A/N: Ok, I'm sorry for the ridiculously long wait. I was putting it on hold at first because I'd really got into writing my Red Letters fic, but it eventually subsided, and I finally got round to writing more of this one. Thank you SO much for all the reviews on the first chapter, I'm glad everyone enjoyed it. And I hope I'll be able to continue to please. This chapter gets a bit more violent at the end, just to tell you before hand...
Chapter 2. It's Not Over Yet.
Patrick's eyes snapped open the following morning, the sun just about to penetrate the curtains and shine rudely in his eyes. He found himself snuggled up behind Teresa in bed, his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him, his knees bent to fit perfectly into her shape. The tip of his chin was just brushing her shoulder. He remembered the night of ice cream and old movies last night, which he had known would continue to cheer Teresa up further after their dance. They had ended the evening at about half eleven, almost stumbling up the stairs in their half-slumbering condition. Falling into bed, they had curled up together, in almost exactly the same position that Patrick found them in this morning. He smiled softly, pressing a few kisses just behind Teresa's collarbone. The warmth of his lips on her skin caused her to mumble in her sleep.
'Oi...I'm sleeping,' she murmured softly.
It caused a boyish grin to spread over his face as he repeated the motion, but this time placing the kiss on her neck. Teresa squirmed a little, trying to snuggle into the comfort of the bed and ignore the series of sweet kisses being trailed from the edge of her shoulder, to the back of her jaw.
'Jane!' she cried, habit preventing her from calling him Patrick.
He laughed softly, replacing his chin on her shoulder and giving her a soft squeeze, pulling her closer. Teresa gave him a playful shove with her elbow, smirking herself.
'What time is it anyway?' She pulled herself forward to look at the blue numbers on the digital alarm clock, slowly making sense of the lights. 'Shit!' she yelled, scrambling and almost falling out of bed.
Patrick laughed, watching his girlfriend stumble over her own feet as she ran for the bathroom.
'Why wasn't the alarm set?' Her voice travelled from behind the door, 'It's half nine Jane!'
'That's only...two and a half hours later than usual,' he replied, the amused expression on his face evident in his voice, 'Besides, I thought you might like the lie-in.'
'Two and a half... great. By the time we get there it'll be three hours! Minelli's going to shoot me...'
'Nahh. He wouldn't. He likes you too much.'
Teresa looked round the door and gave him a glare, her hair still in an odd tangle on one side, and a toothbrush stuck in her mouth.
'And he doesn't carry a gun,' Patrick added.
Teresa rolled her eyes, retreating back into the bathroom.
It was twenty minutes before they were both heading out the door, their stomachs unfilled, simply trying to get to work quickly. Well, that applied for Teresa anyway. Patrick? Not so much. He seemed to be dawdling for the fun of it, watching Teresa get a little frustrated over his reluctant, slow footsteps, and his lack of enthusiasm for the working day.
'What's up with you?' she asked, clambering up into the SUV's driving seat.
'The bed was warm,' he stated simply, 'And you were in it...before the clock interrupted us.'
Teresa rolled her eyes and shoved her key into the ignition as Patrick shut his door.
'Boss!' Van Pelt called to Lisbon as the small brunette walked from the elevator, the consultant trailing behind, his hands in his pockets and a mischievous smile on his face.
'Van Pelt?' Lisbon replied.
'Minelli wants to see you and Jane in his office A.S.A.P. And, we got a call out just now; Napa Valley, so you haven't missed too much. I'll wait for you in the SUV.'
Lisbon nodded, grimacing internally about the situation with Minelli, but keeping up the professional demeanour she had rebuilt on the way into the CBI, despite Jane's best efforts to foil her attempts.
'Ok, thanks. Jane? With me.'
'I wasn't aware I had been without you so far today,' he replied, a wide grin on his face as he followed behind her. Lisbon shot a glare behind her, while also checking that Van Pelt wasn't in earshot.
'Would you mind?' she muttered under her breath, 'Some level of secrecy would be nice, otherwise I'll put a zip on your mouth.'
'Oo...ok, lips sealed.'
'Good.'
Jane couldn't stop his smile from spreading as he continued to totter on behind Lisbon, casting a glance over his shoulder to see Van Pelt disappearing round the corner to the elevator. From a slight flick in the redhead's hair, Jane could tell she had been watching them as she'd walked away.
'Although I think she already knows.'
'Really?' Lisbon looked around a little nervously.
