Chapter Text
The call came at the worst time of day. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, and Teresa’s alarm was only five minutes away from going off.
She sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her tired eyes, slapping around the mattress for where she had left her phone on the charger before passing out last night.
“This better be important”, she grumbled into the phone.
“Reese, I need your help.” Tommy’s voice came through the staticky line.
The bed frame let out a quiet squeak as Teresa sat ramrod straight, a sudden rush of adrenaline coursing through her as she heard his voice.
“What happened? Is Annibelle okay?” Teresa asked, already beginning to assess the situation, even while still in bed.
“Annie’s with Stan, I told social services to contact him so Annie wouldn’t go to foster care while I'm locked up i-”
“Locked up! What did you do?” Teresa interjects, hoping that the headache already brewing behind her eyes would go away sometime soon (it wouldn’t).
“Why do you assume I did something? That isn’t fair, you know I’m trying to do better. I didn’t do anything.” Tommy exclaims.
“These stupid cops can’t tell their ass’ from their faces,” he says with the air of someone passive aggressively trying to get a message across to a party not directly involved in the conversation.
“I just can’t with you, you need to stop trying to antagonize the people with the key to the door. Just tell me what’s going on so I can come fix it.” Teresa huffs out, already feeling like she was fifteen again.
“Yeah, come on out and fix it just like always. Little Tommy can’t handle anything himself.” Tommy’s voice sounds petulant, and Teresa feels, perhaps, closer to fourteen.
“Okay, you need to cool it. Why did you call me then if you don’t want my help?” Teresa asks while getting out of bed to dress for what is sure to be a long day.
“Hey now, I didn’t say anything about not wanting your help, did I?” Tommy says, and Teresa just knows if he were here, his hands would be held up as if placating a wild animal.
“I was rounding up a bounty in Chicago while visiting Stan. Did you know he’s fixing up our old house? Anyway, I went to the old warehouse where the fugitive was hiding out. I open the door, and he’s slumped in a corner of the warehouse, stabbed multiple times. I'm talking; knife still in him, blood everywhere stabbed, but he’s still breathing. So, I try to help him out, give him CPR, you know?”
Teresa gives a prompting hum while attempting to make herself look at all put together and well-slept.
Tommy continues, “I know that you're not supposed to take the knife out, but I’m moving him while giving him CPR, and I can see the knife is starting to come loose, so I put my hand on the knife to keep it steady, and that’s when the door bursts open, and the police come in.”
“God, Tommy,” Teresa says while slowly dragging her hands down her face, “ How do you get yourself into these situations? I’ll be there in five hours, I just need to call in to work and find a flight to Chicago. In the meantime, don’t say a damned word without a lawyer present. I also won’t be able to operate as a law enforcement officer, Chicago is far outside my jurisdiction.”
“Thank you sis, you're the best, see you when you get here.” Tommy says as if all of his problems are now solved.
“Alright, see you in about five hours. Don’t open your mouth until I get there.” Teresa says shoving her shoes onto her feet as she prepares to walk out her front door.
“Love you too Reese!” Tommy says before hanging up, sounding way to chipper for his current situation.
Teresa doesn’t know what to do, as much as she would like to pretend to. She’s not actually an all knowing big sister capable of solving all problems with the wave of a hand.
She gets in the car and rests her forehead on the steering wheel for a few seconds while letting out some slow breaths. She shakes her shoulders as if she was preparing for a fight, which in a way, she was.
As she pulls out of her driveway and starts towards the CBI headquarters to request at least a week off of work, with no excuse other than her brother is in jail for a murder that she’s only 90% sure he didn’t commit, she thinks to herself that perhaps today is not going to be her day.
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Teresa parks her car outside the CBI and forces herself to take a few steadying breaths before opening her door and walking confidently into the building. That confidence lasts all the way up in the elevator, five steps out of the elevator, and then suddenly dissipates when she sees Jane looking at her from his spot on the couch.
“Good morning, Lisbon,” Jane says, while his eyes turn assessing, “Now, where are you off to in such a hurry? Do we have a new case?”
She opens her mouth to respond, but is cut off when Jane interrupts, “No, not a case,” he says taking a few steps towards her. “Something personal.”
Seeing the way she tenses he amends to, “Something very personal then. Out with it, you know I won’t let it go, you might as well tell me.” He needles while looking intently at her with a placating smile.
“Your right, it is personal and it’s going to stay that way. I’ll be off for a week, I think you’ll probably survive without me,” Teresa says while unsubtly trying to inch towards Hightower’s office.
“Only probably?” Jane asks, while pretending to be mortally wounded by such a low assessment of his competency. “You wound me, you really do Lisbon.”
Lisbon sighs trying to hide the upward twitch of her lips, “Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to go talk to Hightower, and you need to get back to work,” if you can call dosing on the couch work.
Jane sobers slightly and his gaze suddenly becomes more intense, “Teresa, I’m serious. I can see that whatever is going on is serious. Please, just trust me on this, I can help you with whatever it is.”
The use of her first name shows how serious he is, “You won’t let this go will you? What am I saying? Of course you won’t,” Lisbon looks up the stained ceiling of the CBI building and prays for all the strength God is willing to lend her.
“My brother Tommy has been arrested for murder. He was found in an isolated building, covered in blood, with the victim who was stabbed multiple times, while holding the knife still in said victim.”
