AN:
WARNING: *Character death* But well it's not as sad one expects it to be in this scenario.It does have a different kind of 'Happily ever after'. :) Psychological Alternate universe.
Rated 'T' for certain abusive words and a strong theme.
He rang the bell impatiently one more time and then he decided he was just going to pick the lock because for him it was much easier than to break it open; it will just take 2 to 3 seconds, for he was a pro in it. Every other door might take a minute or so but he had already picked this one before, so it was even more easier the second time for he had always been a very quick learner.
If it was some other time, he would have been cocky about this… but now he barely registered what he was doing. He was in a hurry. He was in so much of a hurry that it clouded his all other senses. He didn't even bother to inform the team about the letter. And no it had nothing to do with his indispensable need for revenge…no, just then his primal need was to see her safe. At that moment he did not even bother whether Red John was alive or not… all he wanted was to see her alive.
He rushed inside and ran upstairs yelling her name with all the hope that his heart ever possessed. He pushed open the door to her bedroom and there he stood motionless as if he had always been nothing more than a statue all his life.
The sight in front of him was the worst anyone had ever seen. She was bathed in her own blood and the sinister red smiley face drawn on the wall with her blood. The sight would have made every sane person nauseous. But after few seconds, he regained his human form and moved towards her. He knelt besides her and started to wipe the blood of her face. When suddenly a voice spoke behind him.
"Patrick Jane… it's so good to see that at last you have come on time for something for once in your life; well even though she is anything but alive." The voice changed into an insane sadistic laugh for few seconds and then continued with the same tone, " Hmm so what do you think of my handiwork this time? This is the culmination of all the works of art I have created till now and it is dedicated to you Patrick…only to you. So if you have regained your senses lets get to the more interesting part; the part where you want to torture me to death like I did to all the people you loved… the part where you foolishly think you will achieve what you ever dreamt of." And that laugh again… only this time it's mixed with a mocking tone turning it into the most sinister sound anyone could ever have heard in their lifetime.
The silence was chilling. It extended for several minutes only to be broken by a small chuckle. He, the mighty Red John, for first time in his life was confused. He glared at the form of his nemesis to check out what he found so amusing about this situation; as to how dare he mock at his masterpiece. But his thoughts were broken when he heard him talking almost whispering.
" Aww… sweet heart, now who did this to you? " the same chuckle again followed by," you know somebody has put red color paint all over your face. Now I promise I didn't do this but I guess I know who it might be…hmm…If I'm right…It must be Lace. You know how much she likes messing with her Aunt Teresa. I really should tell her not to mess with your face and hair like this for I know you won't even say a word to her even after all this. You really love kids don't you?" He smiled conspiratorially and whispered " we really should plan for a few you know… you will be an awesome mother." He spoke as if he did not want to wake her up from her blissful sleep.
He was talking to his wife, his Teresa… for in his world she was his wife and they were living happily in a small house; small because she did not prefer huge mansions which ofcourse he could easily afford but she had always felt too lost in those things. She preferred their small house in their quite and friendly neighbourhood which had lots of children . And all those children loved their Aunt Teresa and Uncle Patrick. She still was the boss of SCU of CBI and he was still her annoying consultant. The only difference was that that he didn't have a horrific past and she never had that troubled childhood. And Red john never existed.
The man with the sinister voice who stood baffled watching this whole scene unfold in front of him felt deceived…deceived of his victory. He wanted Jane to suffer the loss of his beloved Lisbon, although they were never in a relationship or for that matter even acknowledged to even themselves what they felt for each other, he knew how very important she was to him. He had waited these 10 years, just for that… for them to become closer than ever. He actually wanted to do this after they were romantically involved in some way or married would have been even better. But even after 10 years those two were too careful to do anything of that sort and his patience was waning, so he decided this wait would have to do, in these 10 years how much ever close they were had to be sufficient to cause the pain he very badly wanted to see in the eyes of Patrick Jane. After all he was his nemesis… somehow everything he did in his life ever since he heard that arrogant man on television was to taunt him, to torture him and to defeat him.
But now suddenly all those years of waiting seemed to had gone into vain. He couldn't even cherish his victory. He had always spared his life because he needed him for his sick little game… to show him that he would always win against him… but now he was gone… his nemesis was gone… Like how uninteresting it would have been if in the superman's adventures, kryptonite never existed? Or if Batman didn't have a Joker to trouble him all the time? It would have been bloody boring and that was exactly how it was now. There was nobody to whom he could gloat his victory to, for victory wasn't victory if he could not gloat about it to his fallen enemy. And now it did not even seem like victory at all. There he was, his enemy smiling happily leaning on the corpse as if he, Red John didn't even exist! There never can be worse insult than that.
