A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and followings of the story! My mind works in weird ways so I hope this keeps you entertained and guessing.

Chapter 3

The day was slow and Lisbon sighed deeply as she delved into her high stack of paperwork. She checked and filled in everything carefully remembering to sign every single line that glared at her emptily, but her mind was trying to escape and focusing was becoming difficult. She finally gave in and stretched her back at her desk and glanced at Jane napping on his couch.

The man looked as peaceful as ever, but Lisbon could see the tightness around his eyes and the slight frown on his forehead. Something was definitely keeping him occupied and it didn't take a genius to figure out what that might be.

She had dragged him out for lunch and he had made the effort of concentrating on her but his mind was clearly somewhere else although he had been almost in continuous physical contact with her, whether it was a hand against the small of her back or a hand resting on her shoulder where they were sitting on a bench. He was very tactile person, but this was excessive even for him.

Lisbon frowned as she studied Jane. She would make the effort of getting the story of this nightmare out of him as a full day of rumination was more than enough, even for him. This was what obsessing about Red John for 10 years had done; it was very difficult for him to let go of his previous modes of thinking and behavior.

She looked back at her desk and the papers in the tidy stacks and returned to her task. Only few more hours of this…

XXX

Jane was lying on his couch, his eyes closed trying to relax and sink into the soft leather surrounding him. He would succeed for a while, before noticing that he had tensed up again. Most annoying.

He was also aware of Lisbon's sporadic scrutiny and knew that he better get his story straight as she was expecting to hear what was bothering him this much. He would also dearly like to know what was going on in his subconscious.

He remembered the details of the window in Lisbon's bedroom and the curtains she had and the color of the sun and the whiteness of Lisbon's skin and above anything else, he remembered the emotions; contentment, satisfaction, accomplishment and happiness. It still felt like a memory with all the details rather than a dream.

He could smell the coppery smell of fresh blood and feel the sticky feeling of drying blood on his fingertips from drawing the smiley face. It made him sick and it made him afraid.

He still wasn't any closer to figuring out why this dream, why now and was trying to convince himself that maybe it was just once off and he shouldn't worry about it so much. Talking with Lisbon might help.

XXX

As the day light started to fade they finally made their way home. They didn't talk that much, but took comfort from the silence and each other. Once they stepped into Lisbon's house, Jane finally gave in to his growing need to touch Lisbon, to be anchored by her, and he gathered her in his arms.

Neither said anything, just enjoying the closeness until Lisbon's stomach gave a loud growl.

"You need feeding woman," Jane commented with a crooked smile and let her go.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Lisbon retorted back and turned around to shrug off her jacket and take off her shoes.

Jane took off his jacket and let if fall on a chair next to the door and started rolling up his sleeves while walking to the kitchen. Cooking was usually his chore as Lisbon's skills in the kitchen were abysmal and he had quickly learned to usher her out if they wanted the fire alarm not go off.

He liked cooking, it relaxed him and it brought him satisfaction knowing that he was looking after Lisbon. Until he recognized the feeling from his dream and almost turned to the phone to call for take away. However, he forced himself to go through the routine of getting the ingredients for the pasta and started preparing their meal while trying to separate the feelings of a dream from the reality.

XXX

Lisbon in the meantime had flopped on the sofa, put her feet up and observed Jane going through the motions of cooking. He had hesitated first, but then determinedly continued. Lisbon was getting more and more curious what was going on. But food first as neither of them was very good conversationalist with an empty stomach these days.

XXX

Once the dinner had been cleared away, Lisbon leaned against the kitchen counter her arms crossed and her left eyebrow raised.

"Do you feel like talking about it?" she asked gently, trying to gauge if he was ready to talk.

Jane finished drying his hands on the kitchen towel and let it drop, keeping his eyes on the towel, his shoulders hunched. He sighed and lifted his head to look at Lisbon.