'Welll...it's not likely that Rigsby would be able to contain himself for this long.'
Lisbon groaned quietly. 'Damn blinds,' she muttered.
'It wasn't exactly the fault of the blinds now was it Lisbon.'
'Shh. I'll blame them if I want to.'
Jane smiled and shook his head as they came to stop in front of Minelli's office door. He could see Lisbon taking a deep breath in before she placed her hand on the door handle. Then she paused.
'Don't say anything stupid.'
'Why would I say something stupid?'
'In fact, don't say anything unless vitally necessary.'
'Wha...why?'
'Just don't.'
Lisbon pushed into the office, finding Minelli sat at his desk, doing something with his computer that involved a lot of clicking and file reference.
'Boss?'
'Ah, Lisbon, Jane, come in.'
Lisbon gave a weak smile to her boss before she stepped in further, followed by Jane who automatically took to wandering around the office like it was a suspect, or a victim's house. Lisbon gave him a suspicious look as he moved around with a quite innocent expression on his face.
'You wanted to talk to us?' Lisbon prompted.
'Yes. Yes I did... Well. I'm not entirely sure how to put this to you... uh... Jane?' Minelli looked across at Jane, who was still happily meandering around, not appearing to be paying attention.
'Mm?' the consultant replied, his lips clamped shut.
'You're listening?'
'Mm-mm,' Jane replied, nodding, still not letting a nanometre of space between his lips.
Minelli narrowed his eyes slightly, but returned to what he had been saying before once Jane had come to stand beside Lisbon, giving her a smile when she glared.
'From what happened last week, and what I saw from yesterday, and I don't mean to intrude on such a sensitive time with these things, Lisbon, but it's been clear to me that yourself and Jane have been considerably closer recently.'
Lisbon nodded, her gaze briefly flickering away from Minelli as she nodded.
'I've got to ask, because it's my job - not that I like it, but is there anything going on between you two?'
Jane leant forward slightly onto his toes, 'Hmm? Mm mm mm?' His finger pointed to himself and then Lisbon and back again. 'Mmmm, mm-mm,' he shook his head.
Lisbon elbowed him hard, showing no mercy. 'Stop it!' she whispered angrily.
'You told me I couldn't say anything...' he replied through gritted teeth.
'Shut up.'
'Exactly.'
Minelli watched their squabbling, a questioning, confused and suspicious expression all in one, on his face.
'I'm sorry boss,' Lisbon replied quickly, 'There's nothing happening between me and Jane.'
Minelli looked from the agent to the consultant, back to the agent, and back to the consultant. He gave a soft sigh and looked down at his desk briefly, tweaking a pen's position so that it was exactly parallel to the document beside it.
'He simply offered support over the time I was away.'
Minelli knew that Lisbon was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. Even if Cho had been a good liar, Van Pelt and Rigsby hadn't. They had all been spoken to beforehand, when Jane and Lisbon hadn't arrived yet. The travelling gazes and stiffness during their replies had been enough to make it clear. Besides, never had he expected to see Jane with his arm around Lisbon, holding her much closer and more comfortingly than simply a friend would while at the funeral.
He sighed again, wondering what to do; not liking what the CBI rules required him to do.
'Lisbon, I may be old, but I'm not that easily fooled. Now, I know that Jane is only a consultant, and therefore not a proper member of the team...'
'Ouch...' Jane murmured.
'...But the situation still applies to the rules. No relationships within the unit...'
Lisbon nodded, her gaze travelling to her shoes, already hearing the inevitable words ringing in her head before they were even said.
'So that's why I'm going to tell you that if you can keep it professional at work, I won't say anything.'
Lisbon's eyes had been squeezed shut, waiting for something to be said that would effect her career or Jane's ability to work with the team, but the words actually said were not what she had been expecting.
'I don't want to have to lose either of you. Lisbon, you're the team leader, and Jane...you're too damn useful.'
'Thank you,' Jane replied with a smirk.
'Besides, if I do something about you two, I'll have to do something about Van Pelt and Rigsby, and I won't have my best team anymore.'
Lisbon was still stood in shock, but she just managed to swallow it down and utter a thank you. She nodding once, resisting the urge to hug Minelli or something.
'Don't make me regret this,' Minelli warned, 'Either of you.'
A swift nod from Jane and Lisbon, and they left quietly.
