Trapped

"What are you doing?", Lisbon hissed at him and pressed the button for the first floor.

"So listen to me," Jane pleaded, whereupon she turned away demonstratively.

"All right, you wouldn't have it any other way." Jane pressed the stop button and with a jerk the elevator came to a halt.

"Have you taken leave of your senses?" Lisbon restarted the elevator, whereupon Jane stopped it again. This went back and forth a few times until finally the meager emergency lights came on and any further attempt to get the elevator moving failed. They were stuck.

"Now you have to listen to me," Jane grinned.

"I don't have to do anything." Hectically, but in vain, she activated the emergency switch. So she dug out her cell phone and called Cho.

"Cho, we're stuck here in the elevator. Organize someone to get us out."

"O.K. boss, I'll take care of it." Turning to the rest of the team, he added. "Does anyone have the number for technical services? Lisbon and Jane are stuck in the elevator."

Van Pelt chuckled.

"Tell her I heard that," the cell phone chimed in, "and we'll see if Van Pelt still thinks it's so funny when I'm out of here."

"Her laugh was unprofessional," Cho summed up Lisbon's words, fixing Van Pelt with an expressionless stare.

"Sorry, I'll call them right now," she replied meekly.

"That's fine."

"One answering machine only. Over the Christmas holidays, customer service is busy for two hours in the morning. I left a message, supposedly they'll call back."

"Did you hear that Lisbon?" He held the phone far from his ear to spare his eardrums.

"Keep trying!" yelled Lisbon, "You've got to be kidding me, I want to get out of here now."

"Lisbon, calm down," Cho heard Jane's voice in the background.

"You want me to calm down? Get out of my sight or I'll shoot you on the spot," she ordered her consultant.

Meanwhile, Rigsby and Van Pelt were also listening to the phone call and couldn't help but grin. Even Cho found it difficult to maintain his neutral expression.

"I'd love to, but how's that going to work?"

"Then at least keep your mouth shut."

"That's already easier ..."

"What was so hard to understand about that?" she snapped at Jane. After a placating gesture, the latter pressed his lips together and locked his mouth with an imaginary key.

"Lisbon? Are you still there?", Cho started a new conversation attempt.

"Yes," she replied resignedly, thinking of pizza, red wine, and her couch.

"There should be a hatch above you, maybe you can get into the shaft through it." She looked up, but couldn't see much in the semi-darkness. That's why she pulled her mini flashlight out of her blazer and shone it toward the ceiling. Sure enough, there was a hatch, just big enough to squeeze through. Only she wasn't big enough to get to. Annoyed, she sighed and hang up with a curt, "We'll talk later."

"Jane?"

No response

"JANE!"

Again, no answer.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" she sneered at him.

He just shrugged his shoulders and gestured to her that he was forbidden to speak.

"Since when do you take me at my word? I need your help."

The corners of his mouth went up. "You're asking me for help?" he grinned insolently.

"I need to get up there," she spoke, shining the flashlight on the ceiling.

"All right, let's try it." He intertwined his fingers and gestured for her to climb up. So Lisbon took momentum and Jane lifted her up.

"Damn, the flap's stuck, you'll have to lift me higher." Jane groaned, but did his best while trying to pry the flap open. "Come on, more pressure, Jane!"

"Will it take much longer?" he groaned, his muscles trembling and the Jane Lisbon building beginning to sway.

"Will you please try harder!"

With the last of his strength, he tried to lift Lisbon a bit more. But she shifted her balance so unhappily that they both fell. Jane fell on her back and Lisbon fell on top of him with full force. The consultant stepped away in a daze for a few seconds, then opened his eyes and looked into two emeralds that sparkled even in the dim light. He could feel her breath against his lips.

"Are you all right?" she whispered, caught up in the magic of the moment.

"Yes. I'll be fine," he breathed back, " ... may I ask you something?"

"... ehm, yes of course."

"Who are you and what are we actually doing here?"

"Yes. What am I actually doing here?" her inner voice called her to order. Sobered, she rolled off him, sat up and looked at him doubtfully from the side. "Jane? Are you all right?"

Groaning, he too came to sit. "I'm not sure. And why are you calling me Jane?"

Horrified, Teresa looked at him.

"Patrick? What's wrong with you?"

Disoriented, he glanced around.

"Why are we in an elevator? Do we know each other and were we going to shag here?"

Lisbon's eyes widened as she awkwardly searched for words.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Why would I be messing with you? I actually quite like the idea," he countered with a wide grin.

"Ehm, well, it's not as ... as it might have looked."

"What did it look like, Teresa?"

"Well, I don't know. I fell on you ..." Hey wait, had he just said Teresa?

"Jane, you asshole!"

Jane snorted. "You believed it!" he laughed, not getting hold of himself.

"You're so mean." Hurt, Teresa turned away. How could she let him fool her again?

Instantly Jane stopped laughing, her reaction telling him he had gone too far.

"Hey Lisbon, don't be mad. It was just a joke."

"We clearly don't have the same kind of humor," she pressed out, glad for the dim light. That way he couldn't see the tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Teresa, come on, I was being a jerk. My words were not meant to be hurtful at all. You're my closest intimate, after all."

"Yes, yes. It's okay," she muttered.

"You know what?" He conjured a stack of tarot cards from the inside pocket of his jacket. "Pick a card." Expectantly, he held the fanned-out deck in front of her.

"Oh Jane. Why don't you cut out this childishness," she waved it off.

"Come on, it's sure to make you laugh. Go on!" Hesitantly, she pulls out a card.

"And now another one. But don't tell me what's on it ... Very good! Now look deep into my eyes and concentrate on the two drawings." He tilted his head and looked at her lovingly as he secretly sank into her emeralds.

"Now, please close your eyes. And keep them closed until I give you a sign."

Teresa sighed and followed his request. The rustle of paper reached her ear. A short time later she was allowed to open her eyes again. Before her sat her mischievously grinning consultant with an origami crown on his head.

"You drew the fool and the king, didn't you?"

"Yes, that's right," she smiled.

"I'll have it announced that the Mad King is dead from now on."

"Huh?"

"That's from a book I liked a lot. And actually, what I was trying to tell you is that I'm going to stop fooling around and behave myself from now on. Old Jane is history from now on."