(A/N: Wow - Jane has really hit a nerve with his gifting choices! [I agree. It always irritated me that they never addressed that when Lisbon got no gift in episode 6.13]. Typical Jane, following some convoluted plan & trusting his brain more than his heart. But the gifting thing isn't quite as it seems. And Lisbon has a bit of a lift, in this chapter, thanks to a wise friend.)
Jane was sprawled on his couch in the now-empty FBI offices. His cloudy eyes were staring at the early-morning moonlight, reflecting on the ceiling tiles above him, deep in concerned thought.
Kim had casually mentioned the wand conversation she'd had with Teresa, as she and Patrick dined, last night. That revelation had rattled his heart thoroughly. He'd meant to talk to Lisbon about the whole thing. The gift he wanted to be able to give her was the one thing he didn't deserve to give.
He had searched high and low - at the very beginning of his shopping spree, no less - for his favorite cop. After all, she had been at the top of his list for years - and not just the list he'd written on napkins for Dennis Abbott. The markets in Juarez and Gentry, though, held no worthy offerings for his beautiful partner. He was hoping to find just the right thing to both delight her, and to ease her recent irritations with him. He was disappointed though; Nothing even came close to the quality she deserved.
An instinct had sprung up from deep within him at that point - a realization whose strength broke through the tricks he had been trying to play on himself with Kim. It was a desperate compulsion to be honest with Teresa about his feelings; To say 'to hell with his plan' and convince her that they could be great together; To offer himself as the gift. But he had quickly brushed it off, dismissing it as too dangerous to her well-being. She deserved so much better than what he could offer. He had been torturously conflicted the entire night after, barely sleeping, in his lonesome Gentry parking spot.
Still, he had intended to pull her aside and tell her something- anything - so she would at least know he had been thinking about her as he'd shopped for the others. If she had been there for the gift presentations, he could have 'magically' spun something up for her. But she'd not been there. He could have sworn she had been walking right behind him and Kim as they'd entered the conference room that day, with his bag of gifts, but she had apparently changed direction at some point. Then, as the day had progressed, it had slipped his mind. He couldn't even remember seeing her leave, at day's end?
Now, if she knew about the wand, then she might know about the other gifts too. It would be obvious that she was the only one excluded. This was not at all what he'd intended. The only reason he had agreed to come back from the island at all had been to love Teresa Lisbon as completely and thoroughly as he could. But she had made her opinion clear, about where he stood in her life, and now, it seemed that all he managed to do was to hurt her. He had completely lost his touch where she was concerned- couldn't do anything right.
As his stomach continued to churn, and his despairing thoughts continued to spin, he became aware of his phone ringing.
Wayne Rigsby called his CBI friends in Austin, at what might have been a decent hour in San Francisco, but in Texas it was already tomorrow. Cho, Lisbon and Jane were all on the conference call as Rigs explained, with still-fresh terror, how he had been cowering in his pantry, enveloping baby Maddie against flying bullets only moments earlier.
"If it hadn't been for Grace's quick thinking, I really believe that all three of us would be gone right now."
The silence that hung in the air at the end of his story told him that his friends were as shocked and alarmed as he was, and that they had heard the thicket of fear in his voice.
"My God, Wayne. I'm glad you're all safe!" Teresa was first to react. "I'm so sorry this happened! How can we help? Anything you need, we're on it." Lisbon assured.
"She's right. This just became an FBI matter." Cho affirmed.
"Thanks guys. Really, I can't even tell you how much it means that you have our backs."
"Hey, Rigsby," Jane followed, "can you guys come to Austin?"
"Absolutely." Wayne answered, still a little breathless from adrenaline. "We'll be there by tomorrow. The house here feels a little creepy right now anyway, so time away sounds great, actually."
"Perfect! We'll get you transport from Bergstrom. I already have some ideas how to solve this."
Hearing that Jane already had a plan forming was a relief, and the former CBI agent sighed loudly in response. "You have no idea how good it feels to hear you say that, Jane. Thanks. All of you. We love you guys. See you tomorrow."
Between worry, strategy, and airport transportation, the former CBI serious crimes unit hadn't gotten much sleep. Nonetheless, all were in the FBI bullpen earlier than usual today, focusing on a wall of faces they would rather forget. They had brainstormed a list of eight criminals who may be behind the recent attacks on their team. Who might have the skills or connections to have bugged their phones. And who may have had opportunity to kill Ardiles and LaRoche.
