Disclaimer: The Mentalist, its characters and universe belong to Bruno Heller and CBS. I'm only a fan, writing this for love of this TV show and personal pleasure.

A.N.: Yep, I got obsessive about a new fandom and couple. I started writing this series of short chapters on the evolving relationship of Lisbon and Jane, with some snapshots of a few episodes that inspired me to explore this in writing. This is for 1x02 "Red Hair and Silver Tape," right after they leave the victim's funeral in Napa and head back to Sacramento.

Loving Him was Red

Instincts

Lisbon sat in the passenger seat of the car, her elbow propped against the window glass, her chin pressed against her palm as she stared unseeingly out at the rapidly passing scenery just outside. Normally the high speeds at which Jane would drive would make her uncomfortable, but at the moment she felt sort of numb so she wasn't really paying it much attention. To be honest, normally she wouldn't have let him even remotely close to the keys, but he'd picked her pocket for them and insisted on driving with an unusual serious air about him. After the day they'd had she'd felt too tired to argue the matter over, so she just sighed and got into the car without another word.

Unexpectedly Jane left her alone for most of the drive, seemingly content to be in charge of the vehicle and enjoying the silence between them, as the rest of the team were heading back to Sacramento with the van. After a while being lost in her wandering thoughts she realized her team's consultant would keep stealing concerned glances at her now and then.

"What?" She sighed at last, turning away from the window and facing him with a frown of irritation.

He raised his eyebrows at her, but for a moment that was all he did. He kept his bluish green eyes trained on her, which did not help at all in calming her nerves, as now in addition to being annoyed with him she was worried he'd throw them off the road at any moment. But as fast as he was used to driving, he was also ridiculously cool and in control of the car. It was almost as if he could drive without looking at the road.

"Well," he said at last, his eyes facing forward once more. "I was wondering how I should approach this. Candid honesty or cracking a joke, which do you prefer?"

"Jane, I'm really not in the mood," she sighed again, more quietly this time, her eyes going down to her hands folded on her lap now.

"Okay, no jokes then," he said, yet there was just the tiniest hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?" She decided to play dumb for a while longer. What for, she had no idea, as she knew that wouldn't dissuade him. Maybe she just wanted to annoy him for the sake of it.

"Come now," he said jovially and a knowing smile actually formed on his lips then. "I know that wasn't your first time using your gun. You are in charge of the homicide and serious crimes unit of the California Bureau of Investigation, so you didn't get here with no experience."

"Of course, not," she huffed softly in response.

"Then I take it this wasn't the first time you had to take someone's life in the line of duty," he continued, speaking in his usual calming, soothing tones, glancing attentively at her. "So why did this upset you so much?"

"Well, aren't you the mind-reader?" Lisbon avoided his eyes and crossed her arms defensively over her chest.

"Not really, but you know that already. I could take an educated guess. I'd rather hear it from you," he told her honestly.

Lisbon sighed once more and threw her hands up in the air in a frustrated gesture. "I hate the way you have me thrown sometimes."

"What?" He raised an eyebrow at her in confusion. This was not what he'd been expecting her to say.

"I'm a really good cop, you know," she turned to him then, all righteous indignation in her voice. "You're right, I didn't just drop here with this job out of nowhere. I worked my ass off to get where I am and I'm really good at what I do."

"I know," he told her with an emphatic nod. "I agree 100%."

"I know that, too," she conceded with a nod back at him. "But sometimes I really hate working with you. Apart from all the mess you'll cause in your way during investigations with complete disregard for how much harder you make my job, you also get me second guessing myself."

"Hmm? Is that so?" Jane said, raising his eyebrows at her once more.

"It's like I can't trust my instincts anymore. I was wrong about everything with this case, and if you hadn't managed to call me and if I hadn't turned back when I did, then you…" Lisbon let out a shuddering breath, shaking her head a little as her voice trailed off. Jane watched her attentively, his eyes widening a little in realization. Lisbon took a breath in and after a moment she continued. "Anyway, I shouldn't have left you alone to begin with. What was I thinking?"

"You were probably thinking I'm a responsible adult, capable of taking care of myself," Jane said easily.

"Which is obviously not true, and I should already know that by now," Lisbon countered, shaking her head to herself. A thoughtful look came across her face then. "Maybe we should see about arranging you with some training and a gun permit…"

"Me, with a gun?" He raised his eyebrows in obvious surprise. "Uh, no, thanks. I'm perfectly fine counting on you and the team for my protection."

"You take too many unnecessary risks," she insisted for a moment. "You could've died today, you know."

"But I didn't. You saved me," his eyes were focused on her then, his voice soft.

"You need to be more careful," she said with a serious frown between her eyebrows.

"Okay," he conceded, his face serious though there was a playful gleam in his green eyes. "How about this? I'll try to be more careful in the future, and you'll listen to me when I have a hunch about something."

Lisbon narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, as she thought it over. "Fine."

"Excellent," he gave her one of his dazzling smiles. "Now where do you want to go for dinner? Anywhere you'd like. My treat."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"You saved my life. It's the least I can do," he said with deep sincerity and appreciation in his voice. "And Lisbon, you have good instincts. You're a great cop and I wouldn't be here if you weren't."

"Thanks," she said, a small smile forming on her lips then. He smiled back at her and the two of them grew silent, the stretch of road rolling out in front of them as they just regarded each other for a moment. She averted her eyes first, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed, so she cleared her throat and decided to change the subject. "So this place you're taking me to dinner, I can choose anywhere?"

"Your choice. Go crazy, the sky's the limit," he said with one of his roguish grins and once more she lifted an eyebrow in answer to this. He saw that and chuckled. "Ah don't worry. I told you, I wouldn't seduce you over a meal. Besides, you would know if I were ever trying to seduce you. Believe me."

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes good-naturedly at him, and she couldn't quite keep a smile off her lips either. "Just for that I'll get the priciest dish on the menu of that little bistro you love so much."

"Wonderful choice," he nodded in approval.

They still needed to go into HQ, write down reports and other such (tedious, in Jane's opinion) activities involved in closing the case, but now they had a nice dinner to look forward to this evening. It was as nice an end to such a convoluted day as they could expect.