Chapter 13

Dennis Abbott.

Jane studied the man in front of him. Thick black glasses. Tailored suit and shiny black shoes. His posture projected confidence and it showed that he was the commander of the room.

"We're going to need to interview you at some point, but it can wait," Abbott said lightly. "We're going to be here for some time. Just don't leave town."

"They are shut us down," Lisbon said standing at his left side. Her eyes were wandering around the bullpen looking at the small army of FBI agents that apparently were planning to close the CBI through pure strength of numbers.

"Actually, it can't wait," Jane replied casually.

The FBI agent raised an eyebrow and smiled, looking amused by his comment.

"Because of Red John. Right?" Abbott said. "Oh, well, that's our problem now. You had your chance to catch him and you blew it— if you were really trying."

Lisbon immediately took offense by that comment. Her Senior Agent persona came out ready to defend herself and her team. "Excuse me. Who the hell do you think you are?"

Abbott faced her looking serious for the first time since his arrival. "I'm the person that came to fix the mess that you people created."

Jane intervened before the conversation took a nasty turn. "I'm not talking about Red John. It's much more important. You know to find us. Don't lose much time." He spoke slowly, choosing his words with great care.

Lisbon immediately understood he was ending the conversation. Jane and Abbot sized up each other one more time before the blond put his hand on the small of her back walking her to her office, she got her car keys and purse and walked out with him following her closely.

"Remember. Don't leave town," Abbot said to their backs.

The blond exchanged one look with Cho and the agent nodded quickly understanding that he was in charge of the situation at the moment.

Once that they were in the elevator Lisbon rested her head against the wall. "This is a nightmare."

"Hey," Jane said putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's all part of the plan. We knew that this situation was a real possibility. Cho will deal with the bothersome FBI agents while you and I wait for Abbott. We just need him to take the bait."

The brunette sighed heavily and rested her head against the hand that was on her shoulder for a second before putting herself together again.

She moved away from the wall and straightened her shoulders. Her eyes lost all the vulnerability he saw on them and her mouth formed a tight line. The agent Teresa Lisbon was back on, and her strength surprised him once again.

The elevator doors opened and the reception was filled with more agents. They really seemed ants, popping up out of nowhere. Fortunately, no one stopped them and they walked to Lisbon's mustang.

Jane grabbed her hand stopping her before she could go to the driver's side. "Let me drive," Lisbon gave him the car keys without any word.

Once that they left the CBI premises, Jane rested his right hand on the armrest and after fifteen seconds she took it, he linked their fingers and tightened his grip feeling calm for the first time since the FBI arrived.

Lisbon was looking at the window quietly like someone who was bored but Jane knew better. She was barely holding it up together. A big part of her identity has been removed from her, it was understandable.

The blond was also upset, more than he'd imagined that he would be once they came to the conclusion that the CBI could very possibly shut its doors.

The place had become a safe space over the past decade, a solid ground under his feet, and he would like to imagine it continuing on just the same as it always had been.

"Do you think that Abbott will call you?" Lisbon asked breaking the silence.

Jane shrugged. "Mmm, yes I think he will. He was curious once that I told him that the information that I have isn't related to Red John." he paused. "I would give him one day or two."

"Do you think that he can help us?"

"That's a tougher question." He thought about it for a second. "This Abbott guy seems to be as by-the-book as you people go by, but he doesn't strike me as the dumb kind. Time will tell."

She hummed considering his words and looked back at the window, Jane stroked her hand softly and the rest of the drive was silent.

"I'm going to take a shower," she announced once that they were inside of her house.

"Okay, any request for dinner?" The blond asked even though he knew that she wasn't hungry.

"Surprise me," Lisbon answered without any enthusiasm walking to the stairs. Jane sighed and left his jacket on the sofa and his keys and wallet on the table next to the entrance door.

Jane walked to her small kitchen fondling his shirt sleeves and took a couple of tomatoes and onions from the fridge. He decided to cook some chicken and complete the dish with some leftover rice from yesterday, nothing too fancy, after all, he wasn't very hungry either.

