Explanations

"I'll believe that when I see it. Why the change of heart?"

Lisbon still had to smile a bit at Jane's silly action with the crown. But wasn't it his childlike charm that she found so appealing? If only he weren't Patrick Jane. If he were a bit like Jake, with whom she had had a date or two. A man without a traumatic past and free from the obsession to take revenge on the murderer of his family. But would he be as interesting? Would they ever have met? Would old Jane have even bothered with her? Surely he wouldn't.

His family's death had changed him. But what came next? Jane was very close to Red John. Probably only one step was missing. Soon Jane would get his revenge. And who knew if she could prevent it. She would, of course, do everything in her power not to let it come to that. Red John was going to get due process and would end up on death row after that anyway. Why did Jane want to risk his life to get rid of this insane pschopath? But she couldn't see inside him. Maybe it was Jane's only acceptable way to find peace. Maybe he even wanted to die a martyr's death. Maybe he saw no other way to clear his conscience. To some extent she could understand this selfish attitude, but that did not mean she agreed with it. Because she also had selfish motives, first of all the desire not to lose him. It was hard for her to imagine a life without him, so natural had his presence become. Like her own shadow, which followed her from morning to night. He constantly changed direction, but was always there as soon as she stepped into the light.

"Lisbon, did you even hear what I just said?"

"...uh, what?"

"I was just trying to convey to you that you are my best friend. But you're ... God knows where with your thoughts."

"I'm sorry. It's just hard for me to trust you."

Jane stared silently ahead. How could he make her understand that he didn't want to betray her. She could never know that he liked her more than was good for her. He was so close to getting Red John and thus reaching the goal of his longstanding efforts. Only he had made the plan without his feelings. In his fantasies of revenge, he was always alone. He and Red John. During his time at the CBI, he slowly began to open up. The longer he worked here, the more the team became his surrogate family. Here he felt needed and safe. He had a purpose again.

And then there was this very special person to whom he felt magically drawn from the very beginning: his closest trusted. No matter what he did, she never let him down. He could rely on her and in the end of the day they were friends again. Nothing in this world was allowed to endanger this precious person, especially himself. For some time, she had been seeing Jake from the Tax Evasion Squad. A reliable, solid guy. And thus a man who was made for Teresa. With him she could build a secure future, he was convinced of that. He granted her this relationship from the bottom of his heart, but as great as his desire was for her to be well, it pained him to see them together. What kind of friend was he who was not even capable of granting her happiness of life?

"I don't even blame you," Jane began softly, breaking the silence. "I'm sure you had better things to do today than sit in this elevator with me. Aren't you going to call Jake? I'm sure he's waiting for you."

"Call Jake?" she repeated, confused; she hadn't given him too much thought since their last date, "oh, we weren't going to spend the evening together. He's with his family in Wisconsin."

"Shouldn't you be there too? I'm sure he's a good match."

"Well, we're nowhere near that yet ..."

"Why not? Lisbon, don't get in your own way. Don't you want to have a family someday? Is the CBI the only thing that makes your life worth living?"

"Jane, this is way too personal for me right now. I don't think you know me in any detail. And I know very well what I want and what I don't want."

She looked at him angrily and her emeralds began to sparkle again, at least he assumed so, because it wasn't so easy to see in the dim light. "How fascinating," he thought to himself. For a moment, his mind shut down and a movie started in his head-cinema that he'd better keep to himself.

"What is it?" she followed up aggressively. She felt his gaze resting on her. Presumably he was making fun of her, and in the process was laying out his next verbal attack.

"... Um, nothing. I'm sorry if I offended you. Of course, your private life is none of my business. I was just thinking. About us."

"How ... what do you mean?" Teresa's breath caught. She hadn't expected that answer. What did he mean? Was this a joke? His voice didn't sound like it, but gentle, almost ... affectionate.

The intimate moment was interrupted by Lisbon's cell phone, and with it, reality returned to the elevator.

"Lisbon, we've decided to stay here. We're going to get you out of the elevator first. Right now, a plan is emerging on how we're going to do that."

"I knew I could count on you. The hatch could not be opened, so the only way left is through the elevator doors."

"Captain Kirk, the starship is gone," a tinny voice filled Cho's pause in speech.

"What's that? Doesn't sound like you're taking this with the seriousness it deserves."

"Yes, we are. Rigsby was bored, so he unwrapped Ben's present and is now playing with the action figures."

"Did he get his hands on the anniversary edition of Star Trek Warriors? It was completely out of print!"

"I don't know about those things. But you seem to know a lot about it."

