A/N: Hey readers, I'm scared about The Mentalist being cancelled. And I'm even more afraid of what is going to happen between Jane/Lisbon in the finale. So here is the next chapter. I think it's longer than most of the other ones, but I was really inspired to keep it going. I love writing creepy Res John dialogue. Anyone who's reading please review! I want to know what you think.
Oh and for anyone who forgot, the last chapter ended with Lisbon finding Red John sitting in her apartment. Also, I don't know which character I'm going to make be Red John. I didn't exactly like Sherif McCalister as Red John.
She froze for a second too long, giving Red John time to get a jump on her. He pulled out a gun from behind his back before Lisbon could react. Even then, he still sat calmly in her kitchen chair as though it was his own. "Don't do anything stupid, Agent Lisbon," he told her. The gun was now pointed at her head, but she still couldn't see his face. "Take your gun off and lay it on the table, then slide it over to me."
He continued to speak in the usual distorted tone that he used when talking on the phone. It made the hairs on Lisbon's arms and neck stand up. She slowly moved to unholster her gun from her hip. She cursed internally for going out and drinking earlier. She wasn't in her right mind for dealing with Red John. Her legs still felt unsteady. She would never win in a physical altercation with him. Lisbon placed the gun on the kitchen table and gave it a push. It slid across the wooden surface and into his waiting hand. She looked up to find that he was wearing a black ski mask, hiding his face from the world.
"Thank you Teresa. Now we can have a calm, rational conversation without anyone getting hurt. Why don't you take a seat," he said condescendingly.
Lisbon gritted her teeth, biting back a defensive reply.
"So we meet again, as promised," he chuckled.
"I don't know. It was a little unfair the last time." Lisbon sat down across from him.
"I had to send Patrick a message without you getting in the way. You both were so emotional and angry that day," he replied.
She barely stifled a gasp in response. So he was listening to their conversations? Did he have their phones tapped? "Or you were just being a coward", Lisbon suggested. "Cut the bullshit. What do you want?"
"I wanted to finally have a conversation with the woman who has captured Patrick Jane's attention for so long. I mean, really Teresa, we are long overdue for a face-to-face meeting."
She stayed silent. If he wanted to play games with her she wasn't going to add fuel to the fire.
"You're so protective of him. That's very sweet of you. By the way, where is the man of the hour?"
"I have no idea where Jane is. Surely you know that. You must be keeping tabs on us," she retorted.
"Such confidence. It seems Patrick took away your modesty. It isn't all he took away, eh?"
Lisbon's face fell and she looked away from his shadow. He was right. Jane took away a lot of things: a chance at a promotion, the wasted hours she spent thinking about him, the tossing and turning while laying in bed, and not to mention her love life. He stole any chance of her moving on and being with someone else because she loved him.
"Come now Teresa, you can't keep anything from me anymore. Does it hurt to know that you come second to him? He will choose me every time, aways," Red John whispered eerily.
"This isn't a race. Jane and I are partners. I do what he needs me to do." Lisbon took a breath; she was becoming defensive. "We trust each other. Something you wouldn't understand," she jabbed. Lisbon was thinking of Loreli and how Red John resorted to eliminating her.
"Who needs trust when you have loyal followers at your beck and call? Loreli did a great job with him, pity she got too out of control."
Silence filled the room. The only sound heard was the ticking of the clock in Lisbon's living room. Both parties were silently fuming. Red John was obviously jealous of Jane's devotion to Lisbon. And Lisbon was becoming furious at the thought of Jane's Vegas "stunt" with Loreli.
"Do you think he enjoyed it?," Red John questioned. Referring to Jane and Loreli's night together. "How could he not? She looks quite similar to you. Did you really think he was going to save himself for you?"
Her pulse skyrocketed. Deep down she really did think that Jane would save himself for her. "No. I don't think he enjoyed it. It was emotionless," Lisbon retorted.
Red John laughed in the menacing way that villains tend to. "My dear, you wear your heart on your sleeve. Tell me, is he aware of how much you love him? It must be hard for you, the constant battle between despair and love. You are a beautiful woman Teresa. It's a pity really that he dragged you into this."
She swallowed. This conversation was becoming way too personal. She had to start acting like this was an interrogation. "You're wrong. I don't love Jane. He's my partner. And he didn't drag me into this. I agreed to help him catch you from the moment he joined my team."
"Well here I am. And where is Patrick now? He isn't being a very loyal partner." Red John paused. "What do you think is going to happen when this is over? One of us will end up in the ground, most likely it will be Patrick. You're too close to him. Even if Patrick wins, you'll suffer. He will be finished with his conquest. He has no ties here. He will want to forget everything and everyone associated with me. Every time he sees you he will think of his failures. He won't be able to look at you. You know it's true."
"Jane wouldn't do that. He can take as much time as he needs to recover after your dead," Lisbon spat at him.
She thought she was doing considerably well at concealing the worries Red John was stirring up in her mind. Of course she feared that Jane would leave. It was her biggest fear. Especially if she prevented him from personally killing Red John. He would feel betrayed on the deepest of levels. He would never be able to look at her or trust her ever again, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make. If it meant keeping him alive and out of jail.
"Always the protector, Teresa. Never in your life have you had someone to protect you."
Her eyes visibly widened. How much did he know about her? She didn't think Red John paid that much attention to her.
"Let's see...daughter of a chronic drunk...single most of your adult life...isolated from your brothers. You can't help fixing what's broken, it seems. You failed with your father...it would destroy you to fail with Patrick this time around. You're father left you and now Patrick is about to do the same. But that's nothing out of the ordinary. He's always leaving you, going away and keeping secrets."
