A/N: Completely disregarding the fact that I'll probably say this a lot, this is one of my favorite chapters! I hope y'all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks to Liz (Yes, Jane is very much single in this universe. Heh.), Iloveplotbunnies, xanderseye, yaba, and Jisbon4ever for reviewing chapter two! Also to everyone who alerted/added this story to their favorites.

Chapter Three

A few hours have passed, but all Patrick Jane can think of is how odd Lisbon was acting at the most recent crime scene – a Red John murder, so he now knows. He can't seem to figure out why she seems so affected by it, especially since Van Pelt informed him that Lisbon has been handling the Red John case for years now, but he intends to find out. Starting right now.

He swings open her office door, seeing very little point in knocking. She's on the phone, but she manages to pull her attention from the call long enough to send an unappreciative glare in his direction. He raises his hands in a gesture of innocence, rocking back on his heels while she finishes up the call.

"And there was evidence of sexual assault?" she pauses while the person on the other end of the line affirms her inquiry. "That's what I thought – consistent with his MO. Alright, thanks."

She hangs up abruptly, running a hand through her hair in a gesture of anxiety before turning her attention to him.

"Ever heard of knocking, Jane?" her biting tone indicating she's a bit perturbed.

"Meh," he shrugs, "that would be time wasted."

Her only response is a small grunt of disapproval, and Jane can't help smiling, amused by the way she crinkles her nose. It's an undeniably cute facial quirk, and he's sure she has no idea just how adorable it is.

"What's bugging you so much about this Red John stuff?" he waves his hand in dismissal.

"What?" Her eyes widen just slightly before she blinks, but it doesn't escape him.

"You know what I'm talking about, Lisbon." He leans forward, placing his hands on the edge of her desk. "Something about this case bothers you. I'm just curious to know what that might be."

"I'm fine, Jane." She lowers her voice while narrowing her eyes, he assumes to better hide her true emotions from his prying eyes.

"That's the oldest excuse in the book, Lisbon. You're going to have to come up with something better if you hope to be convincing. I mean, even Rigsby wouldn't have believed you on that one, and we all know he's not exactly the brightest crayon in the box."

The slight jab at their colleague elicits a small smile from across the desk. That's the one. He returns her smile with one of his own.

"Now that you've got a smile on your face, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"Your persistence is rather irritating, you know that?" she growls, smile starting to fade.

"You're deflecting, you know that?" he quips back.

"You're not going to leave until I tell you, are you?" Her voice shrinks with each word.

"So there is something!" He raises an eyebrow in fake skepticism.

"Don't push it, Jane. As if you didn't already know." Her voice hints at annoyance, and her expression grows serious. She pauses for a moment, a somewhat faraway look in her eyes, as if she's reliving an old memory. He moves his hand to cover hers in what he intends to be a comforting gesture, and she surprises them both when she doesn't pull away.

"I lived with my three younger brothers and took care of them since I was fifteen." She starts, her tone wistful. He can tell she won't be revealing too much, but he can easily solve that problem.

"And your parents," he inquires gently, running his thumb slowly over the back of her hand to help her relax. "what about them?"

"I don't want-"

"It's okay, Lisbon. You can tell me." His voice is soothing, and his thumb continues making lazy circles as her eyelids begin to droop.

"Are you trying to hyp-"

"Shh, Teresa. Relax. You're in a safe place," he lowers his voice to a whisper, lightly tapping her shoulder with his free hand. "You can trust me."

"Mom was killed in a car accident when I was twelve. Drunk driver." Her voice is practically void of emotion. "My father became an alcoholic after that. He spent the next three years drinking himself into a rage every night and beating my brothers before he would pass out on the couch. One morning, he didn't wake up."

"What happened after that?" His voice is calm, despite the varying emotions he feels as she reveals her past.

"When I was seventeen, I came home from my morning jog to find all three of my brothers upstairs. They were dead. Murdered. It was Red John." Even in her subconscious state her words are cold and clipped.

His face pales as he quickly pieces everything together in his mind. "Is there anything else?" he asks, somewhat hesitantly.

"I'm wearing polka-dotted panties today."

"Oh, really? How lovely. Is there anything else relating to Red John?"

"Mm. Red John's victims. They all-"

She's cut off as the door opens, and Jane jumps up, quickly tapping her on the shoulder before turning around.

"Cho! Good afternoon. What brings you into Lisbon's office?" He greets the agent cheerfully, blissfully unaware of Lisbon's rising temper behind him.

"What the hell, Jane!" she growls at him. He slowly turns toward her while Cho raises an eyebrow, suddenly regretting that he interrupted whatever he walked in on. "You think you can just hypnotize me and go digging through my personal life whenever you damn well please?"

"Nonsense, Lisbon. It was just a light trance," he explains, flashing a sheepish grin.

"Like hell it was! What did I tell you, Jane? What?" She glares at him, crossing her arms impatiently.

