A/N: Thanks for sticking around with me guys and sorry for the long wait for the next chapter. Real life can be a bitch sometimes. I hope you won't mind I won't be writing so much the next few weeks, because it's PCA time and I think we all should vote for The Mentalist, Simon and Robin, who are all nominees this year. I really hope we will win in at least one category, so that's why I'll be voting my butt off and I hope you'll forgive me and do the same.

Thanks to Idan for betaing!

Oh and if you haven't done so already, waterbaby posted a new fic which blew me away! Go read and leave a review begging her to continure asap ;)

Now enjoy this chapter. I hope you'll be surprised because the villain is gonna be revealed in the end!

Liefs

(6)

The walk to the altar was long, almost as long as in her dream, but at some point she arrived, her eyes catching a glimpse of the dead body which was lying on the floor.

Fischer was the first one to say something. "I'm sorry, Lisbon. Father Andrew is dead."

Lisbon closed her fist around her cross. She was sitting in a row in the very back of the church, observing the crime scene techs doing their work. Gina had tried to call her three times, but she'd switched her phone off.

Father Andrew was dead. The now old man in his mid eighties, who'd known Teresa since her christening, was dead. After her mother had died, Father Andrew was one of the very few people who knew what was really going on in the Lisbon family.

She'd told him all about her abusive father, and he'd tried to support her as much as possible. He'd even respected her decision to not report his abusive behavior to the police. When she thought back, she'd always considered the Father as a good friend, and when she'd called him to ask if he would marry her and Marcus, he'd been happy to agree.

Now he was dead, and she couldn't shake the feeling it was all her fault.

She didn't look up when Jane sat down next to her, his hands folded in his lap. He didn't touch her, and she wouldn't have wanted him to.

"I'm sorry, Lisbon," he finally managed to say.

Lisbon simply nodded. "Four people, Jane. Four people were murdered because of me."

Jane sighed, a hint of desperation in his voice. "I know. Can you think of anyone who wants to hurt you? Anyone from your past?"

"No… I can't think of anyone. Why now, Jane? Why these people?"

"I don't know." Finally, he put a hand on her thigh, rubbing it lightly. "But I will find out. I promise you. You have to help us though. We're checking out the suspects, but…"

"Suspects, what suspects?" Her head shot up, eyes narrowed at him.

"I'll tell you, but you have to come to the precinct with us. I don't want to do it here. Who knows who is listening," Jane mumbled.

She stared at him. She and Jane had a very difficult relationship to churches. Last time they were in a church, he'd been gone for six months and scared the hell out of her. Last night, she'd dreamed about Jane and herself in this church… now they were here. But not because of her wedding, because of her priest's death.

"What do you mean Who knows who's listening? Jane, what the hell is going on?"

Fischer chose this moment to come up to them, her expression worried. "Lisbon. I just got off the phone with Marcus. His sister called him, because apparently you turned your phone off. He's worried and will take the next flight from D.C. immediately. You should go and talk to his sister though. She's still waiting outside the church."

At the mention of Marcus, Lisbon felt Jane stiffen beside her. He removed his hand from her thigh and his expression became inscrutable.

"Jane said you're investigating suspects?" she asked.

Fischer agreed by telling her they'd talk about it at the precinct. So they all got up and followed Fischer outside, where Cho was already waiting in a car.

As soon as Gina saw her, she let out a yelp, rushing over to Lisbon and grabbing her shoulders. "Oh my God, Teresa! Marcus called me! Is it true? Did someone kill the priest?"

"Yes."

"Oh no, that's horrible! Oh no, oh no, what are we supposed to do now? Who is supposed to marry the two of you on Saturday now? What's with the church?"

"It's a crime scene," Fischer answered for Lisbon.

Gina put her hands on her head as if she was having a headache. "Where are we supposed to find a new location on such short notice?"

"Perhaps you should ask Lisbon if she still wants to go through with the wedding under these circumstances," Jane suggested, throwing Lisbon a quick look. Her face turned red, but he wasn't sure if it was because of anger or suppressing her urge to cry about Father Andrew.

"That's what you would like, Jane, right? To hell with your I-just-want-you-to-be-happy-crap! If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're happy someone killed Father Andrew and messed up my plans," she snarled. "Of course the wedding will still take place, Gina! We just have to find a new place and someone with a licence. Please start looking, I'll call you once I'm finished."

With this she stalked off to her car, leaving Jane and Fischer looking after her in shock. Jane felt sick to his stomach. How could she think that? The crack in their relationship must be deeper than he ever expected.

"She didn't mean that," Fischer tried to console him. Although she was on Lisbon's side mostly, she felt a little pity for her colleague. He waved her off and walked to the car where Cho was waiting for them. Fischer followed him silently.

