Work was going as planned. Weather was helping too. Sun was shining through the windows of Jane's kitchen so Lisbon turned her head and looked out of the windows trying to catch the dropping sun rays. Sunrays were shining through the tall trees and making the clear water in the pool look turquoise and glittery. The area was pretty quiet, no one was running around or swimming in the pool: everybody was busy working. Lisbon was sitting alone in the kitchen and admiring the view, she let her thoughts flow and let herself to truly relax for a moment for the first time in weeks but Jane's sudden whisper near her ear got her out of her thoughts and almost gave her a heart attack.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he said.

She jumped in her seat. "Jesus!" muttered Lisbon, "you scared me!"

Jane grinned. "I didn't mean to scare you, Agent Lisbon. Would you like a fine cup of coffee as compensation?" he asked her as he put the area map and ID-s of his workers on the counter in front of Lisbon. She just nodded her head and opened the files. After making a cup of coffee for her and a cup of tea for himself Jane joined Lisbon by the counter, taking a chair next to her and placing the mug near the opened files.

"Thank you," Lisbon said and closed her eyes in bliss as she took a sip. "It tastes heavenly. There's nothing better than a fine cup of coffee in the morning, is there? "

"You're welcome. And hm I don't think so," answered Jane, his eyes never leaving Lisbon's. "To me a cuppa is the best."

"So you don't like coffee but you make it better than anyone else?"

"Charlotte likes coffee so I do it for her. Thank you for the compliment," he smiled arrogantly.

Lisbon rolled her eyes. She reached out and brought the ID-s closer. "Gail Bertram is your security manager I see. When can I meet him?"

The fact that Lisbon could switch into professional mode that easily was really impressing and it astonished Jane for the second time in two days. That was unbelievable. Teresa Lisbon was the first woman, the first person in general, who could surprise Patrick Jane for two times in two days. He just shook his head in disbelief. "He'll be there for today's show at 5. You can come with me."

"I was going to be there anyway."

"Are you really going to guard me 24/7? I honestly do see Walter's point of view but you don't need to be my full time nanny, Miss Lisbon. I'll be perfectly fine on my own, I assure you."

"My job is to protect you and to close this case, Mr. Jane. Want it or not I'll keep doing my job. As long as it's closed do whatever the hell you please," Lisbon snapped back. She collected the files, thanked Jane once again for the coffee and furiously left his apartment leaving him rolling his eyes. It was time to take her anger out by doing hard work. "Cho, where are you?"

In 15 minutes after getting the call from his boss Kimball Cho arrived to the mentioned apartment, bringing new sets of cameras and intercoms with him. They discussed all agents' standing positions and decided to place Ron by the gates, Van Pelt in the house to guard Charlotte, Rigsby would be watching the back yard, Cho would control the whole security system and Lisbon was left to babysit Mr. Jane. At first it would be hard for CBI agents and Jane's people to work together, they were like carnival families: not letting strangers in, but they'd get used to it sooner or later. Lisbon was sure of it or let's say at least she hoped. Lisbon was sitting on a chaise longue by the pool. She was busy studying the area map when she noticed a pair of blue eyes watching her closely. She raised her head and smiled warmly at the girl. Charlotte Jane, so alike her father yet so different.

"Hey," Lisbon greeted her and motioned for her to come closer and take a sit.

Charlotte, who was wearing shorts, took her sandals off and sat down next to Lisbon, slipping her legs into the water easily. "Hello, Agent Lisbon."

"Call me Teresa, please," the agent said in a friendly way and went to study the ID-s.

Charlotte just nodded and continued watching the elder woman. She liked her. From what she could see from the day's before their meeting, Teresa seemed like a lovely and smart woman. She looked at the files in her hands and saw familiar faces. "What's this all about, Teresa?" she asked her breaking the silence.

"Hasn't you dad told you already?" Lisbon could tell that Jane though being a child himself was a very caring father. The one she was dreaming of having many years ago. The way he was talking about Charlotte, the pride and the joy, the way father and daughter were acting around each other told her that they'd probably not have secrets from each other. If Jane didn't tell Charlotte about it then she for sure shouldn't.

