Lisbon wiped her palms on her jeans, feeling unaccountably nervous as she entered Marie's an hour later. Well, perhaps unaccountably was the wrong word. It was rather unnerving to walk into a place where you knew one of the occupants had been trying to kill you for the better part of several weeks, after all. She felt anxious, exposed. Jane had wanted to come with her, but she had refused, fearing he would make a scene once he figured out who the most likely suspect was and ruin the whole thing. Cho had offered to accompany her in his stead, but Lisbon believed they would have a better chance of drawing out the would-be killer if she went in alone. Jane, of course, hadn't liked that idea one bit, but the rest of the team had agreed to abide by her wishes. As a result, Rigsby had been charged with keeping Jane from barging into Marie's halfway through the operation, and Lisbon had entered the coffee shop alone.

She glanced around uneasily, trying to assess who in this charming café might want her dead.

Susan, the manager, had always been nice, but did her too-friendly smile conceal a sinister intent? That tall guy in the glasses had flirted with her the last time she was here, but maybe that had just been an excuse to get near enough to drop something in her drink.

"Hi, Teresa," Jason greeted her cheerfully as she approached the counter. He beamed at her. "What can I do for you today?"

She smiled back at him, grateful to see at least one friendly face in this place. "Hi, Jason. Just a coffee today."

"The usual?"

"Yeah, thanks," she said distractedly, still looking around for potential suspects. That woman with the baby was in here an awful lot, but surely if she was plotting to murder someone, she wouldn't bring the baby along, would she? The man with the beard who was always in here on his laptop—he was a much more likely candidate.

Jason whistled while he prepared her coffee. "Hey, Teresa, I finished that essay for the application to that internship you recommended me for. I was wondering if you'd mind reading it over for me before I submit it."

"Sure," she said absently. "I'd be happy to." God, this was impossible. There were over twenty people in here, over half of which she recognized as employees or regulars. Maybe she should have let Jane come along after all. He probably would have taken one look at this lot and deduced the identity of the guilty party based on the color of their shoelaces or something.

"Awesome. I'll email it to you later today, okay?"

Jason snapped the lid on her coffee and presented it to her with a flourish. "Here you go."

Lisbon stared at it. There it was. Her probably poisoned coffee. The would-be instrument of her death. Her eyes flicked up to look behind the counter, but Jason was the only one there. No one else had been within five feet of the cup he'd just handed to her during the whole time he'd been preparing it. She looked back at Jason, aghast.

"That'll be $4.37," he said cheerfully.

She handed the money over wordlessly, wondering if there was any way she could get reimbursed for poisoned beverages sustained in the line of duty. How would one go about filing a worker's compensation claim for such a thing?

Jason put the cash in the drawer and handed her a receipt and her change. "All right. You're all set."

Thanks didn't really seem appropriate under the circumstances. Her mind reeling, she took the coffee and left.

Shaken, she walked slowly back to the SUV where the rest of the team was waiting.

It couldn't be Jason. Jason was so young and sweet. He was on the debate team, for God's sake. He couldn't be in league with Red John. He couldn't be.

She opened the car door and climbed into the front passenger seat. She handed the coffee to Cho in the driver's seat without a word.

"What's wrong?" Jane demanded from the seat behind her when he got a look at her face. "Did something happen?"

Lisbon shook her head, not wanting to put voice to her fears until they knew for sure that the coffee was indeed poisoned. Maybe they were wrong, she thought hopefully. Maybe this was all a mistake. No one at Marie's was poisoning her. They'd just have to look elsewhere. Maybe they'd overlooked something at her apartment. They needed to look harder, that was all.

Van Pelt did the honors this time. She dipped the cotton swab in the coffee, then dropped it into the waiting vial.

As they all watched, the liquid in the vial turned a brilliant indigo.

Lisbon turned her head away. Numb, she gave the order that needed to be made. She stared out the window, unseeing, as Cho and Rigsby got out of the car and went inside to make the arrest. She closed her eyes, conscious only of Jane's warm hand heavy on her shoulder.

Xxx

There was a bit of an altercation once they got back to the office and Jane realized Lisbon wasn't going to let him interrogate Jason until the boy's parents had been contacted.

"Lisbon! Precious time is ticking away," he protested after she caught him trying to sneak into the interrogation room and dragged him back to her office. "I'll be able to get way more out of him if he's alone."

"He's a minor. He has the right to have his parents present for the interrogation."

"He's talked to Red John, Lisbon. He could be the key to identifying him after all this time, and he's less than fifteen yards away from this office. Do you seriously want to wait to talk to him until after he's gone crying to mommy and lawyered up?"

She sighed. "He's just a kid, Jane."

"He's no innocent, Lisbon. He poisoned you. He's working for Red John. How can you protect him, under the circumstances?"

"I'm not protecting him. The law is protecting him."

"The law? Who cares about that at a time like this?" Jane said incredulously. "Your life is in danger!"

