So this is my first fan fiction for The Mentalist. I am very nervous about it. Please let me know what you think. I might make this story a series of one shots. Will see how inspiration strikes. I don't own the characters or show at all.
Jane picked up the blue lace material that had previously been artfully been draped over a stack of books. "Lisbon!"
"One second Jane." Lisbon turned back to Walter Carson's step-son Elliot "so you knew that he had the book but you had never seen it?"
The young man shook his head "no; I hadn't… I didn't even know if it was real."
"Lisbon!" Jane's voice was more insistent now; more grating.
"I'm sorry; I'll be back with you in a second." Lisbon smiled at the man before stomping over to Jane "Jane" she hissed "you can't yell at me until you get my attention."
Jane simply smiled and pointed to the stack of books. There sitting on the top was Walter Carson's copy of the first folio of William Shakespeare's plays.
Without a second to lose Lisbon spun around to face Elliot "put your hands up."
Elliot complied before turning on his heel and running.
"Why do they always run?" Jane pondered as he headed to the kitchen to make some tea.
A few hours later the team sat down for another close case pizza.
"I can't believe Elliot killed his step Dad over a book." Rigsby stuffed more pizza into his mouth.
"Not just a book Rigsby" Jane place his tea on the table "a first folio edition of Shakespeare worth over $3 million."
Rigsby almost chocked.
"What I can't believe is that we managed to solve the case without a huge Jane production." Cho deadpanned.
"That's true" Jane mused "I must be slipping." Jane then launched into the plan that he'd had in mind – it was elaborate and vaguely dangerous as always but it probably would have worked. Maybe.
Cho was the first to leave followed by Van Pelt and finally Rigsby.
"Typical leaving us to clean up." Jane stood staking the pizza boxes up. "I'm not your girlfriend I'm an officer of the law".Those words that Lisbon had said a few weeks ago continued to haunt him. What did she mean by that?
Lisbon rolled her eyes "you never help clean up."
"Meh" he shrugged "first time for everything."
Standing up Lisbon helped Jane clean up before heading to her office to turn off the lights.
"Ready dear Lisbon?"
Lisbon frowned "ready for what?"
"Well" Jane placed his hand on the small of Lisbon's back and led her to the elevators "we need to talk."
Lisbon rolled her eyes once again "we don't need to talk" she announced punching the button for the ground floor.
"The way you just assaulted that poor button says otherwise. Just humour me."
She continued to frown as she stared straight ahead. "Every time I humour you I get shot at, suspended or kidnapped."
"None of those things will happen this time Teresa." He assured looking down at her.
If he hadn't called her by first name there is no way that she would have believed him but something about the way her name fell from his lips made her want to believe. Sighing she looked up at him "Okay."
"Okay?"
She nodded.
Jane's signature smile fell on his lips. "Thank you Teresa."
She couldn't help but smile in return "Patrick?"
"Hmmm:
"I like that."
"What my dear?"
"I like it when you call me Teresa" she blushed.
A small chuckle left his lips "I like saying it."
The moment was broken when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open to revel the foyer of the CBI building. Silently both occupants left the elevator and headed to the parking lot.
"My place?" Lisbon suggested as she unlocked her car. Jane nodded and headed to his own 'death trap' to follow her.
Jane noticed that Lisbon had left the door unlocked for him. Quietly he stepped inside her apartment and closed the door. He smiled as he saw her sitting on the sofa nursing a hot drink.
"I made you tea. It's Earl Grey"
"Perfect" Jane removed his jacket, sat down next to her and sipped his drink.
"So what did you want to talk about?"
Smacking his lips together in delight he carefully placed his drink back on the coffee table. "I wanted to talk about something that you said the other week."
"Okay." Instinctively she brought her legs up towards her torso.
"Lisbon" he turned to look at her "Teresa" he said softly. "After I kissed Lorelai"
Lisbon closed her eyes at these words. Not wanting Jane to see the hurt that dwelled there.
"After I kissed Lorelai you said something to me."
She nodded; encouraging him to continue.
"You said I'm not your girlfriend, I'm an officer of the law."
"Well it's true" Lisbon answered so quietly that Jane struggled to hear her.
He nodded as he considered his next move.
"What did you mean by that?" Shuffling closer he turned his body and placed one leg on the sofa and faced her.
"I meant exactly what I said." She replied looking down that her legs.
"Teresa" he whispered "please don't lie to me."
Her head whipped up to look at him "why not? You lie to me all the time."
"That's different" he reasoned picking imaginary threads off the jacket.
"Why is it different?" Lisbon's eyes narrowed.
Jane's eyes locked onto hers "Because I lie to protect you."
"I don't need your protection Jane"
Jane shrugged and looked away "meh. Maybe not but I'm going to do it anyway. I want to protect the people that I care about."
"I care about you too Patrick."
"I know" he whispered leaning into her.
A silence fell over the room as they both finished there cups of tea. Jane used the silence to think. Red John is still out there; still determined to make my life hell. But I'm so tired pretending.
"I meant it." He mumbled not realising that he had said it out loud.
Lisbon frowned at him "meant what?"
Jane's wide eyes looked at her. "Nothing."
"Jane!" Lisbon groaned "can we for once have a conversation where we don't lie to each other."
Closing his eyes he allowed a small smile to form. "What I said before I shot you; I meant it."
Lisbon's beautiful green eyes became impossibly wider. "You-you did?"
Jane nodded and once again moved closer "I did."
