All mistakes are my own, nothing else is. The story kind of took on an 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' thing, didn't it?
But I digress, time for some much needed sleep.
Epilogue
-One Year Later-
It was a sunny, cheerful day in New Jersey. Lisbon was sitting in a little cafe having lunch with her brothers before they left for the airport. She couldn't remember the last time she was this happy. Things were still slightly uncomfortable between Tommy, John and Mike, but things were improving. And to think, if it hadn't been for a murderer who tricked her and an entire building into thinking they would die from some super virus (all just so in the panic he could escape), she never would have realized it was high time to forgive Tommy and get the family back together.
A few tables over sat Jane, silently watching Lisbon laugh at one of her brother's jokes. He had moved to New York and often drove to New Jersey to 'check up on his client.' At least that's what he would tell himself. But no matter how often he told himself that, it never got rid of the brightness he felt when he saw her so happy, or the painful twinge that came when he remembered that she was happier because he no longer existed to her.
While so wrapped up in his thoughts, Jane didn't notice that the woman plaguing his thoughts had sat down in front of him. A sliver of panic pulsed through him that she might have recognized him, but the look in her eye gave away no hint of recognition. She just gave him a soft, comforting smile.
"I'm sorry to intrude, you just looked so sad. I thought that maybe you could use some company."
He glanced up at her cheek, finding himself unable to look her straight in the eye. He opened his mouth to speak, but could find no proper thing to say, so he just nodded before looking back into his cup of tea.
Lisbon reached across the table and gently placed her hand on top of his. It wasn't a loving gesture, it was meant as a comfort, and possibly a little persuasion. To get him to talk, if only to get the pain out in the open so that he might move on.
"I know this may sound a little weird, but when I was younger I sometimes would talk to strangers about what was going on in my life. It helped me get things off of my chest without feeling vulnerable around people I knew. And it helped me get unbiased viewpoints that helped me move forward."
Jane couldn't help but feel rapt in awe that, even to someone Lisbon considered a stranger, she showed nothing but kindness to. She was, in almost every way, a virtuous soul. Something he would never be.
"I... I made a bad decision. I didn't regret it at first, but now I do. Because I saw how much it hurt someone I loved. And now that person will never forgive me for what I did."
Lisbon made a face of utter disbelief.
"Everybody makes bad decisions. That doesn't mean you'll never be forgiven."
Jane just chuckled lightly.
"Right. I'm sure you've never made a bad decision that needed forgiveness in your life."
"Like you would know. I've made plenty of bad decisions in my life. Ones that rally hurt the people I loved. And vice versa.
Making bad decisions doesn't make you a bad person. Not if you feel remorse, which you obviously do. If you're really sorry about what you did and try to become a better person from it, then there's always room for redemption.
Just give her time. She may be angry now, but in time she'll forgive you."
For the first time in a long while, Jane found himself genuinely smiling. He may not have forgiven himself, but Lisbon, in an indirect way, had. It filled him with hope, something he'd never really ever felt before.
But as Lisbon excused herself after checking the time, Jane realized he'd never revealed the person he hurt was a woman.
OMG the button is not green anymore *points and gasps*