Green Eyed with Crimson Heart

Hightower casually walked into Lisbon's office and told her she could go, as long as she was in early tomorrow because she had some important news. Once her back was turned, Lisbon slumped down into her chair and gazed out of the window, watching the glowing yellow orb disappear beneath the apricot sky. She closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands, feeling all the information she had found out that day beginning to pound against her forehead…

Her car pulled into the parking lot at around 3.45am and when the lift doors opened she bolted straight for her office, making sure she closed the door quietly behind her. Van Pelt was busy at her computer and Lisbon knew she had only a few minutes to compose herself before the red head called her to look at something. She was good at her job and Lisbon had gradually grown fond ever since she started working with them, but right now she just wanted to be alone.

Questions were bursting in her head and she could hear them echoing in her mind as if someone was speaking them loudly through a megaphone into her ear. "Why the hell was Jane crying?" "Could it be something to do with the girl?" "Did he know the woman?" "Why didn't you comfort him more…?" Amongst them, there was always a red smiley face…They flew around her head, swarming her brain like bees in a nest so she closed her eyes and blew on her wrists to cool her temperature down.

She wished she could just pick up the phone and dial Jane's number, she knew it backwards by heart, but something in the back of her mind stopped her. When Lisbon needed somebody, even if it was just to agitate her, Jane was always there. Somebody to compare thoughts about a case with, a person who she argued with the most, a man who could make her laugh when she was upset. He was always there so why shouldn't she try and make up for all those times…?

"Boss?" Right on cue, Van Pelt was at the ready with her information.

"Are you okay? I can come back a bit later if you like, want some coffee?"

She handed Lisbon a steaming mug and leaned back against the wall. The smell of caffeine was enough to make all the confusion go away, the rich aroma fogging over her brain, bringing her back into the small room she was sitting in.

"No I'm fine and thank you...so much." She clasped both hands around the mug of coffee, feeling its heat rocket up her arms. Bliss.

"I thought you could use it, you've had a long drive back right? Another Red John case as well…"

"Don't remind me.. Tell me what you got, any new leads on Marianne? Did you track down her family?"

"We're trying to get hold of her mother; father died a couple of years ago but we're looking into the cause. Apart from that everything seems to be normal. They owned two horses which she regularly bought food and accessories for. Some new shoes every few weeks, petrol for the car and that's it really."

Lisbon took a sip of coffee, trying to hide her disappointment. It wasn't like she hadn't expected it; nothing about this case was any different and, compared to the others, nothing stood out as a possible 'clue'. Except the girl, Josephine…Lisbon had never known Red John to spare a life and he wasn't the sort of person to make mistakes. Taking people hostage wasn't one of his traits and she couldn't think of a reason why he would change his pattern now, so the only other alternative was that the girl must have escaped. They had to find this girl.

The question had just formed on her lips when she heard Van Pelt frown at a piece of paper she was holding. She reminded herself to ask it later.

"Boss…I'm not sure if this is interesting or not but…it's kinda odd, I'm not sure what to make of it…It might just be a coincidence."

Any part of her which hadn't been woken up by the coffee was now completely alert. 'Odd' and 'not sure' being used in the same sentence by Van Pelt was not a good thing.

"What do you mean odd?"

"Well," she opened the file she was holding and placed it on the desk, "I've checked all of Marianne's call records and I went through some of Josephine's as well, although she didn't really use her cell phone that much for a teenager which I'm surprised about being a teenager and all…Anyway," she hurriedly began flicking through the sheets of paper, realising she was rambling. Lisbon began tapping the side of her mug, eyebrow raised. Van Pelt knew that insignificant facts made Lisbon impatient.

"It says here that she's been making phone calls to a psychic therapist and they were pretty regular too, hang on..."

She reached into her pocket, pulled out a highlighter and took off the top with her teeth. Her hand flew back and forth between the two pages, covering them both with florescent yellow stripes. When she had finished, she put the lid back on the pen and held up the piece of paper for Lisbon to see.

"Okay so the phone calls I've highlighted are the ones made to the therapist and all the others are just calls to different people, probably to do with her job"

Lisbon thought for a moment before answering. "What was her job, anything really stressful?"

"She was running her own fashion business from home and, from the way she could spend over $600 on a saddle, I'd say she was doing pretty well."

"$600 for a saddle! Well, look up whoever it is and ask Cho and Rigsby to bring them in."

"I'm on it." Van Pelt gathered up her file and hurried through the door.

Lisbon drained the last few drops of coffee from her mug and placed it on the table, making sure she put it on top of an old magazine because she hated leaving any trace of a stain. Growing up with a house proud mother had made sure of that. Her thoughts were now revolving around work which she favoured a lot more because it gave her something to do and, this time, they weren't about Jane.

