Vacation Blues (15 + 16/16)
Part Fifteen
When she asked Jane if he wanted her to accompany him to his appointment with Agent Decosta, he politely declined. On one hand, Lisbon was relieved. She had been enjoying her mornings alone, especially as it gave her the much-needed time and space alone, and didn't really relish the idea of a change in routine. Equally, though, she knew Jane's revelations about Agent Halligan would set the proverbial cat among the pigeons within the Hawaii State Police Department. Part of her still wanted to be there so that she could apply the appropriate damage limitation where necessary; that was one of the most important parts of her job when she was back home. However, despite appearing as such on some occasions, Lisbon knew that Jane wasn't actually an idiot. He did have enough common sense to approach this subject carefully.
So, she didn't argue with his decision in the end. Her plans to visit the swimming pool might as well go ahead, she decided. After sharing one last cup of tea with Jane, Lisbon bid him farewell and watched him walk out of the hotel and towards the police station. Only then did she wander up to their room to collect the items she would need for her visit to the pool. Once she got down to the poolside, she immediately decided that she had made the right decision. The pool was mercifully quiet, with only three other patrons having chosen to visit at this specific time. She had hoped that would be the case; the hotel hadn't been marketed towards families and besides, she was also aware that some sort of conference was going on during their stay. She wondered if Jane had sat in on any of the speeches and maybe if he had caused a nuisance of himself in them. But then, she would have heard about that and besides, he had grown increasingly distracted by the Parker case.
Automatically, she fell into the routine of doing lazy lengths. It was too hot for her to try and over exert herself, but the pool was cool enough for her to actually want to do some proper swimming. Nobody disturbed her and she reveled at the chance to do something she had genuinely enjoyed as a child. Despite not knowing whether she was coming or going when it came to Jane and the problems with the case, she had started to really enjoy herself. Lisbon had had the chance to do things she hadn't done for a long while, and spend time doing things for herself. It had been such a long while since she had had some 'me' time; all of her recent vacations had either been too short to be truly beneficial, ended early because of some kind of work drama or used up by her brothers.
When she grew tired of swimming, she wrapped herself in her beach towel, found some shade and curled up with her book. She was getting towards the supposedly exciting climax, but the drama had been over exaggerated to the stage where the book was no longer realistic. But then, considering how soon she had solved the case herself, she had expected it to turn out like that. All that was left now was for the mastermind criminal to be arrested and the dashing cop to predictably admit his feelings for his stunning receptionist who had always admired him. Lisbon smirked as she continued reading; if only the author knew that reality was far stranger than fiction.
Her peace was soon disturbed by the shrill ring of her cell phone. With a sigh, Lisbon placed down her book and picked it up. When she saw that Agent Decosta was the caller, she got a severe case of déjà vu, but answered nevertheless. She had a distinct feeling that Jane's revelations hadn't gone down well at the office and they wanted her to persuade him to apologize to the lot of them for the offence he had caused. But then, Jane had actually seen Halligan and Mrs. Parker indulging in their illicit affair and even if he hadn't, she knew he could read it in their actions and body language anyway. If he was, indeed, correct then why should he apologize for handing them their most important lead to this case on a silver platter? And if there was one thing that Lisbon loathed in the profession, it was crooked cops. They were the type which gave the rest of them a bad name.
"How may I help you, Agent Decosta?" she enquired politely.
"I think your man is right about Halligan," he stated somewhat abruptly, much to Lisbon's surprise. "He hasn't turned up to work this morning."
"Oh."
The abrupt announcement had taken her entirely off-guard. She had expected Decosta to skirt around the subject initially, much like he had done so on every other occasion they had spoken. However, from his tone alone, Lisbon could tell that the man was in a hurry. Carefully, she sat up, realizing that this was probably going to be a very important conversation, especially when it came to the Parker case. Whatever the man said next, she suspected would spell out something very important about the developments in it.
“He’s been spotted going to the Parker family home, presumably to talk to the family about this. Burton and Mr. Jane are on their way there now.”
She bit on her tongue to prevent herself from saying how unwise it was to send somebody like Jane into the fire. “And you want me there too?”
“If possible?” he asked quietly.
“You do know I don’t have my service weapon, nor would I be legally allowed to use it even if I did? I have no authority whatsoever here.”
