A/N: Hello, Mentalist friends! Finally managed to get this typed up and edited. This episode was so full of great J/L moments it was hard to add to it, but hope this attempt will suffice. Let me know what you think. In other news, I passed a major milestone in Beyond Measure this week... I'm finally closing in on that monster. Still a little ways to go, but the finish line is in sight. For those of you following that story, thank you for your incredible patience waiting for the updates. In the meantime, here's a little something to tide you over. :)

xxx

After the meeting with Minnelli, Lisbon followed Jane out into the bullpen. "Jane. I know better than to try to stop you from doing what you think you have to do."

"No, I'm fine with it," Jane said nonchalantly, putting on his jacket. He kept his voice neutral. "I can see Minelli's point. I can't be chasing every nut bag with a good story, can I?"

"Yeah," Lisbon said sarcastically. "Sure. You're fine with it. Just—do me the favor of listening to me for a minute, so I can say I told you so later."

Jane couldn't help smiling. "Sure." She was so endearing when she was lecturing him for his own good.

Lisbon went on to list several very compelling facts indicating Jared Renfrew did, in fact, kill Undine Kopecki.

Jane raised his eyebrows. "What's your point?"

"He's guilty." She fixed him with a look. "You're being conned."

"Possible," he acknowledged. "But I don't think so, and I gotta find out, one way or another."

"Even if he's telling the truth about the murder, he could still be lying about Red John," she warned.

Another excellent point, but he'd already considered that. "Also possible," he acknowledged. "But I gotta take the chance. What else can I do?"

She blocked his progress to the elevator. "Minelli wants me to keep a watch on you."

He smirked, imagining an eye-rolling Lisbon being forced to tag along with him to protect the powers of bureaucracy. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm not going to follow you around," Lisbon said disdainfully.

Too bad. It could have been fun, having Lisbon skulk around corners trying to keep an eye out for him. He could have turned around and winked at her when he sussed out her hiding spot and she could have rolled her eyes at him and glared. Having a few Lisbon glares to look forward to would have made the whole endeavor infinitely more enjoyable.

"Let's compromise," Lisbon said reasonably. "When you get into trouble, call me first so I can try to minimize the damage."

She was really getting to know him entirely too well. Still, it wasn't much to ask. "Deal."

Xxx

He made good on his bargain. He called her on his way out of the Renfrew estate to let her know about his little run in with Jared's brother. Honestly. Calling the cops on him just because he'd finagled his way onto the property under false pretenses. What a ninny.

She met him in the hallway outside Minelli's office where he'd been summoned for his obligatory dressing down from the boss man.

"You find anything?" she hissed out of the corner of her mouth as she squared her shoulders and prepared to face the proverbial music with him.

"Yes. Something," he murmured.

She glanced at him. "Enough?"

"Not yet," he admitted. "But it's a start."

"Jane! Lisbon!" Minelli bellowed from inside his office. "Stop lurking in the hallway and get your asses in here."

"Play nice," Lisbon muttered. "I can only protect you so far in there."

Minnelli was in fine form. Jane had never seen him so worked up. He puffed himself up and blustered about the attorney general and various other people Jane had never met and didn't care about. Lisbon leaned on the filing cabinet against the window and looked unhappy.

When Jane interrupted Minelli's diatribe to mention his conviction that Jared was innocent, Minelli threw up his hands. Jane had never seen anyone actually do that before.

"Wake up, Dorothy!" Minelli said, exasperated. "You aren't in Kansas anymore."

As a point of curiosity, Jane leaned forward and asked, "If I'm Dorothy, who are you?"

Minelli was clearly nearing the end of his patience. "Okay, here it is," he said after one further exchange. "If you pursue this further, I'm going to have to throw you out of the CBI. We can't take the liability." He sat back. "I very much do not want to have to do that."

Oh, Virgil. Didn't anyone ever teach you how to bluff? Jane thought. You don't telegraph your reluctance to your opponent like that.

