Author's Note: I don't really know where this idea came from, but it just kind of snuck up on me. I hope you all enjoy, anyway! :)

Disclaimer: The universe isn't fair.

"Jane?" Lisbon said into the phone as she pulled up in front of the house in a nice, quiet, family neighbourhood with the rest of the team and S.W.A.T. right behind her.

"Uh. Hey, Lisbon." Jane tried to sound nonchalant as he possibly could with a gun in the room. Well, the gun wasn't the whole problem. The rest of the problem was who was holding the gun. "Can't talk too much right now. I'm a bit busy at the moment."

"Yeah, I bet. Are you okay? He hasn't started shooting or anything?"

"No, we're okay."

"We?" Lisbon almost groaned. The guy had other hostages in there? "How many hostages?" Lisbon heard yelling in the background.

"Okay. I'm calm. Would you please put the gun down?" Clearly Jane wasn't addressing Lisbon then. "He said he and his girlfriend, Brenda, need tickets to Mexico. Are you sure? Mexico? I mean, there are much nicer-"

"Mexico!" Lisbon heard Jeff Mathews yell at Jane on the other end of the phone.

"Okay, okay." Jane conceded. "They want to go to Mexico, he says. Well, Brenda might like Jamaica more...I mean, she's just a little shy. She just wants to go home. But that's it. It's just the three of us hanging out, right Jeff? Just hanging out. You love her. We don't need guns."

"Shut up!" Jeff yelled in the background.

"Yep, okay. Shutting up. That's a big gun."

"Give me the phone!" There was a moment where the phone was passed. "Hello?"

"Hello, Jeffery. This is Agent Lisbon with the CBI."

"That better mean that you're getting my tickets." Jeff growled into the phone. "Or your friend will be in serious trouble."

"I just want to talk. Nobody has to get hurt."

"I don't want to talk, Agent Lisbon. You want me to let her go. That's not going to happen. I love her! She's mine! But, you're right. Nobody needs to get hurt. Just get me my tickets and your friend here won't get hurt."

"Okay. We can talk about this. I'm not asking you to give her up Jeff. You love her. I couldn't ask you to do that."

"Good. Now get the tickets." With that, Jeff hung up.

Lisbon looked at Cho, pleading for him to have found some kind of solution.

"Alarm is fully enabled and there are cameras." Cho shook his head. "He'll see us approaching and if we turn off the cameras-"

"It'll just piss him off more." Lisbon finished. "Damn." She looked back at the house. God, she hoped this ended well.

-Mentalist-

Jeff pocketed Jane's phone. Had the cops not shown up, this house would have been perfect. It was currently unfurnished and empty, but it was beautiful and had a great home security network.

"Can't I have it back?" Jane asked, but only got an angry glare from Jeff. "Or keep it. That's okay. I'll just get a new one or something, I guess."

"Have you ever even been in love?" Jeff pointed the gun at Jane. "Do you even understand what lengths people are driven to, to keep and protect the ones they love?"

"Well, she's not property to keep-"

"I didn't ask what you thought!"

"Right. Yeah." Jane flinched at Jeff's raised voice and the twitch of the gun. "Yes, I've been in love. I understand. You just want to protect her. Daniel wasn't right for her, right? That's why you killed him. He was all wrong and you just wanted to protect Brenda."

Brenda let out another sob at the truth and pressed even further into the corner.

"He hit her! Who hits someone they love!? Who does that!?"

"A bad person. Not like you. You don't really want to hurt anyone, right? But, now you're scaring her, Jeff."

Jeff glanced at Brenda, tucked into a corner of the room, sobbing. "She just needs to get used to this. To being protected."

"Okay. Well, maybe you could give her a few minutes. Patrol the house or whatever and give her a few minutes to think without a gun being waved about. I'm sure she'd be able to think much more clearly without a gun being waved around everywhere."

Jeff seemed to really consider that. "Okay." He finally said and lowered the gun. "But if you try and escape, I'll shoot you."

"I understand." Jane nodded.

Jeff left the room, shutting and locking the door behind him.

Jane let out a small sigh of relief once their captor was gone. He looked over at Brenda, not quite sure what to do now. He hadn't gotten that far in his plan yet. What?

He was working on the spot! "Hey. I know you didn't know about what Jeff was planning. No one is going to charge you or get you in trouble. Did you know he had a gun?"

Brenda shook her head and sniffled. "I thought he got that gun from you. I thought he took it off you."

"No. I'm not really a cop. Cop adjacent, more like. I hate guns. But my friends are cops. They're going to help get us out of here."

