A/N: I missed a day yesterday. I know, how terrible. I ended up re-watching Redline and ranting about reality TV on MSN instead, which is a terrible excuse not to write, I'm sorry.

Anyway, thank you to: boutondor, yaba, Koezh, Ebony10, forthecoast, Divinia Serit, Famous4it, The Mentalist Rules, Viktorija and phoenixmagic1 for reviewing part five.

And happy birthday to Famous4it, I hope you have a great day!

x tromana

Part Six

Following the temporary blindness incident, Lisbon kept a closer eye on him. It was a stilted sort of a friendship, especially as she had stated that she didn't really trust him soon after.

He didn't blame her though. She'd barely trusted him when they were married, so why should it be any different now?

If anything, he was still reeling from the broken marriage too. To lose two wives in the space of four years had meant he felt like he was either a terrible protector or unworthy of a woman's love. Though, of course, he'd jump at the chance if Lisbon changed her mind again. But still, he felt as if he was condemned to a life of loneliness, especially with the promise to his first love, the one thing that Lisbon had always somewhat resented him for.

It was why, though he found it easy to talk and flirt with women, he never really connected with anyone else, nor did he bother to try to do so. What was the point if he was only going to come out even more emotionally scarred than beforehand?

If he risked too much, it could easily be dangerous for his mental health.

That was what everyone had thought when he started dating Teresa in the first place.

But he was fine, they were fine.

Sort of, anyway.

He cracked an eye open as she picked up her cell phone, answering a call.

Recently, whenever she was in a good mood, Jane had taken to sleeping, or rather, laying on the couch in her office that he had been eyeing up for so long. Lisbon, thankfully, didn't complain too much, more just mumbled under her breath about privacy and being disturbed but let him get on with it.

Anything for a quiet life.

She wasn't quite the same woman whom he married, or even the same woman who had left him over a year ago. Teresa had been a lot more open, more giving, a little less prone to stubborn silences back then. Lisbon, however, was practically a martyr to her work and Jane swore that if there came a day when she had to give up the job, they'd have to prize the badge from her fingers.

Of course, he still liked, loved, her now. Still saw flashes of the woman she used to be, which gave him hope.

Hope that maybe, one day, they would be able to reconcile their differences and have what they once had. He knew it was still there; she did a good job of burying it deep, but there were some things that she most certainly couldn't hide from him.

It was just a case of slowly grinding down her resolve until she accepted the ridiculousness of their situation.

Together, they could take on Red John. Of all the people in the world, she didn't need to be afraid of him. Besides, he'd even let her take him in alive now. Would be better for them both to be happy and together, rather than separate, apart and Red John dead.

Quietly, she thanked whoever was on the other end of the line and placed the phone back down again. Jane let his eyes flutter shut, knowing full well that within a minute, Lisbon would be asking him to move. He knew her well enough for her to prefer the idea of him sleeping while she took private phone calls rather than listening to every word like he actually did.

"Jane?" she whispered softly, clearly unsure whether or not he was actually sleeping. "Jane, we have a case. A man was found dead and his son's been kidnapped."

"Oh," he replied sleepily. It was so easy for him to fool her. "Where are we going?"

"Stockton."

"Not far, then?"

She nodded. "I'll meet you in the parking lot. Give you some time to wake up."

"No, I'm good."

000

Lisbon moved a little stiffly as she carefully eased herself into the car seat. Jane's first thought was that she shouldn't be driving, she should take it easy for a couple of days until the pain eased off, if only a little. Of course, she wasn't the kind of woman to ask for help, she never had been. And if he offered, she would probably snap at him and given how well they had been getting on of late, he didn't want to risk anything.

He consoled himself with the fact it was only a short drive, just an hour or so, depending on the traffic.

"Thank you," she suddenly said, disturbing their restive silence.

"What for?" he asked curiously.

He meant it genuinely; he honestly didn't know why she was bother to thank him. It wasn't as if he'd done anything different really, just hung back when she had said so to allow her to walk into the dangerous situation. Almost recklessly, he thought briefly, though Lisbon had sworn she could handle it.

Which she did.

Because, if she hadn't, a six year old boy would be dead. One of the men had been seconds away from killing the young child while the other attacked Lisbon herself. Somehow, with Cho and Rigsby by her side, they had managed to gain control of the situation and arrest both the perpetrators, all without a single bullet fired.

The only damage was the pattern of bruises now decorating Lisbon's right side. Jane had seen them. Somehow, he managed to persuade her to take a look at them and it was a good thing too. Clearly she had also fallen on something sharp and received a nasty gash during her heroics. Something which she would have probably forgotten to clean up without prompting, being too worried about their little hostage victim, and it could have become infected.

All in all, Jane had found it a stressful couple of days.

"Listening to me."

"Oh, not a problem."

"I mean it, Jane."

He smiled as she tentatively reached out and let the fingers of her right hand briefly graze against his thigh. She hadn't done anything like that in years, not since they parted ways following the end of their marriage.

"I know you do," he murmured and her lips curled slightly in response. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You know, I never believe you when you say that. Are you sure you're okay to drive?" he asked, his concern overcoming his previous resolve.

"I'm fine, Jane," she repeated, sounding a little more irritable the second time around.

"Well, if you're sure…"

He settled back in his seat as she put the keys in the ignition.

This was nice.

TBC…