A/N: Sorry for the delay - too many projects and not enough time. Doesn't help when I distract myself either. On the plus side, part 12 should be up at some point next week, so there shouldn't be anywhere near as much of a delay as there was with this one.

Thanks to my brilliant beta, lil smiles and to: lalez, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Divinia Serit, WingfieldLegend, Penelope Louise, Laura, NellietheItalian, Rina-the-Brave and MrPatrickLee for reviewing part 10.

For Nellie - I hope things are okay and if not, pick up soon. *hugs*

x tromana


Part Eleven - "I need to get this done."

"Patrick…"

Lisbon poked him roughly in the side and Jane moaned in response, burying his head into the pillow. She repeated the action, stifling her laughter as he continued to complain. And to think that he accused her of not being a morning person. Then again, she had a sneaking suspicion that he had just enjoyed the best night's sleep in a good month or so and therefore, he could probably be forgiven. It wasn't as if she wasn't tired either; two nights in a row and she had only managed only a couple of hours sleep. She was well aware that once the hysteria died down and sheer exhaustion kicked in, she was going to be very grumpy indeed. Or possibly ill, which wasn't a particularly pleasant thought, but knowing her luck, would probably happen. It couldn't be helped though, it wasn't as if criminals worked to any particular time schedule.

"Patrick, we have to get up," she reiterated for what felt like the thousandth time.

"Damn it, woman, I just want to sleep."

"So do I, but we have a case."

"Oh how I hate those words at three a.m."

"It's twenty past three already, now up."

"Do I have to?" he whined.

"Yes!"

An hour later and Lisbon quickly decided she kind of liked traveling to work in the same car as Jane rather than different ones. With a smile, she let her eyes quickly flicker across to her dozing passenger as she drove in the semi-darkness. Thankfully, in her opinion, the crime scene, which was one of those stereotypical motels that were seen in crime shows on television at least every other week, was only a mere thirty minutes from her home. Though she didn't mind setting up camp in whatever local PD they were closest to, she always preferred it when they could use CBI headquarters as their base. Everyone knew how things worked there and they didn't feel like they were getting in the way of the locals. Another benefit was that there were usually less arguments about just whose case it was.

"Jane, we're here."

He blinked slowly and stared at her, confused.

"Jane?"

"Yes, Jane," she repeated, "we're at work."

"So I can't call you Teresa then?"

"No."

"Just Lisbon again?"

"Yes, that old chestnut, if you must."

"And you're my boss?"

"Yes."

"I take it that is non-negotiable?"

"Not unless you want to be transferred to another team."

"I don't want to be transferred to another team."

"Well then…"

Lisbon smiled as she climbed out of the car to see Rigsby and Van Pelt yawning expansively at her. Jane eventually joined her, entwining his fingers with her own, which she proceeded to throw off. Despite the fact that the rest of the team knew, through her own doing, she was still determined to keep their professional life separate from their personal life as much as feasibly possible. Minelli approached her, looking unimpressed at the amount of time it had taken for them to arrive, but didn't mention his displeasure. Instead, he led them wordlessly to the body, which Jane approached tentatively, before leaning over with interest. Lisbon knelt beside him, automatically placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, which she pulled away suddenly when she realized what she was doing.

"Sir? How do we know this is Red John?" she asked, looking up at the somber director of the CBI.

"Same cutting style, same smile drawn in the victim's blood on the wall. And this note. I'll get a copy sent to you, Lisbon."

She nodded in response, mulling over the facts that had been thrown at her.

"Do we know anything about the victim?"

"Nothing," Minelli answered grimly. "We haven't been able to find any I.D."

"Oh, we know plenty," Jane interrupted. "The calluses on her thumb? She played guitar, probably acoustic. Her right bicep is significantly more built up than her left, which suggests that not only was she right handed, but she played some kind of sport which required lifting a significant weight with the one arm. I'd hazard a guess at ten pin bowling..."

"While interesting, the fact that she is probably a guitar-playing, ten pin bowler doesn't really help us with our investigation," Lisbon snapped, but immediately felt a little guilty.

"Half of her nails have been painted; no self respecting young woman would do that on purpose," Jane stated. "And she has a fiancé, which means someone will be particularly concerned about her location and she was caught off guard."

Lisbon nodded in response, relieved that Jane had finally decided to tell them something useful about their unnamed victim, especially as forensics had already stated that they expected the crime scene to give up as little information as beforehand. What intrigued her most was the reason why 'Red John' had chosen to kill her and if there were any links to the other known victim. After sending Rigsby and Van Pelt to talk to the reception staff, she stifled a yawn as she headed towards her SUV again. When she reached the vehicle, her hand dove into her pocket to find nothing. Spinning around, she glared at Jane who waved the keys triumphantly at her.

