Chapter 11 – Casualty of War

"Was she really mopping around?" Jane asked Cho, flipping through interview transcriptions. "I know you don't want to be involved," he added, "but I would appreciate knowing this fact."

"Ask her," Cho replied, eyeing a particularly disdainful slice of pizza with bacon on it. "Almost as bad as pineapple,' he complained with a shake of his head. "Contamination! I am never allowing you to order the food while I am in the bathroom again."

"Meh," he said with a poignant flip of his hand. "She won't talk to me. Not that I really expected her to when I agreed to come back here and help."

"Then why did you agree at all? You came back, told her she had to leave everything she worked hard to gain back behind just so you could come back to the U.S.," Cho responded. "You knew she'd still be sore about it."

Jane smiled crookedly despite himself. "Mm. I did know she would be. But," he lifted a finger up, "just to clarify my own stance, I actually came back because I needed to see her. The FBI's demands for me to do so did not change that."

"Could have fooled us," Cho murmured, still eyeing the pizza with contempt. "To answer a question I normally wouldn't be involved with, she was very sad for a long time. You crushed her heart like a cigarette."

Jane was soundless for a moment, taking time to decide whether or not he wanted to open up more to Cho. He was pretty sure if Lisbon had told him about that night, then she probably mentioned the proposal and the fact he told her he loved her. He sighed and put down the file he was searching haphazardly through, turning to his old friend and frowning deeply.

"She turned down my proposal, Cho. I tried to explain my side of things, but she wouldn't listen." He could feel Cho becoming more uncomfortable as he dove further into the complicated relationship. "She commanded me to leave, and so I did."

Cho grunted, turning his head away from the pizza and meeting Jane's frown with one of his own. "She didn't say for you to leave her forever, did she? You decided that on your own. She may have pushed you away, but it was you who walked yourself miles and miles from her. You didn't even have the decency to say goodbye. If I were her, I'd be pissed, too."

"Tough crowd," Jane commented softly. He waited a beat, then, "I never meant to hurt her. I was only granting her wish."

"Maybe you read her wrong," Cho told him, setting his eyes back on the report he was reading. "You think you are so good at reading people—and, for the most part, you are. But when it comes to her, you are just as clueless as anyone." Cho sighed and sat back in his chair. "Being hungry makes me gabby." He shook his head. "You are losing your touch, Kimball," he whispered to himself. He looked to the pizza once again and shook his head slightly before returning to scanning the file.

Jane looked at Cho and nodded infinitesimally. "Maybe I did," he agreed.

There was an air of silence between them for a couple of minutes, only interrupted by the sound of Cho's cell going off. Cho sat the file down on the small hotel room desk and reached into his pocket, lifting the phone to his ear.

"Cho," he greeted. He was silent a few moments, allowing Jane time to scan the rest of the page he was looking at before raising his gaze. "Okay. And you are sure? Yes. Fine." Cho hung up his phone and looked at Jane. "The clothing came. They are testing it now. Wylie said it is priority, so it shouldn't be too long."

"Good," Jane replied, dipping his head back to the folder. "One thing still bothering me is those numbers on that card. I've seen them before. I can't exactly place them."

"Maybe you burned down your memory palace," Cho said without humor. "It's okay. Now you are level with the rest of us."

"Meh," Jane replied. "Nonsense. Something is blocking me." He shrugged. "It'll come to me."

Cho threw the folder down in disgust, pushing the file toward Jane. "This guy is sick. He will keep killing. Lisbon is determined not to let fear rule her, but you can see she's shaken. All those women look eerily like her." Cho thought for a minute. "I kind of wish she still dated that guy from the evidence room. He, at least, knows his way with a gun." Cho's eyes fell to Jane, his lips turning upward. "Not my business, of course, but doesn't make it any less true."

"Whoever is killing these women is a methodologist. He believes in sticking to routine. The problem with methodologists are they mess up some way or the other because they are focused on the method too closely. And Alex is a fine officer, I have no doubt," Jane started, nonchalantly picking up the folder Cho had just discarded, "however, there was no heat between them. There was..." he trailed off mid-thought, cocking his head and lifting his chin, "...neediness."

