Part 2:
"So what the hell happened out there?" Minnelli asked the head of the Serious Crimes Unit. "I thought the suspect was secure." He hated to sound so harsh, but he'd almost lost a valued agent. He hadn't lost a man (or a woman) since he'd taken this job, and he had no intention of starting with her.
"Everyone did sir," Lisbon explained. "He was handcuffed and supposedly unconscious. No one thought to check and see where his handcuff keys were. He was able to free himself, and then grab a nearby officer's gun from his belt."
"Which he promptly used to shoot said officer before turning the gun on you," Minnelli finished for her.
"Yes sir."
Lisbon didn't seem to be in the mood to expand on her answers, so her boss had to do it for her. "And no one noticed he was conscious?" Minnelli checked. "Not even the local cops watching him?"
"No sir," she confirmed.
"Well, not until it was too late," Jane added, speaking for the first time.
Minnelli sighed, and turned towards the other man. "At which point you shot him. To save Agent Lisbon."
"Well yes," Jane told Minnelli airily. "He'd already shot one officer. And he was pointing a gun at a second, specifically, as you said, at Lisbon." Jane shrugged. "So I shot him."
He watched looked at the younger man closely. "While I'm still not sure I like the idea of you having access to a gun as a rule Jane, in this case I'm glad you did. Good job."
"Thank-you," Jane told him, serious for the first time since entering the office Minnelli noticed. It didn't last long though. "And don't worry about the whole gun thing Virgil, don't want one. Hate the things really."
"Yes well," he replied, as usual at a loss over what to say to Jane. "Good job you two. The case is closed and a woman is safe at home."
"Yes. Too bad we still have to catch Red John," Jane pointed out. Lisbon winced.
"And we will." Minnelli told the man firmly. "But not today. And not tomorrow either. Lisbon your entire team is on leave for the next four days." When the agent looked like she might protest he stepped in quickly, "I don't want to hear it Agent. You've had a rough week. Take a few days off. I mean it. I don't want to see any of you in the office until Monday."
"Sir, if I may," Jane started, "I think our time would be better spent investigating the new leads before..."
But Minnelli didn't wait for his reasoning. The man was clearly currently about one step away from unhinged. "And you will do that." Minnelli interrupted. "But you will start on Monday. Dismissed."
"Thank-you sir," Lisbon told him. Jane said nothing.
"Oh Lisbon," Minelli called to her, "A word before you go?"
"Yes sir?" she asked politely, though her boss could tell she wanted nothing more than to leave.
"This isn't a punishment Lisbon," he told her.
"I never thought it was," she answered truthfully.
He hesitated before asking his next question, "Are things going to be alright?"
"Sir?" she asked.
But he saw right through her attempt to pretend she didn't know what he was talking about. "Nice try. We both know how crazy Jane gets when Red John is involved."
"Yes sir, but you're right. We'll take a few days, calm down. He'll be fine. I've got it," Lisbon replied quickly and easily.
But Virgil Minnelli was no fool. And she'd given that answer or one similar to it so many times it was probably second nature by now. Came as naturally as breathing to the woman, "Hm.," he muttered non-committally. "Jane saved your life."
"Yes he did," she acknowledged.
"And you don't think that'll affect your working relationship?"
She sighed, "Of course it will. I'm grateful Jane saved my life sir, but that doesn't mean I'm about to let him get away with murder." When he shot her a look the younger agent hastened to clarify her statement, "I meant that metaphorically sir, although I suppose in this case one could take a literal interpretation as well," she told him with just the slightest quirks of her lips.
"Hmm." Minnelli said again, returning her almost-smile. "I just worry about you, whenever that lunatic is concerned."
"Don't," she told him firmly, sounding far more confident than he was sure she felt. "I can handle him. And you know he solves cases. Plus, when it comes right down to it he acted like a member of the team yesterday."
Minnelli wasn't so convinced. The fact that Jane had saved her was a good sign, but he didn't think it meant they were in for any big transformation. Still, he let it slide, for the moment at least.
Lisbon turned to leave when her boss continued, "You did the right thing Lisbon."
"Sir?" she asked him.
"Arriving early." When she looked shocked he almost chuckled to himself. There was a reason he was the director of the CBI after all. "Yes, I know about that. You did the right thing. You saved a life."
"Yes sir," she told him quietly. "And so did Jane."
Minnelli sighed internally at the look on her face. He should've known she'd feel guilty. "Go home Agent. Rest."
"Yes sir."
"And you know sometime next week both of you are going to have to go through psych evals?"
