Chapter 1
Lisbon shot a quick glance at her wristwatch. Half past midnight. Time to go home.
She collected her things, shut the door of her office and headed towards the elevator.
An all too familiar voice coming from the brown leather couch suddenly made her jump. "Goodnight, Lisbon".
It took her a moment to recover from the shock. "Jane! What are you doing here? You were supposed to have a date tonight, weren't you?"
In spite of the gloom, she could see him shrug. "I made my excuses and left".
Lisbon bit her lip, feeling strangely disappointed. She had noticed the connection between Jane and that Leslie woman right from the beginning of their last case. She had really hoped this connection could develop into more… romantic feelings. Mainly for Jane's sake.
After all, several months had passed since Red John's death. She had expected him to move on sooner than that.
Sitting on the edge of his couch, she stroked his hair soothingly. "Why did you leave?"
Jane sighed – almost inaudibly. "She wanted something I couldn't give her".
"What?"
"Come on … that's kind of obvious, isn't it?"
She sighed in turn. "Then… why couldn't you give her this something?"
"Because I'm in love with someone else".
There was an awkward silence.
"Jane?"
"Mm?"
"I understand that your wife was a wonderful woman, but…"
He shifted his gaze. "I didn't mean Angela".
Lisbon did a double take at this. Was he finally in love with a living woman? Well, that sounded unexpectedly good.
"Oh", was all she was able to say.
Jane smirked. "Yeah".
She pinched his arm. "Why didn't you tell me before? I thought we were friends".
"Sorry. It's just a bit… complicated, you know".
There was a tiny note of sadness in his tone that didn't escape her.
"I hope you haven't fallen for a married woman", she said half-jokingly.
"Well, not exactly".
She wondered what his answer could mean. Maybe this mysterious woman was in love with someone else?
"Have you ever told her about your feelings, Jane?"
"I'm not sure that I can".
"Why not?"
He ran a reassuring finger along her elbow. "I really appreciate your concern for me, Lisbon. I'll be fine, I promise. You don't have to worry".
"All right. We can talk about this some other day. Try to get some sleep, if you can".
"Okay. Sweet dreams, Teresa".
"Night, Jane".