After being in a car crash with Jane, Lisbon must figure out the mysteries involving how the accident happened and why they are stuck on the side of the road, with no one to help them out. Rated M for strong Jisbon content.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters as well as I don't know anything about roads or court rooms in California or anything else that might appear in this story, which is simply a product of my troubled mind...

CRIMSON CHAOS

I sighed, and got in the Suburban. I shut the door violently, because I was really furious. Before meeting Patrick Jane, I thought furious was just furious, but then I found out a million degrees of furiousness. Let's say that, at that particular moment, I was reaching one of the highest peaks on that scale. He walked around the car and took the passenger seat, with a calm expression, like nothing had happened. Of course; for him, all of that was awfully normal. As soon as he had closed the door, I maneuvered and drove off, anxious to get us the hell out of there.

It was a court day, and I hate court days. I didn't use to; only after the addition of Jane to the team. He always finds a way to make a fool of himself and the unit. That day had been no different. He had the guts to… Well, I don't even want to mention what he did, because it will just get me furious all over again. The point is, he started to make some stupid, unnerving small talk, and I didn't have any patience for that at all, so I just turned to face him and shushed him. He acted all hurt and offended, and kept looking at me as though I was mean and bossy, only to laugh about it a second later. Damn it, he's just so childish.

He fortunately gave me a few moments of silence as I drove on my way to the CBI HQs. Hopefully, we would have a case to get my mind busy enough to forget that painful morning. First, we'd have to take the road for a little bit, because the session hadn't been in Sacramento, even though it was not far. I noticed there was this car always behind me, and sort of wondered if it was tailing me, but there was nothing suspicious about it, so I paid no mind. But then, at a certain point, it started to approach our car; it passed us and then turned around, and in a split second I tried to decide what to do as I imagined what the hell the driver was doing. The next thing I know, there was a strong impact and I was no longer looking at the road; I was watching it spin around us, and then the sky and the road started to alternate as the sight outside the windshield, until everything went completely black.

I opened my eyes again, like I had just closed them, but some time had probably passed, because I was no longer in the car; I was lying on the ground, sunlight burning at my eyes, so I squinted and looked away from it.

"Lisbon," I heard, it was Jane's voice.

I moved my head to the other side, and there he was, sitting on the ground as well, looking at me and touching my face. He looked worried.

"What happened?" I mumbled, trying to sit up. Jane supported me.

"You don't remember? We had an accident."

I remembered, but for some reason my brain was slow on accessing that information. I realized Jane had superficial cuts on his face and hands. There was a tear on his vest as well. He was still supporting me so I'd be sitting, and I was going to shrug him off, but I noticed I couldn't really sit on my own, so I didn't. I also found it strange that, even though the hot sunlight was right on top of me, I actually felt cold. I even started to shake and felt the hair on my arms standing up. I tried to turn around, looking for the car, but my vision was suddenly blurred and I felt Jane's hand on my shoulder, as if to keep me from moving.

"Easy," he said. "You lost a lot of blood."

I looked beside me and noticed a puddle of my own blood, under my bloody right arm, which had a towel I owned tied to it.

"I took it from your overnight bag," he said, as though reading my mind. "It was bleeding so much, I didn't know what to do."

I turned again to face him, and he had a really concerned expression, one I didn't usually see. "Thank you," I said, somewhat embarrassed, to which he just nodded in response, his arm still in a firm grip around me. I must confess it felt… kind of good. But then I noticed something didn't quite add up.

"Why are we sitting here?" I asked. "Why aren't we at a hospital or something?"

"I couldn't call an ambulance," Jane answered. "My phone has no signal. Yours is just…" He showed me the wreckage of what had once been my phone.

"Why didn't you ask anybody for help?"

"I would have," he said, sort of offended. "But there isn't anybody to ask."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "What about the cars…" I shut up as I realized no cars had passed since I had opened my eyes. "The road is empty?" I asked, incredulously.

"It is."

"But… I don't understand, this is Sacramento metropolitan area, I mean, there should be a damned traffic jam here at this hour."

"I know," Jane said, "But there isn't."

