Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.

Thanks to everyone who's been giving feedback. You guys are as awesome as Cho, and I love your reviews as much as Jane loves his couch, Lisbon loves her coffee, and Rigsby loves Van Pelt. And that's a lot.

Lisbon watched from behind the curtain as Jane opened the passenger door of Annabelle's car (and of course, a woman like her would drive a red Porsche) and smiled at Annabelle as he got inside.

She still wasn't sure about this plan for several reasons, but primarily because since it was only the two of them, if something went wrong they were on their own, with no back-up or assistance anywhere near. She knew she was probably being paranoid, she and Jane had done this kind of thing together plenty of times before, but for some reason she had a bad feeling about it tonight.

That was a far better excuse for her than the actual reason for her considerable distress, being the fact that Jane and Annabelle would be spending an extended period of time together. It was no secret that the blonde had taken a great interest in Jane right from the moment they'd met and now she had him alone and (to her knowledge) heartbroken in her car, there was no telling what she might do.

Lisbon had seen the predatory gleam in Annabelle's eye at the party when she looked at Jane and her frosty attitude towards herself could hardly have her believe that Annabelle could see her as anything but a rival. It had been easy to dismiss it then, with Jane by her side and thoroughly unresponsive to the other woman's advances, but now, what was to stop him seeking solace in the arms of another woman if he so chose?

He'd offered himself to her, practically begged her to give him a chance, and she'd turned him down flat. She'd rejected him, and therefore if he decided he did want to be with Annabelle (or any of the many other women who fell prey to that smile, and those sad eyes) she knew she had absolutely no right to be upset.

Unfortunately, knowing that in her head wasn't the same as knowing that in her heart and the thought of him with Annabelle or anyone else made her feel uneasy. As the car pulled away from the house she hurried out to the driveway to get the SUV, hoping against hope that this plan was going to work.

Jane was interested to discover that Annabelle had a taste for hip-hop music; (he'd had her pegged as the classical type,) and for a while they drove without speaking, and he concentrated on the pounding beats of the bass to entertain himself.

They glided to a stop at a red light, and Annabelle reached over to turn the music down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked him, bluntly.

"What?" he said, taken aback by the question.

"Do you want to talk about the fight, or would you prefer to sit and brood?" she said. "Your choice."

"I'm OK," he deflected.

Annabelle scoffed as the light turned green and she pressed on the accelerator. "No you're not," she said. "I can see you're hurting. Is she always that cruel to you?"

"She's not cruel," said Jane, feeling the need to defend Lisbon despite the fact the whole thing had been fake. "She's just unfailingly honest, and sometimes the truth is hard to hear."

Annabelle shot him a sidelong glance, half-surprised, half-pitying. "She spent the last half-hour tearing strips off you and you're still defending her? You can do better than her, Will. I've always wondered what a handsome man like you could possibly want with a woman as plain as her, and a control-freak to boot."

Jane could have given her a list as long as his arm of Lisbon's many and varied attractions as well as a whole host of reasons why he found her one of the most beautiful women he'd ever known but it wouldn't do much for keeping his cover, so he played along.

"We met a few years ago." That part at least was no lie; the next month would mark the fourth anniversary of the day they'd met. "We got married on a stupid whim, and when I realized what I'd let myself in for it was already too late."

They were stopped at another light, so she reached over and patted his shoulder consolingly, but he could tell she was enjoying every moment of this; her triumph.

"I know how it feels to be in a bad relationship," she said sympathetically. "But you know I'll always be around to help you pick up the pieces."

That, he believed to be sincere. In fact, if she hadn't made another pass at him by the end of the night, he would be very much surprised.

They drove for another five minutes and eventually pulled up outside a house on a quiet little side street. Annabelle smiled at him as she turned off the engine.

"This is one of my friend's houses," she said. "We're gonna go in, have a few drinks, blow off a little steam, and I guarantee that by the end of the night you'll have forgotten all about that horrible wife of yours."

It was hard to keep the smile on his face, and not to rise to the constant abuse of Lisbon, but he knew he had to in order to stay in character so he swallowed the retort that was forming on his lips and got out of the car. Annabelle's eyes lit up when he offered her his arm and she seized it with no hesitation.