"I don't think I want to hear this," Cho said quickly. "Please don't talk about Lisbon's sex life."

"Lack of one, I believe," Jane clarified. "Not that there is anything wrong with that. I suspected as much from their friendly conversation. It was missing the fire that comes from a good, steady sexual relationship." He smiled at that, but the smile was wiped off his face almost as quickly. "The numbers..."

"I don't care how many times they didn't or did have sex, Jane," Cho told him. "I am going to drain your bank account when my therapy bills come in," he warned.

Jane reached down into the small pile of folders and picked up the one for Amy Milano. "No, not that! I remembered where I saw those numbers before." He opened the folder and picked the picture from the folder and held it up to Cho. "It's a badge number. When Lisbon took me to see the files for the first time, his badge caught the light. I remember the numbers because I've seen them on him."

"Lisbon is getting her necklace from evidence right now," Cho told him, reaching for his phone in his pocket.

"Wait!" Jane said, holding up a hand to halt Cho's movements. "Don't call anyone."

"Why?" asked Cho, surprise in his voice. "This is Lisbon we're talking about."

Jane nodded. "Yes, it is." Jane lowered his hand and shook his golden mane. "But it doesn't make sense."

"What are you talking about?"

"Think about it, Cho," Jane told him, reaching for another folder and opening it, his eyes scanning the folder quickly. It's too easy. Why would such a meticulous killer leave such a bold clue? Hmm."

"Oh, no! Not another hunch!" Cho replied, rolling his eyes as he lowered his hand from his jacket pocket. He knew that look on Jane's face anywhere. Too many years of hunches and theories.

"This hunch, if proven correctly, could actually crack this case. It was here all along! I was just reading the clues wrong."

Lisbon bit her lip nervously as she watched Alex back up away from her, giving her a few inches between their bodies. While Lisbon felt her knees quaking, Alex seemed nonplussed, casually drifting a smile across his face. She pushed a hand slowly down her side toward her holstered weapon, but flinched back when Alex pushed out a hand, clasping a hand around her cross necklace.

"You always had faith," he commented, gazing directly in her eyes. "I like that about you, Teresa. So full of faith."

Lisbon cleared her throat and attempted to turn herself toward the door. She felt his other hand come up to grip her by the shoulder, holding her in place. She felt Alex release her cross necklace; felt him chuckle in her face, his breath hitting her and chilling her to the bone.

"People know I am down here," Lisbon said defiantly, refusing to let her voice waver. "They will come looking."

He shrugged one shoulder. "Doesn't matter, Teresa," he told her, baby soft. "It's a risk I am willing to take." He slid his hand down from her necklace, guiding himself between her breasts, down past her navel, and around to her holstered weapon, where he unbuckled it and slid the Glock from its position. "You'll have no need for this."

He reached over and placed the service weapon on the counter, out of her reach. She felt her heart give a jolt; a sensation that rippled through her chest and into every nerve ending in her body. She knew she was pretty defenseless without her weapon…well, almost defenseless…

"You killed them," she whispered, low and slow. "You murdered those women."

"I did?" Alex arched an eyebrow. "Hmm. Well, isn't that something." He cocked his head at her and tightened his grip on her arm. "What tipped you off?"

"I always thought there was something off with you," Lisbon told him, anger overtaking her fear for a few minutes. "I just didn't realize it was because you are a scumbag, murdering innocent women."

He chuckled darkly. "You don't really know a lot, do you? I thought that psychic guy was supposed to be good at solving this kind of shit," he pressed out. "You want to know what your problem is?" He brought his free hand down to grasp her hip hard.

"I'm attracted to assholes?" She was nearly nauseous at the thought of dating this guy for a while.

"Possibly," Alex said in return. "Does Patrick Jane qualify as an asshole, Teresa? I would say so judging by what you've told me about him. He must have lost his touch at some point," he went on, squeezing her hip so hard she cried out in pain. "He's not as good as you've told me. Maybe you are blinded by your feelings for him, hmm?"

"Jealous much?"

"Who has you now?"