"Eight is a lot to run down in a hurry." Cho stated correctly.
"Well yes, if we do it your way," Jane agreed, "but each of you have great instincts from your years in the field." He was speaking to the whole team, but his eyes were focused directly on Lisbon. He couldn't let himself openly love her, but he at least wanted her to start trusting her own intuition; For the inevitable day when they would have to live separate lives. He quickly swallowed the lump in his throat and continued: "And you know these suspects better than you think, having studied them closely. So, who jumps to mind first?"
"That's just guessing." Lisbon dismissed, with a little worry that this was all he had to go on.
"Yes, but it's educated guessing, Lisbon, just go with it. What does your gut tell you? Who did this?" She always underestimated herself. He knew her instincts were sound. She just needed a gentle nudge.
Uncomfortably, Teresa stepped forward. "Um… maybe him?" She pointed to Hutten, the bank robber. Jane made a note. "And I keep coming back to Haibach…"
"I never trusted Volker," Cho shared.
"Wonderful! Three suspects! Much more manageable, no?" Jane crowed.
"But what about the others? One of them could've done it?" Cho worried about missing something.
"We'll keep their files close, but now we have a reasonable idea of where to start." Jane explained.
"Alright then, Rigsby and I will check out the bank robber." Cho announced.
"And I'll call the penitentiary about Volker, to see what he's been up to in prison, and who he's been in contact with." Grace promised.
"Abbott and I will check Haibach's whereabouts." Lisbon said.
"Excellent!" Jane said, with satisfaction. "Now, if no one needs my help, I'm going to my couch." Just as the consultant was stretching his arms in anticipation of a thinking nap, a voice called out from the hallway.
"I need some help!"
It was Fischer. She had just been assigned a case in Bradley, Texas. Someone had drowned in a wastewater pit at a fracking site, and it looked suspicious. "Abbott said to take someone with me, so whaddaya say, Patrick?"
"Er…. Well…" He whined at the thought of postponing his couch visit - plus he hadn't gotten a chance to explain things to Teresa about the Gentry gifts yet. Inevitably, though, he accepted his fate and switched his brain into consultant mode. "Very well, Kim. Let's go." Jane grabbed his jacket and followed Fischer to the elevator.
Teresa watched the two of them leave, working hard to suppress the frustration she felt. Kim had requested Jane. Again. For yet another case. That woman was definitely enjoying his company. And why wasn't Jane putting up more of a fight for working with her? All the demands he'd made about 'working with Lisbon,' seemed to have been forgotten. She felt like she'd barely seen her partner since arriving in Austin. Or… at least she'd barely seen him since the New York case…
God, why did she say all of those cruel, mean things to him on that plane? Maybe some of it was true, but not all of it was necessary. Sitting in her too-quiet work area, she instinctively reached for her cross. Forgive me for hurting him so deeply. Please give me a chance to make things right between us.
She wanted to pray that Kim would get food poisoning or something and have to come back to the office early, but despite her desperate heart, she was a much better person than that. Plus, she would never abuse prayer in that way. Vengeance was for God…
That thought set her on a rant of furious yet sincere prayers that Jane would be forgiven for his own acts of vengeance. She hoped he would be okay. Kim couldn't be fully trusted to keep him safe. She didn't know his methods well enough, and she would probably be distracted by the hearts in her eyes…
As for her own case, here in town, Lisbon was exceedingly glad to see the Rigsbys, despite the terrifying circumstances. Even before their home invasion scare, Grace and Wayne had discovered that Ardiles wasn't being paranoid in the least about his phone being tapped. Furthermore, he wasn't the only one being stalked. It was the whole team from the CBI. That fact made Lisbon miss the old days even more.
Back then she and Jane had been two sides of a coin. Inseparable friends. Close confidants. She desperately wanted to confess to Grace about how she'd overreacted with him, but it had been a long time since she and Van Pelt had worked closely together. It seemed tactless to spring such intimate worries on her old friend at this point - especially with all that had happened in San Francisco recently.
"Hey… Lisbon?" Dennis Abbott's voice brought her meandering thoughts quickly back to the present.
"Yeah Boss?"
"I need to see you in my office. Richard Haibach's lawyer needs a word."
That was a surprise. They had only been investigating for a few hours - how did he even know? Teresa steeled herself, and followed Abbott down the hall.
