First of all, thank you for the kind reviews for the last one. That was my first ever and I hope to get the future ones better.

However, I would say this one is not well-planned. To be honest I am trying to rush it before the next episode comes out... well it is basically right after 7x08 so you see why. All in All, I hope you would find this one enjoyable. I am not really good at writing hurt/comfort stories, not to mention the coming-up M-rated scenes I planned for chapter 2; I have never had any first-hand experience in that, everything will pretty much be my imagination.

Writing this one is hard because I had to re-watch the scenes from earlier seasons that make me pretty nervous and sad sometimes. (Yes, I know I'm too involved. I'd take that as a compliment.) Besides, I can't believe there is only five freaking episodes left until the season finale- I want to cry already. This show has accompanied me for the last 6 years and got me through me worst high school days.

I'm actually regretting that I started writing fanfictions too late. I never knew there were fanfiction sites when I was still in high school and I have only discovered the fun of fanfictions recently. I have always made up stories for the two in my mind, but I used to had the impression that I'm a freak in doing so. All in all, I wish I could go back and started earlier on this. This is too much fun.

As usual, I apologize for my poor command of English and any grammtical/spelling mistakes. Please forgive me as I'm not English native.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of The Mentalist; I am just trying to have some fun with the characters.

Jane and Lisbon stood in the FBI elevator silently, not saying one word to each other. Jane kept his eyes on the floor while Lisbon stared furiously at the doors, both apparently still suffering from the aftermath of the discussion on the issue of his over-protectiveness on her.

The extreme silence was killing Jane; he hated it. He knew Lisbon would figure it out, she had become smarter after working with him for years. He also knew how it would turn out-exactly going down like this. Like the old days in CBI, she got pissed off when he had done something out of line-cooking up a plan without telling her, insulting powerful people that put her career at risk, breaking every single protocol…

But that was when they were still colleagues and he had not yet confessed his love for her. Back then he carefully buried his feelings for her so deeply he even fooled himself, only his subconscious already betrayed him. Even at the time, he had tried to protect her in all the ways he could: not telling her his plan so that she could tell her bosses she knew nothing, or pushing her away so that Red John could not use her to get to him (which failed miserably, of course), or getting her job back when it was taken away. Now it was another story; he could not bear to lose her. His love for her had grown too strong, just the thought of her getting hurt was enough to break his heart.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Lisbon stormed straight out of the elevator without looking at Jane at all. Jane felt a pang in his heart; he was just trying to protect her. He hurried and followed her to the car, only Lisbon got into her car and slammed the car door shut.

"So, um, I take it we're not spending the night together?" Jane grimaced, rubbed his hand and lowered his head.

Lisbon lowered the car window, "I need some time to calm down. So do you."

It didn't take much to sense her anger in the words. "Look, Teresa, I'm sorry- just-" Seeing Lisbon started rolling up the windows, Jane retreated and sighed, "Good night, Teresa."

"Good night, Patrick." Lisbon started the engine and drove away, leaving Jane staring at her car miserably.

00000

Lisbon was pissed, both with Jane and more importantly, herself.

It was her life, he had no right to take over like that. Lisbon recalled how Jane was trying to convince her in bailing out on FBI a few weeks back. She should have known by then; he was talking her out because he did not want her in anymore danger. She was a cop, it's almost a job requirement for her to be in danger, not to be wandering wildly in some place safe without doing her job. This was her, she had been living the life of a cop for years, and she could not just turn her back on her life like that.

Why did Jane worry so much? His concerns were almost pointless; she had a gun, combat skills, rocket-like running speed and thanks to him, she now had a few tricks up her sleeve and her judgement greatly improved. Besides, he was always there making all the flawless plans- well, there would be little accidents occasionally, but mostly perfect- and he protected her with that all the time. For God's sake, she was a big girl, she did not need his protection from everything.