If Marianne Odell was doing so well in her business, why would she need a psychic therapist?

Her father had recently died so maybe she wanted to contact him or maybe the relationship with her daughter wasn't as strong as it used to be because of her working from home, but judging by all the photos on the walls it didn't look that way. What if this therapist was just someone Marianne knew, a close friend who she had to contact through work maybe? If it was a male, it could be someone she was having a relationship with or maybe they were just looking at a dead end. Marianne simply could have hired a therapist because she was stressed and needed somebody to talk to.

The sooner they found this person, the better.

Through the blinds on the door, Lisbon saw Van Pelt walking towards her office again so she assumed Cho and Rigsby had been called and were now on their way to pick up the therapist for interrogation. Finally, they were getting somewhere at last. But when Van Pelt opened the door, her face held the same confused expression.

"Boss, I can't call Cho and Way-..Rigsby."

'That was a close one,' Lisbon thought but she pretended she hadn't heard.

"Why not, she made calls to someone didn't she?"

"Well yes she did, but the thing is…when I put the number into my computer it came up with a house, not a building place, and it says it's under police surveillance."

She hadn't been expecting that.

"Whose place is it, did you find out?"

"A woman called Kristina Frye. Isn't that the woman who we think Red John kidnapped?"

Kristina Frye...but that was impossible, nobody had seen or heard from her in nearly two whole months. She was last seen by all of them in this very building not talking to anyone but Jane who had to light a candle and, she suspected, hypnotize her into taking. Even then she wasn't making any sense in what she was saying. So how could she have contacted Marianne just days ago?

"Oh, I remember her now. I was downstairs when she…"

Van Pelt gulped back words of uncertainty and Lisbon could see that she still blamed herself for Kristina's disappearance.

"It's not your fault she disappeared. We don't know that she didn't just jump out of the window to escape. These phone calls can back that point up! We found her didn't we?"

Van Pelt stepped backwards and slowly sank into the long armchair, clasping her hands on top of the file in her lap. Lisbon was ready, her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle on one of the draws in her desk. It contained tissues…and it looked like she might need them.

"I really liked her Lisbon, she was really nice."

Her heart sunk and she felt a wave of sympathy wash over her. Van Pelt always stuck to the book and not calling her 'Boss' was a rare thing.

"It is my fault she's the way she is, if I had just gone up and checked on her maybe I could have stopped her leaving or fought off her attacker, at least then I could feel like I tried. Now I just feel like I turned a blind eye to it, I just let it happen." A tear slid down her face but she quickly wiped it away.

The last time Lisbon had seen her crying was when she had ended her relationship with Rigsby. Lisbon and Jane had walked up to the lift doors to find a red eyed and shaking Van Pelt. Her and Lisbon ended up sharing the lift together because Jane did one of his 'noble things' and left the two of them alone. Luckily, it hadn't been as awkward as she thought it would be. She'd rubbed the crying woman's shoulder, told her she was sorry it had to be this way and explained that, if it were up to her, she would change the rules in a heartbeat…meaning them more than she let on.

"Grace," she tried to make her voice as soft as possible without sounding patronising, "listen, don't beat yourself up about it. These phone calls are enough for us to get a warrant. We'll search the house again and maybe we'll find something that wasn't there before. It's not your fault and I don't want you blaming yourself."

She gave her a long, hard stare and then smiled sadly. Seeing Van Pelt upset was not helping her with her own emotions so she asked her something which she hoped would lighten the mood.

"What did you like about her? You spent a lot more time with her then me"

To Lisbon's relief Van Pelt raised her head, her face holding a wide grin.

"I didn't really know her that well either but I liked all her different beliefs, like how she believed there was an afterlife which we cross over to when we die. I admired her for that. Oh, I was really glad she liked the restaurant I recommended to her and Jane too! It's one of my favourite places and when Jane asked me if I knew a nice place, I just had to s-"

Lisbon snapped back to reality, immediately feeling guilty for not listening, but she was all ears now.

"Wait…Jane took Kristina to a restaurant?" Her heart was beating twice as fast against her rib cage, hoping she had heard wrong..

"Yes! Didn't he tell you about it? I was so unhappy when I had to call and ask him to come back to the office. I told Jane to take her to Giorgio's because the pizza there is simply-"

"So he took her on a date?" Three words flashed in her mind, repeating over and over again.

Jane doesn't date.

"Well…"

Jane doesn't date. Jane doesn't date.

"I guess it was!" Lisbon's heart sunk even further when she saw the look of sheer delight on Van Pelt's face.

"Who would have thought? Maybe he's going to start dating again! I really hoped Kristina would get better. They would have made the perfect couple wouldn't they?"

