A/N: So many apologies for the delay in updating my stories, life is a little crazy at the moment but I am really hoping to do better and I haven't abandoned any of them, I promise. Thank you for your patience and your support.

Chapter 8 - Negotiations

After Cho left Jane sipped his tea and looked over the Sacramento skyline as dusk approached. His first day back was an unmitigated disaster and he hadn't even got out of the starting blocks where Janet's murder was concerned. He watched as customers dwindled to a few stragglers, people with better things to do than sit on a roof terrace soul searching for an hour. His mind made up of his next course of action he got up and paid the bill.

As he approached her office he saw her as he had for many years, head bowed and scribbling on a form in front of her, her gaze set in concentration. For the first time since he'd seen her again he watched her unobserved. She was a tad thinner, her hair a little longer and in its natural waves. Her posture spoke of tiredness and he guessed she had spent the night tossing and turning as much as he had in preparation for their confrontation. A smile fell upon his lips when he ascertained that she had more than likely been the one whose decision it was to throw him in the cells the night before. A small punishment for leaving her abruptly and a first strike in informing him that she would be no pushover from the get go. His eyes trailed over her lithe form as she shifted from side to side in her chair to ease her back pain from hunching over the desk. A year ago he would have snuck in and massaged it away from her. He remembered such an occasion late at night as she leaned into him, her eyes closed and a small smile on her lips as he kneaded her lower back muscles with one hand, his other laid flat on the desk beside her. To a casual onlooker it would merely appear that he was leaning over and reading something in front of her. As was usual back then neither of them needed words to communicate and he would go back to his couch after a couple of minutes of releasing her tension after kissing the top of her head.

He took a deep breath and knocked on her door, another anomaly for him that showed the distance between them now.

"Come in," she said softly, her eyes trailing over Janet Walker's financial records that Van Pelt had given her.

When he opened the door she gaped in surprise and Jane entered her office and closed the door quietly behind him. She pushed her shoulders back, ready to engage in battle again. Before she spoke he noticed her defensive stance and said quietly, turning to the side to look through the blinds of her office out into the bullpen, "I didn't come in here to start another fight with you."

She relaxed her shoulders and watched as he stood in front of her unmoving, his lips pursed into a thin line. "I'm glad to hear it," she replied calmly. "So, what do you want?"

"What I told you I wanted in the first place. To work Janet's murder."

"Okay," she whispered. Louder, "But first I need to know if you participated in Costas' murder. Because if you did...if you did Jane, I can't-"

"I didn't help her kill him." He turned around to face her and their eyes locked on each other.

She tried to read him, to see if it was the truth, to read through the coldness in his expression. Interpreting her intention on cue he softened it slightly. "I didn't know she was going to kill him, Lisbon."

She couldn't decide if he was playing her or if he was telling the truth. Maybe a little of both she decided after a moment but on no real basis for that decision. There was certainly more to this case than he was telling her. But from experience she knew there was no point in pushing him if he had decided to keep quiet on the matter, he would only clam up further. All she could do was hope she either worked out the truth for herself or that he would tell her in due course.

"Did she tell you afterwards that she'd killed him?"

He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I guessed as much."

"Why didn't you go to the police?"

He bit the inside of his cheek, shrugging again but remained silent.

She swallowed hard and released a breath to form the next words. "Was it because you were in love with her?"

Before he could hide it he frowned in absolute surprise, blinking twice rapidly and noticed her shoulders droop a little in relief as she recognised his initial reaction. "No," he replied as confirmation, averting his eyes from her.

Gratified from that piece of knowledge, she spoke louder, more professionalism in her tone as she leaned back in her chair. "Okay. So say I believe you. How do you propose we work together? Because what just happened out there can't happen again, Jane. No matter what you might think of what I did we can't act like that in front of the team."

He nodded. "It won't happen again. If you can control your temper then I certainly can."

"You're sure?"

He shrugged. "What other choice do we have?"

She shifted to release the knot of tension in her shoulders and sighed loudly. "Well we could actually talk about what happened a year ago. We could see if we could salvage-"

"Our affair is over, Lisbon," he said, determination in his tone once again.

"Interesting choice of words," she said quietly.

"It's not the first time we described what developed between us as such. And since it was surrounded in secrecy and deceit from the start it's a fairly accurate description of what actually transpired."

She puffed out a breath before shaking her head, trying to control her temper but falling short. "You know what, Jane? Enough. Enough with trying to make me feel sorry or guilty for what I did. I wasn't sorry then and I'm still not now. And you know what else?" She continued without allowing him a chance to respond, "You would have done exactly the same if you had been in my position. Probably a hell of a lot worse. At least I hope you would have done everything you could to save me like I did you. And instead of treating you like a leper I would have been grateful. You're nothing but a hypocrite and a liar if you think otherwise."

"Maybe it'd be better if we left what happened in the past. Try to move on somehow if we're going to be working together. For nothing else, for the harmony of the team," he replied, choosing to ignore her rant, more truth to her words than he cared to admit.

"Yeah, like you give a damn about team harmony."

"I don't but you do. So, I'm willing to make an effort to that affect in the interests of moving on where this case is concerned."

"How magnanimous of you," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Would you rather I railroaded them and made their lives a misery every day?"

"Of course not." After pausing she added, "Okay, fine. Good. They don't deserve to be put in the middle. Not again." She sighed before asking the next question. "What about us?"

"There is no 'us' as I've just told you."

