Title: Red Window

Author: Shannon – shannyfish

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Mentalist" or its characters, Warner Brothers and Bruno Heller do. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.

Rating: R (to be safe)

Summary: Sequel to "Suffering is the Best Punishment". With Lisbon gone, Jane leaves CBI to set out to find her and to kill Red John. He won't let Red John kill his family again.

Warning: adult themes

Chapter 6 – "Shopping and Trying to Set off Alarms"

Author's Note: Trailer for "Suffering is the Best Punishment"…not sure how I'd make one for this one, but I shall think on it!

http: / www. mega video. com/ ?v = Q581AW2H

(take out the spaces for )

...

"A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men" – Martin Fraquhar Tupper

Ketchum, Idaho

Lisbon woke to find herself clothed in her pajamas and in the room with the red window. The room that was supposed to be hers. She immediately started to assess herself for injury and signs of rape. She knew what the reports all said in cases of rape, the medical reports. She felt like she had the day before. She didn't feel injured or bruised or anything. She got up and stripped down in order to further examine her own body. She remembered vividly how heavy Simon's body had felt about her almost naked one the night before.

She didn't see any bruising or anything that would be cause for alarm. Lisbon went into the drawers and started to pull out fresh clothes for the day. Thoughts ran through her head like why Simon hadn't done it when he had the chance. He'd been upset; it had been the most upset and angry that she'd seen in him since they'd met. But instead he'd just brought her to bed and put her in her pajamas and tucked her in.

After she dressed, she peeked out the door to only find that she didn't see anyone. Simon was normally on the couch watching a cooking show or in the kitchen. She slowly emerged from the room and looked around. She even ventured down the hall only to find his door open and his room empty. That was curious. Turning, she headed back towards the door to the house and stopped when she heard Simon's voice outside speaking. Her heart stopped when she heard a child's sobs. She figured that she had to take the chance and find out what was happening.

She looked outside to see familiar faces. Too many familiar ones. Lisbon opened the door and stepped out without thinking. Simon was talking to Carl and Ed who were holding a frightened Kaydance Millary. Lisbon knew it was her, she'd stared at the picture long enough when she'd been working on the kidnapping case. "What's going on?" she asked and all faces turned to her.

"We brought you an early Christmas present," Carl said and pushed the girl towards her.

Lisbon moved forward and crouched down to catch the child before she could hit the ground. She protectively held the girl close. "You took her and held her this long?"

"We didn't know if Simon could even handle you," Carl told her. "I thought he'd only last a day once we left… So, so far, he's only ahead by a few days…"

"It's going to be okay, Kaydance," Lisbon whispered to the girl and rubbed the little girl's back. She was more than scared and Lisbon couldn't help but wonder where she'd been for the weeks before. Had they really just held onto her for this long?

"I really don't like that name," Simon complained and turned towards Lisbon and the girl.

"Well, she's yours now…you can change it," Ed pointed out.

"Simon?" she questioned. She wasn't sure what was going on, all she knew was that she was happy to see the little girl alive and safe.

"She's going to be our daughter," Simon explained. "I like Katie better. You're going to be Katie."

Lisbon just frowned deeply and gathered up the girl in her arms. She wondered if they'd been planning all of this for that long. If they went out into public as a 'family' she doubted that anyone would doubt it. Kaydance looked enough like her to pass for her daughter. "It's okay," she repeated quietly to Kaydance as she turned and carried her into the house.

She took the child into her bedroom and closed the door. Lisbon set the frightened girl on the bed and sat down next to her. "Do you know how I know your name?"

Kaydance shook her head. Tears were still freely flowing down her cheeks and she'd sniffle every couple of minutes.

"I'm a cop," she said. She knew that kids usually understood that. "I actually was looking for you before they brought me here."

"Are they going to lock me in a room again?" she asked.

Lisbon frowned deeply. "No, I won't let that happen," she promised. She moved so that they were face to face. "Do you know how to pretend?"

Kaydance nodded.

"I'm going to need you to pretend so that we can get out of here. Can you do that?"

She nodded again.

"I know that it's not your name, but we're going to have to pretend that your name is Katie okay? He's trying to pretend that we're a family. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "Are the mean men going to stay?"

