The starting point here is RED BULLS. Spoilers if you have not seen. You have been warned.
Kind of a What if…..fan fiction. I am not sure how long this one will be…..ask the bunnies.
DISCLAIMER: A slight food hangover from Thanksgiving, yeah, nothing else is mine.
Changes - Chapter 1.…How it came to be
As the ambulance carrying Grace away left, Wayne Rigsby forced himself to stay on task. He had snuck in to see her, told her he loved her and made sure she was ok. She was ok; she slapped him upside the head for not wearing the vest. His Grace would be fine. He had to concentrate on what needed doing.
Not 20 minutes had passed. Lisbon had him answering some questions, but the real crap would begin back at HQ. Everyone thought it was no big deal when a cop fired his weapon. They should only know how big a deal it really was. If it had not been for the lack of manpower on the ground here, he would havebeen taken away to be questioned. As it was his piece was taken. However, the bitch that tried to hurt Grace was gone. Sometimes, having a gun was a good thing.
"Which one of you is Lisbon?" A local uniformed cop called over to them.
"I am. What do you need?"
"Yeah the rig that took your person, says she's crashed once on route to the hospital. They are keeping us updated about her condition, but they thought you would want to know"
Before Lisbon could even react, Wayne was running for the SUV. He had to get there. Cho looked at Lisbon and said, "I'm taking him" and ran for the car too. He managed to swing into the driver's side just before Rigsby."You cannot drive now. I'll get us there" as he hit the lights and sirens. One of the other local cops understood what was happening and followed along, ready to block intersections. One of their own was down. No speed was too fast, no measure too extreme.
Lisbon jumped in the second car behind that. The local cops and Bosco's team could take care of the wrap up here. Grace Van Pelt was one of her people. Sirens blaring, the cars raced along the same road the ambulance had just taken.
Cho made that truck fly on the highway. He didn't even glance over at Rigsby. Getting him to Grace was the number one priority. Lisbon might not understand for sure what was happening, but he did. If something happened to Van Pelt, their team would lose them both. Rigsby would never recover. He sped up and started driving on the shoulder. The marked cars had radioed ahead and intersections were being blocked. The paperwork for this would be astounding later. Right now, none of that mattered.
Rigsby leaned forward in his seat, willing the SUV to go faster. He knew Cho was doing well over the limit, but resented every second it was taking to get to Grace. Oh God, Grace. She couldn't, she couldn't be….no. He would not even allow that as a possibility in his brain.
The car had not even completely stopped when he jumped out at the ER entrance. Running in with his badge, he yelled at the nurse, "Agent Van Pelt, where is she?" A feeble attempt was made to stop or slow him. The security guard on duty who was retired from the job, pointed him in the right direction.
A nurse almost was knocked over in her attempt to keep him out of the trauma room. He could see them working on her. The screen that should have been showing bleeping and a wiggly line was sounding alarms and showing a plain horizontal line.
"Clear!"
They shocked her again. Still nothing. This team was not giving up so easily. This woman was young, and by all accounts healthy. They wasted a win on this one.
"GRAAAAACE! Oh God! Grace!"
"Who the hell is he?
"Fellow Agent I think"
"Fellow agent, hell."
"GRAAAACE!" The sound was awful in its pain and intensity. It was the sound of a large heart breaking. Even to those in the ER who had seen every type of pain, it was horrifying and anguishing to hear and behold.
"God, Grace, NO! You come back….You come back to me right now!"
Suddenly, a blip was heard, and then another, and another. "GRAAACE!! Come back to me now"
This time the line on the monitor jumped.
"She's back"
"Normal Sinus rhythm"
"Grace? Oh Grace."
The doctors and nurses exchanged looks. The woman on the table had not responded so far to IV meds and several rounds of defibrillations. But the agonized yell of this man calling her name, this she was responding to. The human body and spirit are amazing things. Another nurse walked in and tried to explain to Wayne that he now needed to wait outside. He growled at her.
No one in that room was willing to take on this very large emotional man. Frankly, they didn't think they had that kind of manpower. And considering his voice is what the patient was responding best to, they unanimously decided just to let him stay. Someone got him a chair beside her head, and he was persuaded to sit and just hold her hand. For whatever reason, her pulse dipped when he let go. The weren't taking any chances. The women all told each other later it was unbelievably sweet and romantic.
Lisbon got there in time to be briefed by Cho, who told her, "He needed to come. I couldn't let him drive like that"
The repercussions of this would need to be dealt soon enough. Lisbon had known how Rigsby felt all along. Everyone did. She now realized it had gone past office crush. Crap. When Grace recovered, she would have some hellacious decisions to make. Right now, she would keep Minelli at bay and protect her team. Looking at Cho's face, she knew he was aware of all of this all along. She suspected he kept it from her so would not have to make those decisions.
"Where are they?"
"He's in with her in the Trauma room now. They got her back and he's staying."
Just then, Bosco arrived with his team. "What's the status Teresa?"
"She's hanging in. What about back at the scene?"
