Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Give me fifteen minutes. No one comes in until I give the go-ahead."

"Boss..."

"I'm serious. No one comes in until I say so. I can talk him down from this. I have to."

She didn't wait for a response before strapping herself into a vest and heading grimly toward the house. Pulling her gun, she twisted the front door knob and started the longest walk of her life.

She knew instinctively where to go, heading up the stairs and methodically clearing rooms as she'd been taught. It was obvious where they'd be, but she'd learned the value of following procedure long ago. Best to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

She could hear the voices as she neared the end of the hall, both male. She took a deep, calming breath before pushing the door fully open and taking in the scene beyond it: two men standing face-to-face, one holding a gun, the other a knife.

"Ah, Agent Lisbon, I wondered when you would be joining us. I'm embarrassed to admit you've caught me at a bit of a disadvantage. It seems I've brought a knife to a gun fight, as it were," the dark-haired man welcomed her, chuckling despite his predicament. Of course, he didn't truly believe he was at any sort of disadvantage. He was too arrogant for that. The fact that he was cornered by about fifteen law enforcement officers all carrying guns while he held a single blade did nothing to contradict this perception in his mind. He still thought he could escape this. That arrogance would be his downfall.

"Drop the knife."

At the same time, she heard his voice, "You shouldn't be here, Lisbon."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, dear Teresa. But you already knew that."

She shrugged, "Had to try."

"Completely understandable."

"Lisbon, you shouldn't be here," Jane repeated, readjusting his grip on the gun he held.

"This is exactly where I should be, Jane. I can't let you kill him."

"I'm not asking you to let me do anything. I'm doing this."

"Jane, we can do this the right way. We can bring him in, charge him."

"No, we can't. You know that. He'll escape. He always does. This is the only way."

"No, it's not."

Their argument was interrupted by a slight movement in her peripheral vision. She snapped her head back to focus properly as the man shifted. He chuckled again as her hands tightened their grip on her weapon.

"Quick reflexes, I'll give you that."

Both of them remained silent, stances tense. He laughed again, tauntingly this time.

"So what are you going to do, Patrick? Are you going to kill me in front of Teresa? You know she'll never look at you the same way again. She'll have to arrest you. Would you really do that to her?"

"I swore that I'd kill you for what you did and I keep my promises."

"Jane..."

"Lisbon, get out of here. Go downstairs until you hear the shot. Then you can come arrest me. I won't put up a fight. Promise."

"I'm not going anywhere, Jane."

"After all these years, it's a wonder you two aren't on a first name basis by now. Though I can understand wanting to keep it professional. Inter-office romances are always so complicated, especially when they end with one party arresting the other..."

More silence. Don't let him bait you. He's just trying to get under your skin.

"I have to admit, though, Patrick, your self-restraint is commendable. You tried very hard to hide your love for this woman from me. You weren't quite successful, but no matter. I didn't quite get to my grand finale, but I can improvise. Perhaps the knowledge that she is living her life hating you will be punishment enough. In either case, it's what I'll have to live with."

"Why don't you stop with the chit-chat and drop the knife so we can wrap this little party up, as fun as it is," she cut in dryly.

"Patience is a virtue, Teresa. Why, sometimes it can even result in much more pleasure in the long run. I was very patient when I killed your wife and child, Patrick, and it was very fun."

"Shut up," she snapped.

"So defensive of him, Teresa. I wish I could have had some time alone with you. I'm sure it would have been just as fun."

"Shut up." This time it was Jane.

"Tell me, Patrick, do you still dream of them at night? Do you wonder how they died? I could give you a step by step account, if you'd like."

She could see Jane's face contorting in pain. It was coming. He was almost at the threshold, and she wasn't so sure she could talk him back down anymore. She’d taken precautions in case this happened, but she’d hoped to God she wouldn’t have to use them.

"I killed little Charlotte first, so your wife could watch. Oh how she screamed and cried for her daddy. But you were nowhere to be found. Why didn't you come to their rescue, Patrick? Does that haunt you at night? Do you spend your days wondering how different things might have been had you come home earlier? You could have had a front row seat if you had. You could have watched as I sliced your wife and child to bits with this very knife. Their soft skin, smelling of strawberries and-"

Bang! Bang!

