the veil that keeps me blind, 4/15
Title: The Veil That Keeps Me Blind
Chapter: 4/15 (Book II)
Notes: The end scene from this chapter is one of my personal favorites. I wrote it at 4:00 in the morning because I just couldn’t stop writing.
Book II
Chapter 4
xxxxx
Stratton departs almost immediately after the conclusion of his would-be motivational speech, and that’s when the real work begins. Redmond, who is easily ten years younger than Stratton, commands respect with actual esteem rather than pomp and circumstance. He leads, and his team naturally follows.
Lisbon must have liked that. The thought pops into his head unbidden, but no less accurate. There are few things about the job Lisbon dislikes, but her distaste for political figures is well-known, at least among the team. In many ways (Jane’s own influence notwithstanding), Redmond’s style of leadership seems to mirror her own.
Redmond assigns one agent to bring the CBI team up to speed on the case, but Jane opts out of that briefing, choosing instead to gather background information on his own from the carefully constructed white board notes. It doesn’t take him long to locate all of the case details he needs, and when he’s finished, he introduces himself to a tall, blonde agent, one of the few female agents on the task force.
“Oh, you’re Jane.” She smiles and offers a firm but friendly handshake. “I’m Julia Savino. I’m CBI, too. I actually work Crimes Against Children here in San Francisco.”
Her comment is offhanded enough to indicate that although Lisbon may have mentioned him, it was only in passing. Still, the fact that she mentioned him at all is a small comfort.
“How long have you been on the task force?” he asks.
“I came on the same time that Teresa did,” she says over her shoulder, walking over towards one of the white boards. Jane follows, noting her use of Lisbon’s given name.
“Two women disappeared within three weeks of each other last May.” She pauses to gesture at the timeline, indicating two crime scene photographs on the white board timeline. “Both bodies turned up the week before the FBI recruited us. They wanted to make sure it didn’t become a big story. They weren’t counting on Red John taking over the news cycle, of course, but I guess you already know that...”
Jane simply nods, her words once again confirming that while she is apparently on a first-name basis with Lisbon, she is none the wiser about his own identity outside of his position as a consultant for Lisbon’s team. Given the circumstances, that ought to work in his favor.
“So what’s the plan?” He motions to the pages of notes she holds in her left hand.
“These are copies of the notes her handler took every time they made contact,” Julia explains, taking a few steps to the nearest desk (presumably hers) and sitting down, spreading the notes out in front of her in orderly stacks. “It’s everything he’s seen and everyone she’s come in contact with. If she has a suspect, he or she could be in here somewhere. For all we know she could be fine, just biding her time and laying low while she waits out the suspect.”
“Is that what you think happened?” he asks, although he isn’t sure he wants to hear the answer.
Julia looks away. “It’s one option we’re pursuing. We want to stay optimistic. Lisbon is... she’s a good agent. The best. You know that.”
“I do.”
She meets his eyes briefly, her expression sincere and serious, but not solemn. “Then you know why I have to believe that she’s okay.”
Julia Savino has no idea, really, but Jane smiles and agrees with her just the same. He appreciates the confidence that Savino has in Lisbon; it’s not a naive, empty confidence, but one grounded in respect and sound reasoning. Savino, like the rest of the assembled team, does not panic.
“Your team knows Lisbon better than anyone else here,” Julia says matter-of-factly, her eyes once again focused on the stacks of notes on her desk. “Do you want to give me a hand with these? A fresh set of eyes may be just what we need.”
Jane accepts her offer gladly, grateful both for the opportunity to contribute and for the distraction. He isn’t accustomed to being at a loss when it comes to cases, to being unable to see the clear-cut solution at the outset. But in this instance, there are too many unknown quantities and months of investigative work to wade through. The pool of potential suspects alone is vast and deep, thus limiting Jane’s greatest asset, leaving him with only the ability to read between the lines of second-hand notes on Lisbon’s first-hand observations.
“Mike Casper, is that her handler?” he says finally, taking one look at the documents and zeroing in on the name of Lisbon’s handler.
Savino nods. “He is.”
“I want to speak with him.”
“Alright,” she agrees. “I’ll go get him. Wait just a minute...” her voice trails off as she rises quickly to her feet, her chair scraping quietly against the floor as she does so.
