Sorry guys for the late update, but I was trying to get work/uni stuff done. Now I'll have some time off, which I'd love to use to get lots of writing done, so let's see what comes out of it. I hope you enjoy this chapter, please R&R! ;)

10. ALONE

A moment of indecision goes by as Lisbon tries to decide between chasing the mysterious bystander with Jane and staying behind to protect her brother. She finally decides upon grabbing Tommy's arm and pulling him along with her as she runs.

"Have you ever seen that man?" she asks.

"I didn't even see him now!"

"Oh, damn it!"

It is dark, and Lisbon can no longer see Jane or the man he is following.

"Jane!" she calls. "Jane, where are you?"

She stops running, and Tommy stops next to her. She is panting, looking all around her, nobody in sight. She realizes she does not know what to do.

Thank God for that police car.

It did not have that net protection between the front and back seats. And thank God for Patrick Jane and his paper clip trick. In less than five minutes my hands were free. I just waited until we were on the road, following the car in which Jane was, to steal the cop in the passenger seat's gun and attack the driver, and the next thing I know we are off the road and the sky is where the ground is supposed to be, then back where it belongs, then upside down again until I bump my head and everything goes black.

Thank God I quickly regained my consciousness. Before I could even assess my situation and that of the cops in the car with me, I knew I had to get out of that car, so I did it. I felt dizzy, but I could not give in; I ran away the best way I could, hiding among the trees, knowing I had to make a head start before dozens of police cars arrived to search for me. I wished I could leave some kind of message behind for Jane, to let him know I was all right, but at the moment that was out of the question. I hoped he would know, though, that being able to run away was good enough a clue that I was fine. Even though my head was aching, and I was bleeding from it.

Lisbon and her brother are in the car and have been there, waiting, for almost an hour. There has been absolutely no sign of Jane. Lisbon is nervous, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.

"I don't think he's coming back here, Teresa," Tommy states.

She sighs, impatiently.

"Where else is he gonna go?"

She does not want to think about the reasons why he might not come back, and that is why she has waited so long and would rather continue waiting. But she cannot lie to herself any further, that she is not worried or that she is not thinking that maybe that was Red John's guy and Jane has finally ditched her like she knew he would when the time came. So, without a word, she starts the engine and drives away.

"Where are we going?" Tommy wants to know. "To go to my place you have to turn left on…"

"That's not where we're going," she informs him. "Your place is not safe for you anymore."

As they drive, Lisbon explains everything that is happening to her younger brother. He seems confused, because he does not even know who Red John is and why it is so important to run from him or find him. She does try to explain it as well as she can, though, and he seems to be making an effort to understand, even though he does not look convinced about the risk he is at. She stops the car at a motel room just outside Chicago and orders a room for two.

"Actually, two rooms," Tommy interferes.

Lisbon throws a surprised look at him, who nods in a plea for her agreement.

"Two rooms," she reiterates.

They enter the same one, though, because she wants him to explain himself.

"Seriously, Teresa?" he asks. "We're not kids anymore. I'm used to living on my own. I'm sorry, but I need my privacy."

"I'd prefer to focus on your safety!" she retorts, strictly.

"Teresa, look…" he approaches her and takes both her hands. "I appreciate everything you're doing to try to protect me, but I don't even see the danger. Besides, I'm a big boy and I can take care of myself. You want me to sleep here close to you tonight, that's fine. But we're not kids anymore. We don't need to share a room so you can protect me."

That appeals to her, and she realizes he knew the exact words to say. He is not her little brother anymore, and having him sleep on a bed next to hers will not protect him from the world outside, no matter how much she might wish it would. She does eventually say good night to him, though, and goes into the other room in order to grant him his privacy, but she has no intentions of sleeping. Instead, she sits on the armchair in her room, thinking about where Jane might be and whether he was able to catch the guy. She wonders if he needs her help, but one thing he never needs her help with is Red John. When that is the issue, he finds a way to do it all by himself.

It also nags her that, as much as she believes he has ditched her for real this time, she does wonder if he has or will try to find her in the park, and feels guilty for not being there. She even contains urges to get in her car and drive back there, see if she can find him, but feels stupid when she reminds herself that he probably believes that, right now, he is better off without her. Besides, Tommy is asleep in the other room. She cannot just leave him there, when she has demanded that he stays with her for the night. She curses herself and her inability to think and act for herself. As difficult as it is for her to admit it, she has become very dependent on Jane during those days, in this unknown, foreign life that she has never experienced before. He has been with her from the beginning, and she has to admit that she feels lost at the perspective of being suddenly without him.

And that makes her angry. It makes her angry that he is capable of just leaving her behind like that. After all the demonstrations that he believed her and that he cared about her; all probably just a show, just to get him where he really wanted to be. He is such a smart guy, she thinks; what if he has known about Bertram's plan all along and has just been using her to get to Red John's man?

Her brain is tired. And so is her body. Her back hurts terribly, and she wishes she had something strong to drink. She lays her head back, because it seems to weigh a thousand pounds. It is already day by then, and her consciousness forces itself to go under for what feels like a few minutes. When she wakes up, it is already eight o'clock in the morning. She stands up quickly, and does not waste a second to get to Tommy's room.

To her relief, he sleeps safe and sound in there, and does not even notice her presence. She suddenly figures it is time to go looking for Jane, despite whatever else that might be going through her head. So she writes down a note and leaves it by Tommy's bed, letting him know she will be gone for a short while but will be right back.

