Disclaimer: I own nothing. Any reference to people past or present is entirely coincidental.

Warning: Contains suicide, so please proceed with caution if this is a sensitive topic for you.

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When the piercing ringing tone of a mobile shattered the still night – and her sleep – Teresa Lisbon reached her hand out for the phone by habit. Mumbling 'Hello?' into the handset, and listening to the male voice responding on the other end, her mind quickly realises that she was not the intended recipient, and indeed, it wasn't even her phone. Pushing back against the form wrapped around her, she raises her hand back and over to the awakening body. 'You.'

Patrick Jane didn't even bother lifting his head from his new position on Lisbon's shoulder as he took the proffered phone. 'Yello?'

'Mm hmm.'

'Yep.'

'Now?'

'Okay.'

Bending over Lisbon to place the phone on the bedside table, Patrick drops a kiss on her head before he pulls back the covers and gets out of the bed. 'I've got a case.'

Lisbon's only response is to nod her head against her pillow. She's almost back in the land of slumber when Patrick dips his head and places a kiss on her forehead and pulls the covers all the way up. 'Love you.' Snuggling in, she appreciated that going on maternity leave had its perks. Call outs at all hours of the night would now be a thing of the past – for the next few months at least.

But when she was fully awake some hours later, she was bored out of her brain. How was she supposed to amuse herself? She was nine months pregnant, not a fan of daytime television and seriously lacking in the mental stimulus that her work had provided her with up until three days ago. And so with this reasoning, Lisbon picked up the phone and gave her husband a call. Maybe he needed some assistance on the case?

Patrick Jane picked up after the second ring and promptly greeted her with a resounding 'No'.

'You don't even know what I was going to ask,' reasons Lisbon crankily as she rubs the side of her belly. Baby was active today.

'Perhaps not. But I know you,' was the blithe response.

'Not one thing?' she ventured.

'Not one thing,' confirmed Patrick. 'You're on leave, which means you're on LEAVE! No work allowed.'

'Not entirely my fault all that,' Lisbon griped, but she couldn't prevent a small smile escaping in response to Patrick's hearty laugh.

'Good bye sweetheart!' sang Patrick as he hung up.

Throwing the phone onto the couch, she set about amusing herself for the next hour or so, before she switched on the midday news.

'... and we go live now to the scene. Jocelyn, what can you tell us?'

'Well Wade, I'm here at the residence of Governor Thomas Billings where a teenager was found dead in the early hours of this morning.

No details have been released, and the police remain tight lipped about the circumstances surrounding the death. The identity of the deceased remain unknown.

We'll have more for you on that story later today.

Back to you in the studio Wade.'

Reckoning that this must be the case that her husband had been called out for this morning, and thinking that if she can't help the case, at least she can follow it, Lisbon monitored the situation via the television news throughout the day.

CBI would be trying to keep a lid on everything, and she knew that the Governor's PR department would be working overtime, which was why the only bits of new information she got that afternoon was the name.

'We can reveal that the teenager who passed away last night at the home of Governor Thomas Billings was seventeen year old Landon Keogh.

Inside sources tell me that the teenager was found hanging from the top floor balcony. It has not yet been revealed why he was there.

Police have advised that they have not yet determined a cause of death and are pursuing several avenues of investigation...'

When Patrick walks in the door, she was watching Governor Billings giving a press conference.

'... The death of Landon Keogh is a tragedy, and I regret that the incident should happen at my home. In light of this most unfortunate incident, I will be cooperating fully with the police to help catch the person responsible for the death of such a bright and ...'

Placing the television on mute, Lisbon looks sheepishly at Patrick as he leans against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest, vest half-unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up, as he raises his eye in amusement. 'I don't think you've quite grasped the meaning of 'leave' my dear.'

'The news was on and I just happened to be watching it,' said Lisbon lamely as an excuse as Patrick pushed himself off the doorframe and made his way over to her. 'Dinner for three?'

'Please...'

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The death of a teenager at the Governor's residence was high profile news, and not long after Patrick left for work early the next morning, Lisbon was in bed watching the news whilst eating her breakfast.

'It has come to light that the party at Governor Thomas Billings' party on Sunday night was hosted by his son Braxton Billings without his permission. There were over 200 revellers there, and police now have the onerous task of interviewing each and every one of them...'

Needing to relieve her bladder again, she continues to follow the coverage.

'...as everyone tries to understand the tragedy, friends have flooded Landon Keogh's Facebook page with messages of support for the family and well wishes...'

Facing long hours in the day once again, Teresa Lisbon decides that checking out the phenomenon that is Facebook may just be the way for her to keep amused as she leaves her bedroom to find her laptop. Her nephew had emailed her a request before to join up some time ago, and so now seemed like a good a time as any!

Feet propped up on cushions, a glass of water nearby, Lisbon joins the other 250 million other uses. Navigating the friends, applications and requests, Lisbon doesn't know what to do when she finds a message on her wall. 'Hey Aunty Teresa. Welcome to the world of FB. Good luck!'

Giving it up after an hour or two, and with mother nature calling once again, Lisbon pushes the laptop away and stands up, rubbing her back at the sudden pain. She swore that Baby Jane was running a marathon or something at the rate they were moving around and sending her to the toilet.

Deciding that she'd just quickly flick on the television news and get an update – after all, it's not like she was trying to solve the case or anything – Lisbon is greeted with the now familiar face of reporter Jocelyn.

'...for the recently separated Mr and Mrs Keogh, this is a double blow. Their older son Russell died in a workplace accident mid-last year when a sheet of cement fell and crushed him. What a cruel blow to lose their other son less than twelve months later...'