She scowled. "I care. The people of California care. And the DA is sure as hell going to care if we decide to charge a teenage boy with attempted murder."

"Well, I don't give a damn about the law. If he even looks sideways at you, I'm going to wring his scrawny neck."

"Are you listening to yourself? You're going to kill a seventeen year old boy for looking at me?"

"Legally, he'll be an adult in seven months."

"Legally, that won't help your defense much."

"Okay, fine," he conceded. "I won't kill him. But you really ought to let me talk to him."

She glared at him. "Listen to me, Jane, because I'm only going to say this once: If you put one toe across the threshold of that interrogation room before I give you the okay, I will break your leg."

Jane strongly suspected she knew at least five ways to carry out this threat, thanks to her training sessions with Cho, so he decided it would probably be best not to test her willingness to do so. He sat down on the couch in a huff.

For once, she didn't attempt to distract herself with paperwork. Instead, she sat down on the couch next to him and closed her eyes. Her fingers found their way to the sleeve of his jacket, curling around the edge of the hem. Jane was surprised and a little moved that Lisbon was reaching out to him for reassurance like this.

Then he realized she was afraid he was going to try to sneak out while she wasn't looking and this was her way of making sure he couldn't slip away unnoticed.

He sulked on the couch for the next half hour, but he made no effort to escape her grasp.

Their détente was interrupted by Rigsby knocking lightly on the doorframe. "Uh, boss?"

Lisbon opened her eyes and looked at him. "Yeah?"

"The kid's mom is here."

Lisbon sighed. "All right. Thanks, Rigsby."

She got up and went towards the interrogation room. Jane and Rigsby followed. "You and Cho checked him for weapons?" she asked Rigsby brusquely. She had learned her lesson after the disastrous encounter with Maldonado.

Rigsby nodded. "He's clean."

Cho and Van Pelt were waiting for them outside the interrogation room. "What's the plan, boss?" Cho asked.

"I'll take point," Lisbon told him. "Jane and Cho, you're with me. Rigsby and Van Pelt, you guys can watch from the observation room, but keep an eye on the hall. No one but our team goes in or out of the interrogation room until the interview is over, okay?"

"Got it," Rigsby affirmed, and Van Pelt nodded.

"All right. Let's do it," Lisbon said, and entered the interrogation room.

Jane followed close behind her, his hand at the small of her back. Cho brought up the rear.

Jason and his mother were seated at the table. Jane and Lisbon took the two chairs opposite them. Cho took his position in the corner behind Lisbon and folded his arms across his chest.

Jason brightened when Lisbon walked in, but his mother, next to him, looked tense.

"Mrs. Finley," Lisbon greeted her. "My name is Teresa Lisbon. I'm the senior agent in charge of the Serious Crimes Unit here at the CBI. These are my colleagues, Patrick Jane and Kimball Cho."

"Call me Cathy," the other woman said distractedly, her eyes darting back and forth between Jane and Cho before settling on Lisbon again. "Can you tell me what this is all about?"

"I'm afraid Jason is in quite a bit of trouble," Lisbon said soberly.

"What kind of trouble?"

"Has Jason told you anything about why he's here?"

"No." She looked at her son, but Jason said nothing, just stared at Lisbon rather fixedly.

"He's been charged with a very serious crime," Lisbon told her.

Jane was getting a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, watching Jason follow Lisbon's every movement with his eyes. "Do you understand why you're here, Jason?" he asked.

Jason nodded. "Yes."

"And why's that?"

"To see Teresa," he answered easily, smiling at Lisbon.

"Excuse me?" Lisbon said, startled.

"I came here to see you," the boy repeated. "When your men asked me to come here with them, I asked them if you would be here, and they said you would be."

"You know you've been arrested, right?" Cho asked.

Jason looked at him. "Yes."

"Agents Cho and Rigsby read you your Miranda rights, didn't they?" Lisbon double-checked. "They explained the charges against you?"

"Yes."

"And do you understand your rights as they explained them to you?"

"Of course. I have the right to an attorney, blah, blah, blah," Jason said, rolling his eyes a little. "I have seen TV before. I know how it works." Then he did something very strange: he winked at Lisbon.

Lisbon drew back. "Jason, I'm concerned that you don't seem to appreciate how serious your situation is right now."

He smiled at her. "It's okay, Teresa. I understand what's going on here."

Jane was disturbed by the way the boy was looking at his partner. "What do you think is going on here, Jason?"

Jason looked at Jane, his lip curling slightly. "I'm hardly likely to tell you that, am I?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jane asked, intrigued.

Jason shook his head and looked back at Lisbon. "Teresa, I know you had your men come get me so it wouldn't look suspicious, but you had to know I would have come willingly if you'd just asked. Surely there's no need for such pretenses now that I'm actually here. Why did you have to bring him in here?"

"What pretenses?" Lisbon said, confused.

Jason gestured to his surroundings. "This. The whole arrest. I know it was a trick so you'd have an excuse to bring me here."

"No trick," Cho said. "You've really been arrested."

