A/N: With thanks to: MerriWyllow, Katrina, idonthaveaname, Frogster, mylla88, WeBuiltThePyramids, Special Agent Baker, ljp42, Guest, wimmer511 and Loes-chan for reviewing part five.

This is the epilogue, and thus the final part. I hope you've enjoyed the story and thank you to everyone who followed/reviewed/favourited this. I've loved hearing your thoughts and it's what keeps me writing.

x tromana

Epilogue

"How is he doing?"

Lisbon had been awkwardly dozing in a plastic formed chair, but jumped at the sound of a familiar voice. Within seconds, she was on her feet and shook Director Gale Bertram's hand firmly. She hated appearing so unprofessional in front of him, but it had been a long day and long night. In fact, she was faintly surprised to see him here at gone one a.m.

"Fine, he's sleeping," she answered dubiously.

"We were lucky to pull him out of there alive. "

"I know," she answered somberly.

Lisbon nodded her head ever so slightly in respect as they fell into a restive silence. It had been such a long while since the director of the CBI had last had cause to speak to her. The previous occasion, she had very nearly lost her job. Now, he was talking to her as if she were an old friend. It was disconcerting, but reassuring. The CBI hadn't given up hope on Jane.

"And what about Grace Van Pelt?"

"She's being treated for smoke inhalation. She should be back to work within a week."

"Don't push her too fast, Agent," Bertram stated warningly.

Despite appearances, he did at least seem to care about the entirety of his workforce. It was something that Lisbon respected deeply in him. Not everybody would put the effort into learning the names of members of individual units. Then again, the Serious Crimes Unit was notorious for causing trouble, especially with Patrick Jane involved. It was only natural that he knew each and every one of them because of that.

"I won't, I promise..."

"You need to question Jane as soon as possible," he instructed, cutting her off.

It hadn't taken Bertram long to get back to the subject of Jane and Lisbon knew that this was his real reason for his appearance so late at night, especially when he could theoretically have left it until morning. Cho had probably been the one to update him, to tell him that Jane had nearly died chasing up a Red John lead.

That was a lead that would quickly get cold if they didn't hurry up and follow it through.

However, Lisbon had no intentions of pushing Jane into talking. She could sense that his mind was already in a fragile state and she didn't want to be the one to push him over the edge again. What he needed was plenty of time, rest and support and she was willing to offer him all three. Besides, with Rigsby and Cho, she had managed to piece together a lot of the case without Jane's assistance. How the wife had fallen into gambling, trying to claw in money whenever she could. That she had probably come into Red John's radar because of that. How the husband was actually intending to hand her the bracelet as a leaving present; he was deeply in love with Julie's twin. And that information, in turn, had probably gotten back to Red John, and he'd wanted to seek revenge on the family as a consequence.

It didn't explain exactly why Red John had wanted Jane at that property, though. However, she had a feeling that it was something that she didn't need to know as soon as feasibly possible. It wasn't going to bring the Red John case forward or result in an arrest.

"He's been through a major trauma," she answered back stiffly.

"I know, but how useful will that information be in a week's time when Red John has gone back underground?"

"Understood."

He swiftly bid her farewell and swiftly walked away. Lisbon had already decided that she was going to take Bertram's advice with a pinch of salt. Red John, after all, usually disappeared as quickly as he emerged. Whatever Jane knew, it was probably already too little, too late. The lead probably wasn't goingcold; it was most likely already frozen over.

And she knew (or at least, hoped) that Jane would talk to her when he was ready and not a moment sooner.

xxx

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Lisbon said softly, almost teasingly, in a way.

Jane squinted at the bright lights that had enveloped him since waking. The stench of disinfectant was getting up his nose and he crinkled it in irritation. He could only vaguely recall coming into hospital, the endless tests and the treatment. Despite that he couldn't remember exactly why he was here, what had happened to him which meant he'd required hospitalization. The last thing he could remember seeing was that awful effigy of Lisbon in the fake-office.

The fake-office that was in the house Red John had nicknamed a memory palace, where each room was filled with a different nightmare.

He shuddered.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

Jane nodded and Lisbon quickly handed him a glass of water. He'd have preferred tea, but realized that this was probably the better option at this moment in time. It didn't take him long to drain the plastic cup of fluid and hand it back to her. Lisbon smiled weakly in response. Thankfully, it appeared that she had gotten out of the situation completely unscathed. However, she appeared completely drained and Jane doubted that she had actually slept the night before.

Then again, that wouldn't have been surprising. She hadn't told him the details of the case she'd been working on yet, but Jane had already gathered it had been pretty important. And on top of that, he knew Van Pelt had been hospitalized too.

He paused for a second. Red John had lured them there, to the house. He'd wanted them to watch it burst into flames with him trapped inside.

Had Red John wanted him to survive, or for Lisbon to witness his death?

Whichever, there seemed to be no positive outcome out of this scenario.

"How long have I been asleep for?" he asked, his voice raspy.

"A couple of hours, maybe?" she answered, unsure. "Not that long."

"Oh."

It had certainly felt longer than that. The house filled with dirty tricks felt like a lifetime away, even though he could remember each room clear as day. The Earnshaw murder, the first one he'd consulted on. His wife and daughter's. Kristina. Little Susie. Lisbon…

"Was there anyone else..?" he started.

"They've only pulled out one more body. A small girl," she interrupted quickly. "Her father's been notified."

"Good."

"You watched her die, didn't you?"

"I got there too late to save her," he answered quickly, keen to defend himself. "That was a part of his plan."

Jane knew that he didn't have to say any more than that for her to understand. She nodded gently in response and once more, that wave of relief crashed over him. Except, once it had washed away, it left an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Dare you risk it, Mr. Jane?

He was relieved when Lisbon broke the moment to pull something out of the cabinet beside his bed. It looked a little worse for wear, but for the most part, completely intact.

"I got this from your jacket pocket," she said and handed him the diary. "I haven't looked."

"I know. Thank you, Lisbon."

"Bertram wants me to interview you."

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say I wouldn't," Lisbon answered obliquely.

Tentatively, she wrapped her fingers around his hand and squeezed them gently. Jane could only smile weakly in response. They'd been treading into dangerous waters for some time now, and Red John was painting it more and more obviously just what he had planned for them. But he felt tired and drained. All he wanted to do was shut off from the world and stop thinking about it, if only for a short while.

He knew that soon, he would have to tell her the precise details of exactly what he had seen in that house before it had been destroyed. Jane could tell that she was intrigued, and not just for work purposes either.

But first, he wanted to make sure he had a plan of action.

And to ensure that said plan guaranteed that Lisbon would get through this all safely.

xxx

He stood outside in a cleaner's uniform, holding tightly onto a mop and bucket. It had been all too easy to appear to be any old member of staff in this hospital; security was really that lax. With a small smile, he paused outside of the private room just to glance inside at the inhabitants.

Just as he'd expected, she was by his side, clinging hold of his hand for dear life. It seemed like she expected him to disappear if she didn't hold tightly onto him.

Everything had worked out to perfection. He couldn't have hoped for it to work out any better than it had done so.

And he could just tell that the wheels had been set in motion for the next stage of his plan.

Patrick Jane would fight against it; plenty of seeds had been planted in his head, but the two of them had always had that sense of inevitability. In order to push them closer together, they needed to be pulled apart first.

What was yet to come would be here soon. And there was nothing that Patrick Jane could do to stop it.

end