"I don't know," she told the girl honestly.

"They put this on me," Kaydance said and pulled up her pant leg to reveal a matching anklet.

Lisbon frowned. "Do you know what it does?"

"It hurts me if I'm bad."

Lisbon pulled up her jean leg and revealed her own. "I won't let him do that. It should only go off if we try to go to the road."

"How do we leave then?"

"My friends, they're going to come and get us…but for now…for right now we have to pretend to be happy and that we're a family. Okay?" Lisbon asked.

"'kay."

There was a brief knock and then the door was opened and Simon let himself in. "What are you doing?"

"Katie and I were just chatting… She was scared. I was just telling her that everything's going to be okay," Lisbon told him. "I wasn't sure if you wanted her to sleep in here or if she got to have the other room?"

Simon stared at them both for a long moment. "I haven't gotten her any things yet."

"We can go shopping tomorrow," Lisbon said. "Get her a bed set, some clothes, some things…"

"I don't know…"

"Can we get a Christmas tree?" Kaydance asked quietly after a moment.

Lisbon looked at her, she was rubbing her eyes. "Christmas is coming up," she said and hugged the child to her closer. So far, Kaydance was doing okay. She thought it would help once it was just the three of them. Ed and Carl just scared her. The reality that they still might be there through Christmas was highly depressing, but Lisbon tried to put on a smile.

"Ed and Carl are not staying the night. The other room is supposed to be Katie's room," Simon said.

"Can I stay in here tonight? Please?" Kaydance asked.

Lisbon dropped a kiss to the girl's forehead and then turned to Simon. "They've had her locked up in a room for how many weeks now? She's just scared… I'm sure once it's got things in it for her that she'll be fine sleeping in there."

"We should probably get some snow clothes," Simon said. "Do you like snow, Katie?"

"I haven't gotten to play in snow before…" Kaydance said in a whisper.

"You haven't? Okay, then it's solved. We go shopping tomorrow."

…

The drive was long, but Simon had insisted that it was necessary. The house wasn't really too far from basic stores like the grocery store or the gas station, but something like Target took about a two hour drive to get to one. Lisbon was just happy that Kaydance had fallen asleep. It was probably for the best. They'd left early and she'd ensured that the little girl ate a good sized meal and had used the bathroom before they left. She'd felt bad having to put Kaydance back into the same clothes that she'd come in, she didn't know how long she'd been in that same set.

"Why don't you make a list?" Simon suggested. "There should be a pad of paper and a pen in the glove box."

He was driving like usual, which in this case she really didn't care. She'd keep keeping track of signs. He'd said that they were journeying down to Twin Falls, which sounded like it may be a bit bigger on the map than Ketchum. She wasn't even sure if they had a post office there or if the mail was picked up and stamped for another city.

So, she pulled out the paper and pen and started to make a list.

- bedding set

- snow clothes and boots

- clothes and shoes

- toys

- videos

- books

Lisbon honestly wasn't really sure what Kaydance Millary was used to. She was a senator's daughter, but she didn't know if she was spoiled or not. They hadn't gone to the senator's house or investigated the little girl's room since she'd disappeared at the gala event at the capitol building. It hadn't been necessary. So, she was just guessing.

Two hours later and Simon was pulling them into a rather crowded Target parking lot. She waited until Simon opened his door first before opening hers. She got out and immediately went to help Kaydance out. She shut both doors and met Simon at the back of the vehicle.

"Have the list?" he asked.

She nodded and kept a hold of Kaydance's hand. They started to walk through the parking lot and towards the entrance. It was a pretty good sized one, she was sure that since some people had to drive from so far away that they needed to have a good sized one. It was sort of nice, she thought, to have something that she'd taken for granted in California to be able to go into the familiar where she was. Even if it wasn't under good circumstances.

Simon pulled out a cart and then lifted Kaydance into it. She was five years old, but Lisbon was pretty sure that she was small for her age…or maybe she was just remembering Kaydance in comparison to the size she remembered her brothers being at that age. So far, she didn't seem to mind being put in the cart, her legs were a little long and it took an extra couple of seconds to get her in comfortably.