The rest of his sentence was cut off by two shots from two different guns. One bullet hit the wall just to the side of his head, the other connected right between the eyes, still widened in surprise at the suddenness of it all. The body fell to the ground with a thud, and both parties stood for a second, shocked. Red John was dead.

Lisbon stirred into action first, knowing they didn't have a lot of time before the place was swarming with agents.

"Jane. Jane! Come over here. Jane!" She snapped, finally giving up and rushing over to him, dragging him to where she stood moments earlier. "Give me your gun," she snapped again, her heart racing as she hastily wiped hers down on her jacket, careful not to touch it with her bare hands again as she held it out to him. When he didn't respond, she grabbed his hand herself and shoved the gun into it, snatching his away from him as the sound of agents streaming through the front door reached her ears and wiped it down hastily. Satisfied that his fingerprints were gone, she shoved the gun into her holster and took back the gun she'd given him, making sure to press his finger to the trigger before doing so. They had maybe thirty seconds.

His face, previously blank and faraway, started to frown in confusion as he slowly turned to look at her. She stared up at him with a firm expression. "You didn't kill him, Jane."

"What?" He asked. Ten seconds.

"You didn't kill him," she repeated more firmly. She squeezed his arm tightly before taking quick steps toward the body. She was just bending down as the agents, led by Cho, streamed into the room.

"He's dead," she told them, standing back up and crossing to Jane and Cho.

"Who shot him?" Cho asked, though they all knew the answer.

"I did," Lisbon answered, drawing surprised looks from everyone in the room. Everyone except Cho. He was staring straight into her eyes, as though asking if she was sure she wanted to do this. The almost undetectable nod she gave in return sealed the deal, and Cho gave a slight tilt of his head to accept her answer. Jane looked bewildered. "He was going for Jane. I shot him to protect civilian life. Jane shot in self defense but missed."

Her consultant looked as though he was going to argue the point, but she interrupted him swiftly. She instructed Cho to take him back to the station and her office to wait for her.

"Cho, you take his statement. He talks to no one. Not until I get back."

With a brief nod, Cho led Jane away with a gentle but firm grip on the taller man's arm. He understood what she wanted done, as always. She would hurry things along here to make sure she got to Jane before Cho couldn't hold them off anymore.

***

He was sitting listlessly on her couch when she finally came back from the scene. Her gun had been taken for processing, as was procedure after a shooting. She hoped to God that she’d managed to get all of Jane’s prints off it.

“How are you feeling?” She asked as she entered her office.

“It’s over,” he said simply.

She sat beside him, almost smiling. “It is.”

He turned his head suddenly to survey her. “What did you do? Why did you tell them you shot him?”

“Because I did. If you had shot him and claimed self-defence, there would have been constant questions of your motivation. You would have gone to jail, Jane. I couldn’t let that happen. I shot the wall beside his head and put you in my place so the bullets’ trajectories matched up with where we were standing. My fingerprints are the only ones on the gun that killed him,” she explained, placing her hands on either side of his face for emphasis. “You didn’t kill Red John. Understand?”

“But, the guns. They took your gun. They’ll know it’s not your service weapon.”

She shook her head, dropping her hands and focusing on the bullpen just beyond his head. “You don’t think I expected this to happen? I switched my service weapon with the gun I found in your attic two weeks ago. It was lucky they were the same caliber.”

It took him a moment to grasp what she had just admitted. “You- You switched- You knew- Why?”

To be honest, she was a little surprised he hadn’t caught on to her scheme after she’d switched the guns. She was hoping he wouldn’t realize it based on his hatred of firearms, and it looked like she’d lucked out. “I wasn’t going to let you go to jail, Jane. I didn’t understand at first, but after the whole Volker thing I started to. You needed to end it, and you did. But no one needs to know that. For all intents and purposes, I killed Red John. And if you tell anyone what really happened, it’s not just you going to jail, but me, too. We’re in this together now.”

“I- You were supposed to arrest me. You’ve gone against everything you stand for.”

“If there’s one thing you’ve showed me, it’s that there are exceptions to everything.”

They sat in silence for a long while before Jane reached across the empty space between them and covered her hand with his. “Thank you.”