A/N: The very first thing I would like to say was that I loved last night's episode. Of course, I loved the part at the end where Jane was teasing Lisbon, but my favorite part was Jane, being Jane, calling the principal whatever he called him. :)

Now, for the moment you have all been waiting for, I present: what really happened.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

CHAPTER 16: The Dream

"So, where now?" Jane asked as he buckled his seatbelt and turned to face Lisbon.

She stared at the Grammar's house, biting her lip and thinking. "I don't know," she answered honestly, turning to look at him. "I mean, I was hoping that today I could begin my… mission to figure out what happened to me. But I honestly don't know where to start…" she trailed off, looking down thoughtfully. "I don't see where we could go."

He nodded slowly. "Well," he began. "We could start by trying to hypnotize you again."

She leaned back against the headrest. "We've tried that."

"Yes, but I don't see that we have any other options at the moment," Jane said patiently, jabbing the keys into the ignition and putting the car in reverse.

"And if that doesn't work?"

Jane put his piece-of-crap car in drive and sighed as he took off down the road. "I really wish I had an answer for you." His bright blue eyes flicked over to meet hers. "I hate not knowing the answers. I really don't know what we'd do from there."

She didn't push the issue any further, knowing very well that if Jane knew what to do, he'd let her know.

"I'm sorry," came his strained apology a few moments later.

"What?" she asked, perplexed. "Don't apologize."

"I will have a plan in motion," he promised her as he pulled into the parking lot of a quaint local coffee shop. "I just don't have one at the moment."

"I believe you." And she did. She had complete faith in Jane, especially when it came to this kind of stuff. If anybody could help her remember, it would be him.

X

"You ready?" he asked softly.

She took a deep breath, nodding her head. "Ready."

"Okay. I need you to close your eyes."

She did as he said.

"Clear your mind. This is an important step, Lisbon. Let your mind go blank." His voice was smooth, soothing. "You just smiled. You shouldn't be smiling. You should be clearing your mind," he scolded her.

"Sorry." Lisbon took a deep breath, letting everything that was on her mind creep away. She concentrated on the sound of Jane's voice as he spoke soft, soothing words to her. Pretty soon, the sound of his voice was so… distant, like he wasn't here with her anymore.

"Do you remember getting into bed that night?" Jane asked her.

She mumbled something like, "Mm-hmm."

"Good. Do you remember the approximate time you fell asleep?"

"Somethin' like..." She thought for a moment, her eyes still closed. "Ten-thirty? Somethin' like that," she slurred.

"What were you thinking about while you fell asleep?"

"You, probably," she murmured.

There was silence. It never occurred to Lisbon until later why Jane's questions had come to an abrupt pause. "Like what?" he asked.

She felt herself shrug. "The usual."

Another pause. "Okay." He hesitated. "Did you have any dreams that night?"

Lisbon squeezed her eyes shut, thinking hard. Had she dreamt that night? "Um, I…" she trailed off. Her memory went blank from there. Except… yes! She had dreamt that night! The meadow. The creek. The shouts. Jane. "Yeah," she whispered. "I dreamt that night."

"R-really?" Jane stammered, obvious surprise highlighting his tone. "What did you dream about, Lisbon?"

Lisbon didn't respond. Flashbacks of her running through the tall grass, leaning over the riverbed to get a better look, launching herself into the water. It was the same dream that she had had a few times.

Suddenly, there was an unfamiliar voice in her ear. "Miss Lisbon? Are you there?"

Teresa gasped, and her eyes flew open. The fuzziness in her senses began to melt away, and she was staring into Jane's hopeful eyes. "You remembered," he breathed, a slow smile spreading across his face. "You remembered that you dreamt, Lisbon!"

"But that's it," she whispered. "I don't remember waking up that night."

"It's okay!" He was like a giddy, excited kid on Christmas morning. "It's okay, because it's improvement!" He smiled and threw his arms around her, like he couldn't control himself. "Your memory is coming back, Lisbon," he said in her ear. "Slowly, but it's coming back!"

She nodded, unable to form a coherent sentence. All she could do was close her eyes, rest her head on his shoulder, and hope that he was right.

X

Riiing… Riiiing…

Her eyes snapped open and she groaned, rolling over to look at the digital alarm clock on her nightstand.

No, it couldn't be her alarm. It was only 2:30 AM.

Riiing… Riiing…

What the hell?

Was that her phone?

She snatched her phone from the nightstand, thinking that it was probably Jane, calling to let her know he was "bored".

Unknown Caller.

That's odd, she thought. It was probably just a bunch of stupid kids on a prank-calling spree, shooting to piss off random strangers in the middle of the night. She answered the call anyway. "Hello?" she mumbled.

"Hello, Miss Lisbon."

She knitted her brows together. "Hi?" When a creepy chuckle sent shivers down her spine, she asked, "Who is this?"

"I'm a… friend of a friend." Another dark, disturbing chuckle, like he thought he was the most amusing human being on the planet.

Lisbon sat up a little straighter, pulling the comforter closer to her chest. "And which friend might that be?" she asked, attempting not to let her voice shake.

"Patrick," he answered almost immediately, a bit smug. "He and I have been… acquaintances for some time now. It's awfully shameful how we had to meet, though. Friends don't speak poorly of friends behind their backs, do they?"

It took Lisbon's sleepy, foggy mind to comprehend what was going on here. But when she finally understood, her jaw dropped and her blood ran cold. "Red John?"

Another chuckle came across the line. "Well done, Miss Lisbon," he praised her. "I wasn't sure if you would catch my hints."

"I did," she growled between clenched teeth. "What do you want?"

"The real question is, what do you want?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"What it means is, I have your friend," he explained. "I am curious to see what you will do to keep him safe."

