A/N: I thought it a little cruel to leave you on that cliffhanger for too long. Besides, I'm making good progress on my Skins Big Bang fic now.

Thank you to: watchyouwalk, Kaslyna, Famous4it and Jisbon4ever for reviewing part eight and to ch19777 for betaing.

x tromana


Part Nine

"He's going to jump!"

The service was over and people were already standing outside, just milling around before moving on to the wake. That meant the congregation had exited the church just in time to see the grieving husband attempt to commit suicide.

Lisbon didn't need the anguished call to tell her what was happening. In fact, she barely heard it. She was too busy focusing on Jane, trying desperately to work out what his next move was going to be. Half of her was convinced that he couldn't really be suicidal, that it was just the stress of the situation making him act in an extreme manner. The other half wasn't so sure. Had she ever really known what he was thinking half the time? Even though she had been in a relationship with him for a good six months now, it didn't mean she was actually any closer to understanding him. He was one of the oddest men she knew and usually, she wouldn't have it any other way. Right now, however, with him threatening to jump, she wished he could be a little more normal.

However, while she wasn't distracted by the call, Jane was. He froze and Lisbon took the opportunity to wrap an arm around his waist and wrestle him away from the edge. Despite her petite stature, she was considerably stronger than he was. She had to be, if she wanted to make it in her career. It was moments like this when she was grateful for all the hard work she put in; it made it seem like she actually did make a difference instead of simply being a pencil pusher.

He stilled a little and Lisbon allowed herself to relax slightly. It wasn't the most sensible way to stop somebody from jumping off a tall building - he could quite easily have taken them both over had he reacted faster - but at least it worked. Only problem was that she now had to get him back down to ground level safely. Then, and somewhat more importantly, she had to work out the best course of action to deal with him. Jane tried to pull away again, to inch towards the precipice. She tightened her grip around his waist once more and remained rooted to the spot.

"We're going to get you some help."

"No."

"I'm serious."

"Teresa…"

"Don't 'Teresa' me," she muttered irritably. "You need to talk to someone."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"If you stop me…"

"You'll do what?"

Jane fell silent, considering how to react. As she waited for him to respond, Lisbon decided he was a danger to himself. A danger to others, too; she was fairly certain he was thinking about threatening her for getting involved. When somebody wasn't thinking straight, threats could quite easily change into something more. She had seen it all too many times in her line of work, over far less than what had just happened between them. Families torn apart by pathetic arguments; lovers maiming and killing one another over little disagreements.

She didn't want to do this, least of all to him. However, as a law enforcement officer, she had the right to determine that he was in need of an urgent psychiatric evaluation. The last thing she really wanted to do was attempting to get him involuntarily confined, but she was beginning to run out of viable options. It was becoming more and more obvious that Jane needed help. He had admitted to her that he was hallucinating, that he imagined Red John and Angela were stalking him. He had just threatened to kill himself. They had been lucky, so far. Next time, they wouldn't necessarily be so lucky. She didn't have the time to constantly be watching his back and to make sure he stayed safe. Besides, she wasn't trained to do that either. There were people she knew who were more than qualified to step in in these kind of situations.

They'd be able to help where she could not.

"Let's just get down from here, okay? I'm cold and we're getting wet."

Jane glanced at the sky, as if he had only just noticed that it was actually raining. He then looked at her and seemed to note just how worried she was. Eventually, he nodded slightly and Lisbon let out the breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. Slowly, carefully, she guided them back to the staircase and downstairs. Lisbon was aware that his fragile state of mind could mean he suddenly had a change of heart.

The crowd below fell silent as they emerged, unsure how to react to what had just happened. A couple of people murmured indistinctly, others started clapping at her achievement, but Lisbon ignored them all. Instead, she headed towards one of the guests, a man she knew was a local Sheriff. They'd had to deal with him on occasion and usually, he was more than happy to help the CBI. She hadn't realized that Sheriff Jackson was close to the Jane family, but at that moment, she was more relieved than anything. Jackson could be trusted to keep Jane in check while she called for backup, which was more than could be said for most of the other guests.

