Ok this is going to be a long story, but here's chapter 1. Hope you like it! It's not very cheerful like my other stories, it's kind of dull but I wouldn't mind this happening in the mentalist. Hope you like it! Please review!

It was a regular day at the CBI. Vanpelt was filing documents on her computer, Rigsby was looking through his top draw for a packet of chips he swore he put there, Cho was reading a thick, paperback novel and Lisbon was in her office, writing the final sentence of the team's previously closed case file. Jane was on his couch, resting, as usual, pretending to be asleep.

By the description of the actions taking place at the CBI one would think it was in fact a regular day. But the case that the team had recently closed had changed all of them… forever.

It all started on a Monday morning. Jane stepped out of his car and stretched. He had spent another sleepless night, alone with his insomnia. But as always, he didn't let his memories trouble him when he could help it, and he put his trademark smile on as he presented his ID and continued to the elevator.

"Hey Jane! Wait up!" yelled a young, enthusiastic voice from behind.

Jane knew immediately who it was.

"Hey Grace, you seem happy this morning," Jane said as he held the elevator doors open to let her step in without a sound from her light tread.

"Thank you," said the Junior Agent, suddenly less cheerful now that she'd seen how tired her colleague looked, "Um… How are you?" she asked in an attempt to break the silence of the otherwise empty elevator.

"Oh I'm extraordinarily ordinarily ordinary thanks Grace," said the consultant as he stepped out of the now open elevator doors. Grace followed him, slightly puzzled and confused as she tried to decipher how Jane had chosen to describe his feelings.

"Vanpelt, Did you hear me? I said we're up! Rancho Rosa Resort, come on let's go!" ordered their boss, Special Agent Teresa Lisbon, as Grace re-entered reality. Grace turned to see that Rigsby was on one of the phones, and therefore one could assume Lisbon had chosen him for the incredibly boring task of answering the phones instead of Grace, the usual agent recruited for the job.

"Vanpelt, you coming? I don't think boss is planning on waiting," snapped Cho in his regular expressionless monotone.

Cho let Grace into the elevator, and the three agents and consultant stood silently as they waited for the elevator to reach the ground.

Once they'd arrived at the crime scene, Lisbon gave a briefing of the case.

"Basically, this woman, Stacy Crowde, has been shot. One bullet wound, straight to the heart. Our number one suspect is Frederick Tanner; he has murdered several people from the family line, but has not yet been caught. He only murders the females in the family though. Never the males."

Jane suddenly had a flash of his wife and child in his mind, but with great mental difficulty, he managed to force the gruesome scene out of his mind and tune his thoughts in on the case.

When the team returned to a very bored looking Risby, Lisbon went straight to her office, looking through some of Tanner's previous killings. All of them females, all of them in the same family. The Crowdes. Did Tanner not see how unfair it was to kill the females who chose to enter the cursed family line? Lisbon leant back in her chair. She needed a break, a cup of coffee. Maybe Jane would… a feeling of realisation brushed through Lisbon. No wonder Jane was so quiet at Rancho Rosa. This man killed wives and children. This man, in Jane's eyes would be seen as an utter monster. This case would bring back memories that Jane must dread. Maybe she ought to let him off the case.

"Hey Lisbon," Jane said as he burst into her office without warning.

"Hey Jane. Look, I was wondering. You look really tired and, this case… it's a little…" Lisbon stopped and left a pause that seemed like hours as they both shared the thought of the case being too similar to Red John's.

"Look Lisbon, I'm fine with the case. I'm staying on."

"Jane, sit down." Lisbon said with a worried expression on her face, and seeing he wasn't going to, firmed her voice and repeated herself. "Sit down."

Jane took a seat in front of Lisbon's desk and failed to give her eye contact. He knew what she was going to talk to him about.

"Jane, you're tired. You look like you haven't slept in weeks. And that's because you haven't. Don't you think we notice when you are yawning every second of the day?" she asked, trying to catch his gaze as it remained at the floor of her office.

"I'm fine Lisbon. Really, I can work the case." Jane said, holding back a yawn.

"No Jane, you're not. We're getting worried about you. Hightower asked me to relieve you from the case.

"Lisbon I'm FINE! I am just a LITTLE tired! But I like working and I can work when I'm tired!" Jane replied, then his gaze returned to the floor as he realised he had just yelled at Lisbon. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me I just… sorry…"

"Jane. You're not healthy. You barely eat, you haven't slept for weeks and you just sit and stare for hours when your not working. This is not good Jane. Are you okay?"

Jane didn't answer for a long while. But after about 20 seconds, he met Lisbon's gaze.

"Lisbon please let me work this case. Yes, to tell you the truth, I haven't been sleeping. Taking time off wont help me sleep. Yes, I haven't been eating much, but I promise I will eat more, I just… If I can't avenge my family, at least I can avenge this one."

Lisbon didn't know what to do. She was really worried about Jane, and Hightower was trying to force her to relieve him from work. She wanted to help him, but she didn't know how.

"Okay Jane, I'll speak to Hightower. Now go."

Jane stood up, smiled a 'thank you' smile at Lisbon, and left her office.

As soon as Jane was gone, Lisbon Got up and began to make her way to Hightower's office.

As soon as Grace saw Jane leave Lisbon's office she got up. Then Lisbon opened the door and Grace rushed over to her.

