I don't know about you guys, but tomorrow is when the new Mentalist seasonis airing where I am. :D I'll probably be able to watch it on Monday. I'm so excited. I can't believe the new season is finally starting! It's so surreal! I've been counting down the days and reading fanfiction and now the day is practically here... "YAY!" doesn't even begin to cover it.

A huge thank you to all of you who reviewed! You guys are the best. Truly. Thanks for the reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter. :)

A few minutes later, Lisbon was sitting in a chair at Jane's insistence. He knelt beside her on the hard floor with his camera in his hand. Neither of their bodies touched, but both were utterly aware of each other.

The first picture was of –

"Delete that right now," Lisbon barked, feeling her cheeks flush.

"You look fine, Lisbon," he assured her. "Look at it this way. You were making that expression in public anyway. There's no difference to having it frozen."

Oh, Lisbon could argue that point into the dust, but the retort died on her tongue. Jane's tone had lacked its usual brightness, even if that brightness was sometimes fake. Now he wasn't even making the effort to put on the... mask

Lisbon studied the picture instead, trying to see what Jane saw. In the picture, the team was in the bullpen eating lunch. The entire team was in the photo, but it was centered on Lisbon. Lisbon had her mouth partly open mid-speech and her eyes half closed mid blink.

It was unflattering, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

While Lisbon continued to examine the picture, Jane spoke quietly, "I knew he kept tabs. I know he still does. He can probably hear us right now. But…" Jane was at a loss for words. Jane was. "I don't know. Intellectually, I knew, but seeing it in front of my eyes is different. Seeing how many connections and methods of surveillance he has…"

Jane fell silent just as Lisbon saw it. In the picture, behind her and to the left, was a tall potted plant. Something thanks to Jane's (irritatingly) bright camera flash. Something that was almost dismissible except for the glint, almost as if…

"Is that a camera on the leaf?" Lisbon whispered.

"Yes," Jane said soberly, a puff of air stirring her hair as he leaned on his haunches. Lisbon was on her feet in a second, but Jane caught her wrist.

"Leave it," he said quietly. "It's pointless."

Lisbon sat down again slowly, feeling panic rise, because this was Red John and Jane had said it was pointless.

"We'll get them later," Jane amended as Lisbon said, "It's not pointless, Jane."

They stared at each other, faces serious and close. Neither of them noticed. It was in what you didn't say…

"Boss?" Van Pelt called from her computer. "Is everything ok?"

Lisbon glanced at Jane and Jane nodded slightly.

"Van Pelt, gather the team and met us at the park on Ornate Street," she ordered, but the order sounded tired and lacked her normal fire. "Jane, bring the laptop."

~The Mentalist~

It soon became apparent that Jane had been going through his photos for a while. He worked surprisingly quickly, clicking on a folder here and highlighting a few photos there while Lisbon waited patiently for him to show her more. Jane seemed to be sorting the pictures by who was in them, until Lisbon spotted a tree in the "team" photos and was back to being confused.

Lisbon sighed and leaned her elbows on the table. A wind whipped her hair into her face violently before dying. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she glanced around the park. Van Pelt, Cho and Rigsby sat directly in front of her. There were no other people nearby. That didn't make her any less tense.

"I noticed it a few days ago," Jane said flatly, head bent over the screen. "And I finally figured out I would need a card reader to see the pictures larger." He nodded at Van Pelt. "This is Van Pelt's laptop," he said needlessly.

Only Lisbon, sitting next to Jane, was aware of his leg jiggling under the table. Otherwise he appeared calm.

"I noticed it in Jessica Rod's driveway," Jane continued.

Jane clicked past a picture of a cloud (that looked oddly like a mushroom) and opened a file. Lisbon popped up on the screen, expression frazzled and frustrated, all her irritation directed at the camera lens. Or, more correctly, at Jane.

Lisbon grimaced as Jane turned the computer around so the team, sitting across from them at the table, could see.

"That was when I finally took your camera away before going into the crime scene," she said, more for the team's benefit than Jane's.

"Yeah, this is when you stole it," Jane agreed, heedless of her protest at his word choice. "See how Lisbon is almost leaning against the car?"

"Yes, Jane," Cho said neutrally.