No amount of steeling could have prepared her for the arrogant obstructions the lawyer threw at them throughout the meeting. It was hard to get a word in edgewise between all of the infuriating woman's excuses and accusations of harassment. To Teresa's chagrin, Abbott agreed to a complete halt of all investigations into her client, to avoid a threatened lawsuit. Then, the coup de grace was the lawyer's insistence on an apology from Lisbon to Haibach - to occur immediately, via face-to-face video call.
Lisbon stood dejected, in the wake of the proceedings, as the lawyer left with a smug spring in her step. Desperate, Teresa leaned on Abbott's desk with both hands, using her weight to emphasize her words:
"Sir, we can't stop this investigation. I really like Haibach for this."
"We're not." Dennis grinned. "Get with Wylie and do some electronic digging, but keep things on the down-low." Abbott winked.
"Thank you, sir!" Revived, Lisbon walked quickly to fill Jason in on the plan.
Walking toward the bullpen, Teresa stopped suddenly, when something caught her eye from inside the empty break room, causing her thoughts to spiral once more. Staring at the lonely teacup on the counter, Lisbon wished she was at the fracking site with her partner. With any luck maybe I'd manage to nearly drown in one of the wastewater pits and have my own dissociative fugue… Maybe I would forget that I'm hopelessly in love with an impossible man… and hopefully forget how hopeless that is…
"You okay Boss?"
Leave it to Van Pelt to find her in this fragile state.
"I'm fine, Grace… just thinking."
"About Jane?"
Lisbon turned in alarm "What?! Why do you say that?"
"Boss… Teresa… it's been clear since before the end of the CBI that you two were more than just partners. It stands to reason that you'd be worried about him. You always were - whenever he was out of your sight, really."
"That's not true - you were seeing things that weren't there," she argued, waving a hand dismissively.
"If that's what you want to tell yourself, Boss." Grace glimmered with a knowing grin.
Lisbon sighed with resignation. Without her permission, the tears began to flow.
Van Pelt's expression changed immediately from amusement to concern.
"I'm so sorry, Boss. I didn't mean to make you feel bad." Grace was mortified. She wished she could make it better. "Wanna talk about it?"
Lisbon shrugged in tentative agreement, and guided her friend to an empty meeting room.
Teresa spent the next few minutes self-consciously spilling her guts about all things Jane: Yes, they had been close - at least she had thought they were, before he disappeared from the country with barely a word. And then there were the letters - and how they made it seem like he saw her as more than a friend. The fact that she'd left everything she'd built post-CBI (which admittedly was not that much) to move to Austin in accordance with Jane's demands to the FBI. Sure, she had felt annoyed at being used as one of the consultant's bargaining pawns, but she'd felt she owed it to Jane to trust him. Then there was the incident in New York, and her subsequent blow-up on the flight home. She shared how deeply she now regretted most of those angry words. And to add insult to injury, it was becoming more and more clear that Jane only had eyes for Kim Fischer - even after the woman had basically conned the conman himself, while on his island refuge, tricking him into softening toward Dennis Abbott, and the FBI's offer. So yes, Grace was right. It was true. She had feelings for Jane. Had for years. But it was too late, and she was going to have to come to terms with that reality.
"Oh Boss, I'm so sorry…" Van Pelt's eyes were sad for her friend.
Teresa shook off the tears and gathered what remained of her dignity. "Thank you, Grace, but I'm not some pathetic victim here. I've been through worse, and I'll manage to get through this, too." Lisbon appreciated the support of her friend, but absolutely despised coming off as weak, and was moved to say so. Plus, she needed to say those things to herself anyway, and snap out of this ridiculous malaise.
Grace flashed a knowing smile. "Of course, Boss! We all know not to mess with you - and that's the truth!"
Both women shared a moment of cleansing laughter at that comment. Lisbon had certainly had her moments of kickassery back at the CBI. And being the rookie on the team, Grace had seen her fair share of that.
"But still, Teresa, I want you to remember that things always work out for the best. And that darkness comes right before the dawn. Maybe that means Jane will see the light? Maybe that means someone new will enter your life and make you forget all about Jane? I don't know what's going to happen, but I do know that, in the end, you will be with whoever you're meant to be with. Wayne and I certainly took a winding path, but I wouldn't trade that path for anything now. We each needed all of those experiences to fully appreciate what we have today. You will have that, too, Boss. Maybe not with Jane, but with the man you're meant to be with, whoever that turns out to be."