Just when he was contemplating how to deal with the greatest insult somebody have ever subjected him to, the team arrived barging through those wretched doors. He was so unsure of himself that the only thing which came to his mind was to finish this game before they caught him. So he shot him. And there was that deafening silence again which were broken only by the blaring sirens.
There were two lifeless bodies on the floor and one severely wounded person. The team stood there in some abnormal daze staring at the two lifeless forms and a blood drenched back of the wounded person. But what brought them out of it was the slow whispering noise coming from the person with blood drenched coat. His face wasn't visible. And they could barely hear his whispers but what they could decipher in their current mind set was something like," hmm now what do you want for breakfast today? I think blueberry pancakes with your favorite bacon and scrambled eggs and yeah… not to forget you divine but oh so unhealthy elixir to go with it. So what say darling? " a small pause and it continued, "oh OK I will let you sleep till I finish it… now no need to frown in your sleep" he chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose.
All the three agents stood shell shocked unable to believe today was anything but real. The whole day had been so unrealistic… Yet the sense that it was all nothing but the brutal reality set in when they could hear Jane shouting and fighting wildly with the paramedics who were trying to pry him away from the lifeless body of their Boss, without even a small recognition about not only that he had a severe wound potentially fatal looking at all the blood loss but also that their boss was not just sleeping for the time being but was probably sleeping forever now.
They at last took him away after they gave him a shot of sedatives and then after the CSU started sweeping the crime scene the bodies were zipped up and taken away. Everything seemed surreal… the dead body of that bloody B** whom they were searching for years on end, who had destroyed the life of their friend and now had taken away their Boss…or the three bullets which each of them had so unregretfully shoved into that wretched body…everything just about every thing seemed like it was just a scene out of their worst nightmares.
And then came the sense of loss…it hadn't even begun to set in fully and they seemed to feel this sad...what would happen if they really started to feel it? They didn't even bother to imagine.
One week later:
All the three had finished the official investigation which each were subjected to due to the fact that the 3 agents had shot a man dead simultaneously and had shot in three strategic places. One bullet was found to be lodged in his forehead, another directly in his heart and the other in the abdomen almost near his groin. Cho had shot in his forehead, Rigsby in his heart and Grace to his abdomen. Each one had the same story to tell, that they needed to stop him before he killed them all. But the truth that they had intended to torture and kill that bloody B** before he planned to kill himself would never be revealed. It would be hidden inside their hearts forever along with the fact that none of them were having an ounce of guilt about what they did.
Their reasoning was accepted without much further questioning because even the person who was questioning them, La Roche, felt no sympathy to that evil soul; after all CBI had lost their best agent.
Later, the three agents sat in the van and drove to a place where they normally would never have. It had been 5 days since senior agent Teresa Lisbon was laid to rest in her permanent resting place, amid a huge crowd of people who were touched by her during her brief but productive life. All but one important person was missing in that crowd of tearful faces. He was no where to be seen but no one questioned his absence.
The three now arrived at their destination. It was a huge and spacious building surrounded by many trees but there was an air of sadness surrounding it, at least for the people who came there to visit. They were now in front of the 'California State Institute of mental health and research' building.
They inquired in the reception and then set to climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator; they needed time to prepare themselves to the sight what they were about to witness. They know it can never be easy…not now and not ever.
He had woken up in the hospital shouting for his Teresa, who for some reason whom he claimed was his wife. He was trying to pull out all the IV lines and tubes connected to him. His wound was not as fatal as it seemed, the bullet had not hit any of the vital structures as it passed through the back of his neck narrowly missing his carotid artery and the jugular vein and the blood loss was to the deep laceration in the flesh, nothing to grave. But still it was substantial enough to keep him on IV fluids considering his already weakened state of the body.
They had tried to calm him and even tried to tell him the truth that she was no more, but he wouldn't take a word of it and almost slapped the nurse who dared to tell him that his Teresa was not alive. They had then kept him on sedatives for few more days hoping that when he wakes up he would be calm enough to face the reality. But all their hopes were in destroyed when he woke up on the fourth day; two days after she was laid to rest...because this time he seemed to be different; he was calm none the less but just too calm and composed for comfort. He said he was waiting for her to wake up from her slumber as she was tired after their latest case. And almost after 2 hours of this unnatural calm state he started talking to his wife again, but only this time there was nobody next to him.
The team (well not exactly a team now; were they? ) arrived at the third floor of the monotonous white building in search of one of their own, their old team mate. Even though he rarely openly accepted to them that he belonged with them, they knew he did and more importantly, they did.
