A/n Here is the penultimate chapter! Thank you for reading the updates so far :)

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Therapy – A New Mission

They don't talk about what happened the previous week, the bad session, they just continue where they left off deciding that they no longer needed to discuss island life and his subconscious reasons that took him there. Instead, they talk about what happened after.

Adjusting back to normal, civilian life after a couple of years away from the US and then his three months of incarceration in an FBI detention centre wasn't as difficult as he was expecting. Probably because he was so thankful to be in the position he was in, to be given another chance and he was not going to blow it. He may have not been overly bothered about working in law enforcement again, but it kept him busy, and it meant, more importantly, that he got to be close to Lisbon.

Jane was ready to cause havoc once more but this time not at the brunette's expense. Although she was a great boss back at CBI, she definitely seems to enjoy not having the same amount of responsibility at the federal bureau. It means she is able to have a life outside of work and get to know all her great colleagues. In California, the team would go out to bars and socialise regularly, but she was always too busy, snowed under by paperwork to ever take part. She also was very driven at making sure everything ran smoothly and perfectly, which wasn't easy with the consultant in her unit. Her paperwork seemed to double after he joined.

Despite his excitement of getting back to it and to create chaos for his new superiors it didn't start off easy. For a short time, he thought he was going to have to face it alone, without the woman he holds most dear. "Teresa didn't have a job with the FBI?" Dr Bailey asks, cocking her head, letting her piercing gaze cut through him.

"Not exactly." He sighs. "She was a Police Chief having been heavily demoted thanks to my misbehaviour. I was trying to get her work though, at the FBI, but she wasn't as keen as I expected she would be."

The silence has become too much, he has tried numerous times to engage her in conversation but she's ignoring him. If they weren't confined by a plane, then she would have got up and walked away. "Okay, Lisbon, what's the matter?" Jane asks, tired of her attitude towards him.

"You." She harshly states, not wanting to expand but knowing she probably is going to have to.

"Was it that comment I made in the bullpen? Because I think it's a really good theory."

"I don't care about that." Lisbon can see that he's trying but he was gone for a long time, isolated, and during that time it is like he's forgotten how to act like a decent human being. It like how he was when they first started to work together all those years ago. She thought that they had got past that. "You ran away again, Jane. Not from the FBI, you ran away from me."

"Yeah, but I ran back." His response is way too blasé for her liking and it shows.

"How was I supposed to know? I thought you were gone again forever."

The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her. He doesn't want to hurt her anymore, she deserves better, way better. "Okay, you're right. I-I'm sorry, Lisbon. I... I didn't think about you."

"Well, you rarely do." This barb cuts deep because it couldn't be further from the truth. She consumes his thoughts most of the time, almost painfully so.

"Well, that's not true. I made you one of my demands. I'm not joining the FBI unless they make you a job offer."

"That's my point. What makes you think I want to work with you again?" It stings to hear her say these words when she is the focal point of his life. Without her, he is nothing, that's what it feels like anyway. "You are difficult and exhausting, and maybe I don't want to put the rest of my life on hold to be your sidekick." He audibly sighs. "Have you ever even thought about that?"

"No... no. I hadn't considered it."

"You think you know what's good for my life, but you haven't been a part of my life for two years." It has been a long time, too long, but he was hoping that would mean she'd want to spend time with him. Not the opposite. "So let's get this case wrapped up so I can go home."

"I was delusional." Jane reveals with a shake of his head. "I thought I could just come back, and everything would be how it was but better because Red John was gone." Even now, despite knowing that Thomas McAllister was the serial killer he struggles to say his name. It humanises him too much. "But it quickly became apparent that our relationship needed repairing." Their immediate reunion was great, a brief moment of bliss as they held each other tight expressing how much they had missed the other person. But after that… it was awkward. "I've spent my life pushing people away. This time I had to do the opposite and it was so difficult."

"It worked out in the end though?"

"Yes but…" He trails off, his expression solemn and no sparkle in his sea-blue eyes. "I almost lost her."

On hearing the rapid clicking of heels followed by the harsh sound of clattering keys, Jane opens his eyes to find his partner wearing a black dress as she attempts to stealthily leave before he can say anything. "Look at you." But she's too slow.

"Don't start." Lisbon almost pleads, mentally preparing herself for whatever he has to say.

"I'm not starting. You look beautiful." His comment takes her aback. She remembers when he first called her beautiful, probably because it has only happened a few times, not like he is meant to be complimenting her looks… It was when she was trying on her Bridesmaid's dress for Grace's wedding. She was too pent up at the time to appreciate it but in hindsight the memory makes her smile. "I hope he's taking you someplace nice."

"Cloth napkins and everything."

"Fancy. Well, you have a great time." She cannot help her smile fall at this. She's been looking forward to going out tonight with Agent Marcus Pike but now, she isn't so sure. If only the mentalist was… ready, open to have some kind of relationship, but it doesn't look like he is. So she has to move on.

Pike is a good guy. Jane's dislike of him is purely because of the jealously he felt when he was dating his now wife. Watching them flirt, watching him dote on her when it should have been the consultant was tough to take. Although his main priority is her happiness, there was, is, nothing more important to him, that doesn't mean it hurt any less. The art theft expert being a nice person just made matters worse, because it made his aversion of him seem even more unwarranted. How he became green with envy was not a good colour on him.

Jane knew of his feelings for his partner, he wasn't blind, but he just struggled to know how to act on them. He was desperately out of practice and Lisbon wasn't just any woman, she is the person he loves most in this world. If he had tried to pursue something and she rejected him, or it didn't work, then the pain would have been immeasurable. For both of them. Grappling at all his thoughts and feelings, was a rollercoaster he did not enjoy.

