A/N: Thanks so much for all your love and support! I wouldn't have been able to continue this story otherwise, I'm afraid :D. And thanks for C.L. Bone13 for giving me ways to make this story epic. Thanks so much! And I'll get to replying to all of you soon, I promise!
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
'The Red in the Roadside'
Chapter One
"Don't you just love the view, Lisbon?" Jane asked, poking his head against the little window again. Lisbon sighed, and leant her head against her seat, closing her eyes. "If you wanted to sleep, you shouldn't have chosen a spot beside me-"
"I didn't choose a spot beside you, you did. Trust me, if I could choose myself, I indeed wouldn't hate sat beside you."
"Now, Lisbon, don't be so grumpy-"
"I'm not grumpy," Lisbon murmured, and crossed her arms.
"You are."
"I don't want to play this game with you, Jane."
"Oh, so you want to do that with somebody el-"
"Jane."
"Fine," Jane snapped, sounding more angry than he would have intended. He really didn't want to fight with Lisbon, especially not over something as stupid as this. But the tension between them, it was killing him.
Ever since he had told her he loved her, things were strange, awkward, alien between them. He had noticed the signs that their friendship was moving into more dangerous territories – almost longing glances from both sides of the bullpen, touches in the canteen that lingered a bit too long to be really innocent. Sometimes even double meanings to certain words – he and Lisbon never did double meanings.
He hadn't touched her anymore, though. It was more to keep himself from going too far than being reluctant to come closer to her – he knew that if he did touch her, he wouldn't take satisfaction out of only touching her the next time. He would go too far and he couldn't do that.
Jane swallowed, and mimicked Lisbon's stance. It wasn't that he didn't want their friendship to change, it just shouldn't happen. She was in danger, Red John was aiming all his latest moves solely on her and Jane couldn't risk losing the only other woman he'd ever loved.
Maybe this case was good. Perhaps this brought the two of them closer, since there were no distractions in the form of paperwork or a team requiring assistance with things.
Now, they had to share an apartment in Washington DC, which Jane knew contained only one, king-sized bed. He was going to get his way with Lisbon, only she didn't know – this case was going to be the key for their relationship.
"Teresa, I-"
"Forget it, Jane. I don't want to talk about it."
"I-"
"Jane!" Lisbon exclaimed now, and Jane startled. She looked almost... violent now, like she was protecting something precious – maybe her heart.
Jane closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath.
If this wasn't going to work out, he was definitely going to kill himself.
-TheRedintheRoadside-
"Who are these people?" Angela murmured, more asking herself while studying the people that were on her screen. She pressed on a button of her remote control, and the woman with the red hair made place for a blonde man. She got an appreciative smile on her face. "Oh..."
"Angie, have you seen Ca- Who is this?" a familiar voice asked, and when Angela turned around, she was face-to-face with her husband. She smiled, but now more of love than what she had felt when she'd seen that man's face.
"Hey baby," Angela said, and then looked at her screen again. "He's... nothing. Nobody. Okay, he's handsome, but I don't know who he is. Anyway, I haven't seen Cam, but she told me that there should be remains arriving anytime now."
"From where?"
"Sacramento."
Hodgins whistled appreciatively. "Ho-o, I would love to go there. California!"
"Sure you do."
"I really do! And I would take you with me if I did. What do we need to do with the remains?"
"Nothing. We have to wait until Cam is here. According to her, there are people flying over all the way from California to explain the plan for the remains."
Hodgins nodded, taking all Angela said in, and then looked at the screen, a frown playing on his features.
"And you're checking these people... why, exactly?"
"Cam said the remains may be connected to a serial killer. I just checked out which people are working that case. You know, to prepare us for a disaster?" She lifted her remote control and pressed a button, five people appearing next to each other on the screen. "This," she said, having the picture of a rather small-looking man come to the front, "is Kimball Cho. Thirty-six. He's stoic, not a man for jokes. And he's around the same height as you, so you two could play in the sandbox together," Angela said, smiling, and when Hodgins rolled his eyes, she knew she had succeeded to pester him. She pressed the same button as before, and the tallest of the group came to the front. "Wayne Rigsby, thirty-four. He's worked with the police for a long time but people still consider him a rookie. He has a son, just as old as Michael Vincent." Again, the button. "Grace van Pelt, thirty-two. She's not so good in dating, and she's the new girl in the team, even after seven years in the unit. She has beautiful hair. And this is Teresa Lisbon, thirty-nine, and she's the team leader. According to her file, she was named senior agent at a rather young age. And she has trouble with breaking the rules, which is a good thing, I guess." Angela then smiled, and pressed the button again. She looked at the picture for a few seconds, before noticing Hodgins' intent glare and she shook her head. "Let me tell you that this man is all of the people in our team mixed into one – with a pretty face. He's Patrick Jane, forty-one, and even though he is just a consultant with Agent Lisbon's team, he thinks he's got the right to do whatever he wants, and I can clearly see that in his file. Punched several times, complaints filed against him, even expired restraining orders. Really, this guy is a threat on legs for law enforcement."
