A/N: Trigger Warning for mentions of suicide and an attempt.

Stay safe everyone.

Enjoy!


The next morning, Lisbon walked in to the entertaining sight of Rigsby visibly gawking at his redheaded crush.

"Morning, team." She barked out of habit. Sometimes it felt like Van Pelt was just too absorbed in her job to notice him. There was no other explanation to her obliviousness.

"Hey boss." Cho casually greeted, looking like he was trying to tune his best friend out. They were close like that. She had a suspicion the man had also given Rigsby a few dating tips at some point.

"Morning to you too, Sunshine." Jane stretched on the couch, looking like he'd just woken up.

"I'm glad you didn't make use of this." Lisbon noted with amusement as he handed her the key to her office.

"Oh, but I did." He smiled, picking up his cup from a nearby desk. "I just had to get out before Minelli showed up. Boy, would that be awkward." But he didn't seem uncomfortable with the idea in the slightest. "Again. Like, a baby." He emphasized, taking a long sip from his tea.

"Not even going to ask." Cho deadpanned, not looking in their direction. Lisbon's face fell under her professional mask after a huff. Jane's grin widened and he only snuggled more comfortably into the cushions.

"Any reports today?"

"Nothing. There was a robbery downtown and they reported a few casualties, but it turned out to be a false alarm."

She hummed in acknowledgement, heading to the kitchen for her morning coffee. She heard Rigsby start a conversation from the other room.

"So, Grace. Uh, nice braid." Lisbon's fingers froze on the cupboard handle and his head turned sharply to look at Jane, who was already looking at her with a wide smile that indicated things were going south. Lisbon scowled and tried to silently threaten him to keep his mouth shut.

He only gave a subtle shrug, turning to watch the exchange with interest.

"God help us all." She could only murmur as she took out her favorite cup.

"Thanks!" Chirped enthusiastically the girl. "Did you notice how elegant it is? I can't stop looking at the mirror. I'm starting to feel like a narcissist." Came an embarrassed chuckle.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw the mischief melt away from the consultant's expression, replaced with a tender look. God, how could he look any more sweet?

"Yeah! You- you're really talented with that." Rigsby praised dreamily.

"Oh, me? I don't have the first idea to creating something so beautiful! Jane braided it for me." It took all the agent's will not to snort into her coffee. "Do you like it?"

She couldn't miss this. As subtle as she could, she tried to slip back to the room. It was worth the dumbstruck look on her poor colleague's face. Even Cho looked like he was suppressing a smirk.

"Jane?" He threw Jane a betrayed puppy face. "I mean yeah. It's uh, it's… pretty."

'You got the wrong idea.' Jane tried to mouth to him while keeping a straight face. Rigsby only glared further. Rolling his eyes, the blond condescendingly looked at her instead like she was to blame. She contracted her face in a mock half-hearted snarl and decided to turn to the safe corners of her office, letting the situation settle itself.

It took Rigsby an hour to collect himself and gather up the courage to knock on her door. "Boss. We have a problem." He breathed out.

"Jane didn't sleep with Van Pelt." She dryly said, having her dialogues ready. "And even if he did, none of them had to transfer to another unit. He's a consultant. It doesn't count." She explained.

He blinked at her. "But the hair-"

"I was there." Lisbon cut him off with amusement. "I think his father instincts just get the best of him sometimes. Remember the weird comment he made about my hair yesterday? Cut him some slack." She brushed it off.

Realization dawned on the agent's face and his expression slowly turned to guilt. She cut him off before he could start. "No. It's not your fault, you couldn't have known. Just an advice though, you could be a little more subtle with Grace." He frowned and tried to retort, but Lisbon's phone rang and she answered it, waving the agent off dismissively.

"Hello? Yes, how can I help you?... okay, we'll check it out. Please, clear the crime scene until we arrive."

Sighing, she headed to the bullpen to alert her team of the new case.


"You seem to be in an awfully good mood today, Jane." Lisbon mused, raising an eyebrow at the consultant who stood quietly by her side. A content quiet… don't ask how she knew.

He shrugged. "What's there not to like? The weather's nice, they gave us free hotdogs because we cracked the case so soon it could be on that Guinness Records business, not to mention how short it took to find the killer in the first place."

"Yeah. It feels like it was too easy, if you ask me." She frowned, her eyes following the man being arrested. For some reason, it felt wrong. He didn't have the face of a killer in her mind, which was preposterous.

Jane seemed to agree with her thoughts. "Don't trust your paranoia too much, agent."

"It still seems wrong." She voiced her dismay. "I'm going to take one last look at the man's confession, just to be sure."