Brenda nodded. "Do you have a plan?"

"I...I'm working on it." Jane said, glancing back at the door. He hoped that Lisbon was making some progress. Slowly, Jane made his way across the room and peeked out the curtained window that overlooked the front yard. He saw all the vehicles and people on the road at the edge of the property. At least they knew where he was. He waved his hand a bit, trying to get Lisbon's attention. Instead, he got the attention of a uniformed officer, who then alerted Lisbon to Jane's appearance in the window.

Lisbon looked at Jane, confusion on her face. Where's Jeff? She mouthed.

Jane tilted his head and squinted, the long distance and the fact that the sun was behind her, making it difficult of him to read her lips. Jev? What is a-oh, Jeff. That made much more sense. Jane made a flicking motion with his wrist and shrugged. Somewhere in the house. I don't know. He saw Lisbon huff and turn to look at Cho, saying something that Jane couldn't interpret because her lips were out of his sight and unable to be read.

Hold on. She mouthed when she looked back at him. We're trying.

Jane simply nodded in response and then quickly left the window, scurrying back across the room when he heard Jeff returning. He glanced over at Brenda who had calmed down somewhat. She was still sniffling, but at least that was better than the sobbing she was doing before. Jeff, however, still seemed a bit agitated.

"You know the people out there, right?"

Jane nodded.

Jeff held Jane's phone out to its true owner. "Make them hurry up. Get them to stop stalling and just get my damn tickets!"

"They just want to know that we're safe first." Jane told him. "Brenda and myself. I'm sure you'll get tickets once they see we're safe."

"The thing is you're not safe. Brenda is safe. You're not." Jeff shoved the phone in Jane's direction. "I saved her and you all want to take her away from me. That's not going to happen. I let her go once and she got hurt. That's not going to happen again. Tell them! My tickets! Tell them now!"

Jane flinched and then took the phone, calling Lisbon back.

"Jane." Lisbon breathed over the phone. "What is it?"

"He wants the tickets, Lisbon. He wants his tickets to Mexico."

"Tell him, we're working on it. They're on their way."

Jane looked up at Jeff. "She says they're working on it. The tickets are on their way."

"One hour!" Jeff yelled. "One hour or your friend dies!" With that, Jeff grabbed the phone, shutting it forcefully before going to the window and peeking out the blinds.

-Mentalist-

"Get up." Jeff demanded after bursting back in the room, gun pointed at Jane.

Jane raised his hands in surrender and slowly rose to his feet. "What's going on?"

"Shut up!" Jeff demanded. "You don't get to ask questions! You're all liars! There are no tickets!"

"There's fifteen minutes left." Jane said. "There's fifteen minutes left in the hour."

"They're going to break in! The camera went out! I know what you're trying to do! You've been feeding them information somehow, haven't you!?"

Jane shook his head.

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not."

"Come with me."

"I'm quite comfortable h-"

"Let's go!"

"I'm going." Jane cast a quick glance to Brenda who looked completely terrified. He followed Jeff out of the room at gunpoint, Jeff shutting the door behind them.

Jeff gestured to the room to the right of the one they'd just exited and Jane obediently opened the door and entered. Jeff shut the door behind them, pulled out Jane's cell phone and pressed the buttons until he could call the number for the cop Jane knew.

"Jane?" Lisbon sounded worried.

"No, Agent. This is Jeff. But, I have your friend here. I was just showing him my gun."

"Jeff, you don't have to do any of this. We don't want to take Brenda away from you. There's thirteen minutes left." Lisbon tried to reason.

"Be quiet! I'm so sick of waiting! It doesn't take this long to get tickets! And disabling the security cameras sure isn't going to get them any faster, are they, agent!?"

"The company server had a minor problem. We didn't disable the cameras." Lisbon tried to explain.

"I'm sure they did." Jeff sneered. "Well, my gun is about to have a minor problem with your friend's head."

Jane swallowed with great difficulty. He was sure Lisbon was trying to talk Jeff out of it, but the young man hung up on her. "You don't really want to hurt me." Jane said quietly.

"Yeah?" Jeff lashed out, hitting Jane in the cheek with the bottom of the gun.

Jane cried out in pain as he stumbled backwards and his hand came up to cradle his assaulted cheek.

Jeff didn't give the blond consultant any time to recover, kicking him in the stomach and Jane's back hit the wall before he slid down.

"Stop!" Jane yelled. "What about Brenda?"

Jeff paused at the mention of his ex-girlfriend. "What about her?"