Lisbon gasped involuntarily. "You have Jane?" she demanded furiously.

"I do," he replied, calm and collected.

"I don't believe you!" she snarled.

There was a sigh on the other end. Lisbon waited as there was a shuffling sound on the other end, then, "Lisbon?"

And there it was. The telltale sound of Jane's worried voice. Lisbon clapped a hand to her mouth. She hadn't realized that she had started to cry until she felt the moisture soak into her hand. "Jane?" she croaked. "Jane, are you alright? Has he hurt you?"

"Proof enough for you?" came the other voice.

"Let me talk to him again!"

The man clucked his tongue. "I don't think so."

"Don't hurt him!" she blurted. "I'll do anything!"

The bastard chuckled again. "I thought you might say that," he purred. "I do have a compromise I am willing to propose." He sighed. "Patrick doesn't like it. I just… I feel like there's no other way."

"Tell me what I need to do."

He was smiling now, no doubt. "First, take out a piece of paper and pen. Tell everyone you love goodbye."

She didn't move. She sat in her bed as her fate slowly unfolded before her. There was no question in her mind that she was going to die tonight. Fear paralyzed her. She willed herself to move. You're doing this for Jane, she thought to herself as more tears escaped. Don't be a coward. You're doing this for Jane.

She found a pad of paper and a pen. Her hands trembled as she wrote:

To my team: It has been an honor working with you all. You are a great portion of the reason I love my job so much. You are amazing agents, an amazing consultant in Jane's case, and I know that you will do something incredible with your lives.

To my brothers: I love you three more than you could possibly imagine. I have no regrets when it comes to taking care of you years ago. Please, make peace with each other. It's my final wish, as I knew it always would be when this day would come.

I love you all. Take care of yourselves. I hope you can forgive me someday.

"Have you finished?" Red John asked her in a polite tone.

"Yes," she whispered as she shoved the note into the jeans that she was in the process of pulling on.

"Good. Now, do you know of the canyon that is behind your apartment building? It's a good, oh, mile. Mile and a half. Something like that."

"I know the place," she said flatly.

"Go to the cliff. Jump."

Her throat caught. "Jump," she repeated.

"Yes," he replied patiently. "Once you've done that, I will release Patrick. You are his only hope now, Miss Lisbon. I do hope that you make the right decision."

Lisbon bowed her head and covered her mouth with her hand, desperately trying to silence the sobs that were now rocking her body. She couldn't believe this was happening.

The amazing part about all of this was, she would jump off that cliff without a second thought, if it meant that Jane had a better chance of survival. What troubled her most was the fact that he was somewhere with a monster, the same monster who took everything away from him. The monster in question was probably torturing him, taunting him with heartbreaking memories of the deaths of his dearests. Jane was suffering, and she was his last hope.

"Miss Lisbon? Are you there?" Red John's voice droned.

"Lisbon? Lisbon!" came Jane's voice again.

"Jane!" she shrieked. She pulled on her sweatshirt. "I'm coming, I promise!"

"I'll be watching, Miss Lisbon," said the monster. "After you hang up with me, there will be no more phone calls. Understood? Just to be sure, turn off your phone and leave it home."

"But-"

"Arguing will not help Patrick." He chuckled. "I'm looking forward to seeing you, dear. Goodbye." Click.

"ROT IN HELL, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed at the phone, even though he had hung up. She turned off her phone, just as he had told her to, and slammed it down on the nightstand. She knew that throwing a temper tantrum would do her no good, but she didn't care. It was her last night. She was allowed to throw a fit.

She tried to make herself stop crying as she made her way through those dark woods behind her apartment complex. Red John and his men were probably watching her, snickering at her weakness. She wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up a little straighter, walked a little faster.

She wasn't an idiot. She knew that jumping off that cliff probably wouldn't save Jane's life. This was Red John, after all. He would probably force Jane to watch her jump, and then slit his throat immediately after. But she had to try. She couldn't just go back to sleep and do nothing.

Hell, if Jane was killed, she would never be able to sleep again. She would spend the rest of her life with her mind and soul right here, at this canyon, wishing she had jumped.

Now, she stood at the ledge of the cliff, her sneakers right on the edge. She shut her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "You aren't going to come out of your hiding place?" she asked out loud.

A dark chuckle coming from the shadows made her skin crawl. "I'm comfortable where I am, thank you very much." He paused. "I suppose you are going to ask to see him."

"No," she said, eyes still closed. "He doesn't need to see me like this."

Someone let out a strangled cry from the trees, like their mouth was being smothered. Jane, no doubt.

Lisbon squeezed her eyes shut and stepped off the ledge, letting out a shriek as she fell down, down, down…

She gasped and sat straight up in bed. Sweat soaked her hair and face, and she was panting.

"JANE!" she screamed. "JANE?"

"Lisbon!" came his cry from downstairs.

Lisbon threw the covers aside and jumped out of bed, struggling to hurry toward the door. Jane was quick, beating her to her bedroom door before she could get there. He rushed in, grasping her shoulders. "What is it? Are you hurt?"

"It's back!" she shrieked.

"What is?" he asked cautiously.

"My memory. It's back!"

A/N: Well, what do you know? Some people guessed that someone did it to her. Some people guessed that she did, in fact, jump. It's a little of both. Of course, there are still unanswered questions. Like, Red John couldn't have been holding Jane captive. He would have remembered that. Right? Or... why didn't RJ just kill Lisbon the old fashioned way? Why didn't he sneak into her home in the middle of the night, and perform his signature artistic skills with her blood? All in good time, my friends.

Thank you for reading. I'd love to hear what you think. Review, please?