Woo hoo! Chapter 21. I'm getting toward the end. Yay. This chapter first came from something Cho said in "A dozen red roses." A suspect asks Cho why he's being held, and Cho says simply, "because Jane says you know stuff." The suspect says, "And that guy is always right?" And Cho responds, "Pretty much." And so a chapter idea is formed. And then this chapter took an entirely different turn than I anticipated. There's a weird Cho/Lisbon vibe in here, along with my typical Jane/Lisbon. Just go with it. That's all I'll say.

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Early August, 2008

Jane was always right.

It had taken Cho the better part of a year to truly accept it, but he finally had. Rigsby hadn't yet—he'd known Jane for about six months, and was still in denial. Cho recognized the reluctance to accept it, to entirely believe it—it went against everything he had ever been taught about life being unpredictable in almost thirty years. No one could be right all the time. But if Jane was ever wrong, Cho had never witnessed it.

It was a Wednesday night; they had just solved a case. Jane had cracked the investigation wide open with some wild theory he'd come by through some meaningless observation or another, as he tended to do, and Cho realized that he wasn't even surprised anymore. He was sitting with Jane and the boss, pretending to work. Rigsby had gone home already. Cho studied Jane, considering him.

"You want something, Cho?" Jane didn't even look up. Cho didn't know how he did it.

Cho shook his head. "I was just thinking."

"Care to share?" There was a thunderstorm outside, water spraying the windows, seeming to shake the walls.

Cho shrugged. "I was just wondering how you do it. If you're ever wrong."

Jane gave an amused smile, and Lisbon re-crossed her legs in the spinning chair across from Cho, gripping her pen tighter, as if trying to tune them out.

"I'm always right," Jane stated, baldly.

Lisbon's head suddenly shot up, annoyed. "You are not."

Jane's grin got wider. "No? You ever known me to be wrong?"

"Just because I've never seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen."

"No?"

"No. I've never seen you put that hair gel in your head in the mornings, either, but I know that happens."

Cho grinned. Jane was very sensitive about his hair gel. Lisbon had a fun, quick wit when she chose to show it off, which was rare.

"I've already told you, Lisbon, it's water."

"Oh, is that what they're calling it now?" She shot Jane a quizzical smirk, and looked back down at her work.

Jane laughed. "Okay. I'll have to prove it, then. Because I really am always right." He paused, deliberating. "I'll tell you and Cho about yourselves, something you've never told me, and you can tell me if I'm wrong."

Lisbon put down her pen. She gestured for Jane to start. Cho had noticed before that Jane was the only person for whom Lisbon ever stopped working.

"I'll start with Cho." Cho wheeled his chair around to sit beside his boss, in front of Jane, who was leaning against Lisbon's office door. He was drinking a cup of tea. The two watched him as if he were some mildly interesting program on late-night cable TV.

"Cho was going to be a lawyer." Jane continued. Cho raised his eyebrows. It was left field, though true. "He was interested in law, always had been, studied it for a while in college. But then he suddenly realized it wasn't for him."

"And why wasn't it?"

Jane shrugged. "He doesn't have the personality for criminal law. He's not gritty, abrasive enough. He's a thinker, and being a detective lets him indulge that."

Cho swiveled in his seat, face blank, granting him nothing. Jane turned to face Lisbon.

"And Teresa here--" Cho watched her flinch at the usage of her first name. "She thinks she's growing old before her time." Lisbon looked at him, face an unreadable mask. "She wants to hold back time. She's not the kind of woman who obsesses over how she looks, not for the sake of vanity, but fears looking in the mirror one day, and wondering where all the years went."

Jane leaned back against the door, looking annoyingly pleased with himself. "Am I wrong?"

Lisbon recovered first. Lisbon always recovered first. "Unimpressive," she said flippantly. "Run of the mill. I would have expected more, Jane."

"Is that so?"

Cho picked up. "Absolutely. It's going to take better than that to make us believe you're never wrong."

"So I see," Jane replied, feigning a grave tone. "What will it take?"

Lisbon considered. "It'll take—something I don't know about myself. Something that--" She broke off.

"Surprises me," Cho finished her sentence. She hated when Jane did it, but it never bothered her when Cho did. She grinned at him. Suddenly they were partners. "It'll take something I've never thought of. Something seemingly irrelevant. Maybe something that embarrasses me."