My slow brain searched for other options.

"Well, maybe you could drive us, then," I said.

"Maybe," Jane replied, but his face said bad news. "But it sort of couldn't."

I turned around, slowly this time, to see that the Suburban's front was completely wrecked.

"Amazing that we got out alive, isn't it?" Jane said.

"Yeah," I said, looking down, and suddenly realizing his leg was in a weird position. "What's wrong with your…"

"Broken," he said, in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Oh, sheep-dip…" I murmured, which made Jane chuckle. I looked at him.

"Why can't you swear like a normal person? We're stranded on the side of the road, hurt, bleeding, no way out, and you go sheep-dip?"

I glared at him. So he was done being nice.

"All right," I said. "Fucking hell."

"Better," he nodded.

I sighed, watching it as a big, grey cloud threatened to take over the bright blue sky.

"Oh shit, damn it!" I murmured.

"All right, now, there's no need to swear that much."

"It's going to rain," I pointed out, and I might have added a little nudge, just a bit more violent than necessary.

He looked up.

"Although I see where it might upset you, it's sort of useless to be angry at nature."

"I'm not angry at nature," I said, suddenly feeling well enough for another attempt – now successful – at standing up. "I'm angry at our situation! Where are all the cars that were supposed to be passing here?"

I had walked towards the pavement and was now standing in the middle of it. "This is not normal."

"Sure isn't; it's certainly not every day that I'm in an accident and break my leg. By the way, how did that happen?"

I turned around to face him, enraged. "What do you mean?"

He pointed both hands towards his chest defensively. "I'm in no way criticizing your driving abilities, it's just–"

"It was not my fault!" I raised my voice. Then I went on, stuttering with irritation. "Th-there was this, this car! Behind us, tailing us! It suddenly passed us and hit us and I lost control and–"

"A car?" he asked. "I don't remember noticing…"

"It's not my fault you were wandering, miles away thinking about lord knows what!"

"Okay," he said, posing his hands in front of him in defeat. "There's no need to be so grumpy!"

We heard a thunder just then, and I confess it made me jump a little, but only because I wasn't expecting it so soon. I looked up and noticed that black cloud had already covered most of the sky I could see. The good part was that the sunlight wasn't burning at my skin so much anymore.

"So you don't like thunder?"

Of course my reaction hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Just startled me," I said, walking back towards him. "It's a normal, understandable reaction to unexpected, loud noises."

I sat down, and felt his eyes on me all along for the next minute. Until I couldn't take it anymore.

"What?" I looked at him.

"Let me guess. You were afraid of thunder, but so were your brothers. And you were the oldest, so you had to tell them it was going to be all right, and calm them down, all the while pretending the thunders didn't bother you at all."

I was rendered speechless by his ability of saying stuff like that like he was pulling them right out of my head. At times like these it became really difficult to believe he was not a psychic.

"Don't be silly," I shook my head, and I might have done so a little too quickly, contradicting my words.

Another thunder came and I hated myself for having shuddered at the sound.

"Here," he said, pulling my good arm towards him. "Let me protect you for once."

"What the hell," I was saying in protest, but he pulled me to him rather forcefully, and once I had my head on his shoulder, with my nose buried in his neck, he threw his arm in a strong grip around me. As I heard another thunder and involuntarily jumped once more, he held me tighter.

"It's going to be okay," he said, with that tone he uses when he's pleased with himself.

As mad as I was, I must admit it felt comforting and reassuring. I really did hate thunders, because not only they were frightening on their own but they also brought memories of long nights telling my brothers everything was going to be okay while I was also scared as hell. Of thunders and of other things.

During the fifteen or twenty minutes we just sat like that, silently, the sky went black as night. Then, a few drops started to fall on us.

"Oh, crap," I said, as the drops instantaneously multiplied.

"We could try to make it back to the car," he suggested, "to be dry at least."

"Okay," I said, getting out of his embrace and starting to move.

