Part 3:

xxxxx

And break it had, only a day later, with a couple of crashes and a gunshot.

Jane of course had been singularly unconcerned about either. After all, the consultation at the mall had been, in his opinion, yet another waste of their precious time. Lisbon for her part was getting sick of his constant (but subtle) denigration of their work. Of his constant impatience and detachment. He moved about his day like nothing mattered to him anymore, not her, not the team, usually not even the case. (Unless he was working on Red John of course).

She tried to be amused by the fun parts of working with Jane, like the local authorities' dismissal of Jane's methods (actually, it had been pretty funny watching him assess their witnesses). But the amusement didn't last; she was too tired. It had been a long couple of weeks and she felt pulled in too many directions. Jane was of course indifferent. Her snapped "Take it down a notch! Take it down three notches!" had no effect. He'd acted like she'd barely even been there.

The ride back to the CBI had occurred in near silence where the real showdown had happened.

She'd tried to defend her consultant without explicitly supporting his actions (she was walking a fine line with her boss now). Jane's ridiculous attitude did her no favours of course. And then of course the lunatic just had to bring up Red John ("All due respect Virgil, I was trying to close the case. It was my feeling that Red John should be our priority."). It was something that had already been touched on in several recent meetings between her and her boss, and this was apparently Minnelli's breaking point..

"Stop! Stop! That's the nub of the problem right there!" Minnelli exclaimed.

Then to her horror her boss suggested aloud what she'd been trying to hide for weeks; that she might be going too easy on Jane ever since he'd saved her life. She denied it, but all three of them knew it wasn't true. Then Minelli'd called in Sam Bosco from the hall. Although she was surprised, she couldn't help feeling pleased when she saw her old mentor. She didn't notice Jane watching the pair of them, but it wouldn't have surprised her if he had been. What did surprise her were the next words out of her boss's mouth.

"Agent Bosco and his unit are taking over the Red John case."

Just like that it was gone. No room for discussion, no notice. No one had even seen the need to speak to her privately. She supposed that since Jane was at the heart of the matter no one saw any reason not to make the switch in front of him. It had killed two birds with one stone in that he'd be notified as well. Still, she'd have liked some advance notice to figure out how she was going to deal with the fallout.

But apparently her objectivity had been compromised. Her judgement clouded.

It was a brutal blow to her ego after a horrible couple of weeks.

She stormed out of the office to the bullpen to tell her team the news, over-riding their objections and making sure that she placed all the blame squarely on her own shoulders. She was in charge, any mistakes were her fault. She did stress that from then on, everything would be done by the book to win back the faith they'd lost. She didn't get a chance to make sure her team agreed, they were quickly distracted by Jane.

"What are you doing?" She asked him as she watched him start tossing things into a box. "You're leaving?" She said incredulously. Oh, he had to be kidding! After the past couple of weeks... After everything she'd... Seriously, was the man two years old?

But then again, over the past two weeks he'd done little but try and convince her she'd been wrong in her assessment of what his fatal shot had meant.

He only wanted Red John. And she'd failed him in that twice now.

xxxxx

They were taking Red John away from him? Because they thought he was too involved? Too close? He'd always been too close. It was his family. And he was useful. Virgil knew he was useful, or else there was no way that he'd still be around.

Of course he was more interested in Red John then their recent cases. Those things could have been solved by a monkey with a good magnifying glass and a pair of handcuffs. He certainly hadn't needed to be called in.

And what about Lisbon? Apparently she was too close now as well. Because he'd saved her life. Huh, seems Virgil had picked up on that. He'd tried to push her away (while simultaneously using her guilt). But the plan wasn't working (Because you don't quite want it too. You know you can't push her too far. You'll lose what little you still have. And sometimes even you'd prefer not to do that. Even you want someone who cares about you around). So now they were both compromised, tainted. Huh, Lisbon'd love that. He felt a momentary twinge before dismissing it. It was no matter. He'd be out of her hair soon.

"You're leaving?" he heard a voice ask from across the bullpen. Was she serious? He'd been perfectly clear about the reason he was still around.

"Well, frankly if I can't use this job to seek some kind of personal revenge then ah, there's not a whole lot here for me," he told her matter-of-factly, surprised at the look of utter disbelief on her face. "I don't make anything better; I can't bring dead people back to life. What good do we do? We drive around California visiting unhappy people."

