AN: Thanks again for your reviews, favorites, and follows. This trilogy has been an absolute joy to write, and I find myself extremely attached to it, especially now that I'm tying things up. There's still the epilogue to go yet, but I hope you like this latest installment. (Yes, the epilogue will most likely feature the long-awaited wedding. If you have requests for certain scenes for the wedding, let me knowI'll try to incorporate some of those since we didn't get enough of the actual wedding on the show)!

Thanks again, dear reader, for sticking with this story until the very end.

Also, I borrowed a quote from the TV show Fringe. Fellow Fringies, see if you can catch it!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist.


Chapter 9: State of Grace

"You're sure you don't want to speak with her?"

Lisbon was facing Jane in the hallway outside of the interrogation room. He turned his body slightly, moving half a step down the hall, away from the room where his mother currently sat.

"Quite sure," said Jane, his expression dark. "I trust you'll inform me of anything she says that I need to know about."

Lisbon nodded and took a step away from interrogation, away from Scarlet Jackson—and towards him.

They never did end up getting a confession from Dellinger. Not that it much mattered—the DNA found between the teeth of Robert Lisbon was a match for that on the bloody napkin that Lisbon had procured, and the bullets that Clark had reverse engineered turned out to be from the gun Dellinger had had on him that night in the bar.

Jane hadn't wanted to speak to his stepbrother either.

"Of course," said Lisbon, and she hugged him, forgoing her policy against PDA at work.

"Thank you," Jane whispered in her ear, his voice slightly shaky, and Lisbon nodded against him. He held her for another second before letting go and disappearing down the hall.

Lisbon opened the door to interrogation.


Unlike her stepson, Scarlet spoke freely. Perhaps she was hoping for some leniency in her son's sentencing in exchange for her information, thought Lisbon. A typical mother's sacrifice from a mother who was anything but typical. Lisbon wondered what kind of mother Scarlet could have been for Jane had she not fled the carnival.

How different would Jane be now if she had stayed?

Lisbon focused on Scarlet's confession, taking thorough notes. Scarlet had been aware of her stepson's role in the murder even though she hadn't actively participated. This, however, was enough for Lisbon to charge her with obstruction since Scarlet had failed to share this information with the FBI when they had questioned her.

Lisbon stared across the interrogation table at Jane's mother, trying to find some similarities between her and Jane.

She was glad when, this time around, she didn't find any.

After a minute of silence in which she finished her notes, Lisbon folded her notebook and made to stand up when Scarlet spoke in a soft tone.

"I heard what happened to his family," she said. "To Patrick's family," she amended at Lisbon's confused look.

"Yeah," said Lisbon slowly, at a loss as to what to say. Though Jane's past had brought him to her, though it had brought them together, it was still difficult to talk about. His trauma—and by extension, her own—may have lessened slightly over the years, but it would never disappear completely.

"I know I wasn't really his mother," said Scarlet. "But to hear what he's gone through—what he's experienced…my heart breaks for him. A mother would do anything to prevent her son from experiencing such a tragedy."

Lisbon nodded. "That was…that was a long time ago."

Scarlet reached over to touch Lisbon's hand. "Thank you," she said. "I know you were the person who kept him alive. Your aura tells me so."

Lisbon remained sitting, curious despite herself. Her brow furrowed. "If you don't mind my asking…how exactly can you tell?"

"Your aura and my son's—they're intertwined in a way that is unusual. When I look at him, I get the feeling that you kept him afloat, so to speak. When he was drowning, he latched onto you and never let go. You were his lifeline." She paused, looking at Lisbon carefully. "And to some extent, you still are."

"For every time I've kept him from drowning, he's done the same for me," Lisbon said gently.

Scarlet's eyes narrowed, looking not straight at Lisbon but somehow straight through her.

"I see that now," she said. "It explains a lot." She looked at Lisbon with a soft smile. "What you have with Patrick is rare. That kind of love…only a few people know it's even possible. Fewer still ever attain it. So hold him near—because what you have, it's…it's about as close to perfection as you can get in this world."

Lisbon nodded, feeling a lump form in her throat. "I know how lucky I am," she said. "And I thank God every day for bringing your son into my life."

She stood up and walked to the door. Before opening it, however, she turned around to look at Scarlet one last time.

"I'll talk to him," she promised. "He's hurting right now. But maybe someday, those wounds will heal. And when they do, perhaps he'll begin to mend fences."

She shut the door softly behind her.


The team, joined by Wylie and Vega, opted to go out for closed case pizza that night rather than order in. They didn't arrive at the restaurant until nearly eight o'clock, having stayed late to wrap up the case, and the other customers around them gradually left as they waited for their food.

