'I'd one of those bad dreams/ yeah, I woke up in a sweat (sweat)'
They were on their way back from questioning witnesses in the country, a far drive from the CBI building. Jane was humming happily along with the radio, feeling wide awake as he usually did at night; Lisbon on the other hand was fast asleep against the passenger-seat window. He shot her a brief look, smiling at the site of her body slumped to the side; she was going to have a horrible crick in her neck when she woke up.
He didn't wake her though; he was much too pleased that she was relaxed enough in his presence and car to fall asleep at all. In the beginning of their relationship she had been guarded, nervous at letting him into her space or to truly see her. He was almost surprised at how far she had come in such a short time, case and point by her current actions: she never slept in cars, no matter how far or long they were traveling. Dozed a bit, sure, but honestly out cold like she was now, so far gone that she was snoring lightly? Never. No matter how late the hour, how lengthy the stakeout, or how exhausting the case she was always awake, alert, and on the ball.
They drove on like this for hours, the silence only broken by the quiet jazz from the speakers and Lisbon's equally quiet breathing. He pulled over for a rest stop just past midnight, debated for a moment on whether or not he should rouse her, but decided not to, opting instead to make a quick bathroom break and grab a tea before hurrying back to the car, relieved to find that she hadn't moved in her slumber.
It was in the earliest part of the morning that she began to stir, her steady respirations changing to little whimpers and chokes. Jane glanced over at her to see a frown furrowing her forehead, her fingers twitching.
He whispered her name but she didn't react, and he reached over to give her shoulder a firm shake. Her body tensed under his grasp and she bolted away from the window with a yell, arms flying up and her hands tangling in her hair before moving to cover her face. Jane simultaneously tightened his grip on her and startled back, his car swerving dangerously into the other lane before he jerked it back into their own, thankful for the lack of traffic due to the early hour.
"Lisbon?" he questioned; she was panting beside him but he couldn't bring himself to look at her, adrenaline from his recent driving maneuver still pumping through him and keeping his eyes glued to the road.
She gave him a shaky but firm, "pull over," and he complied, perfectly content to be guiding his car off the road. He took a deep breath as he pulled the parking brake up, taking a second to calm himself. Lisbon's door opened at soon as the vehicle had stopped and she stumbled out, away from him and the vehicle, tripping over herself and falling on to all fours in the ditch.
When he saw her tumble Jane leapt out of his side of the car and raced around it. He knelt beside her gasping and quaking form, placing a hand on the small of her back.
"You okay?"
"Y-yeah; I'm good," she pushed herself off the ground and let him help her the rest of the way up; her legs felt like jello underneath her.
He kept one hand firmly on her elbow, noticing the way her eyes swam; he figured that she'd stood up a tad too fast. Once she was steady he soothingly pushed her hair back from her clammy forehead. An unusually biting night breeze gusted, cutting through their clothing and causing her to shiver, sweat cooling on her skin. She shook violently in the icy cold and Jane moved to support her, gently guiding her backwards to sit in the vehicle.
"Careful," Jane murmured to her when the backs of her knees hit the car and she sat down hard. He looked at her closely, scrutinizing her pale face and quivering limbs.
"Nightmare?"
She tried to give him a cocky half-smile, but her trembling lips couldn't quite accomplish it, "That obvious?"
"Nah. Just psychic, remember?"
She tried to laugh for him, but it came out more like the start of a sob.
He reached out to run a hand over her head with a mutter of comfort but she flinched away and he hastily pulled back his hand. She looked up at him guiltily and he smiled reassuringly down at her, trying to be as encouraging as possible.
She answered him before he could open his mouth, "No, Jane, I don't want to talk about it. Just a long day, alright?"
He gave her a quiet "yeah" in response, giving her shoulder a squeeze.
"What time is it?"
"It's early."
"Oh. We'd better get going again then."
"You ready for that? Or do you want to sit for a minute longer?" He could tell, despite the moonlight, that she had yet to regain any of her colour; her breathing was slowing but he still wasn't sure that she wasn't going to get sick.
She nodded, "I just wanna get back."
He beamed at her, "Okay then; let's hit the road."
She swung her legs into the car and he shut the door for her, but not before he heard her sarcastic, "If we can even make it back in this crackpot car."
He chuckled even though he was still concerned, making his way around to his door and hoping in. They drove on in peace for a time before he noticed that her breathing was evening out again. He looked towards her to see that she was starting to nod off but struggling to keep from falling back asleep.
"Go ahead; I'll keep an ear out."
She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and he mimicked her movement.
"You'll keep an ear out?" she questioned with humour.
"Yeah. I have been known to be pretty observant, you know."
She chuckled and he couldn't help but grin in response.
"I'm okay, Jane; not even tired anymore."
"Don't lie, Lisbon."
"I'm not!"
"Sure⦠tell you what, I'll let it slide for now; we'll take it up later. Just get some sleep."
She snorted at him and they fell into a comfortable silence. True to Jane's words she was soon back to struggling to stay awake, her head eventually falling into its previous place against the window.
Jane gave her a tender look before softly smiling to himself and turning the radio down to listen more closely to her, taking joy from the return of her quiet breaths.
Here you are; hope that you enjoyed! I really like this one, and I do love the song... promise that I'll try to branch out from Thriving Ivory one of these days; I'm just so addicted to them right now, haha.
On the subject of the last chapter: while I agree that Lisbon just up and quitting would be out of character, I do think that she can be very decisive when she needs to be, and that she would make that decision if she felt if was the right one. I do believe that she is capable of the actions I had her take in the last chapter, but I completely agree with everything that you guys pointed out in your reviews. So I propose that when this fic is done (so a while in the future, haha), I write a prequel for this chapter so Lisbon's dealings with Minelli can be more understandable. And in the future, I'll add a disclaimer that not all of these ficlets will follow the storyline or necessarily be in the same time and space. Deal?
I appreciate all of your reviews, as always; they were especially thoughtful and constructive this time! More are always welcomed and will be read with pleasure.
Love, Moksgmol
Lyrics from:
Thriving Ivory. Better than Alone. Unknown Album
