Dennis Abbott looked up sharply at the abrupt rapping on his office door.
Kim Fischer.
This was unexpected at - he glanced at the clock on his desk - 7.30 at night.
He motioned for her to enter, wondering what could have her so flustered and desperate to see him after hours.
"Agent Fisch…." he started as she walked through the door.
"We have a problem," she blurted, cutting him off.
"With the case?"
"No, with our latest recruits."
Abbott closed his eyes and let out a sigh and motioned for her to sit. "What the hell has Jane done this time?"
"Nothing," Fischer supplied.
"Well I hardly think Lisbon's going to be giving you grief."
"She's not…." Fischer admitted, "at least not intentionally."
"Then what's the problem?" Abbott queried, genuinely confused.
"Pike."
"Okay, now you've really got me, what does Pike have to do with any of this? He's not even part of your team."
Fischer raised an eyebrow. "You haven't heard?"
"Heard what?"
His colleague smiled and shook her head, "Boss, you really have get better at picking up the water cooler gossip," she teased. "Pike. He's seeing Lisbon."
"Seeing as in…."
"Exactly."
"Okay. We have a problem."
The two leaned back in their chairs, letting out deep breaths.
"Okay," Abbott started, "do you know how serious this is?"
"Ugh," Fischer groaned, "I feel like I'm betraying her by even talking about this, but this situation…"
"How serious?" Abbott repeated.
"She likes him," Fischer admitted. "He's honest with her, he tells her he likes her. They've been out a couple of nights a week since the case with the art thieves."
"What do you know about him?" Abbott inquired.
"Good guy. Everyone says that. A bit of a serial monogamist, though. Doesn't like to be single. Wants to settle down."
"And how has Jane reacted?"
Fischer shook her head, "That's part of the problem. He's telling her to have fun, which makes her think he doesn't care. But then he's moping around the office all day. He's distracted."
"Do you think he'll snap out of it?"
"Please…" Fischer said, rolling her eyes. "He came back to the US for her. He risked his freedom for her. He spent all that time in the Detention Suite for her. She breaks his heart by taking up with Pike long-term, and all bets are off. Not even the threat of detention or jail would make him work with us."
"What does Cho say? He's known them the longest."
"He says he doesn't think about how Jane's feeling, because if he did, his head would explode," Fischer explained, "Seriously, if he has to keep putting up with Jane moping around like a martyr while Lisbon goes to fancy dinners with Pike, he's likely to put in for a transfer, and I wouldn't blame him."
Abbott nodded slowly, "A transfer… you know, that's not a bad idea."
"What?" Fischer sat up in her seat, "we can't afford to be letting Cho transfer. If anything we need more Agents with his 'no nonsense, get the job done' attitude."
"Not Cho," Abbott explained. "Pike."
"You want to get Pike a transfer?" Fischer laughed, "and how do you expect to do that?"
"They have a couple of openings in DC," Abbott confessed. "They're asking around. I was going to put you forward… it would be a promotion."
"Not interested," Fischer said immediately, "but if Pike was…."
"I could plant the seed with the right people. No guarantees the idea would grow roots, but I doubt it's something Pike could resist if he was offered."
"And what if he asks Lisbon to go with him," Fischer asked. "What do we do then?"
"The only thing we can do," Abbott told her. "We hope she wakes up to herself, or that Jane quits being a stubborn pain in everyone's backside and does what he needs to do."
They sat silently for a few moments, before the enormity of their discussion his home for Fischer.
"I feel really bad about this," she confessed. "What right do we have to be messing with the three of them like this?"
Abbott smiled. "I understand what you're saying, but if you saw the letters…"
"The ones he wrote her from the island?"
Abbott nodded. "If you saw those letters you'd know something has to give. This turns out however it turns out, but things can't stay the same."
Fischer let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding. "Okay. So tomorrow you'll…."
"Yes, tomorrow I'll have a word in a few ears."
"Okay," Fischer stood, motioning for the door, "I'm going to go… have to go over some video surveillance with Wiley and Jane."
"Agent Fischer," Abbott called out as she moved to close his door behind her. "Nobody knows about this."
"Of course boss. Thanks."
She took a few steps down the hall before she allowed the seriousness of what they were about to do sink in.
The fates of three good people were dependent on the outcome of the plan she and Abbott had in play...