The Patrick Jane that slid in to bed much later that night was a considerably different man to the one that had left that morning. She didn't object as he pulls her close and wraps both of his arms around her, hands firmly on his unborn child as he buried his face into the crook of her neck. 'I don't like the way this is going.'

She says nothing, instead inserting a hand of her own between his.

'I had to speak with the mother today... she's distraught. She's going to be burying two sons in under a year,' he continued, eyes blank.

'I know. I saw it on the news,' she responds softly as he squeezes her tighter.

'And apparently the kid had just lost a friend at school recently too. What is going on with kids these days?'

She felt his warm breath along her cheek. 'I missed you out there today...'

*****************

'Police have confirmed it is suicide.'

Lisbon's mug of tea never made it to her mouth as her attention was focussed on this revelation. No wonder Patrick was struggling with this case.

Spending a few moments struggling with an internal debate, Lisbon makes her decision at the same time her unborn child gives a flurry of kicks. 'Don't tell your father,' says Lisbon rubbing her swollen abdomen as she made her way over to her laptop.

Logging into Facebook, she searches for the name Landon Keogh. Reading the countless messages on his wall, she sees a few references to a Harrison Forbes, including a few posts that lamented his death. This must be the school friend Patrick was talking about. Following a gut feeling, she searched Landon's friends and found Harrison Forbes. She looked in horror at Harrison Forbes' status update: 'I'm not dead!'

Looking down at his wall posts, she can trace back messages to the first of April. Landon Keogh's was amongst the messages of sympathy and grief on the wall. Returning to the homepage, she sees that Harrison has uploaded a video. It was dated 14th April 2009 – the day after Landon's suicide at the Billings party at the Governor's house.

'Hey everyone. Yep I'm actually alive. Isn't that the coolest April Fools' Joke or what? For everyone that helped hide me and share the good news of my "death", kudos to you mate. This beats last year...'

Knowing with a sinking feeling that this information was going to be vital to Patrick's case, it's with a heavy heart that Lisbon reaches for her phone and calls Cho.

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Patrick Jane stood at the back of the interview room watching Cho interviewing the newly alive Harrison Forbes about his April Fools' Joke that spanned two weeks.

'....Lando was a practical joker. Last year on April Fools' he brought a film crew to the school and said we'd been picked for a huge big-budget movie and we had to strip and run around naked. Only we weren't really in a movie were we?' said Harrison sarcastically. 'Turns out it was all a joke. So I decided to one up him this year.'

'How long were you planning on carrying this on for?' asked Patrick incredulously. 'How long did you think you could get away with being dead?'

'Tone it down mate,' scoffed the teenager. 'Honestly, being dead was getting a bit boring cos of all the evading and lying and stuff, so I'd planned to come out with it at the party, but bloody Lando managed to upstage me once again with his own death.'

'You don't seem to believe he's actually dead,' said Cho.

'Well yeah,' Harrison responded with a shrug of his shoulders. 'How do I know it's not a joke again?'

'He's dead,' said Patrick in a low tone, flipping open the file in front of Cho and pulling out the morgue photo of Landon Keogh and slamming it down in front of Harrison. 'That dead enough for you?'

'Jane...' said Cho in a warning tone as Patrick backed off and leant against the wall once again. 'Why did you need to fake your death?'

'Lando's stupid joke last year made my girlfriend break up with me,' said Harrison bitterly, arms crossed over his chest. 'So I reckon it was fair go.'

'He lost a brother last year!' shouted Patrick.

'Well I lost a girlfriend!' shot back Harrison in defiance. 'So I'd say we're even. And besides he started it. He was the practical joker – not much recently, but still...'

His demeanour then changed. 'It was brilliant mate. Lando didn't have a clue. Everyone was in on it – even Lando's best mate Louis. Apparently I had a funeral in Australia,' laughed Harrison as Patrick fought the bitter taste in his mouth. This was not going to end well.

*****************

When Louis Sabine – the last person to see Landon Keogh alive – was brought in again later that afternoon, Patrick couldn't face participating in the interview, and so watched behind the glass with a sinking feeling as Rigsby and van Pelt questioned Louis about Harrison Forbes' "death".

'Why didn't you tell us this before?' probed van Pelt.

'Well I wasn't sure if the joke had ended yet,' Louis said defensively as Rigsby walked around.

'You said in your original interview that you were the last person to see Landon Keogh alive. Is that correct?'

'Yeah.'

'And according to your statement, the two of you talked about a school assignment.'

'Yeah. What's the crime in that?'

'Anything else you want to add? Anything else you didn't tell us? Now that the joke is over and everything.'

'Ah,' said Louis nervously.

'You need to tell us,' said van Pelt gently. 'It will help us find out why your friend died.'

'The last thing Landon said to me was "Is Harrison really dead?" and I told him he was,' said Louis. Patrick sees the change in the teenager's face as he comes to a realisation. 'Oh God, I killed him. I killed my best friend.'

As Louis burst into tears and van Pelt tried to console the distraught teenager, Patrick left the room.

Sitting on his couch Jane ignores the movements of the agents around him. As the sun sets, Jane still sits there with his face buried into his hands. This case had struck a little too close to home for him, dredging up old fears that he would rather remain long buried. As everyone begins to leave and the office lights dim, Jane still sits there until a familiar pair of shoes comes into his line of sight. As Lisbon wordlessly reaches out her hand and leads him from the room, he can't help but wonder... Who was responsible?

Was it the brother for dying? The parents for splitting up? Harrison's April Fools' Day Joke? The joke last year? The mates for carrying it out? The best mate's confirmation?

Or was it the simple realities of life that made Landon Keogh feel that living just wasn't an option anymore?

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Author's Note: I know this might have been a bit confronting for some, but I hope that you were still able to enjoy the story.