“You think the situation might turn sour?”
“From personal experience? Yes.”
Despite her reservations, she eventually agreed to meet Decosta at the Parker family residence, in the hope of being a ‘calming influence’ on both the family and Jane. With a sigh, she quickly packed her belongings away, showered, and changed. Then, using the rental car, she drove the short distance to the home. Considering the abrupt change of plans, Lisbon wasn’t particularly irritated. Instead, she was pleasantly surprised that the case had finally started to develop in the right directions. It was a shame that it was looking increasingly likely that Agent Halligan was involved, if not responsible, but regardless of his status as an officer of the law, if he had committed a crime, then he had to do the time.
Agent Decosta was waiting for her at the gates to the house. Swiftly, Lisbon closed the distance between them. As he shook her hand, she made not of the thin trail of smoke reaching into the sky from the back yard. She frowned; was that burning of evidence, or was there a different reason behind the bonfire, one which was entirely more innocent? In silence, she hoped that it was the latter. After all, a lack of evidence, even with a confession, could make it a lot harder to get a case through the courts.
Just as they were about to make their way inside the gates, they heard three shots being fired. Instinctively, Lisbon started running towards them.
She knew Jane was inside. All she could think was: what if he’s been hurt? Or worse?
Part Sixteen
By the time she and Agent Decosta reached the back yard, Agent Burton had already relinquished Halligan of his weapon and had him in handcuffs. The bonfire burned brightly beyond them and Jane was nowhere to be scene. Again, Lisbon began to panic, but didn’t show it. Instead, she glanced behind her, at the house where the back door was propped open. Without wasting a moment on anybody else, she bolted towards the house, indoors and upstairs.
When she reached the landing, she halted. Already, she could hear the soothing tones of Patrick Jane’s voice filtering through the closed door of the master bedroom. It did little to calm down her erratic heartbeat though; she still didn’t know if the other occupant was actually armed or not. But then, she knew for certain that she wasn’t. If she moved forwards and interrupted them, then she had no way of defending herself or Jane if the other person was armed. Slowly, she crept forwards, trying to remain as quiet as possible. When a floorboard creaked, she froze, but nothing happened. Eventually, she was in earshot and could hear exactly what was going on.
“You don’t want to do this,” Jane spoke clearly and cautiously. “Just put the gun down, and we can speak properly.”
“But you don’t understand,” Susan Parker replied; her tone was almost a plaintive wail.
Lisbon wasn’t surprised that Susan Parker was the other inhabitant of the room. Immediately, she wondered if she or Agent Halligan had been the one responsible for the death of Robert Parker. However, her heart sank at the confirmation that the woman was, indeed, armed. Jane was playing a dangerous game; he was trapped in a room with somebody who sounded like they were losing their sense of sanity. It often happened near the climax of the case, when the killer realized they hadn’t been clever enough to get away with it. Immediately, she longed for her Glock 9mm and her badge too. Lisbon hated feeling completely and utterly powerless, especially in a scenario such as this one.
The gentle touch on her left shoulder by Agent Decosta made her, once again, jump. She turned around to glare at him, and he placed a cautionary finger on his lips, encouraging her to remain silent. Of course, Lisbon didn’t need such an instruction and besides, she was too busy trying to figure out if Jane had managed to talk Susan Parker into handing her weapon over. When Decosta made a move to interrupt them too soon, she actively blocked the door, and shot him a dirty look. She wasn’t about to let an inexperienced cop risk Jane’s life. After all, she already knew that their first case as a unit had ended in disaster. As for the second? Well, it was already clear that one of the agents was a person of interest. That meant that Lisbon felt like she couldn’t trust Decosta to make the right decision.
“He was stifling me. I wasted my best years on him. And for what? So that he could get himself up to his eyeballs in debt and risk losing my hotel?” Susan shouted.
She couldn’t quite catch what Jane said in response, but Lisbon found herself holding her breath.
“I didn’t mean to kill him.”
“Nobody does, Susan,” Jane replied, but even Lisbon knew that was a crass generalization. “But think of your daughter. Do you really want her to be an orphan? At sixteen? Think about how painful it will be for Bethan to lose both her parents over a tragedy like this.”