As she walked away, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and immediately dialed a familiar number. While waiting for an answer, she tapped her foot irritably. Cho hadn't called to inform her that they had a break, that they were out of the office, so there was no reason why he should be taking so long to answer.

When he eventually did, she didn't even give him chance to explain. She didn't have time to be social.

"Cho, I need you to bring me a 5150, then drive me and Jane to the Sacramento Mental Health Center. It's urgent."

"What's happened?"

"Jane has."

It wasn't much of an explanation, but Cho didn't ask her to elaborate. From his limited exposure to the supposed psychic, he already knew that if Jane was involved, it normally meant something crazy and inconceivable had happened.

"Where are you?"

She told him, immediately put down the phone and started to call another number. Cho only took ten minutes to get there, arriving barely seconds after Lisbon had finished her second telephone call. Together, along with the help of Jackson, they wrestled Jane into the backseat of the car. Jane was typically stubborn and his reactions didn't help. It just made Lisbon feel all the more guilty for treating him this way, regardless of how much he obviously needed it.

"Please, just do this. For me?"

xxx

"Dr. Miller," Lisbon said, addressing the woman as she approached her.

"Teresa, please. Call me Sophie."

"Thank you for answering at such short notice."

"My pleasure. You said you need an evaluation for somebody?"

"Patrick? This is Doctor Miller, Sophie," she said, immediately correcting herself before motioning to the dark haired woman standing beside her. "We've worked together on occasion. And… and she's one of the best psychiatric doctors I know."

"Hello, Patrick. I may call you Patrick?"

Sophie Miller proffered a hand for Jane to shake but he ignored it. He didn't even respond to Sophie's question and instead took to staring at Lisbon. It was almost as if he were blaming her for the situation. As if he thought it were her fault that all this had happened. She shook her head and tried to dispel the thoughts. Assuming that Jane was thinking the worst of her wasn't going to get her anywhere. It was unproductive and only going to make her feel worse.

Instead, she would simply have to focus on whatever results Sophie gathered from her evaluation. Then, she could see where they could go from there.

"If you could come with me? I have a few questions I'd like you to answer."

Jane only responded by looking warily at Lisbon. It was almost as if he was only half aware what was going on. He seemed to have taken an immediate childlike distrust to Sophie and Lisbon felt her heart sinking. It wasn't exactly a positive signal, especially considering Jane usually had a warm reaction to most people. Lisbon nodded gently and wordlessly indicated that he should go with Sophie. Grudgingly, he followed her away, leaving Lisbon alone in the waiting room, with only her thoughts and some paperwork for company.

She had already finished filling in the 5150 form. Technically, she knew it should have been filled in before she had taken him to Sophie, but they had rushed to get him here before he did any more damage. Yet again, time seemed to be going backwards, just like at the church service. The plastic formed chair was horribly uncomfortable and Lisbon wondered why the hell hospitals never bothered to invest in more appropriate seating. Without fail, they almost always seemed to supply furniture which would be more suited to a classroom. She banged the back of her heard against the wall behind a couple of times out of sheer frustration and boredom. Of all the places she wanted to be right now, this was near the bottom of her list. Somewhat awkwardly, she pulled up her sleeve and glanced at her watch. Really, she should have been back at work by now.

She sighed.

It was looking less and less likely that Red John would be caught this time around. The case had already been open for too long for him to re-emerge again. Yet again, they had failed. They still didn't have the answers that the families of the victims desperately needed.

The answers that she herself craved.

Impatiently, she looked at her watch again. Barely two minutes had passed. Lisbon didn't envy Sophie's job. Though she was a skilled interrogator, carrying out tests to determine somebody's sanity (or lack thereof) seemed so much more daunting. The whole of Jane's future hinged on this one result. She wasn't even sure what she wanted it to be. If he was declared sane, she had forced him here for no reason. Put him through additional stress during a period of his life which was already harrowing for many reasons. Completely misjudged the situation and overreacted.

