"I'm fine, I'm okay!" Grace insisted, trying to shove Cho's hands away.
"Van Pelt-" Cho started but she pushed back again, scooting around him to bend down next to Rigsby. The big agent was just opening his eyes.
"Grace?" he questioned, squinting through a headache.
"Yeah," she breathed, relieved, "You okay?"
He grunted in response, pulling himself into a sitting position. Her hands fluttered around him, unsure of how to help. Cho rolled his eyes at the two before turning to Jane.
"Our cellphones?"
Jane faced him with a smile, "What about them?"
"You let him go because we got to keep our phones."
"Nope, but good try. Still no signal, but maybe we'll find one. We have Grace to thank for us still having them. She distracted him into leaving rather hastily, albeit with her head. Maybe not her most eloquent move, but I'll admit that it was effective."
"Then what, Jane? Because as far as I see it we're stranded."
Jane shrugged, "A little."
Cho bit the inside of his lip in irritation, "And do you have a plan to get us 'a little' unstranded?"
Jane gave his colleague his best thousand-watt grin, "We walk."
Cho's eyes darkened and Jane decided to answer before the normally calm agent decided to do something rash... shooting him didn't seem like a far-off possibility judging by the look on his face and Jane felt as though he had been shot at enough for one evening.
"Look, at least the murderer's gone, and he won't be getting too far in that car: I stuck a pocketknife into his back tire."
"You what? Where did you get a knife, Jane?"
"Eh, I picked it up at his house."
"You a klepto now?"
"I would have put it back but the man came at us with a gun… it just didn't seem the right time to take a minute to put it back down. Long story short he'll get far enough away from us to not be a problem but he'll still be stranded before he can make his escape from the local pd. We just need to walk down to his house. Once we're there we'll see what we can find, yeah?"
Cho made a noise deep in his throat, somewhere between impressed and annoyed, "Fine, let's get going. You lead the way; I'll get Lisbon. Let's move you two."
Van Pelt scrambled to her feet at Cho's last sentence, reaching down a hand to pull Rigsby up. He rubbed his head once on his feet but seemed no worse for the wear; he shot Grace a reassuring smile before the set off after the other three.
--
They reached the house without incident; Jane stood on the porch holding Lisbon while the other swept the house. She was still unconscious and it worried him; a hand to her forehead made him frown. She was awfully warm. Cho appeared at the front door after a moment and helped Jane carry Lisbon and had him lay her on a couch. Rigsby and Van Pelt were in the room as well, off to one side, Rigsby fussing over the gash on Grace's forehead.
"Really, it's fine," she mumbled, gently removing his hands before turning to the others, "What now?"
"We've got to get Lisbon to a hospital. She's been down for way too long," Jane put in.
Cho nodded in approval, "Van Pelt, go and check if there's a computer you can get up and running. Since we have no landline I want you outside and trying to pick up a signal, Rigsby."
The two nodded and set out to complete their respective tasks, Cho turning to Lisbon, "She's trembling and way too hot, Jane. Can you go get a wet cloth from the bathroom? I want to get her fever down."
The consultant was almost out of the room when he heard a sudden movement behind him. He whirled around just in time to see Lisbon jerk upright and lean over the side of the couch, emptying her stomach. Cho's supportive hands caught her just in time to prevent her from tumbling off the sofa and the agent turned, shouting, "GO, Jane! Now!"
The man broke out of his reverie, racing to the bathroom and returning with several wet and dry towels. He returned, heart pounding, to find Cho repositioning Lisbon on her side.
Cho shot him a glance, accepting the cloths, "She didn't really wake up; just vomited a few times before going limp again. He didn't say what he'd given her?"
Jane shook his head.
Cho gave a grunt, "Just as well she gets it out of her system."
The two stared down at their boss as she shivered and sweated on the couch, feeling helpless until Rigsby burst back into the room at almost the same time as Van Pelt.
"I got a signal: ambulance is on its way!"
"And I found everything we need to convict Alex Roy and his brother in his computer files... we just need some forensics guys in here to confirm!"
Cho opened his mouth to respond when Jane interrupted him, "Lisbon!"
The consultant leapt to her side, pulling back her hair as she began throwing up for the second time. She choked on the bile, coughing and shuddering in his arms. Grace, wide-eyed, picked up the cold compress that had fallen onto the couch cushions and handed it to Jane. He took it with a quick look of thanks before using it to gently clean Lisbon's mouth once she'd finished. He moved on to the couch so he was holding her from behind. She seemed semi-conscious and he gave her a squeeze, hoping to comfort her.
Jane looked up at Rigbsy, keeping his voice calm, "How long for the ambulance?"
He shrugged, anxious, "Maybe five minutes now?"
Van Pelt knelt down in front of Lisbon, pulling the tie out of her own hair and using it to pull back her boss'. She then used a hand to cup her cheek, trying to catch the woman's eye, "Boss?"
Lisbon didn't respond, half-lidded eyes glazed and downcast. Grace bit her lip, concern plain on her face.
When the ambulance pulled up five minutes later Lisbon's eyes had slipped shut and her breathing had stopped.
Okay, I am sooooo sorry that this took so long! Summer got out of hand and I've been surprisingly busy. Hope that you enjoyed this chapter and that you haven't lost interest in this story. I plan on getting updates in a little more regularly. And I'd like to start a fic about Rigsby and Van Pelt but I promise that I won't let myself do it until this is complete. And I really want to write it so maybe it'll make me move a little faster on this! And on a completely irrelevant side note, happy birthday to me Twenty today, which seems much more adult somehow, haha. Love, Moksgmol