TWO

"Senator John Cagley, victim's father, is in interrogation room one. Rachel Cagley, victim's mother, is in room three. In room two-"

"Send everyone home. I can't work here, it's too sterile." Jane didn't need to hear Abbott's rundown. What he needed to know couldn't be found here in these white walls and neon lights. The lobby of the FBI's local field office was an endless sea of brightness. White walls, white tile floor, white folding chairs, white receptionist's desk, white receptionist...

"Excuse me?" Abbott was incredulous. Was this man ever going to bring sanity to the table?

Patrick shrugged. "I can't work here. Everyone's going to act guilty in this environment. It's cold, intimidating. Boring. Yuck."

"Fortunately for us, and the boy's family, you don't get a say." Fischer said.

Lisbon knew Jane had his reasons for wanting to let everyone go, but still tried to appeal to his sensibilities for the sake of diplomacy. "These people were asked to come in for interviews and complied despite receiving the worst news possible only hours ago. We're not just going to send them home."

"If you want anything useful from me, you'll need to send them home and schedule interviews at each of their houses for tomorrow."

"We'll conduct interviews where and when -I- say, Mr. Jane. We are not sending these people home without learning everything we can from them." Abbott was obviously short on patience, yet his composure never wavered. As supervisor he would get his way. Period. And the look Lisbon was giving Jane pleaded with him to just stand down for the time being.

"Alright." He shrugged again. "It's not like I have anywhere else to be, wasting time is as good a pastime as any."

Abbott stared at his new asset for an uncomfortably long moment, seemingly searching for something to say, then gave up. "Lisbon, you and I will be in the observation rooms for these interviews speaking to Agent Fischer and Jane through earpieces when necessary. Jane, Kim will be conducting each interview while you refrain from speaking unless absolutely needed."

Lisbon raised her brows at this. Jane control his tongue? Right. Abbott motioned for her to follow him then disappeared through a windowless door. With one last pleading look at Jane, and his cheeky grin in response, she too left the lobby.

"You know," Fischer turned to him following the departure of their colleagues, ready to take advantage of a rare moment alone with Jane, "She says she doesn't know how she made it work. With you, I mean."

Did she mean Lisbon? He was not about to have this conversation. "Shouldn't we be focused on our jobs? We have important people to intimidate."

Kim was unperturbed. "I think part of her believes she actually managed to control you somehow. But as good an agent as she may be, that's not how you work, is it?" The senior agent had spent the last several months taking in and digesting the interactions she observed between Patrick Jane and Teresa Lisbon since his return to the States; there was something about their relationship she hadn't been able to quite piece together. What exactly tied this man so strongly to that woman? One's mind couldn't help but assume a romance, that passion would be the only thing that could keep two people fiercely bound together through everything she had read in their files regarding their careers and McCallister, followed by a prolonged separation. Yet she truly believed there had been no misconduct between detective and consultant. So what was behind this almost excessive loyalty if not a deep and abiding love? She hadn't really understood until recently. But now, having seen the occasional glimpse of them in private moments such as earlier by the SUVs, there was no doubt in her mind about one thing. It -was- love. The only question was, how much did either one of them even acknowledge that?

Jane stared disbelieving at Kim, completely taken aback. Where did she intend to go with this? At his silence, she continued, "You can't be controlled, can you? Not unless you want to be. You've already proven yourself willing to give up everything to get your way. So what is it about Agent Lisbon that makes you want to be near her, under her control?"

"Believe me when I say this," Patrick's voice was low, "I will address the subject of Lisbon this one time only. In the beginning, she was the one heading the investigation into Red John. She was someone I needed to achieve my goals since my connection to her gave me hands-on access to that case. Over the course of our working together, her unwavering honor and integrity made me want to show her the same, give back to her the respect and loyalty she offered me and everyone else around her. Lisbon is all goodness and honesty. I came to trust her implicitly, no one else. If you mean to imply anything illicit between myself and Agent Lisbon or that she has been anything less than a professional entirely worthy of the regard I've shown her, we may find ourselves with a problem." By the end of his little monologue, his voice had risen just enough to tell Fischer she'd managed to ruffle his feathers. Finally. It was nice to see him being the one off balance for once.