When Angela turned around to face Hodgins, both their smiles faltered.
"What is he hiding? I know that look, Ange, you have that look when you pity somebody-"
"His family has been killed nine years ago. He's been in a loony-bin for a year after that, and then came straight to the CBI to ask about information about the killer of his wife and daughter. I'm serious, I really pity this man. It's so sad..."
Hodgins placed his hands on Angela's shoulders and made her look into his blue eyes.
"This is going to be so tough for you," Hodgins whispered, and Angela nodded.
"I just hope this Patrick Jane doesn't come, because I don't want to be distracted from my job," Angela said, and Hodgins immediately stepped back, huffing. "And don't you dare say that. At least I don't blow up the lab.
"I didn't-"
"Angela, you got message, I see," Cam said, interrupting the couple as she strode into Angela's office. The two jumped away from each other as if they were not allowed to be seen together, and then faced Cam.
Angela nodded.
"Good. No psychopaths?" Cam asked, her tone of voice almost too serious for a comment like that, and Angela looked at Hodgins, before shaking her head.
"They seem alright."
Cam let out a sigh of relief, and then made a spin and almost walked back to the platform, but then made a spin back to Angela.
"Which of the five are coming?"
Angela shrugged, but then turned towards her screen when a ping arrived. "Hold on a second... That LaRoche guy sent me a mail that said that Teresa Lisbon and... and Patrick Jane, should be arriving around... now-"
"Hello-o-o, what's this for beautiful machine!" a voice exclaimed from the other end of the room, and the trio turned around to see the blonde man from the screen standing there, accompanied by the dark-haired team leader.
"Hi, you must be Agent Lisbon and Mr. Jane, am I right?" Cam asked, and the woman nodded.
"I'm Teresa Lisbon from the-"
"Oh, no need for the formalities, right, Agent Lisbon? I already know your names," Cam said, then turned towards Hodgins and Angela again.
"You two show them around the lab, I'll let you know when the remains arrived." With that, Cam left the office. Jane and Lisbon stared at the woman, and then at the couple opposite them.
"Sorry about that," Angela said, and skipped over to the two. "I'm Angela Montenegro, this is Jack Hodgins, my... colleague."
As soon as Angela had stated her name, she saw something that was probably normal for Jane and Lisbon, but it was rather weird for her: the man's face went blank, and the woman immediately looked at him, extremely worried. When all of them stayed silent, Lisbon took the lead.
"I'm sure you've read his file?" Lisbon asked, and Angela hesitated, before nodding. "His wife was called Angela."
Angela froze, and Hodgins behind her obviously did the same. "Oh... my god, I'm so sorry-"
"No, it's okay. Where is Dr. Brennan?" Jane interrupted her, already walking out of Angela's office, and the couple frowned.
"He does that when things get too hard," Lisbon murmured, and then went to follow Jane. Angela and Hodgins followed Jane too – who exactly was showing who around?
"Who are you?" a woman asked, and Jane's glassy eyes immediately turned warm again.
"Patrick Jane," Jane stated, and offered his hand for the woman to shake. He smiled his 1000-watt smile, which would have other women on the floor in mere seconds, but not this woman. Strangely, his charms didn't work on her. Interesting.
"I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan. I presume you are here for the yet unidentified remains?"
Jane smiled at her words, and Lisbon sighed and stepped back to stand beside Angela and Hodgins – obviously, Jane hadn't planned on including her in the conversation.
"We are. I'm a big fan of yours, Dr. Brennan, I've read your latest book-"
"Why did your agency communicate with me, Mr. Jane?" Dr. Brennan interrupted, and Jane frowned.
"Because you're an excellent forensic anthropologist?"
"The best in the country," Lisbon added from behind Jane, and he turned towards her, signing for her to silence, and Lisbon rolled her eyes.
"The world, actually, but yes, you are fairly right on that, Mr. Jane."
