Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist
"The world won't really end on May 21st, right Jane?"
The small room in the office is quiet, the doors closed, blinds shut, the main lights out, with only the dim table lamp on, the five colleagues having a drink before heading back home from work.
Rigsby's question rings loudly, as he looks at Jane, still convinced that he is psychic. The room is silent for a moment, everyone looking at Jane curiously, waiting for his answer. Lisbon rolls her eyes though- how would Jane know if the world is ending?
"Of course", Jane grins, taking a sip from his glass. His eyes twinkle with mischief, as he laughs. "Rigsby, come on. They have made these predictions a lot of times before. And look, we're still here."
Rigsby lets out a sigh of relief; Van Pelt bites grins, Cho deadpans, while Lisbon just shakes her head and finishes her drink. The clock announces it's 8 pm, as the five of them fall back into casual conversation again.
May 21st, 17:45 hours
She glances at her wrist watch and sighs, sitting down on the wet, dirty muddy ground, cursing under her breath about how it'd ruin her clothes. The wind is blowing gently, growing wilder every second, and the leaves of the trees are making a soft growling sound. If she wasn't a CBI special agent who dealt with cold-blooded criminals, she would have confessed that she was starting to feel scared. The power is still out, the communication is still down, the place is still dark, and she is trapped here, at the place of the murder, with all the prime suspects around her, with only Jane of all people by her side.
Sure, how can it possibly get any worse than this?
"I heard that the world was supposed to end today", Jane suddenly says, breaking through the deadly silence that had been surrounding them every since the power suddenly got out.
Her head snaps to Jane when he brings up this unexpected topic. Why is he saying this now? What is he planning to do?
She lightly brushes her arm against his to get his attention, frowning when it doesn't, and pokes his sides with her elbow, earning a "ouch" from him. She hisses, and raises an eyebrow to question him silently.
He grumbles, and shrugs, letting her know that this isn't one of his mind games.
She would have been convinced if she hadn't known him for five freaking years.
"What? You didn't hear the rumor?" Jane asks, looking at the faces of the other people around them.
"Yeah, we did", a blonde teenager, who had been fiddling with her ipod for so long with no avail, answers, giving him a bored look. "What about it?"
He shrugs again, looking around him, and automatically making everyone's gaze follow his. He stares at the dark bushes, and Lisbon feels a shiver run down her spine, subconsciously shifts closer to him. True Jane is useless, but he's a man. Not that she needs a man to protect herself, it's just….. She just wants to shift close to him. Period. Analyzing is Jane's job, not hers. She doesn't need to justify her actions to herself!
"I'm just saying", Jane begins, in a commanding, yet soothing voice, in a hypnotic voice, she thinks in her mind, though she knows that's not really it, "The world can be ending right now, you know. I mean, look around us."
Lisbon scoffs. Weakly, but scoffs. These people seriously won't buy this ridiculous crap! Please! They are not fools!
The wind grows wilder though, now the branches of the trees slightly swaying from side to side, and Lisbon finds herself straightening up. "Jane, whatever you're doing, stop it!" she hisses into his ear, following it with a glare for emphasis.
He shrugs innocently again, like he isn't doing anything.
She groans, and pushes herself away from him, resolute that she won't stand to be near him anymore. The resolution only lasts about ten seconds though. The wind knocks out the campfire, leaving them in complete darkness, and she has to swallow her pride and shift back towards him. Just to make sure that the killer doesn't hurt him, that is. Not because… okay, no justification needed.
"We need to light the fire again", a female voice from across them states the obvious.
She only rolls her eyes, takes out the lighter that she knows is in Jane's pocket, and does the job herself.
The light and the warmth seem comforting, as it slowly drives away the darkness. She takes in a deep breath and settles back down, for the first time noticing that she is somewhat scared. This can't be good, she thinks in her mind, pulling her jacket closer to her. It's a little cold now.
"You alright?" Jane whispers softly.
She only nods her head, staring at the light and the fire and thinking of happy things like home and office and people. Her breathing evens out, and she starts to relax.
The comfort ends soon enough though when Jane announces what he believes. "I think the world is ending."
She almost jumps at his sudden words, staring at him in disbelief. "What are you talking about?" she glances at the other people for a while, notices how scared and doubtful they look. She must look the same way then.
The wind knocks out the campfire again to emphasize his point. She draws in a sharp breath.
"Come on people!" she scoffs, trying to reason. "You can't seriously believe him! There's just a storm coming on."
"At this time of the year, Lisbon?" Jane challenges.
She glares at him about, her words coming out as little bites. "The weather can be unpredictable."
"What about the power?" He disputes again.
"It's a coincidence!" she mutters through gritted teeth. She is so angry at him for this. And she is shifting so close to him.
"And why isn't our phones working?" he asks again, now breaking into a victorious grin that she can see even through the dark.
She hisses and crosses her arms over her chest and just gives up trying to win a verbal war with a Mentalist.
He lightly brushes his arms against hers. She wonders if it was supposed to be accidental or reassuring. She decides she finds it reassuring. Not that she'll ever tell him.
"Oh my God!" An alarmed male voice breathes. "The world is ending!"
Two grunts come from two people, a gasp from one, and a hiss from Lisbon.
"No need to panic", she says, holding up her hands in a defensive gesture. "I'm sure my team is on their way to get us out of here."
"Not if we die first", Jane mumbles, and she punches his side intentionally. He had it coming, and if they are going to die, she might as well get back at him before that.
