A/N: Okay, so first of all: OMIGOD I'M SO SORRY FOR LEAVING THIS STORY UNUPDATED FOR THIS LONG BUT I WAS INSPIRATIONLESS, LIKE, COMPLETELY RENDERED OF ANY IDEAS FOR THIS STORY. So, now you know how I feel about that part... then, when I tried to write this chapter, I noticed I had written some strange things at the end of the previous chapter, causing me to twist the team in some awkward positions to get the story to make sense... so sorry if it still doesn't make any sense, but I tried, at least.

Mind the language, though. It was needed.

AND Minelli and Red John are... weird, together. Just... ugh.

And thanks for the help from my lovely friends over at Tumblr! Emma, I loved your support, you made this chapter make sense again! And everybody who supported me with getting this chapter up... thanks a bunch!

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Sadly. Not even the idea is mine. It's Erica's! Not Erica Flynn, another Erica, an awesome Erica. My muse Erica.

'Once Upon a Child'

Chapter Six

Jane almost ran out of the car so that he could open Lisbon's door – she just pinched his nose.

"Ouch!"

She walked to the elevators and once again, he was being the complete gentleman, first running in front of her to let her get in first.

"God dammit, Jane, how many times do I need to pinch your nose?"

He grinned. "I don't know. Try me."

She just glared at him, exasperated. Then when the doors of the elevator opened again, she stormed outside. He followed her, like a stray cat would follow his finder. He knew he was too dependent on her from time to time, but was that bad? At least she knew that he would always go back to her if he needed help. It wasn't like that was a good thing – but it created some continuity in their lives.

Van Pelt signal boosted the entire bullpen together, it seemed, when both of them came into sight.

"I got a text from an unknown number and I think I know who it is but I'm not sure and I tried to track it down already but it's turned off so it doesn't work. I think it was Jordan or Minelli and it looked really panicky and I'm worried that something is wrong with him and this doesn't seem good."

Well... that didn't sound reassuring at all.

Lisbon frowned, partly confusion, partly concern. "Okay, calm down first. When did you get the text?"

"I think half a minute after you hung up the phone."

Lisbon nodded. "Could you track down Minelli's phone?"

"Yeah, I guess." The redhead hesitated a bit. Lisbon squeezed her shoulder gently, which seemed to encourage her enough to track down the location.

Lisbon looked at Jane – for some reason, both knew what was going on. They just didn't want to assume the worst. It could be just a misunderstanding, right?

No, probably not. But they didn't want to assume-
"Got it."

Lisbon was standing behind Van Pelt within a split-second and looked at where the signal apparently came from – the docks. That was nowhere near where Minelli's house was.

"Okay, call the number."

Van Pelt did and handed Lisbon the phone. After a few beeps, she heard a voice that didn't sound like Minelli's at all.

"Hello Teresa."

She exchanged looks with Jane. He closed his eyes.

Okay, stay calm now, Teresa Lisbon. No need to let the bastard know you're worried shitless.

"You got them, don't you." It was not a question – she knew it anyway. This was what happened when she and Jane didn't pay enough attention.

"Yes, you're right, they're here. Oh, but don't worry, I won't hurt them – yet."

God freaking dammit.

"Listen you creep, if you do anything to Virgil or Jordan, I swear I'm gonna pull your lungs out of your body with my bare hands. You hear me?"

She got no reply. Jane was actually staring at her after her very descriptive way of intimidating the killer – the rest of the team was trying not to smile out of pride – not that it would be a good thing if she actually gave in to her urges to kill Red John as gruesomely as possible, but it was the thought that counted.

She didn't know where it came from either; probably her body trying to calm her down.

"We know where you are, we'll be with you in a few minutes."

"I will be waiting for you, Beautiful."

A shudder ran up her spine, and before she could say anything else, the line went dead.

She was already barking orders at the team, trying to keep up the tough cop appearance, while in fact, she was scared and worried shitless. Her surrogate father and her baby were in danger and it was all out of her control – and she hated to lose control.

~...~

"All right. Then I just have to kill you now."

"You don't get to decide something like that," Minelli tried to reason after he had found his voice. The serial killer just shrugged.
"I do, actually. What power do you have now, Agent Minelli? You're an old man, it's been a long while since you last fought someone in a face-to-face battle, and Jordan is just a kid. He can't fight for himself."

Minelli looked down at Jordan who was almost crushing a couple of his bones in his need to be closer to him.