"Why would I want an excuse to bring you to the CBI?" Lisbon asked, looking bewildered.

"So we could finally have some time to talk alone," Jason replied. He frowned. "I'm not sure why you called my mom, though."

"Why would you and Lisbon need to talk alone?" Jane asked him.

"None of your business," Jason said coldly.

"Can someone please explain to me what the hell is happening right now?" Jason's mother demanded.

Lisbon turned her attention to the woman on the other side of the table. "Mrs. Finley—"

"Cathy," the other woman said shortly.

"Cathy. Your son has been charged with attempted murder."

Jason's mother stared at her. "You're joking."

"I'm afraid not," Lisbon told her.

"That's crazy," Cathy said flatly. "There must be some mistake."

"There's no mistake," Jane told her. "Your son has been poisoning Agent Lisbon."

"What?" Jason said, sounding alarmed for the first time. "Poisoning?"

"Yes. That's what people call it when you put something in someone's food or drink that could kill them," Jane informed him.

"Teresa's been poisoned?" Jason said in disbelief.

"Yes."

Jason looked at Lisbon for confirmation. "Someone's been hurting you?" he demanded.

Off her startled nod, he slammed his hand against the table. "I'll kill him," he said savagely.

"Nice try," Cho said, unimpressed. "We know it was you."

"This is ridiculous," Cathy huffed. "My son hasn't poisoned anyone."

"I'm sorry, but we have compelling evidence that he has," Lisbon told her.

"This isn't just a witness interview? He's actually being charged?" Cathy asked.

"He has been charged with attempted murder," Lisbon repeated. "This is an official interrogation. Under the circumstances, I feel obliged to advise you to consider consulting with an attorney."

"I don't need a lawyer," Jason said. "I haven't done anything wrong. This is a mistake."

"No mistake," Cho said. "Someone's definitely been poisoning her."

"I'm sorry to hear that, of course, but what on earth makes you think Jason is the one who has been poisoning Agent Lisbon?" Cathy asked.

Jane produced the coffee cup that Lisbon had bought from Marie's earlier that morning. "Agent Lisbon has been ill for several weeks. Yesterday, she finally went to the doctor and the doctor informed her she has been suffering from organophosphate poisoning. This morning, Jason prepared this cup of coffee for her. It tested positive for organophosphates." He demonstrated, filling the vial once again, dipping the cotton swab into the coffee and then into the vial in turn. He set the vial on the table as it turned a dark blue. "I probably don't need to tell you this, Jason, chemistry whiz that you are, but organophosphates are poisonous to humans when ingested."

Jason and his mother stared at the vial, shocked.

"You think that's poison?" Jason said in disbelief.

"Yes. You've been putting it in her coffee for weeks."

Cathy turned to her son. "Is this true, Jason?" she said uncertainly.

"Of course not. That isn't poison! I would never poison Teresa," Jason said angrily. "What kind of man would do that to the woman he loves?"

There was a shocked silence.

Cho spoke first. "You're in love with Lisbon?"

"Of course," Jason said. He looked at Lisbon adoringly. "How could I not be?"

"Excuse me?" Lisbon spluttered.

"I'm in love with you," Jason said seriously. "Surely you know that by now."

Lisbon knew no such thing, but couldn't think of a reasonable response. She gaped at Jason in disbelief.

Jason's mom put a hand on his arm. "Jason, honey. Agent Lisbon is a very beautiful woman, and I can understand you having a little crush on her. But don't you think she's a little old for you?"

"That's just close-minded, old-fashioned thinking," Jason said dismissively. "True love is not bound by such antiquated restrictions."

"So you're saying you haven't put anything in Lisbon's coffee?" Jane asked.

"Well, I have been putting something in her coffee," Jason said blithely. "But it's not poison."

"Jason!" his mother said, aghast.

"It's totally harmless!" Jason insisted. "I told you, I would never hurt her."

"Except for making her sick for weeks," Cho commented her.

Jane looked at Jason intently. "If it wasn't poison you were putting in her drink, what was it?"

"It's a special chemical compound. But it's not poison. It wouldn't hurt anyone. Here, I'll show you."

"You have it with you?" Cho asked.

"Sure," Jason said. He pulled a small flask out of his pocket and handed it to Cho. "See? It's not poison."

Cho handed it to Jane, who poured a sample into his bottle of clear liquid. It turned blue. "Looks like poison to me."

"No! I told you, it's a special chemical compound. It hasn't even been released on the market yet."

"How often have you been putting it into her coffee?"

"Whenever I see her."

"How often is that?"

"A couple of mornings a week. I arranged my schedule at school to let me take more morning shifts so I'd be more likely to see her."

"Jason!" said his mother, scandalized. "You told me you wanted to take that afternoon shop class to broaden your horizons."

Cho looked at Jason, unblinking. "You said the stuff you've been putting in her coffee is a special chemical compound."

"Yes."

"What's the purpose of this special chemical compound?" Jane asked.