But then there was his leg; when he had gotten out of the car and obviously dragged me out as well, adrenaline was probably numbing his pain, which was not the case now, as he could barely move. I supported him and it took us about five minutes to limp clumsily to the car. When we had finally reached our destination, I opened the door to the backseat and helped Jane get in, then ran around the car to get in on the other side, only to find that the door was stuck and wouldn't open for anything in the world. I tried the front seat door, unsuccessfully.

I ran to the other side again and figured I'd better just get in for once, so I hopped on Jane's good leg and did all I could to get to the other side without brushing against his broken leg. He seemed immensely surprised at my course of action and I was surprised, as well, to find that I felt some sort of heat running through my body at that sudden closeness. Jane pulled the door closed and the muffling of the sound of the rain felt relieving. I sighed, as we exchanged a look. We were drenched.

I couldn't help it; I burst into laughter. What was happening to us was beyond absurd, and yet, it was funny somehow. Jane laughed with me, and we sat there laughing for a while, until our laughter eventually died. I was again focusing on the absurd part; first of all, who the hell had been in that car? Second, Jane hadn't seen it? How? Third, how could it hit their car and damage it so badly and then just leave, as if unharmed? Then, for the thousandth time, why were there no cars passing at all? I lay back on the seat. Jane was staring.

"What?" I asked.

"Just looking at you," he answered defensively, widening his eyes for a moment, looking away, "is that a crime? What do you want me to look at?"

I sighed again. "Where's you phone?"

He took the phone out of his pocket and examined it. "Still no signal." He gave it to me and I verified.

"Damn."

"Let me see your arm," he commanded. I held out my right arm for him to see it. "It's bleeding again."

The rain had washed most of the old blood, so the blood coming from my wound now really had to be new.

"It was probably the struggle to help me walk that made it bleed again, stimulated the blood flow."

There it was, that hint of guilt in his eyes, which I hated. It was almost as if he did it so people would pity him, instead of despise him. It made me so mad.

"I'm fine."

He nodded, with disbelief in his expression. Then spoke, after a moment of silence.

"When the rain calms down, you should walk. Try to find something, someone."

He waved his head towards his leg, as to exemplify why I should walk alone.

"No way, I'm not leaving you," I said, as casually and definitively as I could.

"Think about it, we don't stand a chance staying here. Soon we will be starving, and there is no food at all. And no water."

It gave me an idea. "Of course there is water."

I leaned over the driver seat and reached for two empty water bottles inside the glove department. I sat back down, took the lids off and opened the car window. I held one of the bottles outside, until it was filled with water, and then did the same with the other. I smirked at him.

"Two bottles."

I scoffed. "Don't be silly, Jane. Until we start dying in starvation and dehydration, a car will have passed and spotted us."

"None has passed since the accident," he said.

"Which is very weird, because this is a very busy highway. Soon it will be back to normal. Something must have happened, a block or something."

Jane moved his head in a demonstration of dissatisfaction with my argument.

After that, we were silent for a long time. About an hour, an hour and a half. The sky was growing darker and the rain was as heavy as before. I was starting to feel the symptoms of an empty stomach, but worst of all was my arm; I felt a throbbing pain around the wound and I must admit, even though I wouldn't admit to Jane, that I was starting to feel weaker and weaker with all the blood loss. Not that he wouldn't notice, though.

"You need that taken care of," he said. "Don't wait for the rain to calm down. Just get out and start walking, until you find someone, or until this gets a signal." He held out his cell phone.

"Knock it off, I'm not getting out."

"You're just being stubborn," he said, rather harshly, approaching me.

"No, I'm not. I'm being reasonable," I said, deciding to use my injury as a reason to stay. "I'm feeling rather weak right now, I think my blood pressure is low, so if I go walking for a long time, in the rain, no less, I might faint on the side of the road. Bad idea."

He sighed.

"You'll only get worse in here."

There was strong concern on his face.

"I'm going to be fine, I just need to be quiet here."

"You don't really believe that," he retorted. "You're willing to stay for my sake, but I'm asking you not to."

"I'm not leaving you," I said, hoping he would understand at once. I wasn't going to discuss the reasons; I didn't even want to think about them, but the truth was I didn't want to leave him there. I wasn't going to. "So stop insisting."

