Damage Control (1/1)
Title: Damage Control
Author: tromana
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Jane/Lisbon
Summary: A car accident leaves Jane and Lisbon stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: None
Notes: Written for 15genres1prompt. Genre: Survivalist
Damage Control
She gnawed through the twine using her teeth and Jane cringed as she did do. Lisbon ignored him. She didn't care what damage it did to them when there was more important things to worry about. Jane had a fracture or possible break to his left arm, for one thing. The sooner he was fixed up, to at least a reasonable state, the sooner they could move on. And if that meant using her teeth in lieu of scissors, then that was what she was going to do.
The fall into the dried riverbank had resulted in numerous cuts and lacerations but really, she knew that they were exceedingly lucky. Coming out of a car crash like that alive was a miracle in itself, never mind just being classified as walking wounded. Of course she hated the fact she was responsible for them getting injured at all, but at the same time Lisbon was counting her blessings. They were, after all, alive and more or less in one piece. That had to count for something, didn't it?
Besides, she had more important things to be doing than wallowing in self-pity. Jane definitely needed to see an EMT and technically, she probably did too. The only problem was that they were literally stuck in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no contact with the land of the living. Their vehicle, naturally, was a write off. If she was going to do something like that, she always did it properly. There was no point in messing around with half-hearted measures. However, her thoroughness was posing them more problems than just a lack of transport. The GPS system was shot to pieces, her cell phone hadn't fared much better and Jane's, though it had miraculously survived the accident, had typically, run out of charge.
But that didn't mean she was about to give up their situation as being hopeless any time soon. Teresa Lisbon was a fighter and she was proud of the fact. If anybody could pull themselves and a rather apathetic Patrick Jane out of this sorry situation, it was he. All it required was the correct application of determination and a hell of a lot of patience.
"Now what?" Jane asked, giving her the big, doleful eyes as he did so.
"Isn’t it obvious?" she quipped and he rolled his eyes in response. "We find the nearest road and follow it until we hit civilization."
"You make it sound so easy," he said.
"What? It is," she answered back, sounding altogether angrier than she had originally anticipated. "You’re not on the verge of giving up are you?"
"Why not? The situation is pretty bad."
Lisbon pursed her lips in response. Patrick Jane, the man who had spent years fighting a hopeless task, toiling after Red John was all but ready to lie down and die after something as mundane as a little car crash. Admittedly, she only had a vague knowledge of the geography of the area and the pain was already beginning to make itself known, but that didn't make this a life or death situation. Not yet, anyway. She told herself that it was just his discomfort that was talking, that he was probably heading into a state of shock. He didn’t really believe he was about to die, he just wanted to sleep off the pain or something. Not that it would be that simple without medical attention. However, the mind didn’t always know what was best for it.
They had to get back to civilization, they just had to. If that meant they had to rough it for a couple of days or do and push their pain thresholds to the very limit, then so be it. Besides, it was an adventure, of sorts. There was a sort of charm about returning to nature and all that. It was just a shame that it had to be under such unfortunate circumstances.
As quickly as possible, Lisbon gathered together all the objects that were useable and practical and stuffed them into a hold-all. She didn't know how long they would be out on their own; they needed some things at least to ensure that this situation could be made as comfortable as feasibly possible. Jane, meanwhile, flopped onto a fallen branch and whined as he did so. Yes, she decided, he was definitely slipping into a shock. She had to be careful, then. Realistically, she shouldn’t have been moving him at all, but she had no choice. There was no way she could contact the emergency services from here. They had to move on simply to be able to seek help and shelter. It was all making Lisbon’s stress levels skyrocket. It was bad enough that she knew she was at fault for the accident, never mind taking into account Jane's acute suffering. She worried about him at the best of times and this just added insult to injury. On normal occasions, Jane was a lightning rod for danger; what was he going to be like injured and delirious? Somehow, it was up to her to keep his spirits up and get them to a place of safety. Or preferably, a hospital where they could receive the medical treatment they required.