As they were walking back down the corridor towards the bullpen, and the elevator, Jane murmured in Lisbon's ear: 'Yeah, Lisbon, don't make him regret it.'
Lisbon elbowed him, causing him to smile widely, 'Me? I think I can control myself, Jane. I'm more worried about you.'
'How so?'
'Will you be able to keep your hands off me?' she asked, a smirk dancing on her lips.
'Let's hope so...' Jane winked when Lisbon turned to look at him.
Stepping into the elevator, just as the doors were closing, Jane leant down briefly and kissed Lisbon's cheek. It caused the blushing CBI Special Agent to send a flurry of slaps at Jane's arm, while all the consultant could do was grin... and try and shelter himself from the flapping hands attacking him.
'So, what did Minelli want to talk to you about?' Van Pelt asked, when Jane and Lisbon climbed into the SUV.
'Oh nothing...just some personnel issues,' Jane replied, before Lisbon could get in there, emphasizing the word to make it sound more like 'personal'.
If Lisbon had to hit that man, or glare at him again...
She could feel her life expectancy slowly dropping due to the extra stress that this situation was putting on her. And she thought that just having Jane as a colleague was stressful...
'Can we just go?' Lisbon asked hopelessly.
Van Pelt nodded, looking from Jane to Lisbon, before keying the engine and starting the journey to the crime scene.
'So what's the situation here?' Lisbon asked, striding alongside the sheriff as they ducked under the crime scene tape, and made their way across the field from the road to the crime scene.
'The body was found by the land owner, Jack Harrison, early this morning. Male victim; several stab wounds to the back. Looks like a body dump. Body hasn't been touched - we waited for you lot to arrive.'
Lisbon nodded, looking ahead at the body lying amongst the slightly overgrown grass. A slight wind picked up curls of her hair, blowing them across her face as she walked. She tucked them behind her ear as she arrived at the corpse-side. Lowering to her haunches, she looked over the body, front down on the ground, his head looking off to the left. His short dark hair was matted with blood, despite the lack of a blood pool to reach that far from the stab wounds.
'Well, this certainly doesn't look like the primary crime scene, there's not a lot of blood here,' Lisbon stated as she snapped on a pair of latex gloves. She quickly checked the body over for signs of an ID, patting down the pockets.
'Yeah, as we said,' the sheriff replied, looking over Lisbon's shoulder.
'He doesn't have a wallet on him - no ID... Jane? You going to help?' Lisbon called after the consultant, 'Or are you going to be guardian of the fields?'
Jane was stood looking out over the long stretches of grass before him, his hands deep in his pockets, like he was sworn protector of the land.
At the sound of Lisbon's voice, he turned his head, looking down at the body in the thick blades of browning grass.
'Uhh...wife did it.'
'Oh really?'
'Yep,' he replied, switching back to watching a gust of wind rustle the grass off in the distance, 'Knife crime equals crime of passion, personal... and there's a tan line around the wedding ring finger with deep red scratches. Suggests it was pulled off in anger, and the marks are far too deep for his nails, he's a biter.'
Lisbon looked down at the body again, seeing the marks Jane spoke of, and the short finger nails that didn't protrude off the fingers at all.
'So you're saying the wife caught him cheating? Snatched his ring off him?'
'Yep. Plus, he does look like the womanizing type.'
'I guess it's a fair first theory.'
'Mmm...' Jane replied, seeming to pause for a moment in thought before beginning to walk across the field.
'Uhh... Jane?' Lisbon called after him.
He stopped and swivelled on the spot, 'Lisbon?'
'Where are you going?'
'In...that direction,' he replied, pointing across the field to seemingly nowhere.
'Why?'
'Jane's stomach? Didn't get food this morning,' he shook his head, 'Jane's eyes saw food on the way in. Lisbon, this is the direction of food.'
'Wha-' Lisbon started, but switched speech for a huff as she looked back down at the body. Her stomach growled softly, reminding her of their lack of breakfast.
'Love you!' she heard from behind her. Her fiery gaze shot over her shoulder at the diminishing figure of Jane as he wandered into the distance, her cheeks burning. She couldn't have been more thankful that everyone seemed to be out of earshot - the sheriff having returned to his car to talk to a colleague, and Van Pelt, Rigsby and Cho busy searching the perimeter.
God, that man was so damn annoying... that was putting it far too lightly.
It was ten minutes before Jane appeared back at Lisbon's side, holding a box of strawberries in his hand and chewing on one as he swung the box round to offer Lisbon one.
