Chapter 7

When they pulled up to Lisbon's house, there was no parking for Jane's rental car. On top of the beach-goers cars that were parked illegally on the street, Don's car was still in the drive way and a minivan was pulled in closely behind it, almost hanging out into the road. "I think Wayne's here. Thanks for the ride, Jane." Lisbon quickly jumped out of the car, hoping that he would just drive off and not find a different place to park.

She went into the house, calling out to Janie that she was home.

"MOMMY!" her daughter yelled, jumping up from where she had been playing on the floor with a little red headed boy and girl. Lisbon crouched to the floor and gave her daughter a hug.

"How was dance class?" she asked, kissing her forehead.

"Julie got sick all over the floor again. Mrs. Jones said that she thinks she gets too nervous dancing by herself. She gave Sammy some papers for you to sign. Uncle Wayne's here, Mommy, did you see him?"

Lisbon couldn't help but laugh, "No, not yet, Honey. Go play and I'll see if I can find him, okay?" She stood up and watched her daughter go back to playing with the twins. She then walked toward the kitchen, the logical place they would be. She was surprised to hear a familiar voice coming from inside the kitchen.

"How the hell did you get back here so fast?" she asked before even announcing her presence; it was her house after all.

"I parked in the street. What took you so long? You were in the house before I parked the car." Jane flashed his ever-present smile at her and Lisbon just rolled her eyes.

"I stopped to say hello to my daughter." She turned to Rigsby as if just noticing him for the first time. "How was the trip? Should I bother telling Grace that it took you three hours less than it should have to get here?"

"No, you do not need to tell her." Rigsby paused for a second and then said "So, Jane was telling me that you have some news."

Lisbon glared at him, but he avoided her gaze. "Yea, I wanted to tell Grace first, but it seems that Jane didn't want to wait."

"So, let me see." Wayne said, reaching for her left hand to look at the ring. He really had become domesticated since getting married and having children.

Lisbon held up her hand to show the ring that had been placed there earlier. The ring was a simple gold solitaire, not too large, and not too small. Not a ring she would have picked, but it was all right.

"That's nice." Rigsby said, not very convincingly.

"You don't like it?"

"It's not that, it's just not what I would have picked out for you."

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm not marrying you." Lisbon responded with a chuckle. They were chatting in the kitchen when Lisbon's phone rang.

"Lisbon," she said into the phone as she stepped out on the patio to answer.

"Hey, Boss. It's Cho. We've got a promising lead at the hospital the next town over."

"Two things: one, I'm not your boss any more, and two, why are you calling me?"

"Marley is an ass. And Jane's there. We knew that he'd want to know that Van Pelt and I found him."

"Really?" Lisbon looked over her shoulder and saw Jane coming out onto the patio. She looked at him and gave him a look that she hoped conveyed the news to him.

"The guy's as good as admitted it. He's in bad shape. Jane needs to get here."

"I'll let him know." She hung up the phone without saying good bye and turned to face Jane.

"They found him." Jane said, not waiting for her to talk first.

"Yeah, hospital the next town over. I guess he's in pretty bad shape."

"I need—"

"I know." They stood on the patio, not touching, the silence looming between them.

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not." Lisbon sighed. "This is what you've been living for. Just don't do anything stupid." She looked at him one more time before going back into the house, knowing that he would know where to find Cho and Van Pelt, where to find Red John.