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"No! I'm tired and I can't sleep with you sitting in the chair staring at me!"

"Come on, Lisbon."

"Nothing happened, and nothing is going to happen. I need you well rested for tomorrow, alright? So go across the hall, change your clothes, lie down, and remember that I am perfectly safe. I've got a gun, I'm not helpless. And Cho has the room right next to me. If anything happens, he'll be there in seconds. He's got the other key to my room."

Jane hesitated. As desperately as he wanted to stay, he didn't want to make her miserable. She needed sleep to solve this case, and especially if Red John tried anything tomorrow.

"Will you stay on the phone with me all night? Just leave the connection open. Please? Just so I know you're safe."

She bit her lip, glaring at him. "I'll be fine. I'll do it, but I'll be fine." She hoped that if he knew she was safe and sound asleep, he would finally get some sleep himself. "But you have to promise me that you'll lie down and try to at least relax."

"I promise," he replied, looking very much like a small child. She was tempted to give him a hug and offer to tuck him in, but refrained.

"Goodnight."

"'Night."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Jane settled down with the phone resting by his ear. He could hear Lisbon's steady breaths as she relaxed, could imagine her curled up in bed, the days worries finally seeping away to let herself sleep peacefully once more.

In her room, Lisbon had left the phone resting on the table by the bed, and collapsed on top of the covers, her eyes struggling to stay opened. She would never tell Jane, but it did make her feel safer – the knowledge that he was listening. She was pretty sure this would be the best night's sleep she had gotten in a long time – and she refused to think that it was because it was Jane on the other end of the phone. Anyone else would work, it just happened that he was the one who offered, she ordered her exhausted brain, before finally letting herself sink into oblivion.

PRESENT

"You," she informed him, her words slightly slurred, "are a hallucination."

"Sure," he replied genially, grinning at her.

"You have to be, because…because…" she was too tired to think straight, but she knew it was important. "Oh! I know. Because I'm still underground."

"Good deduction skills there, Lisbon. No wonder they chose you as head of the unit. "

She was not so confused that she didn't recognize an insult when she heard one, and she frowned at him. "I have a gun."

"No you don't. Remember? Serial Killer 101 – never let your victim have a weapon."

"Well, I own one. And if you aren't nice to me then I'll use it."

"But I'm a hallucination. You can't shoot me. And anyway, you could just make me be nice to you. I'm in your mind after all."

"Then be nice to me."

"You're going to die soon." He informed her, looking down at her casually. Her brain was too exhausted from struggling to breathe to even try to comprehend how someone was above her when the top of the coffin skimmed her nose. Instead, she picked on his comment.

"You call THAT being nice?" she questioned, her voice loud. She wasn't sure if she was actually speaking or if the whole conversation was in her mind, but she could care less. It was better than singing the alphabet.

"What?" he protested, "You've been singing it to yourself for hours."

"Have not," she replied, sulking.

"You know, Lisbon," he said, his tone serious, "we're looking for you. We've got everyone on it. We'll find you."

"Not soon enough," she murmured. Then, a thought came to her. "If you are in my mind, and you can do whatever I want, then why are you dressed in a suit?"

"That is not nice Lisbon!" he told her sternly, and she grinned. If she was going to die, at least she could see Patrick Jane shirtless first.


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Preview: "Lisbon's phone disconnected." - Jane