A/N: Okay, I'm really spoiling you guys. Two chapters in two days. I said I was on a roll with this, didn't I? Anyway, I'm going to take a brief break from this to update Better and then I will be back. Things are beginning to get fun with this one. Though, I think I might have added yet another chapter. Oops. This thing just keeps getting longer and longer. I swear it has a mind of its own!
Thank you to: lalez, lil smiles, CaterinaCarmela, Madaboutthementalist, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Lara, Divinia Serit, Penelope Louise and NellietheItalian for reviewing part eight.
This part's for Nellie. I know this isn't helping with your addiction, I'm sorry!
Thanks to lil smiles for a super fast beta job. You're awesome.
x tromana
Part Nine - I Need You
Jane shivered as he sat on Lisbon's doorstep, just waiting. The sun had long since set and she still hadn't returned home. He hadn't expected that whatever it was she had to do, would take all day. A car pulled into the complex and Jane almost rose to his feet before he realized that it was a false alarm, immediately recognizing it as belonging to someone else who lived there. A few minutes later, Lisbon's elderly neighbour approached him, waving genially. It took him by surprise when the old man sat down beside him and placed a wrinkled hand on his shoulder.
"You're young Teresa's man, aren't you?"
"I… guess," Jane replied.
"That's good. It's good to see her happy. Doesn't do to see a pretty woman so sad all the time," the gentleman added. "Look after her."
"I do."
"I should hope so, because it's rather odd to have you sitting out here instead of inside her apartment with her."
With a final nod, the man rose to his feet once more, as quickly as his arthritic knees would allow him. Jane was left in stunned silence for a change and watched as the elderly gentleman shuffled away. Another car pulled in front of him five minutes later and three men and a rather familiar woman got out. He beamed and approached what was obviously Lisbon and her younger brothers. She sighed heavily when she caught sight of him but that didn't stop her from approaching him.
"Teresa," he murmured and went to catch her hand, which she promptly pulled out of his reach. "I've been-"
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Is this guy bothering you, Tessa?"
Jane smirked as Lisbon glowered at the youngest of the three men. The man, with equally dark hair and virtually identical eyes had already balled up his fists at the first sign of his sister's discomfort. Jane wiped his sweaty palms down his pants before approaching the youngest of the Lisbon siblings, hands open in a non-threatening manner. Of course he wouldn't want to hurt Lisbon. Why would he want to hurt her? Despite Jane's purposively relaxed body language, the other man remained tensed and suspicious and Jane found himself smirking again. Obviously mistrust ran in the family.
"Leave it, Jay," Lisbon muttered. "It's just Jane. I work with him."
"Jane as in that pain in the ass psychic jerk you moan about all the time?"
"The very same," she grinned. "And I don't moan about him all the time."
"You do complain about him a lot though," Edward piped up.
"Yeah, like all afternoon," Jacob added brightly.
Jane found the smirk that had been written across his features fell away quite easily. It seemed that Lisbon hadn't told her brothers that she was actually dating him and she wanted them to believe that she still only saw him as barely more than a colleague. With a significant amount of resignation, Jane shook the hands of all three of her brothers and glanced nervously at Lisbon. As she shooed them away citing that something must have come up at work, Jacob rolled his eyes excessively while the eldest, Matthew, chose to glare at him. Only Edward bid him farewell in anything resembling friendliness. Once they were out of sight however, Lisbon seemed to relax immediately and quickly invited Jane inside.
"Tea?"
Jane nodded as he spoke, "Are you okay, Teresa?"
"Oh, fine."
"Is this going to be a repeat of yesterday?"
"I've had a tiring day," she answered quickly as he tentatively wrapped his arms around her waist. "I hate this time of the year."
"Your Mom?"
"It's been twenty one years," she responded, offering the information surprisingly willingly.
"What happened?"
She froze in his arms.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Well, when you're ready…"
"I know," she murmured. "Stay."
"Are you sure?"
"I need you."
"Not angry at me turning up unannounced anymore then, huh?"
Quietly, she wrapped her arms tightly around him and he placed a soft kiss to the crown of her head, the tea completely forgotten about. Without warning, he scooped her up and laughed gently at her protestations at being carried. Annoyed, she punched him lightly on the chest, continually begging to be put back down. Eventually, he dropped her gently onto her bed and she scrambled into a sitting position, pouting slightly. Part of her still felt guilty for not opening up to him more, but even though they were technically in a relationship she still didn't quite trust him with every little detail about her past. Lisbon had never been one to wear her heart on her sleeve and to tell him everything would make her feel even more vulnerable.
"I think you need to sleep."
"Mmm, I agree."
He knelt beside the bed and quickly placed another kiss on the tip of her nose. Rising to his feet and heading towards the door, Lisbon whimpered and Jane turned to face her with a wistful expression.
"Don't worry, I'm not leaving you. I'm just going to tidy up," he quickly said. "Sleep well, Teresa."
Lisbon woke to a gentle knock on her bedroom door and stared blearily at her alarm clock, which was proudly telling her that it was half past five in the morning. She hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep at all, never mind for a good seven hours or so. After a second incessant knock, she shouted a quick 'come in' and Jane walked in, looking exhausted. It was obvious that he hadn't really slept the previous night. She frowned; it seemed his insomnia was playing up yet again.
"What's all this in aid of?" she queried as he brought over the tray filled with breakfast for two, complete with her mug of morning coffee.
"Can't I just bring you breakfast in bed without you getting suspicious?"
"No," she stated emphatically. "With you, there's almost always an ulterior motive."
"Ah."
"Well, what is it then?" she asked while picking up a piece of toast.
"I have to go away."
"For how long?"
"Three weeks."
"Three weeks?" she echoed.
