YAAAWWN, first day of school today (never fun). This is another angst-filled little number but I promise the next one will be full of fun, Jane/Lisbon banter and Emily cuteness so please bear the drama and hang on! I didn't have time to edit this one so they may be a few mistakes…..

ORDEAL

Jane didn't know what to look for as he stood in William Bunting's living room. He had no idea what to expect a potential killer's house to look like. In his head he imagined a wrought iron gate, stone gargoyles, candles and newspaper clippings hanging from ceiling with a ginormous grandfather clock and bearskin rug.

But he was disappointed when Bunting's house appeared as normal and suburban as any other Broken Hill home. He didn't even have one of those front doors that made that chilling 'I am so going to be murdered right now' creak when you opened it. Jane thought that was standard issue for a serial killer.

It didn't appear that Bunting was home which was, in a way, better as Jane didn't know how he could handle being in proximity with the man who hurt his wife like that and be able to do nothing.

The house was neat and tidy but eerily so. No empty mugs lying around, no photo frames. Not a thing out of place or sign of actual life. The entire set up was artfully aligned as if stylized by a real estate agent. Jane's eyes fell on something that did prove existence in this empty house. By a single armchair there was a small glass placed on the table.

He walked over to it and saw that there was a trickle of a liquid amber substance left at the bottom. A spirit of some kind. There was no coaster resting underneath the glass but three blue files with papers inside. Jane titled his head, unable to drain himself of energy by moving the glass, and read the names that were clipped to the top.

McALLISTER, Eloise
BENNETT, Michelle
CAHILL, Phoebe

There was one that was spread open on the coffee table and Jane prayed that it wasn't even though he knew very well it was.

JANE, Riley

If Jane had wondered how Bunting picked his victims, he had a pretty clear idea now. It was obvious he went for young women with depression who had children. And every he needed to know to find these women was conveniently stored at the medical centre.

Medical history, psychiatrist reports, address, prescriptions...

This made Jane shudder. If some orderly could get his hands on this information, Red John most certainly could.
There was something else weird about this situation that Jane couldn't quite place. This house was organised and in perfect order. It didn't seem that Bunting would just have left a glass on the table and Riley's medical file lying open. Something wasn't right.

000

"I know things seem pretty bad right now," Bunting said as he tied Riley's wrists tighter to the chair she was tied to. "But its going to be all right. I'll help you."

Lisbon had her back against the wall, edging millimetre by millimetre to the door. She just needed a five second diversion to get her gun from the table. Riley was looking down at the floor, contemplating the pattern of the wood.

Though perhaps she felt Lisbon's eyes boring into her head because she glanced up and met Lisbons eyes.
Hoping that the lords could bless Riley with telepathy just for the moment, Lisbon tried to talk to Riley using just her eyes. To warn her what she was about to do.

Riley gave no indication of understanding but went back to staring at the floor as Bunting checked that his knots were substantial. He was bent down at least and it would take him a few seconds to hear Lisbon's feet.
Lisbon took a deep breath and took the door handle in her hand, turning it slowly.

Bunting heard the creak of the handle and looked up so Lisbon opened the door at the same time that Riley rocked to the right so her chair tipped over and Bunting went stumbling over her in his haste to reach Lisbon. He stretched out his arm and managed to grab one of her ankles, making her slam to the ground.

Bunting dragged her upright and slammed her against the wall, holding her chin up with his hand.
He pressed the flat edge of the knife to Lisbon's throat and whispered delicately in her ear. "This is only going to hurt a little bit."

"Well, this is going to hurt a lot," Lisbon said kneeing him in the groin making his grip loosen in pain.
Lisbon struggled out of his grasp and ran to the dining table, her fingers outstretched. He was fast though and reached her right at the last second. Still doubled over in pain, he grabbed her leg and her face smashed into the side of the table.

She felt blood gush from her nose as Bunting dragged her upright and dragged her back into the room.
This time he tied Lisbon to a chair also and stood Riley's up so they could face each other.
Riley's head was still down, her dark hair making a curtain around her face.

