Title: The Red Face of Fear

Author: Shannon – shannyfish

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Mentalist" or its characters, Warner Brothers and Bruno Heller do. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.

Rating: PG13

Summary: Sequel to "Red Window". With Lisbon back on the team, they continue to handle cases including those that pertain to Red John. Things are far more personal, emotional, and closer to home than they have ever been.

Warning: none yet

Chapter 11 – "Fear"

Author's Note: Last chapter! And posted before the finale! YAY!

...

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." – Martin Luther King, Jr.

CBI's Attic aka Jane's Hiding Spot

The knife to her throat hadn't been a welcoming wake up call. Actually it had set fear and panic into full swing in her body. It was unreal. How could she have missed the sound of the heavy door being opened? How could she have missed the sound of footfall? Lisbon could hear her heart beating in her ears and could hear her breathing coming at an uneven rate as she was guided away from the cots where she and Jane had been so peacefully sleeping before.

"Hold out your hand," he ordered.

Lisbon didn't for a moment and then finally held it out in front of her. She didn't know what he was going to do. The fear of what he could do was enough to try to keep her from thinking too much about it though.

"Palm up."

So, she turned her hand. She held back the cry that wanted to escape as he cut the inside of the palm of her hand. She didn't want to risk angering him. He guided her towards the huge window that hung in the attic of the CBI. He pushed her close to it and he shifted the knife to the other hand, but pulled it tight against her neck. His hand dipped into the cut and soon he was drawing a very familiar face. A red crying smiley face in her blood.

Red John. Or at least she had to assume that's who it was. He wore a mask, one of those clear ones that had details painted on it, but she hadn't been able to make any kind of identification. The knife pressed against the delicate skin at her throat and she struggled to keep herself from completely breaking down. She didn't want to do this. Why couldn't he have killed her while she slept? There was something easier and less heart breaking about doing it that way.

Once the face was drawn to his liking, he moved her back to the cots. She wanted to scream and cry. She wanted to be able to defend herself properly. She wanted to be more than this puppet that Red John used on occasion against Jane.

"Wake him," came the hushed order from behind her.

"Ja-" she started and then was cut off by her own quiet sob.

"Wake him," she was ordered again and shook a bit this time.

"Jane…" she said and stared at him.

He had been so peaceful and now this…

Jane didn't stir. She almost smiled. That was very typical Jane. He did enjoy his naps, possibly a bit too much.

"Jane," she said louder this time.

He stirred this time, a boyish grin on his face as he opened his eyes. Lisbon watched as the smile faded fast. Fear and worry clouded his eyes and maybe guilt? Jane did always blame himself for everything that had happened. He never had accepted the fact that she was a cop and she'd agreed to the dangers that were involved with it. And there were dangers… Jane couldn't blame himself for this.

"Mr. Jane," the man behind her said.

"Red John," Jane breathed.

"I'm so glad that you recognized me…"

Lisbon just stood there, playing hostage, silent and listening. She just hoped that maybe Jane and his talking would buy them enough time that eventually someone would notice that they hadn't returned and send someone looking for them. Yes, help wasn't far. That's what she had to cling to…much better than the grim option of just being Red John's latest victims.

"You took what was mine," Red John said.

He meant her, Lisbon realized. She didn't belong to him, but she remained silent. She closed her eyes pushing back thoughts of what might be going on. Thoughts of being locked up with Simon again and made to play wife. She knew this time, Simon wouldn't allow for anything to get in the way of them being his twisted version of a 'family'.

"She wasn't mine to give to you," Jane said.

Jane was on his feet now; his face gave her no hope. It made her stomach churn and she felt sick. They were going to die there. This was it, they'd fought the good fight and in this ending, the bad guys won.

"Oh, she's yours…everyone here at CBI knows that…" Red John told him.

"How do you know that?"

"You've worked all the cases and worked with me and you still haven't figured it out?" Red John taunted. "You act all superior and smart and here you are…with no answers. If you were truly observant, Mr. Jane, then you would know the answer to this question…"

There was a pause before Jane finally spoke up. "I never figured it out."