"We're fighting evil and injustice." Van Pelt answered. He should have been more surprised at her naïve idealism.

"And how's that going?" he asked sarcastically. "Any progress lately?" He didn't need this stupid job. Not if he couldn't use it.

"We put bad guys away where they can't hurt people. That's good enough." Cho answered, almost completely unaffected by Jane's response.

But Jane scoffed. Good enough for who? He didn't have the social conscience required to do this without some sort of secondary motive. "Nah, I was doing more good as a psychic. I was giving people hope at least. False hope, but hope anyway."

Then she chimed in again, derisive in her own right, "You're right. Best you leave. That way you can go back to being a full-time fraud and we can continue our useless jobs in peace."

Oh. Well that wasn't fair. He hadn't said their jobs were useless. He'd never said that. The world needed people like them (like her); he just wasn't one of them. "Well, that's not actually what I said, see I was talking more about..."

But then Lisbon and her team were called out for a case. And any conversation with him was over.

He watched as they left him, and knew he'd gone too far. He'd always needed Lisbon to get to Red John after all. Told himself it was the only reason he was still around, but the looks on the team's faces as they'd left... They'd been quite the mixture of disappointment and disgust. That disgust figuring heavily in the lead agent's expression. He felt a bit badly about that. Hadn't really meant to completely dismiss her work. (She practically was her job.) But she had to know this wasn't what he would normally have been doing if it hadn't been for... Maybe she thought this was some sort of self-imposed penance, but it wasn't, not really. It was just a means to an end.

On the other hand, if he left the CBI completely then he'd really have no access to the Red John files. As long as he still worked in the building he'd have better access to Bosco's office and his team, better access to any leads about the case. And Lisbon would be easier to distract if she wasn't actually working on it as well. He wouldn't even have to worry as much about her trying to stop him.

Maybe his decision to leave had been hasty. Besides, he realized as he looked at his box of belongings. What else was he going to do with his time? The four people who'd just left the room in irritation were the only people he'd had cause to speak to on a regular basis in years. If he left the CBI what then, a life spent sitting on a mattress in an empty house beneath a gruesome face?

He wasn't sure even he could stomach that.

And she'd looked so betrayed. (And well she might. You know she's been going easy on you, because of... well, because. Trying to cut you some slack, embrace your methods, give you some room to work. And you've done nothing but throw it back in her face. Because you think you have to. And maybe that's true, but you still owe her an apology. She does not deserve to have someone cause her trouble for weeks and then make her feel like you just did. You know you need her.)

God, he hoped she was in a forgiving mood. (But she was always in a forgiving mood lately. It was... odd.)

xxxxx

She was going to kill him. That was all there was to it. Murder him. She tries to trust him, tries to work with him. And this is the thanks she gets? Idiot. Jerk. Moron. Imbecile. Self-centred conceited ass... Lisbon's mental list of insults was suddenly interrupted by one of her subordinates.

"Boss, no disrespect, but I think we need Jane," Rigsby told her.

Need Jane? When he'd made his own position on their jobs perfectly clear? When he flouted the rules and regulations with glee? And the fact that she'd let him was what had led to their current predicament. They did not need Jane. If they couldn't solve a case without him they didn't deserve to be where they were.

And she had tried to tell her two younger agents that when Jane himself had jumped in the car.

"Well, I'm not going to leave you in the lurch. I'll work one more case," he told her by way of explanation.

She was going to kill him. Just not in front of witnesses. "Do up your seatbelt," was all she told him. Actually, maybe she shouldn't have bothered. If they did get into a car accident and he was unbuckled she wouldn't have to worry about hiding the body.

Needless to say the car ride was not a fun one.

Maybe she was being childish, but she refused to talk to him. And he seemed to have the good sense not to talk to her either. Actually, to her surprise he had the good sense not to talk at all, which was surprising. Thought it did make things a little awkward. Van Pelt and Rigsby tried valiantly to make small talk, and between the two of them they succeeded to a certain extent. She contributed the odd sentence or so. Went over what little they knew briefly. But really she just wanted to think.

Did her team, the work, mean so little to Jane that'd just up and quit?

Or was he just reacting to a situation out of his control with his usual knee-jerk hostility and childishness.

