Disclaimer-nothing belongs to me, all rights belong to the creators and studio
Thanks for the awsome reveiws!
-The song Jane sings is Raggle Taggle Gypsy-a traditional Irish song
Chapter 1
Dealing
"How do you deal with a crazy serial killer coming after you?" was the one question that kept repeating itself in Grace's head.
After Red John's final message, Lisbon had arrived. After Grace and Jane told her what had happened, and she read the messages, she called in security team to watch all the entrances into the building, and the bull pen. Perhaps a little bit of overkill, but this was Red John.
Lisbon was in here office, talking to some computer whiz, trying to get him to come down and try to find a way to trace the IM's. It wasn't really going anywhere.
Rigsby had taken it upon himself to watch one of the entrances, and had convinced Cho to go with him. Grace was sure that he had speed the whole way back to the office.
Grace was at her desk, trying to get her mind off the situation by doing some work, but it was a bit difficult because she wouldn't even touch her computer. It was irrational, but it kind of freaked her out. What made it even more difficult was Jane, sitting on his couch, acting completely relaxed, when really, he was scanning all the doors, windows, and Grace herself in about 10 second intervals.
Though she wasn't looking at him, Grace could feel Jane staring at her, again! She started to tap her pencil in annoyance. Having (unconsciously) taken the time to calculate it, she waited for Jane to make his visual rounds, and then look at her again.
She spun around in her chair. "Will you stop that!" she barked, which he returned with one of his trade mark grins.
"Stop what?" She glared at him.
"Acting as if your expecting Red John to come barrelling into here at any time. I'm on the verge of a panic attack, and your not helping."
"Your taking this surprisingly well," he said, dodging her statement, "most people would be hiding in a corner with their blue security blanket."
"Well, I'm not like most people." Grace said, desperate to get her mind on something, anything, else.
"No, you are most definitely are not." Jane agreed, also happy to get his mind off of the horrible mental picture he had of Grace as a Red John victim. Grace narrowed her eyes.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked, more of wanting to keep the conversation going than actually knowing the answer.
"Well, your much to nice and caring a person to be immediately pegged as a cop," he began, shifting his shoulders to be more comfortable, "you hold to your religious and ethical beliefs, no matter how wrong they are." Grace glared at him. "Look at Lisbon, she wears a crucifix necklace, but never argues or try to defend her views to me. You do. And I respect you for it."
Grace was momentarily stunned, Jane had given her a compliment, and he wasn't trying to get anything from it.
"Thank you." she said. They sat in silence for a moment, just looking at each other.
"OK, I talked to Minelli about the situation," Lisbon called as she, Rigsby and Cho entered the bull pen. "and he thinks you need to be under constant survailance, witness protection style." Grace opened her mouth to protest, but Lisbon put her hand out to stop her. "I've already told him you weren't going for that, so he compramised. No less than five officers will be with you at all times, making sure that your safe."
Grace wanted to complain and object, but knew that it wasn't going to get anywhere with it, so she let it go.
"OK, the big question is what Red John up to." Rigsby said as he sat on the edge of Graces desk.
"Well actually, we know what he's up to," Jane said, "the bigger question is why is he doing what he's doing?"
"What do you mean?" Cho asked.
"Well think about it. Red John is signalling Van Pelt out specifaclly. He contacted her, which he has never done with his prior victims,"he winced slightly, and glanced at Grace, "and he did it here, in the office."
"OK, any 'guesses'?" Lisbon asked.
"The reson he conntected her, and here at the office is to produce fear and panic. He is uping his gambit, rubbing our noses in it. Like he did with the skywriting."
"OK, but why is he going after Van Pelt?" Rigsby asked, trying to keep the exsesive concern out of his voice.
"Van Pelt is the newest member of the team, as well as the youngest and least experianced. I believethat he was hoping that you would be the most easy to intimidate and frighten, which he was wrong about." Grace gave Jane a half smile. "Plus, of course, the obvious reasons."
The rest of the team glanced around at each other, not wanting to give Jane the satisaction of asking what were the obvious reasons. Jane was just glancing around at them, with a slight grin on his face.
"What are the obvious reasons?" Cho finnally asked.
"Van Pelt is young, smart, compasionate, and beuatiful. All in all, a wonderfull person." Grace was silent, suprised by the amount of complimants Jane had just given her. "By going after her, he is dealing a huge emotional blow to the team."
"OK, so how do we deal with this?" Lisbon asked him.
"We go about our days as normal. We don't let him think he's getting to us. We take precautions, of course, but we don't panic."
Lisbon nodded in agrement. "Alright than, it's late so we'll call it a night. Van Pelt, the five officers will escort you home, than take up watches outside your home." Grace nodded.
