Author's Note: Not a clue why I got this inspiration, but I did, and I'm sharing it. Maybe it's just a result of my strong desire for a jealous Jane in the near future. That could be it. I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: *pouty face*
Lisbon rolled her eyes as the third woman gave Jane a flirtatious look in the past five minutes. And, of course, the showman in Jane just had to return it with a charming and almost flirtatious smile. She was standing right here. They might not act like a couple during work, but the blatant flirting with other women right in front of her was a bit much. Not that Lisbon was the jealous type. She usually wasn't this irked when he gave passively flirtatious looks to other women. That was just how he was. A natural flirter. He couldn't help it, and she occasionally flirted by accident herself. She was no hypocrite. However, walking into the photo shoot, surrounded by beautiful models and clothes and things, it just seemed to be him on a flirting spree. "Focus, Teresa." She thought to herself. "Your boyfriend's a flirting idiot. You have a job to do, and stopping him from flirting isn't it." She made her way past the models and over to the photographer who was talking with one of the other crew members, Jane trailing behind, casually having a brief word with most of the models he passed. God, he was an ass. She tried to keep the irritation out of her voice as she spoke to the photographer. "Mr. La Lefebere…lefeb-"
"La Lefebvre." The scrawny man with a funky hair style, Hawaiian style t-shirt and neon green skinny jeans corrected her irritably while rolling his eyes and turning to face her.
"Right." Lisbon nodded. "I'm Teresa Lisbon with the CBI. I'd like to ask you a few questions about Jack Rhymer, your intern."
"What about him?" Lefebvre's accent was kind of thick, though Lisbon imagined that some of that was forced to make him seem like a more exotic person. But, to her, it was just fake and annoying.
"He's dead. Someone killed him last night."
"Who?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out." Lisbon forced herself not to frown too much, especially as she heard some of the models giggle behind her. "I have some questions. Do you know what Rhymer was doing out last night? Did he have a date or was he meeting a friend?"
"Oh, consultant." One model giggled. "Do you get a badge and everything?"
Lisbon gritted her teeth and resisted the urge the slap the ditz out of the, as of yet, faceless girl.
"I don't know about his personal life." Lefebvre replied with his accent piled on as much as possible. This was going to be a very, very long day.
-Mentalist-
Lisbon was ready to hit her head against a wall. Repeatedly. Forget Jane's flirting. It's a good thing those models were pretty. For most of them, that was their greatest asset. She was glad for those few that gave her hope, though they didn't seem close enough to Rhymer to know that much. She was going over all the so far collected information with the team when Jane strolled into the bullpen with his cup of tea.
"We have to go through the footage from the store to see who might have bought the scarf he was strangled with." Cho told her. "It looks like whoever bought it paid in cash."
"Okay." Lisbon rubbed her temple tiredly. "Anything to add, Jane?"
Jane's ears perked at the sound of his name and he looked at her. "Uh, no. Not yet. I am working on it. Gathering my evidence and such."
Lisbon gave him a look that let him know she wasn't amused.
"I just have some kinks to work out." Jane shrugged, sipping his tea.
"Right." Lisbon rolled her eyes and then sighed, addressing the rest of her team. "Okay. We'll keep looking into the scarf in the morning. For now, go home. It's been a long day and we all deserve a good nights sleep."
"The rest of the team packed up for the day and said their goodnights before leaving. Lisbon slumped into her office once the others had left, without saying anything else to Jane.
"You okay?" Jane asked as he followed her into her office after she was sitting behind her desk.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She gathered up some papers, making sure everything was tidy before she headed home, not bothering to look up at Jane.
"Really? Because you seem a bit irritated." Jane placed his tea down.
"That's what happens when you're trying to interrogate people and they look at you like you're speaking a foreign language." And your boyfriend flirts with a bunch of models all day right in front of your face.
"How about a hug?" Jane smiled and held out his arms in an offer.
"No." Lisbon shook her head and put on her coat. "I'm not in the mood."
Jane's arms returned to his sides and his expression fell. "But you love my hugs. You said so yourself."
"I'm just not in the mood."
"We can talk about it when we're at your place then."
"No. I'm going home."
Jane pouted slightly, worry dancing in his eyes. "Do I at least get a good night kiss?"
"Sure." She nodded and made her way over to him.
He wrapped her up in the hug she had just declined. "If you were angry about the flirting, I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear. "But, there's no need for you to be jealous. It was just harmless flirting. It's you I'm in love with." He pressed his lips affectionately against hers, dreading when she'd pull away and leave. The plush on her cheeks and the smile that pulled at the edges of her mouth made him feel better as she headed home, bidding him a good night.
-Mentalist-
Why her? What had she ever done wrong in her life to deserve this? She fussed with her heels and then the dress. If she had just gone to interview the designer, instead of sending Van Pelt, none of this would be her problem. She was going to fall. She just knew it. She wasn't sure if she should be planning for a new life somewhere else to escape the embarrassment, or planning her funeral because she'd fall and kill herself by accident. She wasn't even tall enough for this. Of course, they 'solved' that problem with extra high, high heels. Yay.
"You look so pretty." Van Pelt smiled, trying to stay out of the way of all the people bustling around backstage.
