A/N: ff net changed notification options, which I hadn't realized. If you have missed alerts, you may need to log into your account and "opt in" to email alerts. Thanks as always for reading!

xxx

After, she lay in his arms and pressed a soft kiss to the column of his throat. "Did I mention that I'm glad you're alive?"

Jane hummed his agreement. "I'm even more glad now."

She nuzzled his neck. "I was scared."

"Me, too," Jane said, sifting his fingers through her hair.

His stomach growled. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I didn't have a chance to eat before becoming the unwilling star of a slasher movie."

"Come on," she said, patting his chest and rolling out of bed. "I'll buy you dinner."

He perked up. "Anywhere I want?"

She started to dress. "Where do you want to go?"

Jane got out of bed and started dressing as well. "Well…I'm kind of in the mood for Kenny's Chili."

Lisbon made a face. "Really?"

"It's good!"

"Fast food and chili does not sound like a good combination," Lisbon said. "It sounds like a health code violation waiting to happen."

"They have really good onion rings."

"Fine," Lisbon said. "But only because you were almost murdered today."

"Special dispensation for almost being killed? My, you are generous today," he said, buttoning his vest.

She finished dressing and watched him pull on his jacket. "You know, I've always liked you in those vests," she remarked.

He paused and ran a hand down the front of his vest. "I remember," he said, pleased, and Lisbon remembered she'd told him as much when he'd hypnotized her to help her recover her memory.

"They look good," she said, walking over to him and mimicking his gesture of running a hand down the front of his vest. "But there are so many damn buttons!"

He bent his head and kissed her. "Will you still take me to Kenny's Chili despite my buttons?"

She kissed him back. "I suppose."

He took her hand. "Thank you for coming to my rescue today."

She shivered. "I wasn't in time, though. If Red John hadn't saved you, those kids would have killed you."

"Maybe," Jane said. "I was working on Wesley when he showed up. I think I could have turned him if I'd had a few more minutes. The other two, though—they definitely would have killed me."

She looked up at him, pain in her eyes. "Why didn't you wait for me? You said you were going to."

He shrugged. "Curiosity got the better of me."

"I wish you'd be more careful," she whispered.

He stroked her hair. "Sometimes I wish I would, too."

She searched his face. "Why do you think Red John saved you?"

"I don't know," he said quietly. "Maybe he's afraid he'd be bored if I wasn't around."

She pulled away from him. "Is that what you think about him? I mean—are you afraid you'd be bored if he wasn't around?"

Jane recoiled. "How can you ask me that?" he said angrily. "You know I would give anything—anything—for him to be gone."

Lisbon raked a hand through her hair. "I know. I'm sorry. I just—I worry sometimes that you're not careful because you don't think very much about what your life could be once he's no longer a part of it."

"I do think about that," Jane said. "More than you know. But right now, I need to focus—"

Lisbon's phone rang, overriding him. She looked at the caller ID and hit send. "What's up, Van Pelt?"

"Lisbon." Grace sounded upset. "Lisbon, Kristina's gone."

Lisbon went still. "What do you mean, she's gone?"

Jane's head snapped up. "Kristina?" he mouthed. Lisbon nodded.

"She disappeared. None of the guards outside saw her leave. I checked her room. She packed a bag, and her passport's missing."

Lisbon let out a slow breath. "Okay. That's good. It sounds like she left under her own power."

Van Pelt was on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry, boss. I was supposed to be watching her, and—"

"This isn't your fault, Grace," Lisbon interrupted. "Just—tell me what happened. How long ago did you notice she was missing?"

"About ten minutes ago."

"When was the last time you saw her before that?"

"Um, maybe an hour ago? She said she was going upstairs to take a nap."

Lisbon asked several more questions, Jane crowding her so he could listen in.

He looked at Lisbon when she hung up. "Red John took her," he said flatly.

Lisbon shook her head. "You don't know that. She might have gotten spooked when she heard what might have happened to you and made a run for it. Besides, he was just here, saving you. He would have had to go straight to Kristina's house from here."

"Don't you see? That's just what he did," Jane said impatiently.

