AN: Thank you all for coming along on this journey! I've thoroughly enjoyed writing for you guys, and I hope you like the ending. The epilogue will be posted in the next couple days, and then after that I'm possibly planning a holiday oneshot (and finally updating the In Case series). And, as always, thanks for your comments. They never fail to inspire me.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist.
Let's rest for a while 'til our souls catch us up
A nurse flips on the lights before sunrise, and Lisbon feels Jane tense beside her.
"Sorry, dears," says the nurse. "Dr. Johnston wants an X-ray to make sure your lung is doing alright, Ms. Lisbon."
Jane makes to get out of the bed, but Lisbon holds tight to his hand. He leans over to press his lips against hers and whispers, "I need to get out of the way for the X-ray. I won't leave—I promise."
She finally opens her eyes. The first thing she sees is Jane's intense sea green gaze.
She nods and releases his hand.
Jane goes to stand in the corner of the room as the X-ray technician enters with the portable machine. The tech, a young man with a military-style haircut, puts a protective lead vest over Lisbon's legs while the nurse raises Lisbon's bed so that she is sitting upright. Then the tech positions the X-ray machine to get a clear view of Lisbon's torso. The nurse, an older woman whose hair is beginning to gray, steals out of the room as the tech goes to stand behind the monitor.
"Alright," he says. "I'm going to ask you to take a deep breath and then hold it until I tell you to let it out. Ready? Okay, deep breath."
Lisbon tries to expand her lungs, but the pain makes it nearly impossible, and she grabs a fistful of blanket, her knuckles turning white with the force of her grip. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Jane begin to tap his fingers together impatiently.
"And breathe out," says the tech, glancing down at the screen. "Perfect. Thank you." He grabs the lead vest from her legs and pulls the X-ray machine out of the room, flipping off the lights as he leaves.
Jane is suddenly by Lisbon's side again, and he's already lowering the bed back so that she is lying down. He slips under the covers, and she grabs his hand again.
"Sleep, Lisbon," he says.
She takes one last look at him and obeys.
When Lisbon wakes again, the clock on the wall tells her it is past noon. Her body tells her that her pain medication has long since worn off.
There is a coldness beside her. Jane is nowhere to be found, and Charlotte has vacated the recliner on the opposite side of the room. In her place is Cho, who looks up at Lisbon from the novel he's reading—The Count of Monte Cristo—as her eyes bring him into focus.
"Hey," he says, and there is a trace of a smile on his face. He stands and moves to the side of her bed. Lisbon reaches over to hit the button that will raise the bed up again.
"Hey," croaks Lisbon, and Cho immediately reaches for a pitcher of water on the bedside table. He pours her a glass, and Lisbon drinks eagerly. "Thank you," she says, handing the cup back to him. She hits the call button to ask for another pain pill.
When the nurse leaves after giving Lisbon her medication, Cho says, "I made Jane and Charlotte head back to your place—get a shower, a change of clothes. Rigsby and Van Pelt are with them. They should be back any minute."
Lisbon breathes a sigh of relief at this. "Good. Charlotte still needs protection. God forbid, we might even have to think about getting Jane a weapon."
This time, Cho actually does smile. "Let's not talk crazy," he says.
Lisbon rolls her eyes. "I'm on heavy painkillers. Give me a break."
At that moment, the four other members of her family show up, all carrying enormous bouquets of flowers.
Lisbon flushes furiously.
"Teresa!" says Charlotte, placing her vase down on Lisbon's bed stand. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm alright," says Lisbon. "Thank you for the flowers." She glances at each bouquet in turn. Charlotte's is full of bright yellow daffodils, both Rigsby's and Van Pelt's contain multicolored gerbera daisies, and Jane's holds at least a dozen tulips. She wonders vaguely about the significance of these particular flowers.
"Of course," says Charlotte. "To be honest, these hospital rooms look pretty drab. We needed a splash of color." Lisbon smiles. It is one of the first times she's heard Charlotte sound like a normal teenager.
Van Pelt, Rigsby, and Jane set their vases on the windowsill, and Jane leans over to kiss Lisbon's forehead. Though Rigsby remains oblivious and Cho unfazed, Van Pelt picks up on the change in their relationship immediately, and she shoots Lisbon a grin. Lisbon ducks her eyes but smiles all the same—she'd forgotten that her relationship with Jane had been largely kept secret from the world besides Charlotte.
Jane sits down on the edge of Lisbon's bed, and she threads her fingers through his without thinking about it.
"Hi," she says shyly.
He grins at her.
At this moment, Dr. Johnston walks into the room. "Ms. Lisbon," she says, her voice loud and sure. "How's the pain today?"
"Manageable," says Lisbon, and Jane squeezes her hand.
"Good," says Dr. Johnston. She moves toward the end of Lisbon's bed and folds her arms over her white lab coat. "I have some good news—your X-ray this morning looked promising. I want to take you off suction today."
"I can go home?" asks Lisbon, and she sees Jane's eyes light up.
Dr. Johnston chuckles at her enthusiasm. "Not quite. We want you to stay at least one more night so we can monitor your lung for a while longer. We'll take an X-ray later tonight after suction has been off for a few hours, and we'll take one again tomorrow morning. If the lung still looks good, then we'll take the chest tube out, and you'll be good to go."