"We got that covered, this is more important."
The personal and professional differences between them melted. At this moment, every agent and cop there were as one. A solid blue wall. You cut one, and they all bleed. It was one of those unspoken aspects of Law Enforcement you either got or didn't. Frankly, if you didn't get it, you probably weren't much of a cop.
A nurse came over to the group and offered to have them use a family waiting area as there own. Lisbon thanked her and said, "I need to see her first."
Cho and Lisbon were lead to the door of the trauma room. Bosco motioned for his team to wait and followed. At the door, they all paused. Wayne was seated up by Grace's head holding her hand and gently brushing her hair away from her face. Had they not both been agents, it would have been heartbreakingly sweet.
Bosco registered all this and the lack of surprise on the part of Lisbon and Cho. So, the rumors were true. He had heard that Rigsby was a goner over the pretty rookie. Bosco liked Rigsby. He respected Cho, but he was too loyal to Lisbon over the job. Rigby was more of his type of cop, straight arrow and tough. A real old school type agent. He didn't know too much about Van Pelt. She too was loyal to Lisbon and smart. She was smart enough to be the quiet rookie. His earpiece crackled with the news of Minelli's arrival.
"Teresa, Minelli is here. All of you get in there and hold her hands. I'll try to slow him down. I don't think you want to handle this shit too right now."
Lisbon thanked him silently with a slight nod of her head. Cho was already in the room. Yeah, he had pegged him right. Cho processed information faster than most. He understood what was at stake here.
"Rigsby. Let go of her hair and stand up. Minelli can not see you like this. Understood?"
Even in his complete absorption of watching Grace breathe, her tone of command broke through. Leaning over he whispered, "I'm still here" and let go of her hand and hair. He stood up, ran his fingers through his hair, and allowed Lisbon in front of him. He was still able to run his finger up her arm shielded by Lisbon. When Minelli walked in, they now looked like a unit worried for one of their own.
"Lisbon! What happened? What's the status?"
"She coded twice. The doctors think the impact of the weight of the bullets against her heart had something to do with this. She's the most healthy agent I know. They still need to run tests."
"Rigsby! I understand you got the shooter and saved a fellow agent? You know the drill. But I will send the team here to you all to deal with the paperwork. Keep me posted. I want constant updates."
At his name, Wayne jumped slightly. He was sure Minelli was going to rake him over the coals for their mad dash here. Minelli wasn't happy about it. But when it came to one of his agents, he would take the heat on this one. It wasn't completely out of bounds, and he was part of that blue wall too.
"Yes sir."
"Let us know when the team gets here. Until then, my team is going to take turns staying with Van Pelt." She actually pretended to consider it for a moment to make it look good.
"Take the first shift, till the team gets here, Rigsby. Cho and I will come and get you when that happens." It was a reprieve and a warning. She would let him have this time and make sure they were the only ones who came in and out. Crap. She was already walking a tightrope because of this.
She got lucky; the team that handled agent's shootings arrived when Grace was getting tests. Rigsby looked like hell, but handled himself well. He had given up his piece at the scene and answered all the questions clearly and concisely. Fortunately, his answers matched up with Hicks. They asked Lisbon why he seemed so upset about Van Pelt. She covered by explaining that Rigsby had left Van Pelt at her insistence that she was ok. He felt guilty about that. It was a reasonable answer and pretty close to the truth. They were satisfied with the responses and informed Lisbon that pending their report; he would be on modified duty. She reminded them that she was down one agent and would appreciate it if they expedited that. Although, privately, she thought having him on modified would be better. Until Van Pelt was out of the woods, he was going to be shaky. She would give him a little slack only
Two days later, when Jane arrived at the hospital he had Rigsby's bag from his car. He didn't say and they didn't ask how he unlocked it. He offered to stay with Grace and forced Rigsby to eat something and change.
Jane sat quietly watching over the sleeping young woman. He didn't want to realize how fond of this team he had become. He worried that when the time came, it might impede his ability to do what had become an imperative. He was losing his laser focus on the vengeance, muddied by his emotions for these people.
"Jane? You aren't losing focus. You are gaining a wider perspective."
Van Pelt's voice, raspy and soft startled him. She was regarding him steadily with those large soft eyes. "Vengeance has ceased to be the imperative. That's a good thing. Hold on to that"
Had he spoken aloud? No, he would never make that kind of mistake. Inner monologues were always carried on at the same time as outer discussions. His ability to do just that had made him a success in his former life. No, she must have just had a weird dream that coincided with his thoughts. It wasn't as if they didn't know how he felt about Red John. Besides, out of all the agents, Grace was the most empathetic. She could read people's emotions very well. Where was Rigsby? Jane was beginning to need to get away and remind himself of his anger.
"You threw Rigsby out to get some food, remember? And you don't need to run away from how you feel about us all."
"What? I said nothing"
"You didn't have to. I heard your thoughts."
Yeah, I went there. Considering she believes in psychics, I thought making Grace one, real or not would be a fun little game. What do we think?