Chapter 8 – Let The Tears Fall

It had been a long rambling day, Lisbon could hardly believe it was finally over as she dragged herself inside her apartment and sunk onto the couch.

Jackson Brown had refused to come in quietly; he'd pulled a gun on her as soon as she stepped into his house, there was nothing left for her to do but shoot.

She was pretty sure he'd seen right through them and decided there was no better way to end his career than suicide by cop. They'd found plenty of proof about his secret hobby hidden in the basement, it seemed that he'd been collecting items that had previously belonged to each of his victims.

Her eyes had brimmed with tears when the forensics dug out a minute plastic teacup that was unmistakably a little girl's toy. She made a mental note to give it back to Jane as soon as the case was definitively closed.

Speaking of Jane, she'd been worried about him all day long. However, she knew it was quite late in Iowa now; it wouldn't do for her to call him at this moment in time, she would have to wait until the morning.

From the grim expression on his face as he was talking to his brother-in-law, Lisbon had gathered there was little to no chance that his wife was going to survive. Her heart clenched at the notion, she'd lost her own mother in a car crash too – and Jane looked so heartbroken she wished she could have gone with him, offered him a friendly shoulder when he needed it most.

Still, by the looks of things she had accomplished quite an important task today. Bringing down one of the deadliest serial killers in the history of California mattered to her in many ways; it was surely an achievement by itself, but she had done it mostly for her best friend.

She hoped it was enough for Jane to move on from the tragedy of his past. However, it seemed that fate had just brought upon him another one, and part of her was afraid it would be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

She tossed and turned in bed the whole night, until she finally drifted off with the first morning light.

xxx

Jane had spent the better part of the morning arranging things for the funeral. Danny was so broken he simply couldn't bring himself to do anything at all, and there was Angela's child that needed to be taken care of.

His heart sank a little as he looked upon David for the first time in months. The little boy had grown so much, now he was a toddler that was already striving to talk.

"Mo-mo," was all the kid kept on saying, and he had to fight a lump in his throat at the thought that the kid was too young to understand that he would never see his mother again.

"Mommy can't come now," he said as he threaded his fingers through the boy's soft hair. "I'll be your daddy for a little while, okay?"

"Da-da," David repeated meekly, clutching onto his favorite teddy bear.

When his cellphone rang, Jane had to take a moment to compose himself before answering.

"Lisbon. Is everything alright?"

"We've got Red John. He's dead now."

He furrowed his brow, it wasn't easy for him to wrap his head around the unexpected notion.

"Dead? How?"

"It's a long story, I'll tell you when you're back. What about you?"

Anxiety was apparent in her voice, it was endearing that she worried about him so much. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Angela passed away last night. I was able to exchange a few words with her before she died."

There was a pause at the other end of the line. "I'm sorry, Jane. If there's anything I can do for you, you only have to mention it."

"Thank you, Teresa. You're a good friend, I'd be lost without you."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," and the smallest of smiles touched his lips at her half-hearted attempt to lighten up the conversation.

He was pacing to and fro as he was talking, and David seemed to panic as soon as he noticed he wasn't by his side.

"Da-da! Da-da!" the little boy called again and again, and he had to go and pick him up.

"Who's that?" a bemused Lisbon asked after a full minute of silence.

Wearily he remembered that he'd always avoided telling her about the kid, and now he knew he couldn't keep such a big secret from her anymore.

"He's my wife's child. I'm looking after him until I find a better solution."

"Wait, you never mentioned a kid before."

"That's probably because I didn't want other people to know that my wife had been cheating on me."

He waited for a reply that never came, then figured that Lisbon was probably at a loss for words about the subject matter.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to find someone who can take care of him properly before I come back to Sacramento. I'm afraid that Danny won't have him, and he isn't exactly reliable anyway – but there's always adoption or foster care."

"Are you really saying you want to put your wife's child up for adoption?"

"Well, he isn't my son."

However, his words lacked any conviction as he felt David's innocent eyes on him. The boy resembled his mother so much, and his eyes were exactly like Charlotte's.

He swallowed a couple of times, then was forced to acknowledge he didn't really know what he wanted to do.

"Bring him with you when you come back. This isn't a decision you can take on the spur of the moment, you need some time to think it over."

What she was saying clearly made sense, and besides he knew from experience that she was usually right.

"Maybe. See you, Lisbon."

David rested his head on Jane's shoulder and twiddled the hair at the nape of his neck.

xxx

She had stopped at the mall on her way to Jane's apartment, bought a stuffed animal and a children's book. Now she was knocking at the door, patiently waiting for him to show up.

"Hi," was all he said as he stepped aside and let her in.

"How are you?"

He smiled softly and lied with eased practice. "I'm fine."

Both of them knew he was far from being fine, but Lisbon hoped that he would be in time. And she knew that David could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for him, whether Jane was willing to accept it or not.

"Where's the kid?"

"Upstairs, with his nanny. She'll take care of him until we work out what is the better option for him."

"You're his better option, Patrick."

"It's not like I'm his father."

That was when she dropped the shopping bag she was carrying and looked him straight in his eyes.

"But you were in love with his mother, weren't you?"

"Yes," he admitted at long last. "I think I've never stopped loving her as a matter of fact."

"Go mourn her then. Take some time to grieve her properly. I can look after things here until you're ready."

He pulled her into a bear hug, and she ran a soothing hand up and down his back.

"Thank you, Teresa," he whispered in her ear, and she smiled.