Title: Journey's End
Author: Lizzybeth93
Rating: T
Characters: Lisbon mainly, with quite a bit of Jane and some team.
Summary: Red John sends Lisbon an ultimatum. It's basically about how she copes with it.
Total Word Count: 11,000 words approx.
Beta: Hardly Loquacious
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
A/N: Written for the Jello Forever Big bang 2010.
Huge thanks to Andree for being an amazing beta, I don't think I could have pulled this off without your input. Also, special thanks must go to Tracie for being the best cheerleader ever. The Wicked related video's you sent me always cheered me up when I was feeling down about the writing, likewise I don't think I'd have got this done without your help. Thanks is also due to my artists who are both awesome.
- 9.30pm -
The floor of the CBI HQ that housed the serious crimes unit was practically silent. Most sensible people had left for the night either having already finished their paperwork ( like Cho and Van Pelt) or given it up as tedious and decided that it could be completed in the morning ( like Rigsby.)
There was however one glowing light on this floor, coming, as usual, from the office of Teresa Lisbon. There anyone who looks will find her buried in paperwork that she is diligently filling in. You must not think that I am insinuating that Lisbon has procrastinated and now has to stay late because she didn't bother to fill in her paperwork during the day like her Junior Agents. Teresa Lisbon is the best the CBI has to offer; she's beautiful, smart and can definitely catch a murderer. That's why she's in charge of my case. She's not good enough to catch me of course, but no Agent is.
No, Agent Lisbon has to stay late because she has twice as much paperwork to fill in as said Junior Agents. The cause of these obscene amounts of paperwork can be found dozing on the couch situated in her office.
Well, I say dozing; he isn't really asleep. He's pretending to sleep so that Lisbon doesn't feel intruded upon. And also it means that she doesn't notice when he's observing her.
Why, you might ask does Lisbon allow herself to be so close to a man who causes her nothing but trouble, the man they call Patrick Jane? The answer is simple: she loves him.
You also might ask how I came to know this. Again that's another simple answer I watch and observe, not that they know it of course. Well, I'm guessing they have their suspicions but none of them really know for sure. Not even the man who is supposed to see everything.
Interestingly, there is something else I've observed that no-one else has. Jane, no matter how much he tries to hide it, loves her too.
This could bring up a few problems, one being that as she is blinded by love Teresa Lisbon is becoming distracted from my case. I don't want her to put Jane in the way of her career. I am after all, a career making case. Not that she'll ever get to find out. Patrick Jane is also becoming distracted; it disappoints me as I do so like to see the desolation in his eyes when he reads my case files late at night. He hasn't done that in a while. No he prefers to spend his time with her, sitting in her office and making her smile. She's getting in the way of all my plans.
And this is the real problem: Lisbon is making Jane happy. He was supposed to stay in a state of pure misery, completely consumed by guilt and self-loathing. And Lisbon is making keeping him that way very difficult.
But no matter, this situation shan't last for long. I will not allow Patrick Jane to make her fall in love with him, it is simply not done. They won't be able to get distracted when their next Red John case involves them both so closely.