Riley looked completely unshaken and neutral. Unlike Lisbon, Riley didn't appear to be worried at all. Lifeless, was the word Lisbon was thinking of. No hint of emotion on Riley's face. As usual.
Riley looked up at Lisbon through the tresses of her hair in a manner that clear spoke 'are you okay?'

Lisbon nodded. Actually she was petrified and her face hurt like hell, but was trying her best not to let it show.

"Does it hurt?" Bunting said and Lisbon was about to come up with some hasty, crude remark when she realised he wasn't talking to her. He was standing over Riley.

"Feel like you want to hurt yourself?"
Anger welled up in Lisbon's insides, feeling protective of Riley who just looked so fragile and lifeless next to this evil man.
Bunting unwrapped the bandages on one Riley's wrists and she gasped slightly in pain at the pressure as his finger trailed over the deep slash.

"You really are sick, Mrs Jane."
"Look who's talking," Lisbon spat, her eyes seething with hatred as she struggled against her restraints.
"These problems squirm just beneath the skin, but I can make them go away," Bunting said caressing the flat side of his knife against Riley's deep cut.

"Don't touch her!" Lisbon yelled.
"I'm just trying to help before she ends up in an asylum," Bunting now turned to Lisbon. "Or her daughter ends up the one who pays for her depression. She's worried about that too. It's one of her squirmy things."

Lisbon was petrified as he left Riley and walked towards her but maintained her glare.
"I take my girls secrets..and they take mine," he raised the knife above Lisbon. "Forever."
Lisbon winced and closed her eyes.

"No, wait!" Riley yelled. "I'm sorry."
"So am I but I have to do what's necessary!"
Lisbon was certain she was about to be killed and there was nothing Riley could say to stop it.

"NO! HELP ME WILLIAM," Riley screamed. "I NEED YOU TO HELP ME!"

Lisbon peeked and saw Bunting's face soften and the knife he was holding drop to his side.
He walked away from Lisbon and over to Riley, kneeling beside her.

"I need you to take away all my secrets," Riley begged, tears cascading down her cheeks now. "Just like you did before. Please make it stop hurting."

He held her hand. "Anything for my girls."
Lisbon's eyes were wide with horror when she realised what Riley was doing. Riley was stalling Bunting by letting him kill her first. No, this was all wrong.

Bunting gently pressed the knife into her wrist, intent on recreating the wounds he had given her when he broke into her house. Lisbon felt her eyes brim with tears, knowing there was nothing she could do or say. She prayed for Jane to burst through the doors right…

At that moment, three gunshots fired into the room and Lisbon screamed and nearly toppled out of her chair in surprise.

Lisbon wasn't sure how but Bunting was on the floor, his eyes rolling as blood poured from his neck, his chest and abdomen.

Lisbon tried to crane her neck to see who was behind her. Maybe Foster or Cassidy or even one of her team had saved them. She smiled with relief and turned to face Riley, to tell that everything was okay.

But when she faced Riley, she noticed that Riley's eyes were staring up at the figure behind her. There was no lifelessness to Riley's eyes now. They were filled with horror and revulsion.

There was only one person in the world who could produce that amount of emotion out of her and Lisbon stiffened, her heart missing a beat as a cloaked figure in a mask walked past her slowly.

Red John kneeled beside Bunting who was still twitching and produced a large hunting knife. Lisbon, who knew what was coming shut her eyes but Riley was not as quick and watched in horror as he cut Bunting's throat with a quick, vicious swipe.

Her stomach lurched and she bit down on her lip so she didn't vomit as he dipped two fingers into Bunting's neck and turned to draw an unfinished smiley face on Lisbon's wall. The blood hadn't congealed properly so it looked like the face was crying.

Riley wondered, in some part of her mind, if she could get prints before she noticed Red John wore rubber kitchen gloves.

"Riley," Lisbon whispered steadily. "Look at me."

She couldn't. She wanted to but she was unable to tear her eyes away from the man who had caused her so much pain.

Red John turned towards Riley and walked over to her, his steps echoing throughout the room.
He squatted down so he could look at Riley straight in the face and Riley did not take her stare off of him.

Lisbon counted twenty seconds in her head. It felt like two hours.
Red John took his knife, still splattered in red from Bunting's blood and Lisbon was overcome with terror.

