Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
'You're never too late'
Jane took in a deep breath, and straightened his back.
There went nothing.
As he walked into the hall, he was greeted by a few angry glares. It didn't surprise him. After all he'd done, these glares were even too nice. He had expected people to strangle him already.
There was one particular angry glare that did affect him – Virgil Minelli. Looking over the rim of his coffee cup. His eyes seemed to shoot fire.
"You've got some nerve," Minelli said when Jane came to stand beside him. Jane did nothing, other than looking around.
"Why are you here, Jane?" Minelli asked. He lowered his cup and put it on the table – he was done anyways.
Jane shrugged.
"I don't know."
Minelli observed Jane for a lot of minutes, just looking into his eyes and scanning him from head to toe. He didn't seem to be as secure as he usually was, but the typical Patrick Jane arrogant vibe was hanging around the blonde.
"That doesn't sound reassuring."
Jane shrugged again.
"I'm not allowing you to hurt her even more, Jane."
"I know that."
"Good. Then I'm going to ask you again: why are you here?"
"I want to know if she's happy."
Minelli took in a sharp breath, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"What do you care."
"I care about her."
"Sure you do. It really looked like you didn't care about her a year ago."
"I was confused."
"Yeah right."
Both men stopped then, falling into a more than awkward silence. Jane knew Minelli was the one that was the most angry one. Even Lisbon was less angry than Minelli was.
It just showed that Minelli truly cared about his people – though Lisbon wasn't just people. She was his 'adoptive' daughter.
Jane sighed.
"Look, I-"
"No. I don't want to hear it, Jane. You can stay – but don't you dare come close to her even again. I'm serious, Jane. She's happy now, just stay the hell away from her."
"Virgil-"
"Ah, Grace, there you are," Minelli said, and then completely dismissed Jane. He walked past Jane and into Van Pelt's direction.
When Jane turned to the two, he saw Van Pelt was completely freaking out, almost hyperventilating. Rigsby was standing behind her.
"What's wrong?" Jane asked, approaching the people, but neither one of them paid attention to him.
Jane groaned. "It's Teresa's problem, not yours!"
Jane could then almost feel a button being switched, and Van Pelt faced him, her face full of pure anger.
"You son of a bitch! How dare you visit Lisbon's wedding after everything you did to her! I don't know if you got the message, but the fact that you didn't get an invitation had to be prove that you're not wanted here. And it's our problem as well, because we care about Lisbon. Can't say the same about everyone here," she spat, grabbed Rigsby's elbow and pulled him with her. Minelli's eyes crossed Jane's for a moment, and they held a complete conversation through the eye-contact they made. Then, Minelli shook his head.
They left Jane in the middle of the hall, and he was on the edge of crying.
"But I didn't mean to hurt her."
-YulianaHenderson-
Eventually, most people, reluctantly, gave in, and granted Jane a seat in the back of the church. Nobody talked to him, which was understandable.
Jane looked around. Van Pelt and Rigsby were sitting in the front row of pews, big smiles on their faces, and Jane felt a small bout of happiness spread through him. He was glad the team was happy for Lisbon.
Lisbon's brothers were sitting next to the team, and the only person who looked at Jane was Annabeth. She smiled a faint smile – she was the only one who wasn't angry with him. She knew his reasons, and she was the only logically thinking person in this room. She knew he would never hurt Lisbon, and he loved her for her logic.
He returned her smile, but Thomas made her turn around and she did, but not willingly.
Jane sighed and leant his head back to the wall.
How did he even get in this situation in the first place?
Lisbon smiled one of her brightest smiles Jane had ever seen, and that made the news Jane was going to tell her even worse.
She reached across the table and tried to grab his hand, but he flinched away from her.
Lisbon immediately got that frown of hurt between her eyebrows, and Jane swallowed.
"Is there something wrong?" Lisbon asked. Jane hesitated, then shook his head, and then nodded. Lisbon frowned.
"Yes, there is something wrong, actually. Look, Teresa, it's not your fault, it's my fault."
Jane didn't even need to say more. Lisbon pulled back her hand.
"You want to break up."
"I'm sorry, Teresa."
"No, it's okay. It's perfectly fine," she said, but Jane could read in her eyes that it was not okay.
"Teresa-"
" No, I get it. It's my fault. I dared to trust you, dared to think that we really had something but apparently it meant nothing to you. I understand it, Jane. Really I do." She got up and collected her handbag. "I hope you'll find someone who can make you happy, Jane. Good luck with finding someone."
Jane jumped up to run after her, but Lisbon was faster.
"I don't want to talk to you again, Jane. It will hurt too much," she said, less angry but the accusing tone was still there. She was about to exit the restaurant, but suddenly stopped, causing Jane to bump into her. Lisbon turned around to face him.
"Is it because I don't want to commit myself completely yet?"
Jane swallowed.
"It's not your fault-"
"Of course it is."
Jane sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.
"I guess... that that's the reason. I don't know."
"Okay. Well, you're gonna regret it, let me tell you that. I'm not going to try to win you back, that's weak, and I don't expect the same thing from you. But this is permanent, Jane. We won't come back together now just because you think you made a mistake."
