Red Reunion: Sequel of Red Conciliation

So it seems I left some things in the epilogue; I'll rectify it with a new story! Must read Red Conciliation first.

Plot: Ross Kings shows up in Sacramento, determined to win Lisbon back.

Disclaimer: Nope, I own nothing

Two months ago, New York City

She sits in the hospital bed, thinking. Every sound that emits through her door seems amplified in the silence; the rushed footsteps of nurses, the squeaky wheel of a wheelchair, beeping machines and voices. And still, underneath all those sounds, there is an all-consuming silence,

She knows she has an important decision to make. Only moments ago, Jane was sitting beside her. His eyes were red-rimmed and filled with more relief than she's ever seen.

"Teresa… You're alive…" He spoke with grateful disbelief and something else… She asked him how long he'd been there, by her bedside. He didn't answer, just kissed her lips with loving intensity. And then he asked her to come back to Sacramento. Said if she refused, he'd move to New York. But he's never leaving her side again. He loves her.

It still felt unreal. It felt like a dream, like she was about to wake up and hate herself for dreaming something so wonderful and false.

But it was real. He was really sitting there, holding her tightly and gently stroking her hair. He didn't seem to be impatient for an answer, just truly elated that she was here and not dead.

She let herself lie into him and revel in being close to him – finally.

When the reality of her pending decision sets in, she asks – neigh, orders – Jane to get home and take a shower. At first he stubbornly refused to leave her side, until she jokingly said she wouldn't cuddle with him when he stinks like this. He promised to be back in under an hour.

And here she was, sitting and thinking so hard that she could practically hear the cogs turning in her brain.

Jane.

Ross.

Both men meant a great deal to her. Both had their advantages. And both had made it clear that they want to be in a relationship with her.

She's known Ross for a long time; they had their own on-and-off history, they meshed so well. Being with Ross made her comfortable, it made her feel good.

But Jane… She's known Jane a while as well. Their history was extensive – years of suppressed feelings. Years of never recognizing said feelings…

He did just save her life… But she wasn't going to make a decision as important as this one based on him saving her life. It wouldn't be fair to her or Jane in the long run if she based her decision on that alone.

She heard a shuffling at the door, and watched as her team entered, pizza and a six-pack of beer in hand – surely against the knowledge of the nurses. Guise, then Weekes and then Ross Kings.

She knew they'd come. It was just after quitting time and she'd built a family-like bond with the team, just like she did with her old team. But still, even now after two years in New York, there were still times when she almost called Cho instead of Guise, or ordered Van Pelt to interrogate the suspect instead of Weekes. It was close, but it wasn't the same.

In that moment she knew. She drank the illegal beer and ate the illegal pizza with her team, and when they had their fun she shoed them away. Even Jane, who showed up in the middle of the party and had taken his place beside her on the bed, was kicked out.

All but Kings.

When the door closed behind the team, he looked up at her with the golden-brown eyes she'd come to adore through the years. He knew.

"Please don't do this." His voice was almost chuckling, as if he thought what she was about to do was the most absurd thing ever. "Don't throw away your life here because some bozo saved your life."

"That's not what I'm doing, Ross." She said gravely. "I love him."

"You don't love me?" More a statement than a question.

"I do. But not enough to keep me from the place and the people I should've never left in the first place. I've built myself a life here, Ross. But I was never truly happy. Not the way I was in Sacramento. You can understand that?"

He didn't.

He turned around and slammed the door and didn't turn back.

X

Present, Sacramento

She was sitting on the couch, paging through a wedding magazine.

It felt weird; she, Teresa Lisbon, sitting with a magazine filled with fluffy, chiffon-clad princesses, smiling like idiots. She never thought she'd ever be sitting in this position. That she'd be engaged. Even less that she'd do something this girly.

But as cheesy and annoying the women in the books were, she had to admit that she was pretty excited. The wedding was still months away, but she was already racking her brain over a dress and venue and what kind of flowers should be used…

She heard the rustling of a key in the front door, and it startled her back to reality. She stuffed the glossy magazine under the cushion of the couch, and hastily crossed her arms, trying very hard to looked inconspicuous.

A second later, her fiancé walked through the front door, carrying an array of grocery bags. He greeted her with a wide, happy sunshine-smile.

"Good afternoon, darling. Reading that wedding magazine again?"

She blushed bright red, earning a chuckle from him.

"No need to be embarrassed, my love. It's perfectly normal to be excited." He said, bending over the couch to lovingly kiss the top of your head. "And besides, I think you'll look beautiful in white. Even more beautiful than usual, if that's even remotely possible."

She couldn't help the smile that tugged on her lips. "You're terrible, you know that?"

"Terrible? What's terrible about calling my beautiful fiancé beautiful?" He plops down beside her and slips his arm around her shoulders. Her head rested on his shoulder and she smiled.

He craned his neck to get a better look at her face. "There's something bothering you."

She doesn't answer, simply nodded a little.

"Care to tell me what?"

She sighed. "I don't know, Patrick. I just… I feel kind of…"

"Guilty?"

She looked back at of him, gazing deeply into his eyes. Even though she expressed her annoyance at his abilities more often than not, she secretly loved the way he could read her. How he knew how she felt before she even did.

She nodded. "I've been thinking about it a lot. I mean… Ross and I had a long history and we were friends. And then after the Red John-thing, when I left New York, it ended so abruptly. We didn't really talk anything out. I mean don't get me wrong. I don't regret for a second coming back with you. I love you, Patrick. But I guess I feel bad about leaving things the way I did."

Jane nodded. "Well, Teresa, there really isn't much for you to do anymore. He's a big boy; he can deal with a little heartbreak. Besides, you can't torture yourself for doing what your heart tells you."

Lisbon gave him a look, eyebrow raised. "'He can handle a little heartbreak'? Wow. That makes me feels so much better."

He chuckled at her expression and kissed her cheek. "What I mean is you can't blame yourself for doing what felt right to you. You were in a situation where somebody was going to get hurt. It just turned out to be him."

She nodded slowly, then sighed. "I hate it when you're right." She said, pouting.

He chuckled and pulled her closer, closing the space between them with a lingering kiss. "Well, you better get used to it fast, my love, because you're going to be living with me and my right-ness for a long, long time. There's no getting rid of me."

She smiled lovingly and returned the kiss.

She had no problem with that.

X

On the other side of the country, in his apartment in New York City, Ross Kings sat with a picture frame in his hand.

In the frame was a picture of Teresa Lisbon; her hair was glistening in the afternoon sunlight, her blue-green eyes shone with laughter.

"I'll get you back, Teresa." He said. His voice was dark and plagued with a thinly veiled anger. "I'll win you back if it's the last thing I do."

So because of the overwhelming response over the way I ended the thing with Ross in my story Red Conciliation, I decided to post a sequel. Might be three, four chapters, depending on the feedback from you guys. Please review?

Much love,

Zanny