"And that's haunted you, hasn't it?"

She wanted to say something. To tell Jane to stop listening to him, but at the same time she didn't want to make things worse. This was buying them time. This was keeping them safe. For the time being anyways. She swallowed hard and kept the tears back.

"You know it has," Jane said, his voice betraying his upset and anger.

"I had wanted to make her pretty for you, Mr. Jane…to paint her toes and nails, but I'm afraid there just isn't the time or privacy to do so this time."

She felt the pressure being put against her shifting. Lisbon thought about trying to break free, but were there other people that were linked to Red John in the building? She couldn't guarantee that she could take him down without either one of them getting hurt.

The sound of the plastic being removed seemed loud in her ears, but it seemed that its clattering to the floor was louder.

Lisbon couldn't see, but she could see Jane's face. He was shocked, truly shocked. Even more unlike Jane, he was speechless to the reveal. It didn't help her, though, in determining who was behind her.

"You've called me a ghoul before, Mr. Jane," Red John said.

"I did…" Jane mumbled. "You acted like you didn't know your own signature."

"I couldn't be that obvious," Red John told him. "Though I'm surprised that my own ability to keep my enthusiasm with these cases wasn't a giveaway to you."

"Brett Partridge," Jane said.

Lisbon was pretty sure that was for her own benefit. She had to think for a moment. It finally hit her. One of the forensics techs, the one that Jane really, really didn't like. She remembered that she was seriously worried whenever they were together that they might end up in some kind of physical fight. She would have never guessed it. Out of all the people they worked with…she wouldn't have even given him a thought.

"You're quite the deceiver," Jane said. "You deceived all of us here at CBI…but you seem fragile, but I know better than that."

That didn't help Lisbon. She had hoped that maybe she could overpower him. Though she was small compared to a lot of others who worked on CBI, she could still take down a lot of them. In this case with Jane's words, she wasn't sure.

"Isn't that the plan?" Red John asked.

"True," Jane said quietly. "And what now? You're going to take Lisbon back? You're going to give her to Simon?"

"I honestly hadn't decided yet. Simon does deserve his family back, the family I gave him. Though, obviously Lisbon here doesn't have feelings for him… I could just kill her…right here, right now."

"No," Jane said quickly.

"You know that that's the easy way out for me here, Mr. Jane. Taking a hostage would prove to be far more dangerous for all involved."

"That's true. And me? Are you going to kill me?"

"The liar… I still believe that you seeing those you loved killed is the best punishment, Mr. Jane. I'm sure that you watching you new love here die in front of you this time may actually teach you a lesson. You think you're so smart, but you've been trying to find me for how many years?"

He was definitely taunting Jane. Lisbon didn't like it. She didn't want Jane blaming himself. Not like this. Not here. "I can get you out of the building," Lisbon spoke up.

"Lisbon—" Jane started to argue.

"I can get you out of the building and I promise no one will know what's going on," she said, giving Jane a firm look. She wouldn't let this happen. She wouldn't allow it to. Maybe this time she had some power over how things played out and she was going to try to take advantage of that.

"Why would you do that?" Red John asked.

"I…I don't want Jane to suffer anymore," she admitted truthfully.

"Perhaps you're right," Red John said.

Lisbon breathed a sigh of relief for a moment.

"Perhaps I should just end your feeble insignificant life then, Mr. Jane," Red John said coolly.

"No!" Lisbon cried out and immediately started to fight against him. He was stronger than she thought and the second she felt the knife digging into her skin, she slowed her fighting.

"Not here," Jane said all too calmly.

"What?" Lisbon asked in shock. Was he giving himself up to Red John to be killed? She couldn't allow that. She wouldn't allow it to happen. She allowed the tears to fall from her eyes. She didn't believe it. Lisbon didn't want to believe it.

"Shhh Teresa…" Jane said. "It's okay."