"Give them to me," she growled, not in the mood for games, especially as that headache she had expected had started to develop.

"No, you're half asleep," Jane answered. "I'm driving. And stop pouting, I'm not changing my mind."

Sulkily, Lisbon clambered into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut behind her. Thoroughly annoyed, she crossed her arms and attempted to ignore Jane as he drove them away and headed towards CBI headquarters, where Cho had agreed to meet them. Once they arrived, her mood failed to lift, despite the fact that Rigsby and Van Pelt had arrived shortly after them with the CCTV tapes from the motel and a list of all the people currently staying there. After setting the team to their tasks, most importantly the tapes and the identity of the victim, she closed herself in her office, hoping that they could finally get a break on this case. True to his word, she had a copy of the letter Minelli had stated was discovered at the scene of the crime. An hour later and she still hadn't deciphered much more to the meaning behind the words written in front of her and she felt like she was beginning to go cross-eyed. She sighed and pulled open the top right-hand draw, instinctively looking for some Tylenol. The headache that had been developing had decided to turn into a migraine. It was only going to get in the way of her job and the sooner she could combat it, the better. She quickly decided that it was definitely something to do with sleep deprivation.

"Teresa?"

"Jane," she sighed as he invited himself in. "What do you want?"

"To take you home."

"I need to get this done, it's only midday."

He placed a hand firmly on top of the sheet of paper she was about to pick up and plucked the highlighter out of her hand with ease. It took surprisingly little effort; usually if he tried to take something from her, she would fight back and grip hold of it as tightly as possible. The color in her face seemed to have drained considerably since they had gotten up at such an unholy hour that morning too.

"You need to get some sleeping done too."

"No, I…"

"Hmm, maybe you're right. Perhaps all you need to do is stay here reading the same word over and over again and not actually doing anything constructive."

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"So long as it's okay with Minelli."

"It will be."

"What?"

"You're sick and you know what he's like when any of his agents get sick."

"I'm not…"

"Okay, you're not sick. Just tired."

"Just tired," she echoed dully.

"Come on then, Sleepyhead."

Jane had ensured Lisbon was strapped safely into the SUV before he rushed off to inform Minelli that he was taking the lead agent of the Serious Crimes Unit home and there was nothing that he could do to stop him. It wasn't quite the permission that Lisbon had insisted upon, but it was close enough. Once at her apartment, he had to stop himself from laughing as she stumbled inside and eventually, he settled her down onto the couch, deciding that he wasn't going to leave her alone. There was little he could do back at CBI headquarters barring getting in the way. Besides, even though a migraine wasn't life threatening, he preferred the idea of keeping an eye on her. Knowing her, she would probably try and do something stupid like work from home instead of rest.

"Wha-?"

Lifting up her head lazily from the arm of the couch, she allowed her hand to trail haphazardly across the floor until her fingers came into contact with her cell phone. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust enough to focus on the bright screen, indicating that Cho was ringing her. She answered the call and pressed the phone firmly against her ear as Jane popped his head around the door frame, toothbrush in his mouth. With a quick glance at her watch, she threw the comforter off her lap. The fact that she had not only fallen asleep, but had been asleep a good seven hours or so was something that surprised her considerably.

"We have a location of a man caught on CCTV," Cho said as soon as she answered. "We think he's an accomplice of Red John's and Minelli agrees. We're just about to head out there."

"I'll be there in half an hour," Lisbon replied, instantly waking up. "Don't go in without me."

"Are you sure, Boss?" he asked. "You looked pretty rough when Jane took you home."

"I'm okay. Now what's the address? I'll meet you there."

It didn't take her long to spring into action and she was acting as if the migraine had never come to plague her at all. That didn't stop Jane from arguing with her decision all the way to the place that Cho had said they were to meet. He remained by the car, irritated, as Rigsby handed her a bulletproof vest and they updated her on the situation. Lisbon seemed to have slipped back into her role as boss with ease and she had definitely grown more comfortable with her relatively new position in the past month or so. It helped that they seemed a lot more close-knit since Hotchkiss had left, too. Jane felt like his heart had leapt into his throat from the moment she disappeared into the building with the rest of the team, and it was not helped by the shower of bullets he could hear from outside. When they all emerged, relatively unscathed, he breathed a sigh of relief. While Cho wrestled the suspect into a car, Jane took the opportunity to corner Lisbon.

"I don't want you going into situations like that again," Jane hissed, keeping his voice down so the others couldn't hear.

"What?"

"It's dangerous and I don't want to lose you."

"It's my job, Patrick."

"But-"

"No, I'm not arguing with you about this. You knew what I did before, before all this," she stated angrily, though not quite shouting. "If you can't deal with it, there can't be any… us… anymore."

TBC...