Jane nodded slowly, thinking hard.

"And then maybe I'll consider the idea of entertaining the notion that you're always right," Lisbon put in.

"Hmm." Jane's voice rumbled in his throat. He sipped his tea, and released a breath. Jane never rushed. It was infuriating. He never rushed, and yet he was always out in front of everything, miles ahead. He seemed to come upon an idea and grinned, which made Cho nervous.

"Okay," he said, "How about this? Lisbon, Cho is exactly the kind of man you normally date."

It was a good thing Cho wasn't Rigsby. It was a great thing Cho wasn't Rigsby, because Rigsby entirely lacked subtlety. Cho could imagine him now, gaping, gurgling, stuttering at the two of them. Cho wasn't like that. He had the presence in himself to stay silent, to watch the exchange.

"Really." Lisbon never used more words than she had to.

Jane grinned. "Absolutely."

Cho chanced a sideways glance at his boss. She wasn't awkward, not with him. She wasn't embarrassed. She was too busy going toe-to-toe with Jane to even think about that. Lisbon crossed her legs and sat on them. She chewed on her pen. "Enlighten me."

"I thought you'd never ask. Cho is—reliable, dependable, steady."

Cho thought Jane was making Lisbon's type and himself sound awfully boring, but didn't say so.

"You've been looking for that since--" Jane paused here, as if trying to collect a good phrasing. "Since your teens."

So he knew. Cho wondered where Jane had come by the information about Lisbon's family. He hadn't thought he'd known.

"And Cho is laid back. Lets you take the lead, which you like, because you're accustomed to doing it. And his humor. You appreciate the dry, the sarcastic, because you've never thought you were funny." Jane gave a wicked grin. "And of course, Cho is a good-looking man." He cocked his head to the side. "Right?"

Cho's interest was piqued now. He looked at Lisbon. He cheeks were faintly pink. Huh.

She recovered, though more slowly than she usually did. "Interesting," was all she said, biting her lip. It was as if there were a great many things she had thought to say, but they had all sunk to the bottom, and "interesting" was the only thing left afloat.

Jane smiled wider. He was enjoying himself. Cho was beginning to wonder just what he'd gotten them into. "It is interesting. And right now, you're mentally going through all the men you've dated, and realizing that Cho would fit right in."

Lisbon's face was neutral, a poker face. She looked up at Jane without fear. Not wanting him to win. Cho recognized the battle of wills. It never seemed to stop. "That's what you think, huh?"

Jane's eyes sparkled. "That's what I know. And that's not all. It turns out, Cho, that Lisbon here is exactly the kind of woman you generally find most attractive, as well."

Before Cho could respond, Lisbon cut in. "Is that your game? Trying to make us uncomfortable? Everyone is everyone's type in your world, huh?"

Jane's face was unfazed. "Not at all. You aren't Rigsby's type in the slightest."

Lisbon let out a dark chuckle. "Gee, thanks."

"It's no bearing on your attractiveness, Teresa."

Her eyes narrowed at 'Teresa.' "I've told you about that."

"Right, sorry, Lisbon. I just meant, I'm sure Rigsby has noticed in some objective way that you're attractive. You just aren't the type of woman he typically dates. That's all."

Lisbon closed her eyes. "Shut up."

"Anyway, as I was saying. Cho, Lisbon's your type."

Cho wheeled backwards in his chair, determined to keep his cool, determined not to let his growing unease and shyness get the better of him. "Okay. How so?"

Jane grinned. "You don't know?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"You'd know better than anyone."

Cho shrugged. "Well, you know everything, right? Isn't that the whole point of this game? This is a spectator sport. No lifelines, no ask the audience. This isn't Who Wants to be a Millionaire. This is Jeopardy."

Lisbon snickered next to him. He kind of liked making her laugh. He looked over at her, she looked back at him. They both nodded, and turned around.

"Fair enough," Jane replied. "Cho, you've always been the smartest kid in school. Always. And you hate dating women who aren't challenging. Lisbon is." Cho hated how much fun Jane was having.

"Lisbon is tough, hard-nosed, and very, very smart. Ambitious, great at her job, so she wouldn't be clingy, which you hate. And she's not too girly. She's athletic, and you love that. Doesn't own a hundred pairs of shoes." Jane broke off to give an evil smile. "And beautiful, petite. You've always had a thing for petite women, haven't you, Cho?"