Naturally, that was something Lisbon could sympathize with entirely and she stoically shook her head as the bad memories resurfaced. She couldn’t blame Jane for going straight for the jugular; what parent liked the idea of their children growing up without them around? And he didn’t know she was listening in; he didn’t even know she was there at all. Still, it took her a couple of seconds to compose herself and in that time, Susan Parker and Jane exchanged a few more quiet words.
“That’s right, Susan,” Jane eventually said soothingly. “You don’t need the gun. Nobody else needs to die.”
“Thank God,” Decosta whispered down her ear.
She stood aside for him at that, and allowed him to go in and make the arrest. Susan Parker had confessed to murder and there had been three witnesses. All that was left to do was work out where Halligan fitted into the mess, and Lisbon suspected that that would all come out in questioning. Soon enough, the agent pushed the handcuffed woman out of the bedroom and downstairs, but Jane didn’t emerge.
Tentatively, Lisbon tapped on the bedroom door lightly before she made her entrance. Jane smiled slightly when he saw her and immediately, she closed the distance between them. Even now, despite the fact that the drama was finally over, her heart continued to beat erratically in her chest. Swiftly, she closed the distance between them and for a second, she didn’t know what she wanted to do. Part of her wanted to slap him for causing her this much distress on her vacation. Lisbon knew just how dangerous it had been for him to be shut in a room with somebody holding a gun. He had been incredibly lucky to get out of there unscathed, even with his impressive gifts.
“You arrogant, egotistical, reckless jackass,” she seethed at him.
Then, she grabbed his jacket by the lapels - even in the blazing Hawaiian heat, he still wore his three piece suit - and pressed her lips against his. It took him half a second to react, but soon enough, his tongue darted out and tantalizingly wetted her lips. His hand started to run up and down her spine and Lisbon found herself smiling into the embrace. She continued to hold onto his jacket for dear life, almost like she was afraid that he was going to disappear on her if she dared to let him go. However, she had to in the end and it was at that moment that she looked away; she was almost embarrassed by the display of emotions she had just shown.
But, damn it, she had nearly lost him, again. That fear had tipped her over the edge and adrenalin had taken over her body. She had needed that release and in truth, the standoff between Jane and Susan Parker had made her realize just how important Jane was to her. Deep down, she had always known it, but the situation they had found themselves in made it all the more apparent. And, when she considered the way he had reacted to the kiss, it seemed like she wasn’t the only one. It was just typical of them that they required some kind of life-or-death scenario to be the trigger for something more.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” she stated firmly.
“What?” Jane asked and she could already tell he was going to say something ever so slightly sarcastic. “Risk life and limb to solve a case? Or this?”
This time, he was the one to close the gap between them and kiss her. Naturally, Lisbon was more than happy to oblige. Again, Jane managed to inject a surprising amount of passion, and when they parted once more, Lisbon was a little breathless.
“You can do the latter all you like,” she answered with a smirk. “But please, leave the life-or-death things to me from now on, okay?”
“I can’t make you any promises, Teresa,” he answered her.
She placed a finger across his lips in order to silence him. “Let’s just save that for later, shall we?”
He nodded and held out a hand, which she took obligingly. Lisbon wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but all she could do was hope that this was the right decision.
Epilogue
Inevitably, Decosta kept them both informed when he was questioning Halligan. Eventually, a decent picture of what had happened during the murder of Robert Parker emerged. One final argument between him and his wife had escalated and eventually, she had struck him around the head with a rolling pin, which had been discovered in the trashcan at the Parker residence. Tearfully, Susan Parker had called up her toy boy lover, Agent Halligan, and between them, they hatched up the plan to cover up the crime. It had been Halligan’s idea to dump the body in a hotel room; he had also been the one to come up with the concept of attempting to frame the museum protestors.
Unfortunately, neither of them had the foresight to check who was due to stay in the room next. Neither of them had been prepared to deal with somebody quite like Patrick Jane. For a while, Halligan had been capable about covering up his tracks, but only when Jane and Lisbon had insisted that they investigated the family deeper did he panic. Then, the truth had unraveled and it had resulted in both their arrests.