Forty-five minutes later, Lisbon came downstairs wearing a blank tank top and gray sweatpants. Her eyes were puffy, he noticed worried.

"Do you need help?" she asked quietly coming to his side.

"Can you get the plates, please?" Jane asked turning off the stove. She took the plates and passed them quietly. Jane served the chicken and rice while she took the jug of juice from the fridge.

"Smells good," she mumbled after he placed the plate in front of her. The brunette took a small bite and closed her eyes enjoying the food. He smiled softly, feeling some relief. At least, her appetite wasn't totally gone.

After dinner, Lisbon washed the dishes and organized the kitchen while Jane organized the living room. They worked in perfect harmony, once more these moments of domesticity caught her by surprise again. One of the first things that really surprised her was the armory between them.

In the beginning, she thought that he would drove her crazy as he usually did while they were working but it hasn't been like that. He has been respectful of her boundaries (as much as Jane could be) and put his weight around the house cleaning, cooking, and buying the groceries. Also, she finally got to see him wearing something else besides his suits, Lisbon discovered that he actually owned some pair of jeans that he occasionally wore when they were cleaning or just watching tv.

"I'm going to change," Jane said after he settled the kettle on the stove.

"Okay," she whispered focusing on putting the pots and plates in their correct places.

Her mind went back to Dennis Abbott. The FBI agent who was closing the CBI. The place where she worked for almost thirteen years. The FBI agent seemed to believe that her team was covering Red John or involved with the association.

Give me a break.

The brunette understood his approach. In fact, if she was the agent in charge, she would probably have done the same thing, but this situation left her adrift, for lack of a better word. She wasn't sure about anything and it made her feel scared.

The kettle started boiling dragging her attention back to the present. She prepared Jane's tea following the million of steps that it required.

"Just in time," Jane said coming down the stairs. He was wearing those dark blue grandpa PJs that she made fun of the first time that she saw. Even his pajamas were fancy.

Lisbon rolled her eyes at his dramatic tendencies and handed him the cup. He took a tentative sip and closed his eyes at the taste of his favorite beverage.

"Perfect," He said smiling. "You really are the only person capable of making the perfect cup of tea, my dear," He said sitting on the couch.

Lisbon snorted while she was preparing her own cup. "It's just tea, Jane."

"That's not true, tea is like a hug in a cup," He said. "And not even Angela was capable of making it like this."

She almost dropped her cup when she heard Angela's name. He didn't talk much about her. It was the first time that she heard him say her name aloud. In the past, he always referred to her as 'my wife'.

The brunette walked back to the living room and sat next to him silently. Jane noticed her expression. "Why are you so surprised?"

Lisbon cleared her throat and placed her cup on the coffee table. "It's the first time that I hear you said her name."

Jane nodded understanding her hesitation. "For a long time, all my memories of them have been tainted by Red John. I- I couldn't bring one memory of them without thinking about him... and that isn't right." His voice broke and her heart squeezed painfully. "T-They deserved to be remembered without that monster. It has taken a long time, but I can do it now. It isn't easy but I'm trying to remember the good times, their laughter, their faces. I'm trying to remember who they were…"

Not fighting her instinct, she wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers into the nape of his neck, hugging him tightly. He returned her hug and she felt something wet on her shoulder. He was crying, she just tightened her embrace and let him cry as much as he needed. The brunette wished there was something more she could do to help him.

"I'd love to hear everything that you want to share about them, Jane," she whispered stroking his back.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes until Jane stopped crying. It was very likely that this is the first time Jane had allowed himself to talk about them in the presence of another human being since his stint in the psych ward, years ago.

He cleaned the teardrops from his face and took a sip of his tea. "Angela was an excellent cooker. Actually, she taught me almost everything. She was very upset about the fact that I never enjoyed her tea." He smiled sadly. "Charlotte was always wearing costumes, to everywhere: to the supermarket, the beach, the mall. She used to cry every time that she had to wear regular clothes to school but I always bought her ice cream after I picked her out. Angela said that I was spooling her but I didn't care."

