Ignite (2/5)
Previous Parts: Part One - Wayne Rigsby
Part Two - Teresa Lisbon
The very first thing that Teresa Lisbon did was make sure that she found Jane. In spite of the fire alarms, and the general sense of frenzy and panic, she knew that he would try and evade her. There were things precious to all of them contained within the four walls of the CBI headquarters, but none more so than to Patrick Jane. She knew that his first instinct would be to fly off of his couch and upstairs into his attic. There, he would have grabbed everything that he could that pertained to Red John before making his way out of the building. The only problem with that theory was that fires spread quickly and if he didn’t make it out as soon as feasibly possible, then it was increasingly likely that he would lose his life to the inferno. She knew enough about fires to know that the whole place could be gutted in a matter of moments.
And behaving in such a foolhardy manner was no way to die. Rigsby could easily have told her all the exact information about deaths in fires, but all she could remember was something vague about carbon monoxide poisoning. She shuddered and kept a tight grip on Jane’s wrist. She had saved him enough times already to know that she would be more than happy to do it again and again. However, she wasn’t willing to take unnecessary risk, unlike him. He’d destroyed the case files for Red John once before - and nearly burned the CBI to a crisp as a consequence. They had been able to replace them then; they could easily do it again. But of course, he wouldn’t see it that way, because he was Patrick Jane and his mind worked differently to everybody else on the planet. Of course, she would never have had it any other way, but right now it would have been far easier if she knew he would behave reasonably.
Van Pelt lingered behind in the bullpen. Lisbon was partially annoyed, but she understood Van Pelt’s need to ensure that all stragglers were safely evacuated before leaving the building herself. Besides, she wasn’t in any position to argue, not while she was metaphorically manhandling Jane. She told her not to wait too long and Van Pelt promised she wouldn’t. Unlike Jane, she trusted the youngest member of her team to make the right decision.
The moment they were outside, in the fresh air, Lisbon breathed a sigh of relief. Just because the fire hadn’t spread all that far when they had made their escape, it didn’t mean she couldn’t practically feel the urgency of the situation. After all, she’d seen the panic in Cho’s eyes the moment that he announced there was a fire in the building and that it most certainly not a drill. She had even briefly seen the scorch marks on his clothing before he’d fled outside. With a wry smile, she spotted him in the parking lot opposite the CBI headquarters. He was already waiting impatiently for the emergency services to arrive and appeared seemingly oblivious to his burn.
“You can let go of me now, Lisbon,” Jane pointed out as they slowly made their way to him. “We’re out of the building now; we’re not in any danger.”
Lisbon eyed him skeptically for half a moment and then relented, setting him free. “Don’t go back into the building, Jane. Everything in there is replaceable; you’re not.”
“What do you think I am, seven?”
She slapped him companionably on the arm. “No. But I know what you’re like.”
“I’m going to see if I can flag down any of the first responders,” Jane informed her quickly. “They must be here soon.”
She nodded, grateful and turned her attention to Cho. A throng of people were slowly amassing around her; the evacuation of the building was going to plan. It wasn’t long until Van Pelt and Rigsby joined them. Only then did she let out a shaky breath of relief; her team was fine. All she could do now was hope that all the other team leaders would be as lucky as she was. The CBI wasn’t defined by the building they made their headquarters, but by the people. Everything in there was inconsequential compared to human life.
The CBI would learn to adapt and grow. They could easily get over this loss; it wasn’t insurmountable.
Slowly, she turned on her heels; she could hear the distant sound of sirens flooding in on the place and that calmed her spirits. Cho wasn’t the only one to receive an injury during the escape. She’d seen one woman - a cleaner - hobbling, clearly suffering from a broken ankle. Then, there were others who must have had smoke inhalation, burns, general cuts and bruises. The sprinkler system had failed, hence why the fire had been a lot more dangerous than it should have been.
But, none of that was a concern. She had lost track of Jane. Carefully, she scanned the CBI staff and then the building, only to briefly glimpse him sneaking back into the main entrance. Then, she realized she’d made a fatal error. He’d lied to her, just like he always did. Lisbon knew that she should have known better than to take his words at face value.
Rigsby caught her eye for a moment. “The idiot,” she seethed, furious not just at him, but herself as well. “The idiot, he’s gone back inside.”
She didn’t need to specify who. And in that moment she already made her decision: she was going in and she was going to drag his sorry ass back outside. The Red John case files were never worth losing his life over. They were replaceable, unlike some of the evidence in other cases that was getting destroyed at that very moment.