She wasn't intimidated by his tone or his glare, Kim rather found herself more and more appreciating the constant challenge that was Patrick Jane. "Well I will address this only once, as well, Patrick. So far, I like Lisbon. Her file certainly speaks for her character. Unlike my colleague," she gestured toward the door Abbott had led Lisbon through, "I don't have any reservations about her or her value to our team, no matter how she ended up here. My concern-actually, my shared concern with SA Abbott-is you. Now, I don't know about Lisbon, but she seemed pretty reluctant to end up here..." Kim paused when Jane couldn't help but flinch at that, "Let me get right down to it. I think you have feelings for her. Not only friendship, or loyalty. I believe you're in love with her and we need to know that that's not going to be a problem." She raised a hand to stop him when he opened his mouth to object before persisting, "We're not going to tolerate inter-office drama at the FBI, or find ourselves one day risking someone's life because some lover's quarrel interferes with good judgement. We don't have time to deal with broken hearts or any lack of focus on the job. And if we notice any of these problems, whose credibility do you think will be ruined? Who do you think will need to go? Our deal is with you, Jane."

Kim waited for him to respond, but he seemed almost dumbstruck. He wasn't looking at her, but through her, lost in his own thoughts.

"Patrick, have I made myself clear?"

No, he thought to himself. He was blindsided by this topic, felt ambushed into addressing that which he was still sorting out for himself. Oh, he knew Kim was right. He'd known for a long time that what he felt for Lisbon was more powerful than simply friendship. Even in paradise, finally free from Red John's domination, he would imagine Lisbon with him to make it through each day. He'd convinced himself it was loneliness and his decade-long connection to the little brunette that left him pining for her company, but when the presence of a beautiful, unattached woman-the very one in front of him right now awaiting his response-didn't stop him from thinking in terms of letters to Lisbon, didn't stop him from wanting to share everything with her and imagine her reaction to it all, he had to face facts. His connection to Teresa Lisbon wasn't merely the fruit of their shared proximity for so many years and something that could fade when that proximity ended. He needed her. He realized when Kim mentioned that going back could actually mean moving forward that maybe moving forward -with- Lisbon was exactly what he needed to free himself from the misery and loneliness handed him by McCallister so many years ago. Running away certainly hadn't done it. Rather, he'd become as motionless as ever, getting older but not going anywhere. He needed to finally let himself be happy to move forward, and there was only one person who gave him honest to God happiness.

Once back in Lisbon's presence he found himself giddy, extraordinarily moved to finally see her face and hear her voice again. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, if that was even possible. But looking into her eyes, Jane remembered why they'd never crossed that boundary between friendship and lovers before. For a while he'd actually forgotten, blamed strictly himself and his own obsession.

He was fully aware that Lisbon cared for him, he had seen love slowly grow in the way she looked at him over the years. At first recognition of her feelings, Jane had actually felt confounded, but soon he was coveting her affection for him. The way she would look at him, it grounded him. Still, he was completely unwilling to explore his own feelings any deeper. His concern was not just that Red John might target Lisbon-heaven knows he didn't need to sleep with her for the killer to have known she was his Achilles' heel-but that he could be happy with her. To love someone as good and decent as Teresa Lisbon could easily have stolen Jane's resolve to destroy the man who'd slaughtered his wife and child. He didn't want to become complacent, he didn't want to grow any more weary of his hunt than he already sometimes had felt. He never wanted to resent Lisbon for something that wouldn't have been her fault: his preference for her arms, her bed, over his quest for revenge. The only other option would have left her with a lover who didn't put her first, and he wouldn't have been able to bear that, either. She deserved better than what he could offer, so Jane forced himself to ignore what he saw in her gaze, all the while refusing to acknowledge the way he felt about her, as well, denying to himself the way she had become as important to his existence as oxygen.

