I would like to thank everyone for their reviews, subscriptions, and favourting. You guys seriously rock! Anywho, I would also like to mention yet again that my friend with cancer is doing slightly better than she has been previously. This chapter is definitely dedicated to her, and also to the friend I have in Japan.
BrightLights - Thank you! This chapter offers a little bit more insight to it. Thank you for the names to add to the list!
Anara - Thank you! I actually had it planned out since the beginning that baby Jane would indeed be a boy, and I really like those names! Thank you!
Chris - Thank you so much!
Disclaimer: No, I do not own The Mentalist. But it is on my birthday list.
Chapter Seven: Lights are Shining on Our Faces
Lisbon tightens her grip on the briefcase in her hand and presses the button to floor level three. At this time she could already tell that today was going to be interesting and yet bizarre. She does not exactly know why her brain is telling her this, and she half-contemplated calling in sick today, but duty calls. To top it all off…it is also a Monday, and by God did she hate Mondays. They were annoying, and so were most drivers in Sacramento on this day.
She steps off the elevator and walks down the corridor towards her office. Taking a few moments, she pauses and glances into the bullpen. Everything seems normal: Cho starting up his computer and reaching for a nearby novel, Rigsby rifling through his take out bag from a fast food restaurant, and Grace brushing past her and heading into the bullpen with a coffee in hand.
"Morning boss," Grace smiles and maneuvers to sit down at her desk. The redheaded agent sets her coffee down softly on the desk and looks up at Lisbon, "How's the baby today?"
Lisbon steps back and looks down at her swollen belly. She is tired, her back hurts – scratch that, killing her -, and the baby thinks it's funny to sleep be stationary now. Looking back up at the happy agent, she smiles, "He's fine, Grace."
The redheaded agent nods happily and Lisbon turns towards her office. She does not get far before she hears Rigsby's quiet voice behind her, "Did you get Stark to look over the evidence?"
Lisbon raises her eyebrow and takes a step closer to her office. Stark was Jane's attorney when he was on trial, why would she be looking at evidence now? Jane had pleaded and been found guilty.
"Yeah, I'm meeting her at the café for lunch to talk to her about it. She noticed the time discrepancy too," Lisbon's eyes open in alarm at the sound of Cho's voice in realization. They were looking for possible evidence to get Jane out of jail, and they were using that time discrepancy. She had called the local cops and Hightower two hours after she had found Jane because they were preoccupied. Looking down, Lisbon blushes and heads towards her office.
This was going to be interesting.
Grace leans back in her chair and swivels around to look at the boys. She clicks her pen a couple of times and chews on the inside of her cheek. The boys were up to something, and they weren't telling her. That would mean this plan was either something they were planning for her, or something illegal. But then again they mentioned the name 'Stark,' which gives her some hope that it isn't illegal.
"Yes, Van Pelt?" her eyes snap to Cho, as he looks straight at her.
Her eyes look to the right, "Huh?" then back to Cho, "Oh, I didn't say anything."
Cho leans forward onto his desk, "You look like you want to say something," Rigsby turns to look at her as he munches on his breakfast sandwich, "What do you have to say?" Cho asks again.
Swallowing, she looks at them both, "What are you doing?"
"Sitting here. Waiting for you to tell me what's on your mind."
Grace shakes her head, "No, I'm wondering what you're doing with lawyer," she takes in a breath, "Jane's lawyer of all of them."
Cho leans back into his chair, almost mirroring Grace. Rigsby glances over at his friend and sets his sandwich back down on top of the wrapper. The larger agent takes one last swallow and looks at Cho, suddenly feeling the tension grow thicker in the bullpen. Grace narrows her eyes and looks over at Rigsby, her eyes immediately softening.
"Wayne, what's going on?" she asks him softly.
Rigsby opens his mouth, ready to reply, but Cho cuts him off, "We're trying to get Jane out of jail. There's a time discrepancy of two hours. Red John was dead for two hours before Lisbon called it in."
Grace's eyes widen and her jaw drops, "What?" she immediately stands to her feet and walks over to the Cho's desk. "You're telling me that Jane has been innocent this whole time while the real culprit walks?"
Cho shakes his head, "No, no one else killed Red John. If Jane didn't kill him, he did so himself," there was a pregnant pause, "Jane did kill him, and Lisbon didn't report everything correctly. That's why there's a discrepancy."
"How do you know that?" Rigsby scoots his chair closer to his colleagues, "Lisbon wouldn't lie about something like this, even if Jane is involved. It's too big."
Cho's voice lowers, "What if she didn't?" he looks at both of his fellow colleagues.