It was obvious Minelli had no interest in firing him. He just wanted the heat from the higher ups to go away. Fortunately, there was a simple solution for this. Jane stood up.

Affecting a defeated attitude, Jane hung his head. "I know you don't." He took out his CBI badge. "I'll spare you the trouble." He set the badge down on Minelli's desk. "I quit."

Lisbon, who had been focused on Jane and didn't realize this was all a big charade to let the bigwigs save face, looked like someone had just killed her dog. She stepped towards him. "Don't do that."

"No, it's okay," Jane assured her. "It's best this way." Poor Lisbon. She looked genuinely upset about the notion of him leaving. He was touched. He looked into her lovely green eyes. "You are the good witch Glinda," he said with a smile. "Obviously." Beautiful, wise, and caring.

He put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Thank you," he said sincerely. Lisbon wasn't part of this play-acted drama. She'd come in here to stick her neck out for him. She deserved the truth. "I learned a lot." He had learned about good, honest people working for the safety and well-being of others. He'd learned about leadership with integrity. Well, not that he would ever engage in such a thing, but thanks to her, he now knew it was possible.

He wished she didn't have to worry, though. Minelli would take him back, once he came up with proof of a connection between Jared Renfrew and Red John and Gardiner's buddies at City Hall had time to settle down. He'd be back, making her life difficult before she knew it. With this cheerful thought in mind, he took his leave.

Xxx

His beautifully staged exit lost some of its luster, unfortunately, when he followed his lead to Undine Kopecki's mother's place, only to find out she'd moved. This was a blow. He'd be able to track her down, of course, eventually, but this event forced him into an awareness of just how much he'd come to take Lisbon and her team for granted. Normally if he ran into a roadblock like this, he would have called Van Pelt. She would have expended a few moments of her computer wizardry and presto! He would have had the new address in hand and been on his merry way in a matter of moments.

A prickly, uncomfortable feeling tingled at the back of his neck. It took him a while to figure out the significance of that sensation—he missed Lisbon. He'd gotten used to having her around to bounce ideas off of and to watch out for him. Though he often abandoned her at crime scenes to follow his own pursuits, he'd grown accustomed to the reassuring knowledge that she was never more than a phone call away if he needed her.

He sat down on the derelict stoop of Mrs. Kopecki's former residence and pondered his dilemma.

He was sure he could prove Jared's innocence, given enough time, but what if Red John somehow caught wind of what he was doing before he finished and decided to kill Jared in the meantime? Or decided to kill both Jane and Jared and have done with it all together? Not that Jane particularly cared about dying, but if he were going to die, he wanted to take Red John down with him. He'd always imagined the final confrontation to be just the two of them, alone, but somehow in the back of his mind he'd formed the assumption that up until that final moment, the team would support him along the way. That they would help him get to a place where a confrontation was even possible.

Besides, even if he found proof of Jared's innocence, what was he going to do then? Walk into the local police station proclaiming he'd cracked a case every member of the California justice department believed to have been closed over year ago? It would take forever to get Jared released that way, and every obstacle and delay would exponentially increase the likelihood that Red John would find out about it and make a play for Jared before he could give Jane any useful information.

Lisbon would know exactly which forms to file, which judges to talk to. She would know how to arrange for Jared's safe release and protection.

He thought about that horrible night, coming home and finding that note taped to his bedroom door. Was it possible he had inadvertently sacrificed his best chance of revenge through his ill-considered exit from the CBI and his casual assurance he could manage the restoration of justice entirely on his own?

His phone rang. Lisbon. He tried to contain the hope that flared up at the sight of her name on the display, but he was relieved. The fact that she hadn't thrown him over entirely had to be a good sign.

"How are you doing?" She asked when he picked up. "Everything going okay?"

He faltered. "Oh—yeah. Fine. Uh—just…out. Investigating stuff."

"Well, get your ass back here and do your investigating with the rest of us where you belong."

"Uh, sure," Jane said, trying not to sound pathetically grateful.

"Bring pizza. We're hungry and you're buying."