She moves swiftly across the room and stops when she reaches a small group of male agents all in deep discussion. One agent separates himself from the group, speaking briefly with Agent Savino and then motioning for Jane to join him at Lisbon’s abandoned desk. Jane complies promptly, although he is reluctant to occupy Lisbon’s personal space in her absence. It feels like an intrusion.
Agent Casper does not allow Jane any time to dwell on those thoughts.
“Patrick Jane? I’m Mike Casper. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”
Jane, who dislikes the agent on principle as he is the one person who has been in consistent contact with Lisbon, isn’t particularly keen on their meeting under any circumstances and simply nods and takes his proffered hand.
Mike Casper is tall, although not exceedingly so, with dark hair and a solid build; he appears to be in his mid to late 40s. His demeanor is pleasant and professional, yet Jane cannot help but hold him in contempt. This is an unfamiliar contempt, one he hasn’t felt in a long time. It feels a lot like jealousy.
Jane dismisses the notion almost as soon as it enters his mind. The implications of any so-called jealousy, whether personal or professional, are too great at present.
Agent Casper sits down in Lisbon’s vacant chair, and Jane follows suit, pulling a stray chair to the front of the desk and taking a seat.
“You wanted to ask me some questions about what I know from being Lisbon’s handler, correct?” Casper asks bluntly.
“To get a more complete picture of the undercover operation,” Jane replies. “I’m sure the task force has been pursuing several other lines of investigation, but since Lisbon missed both of her contacts yesterday and this morning, one would gather that there’s a problem on the inside.” He pauses for a moment then adds quietly, more for his own benefit than for Casper’s, “I know Lisbon. I know how she works, I know how she thinks. I can help.”
“For Lisbon’s sake,” Casper says soberly, “I hope you can.”
Jane ignores the voice in the back of his head that tells him he would have been a lot more help if he had seen any of this coming.
xxx
The late afternoon hours drag on slowly, lead after potential lead not panning out, and the dull, gray skies turn dark early.
Jane doesn’t want to think about what the darkness means, but its simple presence seems to cast a spell over the nearly thirty agents brought on to help the search, only just over half of whom are actually members of Redmond’s task force.
Over the course of the afternoon, the CBI team was assimilated into the task force. Cho and Van Pelt had been investigating leads with Agent Savino and two other male agents, Rigsby had been pulled to another floor with a group of agents whose names Jane hadn’t been able to catch, and Hightower had worked right alongside Agent Redmond. Jane stuck with Agent Casper, preferring to stick as close to the source as possible.
Casper, Jane grudgingly admits, is a good agent. Solid, dependable, but not unwilling to think outside the box or bend the rules if necessary. His initial, irrational dislike notwithstanding, Jane thinks he could work with Casper on a semi-regular basis.
Dependent, of course, on Lisbon’s safe return.
Jane had thought he would be angry -- and maybe he will be -- but he doesn’t have enough strength or energy for anger right now. Fear is his overwhelming emotion for as long as he knows she could be in danger. Fear, along with frustration and a sense of futility.
The problem with the investigation is that it leaves Jane reliant on files and notes and paper, when his strength is reading people and interacting with any potential suspects first hand.
Worse even than the fear is the thought that he could have been more helpful if only he had known sooner. He could have helped come up with the undercover assignment or planned for contingencies with her. She was the one who was always telling him that they were a team and they had to work together. Now he understands what she means.
Just when they seem to have reached their last dead end, Agent Casper’s cell phone rings, shrill and sudden against the low chaotic buzzing of the bullpen area. A look passes between Jane and Casper, less than a second of unspoken acknowledgement and apprehension before Casper brings the phone to his ear to answer the call.
“Casper.” The brief pause where Jane can only hear the low sound of a female voice, but cannot recognize the caller seems to span minutes instead of mere seconds until Casper exclaims, “Oh, thank God! Are you okay?”
Jane exhales and listens more closely, tuning in just in time to hear a voice that though still muffled, is distinctly Lisbon’s explain, “... but nothing happened. I think at least one of Summers or Stroup will flip if we can get the DA to offer them a deal.”
“And you’re okay?” Casper asks again.
“I’m fine, I told you. You hit harder.”