"You can see it in the reflection of the window in the forest behind Lisbon…" Jane waited for them to catch up.

"Is that a car?" Rigsby asked.

"There's nothing wrong with a car being there," Van Pelt said slowly. She kindly didn't say what they were all thinking: Jane, you're being paranoid.

"We had the roads blocked off," Jane reminded her impatiently. "We'd cleared Jessica's property of anyone else. It had no right to be there."

"It's a free country, Jane," Cho said. "Anyone can get by a road block and into the woods."

Lisbon remained quiet.

"Why are you showing us this?" Rigsby asked, waving a bug away.

"Look at the other pictures," Lisbon said quietly. Van Pelt started clicking through them as Lisbon and Jane waited.

Lisbon knew which pictures would come up. They were practically engraved in her mind and she didn't need the laptop screen facing her to know which ones were popping up. Neither did Jane. The first one was a picture of them around the bullpen table eating lunch, the camera leaf in the background ruining the innocent scene.

Jane waited for them to spot it while Lisbon took a quick look around the park again. Still alone. A bird chirped in the branch above their table before flitting away.

After a second, Van Pelt gasped, Cho froze and Rigsby studied the picture a moment longer before exclaiming, "Is that a - ?"

"Yes," Jane confirmed. "A camera."

"But I thought we already knew Red John was watching us?" Van Pelt pointed out tentatively.

"There's something different in knowing something, and seeing proof of that fact," Lisbon said. "Solid proof."

"Van Pelt, keep scrolling," Cho stated, voice emotionless.

Silently, she did. The three leaned closer to the screen.

In some of the pictures the anomaly was easy to spot. A camera aimed too directly at them, a car having no business being were it was – but it was the "normal" pictures that got to the team. The ones of them eating at a restaurant and discussing a case, with some person in the background taking notes. Or, in most cases, Jane showing the team an otherwise normal looking person in a café that, apparently, was not tipping his or her head correctly.

Again and again and again. Pictures that would've made them laugh at other times, instead made the temperature drop slowly in their corner of the bullpen.

Van Pelt broke the silence. "I only think I recognize one person or car from previous pictures. Are there really so many followers that he can send a new one each time?"

Her face was pale.

Lisbon opened her mouth to answer, but Cho beat her to it.

"Most likely he simply put cameras in the places we visit frequently," he said flatly. "And sent a disciple when we went out for long cases. The only pictures with Red John people are the ones when we're out of town."

The three couldn't tear their eyes from the screen as Cho spoke. Van Pelt continued scrolling through them. The amount of pictures Jane had taken was staggering. Even more so the times he'd caught someone most likely related to Red John.

"How do you know this is Red John, Jane?" Rigsby finally asked. "I mean, man, I hate to say it but there are suspicious people everywhere. And if this is Red John and his followers. Surely they wouldn't be so easily – "

Lisbon answered instead. "Red John and his followers are human, Rigsby. Not perfect. He may be an infamous serial killer, known for being impossible to catch, but he's flawed and his network isn't perfect. This might be the break we need."

It wasn't paranoia if you were actually being watched by a serial killer. They were cops. They were supposed to be predators of the light hunting down monsters of the night.

A picture came up that had Van Pelt pausing. Lisbon leaned forward on the bench and across the table to peer at the screen by craning her neck. It was an awkward angle, but the bench only held three on one side.

The picture was of Lisbon in her "natural habitat" as Jane called it.

("'Natural habitat'? Jane," Lisbon had snapped at the time. "I don't appreciate the insinuation that I am some animal to be watched and recorded in my own apartment.")

It was Lisbon sitting on her couch, laughing. Her hair was loose, her clothing bordering on casual but worn. She looked exhausted but happy. They'd just driven back from a crime scene. The drive was five hours and Lisbon had made an impulsive decision to let Jane inside her apartment (for the third time?) while she got changed into clean, unwrinkled clothes before going back to the office.

The light from the window in her apartment was perfect. It lit up her crinkling eyes and highlighted her dimples.

Lisbon leaned back onto the bench, her throat tight.

Van Pelt silently pointed at the screen and Lisbon knew what she was pointing out in the picture without looking. In the building across the street, and almost indistinct because of the distance, was the glint of… binoculars? Camera lens?