Forcing himself not to cringe as she clutched his arm with a far stronger force than he had anticipated, they began to make their way up the front walk.

Parked in the shadows across the street, Lisbon rolled her eyes as Jane and his 'fair maiden' for the evening walked towards the house. It seemed his trusty 'chivalry' routine was once again working like a charm. Within a few minutes, Annabelle would be putty in his hands. It was amazing to Lisbon that all it took was a few kind words and an offered arm to have women falling all over themselves for her consultant. Whatever had happened to self-respect?

She herself was perfectly capable of paying for her own meal in restaurants and carrying her own bags and she took pride in her independence. (Secretly though, she had to admit, Jane's habit for opening doors for her was kind of nice, and occasionally useful in the event that her hands were full.)

In fact, if pressed, she would have to say she was quite fond of Jane's chivalrous side. But she was different from those other women because she knew what they didn't; that all the smiles and charm were just a smokescreen for a deeply unhappy (and extremely angry) man.

But he didn't seem unhappy right now. In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking he didn't have a care in the world as he laughed at something Annabelle said to him. The uneasy feeling in her stomach increased twofold as a giggling Annabelle tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder so it shimmered in the light cast from the nearby streetlamp.

Did this woman have no shame? As far as Annabelle knew 'Will' was a married man and here she was simpering and flirting with him less than an hour after the supposed breakdown of his relationship. They'd made it to the door now and Lisbon was pleased to see Annabelle had to let go of Jane's arm in order to knock. Unfortunately, while they waited for it to open, she compensated by turning to him and placing a quick kiss on his lips.

That part hurt her to watch. Sure, she'd said they couldn't be together but that didn't mean she was OK with watching another woman throw herself at him. It wasn't fair. Just like always, she'd done the right thing, made the sensible decision. And now she was reaping her reward; getting to watch some random rich skank take the man she loved right out from under her.

She supposed it was something she was going to have to get used to from now on. It might be all pretend for now, but sooner or later there really would be someone else. She couldn't expect him to still want her after she'd rejected him, no matter how badly it felt to think of some other woman coming into his life and making him smile, and being his confidante. Taking her place.

Jane was glad for the brevity of his kiss with Annabelle, for it seemed that all the guilt that was mysteriously absent when he kissed Lisbon, made itself known with full force.

With Lisbon it had just felt…right. Like everything was the way it should be, as natural as breathing. Kissing Annabelle had made him feel almost like he was cheating on her, or maybe just that he was cheating himself.

There was only one woman who he wanted to be kissing. The one not by his side right now, but out there somewhere in the darkness, watching and waiting. The one he loved more than anyone on this earth, and as bad luck would have it, the one he could not have. That brain of hers had gotten in the way and she'd never be his.

Maybe it would be easier just to accept that. Find some way to cope with the fact that he'd have to see her every day, and talk with her and laugh with her and lose himself in her eyes, and at the end he would be going home alone, only for it all to happen again the next day, a vicious holding pattern that would only be broken when someone else took her away from him for good.

But he'd promised himself. When they got back to Sacramento he would try again, one last time. Of one thing he was sure, either way it turned out, this was the end of the line for him in the love department. He was done. He'd already sworn off love once, but Lisbon coming into his life had forced him to make an exception. If that didn't work out, he could look forward to years of solitude perhaps with the odd date or one night stand here and there, but he'd make damn sure never to put himself through this again. It was just too hard.

And the chances of ever coming across someone else like her again? Astronomical.

Annabelle tugged on his hand, forcing his thoughts back onto the task at hand.

"You seem a little distracted," she said. "Are you OK?"

He forced a smile. "I'm fine."

He knew his response would have sounded less than enthusiastic, but Annabelle didn't seem to notice, as the door was pulled open.

"Anna!" squealed the young woman behind it, throwing her arms around Annabelle. "And you brought a friend." She surveyed Jane approvingly. "You always did know how to pick them."

"Poor Will's nursing a broken heart," said Annabelle, barely containing her glee. "He's feeling a little down, so I thought I'd help him out."

With a knowing smile, the woman stepped back and allowed them to enter the house.