Jane catalogues the slight frown that crosses Casper’s expression for future reference.
“Where are you?” Casper recovers quickly. “We’re going to send someone for you right now.”
“We’re at the Silver Star Diner right off of Exit 12. Someone needs to go to the shelter to pick up Debbie Summers. I have more than enough on these two for a warrant, and I don’t think she’s been tipped off yet.”
“I’ll take care of it. You just stay where you are. Call me if anything changes.”
“I will,” she replies, and then the line goes dead.
Casper immediately springs into action, alerting agents and going to Redmond for approval of his plans. Within minutes, two teams of agents have been dispatched: one team is headed straight to Lisbon, and the other back to the shelter to pick up the woman Lisbon named as the second suspect.
In contrast, Jane lets the action unfold around him, understanding that this isn’t his team or his show, and that the last thing that anyone (Lisbon) needs now is to face a distraction. He heard her voice and heard her say she was alright -- although with Lisbon, he knows she could be seriously injured and still claim to be fine -- and for now, that will have to be enough.
He has waited nearly six months, he can wait a few more hours.
xxx
Although he is willing to wait, Patrick Jane is not now and never has been a patient man, so the hours pass slowly. It is late at night now, and the crescent moon has completely disappeared, leaving the sky clear, dark, and empty. Everyone else has been shuffling in and out, bustling and energetic as they head out to grab a bite to eat or rattle off one last page of their report now that the finish line is in sight.
Agent Savino went with Agent Casper on the team that was going to pick Lisbon up and ensure she got medical attention if necessary. Hightower borrowed a car to get home to her kids, and Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt all went out to get some dinner and get out of the building for an hour; however, they left strict instructions to call them the minute that Lisbon returned if they were not back already. With those agents gone, at least temporarily, Jane is able to remain essentially invisible to all others. He simply remains seated at Lisbon’s abandoned desk, since there is no couch in this bullpen area, where no one else will give him a second thought.
He catches bits and pieces of other people’s conversations as they pass.
“She had no choice, she had to go then or she would have lost her...” one says.
“Do you think either one of them will really flip? I mean, what kind of deal is the DA going to offer them anyway?” another wonders idly.
“Casper says she’s okay. She refused medical treatment and they’ll be back in an hour. Santiago and Clark should be back with Debbie Summers before they get here...” says a third.
Each conversation helps Jane fill in the gaps a little bit more, but he knows his understanding will remain incomplete for some time.
As 10:00 approaches, agents begin to return, Cho, Rigbsy, and Van Pelt among them, as well as the agents who were charged with arresting Debbie Summers (who is currently sitting in Interview 4 and requesting a lawyer). Some of the agents - mostly those called in as reinforcements who were not part of the original task force - begin to file out one by one, but the majority remain. Jane is not particularly bothered by this. Although his is not what he had in mind when he pictured seeing Lisbon again for the first time in months, there is anonymity in a crowd that might be for the best.
Especially given that right now everything is uncertain.
Finally, at 10:13, someone announces that Savino called and she and Casper are less than ten minutes out. Lisbon is with them.
Jane allows himself a moment of relief before fear sets in. The details of what she’s been through remain unknown, the extent of trauma and stress endured not quantified, and the possibility that she is putting on an act to avoid attracting attention to herself is very real.
His posture slackens just slightly; he tries not to watch each individual second tick by. He doesn’t have long to wait now, but the last ten minutes are the longest.
Then suddenly, the room falls silent and all dull chatter fades away at the low, indistinct rumble of voices coming from the hall. There is commotion, an indignant yell from the man who must be their suspect. Agents Casper and Savino come into view leading a man in handcuffs who is demanding a lawyer, much like his counterpart Debbie Summers; when they disappear towards the interrogation rooms, everything falls silent once more.
A muted chime announces the arrival of another elevator, and that’s when Jane knows that the wait is over.
Lisbon is here.
xxx
He recognizes the sound of her footsteps, even from a distance. She has a distinctive tread, one that he’s had years to grow attuned to, and no amount of time apart will ever alter that learned recognition. It’s as much a part of him as his own habits, filed away in the Teresa Lisbon Wing of his memory palace.