The walk back up the riverbank was strenuous and Lisbon discovered that she had more aches and pains than she originally anticipated. Silently, she hoped that it wasn't anything too bad; she had to focus her energies elsewhere. Finding somewhere sheltered for them to sleep for the night, for one. It was getting late and she was beginning to doubt that there would be any passing traffic. Dubiously, she stared up at the sky; a spectacular vision of yellows, oranges and reds. Had she not been stuck in this predicament, then she may have stopped to enjoy the sunset. Instead, she cursed herself for taking Jane’s advice about the detour. If she had stuck to the main roads, like she had originally intended to do so, then they probably would have already been back at the CBI headquarters. Instead, they were bruised and battered and facing a race against the sun.
Despite the shock and his injuries, Jane did eventually prove himself to be useful. After about an hour’s trek, he spotted a dilapidated shack just off the road. It was getting late and it didn’t look like they would find any other shelter. That had to be better than nothing. Hurriedly, Lisbon made for the door and started banging roughly on it. She had to hope that somebody was inside, that they could provide them with shelter for the night. Or even better, a telephone where they could call for the help they required. Nobody answered, but the door eventually gave up against her persistent pummeling and swung slowly open.
Jane was the first one inside. Lisbon rolled her eyes and followed him inwards. Her hand rested nervously on her gun; she didn’t know who or what was inside. It was better for her to be on her guard than to risk being killed just because of a lapse in concentration. She knew that Jane simply didn’t have that mindset. That and he lived as if he had a death wish. Sometimes, she wondered if he really did. After all he’d been through she wouldn’t really blame him if he did. In the past, he’d been suicidal. Who was to say that he wouldn’t have a relapse at some point? Though naturally, she didn’t want him to and did everything she could in attempt to prevent that from happening.
Eventually, she deemed it as she suspected: deserted. Unfortunately, it also only offered them little more than basic, old furniture. Her hope of being able to call for help had immediately been dashed. Still, at least they had shelter and something comfortable (a dilapidated couch) to sit on.
“Lisbon.”
“Yes, Jane?”
It had taken a little while, but she had finally gotten him settled down onto the couch and had set up the things they had to hand. She’d fed him a little of the food she’d managed to rescue from the van and had taken to pacing around the shack. Now she had time on her hands to actually think about what was happening, she didn’t much like it. The food wouldn’t last long; barely a day and that was only if they ate meager meals between them. Jane already looked in a pretty poor state and she dreaded to imagine how he’d be when hunger began to kick in as well. It was a well-known fact that Jane loved his food, almost as much as Rigsby did. He simply had a slightly more refined taste than her arson specialist did.
“You’re bleeding,” he said, breaking the silence.
“No I’m not,” she retorted instinctively.
He stood and joined her. Gently, he place a hand to her arm and when he showed it to her, his fingers were covered in sticky blood. Lisbon frowned in response; she had assumed that all of her wounds would have knitted over by now. The fact that she was still bleeding out was worrisome. They didn’t even have a clue how much blood that she had already lost. And if she was still bleeding, then what did that say about Jane and his injuries? Really, they needed medical intervention, but it was late and had already started to rain. If they had known where they were then maybe, it would be different. As it was, this was probably the best place for them. At least they had some medical supplies to use, that was better than nothing at all.
Lisbon watched as Jane picked out some of the supplies. He indicated to the couch and as she sat down, he took a seat beside her. After rolling up the sleeve of her blouse, he methodically, he wiped her arm with the antiseptic wipe. She winced as the chemicals stung at the wound, but remained stock still. Jane was being as gentle as he could be, after all. When he let go of it and allowed it to drift to the floor, the material had turned a pink color. Lisbon tried to ignore the fact that that was her blood causing the discoloration and that she hadn’t even noticed her injury because she had been so caught up with worrying about everything else. Jane shifted a little closer to her as he took a bandage up in his good hand and steadily wrapped it around her arm, despite the discomfort it caused to himself. At least he seemed to have come to his senses now that they were indoors and he’d had a little to eat and drink. He remained quiet as he tended to her injury and all they could hear was the thrum of rain hitting the roof. Lisbon was grateful for it, in a way. They both knew how it had happened and there was no point in either of them in trying to dissect who was responsible for the accident. It wouldn’t do them any good now, nor in the long run.
“All done,” he murmured eventually, but he didn’t move.