Lisbon wasn’t happy about Rigsby’s decision to join her; it was bad enough that she was risking her life over Jane. However, he had a son, somebody who depended on him for absolutely everything. There was no need for them to both go in. But, he was adamant and she knew that she wasn’t going to change his mind. Besides, arguing was a waste of precious time, as was the kiss he shared with Van Pelt - although she understood why he felt the necessity to do just that. Lisbon had been more than aware that the candle he held for Grace Van Pelt still burned brightly. All he needed was that moment of solace to steel his nerves, ready for what they were about to do.
Neither of them should have had to do this anyway, but there wasn’t a fire engine in sight. They had been delayed for one reason or another; the inevitable pithy excuses would be heard later. But, that was something she could worry about later. For now, she focused on one task and one task only: rescuing Jane. Their whole relationship was defined by saving one another, what difference did it make doing it again right now? Besides, she was a cop and she was used to precarious situations. It was her duty to uphold the law and save lives. And she knew that every fellow law enforcement officer felt exactly the same way as she did.
Mercifully, the fire hadn’t spread to the main entrance yet, although it was getting closer with each passing second. The smoke got increasingly thick the further into the building they got, and she grew more apprehensive. With every step, Rigsby reminded her about the best ways to get back out of fires; it was partially a reassurance, but it also made her feel like she was being foolish for behaving in this manner. But, the trained firefighters weren’t here to do their job and she wasn’t willing to waste any more time waiting for them to arrive.
When they reached the staircase up to Jane’s attic, the smoke was already getting thicker and it made her feel nervous. She was also unsurprised that she hadn’t seen any sight of the man. He was taking his sweet time in getting whatever he wanted out of there and it annoyed her thoroughly. Rigsby halted abruptly and by the look on his face, she could already tell that she wouldn’t like what he had to say next.
“You go up and find him. I’m gonna go tackle the blaze.”
“Rigsby-“
She knew exactly what he was insinuating. While she didn’t doubt his capabilities - he was her arson specialist - she knew that fires were unpredictable. He was happily stating that he was going to risk his life in order to increase her and Jane’s chances of getting out of this building unscathed. Rigsby had a son to be thinking of - and a potential future with Grace Van Pelt - but his self-sacrificing papa bear instinct had extended to caring about them. In the end, she gave up for a second time, and wished him luck. She didn’t need to thank him; some things simply went unspoken. Briefly, her fingers clasped around her cross necklace and she offered a silent prayer up for him.
Once he was out of sight, Lisbon came back to her senses and she made her way carefully up the staircase. The door to Jane’s attic space was tightly shut and she scowled. She knocked loudly three times and yelled his name loudly. A coughing fit soon followed, only subsiding when Jane eventually threw the door open. Her first instinct was to slap him hard across the face; the fury of being thrust into this situation had reached breaking point. Adrenalin was coursing through her system and she was desperate to get moving now. At least she had been right about his whereabouts; at least they hadn’t lost him for good.
“What the hell, Jane?” she coughed and glared at him. “Why the hell did you have to come back in here?”
“I needed to get something.”
“Everything in here is replaceable, you son of a-“
Lisbon stopped her tirade of abuse when he saw what he was holding. In one hand was a manila file - the one with photographs from every Red John crime scene - and the very sight of it made her feel irrationally angry. But, in the other was a messy scrapbook that she didn’t recognize.
“My daughter and I started making this when she was three. It has postcards of all the places we visited together - and some of places we never got to go. This cannot be replaced.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered and she meant it. That item had more sentimental value than anything else in the entire building. “But we’ve gotta get out now.”
“Let’s go to the roof.”
“No, downstairs,” she asserted, remembering what Rigsby had told her. “It’s too dangerous to go up; it’s too difficult for them to rescue us in a helicopter from up there. Besides, that’s assuming they bring helicopters.”
She didn’t take the moment to revel in the fact she knew something which Patrick Jane did not. Instead, she grabbed him by the wrist in much the same manner as she had earlier and dragged him down the staircase. The building was getting unbearably hot, and she hoped that Rigsby had already taken the initiative to get the hell out of there. She was beginning to feel dizzy because of the smoke inhalation by the time they got to the ground floor and in the end, Jane was the one to practically drag her out of there.
Medics rushed around; the time to berate her for acting so recklessly would come later, but for now she needed immediate medical attention. She willingly accepted the oxygen, already pliable to the EMT’s requests for her treatment. Somebody wrapped a plastic sheet around her and she relished in the cooler feeling around her body. Eventually, Jane came and set beside her and he placed a soft kiss on her cheek. The action took her by surprise, but she didn’t argue. She still couldn’t stop worrying about everyone else, even if she was willing to accept she needed help at this moment in time.
“Where’s Rigsby?” she asked, as Jane took her hands into his own. She couldn’t disguise the slight quiver in her voice.