If the first was true it meant he was gone for good, and though she'd miss him, and miss his insights, in the long run if things meant that little to him it was for the best. On the other hand, if the second were true she was in for a whirlwind ride for the next little while, especially if he did stay. She wasn't sure which one she preferred.

Though the second option would definitely be more interesting (and maybe more fun.)

xxxxx

They walked into the victim's apartment. Jane noticed that Lisbon immediately asked for Van Pelt's take on the scene. Part of her self-appointed role as mentor. Lucky Van Pelt. (But then the young agent deserves her support, doesn't she? You only have it out of misplaced feelings of guilt). He tried to help Lisbon out a little, tried to co-instruct, and to his amusement realized that Agent Lisbon was still quite irritated with him. Her annoyance expressed itself in the usual form of an eye-roll. Jane wasn't too concerned though; he was pretty sure she'd get over it.

Lisbon was even more irritated when he correctly pin-pointed the location of the victim's family. Jane frowned at that though. Lisbon wasn't the type to get annoyed because someone else found something she didn't. Which meant he'd done something seriously wrong this time. He rather suspected that something was related to his packing his things in the office earlier. Still, she usually appreciated his insights. (But he didn't always appreciate her. Oh hell.)

Her lingering annoyance led her to refuse to find an empty house for sale for him. The woman had demanded reasons. Hasn't she learned by now that it was simply best for her if she didn't know? He supposed that scene in Minnelli's office earlier had her questioning herself. She'd probably attempt to put him on a shorter leash on this case. Although, he wondered why she'd bother, given that he'd told her it was his last one. (Unless she knows you better than you think you idiot. You've always suspected that woman sees far, far more than she tells. Not unlike someone else you both know...)

While he'd been thinking, Lisbon had been insisting on ground rules, "No secrets Jane. No lies, no tricks, no surprises. The truth." she told me.

"Since when is that the rule?" Jane asked surprised (and annoyed).

"Since I said so?" she countered. He'd always admired the confident tone in which she spoke.

"Or else what?" he asked out of curiosity.

"You're off the unit." Oh, is that all then.

"That's not leverage." Jane couldn't help pointing out. Okay, what the hell is wrong with him? He'd already decided that staying on her team was probably a good idea, so why was he trying to piss her off as much as possible? But it was hard to help himself sometimes. She was so intriguing when she was angry (although she hadn't been angry much lately, which was intriguing in and of itself). "This is my last case remember? The only reason I'm still here is because I'm worried about how you guys'll cope without me." He was a bit concerned though. Concerned that she might actually do it. Maybe she was ready to cut him loose. Maybe losing a high profile case would be the final straw (And it might be best for her if it was). Maybe he hadn't quite struck the right balance between pushing her away and keeping in her good graces. And maybe now he'd suffer for it.

And he was pushing. Because she was annoyed. And she wasn't the only one on her team who was. He'd seen Rigsby and Van Pelt's reactions. "Oh really, so we're lost without you are we?" Lisbon asked him.

"Well, yeah, let's be honest here," he told her, intent on proving his own worth.

But Lisbon didn't wait for him to finish. She slammed his door, jumped in the passenger seat and ordered Van Pelt to "Let's go! Drive, Go."

"HEY!" He called after them, "Wait!" And it seemed he'd finally gone too far. Luckily Cho was driving the other vehicle. His buddy Cho. Cho would be willing to find a house for sale. He knew the other man was far more tolerant of his methods. He'd do it. And he did. Didn't even mind when Jane also made him stop for strawberries. After all, he had to get back on Lisbon's good side somehow...

xxxxx

They arrived not long after the others even with the delay. Unsurprisingly Cho was more inclined to speed than Van Pelt, especially given that the younger agent had an irritated Teresa Lisbon sitting in the passenger seat next to her.

"Strawberries," Lisbon said in disbelief as Jane held them out to her. She loved how he thought these little tokens were always more than enough to make up for whatever lunatic thing he'd done. But she took one anyways. She was tired of arguing with him all the time. And she'd been right, he certainly wasn't going anywhere (despite what he'd said). Far better sometimes to just go along with his insanity.

The others took strawberries as well. "How good is that?" Jane asked with a smile. But she could see the effort behind it. Knew he'd realized how badly he'd screwed up this time. She knew she'd probably end up forgiving him, but she wasn't in the mood to make it easy.