"Alright, be here bright and early tommorow morning people."
Patrick Jane was lying awake on the matteress in his daughters bedroom. The Red John Smiley face was overhead on the wall, as if laughing at him for his mistakes. Jane hadn't even bothered to change out of his three peice suit.
He tried staring at the ceiling, the floor, the opposite wall, but his attention always returned to the bloody face. No matter how he tried, he couldn't stop worrying about the situation him and his team was in.
If Red John was able to get to Grace.... Jane didn't know how he'd react. Just thinking about the possibility terrified him, and chilled him to the core. He didn't really understand why. He just knew that if Red John got her, there was nothing in the world that could stop him from tracking him down and killing him like the animal he was.
Finally, Jane began to feel the effects of the sleeping pills, and he closed his eyes and fell into a fitfull sleep.
As usual, his tormented dreams were of his wife and daughter. The life they had, and the night he found them murdered. Every detail of that horrible night replayed itself over and over, in gruesome and horible detail.
Suddenly, the images changed. Jane found himself standing on the side of a door, but not the one in his house. He didn't want to, but his hand reached out and turned the handle, slowly opening the door.
The first thing he noticed was the giant red smiley face, drawn on the floor. The second was Grace, lying in the center of the face. Her body was covered in cuts, blood pouring from her, making the face bigger. Her eyes were open, staring unseeing, her mouth strechted in a silent scream.
A sound began to fill the room. The sound of Red John laughing. Jane ran over to Grace, his dream mind thinking he could save her. He sank to his knees, becoming covered in blood. His eyes stung from, and water ran from them.
He lifted his head up, and looked at the wall. Words were begining to form, dripping red.
"TOO LATE."
Jane bolted straight up, hyperventalating and covered in sweat. He jumped off of the matress, and ran from the room. Nearly falling down, he raced down the stairs, sliding on the landing. He grabbed his keys, and left his house, jumping in his car and screaming out of his driveway.
Once on the highway, he raced over the speed limit, passing cars as they honked at him. He didn't slow down.
Finally he arrived at Van Pelts house. From a quick scan, Jane was able to see that the cops were all there, and everything looked fine. But that wouldn't calm his nerves.
He parked, and got out of his car. He walked over to a pair of the cops, who were sitting in their truck. One of them recognized him and rolled down his window.
"Everything alright, sir?" he asked. Jane glanced at his name tag.
"Yes Officer Moore, I was just making sure everythin was good here."
"Yes, sir. Nothig out of the ordinary." He replied.
"Do you mind if I have a look around?" The officers shook their heads. "Then I'll probaly wait in my car, if that's alright." Jane finished, intending to stay no matter what they said.
"Yes sir, go ahead. I'll just call the others to let them know your not a threat." Jane nodded and began to walk away, than stopped and turned back to the officer.
"Do me a favour, don't tell anyone I was here?" Moore looked confused, "It's just that Agent Lisbon worries when I don't sleep, and I don't wan't to worry anyone."
"Alright, sir." he said, and Jane walked away.
Jane walked up to Graces front door, and then began to walk along the edge of the house. His heart was still pounding as he searched for the right window. Knowing that was very creeping, and might get him arrested, he looked into Grace's bedroom window.
He sighed in relief as he saw her, sound asleep. Quickly, he backed away from the window, and went back to his car. He sat in the drivers seat, and suddenly realized how paniced he was. He took several deep, calming breaths.
It worried him how much the nightmare had scared him enough, to come raceing to Grace's house at two o'clock in the morning. He realized he had been terrified that the dream was real, and that Red John had gotten to Grace already.
Silently, Jane swore to himself that he wouldn't let anything happen to Grace, and he was going to stay close to her to protect her.
When Grace got to work that morning, Jane was already there, laying on his couch. She smiled to herself, glad that somethings never change. It had taken her at least an hour to get to sleep last night, knowing that there were cops watching her house.
Jane had stayed outside in his car until he saw a light come on in Graces room, than he had left for HQ. He didn't want Grace to know he had been there, and had then watched as she had come into the building. Even to him it sounded creepy.
A few minutes after Grace arrived, Cho, and then Rigsby got to work. Ribsby hada a box of dounuts that he laid on the table, after taking one for himself. Lisbon was already in her office. The agents all got to work, doing their various tasks.
Half an hour later, Lisbon walked in, closing her cellphone.
"All right, we got a missing persons case uptown." she said.
"Why are we getting a missing persons case?" Rigsby asked.
"The call is from is from a Mr. Grant, a personal friend of the governor. Aparently his wife is missing." she told them. "So, we need to get there ASAP." The team all stood up, grabbing various keys and wallets.