Her eyes started to watering. Life wasn't fair. She rested her head against his shoulder, his arm surrounded her immediately. "I'm so sorry, Jane."

"It isn't your fault." He whispered.

Lisbon faced him and with a lot of care, she cupped his cheeks between her hands. "I know that you don't believe this but it isn't your fault either, Patrick."

His eyes watered again and he kissed the crown of her head.

"Sometimes I wonder how was possible that she felt in love with me," He confessed shaking his head slightly. "I was so shallow back then. I thought that I was invincible. Nothing could ever hurt me. I rarely felt a twinge of guilt for ripping people off. Angela saw through it and she would call me out on it, but not always. Part of me is glad that she never got to see how destructive I can be."

"What do you mean?"

Jane sighed and his grip on her tightened for a second like a reflex. "I always tried to hide the ugliness inside of me from Angela. I'm not saying she never saw a bad side of me. She knew what I did for a living, but she never saw anything close to the things you had witnessed over the years we've known each other. You know me inside out."

Lisbon felt something close to contentment once that she heard Jane admitting that she knew him better than Angela. It lasted a couple of seconds before the guilt took over. She hated the fact that she compared herself to Angela, even if it was for just a moment.

"I think that she would be proud of the man that you had become, Jane," she murmured. "Tell me more about them. Tell me about the happy memories."

That night, Lisbon discovered that Charlotte learned to swim before she learned how to walk properly, Angela loved to dance and sing while she was cleaning their house, and both of them were allergic to peanuts.

The next day, Cho called her while they were having breakfast to inform her that the team was coming with updates from yesterday.

She took the pillows and blankets that they used to sleep on from the sofa and took them upstairs while Jane organized the kitchen. She wondered almost absently what her team thought about her current situation with Jane. At this point, a blind person had to know they were living together after all they have been arriving together every morning since her kidnapping.

Lisbon shook her head as the action would help her to get those thoughts out of her mind. They had bigger priorities now than what they think of their relationship.

Twenty minutes later, Cho knocked her door with Van Pelt and Rigsby. "Morning guys," Lisbon said opening the door.

They came in quickly. Rigsby and Van Pelt looked around her house curiously. So yes. They definitely knew that Jane was living here.

Awesome. Lisbon thought, feeling self-conscious. It wasn't that she believed that the team would gossip about them or something else, it was just that she liked to keep her privacy.

"This Abbott guy is not messing around," Cho declared crossing his arms once that they settled on her sofa. "He confiscated all laptops and took our phones to check them before we were allowed to leave yesterday."

"I did some background check on him. He worked with the DEA in a joint task solving narcotics and arms cases along the Mexico border." Van Pelt said pulling a folder out of her purse. "The FBI rewarded him with his own team at the Austin office."

Jane hummed. "Can I see his file, Grace?"

"Sure," Van Pelt said passing him the folder.

Lisbon detected something in Jane's tone. Something that she couldn't explain but that let her know that he was interested in Van Pelt's information.

"You think Abbott's going to go for it?" Rigsby asked worriedly.

"I don't see why not," Jane replied. His eyes were still on the folder. "Abbott quickly will see that he needs us to get to Red John and that the threat of the association moles is greater than he thinks. Once that he has confirmed that we aren't members of the organization I don't see why he would reject our help."

Cho's mouth twitched downward for a moment. "You are not planning on double-crossing the FBI, right?" he declared flatly. "Because you have been telling us since the day we met you that Red John is yours. We are going to help you, Jane but if we are going to set our careers on fire we deserve to know in advance."

You could always count on Cho for completely blunt statements, Lisbon thought looking at the patterns on her wood floor. Silent descended in the room.

Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt gazed at Jane with rank wariness on their faces waiting for his answer.

Lisbon looked up to meet Jane's eyes. They've changed from sea-green to icy blue and right now, they were assessing her. The brunette crossed her arms trying to hide the vulnerability that she was experiencing at the moment.

"No. I'm not planning to double-cross the FBI," Jane assured them cautiously. "I admit that my plans are still developing but I know that we need help to uncover the organization and get Red John out of the shadows."

