Stop pretending
A/N: I know I promised you all a sequel to my other story "Paper Thin Walls", but this story popped up in my mind and wouldn't stop pestering me until it was written. And published. So here it is…now I'll start working on the sequel.
Disclaimer: I own the idea of the story (well, it owned me), but not the characters. Can't have it all…
The legal document was just hand delivered to her office. She had read it with a sigh and signed it. Another signature…one scribble on a dotted line was all she needed. All it would take to erase the past month from the history books.
To annul the marriage of Teresa Ann Lisbon and Patrick Collin Jane.
Whoah…Stop. Rewind. The what?!
Flashback.…six weeks earlier…
Five very tired and weary people had made it back to the CBI headquarters from the third crime scene involving a newlywed couple. The crime scenes were all very much alike. The wives had been raped and murdered first, while their husbands, bound and gagged, were forced to watch before they too were put out of their misery. All three couples had been married for exactly a month when they were so brutally slaughtered. Already the media was calling this serial killer 'The Newlywed Murderer' and was pressing the police to hurry and catch him.
Like they didn't try. But so far, the killer hadn't left any forensic clues and even though Jane had come up with some interesting profiles and theories, it hadn't gotten them any closer to apprehending him.
"We should lure him out. Get him to try and come after us," Jane spoke. That got their attention.
"Like…staging a marriage?" Grace looked uneasy in the direction of their consultant, who nodded gravely.
"Something like that. But no staging. The marriage has to be real. We already figured out that the last couple he killed had a very low-key wedding. No announcement in any paper, just a couple of friends and family. So for the killer to have found out about the marriage, he would have to have seen some certificates. Just an advertisement in the local paper won't attract him."
Lisbon gasped. The idea was so ludicrous, yet, it might just be the only thing that could work. Only thing…who would portray the happy couple?
Grace Van Pelt swallowed and glanced from Jane to a very nervous looking Wayne Rigsby. He nodded and grabbed her hand.
"Van Pelt and I can do it."
"No." Jane and Lisbon said in unison. Quirking his eyebrow, Jane allowed his lady boss to voice her objections first. He himself had (of course) already had another couple in mind before even suggesting his plan.
"Grace, Wayne, thanks for the offer, but I'm the senior agent and if we're gonna do this, I won't be risking your lives. It'll have to be me."
Jane smirked. This was going well.
Lisbon turned to Cho, who hadn't said a word all morning. "Cho…you can be my husband."
Not the plan! Not the plan at all! Jane snorted loudly, making all of them again focus on him.
"Something wrong, Jane? It was your idea after all."
"Be reasonable, Lisbon! You and Cho? Nobody will fall for that! Cho couldn't act a happy hubby at gunpoint! No offence, Cho, but the two of you as a couple? Preposterous!"
"Okay, wise guy! Who should pose as the happy couple, if not Cho and I?"
Grinning widely and rather predatory, Jane got up from his couch and knelt down in front of the stunned Teresa Lisbon.
"Darling Teresa…will you marry me?"
End Flashback…
That was six weeks ago. After getting permission from Minelli, Lisbon had reluctantly set things in motion. The courthouse was notified and a Judge was found. A week later, she had officially become Mrs. Teresa Jane. Patrick (she couldn't call him by his last name now that they were supposed to be a married couple) had taken her out to dinner after their so-called wedding. She had appreciated his effort. At least he was trying.
And after all, it was only for a month or so, right? She would have her freedom back soon enough.
He had sold his house, claiming he had been wanting to do that for months anyway. Instead, he had rented a pretty house on the beach from a friend. They had moved their stuff in together and when it was done, even Teresa had to admit, it was a home. It felt good coming home to that place after a hard day's work.
It had two bedrooms and Jane, though he mercilessly teased and goaded her about consummating their marriage to make it legal, had allowed her to ban him to the small guestroom, where he didn't sleep a wink. But then again, neither did she in the big, lonely queen sized bed in the master bedroom.
Their marriage was a hoax. But living with Patrick was surprisingly nice. Sharing a meal with him, having someone to say goodnight to before turning in.
Walking in on him as he came out of the bathroom, with just a towel wrapped around his lower half, following the droplets gliding down his chest…yes, if had occurred to her to indeed consummate her marriage…but how hard would it then become to end it all? To walk away, back to her own apartment, her old life?
No, looking back, she was glad she had resisted temptation, though she would never admit she had been tempted in the first place.
The most important thing was, the plan had worked. Indeed, the killer had come after them and was subsequently caught. He turned out to be a janitor at the courthouse, who waited until the building was empty in the evening to steal and copy the wedding documents from the couples who were married there. His motive? He himself was left by his wife after just one month of marriage. He couldn't stand the happiness of other couples and had taken an oath to deny them a longer lasting bliss than his own.
He was booked and taken away. Their goal was reached. It was over.
Taking the signed annulment papers in her hand, she got out of her office and found Jane where she expected him to be, stretched out on his couch. She kicked the side of the ragged piece of furniture to attract his attention, the way she always did. He lazily opened his eyes and smiled at her.
"Hey darling wife, what can I do for you?"
Ignoring the term of endearment as well as the jolt of pleasure it secretly gave her, she silently handed him the papers and a pen.