"Hey!" Lisbon yelled. "Get the hell away from her!"
He made no notice of Lisbon and slashed his knife. Lisbon gasped in horror until she saw that he had only cut the rope that was binding Riley's exposed wrist.

Red John made quick work of binding Riley's wrist back up with her bandage and tying it with a neat bow. He gently loosened the other ropes so she wasn't uncomfortable but still strong enough to hold her.
He picked up Lisbon's mobile phone which he must have retrieved when he came into her house.

The fact that Red John knew where she lived all this time made Lisbon shudder.
He dialed a number and left it open on the bed before he swiftly left the room, his footsteps making soft thuds. Lisbon heard her front door shut.

"Riley?" she said her voice now shaking uncontrollably from the ordeal she had just endured. She couldn't imagine how badly this night had shattered Riley's already fragile state.

Riley was staring down at Bunting's lifeless body, the pool of blood surrounding him was expanded and seeped into Riley's shoes.

"Riley?" Lisbon repeated again as Riley turned as chalky as a corpse. Perhaps the shock of the situation had finally settled in – a little late, Lisbon thought.

"Lisbon!" Jane shouted running into the room. He stopped dead and his face turned to sheer terror as he saw Red John's symbol splashed on Lisbon's wall before taking a deep breath of relief when he saw Lisbon shaken, but alive, strapped in the chair.

Then he noticed Bunting's dead body spread on the ground in a dark pool of blood and Riley looking just as lifeless.
"What the hell happened?" he nearly shouted, his voice trembling with the same fear that was in Lisbon's.
Lisbon shook her head. She would explain everything to him when Riley wasn't present. Lisbon didn't know how much more she could take tonight.

"RILEY? LISBON?" two loud voices yelled.
"We're in here!" Lisbon yelled to them. "In here."

Cassidy and Cho came racing into the room.
"What the hell?" Cassidy growled seeing Bunting's body on the floor and the smile on the wall.
"B-Bunting was th-the one who h-hurt Riley," Lisbon said shakily as Cho untied her. "He d-did it s-so he could.."
"How about you tell me all about it when we get home," Cassidy said calmly. He was over by Riley, untying the loose rope and trying his hardest not to put any pressure on her wrists.

Get home, Lisbon thought. This place, her apartment…Red John had tainted it. This could never be her home again.
She looked for Jane and found him standing by the corner, his hands gripping his face so tightly it looked like he was trying to rip it from his skull. Lisbon noticed his body posture shift as Cassidy half carried Riley past her.
He could even look at her.

"How did you know where to find me?" Lisbon asked Cho after fifteen minutes of silence in the car. The quaver in her voice seemed to have calmed a little and she was attempted to wipe off the dried blood from her face, relieved that her nose didn't seem to be broken.

Cho looked at her oddly. "The message you sent me. You said you were at your place and you needed help. So I called Agent Cassidy and he said you and Mrs Jane had gone AWOL."
Lisbon stared darkly out the window.

Riley had her head pressed against the window, her eyes were closed and her entire body was drained. Lisbon imagined that this was due to the cocktail of drugs that were swimming around in her bloodstream.

"Wez Mly?" she mumbled and Lisbon didn't understand what she said.
"At home with Jill," Cassidy whispered softly as if a voice any louder would break her.
Lisbon assumed that Jill was Ben Cassidy's wife. She had read her name before.

"How the hell did you manage to kill Bunting?" Cho said quietly.
Lisbon dropped her voice to a whisper. "I didn't. It was Red John, he was there. He killed Bunting."
"And left you two alive?" Cho sounded skeptic. "Why would he do that?"

"Didn't want to share," Lisbon guessed glancing back at Riley's catatonic form, wondering when the shock would pass and she would break down.
A few minutes of silence past.

"Hell, Lisbon," Cho muttered under his breath. "I thought you were doing this protection detail to have a break from the action."
"There were other…..factors involved in my decision. I'm not backing out now."

They pulled up and Lisbon wasn't surprised to see Foster's car parked on the curb.
Cassidy put his arm around Riley's shoulders and Lisbon knew that if she had been able to support herself, she would have flinched away from his touch.

