Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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It was the heat that hit her first. The thick, oppressive heat that made breathing akin to swimming through a pea-soup bog.
It wasn't supposed to be a dangerous outing. All they'd needed to do was simply interview a few staff about the mysterious going-ons at the docks where three women had been found dead in a container two days earlier. And instead, Lisbon and van Pelt now found themselves locked in a refrigerated container with their air supply fast running out.
They'd spent the greater part of last hour futilely banging on the container walls and yelling for help in the hope that someone would hear them. With no cell phone reception, no vents and rising heat, their odds of rescue were steadily decreasing.
With the heat now at an unbearable level, both agents remove their jackets and roll up their pants in an attempt to be cool. When Lisbon sits down and pulls off her shoes, van Pelt stops her from standing once again. 'Preserve your energy and the oxygen,' said the younger agent. 'It's not just you we need to look out for here.' Looking down at her six month pregnant belly, Lisbon reluctantly agrees that van Pelt has a point. Seating herself once again, Lisbon watches van Pelt continuing to bang the walls and shout for assistance.
An hour later, van Pelt is exhausted. Giving up on banging the walls, and with her throat rubbed raw from the yelling, she slides down the wall to be seated opposite Lisbon. Throwing a glance over at her boss, she grows concerned when she sees Lisbon grabbing her stomach, pain lining her features. 'Are you okay?' asked van Pelt worriedly.
'I'm fine,' said Lisbon through clenched teeth. 'Just some nausea.'
Nodding her head doubtfully, but knowing there is nothing she can do, van Pelt sends conversation in another direction. 'Jane and Rigsby will be back from interviewing the fiancée by now, and hopefully Cho would have figured out we'd been missing for a while,' said van Pelt optimistically. 'They know we're at the docks, so they should be here anytime now.'
Unable to respond with the same optimism, Lisbon rests her head back against the wall, sweat pouring down her face as she expects the worse. Even if her team did get here, and they figured out that they were locked in a container, how were they going to figure out which one they were in? They docks were lined with thousands of containers identical to the one they were currently trapped in.
It's now getting harder to breathe inside the sealed container, and both women are fighting to stay awake. When Lisbon slips into unconsciousness, van Pelt crawls across the floor frantically to the other side. 'Boss. Lisbon. Boss...' she called, shaking Lisbon's shoulder. 'You've got to stay awake.' Heaving a sigh of relief when Lisbon finally opens her eyes a few seconds later, van Pelt sat down beside her. 'We've got to stay awake.'
Things take a turn for the worse seconds later when a bang sounds and the container shakes. 'What was that?' said van Pelt, looking upward fearfully. 'That would be the dock crane,' was Lisbon's slurred response. As the container above them is lifted, van Pelt offers hope. 'Maybe it won't take this one?'
But minutes later, the crane is back. As if sensing their mother's distress, the baby begins kicking furiously as Lisbon struggles to stay awake and van Pelt looks to the container roof as the crane hooks on. Turning to her boss, van Pelt swears as she realises that Lisbon has fallen unconscious again. Tossing up between trying to wake up her boss and alerting the crane driver to their existence, the decision is made for her when the container begins to move. Gathering up every bit of energy she has, van Pelt weakly hits the container wall as the container begins to lift and sway.
Five weak hits later she comes to the realisation that her attempts are futile. Feeling so very tired, and accepting that it is now highly likely that they were going to die, van Pelt closed her eyes. She might as well rest...
...the next time van Pelt opens her eyes she looks around sluggishly. What was going on? And then it hits her, the container has stopped moving. Were they on a ship? She throws up her arms weakly, making a tiny echoing sound as her hand collides with the wall. 'Help...' she calls weakly. 'We're in here...'
When a sliver of light makes it's way across the floor, van Pelt couldn't be sure she wasn't hallucinating. But when the fresh air – the glorious fresh air – hit her van Pelt knew it was for real. Hearing her pregnant boss's groans next to her, she finds energy within herself that she didn't realise she had and struggles to her feet, bracing herself up against the wall as she makes slow steps forward.
The door is thrown fully open and light floods the container. A tall figure fills the opening as van Pelt takes another step and sways. Fearing the next thing she felt would be the floor, van Pelt throws her arms out in front of her. The heavy impact never came as Rigsby wraps his arms around her and pulls her toward the light. Everything was a haze, but van Pelt knows she needs to remember something. 'Boss...' she says weakly, pointing to the other side of the container.
'It's okay, Jane and Cho will get her,' promises Rigsby as he leads her outside. She sees Jane and Cho dash past them, before she buries her head into Rigsby's chest at the sudden light and allows him to lead her to the ambulance where an officer is ready with an oxygen mask.
Minutes later, and able to think clearly again, van Pelt furiously pulls the mask away from her face. 'Where's Lisbon?' she asks frantically. Rigsby pats her shoulder and points over at the other ambulance, as her ambulance officer spoke up. 'Your boss got lucky,' he said. 'Couple more minutes and I'm not sure either of them would have been around.'
Van Pelt nods her distractedly as she tries to see past them. She had to see with her own two eyes that Lisbon was okay. Rigsby shifts, and then she has a clear line of sight. There sat her boss on a stretcher, hand gripping an oxygen mask as she takes in deep breaths. Lisbon is leaning back against Patrick Jane, who's standing behind the stretcher, arms over her form and resting on her thighs, as he cocoons her in his arms.
Content that her boss is okay and in good hands, van Pelt sits back and allows the ambulance officer to place the oxygen mask over her mouth once again.
Meanwhile over at the other ambulance, Teresa Lisbon is trying to regulate her breathing. She wasn't going to admit it, but this incident had scared her more than she appreciated. When Jane and Cho had assisted her out of the container, the fresh air had brutally assaulted her as she stepped outside, and she'd blindly struggled to get out of their grip as she leaned over to retch.
And now as she sat on the stretcher, gripping the oxygen mask as a lifeline, she realises that Patrick is talking, but she has no idea what he is saying. Removing her hand from her abdomen, she grips his lower arm as she tilts her head upward, eyes relaying her lack of understanding.
Patrick Jane shifts himself to sit down next to her, her hand still gripping his arm as he raises his other hand to squeeze hers. Removing her hand from his arm, he rearranges himself so that he now has both of his arms propped up on either side of Lisbon once again, but this time facing her. Never taking her hand from him, Lisbon grips his arm once again as Patrick looks her in the eyes, and says all he needs to say quite clearly: 'You're going on desk duty.'
All Lisbon can do is lean forward and rest her head against Patrick's chest as she breathes in again. There would be time enough for this.