Xxxxx

The air in the conference room at the precinct was tense once they all arrived and went to work. Fischer laid out pictures of their suspects on the table, explaining to Lisbon that these were the people they were looking into at the moment.

"Can you think of anyone else who might want to hurt you?"

She looked up to the other woman and shook her head. Her gaze stopped at Volker's picture. She took it and looked at the man who'd been her personal nemesis, just like Jane's had been Red John. "Is Volker still in prison?"

"Yes. I talked to the California State Prison yesterday evening. He's still in their custody and it doesn't look like he'll get out of there any time soon," Cho explained quickly. His face was even more serious than it usually was.

Just like Jane, he was the only one who took the real danger coming from the murders into consideration.

"I want to know everything about what happens in the prison, who his friends are, if he gets any privileges, everything. Maybe he hired someone for this job."

Fischer took her order without questioning it. This wasn't the time to argue about who the boss was.

"The person who did this must either know you personally, or have had access to your file, Lisbon," Jane stated. "Are you sure there's no other ex-fiancé or someone you upset during your time here in Chicago?" She just gave him an annoyed look, turning back to the wall with the pictures.

Unbeknownst to her, Jane took a deep, calming breath. He was starting to get really pissed at Lisbon's attitude toward him. He didn't kill the priest! It wasn't his fault someone tried to ruin her wedding, and against all judgement, he really felt sorry for her.

"What about Carmen?" Lisbon asked, shuddering when she thought back to the night Jane helped her to prove her innocence by convicting Carmen. Jane tensed, remembering the case, too. Everything had been different back then. They'd been good colleagues, friends even. The case happened shortly after he shot Hardy to save her life. Afterwards, there'd been a shift in their relationship. They'd been closer than before. She looked up and their gazes met.

Suddenly, she felt a little sorry – but only a little. She'd been very harsh with him this morning, but she wasn't going to apologize, mainly because she thought she wasn't really wrong in what she'd said. Jane had never wanted her to be happy with Marcus, or he wouldn't have set up the scheme in Miami in the first place.

"We're still waiting for the institute to send us the file. It's 7:30 in the morning in California. We should have them around noon" Fischer explained.

"Does the church have any security cameras?" Lisbon asked. She still couldn't get over the fact that someone would murder a priest, her priest, to get back at her for something. If there'd been any doubt of the murders not involving her, it could be wiped out now.

She didn't want to think about what it would mean, who could be next. She had to protect her family and friends from getting hurt. That included the people from the team, too. If this person wasn't stopped by the sanctity of a church, what would stop him from killing someone in her family?

"I want 24 hour protection for my brothers and their families," she finally said. It was the least she could do to make sure they were safe. Perhaps she should ask for someone to protect Gina, too. Who knew if this man would try to kill her future sister-in-law to get back at her? She swallowed hard. She should call Marcus and tell him what was going on. He was already worried about her. Would it be better to cancel the wedding? No. No, she had to go through with this.

"I'll see what I can do Lisbon, but if we're not making progress on this case any time soon, I can't say how long we can protect them. The murderer has left us no message and no evidence whatsoever of these murders being connected to you. We just think they are, because you know all these people from your past." Fischer tried to stay professional, but she was scared for Lisbon's safety nonetheless.

"If you want protection for your family, you should get protection, too," Jane announced.

The woman in question shot him an angry look. "Oh yeah? You know what Jane, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. And who's going to be my bodyguard anyway? Cho and Fischer are busy trying to solve this case. Who else? You? You can't even take care of yourself without nearly getting killed! I can't trust you Jane. Who knows what will happen when you come up with a crazy plan and vanish off the surface of the earth again?"

"Could you please stop acting like all this is my fault?!" he hissed angrily. She was blaming him for everything, which was just not fair.

"Well it is! Things started to go crazy once you turned up here!"

Jane was about to object when Cho stepped in. "He's right, Lisbon. You should get protection, too." He didn't like to agree with Jane, but if these murders were aimed against Lisbon, she had to be protected.

"Marcus will be here tonight. If you so desperately want someone to be on the look out for me, it can be him."

"Fine, but until then, you'll stay with us, Teresa." Fischer's tone didn't tolerate any objection.

"I have to organize my wedding!" she protested.

Jane made an amused noise, which made her turn around, ready to throw the nearest pen at his head.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Fischer yelled. She had four murders to solve and no time to put up with this kindergarten.

"I'll go with you until Marcus arrives. Listen, I know this is hard for you right now, but until we can be sure who is responsible for the murders, we won't let you out of our sight."

"Fine," Lisbon sighed. "What can I do? How can I help you?"

