Disclaimer - The Mentalist belongs to Bruno Heller and CBS. Not me. Obviously.

A/N – Hello once again. Here's another one-shot for you to all (hopefully) enjoy! I've written for the Mentalist before, but of the three stories I've done, two are longer, multi-chapter explorations, and the other is a very short, experimental piece. I'm excited about this, mainly because it's more of tag onto the end of an old episode than anything else, which, as it's turned out, was fun to write! This hiatus has been killing me (figuratively speaking of course), but it's been nice to back to watch some of the older stuff during the break, and it's inspired me enough to write this little story. I hope you like it!

~ Musings and Memories ~

Jane leant back in the car seat, savouring the quiet rumbling of the vehicle as Lisbon drove them steadily home after a long evening of fine wine, dancing and catching murderers.

Well, one murderer really, Jane mused to himself as he looked idly out of the window; though it still wasn't a bad effort for one night's work. In fact, it had been quite a fun evening, all things considered, and he'd even managed to score a dance with Lisbon; a definite high point of the last few days. And the last few years probably...

Jane glanced at Lisbon, but she showed no sign that she had even noticed him smiling to himself, so he turned his attention back to the world outside the window, this time making no attempt to hide his grin as he allowed his thoughts to wander once again.

As far as he was aware, Cho, Van Pelt and Rigsby were already heading back from the school reunion dance, and would probably be going out for a few drinks at some point tonight to celebrate Rigsby's excellent attempt at con-artistry. Jane, however, had had little choice in the matter. Before he'd even had the chance to argue, Lisbon had immediately insisted on driving him straight back to the CBI herself. She'd told him that it was so that he could pick up his car, but he knew that it was probably just so that she could make sure that he didn't get into any more trouble.

Not that he had any intention of that, Jane cheerfully thought to himself. In fact, he was quite looking forwards to a nap, and to that end, since Lisbon was being uncharacteristically quiet for some reason, Jane took the opportunity to close his eyes as the car rumbled on, allowing his mind to sink back to that dance, and making sure that it earned a special spot in his memory…

He was almost asleep when Lisbon finally broke the silence.

"You really never went to high-school?"

The question was blurted out, and Jane could tell immediately that Lisbon had been dying to ask it for the past couple of days, probably ever since he had first admitted that he'd never actually attended high school. To be quite honest, he was impressed she'd managed to hold back until now.

Sighing as loudly and dramatically as he could, Jane slowly opened his eyes, only to find that Lisbon was already rolling her eyes back at him. He didn't even try to hide his smirk as he considered her question, though he already knew that there were two ways he could go with the answer. He could be serious, and tell her exactly why he might not particular want to reminisce over his lack of high school education, or….

"Meh," he shrugged, smiling at her. "Who needs high school?"

"Most people," she deadpanned.

"You honestly find it that hard to believe that I never attended high school?" he asked lightly, trying to keep the conversation away from any possible dangerous territory.

Lisbon didn't even blink. "To be honest, yes."

"Why?" he asked her curiously, turning to face Lisbon, though her attention remained firmly fixed on the road.

"I don't know," she replied. "You seem…educated. Really, really educated. It's annoying actually."

"I am educated," Jane replied with a smile, humouring her. "Just not in a traditional sense, that's all. Anyway, it doesn't seem as if I missed out on much."

Jane found he had to fight to keep his face blank as he thought back to poor Derek Logan. A life ruined because one high schooler had decided to get revenge on a troubled young boy. Two more innocent lives needlessly destroyed because she still hadn't grown up, even after all these years…

"What do you mean?" Lisbon asked him, frowning slightly.

"All the pranks and meanness and such," Jane replied, shrugging slightly, shaking away his unease. "It's all so…juvenile."

"They were juveniles, Jane."

"Well, there you go then," Jane replied smugly. "Anyway, do I detect a touch of defensiveness in your tone?"

"Me?" Lisbon replied, clearly offended. "Pranks? No."