"Why don't you start going towards the bedding section, go ahead and pick some things out. Make sure that you get two extra blankets. It's going to start getting cold. I need to make a call," Simon told her.

Lisbon just nodded and pulled out the list and told Kaydance that she was in charge of it before starting to push the red plastic cart in the direction. She was thankful that there were huge signs, it meant that Simon couldn't blame her for doing anything suspicious when she would normally just be lost. She looked over her shoulder for a moment to check on him, but kept going forward.

"You know what we should do?" Lisbon asked the girl.

"What?"

"We need to make sure we get you a brush and some hair things. I could braid your hair," she told her. The smile she got out of Kaydance was enough to make her day. "Sound good?"

"Can they be pink? I like pink."

"If they have it, the it can definitely be pink," she said as she rounded a corner and knew they were close to the bedding. "Is there anything special you want for your bedroom?"

"I don't know," Kaydance said with a shrug.

Lisbon smiled brightly. Even though they were both still technically prisoners, she was enjoying her time with Kaydance. She really hadn't thought about having a child of her own. She'd raised her brothers for a good period of her life growing up. Her career had always come first and she hadn't gotten serious to the point where children came up with anyone.

She found two aisles with children's bedding and she started down the first one. "Let's look first and then we'll pull what you want." There was a character aisle and just a generic kids aisle. They were going down the generic aisle first.

"I like the one with the flowers and fairies," Kaydance said.

"Well, let's remember that and we'll go down the next aisle," Lisbon told her as they rounded the corner and started down the next aisle. When Kaydance crinkled her nose at everything on that aisle, they went back to the other aisle. Lisbon was happy to not have to pull the Hello Kitty bed set. There was something about the cat with the big bow that irked her. So, they returned for the Circo Fairy Bed Set. It was placed in the cart and then went on to look for the two extra blankets like Simon had requested.

Lisbon found a bright pink down comforter and a light green fuzzy blanket, both would match the bed set, so she figured that they were good there. They'd done that part of the list and it was probably easier without Simon there. Since Simon was no where to be seen, she automatically headed to the clothing section figuring it wasn't that far off from where they'd been. He probably just didn't want to do all the girly shopping.

They took their time and picked out panties, socks, pajamas, shirts, pants, jackets, gloves, hats, scarves. The only things that wasn't in the section were boots and shoes. Finally, she saw Simon and he apparently saw them. He was now walking their way, which she thought was good because that meant that they could get the last few things and then head out. She was actually really hungry now.

"Having fun?" Simon asked.

"Yes," Kaydance said with a bright smile. "I even have a pretty pink hat!" she said as she held up the item. "It has pom poms on the ends."

Lisbon smiled brightly, the simplest things made the child so happy.

"Good, that's good… What else do we need?" he asked.

"Shoes, boots…and then I figured we may want to get her a DVD and a toy…and we'll also need a brush and some hair bands."

"Lead on," Simon said.

Their total store trip probably took close to two and a half hours, was all Lisbon could think when they were finally at the check out lane. Simon's phone went off, she watched him frown at the caller ID.

"Here," he said as he handed her a credit card. "Use this. I'll meet you back here in a minute… Get a snack or something if you have to wait for me."

"Okay," Lisbon said as casually as possible. She looked down at the card. The name on it was Simon Evans. Good to know the possibly last name of her captor she thought. There'd been no postcards throughout the store, which had left her plan for another postcard at not happening. As she waited for their turn, she watched the person in front of her being processed. The checker asked the woman in front of her if she wanted a credit card, that would require a social security number. If Simon wasn't back by then, she'd try to do that…to get the number that was sure to be watched to beep somewhere in California.

It came her turn and she asked Kaydance to keep an eye out for Simon as she did the same. The bags went into the cart and she waited for the total.

"Four hundred sixty five and eighty three cents," the checker said. "Would you be interested in opening a Target Card?"

"How long would it take?" Lisbon asked.

"Just a minute," he assured her.

"Okay, why not? Do I have to use it today?"

"Not if you don't want to."

"Okay," she repeated and followed the on screen steps as quickly as she could. She put in her name and social security number and address in California and prayed that the CBI was watching it.

