I had to admit, writing this story helped me put some distance with the others…It's nice to change atmosphere from time to time, and guess at the speed I wrote this one I really needed it xD

So here's the last chapter, and conclusion of the case…

Thanks to TheMentalistGirl; Anna; Jbon; lucyyh; liquidcrystal94; Ally Ashes;Simonisthecuttestmentalist for their reviews, and thanks to the ones who put me in favorites or alerts xD

Red Psycho

During the ride back, neither Jane nor Lisbon dared cross eyes. An uncomfortable silence took place for the hour that lasted to the CBI headquarters. When they pulled over the parking lot, the blond man eventually opened his mouth:

"I'm sorry."

The small woman didn't answer. She merely closer her eyes and pushed back the need of running away from him. She knew he felt her tension, and wouldn't likely irk her or complain for a while; but that wouldn't repair the damage he had caused within, hypnotized or not. In the end, that was just the expression of his deeply repressed desires. So she merely replied:

"I know. Let's go."

It was not forgiveness, but that was all she could offer him right now. They walked out of the car and headed to the building in silence. None talked, though she could feel he was silently urging her to say anything. She wasn't in the mood to speak. In fact, she didn't know how she will behave with him. They couldn't forget it easily and turn back to their playful banter. With the team knowing, things will be even more complicated…

Lisbon didn't look at him when they entered the elevator. A few agents sneaked in between them, and she was grateful for it. The farthest she was from the blond consultant she was right now, the better she felt. It seemed he understood the message; as soon as they got out of the machine, he left the same distance between them, following her a few feet behind.

"Agent Lisbon" Hightower barked from afar, spotting them as soon as they appeared in the corridor, and joining them on a fast pace. "I asked you in my office two hours ago! Why are you in so late?"

Her boss's annoyance was not exactly what she needed right now. The smaller woman glared at her superior, but before she could open her mouth and say something she was sure to regret later, Jane beat her to it and threw cheerfully:

"I blackmailed her into driving me to the Model Life Center! I had an idea about the suspects, and I needed the advice of a professional."

Hightower's jaw seemed to drop in disbelief. Of course, Lisbon wondered what was worst; that Jane was trying to cover her, even though it meant she complied with his demands and not the contrary; or that the lie seemed to convince the woman at all.

"And what does the advice of a hypnotherapist has to do with the investigation?"

"Shall we go to your office?" Jane offered, and Lisbon spotted a tension in his voice. He wasn't going to confess everything…was he? "I'd feel better if this stayed confidential." The intonation of his voice gave him away. He was.

Not waiting for him to continue, she grabbed his sleeve and pulled him away, asking for one minute more to Hightower, and pushed him into an empty interrogation room. After glaring at the few curious glances they received before closing the door and making sure no-one was there to listen, she turned towards him and growled between her teeth:

"Are you crazy? You are really going to tell our boss what you've done?"

Jane bit his lower lip and avoided her gaze:

"Lisbon, this might be difficult for you because…well I took advantage of you, literally, and you couldn't defend yourself, and I get this was humiliating, but…"

He paused when he realized his words had triggered a more powerful reaction that he anticipated. Her eyes became shiny and her mouth formed a straight line. She knew he felt bad, heck horrible, for what he'd done. Bearing first the guilt of his family's death, then facing her after the previous night was perhaps too much for the man; and by talking to Hightower, he was punishing himself legally. But that was too easy in her eyes.

If he admitted the rape, even if Lisbon denied, the black woman would arrest him and make the whole fuss public. Not only the blond man had great chances to find himself behind bars for a while, but her own weakness would be revealed. Had it been anyone else, she would have brought her rapist handcuffed without second thoughts at the bullpen. But because he was Jane, she couldn't let him turn himself in for something he wasn't really responsible of. Perhaps it was selfish, but a depressed Jane in jail was something she wanted to avoid, even if it cost her silence and awkwardness from her part for a while.

After all, if she was good at anything else than her work, it was keeping secrets.

"Humiliating?" she repeated in disbelief "I never felt so degraded of my life! So yeah, you can feel as sorry as you want, it might make you feel better to confess, but I don't want you to tell everyone what happened! The team knowing is enough, and after what you've done, I think you owe me that."