The killer had a point though – with the two of them, there would be no way in hell they could defeat him. Minelli might have been a capable cop once, but that had been years ago. And Jordan was more likely to run away, screaming and crying for his mother, than to fight – not that Minelli would blame him.

So he had only one option left – stalling.

"You have a valid point there," Minelli said. The killer smiled faintly, as though he didn't care about the compliment but appreciated it anyway. "But isn't this a very... unfair battle?"

That caught the killer's attention.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... you obviously have an advantage here. I'm an old man; Jordan is an unskilled young boy..." No, he was not; he knew that from the small sparring games they'd had just before Red John had caught them. But for now, he just had to lie and say that Jordan was not at all the very picture of his mother. "But all the women you kill on a daily basis... I'm sure they are stronger than we are. So it takes more effort to kill them... and if you kill me and Jordan, you'll go down as a very unsympathetic serial killer." Did he even make sense here? His mind was going into overload, he couldn't handle the stress, but he had to stall, had to stall. Teresa would be here any moment, he knew that for sure. "Do you want that? You've got such a good reputation now. I wouldn't ruin that for something like this... I would rather invite Jane over and kill us in front of him. And Teresa."

The killer was staring at him for a few seconds. Then, an evil smile spread on his features. "Hey... that's actually not a bad idea." He smiled brighter. "Are you sure you don't see yourself pursuing a killer's career?"

"If you do your job, I don't think I'll have much of a career anyway."

Was it really this easy? Had he really managed to fool the killer this fast? For someone who had managed to kill over thirty people without ever being caught, he sure was stupid as fuck.

Red John grinned at him.

"Then I'd better prepare the party for when my good friend Patrick arrives, huh?"

"Be my guest," Minelli shrugged. The man walked out of the room, still with a big smile on his face. Jordan looked up at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Your parents are probably on their way to here. I know you're a very strong and tough boy, but this man is really dangerous and I don't know if you can-"

"I know, Grandpa Virgil."

Minelli sighed and pulled the boy against his chest.

"Whatever that man says, Jordan, they will be here. Mummy will be a bad ass cop, and daddy... won't be a bad ass cop, but he'll be there to hug you when everything is done."

Jordan didn't say anything, just nodded.

Dear God, Teresa. Just end this, once and for all.

~...~

Cho insisted to drive – Lisbon was too hyped up to notice traffic happening around her. So now she was sitting in a car that was going way too fast, with Jane next to her.

She turned her head slightly to look at him. If she could sufficiently read his expression, he was feeling the same things she was. He grabbed her hand.

"He will be fine. They will be fine, I know it," he tried to reassure her, but his voice said different things. She squeezed his hand.

If only she could believe what he was saying.

They arrived at the warehouse they were getting the signals from, and Lisbon's nerves even grew, almost exploding into her own face. She had to continue this, for the sake of her father-figure and future child's lives. If she didn't carry this on, they would be dead already. She had to try.

Jane pulled her aside just as she moved to follow Cho and the guys into the building. She glared at him but when she saw his expression she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Please be careful, Teresa," he whispered. "I can't lose you, too."

"Jane, I'm a cop, I-"

"Please, Teresa, just take care of yourself out there, please."

She bit her lower lip and nodded, slowly.

"I will," she whispered, but her voice croaked. She coughed, softly. "I will, Patrick."

He nodded back and kissed her forehead. Then, Cho's voice broke the moment, calling her with the team. She ran over to them and before she entered the building, she turned around and looked at him one more time.

He was standing in front of the car, helplessly, his hands hanging by his sides. Even from this distance, she could see they were trembling – his whole body was trembling.

Swallowing, she entered the building, facing god knows what.

~...~

"Jordan," Minelli whispered, "why don't you sleep a bit? I'll hold you, okay? I'll be here when you wake again."

The boy was hesitating; Minelli could see it in his eyes. Please, Little One, just go to sleep, and you'll miss all the horrible things that are to follow. He knew they were on their way to here – and they would all be carrying their guns. And Red John was their enemy. He didn't need to be a former cop to put two and two together and know what would happen.

He didn't want Jordan to see that. Never.

Eventually, all the stress and worries wore down on Jordan and his eyes slowly closed. Minelli tightened his hold on the boy and took a deep breath. Poor young soul. Poor all souls, to be precise. And all because of this... man. Because that was all Red John was in the end – just a man. Not a monster. Not a dragon. Just a man.

But a man with an evil mind and soul. A man who could not stand seeing other people happy because he himself could not succeed at being happy either.