Lisbon froze momentarily, before sighing, "Yeah," she told him. Knowing it was procedure.
"Good," she turned to leave. "And Lisbon?" When she looked back, he tried to smile, "Good job out there." Her answering smile didn't meet her eyes.
Well damn. Minnelli thought to himself. He didn't know all the details about why the pair had even been at that farmhouse when they were, but he'd heard enough of the gossip filtering around the office to fill in the missing pieces of the story. He knew that there'd been some sort of plan to lure out Red John. Knew that the plan had failed. And he knew that said failure was likely because of a judgement call made by the ever-competent Agent Lisbon. And because of it things were going to get interesting. Because he knew what would inevitably follow now that Lisbon felt that she'd failed to protect one of her own. They were in for a rocky ride. And though she'd have his support whenever humanly possible, he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to go without interfering. Especially if that lunatic's most recent behaviour was anything to go by. Because he would not let that man bring his agents down with him. Teresa Lisbon would not be destroyed by Patrick Jane. Not if Virgil Minnelli could help it.
xxxxx
Lisbon walked tiredly out into the bullpen where her team was waiting. All three of her agents moved towards her the second she was in sight. "You okay Boss?" Rigsby asked her.
She smiled softly at his concern, "I'm fine guys. No harm done." Then she tried for the joke, "Lucky Jane's a better shot than we figured. Guess we should have known though. He's freakishly good at everything else."
Her team gave her small half-smiles. "Where is Jane?" Van Pelt asked.
"He's not here?" Lisbon checked. When the three of them shook their heads, she shrugged. "Then I assume he went home. We're off until next Monday. Minnelli's orders." When it looked like they might object Lisbon continued, "It's not punishment. It's a break. Jane shot a man. Both of us have to go through psych evals. It's standard procedure and you guys know it. Plus, we could all probably use the rest, so go home."
The three of them gathered up their stuff, "So, Jane's not upset?" Van Pelt asked tentatively. "About the whole Red John thing I mean?"
How in the hell would she know? Her guess was as good as anybody else's. Sometimes Lisbon wondered why her team thought she had some sort of read on the consultant. She might no more than the average person, but it was rather like comparing how much an eight year old and an eighteen year old knew about quantum mechanics. The eighteen year old would certainly know more, but given how much there was to know, the slight difference was almost irrelevant. "You all know how Jane gets," Lisbon told them. "But he'll be fine. And we saved a life today. We didn't get Red John this time, but there'll be other opportunities, okay?" Then she faked a genuine smile, one so good, that everyone (except maybe Jane had he been there) would be deceived. "Now seriously, get out of here! Four day weekend. Who's not excited for that?"
That did elicit real grins from her team, and amid a chorus of "Night boss," and "Glad you're okay," they left.
Lisbon shook her head and walked towards her office, preparing to leave herself. She was somewhat surprised to find it occupied, not that she should have been. "Jane?" she asked quietly. "We all thought you'd left."
He turned from his position in front of her desk to look at her, a smile ghosting across his face, "You thought I'd leave without saying goodnight? I'm hurt Lisbon."
"I'm sure you are," she remarked sarcastically, softening her words with a smile, as she leaned up against her desk beside him. "You okay?"
"It seems to me I should be the one asking you that," Jane pointed out. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"
Lisbon sighed internally, "I'm fine Jane. Really. You made sure of that."
He guessed he had, hadn't he. The fact still troubled him. Just like the fact that despite his decision to shut her out, he'd felt compelled to see her one more time before he left. "I guess so," he told her cheerfully.
"I wanted to thank you..." she started to tell him.
"No need Lisbon," Jane interrupted quickly. He grinned again, his grin both bright and tragic all at the same time, "Consider it payback for all those times you've saved me from one of my own crazy stunts as you call them. This time it was me saving you." He paused, considering. "Still my crazy stunt though."
Lisbon's face fell, "We will get him Jane," she told him quietly.
"Of course we will," Jane replied with that same false over-brightness. He'd been right. She did feel guilty. "After all, we've been doing quite well so far!"
Lisbon managed not to wince. "We still have leads," she tried, somewhat desperately. "Leads we didn't have two days ago."
"Leads we can't work on until Monday," he pointed out.
Lisbon sighed, "What do you want from me Jane? We could all use a couple of days off to clear our heads. And the fact that you can't see that proves the point rather than contradicting it. There's nothing you or I can do about our little vacation, so go home, or maybe go to the beach. Read a book. I don't care, but don't come here."