The consultant knew he did. After losing his family, he thought he couldn't make any other worst mistake. Whoever hypnotized him –though he had a strong hunch it was Lindsay Hendrix- had proved him wrong. The frail trust he shared with the dark-haired woman was one of the rare things he didn't want to lose. And in one night they managed to shake it. Hard.

"All right" he agreed reluctantly. "Only because you asked me."

He had unconsciously stepped closer. Lisbon noticed it and took an involuntary step back. Sadness and hurt crossed the man's eyes.

"Please stop looking at me like I was a monster" he whispered. "You know I'd do anything to take it back, right?"

Lisbon was about to reply that of course she knew, but before a single sound could come out of her mouth…

"Am I interrupting something?"

The rookie's voice made them both snap their head up. Van Pelt was standing in the doorframe, a file in hand. She didn't glance at Jane. She was angry, and the man knew he deserved the silent treatment.

"I've done a research on every criminals arrested by you two and crossed their genealogy with Mrs Ruston…and I found a name. Her step brother, you managed to trap him a few months ago. You'll never guess who we are looking for…"

-RP-

Rigsby and Cho arrived at Mrs Ruston's house quickly. It helped that her place was not so far from the hospital either, and that the tall brown-haired man knew a short-cut. The head nurse lived in a medium-sized house, nicely decorated. Trees were apparently boarding the lines of a garden. Cho knocked at the door and waited.

"Mrs Ruston? CBI, please open!"

There was no response. Then suddenly, the crashing sound of a window being broken at the back of the house attracted their attention. Cho motioned to Rigsby to take the other side while he'd cover one, and both saw a black-dressed man running away, his head covered by a hood.

The only word in mind was 'GET HIM!'

Rigsby, the faster of the two, managed a brilliant sprint and tackled the runner on the ground before he reached the edge of the garden. Cho arrived soon after, handing out the cuffs. The man pinned on the ground started struggling, but didn't move much after the metal circled his hands. The hood was pulled off, and when they saw his face, knew they had the right man.

"Nice to see you again, Dr Carmen."

-RP-

The former shrink was sitting in the interrogation room, looking bored. Behind the glass, Lisbon observed the one who, according to Jane's expression, had caused all this inner turmoil in her life. The man had lost weight, seemed tired, and the light in his eyes was more aggressive. She smirked bitterly. The irony wanted that Hightower was so demanding on seeing them because he had escaped from jail with another criminal, and wanted to warn them. When the guardians realized he was gone from his cell, they had also found a message, in which the man had sworn revenge on the pair. Hightower hadn't known before early morning, but it had been too late.

In the black woman's office, they had told an official version of the facts; last night, Lisbon had found Jane's behavior odd and aggressive, and the next day –meaning this morning, she had brought him to Dr Daniel who had indeed discovered he was hypnotized. She insisted on the fact that the culprit certainly wanted to use Jane later, and Hightower accepted the excuse and congratulated Lisbon for her observations.

So when Cho and Rigsby came in with the said fugitive, she almost lost her self-control and hit him. For once, she was thankful of Jane's presence, who still made her nervous, to cool her impulses.

Pushing the thoughts aside, she pushed the door and stepped in. Dr Carmen's head snapped up. He smiled wickedly when he recognized her.

"Oh, I was wondering when I was going to see you, agent Lisbon. It has been a while."

Lisbon sat in front of him, repressing a disgusted shiver. She put the file down on the table and stated the facts:

"A night guard, Melissa Hawkins, was killed two nights ago. She worked with your step-sister Mrs Ruston at the hospital. You were reported missing two days ago, but were likely on the run for at least three or four days."

She snapped the file close and stared at him with all the coolness she still had within.

"How did you escape your cell?"

He smirked, amused by the stiffness in her voice and despite her control, the anger in her eyes.

"I suppose you've heard of the death of Lindsay Hendrix by now" he replied coolly. "She and I started to get in contact a few weeks after I got arrested."

"How did you meet?"

Dr Carmen shrugged.

"She managed to hypnotize her jailor to get her out and hack her file to clean her from any charges. She came to me when she knew I use to be your psychiatrist. We had common goals, so we kept contact. It took her a long time to arrange my escape. She usually visited me under my step-sister's name, with a fake ID card. I must admit something, she was good at hiding."

Lisbon didn't wait before asking her next question:

"Why did you kill Melissa Hawkins? She was the night guardian and had done nothing wrong."

The man chuckled and shook his head.