And when it looked like she was going to leave, with Pike, to D.C. and he was going to have to live his life without her, suddenly he had to kick himself into gear. He had a new mission. He had to get her back. "When you say get your wife back… did you ever have her?" It is a fair question, and the honest answer would be no, in this context, and he sighs dejectedly as his response. Silly really when they are fine now, more than fine, they're married and have a baby on the way. "When did you first have feelings towards her?"

"Depends on what you define as feelings." He has cared about her for a long time, he realised just how much when he took Tanner's life, his only lead to Red John, to save hers. Being in love though is a completely different kettle of fish. "I never meant for it to happen. It just did. The more and closer we worked together just made any feelings grow, but I couldn't act until Red John was gone, for her safety and my peace of mind." He used to bury his feelings for this reason, it was too dangerous to follow them, but he did occasionally slip up.

"Good luck, Teresa." He cocks his gun and aims it directly at her, registering the shock on her face which is still there despite this all being pretend. "Love you." And then he fires.

Later he claimed that he was too "hyped up" to remember what he said, which was lie and she knew it, but they were both too deep into their mission to be able to focus on it. They would just dwell for many years after.

It was during his six-months sabbatical in Vegas that it truly dawned on him how his feelings for her had shifted from a platonic love to a definitely-not-platonic love. He missed her so much. Ignoring her calls and messages pained him but he had to do what he did. To try and close the case of Red John for once and for all… sadly it didn't quite play out like that. The next few years felt so long, until he finally succeeded in his revenge mission. "Patrick, would you say that because of your past, you found it difficult to be open to a new relationship?" The redhead questions and he hums.

Of course it was difficult.

"What are you doing here?" Lisbon asks, in shock, that somehow the consultant has managed to barge his way onto her departing plane to D.C.

"There's something I need to say."

"I don't want to see you. Go away."

"You're right. You're right." He starts, hoping that she will listen to him one last time, so he can have a chance, one chance, to win her over. "I-I have forgotten how to act like a normal human being. And I play games and I lie and I — and I trick people to avoid the truth of how I feel. And the idea of letting anyone close to me is — is — is terrifying, for obvious reasons." For a long time, Jane didn't think it would be possible for him to love again. He thought his heart was ripped out and stamped on to such a degree all those years ago that it just would not be possible. "But the truth, Teresa, is that I can't imagine waking up knowing that I won't see you. The truth is... I love you." He was wrong. "Whew! You can't imagine how good that feels to say out loud, but it scares me... and it is the truth. It is the truth of what I feel."

Taking that leap, actually admitting his feelings, may have been hard but he is so glad he did. He's so glad that she is with him, in Austin, as opposed to settling for Marcus Pike in a city that she would have hated. He is so glad that he is able to be the one to make her happy – and happy she most definitely is.

His phone ringing interrupts their goodbyes at the end of his session, and he frowns when he sees Cho's name flashing up on the screen after removing the device from his jacket pocket. "I should get this." Jane says as an apology to Dr Bailey who simply smiles with a curt nod. "Hey Cho, is everything okay?"

"Lisbon is struggling with shortness of breath." The other man states in response. "One of our medics has looked her over and says it is just a pregnancy symptom but that and the hip pain, I think it would be a good idea you coming to pick her up."

"Yes of course." His brow creases in concern as he nervously runs the fingers of his free hand through his blond locks, knowing that his therapist will be picking up on his anxious behaviour. "She's okay though?"

"I would say so but I'm just being cautious, like I promised." The agent replies, "She didn't want me to call, said you would be busy but-"

"I will be there in twenty." And with that he hangs up and turns to the redhead with an apologetic expression to say, "I have to go."

There really is nothing to worry about, he reasons, to himself as he bolts down the highway towards the FBI Austin office. Angela repeatedly wrestled with shortness of breath and all sorts of aches and pains everywhere. It is normal. So when he reaches the headquarters he is relatively calm, he has used some of the techniques his therapist recommended to him to try and rationalise his thoughts. It has worked better than he thought it would, and he's smiling because the hour that he is losing every Wednesday is actually proving worthwhile.

It is nice to say hello to people in the office before he helps her back to his car. He's not seen most of them in many months and considering he used to spend all his time with them it has been strange to be absent. He's especially missed Wylie and Cho. "I'm sorry your session was interrupted." His wife utters from the passenger's seat, sounding very fatigued.

"Don't apologise, it is fine." He tries to persuade and briefly reaches over to give her knee a squeeze, and then turns his attention back onto the road. "We were basically at the end anyway."

"How was it?" Lisbon asks. In recent weeks she has grown more confident about enquiring because it appears his defensiveness has lessened, and he's become much more open with her. It is nice.

After years of him hiding all sorts of important things from her, shutting himself off from the world, this is the development that has been needed. Not just for him, but for both of them. "It was good, quite cathartic. Doctor Bailey really knows her stuff." He compliments the psychiatrist, and the brunette is unable to mask her surprise. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I recommend it. Therapy. I know you don't carry the same amount of baggage as me, but it could be useful to you."

Who is this man and where is her husband? Where is Patrick Jane? The usefulness of these sessions he has been attending has exceeded her expectations by quite a way. It is good though, more than good, it is excellent. The future was a little daunting to her before, not massively, just enough for her to bring up the prospect of therapy in the first place, but now the future just seems bright. "I am so pleased that it has been useful to you." She prattles, a smile resting on her face for the first time today. It is like she has forgotten the discomfort she was experiencing. "Maybe I could take you to your next session and I could meet her?" If he can deal with therapy, then she is sure she could too. He is right, it would probably be good for her, she certainly has her fair share of skeletons in the closet.

A/n Episodes flashbacked:

S06E10 – Green Thumb

S06E17 – Silver Wings Of Time

S04E24 – The Crimson Hat

S06E22 – Blue Bird