"Yeah," he croaked. It was a ridiculously small price to pay. "Uh—pepperoni or plain?"

"Rigsby's here. Get both."

That was reasonable. "Okay."

The significance of this phone call was not lost on him. She'd stuck her neck out for him again. Even when she'd had every reason to believe he'd walked out on her for good.

"Hey, Lisbon?"

"What?"

The words stuck in his throat. "Thank you."

Xxx

"Thanks for doing this," Jane said to Rigsby when he met him downstairs with the pizza. "What did Lisbon have to do to clear this with Minelli?" He'd figured out fairly quickly she must have been the one to persuade Minelli to let him back in the building.

"Get suspended," Rigsby said cheerfully, taking the pizza from him and looking under each lid.

James stopped. "Really." He'd known it would have had to be something big, but not this big. Lisbon's job meant so much to her. For her to put herself on line for him was…he didn't have the words for what it was, but whatever it was, it felt hugely important.

"Yeah. You shoulda seen her. Minelli threatened to suspend her if she did anything else on the case, then she said he might as well go ahead and suspend her right then, because you need our help and she had no intention of laying off because some fat cats were putting on the pressure," Rigsby said proudly.

Jane really wished he could have seen that.

"So then the rest of us said he'd have to suspend us, too," Rigsby continued.

Jane was touched by this evidence of the team's loyalty. "And Minelli backed down?"

"No, he said we were all suspended, too."

Jane paused. "Yet we're all here."

"Minelli decided he needed to go out of town for a family emergency," Rigsby said with a reasonably straight face. "He didn't have time to file the suspension paperwork before he left."

Jane chuckled. "Good old Minelli. He was in on it, too, eh?"

"As long as we don't contact him or let him know what we're doing in any way," Rigsby confirmed.

"How long do we have?" Jane asked, knowing such an arrangement couldn't last long.

"A week."

Jane eyed the pizza. "Good thing we have all of this brain food, then. We're gonna need it."

Xxx

Jane was in high spirits that evening. Having the team back on his side bolstered his confidence significantly. They would track down Mrs. Kopecki and she would lead them to the evidence they needed to set Jared free. And then Red John himself confirmed that Jared actually had information about his identity worth having. All they had to do was get Jared out of jail and Red John would come for him.

"Jane," Lisbon warned, catching the glint of malicious glee in his eye. "Be careful."

He brushed off the warning. It was finally happening, after all this time. He was going to catch Red John and make him pay for what he'd done to his beautiful wife and child. They were close now. They were so close he could taste it.

Xxx

If the team's suspension hadn't been enough to demonstrate their loyalty, the pretend extortion certainly did the trick.

Jane couldn't quite believe he'd persuaded them to go along with it, truth be told. The rest of the team seemed game, but Lisbon approached the whole endeavor with an air of fatalism he found somewhat insulting to his abilities. She seemed convinced the whole thing would end in disaster, but she stuck with him and his "doomed" plan regardless. He was glad to have her there. Lisbon's presence was always reassuring. It was fun watching her blackmail the Renfrews, too. He hadn't known she had it in her.

The plan worked perfectly, of course. They got the evidence they needed. Minelli returned, the team was unsuspended, and Jane got his CBI badge back. And Jared Renfrew was going to be released from jail.

As the hour of Jared's release approached, Jane rattled around in the CBI bullpen, full of nervous energy. This was it. The beginning of the end.

He stopped to see Lisbon before leaving. "We're ready to go get Renfrew," he informed her. "Is the safe house all set up?"

"Yeah."

"Good." They would be staying with Jared the first few nights to assure his safety. Jane's mind, in its heightened state of distraction, detoured for a moment. Apropos of nothing, he wondered if he would get to see Lisbon in her jammies. And then, even more inappropriately, whether said jammies would afford him a proper view of her bare legs, for once. He shook his head a little to clear it. He was about to acquire the key to defeating his arch nemesis. This was hardly the right time to be dwelling on the decidedly attractive prospect of Lisbon's bare legs. Maybe after—

He cleared his throat. "Uh, I guess I'll see you over there later."

