A/N: As I live in the UK we still have to wait a while before the premiere of season six, so this is my way of coping with the wait. I just can't get enough of this show! Hope you like this one :-)
Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist
It was a slow day for the Serious Crimes Unit of the CBI and the boredom was driving Jane crazy. At first he found he rather enjoyed the peace and quiet but after taking his usual two hour nap on the couch in the bullpen, he felt he needed to move around. He looked around and noticed that Van Pelt was staring intently at something on her screen. Judging by the way her eyes had widened Jane thought that it must be something interesting and so he casually strolled over to her desk. "Hey Grace, what you looking at?" he asked as he too peered at the screen. His face fell almost immediately when he saw that it was just a police report.
"I think I went to school with this guy!" she told him. "He was a real jerk back then. Huh! I guess he finally got what he deserved!"
"And justice is once again served!" Jane smiled and then wondered over to Cho's desk.
"Hey Cho!"
"No!" Cho told him, without even looking up from the paperwork he was doing.
"I didn't even say anything!"
"You were going to see what I'm doing and then ask me if I want to do something interesting. The answer is no. I'm busy Jane, go bother Rigsby."
"And I thought I was the one who could read minds?" Jane joked and then wondered over to the other male agent's desk. Rigsby was busy, caught up playing a game at his desk. As he saw Jane approach he looked up and grinned. "You're just in time to see me break the world record!" he said while holding a ping pong ball in his hand.
"What are you doing?" Jane asked, fascinated by the elaborate set up of matchboxes, dominoes and paper cups on his desk.
"I'm going to bounce this ball over this obstacle course and into that cup without knocking anything down."
"Unlikely." Cho said.
"I've already done it nine times!" Rigsby gloated, lifting up the ping pong ball.
Jane had a skeptical look on his face. "Maybe we should just move this hot cup of coffee out of the way first? You don't want Lisbon shouting at you for making a mess." Jane suggested lifting it off Rigsby's desk and setting it down on top of a cabinet nearby.
"Thanks man. The boss is already in a bad mood after her car broke down!" Rigsby cracked his knuckles and prepared to make the shot for the tenth time. "Here goes!" The ball was launched from his hand and impressively made its way past the matchboxes and bounced over the dominoes, slightly skimming them as it went by. One domino swayed but stayed upright. Jane watched in fascination as it ricocheted off another wall of matchboxes and continued on course towards the paper cup. It bounced once, twice but suddenly its momentum faltered and instead of landing inside the cup, it hit the edge of the vessel and fell onto the floor. Jane chased after it.
"Awww man! I almost broke the world record!" Rigsby grumbled.
"There's no such thing, you made it up." Cho corrected and Van Pelt smiled at the banter between her male colleagues.
"Ahh here it is!" Jane said as he bent down to pick the ball up from where it had come to rest near a coat stand, but something caught his eye. Sticking out from behind the row of cabinets was something green. He moved closer to get a better look at it and to his surprise, he discovered that it was a leaf; a lovely emerald green leaf. He reached out his hand to pull it out, thinking he would add it to his collection of seashells and other odds and ends that he had collected over the years. However, it didn't budge. He leaned in a little closer and tried to pull at it a little harder, nearly knocking the coat rack down in the process. It still wouldn't move.
Seeing the coat rack wobble slightly in the corner of his eye, Rigsby ventured over to Jane to see why he was almost lying on the floor. "What are you doing?" he asked, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.
"There's a leaf that's stuck behind the cabinet, I'm trying to get it out but it won't move."
Ever the helpful friend, Rigsby moved the coat stand out of the way and attempted to take the leaf out. Jane sat up and moved out of his way, watching as he too struggled to remove it. "I think it's caught on something." Rigsby said and then reached into the gap between the cabinet and the wall. "It's attached to a branch!" He stood up and lifted up the branch over the cabinet. Jane smiled in wonder.
"There's a lot more to this little plant, let's find where it comes from." Rigsby nodded and then the two of them carefully maneuvered the long branch around the first cabinet. "Careful Rigsby, we don't want to damage it." Rigsby nodded and then glanced around the room.
"There!" he said, pointing to a lone potted plant on a cupboard near Cho's desk.
"Oh my God!" Van Pelt said alarmed that the branch had gotten so long that it had grown halfway across the room.
"Tenacious little thing." Jane said as he helped Rigsby carefully guide the branch out from behind another cabinet.
