Who I Am Hates Who I've Been
Chapter 6
Relief and anticipation was the general feeling sweeping through the CBI building as the news came in that they had a lead on the whereabouts of their golden consultant and their best Agent.
Van Pelt had gone home for some sleep after fainting on her 48th hour on the job, but Cho and Rigsby, who had been working with Lisbon for the best part of 4 years determinedly stayed and kept themselves alert with coffee, lots of it.
They had tried everything and eventually an untraceable source had given them some information. Through an encrypted email they discovered that Jane & Lisbon could possibly be being held in a cell in the desert, the sender had included co-ordinates.
They were wary at first that it was perhaps a trap, but Hightower had told them to take their best men and figure it out, so 20 agents and 2 cups of coffee later Rigsby and Cho found themselves trundling through the desert landscape outside Sacramento, nervous and scared.
Rigsby had wanted to call Van Pelt, but Hightower had said there wasn't time and ordered them to get into the truck and go. They were going far too fast through the desert, but it was the only way to get to this cell in time, the email had warned that they didn't have much time left.
Rigsby glanced at Cho nervously as a yell announced that they had reached the co-ordinates and the van shuddered to a halt. Guns at the ready the team of Agents hurried from the van to the semi-sand covered trapdoor.
When they reached the trapdoor Cho nodded to everyone to get in position before bursting the trapdoor open and shining his torch down it; it was empty.
Cursing Rigsby turned around and shook his head to the team, they all seemed as dismayed as he was.
"They were here." Cho stated, letting a little of the relief he felt slip into his voice, they had been here recently, all hope was not lost.
"How do you know that?" Rigsby asked curiously, coming forward to glance down the trapdoor once more.
Cho pointed, "The lamp is still lit, if they had left here a long-time ago the battery would be dead."
Shooting Cho an impressed look Rigsby regained his composure as he turned back to the team of Agents, "All right I want 5 of you to stay here and keep watch on this cell."
With a glance at Cho who seeming to read his mind nodded, he continued, "We need to look for truck or car tracks, find anything and we follow it. Got it?"
Several nods and grunts of agreement drifted their way as the group began to part to do their allocated jobs. Turning back to Cho, now without the prying eyes and ears of the team, Rigsby let his guard down a little, "We've just lost our last lead, how the hell are we supposed to figure out where they are now?"
Cho shrugged, "Its not pretty, but we just have to go back to the office and see what else we can dig up." He said so casually that it actually enraged Rigsby, quietly, but with venom he hissed, "Do you even care that our boss and consultant are missing?"
Calmly Cho replied, "We'll find them."
Letting the anger and frustration that had built up in the last week take over him, Rigsby shook his head in disbelief at his co-worker, "Fine, if you don't care about them as colleagues how about the fact that our two best friends could be dead right now, does that upset you?"
Dropping his guard ever so slightly Cho let some of his pent up anger out too, "Of course I care that their missing, but sitting around being upset isn't going to get them back and neither is arguing with you. Whats going to get them back is information and I'm going to the office to find some."
As Cho retreated to one of the 3 trucks they had arrived in Rigsby stared after him in shock. It was the first time he had really heard Cho speak his true feelings and with a rush of gratitude towards his friend he hurried after him. Cho was right, if they wanted Jane and Lisbon back they needed information.
"Where's Van Pelt?"
Hightower's voice echoed around the quiet, empty bullpen.
It ws 2am and everyone else had gone home for a nap and a break from the investigation.
After the failed bust that afternoon people had lost spirit and thought the case was a lost cause, but Rigsby and Cho had refused to give up.
The question struck them both as a very strange one, but truthfully they couldn't answer it.
"We don't know." Rigsby answered as he rubbed his eyes. His head was pounding and he could barely keep his eyes open.
Hightower looked to Cho for an explanation, "She isn't answering her cell." He said simply, although he was concealing it well he also looked exhausted.
Hightower knew the feeling, she hadn't left the office in the last few days either, but right now the investigation was at a standstill and everyone needed some sleep, "I know you think you're helping them, but you're not." She said gently as she stepped into the room, "They need you to be well fed and well rested, how are you going to rescue them if you havent eaten or slept in days?"
