Authors Note: This is just a drabble, 300 words, but I did it anyway. Inspired by a comment from lgmtreader, and again, no anything like she had in mind. Thanks to her for reading and hitting me upside the head when I got the time line off. Silly me, and to think I'd watched this scene about 50 times since it aired originally. Will be a two off. Oh, right…Spoiler warning for Red John's Footsteps I've been reading in a fandom that's really big on the spoilers, and I've picked up on the habit. Not a bad one to have really.
Disclaimer: Bruno Heller wrote this episode. I couldn't even begin to claim it, I don't have that type of talent.
It had been a long day. He hadn't slept at all. He hadn't slept well all week really. Too much stress and Red John...He never slept well when Red John was involved in the forefront of his mind. He was walking through the house, having left the tiny room that Red john had been hiding in. He walked out on the porch, saw Lisbon talking to Mia. Poor girl, her life would never be the same. No one whose life had been touched by that mad man was ever the same.
He noticed movement over by the stretcher that Hardy was handcuffed to, but didn't pay it much head, he was looking around, wondering if anyone would notice if he went missing for a few hours, a walk in the crisp country night air would do him a world of good, give him time to clear his head, wrap his head around the emotions that had been stirred up by Lisbon in there. She hadn't wanted him to die. She would rather have Red John get away than for him to die. He just couldn't wrap his mind around that. Why? Why was she like that?
He heard a single shot. Who was shooting? Why were they shooting? Hardy was in cuffs, Red John was long gone. He turned towards the sound of the shot, towards the stretcher. He saw Hardy, no longer unconscious, aiming a gun at Lisbon. In that moment time froze. He couldn't see anything but that gun in Hardy's hand pointing at Lisbon; he was going to shoot Lisbon. There wasn't time for thinking; he grabbed the shot gun out of the back of the SUV that next to him. He pulled the trigger, and it was over, Lisbon was safe, Hardy was dead, but Lisbon was safe.