Thirty-five boring minutes had passed for Lisbon since her consultant and Annabelle had disappeared inside the house. She alternated between curiosity about what they were doing and (when that put unpleasant pictures in her mind) thinking that she didn't want to know.

Used to basking in Jane's undivided attention, she hated the thought of it being bestowed on someone else, in particular an entitled, home-wrecking bitch like Annabelle, who seemed to think it was perfectly within her rights to take what wasn't hers. In her experience, that seemed to be a common trait in rich people.

To distract herself, she watched as the same young woman who had answered the door earlier came out of it again and lit up a cigarette. After a few minutes, Annabelle who to Lisbon's surprise had detached herself from Jane joined her. The two women chatted briefly, and then retreated into the shadows at the side of the house. Lisbon could just make out their silhouettes in the dimness. If she had to bet, she'd say they'd exchanged something.

Her police instincts instantly threw up a red flag, and her whole body tensed up with excitement at what she'd just seen.

A good start, but not quite enough. Their objective was to catch their dealer in the act of selling to them, the only way they might have enough leverage to get them to give up the rest of the syndicate. But how? Brightened by the thought that she might be putting Annabelle in handcuffs very soon, she considered it.

She needed Jane to confirm that her suspicions were correct, before she tried to make an arrest, and she didn't want him making accusations of potentially dangerous people without her there to keep an eye on him. She needed to get to him, to get inside, but to do that, she needed a pretext.

The motion-detecting light above the door suddenly switched on as the two women emerged from the shadows, flooding the surrounding area with brilliance. The ring on her left hand gleamed like the sun. And she knew what she had to do. She wondered why it had taken her so long to think of it.

For in a situation like this, when another woman had gotten her claws into her man, what was any self-respecting wife to do?

It was times like this when Jane was infinitely glad he wasn't actually a cop. There were far less rules. And being forced to endure Annabelle's increasingly aggressive come-ons required the use of liquid courage that the average 'on-duty' cop was not allowed to utilize. Even though he wasn't all that much of a drinker most of the time, in cases like this he made an exception.

Annabelle was winding back through the crowd to his side again, a fresh glass of wine in her hand. He made himself smile at her as she sat down next to him.

"Feeling better?" she asked him in a gentle voice.

"Not really," he said, truthfully. "But thanks, Annabelle, I needed this."

"You know what the quickest way is to get over someone?" she said, taking his hand in hers. "In the arms of someone else."

He forced a laugh. "Funny."

"I'm serious," she said. "Let me help you, Will. We could be great together, and I'd never treat you the way she does."

He was saved from answering by a raised voice at the door.

"Look, I know he's in here, and if you don't get out of my way right now, I'm going to kick your ass as well as his."

Several people who had been blocking his view of the speaker scattered as to his utter astonishment, Lisbon came striding across the room to where he and Annabelle sat.

"What the hell is going on here?" she demanded of him.

"I could ask you the same question," he said, confused at her sudden appearance and now very aware that his hand was still trapped in Annabelle's.

"I have to hand it to you Will, you don't waste any time," she said, angrily. "Does our marriage mean so little to you that you'll replace me with the first skank that comes along?"

Annabelle scowled, and Jane pulled his hand free. "It's not what it looks like," he protested, as a crowd gathered around them.

"The hell it isn't!" she shouted back at him. "Or do you expect me to believe that you two are 'just friends?'"

Still with no idea of what exactly was going on, Jane decided his best bet was to play along for now and ask questions later.

"I have never cheated on you, nor would I ever cheat on you," he said. "I'm not that kind of person."

He thought he caught a tiny hint of a smile on her face as he said this, telling him he'd done the right thing by going along with her little rant.

"Well excuse me for being a little confused about that with you sitting here all cosy with her," she snarled at him viciously. He felt Annabelle draw back in her seat just a fraction as Lisbon turned her furious glare on her for a second. He could hardly blame her. An angry Lisbon could be a frightening sight for those not used to it. "Four years of marriage, Will. Did it mean so little to you that you really want to throw it all away for the likes of her?"

He noted with interest that she had dated their 'marriage' as lasting four years, the very amount of time they had been working together. Obviously he wasn't the only one who'd been keeping track.