Jane whistled appreciatively. Lisbon rolled her eyes again, and decided that Jane had had enough of his playtime with Dr. Brennan, and coughed behind him.
"Hi, I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon. Have the remains arrived yet?" Lisbon asked, on which Dr. Brennan shook her head.
"I'm afraid not, Agent Lisbon."
Lisbon sighed, knowing where this was going already when Jane smiled and looked around the lab. Now that he wasn't distracted anymore from their surroundings, she was sure he was going to make her look like a complete fool in front of a renowned writer and scientist.
"Wow, Lisbon, would you look at this! Wo-o-o, it's like Mission Impossible!" Jane exclaimed, and ran onto the platform, triggering several sirens, and Lisbon pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I haven't seen that movie, but I'm quite sure that it is an accurate comparison to our lab," was all Dr. Brennan said, and walked over to her office. Angela suppressed a chuckle, and Hodgins ran his ID through the scanner, stopping the loud sounds.
Jane looked at the ID card Hodgins was holding, but Lisbon was quicker in coming up with a witty remark than he was.
"We have to have that too so that you can't sneak into my office anymore," Lisbon said, and Jane looked at Lisbon, almost stunned, and Angela and Hodgins smiled.
"Dr. Brenna- Oh, hey there," a young man said, and all heads turned towards him.
"Hey Wendell. This are Patrick Jane and Teresa Lisbon, they are here to help solve the case," Angela explained, and the young man looked Jane and Lisbon over, before scratching his head and smiling.
"Hey, how are you? I'm Wendell Bray, I'm one of Dr. Brennan's interns."
"...one of?" Jane asked. Wendell nodded.
"It's a long story. You'll only see me during this case, that's all that's needed to know, right?"
"Thank you, Wendell," Angela said, stepping beside Wendell at the foot of the stairs and examining what made the young man so excited. "What did you want to show Brennan?"
"I think these are the remains Cam summoned here."
"Are they here? The remains are here!" a voice asked, and it didn't take long for all of them to find out it was Cam. She froze when she saw everybody standing around the remains, and then awkwardly brushed her dress.
"I'm sorry you had to see that. Mr. Bray, why don't you put the remains on the table, and Dr. Hodgins, you assist him? Then I'll take Agent Lisbon and Mr. Jane with my to my office to discuss some things," Cam offered, and when Wendell nodded, Cam stepped off the platform, followed by Jane and Lisbon.
"You can call us Jane and Lisbon," Jane said, and was met with an icy glare from Lisbon. He shrugged, and sat down on a chair in Cam's office. Cam sat down behind her desk and Lisbon chose to stand on a spot in the middle of the room.
"As you might know, I'm Dr. Camille Saroyan, and the Head of the Forensic Division here at the Jeffersonian. Supervising Agent LaRoche contacted me. I'm going to be monitoring this cooperation, so if you have anything you need, or anything that's wrong with the arrangement, just give me a call, I'll fix it."
Lisbon nodded.
"Good. Now, I know that it's hard to find accommodation here, so I arranged some things with the FBI. They own a few apartments they use for undercover operations, and you're allowed to use one. Special Agent Seeley Booth will come in an hour or so to drive you to it. Transportation is there already."
"They really made sure of everything, didn't they?" Jane murmured from his corner. Cam nodded.
"Yes we did. You can now wait in my office or assist Dr. Brennan while she examines the bones, but I can already warn you that it is not going to be pretty," Cam warned. Lisbon nodded once again, and then looked at Jane.
"You coming, Jane?" Lisbon asked, reminding why she initially took so much pleasure in taking Jane with her. Jane shook his head.
"No, I'm good. I'm gonna stay here and be nice with Dr. Cam here," Jane said, and Lisbon fought the urge to roll her eyes.
"We could use your expertise there. I mean, after all, you're the smartest in our team, isn't that right, Jane?" Lisbon mocked, and when their eyes crossed, Lisbon's breath caught in her throat. It was dangerous to tease Jane these days, since only one wrong move could destroy everything. But she wanted to tease him – she just wanted to get back to what they were before he left her for six months.
"Fine," Jane muttered, and followed Lisbon out of Cam's office. Cam smiled a big smile as soon as the two were out of sight.
They had it badly. It was a good thing they were now on Team Dating. To see them turn around each other like that was pitiful, to say the least.
A/N: Okay, so I know that there was less tension between Jane and Lisbon than I had promised, but I'll give you that when it's time :)
In the meantime, let me know what you think of this chapter in a REVIEW, thank you in advance!