A/N: Hi everyone. I'm sure it seems that I abandoned all of my stories on here, but I am determined to finish them. I've just been really busy with real life writing obligations.

As always, I don't own, and I don't profit. Hope you enjoy.

Three Hours Later:

Lisbon had been following Jane as they explored the caverns and the trail around the waterfall, their lunch long ago finished and trash discarded. They had seen some beautiful scenery, but Lisbon still looked worried and she hadn't spoken much at all, since they finished lunch. They were far enough further along the trail that they didn't have to shout to be heard over the roar of the water. They had found the river that fed the waterfalls, and followed it for a ways. Jane sat down on a log on the side of the riverbank, looking out over the water. A moment later, Lisbon sat down on the other end of the log, near him but not beside him.

Still looking out over the water, Jane said, "You were going to say something to me when we were leaving Dr. Stone's office. What was it?"

She looked at the ground. "Nothing."

He looked at her. "We've been friends for a long time, Teresa. You can talk to me."

"I know. I actually want to ask you something, but I thought you brought me here to get away from all of that. Let me enjoy being away for a while, if I can. We'll talk later."

"Fair enough."

A moment later, Jane spoke again.

"It's not working."

"What?"

"I brought you here to get you away from everything that has been going on, but it isn't working. You can't stop thinking about it, so you can't get away from it. Talking about it might help."

"I'm scared, Jane. I'm being set up for murder and I don't see any way to prove that I didn't do it. What if IA doesn't believe me?"

"We'll have to find a way to make them believe. You didn't knock yourself out. You said you wanted to ask me something?"

She nodded, and looked at the ground, seemingly arguing with herself about something. Finally, she made eye contact with Jane and asked, very softly, "Can people who have memory loss from a blow to the head remember things under hypnosis that happened while they were unconscious?"

"Theoretically, yes. The sub-conscious mind doesn't sleep when a person loses consciousness. It remains awake and alert, but because the things that are witnessed are below the level of consciousness, the person would generally require help bringing them to the surface and may process the information differently than he or she would when fully conscious."

She nodded, considering the information, but didn't say a word. Jane sat watching her with that sideways look he had—the look that said he knew exactly what she was thinking, but wouldn't say anything about it until it suited him to do so.

After a moment, Jane continued. "A skilled hypnotist can help a person make sense of those memories."

"Would a skilled hypnotist be able to tell whether I actually shot someone or not?"

'Well, that depends on how it happened, and the circumstances surrounding it. Are you asking me to hypnotize you?"

"No," she said, a little too quickly. Then, after a pause, "But I need to remember what happened, so…" she broke off, unable to make herself say the rest. After a short pause, she nodded.

"Okay." He smiled at her. "I'm proud of you, Lisbon."

"Don't patronize me. My brain may not be 100%, but there's nothing wrong with my fist." He held up his hands, palms out, in a gesture of surrender, and winked at her to let her know he was teasing her. She made no response and he wondered if she even saw, as she seemed to have lapsed back into her own thoughts.

A moment later, she spoke up again. "Wait a minute, Jane. How will hypnotizing me help? That kind of 'evidence' doesn't stand up in court. You've said that yourself."

"No. It doesn't. But knowing what happened may help us find a way to prove that you didn't do this. And as you said, you need to remember what happened, and if possible, before you talk to Internal Affairs."

She nodded, thinking. Then she asked, "So where do you want to do this?"

"I think we'll wait until we get back to the room, where we can be assured of some privacy."

(0o0)

Lisbon seemed somewhat lighter since she had asked Jane for help. He decided to go ahead and get her back to the suite before she changed her mind. He unlocked the door to the suite and held it for her. She was surprised to find Cho seated in one of the chairs at the table.

"Hi Cho. What are you doing here?"

"Abbott told you he was going to assign an agent to stay with you, for your own safety. I figured you'd rather have me than someone you don't really know, so I volunteered. How are you feeling?"

"I'm all right, Cho. Thank you for volunteering to stay with me."

Jane looked pointedly at Lisbon and asked, "Are you ready?"

Lisbon nodded.

Cho suddenly had the feeling that he was intruding in something. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I'm going to help Lisbon remember what happened after she was knocked out."

"Have fun with that. I'm going outside to make sure the perimeter I set up is secure, and make some calls."