Foster and Jill were sitting anxiously at the table when they got in the door.
"Oh my god, Riley!" Jill exclaimed putting her hand over her mouth.
Riley was definitely a sight. Her long hair was mattered, her wrists bandaged and she was still in her hospital gown.
She looked like a corpse and Lisbon wasn't sure if Riley could ever recover from this.

She asked for Emily again and Jill took her up to Emily's bedroom while Lisbon filled in Cho, Foster and Cassidy. Cassidy provided the gasps of horror as called for as the other two men sat solemnly listening to Lisbon's ordeal.

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, Lisbon," Cho said clapping her on the shoulder as he left.
Foster, Cassidy and Jill all appeared to be staying which Lisbon thought was wise given that Red John's possessiveness of this family had been confirmed.

Lisbon went up the stairs and knocked on Riley's door softly before stepping inside.
Riley looked slightly better in an overlong tshirt and sweat pants, her hair tied up and Emily laying snugly across her lap with the most serene, peaceful expression lighting up the little girls face.

"Riley," Lisbon walked over to her. "You need to take your insulin."
She handed her the needle and Riley stared at it, making no move to reach for it.
"N-no," Riley said weakly. "I cant.."

Lisbon felt a surge of tears well up in her eyes.
"Riley Jane!" she nearly yelled and Emily winced slightly in her sleep. "I have not just sat through this night watching you nearly die on multiple occasions for you to turn around AND NOT TAKE YOUR FUCKING INSULIN!"

She scrubbed away at her tears as her anger seeped out. How could this silly girl treat her life like nothing? Did she not know what she meant to people? What she meant to Jane? It would kill him (emotionally), if anything happened to her. Riley didn't have to watch the agony in his eyes, Lisbon did.

Lisbon thrust the needle at her again.
"I mean, I literally cant," Riley said softly glancing down at her wrists.
"Oh," Lisbon said choking slightly. "I'm so sorry. Let me."

Lisbon injected Riley's insulin and watched as Riley just sat stroking Emily's soft hair.
"Lisbon?" Riley said just as she was about to leave. "I'm sorry."
"It isn't your fault," Lisbon told her sternly before shutting the door and going to her own room.

She crawled into bed, making no move to change into her pajamas. The clock told her it was 4am.
Lisbon could feel Jane's presence but made no move to break the silence.
"How is she?" Jane asked quietly.

"Scarily fine after having her wrists slashed, almost being chopped up by a psychotic orderly and having Red John come and finish off the night on a high."

Jane didn't say anything for a while.
"I..I didn't mean for this to happen," he said. "I didn't mean for her to get hurt."

"Well, you should've thought about that before you mocked the bastard," Lisbon said rolling over.
"I deserved that," Jane sighed.
"Well, they didn't," Lisbon said angrily. "They've done nothing wrong. They are the most perfect wife and daughter that better men that you would be lucky to have."

"I know."
Lisbon sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm just angry."
"Me too," Jane told her. "Red John was at Buntings house. He was looking at.."
"Jane, please," Lisbon begged. "I need to sleep."
"I'm sorry," Jane said. "Night, Lisbon."
"Night, Jane."

000

Foster was slightly taken aback when Riley came down the stairs the next morning looking just as radiant as ever.
"Morning," she said getting out Emily's sippy cup and filling it up with juice.
"Hey," Foster said slowly.

Riley glanced at the paper he was reading.
"Serial Killer Gets Taste Of His Own Medicine by Ted Biggs. I cant even get a byline and I'm part of the story."
"Well, I'm just glad you're not in the obituaries."
"Or wearing a straightjacket at Northside," Riley joked.

"I'd never let that happen," Foster vowed so sincerely it made Riley's cheeks blush. Foster thought the colour looked lovely on her.

Riley's glowing face turned slightly green and she ran to the bathroom quickly before Foster was greeted by the familiar sound of her vomiting.

She was never going to get over him was she?

BTW, There is a HUGE, MASSIVE, SHOCK about to rock the Janes and I've left a few hints scattered here and there around chapters so BONUS POINTS TO YOU if any smart cookie can maybe review what they think it is.