A/N: This next chapter is a bit of comic relief, which is certainly a relief for me too, lol. Hope you like it.

Chapter 8

That night, someone knocked on Jane's door. His heart picked up speed, and he offered out a silent plea to the universe that it was Lisbon. Things had been better between them the rest of the day, since he'd shared what Red John had said to him, but their relationship was by no means off the rocks. When he'd asked to see her after work, she'd claimed tiredness, and he couldn't help but feel summarily dismissed. She needed more time, he supposed, to deal with her feelings of betrayal. Women. So when the knock came, he couldn't help but hope she'd changed her mind.

He squinted through the peephole to see J.J. LaRoche on the other side of his door. He wondered if the man had brought his gun to finish him off. As he watched the big man standing there, obviously uncomfortable, he noticed another person just behind and to the side of LaRoche. Jane grinned and opened the door.

"J.J. How nice of you to come for a visit. And look…you've brought Jessie! How wonderful!" He held out a hand in a sweeping gesture. "Come in, please…both of you."

LaRoche noted the rainbow of colors surrounding Jane's eye and cheek, and his lips twitched slightly in satisfaction. Jane offered an answering grin. Let him think he's got the upper hand…for now.

The couple was obviously feeling very awkward, and Jane seemed to feed off of it. He indicated that they sit in his spartan living room while he put on the tea kettle. Jane joined them, sitting in a chair across from the couch the pair shared. "So, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"John is here to apologize for hitting you," Jessie said firmly.

"Oh, no," Jane said benignly. "No apologies necessary. He felt like I was interfering in his life, which I certainly was. But my intention was not to hurt you, Jessie. For that, I owe you an apology."

"Well…Agent Cho told me you were messing with John and using me to do it because John wouldn't let you stay in the CBI attic anymore."

Good old Cho…

"Yes," Jane agreed readily. "That's true. Though now that I hear it voiced aloud, it sounds rather childish, wouldn't you say?" Jane shot LaRoche, who had not said a word up to that point, a meaningful glance. His words put it up to interpretation as to who was really being the childish one here.

Jessie nudged LaRoche, cuing his apology. He cleared his throat.

"Mr. Jane, I let my temper get the better of me and took my anger out on you in a highly inappropriate and unprofessional manner. Please accept my apology."

Jane allowed the tension to mount, as if he were considering whether or not to accept. In truth, the unexpected pummeling had been a nice enhancement of his plan. He'd only counted on LaRoche's anger—a physical outburst was just an added bonus. Jessie was literally sitting on the edge of her seat, fearful no doubt that Jane might choose to take some legal recourse.

"I accept your apology, J.J.," he said at last.

"You're not going to press charges are you?" Jesse asked anxiously.

"Now, Jessie—"

Jane almost laughed. "No, Jessie. Have no worries on that score. I hope we can put this unfortunate business behind us. We do have to work together, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Jane," agreed LaRoche ironically, "we do." If Jessie hadn't been there, Jane was sure he would have added, "and remember, I'm the boss."

Jessie looked wholeheartedly relieved. As the teakettle whistled, Jane got up to get a tray and tea service, throwing some cookies onto a plate and setting the lot down on the coffee table. It was all very civilized, at least in appearance.

Ignoring the silent contempt between the two men, Jessie filled the room with her musical chatter, while offering to pour the tea. "If you truly mean to put this behind us, Patrick, I propose that we go ahead with your original idea for a birthday party for John. We could close down the restaurant and I'd make all his favorite foods. Everyone in the CBI would be invited, of course—"

"Jess-" LaRoche began, in halfhearted warning.

"Whatever Patrick had planned to get back at you, that's obviously a moot point now. Why not celebrate your special day? And there are other things to celebrate too now, John, aren't there?" She looked at LaRoche, blue eyes sparkling with love. So, thought Jane, the lovebirds have reconnected. Perfect.

LaRoche looked back at his former fiancé, patting her skirt-clad thigh, seemingly lost in the moment. This just reinforced Jane's opinion that love was definitely blind, at least on Jessie's part. Jane cleared his throat, then took a sip of chamomile. The couple directed their rather glazed eyes toward him.

"I'm up for a party," Jane smiled gently at Jessie. "Who knows, with all this tension around the office since Hightower's disappearance, maybe a non-work-related get-together is just the thing. You should talk to Agent Van Pelt, Jessie. She's probably loaded with ideas and will be more than happy to help you organize things."

"Won't she be too busy with her wedding plans…?" LaRoche suggested.

"Meh, women thrive on being multi-taskers. Wouldn't hurt to ask."Jane had no qualms in volunteering Grace's time.

"Great! John and I have been out of touch for awhile. It would be nice to have one of his friends helping me to know whom I should invite." She reached for a cookie and nibbled it delicately.

Jane tried very hard not to snicker. LaRoche was nobody's friend—at least not in the Serious Crimes Unit.

"The big five-o is coming up, eh?" Jane said conversationally, unable to resist the little jab at his boss's age. "That's quite a milestone. Half a century. Wow."

