"We'll get right on it, Sir"

Lisbon put the phone down with a heavy, disappointed sigh. She was hoping to get a quiet hour to herself today; it had been the most hectic week she'd had in years. Tuesday night, at 10:47pm, they had finally taken down Red John. Unbelievably, but looking back, not surprisingly, he had a secret hide out underneath the Visualize HQ. Nobody knew of course, not even those who worked there every day. Apart from Bret Stiles that is.

It all made sense now. He seemed to have some kind of connection with Van Pelt, which unceremoniously backfired when she got close enough to make him believe she had converted into a visualize member. She played the part well, all the while gaining as much information as she could, before bingo! She got the vital information they had waited ten years for: Red John finally had a location. Lisbon had vastly underestimated Van Pelt's ability - she realised wearily that she had done that a lot. She must thank her soon, and more importantly give her more field work; she did after all locate California's most notorious serial killer.

That moment on Tuesday night, Grace had ran through the Bullpen and into Lisbon's office.

Forgetting formalities she excitedly, but extremely nervously had stuttered that she knew where Red John was.

Lisbon and a previously lounging Jane, jumped up and were out of the CBI Building before Van Pelt had had time to finish her sentence.

The team bombarded the SUVs – Jane and Lisbon in one, whilst Rigsby, Cho and a slightly shaken Van Pelt took the other.

They had arrived at Visualize in record time.

Jane unbuckled his seat belt and practically ripped the car door off its hinges before Lisbon was able to park.

She had managed to catch up with him, warning him to stay back whilst the rest of them go in, but from the wild look he had in his eyes, she knew she had lost him the moment Van Pelt raced into the CBI.

Lisbon sighed, turning to look at her reflection in the glass window of her office. Even a week later, she still hadn't fully gotten him back. She realised as she looked at the dark pools resting under her eyes that it was taking its toll on her. She hadn't had a full night's sleep since, and from the rare few glimpses of Jane this week, neither had he. But it would have to wait, for they had a case. She tiredly left her office, stopping in the bullpen briefly to update the team before making her way to the attic, where she knew Jane would be. She knocked a few times and waited.

"Jane?"

Silence.

She hesitated before carefully sliding the huge metal door open. She immediately spotted him lying on his make-shift bed, facing the wall away from her. He was pulling away from the team again and she knew it. A different reason this time but it still hurt. She knew he was upset he wasn't the one to kill Red John, he felt that his right had been taken away from him, betrayed by the people he had come to value as family. In all honesty, Lisbon didn't care. Jane was alive and Red John wasn't, that was something she had begun to think would never happen. Jane would be fine, he'd get through this.

"Jane, we're up, we have a case."

He sighed heavily, but didn't move. Lisbon progressed from the doorway and gently perched on the edge of the bed, her right knee lightly pressing against Jane's back as she placed a tentative hand on his arm.

"I know you're finding it hard to adjust, and that's understandable, Jane. But you can't stay up here and wallow in self pity forever, you're not gonna move on that way."

Jane smirked humorlessly, risking a quick glance behind him at Lisbon before continuing to stare at the wall.

"We're all worried about you, we miss you," when he didn't respond, she whispered "I miss you."

That got him. He rolled over and sat up, mirroring Lisbon as he too perched on the bed opposite her. He ran a hand over his face as she waited patiently for him to speak. She suddenly felt awash with nerves, she hadn't heard his voice in over a week.

"What do we got?" He mocked Lisbon, although his voice lacked its usual confidence, in its place a worn out and completely unenthusiastic croak. He was trying though, that was something at least. She offered him a small smile as she hopped off the bed, Jane replicating her movements.

"Caucasian female, late 30s early 40s. Husband found her dead in her kitchen, single bullet wound to the head. The guys are already on their way."

Jane nodded once as he reached his arm out in front of him, indicating for Lisbon to proceed him as they exited the attic.

"Better not keep them waiting then."

"What do we got?"

Lisbon cut to the chase as soon as she entered the kitchen, Jane a few steps behind, eyes scanning the house for clues. He stopped abruptly, looking to his left at the door under the stairs. From his position he was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, with the door under the stairs slightly behind him to his left. Lisbon caught him frown slightly as he fingered the wood of the door, before seemingly losing interest and joining her in the kitchen.

"Neighbor says she heard a gunshot around 9:30pm, the Husband, Paul, called the Police around 11pm when he got home from work. His Boss confirms he was there until 10pm." Cho stated rising to his feet, flipping his note book closed and putting it in the inside pocket of his Jacket.

Lisbon nodded and she turned towards Jane, his finger lightly tapping at his lips as he leaned over the body slightly.

"Jane, thoughts?"

He scrunched up his face as he titled his head slightly, umming and arring before straightening up.

"Nope."

Lisbon rolled her eyes, then catching a glimpse of Rigsby through the door adjoining the kitchen and the living room, questioning what seemed to be the neighbor, approached him as Jane was once again left to stand in front of the door under the stairs.

He decided something wasn't right, as he trailed his fingers along the door. He continued his walk down the corridor, looking up at the family photographs of the victim and her husband, placed on the wall all the way up the stairs. That's when he noticed it; All of them were placed perfectly, except for the first few along the wall, which had tilted slightly to the left, in what Jane would guess, a result of the wall shaking violently. In the way it would had someone slammed a door a little too hard.

He looked back at the door under the stairs. That was it. Someone had opened and closed the door a little too forcefully. Someone who didn't care too much for the décor. He backtracked to the door under the stairs and reached for the handle, pulling it open swiftly.

He barely had time to register the dark figure hiding in the darkness when two gunshots rang out.

Jane fell back against the wall behind him. The figure sprinted for the still open front door.

In what felt like slow motion, Jane slid down the wall like a raindrop trailing down a window pain, his world quickly being consumed by black dots as if a million spiders were circling his pupils.

The single bullet wound just above his right eyebrow rippled his heart beat around his body.

The other bullet wound to the left side of his chest spilled crimson patterns over his vest.

The last thing he heard was a distant scream from Lisbon.

"Jane!"

TBC