"I understand."
"Good. Bye Jane," she said, her voice eerily calm.
Jane ran a hand through his hair, and just that moment, his replacement called Cho to the front of the church.
Jane didn't really mind Mashburn asking Cho to be his best man. Though it had surprised him when he'd heard the news from Annabeth, it hadn't sounded weird or off. It sounded almost... natural. Not that Jane very much liked Mashburn, oh no, quite the contrary. But the fact that Mashburn attempted to mix his and Lisbon's friends by asking Cho to be his best man – and also just because Cho was the most brilliant man in this world – did calm Jane down a bit.
As soon as Mashburn saw Jane, Jane felt the room getting a few degrees colder. Mashburn frowned, looked at Cho who just shrugged.
Mashburn's eyes crossed Jane's, and then the man decided to just let it slide. If he really would have to attempt to get Jane away from here, the day would be ruined since Jane wouldn't go down without a fight.
A few minutes later, the big doors separating the big hall from the corridors opened, and everybody stood up to look at the bride. Jane didn't think he wanted to see her, but he still looked, and got that same feeling he kept having whenever he looked at her – regret. So much regret.
Lisbon was right, she'd always been right: he would regret it. He would regret breaking up with her. Right now, he didn't even know why he'd broken up with her anymore. All he felt was regret – and shame.
Lisbon looked absolutely beautiful in her white, traditional dress. Jane had only seen her twice in a dress, but it didn't look odd on her. If anything, she looked like Snow White – though she probably wouldn't like that comparison.
Her hair had been done up into a bun, encircled by a braid. She wasn't wearing much make-up – but then again, she didn't need that to look beautiful.
Unsurprisingly, Minelli was standing beside her, looking down proudly at his surrogate daughter. Lisbon seemed really happy, until she saw Jane sitting in the back stew. She froze, but Minelli gently pulled her along. She hesitated, but then looked in front of her and smiled at Mashburn, who almost seemed to be on the edge of crying out of happiness.
Lucky bastard.
Lisbon seemed to dismiss Jane, in order to enjoy her day, but Jane noticed she was upset now. He knew her better than he knew anybody, he could see when she was sad and when she was angry – and the last one was the most important one to recognize. Especially after what Jane'd done.
"You know what your problem is, Jane?" Lisbon hissed when Jane dared to step a foot inside her office. Jane could definitely tell that Lisbon was angry as hell – not so strange. "You think you can pull off anything. You just do whatever you think is possible and justified, and don't think about other people's feelings."
"Lisbon-"
"Get out Jane. I'm serious. Just get out. I've asked for a new agent for the team – as of next Monday, you won't be needed here anymore."
Jane stared at Lisbon. "You threw me off the case?"
"See? That's what I mean! Everything is only Red John, Red John, Red John! I'm done with it. I've tried to put up with it for the past ten years, but I'm done."
"Was everything a lie, Teresa?" Jane countered, and Lisbon seemed to be taken aback by this question.
"What do you mean?"
"What we had. Was it just a means to an end?"
"Of course not, Jane."
"Then why do you act as though it was."
"News flash: you're the one who broke with me."
A pang of guilt ran through him, then he simply nodded, turned around and couldn't help the smiling façade to slip as he walked over to the elevator.
Mashburn smiled like a happy man when Lisbon finally reached him, and he placed a small kiss on her cheek.
Jane's stomach twisted in disgust.
The pastor started the service, and Jane quickly thought about his possibilities now.
He had let himself promise that he wouldn't try to win back Lisbon, and he'd promised her as well. But he had been wrong in coming here, watching as he lost her to another man. He knew her heart had been stolen by Mashburn, and Jane desperately had to steal it back.
He knew everybody present – especially Mashburn's parents, who really enjoyed getting Teresa Lisbon as their daughter-in-law – was going to hate him for what he was going to do, but he was going to hate himself forever if he didn't do it.
"If anyone can show just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."
Nobody said anything, and Mashburn smiled. Jane groaned to himself, and jumped up just as the pastor was about to continue again.
"Wait," he exclaimed, and a few gasps rose from the crowd. When Lisbon and Mashburn turned around, Jane almost gasped at the hope in her eyes – even from this distance, he could clearly see it.
"Patrick! What are you doing?" Mashburn exclaimed back, and when the man was about to step off the altar, Cho pulled him back. The groom's face was now red with anger, but nobody seemed to care.
Everybody knew who the blonde man was. He was the one that had dumped Lisbon, giving Mashburn the opportunity to propose to her while she was all sad and depressed. This man was the reason they were all here.
"Jane, don't do this," Lisbon said, calm, more calm than Jane could possibly ever be in this situation. If it had been him standing on that altar, ready to marry some underrated woman – because, let's face it, nobody was as good as Lisbon – and Lisbon would be the one to stop the wedding from happening, he would have disregarded Lisbon and would probably have even screamed at her.
Another reason for Jane to kill himself in every possible way since he'd left her.
"I was stupid, Teresa," Jane said, not walking over to the altar but making a point in staring directly into Lisbon's eyes. "I never should have let you go-"
"Stop it," she interrupted.