Jane nodded. "I'm in talks for a slot on a television show."
"That means you'll be going away even more, won't it?"
"Yes," he replied. "You're not mad with me?"
"Why would I be? It's your career," she replied. "Even if I don't feel comfortable with the idea of you playing with vulnerable people's emotions, I can't take that away from you. It'd be like you telling me to leave CBI."
"Thank you."
Lisbon sighed and picked up her coffee and blew across it to cool it slightly before taking a quick sip. She couldn't help but wish that Jane had told her that he would be going away sooner, or rather, that he wasn't going away at all. He abused the trust of people like her, only less skeptical. People like Jacob. It was a case of him giving them hope, yes, but false hope and she didn't like the idea of what could happen if the truth was revealed. Patrick Jane was playing a dangerous game and she had a feeling that he couldn't really see that. Naturally, she hadn't breathed a word to anybody about the fact he wasn't actually psychic. He had trusted her with that rather important detail of his life and she wasn't about to break that confidence any time soon.
"Are you coming to work today?"
"I can't," he mumbled. "I'm sorry, but I leave this afternoon."
"Oh."
An hour and a half later and they drove in separate cars to the CBI headquarters. Jane claimed that he had left his cell phone in the office and that he had to pick it up before he left, but Lisbon didn't entirely believe him. She smiled slightly as he strolled towards her, with his hands in his pockets.
"You coming in?"
He shook his head.
"I found my phone," he said, grinning. "It was on the dashboard."
"I knew it," she muttered.
"Come here."
Tentatively, he pulled her in close and placed a kiss tenderly to her cheek, relieved that she didn't throw him off roughly. He smiled warmly as she blushed and gently stroked the tip of her nose.
"Stay safe," she whispered. "Please?"
"You look after yourself, too."
Van Pelt's jaw dropped and the red head found herself rushing as fast as her feet could carry her upstairs and into the bullpen. Breathlessly, she dropped her files on her desk and grinned at Cho and Rigsby, who appeared to be having yet another heated discussion on 'Chuck Norris vs. Mr. T'. Rigsby had brought the book for Cho as a joke a month ago and since then, the pair hadn't shut up about it. They stopped talking the moment they heard the clatter of paperwork falling onto Van Pelt's desk and both smiled warmly at her.
"What's wrong, Van Pelt?" Cho asked.
"They kissed," she squeaked and they both glanced at her, thoroughly bemused. "Well, Jane kissed Lisbon on the cheek, but that still counts, right?"
"No way," breathed Rigsby.
Van Pelt nodded furiously.
"I thought you didn't think it was appropriate to discuss such matters?" Cho interjected.
"That was gossiping, we have proof now."
"Women," Cho sighed.
"What's wrong with women?" Lisbon queried.
"Oh, hey boss."
Rigsby blushed and looked away and Van Pelt suddenly became very interested in her fingernails. Only Cho managed to hold his gaze on his boss, smirking ever so slightly. Lisbon glanced at the three of them suspiciously before sitting down at Jane's unused desk, paperwork in hand.
"Did you have a good day off?"
"Fine," she replied sharply. "Did you make any breakthroughs on the case yesterday?"
Rigsby nodded and the three of them proceeded to update her on what had happened in the past twenty-four hours. She hadn't even noticed Minelli walk into the bullpen, never mind the fact that he was standing behind her. He coughed to gain her attention and she quickly looked up at him.
"Hey, boss."
"Lisbon, my office now, please," Minelli stated.
With a frown, she excused herself from the discussion that she was having with the rest of her team. She had been enjoying hearing Van Pelt's theories on their latest case, even if she was already missing Jane. Quickly, she shook her head. He hadn't even been gone for a day and she was beginning to wonder just how she was going to get through the next three weeks. It was irrational feeling like that so soon and anyway, it seemed she had bigger problems. Minelli rarely interrupted them in the middle of a case after all, unless the D.A. was applying the pressure from above or it was a case with particularly sensitive issues. He usually briefed her just before or waited to discuss it until after it was closed. Fixing a nervous smile on her face and taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and entered Minelli's office.
"Sir, about Jane and I, we-"
"Calm down, Teresa, this isn't about you and Jane dating. I'm glad you've found some happiness," Minelli stated. "He suits you."
"Sir?"
She had been waiting some time to have to explain to somebody at work about the state of the relationship between her and Jane. There were many scenarios she had been expecting, the enforced transfer of Jane, him being fired, her losing seniority due to a flagrant disregard of rules. Having it brushed aside with little more than a hand wave was something that she hadn't even considered. She let out the breath she had been holding without realizing it as she sat down opposite her boss and mentor. The smile he had been wearing while he gave her his blessing quickly turned into a frown as he moved onto more pressing matters.
"It's about 'Red John'."
"Oh?"
"We can't afford to throw any more money at this for little to no return. I have to declare it a cold case."
"But we've only been working on the case for two and a half months," Lisbon stuttered. "We can't just give up that quickly, it's not fair…"
"I know it isn't," Minelli replied soothingly. "But we have nothing on this guy. No witnesses, not a shred of clothing or DNA. Nothing. The case isn't going anywhere and I can't waste what few precious resources I have on something like that."
"I just want to see justice served, for Stephanie Fieldston, if nothing else. Her younger sister tried to commit suicide again."
"I know, Lisbon. I do too," he stated again, feeling as though he was going around in circles. "My hands are tied."
"So what? We just let this bastard get away with what he's done and allow him to potentially strike again?" she seethed.
"I'm sorry," he muttered and dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
She glared at him before leaving without another word. When she returned to the bullpen, Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt were talking in hushed breaths, but quickly shut up the moment they realized she was back. Something was definitely up with the three of them and she didn't like it, not one bit.
TBC...
