Author's Notes: As always, thank you Yana!

I have gotten comments saying how believable my story is and thankful it appears so (or at least within the realm of The Mentalist). With this chapter perhaps I might stretch reality a bit with Abby… my defense is, hey it's a Mentalist fanfic. So bear with me. I don't think it's too out there, but maybe a little bit. You'll likely figure out what I mean after finishing this chapter. As with most of the medical stuff, I did look up information online to keep things close to real as I can without having actually experienced it firsthand.

Thank you reviewers! MOSI3, Famous4it, mtm, Tessa27 (the highlight of ff net? A lovely sentiment, but likely to give me a big head ), Nancy (I love that you loved the last chapter), Chiisana Minako (Sorry, I didn't explore the Lisbon family relationship much. So many fillings to choose from… OMG! Crunchy peanut butter filling with nugat and butter toffee bits would be mouthwatering…), Firebreather23 (You can keep on demanding, but you get what you get. Glad you like it enough to demand more.), and starbuckfaerie21.

Please enjoy and review!

Chapter 7

Due to Lisbon being lucid more often, lengthening time in being conscience, and no real setbacks in her recovery she was removed from the intensive care unit. It took only five days after her two younger brothers came. Unfortunately it was a shared room (insurance covered only so much).

The three brothers crowded around her for their last visit. Now that she was really on her way to recovery they didn't have much excuse to stick around. They had jobs and lives to get back to.

The Lisbon brothers had spent the day waiting for their sister to wake up and talked with her when she finally did, leaving her when she fell asleep for a quick tour of the city with Van Pelt, and back again in the late afternoon.

"Next time we see each other better be at Christmas. You skipped out last time," Kev told his sister.

"Yah," Mikey chimed in, "I better not hear you're in the hospital again just to get us all together. You come to us next time."

"Okay, okay!" Tessa waved a hand at her towering brothers, "I promise to come back east for Christmas this year, though I think the promise will depend on how trashed you left my place."

"Hey! I resent that!" Kev gave her false wounded look.

"Don't worry, I fixed everything these two knuckleheads broke. Looks good as new," John quickly followed up, causing Kev to glare at him and the others to laugh, partly in surprise as the team had noticed in their short time together that the middle brother rarely spoke.

Each brother treated their sister as one would a delicate glass figurine, warned of her broken ribs. Each took a turn kissing her cheek and saying their goodbyes. Lisbon thanked Cho for his offer of driving her brothers to the airport. The team had come in to see her having been notified that she would be moved that day from ICU and that her brothers were leaving. Minelli let them off early from the office, having had a slow day as well, and the team got to be acquainted with the brothers the last hour.

They all said their goodbyes again and Cho led them to the night darkened parking lot. At one point Rigsby had commented on the height difference between their boss and her brothers, at which Van Pelt swiftly elbowed him, hoping no one heard. However John, Cho, and Jane had all noticed and privately smiled at each other.

With the other Lisbons gone the room became quiet. Lisbon looked over at Van Pelt, "Thanks again for taking the boys out around town today, they've never been here before."

"No problem Boss, I was glad to do it," the junior agent replied warmly.

Rigsby noticed the clock on the wall and saw how late in the evening it was, he looked over at the small woman wearing white and blue patient's gown on the bed and spoke up, "Uh, well, looks like we gotta go," he had never been a fan of hospitals, "We'll come again some time."

Lisbon's eyes were drooping closed as she said her goodbye to the young agents. She hadn't noticed Jane leaning quietly against the wall watching them. Satisfied that she had fallen asleep he left the room.

In less than a week, after she had been transferred out of the ICU, Lisbon had regained a more normal sleeping pattern and was awake during the day time. She was still being medicated to dull the pain of her mending ribs, the chest tube having been removed several days ago, but was able to walk to the bathroom by herself. She did not ever want to be attached to a catheter ever again. It was rather embarrassing to think that everyone could virtually see her urinating constantly. That thought hadn't occurred to her until Van Pelt had commented on the bathroom situation. Rigsby had thought it funny (though he didn't laugh in front of his boss) until Jane mentioned the length of catheter having to be used for a man. The once again tallest man had squirmed uncomfortably at the thought.