Jason blushed. "It's designed to lower a woman's inhibitions to make her more… receptive to a person she might not be attracted to at first glance."

"You're saying you thought you were giving her a love potion," Cho said flatly.

"Don't be ridiculous," Jason scoffed. "There's no such thing as a love potion."

"Aphrodisiac, then."

"Or a rufie," Jane suggested.

Jason looked outraged. "It's not a rufie! I would never put a rufie in a woman's drink. That's a despicable thing to do."

"Jason, why did you put anything into my drink at all?" Lisbon asked, upset. "Even if you didn't think it was going to hurt me, you should never have put something in my coffee without my knowledge."

Jason looked at Lisbon pleadingly. "I'm sorry. I would never hurt you, Teresa. Please believe that. It was just… this was the only way I could get you to look at me as more than just the kid who gives you coffee in the mornings."

"Yeah, that's working out real well for you," Cho commented. "Now she's looking at you as the kid who poisoned her coffee in the mornings."

"No. She knows I love her." Jason looked at Lisbon with a tender expression on his face. "What's more, she loves me, too."

Jason's mom looked at Lisbon suspiciously for evidence that she might have encouraged her son's misguided affections, but the look of horror on Lisbon's face was so convincing that it was enough to persuade her to abandon her any suspicions she may have been forming against Lisbon and focus on Jason instead. "Did Agent Lisbon say something that made you think she might return your feelings?"

"She didn't need to say anything," Jason said confidently. "I can see it in her face when she looks at me."

"Do you see it in her face now?" Jane asked curiously.

Jason studied Lisbon's face. "No. Right now she looks upset."

Lisbon smiled uncomfortably. "Jason, I'm sorry you've somehow gotten the wrong impression—"

"Wait. There it is!" Jason interrupted, gesturing wildly in Lisbon's direction. "You can see for yourselves she loves me. It's written all over her face."

Everyone looked at Lisbon, but to the unbiased eye, she looked more appalled than enamored.

Jane snapped his fingers. "I know what's going on here," he announced.

"Thank God," Lisbon muttered. "I was starting to think I'd fallen down the rabbit hole."

"Jason's been hypnotized," Jane told them.

"Hypnotized?" Cathy said blankly.

"Yes. He's under the influence of a post-hypnotic suggestion."

"But hypnotism isn't real, is it?" Cathy said uncertainly.

"It's real," Cho told her. "Jane here can do it. We had a case once where someone was hypnotized into carrying a body down the street thinking it was a bag of potatoes."

"My God," Cathy said, horrified. "And you think that's what is making Jason act like this?"

"It's certainly playing a part," Jane confirmed. "Our friend must have been following you, Lisbon. He learned about your caffeine dependency and realized Marie's was your favorite coffee place. He noticed Jason had a crush on you and decided to use that to his advantage. He hypnotized him into thinking the poison was a love potion and planted a suggestion that every time you smiled at him, it was evidence that you were in love with him, too."

"This is crazy," Jason said. "I haven't been hypnotized. You just don't understand what true love is when it's right in front of you."

"Uh-huh. Tell me, Jason. Where did you get the serum you've been putting in Lisbon's coffee?"

"My friend John gave it to me."

Lisbon, Jane, and Cho exchanged glances. "Your friend John," Lisbon repeated. "How did he end up giving you the serum in the first place?"

"He got it through his work. He works for the FDA, you see. He said it had passed all the clinical trials, but it wouldn't be released on the market for another couple of months. He knew I was interested in chemistry, so he gave me a sample and explained how it works."

"What did he say it did?" Jane asked.

"He said most people walk around with blinders on that prevent them from seeing the real truth. It's not their fault, it's just a product of how they were raised to conform to societal conventions. The serum lowers a person's inhibitions so they are can see beyond the bounds of those societal conventions. If a woman drinks it, she'll see past traditional factors that might have limited her view and open her mind to seeing the true nature of the man who gives it to her."

"Jason," his mother groaned, apparently in a state of disbelief about how gullible her son had proven to be. "You actually believed him?"

"Sure. He's a chemist. He did the tests on it himself."

"A chemical can't make a person fall in love with you," Cho told him.

"I know that," Jason said defensively. "It doesn't make a person fall in love with you. It just opens a person's mind to the possibility of falling in love with someone they might not normally look at twice."

"Like an older woman falling in love with a younger man?" Jane suggested.

"Exactly. The serum just helps a person allow for the possibility of love in unexpected places."

"You didn't feel guilty about trying to coerce a woman into loving you through chemical means?" Cho asked.

"I wasn't coercing anyone!"

Cho rolled his eyes. "Right. You were just opening her mind."

"So what was supposed to happen next?" Jane asked Jason. "Were you supposed to keep slipping the poison into Lisbon's coffee until one day she was too weak to defend herself, and then kidnap her and take her to your friend John?"

"Why would I take her to John?" Jason said blankly.

"You tell me."

"John doesn't have anything to do with this."