Yet Lisbon could not help but think about Jane's face; heavenly but hurt, delicious but desperate. Now she came to think of it, it was actually kind of sweet for him to protect her. She sighed, damn, why did she have to be so harsh on him? The hurt in his eyes remained in her mind, it was almost painful to see him like that. He was more than just the super annoying pain-in-the-ass; he was her adorable loving boyfriend, who loved her more than anything.

Jane was right, they would work it out, Lisbon told herself, they just needed to sit down and talk. She had to make it clear to him that he just could not do stuff like that, in exchange she would promise him to be safe. She was pretty confident that she could do it; after all, she was a cop.

Tomorrow, she thought as she stopped the car, they would make everything right.

00000

Lisbon could not sleep at all. The scene where they had their first major fight since they were together played back repeatedly in her mind, and the bed surely felt different without Jane.

What Jane did was unacceptable, thought Lisbon, but she could understand his rationales. Like what she did with her brothers; she was always trying to protect them, that she sometimes would forget they are already adults and could manage on their own. Undeniably, the job as a FBI agent was dangerous. If she was in his place, she would probably have done the same thing…

Her mind flew to a scene from a few years back.

"Please…" Lisbon grabbed her cross on her necklace, sobbing uncontrollably, "Please…"

Lisbon kneeled beside Jane, who was surrounded by all the paramedics, praying miserably that Jane would be okay. Please, please let him be alright. Tears streamed down her cheeks and blurred her vision. He could not die, she had not yet told him about her feelings. He had to be alright…

It was all her fault. Lisbon blamed herself for letting Jane walking into the woods alone; if she was there, she could have protected Jane from this… She would have stopped whoever drowned him and he would never have to suffer like that. Please, just let him be okay…

The scene dissolved and another formed inside her head...

Lisbon drove at her highest speed, heading towards Jane's old house in Malibu. That stupid fool, he would not answer her calls, and she knew clearly what he was up to: he was trying to figure out who Red John was and kill him.

She worried that he was going down the revenge road, taking matters in his own hands and kill off the real Red John or worse, all the suspects he had on the list. But what worried her even more was that Red John was a step ahead of him, Jane walked right into his trap and- she dared not to imagine what would happen. Jane was crazy smart for sure, but Red John was not stupid; he was good to be able to hide in the dark for all these years.

Idiot, Lisbon cursed herself, she should have known Jane was throwing her off when he said he had something for her in the car. Her judgement was clouded by her stupid emotions to see what he was really planning; her feelings for him was far too deep, a hug from him was more than enough to make her head spin around. If anything happened to him...

She rushed to the door once she arrived and pulled the car over. She could not let anything happen to him. But before she could reach the door-

"Boom!" A loud explosion came from the house and Lisbon was thrown backwards by it. Ouch, it hurt…

She forced herself to open her eyes: the house was blown-up; everything was swallowed by fire.

Jane.

In spite of her pain, Lisbon picked herself up and burst through the doors. "Jane!" She kept yelling, trying not to cry, hoping that he would still be alive while looking for him. No, he was not in this room… "Jane!" He had to be okay...

Lisbon shut her eyes tight, trying to stop the tears rolling down from the edge of her eyes but failed as expected. Jeez, she could not handle revisiting the memories of her on the verge of losing him. The pain was too strong. She turned to her side and tried to get rid of what just got into her mind. She was willing to do anything in her power to prevent Jane getting into any form of danger, even it meant going against his wishes...

Jane must have been feeling this way too; the reason for him to be so protective was apparently the fear of losing her. Their protectiveness was out of the same nature: love. She cared for him, and so did he. She remembered how hurt it was, when he refused to talk to her or understand her concerns for him. He would just keep walking on the path where she never wanted him to be. Now she was doing the same thing to him, even though in her defense she was not facing such dangerous situations as he did before.

She had to talk to him. Her hand reached for the phone but she changed her mind before touching it. What the hell, she could not sleep without him anyways.

