A/N Hey all. Sorry it's been taking me so long between chapters. I'm in my last semester of college and am stressed out. I hope you like the chapter.

Chapter 25 Nip it in the Bud

Lisbon paced the floor in front of her desk in her office. It'd been well over an hour since she and Jane had left the library and he still wasn't back. She tried his cell phone a couple of times, but there was no answer. She figured he probably didn't want to talk to her until he was at the office and could try and placate her about stealing her phone face to face. Either that or Sinclair had gotten to him. A chill ran up her spine at the thought. She shook her head and continued pacing. Sinclair had no intention of doing anything to Jane at this particular moment in time. It hadn't even been twenty four hours since he'd threatened Jane. He wanted Jane's help and killing him wouldn't get it.

She jumped when her phone rang, then quickly stepped to her desk and grabbed the receiver, bringing it forcefully to her ear.

"Hello?" She bellowed into the phone.

"Teresa," Jane said, "Why are you yelling?"

"Jane!" She was so relieved to hear his voice yet furious at the same time. "I'm not…" She pulled the phone away from her face and covered the mouth piece before taking a deep breath. She counted to three, all the while hearing Jane call out her name, then brought the phone back up.

"Where are you?" she demanded in a much quieter voice this time.

"Ah, yes. About that…" Jane said.

Her stomach flipped.

Jane sat crossed leg on a metal bench that was attached to the one and only cement wall in the room. A man in a torn black t-shirt, wild eyes and a tattoo reading "death" in all capitals on his forehead sat next to him-staring at him.

"Nice tattoo," Jane told the man. "Did it hurt?"

The man scooted close enough to Jane so that he could smell the pungent mixture of sour milk and alcohol on his breath. "Go screw yourself," the man said while continuing to stare.

Jane turned away and crinkled his nose. "Go screw yourself? Hmm." He looked back at the man and tried again. "What are you in for?"

The man leaned away and rested his head against the wall. "Domestic dispute," the man told Jane while smiling wistfully as if recalling something pleasant. "My old lady caught me screwing her best friend and one thing led to another—if you know what I mean."

Jane didn't know what he meant and didn't really want to know either.

The "death" man continued, "What are you in for?"

"Uh… I littered," Jane answered. The man glanced sideways at Jane, face twisted in confusion or disgust. Jane couldn't tell which so he continued, "and then one thing led to another…." Jane rolled his hand forward a couple of times signaling one event leading to another.

"Death" man lifted his fist out in front of him and then pounded it against his chest. "Resist the man. This your first time in the joint?"

Jane's brow furrowed. "Can you really call this 'the joint'?"

The man looked at Jane sideways through bloodshot eyes and Jane had a vivid vision of being stabbed with a shank. "Nope, not my first time," he told the man. "I'm a seasoned veteran. Like you."

The man closed his eyes and smiled broadly, proudly displaying yellow, rotting teeth. "First thing I'm going to do when I get out of here is find my old lady and screw her."

"Oh," he wasn't sure how to respond to that, "how nice for you."

"You got an old lady to screw when you get out?" the man asked hoarsely.

Jane could feel his eyes widening. "Uh, well, no, I don't think my lady would want to uh, 'screw'…me for being thrown in jail."

The man snorted then opened his eyes and looked over at Jane. "Women like bad boys. She'll screw you."

Jane swallowed. "Not mine," then he smirked when he realized how easily he'd placed Lisbon in the mental position of being "his woman," he scrunched his brow and continued, "and she's not even 'my' woman. Not really. She's more like my boss, but not... I'm more to the side of her," he gestured to the side, "than below her."

"I like my woman below me when I screw her…" the man said matter-of-factly.

Jane cringed. "That wasn't what I meant…"

The man leaned over again, this time so rapidly that Jane jumped. "Well, maybe you need to show her who's boss, if you know what I mean."

Jane brought his finger up to his lips and tapped them lightly before answering. "Mmmm." He dropped his hand. "Screwing, right?"

"Damn right." The man leaned away.

This time Jane leaned forward. "How long have you been with your 'old lady'?"

