A/N: Hi, all. It's been a tumultuous few weeks here in the U.S. I've been pretty upset about the events at the Capitol on January 6th. I don't really have words right now. I've been working a lot lately and didn't have a chance to watch the inaugural activities in real time, but today I watched Amanda Gorman's 'The Hill We Climb,' and was blown away. What a perfect mix of acknowledgment of the pain of the past, the challenges of the present, and hope for the future. Thank you, Amanda Gorman. I needed that.

Now...onto far more frivolous topics. Here is the first chapter of Pretending, III. I mentioned in my author's note in Pretending, II, that I wanted to play around with how this basic story might change if it was set in a different time frame and the emotional landscape between Jane and Lisbon was in a very different place. This is the second half of that writing exercise. The vast majority of the plot of this story is exactly the same as Pretending, II, so if you a) were not a fan of Pretending, II, or b) quite reasonably don't want to spend your time reading something when you already know the plot, then you might want to skip this one.

I thought having the plot ironed out already would mean that the Season 5 version would be way easier to write than the Season 3 version, but it surprised me by turning out to be harder in some ways. Sometimes I felt like having the plot already set up wasn't as conducive as getting into a flow of writing and just seeing where it took me as the original one was. And then it was also a struggle to figure out the balance of how much to change, and how much to keep the same. But it was definitely an interesting thought exercise, and I think it was a good challenge to change my thinking a little. If you do decide to stick around, I'd love to hear which version of the story or individual chapters you end up liking best. Yes, that is a shameless plug for feedback. :)

xxx

Chapter 1

"Lisbon! Lisbon, get up, we've got a new case!" Jane entered her office without knocking, per usual.

Lisbon looked up from her computer and frowned. "Nothing's come through the switchboard."

Jane came over and chivvied her out of her chair. "It didn't come through the switchboard. I was just talking to the Organized Crime guys. They need our help."

"With what?" Lisbon asked, suspicious.

"Come on out to the bullpen, I'm giving a briefing to the team."

Lisbon's suspicion deepened. "You're giving the briefing?"

"Yes. Are you coming or not?"

Lisbon scowled but followed him out to the bullpen.

She studied the back of Jane's head as he preceded her out the door, reflecting that it was difficult to detect signs of his anger towards her in his current state. Of course, that was Jane. He'd smile to your face and then cut you dead when you least expected it.

It had been two months since Lorelei Martins had killed Red John. She'd gone straight from Jason Lennon's house to McAllister's place in Napa, then shot him in the face when he'd answered the door. Two neighbors had witnessed the scene when they'd gone out to pick up their morning papers. They'd had no trouble identifying her.

Lorelei had made it as far as Texas before the cops caught up to her. They'd arrested her, then shipped her back to California to be indicted.

It had been Jane who had coaxed the information about the Blake Association out of her. Jane who had used the information Lorelei had given him to figure out where McAllister had stashed his register of Blake Association members. It had even been Jane's suggestion to bring in the FBI from the D.C. bureau when they'd realized how widespread the Blake Association was within California law enforcement. Lisbon would never forget the sick, dizzying feeling she'd experienced when she'd reviewed the list and had seen Bertram's name, and Carl's, and countless others she worked with on a routine basis.

Lisbon and her team had worked tirelessly to arrest every last member of the Blake Association, aided by a man named Abbott and his team of agents from the FBI. She and Abbott had clashed more than once, but on the whole, they'd worked well together. After two months of painstaking work that had included surviving several assassination attempts against Lisbon and her team by the remaining members of the Blake Association, they'd finally closed the investigation the week before. Abbott had flown back to D.C. with his team, and Lisbon was left with her team, Jane, and every honest agent remaining in the CBI. Their ranks had thinned, but Abbott had helped smooth the way with the political types to prioritize funding to recruit new agents. Lisbon's new boss, a woman named Hardacre with a background in the military, was scheduled to take over leadership of the CBI the following week.

Lisbon was exhausted. She'd been working round the clock for the past two months, and had been in a state of tortured anxiety nearly the entire time. Not because of the assassination attempts (though those had been no picnic), but because every time she looked at Jane, she was convinced it would be the last time she ever saw him.

He'd stuck it out at the CBI to root out the Blake Association, determined to stamp out every last remnant of McAllister's legacy as Red John. But Lisbon knew it was only a matter of time before he would disappear.

After all, it was all that was left to him, now that Lisbon had stolen his revenge from him.

He hadn't said as much, but she knew he blamed her for Lorelei getting to Red John first. If Lisbon hadn't asked him to stay at the CBI when the team had gone after Lorelei that night, he might have had more time with her. Might have persuaded her to give him Red John's name after all. But he'd stayed behind at Lisbon's request. Now she was certain he resented her with every breath.

And dammit, she resented him, too. He'd left her out of his Vegas con, abandoned the team for six months. Slept with Lorelei to get closer to Red John. Developed some kind of…relationship with her. Broken her out of prison. Gone on the run with her for days. He'd cut Lisbon out of everything, trusting Lorelei over her, when she, Lisbon, was supposed to be his partner. He'd helped Lorelei torture a man, for God's sake. All in hope that Lorelei would lead him to Red John so he could fulfill his mission of revenge at last. After everything, revenge had still been his primary goal. The thing that had mattered to him more than anything else. Including her.

That was what she resented most deeply. For so many years, she'd held out hope that in the final moment, Jane would choose not to go through with his plan to torture and kill Red John. That he would see the act wouldn't ease the burden of pain and guilt he'd carried so long. That he'd come to value his own future more than the hate he'd hung onto for all those years. And that maybe—maybe he'd want her to be part of that future, once he let everything else go.

