(A/N: As you may have guessed from the final sentence of chapter 1, the angst is a bit front-loaded in this fic. So buckle up, but you know that I love happy endings, so don't worry too much about the end result - however long it may take to get there ;) )

Jane had torn into the bullpen like a cyclone, earlier - completely panicked and completely manic. Cho had worried (before his friend and colleague finally responded to Kimball's repeated attempts to get his attention) that Jane's 'thinking face' while in interrogation had possibly, actually been indicative of a 'catatonic state.'

Cho couldn't blame the guy though. He had to be going through hell right now - especially given his history (and especially since the perpetrator seemed to be personally invested in causing him the cruelest pain possible. Cho shuddered to think what that might mean for Lisbon & the kids right now).

Earlier that day:

It was Lisbon's turn to drop the kids off, so Jane took the opportunity to leave earlier than usual, to set up a series of gifts for Teresa, in honor of their anniversary.

He and Cho had met up, a day earlier, to go over a special gift Jane had planned for his wife at work. While they lunched, Cho had shared some troubling news: Marcus Pike had escaped from prison earlier that week - a fact that had left Jane both alarmed and outraged.

As the two men discussed that appalling development, Jane was animated - and a bit loud - with complaints about the situation. At one point he said (more like shouted) that:

"Marcus Pike is nothing but a psychopathic lowlife who refuses to get over the fact that the woman he tried to 'seduce' under false pretenses ended up choosing the better man!" Jane gestured to himself. "He needs to get over himself and get back behind bars where he belongs!"

Jane and Cho were both unaware that they were, in that moment, being watched. Even worse, they were actually being filmed. If Jane had been his typical self, just then, rather than a 'suddenly rattled family man now in fear for his loved ones,' he may have noticed the camera crew stealthily recording the cafe meetup from across the street.

Karen Cross had gone national with her clickbait talk show, and was in Austin doing an exposé on Pike's escape and Jane's shooting (planning to recycle some footage from Jane's previous appearance on her show for good measure).

When she, by chance, happened upon Jane and Cho at the sidewalk café, she immediately instructed her film crew to capture some B-roll footage of Jane for use in the story. When she realized the two men were actually discussing Pike, she couldn't believe her good fortune! She quickly redirected the crew to add audio, her eyes and mouth open wide at capturing Jane's tirade about the escaped felon.

A legitimate news anchor would have scheduled an official interview to follow-up, and would have had Jane sign a release form granting permission to use his likeness and his words on the show. But, the tabloid-worthy Cross never bothered to inform the men that they'd been recorded. (Planning, instead, to recklessly broadcast Jane's outburst as if it had been an official response, garnered during a legitimate, pre-cleared interview.)

Despite being worried by his and Cho's previous conversation about the Pike situation (which he had shared with Lisbon after dinner last night), today, his mind was singularly focused on anniversary planning.

Jane was finishing up at his final stop - filling the car with gas and picking up a few snacks for the day at a nearby convenience mart. As he waited in line, he daydreamed about Lisbon's smile, and her (hopefully) delighted reactions to each of the gifts he'd planned for today. It was going to be torture, waiting until tonight to be alone with her, to give her a special, private gift - one that harkened back to the very beginnings of their life as a couple.

"I can help who's next!" Jane was jolted to attention by the cashier's voice, right as the corners of his mouth had begun curling up, in anticipation of the anniversary wining, dining, and seduction he'd been imagining.

At the checkout, he looked up curiously, upon seeing Karen Cross on the TV screen - reporting from the same café he had just lunched at yesterday. The screen bore a notice: 'aired previously.'

So, this is what I get for watching less TV at night, he thought, sneeringly. When he saw an unsuspecting Cho, in the frame, he was shocked. Then he gawked with dismay as his own face appeared onscreen. "Could you turn on the sound please?" He pointedly asked the attendant.

As he heard his whole, unedited statement about Pike come through the speakers, and began to realize what had just happened, all the blood drained from his face, and his mouth went dry. Leaving his snacks and his cash on the counter, Jane immediately ran full-speed to the car and sped to the FBI in a panic.