"It's not about her," he snapped back at her. "It's about us Rachel, and it always has been. We've been having problems for a while. All we do is fight, and bicker."

That was true. No need to mention it was one of his favourite parts. But he thought she had caught the double meaning, he saw her smile again for a minute.

"And this is your magical resolution?" she asked. "Just walking out and refusing to deal with it in the hopes that it'll go away? Because it doesn't work like that."

"Walked out? If I remember rightly, you threw me out, not two hours ago."

Annabelle put her arm around him and gave him a consoling little squeeze as he said this.

Forget uneasiness in her stomach, thought Lisbon, now she was feeling just plain sick.

She envied Annabelle for the ease of her situation; it must be wonderful to simply see something, and want it, and know that if only you waited long enough the planets would align and you would get it.

They looked convincing, sitting there together on a couch, in each other's arms. Jane smiled at Annabelle as she patted his arm consolingly.

They looked like a couple.

It was like seeing a glimpse of everything she could have had by now, had she chosen it. And oh, how she wanted it.

"I think you should leave Rachel," Annabelle spoke up now. "This party is for invited guests only."

The smugness in her voice made Lisbon have to physically restrain herself once again, from reaching over and slapping her one. But this was neither the time nor the place, to become a slave to her emotions.

Besides, if her suspicions were correct, Annabelle would be getting her come-uppance soon enough.

She turned her eyes firmly away from the other woman, pretending not to hear, and fixed them on Jane instead.

"So this is your choice then, is it?" she asked. She wondered if he suspected the turmoil that was going on in her mind right now. Probably. He had that knowing gleam in his eye.

"Yes," he said firmly, and beside him, Annabelle lit up with instant joy.

"Fine. I hope Annabelle has a place for you in her bed, because I can tell you right now, there's no way you're coming back into mine!"

Then she turned on her heel and stormed out the front door.

"I should go after her," said Jane, after a minute.

"Don't bother," said Annabelle. "She's an adult, she'll deal with it."

"Yeah, she'll deal with it by destroying everything I own," said Jane, shrugging off her arm and standing up. "I've got to try and calm her down a bit."

"Want me to come with you?"

"I think that would just piss her off even more. Stay here, I'll be back in a little while."

He got outside, and saw the SUV parked in the shadows across the street. When he reached it, it was to find Lisbon in the driver's seat, drumming her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel.

"Well that sure was quite a performance," he remarked. "Guess all that 'acting' in high school really paid off."

She smirked.

"So was there some reason for the crazy wife routine?"

She quickly told him all about what she'd seen half an hour earlier.

"And your suspicion of her all comes down to keen instinct and detective skills of course?" enquired Jane.

"Of course."

He didn't quite believe that. He knew she'd been upset at seeing him with Annabelle. She'd hidden it well, but he knew her well enough to be able to see it anyway. He dearly wanted to bring that up, but while they were in the middle of an undercover op wasn't exactly the best time for a personal chat.

"I'm not convinced that she's the one in charge," Lisbon went on. "But I think we've got a good chance of getting her to talk if we arrest her. And then this goddamned case can finally be over."

"And my job is to make that happen, right?"

"That's right. You know, as long as you don't mind double-crossing your new girlfriend," said Lisbon, smiling slightly. "Might put a bit of a damper on the romance."

Jane grinned. "Guess me and Annabelle just weren't meant to be. Consider it done."

He was back inside for less than two minutes before Annabelle accosted him.

"How did it go?"

"Terrible. She's still fuming. Guess I can kiss all my stuff goodbye, she'll probably have burned it all by the time I get back to the house."

"It's not your fault the woman's a lunatic," said Annabelle. "Come on, let's go back outside for a minute so you can get some fresh air."

She took him by the hand and led him out into the darkness, shutting the door behind them so the sounds of the party inside were muffled.

"I'm sorry about all this," said Jane. "I wish there was some way I could just make myself forget."

"I can help you with that," she said. "I know a way to make all your troubles disappear."

She pulled a sealed packet of white powder out of her pocket and put it in his hand.

"Is this what I think it is?" he asked her.

She smiled mischievously. "Let's just say, it's something that could get me into a lot of trouble."

"Oh Annabelle," said Jane, matching her smile as he took it from her. "You really have no idea how much trouble you're about to be in."