"You do that." He rolled his eyes, smiling. "I could really go for some tea right now. I suggest you stop wasting your time and close the case already."

"You're in such a hurry to close it." Lisbon noted, pursing her lips. "What gives?"

"I just don't feel like dealing with overly complicated situations today." Shrugging his shoulders, he made his way to the murderer's house.

She watched the man disappear into the house, posture relaxed, but Lisbon had learned that body language was no way to get anything out of the blond. She contemplated between seeing the confession footage and following Jane inside, maybe join him in for some tea and see what she could find out from his troubled mind. She wanted to help the man, but he always made it hard for people to get close to him. As understandable as it was, it frustrated her to hell and back sometimes.

With a defeated sigh, she made her way towards the house, ready to have one of the most difficult conversations of her week. Crossing the kitchen, she expected to see the kettle boiling and a comfortable Patrick Jane dipping a bag of tea in his cup of choice, but was surprised to see neither.

She stood in the empty kitchen, frowning at the turn of events when a creak of wooden floor caught her attention from one of the rooms. Wordlessly and with a blank expression, her hand went to her gun. Taking a proper stance, she started to move towards the source of the noise.

Jane was kidnapped. Again. Just fantastic. Trying to keep an clear mind, she ran into the room, ready to shout out an order, confused to find it empty once more. But her eyes quickly found the hatch in the floor, an old rag thrown aside which was originally used to cover the hatch.

"One of these things." She muttered under her breath with annoyance, trying to go down the stairs of it with silent steps.

"So this is it?" A male voice said, not Jane. "They got John?" Their arrested suspect. This man was the killer. Her fingers tightened on the gun on her side. But she forced herself to stay put.

"Uh-huh." Lisbon's eyes widened in shock. "This is it, pal. Hold up your end of the bargain now." Jane's voice demanded, sounding impatient.

With a snarl on her face, she stepped lower until she had a clear sight of the exchange.

The man Jane was talking to shook his head. "Are you sure about that, man? I don't want to be responsible for another murder."

Yep, the killer. Wait… another murder?

"I'm asking for it. It's not murder." Jane muttered, his grave dry voice nothing like the cheerful one he'd used to talk to Lisbon a few minutes ago. "C'mon, you're wasting daylight."

"God, I shouldn't have agreed to this." The man ran a hand down his face, obviously distressed and in a dilemma.

"Well, you did and there's no going back now." Jane's voice rose as he stepped towards the killer. "Do it before the cops show up! Do you want to live?"

"No!" The man sounded panicked, then shook his head and raised a shotgun Lisbon hadn't seen before. "I'm just worried that-"

"Then shoot me." Lisbon's blood froze at that. "Stop thinking, shoot me, shoot yourself and we're done!"

The poor man whimpered. "I never wanted to kill her."

"Well, me neither. But you gotta face the consequences of your actions, coward." He hissed and the killer raised his shotgun toward Jane again, more purposefully this time.

"I am not a coward-"

"Drop the gun!" Lisbon barked out an infuriated order as she jumped down the rest of the stairs. "Drop it now!"

The man looked shocked, dropping it down quickly like it had burnt his hand. Jane just groaned loudly while she kicked the shotgun to a corner. "Put your hands in the air! On your knees... both of you." She hissed, kicking Jane in the shin sharply in a way she knew it would hurt. Taking pleasure at the grunt of pain, she kicked the consultant in the back, resulting in him falling on his face. She pulled out a pair of cuffs, cuffing his wrists tightly together before going for the other one.

"Suicide shouldn't be illegal, Lisbon." The agent narrowed her eyes as she took another cuff for the killer, trying to ignore the tightness in the back of her throat. "Or I wouldn't have had to frame John. See how the system of justice is flawed around here?"

"Shut up." She hissed out.

"I think you got the words wrong." Jane's voice was muffled in the dirt on the ground, which soothed her for unknown reasons. "It's 'you have the right to remain silent'."

Knowing that Jane couldn't really see her, she let a tear drop as she called Cho for backup. What did she do to have to had witnessed that?


The interrogation room was filled with tense silence.

Agent Teresa Lisbon sat across from her consultant, a cold professional look on her face. He was just smiling at her, relaxed and controlled. She could feel multiple eyes on her from the observation room.

"Aren't you supposed to interrogate me now?" Jane cleared his throat. "Not glaring like that. It's not very professional of you."

"Why did you help Jerry Hofstadter, the killer of Mary Roth, frame his brother John Hofstadter for the murder?" She intoned, staring him dead in the eye.

