Wow, I'm actully updating in a reasonable amount of time! Please, hold your applause to the end. :p Thanks go to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I usually thank everyone individually, but it wasn't letting me for some reason, which was weird. So thank you! I'm pretty happy with this chapter and I'm excited to write the next one. :) Let me know what you think.

Life or Death

Lisbon lay on her hospital bed, just staring at her beautiful baby Adrianne. The team had long since left and Jane was grabbing some dinner upon her request. He hadn't eaten since that morning, refusing to leave her side for even a minute. He was so sweet sometimes, and she honestly didn't know what she would have done without him. He'd been so helpful during her pregnancy and he knew her well enough to know when she needed some space, like now.

"You're going to be quite the little trouble-maker, you know that? You'll create trouble before you can even say a word. So much, and you won't even realize you're doing that. But I love you anyway, and I always will. And really, it's not you making this trouble, it's me. I should have told him sooner. But how could I? What could I have said? I still don't know how I'll tell him, but he needs o know. This has been eating me up for a while. I'm so tired and the nurse will take you away soon so you can sleep in your bed, so I'll tell him tomorrow. I hope he doesn't hate me." Lisbon whispered to her newborn baby, not knowing that Jan was standing outside the door, hearing the last part of her monologue.

Jane couldn't believe that she'd kept a secret, a pretty big one from the sound of it, and he hadn't known. He'd been so focused on helping her out with anything he could that he hadn't been looking for something like this. What could it be? He honestly had no idea, and that scared him. He was Patrick Jane for God's sake; he was supposed to know everything that everyone else was thinking. She said she would tell him tomorrow so best not to dwell on it.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Jane said, schooling his expression into one that hadn't been eavesdropping on an intimate conversation.

"You're back! I'm alright, just tired." Lisbon said, a smile lighting up her face when he walked in, trying to hide any traces of guilt.

"You've had a long day. I thought you'd want some real food so I brought you some buttered chicken from that Indian place around the corner. It's quite good." Jane said handing her the take-out container he'd stashed behind his back.

"Thank you. I've been craving something savoury or spicy for a while now. How'd you know? Wait, don't answer that." Lisbon said, greedily opening the container and taking a bite.

Jane just smiled as he took Adrianne from Lisbon so that she could eat some real food. He knew that she wasn't a fan of hospital food, really, who was? He gazed down at Adrianne who had fallen asleep, wondering what secrets she could possibly be harbouring. Surely such an innocent creature couldn't posses something so terrible? Look at him, immediately going to worst-case scenarios. It was probably something like Adrianne had asthma or something equally tame.

If only he knew.

Xxxx

Lisbon was waking up from a troubled sleep plagued with dreams of her running towards her baby, only to find that she was still miles away. She was in between sleep and the land of the living, feeling alarmed. She jolted awake, sweating and frantically searching the room for her baby. She started to panic before remembering that he nurse had taken the newborn to the nursery for the night before Lisbon went to bed. That thought calmed her down a bit.

Jane couldn't sleep and was just pretending to sleep when he heard Lisbon rustling around in her bed. His eyes shot open and he saw her looking for something. He got up and walked to her side, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jane said, his voice laced with worry.

"Nothing, nothing, I just had a dream. That's all." Lisbon said, calming down bit by bit.

"What was your dream about?" Jane inquired.

"I was running towards Adrianne and she just kept getting farther away, I couldn't get to her." Lisbon said, her voice tapering off to barely a whisper.

"A little separation anxiety is normal; my wife had the same thing with Charlotte." Jane said, trying to reassure her.

"I guess." Lisbon said, a little unsure.

"Trust me, it will fade. Let see if we can't get a nurse to bring Adrianne to you." Jane said, getting up from the bed.

"Thank you." Lisbon said, looking at her hands sheepishly.

Jane walked out of her room and into the hallway towards the nurse's station around the corner. He saw that there were a few nurses there, including the one that had helped them yesterday. He walked up with a smile one his face. It's always easier to get others to help you if you make them feel at ease when you approach them.

"Good morning, isn't it?" Jane said as greeting.

"Yes it is Mr. Jane." The nurse that had handled Adrianne said.

"Teresa is feeling a tad bit anxious without her daughter this morning. Would you be able to get her from the nursery for us?" Jane said, laying on the charm.

"Of course Mr. Jane. Follow me." The nurse said. She grabbed the chart and led the way to the nursery. She went inside as Jane waited outside as he looked in through the window, trying to spot Adrianne. She came out of the nursery a few minutes later with the chart, but no baby.

"It seems that someone's already brought Adrianne to Ms. Lisbon. She's probably already in her room." The nurse said with a small smile before making her exit.

Jane walked back to Lisbon's room. Lisbon had always been independent; she still had some trouble letting him do things for her it seemed. He'd have to remedy that.

"You're going to have to let me do things for you occasionally if thing is going to work." Jane said, teasing her upon entering the room.

"What are you talking about Jane?" Lisbon said, confused.

"I'm talking about me going to get Adrianne only for you to get her yourself." Jane said.

"What are you talking about? I didn't get Adrianne, you were getting her." Lisbon said.

"No, we got to the nursery and another nurse had already gotten her for you…" Jane said, his sentence trailing off when he saw that Lisbon wasn't holding Adrianne.

"She wasn't there?" Lisbon shouted. "Jane, if this is some cruel joke then it is NOT funny!"

Jane rushed out of the room without a word, running to the nurse's station. He ignored Lisbon calling after him as he ran.

"What nurse took Adrianne from the nursery?" Jane said as soon as he got there.

"What? Mr. Jane what's the matter?" The nurse asked.

"Adrianne isn't in the room; the nurse who took her from the nursery did not give her to Teresa. So who was it?" Jane said, seething.

"It was one of our new nurses, he just started yesterday I believe. At least, that's what he told me. I don't remember his name." The nurse said. "I'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding, Mr. Jane. We'll sort it out."

"This is no misunderstanding! Someone took our baby!" Jane said.

Dun dun dun! Oh no! Well, I promised drama, did I not? I think this was a success. There'll only be two chapters after this, I think. Let me know what thoughts passed through your head while reading this, I'm very curious about who you think is behind this mess. :)