A/N: Again, final chapter, and again, I think I prefer this POV to the other. It was fun trying to explore a case from Bosco's viewpoint, though I think I opened a kettle of worms I'm tempted to explore at a later date with Mandy... oops.

Thank you to: boutondor, lisbon69, Koezh, Divinia Serit, Dogeatdog, Viktorija and WildDaisies10 for reviewing. Esp. to Dogeatdog who signed in anonymously, Div for checking it over and Cat for the idea in the first place.

x tromana

Part Four

It was a blessed relief to see Lisbon's eyes slowly flutter open, even if her expression was a mixture of sheer confusion and pain.

Bosco had always hated seeing her hurt. It reminded him of the first time she'd injured herself in his presence, her shoulder to be precise, when flooring a suspect twice her size as a rookie. Despite the fact he'd tried desperately to persuade her to take at least a couple of days leave, Lisbon, already as stubborn as a mule, had walked into work the next day and he had watched as she winced desperately at her every move. Bosco had a feeling that this would be a relatively similar situation, though at least the fact she'd been hospitalized would mean she would be forbidden from working, at least for a while.

Van Pelt had already disappeared, soon after the doctor had told them that Lisbon should be recovering consciousness soon. Poor woman looked a little shaken up, probably having memories of the recent incident she had been involved in. It probably didn't help that he and Jane had spent the past couple of hours glaring at each other, blaming each other for Lisbon's injury. Realistically, they could have either blamed both of them, for leaving the brunette agent so frazzled, or nothing at all and explained it away as being a hazard of the job. Naturally, neither of them saw it that way though.

He couldn't help but reach out and touch her hand. Usually, she would flinch as he did so, feeling that any physical contact between the pair of them was wrong, but in her drowsy, drugged up state, she didn't really seem to mind. All things considering, it didn't really take Lisbon long to become coherent. And as expected, after a quick update on how the team was, she took control of the situation. Bosco didn't expect anything less of her, Lisbon had always prided herself in her ability to take control of a situation, however dire the consequences. It was just Patrick Jane who managed to undo all of her hard work and somehow managed to leave a competent agent looking like a young school girl who was completely at a loss as to how to do things.

"Does your wife know where you are?"

She was quiet and directly to the point. And absolutely right. In rushing to get to the hospital, he'd completely forgotten to update Mandy. She'd hopefully understand, or at least she probably would have if he'd just given her a quick telephone call. He took a deep intake of breath as Lisbon narrowed her eyes, observing him.

"Go home. Go see her."

With a sigh, he nodded, stood up and bid her a farewell. There was no point in trying to persuade her otherwise. He knew that she was on the road to recovery and arguing with Teresa Lisbon was entirely pointless in his opinion. Not that Patrick Jane appeared to agree with that sentiment, of course.

***

Mandy was furious when he walked though the front door five hours later than expected. The kids had already retired to their rooms, though whether or not they were sleeping would be another matter entirely. Carefully, he knelt down to scratch the cat underneath the chin, hoping to win the fickle creature over. Naturally, she turned tail and strolled off, probably to go yowling at the window at the male across the road. Traitorous beast. Though she could have said many things, Mandy, like the cat, just placed his dinner in front of him with a contemptuous gaze and strolled off coolly. He ate quickly, fearing that he would insult her even more by refusing to eat the meal she had kindly made him before even attempting to talk to her. Sam approached her tentatively, already regretting his actions earlier that day.

"Why the hell were you so late, Sam?" she hissed, prodding him gently in the chest. "Why didn't you call?"

"I was at the hospital."

Her gaze softened and instead of carrying on with her angry tirade, Mandy wrapped her arms around her husband's waist. She knew all the members of his team fairly well, if only by reputation rather than directly. And as he cared so deeply about them, that meant that, naturally, she did too. For a few seconds, she listened to his heartbeat, somewhat reassured that it wasn't him who had been injured. She wasn't quite sure what she would do without him. As far as Amanda Bosco was concerned, everything about her life was dictated by her husband and therefore, if he was gone, she would lose everything.

"Who was hurt? Are they going to be okay?"

He shook his head.

"Teresa. She should be fine."

"Oh," she murmured before taking a seat. "I'm always going to share you with her, aren't I?"

Just an hour later and they found themselves in bed. Neither of them had talked much, not since Mandy had announced that she pretty much saw Lisbon as a threat to her marriage and Bosco had refused to answer. Of course Lisbon was important to him and was going to remain so, but Mandy was even more so. Still, for some reason he couldn't bring himself to answer. Maybe he shouldn't have agreed to take on the Red John case. The kids may have been getting older and therefore he had more time for work, yes, but that didn't mean he should be sacrificing his relationship with his wife over work and work colleagues, however long he'd known them for.

***

"Oh stop it, Sam, I'm not an invalid."

Bosco took the crutches off of her and laid them carefully across the back seat. As far as he was concerned, she was heading back to work far too soon, but it was virtually impossible trying to tell somebody like Lisbon that. Her job was her life and he knew full well that she had been going insane at home. A couple of weeks of desk duty wouldn't be all that much better, but at least she would be doing something and would feel useful again.

"How's Mandy?"

"Fine."

"Sam…"

"She's unhappy."

"Don't neglect her. She's a good woman."

"I know."

"Good."

They spent the rest of the journey in silence, Lisbon reacting a little bit frostily, scared that she had effectively been accused of the friction that had been occurring between Bosco and his wife. Sam noted this and didn't force her to talk as that would mean she would just withdraw further away from him. She didn't deserve that, especially considering everything she and her team had been through lately. He did, however, beam at her when her face lit up at the sight of the CBI headquarters coming into view. Really, a woman shouldn't be so enthusiastic about being back at work. Lisbon, typically, refused all help as she slowly made her way to her office and Bosco made sure that he was only a couple of steps behind. After he placed her belongings on her desk, he turned to face her, wishing there was more he could do for her.

"He's going to be the death of you."

"I'll see you later, Sam."

Bosco nodded and quietly withdrew from the situation. The man he'd been talking about would be there to bother her soon and frankly, the less he saw of Jane, the better. After all, he couldn't be certain, but going by Jane's track record, he could land up being the death of him too.

end