If he needed involuntary commitment, however…

The door swung open and Sophie strode towards Lisbon.

She was wearing a particularly dour expression.

"Teresa?"

"Yes?"

"Come back tomorrow; this is going to take a little more time. We've still got another…" she paused to glance at her watch. "Sixty-eight hours until the 5150 runs out."

"But…"

"There's no point in wasting your time. Go home and get some rest. You look like you need it."

xxx

Lisbon received a call from Sophie thirteen hours before the 5150 was due to expire.

She had been right.

According to Sophie's diagnosis, Jane was losing it.

Lisbon didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified. The fact that somebody who had seemed so confident in himself could spiral into insanity so quickly seemed almost inconceivable. Yet, it had happened. She tried to think of the positives: that Jane would hopefully get the help he desperately needed, that her judgment was sound, that she had been right in this instance. That wasn't enough to comfort her; in some ways she'd have preferred to have been wrong. At least then she wouldn't be losing the Jane she loved to something as devastating as a mental illness.

Sophie had offered him voluntary admission and unsurprisingly, he'd refused. That meant more stress, more paperwork and more hassle for everybody involved. She stared at the form in front of her, the 5250, with tears slowly beginning to cloud her vision and Lisbon grew frustrated. The form needed filling in fast; otherwise, Jane would have to be released. She couldn't let that happen, for his sake. The whole situation just seemed absurd to the extreme. Why the hell did life have to be so complicated? Why did Jane have to receive such a blow when he was already dealing with so many problems?Why did she always have to get herself so inexplicably involved?

Another doctor was due to assess Jane's mental standing imminently. He'd probably fail, again, based on the little Sophie had felt obliged to tell her. She couldn't say all that much - on the grounds of doctor-patient confidentiality - but had informed Lisbon enough to allow her to paint a clear picture of what was going on. Only after that, and at least one hearing, would they be able to involuntarily confine him. Then, he could finally get the help he so clearly needed.

If only he had been able to see sense. To accept the voluntary admission. Then, all this hassle could be easily avoided. Instead, he just had to go about it the long and hard way. She shouldn't have expected anything less of Jane.

Lisbon eventually focused and ignored as many distractions as possible. In a little over an hour, the form was filled in and Cho was delivering it to the correct authorities.

Now, she had a little time to focus on Red John again before anything else. Lisbon silently hoped it would be an ideal distraction from the impending hearing, in three days' time. She couldn't imagine Jane accepting to go willingly, even after a second opinion. It seemed like an age since she had last looked at the notes. In reality, it had only been just over twenty four hours. Not much had changed. Rigsby had found a link between Angela and one of Red John's previous victims; they were both registered to the same gynecologist. It was a feeble link, but better than nothing. At least it provided them with something to investigate.

Lisbon jumped when the telephone rang shrilly. Hurriedly, she scooped up the receiver and pressed it firmly to her ear.

"Teresa? It's Sophie."

"What's happened?"

"He failed the second assessment."

"That was quick," she answered, somewhat surprised that they already had results from the second test. "I thought he would."

"He rejected voluntary admission again."

Lisbon nodded. "That doesn't surprise me."

"Me either. You know, he is probably going to demand a writ of habeas corpus after the hearing."

She tapped the fingers of her broken arm against the desk and winced at the sudden shot of pain.

"That just means we'll have two and it'll take longer. Unless the county public defender rejects the claim."

"How likely is that?"

"Fairly. They're snowed under."

"Aren't they always?"

"Good point. Look, I better…"

"Yeah. Take care, Dr. Miller."

"Sophie. We've known each other long enough."

"Fine, Sophie, then. Thank you."

With a heavy sigh, Lisbon placed the receiver back down and rested her head on the desk. She took a moment to pull herself back together before picking it back and dialing the number of the gynecologist.

There was nothing she could do for Jane right now, but she could still try and find out who the hell killed his family.

TBC…