Lisbon, oblivious to his train of thought, looked grave. "Jane. Please be careful. Remember, this is playing out just like Red John wants it to."

Jane relaxed. They'd returned to the subject of his revenge. Comfortable territory. He stepped closer to her. "This is playing out just like it has to. He has no choice but to try to silence Renfrew. He has to show himself. We're getting close. I can feel it."

"You can feel it," Lisbon repeated. She remained unimpressed. "Like a psychic thing?" she asked sarcastically.

Jane acknowledged the hit with a smile. "No. I am quietly confident that we'll get a bite."

"You think you're playing him and he thinks he's playing you," Lisbon said flatly. "One of you is wrong."

Yeah, and this time it was Red John, Jane thought. He was sure of it.

Xxx

In hindsight, he should have realized his "quiet confidence" was just tempting fate. His own arrogance had been his downfall yet again. Hyper-aware of potential threats from external forces, he hadn't been on the lookout for a double-cross from Jared and thus had been un-prepared when the fool man made a break for it and went to goddamned Tijuana.

There was no doubt about it. The entire debacle could be laid squarely at his feet.

Back in the bullpen, he couldn't meet Lisbon's eyes. "Go ahead, say it," he said, addressing Rigsby's desk.

"Say what?"

"You told me—you warned me. You have the privilege of saying 'I told you so.'"

"That's all right," she said. "Not now. This isn't over yet." She gave him an encouraging smile. "We're gonna find Renfrew and he's going to tell us what he knows."

Three hours later, Jane was staring in shock at the bodies of Jared Renfrew and the poor prostitute who had the bad luck to be picked up by a man being hunted by Red John. Lisbon was right again. They'd found Jared Renfrew, all right. Unfortunately, he was in no condition to tell them anything.

He sat down on the edge of the sagging hotel mattress and stared at the wall, unseeing. God, he was a fool. A failure and a fool. Another broken promise to Angela and Charlotte. He'd sworn to get revenge for them, and here he was, with nothing more than two dead bodies to show for all his efforts.

Lisbon oversaw the processing of the scene as efficiently as usual, then came and sat beside him. She didn't say anything, though. She just sat beside him. Not pressing, but silently offering her support.

Without looking at her, he said quietly, "You can say it now."

A sad smile. "I don't really feel like saying it. Let me take a rain check on that." Her voice was soft, and painfully sweet. Somehow, he'd never noticed before just how sweet her voice could be.

A brief exchange followed in which Jane expressed his conviction that Red John was far more powerful than he thought. Lisbon tried to shore him up with thoughts of hope. He appreciated what she was trying to do, even if he couldn't bring himself to treat the affair with the same optimism she was affecting for his sake.

Beautiful, brave Lisbon. He may have been the smartest guy in the room, but this incident proved that of the two of them, Lisbon was infinitely the wiser.

I told you so.

The words rattled around in his brain. They were simple enough. She should have said it. She deserved to. He would have said it in a hot second. Still, he couldn't help being grateful that she hadn't.

A gentle press of two fingers on his sleeve interrupted his bout of self-recrimination. "Next time," she said softly. "We'll get him."

Lisbon's soft touch on his arm was almost more than he could bear. He couldn't help drawing a feeling of reassurance from the gesture, however.

He turned his head toward her and mustered up half a smile from somewhere. "Next time," he echoed.

The phone rang, interrupting the moment. It was Red John, calling to literally laugh at his expense. To prove that he was smarter than Jane. Red John cackled in his ear from the other end of the line, laughing at his humiliation and relishing the fact that he'd outwitted him once again.

Jane ended the call and handed the phone over to Evidence with less than zero confidence they would have any success tracing the call.

Lisbon came to stand next to him. He could feel her warmth at his side. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he said. He looked into her wise green eyes and thought about everything she'd done for him over the past few weeks.

Red John had outsmarted him, this time. But Jane had smarts and wisdom on his side. Not to mention sheer numbers. They'd get him.

Next time.