With a small, rather forced smile she said, "Get some rest, the investigation will still be there in the morning."
Rigsby sighed, feeling that she may be right, rest could do them all the world of good. Cho however had other ideas, "They could be dead by morning."
"Nothing you do tonight could have saved them if that was the case." Hightower told him rationally as she made her way to the door, "Trust me, sleep will do you all some good, try and get some."
With that she left the bullpen and headed for the car park, for a few minutes neither Cho nor Rigsby spoke, both trying to decide what to do.
"She's right, we're no use to them if we're weak and exhausted." Rigsby told Cho who nodded, "Yeah, we should go home and get some rest."
So, albeit a little reluctantly they gathered up their things and left the building.
Lisbon awoke to the sound of groaning, that was never a good sign. Sitting up she found herself chained to a bed. With a frown she felt a body shift next to her and forgot where she was for a moment.
When her head stopped hurting enough for her to open her eyes she remembered that she and Jane were being held hostage and that it was him who was chained to the same bed as her, a very small bed.
She suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable.
He awoke a few seconds later, frowned around the room and finally remembered their situation when his eyes fell on her. With a fake smile to try and comfort him she let her eyes slide shut again, after spending the best part of 2 days in semi-darkness the bright light coming from the light bulb in their cell was more than a little blinding.
Her head was pounding slightly and she figured that they had probably been knocked out before being taken here so they would have no idea where here was. With a small sigh she opened her eyes once more to find Jane staring at her.
"What?" She asked him, feeling a little self-conscious, was there something on her face?
He didn't reply, he just smiled at her, but it was a new kind of smile. It wasn't a forced, fake smile, but it wasn't his usual charming smile either; it was just a genuine, normal smile and for some reason it made her belly do flips.
Not quite knowing what she was doing Lisbon found herself smiling a genuine smile back, what on earth was going on? They were being held hostage and were probably going to die tomorrow, there was nothing to smile about.
However Patrick Jane had a very catching smile and it cheered her up a little, she slid her hand into his as had become a common way of expressing comfort in the past week they had been held hostage together.
He laced his fingers through hers in response before closing his eyes and leaning back against the pillows once more, it was one of those moments that passed slower in your head than in reality, but in a flash it seemed to be over.
Closing her eyes too, feeling much more content that she had when she woke up Lisbon tried to convince her brain that it was possible to be able to fall asleep, even with such a gorgeous man lying beside her.
However her brain seemed to laugh at her and every inch of her body screamed as she tried not to brush against him, why was Patrick Jane so damn irresistible to her?
It was moments like these that made her afraid of where they would be tomorrow, he would be getting killed by Red John and she shuddered at the thought of her treatment. A life time sex slave for the bastard she had once called her Uncle seemed likely. For a moment she envied Jane.
She knew he meant a lot to her, but recently under their circumstances she had discovered that he meant everything to her. So much in fact, that she found herself wishing that she could die with Jane tomorrow so that she wouldn't have to live without him for the rest of her life.
The thought probably should have scared her, but it didn't. Death scared Lisbon, but not her own death, the thought of a member of her team dying scared her, but she wasn't afraid to face death herself. She wasnt sure if that made her very noble or very stupid.
She knew that these feelings would probably never be expressed, she was his boss and it was against the rules, well it wasn't; he was a consultant, but it was against the personal rules she had set for herself.
If they were going to die tomorrow then they would die leaving many things unsaid, she didn't want to breach the topic of love right before Jane was about to go out and avenge his love. It didn't seem right and she knew the feelings would not be returned.
The closer it got to the day when Red John would arrive the more the words tried to make their way out of her mouth, but for now they would stay in her heart and would remain there, even if it did stop beating tomorrow.
To Be Continued
A/N- Not a very long chapter, BUT Chapter 7 is when things heat up between Jane & Lisbon so it should be very long and full of Jisbon goodness!
Thank you to everyone who has read the fic up to here, I hit the halfway point woo!
Thank you to the readers & to the people who review every chapter! Love you all! xxx