"Mm. Good," Lisbon told him quickly, before turning back to her team. "Cho, Rigsby, start canvassing the neighbours. Van Pelt come with me."

Jane couldn't help noticing that he'd been left off her list of assignments. And even though she'd accepted his strawberries, she certainly wasn't happy with him. He needed, well, he needed to apologize. She needed to be on side.

"Ah..." he started, grabbing her hand, and turning her back towards him. "Ah, Lisbon... ah... I'm sorry for what I said to you before. Can I please continue working with you?"

"I thought you were quitting," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"You know I didn't mean that." He told her. She had to have. He needed to believe that.

"So the job is worthwhile is it?" she asked, her face not betraying her satisfaction. If he wanted back he needed to give her a good reason. And a promise that he'd at least try and tone it down.

But he didn't seem inclined to do that. "It's not that. It's not that at all. It's just... I have nothing else to do," he told her.

She couldn't help feeling for him then. And she couldn't abandon him. But things couldn't keep going on like they had been. Someone was going to get killed. "No jokes. From now on there have to be boundaries," she insisted.

"Agreed," he told her quickly. She suspected their respective ideas of boundaries were probably quite different though.

So she continued, "I need to know that you can do your work and be effective without creating a mess that I have to clean up." Because she was sick of constantly cleaning up messes. As bad as he'd been pre-Hardy, post-Hardy was twice as bad.

"No mess, I swear," he insisted.

Well fine. She'd gotten what she'd wanted. At least an acknowledgement that he'd be better. It probably wouldn't pan out, but it was somehow more than she'd expected. So she caved. "On that basis you can remain with the unit."

"Thank-you." Then to her shock, instead of simply turning and following the others into the house Jane saw fit to give her the world's most awkward hug. Which she didn't return. She was far too surprised. And let's face it, she was hardly a hugger (though neither was Jane come to think of it). She grinned though, when he handed her another strawberry. And together they followed Van Pelt into the house.

Then he started talking about Brody Andrews and wide invisible nets, and she knew she shouldn't have believed a word he'd said.

But in spite of that, having him back on the team still felt right.

xxxxx

She'd been amused when Jane told her he had a meeting with Bosco. She wished him luck, but that'd been a figure of speech. A courtesy. Even if she had had the power to swing fate in his favour it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. She knew exactly what would happen. After all, she'd worked with Sam for years, and Jane was exactly the type of person he'd have no tolerance for (the type of person he'd taught her to have no tolerance for as well). Jane could whistle in the wind for all Bosco would care. Lisbon knew how it'd be. The prospect of the two men squaring off lifted her spirits the whole way back to Sacramento.

xxxxx

Jane met Lisbon after his meeting with Bosco. He'd be lying if he said it'd gone like he'd hoped. Bosco was far smarter than Jane had given him credit for; even if the man didn't fully know what it was he was getting in to. Well, he'd learn. Jane would make sure of that. And the other Agent would probably be a bit of a challenge. But he was used to challenges.

Speaking of challenges, the woman beside him was hardly a walk in the park. "How did it go with Bosco?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, ah, good. It was very good. We had a frank exchange of views." That was true at least. Must be something in the water that caused a disproportionately high percentage of CBI agents to be so ridiculously blunt all the time. And whatever it was Cho must drink it by the gallon.

"So he's gonna keep us in the loop?" Lisbon asked him, somewhat sceptically he had to admit.

"No," he told her honestly. She'd find out soon enough anyways.

"No?" Was she amused? She certainly didn't sound surprised.

Well, he'd find out soon enough. "Wouldn't direct me to the bathroom if my ass was on fire."

Lisbon just laughed.

"Think that's funny?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she admitted (admitted frankly he noticed. Well, they say we learn from our teachers...)

Why would she think that was funny? She was supposed to be on his team, or rather, he was on hers. Wasn't that supposed to mean something in the crime-fighting industry? But then Jane reflected, maybe she still didn't consider him an equal member of her team. Maybe she did still resent him. Or maybe there was more going on between Agents Teresa Lisbon and Sam Bosco than he'd thought, or there had been. Her amusement was both genuine and somehow knowing. She'd understood he was going on a fool's errand. But how? What was between them exactly? Not an affair, no definitely not an affair, but something else. Interesting...