00000

Jane sat in his van with a lost stare. He just wanted Lisbon safe, after witnessing how close the bullet almost got to her. He crossed the line no doubt; but he would anger Lisbon over and over again if that meant she would be safe. He could not get over Lisbon's stern and serious expression earlier, but that image from their latest case haunted his mind once again: there was a bullet hole on her jacket, making him realize that she was almost shot… He would blame himself if it had happened, even though he may not be the one who shot it.

He could not risk to lose Lisbon; that feeling would be too painful for him to live on. Lisbon's yelling, or not understanding, or even refusing to work with him, would be nothing when compared to this. Losing Angela and Charlotte had made him crazy, and he was sure that if he ever lose anyone he truly, deeply cared about again… It was more than enough to lose the beloved ones for once.

The heartbroken memories never left him, and tonight they started to playback...

Jane got up from the couch and was on the phone with Lisbon; she had just told him she found the bomb in the living room. He asked her to leave but the kid, Ashley, just entered the room and refused to go. Damn it, he should have talked her out of there in the first place, so she would have sufficient time to get themselves out.

"Lisbon, just grab the kid and go!" yelled Jane, who could not understand why took Lisbon so long to get the hell outta there.

He had never been so anxious; that bomb will set off any second and if Lisbon did not escape in time-

He heard a sound of the bomb and Lisbon was freaking out, "Oh god…"

"Lisbon!" Come on, he prayed silently, run, at least leave the living room, "Lisbon!"

"Oh screw it!" Jane heard Lisbon's voice. No, this was going completely against what he was wishing for, she was trying to defuse the bomb…

All of a sudden, all the sounds vanished; complete silence on the other side of the phone.

"Lisbon!" Jane shouted once again, hoping to hear Lisbon's response. It wasn't good. No, he begged, not the wrong cable, she could not die...

That was not his only bad memory with her over the phone, the one happened around a year later was worse...

Jane's eyes were wide open. He could not move; he was shocked. He was once again on the phone with Lisbon.

"Lisbon!" Jane yelled desperately, the other side of the phone was so quiet, as if he was deaf. He knew he was not; he had just heard gun shots from it.

It was one of his smart-ass plan again; asking Lisbon and Grace to protect Hightower and her kids, while Jane would find out who Red John's partner was. He always thought this plan was flawless, but Red John had been messing with his mind again. How could he have overlooked the fact that he got the wrong person? He cursed himself, if he made the plan just a bit more carefully, things like this could probably be avoided...

Now that the plan had fallen apart, it put nearly everybody on the team in danger. Lisbon must have been shot while encountering O'Laughlin… He felt pain in his heart; he would risk almost everything to get his revenge on Red John, except for the life of Lisbon. He never admit it to anybody, but Lisbon played a large part of his life ever since he joined the CBI. She was the only one he truly trusted, professionally or otherwise. She was much more than simply a partner to him; she was his everything. Working with her, teasing her, just looking at her, pampering her, helping her to solve all those cases was the only source of happiness of his life ever since Angela died. Please, don't let Lisbon suffer from his fault… He would do everything in exchange of her safety.

It was just seconds of silence, but it was years to Jane. He felt more hopeless, and heartbroken, as each second passed...

00000

The scenes was burning at the back of Jane's mind; he was not even the least bit surprised when he found tears welled up in his eyes. There were too many painful memories of almost never being able to seeing Lisbon again: Red John got her and painted his creepy, blood-red signature on Lisbon's face; Lisbon went to the airport, and was about to fly away for Pike; A few weeks ago when Lisbon went undercover but her cover blew and those people were all pointing the guns at her and he almost never made it in time… He lost count of the numerous times that he put Lisbon in danger or got her hurt, like the time when he was kidnapped…

He could not stand going down this memory lane. He was just about to let his emotions out by crying harder than he ever had, when he heard the knocking on the door. He wiped his tears, and reluctantly answered the door.

[Please review-no matter good or bad. It would be very helpful in my future writings. I appreciate your kindness in taking your time to read, and thank you in advance if you decided to share a piece of your thoughts by reviewing.]