Jane felt a little stab of guilt, but brushed it aside quickly. "Oh, I didn't mean to imply that our little vacation was your fault Lisbon. You always do what's best for everybody. Even me." He grinned at her again. "And I guess I'll see you Monday. Have a good weekend."
"You too Jane," she said quietly, that sick feeling was back in the bottom of her stomach.
Jane straightened up and jauntily left her office. But when he got to the door he found that no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't quite do it. He turned halfway towards her, "I'm glad you're safe Lisbon. I'm glad you're okay," he whispered to her. But before she could reply he was gone.
"Me too." She whispered to her empty office.
xxxxx
Lisbon was cautiously optimistic when she returned to work on Monday. She'd used her days off to catch up on sleep and housework. Even found some time to do a bit of personal shopping. She almost felt relaxed. Sure she had the stupid psych eval to deal with, and she knew that things wouldn't be magically back to normal, but she also didn't see any reason to anticipate a complete disaster. She hoped that everyone (aka Jane) would have had time to just calm down a little, take a few deep breaths. She figured she and Jane could get their working relationship (such as it was) back on track.
She should have known that a positive attitude would just be tempting fate. Especially where Jane was concerned.
She found him outside of her office when she arrived. "Morning Jane," she told him with a smile. "How was your weekend?"
"Oh swell," he told her quickly. "I can see you're relaxed."
"I am." Lisbon told him, ignoring his tone, "I..."
But he interrupted her before she could continue, "We need to interview Rosalind again," he told her.
"What?" she asked.
"Rosalind. To see if she knows anything about Red John," Jane explained. "And I think Van Pelt should search the..."
"Jane!" she interrupted. "I literally just walked in the door. Could you at least let me get into my office and put my stuff down?"
"But Lisbon, if we don't seize our advantage now... You know how quickly he does things."
"I know. And you and Cho can go talk to Rosalind this afternoon, if we don't have another case," she promised him. "But right now I believe you have a psych eval."
"Oh come on, we both know that's a waste of time. I could pass that in my sleep and it wouldn't mean anything."
"Jane, you don't need to convince me of your insanity," she said with a smile. "But it's procedure, and I can't let you go out on an interview until you pass it okay?"
"Ah yes, procedure," he remarked scathingly, noting when she blanched. "I guess we all have to follow procedure don't we?"
"Yes we do."
"Alright then," I'll go talk to the shrink. "And then you'll let me go talk to..."
"YES JANE! No go!"
"As you wish Lisbon."
With that he was gone. He thought it'd gone rather well. She'd capitulated to his demand to re-interview the witness far more quickly than he'd thought she would. Despite the four day weekend, it seemed that Agent Lisbon wasn't quite as over matters as she'd like everyone else to believe. Excellent.
Even with his plan to push her away, he couldn't help noticing how happy she'd looked after her little break. He almost felt a bit guilty about taking advantage. But he'd decided where his priorities lay.
His meeting with the shrink took less than half an hour. Poor Dr. Carmen clearly hadn't the foggiest idea what on earth to do with him, and so had cleared him for duty as quickly as possible. Jane grinned. It was really too easy. He ducked his head into Lisbon's office and told her he was taking Cho. She'd merely looked up from her paperwork with a smile and nodded, pleased that he'd passed his eval.
Jane wasn't sure how he felt about this new mellower Lisbon. It'd certainly make his job easier, but all the same it was worrying. It seemed almost unnatural.
Shaking off that thought he wandered into the bullpen to grab the Asian agent assigned to accompany him.
xxxxx
And so things had continued for the next two days. Lisbon, trying to be cheerful (although that was difficult, given that while she'd technically been cleared by the shrink for active duty, he was requiring follow up sessions), Jane following up on every and any lead to do with Red John in a frenzy, driving the other agents of the team to distraction. All three were about ready to stage an intervention (ie. go to Lisbon's office and complain) when they got another case.
While the rest of the team was relieved about the new case Lisbon herself was almost nervous. Jane was basically manic. She understood why. Really she did. And she wanted to give him leeway, but the glint in his eyes was dangerous. Not to mention she thought she saw a flash of what looked like annoyance cross his face when the prospect of a new case was broached.
Of course the reaction had only been momentary. Milliseconds later Jane appeared cheerful again. He'd been eager to go out, was the first in the car with his seatbelt buckled.
The team reviewed what they knew on the way. A body had been found in the woods, first murder in the county in the local Sherriff's entire tenure and he'd felt somewhat out of his depth. So the CBI had been called in.