"I'll ride with Van Pelt." Jane said, standing up and grabbing his suit coat.
"Why?" Lisbon and Grace asked at the same time.
"Your vehicle is the most comfortable." he stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lisbon rolled her eyes.
All the vehichles pulled out of the parking lot, Rigsby, Cho and Lisbon in the SUV ahead of Grace and Jane. They rode in companionable silence for a few minutes.
"When have you ever been in my car before?" Grace asked all of a sudden.
"When I was driving of course." Jane answered, turning his head and grinning. Grace simultaniously shuddered and shook her head at the memory, that was slightly horrific and funny at the same time.
"Remind me to never let you drive again." she said.
"Ah come on. I'm much better when I can see." he responded, laughing slightly.
"I've ridden with you before Jane, and I think I perfered your blind driving." she joked. Jane grinned his typical ear-to-ear grin.
Thanks to traffic, they were another half an hour getting to the crime scence. A police 'do not cross' tape line was put up between gate enterance, a couple of cruisers, and a whole lot of camera crews.
The house was somewhere betwee victorian, and modern architecture. It was a perfect shade of white, wipe steps leading to the front door, with an overhanging roof, supported by two pillars.
The team dodged the cameras, ducked under the tape, and walked up the steps into the house. Jane immediatly began to look around, taking in little details. He walked over to a wall of pictures, looking over them. There was one of to the side of the and his wife, though the wifes attention was past her husbands shoulder, looking at someone in the back ground.
Mr. Grant came up to group and began talking with them. It was obvious he was in a true panic. Jane wasn't really paying any attention to what the man said, doubting he could say anything of importance.
"When did she exactly go missing?" Lisbon was asking.
"She didn't come home yesterday night. I phoned the police this morning." Mr. Grant was almost in tears.
"When was this picture taken?" Jane asked, pointing at the picture. Mr. Grant looked over.
"A month ago, we had a party." he said.
"You had live music, a little un-known traveling band, right?" Jane asked. Lisbon, Rigsby and Grace were looking at him curiostly. A maid walked between two doors, shaking her head a little.
"Yes, little more than gypsys." Mr. Grant said, and went back to talking to Lisbon.
Grace came over to Jane.
"What do you think?" she asked him.
"What do you think?" he repeated. Grace looked at the picture, noteing where the wife was looking as well.
"I think we need to look at her closet." she said facing Jane again. They headed up the stairs.
In the bedroom, Grace opened the double doors into the walk in closet. It was empty, execpt a single sheet of paper taped to the wall. Jane ripped it off, and read it, and grinned.
"It was late that night when the lord came in," he began to mutter/sing, as and the rest of the team came into the room, "enquiring for his lady-oh. The servent girl replied to her lord," Jane handed Mr. Grant the note, "she's away with the raggle taggle gypsy-oh."
Grant gasped, and cluctched his head, sinking onto the bed.
"What?" Cho asked.
"She left with one of the band members. This is her goodbye note." Jane explained as he walked out of the room. "The case is solved." He called over his shoulder theatrically. Then turned, and waited for his team to leave the room as well. He fell in steep beside Grace.
"Nicely done, Grace." he told her. She smiled.
The travel back to HQ was a little shorter than the ride to the site. Jane again rode with Grace, but this time laid his head back and drifted between asleep and awake.
"Do you mind if I put music on?" she asked when he first put his head back.
"Nope, go ahead." he replied. The music helped Jane sleep, and when he was drifiting awake, he'd hear Grace softly singing along. It was nice, and he was relaxed.
She nudged his shoulder when they got back, the others pulling behind them. They got out of the car, Jane stretching his shoulders.
"A giant waste of time." Rigsby was muttering.
They entered the building, Rigsby and Cho heading toward the kitchen, Lisbon to her office. Grace and Jane immediatly noticed a large bouquet on Grace's desk, made of a dozen white roses, with a single red rose in the center.
Grace walked over, and picked up the flowers. A note fell from the petals. She picked it up, and read it. Jane had been smiling, thinking that Rigsby had finnaly made a move, but his face fell when he saw the look on Graces face.
"What is it?" he asked her. Silently, she passed him the note, which he read outloud.
"No doubt that this will be read by your entire team, but these words are for you, as are the roses. I am the only one who will ever understand you Grace, and I know you will understand me in the same way. Don't be afraid. RJ"
Jane put the note down, feeling slightly sick. Grace had put down the flowers, as far away from her as possible.
"I was really wrong." Jane said, sitting on the edge of the desk. Grace looked at him.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. He looked her in the eye.
"Red John dosn't want to kill you. He isn't trying to frighten you. He's trying to seduce you."
