A/N: Though Lisbon probably wouldn't be thinking of herself as 'Lisbon' at this point, I'm going to continue referring to her by her surname, though if she's speaking, she'll refer to the others by their given names. I just want to keep some kind of continuity name-wise throughout the story. x tromana

Part Six

"Lisbon!"

"Boss!"

"Teresa…"

"Wayne, I'm not your…"

It took a while for Lisbon to remember that she still had hold of Cait. Once she came to her senses in that regard, she placed her squirming daughter onto the floor. The little girl immediately rushed to her father, who scooped her up. Caitlyn, however, was entirely nonplussed by the situation she was stuck in the middle of. Pushing past Jane, an excitable Wayne Rigsby beamed and enveloped Lisbon into a tight hug. Flustered, she eventually managed to persuade him to let go but he continued to smile goofily at her. Van Pelt continually glanced between the two of them and even Cho managed to look faintly surprised.

Lisbon hadn't been entirely sure why she had decided to head straight to the CBI when she had arrived back in Sacramento. She had hoped that the Serious Crimes Unit would be out on a case so she could visit Minelli and just slip in and out, virtually unnoticed. The intention wasn't to get her job back, that would be too presumptuous and she knew the position would have been long filled by now. Anyway, Lisbon sincerely doubted whether or not she'd be able to do it now. It was merely to apologise to Minelli for running out on him in the first place and ask him where she could find Jane.

Well, at least she'd found Jane, though not on her own terms. She started trembling slightly. For some reason, Lisbon didn't feel ready for this again, mainly because she had hoped to organise their reunion differently, where they were both prepared to meet with one another rather than out of the blue. The four years she had been absent had gone like a flash, yet at the same time were terribly long. She definitely wasn't the same woman he had married. But then again, she could be fairly certain that he had changed too. After all, she had left him to bring up their daughter. Alone.

"Er, we could take Cait if you guys want to talk?" Van Pelt suggested.

"Yeah, I'm sure you could use one of the interrogation rooms for privacy," Rigsby added.

Cho knew just how much Howard would disapprove of it, but didn't care to vocalise that opinion. It wasn't as if they had a case on right now, and besides he was just as pleased as the others to see the petite brunette standing in front of them, even if she was looking slightly bewildered. Instead, he took the little girl from Jane's arms and suggested that the team headed towards Minelli's office, where he knew that some toys for Caitlyn were permanently stashed. Rigsby made it his mission to distract Howard for as long as physically possible. Discussing cold cases in great depth wasn't something he enjoyed doing particularly, but it was worth it if it would buy Jane more time with his wife.

"You look good," Jane murmured as the others left and they walked to the third floor. "Really good, I mean."

Lisbon made a non-committal noise as she took in her surroundings. Nothing had changed. Okay, so computers had been updated and the odd different poster was on the wall but otherwise, nothing. It surprised her somewhat that the team was still together too; shehad thought that Cho would have moved on by now, into a far more senior position. While Jane walked her to the interrogation room, she became more and more worried that an interrogation was what their discussion would become and desperately hoped for some kind of distraction. Have them all sent out on a case or the building burning down. Just something to avoid the inevitable confrontation they were about to have. Instead, the door clicked shut behind her and they were alone.

"Sit down, Teresa. Please?" Jane asked plaintively.

The sorrow in his voice made her comply more or less immediately.

"I've missed you," he whispered, wishing she would actually make the effort to speak. "Where the hell have you been? Damn it, Teresa, I need to know."

"A hospital in Nevada, alright?" she finally snapped. "I had a breakdown. You happy now?"

Two weeks after Caitlyn's birth:

"So you just found her wandering the streets?"

The elderly gentleman nodded to the hospital staff and police officers questioning him for what felt like the thousandth time. The poor woman looked sick, slightly mad and it had been obvious she had been bleeding. The bruise on her head and the fact her clothes were filthy hadn't helped either. He had simply done what any good citizen would have done and taken her to the nearest hospital. She was promptly sedated upon arrival and he was questioned as if he was in the wrong.

"Do you even know her name?"

"No. I don't even know where she lives, Ma'am," he replied, tiredly.

They nodded and eventually let him go. It was obvious he knew nothing about their newest little mystery. After all, he couldn't even work out that she had had a child within the past month. In the following weeks, in one of her more lucid moments, she supplied a name: Elisabeth Mae McDonnell. Only problem was, the only Elisabeth McDonnell they could find on the systems had been dead for over quarter of a century. It wasn't long until they realised that a general hospital didn't suit 'Elisabeth's' needs and she had to be transferred to a specialist unit for mental disorders.

"No, not really," he glowered. "Why did it take you four years to come back?"

"Is this an interrogation, Patrick?"

"No," he sighed. "I'm just angry."

"I'm sorry."

He could tell she meant it, but he couldn't help snapping. "And that's meant to make everything better, is it?"

"I know it won't," she replied hotly, "but I couldn't help it. I wasn't thinking straight. I'm surprised that you didn't notice."

"I did," he retorted, "eventually," he added, in a murmur.

For a good five minutes, they simply glared at one another, having found themselves at a stalemate. It was all too easy to say that they blamed one another, when really they were both blaming themselves for the predicament they found themselves in. Eventually, Jane stood up and walked around the table while Lisbon watched on apprehensively. His arms were soon wrapped around her shoulders and his fingers dancing through her hair. Jane couldn't help but smile as she visibly relaxed. His head found its way into the crook of her neck and he inhaled the scent. She still used cinnamon shampoo and he appreciated the strange familiarity.

"I've really missed you," he eventually spoke. "I knew you'd come back."

"I'm sor-"

She got cut off by Caitlyn running into the interrogation room and hiding behind Jane. The little girl looked up adoringly at her father, a beatific smile on her face and whispered something about 'crocodiles eating her' before bursting into laughter. Lisbon watched the two carefully, wondering exactly what it was she had missed and if she could ever feel anything other than apathy for the girl. Jane ushered her towards Lisbon in a flurry of giggles. He couldn't help but smile as his daughter looked up at him in a confused manner.

"Cait, honey," he murmured, "this is your Mommy."

"Patrick, please…"

Caitlyn's eyes widened, not quite sure what to think. Lisbon's whole demeanour, however, shifted back into sheer terror. In a flash, she was scrambling out of the chair and up to the door and pulling roughly on it.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "Just… I can't. Not now."

TBC...