They had basic background of course, victim was a local. Single white female, 32. Not a lot of family, just a single elderly aunt in the area. No previous criminal record, and the woman worked as a nurse at the local health clinic. Not much to go on until they actually arrived at the crime scene. Since there wasn't anything they could do until then the team tried to relax. Except for Jane, who, though appearing to be outwardly calm was clearly still ready to burst. Lisbon figured his extra energy would sort itself out when they actually got to the scene and he had something to do. She just hoped he used it to help solve the case and not to irritate the locals.
xxxxx
Their first case post-Hardy/Tanner. He was almost excited. At least he was trying to be. He recognized that the team couldn't spend all it's time searching for Red John. Wasn't so out of touch with reality as all that. Especially since Rosalind had turned out to be another dead end. They still had avenues to explore of course. Databases to search, connections to track down, especially on Hardy/Tanner's end. It was slower than he would have liked, but at least sometimes he felt like they were making progress.
Which is why it irked him slightly that that progress was being impeded. Oh well, he was sure the case couldn't be too challenging. Probably wouldn't take any more than a couple of days. And after it was solved, he could go back to doing something useful, like finding Red John.
Jane noticed Lisbon looked a little tense. Probably concerned about what balance would be struck their first day really back in the swing of things. Well, it was her call. He intended to get things done as quickly as possible; it was up to her to decide how she'd deal with it. He idly wondered how much she'd let him get away with. She'd been remarkably easy-going these last few days. Probably due to something she'd read in one of the endless leadership books he was sure she bought. Some nonsense like the power of positive thinking. Ridiculous really. Especially since he doubted any of the techniques were meant for someone with his particular talents or personality.
Still, her compliance meant he got to chase down as many Red John leads as he wanted, which was helping things along. Maybe he shouldn't rock the boat.
On the other hand, he didn't want to make things too easy for her. It wasn't a good idea in the long run. He needed to push her away, just not too far.
It was going to require subtlety and balance.
It was irritating that they had to stop working on Red John because of this new disturbance though.
Jane's mood dropped further when he actually saw the crime scene. They'd driven all the way out here for this? The victim had obviously been hiking alone, happened on her attacker, who'd proceeded to beat her to death and rob her. Robbery had obviously been an important aspect of the attack (after all, absolutely anything of value had been removed including a ring, necklace, phone, something from her pocket, Jane guessed maybe a credit card and some cash in case of an emergency, and her watch. There weren't many signs of a struggle, so she probably knew the attacker. The robbery was almost certainly planned. "I assume our victim stood to inherit her aunt's money," Jane said to the local sheriff.
The sheriff paused in the middle of his discussion with Lisbon surprised, "Uh, yes sir. Josie was poor Mabel's only living relative."
"Who was next on the list?" Jane asked.
"Pete Sanders. Son of an old friend of the family," the Sherriff informed him. "Why?"
"Because he did it. Come on; let's get to his house before he gets spooked ant tries to destroy evidence."
"Jane!" Lisbon cried in shock. "First of all, we have to process the crime scene first. Second of all, we don't even know cause of death. Third, we can't just go arrest someone with no proof. And fourth, what makes you think Pete Sanders is our killer?"
Jane grinned. Ah, she was already annoyed, excellent. Not even bothering to conceal his smirk he launched into his explanation, taking extra care to be as glib and patronizing as possible. It was easy really, all it took was the appropriate tone of voice and a couple of extra terms of exaggerated endearment. And it helped that given her height he was often talking down to her, in both the literal and metaphorical senses of the word. When he finished he could see that Lisbon was quietly seething.
But to his surprise she simply took a deep breath to calm herself before smiling up at the Sherriff. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to question Mr. Sanders. We'll have to do it eventually anyways. Do you know where he'd be at this time of day?"
"Yes ma'am," the sheriff told her cordially. "He'll be at work down at the new housing development of Third Street. He's an electrician. I can drive you if you'd like."
"Actually," Lisbon told the man, "I was wondering if you could stay here with my colleagues since you're familiar with the territory. Jane and I will take the interrogation and we'll meet back later."
"Sure," the man agreed, obviously quite content to let Lisbon take the lead. Jane snorted. He bet the man had thought about the murder for a whole three seconds before deciding to call the CBI.
"This is a waste of time," he told Lisbon as they walked towards the car. "That man could have solved this case himself if he'd bothered to exert himself even a little. If he'd had even a single ounce of gumption. But no, he called us in because a murder was too much for him to handle."
"Hey, be nice," she told him. "They're not used to murders like we are. Wanted a little bit of extra help. Besides, this case might not be as open and shut as you think."