Grace sighs and leans further into the desk, "Jane shouldn't even be in jail," Cho and Rigsby look up at Grace with sudden alarm. The rookie agent usually follows the rules when Jane isn't around to manipulate her into doing some stunt. For her to suggest that Jane shouldn't be in jail seems like a pretty big step for her. "He should be here, with us. It would make the boss feel better, I mean she seemed so upset for a long time."
"Jane is the baby's father."
Grace and Rigsby immediately turn to look at Cho. The man does not falter his gaze nor does he look away. The two fellow agents continue to look at him, their eyes wide with shock. Grace shifts her feet uncomfortably and tosses her head to the side in hopes to nullify the awkwardness emitting from Cho's previous comment.
Rigsby shakes his head and pushes himself backwards in his chair, "Seriously man?"
Cho shrugs, "It makes sense. It explains the two hour discrepancy and why she's pregnant." A couple of nearby agents glance in Cho's general direction and shake their heads.
Rigsby reaches for her half eaten breakfast sandwich and balls it up. He turns and tosses it into the trash bin, now experiencing feelings of disgust. He shoots Cho an irate look and shakes his head again.
"I'm never going into that car again."
Cho leans back in his swivel chair, "You were in it just last week."
Lisbon watches as her team abandons Cho's desk area rather rapidly. Whatever Cho had just recently said, really turned them off at the conversation. She still felt some itching sensation to know what they were previously talking about, and especially if it was about Stark and the time discrepancy. Should she confront Cho? Rigsby? Grace? Or maybe should she go ahead and call the attorney and demand to be kept in the loop. Also she could discuss these matters with Jane. This was his freedom and future, and now she truly felt as though he did not deserve jail time. Red John's death was justified. As selfish as it sounds, if Jane hadn't killed the sociopathic killer, than their son would cease to exist and she would most likely be six feet under.
Looking down at the paper in front of her, she smiles and picks up her pen to quickly sign off on it. She sighs and flips it over onto the rest of the stack and pushes her chair back. The unborn baby inside her has just decided to move around within her, and she smiles and places her hand on the side of her swollen abdomen. She deftly runs her hand down the side of her grey-cloth covered belly immediately feeling a reaction. Sighing once more, she takes her free hand to reach into the briefcase in a nearby chair and pulls out a book.
Pregnancy for Dummies is a book that she bought a few weeks ago. While on an overnight case down in Los Angeles, she picked the book up at a nearby Barnes & Noble. Leaning back in her chair, she opens the book and straightens out the dog-eared page. Sighing to herself and settling one hand on top of the swell, and she begins to read.
After a few moments she pauses, lowering her book and looking over towards her team. Squaring her shoulders, she chews on her bottom lip and slowly folds the book over and sets it on the table. Slowly she stands up and walks through the doorframe of her office and towards her team. Taking a deep breath and tossing her head from side to side, she walks into the bullpen and glances around. The bullpen has just began to grow busy as agents and guards and techs walk in with foamy coffees and bid each other a good morning.
She stops in front of Cho's desk, pretty confident that her ever-stoic agent would give her a straightforward comment as to what she was wondering. Taking in a deep breath, she looks down at him, and he eyes her slightly curiously. "Cho, can I ask you something?"
He nods, "Sure boss," and he leans forward, clicks something on his computer, and then leans back.
Her hands ball into fists at her side as she sums up some courage, "What is the time discrepancy that you were talking about?" Grace and Rigsby immediately look up from the desks towards them.
Lisbon keeps herself from looking over her shoulder at the two agents. She already knew that they were eyeing her from behind and doing over-exaggerated gestures at each other and wonder how she knew what they had probably just finished talking about.
Cho leans back in his swivel chair casually, "I found a time discrepancy of two hours. The coroner stated that Red John had been dead for two hours by the time he arrived on the scene. It didn't take him long to get there, and you said you had just found Jane by Red John's body," he pauses, "There's a two hour window essentially. Red John wasn't that freshly killed when you called it in."
Cho was a fine damn agent, and Lisbon blanches at his revelation. Honestly this comes to now surprise that he has found this out. She also knew Cho and the team were most likely trying to get Jane out of jail, saying he was falsely accused…even though he admitted to having killed Red John several times.
She swallows, "Yeah, I suppose there is," her eyes nervously look around the room, and she can't believe that she is going to do this. For months she told herself she wouldn't do this, but ever since she reconciled with Jane…she feels that she has to. Not only is it out of love, but also out of love for their child.
"Cho, there's something we should enter into evidence. Red John sent Jane a letter about a week before his death."
