'Till Death Do Us Part

A/N: I am so sorry for the wait! I can't believe how long I let this go! I'm sure you all hate me, but let's hope that this makes you happier. :D In other news, you all seemed to have reached an agreement: Lisbon's an idiot for not accepting Megan and Don's offer. Don't worry though, I won't let her kill herself. Cheers!

Chapter 8: An Accident

Lisbon shivered as Eppes and Reeves left. This was far darker than she had thought when Mac had asked her out on Halloween night.

Maybe Reeves was right, she thought. Maybe she was in danger. Her practical side was telling her that Mac was dangerous, that she couldn't do this alone, but her pride wouldn't allow her to accept the FBI agents' offer of protection.

Well do something! yelled a voice in her mind.

Lisbon winced. Okay, so Reeves was right. No matter how innocent he may seem on the outside, Mac could be dangerous, and Lisbon needed someone, or something, to protect her.

The least she could do, Lisbon decided, was get someone to stay with her that night. In her mind, the choice was obvious.

She approached Cho's desk warily. He was filling out the last in a stack of forms from the call they'd been out on, which had been turned over to Cyber Crimes.

"Cho," she said, reaching his desk.

The black-haired agent looked up. "What's up?" he asked.

"Are you doing anything tonight?" she asked.

Cho raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking me out?"

"What? No!" Lisbon exclaimed.

"Then why?"

"I..." Lisbon thought frantically to come up with a reason. "I need someone to watch my cat while I sleep," she said finally.

Cho stared disbelievingly. "Your cat," he said, his voice flat.

Lisbon nodded. "Yeah. He keeps knocking things over while I sleep, but not when I'm awake, so I thought maybe he wouldn't do it for someone else."

"You don't have a cat."

Dammit! Trust Cho to remember something like that.

Now, thought, she turned to a tactic she didn't often use.

"Cho," she begged. "Please."

Cho stared at her for a minute. "Why?" he said finally.

Lisbon stared back. "It's a long story," she answered.

"Does it have anything to do with those FBI agents?"

She swallowed hard. "Yes."

Once again, the two agents were silent.

Say something! her mind screamed.

Finally, Cho spoke. "Okay," he said. "Just tell me this: Are you in danger?"

"It's possible."

He nodded. "Okay. I'll do it."

As soon as Lisbon left, Cho got up and quickly tracked down Rigsby in the men's bathroom. He laened against the wall as the other agent washed his hands and quickly explained what he knew of the situation. Somewhere in the middle, Jane appeared, but, of course, he seemed to know the whole story already.

"What do we do?" Rigsby asked worriedly.

Jane cut in. "Cho is going to go home with Lisbon and keep watch from inside her apartment. RIgsby and I are going on stakeout."

Rigsby frowned. "Stakeout? Where?"

"Lisbon's place, idiot," Cho said, rolling his eyes. "But we need to find out what those FBI agents were doing here."

"Oh, I already know," Jane broke in. Cho and Rigsby turned, Cho raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I have a hunch," Jane amended. "Don';t you find it a bit suspicious that, the day after Lisbon has a secret date she won't tell anyone about, two FBI agents show up, wanting to talk to Lisbon?"

"What are you thinking?" Cho asked warily.

The consultant's face darkened. "I think we need to find out what those FBI agents were doing here."

As far as he knew, no one had ever seen the inside of Lisbon's apartment before. Cho, himself, was seeing it for the first time. He couldn't help glancing around curiously as he followed her inside.

They got takeout and ate on the couch, watching the game. Later, Cho wouldn't be able to recall which game exactly they had been watching. It would have been more accurate to say that Lisbon was watching the game, and Cho was watching the windows.

Eventually, they finished the food and Lisbon turned the TV off, disappearing into the bedroom and saying she was going to bed. Cho settled himself on the couch and pulled out his book. He had no intention of falling asleep, not tonight.

But even the best plans have flaws, like the grogginess induced by the Bob's Thai Market takeout they'd eaten for dinner, and the boringness of the book Cho was forcing himself to read. Eventually, without meaning to, the book slipped out of his hands and he fell asleep.

He licked his lips nervously as he picked the lock. He had to get in. He had to get to her before she saw him as a monster.

"I'm not a monster," he whispered to himself. "I am not a monster."

Finally, the lock clicked and he tried the door. It opened smoothly and he slipped inside, closing it carefully behind him. There was a sleeping form on the couch, and he swallowed nervously. How was he going to get past whoever it was without waking them once he had Teresa?

He walked past the couch and opened a second door. Inside, he could see Teresa lying asleep on the bed. Carefully, he moved over to the bed and slipped his arms under her, then lifted.

If any part of his mind had been rational, he would have realized that there was a flaw in his plan, just as there had been in that of Cho: Teresa Lisbon was an extremely light sleeper.

As soon as he lifted, her eyes shot open. She took in his face, and she screamed.

"CHO!"

In the other room, Cho shot up. Without thinking, he ran for the bedroom, taking in the scene before him. The man had a good six inches and fifty pounds over Cho, but it was two on one.

Cho pulled his gun out. "Don't move," he said, making sure to keep his voice as threatening as possible.

"You don't understand," the man said, looking up.

"Oh, yes, I do," Cho snapped. "If you move a muscle, I'll put a bullet through your head."

"No, you won't," the man said.

"Give me a reason," Cho snarled.

And he did. The man leaped at Cho, knocking him to the ground, and the gun slipped out of Cho's hand, skittering across the floor. The man grabbed Cho's head and slammed it against the wall. Cho groaned and slid down to the floor.

"Cho!" Lisbon called desperately. Mac turned back to her and grabbed her, clamping a hand over her mouth.

"Shh, shh," he whispered. "We don't want to get caught. Please. Just be quiet."

Lisbon fought him as hard as she could, but Mac was taller and stronger than she was, and there was no way she was getting away.

Mac dragged her out of the room and headed for the apartment door, not bothering to close it this time. Just as he was about to reach the stairs, Cho reappeared and leaped at Mac. Throwing Lisbon out of the way, Mac grabbed Cho with all the strength of a god and threw him over the railing.

Lisbon couldn't help but scream again as she watched Cho's body plummet three stories down to the hard concrete ground.

A/N: DUN, DUN, DUN. What's going to happen? Only time will tell (or the next chapter. Whichever comes first). Don't forget to review!

Off to take over the world,

Crazy Girl