"How can you say that?" she asked. How could he be okay with dying? She didn't want him to die.

"We can handcuff her here so she doesn't get in the way," Red John said.

Lisbon suddenly wished that she had her gun within her reach. She felt so helpless. Red John had a knack for doing that to her. She hated it. Absolutely hated it.

"How do I know you won't come back and kill her later?" Jane asked.

"She won't have any recourse… If she gives out my real identity they'll think she's crazy… I'll have an alibi for your death… And I'm sure she'll behave…or else she won't ever have the closure of having your remains found," Red John said.

"Lisbon," Jane started. "You have to promise me—"

"No," she said as she shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't hear this. Sobs interrupted her breathing and tears streamed her face. Jane was family…Jane was the man she'd fallen in love with. She didn't want to give that up. No…it wasn't fair. They'd been through so much.

"This is the end of the line, Lisbon," Jane told her.

"Jane—"

"I love you," Jane told her.

She'd heard those words from him before, but they'd never sounded so sweet. That didn't mean that she was accepting it. She couldn't. She wouldn't. "I love you," she barely got out.

"Promise me that you won't go after him… I don't want you to ruin your life…don't waste precious time…"

Lisbon just nodded. She didn't think she could really keep that promise, but she understood why he was asking her to do so. He had lived so long in anger and hate of the man who held her. He didn't want that for her. She had her own demons to deal with as it was, she honestly didn't need the added weight.

She was being yanked towards some of the old stuff stored up there. There were plenty of heavy things to handcuff her to. That didn't make any of this any easier. "Let me say goodbye at least," she said quietly.

"Once you're secured," Red John told her.

Lisbon didn't know what had come over her. She'd stared down at the face of death before, but this was different. This meant that her world was ending. The world that she'd happily and unhappily lived in for the past several years. The world in which she had a family which she loved and cared about. Everything was ending…so why did Jane care if she lived? This wasn't going to be living…it would be surviving.

Red John secured the handcuff to the heavy item first and then attached a cuff to her right hand. It was tight; there was no way for her to escape from it.

The grinding of the door opening and voices brought her attention to the door and gave her hope for a split second. Cho, Van Pelt, and Rigsby were all there. They froze though and she froze when she felt the knife pressing enough to her throat that it caused pain and started to bleed. She was also being pulled back, enough so that it pulled on her now cuffed wrist.

"CBI! Put it down!" They all yelled at different times as they all pulled their weapons.

Lisbon thought it was slightly amusing that Jane had his hands up like he was guilty of something. She knew that it was simply because he didn't want to get shot. Jane never liked guns, which was why it worked so well that she worked as his gun. He just had to figure out the puzzles.

"Tell them to leave," Red John said.

She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. This was going to really be it. For all of them. With the red face painted on the window behind her, she was sure that her team knew exactly who they were dealing with. Now her whole team knew who Red John was…there was no way he'd let them live. "Put down your weapons," she tried to get out as calmly as possible. She opened her eyes to see them lowering their weapons, but they weren't on the floor. They only wanted to protect her and Jane…she couldn't blame them.

"This doesn't have to change things," Jane told him.

This changed everything. Lisbon knew that.

"Let them go."

"Maybe I should just shoot them all right here. No loose ends," Red John said.

"No," Lisbon choked out. "They're going to back out of the room and then put their weapons on the ground."

"Boss-" Rigsby started to argue.

"Back up," she told them. After a moment, they all did.

They were all quiet for a while. The tension was thick. Lisbon had managed to at least calm herself down. It still disturbed her at how absolutely calm Jane seemed. Had he just decided that this was it? Had he decided that it was time for him to die? She knew that sometimes people decided something and even in such a tense and hard situation they were calm and collected. It scared her a bit.

Lisbon noticed what was going on, Rigsby and Van Pelt were staying there. Cho, though, had left in order to let people know what was going on. She wouldn't be surprised if they were evacuating the whole building. Red John had been in that building more times than anyone liked to admit. There was nothing extreme in that action.

