Chapter 6 – Diagnosis & Determination

A faint knock on the door made Lisbon open her eyes. Turning slowly she extricated herself from Jane's arms and the doctor in charge of Jane's case waved her out to the hallway. After a final caress of his cheek she walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Agent Lisbon, there's been a development," the doctor said immediately. "The CDC has identified the toxin after performing an autopsy on the original victim Mr Norris; he was the body you were investigating when Mr Jane was stricken, correct? It's quite uncommon so it didn't show up in any of the standardised tests to begin with but this last batch of tests has produced a result. It appears to be a type of snake venom that has been chemically enhanced." He looked down at his notes. "Let me see, I have the chemical make up here somewhere-"

"Snake venom? But Jane wasn't bitten. Neither was Norris. I've looked at the original M.E.'s report. No puncture wounds."

"You're correct, neither man was bit but as I said it's been chemically enhanced so it didn't come directly from a snake. More likely it was slipped into something they ate or drank. But the truth is we don't know how Mr Norris was infected or Mr Jane at this stage."

"So it wasn't when he touched Norris' eye?"

"Doubtful. Mr Jane is not infectious in any way and so we have to assume Mr Norris wasn't either when he died. That's what the CDC has told me."

Lisbon put to the back of her mind for the moment that this was a personal attack against both men and focused on Jane's recovery.

"Okay, so now it's been identified can it be treated?"

Any hope that surged in her was quickly shot down by the shake of his head. "It's a mixed bag of a number of enzymes I'm afraid. Doesn't relate to any particular breed of snake, it's been so modified. Unlikely that a cure to a similar strain would work."

"Unlikely?" Lisbon held onto the word like it was a lifeline. "That doesn't mean that one of them won't. You have to at least try," she begged.

The doctor moved to a chair in the corridor and sat down slowly, motioning for Lisbon to sit on one beside him. "I understand how difficult this must be for you-"

"Please don't start that crap again," Lisbon bit back. "I don't need your sympathy or your pity. I need you to do your job and treat him."

The doctor exhaled loudly, clearly exasperated by her temperament. "Fine." He handed Lisbon a list of what looked like Latin and Greek words covering the entire page. "These are the anti venom drugs that exist. The closest to Mr Jane's particular strain. So where would you suggest we start, Agent Lisbon? From the top, the bottom, stick a pin in it and pick one?"

Lisbon stared at the long list, blinking to stop herself crying again. "The answer could be on this page," she said quietly.

Softer, "You're right. It very well could be. And if we try the wrong one it could kill him instantly or advance the progression."

"So, what are you suggesting, we just give up?" she asked wearily.

"Unless you know someone who can tell us which one of these to try then I don't see we have any other choice than to make him comfortable for the next couple of days."

"You've been staring at that M.E.'s report for half an hour. You're still on the first page," Cho said as he drove them back to Sacramento.

Lisbon pulled herself out of the past and began to read the report for real. Before she got to the second paragraph Cho spoke again. "Why are you letting him come back?"

She frowned at him. "Me? It was Wainwright who wants this, not me."

Cho tilted his head, his silence deafening.

"Since you apparently already have an answer why don't you tell me?" Lisbon retorted.

Cho never took his eyes off the road and spoke impassively. "You're hoping by being back there he'll remember what it was like before he left. You're hoping that he'll forgive you and move on at least. You're still in love with him and you hope that deep down he feels the same way and by being part of your team again will remind him of that."

Lisbon turned to look out the side window, blushing as she did so. "Do you have any idea how inappropriate it is to bring up mine and Jane's...romantic relationship? You still work for me, you know."

"So did he, didn't stop you from sleeping with him. That's far more inappropriate than talking about it."

Her face was crimson. "That was different and you know it. It wasn't like he was an agent."

"How do you imagine it's going to work with him this time?"

Lisbon looked out the side window once again and sighed. She had no answer to that question but she would find out soon enough.

Jane pulled his car into the CBI Parking lot after checking into the same Motel he used to stay at occasionally when he lived here before. Wainwright had wasted no time and Tommy on Security had already been informed of his return and arranged his old parking spot for him. Jane smiled faintly. Closure rates must really be down. He could use that information to manipulate the pencil pusher if he had to. When he exited the vehicle he looked up at the building that he used to think of as home, somewhere that had brought him a sense of belonging after being adrift, of someone who used to make him feel he had a place in the world again. Now it reminded him only of lies and betrayal. He had to make sure it stayed that way.

When he arrived at Wainwright's office Lisbon was already sitting on the couch there, both of them awaiting his arrival. When he opened the door she picked at some invisible speck of dust from her jeans. He glanced at her quickly before approaching Wainwright who stood up from behind his desk.

"Jane, welcome back, I'm glad Lisbon here was able to convince you to give this another shot."

Jane turned to Lisbon and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"That's not what I said," she came back with immediately before he had a chance to call her a liar once again. "I told him that you wanted to work the Walker and Costas cases. And no other." He studied her coldly and nodded, satisfied she had told him the truth.

"She did say that but I'm confident once you get back into the swing of things around here you'll want to stick around."