Just at that moment, Lisbon walked out of her office and into the bullpen to see what was going on. "What are you doing?" She asked as she walked over to Rigsby's desk where both he Jane and were standing.
"Did you know that this intrepid little plant has made its way from over there? It's grown behind all the furniture for who knows how long and no one even noticed!" Jane told her, smiling.
"That's fascinating Jane but I'm sure that Rigsby has plenty of work to be getting on with." She said shooting the agent a look.
"Okay, but can we at least take it out from behind the cabinets? Unless you want the bullpen to look like a jungle?"
Lisbon rolled her eyes at Jane's exaggeration and sighed. "Okay, but hurry it up will you? And Rigsby, clear this up!" she told him, indicating to the obstacle course on his desk. She looked at all of them and said, "I know it's been a slow day but I would still like to have some kind of semblance of professionalism around here!"
Rigsby and Jane quickened their efforts in removing the branch but suddenly it became caught onto something. Rigsby tugged at it. "Careful, don't break it, or we'll have to move the furniture to get it out." Jane cautioned.
"I think I've got it!" Rigsby said as he tugged once more but was not prepared for it to give so easily. The branch leapt from his grasp and struck the cup full of hot coffee that Jane had set there earlier. The cup fell down, its hot liquid contents splashing all over the back of Lisbon's neck. She cursed as she put her hand to the place of pain.
"Lisbon!" Jane walked over to her, concerned. "Are you okay?" He turned her around gently to look at her neck. "We need to treat that." He put his hand on her back and guided her towards the kitchen.
Once there, Lisbon turned to face him, "Damn it Jane, I bet that was all your idea wasn't it? How did you even know there was a branch behind there?" She asked, annoyed.
Jane moved over to the sink and dampened some paper towels before walking back to her. Holding them up he said, "We'll need to clean it up first. Get all that coffee off you."
Lisbon glared at him, took the paper towels from his hand and gingerly dabbed at her neck while Jane explained. "I was getting the ping pong ball for Rigsby. It fell off his desk." Jane said.
"What….no never mind. I don't want to know!" she dabbed at her neck again. Jane saw her flinch and took the paper towels from her hand.
"Here, let me." He said softly as he tenderly took over. Lisbon was reluctant but allowed him to tend to her neck.
She struggled a little at first worried that he would make it worse but she found his touch to be very gentle, almost loving, she thought, but then quickly pushed that musing aside. She found herself beginning to relax as he cleaned all the remaining coffee from her neck, sighing softly as a droplet of water slowly trickled down the side of her neck, down one breast and settled inside her bra.
"There, that's better." He said finally and Lisbon realised her thoughts had been elsewhere. "Lisbon? Are you okay? It doesn't look that bad, does it hurt a lot?"
"What? No." She could feel her face flush and she found herself unable to meet his eyes. The entire time he had been tending to her neck she had been caught up in a fantasy about the two of them in a similar position but in an entirely different situation. "I think I'm going to go home and change. I'll be back in a little while."
"Let me drive you." Jane offered.
"It's just hot coffee Jane, not a gun shot wound. I can drive myself."
"But Lisbon…"
She turned around, her frustration at him growing, "What Jane?"
"Your car's in the shop, remember?" He held out his car keys as a means to persuade her. She sighed and relented.
Once they got to her apartment Jane went straight to the kitchen, much to Lisbon's surprise, "Jane, what are you doing?" she asked as he began to boil a kettle of water.
"Thought I'd have some tea while you change." He said, simply. She just looked at him. "You're going to need a ride back to work."
She sighed, "Fine, just don't make a mess. I just cleaned up this morning."
Jane smirked and watched her turn to go to upstairs but stopped her when he noticed something. "Lisbon," he called and she stopped. "Your neck looks very sore; you really need to cool it down." Jane went to the sink and wet a towel with some cool water then moved towards her. "Hold still." He told her softly, his warm breath ghosting across her ear. He was standing so close that she could feel the heat emanating from his body.
"Jane…." She began, feeling her heart rate increase with every tender touch of the cool cloth on her neck. "You don't have to do this,"
"Nonsense. It's my fault you got hurt Lisbon, I'm the one who put the coffee cup there in the first place." He continued to gently tend to her burn, feeling her shiver slightly at his touch. "Too cold?"