No matter. Lisbon had been living in her apartment long enough to know there was never anything shining on that roof. Especially when there was a barely visible shape of someone behind said glint. Of all the pictures she'd seen, that one had hit her hardest. Seeing it again made that feeling come back.

"I need more coffee," Lisbon announced, standing from the bench. "There's a café around the corner. I'll be back."

~The Mentalist~

The café was blessedly busy and no one paid any mind to her. A thick smell of coffee permeated the air and Lisbon let the bustle of the people fill her mind. She took a both in the back corner, the entire café spread before her. She was shaking slightly, suddenly cold all over.

She'd already known that Red John followed people, or sent others to do it. Red John had, she truly believed, followed Jane around, waiting for him to say something Red John could use for his own ends. The serial killer was probably some sort of mentalist and saw a kindred spirit in Jane.

Lisbon had always known that she was probably being stalked too. Ever since she'd signed on with Jane, she'd known. Heck, ever since she'd first spoken to Jane, before he'd even joined her team she'd known. But she didn't… didn't… know! She knew there was a moon, even if the night sky was overcast. She'd never been to the moon, had contact with it. It was cold and distant, but there.

Red John was not the moon.

Lisbon sucked in her breath and carefully reached out to arrange the salt and pepper display in the corner. The table was slightly sticky and Lisbon grabbed a napkin to rub at the stickier spots. This was, she knew, the equivalent of straightening her desk. But she continued to scrub at the sticky spot, arrange the menus. She tried not to think too hard. She tried to pull herself together, but couldn't chase away the thoughts.

Had she ever been safe? Not watched? She was closest to Jane. Had she ever been unobserved, even in the shower?

"Lisbon?"

A glance around the café showed no one else looking their way. Lisbon sucked in a breath and pulled herself together, brick by brick until she could face Jane's gaze.

"Hey, Jane," she said, dropping the napkin. A laugh sounded from the other corner of the café. Jane waited until she met his eye before sliding into the booth across from her.

"Are you going to tell anyone?"

Lisbon paused.

That's what he cared about? After all this time, he thought she'd go and tell someone without thinking everything through?

Well, what else was he supposed to say? He couldn't apologize. That wouldn't make sense. And neither of them liked talking about anything personal. Jane was almost being considerate by not asking Lisbon how she was.

She'd lie even is he asked.

You knew what you were signing on for. Pull yourself together.

Just move forward like it's another case. Don't give Red John any special treatment.

"No," Lisbon decided. "It's too circumstantial."

"Lisbon," Jane began. To him, the body language of some of the people in the photos was proof enough.

She waved his sentence away. "Too circumstantial for anyone else, Jane, even Darcy who, arguably, we could hand this over to since Red John is connected to the Panzer murder." She watched an old man sip at his coffee before looking at Jane again. "When we get more solid evidence, ask me again. We'll work this angle ourselves until then. I don't want to push it."

She leaned on the table. (Was Red John watching them now?) Jane mirrored her pose, hands clasped on the table and wedding ring glinting in the light.

This was the best clue they'd gotten in a while. Lorelei was looking more and more like a dead end. There was a reason Red John had sent her after Jane. She was good. Very good. And very distracting.

"What's the first step going to be?" Jane asked.

Lisbon tried to put her thoughts in some order.

Coming here was more than just distancing herself from the Red John case for a moment. She really had meant to get coffee.

She shook the thought away, latching on to what Jane had just said.

Jane had asked. He wanted to work this together. He wasn't going to do a, say, sixth month con by himself without telling her. He practically came to her with Red John information by sitting at his desk. He wasn't stupid. He knew she'd come over as soon as he sat down at his desk.

The café's bell jingled as someone left and there was a strong whiff of coffee as an older lady walked by. Lisbon took a deep breath.

"First…"

I really miss the light aspect of this story. I kinda can't wait until I'm done with this story so I can write something... fluffy. This story is a dark cloud looming over my head. Don't get me wrong. It's still my baby. But it's also looming. I guess every baby has to turn into a hulking, surly teenager at some point... *sigh*

Anyway, hope you like it! Thanks again for all the support and reviews. Also, thanks to my beta, hardly loquacious, for beta-ing this. Any mistakes are my own, as are any odd plot holes - for what plot there is.

-SS