There's No Place like Home

Chapter 4

Lisbon and the others turned to Jane for guidance as he led them towards the dressing rooms back stage.

"Apparently, my predecessor was something of a scientist and left behind meticulous notes. According to his research, all of the humans that live in the O.Z. were originally from earth. Anyone sucked into a Tornado on the 'other side' are safely deposited here."

"All of them? What about Jeb?"

"Obviously, some are born here, but somewhere down the line a Cain from our world was deposited here and became Cain's ancestor."

"What if Sheriff Wyatt Cain from the other side was Cain's ancestor? The whole town practically vanished back in the 50s."

"Wouldn't that make the original Cain the current Cain's father?" Rigsby wanted to know.

"Not necessarily. Judging by his dress, the telltale facial hair, and manner of speech, I'd say Ahamo is from roughly the Civil War era. My predecessor appears to have been a vaudevillian, before going on the Circus route then eventually winding up here. As to DG and her mother's lineage, it extends several hundred years, or annuals as they call it – though time doesn't seem to move the same here, their progenitor was most likely a victim of the dust bowl if the stories are accurate. The year in which a person leaves our world doesn't seem to affect the timeframe in which they arrive here."

"Just a roll of the dice, then," Cho commented.

"Well if that be the case, DG could've been sent anywhere in time instead of roughly fifteen annuals after her father took her to Kansas," Lisbon objected. Physics was never a favorite subject of hers in school.

"Not really, see, people from here summoned a travel storm through which DG traveled. They had to keep the storm active in order to be able to return to the same time and place from which they'd left."

"They have a machine that lets them summon travel storms… I mean tornados?"

"Apparently," Jane agreed.

"Cool," Rigsby exclaimed.

"Great," Lisbon rolled her eyes. "How do we summon one to take us home?"

"Oh, we don't need one," Jane held open the door for them through which everyone filed. Lisbon found herself standing on the roof, which looked a lot like Jane's hidey-hole back at CBI headquarters.

"Then how do we get back, Jane?" Lisbon watched as he shut the door before joining them.

"Simple, really," Jane stopped at her elbow and whispered the answer in her ear.

Although she'd been doing it a lot lately, Lisbon couldn't prevent herself from groaning and rolling her eyes for the billionth time that day.

"There is no way I'm saying 'That'!"

"Fine, then we're stuck here," Jane replied.

"I don't want that, either."

"Then you have to say it."

"We could…"

"Nope."

"Well, what about…?"

"No, that won't work either," Jane shook his head.

"How do you know?"

"Because, I've memorized all of the Mystic Man's notes. This is the only way," Jane persisted.

"Don't I need ruby slippers for this to work?"

"Silver," Van Pelt spoke up. "The original slippers in the books were silver. The red shoes were a movie gimmick."

"Okay, silver then. I doubt it will work without the magic slippers," Lisbon looked down at her feet and saw that she was already wearing silver shoes. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Lisbon had said that a billion times today too. Maybe that's why her feet had been hurting her all day, but why hadn't she noticed them before?

"See, you already have what you need to get home," Jane told her.

"What about the rest of you? There's no way I'm leaving any of you behind."

Jane reached out and took her hand, as well as Grace's, Grace slipped her arm through Rigsby's, Rigsby clapped a hand on Cho's shoulder, and Cho took Lisbon's other hand.

"And I'm just supposed to say three magic words?" Lisbon thought it sounded a little too good to be true.

"Click your heels together then say the magic words three times," Jane repeated his instructions.

"Oh, God! I can't believe I'm actually doing this," Lisbon groaned again.

"Hurry up or you'll miss the end," Jane urged.

"What?" She frowned at him, uncertain she'd heard him right.

"This is the best part," Jane squeezed her hand.

Lisbon sighed and shook her head.

"If any of you tell anyone back at HQ about this, I will personally shoot you," Lisbon threatened the group as a whole.

"Such violence, Woman, can we just do this, please?"

Lisbon closed her eyes, shook her head again, and clicked her heels, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home."

Lisbon felt herself start to fall and she squeezed Jane's hand tighter even as she felt Cho's slip out of hers. She tried reaching for it again, but she couldn't find him. The vertigo grew worse as she continued to fall and she grabbed hold of her only anchor with both hands.

"Please don't let go!" She pleaded with Jane as she squeezed her eyes tighter. She felt Jane wrap an arm around her and held her tight until the inevitable crash back to earth.

"Welcome home!" Lisbon thought she heard Ahamo's voice and, for a brief moment, panic rose up in her throat.

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes to find herself in her apartment, sitting on her couch with her head leaning against Jane's shoulder as the last few minutes of the movie 'Tin Man' played on her television screen.

"Oh, thank God! It was just a dream," Lisbon sighed in relief, belatedly, wondering if she'd spoken aloud.