"Jerry wanted to kill himself before the cops got to him." He smoothly answered. "I made him a deal for that. It's not like I let him escape."

"According to Mr. Hofstadter, you convinced him to attempt the suicide."

A shrug. "It was already in the back of his mind."

"Mr. Jane, you can convince a mother to kill her own baby." A tragic, but true statement. "You manipulated a man into thinking he wanted to die."

He wiggled his eyebrows, leaning forward as a smirk formed on his lips. "Mr. Jane? Oh, my. We're really serious here, aren't we agent? And I'm flattered, but why the hell would I make someone kill their baby?"

"I didn't say you would. I said you could." She clarified.

"That's true." He smiled again.

"Mr. Jane, what were the exact details of your deal with Jerry Hofstadter?"

"Oh, that old thing? I wasn't in my right mind then when I made the contract." He frowned and Lisbon felt the smallest bits of relief. "That was just bound to fail." It died instantly.

"Answer my question, Mr. Jane." She sternly demanded.

"Oh, anything for you, Ms. Lisbon." Count on Jane to make anything sound suggestive in any situation. "I'd frame his brother so he could have time to kill himself."

"And what would you get?" She asked dutifully.

He smiled again, a sickening sweet smile. "Release."

"Elaborate."

"Death, Lisbon. I'd get to die and be free." He inhaled dreamily.

"What did you think would happen if you got caught?" She tried not to let her heartache show. He didn't deserve sympathy.

He started to count his fingers thoughtfully. "Hmm. Counting the framing, suicide attempt," Lisbon cursed herself for flinching. "and you said I manipulated Jerry into it too, so I think it's pretty terrible for me. I'd say straight up execution." He finalized. "But jail sounds fun too."

"You won't get charged with any of that." Lisbon raised an eyebrow.

Jane narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"First of all, this is CBI and you're Patrick Jane. You close cases, so we usually try to cut back on your charges as much as we can."

"I don't think you can do anything about it this time." He argued.

"Think again, Jane." She let out a puff of air. "The fact that you seem to look forward to an execution and that you made that poorly improvised contract to get yourself killed already pleads your case on just being a mentally unstable and traumatized man who got out of the asylum too early." She allowed herself a half smirk.

"Excuse me?"

Lisbon was more than happy to explain further. "There's also been times where you put yourself in harm's way on purpose in many occasions. They aren't going to take you to jail." She leaned back on her chair, arms crossed. "They'll take you back to the facility." His eyes widened. "And Dr. Miller will be charged with all that's left since she let you walk away when you clearly weren't ready."

"Sophie didn't have anything to do with this." He hissed.

"Yeah, and you were the one to get her in trouble." She glared at him. "Nice job. Minelli might be able to get you out if you play nice, but Sophie Miller still has to suffer the consequences of your selfish actions either way." Their glaring congest dragged on until Cho opened the door to call for her.

Back in the observation room, stood her team and Minelli. "What do you think?" Lisbon licked her lips in preoccupation, watching Jane scowl at the empty space where she'd sat.

"You pretty much said it all, agent Lisbon." She averted her eyes in embarrassment.

"Sorry I kind of went off script. He just pisses me off sometimes." She admitted.

"There was no script. You did a great job." Cho nodded to her, giving her slight encouragement.

"The question is," Her boss looked at her. "What do you think? What do we do with him?"

"He's right when he says we can't stop him." A shrug. "He'll get out of the facility and do something that'll get him killed or throw him in jail. And I think he had something going on with Doctor Sophie Miller."

"It looks like it." Rigsby looked in thought. "But what do we do?"

"The only thing that keeps him here looking like he's already in prison is Miller. He doesn't want any more charges to be pressed against her, therefore will cooperate with us to some point." She tapped her foot on the ground. "I don't think there's much we can do to change his mind on the mental health area."

"Nothing we can do." Van Pelt stepped forward, albeit uncertainly. "Something tells me you have more chance at that than us, boss."

"Why? Because we're so close?" Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. If anything, he hates my guts by now. Look at that face he's making." She pointed at the blond in the other room. Rigsby snorted at it. "You can think I'm delusional, but he was conspiring against me to get me off the Red John case. And I honestly wasn't enjoying him glow."

"But you didn't enjoy it when he lost his family either." Van Pelt motioned to the consultant. "And neither now that he's lost his will to live."

She glared. "What does that have to do anything with him listening to me?"

Minelli pondered the redhead's words. "He doesn't have to Listen to you for us to have a chance. He tried to make your life a misery and now looks like he wants to do it again. You have his attention, good or bad."

"Reverse psychology?" Lisbon concluded with surprise. "I think he'd see right through that."