She lowered her gaze, catching a glimpse of his weapon in his holster. Her eyes darted back to his quickly, not wanting him to pick up on what she was thinking. She had training. She could easily reach her hand to his holster—his holster did not snap, but had an open area to easily retrieve his weapon. She could risk it. Otherwise, there was no way she was getting out of this room. It was even more obvious that nobody came down to the evidence room much. It was in the basement, away from any police. Because the building was so old, no cameras were placed down here, either. There would be nothing to alert anyone that she had been here.

"Why did those women die, Alex?" She was stalling, slowly bringing her arm down around his arm as he held her firmly. "I didn't think you were this kind of person."

"What kind is that?"

"A monster."

She stopped her movement as he leaned back away from her and smiled crookedly. "First one was planned. After that, they were all for you. The last one was unplanned, though. A casualty of war."

"What did they do? Refuse your advances?"

"Mine? No." He laughed.

"Your badge number," she said, nodding toward it as she began to move her hand toward his weapon again.

"What?"

"You asked me earlier how I was tipped off." She could feel her hand falling lower and lower toward his holster. "Your badge number was written on the back of a card on the last body we found."

She was caught off guard by his face changing. Almost a shocked look that immediately went into confusion and then anger. He controlled himself, hiding away those emotions under the hard, callous veneer from before. He cocked his head at her and nodded.

"Nice catch," he told her, though his voice sounded strained and distant. "My badge number."

She wasn't Jane. She knew there was something not right with Alex, but she couldn't put a finger on it. It was like she knew there was something going on, but it was hazy in her mind. She watched in horror as Alex's eyes shifted sideways, falling to her outstretched hand reaching for the weapon at his waist.

"No, no, no, Teresa," he said, releasing her hip and pulling her hand away roughly. "That's not nice. You were trained not to use another officer's weapon. That is cause for immediate suspension."

She cried out in pain when he twisted her arm away. She was still defiant despite the pain that was now coursing through her arm and up her shoulder blade. She reached up with her other hand and scratched his face with her nails, causing four distinct marks to form on his cheek, blood pulsing slowly from the fresh wounds and dripping on his uniform. She liked to think it was to distract him enough to get away, but she knew better. She knew why she did it. She did it because she knew when Jane and the team realized she was gone, he'd find the blood and figure it out. She knew he would. She was happy she got to tell Jane she was sorry, but now the regret of not telling him how much she missed him was beginning to seep into her heart.

She should have told him that she had been too harsh on him; that she understood, after five years—well, three, technically, but that night was erased from her mind for a long time—that she needed him. She always told herself it was five years, though it had been three, really, if she really wanted to count it, but she didn't. That memory was far too painful for her. But it was all entirely on her own conscience. That it was her fault he left her. Though she didn't want to admit it, it was the truth. He poured his heart to her as best as he could, but she shut him down because she failed to see that he could no longer be without her, and he'd do anything to have her, even if he knew she'd not like it.

"That wasn't nice, Teresa," Alex told her. He leaned in close to her, enough to whisper in her ear. "We have to go, now."

"Go where? If you are going to kill me, do it already."

"I'm not going to kill you, Teresa," he assured her. "That's not my job."

Before she could ask what he meant by that, she felt a small prick in her neck. Within seconds, her vision began to swim, her mouth no longer seemed to work, and her eyes felt heavier and heavier. Finally, her eyes closed completely, and she felt herself dropping to the ground where darkness greeted her like an old friend.

A/N: I hope you enjoy. I am going to be wrapping this up in the next few chapters, and hopefully tie all questions and loose ends up, and get the clues revealed. I get to the mid-to-end of stories and I lose steam. Meh. But I hope that those who don't like Lisbon as a damsel in distress know that she won't be going down without her own fight. Stay tuned. I can't say I like this chapter, but it did turn out better than I thought. Pretty happy with it. /snorts.

A/N #2: Jane isn't perfect. He makes mistakes sometimes, too... * grin *. Also, some of you expressed confusion that Lisbon calls it five years that she hasn't seen Jane, though she saw him on that night in the flashback, making it only three years, technically. I hope I've cleared that little bit up with her inner monologue about it.