Cho sits in a café chair, his hands wrap around the cover of Moby Dick by Herman Melville as he waits for Stark to arrive. He is about halfway done and thoroughly enjoying the riveting text for the probably the tenth time. On his bookshelf he has stashed away in his living room, Melville's novel is rarely even on the shelf. Sighing and reaching for the Styrofoam cup, he hears the chime of the door opening and he hesitates. Looking up, he sees a woman enter the room. Her mousy brown hair tied up in a wet bun and her face void of make up. She pauses and looks around the room, her eyes making contact with Cho's. She nods and heads in his direction, only momentarily glancing at the novel cover.
"Moby Dick, a good book. In a way kind of reminds me of Mr. Jane's obsession over Red John." She says this simply as she gracefully sits down opposite of Cho, "Agent Cho, have you found anymore evidence that I can use to help get Jane out of jail?"
Cho folds the book page over and sets it down on the table. He leans forward and curls his fingers together, "Yes, I have. Jane received a letter a week before Red John died. It stated that he had planned to capture, torture, and eventually kill Agent Lisbon. Jane was provoked. It also said absolutely nothing as to where of Red John's whereabouts."
Stark sighs and leans into the chair's back. She reaches up and begins to rub her temples, "I'm going to need to see this letter. I mean, that's the only way I could possibly get Jane out of jail. It's our only shot."
Cho nods, "I'll work on it. You will get it in the next day or so."
After lunch, Lisbon headed to the prison. She had no intention to see him today due to a massive amount of deskwork she had to get done, but she had to talk to him. Jane needs to know that people were working on getting him out of prison, and he needs to know about the two-hour time discrepancy, which he definitely did not know about.
So she sits in an uncomfortable hard plastic chair and twiddles her thumbs over her swollen baby, and is surrounded by men and women in tattoos of various shapes and sizes. Normally she would not have feelings of intimidation, but due to her pregnancy, it isn't hard to make her feel intimidated. The intimidation is usually followed by a strong protective maternal instinct.
A guard enters the room, "They are ready for everyone now," and gestures for them to follow.
Lisbon slowly stands and tightens the fabric of her black sweater around her pregnant frame. Chewing on her bottom lip, she proceeds towards the door and through the frame and down the corridor. This is an all too familiar action, but this time it almost feels like someone is forcing her to see Jane today. She does not particularly like this feeling. Sighing to herself and briefly closing her eyes as she suddenly feels the air conditioning brush over her skin, she opens them and is right in front of the visiting room. Looking over her shoulder, she sees people waiting eagerly and impatiently as the guard sticks his keys in and turns the lock. He steps aside and gestures, and Lisbon immediately sees Jane.
He looks happy to see her. His smile is large over his face and he sits up straight, but when his eyes catch the expression on her face, everything sobers. His posture does not falter, but he definitely takes notice of her stance as she moves towards him. She sighs and sits across from him slowly, and he turns around to face her.
"Teresa?" she does not say anything, for she does not know what to say to him without just blurting it out. Or maybe she should just blurt it out…
"Teresa?" he asks again, "Are you all right? Is the baby-."
She shakes her head, feeling her eyes grow watery, "No Jane, he's fine. I'm f-fine." Tears flow from her eyes. She feels so overwhelmed. If everything goes correctly in a sense, Jane could be out of prison soon. Their son wouldn't have to grow up without a father present.
Lisbon leans forward and takes his handcuffed hands in her own small ones. She runs her thumb over his knuckles and smiles, "There's a time discrepancy," he raises an eyebrow, not knowing what she is talking about.
"What time discrepancy?"
She smiles, "I didn't call Cho as soon as I found you," his eyes light up in recognition. Jane could have sworn that she would have immediately called Cho after he killed Red John, but apparently she had waited after their love making. How could he have missed this?
Jane looks down at their hands and pulls out of her grasp, only to pull her hands into his seconds after. Maybe things could be getting better for them. Maybe Jane could actually become free and actually see their son grow up. He already felt a pang of regret to an extent for not seeing him grow inside his mother for a long time, and then only to miss out on several candid moments. It was painful, but not as painful as it would have been if Red John had killed Lisbon.
He smiles and lifts up her hands to his lips and presses a kiss to her knuckles. She smiles at him and her heart momentarily stops briefly. It takes her only a matter of moments before she remembers that she has to ask him one important question that would definitely impact everything.
Clearing her throat, she looks up at him, "Patrick," he smiles up at her, no doubt feeling equal relief, "Where is that letter that Red John sent you?"
He pauses and he grips onto her hands tighter. Jane audibly gulps and looks down at the table, "I buried it in the backyard of my house in Malibu. It should be back in the envelope."
She nods, a wave of relief overcoming her. Maybe they actually have a shot at this.
Don't get me wrong, this is still going to be fairly angsty. I have a reputation to live up to, but I also have a reputation for giving a happy-ish ending ;)