Jane wasn’t able to meet her eye.
To Part Three
Part Two - Teresa Lisbon
The very first thing that Teresa Lisbon did was make sure that she found Jane. In spite of the fire alarms, and the general sense of frenzy and panic, she knew that he would try and evade her. There were things precious to all of them contained within the four walls of the CBI headquarters, but none more so than to Patrick Jane. She knew that his first instinct would be to fly off of his couch and upstairs into his attic. There, he would have grabbed everything that he could that pertained to Red John before making his way out of the building. The only problem with that theory was that fires spread quickly and if he didn’t make it out as soon as feasibly possible, then it was increasingly likely that he would lose his life to the inferno. She knew enough about fires to know that the whole place could be gutted in a matter of moments.
And behaving in such a foolhardy manner was no way to die. Rigsby could easily have told her all the exact information about deaths in fires, but all she could remember was something vague about carbon monoxide poisoning. She shuddered and kept a tight grip on Jane’s wrist. She had saved him enough times already to know that she would be more than happy to do it again and again. However, she wasn’t willing to take unnecessary risk, unlike him. He’d destroyed the case files for Red John once before - and nearly burned the CBI to a crisp as a consequence. They had been able to replace them then; they could easily do it again. But of course, he wouldn’t see it that way, because he was Patrick Jane and his mind worked differently to everybody else on the planet. Of course, she would never have had it any other way, but right now it would have been far easier if she knew he would behave reasonably.
Van Pelt lingered behind in the bullpen. Lisbon was partially annoyed, but she understood Van Pelt’s need to ensure that all stragglers were safely evacuated before leaving the building herself. Besides, she wasn’t in any position to argue, not while she was metaphorically manhandling Jane. She told her not to wait too long and Van Pelt promised she wouldn’t. Unlike Jane, she trusted the youngest member of her team to make the right decision.
The moment they were outside, in the fresh air, Lisbon breathed a sigh of relief. Just because the fire hadn’t spread all that far when they had made their escape, it didn’t mean she couldn’t practically feel the urgency of the situation. After all, she’d seen the panic in Cho’s eyes the moment that he announced there was a fire in the building and that it most certainly not a drill. She had even briefly seen the scorch marks on his clothing before he’d fled outside. With a wry smile, she spotted him in the parking lot opposite the CBI headquarters. He was already waiting impatiently for the emergency services to arrive and appeared seemingly oblivious to his burn.
“You can let go of me now, Lisbon,” Jane pointed out as they slowly made their way to him. “We’re out of the building now; we’re not in any danger.”
Lisbon eyed him skeptically for half a moment and then relented, setting him free. “Don’t go back into the building, Jane. Everything in there is replaceable; you’re not.”
“What do you think I am, seven?”
She slapped him companionably on the arm. “No. But I know what you’re like.”
“I’m going to see if I can flag down any of the first responders,” Jane informed her quickly. “They must be here soon.”
She nodded, grateful and turned her attention to Cho. A throng of people were slowly amassing around her; the evacuation of the building was going to plan. It wasn’t long until Van Pelt and Rigsby joined them. Only then did she let out a shaky breath of relief; her team was fine. All she could do now was hope that all the other team leaders would be as lucky as she was. The CBI wasn’t defined by the building they made their headquarters, but by the people. Everything in there was inconsequential compared to human life.
The CBI would learn to adapt and grow. They could easily get over this loss; it wasn’t insurmountable.
Slowly, she turned on her heels; she could hear the distant sound of sirens flooding in on the place and that calmed her spirits. Cho wasn’t the only one to receive an injury during the escape. She’d seen one woman - a cleaner - hobbling, clearly suffering from a broken ankle. Then, there were others who must have had smoke inhalation, burns, general cuts and bruises. The sprinkler system had failed, hence why the fire had been a lot more dangerous than it should have been.
But, none of that was a concern. She had lost track of Jane. Carefully, she scanned the CBI staff and then the building, only to briefly glimpse him sneaking back into the main entrance. Then, she realized she’d made a fatal error. He’d lied to her, just like he always did. Lisbon knew that she should have known better than to take his words at face value.
Rigsby caught her eye for a moment. “The idiot,” she seethed, furious not just at him, but herself as well. “The idiot, he’s gone back inside.”
She didn’t need to specify who. And in that moment she already made her decision: she was going in and she was going to drag his sorry ass back outside. The Red John case files were never worth losing his life over. They were replaceable, unlike some of the evidence in other cases that was getting destroyed at that very moment.