Teresa Lisbon was bored out of her mind! There was a TV in the shared room, but Lisbon quickly grew tired of daytime television. She hadn't really seen daytime TV other than when she had been sick, and even then she usually went to work anyway. There was nothing good on during the day. And besides, she'd rather be out of the hospital and back in the office so at least she'd have something to do, even if it was only writing reports.

Cho had been thoughtful enough to bring her a book, but she had almost begged him for a file to work on. He simply gave her his trademark deadpan face and answered, "No can do Boss, doctor's orders."

For nothing else to do Lisbon finally started carefully walking around the hospital, rolling the IV drip tree along. A worried nurse had found her sitting in a lounge catching her breath and admonished her for overexerting herself. Lisbon had waved it off, but the nurse only came back with a wheelchair and took her back to her room.

It was a day after that incident when Jane came to visit her during his lunch break instead of after office hours. Lisbon had tried reading the book Cho had brought her, but wasn't getting anywhere as her legs itched to move. The nurses had been watching her like hawks. In her current state she sure wasn't up for any marathons, but just being able to walk around would be nice.

She noticed a sudden movement, Jane's curly head poking into the room.

"Ah, you're awake, perfect," he said with a secretive smile.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?" Lisbon asked almost sternly, though she was thankful for his interruption to her boring day.

"I brought you a friend," he simply said, stepping into the room. Lisbon watched him curiously, wondering who it was. Then she saw the Golden Retriever follow him in.

"You can't bring a dog in here!" Lisbon hissed at him, wondering how he had managed this.

"Ah, but she's a licensed service dog. Her name's Abby," he corrected, the familiar know-it-all smile on his face.

He brought the dog to the CBI senior agent and waved the dog to the bed. Abby quietly limped up with a slowly wagging tail to Lisbon's bedside and stuck her head over the edge, sniffing her hand. Lisbon involuntarily smiled as she started stroking the gentle creature's soft head.

"What happened to her?" she asked softly, referring to the dog's limp.

"Oh, she was shot protecting her owner, but don't worry. According to the vet the limp should become very minimal."

"Shot?" Lisbon looked up, startled. Her face was serious now, though she continued stroking the dog's fur. Abby sat by the bed, seemingly blissful as her eyes closed and tail continued gently swishing along the tile floor. "What happened?"

Jane recounted the edited version of the team's first case without Lisbon.

"… and Abby was finally released from being evidence since they matched her teeth with the marks found on the perp's arm and leg," Jane finished.

"So why do you have her here, now?" Lisbon asked, once again focused on the quiet dog who was all but asleep against the hospital bed.

"I heard about your little incident yesterday and figured having a dog around would give you something to do during your long days," Jane answered matter of factly.

Lisbon stared at him, trying to understand what he said, "For just today right?"

"No, while you're still in the hospital."

"But dogs need walks and I can't do that right now," she calmly pointed out.

"You don't need to worry about that, Abby is still healing so it's minimal movement for her as well. Besides, if she needs a walk I can walk her when I come by in the evenings," Jane supplied, hands in his pockets, smiling.

"But what about going to the bathroom?"

"Don't worry, she's potty trained," Jane rebutted, a sparkle in his eye.

"Well, I would hope a service dog is house broken, but this is a hospital, they don't make it a practice of having newspaper on the floor for a dog to do their business on," Lisbon's voice was starting to rise in decibels as her frustration rose.

"Again, she's potty trained," Jane insisted calmly, that sparkle in his eye was annoying the hell out of his supervising agent.

"And again hospitals don't just let-"

"Abby, potty," Jane interrupted. The dog's eyes opened and she removed her head from under the woman's hand. She walked around the room and found the shared bathroom, grasping the door handle and pulling down with her mouth, opening the door. They watched as the dog clambered up onto the toilet seat and began to do her business. Lisbon's mouth dropped open as she stared in awe. Once finished the dog had leaped off and pawed the toilet handle down, flushing the toilet.

"See, potty trained," Jane smiled at her as Abby padded back to the bedside. Lisbon remained speechless until the dog nosed her hand again.

"Good dog," she murmured, rubbing the dog's ears as the retriever sighed happily, eyes once again closing blissfully.