Jane smiled and said, "You don't have to leave on our account."

His smile widened as he noticed the look on Lisbon's face, though he didn't think Lisbon would actually mind having Cho sit in with them, if it came to it. After a moment, he continued, "There are three other rooms in this suite we can use."

The corners of Cho's mouth turned up just slightly and without another word, he turned and walked out, closing the door softly behind him.

(0o0)

Lisbon watched Cho leave and swallowed harder than normal. To her surprise and embarrassment, Lisbon found that she was almost as nervous as she had been the first time they had done this—was it six years ago now, or seven? Last time, she had agreed to allow Jane to hypnotize her, as a last resort, not really knowing what else to do. This time, she had practically asked him if he would. Still, she couldn't help being nervous about what they were about to do, and what Jane might say about it later.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a hand under her elbow, encouraging her to rise and steering her toward another part of the suite. He motioned her to sit down on the small loveseat and seated himself in a chair across from her. He studied her for a moment and then said, "What's going on, Teresa? You're as nervous as you were the first time we did this."

She would not look at him, but she said, "I'm fine. Let's just do this, before I change my mind."

Jane could tell she was nervous and he wanted to ask her about it, but he knew that this was not the time. There would be time for that discussion later.

"Close your eyes."

Lisbon did so and when Jane started to speak, she opened them again. Jane stopped speaking and looked at her.

"What's wrong?"

Lisbon studied him for a few moments, debating how she wanted to answer that question.

"Do you really want me to answer that, Jane?"

Her words were laced with anger. He studied her quietly for a few minutes, trying to figure out what it was he had done, and then nodded.

"You can't tell me you haven't felt a sort of awkwardness between us that wasn't there before?"

"I'll admit to noticing a sort of tension between us. I assumed it was just the natural adjustment of starting a new job and settling into a new city, not to mention working together again after two years."

She shook her head. This wasn't the way she wanted to do this, but she didn't see another option at the moment. "I think I may be causing the tension. At first, I thought it was you, but now I think it's me."

He touched her arm. "So what is it?"

"You left me."

"What?"

"That night you brought all the Red John suspects to your house in Malibu. You left me on the side of the road. You made me feel so special that day, and then you left me."

She saw that he was about to say something, and she held up a hand to stop him. Rushing on, she continued.

"I couldn't help but feel betrayed. I've tried to get past it, Jane, I really have. And I feel silly bringing it up now. Hell, I don't even know why I brought it up…" she trailed off.

"Because hypnosis is a deeply personal experience, especially when the two people involved are people who have known one another as long as we have. It's natural that you wouldn't be able to do it without clearing the air. I should have foreseen this. I should've expected that you'd still be angry with me, and that you might not trust me—not completely."

He saw her start to protest, and he saw her stop when the look in his eyes asked her for the truth. Finally, she nodded.

"I haven't been able to completely trust you since then."

Jane nodded. "That explains a lot. I'm sorry. I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time, but if you tell anyone I said that, I'll deny it."

He smiled inside when she let out a burst of unplanned, nervous laughter, in spite of herself. Typical Jane. He continued. "I told myself I was protecting you, and we'd deal with the fallout of that later. Then, so much happened in the days after that, and so many things didn't go according to plan…" he paused. "The truth is that I was worried I couldn't do what I needed to do with you there."

"I had already told you I wouldn't try to stop you."

"That wasn't it. If you had gotten hurt or killed, or if Red John had taken you hostage, I would have known that I was the one responsible, and I wouldn't have been able to finish what I knew had to be done."

Lisbon sat watching him, as though she was just now understanding something she hadn't known before. "I think I understand."

"So how do we get past this?"

"I forgave you a long time ago. As for whether I will ever fully trust you again? I don't know."

"I'm glad you told me," He said, "and I hope you know I would never hurt you, Teresa."

She nodded, finding herself unable to tell him that he already had, so many times, in a million little ways. She knew it wouldn't be the last time, but she didn't say that either. That was just the nature of their relationship. For now, he was back, they had cleared the air, and some of the old familiarity had started coming back between them in the past few weeks, in spite of the awkwardness, and now she hoped that what Jane had called tension would fade between them as well, and it would be, if not like before, closer to that.