"With age comes much wisdom," he replied, bringing his own cup to his lips.

Jessie laughed. "That was on our fortune cookie at lunch today, John."

"True nonetheless," said Jane with a grin. "Those Chinese fortune cookie writers are great philosophers. And from what I know of my pal J.J. here, he is very wise indeed. He always seems to know just when to back off." LaRoche's expression didn't change, but there was a hardening of his eyes that made the atmosphere in the room grow suddenly much colder.

"And Patrick here, well he's still one of those young whipper-snappers. He doesn't tend to think through his actions first."

Jessie looked with alarm from one man to the other. "Gentlemen, please—" she cautioned softly.

"No worries, Jessie; have another cookie. Marie's Bakery is known for their lovely pecan sandies."

"Yes, they are," concurred LaRoche, taking a bite of a buttery cookie. His third, at Jane's count.

But the men weren't looking at the voluptuous redhead; they were sizing each other up in a way that it was obvious that each found the other wanting.

Jessie took one more polite sip of her tea and glanced at LaRoche. "John, Don't you think we should be going? Let Patrick enjoy the rest of his evening. Maybe put some more ice on that eye."

"Very well," said LaRoche, almost too quickly to be polite. The whole apology and stay-for-tea thing had to have been all Jessie's idea.

She was certainly leading the big man around by his…nose…

They all rose and Jane escorted them to the door, opening it for them and leaning against it as his unexpected guests walked out.

"Thank you for the tea," Jessie said, turning back to their host. "I'll let you know the details for the party. Too bad it won't be a surprise."

"Oh, I'd say it was a surprise." Jane's grin had a slight edge to it.

"Well, uh…good-night, Patrick."

"Good night, Jessie. See you tomorrow, Boss." Jane considered giving the man a nice big bear hug, but decided that might be pushing things a bit too far, even with Jessie there to prevent another beating.

LaRoche couldn't help his wry smirk. "Yes you will, Jane. Good night."

As soon as they reached the parking lot, Jane closed the door and picked up his phone. He felt an overpowering need to share what had happened with his best friend.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lisbon had just gotten out of a long, hot bath when her phone rang. She grabbed a towel, wrapped it around herself, and answered it.

"Hey, sweetheart," came Jane's voice, low and sexy. She couldn't help but shiver when he spoke to her like that. She left the steamy bathroom for the comfort of her bed, sprawling across it with a tired sigh, the phone held tightly to her ear.

"Hi, Jane. It's late…"

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to tell you about my late-night visitors."

She was intrigued in spite of herself. He told her about LaRoche and Jessie, the upcoming birthday party, and their boss's barely sincere apology.

"He was just saving his own ass," she said in her usual, direct way.

"Yeah, even Jessie wasn't fooled by that."

Lisbon paused a moment, imagining the luscious redhead she'd met earlier. She'd noted how Jessie Lynch turned the head of every man in the office, even Cho. She was surprised at the twinge of jealousy she felt at the thought of such a sensual woman sitting on Jane's couch.

"I met her today. She seems like a nice person. I hope you feel bad for screwing with her."

"It's nothing personal," Jane said, and it occurred to him that she sounded just a bit…jealous. He couldn't resist finding out for sure. "But she's quite a woman. All woman, as my dad would say."

And there it was: the telltale snort of envy. He grinned, but moved on, secure that he could still engender that kind of emotion in the woman he loved, despite their recent differences.

"Anyway, in the interest of glasnost, I thought I'd share these latest developments with you, without delay."

"Thank you, Mr. Gorbachev," she responded dryly. "Does this new openness include your reasons for reintroducing Jessie to LaRoche? Your plan to remove him from his exalted position in the Serious Crimes Unit?"

"Not yet, my dear. Patience. But let me just say, things are falling into place even more smoothly than I had hoped."

"Glad to hear it. I hope to God nothing backfires here, or it could mean both of our jobs."

"Have faith, Lisbon. Oh, and by the way, what are you wearing?"

"What?" she laughed in surprise.

"You heard me."

"We are so not doing that."

"By that, you mean phone sex? Come on; it'll be fun. Are you in bed?"

"Stop it," she chuckled. "Don't make me hang up on you."

"How about phone heavy petting?"

A bark of laughter escaped from her, and he could imagine her eyes closed, her nose crinkled in humor, and it reached across the line to squeeze his heart with warmth. "No!"she protested.

"First base?"

"Good night, Jane."

"Good night. Oh, and Lisbon?"

"What?"

"I miss you," he said softly, the laughter fading from his voice.

She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. Try as she may, she couldn't stay mad at him. She was still hurt by their recent arguments, and by the fact that she knew he was still keeping things from her. But she didn't have the strength to kick him out of her life, or to even stick to her ultimatums. She loved him, and there was simply no escaping that.

"I miss you too," she said, then hung up before he could hear that she was crying.

A/N: More to come soon. Thanks for reading. Since you can't reward me with chocolate, a lovely review would do! (And I promise to reply to all your reviews for the last chapter later today. Thanks!)