Disclaimer- If it were mine, this is what would have happened... I think. So it's obviously not.
Blinking away her exhaustion, Lisbon tried to concentrate on the road. It was a dark night, one that seemed to smother the landscape in it's shadows. Practically alone, with only the occasional semi she had to pass around on the highway, it was getting harder and harder to keep herself awake. She hadn't really slept much since the night before she had found Jane floating face up in the water, unbreathing.
Who could sleep with that kind of image in their head?
Beside her, slumped in the large passenger seat, Jane murmured.
She glanced at him, not quite sure if he was awake or asleep. Not that there was much of a difference right now. He hadn't said a word since they'd left, not even a token one of protest when she had finally pulled him away, shut the door, and led him back to her car. It was like handling a robot, or a sleepy child. They stepped where you said step, moved when you said move, but otherwise their eyes remained vacant, their thought processes vanished.
He was the shell that she had first met again.
Checking her mirrors, she switched lanes to pass another semi, trying to ignore the roar that filled the inner spaces of her SUV as they passed the large, double-wheels. All she could do was hope the sound didn't disturb her companion even if he wasn't asleep. Normally, passing any big vehicles never gave her pause, but for some reason, she felt like she had precious cargo she needed to be extra careful with. Maybe Jane had turned to glass, and if she so much as coughed he would shatter into hundreds-of-thousands of little pieces. The scary part about that analogy, was that she wasn't entirely convinced he wouldn't.
Slowly, she pulled back into the right lane in front of the truck and adjusted in her seat to stave off the fatigue clawing at her eyelids. Another glance at Jane showed that the man hadn't even stirred. Maybe she was overreacting. After all, Jane had shown remarkable fortitude in pulling himself out of this exact situation before. He had to be tougher than she was probably giving him credit for.
Still, when she had to swerve just a little to avoid something in the road and Jane slipped sideways, she was gentle as she pushed him back up one-handed and tucked his head down some to keep him there. So what if he wasn't asleep- he still needed to be taken care of right now, since he hadn't yet made a single move on his own. She shook her head at her mother henning and pressed a bit harder on the gas.
There was nothing else she could do once they got back to Sacramento. No where else to go. His apartment was not a good idea. She didn't feel comfortable leaving him there alone and frankly, the place sucked. Taking him to her place would have been too familiar right now, for both of them, though she would have gladly given up her bed for the night.
The CBI offices were dark and foreboding at night, without even the normal noises one might hear in a house. There was a stillness about the building she sometimes found comforting when she had to work late. Tonight, it just make the echoes louder, the chatter of the blinds as she pushed open the door to her office more jarring. She was leading Jane by the hand, holding softly but firmly to his fingers and he was following like a lost little lamb, eyes still focused too far away at things and memories and places she couldn't see.
He was scaring her- something she was usually proud to admit was hard to do and he'd been doing it a lot lately.
When his legs were positioned before the seat, she pushed down and got him to sit. Then she slowly tilted his shoulders, bent his head and he obediently laid down. She gathered his legs and helped lift them up onto the cushions, finally pulling a throw blanket over him and tucking it close. Though it was hard, she resisted the urge to run her hand through his hair like she used to do with her youngest brother when she had tucked him in. Instead, she straightened back up and looked him up and down.
At least it was a comfortable couch.
Her charge safely ensconced in a cocoon-like bundle on her couch, she made her way over to her desk, dropped the keys beside the phone and sat heavily.
What a long night.
Checking the clock, she groaned quietly. It was morning already. On a normal day, she would just be waking up. She rubbed at her eyes, trying to dispel the hazy fog that had taken up residence in her left field of vision, and yawned. God, she could use some coffee. Heaving herself out of her chair, she made her way to the break room.
While the coffee pot percolated, she leaned against a counter and stared off into space, not looking at anything and too exhausted to think. It wasn't till something made a soft pinging sound that she was startled out of her reverie. She took her cell out of her pocket and checked it.
Of course.
The coffee was hot and steaming, so clutching a cup between her hands warmed her against the chill in the office air. She sipped it, already feeling the weight lift from her head like a cloud dissipating in the predawn light just now filtering in through the tops of the windows. Though she wasn't used to having to be quiet in her own work space, she did a fair job of it as she gathered up her things, stowed her keys in her pocket, pulled the blinds closed and switched off the small lamp. Holding her coffee, she glanced back at Jane on her couch.
He needed sleep, or time- or both.
She left without waking him, pulling her cell back out and calling up the team.
They had a murder to solve and they would just have to do it without Jane this time.