A/N: SO incredibly sorry for the delay guys! Thank-you so much for the reviews on chapter 8, they encourage me so much, so thank-you, thank-you :) Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, we are getting to the ultimate climax of the story :) Enjoy and Review! You might want to read the last bit of the last chapter, if you don't remember what was going on, I'm picking up right where that one left off, literally.

xxxx

"No. Wait!" Lisbon yelped as she pulled on her yoga pants, stretching out her arm for Jane to hand her the phone,

"What?" Jane

"Let me talk to him,"

He looked at her warily, "Hold on Cho, Lisbon wants to talk to you," and handed the phone over to her.

"Cho, listen to me. Yeah, I'm fine. Look, don't come here. Just call everyone, tell them to be at work an hour early tomorrow,"

"What are you doing?" Jane hissed, jumping out of his chair.

"Jane's fine. Just trust me on this Cho," Lisbon splayed a hand across Jane's chest to keep him at distance from the phone. "Yeah. See you in the morning," and with that Lisbon flipped Jane's phone closed and tossed it on the bed.

"What the hell was that?" Jane was trying hard not raise his voice.

"First. You need to calm down. You are so worked up you aren't thinking clearly and that's gonna get us and everyone else killed,"

Jane set his jaw and stared at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Red John is probably watching. We make a big deal, the team, cops, everyone here, he'll know our next textbook move,"

"So, what-"

"We do nothing tonight, completely throw him, he won't know what we are gonna do next,"

Jane contemplated for a moment. "Then what?"

Lisbon swallowed. "We let this play out,"

Jane's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"He wants to kill me, let him try. We'll talk to the team tomorrow at work, have them watching us as we go about like nothing happened and when Red John tries, we'll have him,"

For half a second Jane was hopefully, but then his eyes grew dark and he shook his head. "No, no, it's too risky,"

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Do you have a better idea? I'm open to suggestions,"

"Yeah. We leave," he said, without missing a beat

"What?"

"We are putting the team at risk asking them to protect us, and more importantly, using you as bait, we know he's not gonna hurt me. Let's just leave, out of the country,"

"I'm not leaving. This is my home, my brothers are here, my job is here,"

"Lisbon, YOUR life is at stake," Jane gripped her by the arms again

"I'm a cop for a reason, ya know,"

"Have you learned nothing from all the Red John cases!" Jane yelled.

"I'm not running from him. Go if you are scared, but I'm not,"

"You don't...don't get it do you?" Jane dropped his hands from her arms and ran through his hands through his hair in frustration. "He will KILL you. No more CBI, no more brothers, no more us," his last excuse came out in a strangled whisper as tears glistened his eyes.

Lisbon's expression went from steely stubborn to soft and contemplative. "Okay, we leave. Then what? It's a game to Red John, what would he do to bring us back? He won't just let you walk away. He killed Bosco just so you could have case back Who will he go after? My brothers? Danny? The team?"

Jane eyes were frantic. He was so caught up with Lisbon's safety, he didn't think of the others and his heart broke more. This was all his fault.

Lisbon stepped forward and slipped her arms around his waist "Let's finish this, let's make this the last move. We'll outsmart him this time," she said softly.

Jane stared at her, "What if we don't? This isn't tv or a movie, there's never a happy ending for everyone,"

"But at least the bad guy always gets caught," Lisbon smirked.

Jane shook his head.

"I'm confident in the people I surround myself with, my team. They won't let anything happen to me. More importantly, I believe you won't let anything happen to me,"

"You can never leave me sight," he said in a ragged breath, as his arms reluctantly went around her back in submission to the hug that he knew she would take as acceptance to her plan.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Lisbon mumbled.

Jane sighed and rested his forehead against hers. "What do you want to do about that?" his eyes flicked to the mark on the wall.

"I'll paint over it tomorrow. I won't sleep under it tonight though, come on, let's go downstairs,"

"I wont' be doing much sleeping anymore," he mumbled as Lisbon grabbed the blanket that lay at the foot of her bed.

Three days had passed since the incident. Everything was squared away with Hightower, who opted to have the conversation about their relationship LATER, and every night Lisbon and Jane were covertly escorted back to Lisbon's apartment.

On the third night, Jane was sitting in the corner of the couch, his arm stretched across the back of it, his fingers playing with random strands of Lisbon's hair, who was cuddled conveniently against him. You've Got Mail was playing on the tv and while it both looked like they were watching it, there minds were elsewhere. They hadn't heard anything from Red John and they knew each day drew them a step closer to the inevitable end of their little game.

Lisbon was already tired of someone watching her EVERY minute. Jane even had Van Pelt escorting her to the bathroom, the one place he couldn't follow her. He knew it frustrated her and it only made him more made himself as he continued to blame himself for all of this. Every day he tried to change her mind to get her to leave with him, and each time it resulted in a fight that left them both walking away in a huff, only Jane would turn right back around, settle in his couch and just stare at her.

Lisbon sighed and closed her eyes. She just wanted it to be over.

"You okay?" Jane asked, squeezing her shoulders gently.

"Hmm..define okay?" Lisbon smirked, turning her body so that she could look up at him.