Lisbon looked around the table, and she smiled as everyone raised their beers—minus Van Pelt, who lifted up her lemonade glass—to toast to each other and clink their glasses. Cho turned to Vega, who reminded Lisbon of a Labrador puppy with her wide eyes and easy loyalty, and immediately the two were engaged in deep conversation. Wylie attempted to explain some piece of computer wizardry to Jane; though Jane clearly didn't understand a word of it, he nodded along, obviously grateful to Wylie for his help on the case. Van Pelt rolled her eyes at Rigsby, who had apparently just suggested they spend the next day visiting the dinosaur exhibit at the Field Museum.

Lisbon smiled. They were quite a team. She'd even grown extremely fond of Wylie and Vega in the short time that she'd had to get to know them.

Her breath caught when she thought about the news that Abbott had broken earlier that week.

Her team wouldn't be a team for much longer.

But where would everyone end up? Surely Van Pelt and Rigsby would be sent somewhere together—if the FBI was stupid enough to try to split them up, Lisbon knew, they'd lose both of the pair. Cho would succeed wherever he went. But what would happen to herself and Jane? If the FBI wouldn't keep Van Pelt and Rigsby together despite the fact that they were married, there was no way she and Jane would be assigned to the same city. But Lisbon was confident that Jane would follow her wherever she went. All he needed to guarantee his happiness was to be with her. Well, thought Lisbon, that and a puzzle. And he could find the latter outside of the FBI if need be.

What if she herself was unhappy with the relocation? At least she'd promised the FBI nothing—she was free to remain in Chicago if she really wanted. Hell, she could audition for Northwestern University's music program.

And the idea planted itself in her mind, putting down roots without any additional encouragement.

There were so many things she and Jane could be happy doing. Why limit herself solely to working for the FBI?

Lisbon's thoughts were interrupted when she saw Cho excuse himself to take a phone call. Abbott, he mouthed at her as he walked away from the table, and Lisbon turned to Vega to ask about her family.

Ten minutes later, Lisbon's phone buzzed, and she checked it to find a text from Cho.

Can we talk?

Intrigued, Lisbon pushed her chair back to follow Cho outside. She felt Jane's eyes on her back as she left the restaurant, and she pulled her jacket tighter around herself to protect her torso from the frigid night air.

Cho was standing just outside the door, half in shadow, his ears red from the biting wind.

"Kimball?"

"That was Abbott," said Cho, rubbing his hands together to generate heat. "He wanted to congratulate us on wrapping up the case."

"And?" asked Lisbon. There had to be more if Cho had asked to speak with her privately.

"He also wanted to make us a proposal," said Cho. "Apparently the field office in Chicago was impressed with how we handled the case. And by impressed, I mean it—they want to bring us on permanently."

Lisbon crossed her arms across her chest, and her eyes widened. "Permanently? You mean, they want to give us all jobs?"

"Kind of," said Cho, and the beginnings of a smile danced across his face. "They want to make us a team. All of us—you, me, Jane, Rigsby, Van Pelt, Wylie, and Vega."

"All of us?" repeated Lisbon, stunned.

"Well, you have to remember Wylie and Vega were already working in Chicago, but they were unassigned to an official team. So really, they're just hiring the five of us."

"Still," said Lisbon in disbelief, shaking her head. "That's…that's unbelievable."

Cho nodded. "They want us to co-captain the team."

Lisbon's jaw dropped a fraction of an inch. "They want us…they're giving us a team? We're not getting some other agent in charge?"

Cho's smile became a full-out grin. "Welcome on board, captain," he said, chuckling. "So…what do you say?"

Lisbon laughed, still not quite believing her team's good fortune. "Well, I need to talk it over with Jane, but…my first impulse is to jump at this opportunity. To head a team of FBI agents—in Chicago, no less—it's practically a dream come true."

"I thought you'd feel that way," said Cho. "And I think I speak for Rigsby and Van Pelt when I say that I don't really care where I'm working as long as I'm working with our team. And I also think Wylie and Vega are going to be really superb agents one day, once we train them up."

"I can't believe this," said Lisbon, smiling from ear to ear, and she stepped forward to give Cho a bear hug. "This is…" she paused, searching for the right words. "This is beyond anything I'd dared to hope for."


Lisbon and Cho returned to the table to break the news, where they were greeted first with stunned silence and then, a few seconds later, grins and laughter and high fives and exclamations.

Van Pelt hugged Lisbon. "I can call you 'Boss' again!" she said. "It's felt so strange trying to restrain myself these past couple weeks."

