A/N: This tag is very late - so late it almost seemed ridiculous to post it now, after the airing of the great 7x06 (now part of my favorite Mentalist episodes for obvious reasons). I actually started writing this fic little after 7x02, but then thought it was a bad idea and abandoned it. I recently found it again in my documents, and it haunted me ever since.

I apologize in advance to all of the people who thought 7x02 was perfect the way it was - I unfortunately would've preferred the ending to take on a different direction.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist nor its characters.

"Look, that only leaves one option."

It's a cocktail of dread and adrenaline pumping in her veins at that moment. She's running out of time, and doesn't know what to do to slow the countdown – she can't think. So she looks Marie in the eyes, silently pleading with her to not let Cole do this. The woman should feel like she owes her, after all.

Marie only reluctantly shakes her head. "She's good people, just make it quick."

Her heart sinks.

She closes her eyes, not wanting to face the barrel of Cole's gun, and swallows. She promised herself long ago that, if she was to be confronted to a situation like this, she wouldn't cry nor beg for mercy. She knows better than anyone how useless that attempt would be. So she doesn't; at least they won't see her weak. They killed (Cole pressed on the trigger, but Marie laughing as the corpse fell to the ground made her equally guilty) a man for no valuable reason, so why would they grace her life? She can't come up with reasons for them to, anyways. Her time is up.

Her thoughts divert to Jane and how he's probably on his way right now. She has little regrets, but never knowing what their future could've looked like is the biggest one. She'll destroy him, and the implication of what he will inevitably do after finding her lifeless body nearly kills her – and she's almost ready to beg.

She flinches just slightly when Cole presses the gun to her forehead.

At least she won't feel a thing. That's good.

She holds her breath, her heart hammering in her chest as she waited for the blow.

"Excuse me."

Her heart jumps. Jane.

"Patrick Jane, FBI. Drop your weapons, you're coming with me."

It's a cocktail of dread and adrenaline pumping in his veins at that moment, and a fight to keep his composure. He only has one thing to lose in this world – but it's still too much, has always been.

He can't afford to think about how he could've been a second too late, because that thought would nearly kill him. Instead, he stays focused, and bluffs; he's playing for time. Surely Abbott and the team are on their way and will be here any minute now.

But the plan backfires the moment Marie finally recognizes him. Lisbon closes her eyes for the second time; everything is going terribly wrong. She jumps as she hears the gunshots, and for just a second is completely submerged by fear and dread, having thought Cole aimed at Jane. Her relief is shortly lived though, as the reality of the situation sinks in once again; it's only a matter of time.

"Well, here we are," Jane says, after it was clear that no sniper would fall off the tree. He glances at her so that she knows he has nothing else up his sleeve.

Cole takes a couple of steps towards him, an amused smirk on his face. "You walked out here to face us by yourself, with nothing but a rearview mirror for a backup?"

It really was the last thing to do; yet the first risk he'd take for her. He knows she knows that, and can almost feel the waves of disapproval radiating from her petite form from where he's standing – but there's absolutely nothing she can do about that. Especially when she would do the same for him.

He shrugs. "Worth a shot." And then he turns to Lisbon. "Sorry, I-I couldn't think of anything else."

He might break his promise this time around; there was nothing more he could do to save her.

"It's okay," she says softly, meeting his eyes. She feels calmer than before, has somehow accepted their faith. Only Jane ever made her feel strong in moments of weakness.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Cole raise his gun in his direction; he's going first. At least it's a small relief to not have to watch Lisbon die.

His eyes don't leave hers.

"I love you." It comes out low and hoarse, but still loud enough for her to hear it one last time.

A small and sad smile tugs at her lips. "I love you, too," she murmurs.

It doesn't escape Jane's notice how Marie lowers her gun just a fraction of an inch, her resolve slightly shaken. But Cole's determination doesn't waver. Quite the contrary: he's taking pleasure in the situation. He chuckles.

"How sweet. It's a shame things had to end this way."

Jane doesn't give him the satisfaction of a reply. He waits silently, and knows the exact moment he plans on pulling the trigger the second before he almost does.

"FBI!"

"Drop your weapons right now!"

It all happens fast. Jane lowers his arms and watches as Abbott, Cho, Vega and the local police officers take control of the situation, while Lisbon snatches the gun still aiming at her out of Marie's hands. Both of their bodies are still running on adrenaline.

Abbott hands him one of the water bottles he threw out on the street, and then he's in front of her, finally at arm's length.

"Hey," he breathes out.

"Hey," she breathes back.

Their colleagues won't read much into a hug; especially given the circumstances they've just been through. So he does exactly that. He wraps his arms around her, because she's whole and breathing and had a gun pressed to her forehead only moments ago. She's still tense after the recent events, but gradually relaxes in the comfort of his embrace and briefly closes her eyes, reveling in the warmth of his body. Only then does he allow himself to relax in turn, the feel of her heart beat against his a reminder of how lucky they both are to still be standing. She sighs.

"Don't ever die," he says gently against her hair, a soft edge to his voice.

They pull away, and he hands her the water bottle. She gives him a fragile smile.

"I'll do my best."

A/N: What I was mostly disappointed about was the lack of a hug (on field or off, I didn't really care about that detail). I also like to think that (maybe) I wasn't the only one on the edge of my seat, so sure of an impending "love you" from Jane to Lisbon as Cole aimed for him. Then again, I could be wrong!