He paused for a moment and his focus went back to her. He was watching her like a hawk– or that was how it felt like from her point of view. "I have had a change in perspective. My priorities had changed."

She flustered and avoided his eyes.

Oh.

If the team had any doubt about the change in their relationship, it was safe to assume that those doubts were clear out now.

Van Pelt gasped softly and her eyes shifted between them like on a tennis match. Rigsby's eyebrows went up and his mouth opened and closed.

"Okay," Cho said. His voice sounded insure like he didn't quite understand what was happening.

Lisbon stood up abruptly cutting the conversation. "Who wants coffee?"

After the team left, Lisbon announced that she was going to clean the bathroom and bedroom upstairs.

She had remained absent from the first floor since then and Jane was quite certain that she was avoiding him after his subtle declaration in front of the team.

He sighed tiredly. She planned to continue pretending that nothing had changed between them. Jane had to give it to her she was stubborn but he hoped she wasn't delusional because this was one instance where she wasn't going to get her way.

With nothing else to do but wait for Abbott's call, he decided to do some cleaning too on the first floor giving her the space that she needed at the moment. Jane dusted the living room and organized her book collection, then he moved to the kitchen where he cleaned and organized the cupboards and fridge.

Four hours later, he was hungry and figured out that Lisbon had enough space. The smell of lavender hit him before he reached the bedroom. It was immaculate.

She had changed the bedsheets, took out the trash, dutifully dusted the vanity and side table, the brown floor was shiny, and all the clothes that she had been leaving through the week on the corner chair disappeared.

He left the bedroom and walked to the bathroom in the hall. Lisbon was sitting on the floor organizing the contents of the sink cabinet. The tub and floor were white shiny and the mirror was free of any spot.

One little declaration and she turned into Martha Stewart. A classic type A. Her commitment issues ran deep, once that they were done with Red John and the association Jane was going to have his hands full.

He rested against the solid wood frame of the door. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," she replied softly and Jane noticed that she was in a better mood. It seemed that the cleaning spree helped her to release some stress.

"I cleaned the first floor. Are you done here?"

"Yes. I only need to finish with this," she responded gesturing to the products resting on the floor.

"Are you hungry?"

"Actually, I am." She answered sounding surprised.

He raised an eyebrow. "Today, besides coffee, you've had only two pancakes and some eggs for breakfast. It's not surprising that you are hungry, Lisbon. It's also 6 pm."

Lisbon had always been a meal-skipper if something else became a priority. Usually, he was the one in charge of bringing her some pastry or food to remind her that she was actually human and needed to eat.

Lisbon looked at him annoyed. "I was busy. I didn't notice the time."

"Do you want to eat outside?"

Her eyebrow rosed before she'd even thought about it and her mouth formed a cute pout that distracted him momentarily. "I don't want to dress up."

"We don't have to go anywhere fancy. We can go to that dinner five blocks away here." Jane suggested thinking about the setting of the place. A quiet and casual place.

Lisbon considered it for a second before she nodded. "Alright but let me shower first. I smell awful."

"You could never smell awful, dear." Jane teased her walking to the bedroom to change his clothes.

Forty minutes later, they arrived at the dinner. It was almost empty. There was a family on the other corner of the place and a couple of teenagers sitting on the front bar.

Lisbon sliced into a corner booth with Jane sitting in front of her. "It does have a nice atmosphere, doesn't it?"

She had to agree with him. It was quiet and the light of the place was soft giving them some sense of privacy. "It is pretty nice." Ten seconds later, a waitress came to take their orders.

"So what did you find on Abbott's file?" Lisbon asked once that the waitress left.

"What makes you think that I found something?" Jane asked, his face was carefully neutral, which Lisbon knew usually meant he was hiding something. The brunette had worked with him for such a long time that she just knew what his facial expressions meant without even thinking about it.

"Alright," she said. "Out with it."

The corner of his lips twisted upwards. Jane loved that competitive side of her, her need to get the upper hand on him.