The blush that Jane had come to love brushed over Lisbon's cheeks.
"I hate that you kissed her" she moved uncomfortably in her seat. "I hate that you had sex with her."
"Because of Red John?"
Lisbon nodded her head "yes but also because…." She bit her lip and her eyes begged for Jane to not make her say anything more.
"Teresa please; honesty remember?"
"Yes because of Red John but also because; I was jealous. I am jealous." Lisbon took a deep breath no point in stopping now. "I hate that she got to t-touch you. That she got to kiss you. That you touched her and made love to her."
"Lisbon" Jane's voice sounded apologetic.
Shaking her head Lisbon continued her confession. "M-most of all Patrick I hate that it wasn't me."
All of the air in Jane's lungs left him. His heart was about to leap out of his chest; opening his mouth he gulped down mouthfuls of air.
"I wanted it to be me Patrick. I wanted to be the one that you made love to after Angela." A shaky breath escaped her lips and she sunk further into the sofa.
"Teresa; I didn't make love to Lorelai; I had sex with her."
The hurt in Lisbon's eyes was obvious but she was too upset to care.
"There's a difference?" Her beautiful eyes looked up at him.
He nodded a little "for me there is. Sex is just a mechanical act but making love" he smiled "making love is a connection between two people a declaration of their feelings for one another." Carefully he reached out the touched the ends of her hair and let it fall between his fingers. "There was never any love between her and me. She loves Red John and I…" Come on Patrick, you can do this it's Lisbon; your Lisbon. "I love you." Jane felt a huge wait lift off of him; he'd finally said it again; this time he wouldn't play around, he would pretend that he forgot; after all Patrick Jane never forgot anything as important as saying I love you.
The look on her face would have been funny if the subject wasn't so serious. Her mouth and eyes were both wide open.
"There's a reason that Red John is so intent on having your head Teresa." He gently placed his hand on her knee "he knows that I love you. He knows that hurting you, killing you will be the one thing that brings me to my knees. He's always known. He knew I loved you before I did."
"How long have you?" She cursed her stupid shaky voice.
"A while now."
She frowned at him "how long is a while?"
"A few years."
"Years" she whispered.
"I've never said anything before now because of Angela but mostly I don't want him to hurt you my dear." His fingers lightly ran in a circle around her knee cap "but he seems intent on trying to get to you anyway and I can't…" he closed his eyes and took a deep breath "I can't pretend Teresa. I'm tired of pretending that you aren't the most important person in my life."
Slowly Lisbon moved to sit up on her knees "me too Patrick. I love you." Slowly her shaking hand made its way to his cheek. Her fingers gliding over his cheek bone. Her eyes locked on his as she moved to cup his cheek. She smiled as she saw his blue eyes flicking down to her lips and back to her eyes.
This was it the moment to turn away and convince Lisbon that he'd been hypnotised or coerced into claiming he had feelings for her but that would be a lie; a lie that he wasn't going to live anymore. He was going to allow himself to be happy Red John be damned.
Leaning towards her Jane brushed his thumb along her cheek.
Gently his lips brushed against hers. Lisbon slid her hand around to the back if his neck and pressed herself closer to him. Together their lips danced.
The feeling of guilt that Jane had felt when he kissed Lorelai wasn't present; all he could feel, taste and smell was Lisbon. Without a second thought he wrapped his arms around Lisbon's waist and pulled her into his lap. A tiny squeak escaped from Lisbon and Jane couldn't help but smile against her lips.
"Sorry" he whispered.
"S'okay" she replied as she adjusted her position before kissing him again. Shyly she ran her tongue along his top lip.
Jane hummed; opening his mouth and pressing his tongue to Lisbon's. His breath hitched as her fingers tangled into the hair on the back of his neck. Deftly his fingers caressed the strip of skin that showed on her lower back.
Gasping Lisbon pulled back and pressed her forehead to Jane's "better than I imagined."
"Me too. You're so beautiful Teresa."
Suddenly she pushed up onto her knees and banged into Jane causing him to fall on his back onto the sofa. "I love you Patrick" she whispered kissing down his neck.
Jane squeezed his eyes shut; it felt too good, too real – a moan escaped his lips before he had a chance to stop it.
"So sexy" Lisbon smiled against his skin.
Jane's ran his hands down Lisbon back and placed them on the glorious butt that he had caught himself staring at more them once. Feeling a little like an adventurous teenager he rolled his hips. "Oh god" he groaned "so good, you feel so good."
All too soon Lisbon pulled away from him. She chuckled at the pout on his lips. Leaning her chin on his chest she smiled down at him and ran her fingers through his golden locks "what does this mean Patrick?"
Jane frowned a little "it means that I love you so much and I want to be with you." His hands lightly trailed up and down her back "but Red John makes it complicated."
Stretching her neck she sweetly kissed his lips "He already knows that we love each other; I'm already a target." Closing her eyes she laid her head over his heart. "Please Patrick; I just want to be with you."
Jane tightened his grip on her "me too sweetheart," He whispered kissed the top of her head "I will do everything I can to keep you safe."
"You have to promise me something" she mumbled into his chest.
"Anything."
"Promise me you won't rip Red John to shreds when we catch him. I don't want to lose you."
A few deep breathes escaped from his lungs. "I'll try."
"Thank you: she smiled snuggling into him. "We'll be okay Patrick."
"I know my love."
And that's all she wrote. Let me know if you want me to continue as one shots of how they get together; or continue this story or leave it as is. Please review.