The perfect couple…the perfect couple…the perfect couple…

It echoed in her mind like she was listening to somebody shouting down a tunnel, hearing their words ricocheting into the darkness, embedding themselves in her thoughts. She had zoned out after that, letting Van Pelt tell her about how she loved the restaurant they went to and which wine she'd recommended them to drink. She couldn't think straight and it took everything she had left to hold back tears. Angry, confused; hurt, she felt the emotions hit her one after another, more following in their path. She was an emotional wreck, literally, but Lisbon had felt like this in the past so she had no trouble holding a convincing charade. Thankfully Van Pelt left when she did because if she had stayed…Lisbon didn't want to imagine what could have happened.

Van Pelt stood up uncomfortably, immediately snapping Lisbon out of her vicious daydream.

"Well, I guess I better see if Cho and Rigsby can get that warrant. I'll tell you if they find anything."

Lisbon felt a wave of guilt pass over her again. Why didn't she listen to people more when they weren't talking about work? No wonder they kept things hidden from her, they probably thought she wasn't interested.

"Grace, did you find the girl? Is she alive?"

Halfway through the door Van Pelt turned, a smile still on her face but it was sad.

"Yeah, we found her. Jane called me a few minutes ago. He told me to tell the police to check the stables where they kept their horses, about a mile down the road, and there she was! I don't know what sort of state she's in but she's alive. They're bringing her to Hightower as soon as she's had a check up at the hospital."

With that, she nodded her head and closed the door behind her.

Lisbon packed up her things and walked to the lift in a complete daze. She didn't even notice she had reached her car until she saw the key she was trying to put in the lock was actually her house key. Throwing her bag and files into the back seat, she revved the engine and pulled out of the car park, playing back all the information she had learned today.

1. Marianne and Josephine Odell owned two horses and they didn't seem to be struggling with any money problems.

2. Kristina Frye had made frequent calls to Marianne Odell's phone within the last 2 months

3. Jane had taken Kristina on a date

4. Josephine Odell was alive and well so Red John had either let her escape or she hadn't been in the house at the time of the murder

5. Jane had gone on a date…

6. Jane and Kristina made 'the perfect couple'

She slammed her fist against the steering wheel in frustration, causing the car to veer slightly to the right, but she didn't care. She couldn't understand why she felt so angry. Hearing that Jane was dating again she should be happy! Maybe he was finally accepting that his wife wasn't coming back and he needed to move on, to share his love with somebody else.

Why isn't it you?

The little voice in her head had changed its tune and Lisbon's grip tightened around the steering wheel.

Why didn't he ask you on a date?

"I don't want to go on a date with him. He can date whoever he likes. I don't care."

Liar.

She swore under her breath and switched on the radio, turning the dials until she found a station which wasn't foreign or full of white noise. A song had just finished and the bouncy presenter was getting his listeners ready for the next one.

"Now this next song is truly beautiful, it's just been released here in the US and well, you'll see for yourselves, but I think it's on its way to being number one so-"

Lisbon was tapping her fingers on the wheel impatiently and she was glad when the another more laid back presenter cut in with what she was thinking.

"Just play the song Joe! Here we go listeners, Fragile."

A soothing piano melody filled the speakers, just the kind of music she needed right now, slow and simple, and then the voice began to sing:

'Six thoughts at once I can't focus on one
Seven days a week but my life has just begun…'

Her heart sped up as she realised how well the words related to her emotions and as the song kicked into the chorus she felt hot tears falling down her cheeks. Angrily, she wiped them away but she continued to sway to the music. A red light stopped her at a T-junction and she turned the volume up so loud she felt the glass in the windows vibrating.

The road left would take her home to a small cabinet of alcohol and a bed she could cry in but to the right...the road took her where she could drive for a hours and hours singing along to the radio and some of the CD's she had in her glove compartment. She thought for a moment, watching as the red light switched to amber…

'Sometimes I feel like I'm alone,
Sometimes I feel like I'm that strong
Sometimes I feel nothing at all...'

The light turned green just as Lisbon wound the window all the way down. She flicked the indicator and, with a small smile, she turned right.

'I won't be afraid for the tears I cry
I won't run, I won't hide, this how I feel inside
A little fragile...'

Author's Note: I realised that if I put the next chapter here it just wouldn't make any sense and everybody loves a bit of Van Pelt right? :D

I'm trying to wear down the Lisbon we see on TV gently. The next chapter will be better, up in about 6-7 days because I'm going to France.

Next chapter up as soon as possible, might need to watch some more episodes beforehand though...*grins like Jane* ;D

Song: Fragile - Delta Goodrem

~victwi