A/N: Thank you again for the wonderful reviews; Sophie Fatale, Habeous Corpus, klcarr892, Vermontgirl, MentalistLover and Katharen Silver.


Jane headed towards the forest, deciding randomly which way to go as the forest surrounded the whole house. He was sure that there was a road somewhere, but he didn't have time to look for it and it didn't really matter. At least there should be less snow under the thick canopy enabling him to get further away than out in the open.

The forest quickly enveloped him leaving the noises from the house behind. He didn't hear any animals, neither did he see anything. Although the snow wasn't quite as deep here, it was still difficult for him to walk as he wore his leather loafers and kept slipping constantly, not to speak of having sodden feet, which had frozen numb almost immediately.

His breath rose in white clouds while he tried to keep himself warm by wrapping his arms around his body, although considering that he was wearing his typical three piece suit and no overcoat, it was rather futile to try to get warm. However, he carried on.

Jane was trying to listen if anyone was following him, but so far there was only silence. He decided that it wouldn't be worth paying the possible pursuers any attention as there was nothing he could do about them except keep walking.

His body was numbly following his orders and slowly shuffled forwards, the speed dropping as he progressed more into the woods. He was on autopilot now, having pointed his nose where he wanted to go, his mind could concentrate on other things. This caused him to slip and nearly fall several times, but he didn't seem to notice.

He thought about Lisbon, kept seeing her in his mind, basking in her smile and sparkling eyes. He kept remembering how relaxed and carefree she had been when he last saw her, only for the memory to bring tears to his eyes as it was his fault that it had been so short lived. He cared about her so much and her death had only intensified that feeling. But what good would it do as she was gone?

Tears slipped down Jane's cheeks, only to get frozen on the eyelashes as the temperature was going down. He didn't notice it as he was blinded by his guilt and the cold was already affecting his weak body.

Jane stumbled to the tree line, where the trees gave way to snowy fields, that stretched as far as he could see, undisturbed, pristine white, sun causing everything to sparkle and glitter. Jane stood still without comprehension, the only thought in his frozen, sluggish mind being Lisbon.

XXX

The team was taken to the FBI's mobile command unit that was hidden away in the forest. They had been keeping an eye on the mansion for the whole day and had been able to gather more information to enable them to swarm the house with minimal casualties. They also had heat camera equipped helicopter standing by in case somebody managed to escape the agents.

Lisbon and the team were pointed towards a quiet corner where they could listen in during the operation. Rigsby went to find out where they could get food and something hot to drink as they were freezing regardless of the winter clothes they had borrowed from the local police force. Cho went to see the agent in charge and Van Pelt kept Lisbon company.

Lisbon could tell that the younger agent was worried about her. She gave Van Pelt a weak smile saying, "I'm OK as long as I get something to eat so I can take my painkillers".

"They will find Jane and he's going to be fine", Van Pelt answered surprising Lisbon. Apparently she had been more transparent than she thought.

"Is it really that obvious?", Lisbon asked, although at this stage she didn't care who knew about her feelings for Jane. She would have shouted it from the treetops if it helped to reunite them.

"No, only for those who know you. I'm sure the others think you just need the painkillers", Van Pelt answered. Before she could say anything else, Rigsby arrived with sandwiches and coffee. Lisbon was amused, trust the man to find food in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a FBI operation.

Cho approached the group with a serious looking, middle aged man in tow.

"This is Agent Allen, he's in charge", Cho said introducing the team.

"Thank you for allowing us in here", Lisbon said, stiffly standing up to shook the man's hand. Agent Allen made her sit down before she got very far.

"Please, sit down. I know that you were injured seriously and frankly, I'm surprised to see you up and about", the Agent said and continued, "but Agent Cho explained how your team works and how integral part Mr. Jane is. To me the way you run your team tells a lot about a person and I like your dedication Agent Lisbon", Agent Allen finished.

"If the roles were reversed, I would want to be here too", he said kindly to surprised Lisbon, who could only thank the Agent again for letting them stay.

"Do you know why they targeted Lisbon and Jane?", Cho asked to which the Agent shook his head.

