Disclaimer: ok, wait a sec, let me check on my legal papers...no, it's not here, not even here, ah, wait, I got it! Uhm, nope, I don't own the Mentalist or Green Lantern...


Note: Ok, I know ypou're wondering what I'm doing. in retorpsect, I think you shpould be informed that I don't know it either. so, I'll not have problems with critics. Also, since I don't have idea where this thing will led me, don't wait too mcuh for updates, 'cause it could be painful- I know it will be for me.


The first time Minelli introduce them in his office, the breath dies in her throat. There is no way she couldn't recognize him, even after all this time, even after so many years… how couldn't she recognize him, how could she even contemplate the idea of forgetting him? No, it couldn't happen… not after all that has been between them in the past.

She shivers, her eyes dilated in fear and, maybe, anticipation. She gulps, and a minimal switch in his posture, the moment their eyes meet, tells her everything she needs to know – he knows who she is, or, at least, he feels like he knows her, recognizes her from somewhere.

She doesn't know how he did it, after all, she has changed a lot since she has been a 16 years old, and she has even tried to change her appearance, as much as she could do without surgery, but, still… still, all the changes have been made to make her resemble more her beloved late mother, with her dark hair and green eyes, whereas her hair used to be lighter and her eyes almost grey. Maybe that is the reason he immediately recognized her, because a part of him still remembers the lovely woman who cared about him like a son, well aware that her daughter didn't share any sibling affection for the child… the lovely woman who abandoned him like his own real mother had done, taking away with her one of the most precious things in the boy's world.

"Mr. Jane, I'd like to introduce to you the head of Serious Crime Unit, Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon"

Yet again he shivers while he approaches the dark haired woman to shake her hand, and for a moment, she thinks she may be save, that he may be considering the option that he'd been mistaken in his first assumption, but she should have known better. This is, after all, the boy wonder they are talking about. Her searching for his shivers gave her away. If he didn't know before, now he does- they know each other from somewhere, from somewhen.

"You know, I don't know why, but I feel like I already met you before" his eyes… his eyes are almost shining in triumph as he realizes who she is, that it's her for real, even if a shade of pain is well visible, trace of what he has seen, a long time before, as betrayal. Images of the past start to run through her mind, and she has to fight back the menacing tears. "But I'm pretty sure I'd remember you if we did, Agent Lisbon" he almost hisses her name, her new name, the one she has used since she is more or less 16, after… after everything went to hell. His grip on her hand gets stronger and stronger, her hand is almost in pain, she is in pain, although her pain is emotional and not physical. She has been in pain since that day, the pain getting bigger and bigger, always present in a part of her mind, never leaving, never, ever…

"Lisbon, Mr. Jane is the man I talked you about… he'll be your team's consultant. Of course, we'll give it a try for a couple of weeks first, but I'm positive that you'll work well together. I think that the both of you could bring the CBI to a new level."

She just nods in silence, and leaves the office, hands in her pockets, trying her best to keep a normal demeanor, to keep her composure. She still can't believe it is happening for real, even if she has always known that they could eventually meet again, if she didn't leave California- but after all, what were the odds of meeting him, in state where millions and millions of people live? Apparently they were against me. Of all the police forces in California, why, why did he have to choose hers to become a consultant? And why hadn't Minelli told her his name first thing first? If she'd known, she'd said no, shed' tried to avoid it, but she knows she couldn't, not really.

After all, Patrick Jane is going to be her consultant just because he wants to get Red John, and she has the Red John case… he wants to get some kind of closure, of revenge on the man who had killed Angela Ruskin, his wife… the girl he once couldn't stand when they were children, they girl he got to care about like a sister, the girl he escaped the carnie world with… at the end, even if he kept saying it wasn't Angela he was in love with, he choose her, he escaped with her, married her, had a child with her… and now he is looking for revenge, looking for her killer, two years after she had left him permanently.

This is proof enough of what she has tried her best to deny with a passion, proof enough that her father in in his drunken outbursts, has been right from the moment he meet the blonde guy's gaze. She wasn't enough for him back then, she'll never be good enough for him, she wasn't at 16 and she'll never be 20 years later. She was too plain, wasn't enough nice, beautiful enough, important enough or powerful enough to be with him in the first place. Because, after all, this is everything he has always been after- looks, money, people around him – and what has once caused his downfall, the loss everything he kept dear.

They leave the office in silence, the air so tick with tension that even Minelli can feel something is wrong. Clenching her fists at her side, still trying to fight back the tears even if she is well aware that now that they are outside the comfort zone, the sanctuary of her boss' office she'll never be able to really do it, she tries to run, to escape him, escape trying to tell him everything. She isn't in the mood to share her pain, to revive it once again- she has enough of it at night, when there's nothing she can do about it, when her mind betrays her, showing images of what it used to be, and what it could have been, have things been different… she even dreams of him, sometimes, of his 18 years old smile, of the feel of his lips against her owns, of how he used to play mind games with her, how he did his best to win her over, a girl a couple of years younger than him, who at first couldn't stand the "boy wonder"… at first, she even dreamt of a future where they were both together, where they were still together, where they were getting old together, at each other's side, where nothing had happened, where she had stayed, or where he escaped with her that fateful day. Then, life got the better out of her, or maybe she just realized that there was no reason to keep torturing herself, that she wasn't that person any longer, she couldn't be that person any longer.

Jane stops outside Minelli's office, standing still, finally allowing the shock to wash over him. He hasn't seen her in over 20 years, he never thought that they'd meet again, not after she escaped their world, not after she gave him her back, refusing to try harder, to try to make it better by being with him, by being his. A long forgotten sense of betrayal awakens, and with it the memories of his past, of their past, and everything is made worse by the fact that she is no longer the girl he used to know. He grey eyes are now green, her light brown hair are now almost dark, the beautiful body of the dancer hidden by CBI issued clothes, the violin she used to play sometimes now substituted by at least one gun. Even her name is different now. She is Teresa Lisbon, now, she is Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon now.

But, still… still, there's a part of her, of the girl she used to be that will never die, because will stay in his soul, will be treasure by his memory, until he'll live, it's something he used to think a lot in the past, something he still does, actually – and it's painful knowing that there are moments when he doesn't think about Angie or Charlotte but about what ifs with the young ballerina. But it really can't help it. There's nothing he can do about it. she owned him right from the start. And a part of her still owns him- the better part of him, a part that, sadly, not even Angie managed to find.

"Katy…" he whispers, and his voice is low and husky, like he hasn't talked in a while, even if it's just the word that has become almost foreign to him. But, as he says it at loud, he understands that there's something… he feels like coming home while he says the name, like a man dying of starvation once finally reached food and water. And he understands that there's probably more than it meets the eye, that maybe there's a reason behind her escape. Maybe, Kathrin Asterson, his first love, the one who got away, the love of his life, left him and their world behind for a reason.

And if he wants to be able to call her at least a friend, he needs to find out the truth.