Chapter 1: Leaving

Hightower pointed to the chair in front of her desk.

"Sit down, Lisbon."

I followed her order and sat down. The next few minutes she just sat there, staring at me. We both knew what this was about but I wanted her to speak up first.

"I heard about your brother, Lisbon. I'm very sorry for your loss."

I nodded.

Two weeks ago Tommy, my youngest brother, had died in a car crash at the age of 20. The same day the police informed me that my little brother had a girlfriend nobody knew of. And, as if I haven't already been shocked enough, his girlfriend was 17… and pregnant.

His girlfriends name was Holly. Holly Fuller. When I first met her she was an emotional wreck. She threw her arms around me and cried for what felt like hours. Still sobbing she told me her parents had disowned her and didn't want anything to do with her or the baby anymore. She had absolutely no idea where to stay and what to do. She had no money, no home, no family.

"Have you made a decision yet?"

I nodded.

"Yes, mam. First of all I will go to New York, arrange the funeral."

"And what about the girl?"

"I think I don't have any choice but stay with her and help her with the baby until she can sort things out and get grip of her life again."

Hightower started nervously clicking her pen. I found it I bit distracting but didn't say a word.

"What about her parents? Why don't you just leave it to them?"

"Her parents won't be of any help, I'm afraid. They don't want anything to do with the baby."

"So now what? You're resigning and moving to New York or what?"

Was that anger in her voice? I knew I didn't count much to her. I was Jane's babysitter, nothing more, and in her opinion I didn't even do that well. Minnelli had always been convinced of my abilities as senior agent but to Hightower Jane was the golden goose. Sure, he did close cases but it wasn't like he was doing all the work with us sitting by watching.

"You know… if you left…that would be a great loss for the CBI."

She seemed pretty serious but I just snorted.

"Yeah, as if."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

I raised my eyebrow at her.

"Oh come on, Hightower! You've always treated me like I was worthless for the CBI and threatened to fire me for Jane's behavior and now that? I find that difficult to believe."

"Jane's the one who closes the cases, Miss Lisbon."

Now I got really mad at her. Who did she think she was, speaking to me like that? She might have been my boss but she had no right to offend me like that! I stood up and bent over her desk.

"Jane's the one who closes cases? Jane? I admit, Jane's highly intelligent and yes, he's mostly cracking the case before we do but we, my team and I close cases. Jane belongs to that team. Jane's the reason why we get complaints on daily basis. He messes up every single investigation! We closed cases before Jane joined the CBI and we will still close cases when he is rotting in prison for killing Red John."

I felt tears coming up bit I didn't allow them to fall. Not in front of her. Never.

"And it's your job to stop Jane from doing so."

I felt the blood boiling inside my veins. I had to get out of there. I wanted to scream. I managed to let my voice sound calm. Calm and ice cold.

"You'll have my resignation on your desk by tomorrow. Now if you excuse me I'd like to go."

I turned around and stormed out of the office into the bullpen. I saw Jane "sleeping" on "his" couch and barked: " Jane! My office- NOW!" He "woke up" and exchanged glances with the others.

"What did I do now?" he sighed and got up.

"Jane would you please hurry up."

I knew I shouldn't be so harsh on him but I was going nuts inside my office. He shut the door behind him.

"What's wrong Lisbon?"

I didn't want to talk to him while I was so furious so I just ran around in my office. I went to the door, shut the blinds and turned around.

"There's something we need to talk about."

He stepped closer to me and looked at me worriedly.

"What. Is. Wrong. Lisbon?" He asked again. I sighed slightly and tried to calm myself down. Having him so close to me didn't really help!

"I have to ask you a favor."

He smiled his megawatt smile.

"What is it Lisbon? Just tell me. You need me to act as your boyfriend?"

"What? No! Jane this is serious." Now he looked suspicious. "I'm going to leave soon and I'm pleading you to treat my replacement respectful and not to screw up every single case with your stupid tricks. I tell you, somebody will somehow end up dead or in hospital. Please don't make his or her life a living hell."

He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He looked even more confused. His gazed dropped to the floor then he looked right into my eyes, his mouth still open. I felt the urge to kiss that stupid face off of him but I knew that wasn't a good idea at all.

"You…are leaving?" His voice was quiet and sounded sad, almost broken. I nodded.

"Yes, Jane."

"Why? What for? Lisbon you can't go! I need your help you know that!"

The urge to throw my arms around him and kiss him senseless became stronger and stronger.

"You don't really need my help, Jane. Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt will still be here. They'll be there for you."

"But they don't understand me the way you do! You…you can't go, Lisbon, you have to stay!"

I felt the tears coming again. I took a step back and shook my head. He looked so hurt, so vulnerable. I tried to avoid his gaze but he wouldn't let me.

"I would stay if I had a choice" I whispered.

"Why are you leaving anyway?"

"For…personal reasons. Listen, Jane, I really don't want to talk about that now."

"You don't want to talk about it or you don't want to talk about it with me? I thought you were my friend, Lisbon, and now you're leaving me? Just like that?"

"I am your friend, Jane! I just can't talk about it now…here. And it's not like I will be gone forever."

He ran his fingers through his hair and tried to pull himself together.

