Some Kind
Summary: They are a team, but more, too. Drabble- Lisbon and the CBI homicide squad. Set during S04Ep24.
Warning: Drabble.
Set: During S04Ep24
Disclaimer: Standards apply.
A/N: Sept 2013. Part 2 of a massive upload session. I won't do this too often, don't worry.
An abandoned casino.
Lisbon can still see the promise of a never-used room, the slot machines packed in thick bubble wrappings. The walls are white, perhaps they were meant to be decorated but as to now only the sad splendor of a could-have-been remains. In the middle of the hall a picnic table is loaded with coffers and boxes, metallic, black and white. So unreal. Four folding chairs gather around it, Rigsby sits in one, Jane in the other, and reads his book. He looks like Jane on every other day – except that he suffered a mental breakdown the last few months, had been fired, had robbed a few millionaires who could afford it and a few innocent who couldn't and had been detained on charges of narcotics, theft and assault on a law enforcement officer. It had been a ruse in order to draw out his arch enemy. Lisbon could live with that, in fact; she understood - which only served to prove how far Patrick Jane had made her fall. Also, it wasn't why she still was angry. He had been successful; Red John had contacted him. And the fact that he had started a relationship with Red John's lady friend wasn't what had her still enraged, either. It was the fact that Jane had conveniently forgotten to tell her about his plans that had Teresa Lisbon trembling in rage inwardly whenever she looked at him. Not even his anguished face when he supposedly shot her had made her forget her anger. And still, she had done it, had did everything as he asked.
It had brought her here.
Grace entered first, carrying a bullet-proof vest and pulling up her hair in a straight pony tail. "Hi, boss." She merely glanced at Jane as she strode over to stand next to Rigsby. Cho followed her suit, greeting Lisbon with a short nod. She'd never been so glad to see them.
"Thank you," Jane told them.
"We're not doing this for you, Jane," Rigsby said. Grace nodded, Cho just stared. "We're doing it for the boss."
And there it was.
Suddenly Lisbon was struck by how much they trusted her, and how much she owed them. It was almost physical, the pain of knowing if this went wrong she would be responsible for the end of all of their careers. Hers would be over, too, but it didn't matter much to her. Which meant, she realized in horror, that Jane meant more to her than her career. The thought scared her, so she pushed it aside forcefully. She was good at that. She focused on the team instead: Rigsby, so kind and eager, Grace, so strong, so vulnerable, and Cho, silent and loyal. They were here that moment because they believed in her, not in Jane, Jane had given them nothing to earn their trust. He had worked with them, had helped them and had demanded unconditional trust in return which he had betrayed by not telling them about his plan. Lisbon understood how they must feel, and she was grateful they still had agreed to help her.
It weighted down on her heavily, the burden of their trust.
But they were a team, she thought, they worked together and fought together and they would get through this together. She'd make them get through this. After what they had did for her they deserved it, no matter if she herself went down for this. They had come for her more than once. She owed them. They were far more than a team, somehow had grown from that awkward collection of colleagues to something else. They were a weird collection, the four of them: and strangely, it felt right.
Like they had something. Like they were some kind of… Family.
Lisbon smiled, and for a second her broken heart felt at peace.