Chapter 2: Red Wine.
Lisbon had an overdue appointment with a bottle of red wine; God knows she needed it her nerves were shot. The first glass hit the spot straight away, the second took away the thirst, the third could wait until she had caught up with the team although she felt better already.
She was sure she had some food in the house though the cupboards seemed depressingly bare, on a whim she decided to invite the team over for pizza to discuss the Jane situation and unusually she just needed some company.
Cho was the first to arrive; he wanted to talk to the Boss alone for a while. "How's Jane Boss?" he asked without any preamble.
Lisbon sadly shook her head and replied "He's not in a great place Kimball - do you know what happened yet?"
"We're persona non grata; no one is talking to us - they wouldn't even tell us the time of day. How bad is it?" Cho responded.
"I'll tell you the full story when the others get here but the bottom line is that Red John is still alive, the others were just decoys and Jane has had a complete meltdown."
"I figured Jane was in trouble - what are we doing about it?" Cho asked matter of factly; it never even crossed his mind they would not have a plan to deal with it.
Lisbon smiled at her able lieutenant "Kimball, I appreciate your offer but now is the time to look out for yourself, you have a promising career and there is nothing you can do to help at this time.
I would hate to think that Red John destroyed all of us; my advice would be to distance yourself from this for a while. In fact I take that back it is not advice; I am telling you there is nothing you can do for me or Jane and neither of us would forgive ourselves if we took everyone down with us."
The doorbell announced the arrival of Grace and Wayne, Lisbon quickly apprised them of the facts.
Grace was close to tears "Oh Boss, what can we do for Jane? - I can't bear to think he has gone through all of this for nothing."
Jane had always been there for Grace, they had shared many heart to hearts as Grace confided in the older man after the trauma of O'Laughlin. They were both victims of Red John and she understood his need for retribution, she would have shot Red John herself without a moment's hesitation.
Wayne added "You name it Boss we are all here for you."
At that moment Lisbon felt so proud of her team, she felt a lump coming in her throat.
"Look I am not your Boss now and never will be again but I just want to thank you for everything you have done this last week - I could not have wished for a better team."
"Just following your lead Boss - you taught us everything." Cho gruffly replied.
"...and I led you off the straight and narrow and now look where we are" she said despondently.
Cho stared her in the eyes and stated "Jane led us off the straight and narrow not you but in doing so we unearthed a major conspiracy - we are not the criminals, Boss you did good. Red John did the killings we are just collateral damage. It's been a privilege working for you."
That finished Grace off; she launched herself at Lisbon encompassing the tiny woman in an affectionate hug. In truth they were all tearing up at that point and it was just as well the pizza arrived before they got too maudlin.
Lisbon composed herself over the meal readying herself for her pep talk when they had finished.
"Look I know you all want to help but the best thing you can do is to keep away from this, Jane needs medical help his problems are bigger than us, his rehabilitation could take a long time. In some ways I hope he can just put Red John behind him but my gut instinct is that this will haunt him for the rest of his life, even if he makes a full recovery from his present problems.
I've had some dealings with Abbott now, he does not entirely trust us but seems fair. I am going to talk to him to see if he can help you in anyway. You need to leave Sacramento, it's not safe for you here especially for you Wayne, you can't risk someone coming after Ben."
Wayne interjected "It's OK Boss, Grace and I have already decided to go freelance our days in law enforcement are over. With Grace's computer skills and my arson and investigative know how we should be able to make a good living for ourselves. We will probably relocate to the Bay area and keep our heads down for a while to put some distance between us and Blake."
Grace could not leave it at that "Don't think we are leaving you Boss - we will be here for a while yet. Just call us when you need us and we will be with you at the drop of a hat."
"Grace, I could not be happier with what you are doing - we will always keep in touch."
Lisbon turned to Cho "Kimball, I've been thinking the FBI needs people like you, you are law enforcement through and through but you cannot stay in California. I will talk to Abbott and see if he can pull some strings to get you into Quantico - it's what you deserve."