"For how long will you be gone?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe 3 years, maybe more, maybe less. I don't know."

"THREE YEARS?" He was furious now. "You will be gone for THREE YEARS and didn't even consider telling me about your plans?"

"I am telling you now, ain't I?"

He shook his head in disbelieve. I've never seen him like this before. He was letting his guards down.

"When are you going?"

"Tomorrow."

"Where are you going?"

"To New York"

"Does this involve a man?"

"Yes, it does." His face dropped. "My brother, Jane, my brother!"

He began to understand. His eyes widened.

"Oh. I see this is pretty serious. I'm sorry, Lisbon. Will you tell me what happened to your brother?"

I couldn't stop the tears from falling any longer but I cried in silent. He hugged me, tried to comfort me but it didn't work. I buried my head in his chest and let the tears fall. He stroked my back and whispered soothing words into my ear. I was mad at everyone. Mad at Hightower for offending me, mad at Tommy for leaving me and not having the trust in me to tell me his girlfriend was pregnant, mad at Jane for being him, mad at Holly's parents for letting her down, mad at myself for being mad at everyone and being so stupid to cry in front of very special consultant Patrick Jane.

"It's okay, Lisbon, just let it all out. And…just come back as soon as possible. I hope you are aware that I'm expecting at least one e-mail every week."

I laughed and slapped him playfully.

"Ow! What was that for? That hurt, Lisbon. I'm serious."

And there it was. His megawatt grin. I couldn't help but smile. He always made me feel better and right now, I loved him for being him. He wiped the tears away with his thumb.

"Ready to face the others? I think they are probably going crazy out there not knowing what's going on in here."

"Do I look as if I were ready?"

He grimaced and raised an eyebrow. I chuckled at his expression. He was still beautiful when he tried not to be. I caught myself staring at his lips and blushing I turned around to open the blinds but Jane grabbed my wrist with one hand. The other landed on my shoulder.

"See you're already smiling again. And you have to tell them sooner or later anyway. It's not such a big deal. You even said it yourself: it's not like you're going to be gone forever." He paused and then smiled mischievously. "They'll probably think I got you pregnant and now you're running away from me."

I just heard 'I got you pregnant' and my mind stopped working.

"Why would they think that?"

He flashed his smile at me and shook his head.

"Never mind. Now go out there and finish what you started."

I rolled my eyes on him and gave him the no-nonsense look.

"You already sound like my baseball coach."

"Uh uh. You're so not changing the topic now, my dear." He opened the door for me and gestured me to go. "Now off you go!"

I stepped out of the office and caught everybody looking at me. Cho stoic, as always, Van Pelt tried to hide her red cheeks (seemed like she overheard my fight with Jane) and Rigsby "innocently" bit into his sandwich. Jane shoved me further into the bullpen.

"Guys, Lisbon wants to tell you something very important so please listen carefully."

I shot him an angry look and searched for the right words. I remembered Jane talking about them thinking he got me pregnant so I decided not to mention the baby.

"Well" I simply said. "I'm moving to New York."

Their reactions were...well, different. Cho just kept staring at me with his typical face but there was confusion in his gaze now. Van Pelt looked absolutely shocked and Rigsby simply stopped chewing. Jane grinned and gave me thumbs up. Sometimes he really acted like a nine-year-old. Van Pelt was the first opening her mouth.

"Boss…" She started but didn't end her sentence. She exchanged confused looks with Rigsby. Cho was the next one to speak.

"When?" He asked. He never spoke much.

I bit my lip nervously. "I'm leaving tomorrow."

"Wow." Was all Rigsby said.

"So this is our final goodbye?" Van Pelt asked and I nodded. "We're gonna miss you, boss."

Rigsby laughed. "Well, Jane will miss you the most, that's for sure."

I looked at Jane and our eyes connected. He still looked a little shaken and somehow hurt. I managed to smile.

"He'll find somebody else to annoy."

Jane didn't say anything.

"You guys can go back to work now"

Van Pelt and Rigsby immediately started working again (well, Van Pelt started working, Rigsby started eating) while Cho stared at me a little longer. I decided to call him later to explain the situation. He'd understand.

I stayed late that evening. I filled in my resignation and put it on Hightower's desk (thank god she was already gone). Then I put all my personal stuff into a box and left my office. Everyone had left except Jane. He stood in the middle of the bullpen, waiting for me. He took the box and guided my out of the building, to my car. He gave me the box and I opened the door to get in but then I turned around. I put the pox down, hugged Jane and whispered: "Thank you Jane, for everything."

He gave me a soft kiss on the cheek and poked me, flashing his megawatt grin. "You're welcome."

So there we stood. Outside the CBI building, facing each other, just inches apart. I was wondering whether I should kiss him or not. He had still put on his grin and he looked so adorable with his blond curls framing his beautiful face. I was aware this would be the last time I saw him for a long, long time but then he moved his hand and his wedding band reflected the last bit of sunlight so I decided not to kiss him. Instead I hugged him again.

"Goodbye Jane, it was a pleasure to work with you…sometimes."

"Good night Lisbon. See you in three years."

Smiling I got into my car and started the engine. A sad smile was playing on my lips as I drove away.

AN: I like the badass-like Hightower :D. TBC