded. "And I care about everyone else too. I don't want Kris to become your new Lisbon." Jane kept his eyes narrowed. Cho had absolutely no right to compare Kris to Lisbon and Lisbon to Kris; both women were completely different and he had never treated either of them badly. Lisbon worked hard, but Kris didn't deserve the disrespect of being labeled as Lisbon.
Cho's comment filled him with rage.
"You can get angry all you want, Jane." Cho continued, as Jane tried to keep from punching him. "It doesn't change the facts. You're grooming Kris to become another Lisbon." Grooming? Jane clenched his fists together. Kris was fine the way she was; he didn't want her to turn into any form of Lisbon.
"That's not going to happen." Rigsby's voice interrupted them both from behind. Jane slowly turned to glance at Rigsby, who seemed ready to jump between them both. "When Kris has enough of your antics, she'll walk away from you. Kris isn't as loyal as Lisbon was." He rolled his eyes. "She'll be loyal to you, until you do something to break her loyalty; and let me tell you, Jane." Rigsby paused to scowl. "You're doing a fine job of that."
"She won't leave me." Jane said with a smile. "Kris isn't Lisbon."
"She'll never truly love you like you want her to." Rigsby ignored the Lisbon comment. "She's only loved like that once in her life and if it comes down to it, you'll always be her second choice."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Rigsby."
Rigsby scoffed. "She's never talked to you about James, Jane? Her face lights up when she talks about him, her face darkens when we discuss you." Jane didn't believe that for a moment. Kris enjoyed his company; she especially enjoyed his company in bed. "You keep on living in your delusions, Jane. See where that gets you."
"Living in delusions almost got Lisbon killed." Jane threw back. "Trusting you two certainly almost put a nail in her coffin."
"Then let's hope, for your sake, that he never comes back for her." Rigsby argued and Jane said nothing. "If you weren't the captain right now, I'd kill you. Kris would let me, especially if she heard you talking about Lisbon like this."
"He won't come back for her; he doesn't love her."
"And you do?" Cho asked. Jane nodded in agreement. "You have a funny way of showing it."
"Yeah," Rigsby agreed. "Working her to death is showing love. Was lifting a hand to Lisbon showing love too?" Rigsby deserved to be punched in the face for his words, but Jane knew Kris wouldn't approve if it happened; Rigsby, after all, was apparently important to Kris (even though he couldn't understand why).
"I've never hurt either of them." Jane denied the accusation. "I've only ever given Lisbon a home and have ever only loved Kris. You have nothing to prove otherwise."
"I'm sure if I asked Lisbon…" Rigsby started.
"And you really think she would have ever answered you honestly?" Jane asked. "Why would you want to do that to someone, who you called your friend? You're no better than me." Rigsby glanced at the deck and Jane smirked. "Not so tough now, are you?"
"At least I've never hit a woman." Rigsby snarled back. "I've also never treated one like complete shit, you…"
"Oh, get over it." Jane answered. "You're just angry, because Lisbon wants nothing to do with you."
"At least I don't act like Red John." Rigsby stated. "Did you take over his persona when you killed him, Jane? Because at this point, Lisbon might have been better off with O'Laughlin." Jane had his sword pressed against Rigsby's chest. "Go ahead and kill me, Jane. I'm sure Kris will have you on the ground, before you can apologize."
"Don't you ever compare me to Red John again."
"Start treating women with respect, and we'll stop." Cho replied. "You're no better than anyone else, Jane."
"I'm better than Red John and O'Laughlin."
"That remains to be seen." Rigsby muttered and Jane removed his sword from Rigsby's chest, only to push past the crew officer with a sneer and escape down the helm stairs. He didn't want to hear it anymore; Rigsby and Cho knew nothing about Lisbon or Kris. They thought everything was just so simple, when in fact; nothing was simple; not since he had killed Red John, anyway.