He took the papers, read them carefully, then shook his head.
"What do you want me to do, Teresa?"
Not understanding his hesitation, she shrugged.
"Eh…sign them? The killer was caught, Patrick. We can stop pretending."
At her last words, he looked up. And she immediately wished she could take them back. There was no mask on his face, no grin to hide emotions behind. What she saw was pure hurt. Heart wrenching hurt, which penetrated her veins until she felt cold as ice. Frozen in a moment she had never wanted to happen.
His hands were shaking as he nodded and reached for the pen, still hanging limply in her hand. She dropped it on the table, where he picked it up and scribbled his name on the dotted line.
Then, swallowing hard, he stood, leaving the document on the coffee table for her to pick up. He brushed past her without looking, but before he left the building he whispered to her.
"Just so you know, Lisbon (her last name came out raw; he hadn't used it in six weeks and she winced), I never pretended. Not once."
Then he was gone.
Their marriage was over.
Trembling all over, she took the papers which supposedly gave her the freedom she had told herself she wanted six weeks ago. Now they just made her feel sick.
Once inside her office, she drew the blinds, indicating to whoever was still in the building that she did not wish to be disturbed. A glance at the clock showed her it was only four PM. If she hurried, she could deliver the annulment to the courthouse today…
But her muscles refused to budge.
She didn't want her marriage to end. In the close confinements of her own space, she finally admitted the truth. She liked being married to Patrick. Liked the terms of endearment he used so frequently and liberally. Had come to appreciate and even rely on the little things he did to make her life easier. Running her a bath when they came home after a long day, pouring her a glass of her favorite wine without her ever telling him what that was, brining her fresh flowers every Friday…
Indeed…now she realized he had really never pretended anything. From the moment he had said his 'I do', he'd been in this marriage for one hundred percent. And she had let him, without figuring out she never gave back a thing.
Not her love for him. Still swimming in denial.
But she did love him.
Again, she glanced at their signatures. It was too late. Four-thirty…if she hurried…
Suddenly restless and aching to do something, to get it all over with, she stood, almost tripping over several objects in her hurry to get out. Her eye caught one object. One object that could change the course of her life. If she had the guts…
Half an hour later, she parked her SUV in the driveway of the Jane-Lisbon home. The lights were on, his Citroen was parked. Thank God, he was there. She got out and took two small envelopes off the driver's seat. Then, after making sure her car was locked, she made her way over to her house.
She was greeted by boxes. Dozens of them. Making her way to the living room, she found Patrick standing in front of their book case, taking out book after book, glancing at the title and either putting them back on the shelve or into a box marked 'Lisbon's books'.
She bit back a sob. Patrick was packing her stuff, ready for her to move out.
Her sound made him look up. The mask was firmly in place again, she noticed. He acknowledged her presence with a nod and a question.
"This novel yours? I can't remember."
Without looking at the book he was showing her, she shrugged. What did she care? He put in it the box.
"Yours then."
"Patrick?"
"Could you hand me a new box? This one's almost full."
"Patrick?"
"Oh…and the tape, please."
"Patrick, can we talk? Please?"
She must have sounded as desperate as she was, because he actually looked up.
"Fine. Let's talk." He sat down on the couch, while she remained standing.
He was not about to make it easy on her and she didn't deserve anything else. She only hoped, prayed, her gesture wouldn't be too late.
"I eh…I have something for you." She started.
"A parting gift? Lisbon, really, you shouldn't have," he sneered.
"Would you please look at it first, before judging it?"
She handed him the first envelope and he opened it, his face still impassive. A mass of shredded paper fell into his lap.
"You shredded our wedding papers?"
Oh no…no, just understand, you idiot! To make him see, she gave him the other envelope as well. He tore it open to reveal…
"These are the wedding papers."
"The intact, still legal wedding papers," she added.
"Then these are…" He gestured to the heap in his lap.
"What's left of the annulment papers. They were never filed. Nobody even knows they were drawn up. Like they never existed."
"But…why?"
She smiled at him and finally, as the truth hit him, he smiled back. His true, glorious, wonderful, bone-melting smile.
"I want to stop pretending too," she whispered.
Patrick stood, letting the pieces of shredded document fall on the carpet, with one step, he had reached her. His hand brushed along her jaw line and pulled her head in closer.
It was their first kiss since the mandatory kiss when they were being pronounced husband and wife. It lasted for many minutes, but it hardly lasted long enough to even start making up for the damage she had done to their relationship. But she figured she would have years to do that.
"So…you really want to be my wife?" He asked, for some reason needing to hear her say it out loud.
"Yes, I do…I love you Patrick Jane. And I love being married to you."
"On one condition."
"What's that?" Anything, he could have anything he wanted.
"I want to do it again."
"Do what again?"
"Marry you again. Renew our vows. For real this time. I want to see you in a white wedding gown. I want guests and a cake and flowers and a proper party. I want the world to know that we meant it. That I love you. We deserve a fresh new start, don't you think?
"Yes, I do."
"Save those words for the judge, my darling wife." He kissed her soundly, before thinking of something and pulling away.
"What?"
"Are you gonna make me wait until our next wedding to consummate?"
THE END.
Hope you enjoyed this little ficlet! Reviews more than welcome!