"I wouldn't bet on it, Luther," he replied, smiling at Wainwright. "You have my I.D.?"

Wainwright handed him over the laminate. "Thank you," Jane added smoothly. "Now, if it's all the same to you I'll get to work."

Without another glance at either of them he left the office.

Lisbon shrugged and got off the couch. "You still think it's a good idea having him back here?"

When Jane made it to the bullpen his eyes were immediately drawn to his old brown leather couch. An involuntarily smile graced his lips as he approached it and touched the soft leather reverently.

"She was adamant it should stay here," Van Pelt said softly coming behind him and observing the genuine smile on his lips. "In fact, I think we all think of it as some kind of lucky charm for the team."

The smile fell immediately upon hearing her words. "It's just a couch, Van Pelt, it doesn't have magical powers."

A moment later he noticed Lisbon avoid the bullpen and head straight into her office instead with her head down. As he glanced through the blinds a memory suddenly came to him of her laugh, her green eyes dancing as he swirled her around her office one night in an impromptu waltz when everyone else had gone home. He closed his eyes to bring him forward in time again and steeled himself for the task in hand.

Lisbon walked out of the hospital grasping the list. She thought about Jane's words. About Red John not being responsible for his death. But in light of the diagnosis maybe he was. Maybe he'd done this after all and poisoned him. She shook her head violently after a moment. Not a chance. If Red John were to blame he would make sure Jane knew it was him. And poison wasn't his MO, he liked to see the light disappear from his victim's eyes as he slashed them and for Jane he would dream up something truly horrific when the time came. Jane was right about something. Red John would be devastated at losing his prized opponent this way. He'd be mad as hell in fact. A light bulb suddenly lit up in Lisbon's head and she grabbed her phone.

"Van Pelt, meet me at the office, right away."

Lisbon was there before her, pacing in front of her desk. It was 2am and she had been living off caffeine and not much else for almost forty eight hours now. Van Pelt rushed into Lisbon's office dressed in a pair of jogging bottoms and a T-shirt. She'd obviously pulled on the first thing she'd come across when Lisbon called her.

"Boss, what is it? Is it Jane? I heard you went to the hospital to see him. Is he worse? Shouldn't you be there?"

Lisbon ignored the questions and made no apology for the late night call. Instead she motioned to her office chair. "In a roundabout way, yes. Sit down, Van Pelt."

Confused, Van Pelt stared at her.

"Sit down, Van Pelt," Lisbon said again, louder.

Acquiescing, the young agent walked around the desk and took a seat in Lisbon's chair.

"Okay," Lisbon stammered, standing behind her. "Do you remember the Renfrew case?"

Van Pelt looked at the screen in front of her in blind confusion. "What? Um...yeah, of course, what's it got to do with what's happened to Jane?"

"Nothing. As part of that investigation Jane was able to make contact with Red John when you were looking into some Health Care Database in relation to the case, right? He was logged into the DOJ secure network and had access to the Database."

"Yeah, so?" Van Pelt replied, turning her head and frowning at her boss. "Dr Joe in New Hampshire. Red John." Her eyes widened, "Oh my god, do you think he's got something to do with Jane getting poisoned?!"

Lisbon shook her head. "The opposite in fact." She bit her bottom lip nervously. "Van Pelt, who, apart from us, wants Jane to live the most?"

Van Pelt frowned before slowly nodding. "Red John I guess. He wants to keep him alive to make him suffer."

Lisbon nodded. "Precisely. Log onto the DOJ server. We know he can get in there. And we also know he keeps track of Jane's movements. He more than likely already knows Jane's been hospitalised and may be online to get news. Link into that Health Care Database too."

"Boss, I don't get this. You want to contact Red John? If he doesn't have anything to do with this then why for heaven's sake?"

"Van Pelt, just do as I say. Log on and IM Dr Joe. I'll take it from there."

"Boss-"

"Now, Van Pelt!"

The redhead turned quickly back to the computer and tapped the keys furiously getting Lisbon the access she wanted. "I'm in...What now?" Van Pelt said quietly.

"Nothing. Go home. I'll take over," Lisbon said quietly.

"I can stay," Van Pelt ventured. "I don't mind."

Lisbon shook her head. "No. This is my idea. If I could have accessed this myself I never would have involved you at all."

"Involved me in what?" Van Pelt asked with pleading eyes. "Please, boss, tell me what you're going to do."

"Go home, Grace," Lisbon said softly. "And please don't mention this to a soul."

Just as Van Pelt opened Lisbon's office door she turned back to her and regarded her with a solemn expression.

"I don't know what your plan is but if you manage to contact him he'll manipulate you. Or do something much worse. Jane wouldn't approve of this and you know it."

"It's not Jane's decision. It's mine," Lisbon replied defiantly.

After Van Pelt left Lisbon took a deep breath. A prompt sat open for her to begin the conversation. She typed quickly.

This is Lisbon. What you've heard about Jane is true.

She closed her eyes briefly as her fingers hovered over the keys. Releasing a breath she quickly added:

I need your help.

When she hit the return key she felt like she'd just entered into a dialogue with the devil. It wasn't far from the truth.