"I look like a peacock wrapped in black cloth." Lisbon frowned. "And whoever made these shoes should be shot." She now stood just about eye level with Van Pelt. This wasn't natural.
"I'll give you that one." Van Pelt looked down at the monster high heels. "But, look on the bright side-"
"There isn't one to look on at the moment."
"Hey, you never know. This could be the beginning of a career in fashion." Van Pelt smiled.
"I sincerely hope not." Lisbon shook her head.
"I mean, hopefully the next designer that will be able to appreciate your look won't be a killer-but other than that, you're good."
Lisbon just rolled her eyes and headed over to the line of models and found her place as Van Pelt headed back out to take up her post. Two days into this case and this is how it was going to end. Taking her dignity. Great. The music was really loud and the lights were almost blinding. Lisbon's heart rate increased significantly as she noted that there were only three models before her in line. Dear god. This was going to be horrible. No one had fallen yet. Leave it to her to probably be the first to fall. Oh no. Another one gone…And another…One more…The woman with the headset standing next to her, signalled her to go. Her heart stopped for a second and everything seemed to happen in slow motion, but fast at the same time. She walked up the steps, onto the runway and somehow forced herself to make it down the runway. At the end she was unsure what to do, so she mimicked what one of the other girls had done. She put her hand on her hip and stuck her hip out before turning around and focused on not falling off the stage. She felt a weight lift off her chest when she was finally backstage again. She had survived. That was the hard part of the plan. At least, in Lisbon's opinion.
-Mentalist-
"Hello…Teresa?"
Lisbon turned to face the owner of the voice. Alex Ferrari. Just the guy she was looking for. "Hi." Lisbon gave the most dazzling smile that she could and batted her lashes a bit.
"I saw you up there. You have a nice walk."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. But you're older than most when they start out." He smiled with perfect white teeth.
Lisbon shrugged dismissively, but smiled. "I know. But I've always wanted to try. Figured I'd give it a shot."
"Oh. I do admire a woman with ambition." Ferrari smiled mischievously at her.
"I've got lots of ambition." Lisbon replied flirtatiously.
"You know, I'd like to have you walk for me in my next show. I think you would do very well in the modeling business with my help."
"Really?" Lisbon smiled hopefully.
"Really. We should talk about it some more. Maybe in a more private location. This seems a little too public to talk about such important things."
"Of course." Lisbon agreed.
Alex Ferrari turned and headed away, expecting her to follow.
Lisbon quickly glanced around to make sure her team was still on track before she followed him through the crowd.
-Mentalist-
"Are you going to go arrest him yet?" Jane asked Cho insistently.
"No." Cho replied stoically. "We need more on him. Not enough to charge him with yet."
"Oh, come on." Jane was getting agitated, listening with the team as Lisbon tried to get more dirt over the wire.
"Be patient."
"Patient." Jane muttered. Listening actually wasn't helping. He wasn't sure if it was worse than not listening. He followed Cho as they all got ready for the arrest.
"Now." Cho said into his microphone as Jane hurried behind him.
There was a yelp over the ear pieces as they all burst into the room. Cho and Rigsby tackled the designer to the ground as Lisbon tried to stand up from where she'd been shoved to the ground. Jane and Van Pelt rushed to help her.
"Screw it." She muttered and managed to kick the heels off before getting to her feet and wiggling her toes, relishing in their freedom. "Thank god that's over."
-Mentalist-
A knock at the door had Lisbon rising from her couch at midnight. "Jane." She blinked as she opened the door.
"What'd we talk about Teresa? First names only when we're not working." Jane asked teasingly.
Lisbon rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, Patrick. I'll try to remember next time so you don't cry."
"That would be nice." Jane nodded, grinning.
Lisbon opened the door and stepped aside to let Jane in. He accepted her
invitation, taking his shoes off at the door and following her into the living room.
"Today was quite the day." Jane remarked as he sat down next to Lisbon on the couch.
"It was." Lisbon sighed, tilting her head backwards and closing her eyes.
"Can we agree not to repeat it?"
Lisbon opened her eyes and looked at Jane, a grin spreading across her face. "Why not? Were you jealous, Patrick? I was flirting with someone else and you got jealous?" She teased.
"I wouldn't say jealous." Jane shook his head. "I was concerned for your safety."
"Mhm. Sure. Concerned."
"I was. What? A man can't be concerned for the wellbeing of his girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend is such an ugly word." Lisbon wrinkled her nose.
"Love, then?"
Lisbon shook her head, not thinking it sounded right either.
"Well, what we call each other is not important."
"No." Lisbon agreed.
Jane pulled her to his side and nuzzled his nose into her hair, enjoying the scent of her shampoo.
"You didn't have to worry." Lisbon told him softly, tilting her head to look at him.
"Of course I did." Jane said. "I love you."
Lisbon smiled. "I love you, too." She leaned over and gave him a deep kiss. "But you really didn't have to worry." Lisbon grinned. "It was just harmless flirting."
"You know what!?" Jane huffed in feigned anger.
Lisbon just laughed.
Author's Note: Please leave a review and let me know what you thought! :)