(Although let it be known, the Teresa Lisbon Wing is really a palace unto itself, one which incidentally resembles a Chicago mansion he remembers from his days traveling with his father. But this memory is not from his actual carnie circuit days. For some reason, his mind makes that unconscious distinction.)
He hears her footsteps the moment she steps off the elevator, and his heart seizes, clenching and unclenching, as adrenaline takes over. He cannot believe that she is truly unharmed until he sees her with his own eyes.
Sixth months, he reminds himself. Six months, and she’s been through an incredible ordeal. Let her come on her own terms.
And so he waits, fighting against his own instincts to go to her, as she walks down the hall. That familiar pattern and rhythm of her footsteps is slowed, but otherwise unchanged. She’s exhausted and trying not to show it, nothing more. She’s speaking to someone, one of the field agents who went to meet her. Although Jane strains to hear her, he cannot make out what she’s saying.
Not over the sound of her footsteps.
Then she appears, triumphant yet hesitant as she rounds the corner. Her hair is shorter -- not noticeably, still cut below her shoulders -- but she is otherwise the same Lisbon who vanished six months ago.
He had thought (on the occasions when he allowed himself to think about it) that he might feel some anger, but if he does, it is completely eclipsed by an all-encompassing relief. He’s waited a long time for this, far longer than the past six months (although that realization has only come recently); he doesn’t have time for anger.
She doesn’t see him, however, and instead approaches everyone gathered around Casper and Redmond’s desks. Her new team. A female agent Jane did not notice earlier steps forward and wraps her arms around Lisbon, who surprisingly does not shy away from the embrace. This woman is the first, but several others follow with a handshake or a supportive jab on the shoulder.
Jane hangs back, as do Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt; he walks over to his own teammates and stands with them. This is not their place.
“Your CBI team is here,” someone finally remarks after a few painful, seemingly interminable minutes. “They came this morning. They wanted to help.”
“Really?” Lisbon’s back is still to them, but affection escapes in her voice. “They did? Where are they?”
But she turns around before anyone can answer. Instantly, her eyes narrow imperceptibly and her grin levels.
“Jane?”
When she murmurs his name, the implied question in her voice tells him all he needs to know.
That she is more surprised to see him than he is to see her.
xxxxx
Chapter: 4/15 (Book II)
Notes: The end scene from this chapter is one of my personal favorites. I wrote it at 4:00 in the morning because I just couldn’t stop writing.
Book II
Chapter 4
xxxxx
Stratton departs almost immediately after the conclusion of his would-be motivational speech, and that’s when the real work begins. Redmond, who is easily ten years younger than Stratton, commands respect with actual esteem rather than pomp and circumstance. He leads, and his team naturally follows.
Lisbon must have liked that. The thought pops into his head unbidden, but no less accurate. There are few things about the job Lisbon dislikes, but her distaste for political figures is well-known, at least among the team. In many ways (Jane’s own influence notwithstanding), Redmond’s style of leadership seems to mirror her own.
Redmond assigns one agent to bring the CBI team up to speed on the case, but Jane opts out of that briefing, choosing instead to gather background information on his own from the carefully constructed white board notes. It doesn’t take him long to locate all of the case details he needs, and when he’s finished, he introduces himself to a tall, blonde agent, one of the few female agents on the task force.
“Oh, you’re Jane.” She smiles and offers a firm but friendly handshake. “I’m Julia Savino. I’m CBI, too. I actually work Crimes Against Children here in San Francisco.”
Her comment is offhanded enough to indicate that although Lisbon may have mentioned him, it was only in passing. Still, the fact that she mentioned him at all is a small comfort.
“How long have you been on the task force?” he asks.
“I came on the same time that Teresa did,” she says over her shoulder, walking over towards one of the white boards. Jane follows, noting her use of Lisbon’s given name.
“Two women disappeared within three weeks of each other last May.” She pauses to gesture at the timeline, indicating two crime scene photographs on the white board timeline. “Both bodies turned up the week before the FBI recruited us. They wanted to make sure it didn’t become a big story. They weren’t counting on Red John taking over the news cycle, of course, but I guess you already know that...”
Jane simply nods, her words once again confirming that while she is apparently on a first-name basis with Lisbon, she is none the wiser about his own identity outside of his position as a consultant for Lisbon’s team. Given the circumstances, that ought to work in his favor.