But the fact of the matter was, Lisbon warred with her feelings for him as much as he warred with his for her. Alongside of the love he saw in her eyes was something that sometimes hurt him: Lisbon didn't -want- to love him. He understood it was fear to blame. She was afraid of him for reasons that had nothing to do with him and reasons that had everything to do with him. On top of worry over her reputation, Lisbon was someone who loved so well that she had been left fragile. The loss of her mother, the downfall of her father, three trouble-prone brothers, and lost loves past, each had left her a little more broken until her heart was but pieces precariously stacked back together after each blow. She pushed people away because she feared how easy it would be for anyone she let close to topple what she'd so carefully pieced together over the years. So it didn't help that she didn't completely trust Jane, and if he put ego aside and was honest with himself, he couldn't even blame her for that.

For a long time he genuinely could not have predicted what her reaction might have been if he were to give in and woo her. Would she melt, confident in the knowledge that he returned her feelings, or would she run as fast as she could, unable to believe he was trustworthy with her heart and not wanting to risk her only true friendship?

Although it had taken him until long after the adrenaline of finally killing the man who'd slaughtered his family had worn off to become conscious of it, any doubt he'd had about how she would receive him was washed away the day he left her alone in the sunset. He had nearly faltered at the openness he saw in her face after expressing to her just what value she had to him. He was so close to Red John he could taste it, yet for one moment after he'd held her in his arms, felt her slim waist as he lifted her phone, he hesitated and nearly chose to stay on the cliff with her and do nothing more than watch the sun go down. But a serial murderer who'd laid his hands on her once already was out there, and she didn't deserve any of the resentment he might have felt if he'd missed that opportunity to stop the depravity once and for all and enact his revenge.

He thought about that evening on the cliff his entire trip back to the United States, to Lisbon. He thought that maybe they were both ready to end their static lives and move forward with something new together, and pictured their reunion over and over again based on what her reaction to him had been on that night two years ago. And then she was there, really there in front of him. And he really could reach out and touch her. And he really was finally once again looking into her beautiful eyes... her eyes...

...Her eyes that regarded him with every ounce of affection he remembered, but were more guarded than he had ever imagined possible. Jane wasn't surprised when she balked at being one of his demands, but he was stunned when, on a flight from Texas to New York, Lisbon let him know under no uncertain terms that she was no longer that woman he left on a California cliff-top. She still believed in him, which he cherished, but she no longer was willing to trust him with herself. He had shattered that, which left him back to wondering what she would do if he ever decided to pursue her, whether she would run as fast as she could having learned her lesson about placing her bets on him when it came to the stakes being her heart.

So, had Kim made herself clear? Was she telling him he couldn't have an inter-office romance at all, or just not a bad one? Or was it that Fischer was referring to the fact that he apparently was wearing his heart on his sleeve while Lisbon had been nothing but resistant when it came to working with him again? None of it really mattered, he supposed, regardless of what she meant. His relationship with Lisbon was presently at a standstill, and if that evolved, it would be no one's business. They were both professionals, they both had their dignity, so they would make sure it stayed no one's business. Besides, neither one was willing to risk the relationship they already had, so he knew that if they ever found themselves sharing a bed and a future, it could only be good. So, so good.

"Jane?"

"You've made yourself very clear, Agent Fischer." She couldn't read his face, but his voice was suddenly far too friendly.

"I don't mean to offend you, or to imply anything. I simply thought a warning about what we will and won't tolerate was only fair. There can come a point where you are more a burden than a value." Kim was floundering now. She'd crossed a line, again, and she knew it. While there may be professional concerns about himself and Lisbon, Jane wasn't blind to the fact that Fischer was ultimately trying to satisfy her own curiosities. For someone who was worried about there being a tense working relationship on their team, she certainly was aiming to get herself one.

"Why are we still standing here, Kim?"

Kim had become suddenly very uncomfortable and was grateful for the change of subject. "Uh, an agent was supposed to meet us here to set us up with earpieces. He, um-"

"Ah." Jane cut her off, unwilling to do anything to ease her embarrassment, including listen to her try and fill the silence.

"Agent Kim Fischer?" Patrick and Kim turned to see a young man in a dark business suit emerge from a door across the lobby from the one Abbott and Lisbon had gone through.

"Yes. Agent Adams?"

"That's me." The agent took Fischer's offered hand in a quick handshake. "I'm going to hook you two up and then have our tech guys in each of the observation rooms test the audio, okay?"

Oh, this was going to be -so- much fun. Jane rolled his eyes, already impatient.