"I think he does. I want you to tell me about him."

"What about him?"

"Do you know what his last name is?" Jane asked.

"No."

"What about what he looks like?" Jane asked Jason. "Can you tell us that?"

Jason looked confused. "Look like?" he said uncertainly.

"Yes, can you describe him?"

"I dunno. He's just normal looking."

"Is he tall? Short? Fat? Thin? Young? Old?" Jane persisted.

Jason just looked at him blankly, as though he didn't understand the question.

"Or maybe you could draw us a picture?" Jane suggested hopefully.

Jason brightened. "Sure. I could do that."

"Wonderful," Jane said. "Cho, could you grab some paper and a pencil?"

"On it," Cho said, and exited the room.

He came back a minute later and handed Jason the pencil and paper. "Here you go."

Jason poised the pencil over the paper. "You just want a picture of his face?" he asked Jane.

"Yes, please. If you can manage it."

"I can do it," Jason said confidently. He drew the pencil smoothly across the surface of the paper, and in less than a moment, held up his drawing for their inspection.

It was a large, grinning smiley face.

Jane's face fell and Lisbon groaned. Even Cho looked disappointed.

Cathy looked at the drawing, unimpressed. "Boy, those art lessons were money well spent, weren't they?" she muttered.

"It's not his fault," Lisbon told her.

"Yes," Jane agreed. "The man who did this to your son would have taken every precaution against the possibility of discovery. When he hypnotized him, he would have placed this image in Jason's head for just this circumstance."

Cathy shook her head. "This is crazy."

Jane returned to more general questions. "How do you know this man?" he asked Jason.

"From the coffee shop."

"He's a regular?"

"I guess. I haven't seen him around much lately, though."

Of course not, Jane thought. Once he'd manipulated the boy into unwittingly poisoning Lisbon, he made himself scarce, minimizing the chance that the deed could be traced back to him. "When did you last see him?"

Jason thought. "A couple weeks ago."

"How long had he been going to the coffee shop before that?"

"I dunno. About a month, I'd say."

"How did the two of you become friends?"

"He was coming in pretty regularly for awhile after the morning rush. We got to talking a bit."

"What about?"

Jason blushed. "Well… women, mostly. You could say he was kind of unlucky in love."

"Is that so?" Jane murmured. Must have been his tendency to stab any potential girlfriends to death before they really got to know each other.

Jason nodded. "He said he's always been pretty shy around women."

"Yeah, I got that from the way he goes after them by breaking into their homes and torturing them to death," Cho muttered.

Jason, who hadn't heard this, continued. "I told him I understood. I told him there was this woman who came in to the shop sometimes, but I knew she was way out of my league. He said he used to feel like that, until he discovered the serum. The serum helped him overcome his shyness. He said the way women looked at him after they drank some of it made him feel like a king. He wasn't so shy anymore. Once the ice was broken, they started to see him for who he really was, and he was able to stop giving them the serum."

"I don't understand," Jane said. "Was that your plan, too? To stop giving Lisbon the serum once she saw who you really were?"

"That's right. I was going to stop giving it to her once she got used to the idea of caring for a younger man."

"So what were you waiting for?" Jane asked.

"What?"

"You said it was working. You said you could see it in her face how much she loved you."

Jason got a stubborn look in his eye. "She does love me."

"Then what were you waiting for? If it was working so well, why keep giving her the love potion?"

Jason hesitated. "I—I was waiting for a sign."

"What kind of sign?"

"I was waiting for her to confess her feelings to me. To tell me she wanted to be with me. Once she opened her mind to the possibility of a life with me, then I could stop giving it to her and let her fall in love with me for real."

"Ah. A tidy little syllogism."

"A what?"

"A syllogism. Your friend John tricked you, Jason. He told you it would be safe to stop giving Lisbon the serum once she confessed her feelings to you. But the thing is, he knew she was never going to tell you what you wanted to hear. Telling you to wait for that sign ensured you would continue to dose her with the serum indefinitely, constantly living in vain hope. He was going to let you poison her to death in a way that left him completely free and clear. He was going to walk away from the whole thing, while you'd be thrown in jail for the rest of your life for killing a state agent."

"No," Jason said, agitated. "He's my friend. He's got nothing to do with this. He gave me the serum, that's all."

"Jason, he told you that when Lisbon smiled at you, it was evidence that she was falling in love with you. But Lisbon smiles at all the people who work at Marie's—she was just being friendly. She isn't in love with you."

"You're a liar," Jason said angrily. "That's not true."

"You don't believe me? Fine. Will you believe it if she tells you herself?"

"She won't do it," Jason said with certainty. "She's in love with me."

Jane looked at Lisbon. "Lisbon? Is that right?"

Lisbon looked horribly uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, Jason, but what Jane is saying is true. I'm not in love with you."

"No. It's not true," Jason said, devastated. "This is a trick. He's tricking you."

His mom sighed. "Jason, honey, be reasonable. Why would Mr. Jane want to trick anyone?"

