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The next couple of cases were done with professionalism, well from everyone but Patrick. They dealt with Carnelian, Inc. where the boss killed his employees. Then they dealt with the hypnotism case. Kim felt awful that he wasn’t there when it all went down, hearing that Rigsby almost threw Patrick off a building. Kim didn’t care that the man was hypnotized, he almost punched his partner the next time he saw him. Only Patrick stopped him from doing so.
Following the hypnotism case, they had that case in Hollywood, where an actress had her daughter’s boyfriend kill her husband. It was a large mess, but nothing Patrick’s knowledge couldn’t figure out. Then they dealt with the Marshalls over a witness protection case. Patrick got involved with a former mob boss which made Kim nervous, but they all came out of it unscathed.
They easily dealt with two con artists, both working the same man, and Patrick solved it all because of scuffs on a man’s shoes. The team then dealt with a bunch of teens at a high school wilderness program. Patrick easily solved that one too, catching a rapist and a murderer in the same case.
Through all these cases, Kimball and Patrick grew closer. They spent all their free time together and Kim lovingly fucked Patrick whenever they spent the night together, which was often.
Van Pelt still didn’t come closer to finding out about their relationship, Rigsby was supportive about it, and Lisbon pretended it wasn’t happening.
The two of them still hadn’t said I love you yet, not since they admitted they were falling for each other. However, neither felt the need to say it. They felt it when they made love and when they were with each other.
Things were great for them, until Red John reared his ugly head again.
When Patrick saw the body, he instantly knew something was off about it. Then he noticed the traits of a Red John killing, followed by the sky art of his kill sign, and Patrick knew things were going to be rough for a while. But this time, he’d catch this guy.
When Patrick found out the girl was a twin, he knew this case was personal for Red John, since he changed motifs. Red John either knew the victims or knew someone close to them. Patrick worked the case with an intensity he didn’t normally have, and it worried Kimball. He hated seeing Patrick this reckless and invested.
Then Patrick started to pull away from Kim. At first it wasn’t intentional, and then once Patrick noticed he was doing it, he kept it up. Red John was personal for Patrick, and Patrick was personal for Red John. Patrick once again had something to lose in this battle of wits, and he wasn’t willing to lose anything else to this killer.
Patrick wasn’t willing to lose Kim. If he kept his distance, maybe Red John wouldn’t pick up that Kim was important to him. If Red John already knew, well Patrick didn’t know what he’d do if he lost the man. It was easier to hope that the killer might leave Kim alone.
Kim didn’t like this. Over the several days they worked the case, Patrick was distant. They hardly spoke and neither got much sleep, staying in the office to all hours. Patrick hardly looked at Kim, and the man seemed to withdraw into himself. Kim didn’t know how to help the man out of his head.
He knew Patrick became reckless when it came to Red John, willing to do anything to catch the guy, even put himself in danger. So even though Patrick was pushing him away, Kim kept a close eye on his lover. He also trusted Lisbon to keep the man safe when he was sent away to canvas for the stuffed elephant.
That’s when things went to hell. They discovered that Red Johns’ friend was the sheriff in town, Hardy, and Rigsby and Kim knew Lisbon and Patrick were likely with the man. They frantically called and had their location tracked. By the time they got there, Red John was long gone, and Hardy was taken down by Lisbon.
During their frantic search, Kim had shut down. He had been internally freaking out, not able to lose Patrick. Not like this. So when they found them, Kim was shaken with relief and anger. Lisbon told them what the plan had been and Kim was beyond furious. How could Lisbon allow this, and how could Patrick put himself in such danger.
Patrick tried to slip out of the scene, past Kim, but Kim pulled him to a stop and dragged him to another room of the house. Patrick looked anywhere but at Kim, and that just ticked him off more.
“You’ve been pushing me away.”
“Can we not do this now?”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You rather just push me away until I get the message and leave you. I’m not an idiot, Patrick.”
“We just got our first real lead in the Red John case. We have other things to be doing rather than discussing us.”
“Fine, you want to discuss the case? How could you be so stupid, as to put yourself in that position?! He could have shot you!” Kim raised his voice.
“Then he would have led Lisbon to Red John. We would have had him.”
“And you’d be dead!”
“So? Red John is the priority.”
“You’re an idiot if you think finding Red John is more important to any of us than your safety.”
“That’s where you’re all blind! We have a serial killer to catch, my safety isn’t important.”
“Of course it is!”
“How can you put my safety above all his future victims? My death would have led us right to him, and he’d be done killing.”
“I put you above them because I love you, you idiot! I can’t lose you.”
“And I can’t lose you either, which is why Red John can’t know anything about us. There can’t be an us, Kim.”
“You are not pushing me away because you’re scared of him. I won’t allow it.” Kim stepped into Patrick’s personal space. “I know you’ve lost a lot because of him, but I am not them. I am a federal agent and I can protect myself. You do not get to push me away like this, I won’t allow it.”
“And I won’t allow you to be killed by Red John because of me.”
“Well you’ll have to stick around and keep an eye on me then, won’t you? You do not get to push me away, understand?”
Patrick finally looked Kim in the eyes. Kim met him dead on, and his anger was gone, replaced by fierce determination.
Patrick nodded. “Okay.”
“Now lets go get that bastard back to CBI so we can find out what he knows.”
“I don’t think we’re going to get anything from him.”
“We’ll see.” Kim led the way out of the house. Rigsby had already left and Lisbon was talking to the girl. Kim headed towards Lisbon.
Everything happened in a flash. Hardy was cuffed to the stretcher one second, the next he’d taken the deputy’s gun, shot him and had the weapon pointed at Lisbon and Kim before they could even think of grabbing their own weapons. Then a shot rang out.
Kim looked over to see Patrick holding a smoking shot gun. He quickly dropped the gun. The two of them headed to Hardy’s side and the man died laughing at them. Patrick dropped to his knees and stared at nothing. Kim worried the man was in shock and helped him up and over to the front steps of the house.
Patrick had just killed a man. He couldn’t believe it. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once. He knew one day he would do such a thing, he just thought it would be Red John he’d killed, not an apprentice and his only lead in the case that he’d shot. He was furious with himself. How could he shoot his only lead after explaining to Kim that their safety wasn’t of importance. He knew how, it was because Kim was in danger and he couldn’t lose the man.
But how was he supposed look at himself in the mirror after killing their one chance at finding Red John. Tears of anger formed in his eyes and he felt Kim wrap an arm around him and whisper nothings in his ear. Kim thought he was in shock over killing someone. Maybe he was, but all Patrick felt was pure anger.
Somehow Kim got him into a car and back to the CBI. Then Kim took him back to his place, all the while Patrick didn’t say a word. He stared out the window.
He let Kim lead him up to the man’s apartment and help him get changed. Once the two of them were in bed, Patrick finally spoke.
“I just killed a man.”
“Yes, but it’ll-.”
“How could I be so stupid! I killed out only lead in the case, Kim.”
“You saved mine and Lisbon’s lives, Patrick. You did what you had to do.”
“If I had only just grazed him instead of shooting him straight on, he could still be alive. He could have led us to Red John and this case would finally be over.”
Kim laid on his side, facing Patrick, and laid his hand on the man’s chest. “We both know Hardy wasn’t going to tell us a thing. It was a dead end.”
Patrick considered Kim’s words and knew it was true. His anger dissipated, then grief struck him. He’d just killed a man, who was a killer, but still. He’d just taken a life. He soon felt tears on his cheeks. Kim pulled him into his arms and Patrick cried into the man’s shoulder.
Rationally, he knew he did the right thing, and tomorrow he’d feel better, but right now, he had to grieve over killing another human.