"Jesus, you really still are an arrogant jerk. I'm not talking about us in a romantic sense. And I wasn't talking about that earlier either. What I mean is that maybe by working together we could try to salvage our friendship. Try to get back to where we were before any of that."

He laughed. "You know sometimes I forget what an eternal optimist you are hidden behind that pessimistic exterior of yours. You really expect me to pretend the last year and a half didn't happen?"

"No. What I'm saying is that we sit down and talk like two adults and try to resolve our issues."

"You mean my issues with what you did."

"You think I don't have a problem with what happened too? You left me, Jane. Wouldn't take my calls or let me know if you were alive or dead. We weren't just friends of colleagues. We were...we were together. We were...happy." Her voice began to break but she pulled herself together. "You just up and left without letting me explain-"

"You explained enough that night. I got the general gist."

Now it was her turn to laugh. "Of course you did," she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You know I actually believed you cared about me-"

He came closer to her desk quickly, ire in his eyes. "You know damn well how much you meant to me, Teresa. Don't even think about pulling that card on me."

"Yeah, well if you really cared then you would have let me explain. You would have talked to me rather than run off. Tried to fix things between us."

She shook her head, blinking unshed tears away and quietened her voice, looking off to the side. "Maybe you were right all those years ago. Some things really can't be fixed. Not when you don't want them to be at any rate."

He sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair, slumping into the chair opposite her. "Let's just try to work together again, all right? You can't expect miracles overnight, Lisbon."

She smiled faintly. "I suppose you're right. Okay, let's try to see if we can make this work." She had an overnight miracle when he had been saved; two in a lifetime was perhaps a little too much to ask.

"Put your weapons on the trunk of your car, Teresa."

The high pitched voice over her phone had directed her to Alexandria cemetery, as if she needed further evidence of his twisted sense of humour. She was a little surprised she hadn't been asked to put them on top of Angela and Charlotte's graves that she had parked beside. She did as she was told, looking around the graveyard for any sign of Red John or one of his disciples. At six in the morning it was eerily quiet and all she could hear was the start of the dawn chorus from nearby birds. He had called her less than twenty fours after she had initially contacted him to bring her here and Jane was now unconscious pretty much all of the time despite blood transfusions. His doctor had told her his organs would begin to shut down in a few hours at most without a cure.

She considered that this might be a trap but found herself oddly at peace if it were. At least Jane would never live to see her with a smiley face above her head. Her phone cracked again, making her jump from her thoughts.

"Good girl, Teresa. You didn't bring any of your friends with you. Although part of me was hoping that ravishing redhead would accompany you."

Lisbon's blood ran cold at the mention of Van Pelt's name. She glanced around again but could find no one within her view. "It's just me. Now, do you have something that will help Jane or not?"

"Tsk. Tsk. Such impatience. Apologise immediately."

Her hands shook and she bit back the insults she wanted to throw at him. On the slim chance that he did have something to help Jane she took a deep breath. "I apologise." She added, closing her eyes, her skin feeling like it was being stampeded by cockroaches, "Please."

His hollow laugh made her shiver and she wanted to crawl into a bath for a month. "That's better. Maybe one of these days I'll decide to teach you some better manners." After a moment he added, "The flower holder to the right of little Charlotte's grave."

Lisbon looked over to the plot beside Charlotte to a white vase with a single red rose inside. She removed the rose and found a vial with yellow liquid inside.

"What is it?" she asked, examining it from all angles and holding it up to the light.

"Patrick's salvation."

"I thought you were just going to tell me the name of the treatment he needs."

"Well I've done one better and provided you with it. I was frankly expecting a little more gratitude."

"But if I don't know what this is then how do I know if it'll cure him?"

"You'll just have to trust me, won't you?"

She guessed she had no choice. He was going to die in any case.

"What did you do to get this?" she asked warily.

"Nothing you need concern yourself with. It's been handled, that's all you need to know. Now, say thank you."

She closed her eyes and used every trick of biofeedback Jane had taught her to take her mind away from the words she uttered next. "Thank you." Despite her best efforts her stomach lurched and she held back the bile that rose to her throat as the words came out.

"That's better. Much more civilised."

She wavered and wondered how to ask the next question before she finally blurted it out. "Okay, say I believe you and this cures Jane. What do you want in return?"

A long pause followed and she felt her heart thump in her chest.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Well, perhaps not nothing. I'm intrigued to see what happens next in this tableau. If Patrick will have an epiphany when you save his life. I think it may just be the push he needs to move on from his family. Frankly, I'm a little bored with that narrative. Time for another one I think."

"You...you want him to move on?" she asked incredulously.

"For a time. Of course, when you tell him that I was the one who provided the cure he will hate you for it. So I would think very carefully about doing so if you want your relationship to continue to blossom. It would be a shame for things to stop just as they're getting interesting. Just think of all those wasted years you've spent pining for him and hoping for this very opportunity I'm handing you."

"You have the wrong idea. It's not like that between us-"

"Please don't insult me with a lie. Look at the graves in front of you. They tell you how much I hate liars."

She swallowed hard before replying, "He won't hate me for it. He'll understand why I did this."

Another laugh filled the morning air. "He will disown you, Teresa. His hatred of me surmounts any affection he has for you. He will see it as a betrayal, nothing else. He will never forgive you for it."

"You're wrong," she asserted.

"We shall see. Time will tell," he replied, hanging up.