'Strawberry?'
'That's breakfast?'
'When you're surrounded by fields, there are limited options Lisbon. At least I didn't come back chomping on grass... strawberry or not? If not, all the more for me.'
'Gimme a strawberry... And stop with your comments.'
'What comments?'
'The ones about our relationship. You really want to send me to my grave early?'
'That wasn't the intention...'
'Oh, there was an intention?'
'Uhh... no, not really.'
'Well stop it then. I preferred the Jane I was with before.'
Jane stopped chewing momentarily, and looked down at Lisbon. He switched to let his gaze travel over the fields, and commenced chewing again. He spoke quietly, 'Sorry.'
'You should be.'
She stared down at the body just as her pocket vibrated. Digging out her cell phone, Lisbon connected the call.
'Lisbon,' she spoke down the line, '...Boss... Why? ... What do you mean? ... Uh... Ok, where? Ok. Shall I get the rest of the team?... Ok.'
She cut the call, and called Rigsby, Van Pelt, and Cho over.
'Minelli's given us another case.'
'What about this one?' Cho asked.
'He's sending another team. He didn't say what the other case was, but apparently we've got to get there A.S.A.P, so let's go. Rigsby and Cho, if you're taking the car, the location is Heckleys Boulevard, yeah?'
Cho nodded, moving towards the silver-grey car sat outside the taped perimeter.
'Van Pelt? You coming in the SUV?'
'Yeah.'
'Jane? Come on.'
Jane nodded, promptly following behind Lisbon with the box of strawberries in hand. He was thinking up plans of how to make it up to Lisbon as he went.
It was a large derelict industrial building on Heckleys Boulevard where a coroner's van, a patrol car, and Minelli's car was parked beside the sidewalk. Lisbon's brows knitted together as she saw the boss' car. Parking up, she jumped out, followed by Jane and Van Pelt. Cho and Rigsby pulled in behind them, joining them to enter the building.
Lisbon heads-upped the officer just inside the door, 'What's going on?'
'Second floor,' he replied simply, his hands interlocked before him.
It was up two flights of stairs that a door appeared before the team, offering passage to the second floor. It opened up on a large floor, with almost nothing but pillars to support the ceiling, and the odd pieces of rubbish at the side of the rooms, showing evidence of homeless people, or kids using it as a hideout, maybe. Just a little further across the room, a small group of people were bustling around one spot. Minelli was stood just off to the side, observing the activity. When he saw Lisbon and Jane, followed by the other three emerge from the door, he began to walk towards them. His face was serious, worried.
'Good, you're all here,' he said, casting a brief glance at Jane as the consultant pushed up slightly onto his tippy-toes to try and see what was happening.
'We got an anonymous call out to this location about twenty minutes ago. When the responding officer saw the situation, he called me immediately.'
Minelli motioned for them to move towards the small crowd in the centre of the wide open floor. Through the odd openings in the shapes of the coroners and forensics teams, a thick scarlet blood pool could be seen surrounding a chair, spreading round in a slightly misshapen circle. Everyone was suddenly aware of the deep coppery scent in the air, when it filled their nostrils and clung to their taste-buds with a bitter metallic taste.
'I hope you're ready for this...' Minelli murmured, stopping just outside the small crowd as they began to disperse for the CBI agents.
'Oh my god...' Van Pelt murmured softly.
Lisbon coughed heavily as the body became visible, slumped in an old wooden chair, blood dribbling from so many cuts and injuries to the flesh. The man's eyes were wide open, terrified, in unimaginable pain. Apart from a pair of boxers, the body was bare, allowing access to the originally smooth pale skin, now marred with crimson smudges and droplets of blood.
At first, it just looked like a bloody mess, but on closer inspection, the cuts took form. A hundred or so Red John smileys decorating the skin, carved deep enough to cause torturous, horrific pain, and let the blood run thick and free from the body. They covered every inch of his visible skin apart from his face, devouring his flesh.
With her fist covering her mouth, Lisbon grimaced, only just managing to tear her eyes away from the corpse to check Jane's reaction. His jaw was clenching over and over again, and he looked like he wanted to be seeing anything but the body slumped before him, but he couldn't seem to take his gaze off it. He looked truly sickened and pale.
'Well, it's not Red John...' Lisbon managed to get out.
'I guess someone doesn't like that we caught him...' Cho murmured.