"Yeah. Jake was actually going to give it to his nephew for Christmas."

"Oh well, I'll get back to you. Hang in there."

"You went Christmas gift shopping with Jake?" began Jane after Cho hang up.

"Yeah, he asked me to. It's easy for me to do that with boys, you know, because of my brothers."

"And with girls?" asked Jane. He sounded a little sad.

"I'll have to pass on that one. I've never asked myself that question before."

"I'm sure you would have picked out a nice gift for a girl, too," he replied, lost in thought, "Charlotte got the tricycle. It was our last Christmas together. Angela had picked it out. Mostly I had let her do it. I was rarely there ...," he paused. Despite the sparse lighting, Teresa saw a shimmer in his eyes, but wasn't sure if it was tears.

"Jane ... you don't have to ..."

The situation was unpleasant for her. She didn't know how to react to it.

"Teresa, you are my best friend. I don't want to embarrass you. But I would like to share this with you. We won't be stuck in an elevator that often, and certainly not this close to Christmas."

Without giving it any more thought, she felt for his hand. Hesitantly, he approached her with his somewhat. It was only a tentative, friendly touch, meant to show him that she cared. However, it triggered something in both of them. Something they couldn't name and would probably never leave this tiny space. So they sat on the floor of the elevator and told each other their Christmas memories. As they talked, Teresa caught her thumb stroking his hand. Immediately, she stopped the motion again. He didn't take notice until she stopped. They listened to each other, laughed, kept silent, and now and then furtively wiped a small tear from the corner of their eye. Most importantly, they realized that their feelings may have gone beyond simple friendship.

#

Meanwhile, the three other team members inspected the elevator door and tried to push it open by hand. Not an easy task, as they discovered. After a while, they capitulated.

"Listen," Rigsby whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" inquired Cho at a normal volume.

"Psssst, are they talking about Christmas right now?"

Now Van Pelt pricked up her ears as well.

"You're right Wayne." She smiled. "They usually just pick on each other or fight, don't they?"

"Teasing is a sign of …" retorted Wayne jokingly, but was rudely interrupted by Cho, "You guys are nuts. I'm off to look for chisels. I'm sure I'll find something in the basement."

"Take your time, Cho," Van Pelt commented on his plan, "maybe we should give them a while."

In response, her colleague shook his head vehemently and moved purposefully toward the stairwell.

#

"Jane, why were you trying to stop me earlier, anyway?"

"Oh, that. Well ..."

He took a deep breath and began to explain himself, "I wanted to apologize. For my behavior ... and the kiss."

"For the kiss?" repeated Lisbon in amazement, "Jane, kissing is your private affair. However, I accept your apology for your behavior and at the same time condemn your unprofessional conduct. You have put us in a very awkward position. We have clear instructions to which we must adhere when we make external appointments. In the meantime, 60 percent of the civilian population has been infected with the virus and you are doing whatever comes to your mind. In doing so, you've put the team and yourself in great danger."

"I know." He bowed his head guiltily. "But I'm sure we'll all get a negative test result."

"I see, and what makes you so sure?"

"I have a feeling about it. And, the kiss ... it wasn't what it looked like."

"And how did it want to look?", Lisbon then inquires curiously. She had assumed until now that he had been unable to resist the attractive widow and had grown weak.

"The woman is very attractive and didn't hide her charms. I didn't really want it to come to a kiss either, but I had to seek close physical contact to get to her medallion." He pulled a silver necklace from his jacket pocket and flipped open the pendant. On one side were her two children and on the other her murdered husband. On the back of each photo was a code. "You see? These codes, along with the tattooed coordinates on the dead man's shoulder, will lead us to a mystery. And we're going to unravel it as soon as we get out of here."

"All right. Even if I believe you, don't you think the woman will have been warned by now? She will have noticed the loss of her necklace."

"Mehhh, maybe so, but first of all, the civil quarantine is strictly monitored. And secondly, tomorrow is Christmas. You saw for yourself how busy she was with the kids. So the good lady has a whole different set of problems right now."

Lisbon would never admit it, but deep inside she was relieved about Jane's medallion story. Of course, she wasn't quite sure if he was fibbing again and if the codes led to the solution of the mystery, but it at least sounded plausible.

"I hope you're right about that. About the medallion and your feeling. Because we got pretty close earlier." No sooner had the last words left her mouth than she turned bright red. Oh dear, what had she just said? Impulsively, she pulled her hand away, still resting on his.

"Was that a problem for you?" inquired Jane, grinning. And maybe it was good that no one could tell what was going on inside the other.