A/N: And another chap of these two. Hooray? I don't know. My plot bunnies keep getting distracted. I swear I have no control over them whatsoever. Thank you to Crackle for betaing. You're sweet, but nuts, considering you're now doing three of my fics at once. I promise I won't load any more onto you any time soon!

Thanks to: Sarcasm-the Lowest Form of Wit, boutondor, Koezh, phoenixmagic1, yaba, lisbon69, Divinia Serit and Viktorija for reviewing part two.

Now to double check Outside and then I can post that too!

x tromana

Part Three

"Rigsby, I want you and Cho to go to the hospital. See if you can talk to Creston. I want to know if he recognized his attacker."

Rigsby nodded and hurried away from Lisbon. Alone once more, she took a deep breath and headed towards the bullpen. She needed Jane, not because he'd be any good if things got out of hand, but because his opinion on Grimshaw would be useful. And if nothing else, it would keep her consultant out of trouble for a while and give her some company on the two hour car ride. Not that she would ever dare explicitly tell him she enjoyed his company. Jane's ego was already large enough to suck out all the oxygen in the CBI headquarters and it really didn't need fueling any further.

But with the kind of mood Jane had been in all week, she had half a mind to consider leaving him behind and just taking Van Pelt instead. She knew it wouldn't take the redhead long to process the CCTV footage from the area where Creston was attacked for anything useful and unless something big came up, this was going to provide a useful opportunity for the younger woman to practice her skills. Still, as Jane was coming along, Lisbon could only hope that he would choose to behave on this occasion so that she could focus more of her attention onto Van Pelt. Bosco had told her that Grimshaw owned a firearm too, which didn't help either. She didn't much like the idea of being stuck in the middle of an impromptu shootout, even with Van Pelt by her side. But knowing her luck at the moment…

While picking up the three Kevlar vests from the stores, she tried to dismiss the thought. Just because if felt like everything was going wrong and Jane was famed for causing trouble, it didn't mean that something bad was about to happen. She shook her head slightly as she thanked the man who handed her the goods. Obviously she was getting twitchy and thoughts like that were detrimental to her career.

Lisbon jumped when somebody's hand gently squeezed her left shoulder. She had been half a second away from giving Bosco a black eye, but she had managed to stop herself from punching him just in time. She was still angry with him though, so treated him to a fierce glare as he took a couple of steps backwards, giving her a little space.

"What do you want, Sam?"

"To apologize."

"Really?" she questioned and raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What's the point in saying you're sorry if you don't actually mean it?"

"I…"

"You're sorry you've made me angry, I get that. But you'll never be sorry for questioning my…" she paused as she considered the right way to phrase her relationship with Jane. "Friendship with my consultant."

Gripping tightly onto the objects she had come to collect, Lisbon used her entire body weight to push past Bosco. She knew that she had probably gone a little too far with what she had said just then, but she meant every word. Besides, she didn't have time to worry about his concerns. She had cases to solve and so did he.

And not only that, but she had to persuade a certain blond that it would be a very good idea to wear a protective vest before walking head first into a dangerous situation.

***

"I hate hospitals."

Cho glanced over at his colleague and let out a slow, measured breath of exasperation. Rigsby had repeated the same thing time and time again fir the past two hours and frankly, he was growing a little bored of it. Though the larger agent had a point, Cho couldn't help but think that there probably wasn't such thing as a person who actually liked hospitals except possibly the staff who worked there. And even then, they'd probably be ambivalent about the institutions at best.

"How much longer do we have to wait?"

Wishing that he had remembered his book so that he didn't have to put up with Rigsby's stupid questions, Cho shrugged again. They'd been told that they could they could talk to Creston once he woke up from sedation. That was exactly two hours and twenty seven minutes ago. He was hoping that it wouldn't be all that much longer because Rigsby was really beginning to get on his nerves and Cho was famed for having the patience of a saint, so that was saying something. Still, at least he hadn't taken to waxing lyrical about Van Pelt. That would have been even harder to stomach.

Eighteen minutes later, though it felt like a lifetime to Cho, they finally gained access to Creston's private room. No, he hadn't seen his attacker's face, he said. Yes, he suspected that it was the boy who Jared Grimshaw had been feuding with though. And yes, he was sorry he couldn't be of any more assistance (if only because the new developments looked likely to clear his name). As they bid him farewell, Cho flexed and straightened his fingers in the hope that it would alleviate some of the tension he was carrying around. All that waiting had been pretty much a complete and utter waste of time. He'd only found out that Grimshaw was getting into regular fights with one person - and they hadn't even got a name at that.

Still, at least they could get back to CBI headquarters and Rigsby could stop whining. If they stopped off at a Subway or something first, the man would be happy all day.

***

After Van Pelt had finished her task, they were on their way. The CCTV footage had been of little use, only picking up on the number plate of a stolen white van. Lisbon decided that there was something strangely comforting about the younger woman's presence - it almost made her feel safer knowing that she had another agent with her. She still couldn't shake the shrinking feeling that something was going to go wrong purely because it was turning into one of 'those' days. Given the opportunity, she would have liked to spend the rest of the day at home watching trashy movies, where the greatest threat she would encounter would be running out of popcorn or spilling her drink.

As she pulled up at Grimshaw's home address, she frowned slightly at Van Pelt. The younger woman looked concerned too. It was the sight of a young man, dressed in a hooded sweater loitering and seemingly matching the description of the boy Grimshaw was fighting with that Rigsby had just passed onto them. After demanding that Jane stayed put until they'd had a chance to fully assess the situation, Lisbon slipped out of the driver's seat, relieved and almost proud of the fact that he had listened for a change. With Van Pelt covering her back, she headed towards Grimshaw's front door and knocked loudly.

As the door opened to reveal a scruffy young man, a shot whistled through the air, seemingly coming from out of nowhere. Van Pelt's eyes widened as she spotted the boy they had noticed earlier suddenly take flight and she gave chase, pinning him to the ground and cuffing him within half a minute. Jane, however, flew out of the car, just as Lisbon collapsed to the ground, the bullet embedded deep in her thigh.

TBC…