"Stop trying to be the hero," he said, turning on his jackass switch. "Accept that there's nothing the mighty Agent Lisbon can do here but die honorably."

"I'm not going to die."

"You know, I'm not one of your brothers. Maybe I don't want you being protective of me. Maybe I just want you to leave me alone."

The worst was the sneer alongside that utterance. I knew what he was trying to do, though, and that made me even more furious than what he had said. I didn't resist the urge to slap him in the face. I had to fight violent urges towards him on a daily basis, so this felt good. Even though I was still mad. I held him by his shirt collar.

"I won't allow you to try to mind trick me into leaving, all right? You understand this right now!"

He held me by my wrists, rather forcefully, and it only made me snap. I tried to free myself, and the struggle made me lightheaded. I almost fainted, actually, and Jane held me in a tight grip so as not to let me fall. I shook my head, recovering my balance.

"No mind games with me, understood?" I demanded, even though my voice came out in a mumble.

"Understood," he said, and I hoped he meant it.

I stared at his confusing expression; there was concern there, a certain rage, and something else I couldn't identify. As for me, I found myself paying attention to the color of his eyes, to the perfect design around his chin, to his bright white teeth through parted lips – to his lips. My eyes lingered there for some reason. I suddenly realized I wanted to… I leaned forward and kissed him, before I could realize anything, and I found myself already regretting it, because he was going to push me away. And things would be awkward between us forever.

But I was astoundingly surprised as he instantly kissed me back, with an intensity I could have never expected. It was gentle at first, as he cupped my face with one of his hands while still supporting my weight with his other hand, on the small of my back, but then he demanded entrance into my mouth, which I allowed him, and pulled my thigh rather forcefully to have me straddle him, and the contact made me so breathless I had to pull away for a second to catch my breath, making him grin, amused with his effect on me, and of course it annoyed me and made me put an effort into making him just as breathless by trailing open-mouthed kisses and bites down his neck, measuring the effect on his arousal and turning it all into a power play, a competition of who aroused whom more, in which both parts were equally motivated to win.

I felt his hands dealing with the buttons of my shirt, and when he had succeeded in opening it, I pulled away just to tease him, making him move forward to close the distance between us, saying "I want you" in a husky voice, and seizing my lips with his once again. I bit his bottom lip, and he whined as I tasted his blood, while It was my turn to open his vest and then his shirt, while he was kissing my neck, then the skin along my collarbone, then the line between my breasts, making me lose my focus on the task at hand. He seemed pleased with himself, so I returned the kisses and caresses on his now bare chest, in a successful attempt to hear his voice moaning. Then Jane suddenly grabbed me by my waist with both hands and pulled me even closer to him, against his lap, and I felt just how aroused I'd made him, but as he sensed my victorious smirk he attacked again, opening my bra in the front and seizing the exposed skin with his mouth.

Suddenly, our competition didn't matter anymore, as I just longed to have him inside me, as though if it didn't happen, it'd kill me. I rolled down my pants and underwear while he fumbled with his and, as soon as I could, I climbed on top of him, unable to contain a groan as I felt him filling me. "You probably shouldn't be making… that kind of effort…" he breathed, but didn't try to stop me; he just grabbed me and helped me move up and down, our voices joining each other in a moaning duet, until eventually my desperation was soothed by the ultimate peak of pleasure, followed by a deep relaxation, and I let myself slip into his embrace.

We were silent for about ten minutes, as our breathing and our heartbeats returned to a normal pace. He was running his fingertips along my face and neck, distractedly. Then he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Was that your punishment for my trying to mind trick you? Or your own attempt at tricking me?"

I looked up at him, and noticed his bottom lip was bleeding more than I had expected. I regretted having bit it. "I don't know what that was," I answered truthfully, avoiding any rational thoughts about it.

He gave me a squeeze as I cuddled up to him, and no conversation followed. It felt good to just lie there, with his arms around me. I felt it as our breathing patterns slowed down to a calm rhythm, until I fell into a contented and comfortable sleep.