"She was heavily guarded. To get her out would have taken time he didn't have—"

"We're wasting time," Jane interrupted. "We need to get back to Sacramento. We'll figure out the logistics later."

Lisbon sighed. "Yeah. Okay."

So much for Kenny's Chili.

xxx

They spent a week conducting an exhaustive search for Kristina, but they found no trace of her. Jane was withdrawn, his eyes bleak and fathomless. Then Lisbon received a phone call from the hospital.

"Yes?" she said into the phone when the caller identified himself as a nurse at Mercy Hospital.

"Agent Lisbon?"

"Speaking."

"Ma'am, I've got a patient here who's asking for you."

Lisbon frowned. "A patient? Under what name?"

"Kristina Frye."

Lisbon snatched up her keys and hastened for the bullpen, gesturing for the team to follow her. "I'll be right there."

xxx

Kristina was shaken, but had sustained no life-threatening injuries.

"Agent Lisbon," she said when Jane and Lisbon entered the hospital room. "Thank you for coming." Jane, she greeted more coolly. "Patrick."

"I'm so glad you're all right," Lisbon said, crossing the room and taking Kristina's hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Could be worse, I suppose," Kristina said with a wan smile. "Under the circumstances." She squeezed Lisbon's hand, then let go.

"Can you tell us what happened to you?" Lisbon asked gently.

"She won't be able to," Jane said, his voice troubled. "He'll have arranged it so she wouldn't remember anything. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have let her go."

"I'm afraid he's right," Kristina said apologetically.

"What's the last thing you do remember?" Lisbon asked.

"I remember talking to your Agent Van Pelt, then going upstairs. The next thing I knew, I was in this hospital bed. The doctors tell me a week has passed, but I have no recollection of it. The intervening period is completely blank."

"You don't remember arriving at the hospital?" Lisbon said.

"No. Nothing. I'm sorry."

"It's probably for the best," Jane said wearily. "You're safer not knowing."

Kristina met his gaze. "You were right about him. I should have listened to you. I'm sorry."

Jane shifted on his feet. "I'm just glad you lived to tell the tale."

Kristina let out a humorless laugh. "Not much of a tale, I'm afraid. Though as you say, that's probably for the best." She fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve, and Lisbon caught sight of a bandage taped to the inside of her right wrist.

"What happened to your arm?" Lisbon asked.

"He cut me," Kristina said dispassionately. "Made his mark, just here." She gestured to the bandage. "The doctors say it's going to leave a scar. Bit of a pointed reminder, if you ask me, but the message has definitely been received."

"Screw him," Lisbon said. "You should get a tattoo."

Kristina surprised her by smiling at this. "Perhaps I will. An excellent suggestion, Agent Lisbon. Thank you."

Jane's attention was fixed on Kristina. "What else did he do to you?"

Lisbon looked back at Kristina. There were no other visible marks on her skin. "Did you sustain other injuries?"

"Nothing to signify." Kristina gestured to her chest. "A couple of puncture wounds. It's uncomfortable, but the doctors say it will trouble me less than the injury to my wrist."

Jane frowned. "Puncture wounds? He didn't use his knife?"

"Apparently not," Kristina said.

They spoke to Kristina for several more minutes, but they didn't learn anything new, and she was starting to tire, so they left her to rest.

They met Rigsby, Cho, and Van Pelt in the hall.

"Security footage shows a dark van dumped her just outside the entrance to the ER at 5 am this morning," Rigsby reported. "No visible plates, and you can't see who dropped her because of the camera angle."

"Is Kristina okay?" Van Pelt asked anxiously.

"Red John cut her wrist and left a couple of puncture wounds on her chest," Lisbon told her. "But she's going to be all right."

"Thank God," Van Pelt breathed.

"What else did she tell you?" Cho asked. "Can she ID Red John?"

Lisbon shook her head. "She doesn't remember anything at all from the time she was with Van Pelt in the house til she woke up in the hospital."

Cho crossed his arms over his chest. "You believe that?"

"I do," Lisbon said. "Jane, what do you think?"

"She's telling the truth," Jane said. "Red John must have hypnotized her."