“Thank you,” she replied stiffly and stood up, crossing her arms as she did so.
“Just come back here, woman.”
Reluctantly, she complied. A small voice in the back of her mind was screaming at just how inappropriate it would be for her to snuggle up to her consultant in the middle of nowhere. Still, it wasn’t as if he was proposing marriage or anything as ludicrous as that. It wasn’t as if he was even propositioning her. All he was asking for was comfort. Considering their current predicament, the least they deserved was the feel of human touch, just to help them relax. Lisbon knew that Jane knew her better than anybody else and that when it came down to it, if there was anybody who could help her calm down, it was him. If she didn’t agree, then she doubted she would get any sleep at all. As it was, with his arm resting lightly over her waist, she found her eyelids growing heavy and eventually drifted off to sleep.
When the morning came, so did the team. They looked shattered, as if they had spent all night searching for their whereabouts, which probably wasn’t too far from the truth. Lisbon didn’t even bother to argue when Van Pelt ushered her towards an ambulance, where an EMT was waiting patiently to give her the once over and decide whether or not she required further medical intervention at the hospital. She was simply grateful that her team cared enough not to give up, to search high and low for them. Also that their efforts had been rewarded quickly; that they hadn’t been stranded in the middle of nowhere for a week or longer. Though the night had been surprisingly peaceful and she had ended up even enjoying Jane’s company, their condition could have grown a lot worse if they’d been forced to endure living on rations for too long. Then, there was Jane’s arm, which was indeed broken. It was bad enough that he’d have waited nearly twenty four hours to get it treated. Any longer would have been terrible for future treatment on it.
Still, as she allowed the EMT to do his job and willingly answered his questions to the best of her ability, she tried to relax a little. They were safe now; there was no need for her to be so on edge. Somehow, they had gotten out of the situation with minimal injury, relatively speaking. It wouldn’t be too long until everything was back to how it once was.
Lisbon glanced at Jane who smiled warmly at her. She blinked briefly. He hadn’t said anything, but a look in his eyes was more than enough.
Maybe there was one thing she wouldn’t mind being different after all this. She wasn’t going to pin her hopes on it, of course. But maybe…
Author: tromana
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Jane/Lisbon
Summary: A car accident leaves Jane and Lisbon stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: None
Notes: Written for 15genres1prompt. Genre: Survivalist
Damage Control
She gnawed through the twine using her teeth and Jane cringed as she did do. Lisbon ignored him. She didn't care what damage it did to them when there was more important things to worry about. Jane had a fracture or possible break to his left arm, for one thing. The sooner he was fixed up, to at least a reasonable state, the sooner they could move on. And if that meant using her teeth in lieu of scissors, then that was what she was going to do.
The fall into the dried riverbank had resulted in numerous cuts and lacerations but really, she knew that they were exceedingly lucky. Coming out of a car crash like that alive was a miracle in itself, never mind just being classified as walking wounded. Of course she hated the fact she was responsible for them getting injured at all, but at the same time Lisbon was counting her blessings. They were, after all, alive and more or less in one piece. That had to count for something, didn't it?
Besides, she had more important things to be doing than wallowing in self-pity. Jane definitely needed to see an EMT and technically, she probably did too. The only problem was that they were literally stuck in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no contact with the land of the living. Their vehicle, naturally, was a write off. If she was going to do something like that, she always did it properly. There was no point in messing around with half-hearted measures. However, her thoroughness was posing them more problems than just a lack of transport. The GPS system was shot to pieces, her cell phone hadn't fared much better and Jane's, though it had miraculously survived the accident, had typically, run out of charge.
But that didn't mean she was about to give up their situation as being hopeless any time soon. Teresa Lisbon was a fighter and she was proud of the fact. If anybody could pull themselves and a rather apathetic Patrick Jane out of this sorry situation, it was he. All it required was the correct application of determination and a hell of a lot of patience.
"Now what?" Jane asked, giving her the big, doleful eyes as he did so.
"Isn’t it obvious?" she quipped and he rolled his eyes in response. "We find the nearest road and follow it until we hit civilization."
"You make it sound so easy," he said.
"What? It is," she answered back, sounding altogether angrier than she had originally anticipated. "You’re not on the verge of giving up are you?"