Now she knew better. All that remained was the torture of waiting for the final blow to fall.

Jane clapped his hands together and said to the bullpen at large, "Listen up, everybody. The Organized Crime Unit needs our help."

Cho sat back in his chair while Rigsby and Van Pelt exchanged glances behind him. "Help with what?"

"They've been working leads on a human trafficking case for the past several months and they believe a major transaction is going to take place this weekend at the Belmond hotel in San Francisco," Jane informed them. "They think the deal is linked to a gala at the hotel tomorrow night."

"What does that have to do with us?" Lisbon asked grumpily.

"Blackwell and Lopez are both in the hospital after the raid on the last Blake suspects last week," Jane said. "Organized Crime is shorthanded and need us to fill in."

Lisbon folded her arms across her chest. "I'm the agent in charge. If they needed help, why didn't they come to me?"

"Well, I happened to be chatting to Agent Diop, and he just happened to mention that they could use a hand, so I volunteered us to help out," Jane said.

Lisbon scowled. "Without consulting me."

"Come now, Lisbon," Jane chided her. "Where's that spirit of inter-unit cooperation you're always lecturing me about? Don't you want to help our brothers and sisters in arms?"

"What intel do they have?" Cho asked before Lisbon could retort.

"They've been monitoring the activities of a man named Fedir Sevechenko," Jane said. "They think he'll be at the hotel this weekend."

"Sevechenko," Lisbon repeated, grudgingly interested despite herself. "He's got ties to organized crime in the Ukraine, doesn't he?"

"Yes. Organized suspects he's been trafficking women out of Eastern Europe and selling them to the highest bidder the moment they reach U.S. soil."

"How does the hotel fit in?" Van Pelt asked.

"They think he's got a contact at the hotel that's been helping him broker deals with rich patrons."

"Who's the contact?" Rigsby said.

"They don't know. That's where we come in. They need us to identify the contact and get evidence on Sevechenko that Organized Crime can use to shut down his operation."

"Do we have anybody on the inside at the hotel?" Cho asked.

"No. But there are two other events at the hotel this weekend, so it should be easy to blend in with the crowd."

"What are the other events?" Rigsby asked.

"A couples retreat and a conference for representatives of the tourism industry."

"So what does Organized Crime want from us?" Lisbon asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"They want us to go undercover as guests at the couples retreat," Jane told her.

"The couples retreat?" Lisbon said in dismay. "Can't we just go as conference attendees?"

"Blackwell and Lopez set up the covers in advance," Jane said hastily. "Organized Crime suspects someone associated with the retreat is involved with Sevechenko's operation. But they don't know whether it is someone attending the retreat as a guest or one of the staff members who run it."

"Okay," Lisbon said dubiously. "I guess Cho and I can go."

Jane's expression clouded over. "You and Cho?"

"We're the senior agents in the unit," Lisbon said. "It makes most sense for the two of us to be the ones to go."

"You can't go undercover as a couple," Jane scoffed. "You two are like brother and sister."

Lisbon set her jaw. "Rigsby and Van Pelt, then."

"Really?" Jane said. "Sending star-crossed lovers under cover to smolder at each other all weekend at a couples retreat? That's just cruel, Lisbon."

Rigsby looked pained. "Seriously, man?"

Van Pelt just punched Jane on the arm. Hard. He flinched and moved away.

"Fine," Lisbon said, annoyed. "Jane, you and Van Pelt can go."

Jane made a disapproving noise. "Van Pelt and I are hardly a plausible couple. I'm far too old for her."

"Didn't stop you before," Rigsby said. "You made her pretend to be your fiancée on that case with the painting."

"When it could serve double duty to annoy me and provoke a suspect, and no one else was available," Van Pelt muttered, her eyes cutting over to Lisbon.

Jane ignored this. "Cradle robber is too distracting a role in this context. They need a couple that will blend in easily."

Lisbon looked as though steam were about to start pouring from her ears. "Fine. Rigsby and I—"

An expression of alarm crossed Rigsby's face.

Jane jumped in at the opportunity. "Rigsby's afraid of you," he argued. "We need two people who will look natural as a couple. How natural will it look if your husband cowers away from you anytime you get within three feet of him? Unless your cover is as some kind of super dominatrix—"

Both Lisbon and Rigsby turned bright red. Lisbon glared at Jane. "Jane, you are so far over the line right now—"

"For the love of God," Cho interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked at Lisbon. "Will you please just agree to go with him and put the rest of us out of our misery? He's obviously not going to accept any other outcome."

Lisbon's jaw fell open, but before she could splutter a protest, Jane broke in.

"Good," he said. "That's settled, then."

"Hang on, I haven't agreed to this—" Lisbon began.

"Come on, Lisbon. You'll need me to help suss out the liars in the group, and I need you to be the muscle. Won't you do it for the sake of the Organized Crime team?" Jane wheedled. "I'm sure they'd be very appreciative of our help on this."

Lisbon pinched the bridge of her nose, already anticipating the tidal wave of regret likely to crash over her at the end of this whole convoluted affair. "All right," she said, resigned.

"Excellent," Jane said, pleased. "Not to worry, Lisbon. I'll be in charge of wardrobe."

Lisbon ignored this. "When do we need to be at the hotel?"

"We'll need to get on the road by four to make it to the hotel in time for the mixer this evening."

Lisbon grimaced. "Another event?"

"Both people from the conference and guests from the retreat will be attending. It should be a good opportunity to observe all the suspects in one place."

"Great," Lisbon said without enthusiasm.

Jane grinned. "This is going to be fun."