A/N: You can tell when I start getting into a story, the chapters start lengthening. Hah.

Anyway, thanks go to: mtm, Country2776, Frogster, Chiisana Minako, Penelope Louise, yaba, HOUSEMDFanForever, Smudje, Charmed225, lil smiles, PhoenixWytch, MentalistLover, WildDaisies10, Ebony10, Famous4it, Viktorija and ch19777 for reviewing part two.

I'm gonna try and write part four after work tonight, provided I'm not dead on my feet. Well I did sleep a bit better last night...

x tromana

Part Three

"Lisbon?" Jane spun around once he realized that she hadn't joined them. He studied her face for a second as he approached her. "You know who did this."

Mutely, she nodded while slowly walking backwards. The sooner she was out of the house, the better. Without explaining, she immediately rushed downstairs and within seconds, she found herself gasping her air outside. Her knees almost buckled under her weight and if it wasn't for Jane, she would have collapsed to the floor.

"Woah, are you okay?"

"Yes, fine."

Lisbon pushed him away roughly before her head started spinning again, feeling faint. Taking note, Jane helped her to sit down, but only earned himself a quick glare for his efforts. The consultant sat beside her, his eyes not leaving her for a second. The color had drained completely from her face and her right leg seemed to have developed a nervous twitch. Carefully, he placed a hand on Lisbon's knee as she fought against the autonomous reaction. A panic attack; he recognized the symptoms virtually immediately as his wife had suffered from them on occasion too. He waited silently by her side, studying her every reaction, as she fought to regulate her breathing patterns and calm herself down. When she seemed to be back in control, he let out a sigh of relief. Contrary to popular opinion, he hated seeing her stressed out.

"Okay now?"

"I'm fine, Jane."

"Sure," he replied skeptically. "Are you going to tell me what the hell happened up there?"

"I…" she started. "I haven't had breakfast, that's all."

"You're lying."

"I'm not," she snapped, indignantly.

"You are."

"I'm not."

"Are."

Lisbon was about to retort once more when the rest of the team joined them outside. Van Pelt looked at her, somewhat disconcerted and the brunette found herself repeating herself, stating emphatically that she was okay. It wasn't the job of the rest of the team to worry about her - she was the boss and therefore, she was meant to look after them instead. Quickly trying to regain her emotions, she instructed Rigsby and Van Pelt to remain behind and talk to the relatives before heading back while the rest of them returned to CBI headquarters immediately. She rose to her feet and Jane stubbornly wrapped an arm around her waist in support.

"I don't need your help, Jane."

"Boss?"

Ignoring Jane, Cho approached Lisbon and gently placed two fingers on her right bicep. She quickly glanced at him, intrigued and attempted to wave Jane away. The consultant, naturally ignored her and remained pinned to her side.

"Cho," she sighed in response while pretending that Jane wasn't bothering her. "What do you want?"

"We could talk to Minelli? We don't have to do this case."

An eyebrow shot up immediately, a mixture of disgust and amusement written across Lisbon's features.

"I'll be fine, Cho. Thank you."

"If you're sure," he muttered. "I know what this case means to you."

"I know. C'mon, lets get back. We have a trail to be following."

The journey back to CBI headquarters was tense. Jane was desperate to continue grilling Lisbon for information on their mystery murderer, but knew that right now she was liable to only clam up and shout at him instead. He wasn't surprised when she headed straight to her office, nor that Cho followed her in when Rigsby and Van Pelt arrived fifteen minutes after them, bringing boxes of evidence. Killing time, Jane wandered towards the break room, deciding a cup of tea was in order.

Cho opened the door to Lisbon's office tentatively and was relieved when Lisbon greeted him with a weak smile and beckoned him in instead. He was certain that part of it was due to the fact that he had a bear claw in hand though. Wordlessly, he placed it down in front of her, along with a box of evidence collected from the scene. Almost immediately, she buried her head in the box and frowned when she pulled out one particular object.

"His wallet?" Lisbon murmured and Cho nodded in response. "He's out of practice."

"You're not worried?"

"No, we just need to track him down," Lisbon replied to Cho, feeling somewhat more self-assured since first thing that morning.

"Meh," Jane interrupted as he walked into the room, taking care not to spill the tea or coffees in his hand. "Why track him down when we can lure him out? Let's get him to come to us."

"Why'd we do that?" Lisbon snarled at him, trying her best to ensure that his interruption was unwelcome.

"Because it's easier?"

"No, we're doing this by the book."

"But that's boring. And slow."

"We can't risk letting this man off the hook, Jane," she snarled. "I can't risk that. If you're going to even suggest that, you're staying off this case. There's plenty of cold case files for you to look at."

Lisbon placed the wallet back in the box and kept her eyes firmly fixed on Jane. The consultant approached slowly and placed the coffee down beside the bear claw that Cho had brought her. His hand skirted around the top of the box and when Lisbon turned to request that the Asian agent do a database search, he allowed his hand to dip in, remove the wallet and slip it into his pocket. He smiled benignly at Lisbon and she scowled in response. Cho having, remained stoically by Lisbon's side, supporting his boss as steadfastly as ever.

"What are you still doing in here?"

"I'm going, I'm going."

"And don't bother me again unless you have something useful to say."

"You know, if you have a headache, you should really take some Advil."

"I'm fine, now go away."

"I still don't believe you."

"Go."

With a grin, Jane slipped out of her office and headed promptly to Rigsby's desk. Cho was still busy with Lisbon and the blond knew that Van Pelt was off discussing her progress with Minelli. The red head had been particularly concerned about the meeting, her nerves becoming more and more apparent in the past fortnight. Still, she should be fine. Lisbon was pleased with her performance and would no doubt have told the director just that. As Jane approached him, Rigsby quickly looked up from the CCTV tapes he'd been studying, welcoming the distraction.

"Rigsby, you want to go get this man?"

"Of course I do," Rigsby stated, glancing nervously to one side. "It's what we all want."

"Well, he's going to want this back isn't he?"

Jane quickly flashed the wallet in front of Rigsby's nose before placing it back in his pocket. Rigsby's eyes traced the object as he did so and he frowned somewhat as he did so.

"That's meant to be with the rest of the evidence. If it's in the log…"

"It's in the log, well done Rigsby. Lisbon will be pleased with just how well she has had you trained."

"She knows you've taken it?"

"Something like that," he replied, waving dismissively. "I have a plan. This is what we'll do…"

TBC…