Jane's thumb brushes back and forth across the back of Lisbon's hand. She tries to take a deep breath.
She pushes her disappointment aside at having to remain in the hospital for another night, realizing that in light of all that has happened, it is probably safest for her to remain here anyway. She turns her attention back to Dr. Johnston.
"Has the nurse been in to explain your breathing exercises?" asks the doctor.
"Not yet," says Lisbon. "I just woke up."
Dr. Johnston nods. "With lung injuries," she says, "we always get worried about opportunistic infections like pneumonia. Doing some breathing exercises will help the little air sacs in your lungs expand properly, which will prevent fluid buildup—and, thus, pneumonia. I'll send your nurse over to explain in a bit. But before I leave, do you have any questions that I can answer?"
Lisbon looks over at Jane before glancing back at the doctor. "How long does recovery from a pneumothorax usually take?"
"A while," says Dr. Johnston. "You probably won't really feel like yourself for, oh, six weeks or so. But if you feel up to it, after I turn off suction, it would certainly help if you could start walking around the hallways here. We want to prevent as much muscle atrophy as we can."
Lisbon nods. "Alright. Thanks."
Dr. Johnston moves to the wall to turn off suction from Lisbon's chest tube. "When you walk around the floor," she says, "make sure you take this box with you." She indicates to the small, shoebox-sized contraption which is connected to the tubing coming out of Lisbon's chest. As Lisbon shifts, she watches as a few drops of red liquid make their way down the clear tubing to drain into the box. She nods at Dr. Johnston.
"I'll be back in tonight before I leave," says Dr. Johnston, smiling at them, and she heads out the door.
Van Pelt looks at Rigsby pointedly. "Wayne, you want to come with me to get a cup of coffee? Charlotte—what about you?"
Charlotte doesn't need any encouragement, and the two of them grab Rigsby's arms to pull him out of the room. Cho shakes his head, amused that Rigsby still cannot seem to take a hint. "I'll be out in the hallway if you need me," he says, grabbing his book.
"Thanks, Cho," says Lisbon.
When the door closes behind him, Jane speaks. "You feeling up for a walk?"
Lisbon looks at him. "Actually," she says, blushing slightly, "what I'd really like now is a shower." She is tired of feeling Kristina's fingers on her skin. Perhaps a hot shower will help erase the sensation.
Jane's expression doesn't give anything away. He just nods and shrugs out of his suit jacket, moving around to the other side of the bed to help her stand. As she moves, Lisbon is all too aware that she is wearing a hospital gown and little else. She clutches the back of her gown and stands up.
Jane leans over to pick up the little box and tubing, and together they move slowly over to the bathroom.
Lisbon notices that someone has deposited her overnight bag by the door, and her mood lifts at the thought of clean clothes and shampoo. Jane sees her expression and chuckles lightly. "You're welcome," he says, and she smiles at him. He closes the bathroom door behind them, carrying the tubing and the overnight bag.
The bathroom is tiny, and Lisbon moves slowly and carefully to maneuver around Jane. She reaches for the nozzle of the shower. When the water is satisfactorily warm, Lisbon turns from Jane, keeping her eyes trained on the floor, and lets her hospital gown fall from her shoulders.
She hears his quick intake of breath. "Teresa," he says. "Your back."
Lisbon freezes at the sound of her first name. He doesn't use it very often—he hasn't used it, in fact, since they'd become them.
"What?" she asks, turning over her shoulder to look at him. The darkness has returned to his eyes, and the lines on his forehead appear more prominent than ever.
She feels his fingers ghost across her back. "I didn't think it was possible for skin to look this bruised," he whispers.
"The explosion threw me against the wall," she says. "Don't worry—Charlotte was farther away from it than I was." She looks away, but she can still hear him breathing.
He takes a step closer. She shivers.
He drops a kiss to the spot between her shoulder and neck.
She steps into the shower, still facing away from him. She takes care to keep her bandages as far as possible from the spray.
Jane finds shampoo and conditioner as well as soap in her overnight bag, and he helps her wash her hair. His hands massage her scalp, and he doesn't seem to care about the water droplets landing on his shirtsleeves. Later, he grabs a washcloth and dabs lightly at the grime on her skin, trying not to aggravate her wounds. Lisbon rips the gauze off the injury on her shoulder, and as she looks at Red John's mark, the water spraying her body suddenly feels cold. She tosses the gauze on the floor of the shower, biting back tears, and Jane presses the washcloth to the mark gently, trying to remove the last traces of blood.
The whole time, he is silent.
He doesn't speak again until the soap is rinsed from her skin and the water has stopped running. He grabs a towel from the shelf and holds it out for her. "Careful," he says as she steps back, her back to his chest. He wraps the towel around her body, almost like a pair of wings folding over her, and his arms come to wrap around her torso.
She leans against him, not particularly caring that her wet hair will dampen his vest and dress shirt. He ducks his head into the crook of her neck.
"I love you," he whispers into her skin, his lips on her neck.
His warmth is everywhere, and in his arms she is finally safe.