"No," she breathed and then closed her eyes when he moved her hair away from her neck, his fingers lightly brushing against the sensitive skin there, tracing her hairline. He then returned to lightly dabbing her reddened skin with the cool towel, slow tender touches, the water making them feel like healing kisses. She sighed and that caught Jane's attention. "Feeling better?" he almost whispered.
"Mmm hmm"
Her reaction had completely caught him off guard and he soon felt his mind begin to flood with thoughts he knew he shouldn't indulge in. But she was so relaxed now and it pleased him greatly. She had been so tense all day; he had begun to grow concerned. He moved his free hand to her ear, pushing any errant strands away from her face, deliberately brushing her cheek and her earlobe as he did so. Her skin felt so soft, so smooth, like warm velvet. He could hear her breath catch as he gently nudged her blouse back so he could tend to the light scalding at the top of her back. His hand was greeted by a burst of warmth, sending his senses into a mild frenzy. He moved the towel lower, carefully tracing the burn, hearing her breathing quicken with each touch, his own breaths echoing hers. They were both so caught up in the moment that neither had realised that Jane had stopped moving until a loud whistling from the kitchen broke them out of their trance. Lisbon turned around, surprised and almost bumped into him. He just stood there, looking at her, eyes wide; pupils dilated an expression of such tenderness on his face. Her face flushed instantly under the intensity of his gaze. "The kettle, Jane." She whispered, her voice hoarse.
Jane blinked in confusion. "Hmmm? Oh, the tea." He awkwardly turned away from her and walked swiftly into the kitchen to pour the water into the mug he had set out.
Lisbon was taken aback at what had just happened. She just stood there for a few seconds, dazed, watching his retreating form as he made his tea before slowly following him, ultimately coming to rest beside him at the counter. Her senses were still heightened and the scent of his cologne and the warmth of his body made her long for his touch again. She moved closer, her arm touching his. "Is there enough for two?" she asked.
"Err, yeah, sure." He said and he reached into the cabinet to retrieve a mug for her. "You drinking tea these days?" he asked, surprised to find that she even had tea in her apartment.
"Sometimes," she smiled; "besides, I think I've had enough of coffee today, don't you?" she giggled. "I'm going to go change." Jane nodded, pretending to be engrossed in what he was doing. He waited until he heard her climb the stairs before turning around. It was only then that he realised his heart was beating faster.
Five minutes later Lisbon joined him at the kitchen table where he sat sipping at his tea. When he saw her he smiled and indicated to the place opposite him where her own drink waited for her. She sat down and took a sip of the warm liquid, inhaling its scent as she did so. It reminded her of him and it warmed both her body and mind.
"How's your neck feeling now?" he asked, his voice low, soft.
"Better. It still stings but not as badly." She replied, taking another sip of the tea.
He watched as she drank, noting the slight blush on her cheeks. "I'm sorry." He apologized, sincerely for the scalding.
She looked at him a moment, contemplating the enigma that was Patrick Jane. "There's one thing I still don't understand...you said you were getting a ping pong ball?"
Jane nodded, "That's right."
"How did that lead to me getting scalded?"
Jane paused a second before saying, "When I found the ball I noticed that there was a green leaf sticking out from behind the filing cabinet near the coat rack. I…." He hesitated, "I wanted to keep it as a kind of souvenir."
"A leaf?" she laughed, "what kind of souvenir is that?"
He looked down shyly at his tea before saying, "It reminded me of you."
She gave him a questioning look.
"Your eyes, Lisbon. It reminded me of your beautiful eyes. I just wanted to keep it."
A look of great affection spread across Lisbon's face at his words and she reached out across the table and put her hand over his. Their eyes locked, holding each other's gaze as the steam from the tea wafted softly upwards, like a warm breath, caressing their faces as they held hands in silence. A tender smile on each of their lips.
"I will never understand you Patrick Jane." She finally said.
He smiled and squeezed her hand tighter. "You understand me better than you know, Teresa."
That afternoon when they were back at the office Jane walked over to the bullpen, setting his tea down on his desk. He looked around and with a watering can in his other hand, walked over to the object that had been the cause of trouble only a few hours ago. He picked up all the dead leaves that had fallen inside the pot and then watered it, a loving smile on his face as he did so. He had always liked plants and greenery but he now found that he had special fondness for this little plant in particular. He leaned in and whispered to it, "May the seed of our love bloom and grow in our hearts as strongly as that intrepid little branch of yours."