She looked perplexed. "What do you mean?"

He turned and called over his shoulder. "Lisbon!"

She stepped out of the shadows nearby, and Annabelle's confusion quickly turned to horror.

"What is she doing here? Will, what's going on?"

"Actually the name is Patrick. Patrick Jane. And this here is the lovely Agent Teresa Lisbon."

"Agent?" Annabelle repeated, the colour draining from her face.

"That's right," said Lisbon, pulling her badge out of her pocket and flashing it at Annabelle. "We're with the California Bureau of Investigation. And you're under arrest."

Lisbon watched with the greatest satisfaction as she saw the panic in the other woman's eyes. It felt so good to finally make an arrest.

"Hands behind your back," she instructed Annabelle, reaching for the cuffs she'd been carrying around on her belt all week, just in case.

"You two were playing me this whole time?" Annabelle said, looking from one to the other.

"Afraid so," said Lisbon. "Annabelle Beckett you're under arrest for possession of an illegal substance with an intent to distribute."

"You bastard," Annabelle snarled at Jane who stood off to the side, watching as Lisbon fastened the cuffs around Annabelle's wrists. "You tricked me."

"Don't feel too bad," said Lisbon, without empathy. "Jane here is the best in the business. Smarter people than you have fallen into his traps. Let's go."

She began to march Annabelle across the road to the car. With one hand, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and handed it to Jane.

"Call Nick," she told him. "Tell him we've made an arrest and then ask him to reach out to the local P.D and see if we can borrow an interview room. Let's close this case."

Two hours later, Lisbon, Nick Annabelle, and a lawyer in an expensive-looking suit were ensconced in an interview room at the L.A.P.D. Jane was observing from behind the glass.

"So Miss Beckett," began Nick. "You were caught with a substantial amount of cocaine, enough to warrant a supply charge. That's quite a serious charge on it's own. But we've been investigating a syndicate being operated right here in L.A, coincidentally smuggling the same drug. Would you know anything about that?"

"Don't answer that," Annabelle's lawyer advised her.

"The cocaine we recovered from you is being tested at the FBI crime lab right now," Nick continued. "If it came from the same batch as other samples we have, we can prove your connection to the syndicate, whether you admit to it or not."

Jane saw Annabelle go pale, and he knew that Lisbon had noticed it too, because she was the next to speak.

"You're a well-informed woman," she said. "I always got the impression that you know pretty much everything about everything that goes on in your area. So now maybe you can put that knowledge to good use."

"I'm listening."

"Give us names," said Lisbon. "Everyone you know of who's involved with the smuggling in any way. I want everyone from the kingpins at the top to the dealers on the street. If you can do that, we might be able to help you out of this mess you've created for yourself."

"What are you offering?" asked the lawyer.

"We knock the charge down to just possession. It's a first offence and if we inform the judge that Miss Beckett helped with our investigation, she could avoid jail time completely."

Annabelle glanced across at her lawyer, who nodded.

"OK, Rachel," she said the name with a certain acidity to her tone. "We have a deal. On one condition."

"And what's that?"

"I'd like to have a talk with Mr Jane."

"Done," said Lisbon, pushing a sheet of paper and a pen towards her. "Now, start writing."

The list included several familiar names. Sid Madress, Bruce Fredrickson, and Hugh Marshall. According to Annabelle, Hank Pritchard, the owner of Iridissia was one of the chief members of the syndicate, using his nightclub as a means to move his 'product' through the public.

Nick and Lisbon took the list and stepped out to call the FBI and CBI respectively, and find out their next move, while Jane took his place opposite Annabelle to hear what she had to say.

"So, you and Rachel or whatever her name is. Are you guys actually married?"

Jane chuckled. "No, we're not."

"Engaged?"

"Nope."

"Living together?"

"We've never so much as been on a date. We're colleagues. That's all."

And if Lisbon got her way, he thought sadly, that was all they would ever be.

"Wow. You two are good actors. You had me buying it. So you're single then?" asked Annabelle brightly.

"You're kidding me, right?" said Jane, only just now understanding what it was Annabelle was getting at. "I just got you arrested and you're hitting on me?"