"I promised not keep secrets, but this is really difficult to talk about. It's not like my usual nightmares," he said his vulnerability skipping on the surface of his eyes.

"We'll sort it out as we always do," was Lisbon's reply and she offered him her hand and led him to the sofa.

Jane sat down in the corner and lifted his arm to invite Lisbon to lean against his chest. She didn't take the invitation, but sat down very close to him so that she could see his face in the dim lighting in the living room.

She silently waited while Jane was getting his thoughts together and then he started talking.

XXX

Jane decided to just describe the dream with all the details without any attempt at deciphering it. He could tell from Lisbon's face that she was worried and by the time he had finished the color had drained from her face. He fell silent and looked down as he couldn't bear the look in Lisbon's eyes that she surely must have after his confession. It's not every day you dream about killing the love of your life and feel satisfied and content about it.

Lisbon gently touched his hand to make him look up. She was clearly worried but not visibly upset or disgusted and Jane felt a small weight lift from his shoulders.

"It was just a dream Jane," she said quietly but firmly, "I don't believe you could ever physically hurt me."

"Yes, it's upsetting but considering how long you have had only space for Red John and the cases in your head, it's surprising that you haven't had these kind of dreams before," she continued.

"And obviously I'm the most logical target as I'm the closest person to you," she softly said.

Jane couldn't deny the logic of her argument but still felt uneasy about the rich detail of the dream, however he didn't want to continue to pick apart and psychoanalyze his dream when he knew it would only distress Lisbon.

He squeezed her hand and gave her a weak smile.

"I still don't like it that I can hurt you like that in my dreams," he said to which Lisbon smiled.

"I'm not upset by a dream you misbehaving," she answered.

Misbehaving wasn't quite the word Jane would have used, but he gave up as there wasn't anything gained by splitting hairs over terminology.

"Let's go to bed," Lisbon said yawning and stood up.

"Wake me up if you have the dream again," she demanded sleepily as they climbed the stairs and just because she was ready to drop, Jane got away by not answering, which suited him fine as he didn't want to lie to her.

XXX

Lisbon was softly breathing in deep sleep next to him as he lied on his back staring at the ceiling. He didn't want to fall asleep and the idea of not sleeping wasn't unappealing as he was used to insomnia. He had been getting used to a full night's sleep though so it might make him a bit more tired than the usual.

He shuffled to get comfortable in the soft bed and started rummaging around in his memory palace to occupy himself, but before long his eye lids were drooping and his breathing slowed down and in the silence of the night sleep took over.

XXX

He found himself next to the cool window again, watching at the predawn clouds outside. He felt the same deep warmth of content and satisfaction and then remembered that he had been here before.

"Hmm, just a weird case of déjà vu," he thought before turning to go back to bed and when he saw Lisbon, slaughtered and helpless lying under the smiley face, this time her blood running down her recently cut throat, he ran to the bed and tried to stem the bleeding. However his hands wouldn't obey him, instead of trying to help and stem the bleeding his fingers were digging deeper into the wound, widening it as his head was filled with glee.

He tried to stop, tried in horror to fight the feelings, tried to shout and felt something hard hitting him in the chest and he woke up to find a carefully blank looking Lisbon a hand on her throat trying to breathe calmly.

Jane panicked and sat up hyperventilating reaching for Lisbon, feeling a deep need to make sure she was real. Lisbon put a hand out against his chest, which stopped him in his tracks, his eyes wide and breathing ragged.

"I'm okay," Lisbon rasped, "a bit out of breath."

"You have surprisingly strong grip in your dream," she continued while massaging her throat.

Jane couldn't stop the torrent of words that came out of his mouth, which were a jumble of apologies injected into the description of the dream. He hugged himself as he was rocking back and forth practically wailing with terror of what he had done.

Lisbon scooted closer and had to tightly hug him to her chest before he stopped struggling and fell silent.

"I suppose we should do something about your dreams," came her dry comment.

TBC