I opened my eyes again, not quite identifying my surroundings. Then I instantly remembered I had fallen asleep in Jane's arms, after… Well, I shuddered with embarrassment at the memory, but before I could feel anything else, I realized I was not in his arms anymore. Neither was I in the backseat of the car. I was lying in a bed, in a white room. I looked at my right side, at my wounded arm – it was bandaged, and I also noticed the patterned hospital gown. I was definitely in a hospital room. I looked at the other side and noticed the IV drip into my other arm. Okay… what had I missed?

I tried to sit up, but I was kind of weak and, besides, my leg hurt terribly as I tried.

"Bad idea," I heard, and I moved my head hurriedly to see where it came from, even though I already knew whom it had come from.

Jane was standing up, and flashed me one of those enormous smiles of his which always threw me off balance, and I was glad I was lying down. He walked toward me, and I felt tempted to smile back, but I was too embarrassed about… last night? When had it been at all? What time of the day was it right now? What day was it?

Oh, and there was something else!

"Where's your cast?" I asked, knowing he should have one, since we had made it to the hospital.

"My cast?" his smile widened.

"Yes, your leg, it was… broken."

I felt stupid, because his leg seemed just fine. He had his hands in his pockets, and removed one to point at my own leg.

"Yours is," he said, and I lifted my head just enough to contemplate my left leg in a cast.

I frowned. What the hell was going on?

"You had an accident," he said, as though reading my mind, with a very serious expression.

"I had an accident?" I asked, not enjoying the confusion. "We had an accident."

He frowned this time. "You were alone in your car."

"We were together," I raised my voice. "We were leaving court, it was a court day."

"You never made it," he said calmly, resting a hand in my right forearm, just below my wound.

I was trying to make sense of it all in my head. "It's normal to feel confused," he said, stroking my arm. "You must have dreamed I was with you."

I was trying to pull those memories from my brain, me alone in the car, driving, not having arrived yet. But I remembered being there… I remembered Jane embarrassing me in front of everyone. I remembered leaving court with him, getting in the car with him, him teasing me, the car tailing us… I shook my head, I was too confused. I felt Jane's hand cherishing my head, his fingers going through my hair.

"It's going to be fine," he said, in a low, calming voice.

At that moment, a nurse entered the room. Jane removed his hands from me softly and greeted her politely, while flashing a special smile at her. I saw her feeling pleased with herself as she checked on me and, before she left, Jane spoke to her again.

"Is there any chance you could bring me a cup of tea? You know, I can't leave her side, she doesn't feel confident enough to be on her own."

I was annoyed that he used me as an excuse, but I was disgusted at how he used all his charm to make that request, such as his warm smile and the batting of eyelashes. Of course it worked; she said it would be a pleasure and left, not even bothering to look at me, and I was the patient. When she had left, he looked at me and obviously caught my dissatisfaction.

"What?" he said, innocently.

"It's so easy for you, isn't it? To play this game?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking genuinely intrigued.

"Do you ever think about the line of women whom you charm your way with and who are expecting something from you that you just can't give?"

Only after saying it did I measure my words. And regretted them instantly. I was probably taking it out on him for having just found out that what had happened between us had been nothing but a dream. And it scared me to realize I was so disappointed it hadn't actually happened.

If Jane was offended, he didn't demonstrate. Like he ever demonstrated anything… He smiled enigmatically.

"Are you speaking from experience?" he asked, challenging me.

I scoffed, looking away, amazed at how he always found his way out of tricky questions. "Don't be silly."

We were silent for a while, and I was staring at the wall. Then I spoke, just to break the heavy silence.

"How long do I have to stay here?"

"Until you're completely stable. You lost a lot of blood."

You lost a lot of blood, he had said, as he was supporting me on the side of the road, the sunlight burning at us, but I felt cold. It felt so real. How come it wasn't?

The sudden touch of his hand in mine pulled me back to that moment. I looked up at him.

"When I heard you had been in an accident…" he didn't finish his sentence. He just looked at me, with a certain intensity in his eyes. Then he shook his head. "You'd better be more careful, all right?"