"Probably." Cho mused. "Don't try to hide your tactic from him. You can still have a chance to talk some sense into him."

"And say what?"

"That he should live to kill Red John." The neutral agent monotoned, staring into her eyes.

She shook her head in disbelief. "Whoa, whoa- kill is a strong word. We can't have him kill the guy- it's against the rules!"

"Fine. Don't tell him that, but that's how he'll agree to go on. When has he cared about the rules?" Comprehension dawned on her as they held eye contact. He was right.

"Alright." She took a calming breath. "I'll try something else."

With a feeling akin to dread or frustration, she went back to the interrogation room. Opening the door, Jane looked up, his anger faded away and replaced with boredom instead. "Ms. Lisbon. What took you so long and why am I still here?"

"I want to talk to you some more." She forced herself to say as she sat down. She didn't want to talk to him at all.

"No you don't." He smiled, a hand under his chin.

"But here I am. I do want to talk to you though." She admitted as she thought of a certain topic.

"You're being honest." He sounded pleasantly surprised. "Lay it on me."

"Why do you want to die?" She inhaled, whispering as he stared at the material of the table between them. "I-I don't get it."

His smile fell. "Why do you care?"

"I'm a good person. I want to help people."

"Well, that's a crappy excuse. You looked like hell every time I spelled out suicide. You either don't want to talk about someone close to you that offed themselves a while ago, or you don't want to admit you like me- hey, look at me."

She looked up quickly on instinct and his scrutinizing gaze bore into her eyes. "Hmm. No loved one killing themselves… you do care about me." His lips curled into a half smile, but it wasn't cruel.

Annoyed at her elevated heartbeat, she pursed her lips. "Why do you want to die?" She repeated blankly. He chuckled at that.

"Now, I don't want you worrying yourself over me." A glare was the only response he got. "I had two reasons to live that were enough to take my mind off the guilt I had over my cons over the years." His façade was removed, showing a serious expression. "Both of them died and the guilt of their deaths was added to the rest. Why the hell would I want to live with those?"

"You said something about revenge." She muttered. "Catching Red John. I'll help you with that."

"Why?" His eyes demanded truth from her.

"Because I want to catch him too, if you remember." She raised an eyebrow. "He killed my best friend."

"Ah, agent Bosco. I assumed you were lovers from how obsessed you were with the case." Jane hummed.

"You assumed wrong." She was starting to get annoyed. "Look, I can't say suicide never crossed my mind for a second." That seemed to catch his interest. "But I didn't want to give the bastard the satisfaction of me giving up. I had to be strong, for the sake of Sam." Her graveness faltered into soft sadness. "And I didn't want more people losing their friends or family, colleagues… I didn't want to stand by and let that happen." She whispered.

He didn't answer for a while, watching her, face unreadable. "I'm sorry."

She pursed her lips. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I hope you don't expect me to even consider believing that apology."

"If I helped you go after Red John the minute I found out you were pursuing him instead of taking it away from you, my family might've lived today. I'm sorry that I did that."

"Not sorry. You regret it, maybe. But you're not sorry for causing me pain." She bitterly corrected him.

"Should I be sorry?" He said indifferently.

"I can't believe this." She stood up and slammed her fists on the table, making him jump. "I can't- why did I even think-? Why am I helping you?"

"I don't know." He calmly responded. "You really shouldn't."

Hesitating at the strange exchange of words, Lisbon searched his strained face. "Maybe you are sorry- maybe not. But what you're doing right now is encouraging me to leave you to rot."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it is."

"What are you doing about that?"

"Staying. I can't leave you like this and I won't." She said with strong persistence. "I'm helping you whether you like it or not- and believe me when I say I really hope you don't like it."

A faint smile sat on Jane's face as he stared up at the agent. "Oh, I believe you, Ms. Lisbon."

"Does that mean you'll cooperate?" Lisbon dared hope.

He raised a questioning eyebrow. "Do I have a choice?"

"Normally you'd make your own." She stated. "But now you know someone you care about is going to pay every time you step out of line, so no."

"Thanks for the elaboration." He intoned sarcastically. "Then I guess I'm cooperating. Or something. So am I going back to that place?" There was an anxious undertone to it.

"Do you think it'll help you?" She was careful not to let her voice soften too much.

He shook his head no. "The facility's for very extreme cases. I'm not that far gone."

"What will help you?" She demanded seriously. "What can give you purpose?"

His eyes shot up to hers at the last question and lingered. "Red John must die. We'll take back the case."

Lisbon could imagine Kimball Cho sighing knowingly as he heard Jane's words.