"What is she going to think?" Jane asked, looking up at Jeff. "How can you expect her to feel safe when she knows that you deal with anger by killing the person you're angry at? How can she possibly feel safe with that knowledge?"

"Because she knows." Jeff replied, aiming the gun at Jane again. "She knows that I'd never hurt her. No matter what. She knows. That's how she can feel safe."

Jane groped around in his mind for something-anything-that he could use to create some kind of bridge between himself and Jeff. Something Jeff might be able to understand. Something that Jeff would understand so well that he wouldn't kill. Oh, god. He was going to pull the trigger. His finger was moving. Right there. If there were a time for a brilliant, spur-of-the-moment, Jane idea; this was it. "What about the woman I love?" Jane blurted.

Jeff paused for a moment, a brief moment of compassion flashing across his face before they psycho killer expression returned. "Yeah, right." He snickered.

"No, I'm serious." Jane pleaded. "I'm not making her up. I haven't even really told her yet. We're not that different. You and me. We both have someone we love. That one person we trust more than anyone else in the world. You kill me and you'll never see Brenda again and I'll never be able to tell her how I feel. For someone that knows how important love is, how could you do that to someone? Not even me, but take away from the woman I love someone that loves her. I'm not just upset for myself, I'm upset for her. As well as yourself and Brenda. You're going to throw away your future with Brenda, for what? Prison? Please, don't do this. To any of us. We don't deserve that."

"What's her name?" Jeff lowered the gun slightly.

"What?"

"The woman you love. What's her name? Don't lie to me."

Jane returned Jeff's gaze as a moment of silence passed between them in the empty room. "Teresa." Jane finally managed to answer.

"Teresa, what?"

Jane just looked at Jeff, not wanting to answer that one. Jeff would make the connection when he heard the last name. Jane wasn't so much worried about Jeff making the connection, but rather, Jeff's possible reaction to the connection.

"Well?" Jeff grew impatient.

Jane just shook his head slightly, not sure what to do for once in his life.

"So, she's a lie."

"She's not."

"Then answer the question!" Jeff kicked Jane in the stomach again. "What's her name!?"

"Lisbon!" Jane gasped as Jeff's foot made contact with his stomach again, squeezing his eyes shut. "It's Lisbon!"

Jeff didn't even really have time to be shocked at his realization as the door of the room was kicked down and the police barged in. There was a swarm of shouting voices, stomping feet and two gunshots as they took Jeff down. Jane's eyes remained shut.

When it had calmed down a little bit, Jane opened his eyes and saw a gun above him. His eyes followed it as it was placed back in its holster on the hip of the owner. Jane's gaze quickly travelled from the holster, up the torso and to the familiar face that owned it.

"Jane?" Lisbon crouched down in front of him, reaching out to gently touch Jane's bruising cheek.

It took Jane a moment to register what was happening. He hadn't died. They'd saved him just in time. She was there. She was really there. Her warm fingers on his cheek proved it. He looked up at her for a second and blinked. When he could finally get his body to respond, he scrambled up and threw his arms around her in a tight hug. He buried his face in her shoulder and breathed in deeply, his whole body shaking from soreness and adrenaline.

"Jane!" Lisbon gasped as he hugged her.

"I don't think I'm ever happier to see a gun in my life, than when I see the gun is yours."
Lisbon blushed slightly at his words and gently put her arms around him. "Come on. Let's get you to an ambulance so you can get checked out." She helped him up. "Obviously something's wrong with you." Lisbon teased, trying to lighten the mood with a bit of sarcasm. "You're never happy to see a gun. You hate guns."

"Except yours. Your gun is my favourite." Jane cringed as he stepped off the front step of the house and hobbled toward an ambulance with Lisbon's help. They didn't say anything for a moment, Lisbon unsure of what kind of response a statement like that warranted. "I have something important to tell you."

"Later." Lisbon told him as she helped him onto the stretcher.

"No. Now." Jane insisted.

"Later." Lisbon repeated, more firmly. "You make sure you're not seriously hurt first."

"Lisbon-"

"He's good." Lisbon nodded at the paramedics, who then got Jane into the ambulance as she walked away.

"But-" Jane tried to protest, though it was pointless. The ambulance doors shut and he was headed off to the hospital. He was able to take comfort in knowing that he'd see her there, though. He knew she'd visit as soon as possible.

Author's Note: So, that's it for now. There's going to be a second chapter to this with Lisbon visiting Jane in the hospital, but let me know what you thought in a review. Please and thank you! I hope to get the second chapter up soon!