Lisbon first met Jane when he came to the CBI to get information about the serial killer Red John in the episode Red Dawn. Although she showed sympathy for him and his loss, at first she felt uncomfortable because of his behavior. Later, she asked for his help in a murder investigation and seemed to accept him into her team after Minelli offered him a job.
Lisbon cares deeply about Jane, and although he constantly gets her into trouble because of his reckless and suspicious behavior, they have formed a close friendship. Over time, Lisbon began to develop strong romantic feelings for Jane.
She rarely shows her affection for him, although it is likely he recognizes her feelings for him. When Jane disappeared for six months in the final episode of the fourth season, she was visibly upset, and when she discovered Jane's affair with Red John's accomplice, Lorelei Martins, she appeared jealous and hurt. Jane once told her that he loved her, which she asked him about and seemed afraid to address, and Jane claimed she did not remember what he said.
They seemed closer in the fifth season, although Lisbon was constantly torn between her feelings for Jane and the fear that he might go too far to extract information from Lorelei.
In the final episode of the fifth season, Red John's Rules, Lisbon and Jane's budding relationship was once again brought to light. This time, Lisbon was the one questioned about her feelings. Lisbon and Jane visited Sean Barlow, a "psychic," who asked to see what Lisbon was hiding just by reading it on her face after asking her where she was the previous night (as she had asked him) and told Lisbon that she had "lain in bed and thought about Patrick." He suggested that Lisbon "had a little feeling" for Jane, but Lisbon did not deny it and only turned away, embarrassed. Sean Barlow then continued to tell her that Jane was "mysterious and controlling," suggesting that this was a difficult thing for her to accept, which she still did not deny. Trying to save Lisbon from Barlow's embarrassing confession, Jane redirected the conversation, but it was too late. The truth was already written all over her face.
In Fire and Brimstone, Jane hugged Lisbon and told her how much she meant to him but then left her on the beach to confront the Red John suspects. In the episode My Blue Heaven, during Jane's negotiation with Abbot, Lisbon seemed to become jealous when Agent Kim Fisher was introduced to her because she sensed a potential romantic attraction between her and Jane. At that time, Jane had met Kim Fisher while on the island, although he did not know she was an FBI agent.
In My Blue Heaven, set two years later, it is revealed that Jane, the fugitive, had been writing letters to Lisbon during his absence. Lisbon kept the letters he sent her in a special box and sometimes reread them. This showed that Lisbon seemed to have missed Jane deeply and her romantic feelings for him may have grown stronger. She also had a seashell on her desk that Abbot hinted might have been sent to her by Jane as a gift, as he was living in a tropical, oceanic environment at the time. When they reunited later in the episode, she was delighted to see him again.
Unfortunately, her growing feelings for him also seemed to bring insecurity regarding their relationship. In the episode Green Thumb, Lisbon scolded Jane for running away from her again, for treating her like his sidekick, and for not caring about her feelings. In return for coming back to the U.S. to work for the FBI, Jane demanded that the FBI also give Lisbon a job. However, he did not consult her first. Jane apologized, and at the end of the episode, Lisbon decided to accept the job offer and work at the FBI with Jane.
In the later episodes of the sixth season, after Jane was unable to express his feelings for her, Lisbon started dating Marcus Pike and then decided to move to Washington D.C. with Pike and accept his marriage proposal. However, throughout that time, it was clear that she truly wanted to be with Jane. Finally, in the final episode of the sixth season, Blue Bird, Jane realized his true feelings and declared his love for Lisbon on the plane as she was about to leave for D.C. Lisbon decided to return to Texas and meet Jane, where she kissed him in the airport security office and told him she reciprocated his feelings.
In the seventh season, Lisbon and Jane are in a romantic relationship, though not without some conflict. Jane, still recovering from his past trauma, had a hard time dealing with seeing Lisbon in dangerous situations at work. Lisbon did not want to give up her career and told Jane he needed to stop pulling her out of the path of oncoming trains because there was always another train coming. Throughout most of the season, he also wore his old wedding ring. Jane proposed to Lisbon in the series finale, White Orchids, telling her that his old wedding ring could also represent his future, as he would never have met Lisbon if he had not worn the ring. He gave Lisbon the ring, and she decided to wear it on a chain along with the cross her late mother had given her. The couple got married in the final episode. After they exchanged vows, Lisbon told Jane that she was pregnant with their child. Jane had bought 24 acres of property in the Texas hills and planned to renovate a cabin where they would live.
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