The fic is set somewhere after Hightower arrived, back when she was still very evil to Lisbon .

Disclaimer: None belongs to me. Nothing. Really, it's depressing.\

CBI headquarters, Agent Madeleine Hightower's Office, after hours

"I'm very sorry; Agent Lisbon, but you've left me no choice."

Agent Teresa Lisbon's face was one of pure horror. She knew it would happen eventually, but now that's its actually happening it knocked the wind right out of her and left only one question in her mind:

Why?

"You are hereby formally relieved of duty as a state agent. Please leave your badge and gun." Hightower looked downwards, almost ruefully, as Lisbon slowly took her gun out of its holster and unclipped her badge and silently laid it on the table. Without a word, she left the room.

As Lisbon walked through the empty halls of the building the moonlight was the only source of light. The only other person, she knew, that was in the building, was Patrick Jane, feigning sleep on the couch in the bullpen. A dark anger welled up inside of her and the first tears started to pour down her cheeks. She quickly wiped off her face, and walked briskly through the bullpen to her office, determined not to be caught crying. If she was leaving, she was leaving with her dignity (and fierce reputation) in tact. She scribbled a quick note to the team, grabbed her things and was out before Jane could look up and notice the tearstains on her cheek, the slump of her shoulders or the lack of her badge and gun.

And with that, Agent Teresa Lisbon was gone.

Grace van Pelt was the first to get in the following morning. When she arrived she saw what seemed like a normal scene - Jane was asleep on the couch and very few other agents seem to have arrived. But something was missing...

Later, Cho and Rigsby also came in. Cho was the first to notice.

"Where's boss?"

"She's not in her office?" Van Pelt asked. "Weird, she's usually already in and working on paperwork when I get here..."

"Maybe she's just running late?" Rigsby offered.

"Yeah, maybe..." Van Pelt nodded, but felt that wasn't it. Lisbon wasn't the type of person that 'ran late' on a regular basis. In fact, she wasn't the type of person that 'ran late' ever.

The mystery was solved when Hightower knocked called them all into her office, not much later.

"I'm sure you've noticed that Lisbon hasn't come in today."

"We have, is she sick or something?"

"No. Agent Lisbon has been relieved of her duty. A replacement is being brought in soon. In the meantime Agent Cho will be in charge. That will be all." Hightower walked out of the bullpen.

You could've knocked the entire team over with a feather. "She's been... fired?"

"Yes." Hightower said without looking back. And with that she got into the elevator and left.

Jane missed this transaction as he was in the kitchenette making himself some tea. When he returned, steaming cup in hand, he frowned at the change of demeanour of the tea.

"Why all the gloomy faces?" he asked in his usual cheerful manner.

"Lisbon got FIRED!" Rigsby practically exploded. He and Cho moved around Jane in an aggressive manner, the way they would if they were intimidating a suspect.

Jane practically spluttered his tea. "FIRED? Like... really? Because of me?"

"Yes, because of you! Why else? Hightower just informed us." Cho's town was almost disgusted, unusually expressive for him.

"Guys..." Van Pelt came out from Lisbon's office, where she seemed to have found some note. "She left us a note..."

"Van Pelt, Rigsby, Cho and Jane:

When you're reading this I expect you've already heard I got fired. I'm probably not coming in again, so I won't see you to say this in person:

It's really been a great pleasure working with each one of you. You are all going to become very fine agents and I wish you all the best.

Also, don't kill Jane for getting me fired. And if you do, make sure it can't be traced back to you. Murder doesn't look all that good on a CV.

Teresa Lisbon"

Van Pelt was starting to get emotional and Jane was receiving death glares from Cho and Rigsby. This was bad, he decided. Very bad. Not only was he in a possibly life-threatening situation, but Lisbon was fired. He would never see her again. And that was very, very bad. Since he came to the CBI she has saved his sorry behind so many times, and he repays her like this? And, he couldn't help selfishly feeling, what would his day be like without her smile? Without her annoyed expressions? Without the feeling of bliss he got from getting her all fired up? Would it go back to the way he felt before he knew her (he wouldn't admit to himself love her)? Would he go back to the dark, sad depression he was in? She was his sunshine. What would he do without her there every day?

Jane decided he had to talk to Hightower. Maybe he could convince her it wasn't Lisbon's fault. He tore himself away from the death glares and towards Hightower's office. He walked in purposely.

"You fired Lisbon?"

"Why hello, Patrick. I'm fine and yourself?"

"You fired her?"

"Yes. I've warned you two many times before, and the last case was simply the last straw. You pissed off the mayor, Jane, that's not just some excitably civilian! Lisbon can't control you. We needed someone different. So yes, I fired her. End of story."

"She wasn't even there, she didn't have any idea I was doing what I was doing! She was in the office, doing paperwork, she had no idea!"

"And that's the point! Now there's no use arguing over it now. She's gone and a replacement is on its way. Get out of my office."

The team had since moved on from death glares to simultaneous death glares and silent treatment. And with silent treatment, he means ignoring his existence completely. So Jane decided if there was no chance that Hightower would reconsider, the least he could do was go to Lisbon's apartment and apologize.

Jane parked his car in the parking lot outside her building and made his way to her apartment door. Before he knocked, he pressed his ear to the door, trying to figure out how she was handling it.

Good, no heavy sobbing, no throwing things... silence...

He knocked. No reaction. Again, he knocked. Complete silence. Getting frustrated, he kept knocking. He looked underneath the mat, above the door, inside the plant for a spare key, but none. So he dug in his pockets until he found a paper clip and started picking the lock. Soon, the lock clicked open and he softly opened the door.

"Lisbon? Lisbon?" Jane shouted, running through her apartment, not finding her. Confused, he walked back to the living room and paced slowly, contemplating where she might have gone.

Why does her apartment feel so different?

Jane abruptly stopped and his eyes flew to the large bookshelf against the wall. It was considerably emptier than the last time he was here, when he hypnotised her to prove she wasn't a murdered. A few of her books were gone, leaving the rest of them laying over each other in the empty space. Her Spice Girls CD was also gone. And the picture of her brothers. That's when it hit him.

Jane raced up the stairs to where he figured out her bedroom was last time he was there. The closets' doors were open and he could see they were cleaned out. Only her lone bed stood in the room. Suddenly an unexpected surge of emotion overcame Jane. Without thinking about it, he went and lay down on the bed. He could smell her on it - a faint aroma of cinnamon like he discovered when he was blind. Imbedded in the pillows and the duvet.

Overwhelmed and strangely uncertain, Jane lay there.

I lost her.

Wow. That's new for me – Lisbon leaving…

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