"Well you might be a conniving, deceiving jerk, but you're still good-looking, and I'm between boyfriends at the moment."

"I thought you were seeing someone."

"Not for much longer. His name's on that list, he's the one who got me into this crap in the first place."

Jane shook his head. "Well I appreciate the offer, but no thanks. There's already someone in my life," he said, thinking of Lisbon.

"Shame," said Annabelle. "Well if you ever change your mind you know where I'll be."

"Don't count on it," he said. "She's the only woman for me."

Jane found Lisbon after he left the interview room, in the break room talking on her cell phone.

"Thank you sir," she was saying as he got nearer. "It all worked out very well….yes I'll tell him. See you soon."

"Minelli?" Jane asked, as she snapped her phone shut.

"Yes," she said. "Congratulating us on solving the case. He also said to tell you that he just received a complaint from Hugh Marshall's lawyer about stealing his cell phone, and in future if you want to know about people's calls, pull their phone records like everyone else."

Jane chuckled.

"So who were all those calls to, anyway?" asked Lisbon. "Annabelle?"

"Actually they were to his mother. They had nothing to do with the case."

"So why'd you take the phone then?"

"Well I had the plan, but I knew you wouldn't want to move on it without evidence, so I brought you some," he said, shrugging. "It just happened to be evidence of a guy with mother issues, rather than a crime. Plus I needed some reason to justify pissing him off that much."

She smacked his arm. "You're a jerk!"

"So people tell me," said Jane, rubbing his arm where' she'd hit it. "So what happens now?"

"Well I've given a copy of the list to the chief here and Nick's taken one back to the FBI. They'll move on it tomorrow, but our part is pretty much done."

"So the case is closed then?"

"As far as our involvement goes, yes."

He grinned at her. "I think this calls for a celebration!"

She shook her head. "Actually it calls for a long drive back to Sacramento. The team's hit a wall in the case they're investigating. Minelli wants us-specifically you-back to HQ as soon as possible to speed things along."

"But it's only been a week. Minelli said we were on leave for two."

"California criminals don't take vacation, so apparently neither do we."

They walked out of the precinct and back to where the SUV was parked. Jane saw Lisbon stifle a yawn as she fumbled with the keys.

"We can't go back tonight," he said. "You're exhausted, you'll fall asleep at the wheel."

"No I won't," Lisbon said firmly, but promptly yawned again.

"Oh yes you will. You'll drift into oncoming traffic and kill us both. Is that what you want?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Driver fatigue is not ridiculous, Lisbon. It's a serious issue, and as a road user, I have a right to be concerned about it."

She rolled her eyes.

"Look, the way I see it you have two options here," he said. "You either let me drive us back to Sacramento-"

Lisbon gripped the car keys harder. "No way," she said.

"-Or we can head back to the house, spend the night there, and drive back first thing in the morning. Your call."

There was silence for a minute as he watched her, waiting for an answer. Then, to his great astonishment, she held out the keys.

"Drive us back to the house," she said. "It's only twenty minutes away. Do you think you can keep to the speed limit?"

"I make no guarantees."

She made to snatch the keys back again, but Jane deftly moved his hand up high, out of her reach.

"That's not fair," she complained. "You can't use your height to your advantage."

"Sure I can," said Jane. "That's how you win arguments, you know. Play to your advantages."

He got gleefully into the driver's seat as Lisbon reluctantly hoisted herself up into the passenger side.

Jane put the key in the ignition and gunned the engine a little more than strictly necessary, just for fun.

"We are going to die," said Lisbon.

"Stop stressing woman. Just relax, close your eyes and we'll be back to the house before you know it."

Scowling, she obeyed. "I'm only doing this so I won't be scared when we end up wrapped around a telegraph pole. I won't see it coming."

He chuckled, and reversed the SUV out of the parking spot.

No more case.

One more night in L.A.

One more night alone with her before they had to go back to reality.

How much could happen in one night?

I'm sorry if the case ended a little suddenly, but I have to admit, I'm glad it's over and done with. I really suck at the case part and don't enjoy writing it nearly as much as the Jisbon stuff.

We are not quite at the end yet, I still have a couple more chapters planned, and I hope you'll join me for those. Jisbon will be the main focus.