Lisbon paused. "You think?"

"He couldn't have kept her unconscious that whole time, and he needed to guarantee that she wouldn't be able to identify him."

"Which means he never intended to kill her," Lisbon said slowly.

"Are you sure she's not another mole, planted by Red John?" Cho asked.

"Possible," Jane said. "But I don't think so. He wouldn't have allowed one of his followers to speak like that about him in front of the media."

"But why take her, if he didn't plan to kill her?"

"Another one of his games," Jane said grimly.

"Can you unhypnotize her?" Rigsby asked. "You know, like you did to me? Find the trigger, or whatever?"

"It's too dangerous to try," Jane said. "He could have planted a suggestion to hurt herself or someone else. If I found the trigger, she'd be dead for sure."

Lisbon was relieved Jane was unwilling to weigh Kristina's life in the balance against the promise of finding out Red John's identity. He wasn't quite the cold bastard he pretended to be.

"Is there anything else you could do for her?" she asked.

"No. Like I said, I can't risk messing with whatever he did to her. But we should put her under surveillance, in case he's programmed her to kill someone for him or something."

Rigsby snorted. "Yeah, right." Off Jane's look, the smile slid off his face. "You're serious?"

"We don't know why he took her," Jane reminded him. "More importantly, we don't know why he sent her back. We should monitor her very closely."

"I agree," Lisbon said. "For her safety, as well as those around her. Cho, can you coordinate?"

Cho gave a curt nod. "On it."

"I'll take another look at the security footage once I'm back at the office," Van Pelt volunteered. "Maybe the image enhancement software will pick up something we missed the first time around."

"Sounds good. Rigsby, give Cho a hand, will you? Jane and I will stay here and talk to the doctors."

"You got it, boss."

The team left. Jane and Lisbon found the doctor in the supply room, scribbling notes to herself on a clipboard overflowing with papers.

"Dr. Wu?" Lisbon showed the doctor her ID. "I'm Agent Lisbon, and this is Patrick Jane. I understand you treated Kristina Frye?"

"That's right," Dr. Wu said, extending her hand and shaking Lisbon's briskly. "Ms. Frye requested that I share any details of her medical situation that might shed light on your investigation."

"What can you tell us about her case?"

"Her injuries aren't serious from a purely medical standpoint," Dr. Wu answered. "But I must say, the circumstances are deeply troubling. I put in a referral for her to our counseling services to have her evaluated for signs of post-traumatic stress."

"I understand she was unconscious when she arrived," Lisbon said. "Any signs of a head injury?"

"No, that's the odd thing about this case," Dr. Wu said, frowning. "One of the odd things, I should say. Scans failed to detect any physical cause for a loss of consciousness. People do faint, but we had trouble reviving her, which is unusual without some sort of underlying physical cause."

"How did she seem when she regained consciousness?" Lisbon asked. "Was she disoriented? Confused?"

"Yes," Dr. Wu said. "She couldn't remember a thing about the past week. I know amnesia is common in the movies, but it's not something we see often in practice."

"Did she say anything when she woke up?" Jane asked.

"She was agitated. She asked where she was and how she got here."

"Did she say anything that seemed unusual to you?" Jane pressed. "A word or phrase, no matter how small."

"Nothing that stood out to me," Dr. Wu said. "She was very distressed to learn a week had passed that she had no memory of, but that didn't seem strange, given the circumstances. Which themselves were quite strange." She rummaged through the items clipped to her clipboard and drew out a single sheet of paper encased in a clear plastic sleeve. The paper was marked with dried blood. "She had this note pinned to her chest when we found her. I don't mean pinned to her clothing—it was literally pinned to the skin on her chest with a safety pin."

"Is that what caused the puncture wounds on her chest?" Lisbon asked, taking the note. She could see the pin at the bottom of the plastic sleeve beneath the note, also covered in crusted blood.

"That's right." Dr. Wu shuddered. "I'm going to have nightmares for weeks."

Beside her, Jane tensed. Lisbon looked down at the note in her hand.

You're not the only one who refuses to accept second best.

Beneath this inscription, the familiar smiley face grinned up at her.