Disclaimer: Only the plot.
A/N: Nothing really happens, but I did need to UD. So I hope you like it.
Cho wasn't a person who particularly liked or disliked hospitals. There wasn't anything appealing about the sterile hospital smell or the linoleum floors, but he didn't mind being there. Mostly, he knew it helped Lisbon if he was with Jane. They'd all been given two weeks forced leave, only to come into the office to give statements or the like, but of course she had far more legal stuff to go through than the rest of them, and couldn't be at the hospital as often. So, Cho would go along with a book and sit by Jane's side for hours at a time. Grace and Rigsby too, though they tended to come together. It made him laugh, especially when he saw the young male doctors staring at her. One was doing it right now in fact, as she stood at the coffee machine. Smirking, Cho snuck up behind him.
"I wouldn't bother," he shrugged.
The doctor, startled, jumped around and on seeing Cho, relaxed. Great, Cho thought. I'm becoming recognisable to hospital staff.
"The big guy?" the doctor asked, meaning Rigsby.
Giving a grim nod, Cho brushed past the hopeful on to talk to Van Pelt. She was far better conversation, really.
"You seen the boss today?"
Since she was released on bail, they tried to have some contact with Lisbon every day. Grace shook her head.
"Hoped you had."
…
Lisbon was sick of her team 'looking after' her. She really did not need it. And she couldn't avoid them either. They were where she wanted to be – the hospital. Every minute that wasn't spent at the CBI was spent there. She'd now seen Adrian Allan more times than she ever wanted to – she didn't have a great fondness for lawyers, but he was worse than the others. Arrogant, sleazy, he and Lisbon had only met properly once, and they didn't hit it off.
Trying to rush out the door so she could reach Jane at a time the doctors would let her in, she brushed shoulders with a guy walking through the corridors. She wasn't going to stop, not even to politely apologise, until he spoke.
"Careful there, Teresa."
She knew the voice all too well from his countless television statements and interviews. Slowly, on guard, she turned. His perfect hair and false friendliness made her bristle.
"Special Agent Lisbon," she corrected, with an equally fake smile. "I'm sorry, it's Mr. Allan, right?"
As if she didn't know.
"Yes, that's right. Are you off to see Mr. Jane?"
Lisbon's mind ran through a number of responses, from a curt 'yes', to simply 'fuck you'.
"I don't think that's really anything to do with you," she finally said, dropping any pretence. "Am I even meant to be talking to you?"
At his smirk, she raised her eyebrows, turned on her heel, and left.
In hindsight, the situation could have been handled better.
Striding into the lobby of the hospital, she tried to forget about the lawyer, as though positive thoughts would somehow help Jane recover. When she stepped into the room, Grace, Rigsby and Cho were already there.
"How you doing, boss?" Rigsby asked.
"Fine, thank you," she briskly replied. It really was beginning to get on her nerves, and they could sense it.
"Well, I think I need to go home and get some rest," Grace decided aloud. "… Wayne?"
"Great idea."
Lisbon rolled her eyes at Cho when they left.
"They make me want to throw up."
Cho raised his eyebrows. No longer looking at Cho, but at the man in the bed behind him, she continued, barely noticing herself speak.
"Jane once told me I was bitter and jealous of their happiness," she laughed. "Typical. I never asked him if he was jealous… having lost them… I'd kind of forget, you know? That he had a wife… a child. When he was just… Jane."
Cho put his hand on her shoulder. "Good night, Lisbon. See you tomorrow."
Once he'd left, she sat at the side of Jane's bed, staring at his serene expression.
"What would you say?" she asked him. "If you knew what was going on."
He'd be angry, she thought. Really, really angry. The thought didn't make her feel any better, so she tried to call back memories of them together, times he'd made her laugh, or when he said that if he were dying he'd call her – she'd been pissed off at the time, but treasured it all the same. Not that the thought of him dying was good in any way, shape or form. She moved away from that, remembering when he'd pretended to stumble and she'd caught him, and the necklace he bought her, and… suddenly, she was crying.
She reached out to hold his hand, for the small comfort it would give her. She hadn't really cried about the whole thing, to her relief, but in the end it was only thinking about Jane that could cause that kind of reaction. Tightening her grip, she willed his eyes to open, and then when they didn't, leant down over him to kiss the top of his head.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed their, her lips pressed against his forehead, her tears rolling into his hair.
Sorry it's been so long. Still, spare a line or two?