The sight they saw was nothing like they expected which was too see a sad, unhappy...broken Jane. But instead there he was even though not in his usual tailor made three piece suit he looked happier than they had ever seen him. May be this was how the original Patrick Jane was… one which their boss never got to see in her lifetime. The sense of loss was omnipresent now and doubted if it would ever vanish completely and in some part of their heart, they knew they never wanted her memory to vanish away completely, she was worth so much more than that.
They approached Jane carefully as if either he would break or maybe they would. And in some part they dreaded that in his alternate universe there might be no place for them, they might not even exist there. The thought hurt. But they needn't have worried for Jane and his wife would never forget them, they were always her beloved team for him, no matter where they were.
Jane spoke," Ahh there they are Lisbon, weren't you just asking me as to where they had gone without informing you, now you can scold them to your heart's content." Looking at them now he said in a low conspiratory tone," you guys should have at least told me where you were going, now she is really mad." He almost chucked as if he saw her rolling her eyes at his comments. And he turned back and continued his conversation with his Teresa about something which the agents assumed was some sort of imaginary theory about an imaginary case they were supposed to be solving. They stood there speechless looking at him. They were back to the state they where when they heard him talk to her first at the crime scene.
Just then a doctor came towards them and said she wanted to talk to them and motioned them silently towards a room. The four of them moved into what seemed like an empty room with few chairs and benches rather than an office.
" I presume you are Cho, Rigsby and Grace? Hi, I'm Dr. Lily Parish, a junior doctor here and I'm incharge of Mr. Jane's case." They nodded in approval wondering how she knew their names but they unspoken question was answered as she continued again, "Mr. Jane keeps speaking about you all to his wife… Oh I'm sorry I mean late Teresa Lisbon who I believe was his boss and if I presume right, yours too."
They nodded gain in approval and she continued. "He now lives in a world where he has hallucinated versions of each one of you. In his world he is happily married to his boss and they still solve crimes along with you guys who belong to her team. And the rest of us here at the hospital are almost non-existent to him; we are all like the people who just come and go by your office or passerby on the street."
She paused for a moment, her reactions almost decipherable and then continued in a more clinical tone. " We are giving him medicines which we believe will cure his disease but to say frankly we have little hope regarding his condition, as it is much more severe than before, and now it seems as if he really doesn't have any reason to come back out of his imaginary world."
Grace spoke, " I'm sorry Doc, but I can't grasp the reason why he is suddenly calling Boss as his wife. They never were involved that way when she was alive."
Dr. Parish, " Well I can only speculate here but it looks like when he witnessed her death, all his deep desires and feelings he had for her were let loose. And his mind blocked out all the sad memories of his life including his past and present."
The three came back to see Jane… but it dint seem he missed them as he was busily talking to the imaginary version of their boss. They stood there… sadness etched on their face…with all the poignant memories of their good times together flooding their minds.
Then suddenly they heard him laugh… a truly genuine laugh which they were sure they had never heard from Jane for all the years they have known him. This had them wondering whether hoping him to come back to reality where everything is dark and completely filled with loneliness for him was a good thing at all… Because here he was happy… here he could still be with his Lisbon… He could still joke around and believe nothing bad had ever happened at all. What did reality hold in comparison to this happiness he possessed? Nothing… nothing at all. And they thought, what right did any of them, the so called sane people had, to call Jane insane? Because the reason that they couldn't see what he saw was too feeble for that. For no one knows what happens to the soul after life… they may never know… but there could be a possibility that they may exist. Well at least in his case, whatever the truth may or may not be… the imaginary world he seemed to have created for himself seemed far better than their sad reality.
Just when they were about to turn and leave him to his blissful world… all three of them saw something which neither of them would ever say it aloud, even to each other… They saw their boss who was standing with an arm around her consultant's shoulder and talking to him and then she slightly turned back and gave them a wink accompanied by a truly happy smile as if to convey the point and then she vanished…to exist only through his eyes.
If they had any doubt remaining … it was dispelled and a small smile came on each of their lips, even on the lips of the ever stoic Cho. Now they were convinced. After all everyone…everyone including their boss and her annoying consultant deserve a 'happily ever after', regardless of which ever world they are in… And according to these three no deserved it more than those two.
AN: Uff... that was abnormally long even for me! And I seriously don't know what came over me to write this long drabble which ultimately seems to make no sense. But in my defense I should say this is my first Mentalist fan fiction and thinking along this show's lines has got me all confused, so please do cut me some slack for that. :)
And yeah I would love to read your reviews regarding this, so please do take a minute to do so.
Disclaimer : I don't own The Mentalist. (I'm sure you would have guessed that by now after reading this loony stuff. ;))