"What do we do now?" Another scared voice asks.
Jane shrugs. "I don't know. We can play a little game."
There are protests of "The world is ending and we play games?", and he counters it with "What else can we do now while we are locked here? Panic? Spend our last moments in misery? Tell me!
"What kind of game?" The bored teenager asks, now with a half-scared voice.
She wonders how someone can buy this. She wonders why she is buying this. Must be the creepy weather and the creepy coincidences. Or maybe Jane did hypnotize them, in which case, she'd make sure he doesn't die without the punch that he deserves.
"I saw end of world confessions trending on twitter", he begins, while flashing his cell phone to them, "Let's spend out last moments confessing."
There are protests of "I don't want to spend my last moment doing this stupid thing", and he counters it with "if you don't get it out now, you never can. This is our last chance."
Unbelievably, everyone buys it. And so here they are, playing this stupid game.
"Lisbon, begin."
"What?" she jumps up in surprise. Why did he pick her of all people? Wasn't this one of his mind games to catch the killer? Was this for real then? "Why me?"
He looks at her sincerely. "I don't know, I just thought there's something that you'd like to get off your chest."
"There's nothing like that!" she tries to dismiss him with a wave of her hand, but he keeps looking at her, and the wind keeps getting wilder, and her heart keeps beating faster, and she keeps thinking that the world is actually going to end. "Alright", she whispers softly.
He smiles, and waits patiently.
She looks around her, notices every pair of curious eyes glued on her face, and blushes. She can't believe that she is going to share this secret with a bunch of strangers. What is wrong with her? "I", she gulps, clearing her throat awkwardly and looking down at the ground. She is speaking softly, her words barely audible above the wind, yet it's so difficult. Her lips refuse to move, her fingers now bunching up her jacket in her fist, "I like you Jane." She mumbles, not daring to meet his eyes. She feels like a school girl with a crush like now.
"I knew it", someone whispers, and if she wasn't so terrified of his reaction, she would have turned around to glare.
He doesn't react though, and it's more terrifying, so she decides to take a peek. She notices that Jane is staring at her, wide-eyed.
WHAT! He read minds! How could he be so blatantly clueless about this?
"I had no idea you were going to say this. Lisbon", he finally manages to respond, giving her a soft smile, before breaking into a grin. "Well, you got it off your chest. Now it's…" he looks around, and points a finger at a random person, "Your turn."
She stares at him in disbelief. Isn't he supposed to tell her how he feels about her? Isn't he supposed to give her an answer She keeps staring as the people keep confessing, not paying any attention to them. How can Jane be… what is wrong with him? Why did she confess? How would she….. Ugh! She feels the desire to punch him again.
She's right about to do that when the killer breaks down into tears and confesses how she killed her husband and now regrets it. She listens quietly, taking in deep breathes to calm herself down. It's starting to rain now, the world is definitely ending, so what's the use of putting her in handcuffs anyway?
"What are you waiting for?" Jane stares at her like she lost her mind. "She just confessed. Arrest her!"
"Jane, the world is ending", she repeats his words from earlier. Funny she actually believes it now. Well, after that embarrassing confession, the world better end.
"No it's not", he grins, getting up as sirens of police horns ring in the background, as if on cue. "That'd be Cho and Rigbsy", he announces, turning on the torch in his cell phone.
How did his phone start working? She wonders, reaching into her pocket for hers- and oh holy cow, it's working too!
Cho and Rigbsy arrive, she directs them to the killer, and then she's following after Jane as he is walking out of the creepy land.
"Jane!" she calls out, making him stop. "What was that about? It looked like it was for real. I mean the weather…"
"Nah, we just got lucky", he shrugs, grinning again.
"What about the power? And the phones? And that ipod?" she asks, completely clueless and absolutely confused now, stunned by what just happened. "How did you possibly do that?"
He only widens his grin, shakes his head to let her know that he's not telling her the trick, and she begins walking again.
Oh. So the world isn't ending, and she made a fool of herself, and now they will be awkward forever. She draws in a deep breath one more time, breathing in the sweet scent of the rain. And then she's following him again. "I knew you were playing a mind game. I just made that confession up." She yells, hoping and praying that he buys it.
His shoulders lift up in another shrug. He doesn't even turn around to look at her. "Okay."
It's quiet, and they are walking silently. She's oddly disappointed that he believed it so easily, instead of being relieved, and there's something nagging her mind, and her heart is feeling heavy for some reason.
And then he suddenly stops to turn around and looks at her. "You know that I like you too, right?" His eyes drill into hers, shining with honesty.
It's so sudden that she takes two steps back instinctively. Then his words sink in slowly and she realizes that she didn't just imagine this and she lets herself smile. "Yeah, I do…"
He sighs, his fingers fondling the wedding ring in his other hand. "I don't know if I can ever…" he trails off, his eyes getting wet with tears well-hidden by the rain.
She takes his hand in hers and just squeezes. She knows he's not ready to date again yet, and she'll wait for him. "We'll catch Red John", she says softly, but with determination in her eyes.
He nods and smiles, and she smiles back.
And then she reluctantly pulls her hand away from him and begins walking away, casting glances around them to make sure that no one from their team noticed- office gossip is the worst, and so is Hightower.
Yeah, right now, she's kind of glad that the world isn't ending today.
A/N: just an idea I had based on recent events. Hopefully I could make it work and look somewhat believable? Did you like it? Reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated. Thanks for reading!