"Yeah-Yes he has but he didn't mention something," she hesitated for a moment but decided to go straight forward. "Is this guy somehow connected to mom's death?"

"If your dad-"

"Oh please. I'm sixteen years old. I can take that information, I won't have a panic attack or anything. Isn't he?"

Jane's daughter. Not that she wasn't stubborn herself but… "Well, we guess. More likely he is."

"Ah, okay. It's Mr. Bertram's ID you're studying?"

"Yes, it is."

"To be honest I don't like him," Charlotte whispered and leaning closer added. "He irks me, he's irksome." They both chuckled wholeheartedly at her words and then they both gasped in surprise when Jane suddenly appeared from behind their backs. Second time that day Lisbon was calling for God because of him. Ignoring their scared faces Jane asked his daughter to help him to find the perfect tie for his suit. Lisbon watched as Charlotte stood up rolling her eyes and they left, Jane holding her around the shoulders. They disappeared from her sight but Lisbon could still hear them lazily arguing over the color of the tie. She smiled and thought that she'd seen Patrick Jane without his mask for the first time.

As always Charlotte had found the perfect tie for her father, as always she had kissed him on the cheek before he left and as always he was sitting in the backseat of the car afterwards and going to TV studio while listening to Walter's meaningless and dirty jokes.

"Speaking of hot brunettes," Mashburn mentioned ", you owe me for finding Agent Lisbon."

"She's stubborn and bossy as hell."

"Oh c'mon. I know you like her," Walter teased. Jane didn't answer and pretended that he has not heard the last sentence so Mashburn pressed some more. "Oh la la. I can't believe Patrick Jane's pretending to dismiss something. Finally there's a woman who can make the thing move! She's got great ass can't deny that."

"Shut the fuck up," Jane hissed smiling himself.

Though Mashburn was enjoying himself very much he threw his hands in the air and looked at Jane innocently. "Okay, okay," he said. "By the way you need to inform Miss Lisbon that you're going to fly to Miami in two weeks for the Oscars party."

When Jane and Mashburn stepped out of the car paparazzi and journalists gathered around them and started taking pictures, asking billion questions. Jane smiled politely at them and went to answer some questions but his desire for answering questions suddenly faded when a certain brunette introduced herself as Lorelei Martins from "Red" magazine and asked him if he was so sure of his security system, if so then why he was keeping cops around, could cops save him when a bomb exploded. Walter, sensing Jane's discomfort, motioned for Jane's driver Pete to help him take care of the journalists so Lisbon, who was following them in her car, could help Jane through them and into the building. When Jane and Lisbon were safely inside the building Lisbon offered Jane to cancel that day's show for his own safety's sake but Jane didn't agree saying that a journalist can't scare him off.

"Fine. Go get yourself in trouble," Lisbon shouted after Jane when he left for his dressing room.

When Jane was alone in his dressing room he sat down in his armchair and took several deep breaths. He was acting cheerful and arrogant around people but the truth was that he was scared inside. Not as much for himself as for Charlotte. He couldn't cope with the thought of her appearing in danger never-mind the thought of losing her. He closed his eyes and decided not to think about anything for a moment but strange ticking caught his attention. He listened closely and indicated that the ticking was coming from under the table in the middle of the room. He walked to the table and bowed down to find the source of the ticking sound but when he saw red letters showing 00:08 he wished he didn't. Jane ran to the door in panic but it was too late. The bomb exploded leaving Jane's body flying to the door and lying on the floor there. The explosion broke the door of the dressing room and Lisbon, who was standing behind the door, got thrown away from the power of it. First thing she felt was her face hitting the cold floor, then she felt her left arm aching and heard the emergency sirens. Ignoring the pain in her arm she ran in the dressing room's direction and found Patrick Jane's form lying lifelessly on the floor in the room filled with smoke. She checked him pulse point and felt it slightly moving under her fingers. She reached to the back pocket of her jeans, took her cell phone out and dialed 911. Walter and his people rushed upstairs and saw Jane lying next to Lisbon on the floor in corridor. Lisbon had pulled him out of the smoky room and now was suffering from pain. The show was certainly going to be cancelled.

A/N: I love cliffhangers by the way :D.