"Why not? The situation is pretty bad."
Lisbon pursed her lips in response. Patrick Jane, the man who had spent years fighting a hopeless task, toiling after Red John was all but ready to lie down and die after something as mundane as a little car crash. Admittedly, she only had a vague knowledge of the geography of the area and the pain was already beginning to make itself known, but that didn't make this a life or death situation. Not yet, anyway. She told herself that it was just his discomfort that was talking, that he was probably heading into a state of shock. He didn’t really believe he was about to die, he just wanted to sleep off the pain or something. Not that it would be that simple without medical attention. However, the mind didn’t always know what was best for it.
They had to get back to civilization, they just had to. If that meant they had to rough it for a couple of days or do and push their pain thresholds to the very limit, then so be it. Besides, it was an adventure, of sorts. There was a sort of charm about returning to nature and all that. It was just a shame that it had to be under such unfortunate circumstances.
As quickly as possible, Lisbon gathered together all the objects that were useable and practical and stuffed them into a hold-all. She didn't know how long they would be out on their own; they needed some things at least to ensure that this situation could be made as comfortable as feasibly possible. Jane, meanwhile, flopped onto a fallen branch and whined as he did so. Yes, she decided, he was definitely slipping into a shock. She had to be careful, then. Realistically, she shouldn’t have been moving him at all, but she had no choice. There was no way she could contact the emergency services from here. They had to move on simply to be able to seek help and shelter. It was all making Lisbon’s stress levels skyrocket. It was bad enough that she knew she was at fault for the accident, never mind taking into account Jane's acute suffering. She worried about him at the best of times and this just added insult to injury. On normal occasions, Jane was a lightning rod for danger; what was he going to be like injured and delirious? Somehow, it was up to her to keep his spirits up and get them to a place of safety. Or preferably, a hospital where they could receive the medical treatment they required.
The walk back up the riverbank was strenuous and Lisbon discovered that she had more aches and pains than she originally anticipated. Silently, she hoped that it wasn't anything too bad; she had to focus her energies elsewhere. Finding somewhere sheltered for them to sleep for the night, for one. It was getting late and she was beginning to doubt that there would be any passing traffic. Dubiously, she stared up at the sky; a spectacular vision of yellows, oranges and reds. Had she not been stuck in this predicament, then she may have stopped to enjoy the sunset. Instead, she cursed herself for taking Jane’s advice about the detour. If she had stuck to the main roads, like she had originally intended to do so, then they probably would have already been back at the CBI headquarters. Instead, they were bruised and battered and facing a race against the sun.
Despite the shock and his injuries, Jane did eventually prove himself to be useful. After about an hour’s trek, he spotted a dilapidated shack just off the road. It was getting late and it didn’t look like they would find any other shelter. That had to be better than nothing. Hurriedly, Lisbon made for the door and started banging roughly on it. She had to hope that somebody was inside, that they could provide them with shelter for the night. Or even better, a telephone where they could call for the help they required. Nobody answered, but the door eventually gave up against her persistent pummeling and swung slowly open.
Jane was the first one inside. Lisbon rolled her eyes and followed him inwards. Her hand rested nervously on her gun; she didn’t know who or what was inside. It was better for her to be on her guard than to risk being killed just because of a lapse in concentration. She knew that Jane simply didn’t have that mindset. That and he lived as if he had a death wish. Sometimes, she wondered if he really did. After all he’d been through she wouldn’t really blame him if he did. In the past, he’d been suicidal. Who was to say that he wouldn’t have a relapse at some point? Though naturally, she didn’t want him to and did everything she could in attempt to prevent that from happening.
Eventually, she deemed it as she suspected: deserted. Unfortunately, it also only offered them little more than basic, old furniture. Her hope of being able to call for help had immediately been dashed. Still, at least they had shelter and something comfortable (a dilapidated couch) to sit on.
“Lisbon.”
“Yes, Jane?”
