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Cho wasn’t the jealous type. He believed getting jealous was a waste of time and energy. He’d only cared about a few people in the past enough to even consider getting jealous. Then there was Jane. He cared about the man, likely more than he’d admit at the moment, so when a beautiful woman called Jane for a favor, and the man immediately went to help, Cho got curious. But definitely not jealous.
As the team tried to figure out who killed Alex Nelson, the woman kept popping up in their investigation. But since Jane claimed she was innocent, they believed him, at first. Lisbon also seemed to know more about who the woman was than Cho did, and that irked the man, but still no jealousy was found, honestly. He was the one dating Jane, he should be in on the sensitive information.
At one point he went to ask Jane, but Jane told him he’d tell him the whole story once the case was solved. Cho agreed to that, barely.
Jane knew Cho wasn’t the jealous type. It didn’t match up with anything he knew about the guy, but at the same time, it did. Cho was the type to care about something with 100 percent of himself or not at all. There was little in between. So to see jealousy coming off the man when he asked about Sophia, was a nice shock. It meant that Cho really cared about him, which Jane already knew, but it was always nice to be reminded.
Now Jane just needed to get his own feelings sorted out and everything would be square. He knew himself, and knew he was enjoying his time with Cho. He also knew he was falling for Cho, because he recognized the signs in himself. He always smiled at the man, he watched him all the time, and was distracted by Cho way too easily not to be enamored by him. The only thing keeping him from falling head over heels for the man was his wife.
He still wore his wedding ring every day and he loved his wife dearly. He sometimes felt guilty for moving on, but he also knew logically that his Angela would want him to do exactly that. He wasn’t going to stop searching for the killer, so he knew Angela wouldn’t hold his love for Cho against him. But he couldn’t seem to let her go, and he felt he owed it to Cho to talk about that, inform him of what was going on in his head.
He usually loved to share his thinking, often showing off. But this was different, personal. He didn’t share personal feelings with anyone. Could he with Cho? He felt like he could, and he definitely should.
He would start with explaining Sophia.
After the case was finished, Jane invited himself over to Cho’s place, feeling like that was the best place to have the Sophia conversation. Cho made them tea and they got situated on the couch, facing each other, but sitting so that their knees touched.
“Lisbon said you kissed a girl today.”
Jane sighed. That explained why Cho was a little tense. “Of course she did. So she failed to explain that it was on the cheek.”
“Yes.”
“It was on the cheek, Kimball. It was a thank you and goodbye cheek kiss. Nothing to worry about.”
Cho nodded. “Who is she to you?”
“After Charlotte and Angela were murdered…I had a breakdown. I lost myself. Sophia was my psychiatrist in the mental facility. She saved my life.”
Jane watched as Cho’s whole demeanor changed. He went from tense, to sympathetic, to understanding.
“She became this symbol of hope in my mind as she helped me become myself again. But she meant nothing more than that to me. We helped her because I owed her my life. That debt’s been paid…I hope to never see her again.”
Cho reached out and grabbed Jane’s hand, for which Jane was grateful.
“I only told Lisbon before you because she demanded a reason for her putting her career on the line for me.”
“I understand.”
Jane nodded and kissed the back of Cho’s hand. Jane smiled. “It was nice to see you jealous though.”
“I don’t get jealous.”
“Hmm.” Jane changed the subject to lighter things for the rest of the evening. His emotional issues could wait until another night.
The next three weeks were filled with Red John. The team worked to get Jared Renfrew off from his murder charge and once they did they waited two weeks for him to get released. During those three weeks, Jane spent every second of free time going back over the Red John case in detail. After several nights of not seeing Jane, Cho ended up staying late in the office and going over the case with the man. They discussed theories and ideas, but nothing new came to light.
Finally, the day came where Jared Renfrew was released and Cho, Jane and Rigsby went to pick him up. By this point Rigsby had long since forgiven Cho for hiding his relationship with Jane and was now nosey about it.
After they picked Renfrew up, they grabbed Renfrew some food and coffee and then headed to the safehouse. They all believed that Red John would be after Renfrew since the man had promised to tell them about the killer. What Cho wasn’t expecting was a face full of hot coffee, which is what he got before Renfrew jumped out of the car and ran off.
For the next several hours, Cho stewed in his anger. He knew it was his fault, having been in the back seat with Renfrew, meaning he was to keep an eye on him. Lisbon yelled at him to quit blaming himself and then Jane patted him on the shoulder, claiming the blame for himself. But Cho knew deep down it was his fault their only lead for the Red John case was gone, and he was shocked Jane wasn’t angry with him. This case, after all, was everything to Jane.
Then Jane got a call from Renfrew, and they discovered the man was in Tijuana. Rigsby, Jane and Lisbon headed down there, leaving Cho and Van Pelt behind. This meant Cho paced the office for hours as they waited to hear from the team. Lisbon called saying Red John got there first and any evidence from the crime scene was headed their way. Van Pelt and himself were going through the information sent from the crime scene when Cho finally got a call from Jane.
He headed to the breakroom, away from Van Pelt before answering. “Cho.”
“I just wanted to let you know we’re on our way back.”
“Okay. Patrick, I wanted to let you know-.”
“Don’t apologize, not now, Cho.”
Cho hated that Jane used his last name. That could mean he’s around the others, or that he’s angry. He’d prefer the former, but expected the latter. “Okay,”
“We’ll be back early tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.”
Jane hung up without another word.
Cho felt sick. Now Jane was angry with him, like he should be. He’d fucked up. Would Jane end things because of this? Cho had no idea.
Jane hated how dejected Cho sounded on the phone. But he was sitting next to Lisbon in the car; he couldn’t comfort the man properly, so he didn’t try at all. He knew immediately that Cho thought he was angry with him, and maybe he should be, but he wasn’t. There was nothing Cho could have done to stop Renfrew from running off. Not with a face full of coffee. Even Jane hadn’t noticed the signs that Renfrew was planning an escape. How could Cho?
The flight back to CBI headquarters was short, but for Jane it seemed to drag on. He knew Cho was stewing in self-hatred and he hated that he wasn’t there to stop it. But there was nothing he could do at the moment, so he focused on the case at hand instead. He sat there and considered what the message on the wall meant, but there were too many possibilities. It could have literally meant anything.
By the time they landed and got back to the office, Jane was exhausted and frustrated. Lisbon immediately sent everyone home for some rest since Cho and Van Pelt were still there. Jane discreetly texted Cho asking if he could come over. Cho agreed.
Jane noticed the way Cho was tense, however, and he knew that the man was still furious with himself. Jane quickly headed home, grabbed some clothes, and then drove to Cho’s place. Cho answered the door immediately.
Once the door was closed behind him, Jane pulled Cho into a mind-numbing kiss. “I’m not mad at you.” Jane said after they broke apart.
“You should be. It’s my fault our first good lead in the case is gone.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It is.”
“Kimball, it isn’t. You can’t read minds, there was no way to know what Renfrew was planning.”
“I still should have been ready for anything.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But there’s no point in stewing on the past. We need to focus on the here and now.”
Cho didn’t look convinced, but nodded.
“Is it okay if I sleep here?”
“Sure.”
Cho led the way to the bedroom. They both changed into comfier clothes and then climbed into bed together. Jane laid his head on Cho’s chest and they quickly fell asleep.