"Not yet. We are hoping to learn more once we can talk to the people inside".

"My people know how Mr. Jane looks like and they will inform me as soon as they have located him", Agent Allen reassured the team before returning to his men.

Lisbon and the team were quietly listening as the different teams were checking their equipments and radios. All of the sudden, one of the men manning the computer screens spoke up, "Something is happening! I can see fast movement inside, all going into one of the rooms in the back on the ground floor". The atmosphere electrified instantly and every single person perked up and paid attention.

Agent Allen gave orders for his men to move in as they should be able to detain a large number of people in that one room. The teams moved in.

XXX

Lisbon listened anxiously the team's communications. How they broke in and took two armed guards by surprise. How they secured the rooms one by one. How they were caught in a fire fight with several armed men occupying the same room. How they discovered the body of an old man in that same room, looking like he had been in the midst of a terrible seizure when he died. How they caught an old woman trying to shoot them. Until finally the message came across the radios. There was no sign of Jane.

Lisbon became frantic. He had to be there somewhere! Had they searched the house properly, did it have a basement, an attic? The team tried to calm Lisbon down while Agent Allen looked on with sorrow in his eyes.

They were interrupted by an Agent escorting a young woman in a maid's uniform.

"She is the one who sent the note", he told Agent Allen causing Lisbon to go quiet and listen to what the girl had to say.

"I sent the note as I was so concern for Patrick", the young woman began.

"But I don't know where he is now. I didn't get the chance to tell him that someone was coming for him. He wasn't in his room when I went to look for him. I'm so worried as he hasn't been eating or sleeping since the Lady ordered his wife killed", the woman was crying now.

Lisbon was shocked. They thought that she was Jane's wife? Jane thought that she was dead?

Lisbon stepped closer to the woman, who was very upset that she couldn't help.

"Thank you for trying to help him", Lisbon said quietly before the maid was taken away by the agent.

"Can we get that helicopter in the air with the heat detection camera?", Lisbon suddenly asked Agent Allen.

"If he didn't know that we were coming, he might have tried to escape in the earlier chaos", she suggested, hoping that she was right.

"It's worth a try, but we better hurry as it's getting dark and it looks like it might start snowing. And it sounded like he might not be in a very good physical shape", the Agent responded turning towards one of his men, who gave the orders for the pilot on stand by.

"If the pilot finds anything, I will let you know immediately. In the mean time I have this operation to wrap up", the Agent said, not unkindly.

Lisbon could only sit down again to wait. She was getting a bad feeling about this, which was making her very anxious and she found it difficult to keep still, which in turn aggravated her injuries so that she was aching all over regardless of the painkillers she took earlier.

XXX

It had been an hour and no sign of Jane yet . Lisbon was terrified. It was cold outside, it was night and it had been snowing for a while. Where could he be?

"We found a heat signature!", came all of the sudden a voice over the radio and Lisbon found her heart was beating so fast that it was threatening to jump out of her chest. The next words crushed her.

"The signature is barely detectable. We need the medics here now!", shouted the pilot. Lisbon looked at the team in horror only to find the feeling being mirrored on their faces.

"I need to get there. Please, I need to get there now", Lisbon begged Agent Allen forgetting all about dignity and to her relief, the agent escorted her and the team with the medics to the location that had been given by the helicopter.

When they got to the end of the trees, they could only see snowy fields, no sign of Jane. Until the pilot urged them on, "He's in front of you! He must be buried under the snow!"

The agents started frantically digging and removing the snow from bumps trying to find where Jane was and with the pilots directions, they finally managed to uncover him, lying prone on the ground under a thick layer of snow.

Lisbon was next to him quicker than the medics could move. She sat down next to him, stroking his cheek, which was ever so cold. He was so pale and his lips blue and he was still. Lisbon couldn't contain it any more and her tears spilled over and she was sobbing over Jane, when the medics started working on him.

When she heard the words, "There is no pulse", she started begging and crying.

"Please Jane! You can't leave me. No, no, no, You can't leave. You must come back to me. Please Jane! Please!".

TBC