The boss of the top CBI unit, Teresa Lisbon, had finally closed the case. After two full days of work without much help from Jane, the child had been found and returned to his parents.
She set to work sorting paperwork with a heavy sigh as she sunk down in her chair. Her eyes wandered to the couch where Patrick Jane used to spend all his time, pretending to be asleep while listening to the conversations around him. He hadn't been there in over a week. Jane had spent all day, every day, up in the loft, sorting out clues to Red John. After the disc Lorelei sent him, Lisbon was lucky to see him once a day.
She sighed, trying to get back to the paperwork but her eyes couldn't concentrate. Her mind was out of control in thought. Finally, she stood up and made her way up to Patrick Jane's loft.
"Jane," she said softly, knocking. "Please open the door, we've missed you."
There was no response, but Lisbon could hear his bed creaking inside.
"Fine," she said after a slight pause. "I've missed you."
After a few moments, the door opened to reveal Jane, his suit wrinkled and his curly blonde hair ruffled and bags under his eyes. "I've missed you too, Lisbon," he replied, letting her step inside.
Lisbon slapped him gently, narrowing her eyes once she was inside. "What the hell, Jane. You show me this disc a week ago, a message from Red John, saying that he's going to kill more often. There was a call five days ago about a supposed Red John murder, and you don't even come out for that? You leave the team to try to catch this impossible serial killer all by ourselves?"
"Was it a Red John murder?" Jane asked softly.
"Well," Lisbon hesitated, "No, but how could you of all people take that chance?"
"Because I knew, Lisbon. I knew he wouldn't strike that fast, he's been after me for over a decade. He's going to torture me first by waiting about two weeks before he strikes. So until then, I have to try to figure out who this son of a bitch is. Up here. Alone."
"Why?" Lisbon said gently. "Why alone? After all this time, all these years, you still can't trust me?" Lisbon scoffed, shaking her head and shifting her eyes from his gaze. She lowered her voice. "After all we've been through…" Lisbon shook her head and headed toward the door. "For God's sake, Jane, you showed me that video! You can't just show that to me and expect me to not want to be involved!" She turned on her heel and began to walk away.
"Stop," Jane said, placing a gentle, soft hand on Lisbon's shoulder. Slowly, she turned around and faced him, angry and betrayed.
"Lisbon," Jane said, his voice completely solemn and serious. She hadn't seen his face this serious since he had pretended to shoot her in her very own office and he realized he was closer than he had ever been to catching his family's killer.
"I can't afford to put you in any more danger than you're already in. Don't you see—you're the first and only person I completely trust since my wife and daughter died. Don't you know that?" The way Jane was looking at her made Lisbon feel like he was staring into her very soul, reading her very thoughts. All she could do was nod in response. Deep down, she had always known.
"And that alone puts the biggest target on your back. If I inform you of any leads, of anyone who I eliminate from my list of possibilities, they'll know you know. And they'll take you from me sooner."
Lisbon gulped. At some point in Jane's talk he had moved his other hand and placed it on Lisbon's other shoulder so he was looking directly into her eyes.
"Lisbon, you will be taken, likely as the final trophy of Red John. Because you're the last person left who I trust completely. Most likely he'll kill a few more people who used to be close to me before that happens, so up here, alone, I have to figure out how to protect you. I won't have your blood on my hands."
Lisbon's breathing was now labored and she couldn't look Jane in the eye anymore. "How does he know?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"How does he know you're my closest friend? Because most likely Red John works for the CBI. Even if he doesn't, he's seen us together working on cases hundreds of times. Lisbon, you're all I have, even Rigsby could figure that out!"
Lisbon's lips curled up slightly at the mention of the always hungry, often naïve agent. But after just a second, her face returned to its somber look.
"Even Lorelei knew it," Lisbon said sheepishly.
Jane dropped his hands from her shoulders. "You heard that, didn't you?"
Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Duh, you pig-brain! Of course I heard everything you and that woman talked about! She was the first woman you slept with since your wife!"
"Ah, so you did listen in not because you're an officer of the law, but because you're you. And I'm me," Jane said, a smile playing on his face.
"Huh?" Lisbon's face twisted in confusion. "Never mind. The point is you slept with the mistress of Red John, and only a few hours later she brought my name into your little pathetic relationship! Jane, he's going to take me! Everybody knows it!"
"Lisbon, I need you to calm down," Jane's face returned to solemn.
Lisbon took a deep breath and finally looked into Jane's eyes. "Are you?"
"Am I what?" Jane asked. For the first time in awhile, Lisbon had genuinely confused him with that question.
"Are you what Lorelei said you are—'a little bit in love with me'?"