Minelli hated his guts.

Just half an hour later, he heard sounds from outside. Red John had heard too – he came into the room. Minelli prayed to god that Jordan would not awake now.

The killer looked at him. Yes, they had both heard.

"So they're here now, huh?" Red John asked. Minelli wanted to shrug but then realized Jordan was leaning against his chest, so he pulled the corners of his lips down.

"I don't know, you tell me."

Red John glared at him, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

That's when Minelli saw – he was getting scared. He wasn't ready to give up this game he had been playing for the past decade; it had been imprinted into his life. He enjoyed the thrill way too much and he was becoming an addict – he needed it to feel happy, content. Minelli understood him; it was much like being a cop, but then at the wrong side of life.

But then again, Minelli was glad that Red John was getting tired of this whole hunt between him and Jane. It had been going on for too long now and it was about time both of them got their freedom.

Jordan stirred slightly in Minelli's arms. He looked down – the boy was still vast asleep.

"Do you think Patrick enjoyed our game?"

Now, Minelli felt himself go angry all of a sudden. How dare he think that Jane enjoyed being tortured this much?

"The only person enjoying your sick little game was you. The only thing it caused Patrick was to feel bad about himself and not move on from his family's deaths. If you hadn't chased him down for so many years after you had brutally killed them, he maybe would have had a chance at moving on but no; you kept on preventing him from doing just that. It was all thanks to you that he fell into a depression and never got out of it again. It wasn't because of himself but he did think it was. If you had just left him alone after those horrible murders, he would be living together with Teresa now, the only person he loved after his wife. He couldn't move on with her because he feared you would hurt her and she was the only person who mattered for him. And you're asking me whether he enjoyed your hunt?" He huffed. "No, of course he didn't, you moron! It is scum like you that makes our society so cold!"

The killer was with him in a mere second and he instantly had his hand wrapped around his neck.

"What did you just say?" Red John asked his voice eerily calm. Not the calm you want someone to hold in their voice when they are holding you in such a way that one wrong move will kill you.

"I said you're scum and it would be better if you were dead."

"Oh really?"

"Yes!"

His hold on his neck tightened and Minelli was beginning to feel light-headed. Please, Teresa, make this fast, Minelli thought, I don't want to die here.

"Don't think that you or any of your friends will win this game, you despicable old man," Red John spat. Minelli knew he had ruined his 'bond' with the man by telling him to bug off, but it had to be done. He wanted the man to know what he had caused everybody with his sick games, but especially what he had cast upon Patrick.

The hold tightened and tightened until Minelli's sight began to blur, but still he didn't give in and didn't give the man the pleasure of seeing his agony. He knew that serial killers were all about seeing people in pain and taking pleasure out it – and he knew that they wouldn't stop as long as they still got that pleasure. No way was he going to encourage this behavior.

"I hope you burn in hell," Minelli breathed with the last ounce of breath he had left. The door was kicked in but he didn't see the rest anymore – he passed out.

~...~

The first thing Lisbon saw as she kicked in the door and ran inside the room was the two bodies against the wall. She felt her world collapse underneath her feet but was quickly pulled out of this emotion by the man who smiled wickedly at her. Her nausea was pushed aside and was replaced by anger – boy, so much anger she actually did not hold back one bit when she kicked him underneath his chin, knowing that would cause him to be knock-out. And fair enough, he fell back until his head hit the floor with a deafening thud.

"That'll leave a mark," she muttered. She rushed to Minelli and Jordan. "No no, please, don't be-"

Jordan's opened as he heard her name. She almost cried out in relief and pulled him closer.

"Oh God... oh thank God." Jordan was still confused but gave in to his mother's hug anyway. She heard the guys focusing on the man she had just kicked knock out.

She wasn't glad she hadn't killed him, but she knew it was the best. She'd want him to suffer in a jail for the rest of his life rather than have his life killed almost prematurely. It wasn't fair, Jane had suffered for a decade, so the least she could do to make them equal was let Red John suffer just as much – but she'd much rather have him in prison for the rest of his life.

"Mummy?" Jordan whispered, his voice quite soft. She had to focus to hear it.

"Yes?"

"Is grandpa dead?"

Her breath caught in her throat – no, she wanted to say no so badly, but she didn't know. She pulled him closer until his head was buried in between her breasts.

"I don't know, Jordan." She dragged herself and Jordan a few inches more over the floor so she could reach Minelli. As she raised her hand to feel for a pulse, she noticed it was shaking. Before she could touch his skin, she felt someone kneeling down beside her. When she looked up, she saw it was Cho.