Naturally, Agents Decosta and Burton had been very grateful for their assistance, even though they were disappointed that one of their number had attempted to pervert the course of justice. Lisbon genuinely hoped that now, they would find a more suitable replacement and then, hopefully, the unit would go from strength to strength. She understood just how difficult it was when a unit was in its infancy, but she had the faith that they could be a fine law enforcement team one day. Now that the rotten member had been flushed out and, they could start afresh and go onto bigger and better things.
For a while, Jane and Lisbon skirted around the issue of what they had become. Eventually, Lisbon grew sick of not knowing where she stood and it was then that she confronted him. The conversation had started cautiously; neither wanted to offend the other party. However, it soon became clear that they both knew what they really wanted. Neither one of them was under any illusions that it was going to be easy, but they were both willing to work at it. As she clung onto Jane’s hand, Lisbon was glad for many reasons. For one, she had always hoped and believed that he could be healed enough to be able to love again. She had always known there was a decent human being left in him, and that one day, he would realize that once again too. And now, she knew she had been right. The reason he had come out to Hawaii at all was in the vain hope that it could be a catalyst for something between them.
She spent the rest of the vacation exclusively in his company. No more did she want - or need - time and space from him in the mornings. Instead, Lisbon wanted to explore every aspect of their newly developed relationship and indulge in the ‘honeymoon period’ before they came crashing back down to earth. She knew that things would inevitably be different once they got back to Sacramento, but she hoped they wouldn’t be too different. Jane had already vowed he would fight tooth and nail for her. If the brass disapproved of their relationship, she knew he would persuade them to see sense. And if anyone could do that, it was Jane. Besides, she had been the senior agent who apprehended the notorious Red John, and it was far safer to have him within the CBI walls than outside it. They were valuable assets they couldn’t afford to lose over something as mundane as a technicality in the rulebook.
The last few days flew by, and in a way, Lisbon was dreading going home. She did miss work and her team, but at the same time, she wished she could have just a little bit longer alone with Jane. The inevitable difficulties she would have to endure with her boss didn’t make the thought any easier, either. However, the sooner it was over and done with, the better. Then, they could get on with adjusting to having one another in their lives on a more intimate basis than previously. As they left the hotel for the final time, Jane pressed his lips against hers gently and whispered a quiet ‘I love you’ for the first time.
As far as she was concerned, that was evidence enough that they were going to be okay.
When she asked Jane if he wanted her to accompany him to his appointment with Agent Decosta, he politely declined. On one hand, Lisbon was relieved. She had been enjoying her mornings alone, especially as it gave her the much-needed time and space alone, and didn't really relish the idea of a change in routine. Equally, though, she knew Jane's revelations about Agent Halligan would set the proverbial cat among the pigeons within the Hawaii State Police Department. Part of her still wanted to be there so that she could apply the appropriate damage limitation where necessary; that was one of the most important parts of her job when she was back home. However, despite appearing as such on some occasions, Lisbon knew that Jane wasn't actually an idiot. He did have enough common sense to approach this subject carefully.
So, she didn't argue with his decision in the end. Her plans to visit the swimming pool might as well go ahead, she decided. After sharing one last cup of tea with Jane, Lisbon bid him farewell and watched him walk out of the hotel and towards the police station. Only then did she wander up to their room to collect the items she would need for her visit to the pool. Once she got down to the poolside, she immediately decided that she had made the right decision. The pool was mercifully quiet, with only three other patrons having chosen to visit at this specific time. She had hoped that would be the case; the hotel hadn't been marketed towards families and besides, she was also aware that some sort of conference was going on during their stay. She wondered if Jane had sat in on any of the speeches and maybe if he had caused a nuisance of himself in them. But then, she would have heard about that and besides, he had grown increasingly distracted by the Parker case.
Automatically, she fell into the routine of doing lazy lengths. It was too hot for her to try and over exert herself, but the pool was cool enough for her to actually want to do some proper swimming. Nobody disturbed her and she reveled at the chance to do something she had genuinely enjoyed as a child. Despite not knowing whether she was coming or going when it came to Jane and the problems with the case, she had started to really enjoy herself. Lisbon had had the chance to do things she hadn't done for a long while, and spend time doing things for herself. It had been such a long while since she had had some 'me' time; all of her recent vacations had either been too short to be truly beneficial, ended early because of some kind of work drama or used up by her brothers.