Jane's face was full of regret and remembrance. He took a step back and sat down on his bed. He was quiet for what seemed like an eternity.
Lisbon didn't give him a chance to reply. "Jane, it took Lorelei and Sean Barlow to help me see that I really do care about you. You know he's right; maybe I do lay awake thinking of you. You worry me, especially after Vegas. I think that any day you'll decide you've had enough, you won't show up for work, you won't ever talk to me again. I worry that one day Red John will attack you or you'll kill yourself . . . I thought you were the only one in danger for over a decade and then you come and bombard me with this—that now suddenly I'll probably go before you do? Just because I work with you, and God help me, I started to care about you?!"
Jane didn't say a word, he only stared at the wall next to Lisbon, running a hand through his curly hair.
"And you've know, you've known this whole time haven't you? You knew you were close to me and you knew that would put me in danger, but you still showed up to work every day and gave me these little gifts, these little words or hugs or whatever! You were using me this whole time, Patrick Jane. Lorelei just thought you were in love with me, I just thought you actually cared about me, because you're that good at playing people! But this time, you know, Lorelei played you. And I won't let you play me anymore. You're only using me to get to Red John because you knew he would come after me and that would give you more to work with to catch him. Bravo. Bravo, Mr. Jane." Lisbon turned on her heel. As soon as her palm wrapped around the door handle, however, Jane had jumped up and grabbed her shoulder again.
"Teresa," he said, but Lisbon wouldn't face him. He sighed. "I do care about you. I care about you more than you can possibly understand. I didn't mean to get close to you. Yes, at first, my only intention in coming to the CBI was to catch Red John." Lisbon rolled her eyes and Jane could feel it. "But that changed! Over the years I truly did grow to care about you! And I hoped, oh I hoped to any God in existence that I would catch him and kill him before he got to you, I had only hoped I thought it was inevitable, and I came so close, Lisbon. So close. I have seven names! At a certain point in this hunt it became more about catching him to protect you, just as much as it was revenge for him killing my family. I swear to you, if I had known it would have been this long without me catching him, I would have done things differently. I would have watched you better."
Lisbon slowly turned back to face Jane, her eyes misty. She tried to wipe away a tear, but Jane had already seen it. She was quiet for a few minutes but then she spoke. "How do I know, Jane? How many times have you played me in the past? How many times have you not told me the whole story? Why should I think you really are trying to protect me this time?"
Jane looked hurt, and Lisbon almost felt like taking back her words, but not quite. "What do you want me to do?" he asked.
"I don't know," Lisbon said, breaking eye contact as she shrugged.
"Yes you do," Jane shot back. "You know good and well what you want me to do. And Red John has to die first."
"You have to make me understand, Jane! Make me trust you!"
Jane and Lisbon stood perfectly still, staring into each other's eyes for what had to have been at least ten minutes. Neither moved, neither spoke. Finally, Jane moved his hand ever so slightly and gently placed it on Lisbon's left cheek. She closed her eyes under his tender touch. Ever so slightly, Jane moved his other hand to caress her right cheek, rubbing circles with the pads of his thumbs. Lisbon leaned her head back, wondering what Jane was going to do next.
Slowly, almost unsure, Jane bent his head down until he was centimeters away from Lisbon's face. With the slightest movement, Jane closed the gap and rested his lips against hers, making for the sweetest and most emotional kiss Teresa Lisbon had ever received. Nothing could have prepared her for the butterflies in her stomach at this time and the tenderness behind Jane's touch.
Jane was gentle, as if asking for permission. He held her face up with his strong hands and gently sucked on Lisbon's bottom lip. He held onto her face with as much passion as he could convey to her, gently stroking her cheeks with his long fingers. Jane moved his lips upward and sucked a bit on her upper lip as Lisbon melted into his touch. He held his lips on her for a few more moments, lingering, breathing in her scent. Finally, reluctantly, he pulled his lips away and dropped his left hand, still holding her face with his right.
The two could only stare at each other; no words needed to be said.
"I never kissed Lorelei like that," Jane admitted, dropping his hand from Lisbon's face. She felt immediately cold once his touch left. "Maybe she was right, what she said in the interrogation room that day.
Lisbon nodded. "I believe you. I trust you, Jane." She took a couple steps backward and began to open the door of the loft. Her eyes were determined, solemn, and Jane thought he saw a hint of passion and longing. "Let's kill this son of a bitch and get our lives back." And with that, she opened the door and left the loft, leaving Jane alone once again to plot his plan of revenge for his wife and daughter, and protection for the woman he trusted the most. And just maybe, the woman he was a little bit in love with.