"Me? More careful? You're the one who drives like a maniac. In that wreck you call a car."

He chuckled, and cupped my face with one of his hands. It was gentle at first, as he cupped my face with one of his hands while still supporting my weight with his other hand, on the small of my back, but then he demanded entrance into my mouth, which I allowed him. I tried to shrug off the déjà vu. It didn't seem right in my mind. It was as if this was the dream.

"What's wrong?" Jane asked, his hand still on my face, worry in his eyes.

"I honestly don't know," I answered. "Help me sit up."

I was suddenly feeling suffocated; I felt cold sweat running down my back.

"Lisbon…"

"I'm… I'm not feeling so good…"

He sat beside me on the bed and supported my weight. And I couldn't avoid the déjà vu sensation all over again. I felt like I was going to throw up. We were back to the side of the road. Then the hospital room. Then I saw it – a restaurant? We were sitting together, he had an arm around me. What the hell was going on? He charmed the waitress into bringing him some tea after dinner – when they only offered coffee – and I was mad at him.

"Do you ever think about the line of women whom you charm your way with and who are expecting something from you that you just can't give?"

"Are you speaking from experience?"

It became a staring contest.

We were sitting on the hospital bed again. Then we were on another bed – and it was a competition: who aroused whom more, in which both parts were equally motivated to win. I pulled away, just to tease him, and he moved forward to close the distance between us. I saw a glimpse of my right arm – it wasn't hurt. I bit his bottom lip, and he whined as I tasted his blood.

And as I was looking at my arm, Jane nudged it and I came crashing down to my senses, as though waking up, except I wasn't sleeping; I was sure I hadn't been sleeping at all. I looked around me. The court room.

"Are you all right?" Jane asked. "It's over, let's go." He had a mischievous smile on his face, and I noticed an ugly cut on his bottom lip, which seemed to be healing.

I took a deep breath, trying to understand why I was there and what was happening. I looked at my right arm again; it wasn't hurt.

"What's over?" I asked.

"The session," he chuckled. "Come on."

He pulled gently at my arm and I stood up, looking all around me, still confused. My left leg was asleep, like I had been sitting in the same position for a long time.

"I think… I think I fell asleep," I said, completely unsure about that assumption, but not finding any other way of explaining it.

Jane grinned, but didn't make any comments. Van Pelt did, though, coming out of nowhere.

"You were awake, but you looked distracted," she said. "Are you all right?"

"Why does everybody keep asking me that?" I snapped, my patience wearing thin about not understanding what was going on. Again.

Jane continued smiling, with a very suspicious expression on his face.

"What is it?" I asked. "You have something to do with the fact that I have no idea of what just happened or even how I got here?"

At that moment I realized I had answered my own question. Jane just smiled. "I think I'll be riding with Cho and Rigsby, see you guys later," he said, suddenly in a hurry to get out of my sight.

"He hypnotized me!" I told Van Pelt, horrified, as we were reaching the outside of the court room, and I felt the sunlight on my skin relieve the cold I was feeling inside, probably because of the air conditioner.

Understanding came across Van Pelt's face at that moment. "So that's why you weren't mad when he…"

"Don't," I said, "I don't know what he did, so, please, don't tell me."

At the time, I was more worried about separating reality from dreams in my mind, and I knew it would take a while to figure it out. I started to faintly remember being in a restaurant last night, then walking out of it and being surprised by the rain, then being drenched inside the car, laughing about it with… with Jane, of course. Then driving to my apartment, and the car driving like a maniac near us, then losing control and turning around against us, almost hitting us, but my reflexes made me maneuver in a way that fortunately took us out of its way. I also remembered arriving home, and Jane bantering with me about something, then we were suddenly making out and going to bed – the arousal contest. Then I remembered being held by him after he had figured out I was afraid of thunder. Then falling asleep in his arms. Then waking up this morning, to a court day – I hate court days. He always finds a way to make a fool of himself and the unit. Apparently, today had been no different. Only, for some reason, he had decided not to make me watch it. By hypnotizing me. Before meeting Patrick Jane, I thought furious was just furious.