Disclaimer: Not mine.
Thanks to all those who reviewed, especially to Helen and April who reviewed anonymously. Good news-I know where this is going now, I just don't know how long it's going to be. Without further ado, chapter 3!
Jane, true to his word, was waiting in the car. Impatiently. It couldn't possibly take this long to arrest someone, could it? He drummed his fingers on the dashboard, checked for any sign of the team at the building's entrance, and checked his watch. Nothing for 10 minutes. That was odd, wasn't it?
Jane was just about to recline his seat when he heard a thud and some muffled yelling. He opened his door, but then grimaced and shut it again. No, he'd made a promise.
But then, his curiosity got the better of him when a figure came racing out of the fire escape, not yet with a pursuer in sight. Jane leapt out of the car when the man sprinted towards the Suburban, confirming with a glance that the man was in fact Mark Fisher. Now, without the car's walls in the way, he could hear Cho yelling at him from partway down the ladder.
"Mark Fisher?" Jane asked as the man drew nearer still. "We'd like to have a word with you."
Fisher stopped in his tracks, staring at him suspiciously. "You're not a cop."
Jane shrugged. "I'm a consultant," he supplied.
Without warning, Fisher drew a Swiss army knife out of his pocket and pointed it at Jane. "Get out of my way, I'm warning you."
Suddenly, a shape flew out from behind the car and tackled Mark Fisher to the ground. There was a loud huffing sound, and Fisher's fall was cushioned by his attacker. Jane rushed towards the fray, only to find Lisbon flipping Fisher onto his back and securing cuffs around his wrists. She was breathing heavily, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Lisbon pulled Fisher to his feet and escorted him to the Suburban. Jane followed at a distance.
Once Fisher was securely stored in the back seat, Lisbon turned to him angrily. "For once, can't you listen to me and stay in the car?"
At the CBI headquarters, the arrest wasn't yielding the results the team was hoping for. Cho had been grinding the guy all morning, but he refused to give an inch. While they had the suspect's car parked a mere block away, they had no conclusive evidence and the gun used to kill Freya has yet to be found. If Fisher played his cards right, he could avoid conviction.
"Your car was found one block from the crime scene. One block," Cho was saying.
"Look man, so my car was there. It doesn't make me guilty," Fisher rebutted, totally nonchalant.
Cho shut the case file forcefully. "You know what it gives you? Opportunity. You already have motive, or did you forget the argument the two of you were having four days ago?"
Fisher smirked. "Agent, if you have pictures of me killing someone, feel free to let me know. Until then, you've got nothing on me."
Hightower sighed in the observation room. "He's right. Without the murder weapon, we can't make the charges stick."
"Damn," Lisbon swore. "We needed a confession, and he's not cracking. We can hold him on the assault charges, but that's it."
Jane stood up from the desk at which he was sitting. "If I may make a suggestion?"
Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Go ahead, Jane."
"Let him go. We all know he's guilty, and he knows where the murder weapon is. If we let him go, he'll need to dispose of the gun before we can find it, and with surveillance on him we'll catch him in the act."
"Not bad," shrugged Hightower. "Do it."
Cho was informed of the plan, and he and Rigsby were assigned the first surveillance shift.
Now, much later, it was nearing midnight at the CBI. Van Pelt had already left to catch up on some sleep, leaving just Jane and Lisbon in the office. Lisbon was shut away in her office, Jane wasn't sure what she was doing. Knowing her, she was probably going over the case files for the umpteenth time. He decided it was high time for her to get some sleep, so he ventured over to her office.
"Lisbon, it's time—are you okay?" he asked, changing tactics midsentence. Lisbon was indeed going over the case notes, but she did not appear to be in the best of conditions. If Jane had to guess, he would say that she had the king of all muscle aches.
"Jane? I'm fine. Go home and get some rest," she all but groaned.
"No you're not, your shoulders are killing you," Jane stated matter-of-factly. "You probably should have been more careful when you took Fisher down. I appreciate the gesture, though."
Lisbon frowned at him, but decided not to argue with him. "I was in a bit of a rush, and as you can see I didn't do a spectacular job."
Jane gave her one of his brightest grins. "I think I can help with the pain. It's the least I can do, considering you saved my life."
"Jane, no. It's not professional, I'll just sleep it off—" Lisbon tried to argue, but Jane interrupted her.
"Come on, what's the harm? I've been told I'm an excellent masseur," Jane pressed. He really did want to give her that massage.
Lisbon looked at him, sizing him up. "No funny stuff."
Jane managed to stop himself from jumping up and clapping his hands with glee. He made his way behind Lisbon's desk and began kneading her shoulders, gently working out the knots.
"Geez, Lisbon. Your shoulders are like stone," he joked. "You need to relax."
Lisbon merely nodded, Jane's massage already making her drowsy. "There, that's better," he breathed, his breath tickling her ear.
Her breath hitched almost imperceptibly, and Jane hid his triumphant smirk. As the knots in her muscles slowly dissipated, his hands began moving slower and slower as they started to slide down towards Lisbon's back. Lisbon let out some sort of low growl from the back of her throat, and suddenly the mood changed.
What had started as something friendly and mostly platonic had changed into something more intimate, something neither of them knew they were ready for, despite their feelings for one another. Lisbon turned in her chair to face him, and suddenly their faces were much too close together. Jane froze. This wasn't how this was supposed to work, they weren't ready yet.
They were frozen in that position for who knows how long, neither of them wanting to either move forwards or move away. Jane had just opened his mouth to speak when Lisbon's phone rang.
The spell was broken. Lisbon dove for her phone, and answered it with her usual "Lisbon."
"Lisbon, it's Cho. Fisher's going to meet someone about our missing gun."
TBC