Cho laughed, he couldn't help it. "How the hell do you know these things?"

He thought about it. It had never occurred to him before now, but Jane completely had a point. He loved all of those things in women he dated, and Lisbon was all of those things. He'd never even noticed it. Even now, being in possession of these facts, didn't change how he looked at her. She was still Lisbon.

Jane continued as if Cho hadn't spoken, dark blue eyes gleaming. "Really, both of you would be great for each other. You both have a lot of what the other person wants."

The room was suddenly quiet. Cho had time to wonder again what he'd gotten himself into.

Lisbon shifted in her chair. "Well, that's a brilliant theory, Jane. Except that it has a hole so big I could drive your giant, overly inflated ego through it." Cho laughed, but noticed that despite the tough words, Lisbon had given herself up slightly to her discomfort.

"And that would be?"

"That would be the fact that I have neither the inclination or desire to be with Cho in any non-platonic sense. I don't look at him like that." She paused. "No offense, Cho, not that you aren't great."

Cho put up his hands. "None taken, boss." He turned to Jane. "Yeah, same. So I guess you're wrong. For once."

He and Lisbon shared a brief, triumphant glance, before quickly turning away.

"Not so. I didn't say you were attracted to each other. That would just be weird."

"You just said it!" Cho turned to Lisbon in outrage. "He just spent the last five minutes saying it!"

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Jane, what the hell?"

That stupid smile was frozen on Jane's face. "I said that you both possess attributes that the other typically finds attractive. Attributes alone don't equal attraction."

Cho shook his head. "And here he goes with the psycho-babble."

"No it makes perfect sense. We're all products of our environment. If you and Lisbon had met differently, the way you relate to each other might be different. As is, Lisbon, Cho will always be your employee, someone you fiercely protect from everything you can, but don't let in on a personal level, and Cho, Lisbon will always be the boss that you admire and respect, but are slightly fearful of. Nothing else. It's a bit sad, in a way."

"Oh yeah, missing out on a soul mate." Lisbon's tone was scathing.

"I don't believe in soul mates." Jane shrugged his shoulders. "I think that there are certain people out there that we can be happy with, and circumstance dictates who we pick, who we decide to spend our lives with."

"Ah." Lisbon was biting her lip again. She sucked her teeth. "That might simultaneously be the most jaded and the most optimistic thing I've ever heard you say."

"Absolutely."

Lisbon scooted a bit closer to Jane, and Cho doubted she was aware of doing it. "So you're saying I'm going to spend my life with someone like Cho, but not Cho, is that it?" She frowned, tugged at her lip. "That actually doesn't sound too bad."

Cho raised his eyebrows, but stayed silent. He rolled back in his chair to give them space. It was Jane and Lisbon now. He began to pack his briefcase, watching the two of them.

"Not necessarily. Likely, but not necessarily."

"Why not?"

"Well, that impulse, it's not—formulaic. It's biological. The anatomy of attraction, of lust. It's complicated. Especially for someone like you."

"Why me?"

"We aren't one-dimensional as people. We're whole, we're complex. And you're a complete person. More so than most people. More so than me."

Lisbon didn't say anything.

Jane sat on the desk now. He turned to face her. "And anyway, some of our most powerful infatuations are to people who aren't usually our type."

"And why is that?" Lisbon's voice was low, Cho could barely hear it. He maybe shouldn't be listening, but he couldn't help it.

"Because--" Jane stopped, his voice was low, too. "Because it's new. It's—exciting. It makes us feel young again, younger that we are." His voice dropped almost to a whisper. "And we all want that."

Lisbon nodded, and seemed to come back to herself. Cho was fascinated. He rarely saw her give up so much, even by accident. Even by asking questions. Jane brought something out in her, though he didn't know what, exactly, that was.

"Then what was the point of that little exercise? If everything is uncertain anyway?" Lisbon sounded like herself again.

"Everything isn't uncertain. Most things are predictable. And the point of that exercise?" He shrugged. Lisbon stood then, just as Cho was reaching forward to snap off his desk lamp. She bumped square into his chest, and blushed. Cho felt his cheeks warming, too. They were both woefully socially inadequate.

Jane grinned. "Maybe some personal amusement," he said.

Cho rolled his eyes. He started for the door, umbrella in his hand, hating Jane.

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Next chapter: "Jane was a seducer."