"On and off for ten years," the man told Jane with a little shrug.

"On and off?" Jane asked. "Why do you think that is?"

"She's a woman, fickle, you know," The "death" guy scratched his forehead as though he was confused now too. "She keeps leaving me."

Jane rubbed the pad of his thumb over his index finger. "You don't think it's because you're sleeping with other women?"

The man continued staring in to space then snorted.

"Among other reasons," Jane added quietly.

The man twisted his face up and looked over at Jane. "Nah, I just do that to keep her in line. Show her that other women find me desirable. I don't have to stay with her, I chose to."

"Well, that's… almost a romantic thought. You obviously want to stay with her, right?" Jane asked.

"What are you a psychiatrist?" The man asked.

Jane prodded the man in his arm lightly with his elbow. "You don't want to hurt her, right?"

The man's eyes glazed over. "Nah." He looked up as though thinking the question through. "I mean…"

"Emotionally or physically," Jane continued.

The man shook his head.

"She's a good woman who has been putting up with you for decade. Am I right?"

"Yeah…" the man said, eyes widening, as though he'd just been hit with an epiphany.

Jane jabbed the man with his elbow once more. "So you'll start treating her better? Right?"

"Right," the man said.

Jane smiled. "Good."

"Jane," Lisbon's voice called from outside the cell's bars. Jane looked in her direction and the "death" man snapped out of his haze.

"Teresa!" he said a little more enthusiastically than he'd meant to.

Jane began to stand up when "death" man grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Is that your lady?" he asked.

"Uh," Jane could feel his brow scrunch again. He shrugged.

"Show…her…who's boss," the man instructed, making sure to enunciate every word.

"Right." Jane peeled the man's grease stained fingers off his jacket and moved quickly over to where Lisbon stood. She was standing with her feet shoulder width apart, her arms crossed over her chest and she was frowning at him.

"Teresa," he said slowly as he leaned against the bars and made eye contact.

She shook her head. "What is it? Your personal goal to be locked up once a year?"

Jane raised a hand trying to mollify her. "I understand that you're mad…"

She cut him off. "Mad? Why would I be mad? Hmm, let's see if I understand this correctly." She stepped closer to the bars, her voice cool and calculating. "First you pick-pocketed my phone, then you chucked it out of your car and onto the freeway nearly causing an accident, which then got you pulled over. And because you didn't think that was enough you resisted arrest? Is that about right?"

Jane looked at his shoes and shrugged. "It's all bogus. They never should have arrested me in the first place. I tried explaining to them…"

"Jane," Lisbon's voice raised a little and her right hand pushed her blazer back on the side before resting on her hip, displaying her badge, "You are not above the law. You understand me?"

A hand rested on Jane's shoulder. He looked back as "death" man took a spot next to him.

Then "death" man addressed Lisbon. "He wants to be above you, if you know what I mean." He laughed then turned to Jane. "Man, you didn't tell me your lady was a cop."

"She's a cop," Jane said.

"She's a fox," the man told Jane. "I'd screw her," he cringed lightly then added, "if I didn't have my lady, that is."

"Good, you're thinking of your girl." Jane smiled at him. "That's good."

The man smiled in return. Lisbon was shell shocked and Jane was amused.

"Excuse me?" she asked grabbing their attention again. "Guys."

The man returned his gaze to Lisbon. "Are you a ball buster?" he asked before quickly waving his hand in front of his face as if he were pushing the idea away. He then patted Jane's shoulder a couple of times. "Your man here was just resisting the man, if you know what I mean. He's a decent sort. Good listener, lady."

Jane held back a smile as he watched Lisbon's face contort in confusion.

She glanced between Jane and "death" man then her face hardened. "Step away from the bars," she ordered him in her harshest voice. "Death" man raised both hands and then retreated back to the bench.

"Relax woman," Jane said, unable to resist irking her. "He's just standing up for me."

Lisbon shot him a look that could kill, but he just kept smiling.

"I've a mind to leave you in here," she started.

"Lisbon," Jane said.