"Because he wants Teresa, too! This is all a trick so he can take her away from me and have her all to himself."

Jason grew so distraught that it was soon apparent that they weren't going to get anything more useful out of him. Deeply uncomfortable at the way he was staring at her, Lisbon finally called the interview to a close.

"Would you excuse us a moment?" she said to Cathy, avoiding Jason's gaze.

"Of course," Cathy said wearily.

"Is there anything we can get for you?"

She shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't much feel like coffee at the moment," she said wryly.

"I could get you some water," Lisbon offered.

"We're fine," Cathy assured her. "I think I could use a few minutes to talk to my son alone, actually."

"All right. We'll be back shortly," Lisbon told her.

Rigsby and Van Pelt met Jane, Lisbon, and Cho in the hall.

"Man," Rigsby commented. "I thought I had it bad when I was hypnotized."

"Yeah, all you did was beat up a suspect, kiss Van Pelt, and nearly throw Jane off a building," Cho said.

"At least he didn't try to drug anyone into falling in love with him," Jane pointed out.

"Yeah," Rigsby agreed. Then—"Wait, I kissed Van Pelt?"

"Yup," Cho confirmed.

"But that was before—"

"Yup."

Rigsby frowned. "I don't remember that."

"Not to worry, Rigsby, she enjoyed it," Jane informed him. "Even though she tried to pretend that she didn't. Isn't that right, Grace?"

Van Pelt hit him on the arm and shot him an annoyed look.

"God, what a mess," Lisbon groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Guess you've still got it, eh, boss?" Rigsby said. "Did you see the way that kid was looking at you? Like he was a starving man and you were the world's biggest sandwich."

"Thanks, Rigs, that's helpful," Lisbon said dryly.

"What are we going to do with him?" Van Pelt asked.

"We'll have to get him and his family set up with the witness protection program," Lisbon replied.

"Witness protection?" Jane repeated. "He poisoned you, Lisbon. He ought to be thrown in jail."

"He didn't mean to hurt me, Jane."

"He put a foreign substance into your coffee without your consent. He has some culpability in this."

Lisbon shook her head. "Older and wiser people than Jason have been manipulated into doing things they wouldn't normally do by Red John. I'm not going to ruin the poor kid's life because he let Red John delude him into thinking he was in love with me."

"Think the family will go for it?" Van Pelt asked. "I mean, witness protection is kind of a big deal. They'll have to leave their whole lives behind."

"They'll have to," Lisbon said. "Red John is sure to find out that his plan didn't work eventually. I can't imagine he'll let this failure pass without wanting his intended pawn to feel the full consequences of his disappointment. Jason won't be safe once Red John figures out he's talked to us."

"Forget Jason, what about you?" Jane said. "Once he realizes that Jason botched the poisoning effort, he's bound to come up with a plan to come after you in some other way."

"Jane's right, boss," Cho said. "You need to reconsider some of those protection measures we talked about when Jane first got the lamb."

Lisbon sighed. "Fine. If I agree to let someone on the team stay with me for the next few days, will that make you happy?"

"No," Jane said. He wouldn't be happy until the threat to Lisbon's life was removed once and for all, and there was only one way to make sure that happened. "But it's a start."

"Rigsby, get the U.S. Marshals on the phone and see if they can someone down here to talk to Jason's family," Lisbon instructed

"Will do, boss," Rigsby said.

Lisbon turned to Grace. "Van Pelt, take that flask to the lab and see if you can run down the source of the poison. It's a long shot, but if we can figure out where it's from, maybe we can figure out how Red John got his hands on it."

"No problem," Van Pelt said.

"I'm going to talk to Jason's mom and try to help her understand that her whole family has to leave their entire lives behind them and enter the witness protection program if they want to have any chance of keeping Jason alive," Lisbon continued. "Cho, I need you to go pick up the rest of Jason's family and bring them here to talk to the guys from WITSEC."

"Okay."

She looked at Jane. "Jane, I want you to sit with Jason and see if you can unhypnotize him."

"I don't know the trigger," Jane protested. "Breaking the power of Red John's hypnotic suggestion without knowing the trigger will be damn near impossible."

"I don't care," Lisbon said stubbornly. "You have to try."

Realizing Lisbon was likely to prove intractable on this point, Jane resigned himself to a wasted afternoon. "Very well."

On second thought, it was entirely possible that Red John had planted a secondary suggestion beneath the first that might prompt Jason to resort to physical violence against Lisbon if the first plot failed. Jane straightened. Perhaps breaking Red John's hold over Jason would be well worth the effort, after all.

Orders dispatched, Lisbon opened the door to the interrogation room and addressed Jason's mom, Jane at her elbow. "Cathy? Could you come with me? I'd like to talk to you in my office."

Cathy glanced uneasily at Jason, clearly reluctant to leave him alone in the state he was in.

"Jane's going to sit with Jason for awhile," Lisbon told her. "I think he might be able to help him."

"Help him?" Cathy said uncertainly.