Jane seems to consider this for a second before carefully asking, “Have you considered the possibility that he did it?” He looks like he’s sorry to break this very obvious news to her.
“Yes, of course I’ve thought about it!” she exclaims, “He was found holding the knife while it was still in the victim and he isn’t know for making the world’s best decisions, but I also know he wouldn’t put Annie in that situation.”
Jane claps his hands together, “Alright that settles it, I’ll come with you and we will find the real killer.” He says this as if everything, is indeed, settled.
“Uh, no. I don’t think so,” said Lisbon, “As I said before, this is personal and I will be solving it personally, by which I mean alone.”
Jane looks at her as if this statement is incredibly stupid and simply swans around her and makes towards Hightower’s office. He smiles and turners his head over his shoulder, “Are you coming Lisbon? This is after all your personal problem we’re taking time off to solve,” he says with a smile like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
Teresa closes her eyes and revels in the fantasy that this is simply a dream and she will soon wake up, before accepting reality and walking after Jane at a brisk pace, because who knows what he will say to Hightower without supervision.
When she finally gets to Hightower’s office door, it’s just as it closes behind Jane’s back. She quickly opens the door, hoping to get ahead of whatever wild plan Jane has inevitable already thought up.
She catches just the last few syllables of whatever insane thing Jane had decided to tell Hightower as an excuse for them to both take a week off and fly to Chicago. By the look on Hightower’s face, it can’t have been anything good.
“I swear, whatever he just said is wildly untrue,” Lisbon attempts to recover whatever ground Jane has already lost them.
Hightower gives Lisbon a look, “So your brother Tommy was not arrested for a murder he didn’t commit and you and Jane don’t need a week off to fly to Chicago and find the real killer?”
Lisbon gives Jane a disbelieving look, “Okay, that is true. It’s also true that I had just finished telling Jane that I wanted to keep that personal when he decided to race in here and tell you.”
Jane at least looks slightly guilty at this characterization of the events of the last few minutes.
“My brother has gotten himself into trouble more than once, but I know him well enough to know this is not his kind of trouble. He says he didn’t do it and I believe him. He wouldn’t leave his daughter, Annibelle, in this situation.” Teresa explains to Hightower.
Hightower purses her lips and thinks for a second, “Alright, you can have a week, but that’s it. I need you back in the office by this time next week, do you understand?”
Lisbon lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, “Yes, thank you ma’am. I will be back within a week.”
Lisbon turns around and leaves the office, forcing Jane to chase after her, for a change. She’s already running through logistics in her head. She’ll need to pack a bag and book a flight. She should book the flight while she’s here to make sure she gets the earliest available.
She sits down at her desk quickly typing in the search bar to look for the soonest possible flight to Chicago from the Sacramento airport. Jane hovers over her shoulder, unusually quiet. He must actually feel slightly guilty for immediately spilling to Hightower.
However, when she moves to select only one passenger, he can’t hold back any longer, he reaches out to take control of the mouse to select two tickets and input his debit card information.
“You know, I’m a full grown adult with my own money and ability to solve cases without you? What did you think I did before you started showing up?” Lisbon asks looking up at him from her desk chair.
“Yes, yes I know your are very confident and capable Lisbon. It’s only, the cases are solved so much faster when I’m around and we only have a week,” Jane says pointedly.
Teresa considerds that he’s probably right, she only has a week. If she has any chance of catching the killer, without a badge, in a city she hasn’t stepped foot in since her youngest brother turned 18, with no suspects besides her brother, she’ll probably need Jane’s keen eye and hairbrained schemes.
“Okay,” Teresa relents,”You can come with me, but their will be ground rules.”
Jane looks thrilled, “Pefect, I’ll drive us to the airport. Do you have a bag packed already or do we need to stop by your house?”
“What?” Lisbon asks feeling like she’s rather lost control of the situation, “Yes, I need to stop by my house and pack a bag. Do you not need to stop home and pack a bag?” She considers just how much time he must spend putting himself together each day and thinks there is no way he’s leaving without at least a suitcase packed.
Jane smiles, “No need, I already have one packed up in the attic, I’ll go grab it. Don’t even think of running away while I grab it.” he leaves her behind moving at a brisk pace as if he really is worried that she’ll run away while he’s not looking.
Lisbon considers that the fear is probably not unfounded, but in the end she knows that he’ll end up catching her, so she might as well wait. While she’s waiting she looks up where her brother is being held, it’s too early for bond to have been set. Even so, she doubts she would have been able to afford it. You’d think she’d be paid better with how often she has to come in early and work into the night.
Jane comes down the hallway with a medium navy blue suitcase rolling behind him. He looks the slightest bit surprised for half a second, as if he thought that she might have left, even with his warning to stay put.
Not an unfounded fear considering how nervous and keyed up she felt. She couldn’t stop thinking about going back to Chicago and the memories she had buried there. She especially couldn’t stop thinking of Stan fixing up their old house, and the fact she would definitely have to, at the very least, visit the house while she was there.
She was both dreading having Jane by her side, as she knew he would easily be able to tell everything that had happened there, and slightly relieved because as much as Jane was an annoying brat, he was a friend she trusted to have her back.
Soon, they would be on their way to Chicago. The plane lifting from the tarmac with a shudder, and the weight of the past already bearing down on her shoulders. That headache was definitely not going anywhere soon.