"Whaddya gonna do?" Lisbon asked him.

"Nothing," he answered. Well, nothing he could tell her about at least.

Which she realized of course. "Nothing?" she asked sceptically.

So he tried deflection. "If you sit down by the riverbank and wait long enough, you will see the bodies of your enemies float by. Shall we?"

She looked amused, and let him get away with it.

Jane, on the other hand, was still mildly annoyed at her lack of support. It irked him. So when the pair met with Mrs. Jaffee of Jaffee printing after Lisbon made the professional introductions and explained why they were there, he couldn't help putting in his two cents. "Do you know Miles Thorston?" he asked..

The woman answered in the negative as he'd expected. After all, it'd be one hell of a coincidence if someone connected with the case actually did know poor Miles. Still, he decided to double-check, in part because he knew it would irritate his colleague. "You sure?" he asked her.

"Yes." Mrs. Jaffee insisted.

"Seriously, stop it," Lisbon hissed at him as all three got in the elevator.

"Relax," Jane told her before turning back to the head of Jaffee printing before explaining the situation, "Saved her life, she resents me." What have you to say to my lovely little Lisbon?

It turned out she had nothing to say. But the annoyed expression on her face was well worth it.

xxxxxx

Back at the CBI offices Lisbon asked her consultant who he thought had committed the crime. But Jane didn't want to commit himself by naming names. Since when? Since when was Jane unwilling to throw out any and every stupid theory he had out there when asked? Sure he kept them to himself sometimes but usually he was more than happy to show off what he knew. Unless of course he had some huge scheme planned. He did keep asking about stupid Miles Thorston. Ugh.

Or was it something else altogether?

"You're distracted. You're thinking about Bosco and Red John case. Focus on the job at hand." That's what had gotten them into this mess. Lack of focus, and she wasn't having it anymore.

"You're glad Bosco has the Red John case aren't you," he asked her. Sure she hadn't been thrilled when they'd left Minnelli's office. But her demeanour now certainly didn't indicate that she was all that upset.

And her words confirmed it. "Bosco is a good agent. He's as good as they come. It might not be such a bad thing that we're off the case for a while. We got too close." There was that expression again. Too close. See, this is exactly why he needed to push her away. She was too close to him now. And he needed someone to rein him back in from time to time (loathe as he was to admit it.)

So he tried to make her uncomfortable. "Is that what your shrink tells you?" he asked her. Lisbon hated that she had to go to a psychiatrist. Everybody knew that. And he pitied the poor man who had to try and figure her out. Her secrets were better guarded than whatever was in the vault at Fort Knox.

But Lisbon was still unperturbed (and it was getting creepy) "Everybody tells me that," she told him easily.

"But your shrink did tell you that." She gave him a look and he relented. A little. "Okay, okay. Maybe you're right. Maybe that's the truth. Maybe we did get a little too close, I'm not so sure but I'll think about it." There, he'd though about it. They were close. But they were also invested. Determined. Didn't that outweigh any negative consequences? He thought so.

"Liar," Lisbon told him easily. But he hadn't lied. He'd never said how long he'd think about it.

Lisbon decided to drop it though, simply telling him to go through the victim's things while she headed off to a disposition. But Jane had no intention of doing that. He needed to get Rigsby and Cho. It was time to catch a killer.

xxxxx

He'd waited until she was gone before pulling another one of his stunts. She rested her head on her desk. Sure it'd worked, but it was the principle of the thing. She'd given him the cold shoulder earlier. Course he'd found it funny. Of the three of her boys, only Rigsby had looked a little sheepish about the whole thing. Had even apologized, which she guessed was a good sign.

At least by Jane's standards it hadn't been too bad a stunt. Maybe a three on the Jane scale (one being barely illegal, ten being pray he gave her advanced notice so she could hand in her resignation via e-mail and get the hell out of the CBI before Minnelli found out). All in all, not too bad. He'd promised no mess and so far there hadn't been any. Though come to think of it Cho had started muttering something about a disgruntled realtor...

She'd think about it tomorrow.

The case was solved. Jane hadn't been too bad. Maybe things would really be better now that they weren't working on Red John.

Maybe.

xxxxx