"Let me-"
"No!" she exclaimed, lifted her dress a few inches to allow her to step off the altar and stormed into Jane's direction. "No, you're not going to do this, Jane! You dumped me, indirectly saying it was my fault, acting like a jerk after I ran away crying. And now you come here on my wedding day and tell me that you're sorry and that you shouldn't have left me?"
Jane nodded, and seemingly without thinking about it, Lisbon reached out and punched Jane in the face. Van Pelt immediately came running to Lisbon, while Annabeth and Rigsby ran over to Jane.
"Stop it, Lisbon, he's not worth it," Van Pelt said, guiding Lisbon back to the altar, but the brunette fought back.
"Let me go," she demanded, and Van Pelt frowned, before taking her hands off of Lisbon's arm.
Jane pushed Rigsby and Annabeth off him as well, and stepped into Lisbon's direction – who, in return, only stepped back a few steps. Jane realized in that moment that she was almost... scared of him.
"I'm sorry, okay, Teresa! I do mean it! Mashburn doesn't deserve you-"
"Oh, and you do?"
"Yes! I mean, no! I mean, I know I shouldn't be here but I wanted to tell Mashburn something," he rambled, and before Lisbon or anybody present knew it, Jane had walked up to the altar where Mashburn was staring at the scene in shock.
"Be nice to her, please? Treat her like I can't. Kiss her so much she'll have to get to the hospital because she almost suffocated. Give her flowers, not just red roses because she doesn't like these, they're too cheesy. Give her carnations – they fit her the most. She says she doesn't like attention, but secretly, she loves being treated as a lady. You have to tear her away from her desk or otherwise she might fill in paperwork until she'll die. Promise me you'll do that. She likes being cooked for, especially Italian. She loves being in control, and she's no different in bed. And she hates it when you look at other women – it makes her feel self-conscious and we all know she shouldn't feel that way. She loves it if you say that she's beautiful – you can always see that by her blush every time you compliment her. You should write this down, Mashburn, it's important."
Jane was quiet then, just looking at Mashburn taking in all the information. The rest of the crowd just stared at Jane, and Lisbon did exactly the same.
Then, Mashburn looked over at Lisbon, and then took in a deep breath.
"I won't be needing it," Mashburn said, and Jane shook his head.
"You will-"
"I said I won't be needing it, because I'm not the one who should be standing here with Teresa. Despite of how much I would want to be the one, I'm not the one for Teresa. I always saw that, but I had hoped my feelings would change. Teresa is so beautiful, but we're not meant for each other."
Then, Mashburn stepped off the altar and into Lisbon's direction. He took her hands in his, and sighed.
"I'm sorry Teresa, that I can't give you what you deserve. I know Jane said that too, but it's true. I know true love when I see it, and what we have, Teresa, is not that. I'm sorry, but I don't want you to live in regrets the rest of your life. I don't want you to marry me because you couldn't have the man you really wanted. I love you, I will always love you, but this is not our wedding."
Lisbon swallowed, and raised her hand to brush his cheek.
"Walter-"
"This is not my wedding, but Jane's. And whether it's happening today or ten years from now, it's going to happen."
Mashburn leaned in and placed a small, brief kiss on Lisbon's forehead.
"I will support whatever decision you make. As long as it doesn't include me."
Lisbon swallowed again.
"Thank you," she whispered, and then walked past him to face Jane.
"I can never forgive you for what you've done to me," she said, and Jane nodded.
"I understand."
"And I won't forget what you did either."
"I know."
She sighed, and almost wanted to run a hand through her hair but then realized that she'd spent four hours in letting Van Pelt get it this good.
"Why do you two put the decision with me?" Lisbon asked, switching her gaze between Jane and Mashburn, and the latter shrugged. "It's my freaking wedding day, I'm supposed to be free of any troubles."
Jane's eyes crossed with Annabeth's, and she smiled and nodded.
He gently turned Lisbon around, and bowed down to link their lips. Lisbon wanted to push him away, she didn't think it fair to do this in front of Mashburn's family, but they were only met by loud cheers. Lisbon didn't need more encouragement and deepened the kiss, swinging her arms around Jane's neck and pulling him closer. He smiled against her lips, before needing air and pulling away slightly.
"I won't let you go again, Teresa. I was stupid the first time, it won't happen again."
Lisbon smiled, and then turned her head towards the crowd. "They're expecting a wedding, you know?"
"Let's give them one then," he said, turning towards the pastor who was staring at the movie-like scene, and when he saw everybody was suddenly looking at him, he coughed.
"I don't understand what's happening here," the man confessed, and Jane rolled his eyes.
"Do you want me to make it official? Fine," he said, and knelt down on one knee in front of Lisbon.
"Please marry me, Teresa Lisbon."
"It's a bit redundant to ask that, considering I'm wearing a wedding dress."
"It's not my fault your pastor doesn't believe me."
Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Yes, I might want to marry you."
"Might I want to? I'm hurt, Lisbon."
"Whatever. Could we just get this over with now? I'm craving for some champagne."
A/N: Write this in less than a day, so any typos are all mine. So sorry.