"Forget it, I'm not leaving you Boss" he said stubbornly.
"No you forget it Kimball, there is nothing you can do - you need to move on. I expect regular updates so don't think you are getting away completely. Understood?"
Knowing the wisdom of what she was suggesting Cho resignedly replied "We'll see but I'm staying until Jane is out of trouble."
Lisbon continued "I know you are worried about me but my short term plan is to look after Jane, when he is released from hospital he is going to need months of therapy. I was thinking of trying to find a post in some quiet backwater to see this through, at least Jane will have some stability to see if he can recover."
Grace looked apprehensively at her before saying what they were all thinking "I hope it works out for you Boss, we all knew how you felt about each other."
"I won't deny it, it must have been pretty apparent to everyone but this is not about riding off into the sunset with Jane - neither of us is ready for that, perhaps we never will be. This is about fixing Jane so he can make his own decisions about how he moves forward - we are friends, no we are best friends and my job is try and make him whole again without any distractions that will do neither of us any favours. We have a long and difficult road ahead of us but I owe it to him to be at his side for as long as he wants me there."
Their admiration for their erstwhile leader knew no bounds, she was one hell of a woman.
As much as Lisbon had enjoyed seeing them she was glad to finally have some time to herself, she ran a nice hot bath with plenty of her favourite bubble bath and sank into the soothing waters with a glass of wine to hand.
She had glossed over the worst of Jane's problems, she knew that they would want to see him but it would do no good - moreover if Jane recovered he would not want people to have seen him in that state.
She was haunted by the memory of his vacant expression remembering the sheer exuberance of the man when he was in full flow. Her heart would skip a beat when he flashed one of his smiles at her, not that she would acknowledge it with anything other than a scathing riposte.
Things had got a bit tetchy over the last few months as the tension of hunting Red John intensified - at times they had said things to each other that neither of them meant but they always recovered from their disagreements bound by their common purpose and an undeniable bond of affection.
She laughed bitterly thinking no happy ending there Teresa but since when have you believed in fairy tales – after all you're not exactly princess material.
Realistically she had known Jane may be going to his death, so in some ways it was a bonus he was still alive if somewhat damaged. Nothing she could have done would have changed matters; he would have resented any interference and carried on regardless. She had always known he had to do this himself and there was no guarantee he would hang around after the event.
The way he responded when Red John had attacked her confirmed how much he felt about her. Lisbon went back to the events of that night when they had fallen out and she had fallen into Red John's trap - she tried to put on Jane's thinking cap analysing every detail of what had happened that night trying to think about any noise Red John had made, what was his breathing, what was his scent? - Anything that might give a clue who Red John was but nothing sprang to mind.
She guessed Red John was someone she knew and possibly got on with or he had a fancy for her - Haffner would have fitted the bill perfectly had he not been dead but there again McAllister was supposed to be dead and reappeared. She could not think of anyone beyond law enforcement - she shuddered and took another swig of wine needing the reinforcement.
The whole list had been based on Lorelei's assertion that Jane had shaken hands with Red John - what if that were a classic misdirect to eliminate people who were a thorn in Red John's side. Jane certainly had a blind spot where Lorelei was concerned.
Although the text to Jane had been chilling Lisbon guessed she would be safe from Red John until Jane recovered – after all playing with Lisbon without tormenting Jane would be no fun for him. She was well aware she had been in Red John's sights for a while now and had no doubt he would come after her again before long.
This bath had not proved the panacea she had hoped for - she dried off and made her way to bed after checking all her doors and windows were secure and the alarm was primed. Guns had been strategically placed around the townhouse - Jane would be rolling his eyes at this point but she knew anything could happen and she wanted to be prepared.
On that thought she put the rest of the bottle of wine away, being half cut was definitely not a wise move at this point. She retired to bed and thankfully exhaustion took over at this point and sleep followed.