"Jane and Cho, you'll go back to the crime scene and check out the area and the neighborhood. Maybe someone's seen something. Lisbon and I'll stay here until she's got to meet up with her sister-in-law."

Jane raised an eyebrow when he saw the face Lisbon made at the mention of Gina. She had a complicated relationship with Marcus's sister… he was wondering why. Without another word or goodbye, Cho and Jane left the precinct, determined to check out if anyone had seen anything they could connect to Father Andrew's death.

Xxxxx

Fischer and Lisbon stayed behind, watching the door close.

Fischer let out a loud sigh before she turned to Lisbon, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "What?" Lisbon asked innocently.

"Jeez, what are you doing, Teresa?"

"I don't know what you mean." She sat down again, trying to avoid Fischer's gaze.

"Oh, you know what I'm talking about. If I locked you up in a room with Jane and went to check after 15 minutes, I'm not sure both of you'd make it out alive. Do you really mean what you said at the church? Do you really believe he's happy about all these complications, that it's his fault?"

Lisbon didn't answer. She knew she was being petty, but one part of her was still mourning the break up of their friendship, while the other was determined to hate him. "It… it looks like he's happy about it. I don't know what's wrong with me. I know he didn't kill these people, but whenever he opens his mouth, I just want to punch him!"

"That's stupid and you know it," Fischer said louder than Lisbon had expected her to. "I told you how miserable he was after you left. He missed you. Hell, everyone could tell he missed you more than anything, but he was too proud to call you or ask us how you are."

"Oh you don't know a thing," Lisbon countered angrily when Fischer mentioned the call.

"He made you the top point of his list, Lisbon! Do you know why they sent me? Because Abbott thought I'd remind him of you! He mumbled your name when I brought him home that night in Venezuela."

She was very quiet all of a sudden. She knew Jane and Fischer had met on the island, but neither of them had ever bothered telling her about it. It was the first time Fischer had even mentioned it.

Fischer looked at her, debating what to say. She couldn't go for what she had in mind for obvious reasons. Instead, she settled for something else.

"I know that he's scared for your life, Teresa! Whoever is behind these murders wants to hurt you, and it kills him inside to think about you getting hurt after everything that happened with Red John." She knew Cho would kill her for bringing Red John up, but she had to make Lisbon realize how important this was without asking her if she was too blind to see Jane was still madly in love with her. "I don't want this team to work against each other, to think one wishes the other one misery. Jane wants to protect you, and so do we."

"What do you know about Red John? That is over."

Fischer shook her head. "No, it's not, and you know it. We can't rule the Blake Association out just yet. We have to be careful."

"I'm not going to cancel my wedding!" Lisbon shouted vehemently.

"No one is asking you to!"

"Jane wants to ruin it!"

She rolled her eyes. "There, you're starting it again! He'd never do that, Teresa, and you know it. He might not be happy about you marrying Marcus and not telling him about it, but he'd never try to sabotage your wedding."

Lisbon looked up, torn between her thoughts. "You don't know him as well as I do."

"Please, Lisbon. Of all the crap Jane has pulled, he'd never do this. When you left after Miami, he decided to let you live your life, to leave you alone, just like you asked him to."

"Yeah… maybe… I just don't know! It's too much at the moment. These murders… someone is trying to get back at me and I don't know who… and why now, why before my wedding?"

Fischer sat down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know. But we'll find out." The ping of her computer captured her attention, so she walked over and checked her e-mail, glad for the interruption.

"They sent Carmen's file. Come over; let's see how he's been behaving lately."

Lisbon sighed and got up, walking over to Fischer's laptop. "I thought he was still in prison. I never knew they put him into a psychiatric facility."

Fischer scrolled down to the first page, feeling Lisbon tense next to her. "What? What's wrong?"

Lisbon stared at the screen, her mouth slightly opened. "Are you… are you sure this is the right file?"

"Yes, that's the file of Roy Carmen, former psychiatrist at the CBI, imprisoned for the murder of William McTier."

"No… no, that's not Carmen."

Fischer looked confused. "What do you mean that's not Carmen? Did they send us the wrong file?"

"The man in the picture," Lisbon whispered, "it's not him."

Fischer went back to her files on the desktop, checking the databases for the murder of William McTier. After a while, the laptop opened a file from the CBI containing the details of the murder. There was a picture of Roy Carmen in his prison uniform, which matched the picture in the psychiatric facility's file. "Look, the pictures match. It's the same guy."

Lisbon shook her head. "No! It's not him… I swear this is another man!"

"Oh my god, if you're right…"

"Carmen is free," Lisbon mumbled. "It's him… He's the one who's killing all these people."