"No, nothing wrong indeed. She was just sleeping with my brother when he was married. Adultery must be punished, just like I punished McTeer. And by doing so, we managed to bring you to the hospital, and start the first part of the plan."

Before she could add anything, the door burst open and Jane entered, uncharacteristically angry. His furious eyes met the suspect's ones and his face turned into a disgusted scorn. Without breaking the eye connection, he took a chair and sat down next to Lisbon and not towards the Dr, like he would do with any other. A tensed silence slowly rose in the room, while the two men started a glaring contest –or rather Jane glaring and Dr Carmen holding his gaze.

"You killed a woman to help her hypnotize me" he said, uttering slowly. "It would have been so easier to kill us by placing a bomb under our car, and more radical. Why use the scheme and all the trouble?"

Once again, the question made the man shrugged.

"Oh, believe me, I would have killed you both myself, if Lindsay didn't have her plan all prepared. Her main idea was to frame you, Mr. Jane. 'After realizing the lovely Lisbon would never return your feelings, you stabbed her to death after raping her; your colleagues find you guilty, and you commit suicide a few days later, unable to bear the remorse'. Lovely press article, don't you think? The kind that would discredit all your hard work and destroy the CBI's reputation…and a romantic ending" he sighed. "Agent Lisbon would have been dead if you hadn't realized what was going on and threatened us to leave. If everything had gone according to my first plan, which was making you stab Lisbon yourself then pushing you to suicide the same night, I would have been at the airport right now, ready to fly to Brazil. And I wouldn't have had to kill her for her misjudgment."

Anger slowly rose in Jane's veins. He would never admit to Lisbon that if they hadn't use a blade but a gun to kill her, their little plan would have work. Lisbon on her side, prayed that Hightower wasn't behind the glass to hear that part of the confession. She would later ask Jane if he did rape her, and despite his earlier promise, she wasn't sure he'd get out of it with a lie this time.

"Since you seem so eager to talk, why did you kill Miss Hendrix then" she asked to change subject. The man noticed her tensed tone, and replied amiably:

"Eager to talk, not really. But since I have been caught, confessing is the best thing I got if I want minimal damages in front of a jury. And I killed my accomplice by hitting her with a car, my brother's car by the way, because I thought she failed me. In fact, I realize she might have succeeded in destroying your bound in a strange way. Her death was supposed to be a distraction to give me time to run away."

At first, silence greeted his last statement. Neither colleagues dared looked at each other.

"You haven't destroyed anything, Dr Carmen" Lisbon replied dryly. "Jane and I still work together; and we caught you."

The man laughed.

"Of course she has broken something. You won't let him come close to you anymore. Though I admit I've underestimated your strength. You got over your rape quite fast. Have you enjoyed it that much, agent Lisbon?"

Jane's fists tightened and he moved forwards. Lisbon had to grab his arm and pull him back to avoid any physical damage. She wanted to hit the doctor more than him, but she wouldn't lower herself to do so.

"In fact Lindsay was right" he laughed. "Her revenge was more powerful than mine…"

This time, Jane literally growled. Knowing she would have to fill more paperwork if she didn't do anything, she pulled Jane back before he could move and pinned him to the nearest wall.

"Get out" she whispered lowly, so that he would be the only one hearing. "Get out before he gets under your skin."

The blond man obeyed and glared one last time at the former psychiatrist before leaving. When Lisbon sat down again, the man chucked:

"I see you got the upper hand on him now."

For a second, fury took over her senses and everything became a haze in her head.

During that second, a hundred of possibilities crossed her mind. No-one was there, in the room with her. She still had her gun at her belt. She had strength in her trained arms and hands. She knew she would have Jane's permission; heck her team would probably follow her to an extent!

During that second, the temptation of getting up and twisting his neck, suffocating him by preventing the air of circulating freely in his throat, faking another breakdown or being hypnotized and pointing her gun at him, blaming the dead Hendrix afterwards and relying on Jane's support to "dehypnotize her" before anymore harm was done…that temptation grew strong within her, and she knew if she let the impulsion out, Dr Carmen would be lying dead in the next few seconds, before anyone could do anything.

The smile on the Dr faltered as he realized what was crossing her mind at the very moment. She knew her eyes had taken a darker shade, were covered with coolness and indifference. She knew that silences were more dangerous than long discourses. That one look could say much more than words. So when Dr Carmen understood how much she wanted to kill him right now, and that she could kill him and get off with it, he shut his mouth and let her read his rights in silence.