When she grew tired of swimming, she wrapped herself in her beach towel, found some shade and curled up with her book. She was getting towards the supposedly exciting climax, but the drama had been over exaggerated to the stage where the book was no longer realistic. But then, considering how soon she had solved the case herself, she had expected it to turn out like that. All that was left now was for the mastermind criminal to be arrested and the dashing cop to predictably admit his feelings for his stunning receptionist who had always admired him. Lisbon smirked as she continued reading; if only the author knew that reality was far stranger than fiction.
Her peace was soon disturbed by the shrill ring of her cell phone. With a sigh, Lisbon placed down her book and picked it up. When she saw that Agent Decosta was the caller, she got a severe case of déjà vu, but answered nevertheless. She had a distinct feeling that Jane's revelations hadn't gone down well at the office and they wanted her to persuade him to apologize to the lot of them for the offence he had caused. But then, Jane had actually seen Halligan and Mrs. Parker indulging in their illicit affair and even if he hadn't, she knew he could read it in their actions and body language anyway. If he was, indeed, correct then why should he apologize for handing them their most important lead to this case on a silver platter? And if there was one thing that Lisbon loathed in the profession, it was crooked cops. They were the type which gave the rest of them a bad name.
"How may I help you, Agent Decosta?" she enquired politely.
"I think your man is right about Halligan," he stated somewhat abruptly, much to Lisbon's surprise. "He hasn't turned up to work this morning."
"Oh."
The abrupt announcement had taken her entirely off-guard. She had expected Decosta to skirt around the subject initially, much like he had done so on every other occasion they had spoken. However, from his tone alone, Lisbon could tell that the man was in a hurry. Carefully, she sat up, realizing that this was probably going to be a very important conversation, especially when it came to the Parker case. Whatever the man said next, she suspected would spell out something very important about the developments in it.
“He’s been spotted going to the Parker family home, presumably to talk to the family about this. Burton and Mr. Jane are on their way there now.”
She bit on her tongue to prevent herself from saying how unwise it was to send somebody like Jane into the fire. “And you want me there too?”
“If possible?” he asked quietly.
“You do know I don’t have my service weapon, nor would I be legally allowed to use it even if I did? I have no authority whatsoever here.”
“You think the situation might turn sour?”
“From personal experience? Yes.”
Despite her reservations, she eventually agreed to meet Decosta at the Parker family residence, in the hope of being a ‘calming influence’ on both the family and Jane. With a sigh, she quickly packed her belongings away, showered, and changed. Then, using the rental car, she drove the short distance to the home. Considering the abrupt change of plans, Lisbon wasn’t particularly irritated. Instead, she was pleasantly surprised that the case had finally started to develop in the right directions. It was a shame that it was looking increasingly likely that Agent Halligan was involved, if not responsible, but regardless of his status as an officer of the law, if he had committed a crime, then he had to do the time.
Agent Decosta was waiting for her at the gates to the house. Swiftly, Lisbon closed the distance between them. As he shook her hand, she made not of the thin trail of smoke reaching into the sky from the back yard. She frowned; was that burning of evidence, or was there a different reason behind the bonfire, one which was entirely more innocent? In silence, she hoped that it was the latter. After all, a lack of evidence, even with a confession, could make it a lot harder to get a case through the courts.
Just as they were about to make their way inside the gates, they heard three shots being fired. Instinctively, Lisbon started running towards them.
She knew Jane was inside. All she could think was: what if he’s been hurt? Or worse?
Part Sixteen
By the time she and Agent Decosta reached the back yard, Agent Burton had already relinquished Halligan of his weapon and had him in handcuffs. The bonfire burned brightly beyond them and Jane was nowhere to be scene. Again, Lisbon began to panic, but didn’t show it. Instead, she glanced behind her, at the house where the back door was propped open. Without wasting a moment on anybody else, she bolted towards the house, indoors and upstairs.
When she reached the landing, she halted. Already, she could hear the soothing tones of Patrick Jane’s voice filtering through the closed door of the master bedroom. It did little to calm down her erratic heartbeat though; she still didn’t know if the other occupant was actually armed or not. But then, she knew for certain that she wasn’t. If she moved forwards and interrupted them, then she had no way of defending herself or Jane if the other person was armed. Slowly, she crept forwards, trying to remain as quiet as possible. When a floorboard creaked, she froze, but nothing happened. Eventually, she was in earshot and could hear exactly what was going on.