"Hey boss I've got a lead. I was looking at the backgrounds of the victims of Tanner, and I found out that this man, Gregory Mill, brother of one of the victims, shares the same postal address. Whenever Tanner wants something, it is sent to this address."

"Like what?" asked Lisbon curiously.

"One week before Stacy Crowde's murder, a 48 was delivered to this address. The same type of gun that killed Stacy. One week before the killing prior to Stacy's death, the murder of Joanne Crowde, a kitchen knife, which happened to be the murder weapon, was also delivered to this address. The pattern continues through all of the deaths."

"Good job Vanpelt, you and Rigsby go and check it out," said Lisbon as she continued to head to Hightower's office.

When Grace and Rigsby arrived at the address of Mill, they knocked on the wooden door, both wearing bulletproof vests and with their guns at the ready. To their surprise, the door opened almost as soon as they'd knocked. As Rigsby lowered his gun, Grace presented her badge.

"CBI, we have a couple of questions regarding your postal address." She said, as she and Rigsby were welcomed into the house.

Lisbon had been waiting outside of Hightower's office for almost ten minutes now. She really didn't know why she went through so much trouble for Jane. Then the cleaner walked out, and Lisbon walked in.

Grace and Rigsby had been asking several questions, but gathered close to no facts. Mill denied any involvement with the crimes and said he'd never found any of the items in his letterbox.

As Grace began to apologise for the inconvenience and hand Gregory Mills their card, Rigsby stopped her mid-sentence.

"Can you hear that?" he said, and silence filled the room.

"Yeah, it's like a ticking… but quicker than seconds…" Grace said, and terror struck all of their faces.

Rigsby grabbed Grace's arm and they burst out the front door.

"And I think that this case will actually help Jane and give him some closure because it is so similar to the Red John one. Please ma'am, let him work on this one." Lisbon pleaded, and Hightower nodded her head.

"All right Agent Lisbon, you win, but if he doesn't improve, I might have to make some permanent changes. You understand?" said Hightower as her office phone began to ring. "Hold on – I'll just be a sec."

Hightower picked up the phone and her expression changed from a smile to terror.

"Are they ok?

are you sure it's Rigsby and Vanpelt?

Ok we'll send their boss to the hospital.

Thank you, Bye."

"What is it? What about Rigsby and Vanpelt? What's happened? Are they okay?" Lisbon asked in shock.

"I'd love to say they are, but they're both in critical condition in the hospital. Big explosion at Gregory Mill's house. He didn't survive. The explosion was in the roof, so they were all crushed, you'd better get to the hospital.

Jane and Lisbon rushed into the hospital. Jane was much less tired looking and seemed his usual self but with a shocked expression after Lisbon told him about Grace and Rigsby.

They first went into Grace's hospital room and Jane stayed at the door and stared as Lisbon ran up to Grace and knelt at her side. Grace had just been taken out of emergency surgery and seemed to be doing all right, although she was still in critical condition and it wasn't hard to see that. Her Arm was in a cast, and she had a deep cut on her forehead held together by what looked like white rectangular stickers. Her shoulder was covered in blood. As Lisbon was examining her friend and colleague, Grace's eye's opened to a slit.

"Hey boss…" she mumbled through a cut lip.

"Grace! First you almost get shot, now you're here? Are you okay?" said an extremely worried looking Lisbon.

"My shoulder hurts a little," she said slowly, "But I'll survive. I broke three ribs apparently, and they kill, but I'll be ok."

"Vanpelt I should have gone with you and Rigsby. I'm so sorry. You'll be okay I promise." Lisbon finished, with watery eyes.

"Thanks boss…" Grace said as she eased back into sleep.

Lisbon stayed by Grace's side, feeling so guilty that she practically sent her youngest agent into battle, and she almost killed her.

"Come on Lisbon. Let's go see how Rigsby's doing." Jane said, hoping he would be in better condition, "Come on."

Slowly Lisbon got up and followed Jane to Rigsby's hospital room. Jane was wrong. Obviously Rigsby was closer to the explosion than Grace. He had a bandage around his head and both his arms were in casts. The doctor walked in and explained to Lisbon and Jane how Rigsby took most of the blast, and was found unconscious in a position that appeared to show that he was protecting Grace. He had covered her from the rubble, and had broken eight ribs in doing so. Lisbon felt even guiltier now. Rigsby's face was covered in blood and his fingers were too.

Jane practically pulled Lisbon away from the hospital ward. He knew she felt guilty, but he had to let her know it was not her fault.

"Jane they could have died! They almost did! Jane I don't know what I would have done if they had! Oh it's my fault…" Lisbon blurted out as soon as they were in the SUV.

"Look Lisbon, don't blame yourself. The important thing is you didn't cause them to die. They are okay. It isn't your fault they're dead. You didn't go on national television and talk and talk like you knew everything there was to now, mocking a serial killer in front of the whole of America. YOU AREN'T THE REASON THEY'RE DEAD!" He yelled, and then he realised where he was again.

"Oh, said Jane, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to yell…"

"No Jane I'm sorry, it's all right."

"No you're right," said Jane, "losing someone close is no reason not to be civil, it's not your fault at all that my family was murdered. I shouldn't yell at you, I shouldn't even bore you with my meaningless rambling about my past. You probably don't even listen." He said, turning back to the road.

"I listen," she said, "I do, I'm really sorry about what happened to you. I understand loss. I understand what it feels like. My parents both died horrible deaths. I know. I do."

End of Chapter 1. What do you think? There are definitely more chapters coming, so please review!