-RP-

Lisbon collapsed on her couch in the living room, a box of Thai food on her living-room table. Hightower had dismissed everyone earlier than usual; and forced her to go back home. For once, she didn't want to return there. Too bad and recent memories clouded her mind, and she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep in her bedroom before changing the sheets.

A knock on the outside door made her stand up reluctantly. She checked into the peephole the identity of her nightly visitor and froze. Jane. It was Jane. Why would he come here?

A part of her wanted to freak out, another part ignored him and return to the safety of her couch, and the last one was furious he dared showing up. She kept the security chain on and opened the door slightly, just enough to see him, and him to see her.

"Good evening" he said quietly. "May I come in?"

Even with the greatest will on earth, there was no way he was stepping in this house again. Despite the pain and the guilt in his eyes, she couldn't.

"I'd rather keep you out for the moment" she whispered, avoiding his gaze. "I don't feel comfortable…"

"Its okay, it's okay" he cut quickly. "I understand."

She still didn't look at him, rather concentrated on the buttons of his untidy suit.

"I'm not that strong Jane. I can't…I won't get over it in one night, one week or even a month. I don't know how long it will take" she added. "I know you weren't responsible but…"

"Hey, Lisbon" he called softly, and this time, she raised her head and met his eyes. "I told you I understand." He paused, biting his lower lip. "I'm sorry."

"I know" she replied quietly.

For seconds, none of them spoke.

Lisbon felt bad. The distance she was imposing between them hurt her as much as him; he was a colleague, a friend, and she cared for him. But after the past night's events, she needed…

"Do you think you will forgive me one day?"

She was so lost in thoughts she almost didn't hear him whisper. One of his hands went through the door and brushed her wrist. Lisbon jumped at the contact and stared at him, wondering what he was playing at. Then it hit her.

"Do you think you will forgive me one day?" he repeated on a slightly stronger voice.

He needed her. Those baby blue eyes were set on her, searching almost desperately for an answer, his hand wanting to be held so much. Without breaking eye contact, she took his hand gently and squeezed it. Letting him know she still felt there was something between them.

"Maybe, with time" Lisbon replied softly. "Please, can you leave now? And not come back yet."

He released her hand and nodded, taking a step back.

"Good night Teresa."

She didn't reply, and shut the door close. As soon as she turned the lock, she backed against the door and let herself slide down to the floor. She tightened her fists and bit her lip to stop the flood of fear and anxiety. Despite the helpless feeling inside, pictures couldn't stop coming back in her head.

Jane's adoring and loving eyes when he looked at her. The gentleness of his touch. The sweet whispers in her ear. There was only one reason she didn't fight him with all her might. He made love to her that night. No matter how wrong it was, he made love to her, didn't fuck her. And that was tearing her into pieces.

Because in different circumstances, a part of her mind admitted that maybe, just maybe, if he had seduced her like he knew how to, she would have ended in bed with him.

Outside, Jane headed to his car in silence.

After Hightower dismissed everyone, he went to talk to her. He admitted almost raping Lisbon –to respect his word towards her- and asked to be removed from the team for some time. After staring at him in disbelief, she agreed, not wanting anymore tensions in the team. Maybe that was cowardice, but he couldn't stand the reproachful glances of his three colleagues.

Rigsby's behavior hurt him the most, he had to admit. The man had quickly forgotten he had been hypnotized before. And if Van Pelt hadn't stepped in, the tall man would have given him a black eye.

Jane smirked bitterly. Indeed, Carmen and Hendrix's plan had worked perfectly. They had set a fracture between him and the rest of them, between his supporters and his prosecutors. Fragile his relationship with Lisbon. And the only answer he got, to avoid more discord, was to leave everything behind. Leave like a coward and tell no-one.

They would discover it by their own tomorrow morning, hate him for a while, and maybe forgive him. He didn't want to deal with their reaction. The redhead would be the first one to talk to him again. Cho would follow after giving him a cold shoulder for a while. Rigsby would be the last one to forgive him, if he ever forgave at all. And Lisbon…

He shook his head. If she wanted to join him, she knew his cell number.

For now, he was leaving the CBI.

Thanks to everyone for reading this till the end. It would be even better if you left me a word, just to know if I should write a sequel or not –though it wouldn't come up right away…

Hope you enjoyed it xD!