"Jane has a very unique skill set," Lisbon informed her. "He's going to do everything he can to break the trance Jason is under."

"All right," Cathy said dubiously. "If you think it's best."

"I do."

Cathy patted Jason on the shoulder and followed Lisbon to her office, leaving Jason with Jane. Jason scowled at Jane, obviously less than pleased at being left in the charge of the man he perceived as the major threat against Lisbon's affections towards him.

Jane suppressed a sigh. This was going to be fun.

Xxx

Lisbon spent the rest of the day mired in WITSEC procedure with the Finley family and two federal marshals. Cho had returned with Jason's father and younger sister, and Lisbon watched their faces as it slowly dawned on them that they were going to have to leave behind everything that they knew if they wanted to keep Jason safe. Jason's mother and father were familiar with the Red John case from the papers. They were understandably horrified to learn their son had not only conversed with the notorious killer, but had been hypnotized and manipulated by him into poisoning someone.

Jane found her on her couch at the end of the day, drinking a glass of tequila and looking depressed.

"Hey," she said tiredly. "Want some?" She gestured to the bottle on her desk, indicating for him to help himself.

He sat down next to her and took the glass from her instead, taking a healthy swallow.

He was tired, too. He'd spent six hours with Jason before he'd finally found the trigger, and then another half hour with the kid helping him wrap his head around the fact that he really had been poisoning a woman he'd had a crush on for the better part of six months. After that, Jane returned Jason to his family, but he'd taken one look at the crowd in Lisbon's office and retreated to the safety of his attic until the marshals and everyone had left.

"Thank you for helping Jason," she said to him. "After you broke the trance, he seemed a lot more… sane."

"Meh. All in a day's work," he said with a lightheartedness he didn't really feel.

"What was the trigger, anyway?"

"It was the phrase 'Patrick Jane is a dishonest little worm,'" he informed her.

She stared at him. "How the hell did you figure that out?"

"Patience, and dumb luck."

"Seriously. How did you figure it out?"

Jane shrugged. "I tried every physical cue in the book and every poem William Blake ever wrote before it occurred to me to try some of the phrases from the note Red John left me after he killed Angela and Charlotte. Red John enjoys symbolism. In the event that his plan succeeded, there's a reasonable chance I would have eventually figured out that Jason was behind the poisoning. He would like the idea of reminding me that the death of yet another person I cared about could be laid at my feet."

Lisbon scowled. "Didn't we already talk about this? I don't want you blaming yourself for things that he's done."

"I can't help how he thinks. Besides, it got us to the end goal—Jason is unhypnotized and won't be trying to kill you anymore, so that's all that matters."

"So he's totally cured? He isn't convinced he has a crush on me anymore?"

Jane shook his head. "He's cured of the hypnotism. The crush pre-dated the hypnotism, so unhypnotizing him wouldn't have had any effect on that."

"I thought Red John was the one who convinced him he was in love with me."

"No. It was more subtle than that. It really was an impressive piece of work. Red John knew Jason had a crush on you. When he hypnotized him, he dialed up his craving for your attention a notch or two, just enough to get him to consider drastic means to obtain it. Then he reinforced the feeling by making Jason think that when you smiled at him, you were in love with him."

"Reinforced it?"

"Yes. After all, what is more attractive than someone falling in love with you? Think about it from Jason's perspective. Imagine this person you've been pining for ages suddenly starts giving you every indication they love you back. They smile when they see you and they look at you like you're the only person in the world. There's no feeling in the world headier than that."

"Except that it was all based on a lie made up by Red John," Lisbon reminded him.

"Yes," he agreed. "Except for that."

"I feel awful about it. If I'd known…"

"There's nothing you could have done, Lisbon. You had no way of knowing Red John was twisting Jason's perceptions to the extent that he was interpreting a polite smile as evidence that you were in love with him."

"I just can't help thinking I could have prevented it somehow, if I'd realized he was taking a thank you smile as encouragement of this ridiculous crush."

Jane shook his head. "Poor kid. One's first broken heart is never a pleasant experience, but to realize the other person never cared for you romantically at all is even worse. Plus, you know, the whole thing about realizing you've been inadvertently poisoning the object of your affection —I'm sure that's no picnic, either."

She shuddered. "God, what a disaster."

She looked miserable. Jane looked at her closely. She was feeling much better than yesterday, but the poison hadn't completely worked its way out of her system yet; she'd still suffered the lingering effects of a headache all day. The headache had doubtlessly been compounded by the stress of dealing with the teenage admirer who had been poisoning her and his family. Or possibly the strain of knowing for certain that Red John was actively plotting to kill her. Or, you know, all of the above.