She raised a hand warding off his complaint. "Unfortunately, Sinclair is in the mix and the only way I can think of to get him off your back right now is to make you do whatever it is you promised him you'd do."

"That's probably true," Jane agreed as he stuck his hands in his vest pockets.

"You and I are going to have a serious conversation about this," she pointed at him, then she added on as though she'd just thought of it, "and you owe me a new phone."

"Of course." He nodded while ably ignoring the butterflies in his stomach.

She shook her head at him. "I just have to sign some papers." She turned to leave, then stopped and looked at Jane quizzically. "'Your lady'?"

Jane tilted his head back toward "death" man. "He's a romantic."

"So what's the plan?" Cho asked after swiveling his chair away from his computer.

Lisbon looked over at Jane from the corner of his desk, waiting for him to explain. She rested her palms on the edge of his desk on either side of her hips and waited with the rest of the team while Jane gathered his thoughts. He crossed his legs and the leather from the coach squeaked under him.

After a moment he looked at Cho. "Mark Randle won't go down without a fight and I doubt, at this point, that Sinclair will be true to his side of the bargain. We need dirt on both of them and it has to be good, something that'd make both of them give into anything."

Van Pelt turned her chair from her desk and toward the coach. "After we do that, then what?"

"We use it to blackmail them," Jane told them.

There was an audible sigh from the three agents. Lisbon stayed quiet.

Jane continued "We threaten to hand over what we have on each of them to the other."

"Why don't you just threaten to have Sinclair arrested or to expose him if he doesn't leave you alone?" Rigsby asked from his desk.

"I'm just one man," Jane explained. "Killing me would be easy, Randle's organization, however…"

Lisbon finally spoke up. "You want to pit them against each other."

"Yes," Jane said glancing over at her.

Lisbon felt suddenly very ill at his appraisal of her.

"Why do that when we could use Randle to bring him down?" Van Pelt asked. "It'd be nice to get Sinclair out of the picture, wouldn't it?"

Lisbon jumped in before Jane could answer. It seemed so obvious to her now. "We don't want either one of them to have the monopoly," she explained.

Van Pelt slid down in her chair a little while mulling that over. Jane smiled gratefully. The answer Lisbon had given was true and was half of Jane's reasoning. The other reason was that Jane still saw Sinclair as a good potential resource against Red John. Lisbon wasn't going to tell the team that, but she was going to be sure that she and Jane talked about it later. She glanced over at him and he nodded his head knowingly.

"So you intend to give the information that we have on each to the other?" Rigsby asked.

"No," Jane told them. "That would lead to disaster, sooner rather than later. I want to hold it over them, yes, but that's it. Which is why whatever we get has to be good-enough to terrify them both."

"We have Sinclair's identity," Lisbon said aloud glancing out into space as she put her thoughts in order, "so well just need…"

Jane started waving his hand at her to stop her from speaking. "How do you know we have Sinclair's identity?"

Lisbon cut her gaze to him and narrowed her eyes. "You know who he is—don't start." His sober expression changed and a small smile played at his lips. She closed her lips so as not to let any butterflies escape them when her stomach relaxed she continued. "I also know you have a plan, so start explaining."

His face sobered once more and he looked at the floor before he spoke. "I've made friends with Randle's wife. She's lonely, angry and smart. I've set up a good rapport with her."

Lisbon could feel her jaw tightening as he explained.

Jane continued, "She's been thinking of leaving Randle and I've…"

"You've been comforting her," Cho stated before crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Jane shrugged and Lisbon's mind went blank. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, how she should feel about it. If she and Jane hadn't kissed she'd be pissed at him for going off on some foolish, impulsive scheme without telling her—like he always did. She didn't want to think about what else she was feeling, so she focused on that.

"Please tell me you got something useful out of it," she said, feeling pleased that she'd managed to sound like herself.

Jane's eyes returned to hers and he began searching her face for emotion. She knew him well enough to know that, which is why she gave him what he would normally expect from her when he'd done something she thought was stupid: indignation. She held his gaze, refusing to be the first to back down. It was several awkward moments of the team fidgeting and glancing between one another before the staring contest ended.