“You don’t want to do this,” Jane spoke clearly and cautiously. “Just put the gun down, and we can speak properly.”
“But you don’t understand,” Susan Parker replied; her tone was almost a plaintive wail.
Lisbon wasn’t surprised that Susan Parker was the other inhabitant of the room. Immediately, she wondered if she or Agent Halligan had been the one responsible for the death of Robert Parker. However, her heart sank at the confirmation that the woman was, indeed, armed. Jane was playing a dangerous game; he was trapped in a room with somebody who sounded like they were losing their sense of sanity. It often happened near the climax of the case, when the killer realized they hadn’t been clever enough to get away with it. Immediately, she longed for her Glock 9mm and her badge too. Lisbon hated feeling completely and utterly powerless, especially in a scenario such as this one.
The gentle touch on her left shoulder by Agent Decosta made her, once again, jump. She turned around to glare at him, and he placed a cautionary finger on his lips, encouraging her to remain silent. Of course, Lisbon didn’t need such an instruction and besides, she was too busy trying to figure out if Jane had managed to talk Susan Parker into handing her weapon over. When Decosta made a move to interrupt them too soon, she actively blocked the door, and shot him a dirty look. She wasn’t about to let an inexperienced cop risk Jane’s life. After all, she already knew that their first case as a unit had ended in disaster. As for the second? Well, it was already clear that one of the agents was a person of interest. That meant that Lisbon felt like she couldn’t trust Decosta to make the right decision.
“He was stifling me. I wasted my best years on him. And for what? So that he could get himself up to his eyeballs in debt and risk losing my hotel?” Susan shouted.
She couldn’t quite catch what Jane said in response, but Lisbon found herself holding her breath.
“I didn’t mean to kill him.”
“Nobody does, Susan,” Jane replied, but even Lisbon knew that was a crass generalization. “But think of your daughter. Do you really want her to be an orphan? At sixteen? Think about how painful it will be for Bethan to lose both her parents over a tragedy like this.”
Naturally, that was something Lisbon could sympathize with entirely and she stoically shook her head as the bad memories resurfaced. She couldn’t blame Jane for going straight for the jugular; what parent liked the idea of their children growing up without them around? And he didn’t know she was listening in; he didn’t even know she was there at all. Still, it took her a couple of seconds to compose herself and in that time, Susan Parker and Jane exchanged a few more quiet words.
“That’s right, Susan,” Jane eventually said soothingly. “You don’t need the gun. Nobody else needs to die.”
“Thank God,” Decosta whispered down her ear.
She stood aside for him at that, and allowed him to go in and make the arrest. Susan Parker had confessed to murder and there had been three witnesses. All that was left to do was work out where Halligan fitted into the mess, and Lisbon suspected that that would all come out in questioning. Soon enough, the agent pushed the handcuffed woman out of the bedroom and downstairs, but Jane didn’t emerge.
Tentatively, Lisbon tapped on the bedroom door lightly before she made her entrance. Jane smiled slightly when he saw her and immediately, she closed the distance between them. Even now, despite the fact that the drama was finally over, her heart continued to beat erratically in her chest. Swiftly, she closed the distance between them and for a second, she didn’t know what she wanted to do. Part of her wanted to slap him for causing her this much distress on her vacation. Lisbon knew just how dangerous it had been for him to be shut in a room with somebody holding a gun. He had been incredibly lucky to get out of there unscathed, even with his impressive gifts.
“You arrogant, egotistical, reckless jackass,” she seethed at him.
Then, she grabbed his jacket by the lapels - even in the blazing Hawaiian heat, he still wore his three piece suit - and pressed her lips against his. It took him half a second to react, but soon enough, his tongue darted out and tantalizingly wetted her lips. His hand started to run up and down her spine and Lisbon found herself smiling into the embrace. She continued to hold onto his jacket for dear life, almost like she was afraid that he was going to disappear on her if she dared to let him go. However, she had to in the end and it was at that moment that she looked away; she was almost embarrassed by the display of emotions she had just shown.