"Now, that's the O.Z. I remember," DG, played by Zooey Deschanel said as her family watched the twin suns reemerge from behind the moon. "I'm so glad to be home," she added before the movie faded and the end credits began to roll.

Relieved, Lisbon sighed, rubbed her eyes, and sat up straighter. While Jane's shoulder was comfortable, their relationship wasn't to the point where she could lay a permanent claim to it yet. Her brain worked overtime trying to regain its bearings. She still felt disoriented as the last vestiges of the movie-induced dream began to fade.

They really had investigated the little town called Oz in the Napa Valley with a real death, but that's where any similarities ended. Jane claimed he had no knowledge of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which had started the whole mess.

Instead of an after case pizza back at CBI headquarters, they'd all opted to get Chinese takeout and go to Lisbon's for a movie marathon. It was a long weekend after all, and they deserved it for catching the bad guys. After watching the Judy Garland version, Grace insisted they watch 'Tin Man' as well because it was her favorite.

There had been a discussion as to which of the team best fit the various roles. Lisbon didn't remember when she'd fallen asleep, but their conversation must have worked its way into her subconscious, as everyone played the characters they'd decided upon in her dream. Lisbon had originally chosen to be the tin man, but that was quickly overruled. The vote was unanimous in that Jane was definitely the Wizard of Oz. Lisbon couldn't stop the giggle that escaped as she looked around the room.

"Where did everyone go?" She tried to pretend that such a girlish sound didn't come from her throat.

"Cho said he wanted to hit the hay early. Grace mentioned that she'd bought a cat-suit for Halloween one year, and of course, Rigsby wanted her to model it for him," Jane chuckled. "You seemed to be having a nice dream."

"Nightmare, more like it," Lisbon shot back as she turned off the TV and DVD player.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not on your life," Lisbon rolled her eyes before quickly changing the subject, "So, what did you think?"

"Musicals are not really my cup of tea, but 'Tin Man' was good," Jane acknowledged.

"I can't believe you never saw it when it originally aired. Did your cable provider not have the sci-fi channel back in '07?" Lisbon looked up at Jane as he stood.

He froze for a second or two before straightening his suit coat, trying not to look uncomfortable.

Immediately, she realized her blunder, but it was too late to take it back.

"I was in a locked room for much of '07. Televisions don't really go with the padded decor," barely audible, his voice was hoarse with emotion, even as he tried to make a joke of it.

Lisbon jumped to her feet and put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, Jane, that was thoughtless of me."

Jane merely nodded his head and kept his back to her.

She was grateful at least that he didn't pull away as he often had in times past. She was tempted to wrap her arms around him and lay her head against his sturdy back. Instead, she patted his shoulder twice before letting her hand fall.

"Look, we've all had a long day. Why don't you camp out here on the couch? It's too long to drive back to your hotel tonight," Lisbon offered.

Before her hand had broken contact completely, Jane grabbed it, spun around to face her, and enveloped her in a hug.

"You know, that thing I said before I shot you, I meant it," he held her tightly as though his life depended on it.

Stunned and still trying to process the information, Lisbon barely had time to wrap her own arms around him before he pulled away again. She wanted to hug him back, to prolong it, but didn't want to scare him off. Like trying to earn the trust of a skittish animal, she knew it had to be in Jane's own time. His confession brought hope and, for now, she would have to find contentment in that.

"Are the sheets still in the same place," Jane asked.

Lisbon nodded her head, "Good night, Patrick."

She headed towards the stairs leading up to her bedroom. As she brushed past him, he grabbed her hand and gave her fingers at gentle squeeze.

"Thank you and good night, Tereza," Jane voiced his gratitude.

Lisbon gave him a small smile before turning to leave once more.

Rather than letting go of her hand, he tightened his grip, keeping her captive. She frowned up at him and saw the almost panicked look in his eyes. Closing the gap between them, he moved to kiss her, but, as though changing his mind at the last second, he kissed her cheek instead.

She felt his breath on her face as he whispered in her ear, "There's no place like home."

When he pulled away, his protective shield was once more in place and she had to wonder if it had merely been her imagination. Jane was the one who moved off to settle in for the night. Lisbon stared after him for a while before climbing the stairs for bed.

Thinking about the movie they'd just watched, she realized who Jane reminded her of the most. He might never have been a lawman, but Patrick Jane had a lot in common with Wyatt Cain. She wondered whether she would eventually be able to find her tin man his heart. Maybe that's why she liked the movie so much.

After that dream, she could certainly empathize with DG. After all, she was secretly a DG/Cain shipper. Perhaps she cheered on the fictional couple because she wanted a happy ending of her own… some day.

Goodbye, my friends, my tale's all told,

Although somewhere, beyond the horizon, the story never ends.

Vani Joy Dotson 2015