He didn't say anything, unsurprisingly. Instead, he felt Minelli's neck for her. They were silent for a few seconds and she could feel her shirt getting wet – don't say he's dead. I won't be able to take it. And neither would Jordan.

Cho nodded. "He's just unconscious."

Lisbon let out a huge sigh of relief as she pulled her little man even closer to her chest, until she was sure she would smother him, but still she pulled him closer and closer.

"We'll take him back to the HQ. I called an ambulance for Minelli, you stay here with him."

It was weird because in any normal situation, Lisbon would have smacked him on the head so hard he wouldn't be able to think rationally for a whole week for taking charge of a situation without her consent – now, she adored him for doing so and for giving her the support she needed.

As she turned around to look at how Cho handcuffed the man who had haunted Jane's mind for so long, she almost passed out. A gun was pointed at her head. Her worries for her child and for Minelli had made her reflexes too slow, but just when she saw the man tightened his hold on the trigger, his eyes widened and he fell to the floor again.

"That's for the past decade, you son of a bitch." At the time, she hadn't known whose voice it had been. It had only been afterwards that she realized it had been Cho.

She turned around slightly to look as they still handcuffed the man. She couldn't say anything, just stared as they lifted him into the air and dragged him out of the dark basement.

"Jordan..." she whispered softly. He looked up, his cheeks wet with tears. She swallowed and wiped the wetness away. "Jordan, grandpa is not dead. He's just sleeping."

"But... but why..."
"He was just really tired, Sweetheart. Will you stay with grandpa? I'll go get daddy."

The little boy sniffed a bit more but then nodded, wrapping his arms tightly around Minelli. She got up quickly and ran outside, meeting a very anxious Jane.

He instantly embraced her tightly when he saw her. She wrapped her arms around his neck just as tightly as he did and kissed his temple briefly.

"It's over, Jane," she whispered. "We got him."

He ran his hand through her long locks and sighed in relief. "Yes we did."

She didn't see the big smile on his lips as he pulled her closer and closer until she was feeling light-headed.

~...~

Jane pulled the sheets up to just beneath Minelli's head and sighed softly. The man was too tired to say anything and soon slipped into a peaceful sleep.

"You wouldn't say he's only sixty-five," Jane commented. "Right now, it looks like he's somewhere in his nineties."

Lisbon groaned and smacked his arm. She didn't say anything, though, just looked at the sleeping man.

"According to his doctors, he just needs some rest. This whole ordeal hasn't been well on his heart."

She nodded and sighed, kissing Minelli's hand. Jordan pulled on her pants and she smiled softly.

"Is grandpa Virigil just sleeping again, Mummy?"

"Yes of course, Jordan. He isn't old enough to die of old age."

"But he is old. Just not old enough?"

Lisbon chuckled and looked at Jane, who smiled as well.

"Be careful, Sir, he might be able to hear you."

"Mummy," Jordan wined, "he's asleep. Of course he can't hear me."

"Okay. Well that's fine then."

Jordan nodded and smiled brightly, proudly, his arms crossed against his chest. Then, he reached for his backpack, taking something out. Lisbon frowned and looked at Jane, who had a similar expression on his face. It was only discernible for her, of course, since she knew him better than he knew himself.

Jordan handed whatever he had taken from his bag to Lisbon.

She frowned even more and looked at the object; it was a letter.

"I had to give you this when you had beaten Red John. Read it, Mummy."

She nodded and opened the letter.

Dearest Teresa,

Thanks for so much. You made me a better man, like you claimed I made you a better cop. Without you, I wouldn't have had a reason of living. You helped me with so much, just being there made it all worth it. Thank you so much for helping me catch him, so I could put Angela and Charlotte behind me and move on from this dreadful decade. I can now focus entirely on you, which I've wanted to do for so many years now. I love you, everything about you. And I hope from now on, you'll allow me to love you to the fullest.

Your Patrick.

She swallowed and had to fight against her tears. She looked up at Jordan who was too curious to read what was in the letter. She looked at Jane who was strangely distanced from what was happening.

"Did Daddy from the future give you this, Jordan?" she asked. Jordan stared at her, then at Jane, then at her again. He shook his head.

"This daddy did."

Her eyes widened as she looked at Jane again. He smiled softly as he looked out of the window. She moved over to him but instead of pinching him, something everybody expected her to do, she made him turn his head and bowed down to kiss his lips.