Once there, he went to find Lisbon. She had always been a calming influence on him, and he knew that she would know what to do. Before he even made it to the bullpen, though, Wylie caught him outside the break room.

"Hi Jane! Please tell Agent Lisbon that I hope she feels better soon!" Jason chirped, amiably.

"What are you talking about, Wylie? Teresa is fine!" Jane smiled, wondering where his young friend had gotten his misinformation.

"Oh! I'm glad to hear that. It's just, when she didn't report in today, I figured she must've called in sick." Wylie ended with a shrug.

Gasping for breath, Jane tore back down the stairs, shouting for Wylie to tell Cho and the team to meet him at his house with back-up.

After driving somewhat dangerously, Jane carelessly parked, half on the lawn, leaving the car running (and the driver's side door standing open). He sprinted to his front door, then froze… white as a ghost… seeing a note taped to the front. A sense of dread blanketed him so heavily that he nearly collapsed. In a cruel replay of tragedy from Jane's former life, the letter was worded almost identically to the one Red John had left at the house in Malibu decades ago.

After a deep, not very calming breath, Jane summoned enough fleeting courage to open the door. It was with tremendous relief that he found nothing on the other side. No smiley faces. No blood. No butchered bodies. The house stood quiet and empty.

Once the initial relief wore off, he felt terror of a different kind. A closer reading of the copycat Red John note revealed that his family had been kidnapped by Marcus Pike, in retaliation for Jane's comments that had been broadcast (without permission) on the Karen Cross show. As the FBI started processing the scene, he dashed back to the driveway, determined to find his missing family (and to decimate anyone who got in his way). As he slammed the car door and started backing out to the street, a voice from behind said, "So. Where we going?"

It was Cho.

"Kimball! Why are you in my car?" Jane spat with irritation, trying hard to think, and not having time for friendly conversation.

"The same reason you got in mine when I was investigating my former-gang-banger friend's death in Oakland. You're stuck with me, so let's get on with it."

Lisbon paced in the basement bedroom, cradling and quietly singing with little Brendan, while watching Meghan play with her toys on the throw rug - not a care in the world. Teresa wished she had the privilege of innocence like her children did, but knew it was up to her to get them out of this mess. Pike was drunk when he'd locked the three of them in the basement, muttering his familiar nonsense about suspecting that Meghan was actually HIS child. Lisbon wanted to vomit at that thought. Not only did the timing not even come close to working out for that, she glanced lovingly at the shock of blonde curls on her blue-eyed daughter's head and wondered how in the hell the dark skinned, brown eyed Pike could ever honestly believe that tripe?! Meghan was so obviously a Jane, both in looks and personality, she had to laugh.

Not funny though, was the reflexive way Lisbon had been able to navigate the current situation. She was simultaneously grateful and disgusted at how easily she'd remembered how to survive around a drunken abuser. (Though her father hadn't been a complete mental case - and she suspected as much with Pike. Even alcohol couldn't explain how obsessive he'd been with her - from the very beginning, she realized, looking back). Still, she was glad for the coping skills AND the law enforcement training that she felt could combine to get her and the kids safely home to Jane again.

Jane. She didn't even want to think about what this must be doing to him. It wasn't lost on her, either, that Meghan was the same age that Charlotte had been when she'd been torn from his life. Losing his family, again, would absolutely be the end of him, she knew without question, and that was a driving factor in her determination to outwit Pike.

Ever since the day he'd stumbled into her life, she'd felt absolutely drawn to Patrick Jane. Not just from a desire to save him - though she had always had more empathy for him than almost anyone - but because the two of them were meant to be together. She was more convinced of that now than she had ever been. Still, she had to focus on the task at hand using all her wits, training, and as many discernment skills as she could remember from a life with Jane. So, she allowed herself one brief moment of desperate yearning for her beautiful husband, then shut down her emotions, and started strategizing.