"Not yet," Jane said quietly. "I told her I would see her again tonight."

Lisbon cocked an eyebrow. "And we come in… where exactly?"

"Lisa's clean with me, but her husband isn't stupid. He's been having her followed and she knows it, what I'm worried about is when they put together who I am. I've met Mark Randle before and as soon as he realizes that I've been seeing his wife, well he's not going to be happy."

"You want us to follow you?" Van Pelt asked, eyes wide, voice incredulous.

Jane looked at her and smiled. Of course he'd be amused by her shock, Lisbon thought. "That would be nice," Jane answered her.

Lisbon tried not to think about what he meant by "seeing her," and forced herself to focus on the topic.

"Where are you meeting her?" Rigsby asked as he moved to stand by Cho's desk.

"A club, uh, Mix Downtown?" Jane told him.

"Oh yeah," Van Pelt said, "I've heard good things about that place."

Lisbon could feel a smile crossing her lips and tried to stop it, but it was useless. Cho and Rigsby both noticed her amusement, alerting Jane to it also. She lifted her hand and tried to cover her mouth a little, but gave up when she saw Jane's perplexed expression, and smiled out right.

"She wants to take you dancing, at a club with a D.J.?" She said with mirth. "At least it should be entertaining."

Van Pelt leaned forward in her chair. "Have you been there Boss?"

Lisbon's smile dropped and she looked over at Van Pelt. She had actually, with Ryan a week ago today. "Once," was all she said.

"You went there on your date with Ryan last week, didn't you?" Jane asked.

"You went out on a date?" Rigsby asked as he furrowed his brow and placed his hands on his hips.

Lisbon slouched. "What? I date."

"No you don't," Cho said turning back to his computer.

Lisbon didn't look at Jane but she could see him smiling in her peripheral vision. Hadn't she just been making fun of him?

"Who'd you go out with?" Van Pelt asked, oblivious to the irritation Lisbon was sure was obvious on her face. She opened her mouth to answer, but Jane beat her to the punch.

"It was the EMT that hit on her at the hospital last week when she got her stitches out," he told Van Pelt.

Lisbon turned her gaze on Jane and narrowed her eyes when she saw his placid expression. "Moving on," she said in her most authoritative voice. "Rigs and I are going to take the inside of the club, Cho and Van Pelt outside." She stood away from her desk while issuing assignments, then looked at Jane. "What time's your date?"

His expression was blank. "We're meeting there at ten."

She looked back at the team. "Okay, let's meet there at nine to scout things out, and Rigs dress code," she said as she pushed her blazer sleeve up to look at her watch. It was five.

They all nodded.

Jane uncrossed his legs and stood up. "Well, I guess I'll see you all there then," he said and started to leave, but just before he passed Lisbon she stretched out her hand and placed it on his chest, elbow extended, thwarting his escape.

"Stop," she said before turning to face him straight on. "Where do you think you're going?" She could hear Van Pelt's chair squeak as she turned away from them and saw Rigsby turn back to his desk in her peripheral vision, and felt suddenly grateful for Cho's indifference.

"To get ready," Jane told her as if it were obvious.

Her free hand went to her hip. "You're in the scope of two very dangerous men who if they don't want you dead yet, will probably want you dead by the end of the night. You're not going anywhere alone."

He smiled at her with wicked intent. "I wasn't planning on it," he said in a hushed tone that was walking the line between appropriate and not.

Her jaw went back, she swallowed, let her hand drop from his chest and took a step back. "Rigs, stay with him," she said quickly.

"Sure, Boss," Rigsby called from his desk.

Jane's expression dropped. Better to nip that one in the bud before his mind could wander too far. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, raised her jaw and strode off. She wasn't sure why, but doing it made her feel powerful—in control. She hardly ever felt like that around Jane. He wanted to talk to her, and admittedly there were a lot of things to talk about, but she wasn't ready for it. She smiled once she moved out of sight of the others.

Let Jane make of that what he will, she thought.