This will hopefully tie you over till I can decide which parts of Jane's letters, Lisbon will read/ most emotional phrases to use in Her Beauty Cannot Compare.
This is a story of a man. Not, necessary a loveable man, but not the most hated. This man is inpatient and is determined to get what he believes that he should have. He wants the perfect life. He has since when he was a little boy.
He learnt from the best, his father. He watched as his father accomplish so much, from having the perfect family to a being respected in his field. His father is his idol. He wanted to be as good as him, even attempting to accomplish stuff the exact time in his life that he father said he did stuff from his stories. Just like he said, he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and make the same impressions.
His father learnt to ride a bike without stabilisers at the age of four. His father wanted the same for him because his father's friend's son, Hunter, had just managed to ride without help and he hadn't. Everytime that he fell off his bike, he was knew that his father was embarrassed of him. Hunter was always the object of Brad's bragging. Brad was always gently ripping into his father for his failings. He could see his father getting frustrated with him everyday that he couldn't master it. His father always said "You can do it. No pressure." But his eyes always showed his disappointment. So Marcus practised everyday and finally managed to do it just short of his sixth birthday. His mother was proud.
When it came to learning to read, his mother used to sit on his bed every night, encouraging him to pronounce the words on the pages of his favourite book. "You can read this, Marcus. You need to know how to read to start school. But no pressure." Marcus sat in his spare time going over and over the lines in his book. Till he finally managed to read three pages by himself with no help.
His father tried to get him to count by using sweets as counters. It was another frustrating situation, was five before or after four. He was in the third from bottom in his class in maths. His father helped him with his homework every Sunday. "Marcus, what's three plus seven? You can solve this. No pressure." Marcus took ages to complete his homework but he tried harder each time to not disappoint his father. He was gaining rewards from it as well. The 50% slowly turned to 75%. It was good, but not as good as his father constantly getting over 89% at his age.
From the age of eight, Marcus learnt that saying "No pressure." encouraged people to work harder or to do what the other person wanted. He started to use it in the playground.
"Joe, can I swapped your Babe Ruth card for one of my Hank Aaron cards? No pressure if you don't want to." The cards got swapped.
"Mary, can I have the last chocolate milk? No pressure." He said with a smile. Goal achieved, he got the chocolate milk.
"Carter, swap places with me. No pressure though." Carter gave him his seat so Marcus could sit next to Lucy.
"Aaron, let me bat. No pressure." He got to bat and got the winning home run.
"Emily, be my girlfriend or everyone will know about how you cheated on that pop quiz yesterday. But no pressure." She went out with him.
"Coach, make me captain. You don't want people to know that I saw you fooling around with Jessica. But no pressure." He was made the captain of the basketball team.
"Ashley, everyone else has lost their virginity. But no pressure" She had sex with him in the backseat of his battered car at prom.
"Ashley, you won't need to work, I can provide for us. But no pressure." She left her job to continue to be his girlfriend.
"Ashley, marry me, you need stability in your life with that crazy family of yours. But no pressure." She agrees to the proposal.
"You would look better in one with a tight bodice. But no pressure." She agrees with him and buys that dress.
"I think we need to hit the gym more to stay in shape for our wedding. But no pressure." She works out twice the amount she used to, to keep him happy.
"We should get marry in Town Hall, no fuss or having to listen to long readings. But no pressure". She changes her plans from the fairytale wedding in a church to a stale quick one in town hall.
"I think you would look marvellous pregnant. But no pressure." They started to try for a baby.
"We can't give each other what we want. We should get a divorce. But no pressure." The divorce was official the next month. Ashley let out a sigh of relief and went on to get her life back on track, starting with joining a modelling agency. She was finally appreciated and got plenty of roles.
Marcus continued working on the Art Theft Team at the FBI, moving up to being team leader. When Patrick Jane entered his life at the right moment, helping him solve the mystery of his hardest case to date. That was where he met the beautiful Agent Teresa Lisbon. She flirted with him throughout the case. He asked Wiley if Jane and her were a couple, which the analyst said no. Perfect.
"I know a place that sell great pancakes. We can go, but no pressure." Teresa went with him to get her coat, where there was an awkward exchange between her and Jane. But they're friends, so no competition.
"I know this great Greek place, we can go tonight. But no pressure." She rushed to get to the date on time with him.
"I've been offered a promotion in DC, come with me. No pressure, there's plenty of time to decide." But she was taking a long time to decide. Some people would say that she was dragging her heels about it.
"Let's go and watch East of Eden at the theatre." She agreed but she fell asleep in the middle of it. It's a great film, I don't understand why. Then Jane calls and she leaves to go and help him. She'll be back soon,
"Hey, guess what. the show we missed the other night, they're playing another one in 45 minutes. We can catch it if.. you guys are done here right." They went to the show, but Teresa didn't seem into it as he thought. He was still trying to figure out why she looked back at Jane when they left.
"Hey, I know that you had a horrible day, so lets watch telly on the couch. No pressure about your choice of coming to DC" She was happy with that till Jane appeared at her doorstep. She was crying when she came back in holding a paper bag. He wondered what Jane said to her, but she was no way letting Marcus have what was in the bag.
It was a week till she gave him her answer. He apologised for pressuring her, but she knew that he did it on purpose. She agreed to go with him to DC. He was so happy. Another thing fitted into his jigsaw of the perfect life. Next one to go, "What the hell, marry me Teresa". She panicked. That was not the reaction that Marcus wanted. He added "No pressure." to calm her down. What was wrong with the prospect of marrying him. He was a good catch, in shape, getting a big promotion that he wanted to share with her. He prompted her to tell Jane that she was leaving and gave her space.
Her transfer was being temporarily frozen due to a huge case her team received. She was in a middle of solving it when she rang him. He could hear the tears, what happened on this case that made her that upset. But that thought was pushed out of his head when he heard her accept his proposal of marriage. He was elated. He told her all the plans he had to them and for her flight information.
Woo, this "No Pressure" phrase was definitely helping him to achieve what he wanted and he deserved to have. He arrived at the airport early with his mother in tow. She was going to be the wedding planner because Teresa was more perfect than Ashley and she deserved the best.
When her flight was announced as arrived, he got out of his seat handing his small bouquet of flowers for her. But he couldn't find her. She said that she would be on that flight. He asked the middle aged woman with a floral jacket, if she'd seen her. She confirmed his worst nightmare, she got off the plane due to some guy storming on the plane and confessing his feelings for her. He rang Lisbon's mobile and when asked why she wasn't on the plane, she said "I'm so sorry Marcus, I can't come to DC. Jane's told me that he loves me and frankly I've been waiting a long time to hear it. I'm sorry to string you along, but I've loved him for a long time and I deserve to know where it's heading."
Marcus gets off the phone and shakes his head. "She's not coming afterall." he says to his mother. His mother looked disappointed. Seems "No pressure" will never beat "I love you" in the great scheme of things.
THE END
Cheers for reading, hopefully see you soon. :)