Lisbon wasn’t happy about Rigsby’s decision to join her; it was bad enough that she was risking her life over Jane. However, he had a son, somebody who depended on him for absolutely everything. There was no need for them to both go in. But, he was adamant and she knew that she wasn’t going to change his mind. Besides, arguing was a waste of precious time, as was the kiss he shared with Van Pelt - although she understood why he felt the necessity to do just that. Lisbon had been more than aware that the candle he held for Grace Van Pelt still burned brightly. All he needed was that moment of solace to steel his nerves, ready for what they were about to do.
Neither of them should have had to do this anyway, but there wasn’t a fire engine in sight. They had been delayed for one reason or another; the inevitable pithy excuses would be heard later. But, that was something she could worry about later. For now, she focused on one task and one task only: rescuing Jane. Their whole relationship was defined by saving one another, what difference did it make doing it again right now? Besides, she was a cop and she was used to precarious situations. It was her duty to uphold the law and save lives. And she knew that every fellow law enforcement officer felt exactly the same way as she did.
Mercifully, the fire hadn’t spread to the main entrance yet, although it was getting closer with each passing second. The smoke got increasingly thick the further into the building they got, and she grew more apprehensive. With every step, Rigsby reminded her about the best ways to get back out of fires; it was partially a reassurance, but it also made her feel like she was being foolish for behaving in this manner. But, the trained firefighters weren’t here to do their job and she wasn’t willing to waste any more time waiting for them to arrive.
When they reached the staircase up to Jane’s attic, the smoke was already getting thicker and it made her feel nervous. She was also unsurprised that she hadn’t seen any sight of the man. He was taking his sweet time in getting whatever he wanted out of there and it annoyed her thoroughly. Rigsby halted abruptly and by the look on his face, she could already tell that she wouldn’t like what he had to say next.
“You go up and find him. I’m gonna go tackle the blaze.”
“Rigsby-“
She knew exactly what he was insinuating. While she didn’t doubt his capabilities - he was her arson specialist - she knew that fires were unpredictable. He was happily stating that he was going to risk his life in order to increase her and Jane’s chances of getting out of this building unscathed. Rigsby had a son to be thinking of - and a potential future with Grace Van Pelt - but his self-sacrificing papa bear instinct had extended to caring about them. In the end, she gave up for a second time, and wished him luck. She didn’t need to thank him; some things simply went unspoken. Briefly, her fingers clasped around her cross necklace and she offered a silent prayer up for him.
Once he was out of sight, Lisbon came back to her senses and she made her way carefully up the staircase. The door to Jane’s attic space was tightly shut and she scowled. She knocked loudly three times and yelled his name loudly. A coughing fit soon followed, only subsiding when Jane eventually threw the door open. Her first instinct was to slap him hard across the face; the fury of being thrust into this situation had reached breaking point. Adrenalin was coursing through her system and she was desperate to get moving now. At least she had been right about his whereabouts; at least they hadn’t lost him for good.
“What the hell, Jane?” she coughed and glared at him. “Why the hell did you have to come back in here?”
“I needed to get something.”
“Everything in here is replaceable, you son of a-“
Lisbon stopped her tirade of abuse when he saw what he was holding. In one hand was a manila file - the one with photographs from every Red John crime scene - and the very sight of it made her feel irrationally angry. But, in the other was a messy scrapbook that she didn’t recognize.
“My daughter and I started making this when she was three. It has postcards of all the places we visited together - and some of places we never got to go. This cannot be replaced.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered and she meant it. That item had more sentimental value than anything else in the entire building. “But we’ve gotta get out now.”
“Let’s go to the roof.”
“No, downstairs,” she asserted, remembering what Rigsby had told her. “It’s too dangerous to go up; it’s too difficult for them to rescue us in a helicopter from up there. Besides, that’s assuming they bring helicopters.”
She didn’t take the moment to revel in the fact she knew something which Patrick Jane did not. Instead, she grabbed him by the wrist in much the same manner as she had earlier and dragged him down the staircase. The building was getting unbearably hot, and she hoped that Rigsby had already taken the initiative to get the hell out of there. She was beginning to feel dizzy because of the smoke inhalation by the time they got to the ground floor and in the end, Jane was the one to practically drag her out of there.
Medics rushed around; the time to berate her for acting so recklessly would come later, but for now she needed immediate medical attention. She willingly accepted the oxygen, already pliable to the EMT’s requests for her treatment. Somebody wrapped a plastic sheet around her and she relished in the cooler feeling around her body. Eventually, Jane came and set beside her and he placed a soft kiss on her cheek. The action took her by surprise, but she didn’t argue. She still couldn’t stop worrying about everyone else, even if she was willing to accept she needed help at this moment in time.
“Where’s Rigsby?” she asked, as Jane took her hands into his own. She couldn’t disguise the slight quiver in her voice.
Jane wasn’t able to meet her eye.
To Part Three