Jane's heart went out to her. Lisbon was always the one who the rest of the team turned to when things were at their worst. For all of her tough, no nonsense exterior, Lisbon possessed a strange brand of nearly indefatigable optimism. Though she could be short-tempered and irritable when something annoyed her, she, more than anyone else on the team, remained steady and calm when the going got tough. If she did feel discouraged about a case, she rarely allowed anyone to see it. Least of all him – she always seemed to want to protect him from her darker moments. To see her visibly frustrated over what Red John had done to Jason and his family was actually physically painful to him. Between the two of them, she was the one who offered constant encouragement; he was the one who teetered dangerously on the brink of despair. Perhaps it was the knowledge of how very much he owed her in that regard or perhaps it was merely that he hated seeing her unhappy, but seeing her like this caused Jane to do something he very rarely did: he acted without thinking, and put his arm around her.

He wasn't sure which surprised him more: his own temerity, or the fact that Lisbon didn't pull away from him. Instead, she leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

She must be even more upset than he'd thought.

Poisoned and exhausted, her defenses were down. Perhaps another kind of man would have respected the boundaries that Lisbon normally maintained as her true wishes; he, Jane, intended to take full advantage of the breach in her defenses while he could. He shifted closer to her.

"Red John ruined his life, Jane," she said into his shoulder. "Jason was accepted to Stanford, did you know that? Now he won't be able to go. He and his whole family have to leave their lives behind, start new. And for what? Because he happened to be a convenient player in one of Red John's games. All these lives… Red John doesn't give a damn about any of it. It's all just a game to him."

Jane's arm tightened around her. "I know."

She raised a hand and covered her eyes. "And Jason's family… they had no idea what to make of this. Can you imagine being pulled out of your office in the middle of the day and being told your son is probably going to be murdered if you don't get out of town immediately?"

Jane stroked her hair and listened to her worry about Jason and his family. "They'll be all right, Lisbon," he said gently.

"They have to leave everything behind," she repeated. "Their home, their friends. Everything they've worked for their whole lives."

"Yes, but they have each other," he reminded her.

"I suppose," she sighed, letting her hand fall back to her side.

"It will be difficult. Especially for Jason, and especially at the beginning. But he's safe," he continued, his voice hypnotically soothing. "We figured it out in time. And I can guarantee you his family will be happier starting over with a clean slate with their family intact than staying in their twice-mortgaged home faced with the grief of losing their son to a killer."

"I guess so," she said. "It's just so unfair. Jason doesn't have anything to do with this case. He was just unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire. Now he's probably going to be screwed up for life just because he had a little crush on me."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Jane said lazily. He was enjoying the soft weight of Lisbon leaning against his side and the silk of her hair between his fingers. "You talked to him before he left, didn't you?"

"Yeah. It was one of the most awkward conversations I've ever had in my life."

"But you persisted, despite how uncomfortable you were. You spoke to him, reassured him. You made him feel better."

"How do you know what I said to him? You were hiding up in your attic."

"I know you," he said softly. "You forgave him for poisoning you, and you took the sting out of the rejection as best you could. You gave him whatever hope you could offer."

"Fat lot of good that will do him," she said darkly.

He sighed. "Look on the bright side, Lisbon."

"There's a bright side?"

"Sure."

"What's that?"

Jane shrugged. "At least we know he's got good taste. Sure, he'll probably be pretty neurotic with his first girlfriend or two, but eventually he'll end up with a warm, caring woman who sees the best in him despite his flaws."

"You think so?"

"I'm sure of it."

She sighed. "I hope you're right."

He kissed the top of her head. "I bet you a hundred dollars she'll have dark hair and green eyes," he said into her hair.

She pinched him and sat up, but her mouth curved up at the corners slightly as she did so, so he counted it as a win. "Shut up."

She stood and stretched. "I should probably go."

He watched her try to work the tension out of her neck, and thought about ways he could soothe the muscles there for her. "You want me to drive you home?"

She shook her head. "Cho's lurking around here somewhere. He's assigned himself guard duty and is planning to stay at my place tonight. He'll take me home."

"Okay."

She headed for the door. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah." He watched her go. "Hey, Lisbon?"

She turned in the doorway. "Yeah?"

"Sleep in tomorrow, okay?"

She blinked in surprise at the unexpected suggestion. "Why?"

"You've been poisoned and you had a hard day. You deserve the rest."

She thought about this. "I suppose it couldn't hurt to come in late for once."

"Exactly. Plus, you probably won't feel like drinking coffee tomorrow, so you'll need the extra sleep if you're going to be fit company for anyone," he reasoned. "Really, it's for the good of the team."

She made a face. "You're going to tell Cho to confiscate my alarm clock, aren't you?"

A brilliant smile broke out over his face. "Why, Lisbon, what an excellent suggestion. I'm so pleased you thought of it."

She grabbed a pen from the table by the door and threw it at him. "I expect you to have a strong cup of your blackest, most caffeinated tea ready for me when I come in."

"It will be here waiting for you," he promised.

She left, and he went into the kitchen, setting down the glass of tequila and rummaging around in the cupboard for the box of his favorite teas. He selected a fine English breakfast tea he'd found in a specialty shop in Old Town.

Well, it wasn't love potion, but it would do.