She opened her eyes, blinked a few times, and wanted to stretch her tensed muscles. But she couldn't. She, Teresa Lisbon was caught in a small metal cage in a dark room, just lighted up with a big candle. Shock ran through her body and she felt the adrenaline building up.
Where was she? What the hell was up here? Not that it wasn't enough to be pressed into a tiny cage; she was wearing some strange clothes, if you still could call this piece of fabric clothes anyway…
" Hello? Is anybody there?! " She shouted and desperately tried to get out of the cage. " Let me out! Hey, you've no right to keep me in this cage like an animal! "
' Okay, now take a breath in… and out… ' She told herself and tried to stay calm.
First of all, she should think about the last days. The last thing she could remember was… right, she had been at a crime scene. Wait, actually the case had been closed… It had been something about… She couldn't remember. But whoever had put her in these clothes and in that cage had something to do with the case. That was the only possible solution!
Sighing she laid her head into her knees and lifted her hand to her necklace. She twisted it between her fingers until suddenly she felt another item resting against the skin of her fingers.
Wondering she went to feel the smooth metal on her fingertips, studying the form.
It felt like a ring… She lifted it so that she could look at it. The golden metal was shining in the light of the candle. It was Jane's wedding band. With wide eyes, she stared at it. Why did she wear Jane's wedding band on her necklace?!
Furthermore she had a terrible headache.
Okay, someone must have drugged her, changed her clothes for some reason and locked her in this silly thing! After their last case had been closed, she had gone back to the office with Jane… She had felt terribly tired, but had gone to a meeting with her boss though.
When she had gone back, she had realized that her coffee was still sitting on her desk; quickly she had drunken it and had wondered that it was still warm.
Suddenly she realized how dumb she must've been. There definitely had been a drug in her coffee! She hadn't even made one…
Man, she would never get out of this cage alone. Sighing, she now played with the ring instead of the cross. If she just would believe hard enough in it, she would be rescued; she just had to.
Curled up, she was laying on the ground of the basement, crying. The door was locked; she wouldn't get out of the dark room any time soon. Once more her dad had locked her there for no reason. She felt incredible lonely; nobody was there to get her out of this room, but by now she has gotten used to it. In those situations she always dreamed that one day, a brave, handsome man would come to her rescue. He would hold her while she was crying, reassure her and kiss it all better. He would care about her, be there for her and love her always and forever.
She had remembered this scene of her childhood more than once in the past years, but now the parallels were more than obvious. If she was honest with herself, she had given up this dream. As a child, she had still believed in the power of love, but now after an eternity of being lonely, of longing for the littlest bit of affection, after being hurt so often, after desperately falling in love Patrick Jane, she had given up hoping. She would never be able to love anybody else again, Jane wasn't ever going to love somebody else than his wife, so why hope for a happy ending…?
That she wore his wedding band now meant a lot to her though. It gave her hope; hope that maybe she would be rescued.
Suddenly the light was turned on, which made her jerk.
The light was so bright that she couldn't see a thing, but she heard men's voices.
" We got her last evening; a client needed to get rid of her. She's a CBI agent, 34 years, ebony hair, emerald eyes. No boyfriend or husband. Three brothers, all spread across the country. "
She felt like an animal in the zoo, which was watched by all the people around, or like some kind of product which was offered to rich customers.
" Hey! " She yelled. " Let me out! "
No success; nobody was answering her.
" Any interested people yet? " Asked another guy.
" About fifty. " Answered the first one.
" Which price? "
" One million. "
" Wow, that's nearly double price. Is she worth it? "
" Hey, I can hear you! LET ME OUT HERE! " She screamed.
" Yea, she is worth it. " They laughed and Lisbon sat down pouting.
" What the hell is going on here?! " She asked with her normal voice again.
" What about health? " Asked one of them.
By now, Lisbon definitely felt like a product. But at least she knew a lot more than before.
Well, she could guess it. One of their suspects had drugged her, sold her to these people to get her out of the way… Obviously she had gotten into some big deal…
" Completely healthy. "
" She's small and fragile… " Said the obvious customer.
" I like that about her! " Said a third one.
" 900 000 ; not more! "
Lisbon slowly got angry with those guys; she was no product, nor an animal! She definitely would arrest them when she got out of this.
" no no no… One million, no cent less. "
" That's too much for a servant! She won't survive longer than a month anyway…"
Lisbon was nearly scared now; she hadn't thought about what these guys might do with her!
" C'mon, you don't have to take her as a servant. Look at her; there are much more creative ways to use her! She's young, healthy and looks like an angel! "
" You can just let me free… " She whispered.
" First of all I'll take a closer look. I think she'll be good as my new girlfriend…" Said one of the guys.
Suddenly she was grabbed by the arms through the bars and pressed with her back against them. She screamed and tried to pull away, but the man was too strong. She could just see the frame of a face and a blurred hand until everything went black.
When she woke up again, she had dark bruises on her bare shoulders and wrists.
The light was out again and just the candle burned.
She was freezing and sad; never ever she would get out of this alive.
She would become the girlfriend, well, toy of some sick guy and never ever in her life see Jane again. The worst thing that probably could happen to her.
Her life was miserable anyway and the only thing that made her moving on, that kept her alive was Jane. Without him, she would be sad for the rest of her life.
She just could wait and wait and wait… For her sad, lonely end.
It was the point of total giving up then. She didn't think, didn't move… Just let big tears run down her cheeks.
Suddenly the light was turned on; she didn't move. The small door of her cage was opened; she didn't move and kept her eyes closed.
She was grabbed by her shoulders; but still didn't move.
" Teresa! Are you okay?! "
This voice would always make her filled with life again. She opened her eyes and stared into Jane's ones. She nodded at his question.
He hugged her, which made her heart beat faster.
" You found me… "
" Yeah… " He breathed. " I was dying over fear that I lost you! "
" You missed me? "
" Of course! I missed you so so much! "
" That's good… " She began to cry again.
" Sshhh… " He whispered and stroked about her hair.
" Is the team here with you? " She sobbed quietly into his neck.
" No… But they will come to pick up the men who I tied up soon. "
" Why did you come here alone; that was really dangerous! "
" Well, I wanted to get you back as quickly as possible, so there was no time to wait. " He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
She looked up. " Can you do that again? " Her voice was not even a whisper.
He smiled lightly and kissed the point between her eyes. " Good so? "
" Hmhm… " She murmured. " Again… "
He nearly laughed at her cute expression and kissed the top of her nose.
When she still looked at him with the same expression, he smiled and leaned down to kiss her right onto the lips. She honestly couldn't explain how happy she felt in that moment.
" Do you feel better now? " He asked as they broke the kiss and he rested his forehead against hers.
" Much better… " She smiled.
Slowly they got out of the cage and he picked her up.
" What are you doing? " She asked wondering.
" I'll take care of you. The CBI says that after being kidnapped, you can take one week off and will be pain during this time. "
" And therefore you carry me? "
" Yep. I wanted to do that for ages… "
She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. " I love you… "
" I know… " He whispered. " I love you too. "
" Always and forever? "
" Yeah, always and forever… "