She felt like she was sitting in a shrink's office. He continued to dig deeper and deeper into all of her personal issues. What the hell was the point of all of this? What's his goal? "Am i supposed to be impressed by your knowledge of my personal history?," Lisbon scoffed. "You're right though. He does leave occasionally, but he always comes back. He wouldn't hurt me. You will always fail. You couldn't get him to kill me. He isn't loyal to you. You're just part of another game he's chosen to play." Lisbon was proud of herself. She was slowly gaining the upper hand. Red John was visibly fuming. At some point, he had moved his arm on top of the table. She could now see his gloved hand clenching in annoyance.
"Haha. Such confidence." Is all he said in return. He leaned comfortably backwards in the chair and folded his arms across his chest, a sign of smugness.
What did he have to be smug about, Lisbon thought. Now, she was afraid of what he might say next. Was he going to kill her like Jane's wife? Or torture her? Her hands started to sweat in anticipation and worry. She did not like being out of control of situations.
"Tell you what," Red John began and leaned forward. "Why don't we ask Patrick ourselves? He's on his way over as we speak."
"Liar," was all Lisbon could say in return. He had to be lying. How would he know? Plus Jane hadn't seen her in weeks. He wasn't really coming over.
Red John stood up abruptly and walked over to her house phone. Lisbon flinched, she wasn't about to let him call Jane. "Ah ah ah, Teresa," he shook his head at her as a warning not to move. Red John turned back to the phone and pushed his finger on the answering machine playback button. To Libon's horror, Jane's voice filled the air. "Hi Lisbon...it's me, Jane. Look I know that you're angry and hurt. I shouldn't have said what I said...I think we should talk. I tried calling your cell phone, but you didn't answer, which is understandable. So, uh, I'm going to drop by around eleven tonight. I just...I...we need to talk. Okay. Bye."
Her eyes darted to the clock hanging on the wall, 10:45. Damn it to hell. This was not good. Her heart was beating wildly and she could feel blood rushing in her ears. She felt like passing out. Jane was going to walk into this trap and he may never walk out. She looked down to see her hands were shaking uncontrollably, which was when she noticed that her whole body was actually shivering. Her thoughts were interrupted by Red John.
"Don't worry. I'll give him a fair fight. But I can't make any promises of what he will do once he sees you all tied up. You'll make a nice damsel in distress, bait as you call it." He was circling her chair like a shark ready to attack it's prey.
Lisbon exploded, "You son of a bitch! You're only doing this to have an advantage. He would kill you with his bare hands!" She banged her fists on the tabletop for emphasis.
He wasn't intimidated in the slightest. "Teresa settle down. You don't want to wake the neighbors. I would be forced to invite them to our little party," his voice seemed to transform into a deeper, evil sound than it was before. He put his hand in a jacket pocket and whipped out a serrated pocket knife. He came to a stop directly behind her. Lisbon could feel his hot, panting breath on her exposed neck. Without warning, he yanked her chair backwards, away from the table. He walked around to face her and brought the knife to her right cheek. He dragged the tip of the knife over her face, tracing a pattern of a smile. Fortunately, he didn't press hard enough to draw blood, but she still felt the scraping of metal on her soft skin. He looked into her eyes. "I see you're still marked from our last encounter," he told her, referring to the bruise around her eye.
"If you call hitting me over the head and drugging me an encounter. Then sure. But even you must realize it was an unfair fight," she managed to say in defiance.
He pulled back abruptly, "you never cease to amaze me, Agent Lisbon. Feisty and unpredictable. No wonder Patrick keeps you around. Quite amusing."
A banging at her front door made both parties turn to look at it. "Lisbon!," Jane voice rang out.
Red John swiftly curled a hand around her upper arm, pulling her into a standing position. "You follow my lead. You try anything, I shoot you in the back and Patrick watches you bleed out. Or I just shoot him on the spot. Either way, you both lose," he whispered in her ear.
"Look Lisbon, please just let me in. I want to talk," Jane's broken voice said from behind the door.
Red John tapped her on the back with her own gun, signally her to move towards the door. Her legs felt like jello, like she had never walked before. There was no way she could get them out of this. She could save Jane, but that would only lead to Red John attacking her. And Jane would not respond well to that. Somehow she reached the door and reached a trembling hand out to grip the handle.
Jane spoke again, "Lisbon, I know you're home. Your kitchen light is on. Please." He was practically begging for her attention.
Lisbon swallowed and turned the handle. Red John moved to the side, behind Lisbon, hidden by the door. He could easily shoot her or Jane from that angle. She slowly pulled the door open, hearing it creak in protest.
Jane's fist was preparing to knock once again, frozen in shock that she actually answered his calls.
He gave her a smile smile, "Hi, I've missed you. I know I have no right to say that, but...,"he trailed off. He must've been so excited to see her that he didn't pick up on the horror in her eyes. His hands moved to her sides and he stepped into her apartment. Right into Red John's trap, Lisbon thought. She stiffened in fear of what would happen next. Jane took her stiffness as a response to his touch and pulled away. She felt a tug on the back of her shirt and moved with it. Red John was urging her back into his grasp. He was still hidden by the cover of darkness in her apartment. She grimaced when Jane's face fell with a mix of guilt and regret. "Lisbon-," he began.
She interrupted him. "I'm sorry," is all she could force out of her mouth. Her eyes were watering and by now he could sense that something was very wrong. She could see his body go on high alert, but he was too late. Red John wrapped his whole arm around her neck and yanked her backwards into his chest.
Jane didn't know how to react. He took a step forward, but Red John continued to pull Lisbon away. He thought a random intruder had gotten in and took her by surprise. Red John raised Lisbon's gun to her temple and rammed it into her skin. "Hello Patrick," was all he said to alert Jane to his identity.
TBC, I love writing with Red John added into the story. Please review! Thanks for reading :)