“So what’s the plan?” He motions to the pages of notes she holds in her left hand.
“These are copies of the notes her handler took every time they made contact,” Julia explains, taking a few steps to the nearest desk (presumably hers) and sitting down, spreading the notes out in front of her in orderly stacks. “It’s everything he’s seen and everyone she’s come in contact with. If she has a suspect, he or she could be in here somewhere. For all we know she could be fine, just biding her time and laying low while she waits out the suspect.”
“Is that what you think happened?” he asks, although he isn’t sure he wants to hear the answer.
Julia looks away. “It’s one option we’re pursuing. We want to stay optimistic. Lisbon is... she’s a good agent. The best. You know that.”
“I do.”
She meets his eyes briefly, her expression sincere and serious, but not solemn. “Then you know why I have to believe that she’s okay.”
Julia Savino has no idea, really, but Jane smiles and agrees with her just the same. He appreciates the confidence that Savino has in Lisbon; it’s not a naive, empty confidence, but one grounded in respect and sound reasoning. Savino, like the rest of the assembled team, does not panic.
“Your team knows Lisbon better than anyone else here,” Julia says matter-of-factly, her eyes once again focused on the stacks of notes on her desk. “Do you want to give me a hand with these? A fresh set of eyes may be just what we need.”
Jane accepts her offer gladly, grateful both for the opportunity to contribute and for the distraction. He isn’t accustomed to being at a loss when it comes to cases, to being unable to see the clear-cut solution at the outset. But in this instance, there are too many unknown quantities and months of investigative work to wade through. The pool of potential suspects alone is vast and deep, thus limiting Jane’s greatest asset, leaving him with only the ability to read between the lines of second-hand notes on Lisbon’s first-hand observations.
“Mike Casper, is that her handler?” he says finally, taking one look at the documents and zeroing in on the name of Lisbon’s handler.
Savino nods. “He is.”
“I want to speak with him.”
“Alright,” she agrees. “I’ll go get him. Wait just a minute...” her voice trails off as she rises quickly to her feet, her chair scraping quietly against the floor as she does so.
She moves swiftly across the room and stops when she reaches a small group of male agents all in deep discussion. One agent separates himself from the group, speaking briefly with Agent Savino and then motioning for Jane to join him at Lisbon’s abandoned desk. Jane complies promptly, although he is reluctant to occupy Lisbon’s personal space in her absence. It feels like an intrusion.
Agent Casper does not allow Jane any time to dwell on those thoughts.
“Patrick Jane? I’m Mike Casper. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”
Jane, who dislikes the agent on principle as he is the one person who has been in consistent contact with Lisbon, isn’t particularly keen on their meeting under any circumstances and simply nods and takes his proffered hand.
Mike Casper is tall, although not exceedingly so, with dark hair and a solid build; he appears to be in his mid to late 40s. His demeanor is pleasant and professional, yet Jane cannot help but hold him in contempt. This is an unfamiliar contempt, one he hasn’t felt in a long time. It feels a lot like jealousy.
Jane dismisses the notion almost as soon as it enters his mind. The implications of any so-called jealousy, whether personal or professional, are too great at present.
Agent Casper sits down in Lisbon’s vacant chair, and Jane follows suit, pulling a stray chair to the front of the desk and taking a seat.
“You wanted to ask me some questions about what I know from being Lisbon’s handler, correct?” Casper asks bluntly.
“To get a more complete picture of the undercover operation,” Jane replies. “I’m sure the task force has been pursuing several other lines of investigation, but since Lisbon missed both of her contacts yesterday and this morning, one would gather that there’s a problem on the inside.” He pauses for a moment then adds quietly, more for his own benefit than for Casper’s, “I know Lisbon. I know how she works, I know how she thinks. I can help.”
“For Lisbon’s sake,” Casper says soberly, “I hope you can.”
Jane ignores the voice in the back of his head that tells him he would have been a lot more help if he had seen any of this coming.
xxx
The late afternoon hours drag on slowly, lead after potential lead not panning out, and the dull, gray skies turn dark early.
Jane doesn’t want to think about what the darkness means, but its simple presence seems to cast a spell over the nearly thirty agents brought on to help the search, only just over half of whom are actually members of Redmond’s task force.