If looks could kill…

"Oh, nothing of importance, really," he deflects, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm sure." She narrows her gaze. "Look, the next time you even think about pulling this kind of crap with me again, I will not hesitate to shoot you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Now go." She seethes, pointing toward the bullpen.

He saunters toward his couch while Cho stays behind to inform her about the absolute lack of evidence from the Red John crime scene. Jane barely hears her muttered reply as he plops down on his couch, too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice much else.

What was she going to say about the victims?

-xxx-

"The forensics team was unable to recover any usable evidence from the Red John scene, Boss." Cho states, the slightest hint of frustration in his usually stoic tone.

"Of course not." Lisbon mutters under her breath, running a hand through her hair. "Looks like the trail's gone cold again. Thanks, Cho."

He departs with a nod, and she lets her forehead hit her desk as soon as she hears the door click shut. She hadn't been expecting there to be any evidence, but that didn't make hearing it any less disappointing.

She lifts her head, reluctantly glancing toward the bullpen and the mop of blonde curls peeking out from atop the couch cushions.

Stupid Jane.

Damn that man for not knowing how to just mind his own business. And damn her for trusting him! She should've just snatched her hand away as soon as he touched her, but no! She allowed herself that little bit of trust, and now she has no idea what her nosy consultant knows about her life.

I need some coffee…

Lisbon gets up and stalks toward the break room, not even sparing a glance at any member of the team. Snatching a mug from the counter, she quickly fills it to the brim with piping hot coffee, genuinely hoping it's good and strong today.

Who am I kidding? I don't trust Jane. Insufferable man!

She raises the mug to her lips, just about to enjoy her first sip, when his voice chimes right next to her ear.

"Y'know, Lisbon, if you didn't trust me, you wouldn't have told me anything earlier."

She jumps, spilling a few drops of coffee on her blouse in the process.

"Damn it, Jane! Wear a bell or something!" she growls at him, whipping around to face him before grabbing some paper towels. She dabs furiously at the dark brown marks, but if anything, they just seem to spread. "Great. That's probably gonna stain."

"May I?" Jane gestures to the paper towel she's holding, his tone feigning innocence.

"No! And I do not trust you!" She emphasizes her point by poking a finger to his chest before angrily throwing the paper towels away. Useless things.

"Nonsense, woman! Of course you trust me." He takes a step toward her and leans forward so he's staring directly into her eyes, causing her breath to hitch. "How else do I know that you're wearing polka-dotted pant-"

She clamps a hand over his mouth before he can finish his very embarrassing proclamation, effectively removing his smug grin from view while she feels the heat rising to her cheeks.

"You hypnotized me, Jane. That doesn't mean I trust you, it just means you're an ass."

"Not so, Lisbon." He clucks his tongue. "Everyone knows that even in the deepest trance, you only reveal personal information to a person in whom you've placed your trust. I'm just touched that you like me so much. In fact," he leans even closer and lowers his voice. Her eyes widen just slightly at the feel of his breath fanning across her face, "I think you have a crush on me."

"We're not in middle school, Jane." She whispers incredulously, her blush deepening by the second. "And I definitely do not have a crush on you."

"Oh, you know what they say," he whispers back, leaning impossibly closer to whisper in her ear, "denial is the first step."

With that, he nips the top of her ear before retreating to the bullpen, leaving her frozen to the spot, jaw dropped and looking like an idiot.

-xxx-

Jane plops comfortably onto his couch and stretches his legs out, smirking and perfectly pleased with himself.

"What was that all about?" Rigsby is the first to pipe up.

They had all overheard the conversation between Jane and the boss, at least up until they both lowered their voices. The break room might be close by, but whispering always makes eavesdropping nearly impossible.

"Oh, nothing. Lisbon's just having a hard time dealing with the fact that she trusts me."

"She doesn't. You lied." Cho states. "We all heard you."

"What did I lie about?" Jane scoffs, feigning offense. "It saddens me that you all think I would just lie to Lisbon like that."

"You told her hypnotism requires trust, but that's not true. If people trust you, you don't need to hypnotize them to get information out of them." Van Pelt adds, narrowing her gaze just slightly at him. "Therefore, you lied."

"Meh, technicalities." He waves his hand in the air dismissively. "Besides, trust still comes into play; lowers the threshold. How else would I know that Lisbon's wearing polka-dotted pan-"

"Jane!" Lisbon's voice interrupts him while Rigsby attempts to cover his chuckles with a cough. "My office! Now!"

He watches as she stalks into her office before slamming the door. Van Pelt and Cho both direct their gazes at him while Rigsby is preoccupied with a leftover cupcake.

"What?" Jane answers their stares with a look of bewilderment. "Did I say something wrong?"

Van Pelt just sighs and Cho shakes his head as Jane bounds off the couch and into Lisbon's office, a lecture on proper office conduct and appropriate topics of conversation awaiting him.