"It is." Jane told her.
And it was, as he discovered the second they spoke to Pete Sanders. As it became clearer and clearer to him what a waste of time this trip was Jane got shorter and more confrontational with the suspect. In the end Lisbon had to physically separate the two men. They got enough to arrest the guy, of course, but it was always possible that a good lawyer'd be able to get half the stuff Jane`d pulled thrown out of court at a moment's notice.
But Jane didn't care about that. His job ended when the guy was in custody. What happened afterwards was the lawyers' problems, as always.
"Well that was a waste of time," he remarked bitterly to Lisbon.
"Hey Jane, a case is a case," she told him soothingly. "They can't all be interesting."
"I know; it's just that was two days that we could have been using to better use searching for Red John if that sheriff had been at all competent."
"Jane, unless we have substantive leads then new cases are going to come before Red John. You know this. It's been explained to you time and time again," Lisbon told him quietly.
"Yes," he told her. "It's just..." and he deliberately let his voice trail off as he glanced quickly at her.
Watched as her shoulders slumped slightly and she sighed. "I know. I get it Jane." Come on. Let's go home.
xxxxxx
He was almost feverish. She could literally see it in his eyes. If she hadn't known him better she'd have thought he was actually ill. And maybe he was, in a way. As far as she could tell there was certainly no cure. He'd been running on eleven since they'd arrived at the hiking trail and seen the scene of the crime. Not pausing to take a breath, not letting anyone else take one either.
He'd known who the guy was the second he saw the scene. Was this always the way it was with Jane? Did he usually let them blunder along until they reached the conclusion he'd come to earlier? Something that now that they were more actively pursuing Red John he decided he didn't have time for. Or had this case just been a lucky hunch? Lucky for her the hunch had been right, this time. She'd given him a bit more free reign and he'd certainly taken it.
But Lisbon knew she was competent enough to pick up the pieces. He had been right, this particular case hadn't been particularly tough, hadn't been particularly dangerous. It would have been a nice way to ease back into things. If Jane hadn't been acting like a rabid wolf of course.
What worried her was her team's attitude. Van Pelt had watched out of the corner of her eye half in fear, half fascination. Cho had looked quietly impressed at the speed at which the case had been closed, and Rigsby had looked positively bewildered, but also amused. None of them had seemed to have a problem with the corners he'd cut, the risks he'd taken. There was no acknowledgement of the work that had been done (almost entirely by her) to ensure that the case was legitimate. As satisfying as watching Jane verbally rip apart their suspect had been, Lisbon knew she couldn't allow it in the long run.
Except they had solved the case.
She hoped he'd calm down as things moved along.
But things didn't calm down. There next three cases were similar whirlwind experiences. Jane blowing in like a tropical storm leaving destruction in his wake while she followed afterwards like the Red Cross to pick up the pieces. And yes, parts of it were fun. Jane bonding with a witness over exchanged magic tricks had been enjoyable. And that the time he'd rigged a door to open on cue, spooking a witness into confessing (she'd assumed it was the work of a vengeful spirit) made Lisbon smirk. But she didn't know how long she could do this. Didn't know how long she could let things slide. The balance between trusting Jane but still maintaining control was harder to find than she'd thought it would be. And while she found herself consistently deciding to give him a bit more slack (just this time, he did get the job done), there was less positive reinforcement, and more nagging. Though she couldn't bring herself to truly shout at him. Not yet.
If only everything he suggested didn't sound so reasonable on some level.
To make things worse, somehow their relationship had changed. There was no more playful teasing. Or there was, sort of. But it wasn't the same somehow. She didn't feel like they were sharing the same moments, that same sly sense of humour that had cropped up from time to time. They weren't as in sync as they were before. There was no easy familiarity. And if Jane was running hot all the time on the cases, back at the office with her it was like a switch. First he was warm, friendly and open, joking (though it often seemed forced), seemingly pleased to see her. Glad of her company. And every so often there'd be an almost genuine moment, one that reminded her of how things used to be.
But then, something would change. And she could see it in his eye. Like he was deliberately holding himself back. Trying to shut her out. The man would just shut down. Everything was matter of fact. He answered her questions, but he couldn't have been less emotional or less involved if he tried. He was getting cold, withdrawing. And she didn't like it.
So she kept trying, trying to reach him. But it was about as effective as trying to catch a ghost. She wondered if he was turning himself into one of his own illusions. And she had no idea what was real and what wasn't.
Something had to break. And she knew it would break soon.
xxxxx