Rigsby bumped fists with Cho. "It's going to be just like old times," he said, laughing. "Only better!"

Lisbon caught Vega lean over and whisper to Wylie conspiratorially. "You ready for this, Wylie?"

Wylie smiled as he looked around the table. "I doubt it," he said sincerely. "But I have a feeling no one ever is with these guys."

Lisbon shot them both a grin.

"You have no idea," she said.


"You're joking."

It was nearing midnight, and Jane was flipping through real estate pictures on his smartphone. "You wound me, Lisbon."

"We just found out we had job offers in Chicago! You couldn't have had time to look at houses already!"

Jane put his phone down on the bedside table before rolling over to kiss her. The hotel bed creaked slightly beneath him. "You're particularly attached to this city—and after visiting it for the first time, I've found that I share the same attachment. Your family is here. We had to settle somewhere—why not in Chicago?"

Lisbon propped her head up on her hand. "So you're okay with this? Taking jobs with the FBI and moving here?"

"The way I see it, things couldn't have worked out better. We get to be near our family—your brothers and our team. How could we refuse an offer like that?"

Lisbon leaned into him and kissed his collarbone and then the side of his neck. Their hands intertwined of their own accord. "There was something else I wanted to talk to you about. You know, besides ridiculously expensive lakeside real estate."

"Well, we'll shelf that discussion until later. What did you want to talk about?"

His eyes were an odd mixture of nervous and curious.

"That offer you made me a while ago."

"To pay for you to attend Northwestern?"

She nodded against him. "Yes," she said. "I think…I think I want to try. You know, take classes part time, spend the rest of my time at the FBI. Lyrics and melodies kept coming to me during this case—and it made me realize that I don't want to stop. I love music, and I love the work I do with you and the others. I want to keep doing both." She paused, hyper aware of the fact that his hand was hovering over her heavily-thudding heart. "But I realize that a full schedule like this isn't exactly conducive to trying to start a family, so…"

Jane breathed in sharply. "Is that something you want to talk about now?"

Lisbon shrugged. "We're not getting any younger, Jane. And the FBI and Northwestern will always be around. But maybe we could wait to start a family until after we get married? I'd rather not look like a hippo in our wedding photos."

"Teresa Lisbon, you are the most beautiful woman I've ever met, and I promise that you will look even more beautiful when you are carrying my child."

"Uh huh," said Lisbon, rolling her eyes. "I notice you failed to address the point I made about looking like a hippo."

Jane pulled her close. "You will not look like a hippo. You'll look like a mother—and you'll be radiant and gorgeous as ever, I'm sure, especially because you'll have a pregnancy glow. And I'll even prove it to you. As often as you like—just say the word. It's you and me, remember?"

"It's easy to remember when you never forget," she replied.

"That's my girl," he said, leaning in again to touch his lips to hers.


Lisbon fell in love with the first house Jane showed her the next day. Though it was modest in size, it was ridiculously overpriced—lakefront property near the city was obviously in high demand.

They followed the real estate agent around the house for a while before he tactfully left them alone to discuss their thoughts. However, there wasn't much to discuss.

"It's only a mile from Northwestern," said Jane. "You could walk to class if you wanted to. The drive into the city might get tedious, but I think it would be worth it to live in the suburbs. You know, escape the hustle and bustle."

Lisbon nodded as they walked into the smaller of the two bedrooms. "Nursery?" she asked, and his face lit up. He kissed the side of her head.

They looked out the window over the lake, and Lisbon leaned into him. They remained silent for a few minutes, each lost in thought, until Jane said, "Yes."

"Yes, this will be the nursery?" asked Lisbon.

"Well, that," said Jane, "but I was actually answering a question you asked me more than a year ago."

Lisbon combed through her memories, trying to bring a specific one to the surface. Jane helped her along by handing her his left hand, which now bore the faintest of silvery scars.

The scar he'd received by crushing the Red John DVD—the DVD which had predicted Jane's seven suspects—in his hands.

Suddenly the memory came flooding back to her.

"When you came back from Vegas, you told me you loved me. Did you mean it?"

Jane spoke. "You had to know I meant those words when I said them. That's why you asked about it, first in that warehouse when I deflected, and then again when you were bandaging up my hand after we watched that DVD. I couldn't tell you then, Lisbon, because I was trying to keep you safe—from Red John, and from me."

Lisbon kissed his shoulder. "I know," she said. "And I think I knew back then."

Jane sighed. "We're safe now—we're free now. There's nothing holding us back."

"So much has happened since then," agreed Lisbon. She smiled up at him, standing up on her toes to touch her lips to his. "And so much is about to."

Together, they looked out across the lake.