But, damn it, she had nearly lost him, again. That fear had tipped her over the edge and adrenalin had taken over her body. She had needed that release and in truth, the standoff between Jane and Susan Parker had made her realize just how important Jane was to her. Deep down, she had always known it, but the situation they had found themselves in made it all the more apparent. And, when she considered the way he had reacted to the kiss, it seemed like she wasn’t the only one. It was just typical of them that they required some kind of life-or-death scenario to be the trigger for something more.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” she stated firmly.
“What?” Jane asked and she could already tell he was going to say something ever so slightly sarcastic. “Risk life and limb to solve a case? Or this?”
This time, he was the one to close the gap between them and kiss her. Naturally, Lisbon was more than happy to oblige. Again, Jane managed to inject a surprising amount of passion, and when they parted once more, Lisbon was a little breathless.
“You can do the latter all you like,” she answered with a smirk. “But please, leave the life-or-death things to me from now on, okay?”
“I can’t make you any promises, Teresa,” he answered her.
She placed a finger across his lips in order to silence him. “Let’s just save that for later, shall we?”
He nodded and held out a hand, which she took obligingly. Lisbon wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but all she could do was hope that this was the right decision.
Epilogue
Inevitably, Decosta kept them both informed when he was questioning Halligan. Eventually, a decent picture of what had happened during the murder of Robert Parker emerged. One final argument between him and his wife had escalated and eventually, she had struck him around the head with a rolling pin, which had been discovered in the trashcan at the Parker residence. Tearfully, Susan Parker had called up her toy boy lover, Agent Halligan, and between them, they hatched up the plan to cover up the crime. It had been Halligan’s idea to dump the body in a hotel room; he had also been the one to come up with the concept of attempting to frame the museum protestors.
Unfortunately, neither of them had the foresight to check who was due to stay in the room next. Neither of them had been prepared to deal with somebody quite like Patrick Jane. For a while, Halligan had been capable about covering up his tracks, but only when Jane and Lisbon had insisted that they investigated the family deeper did he panic. Then, the truth had unraveled and it had resulted in both their arrests.
Naturally, Agents Decosta and Burton had been very grateful for their assistance, even though they were disappointed that one of their number had attempted to pervert the course of justice. Lisbon genuinely hoped that now, they would find a more suitable replacement and then, hopefully, the unit would go from strength to strength. She understood just how difficult it was when a unit was in its infancy, but she had the faith that they could be a fine law enforcement team one day. Now that the rotten member had been flushed out and, they could start afresh and go onto bigger and better things.
For a while, Jane and Lisbon skirted around the issue of what they had become. Eventually, Lisbon grew sick of not knowing where she stood and it was then that she confronted him. The conversation had started cautiously; neither wanted to offend the other party. However, it soon became clear that they both knew what they really wanted. Neither one of them was under any illusions that it was going to be easy, but they were both willing to work at it. As she clung onto Jane’s hand, Lisbon was glad for many reasons. For one, she had always hoped and believed that he could be healed enough to be able to love again. She had always known there was a decent human being left in him, and that one day, he would realize that once again too. And now, she knew she had been right. The reason he had come out to Hawaii at all was in the vain hope that it could be a catalyst for something between them.
She spent the rest of the vacation exclusively in his company. No more did she want - or need - time and space from him in the mornings. Instead, Lisbon wanted to explore every aspect of their newly developed relationship and indulge in the ‘honeymoon period’ before they came crashing back down to earth. She knew that things would inevitably be different once they got back to Sacramento, but she hoped they wouldn’t be too different. Jane had already vowed he would fight tooth and nail for her. If the brass disapproved of their relationship, she knew he would persuade them to see sense. And if anyone could do that, it was Jane. Besides, she had been the senior agent who apprehended the notorious Red John, and it was far safer to have him within the CBI walls than outside it. They were valuable assets they couldn’t afford to lose over something as mundane as a technicality in the rulebook.
The last few days flew by, and in a way, Lisbon was dreading going home. She did miss work and her team, but at the same time, she wished she could have just a little bit longer alone with Jane. The inevitable difficulties she would have to endure with her boss didn’t make the thought any easier, either. However, the sooner it was over and done with, the better. Then, they could get on with adjusting to having one another in their lives on a more intimate basis than previously. As they left the hotel for the final time, Jane pressed his lips against hers gently and whispered a quiet ‘I love you’ for the first time.
As far as she was concerned, that was evidence enough that they were going to be okay.