A/N: I know, there are already some stories out there about Jane and Lisbon meeting her brothers (and clearly better ones than mine) but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head without writing it down. This is a two (it turned out it's rather going to be three) chapter long "oneshot" about how I could imagine a meeting between our favourite couple and Lisbon's brother Stan to look like. At least that was the plan...in the end it's mainly about Jane and Lisbon. I have to admit Stan doesn't even appear in person in the first chapter, but that's going to change in chapter two. I hope you like it nevertheless. Constructive criticism is always very much appreciated, especially because english isn't my first language and I'm eager to improve.
The icy wind hit Jane unprotected as he left the house and for a moment it took his breath away. After spending two years on an almost tropical island and the last few month in Austin, he'd almost forgotten what cold felt like.
He'd just grabbed his and Lisbon's jacket on his way out, without stopping to actually put it on.
He changed that now, slipping into it while following her. She'd just disappeared around a corner and he quickened his pace to not lose her out of sight.
He caught up with her after a few minutes; if only because she'd entered a small park and was now pacing up and down a small gravel path. Jane stopped for a moment and just watched her. She seemed determined, with a fierce expression on her face. Each breathe turning white in the cold Chicago morning air. She didn't even seem to notice the cold; or him for the matter. His grip around her jacket tightened as he approached her.
"Hey." He had to step in front of her to finally make her look up at him. She seemed annoyed that he dared to stop her, but to his surprise she didn't protest as he helped her into her jacket. Before he managed to zip her up though, she started pacing again.
He hadn't seen her this furious in quite a while. Her whole body had seemed to tremble with barely supressed anger as she left the house suddenly a few minutes ago. Stan and his wife both had looked at him, as if they'd expected an explanation. He knew why she'd run but he clearly wasn't going to explain this to her brother, not if he was the reason why she was so upset in the first place. Besides…he must have known it. You couldn't grow up with Lisbon and not noting how she handled emotions.
The anger was just masking deeper feelings, feelings Lisbon didn't want to face herself or worse anyone else to see – not even him.
It was difficult not to fall back into old patterns. They both had spent more than a decade hiding exactly hose kind of feelings, especially from each other. Something like that didn't change that easily; not without some effort. They'd promised each other honesty and more importantly to intervene whenever one of them slipped back into old methods.
Jane saw easily through her anger, almost feeling himself how deeply hurt she was. How betrayed she felt by her brother's lies, by his reluctance to confine in her, to trust her.
Her pain seemed so obvious, literally screamed at him and he couldn't bear it any longer.
"Lisbon!"
She looked at him. Still pacing up and down the road, but at least part of her attention was focused on him.
"He lied to me!", she began without stopping. "He looked me in the eyes and lied to my. My own brother."
Jane didn't interrupt her, just nodded. She needed to get this out before he would even have the slightest change to get through to her.
"What did I ever do to them? I'm here to help! We flew across half the country to help him…to help James. God knows what mess he's in. He might be in real danger and still Stan won't tell me anything."
She finally stood still and run her hands over her face.
"Why won't he let me help?"
Jane knew that there wasn't a right answer to that question, that he could only lose, but he had to try nevertheless.
"I think he simply tries to keep you out of harms way." – "I'm a cop for god's sake! If anyone needs protection it's clearly not me!"
She started pacing again, seemingly to agitated to stand still any longer.
"You may be a cop but in his eyes you're first and foremost his sister." He paused for a moment, but then decided to say it even if she would hate him for it.
"He does trust you, that's not the reason for his lies, Teresa."
She reacted exactly as expected; he'd clearly hit a nerve.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean. Whose side are you actually on?" She snapped at him.
Jane sighed and for the third time that day he blocked her path.
"I'm always on your side, Teresa." He gently grabbed her arms, successfully preventing her from moving away again.
"I just can understand why he would like to keep you out of this. It's not as if I never felt the same in the past."
Lisbon looked at him, slightly confused.
"I know…you're a cop, you can protect yourself, that may be right, but this doesn't mean that other people aren't worrying about you. He's your brother and it's bad enough that one of his siblings is in danger. Can you really resent him for trying to keep you out of it?"
He gently rubbed her arms and he could almost see the tension draining out of her.
"That doesn't make it any better", she murmured and leaned her head against his chest. "Nor does it help James."
"No", he agreed, while pulling her closer.
"Jane?", she asked after a while, without looking up.
"Would you do it again?" - "Would I do what again?"
He knew exactly what she meant.
This time she looked up at him. "Would you lie to me again if you think it would keep me safe?"
Jane took a deep breath. "No, I wouldn't lie. I've learned my lesson. But I would keep things from you, if neccessary."
She tried to step back, clearly annoyed.
"And what's that, if not lying?"
"There's a huge difference! I'll always tell you if I keep something from you, but I can't promise never to do it, not if it could safe your life."
Lisbon shook her head, but she put her hands on his chest and he knew, that she wasn't that angry.
"I'd like to see you try. The moment you admit that there's something you're not telling me, there's no way I would give up before you come clean with it."
Jane chuckled, despite the seriousness of the discussion.
"You may be right. Let's hope we never have to find it out."
She played with the buttons of his coat.
"What are we going to do now?", she asked him and they both knew that she was talking about her brother again.
Jane tried to recall the discussion or rather argument between Lisbon and Stan. He'd been so focused on Lisbon that he'd hardly paid any attention to her brother.
"There something more", he murmured more to himself. In retrospect all seemed very clear. Stan was hiding something else.
"He's ashamed of something." – "Stan?" Lisbon seemed doubtful.
"Yes…he wanted to protect you, for sure…but that's not all. He might be more involved in all of this than he led us believe."
He looked at her. "We should go back. Maybe if you let me speak-." – "And with speak you mean offend or provoke?"
Jane couldn't prevent a grin. "You could put it that way."
He didn't know what he'd expected, but clearly not seeing her smile.
"Actually I kind of like that idea."
Jane raised his eyebrows. "Did I understand you correctly, you just gave me the permission to trick your brother?"
She shrugged. "I don't really see an alternative and even if I hate to admit it, you have quite a high success rate. But don't expect me to step in if he tries to punch you."
They walked in silence back to the house, both deep in thought. Jane was pretty sure though that their thoughts weren't resolving around the same. He sighed as they approached the door and Lisbon looked up at him.
"Changed your mind?"
He shook his head. "No, it's just…", he sighed again, "I kind of hoped to make a good first impression when meeting your brothers."
Her answer was a laugh and Jane almost felt slightly offended.
"What's so funny about that?"
She grinned at him. "I don't know. It just seems so … so normal, I guess. I never thought that you would worry about something like that."
She patted his arm. "If this is of any comfort for you, they'd hated you anyway in the beginning; they're my brothers after all."
"Very helpful, I feel so much better."