"It's just a hutch," Jane said with a shrug. "I just think that there's something odd in that joint operation with DEA."

She tilted her curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"Abbott was a war veteran that joined the FBI. He was assigned to that Rio Bravo operation when he was a just rocky and spent almost an entire year in the Mexico border without major incident." Jane shocking his head. "That's impossible."

Lisbon thought about his words. The Mexico border was quite dangerous. It was full of narcotics and arms cases. The possibility of coming unarmed after spending a year there was outrageous.

"Not even a mention?" She double-checked.

"Not one. And I know from all those years of napping on your couch while you are filling out reports, that you have to add down those kinds of incidents on your file."

The waitress arrived with their food and they chose to enjoy it instead of continuing with their theories. Jane ordered some pasta and she went for a chicken burger. It was delicious and Jane stole some of her fries after he finished his food.

"Maybe Van Pelt can do some digging on the actual file report," Lisbon said after they finished their food.

Jane nodded. "Sounds good. I'm planning on keeping whatever she finds to ourselves, though."

"Why?"

"I want to see how he is going to behave first."

"So you are going to bluff the next time that you see him." She guessed.

"That's my specialty, dear." Jane shrugged and called the waitress. "Now how about some dessert?"

Jane ordered a piece of strawberry cheesecake for them with a cup of tea and decaf coffee. They ate quietly and Jane paid, leaving a big tip for the waitress. He was so selfless with his money.

They drove back to her house quite and Lisbon started to feel the effects of the cleaning spree. She parked her car and go out thinking about getting on her pajamas when she stopped her steps.

"What's that?" She asked looking at her door.

There was a yellow envelope glued on her door.

Jane looked up at her, eyes wide. Again, the expression on his face told her that he had an idea of what could it be. The frustrated look in his eye, which she only ever sees when Red John is involved, sends chills down her spine.

Her heart rate spiked but she forced it to slow down.

The blond walked decidedly and took the envelope. She quickly followed him and found the smiling face on the center of the envelope. She opened the door with shaking hands and once that they were inside Jane opened the envelope with a blank face.

It was a photo of them.

They were sitting on that Italian restaurant where they saw Rigsby and Van Pelt kissing a couple of weeks ago. In the picture, Jane was watching her with a pleased smile on his face. The brunette remembered that he been teasing her about the whole situation but what surprised her was the look in his eyes, soft and light. For her. She felt a stab of discomfort. Red John had been there.

"It's a nice picture," Jane commented absently. Lisbon shot him an incredulous look and took the envelope from his hands. Inside was a small piece of white paper.

I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with the agent Lisbon. See you soon, Teresa. Red John.

Lately, Jane felt like everything that he was doing was keeping Lisbon together. Not that he blamed her, she has been doing the same thing with him for almost nine years. It only seemed fair that he returned the favor. The problem laid in the fact that she has been taking her cues from him, so he tried very hard, to not give in to the panic that he was experiencing at the moment.

Pull it together, Jane.

Her life was in danger, and this was no time to have a breakdown.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked softly. She was pacing in her living room.

"I'm fine." She said gruffly, with her eyes averted. Typical Lisbon answer.

"It will be fine," He whispered but his attempt to soothe her fell short of the mark, given his own tension.

His phone rang breaking the tense atmosphere. "Jane," he answered.

"I believe that we should talk, Patrick." Abbott's voice replied.

Oh my God! THANK YOU SO MUCH.

I was expecting all the love and support that I received, especially after I checked the previous chapters and, saw all the grammatical mistakes that were there (I corrected them, lol). So thank you, again. PLEASE DON'T APOLOGIZED FOR YOUR MISTAKES, iT'S OKAY MY ENGLISH ISN'T PERFECT and I REALLY LOVE THEM ANYWAY.

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think about it on the reviews, please.

Note que en algunos de los comentarios que dejaron, se disculpaban por escrbir español. El español es mi primer idioma. Asi que no tienen idea de los mucho que aprecio que esten leyendo esta historia. MUCHAS GRACIAS y por favor dejen sus comentarios.