"What are you thinking about?"

Lisbon shrugged her shoulders. "Just want this to be over, it's kind of put a damper on the enjoyment of us,"

Jane smiled softly and pulled her back to his chest. "I guess it has," he mumbled, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'm sorry,"

"Hush, don't apologize,"

"He's taunting me," Jane said quietly. "Telling me I'm getting too close to being happy and if I don't back off he'll take it away," his gaze locked with Lisbon's as he spoke. "He wanted me to know that he is watching, and he knows and he could take it away at any time. He thinks that since he was merciful this time, I'll head his warning and back off, go back to being miserable and alone, which I should be,"

"Don't talk like that," Lisbon squeezed his torso and buried her face in chest.

Jane sighed. "You know I say the things I say, because I don't want to see anything happen to you. I have no desire to stay behind and seek revenge anymore; no tricks, no schemes. I just want...you.. safe. Preferable me with you,"

In a moment of raw honesty, Lisbon saw the true change in the man she had grown to love. Reaching up Lisbon caressed his stubbly cheek and smiled softly. "Patrick Jane, look at you,"

Jane reached up and took hold of her hand. "I know you are scared to say it to me, because of the past. You are scared once we catch or kill Red John by whoever's hand, that I'll just disappear. But I hope me saying these things and promising you, I will be here, will be enough for you, until I can prove it. I put a lot down for you, and I'm glad I did. It's like when I came back and found you the other day and grabbed the gun, I didn't think about it I just acted to keep you safe. Like when I killed Hardy too, I put down my fear of it to keep you safe. I need you Teresa. Loving you is far more rewarding than being consumed by hatred for someone, that when he probably he is dead, I won't feel differently. So, thank-you for helping me to let it go. And I promise you, I'm not going anywhere. If we make it out of this alive...I'll...I'll take the right steps in showing you how much I love you..instead of sneaking around,"

Lisbon was having a hard time breathing as a tear slipped down her cheek. She wasn't expecting this outpour of emotion from him, but welcomed it; She needed it. Leaning forward she captured his lips in a sweet, yet hungry kiss. Pulling back just a centimeter she smiled,"I love you too, Patrick," she whispered.

Jane smiled, slipping his hand behind her neck, brought her back to him another tender kiss.

...

"Hey Boss, we got one," Cho said, sticking his head into her office the next day. "Over in Woodland. A couple of bodies were found, the Judge Fellmen called us in, it's it's his sister,"

"Great," Lisbon said with a roll of her eyes, as she closed a manila folder and tossed it on her desk. "Let's all go in the van,"

They arrived at the crime scene an hour later, an alleyway in the downtown Woodland area. Ducking under the tape, Lisbon called out instructions to her team as they met up with the head officer on the scene. "Rigsby, Van Pelt, do the bodies. Cho, you and Jane go talk to to the woman that found them. Officer Creed, catch me up,"

Jane squeezed Lisbon's wrist as he started away from her. They were in the midst of talking to the woman, when Jane felt a sense of unease come over him. Shifting from one foot to the other, he glanced around at the top of buildings on either side of them. Staring at the faces of the people that surrounded them, he shoved his hands in his pocket and squinted to study each one of them, not particularly interested in listening to the woman in front of him anymore.

His eyes went to Lisbon who was standing with her arms crossed in front of Officer Creed, listening to every word he was saying intently, as if they were was no death threat hanging over head. Cool and calm, typical Lisbon, he smiled at the thought. Just another reason why he loved her, if he was freaking out, he knew she would be calm. Just as he admiring her and her features, he saw heard Van Pelt say, "oh no" and then saw her run up to Lisbon, handing her a small piece of paper.

"Boss, we found this on the victim," he heard her say. He watched as Lisbon glanced at the paper, her eyes expressionless as they looked up to find him; he was already walking toward her for fear of what he knew was on the paper. Then all of the sudden he heard the gunfire, heard the people yelling, he saw Rigsby jump for Grace and Lisbon and pull them down, he felt a pain he couldn't locate and then felt himself being pulled towards the ground, hearing Cho's voice in his ear.

"Lisbon," he yelled, struggling to get up, but a steady hand on his back kept him down.

"Jane, help!" he heard her muffled cry and felt the pressure leave his back.

"Lisbon!" "Boss!" "Teresa!" he heard the team shout her name, and more spray of bullets. He struggled to stand, but felt lightheaded and stumbled. He heard a car doors open and shut, more gun fire, another strangled yell from Lisbon and then a car tires screeching.

"Teresa," Jane's hand went around his torso were he felt an oddly warm sensation spreading through him, as he stumbled forward, catching himself on the dumpsters. "No, Teresa," his voice was barely audible as other voices around him were shouting directions.

"Oh god, Jane," his vision started to blur and spin, but he heard Van Pelt's voice and felt her arms go around him to hold him up. "Cho, Jane's hit,"

"Lisbon...where?"

"He got her, Jane. He got her, Wayne too," he could hear the tears in her voice and felt himself slipping away. The news of Lisbon's capture not helping him, as he looked down at his hands , covered in blood.

"Just hold on Jane, hold on,"