Lisbon then rushes outside and gets into the car. She drives back into Chicago and on her way to the park, hoping Jane might be around. And she is very surprised to find his familiar figure walking down the street so soon. The sight of him suddenly makes her furious. She stops the car near him and rolls down her window.

"Oh, there you are!" she exclaims, ironically.

Jane turns around.

"There you are," he says, with a small smile, walking around the car and quickly taking his seat next to her.

"Why the hell did you not come back?" she asks, her lips trembling with rage.

She is already driving, speeding up more than usual, Jane observes. He looks around, as if gesturing for her that the answer is clear and lies right ahead of her.

"I was chasing the man who we thought was following your brother."

Then she snaps, raising her voice.

"Don't put it on these terms! You were chasing the man who you thought would lead you to Red John!"

"I see no difference," Jane shrugs mockingly.

"You ditched me," she accuses, her voice almost a whisper now. An angry, deadly whisper. "You ditched me because you thought you were close to Red John."

Jane seems to falter in his humorous demeanor.

"What about you ditching me? I did eventually go back to the park, you weren't there anymore."

"How long exactly did you expect me to be there waiting for you, especially when I was sure you had ditched me because that's what you always do? I had to take my brother somewhere safe!"

This is when Jane waves his hands, trying to bring her back from her fury attack.

"Don't you want to know what happened after I caught the guy?"

That seems to make her stop. He takes a deep breath, because he does not bring good news.

I had to run.

When I saw the son of a bitch, I knew it was Red John's man. I knew it was the man I had been looking for, who could give me some information on the man I had been chasing for years. So I ran, and I forgot about everything else – or I forced myself. Lisbon was on my mind, I could not lie, but I had to decide to assume she would figure out what to do next. Because I had to run and get that guy. I just knew I had to.

I ran for a long while, and I did not even know where I was anymore, never losing sight of him. He tried to divert me, to take shortcuts to leave me behind, but I was determined to catch him, as I was determined to find Red John. And I did it. I caught the son of a bitch. I tackled him and held him with my fingernails. He was not going anywhere.

That is when he started pleading.

"Sir, please, don't hurt me… I wasn't gonna rob you, I swear!"

"Rob me?" I asked, shaking the guy. "Don't play dumb with me, I know who you are. I know you're Red John's man!"

"Who? Sir, I'm sorry, I swear you have me confused with somebody else! I wasn't gonna rob you guys, I promise!"

The man seemed to be in his late twenties, wearing ragged, dirty clothes. He was really, really thin, like he was lacking nutrition, and his breath smelled like alcohol. Of course it could all be a very well orchestrated show to fool me, so I had to make sure.

"You don't know Red John?" I asked, pulling away so I could have a better look at his face.

"I don't even know what you're talking about, sir!" he pleaded.

At that point, all I wanted was to see that he was lying, to make all that running – with Lisbon and now, literally – worth it. But he was telling the truth. I let him go, and looked for the first bar. I needed a drink, or many.

"Shhhhhhh!" Lisbon puts her index finger to her lips and whispers. "I heard something."

"Heard what?" Jane asks, whispering too.

"Something that sounds like at least two fast cars trying to stop silently."

"You mean…?"

"Police, yeah!" she gestures exasperatedly, approaching the window slowly and trying to look through the space between the blinds.

Jane's eyes widen and he looks around the motel room, looking for some kind of answer. They have just arrived, the only thing they had done was check up on Tommy to make sure he was still safe asleep, how had they not noticed any police cars?

"Two cars," she whispers. "Four officers taking position, pointing guns. At this room, Jane."

She takes a deep breath, turning around to face him, and he sees surrender in her eyes. He nods, communicating with her.

"You'll turn yourself in," he states, something in between a question, a demand and a realization.

"Yes," she confirms.

"Look," he says, with urgency in his voice. "Remember that paper clip trick I once taught you? To get rid of handcuffs?"

He has a paper clip in his hand, that he has just taken from his pocket. He hands it out to her, and she takes it silently, nodding slowly, tears shining in her eyes, a sight that breaks his heart. He feels unbearably powerless. Then they hear a voice coming through a megaphone.

"Teresa Lisbon, we know you're in there with one remaining hostage. This motel is surrounded, there is no way out."

Lisbon and Jane nod at each other once again, and walk together towards the door.

"You go first," she orders, and at first he hesitates. "Come on, let's just get this over with."

"Okay," he says, turning around, opening the door and putting his hands in the air as he starts slowly walking. "I'm okay," he announces, hoping that will make it clear that no shooting is necessary.

When he has already reached the officers, Lisbon appears at the door, holding her gun but not pointing it.

"Ms. Lisbon, put down your weapon and put your hands in the air."

She tosses the gun towards the commanding officer, and looks into his eyes, with her hands in the air.

"Sir," she says. "There's a man in the other room who needs protection. Whatever you do to me, just make sure he's safe."

"The man in the other room is safe, ma'am. It's over. He managed to escape."

"Escape? You mean he's not there?"

"Like hell he's there! He managed to escape and called us in. This is over for you, Ms. Lisbon. You are under arrest."

"But, sir, you don't understand, the man in the other room is…"

"Thomas Lisbon?" the officer asks, but, clearly, he already knows it. "Your brother?"