They were all just quiet there. She assumed that Red John was thinking. Maybe he was waiting to see what Cho would do? Lisbon honestly didn't know. All she knew was that this wasn't going to end well…not for her or Jane or her team. People were going to die.

"I think you should know something," Cho said.

"What should I know, Agent Cho?" Red John spat.

He was getting angry. Lisbon knew that that happened when you boxed someone unstable in. He was definitely unstable. Lisbon honestly didn't think that they could calm him down…not without more blood and death.

"You should know that your guy, Simon, he was shot during his attempt to kidnap Kaydance Millary."

Oh God, Simon and Red John had plotted together to reform Simon's shattered perfect family dream. Tears rushed to her eyes. She'd lived through what most would say was a tough childhood; it had just been normal for her. That was something that she'd be willing to relive through, being Simon's 'wife' was not something she was willing to repeat.

"Simon was a friend," Red John spat. "His father used to be friends with my father. We used to spend time with them fishing during the summer…and then hunting when I got older."

She let out a small cry as the knife dug deeper into her neck.

"You have nowhere to go," Rigsby told him.

"I know," Red John told them.

She felt the knife move away from her skin, she closed her eyes and thought of Jane. She knew what was coming. His body shifted slightly as he moved the knife back. This was the moment. She was going to die. This time no one was going to be able to save her…and she didn't blame any of them. There was nothing they could do…that was the God's honest truth.

"No!" she heard yelled by multiple people.

The sound of glass followed by the sounds of gunfire were what hit her ears, she felt pain but not where she expected. She felt herself released and she fell to the floor. It came up and hit her. Several rounds of gunshot rang out and she opened her eyes. A heavy weight fell on her and all she could see was shoes. People were hurrying towards her. There were sounds, but the only sound she heard was Red John's voice.

"I am Red John," he managed to get out. "But Red John is many."

She blinked and tried to concentrate on watching the shoes, but darkness was tugging at her. She didn't want to go. She couldn't hear anything now. She knew there was sound, but it was like she couldn't process it. Lisbon felt the weight being pulled from her and then immediately she felt hands on her. There was pressure; someone was applying pressure to her back.

"You're going to be okay," she heard Jane say.

"The bullet didn't do much damage," someone else said.

More people were swarming the room now. She blinked and then she found Jane there. He was lying down beside her. He had taken her had and she watched as he kissed it. His eyes were filled with relief. The ugly weight of Red John and his actions of all these years were finally lifted from Jane and she felt relief as well. He would be okay, that was what mattered.

"You're going to be okay," Jane said again.

She didn't know if he was just saying that or if it was true, but she just nodded and watched him. He was okay… Her team was okay…

"The bullet needs to be removed and we need to get some blood into her, but she'll be fine," someone said. It was someone unfamiliar so she assumed that they were an EMT.

. . .

Several Days Later…

"See! Napping is catching on!" Jane insisted.

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "I was shot. I'm on pain medication. Napping is a side effect."

"But you're napping on the couch."

"Me napping at the desk really isn't going to help anything."

Jane grinned at her.

Things had been a little rocky, but things had turned out. She'd been shot, but the wound wasn't deep. The doctor had said she'd gone into shock and had lost enough blood where she'd needed a transfusion. The surgery had gone quickly and she was awake an hour later.

"I can maybe make room for you," she told him.

"You'll do it all wrong," Jane complained.

She scoffed. "How would I do it wrong?"

"Come here," he said as he offered his hands for her to get to her feet.

So, Lisbon humored him and got up off the couch and stood there. He sat down and then arranged one of the couch pillows so that it supported his head. He put his legs up on the couch and motioned for her to join him. Lisbon did, he pulled her into his arms and held her. Her head fell to his chest and she allowed herself to go to sleep. Relaxing and being able to sleep through the night had been on thing that no one had had to worry about with Red John gone.

Life could go on.

. . .

The End.