Over the course of the afternoon, the CBI team was assimilated into the task force. Cho and Van Pelt had been investigating leads with Agent Savino and two other male agents, Rigsby had been pulled to another floor with a group of agents whose names Jane hadn’t been able to catch, and Hightower had worked right alongside Agent Redmond. Jane stuck with Agent Casper, preferring to stick as close to the source as possible.
Casper, Jane grudgingly admits, is a good agent. Solid, dependable, but not unwilling to think outside the box or bend the rules if necessary. His initial, irrational dislike notwithstanding, Jane thinks he could work with Casper on a semi-regular basis.
Dependent, of course, on Lisbon’s safe return.
Jane had thought he would be angry -- and maybe he will be -- but he doesn’t have enough strength or energy for anger right now. Fear is his overwhelming emotion for as long as he knows she could be in danger. Fear, along with frustration and a sense of futility.
The problem with the investigation is that it leaves Jane reliant on files and notes and paper, when his strength is reading people and interacting with any potential suspects first hand.
Worse even than the fear is the thought that he could have been more helpful if only he had known sooner. He could have helped come up with the undercover assignment or planned for contingencies with her. She was the one who was always telling him that they were a team and they had to work together. Now he understands what she means.
Just when they seem to have reached their last dead end, Agent Casper’s cell phone rings, shrill and sudden against the low chaotic buzzing of the bullpen area. A look passes between Jane and Casper, less than a second of unspoken acknowledgement and apprehension before Casper brings the phone to his ear to answer the call.
“Casper.” The brief pause where Jane can only hear the low sound of a female voice, but cannot recognize the caller seems to span minutes instead of mere seconds until Casper exclaims, “Oh, thank God! Are you okay?”
Jane exhales and listens more closely, tuning in just in time to hear a voice that though still muffled, is distinctly Lisbon’s explain, “... but nothing happened. I think at least one of Summers or Stroup will flip if we can get the DA to offer them a deal.”
“And you’re okay?” Casper asks again.
“I’m fine, I told you. You hit harder.”
Jane catalogues the slight frown that crosses Casper’s expression for future reference.
“Where are you?” Casper recovers quickly. “We’re going to send someone for you right now.”
“We’re at the Silver Star Diner right off of Exit 12. Someone needs to go to the shelter to pick up Debbie Summers. I have more than enough on these two for a warrant, and I don’t think she’s been tipped off yet.”
“I’ll take care of it. You just stay where you are. Call me if anything changes.”
“I will,” she replies, and then the line goes dead.
Casper immediately springs into action, alerting agents and going to Redmond for approval of his plans. Within minutes, two teams of agents have been dispatched: one team is headed straight to Lisbon, and the other back to the shelter to pick up the woman Lisbon named as the second suspect.
In contrast, Jane lets the action unfold around him, understanding that this isn’t his team or his show, and that the last thing that anyone (Lisbon) needs now is to face a distraction. He heard her voice and heard her say she was alright -- although with Lisbon, he knows she could be seriously injured and still claim to be fine -- and for now, that will have to be enough.
He has waited nearly six months, he can wait a few more hours.
xxx
Although he is willing to wait, Patrick Jane is not now and never has been a patient man, so the hours pass slowly. It is late at night now, and the crescent moon has completely disappeared, leaving the sky clear, dark, and empty. Everyone else has been shuffling in and out, bustling and energetic as they head out to grab a bite to eat or rattle off one last page of their report now that the finish line is in sight.
Agent Savino went with Agent Casper on the team that was going to pick Lisbon up and ensure she got medical attention if necessary. Hightower borrowed a car to get home to her kids, and Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt all went out to get some dinner and get out of the building for an hour; however, they left strict instructions to call them the minute that Lisbon returned if they were not back already. With those agents gone, at least temporarily, Jane is able to remain essentially invisible to all others. He simply remains seated at Lisbon’s abandoned desk, since there is no couch in this bullpen area, where no one else will give him a second thought.
He catches bits and pieces of other people’s conversations as they pass.
“She had no choice, she had to go then or she would have lost her...” one says.
“Do you think either one of them will really flip? I mean, what kind of deal is the DA going to offer them anyway?” another wonders idly.