It had taken a little while, but she had finally gotten him settled down onto the couch and had set up the things they had to hand. She’d fed him a little of the food she’d managed to rescue from the van and had taken to pacing around the shack. Now she had time on her hands to actually think about what was happening, she didn’t much like it. The food wouldn’t last long; barely a day and that was only if they ate meager meals between them. Jane already looked in a pretty poor state and she dreaded to imagine how he’d be when hunger began to kick in as well. It was a well-known fact that Jane loved his food, almost as much as Rigsby did. He simply had a slightly more refined taste than her arson specialist did.
“You’re bleeding,” he said, breaking the silence.
“No I’m not,” she retorted instinctively.
He stood and joined her. Gently, he place a hand to her arm and when he showed it to her, his fingers were covered in sticky blood. Lisbon frowned in response; she had assumed that all of her wounds would have knitted over by now. The fact that she was still bleeding out was worrisome. They didn’t even have a clue how much blood that she had already lost. And if she was still bleeding, then what did that say about Jane and his injuries? Really, they needed medical intervention, but it was late and had already started to rain. If they had known where they were then maybe, it would be different. As it was, this was probably the best place for them. At least they had some medical supplies to use, that was better than nothing at all.
Lisbon watched as Jane picked out some of the supplies. He indicated to the couch and as she sat down, he took a seat beside her. After rolling up the sleeve of her blouse, he methodically, he wiped her arm with the antiseptic wipe. She winced as the chemicals stung at the wound, but remained stock still. Jane was being as gentle as he could be, after all. When he let go of it and allowed it to drift to the floor, the material had turned a pink color. Lisbon tried to ignore the fact that that was her blood causing the discoloration and that she hadn’t even noticed her injury because she had been so caught up with worrying about everything else. Jane shifted a little closer to her as he took a bandage up in his good hand and steadily wrapped it around her arm, despite the discomfort it caused to himself. At least he seemed to have come to his senses now that they were indoors and he’d had a little to eat and drink. He remained quiet as he tended to her injury and all they could hear was the thrum of rain hitting the roof. Lisbon was grateful for it, in a way. They both knew how it had happened and there was no point in either of them in trying to dissect who was responsible for the accident. It wouldn’t do them any good now, nor in the long run.
“All done,” he murmured eventually, but he didn’t move.
“Thank you,” she replied stiffly and stood up, crossing her arms as she did so.
“Just come back here, woman.”
Reluctantly, she complied. A small voice in the back of her mind was screaming at just how inappropriate it would be for her to snuggle up to her consultant in the middle of nowhere. Still, it wasn’t as if he was proposing marriage or anything as ludicrous as that. It wasn’t as if he was even propositioning her. All he was asking for was comfort. Considering their current predicament, the least they deserved was the feel of human touch, just to help them relax. Lisbon knew that Jane knew her better than anybody else and that when it came down to it, if there was anybody who could help her calm down, it was him. If she didn’t agree, then she doubted she would get any sleep at all. As it was, with his arm resting lightly over her waist, she found her eyelids growing heavy and eventually drifted off to sleep.
When the morning came, so did the team. They looked shattered, as if they had spent all night searching for their whereabouts, which probably wasn’t too far from the truth. Lisbon didn’t even bother to argue when Van Pelt ushered her towards an ambulance, where an EMT was waiting patiently to give her the once over and decide whether or not she required further medical intervention at the hospital. She was simply grateful that her team cared enough not to give up, to search high and low for them. Also that their efforts had been rewarded quickly; that they hadn’t been stranded in the middle of nowhere for a week or longer. Though the night had been surprisingly peaceful and she had ended up even enjoying Jane’s company, their condition could have grown a lot worse if they’d been forced to endure living on rations for too long. Then, there was Jane’s arm, which was indeed broken. It was bad enough that he’d have waited nearly twenty four hours to get it treated. Any longer would have been terrible for future treatment on it.
Still, as she allowed the EMT to do his job and willingly answered his questions to the best of her ability, she tried to relax a little. They were safe now; there was no need for her to be so on edge. Somehow, they had gotten out of the situation with minimal injury, relatively speaking. It wouldn’t be too long until everything was back to how it once was.
Lisbon glanced at Jane who smiled warmly at her. She blinked briefly. He hadn’t said anything, but a look in his eyes was more than enough.
Maybe there was one thing she wouldn’t mind being different after all this. She wasn’t going to pin her hopes on it, of course. But maybe…