God, she had so missed Grace's idealistic perspective. Her heart was still aching, but she nonetheless felt immensely better after this talk. "Thank you so much Grace, your thoughts have really helped focus my own on the subject. I'm so glad you guys are here right now - I hadn't realized how much I'd missed you."
The two friends shared a grateful hug, then walked to Wylie's desk, filling him in on the plan.
Meanwhile, in Bradley, Jane was just as annoying as always when he and Fischer arrived at the fracking site. He wanted to stay on Kim's good side, so that she'd hopefully agree to an ice cream date after the case, despite harboring more than a little guilt at sharing a post-case sundae with anyone other than Lisbon. But he was a showman, and couldn't help his insatiable need to show off, identifying the head of operations by simple observation, and making Kim look and feel foolishly inept.
Later, at Millman Oil's company headquarters, Jane continued the show, asking questions - some of which seemed completely impertinent to the case. Entertained, he could see Kim's amazement at each and every one of his correct guesses during the questioning. Then, he left the room suddenly, without a word. Kim was left scrambling to tie things up with the company president then had to nearly jog to catch up with Jane.
Sensing her exasperation, Jane spoke calmly. "Patience."
"Wanna tell me what this is about?" She answered tightly.
"Nope!" He grinned his most ornery grin, and skipped to the car.
He had always enjoyed getting under Lisbon's skin with exchanges like this. He couldn't wait to see if he could procure some lightning from Kim on this case. If not, his imagination would need to work much harder to successfully pull this relationship off, he thought. But, for Teresa's sake he had to make it work.
While Jane and Kim were tackling middle-aged hackers in libraries and solving the Bradley case, Lisbon, Cho and Wayne were growing more and more frustrated as their leads all turned to dead-ends, one by one.
"It's been a long day. Let's sleep on it and jump back in tomorrow." Lisbon suggested.
"Sounds good, Boss." Kimball agreed.
"Hey Cho, wanna grab a drink? I could really use a chance to unwind, plus it would be like old times?" Rigsby asked with hopeful puppy dog eyes - which was also like old times, Cho laughed to himself.
"Sure, let's go."
Wayne smiled big and slapped his old buddy on the shoulder, before turning to Lisbon, "You coming, Boss?"
"Nah, thanks - I'm heading out. See you guys tomorrow!"
"Okay, bye!" The two men gave Teresa a wave, then started off to a bar Cho liked, near the city center.
"Looks like it's just the guys tonight," Wayne shared as they drove, "Grace texted back. She's exhausted… says I should have a drink for her."
"Okay, I'll see if Jane wants to join in once he's able."
"Great idea Cho!" Wayne hated what was happening with all the stalking and attacks, but in this moment, he was supremely grateful for the excuse to spend quality time with the friends who were really more like family. He smiled gratefully as the car sped past streetlights, toward the bar.
Lisbon had confided in Van Pelt with her feelings for Jane, and with the struggle of witnessing his budding relationship with Kim. Grace had, of course, shared some of that conversation with Wayne. He and Grace had thought, for years, that there was definitely something between Jane and Lisbon. So Wayne decided to test the waters a bit at the bar tonight. After all, he had observed Jane pulling similar tricks with suspects for years.
"Well, Grace and I always figured you and Lisbon would get together" Rigsby pitched.
"Hmm… " Patrick replied, attempting to veil his shock with a disbelieving, high-pitched siren of a response, pursing his lips and looking away with a thoughtful nod. Had he been wearing his heart on his sleeve so plainly and for so long that even Rigsby and Van Pelt could see?! Completely caught off-guard, he momentarily avoided eye contact. If Wayne had seen the truth in his careful glances at Lisbon, he would surely notice the fires of panic in his eyes right now.
Jane protested a bit too much with his over the top, drawn out mumbling, Wayne thought. Having spent some time living in denial himself, Rigsby saw the familiar signs quite clearly. He planned to sneak in some other questions and thoughts during their conversations in the coming days.
Before he could, though, Jane got called over to play a game of pool. The consultant had apparently bested one of the house regulars, and the man wanted a rematch. With Jane occupied, the two former CBI partners left the bar for the night.
Jane and the others were parted only briefly, as luck would have it. Grace Van Pelt was missing. Rigsby would pick the consultant's brain about Lisbon later - Right now he needed that brain to save Grace.