“Casper says she’s okay. She refused medical treatment and they’ll be back in an hour. Santiago and Clark should be back with Debbie Summers before they get here...” says a third.
Each conversation helps Jane fill in the gaps a little bit more, but he knows his understanding will remain incomplete for some time.
As 10:00 approaches, agents begin to return, Cho, Rigbsy, and Van Pelt among them, as well as the agents who were charged with arresting Debbie Summers (who is currently sitting in Interview 4 and requesting a lawyer). Some of the agents - mostly those called in as reinforcements who were not part of the original task force - begin to file out one by one, but the majority remain. Jane is not particularly bothered by this. Although his is not what he had in mind when he pictured seeing Lisbon again for the first time in months, there is anonymity in a crowd that might be for the best.
Especially given that right now everything is uncertain.
Finally, at 10:13, someone announces that Savino called and she and Casper are less than ten minutes out. Lisbon is with them.
Jane allows himself a moment of relief before fear sets in. The details of what she’s been through remain unknown, the extent of trauma and stress endured not quantified, and the possibility that she is putting on an act to avoid attracting attention to herself is very real.
His posture slackens just slightly; he tries not to watch each individual second tick by. He doesn’t have long to wait now, but the last ten minutes are the longest.
Then suddenly, the room falls silent and all dull chatter fades away at the low, indistinct rumble of voices coming from the hall. There is commotion, an indignant yell from the man who must be their suspect. Agents Casper and Savino come into view leading a man in handcuffs who is demanding a lawyer, much like his counterpart Debbie Summers; when they disappear towards the interrogation rooms, everything falls silent once more.
A muted chime announces the arrival of another elevator, and that’s when Jane knows that the wait is over.
Lisbon is here.
xxx
He recognizes the sound of her footsteps, even from a distance. She has a distinctive tread, one that he’s had years to grow attuned to, and no amount of time apart will ever alter that learned recognition. It’s as much a part of him as his own habits, filed away in the Teresa Lisbon Wing of his memory palace.
(Although let it be known, the Teresa Lisbon Wing is really a palace unto itself, one which incidentally resembles a Chicago mansion he remembers from his days traveling with his father. But this memory is not from his actual carnie circuit days. For some reason, his mind makes that unconscious distinction.)
He hears her footsteps the moment she steps off the elevator, and his heart seizes, clenching and unclenching, as adrenaline takes over. He cannot believe that she is truly unharmed until he sees her with his own eyes.
Sixth months, he reminds himself. Six months, and she’s been through an incredible ordeal. Let her come on her own terms.
And so he waits, fighting against his own instincts to go to her, as she walks down the hall. That familiar pattern and rhythm of her footsteps is slowed, but otherwise unchanged. She’s exhausted and trying not to show it, nothing more. She’s speaking to someone, one of the field agents who went to meet her. Although Jane strains to hear her, he cannot make out what she’s saying.
Not over the sound of her footsteps.
Then she appears, triumphant yet hesitant as she rounds the corner. Her hair is shorter -- not noticeably, still cut below her shoulders -- but she is otherwise the same Lisbon who vanished six months ago.
He had thought (on the occasions when he allowed himself to think about it) that he might feel some anger, but if he does, it is completely eclipsed by an all-encompassing relief. He’s waited a long time for this, far longer than the past six months (although that realization has only come recently); he doesn’t have time for anger.
She doesn’t see him, however, and instead approaches everyone gathered around Casper and Redmond’s desks. Her new team. A female agent Jane did not notice earlier steps forward and wraps her arms around Lisbon, who surprisingly does not shy away from the embrace. This woman is the first, but several others follow with a handshake or a supportive jab on the shoulder.
Jane hangs back, as do Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt; he walks over to his own teammates and stands with them. This is not their place.
“Your CBI team is here,” someone finally remarks after a few painful, seemingly interminable minutes. “They came this morning. They wanted to help.”
“Really?” Lisbon’s back is still to them, but affection escapes in her voice. “They did? Where are they?”
But she turns around before anyone can answer. Instantly, her eyes narrow imperceptibly and her grin levels.
“Jane?”
When she murmurs his name, the implied question in her voice tells him all he needs to know.
That she is more surprised to see him than he is to see her.
xxxxx