"Okay, you've been approved," the checker said and handed her the receipt version of her new credit card.

Lisbon immediately stuffed it into her pocket and then ran Simon's credit card and signed for it. She looked up at the black half sphere camera above them and whispered to Kaydance to do the same.

"Your receipt," the checker said holding it out.

"Thanks," Lisbon said with a bright smile and headed over to the food court area. She double checked to make sure that the credit card receipt was folded and tucked so that Simon wouldn't see it.

"Is it going to be a long ride back?" Kaydance asked.

"Probably…"

Kaydance frowned. "We didn't get our Christmas tree…"

"Oh, I forgot," Lisbon admitted. "I forgot to write it down." She frowned and looked around. They were supposed to meet Simon there. "Why don't we get a pretzel or something while we wait for him and then we'll figure out about the Christmas tree?"

"'kay…"

They waited for what felt like an hour before Simon appeared with his own shopping cart complete with a bunch of bags. "Sorry it took so long, I realized while I was on the phone that we didn't get the Christmas things… I hope you don't mind that I picked them out? The tree is waiting over in the garden section," he explained. "We can pull up the car and they'll help me strap it to the top."

"Yay!" Kaydance said in excitement.

"I'm glad you remembered… Katie was getting upset, but we didn't want to leave here and end up not letting you know where we were going," Lisbon said as evenly as she could.

"Shall we just pick up fast food on our way?" he asked.

"I'm okay with that, but let me run Katie to the bathroom before we get back in the car," she said as she lifted the little girl out of the cart.

Minute later they both returned and they moved both carts out to the car. It wasn't a compact car; she'd thought it was more of a cross between a sedan and a station wagon. All the company decals had been removed. They loaded the back of the vehicle with the bags after Kaydance was safely in her seat. The tree was put on several minutes later and they were off.

…

Lisbon sat outside of the house with Kaydance. It had snowed and though it was cold, they were both pretty comfortable in the heavier jackets they both wore. Kaydance had even put on her hat, gloves, and scarf for good measure. They were sitting outside on a bench made out of trees. It was nice and quiet. Simon was making dinner. It had been quite a long day. She had laundry going so that the bedding would be clean for Kaydance. They had already discussed putting up the tree in the morning.

"Do you think my parents miss me?" Kaydance asked suddenly.

She looked down at the little girl. It was such an odd question. "Of course they miss you," she said quickly. "They love you."

"But they don't take care of me how you do," Kaydance said and looked down at the snow.

Lisbon frowned. "Sometimes parents don't realize that they should be doing little things like going shopping with you," she tried to explain. She knew that that wasn't always true. Sometimes parents were just bad parents. They were clueless. They ignored their children. She really wasn't sure what to decide as far as the senator and his wife were concerned. Maybe they were just too consumed with work, which was really only something you could do when you didn't have children.

She knew that if this was her child, then she wouldn't be working long hours at CBI and she'd have some kind of system set up so that Kaydance was picked up after school. She'd make it work and if she had to…she'd switch her job so that she wasn't at work so much if she had to. It was just something you had to figure out. Kaydance was five years old, that was a lot of time for the Millarys to figure out how to work their lives around their adorable daughter.

Kaydance leaned against her and Lisbon put her arm around the girl. "At least we have a Christmas tree…" Kaydance said.

It was so sad to hear the little girl. She almost seemed like she was happier there with them both being held prisoner. Yes, it was probably a fairly good situation considering everything, but Lisbon had no plans of living her life there. CBI was looking for her, looking for them both, and she knew that they would find them. She hoped it was before Christmas. It seemed like they'd been there for too many weeks as it was. She had lost track of days, Simon didn't keep a calendar and the TV was all local stuff and unless you watched the news there were no dates anywhere to be seen.

"It'll work out," she said, more to herself than to Kaydance. She looked up at the sky as snowflakes started to fall again.

Her thoughts went to her team and Jane… Had they gotten her postcards? Had they understood the clues that she'd given them? Were they even working her case? Were they even still at CBI together? There were so many questions and no way that she could really ask them properly.

All she knew was that Christmas was coming and she wanted to be home for Christmas…even if California decided they should have a hundred degree weather Christmas.

…

TBC…