"I love you too," she whispered against his lips, "and you can love me any moment of every day from now on."

He smiled and brushed her cheek. He then looked at Jordan and nodded. The little boy gave her another letter and she rolled her eyes.

"Damn I won't survive you."

Jane chuckled but pulled her into his lap.

She started reading the second letter.

Hello there,

So now you've caught Red John, I presume – thank you so much, all three of you.

I don't know if it crossed your mind already, but Jordan can't come back to the future. You don't have a time machine yet so he has to stay with you. Not that I think you would mind, but it's something to keep in your mind.

Thanks so much for taking this seriously and preventing something horrible from happening for us.

Oh, and Teresa; you're beautiful. Just so you know.

Yours truly, Future Jane and Future Teresa. (And Jordan!)

"So I have to stay here?" Jordan asked, his voice laced with a subtle enthusiasm that made Lisbon smile. He had moved to behind Jane so he could read with Lisbon – just like Jane was reading the letter with her as well.

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

He ran to the middle of the room and started dancing.

"I wonder why he's so happy to stay here. Is anything different?" Jane whispered in her ear.

She smiled. "Perhaps his dad is young enough to play football with him after school now. Oh well, young..."

He pinched her side. "You evil woman."

She leaned back against his chest as she observed Jordan dancing and cheering for God knows what. Jane's arms wrapped around her from behind her.

Strange. A week ago, her life was a living hell and she knew it would only get worse when she and Jane would have a relationship (even though she had already been in love with the man for almost a decade, for crying out loud), and now? She was engaged to him, had a beautiful child with him all of a sudden and they had taken down Red John. All of those things she could not dare to hope for.

Could life get any better?

~...~

Minelli was recovering slowly. It turned out Red John had put something in the water, some sort of weaker poison. Jordan's body had instantly gotten rid of it because he was young and strong – Minelli's body wasn't in the same shape and he needed some more time. He had woken up, though, after a day or so.

Everyone had been happy to hear him speak again, even Jane although he didn't show it as much as the other two. Minelli knew he and Jane had had some... rough times, causing the blonde to not like him all the way. But in the end, they respected each other. And yes – Minelli loved him as well. As a son-in-law.

Teresa entered the room. She was smiling from ear to ear. As she sat down beside him, she grabbed his hand and lifted it briefly to kiss it. Her smile would not leave her face, as though it was plastered to her features and was something that would follow her around everywhere. He had to admit that it wasn't an unpleasant shift in moods, in fact, it was a very good one. It was about time she got a reason to smile.

He rolled his eyes. She just didn't say anything else, merely looked at him with that... look.

"Don't say anything," he said. Her eyes twinkled. "You're pregnant."

She bit her lip as her smile grew even wider and she looked down at the floor. She laughed softly.

She nodded.

"I'm happy for you, dear Teresa. But you didn't have to instantly drop by me to notify me. I think Jane deserved to hear it first."

She rolled her eyes. Damn, he knew he had been spending way too much time with Jane, but he couldn't help it. This one was obvious.

"Oh but I'm sure he already knows, knowing him."

Minelli smiled. "Touché."

Not three seconds later, the devil himself walked inside the room. As soon as he looked up to the two smiling faces, he frowned.

"What's going on? Did I miss something?"

It was silent for a while. He really didn't know? That would be the first time ever that Patrick Jane didn't catch something as obvious as this. He always noticed every tiny detail there was to be seen, especially when it came to his beloved Teresa. Surely he had seen, right?
Then Jane smiled mischievously and approached her, pulling her to her feet.

"Ah, this is about you being pregnant? Well that's not a surprise, is it? I knew before any of you did."
"Of course you did. Because you're the Boy Wonder?" Minelli mocked. Jane's smile faltered a bit as he looked at him.

"No. I'm just being observant." Then he focused on the love of his life again. He wrapped his arms around her, just above her great butt and lifted her into the air, until she was begging him to put her down.

He did, kissing her lips so passionately Minelli felt the urge to call a nurse and be transported to another room.

"I love you, Teresa," Jane whispered against her lips. "Long before Jordan showed up." He put a hand on her not yet swollen belly. "I swear, on the precious lives of our beautiful children."

A/N: Okay, so that was this story! Hope you enjoyed it! It sure was a tough ride and it took me quite some tears and blood to write this (Emma told me not to mention this but hey, why else did it take me this long, huh?) but I finished it! And I'm pleased!

Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter, or this entire story in general, in a REVIEW, please. It would mean a lot to me!