"Liar," he grinned.

"Shut up," she shot back immediately, glaring at him.

He simply smiled back at her, however when it became clear that the glare wasn't going to subside any time soon, Jane held his hands up in mock-surrender and pretended to give up, though he still maintained, at least to himself, that Lisbon was hiding something.

"Okay," he grumbled dramatically as he turned his attention back to the scenery, though he made sure it was loud enough for her to hear him. "No need to get snippy…"

"Anyway," Lisbon continued, clearly trying to regain control of the conversation again. "Why didn't you go to school? And don't say that you were "busy" again. I don't buy that."

"Ah, but I did go to school," Jane replied cheerfully. "Lots of schools, in fact. I just didn't go to high school. And I was too busy to go to high school for your information."

"Busy doing what?" Lisbon asked, clearly suspicious.

Jane rolled his eyes. "I think you know what I was doing."

"You were conning people that early on?" she asked, surprise obvious in her eyes. Jane was a little surprised himself, though mainly at Lisbon's naivety.

"I was conning people as soon as I could talk," Jane told her, trying to force away the squirming in his gut that rose up anytime he thought about that particular nuance of his past.

"Oh," Lisbon replied, clearly at a loss of what to say.

"My father was a conman," he told her, though he wasn't quite sure why he felt the need to explain. "Once he realised what I was capable of…well, school didn't seem so important to him then."

"Didn't anyone notice?"

"Notice what?" he asked, slightly surprised by the direction her thoughts had gone in.

"I don't know," Lisbon replied. "Didn't anyone realise that you never turned up?"

Jane shrugged, turning to look out of the car window. "We moved a lot. I told you...I went to a lot of schools. No one really cared if I didn't turn up for a week or two at a time. By the time I was old enough for high school, there didn't seem much point. I already knew everything I needed to, and anything else I might need to learn in the future, I was quite capable of teaching myself."

"That's sad," Lisbon said softly. Jane turned to her, but she kept her eyes firmly fixed on the road.

"Why?" Jane asked, genuinely curious because for once he didn't have a clue what she was thinking. "Why is that sad? By all accounts, I didn't miss out on much."

"High school is the point in a kid's life where they start to work out who they want to be," Lisbon began. "I just think it's sad that you never got that chance."

"I didn't need it," Jane shrugged.

"I think you did," Lisbon argued softly. "By not going to high school, you missed out on the chance to work out who you wanted to be."

"Nonsense," Jane replied with a wave of his hand. "I knew exactly who I wanted to be. I wanted to be rich and I wanted to be famous. I certainly didn't need to go to school to figure that out."

"Maybe you did," Lisbon continued. "I mean, did you honestly spend your childhood dreaming of being a con-artist and a fake psychic when you grew up?"

"Well, no," Jane admitted, allowing his mind to wander back into his own past. "But when it did come time to decide, I chose to do that Lisbon. I was good at it, and it was easy money. I liked being on that stage."

"Did you ever really have a choice though?"

Jane frowned. "Of course I did."

"Really?" Lisbon replied, and it was clear she didn't believe him. "If you'd refused to do one of the shows, what would have happened?"

"I'm not sure," Jane replied slowly, after thinking about it. The uncomfortable feeling was growing but he sensed that Lisbon wasn't going to drop it until he gave her an answer that she could accept. "I never refused."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Humour me."

"Well, I suppose – if, for the sake of argument, I had refused to do a show - well, I might have had to bunk with someone else for a few days. Just to give my dad time to cool down. Nothing too bad."

He could tell that she was surprised by his answer. "He would have kicked you out?"

Jane shrugged again. "Maybe. Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters," Lisbon replied incredulously. "God, I can't believe someone so smart can be so stupid sometimes."

He frowned. "Well, that was just mean..."

"Oh, shut up, Jane," Lisbon replied immediately, though her scold was half-hearted at best. In fact Jane realised, Lisbon looked concerned more than anything…

"Explain it to me then," he said, biting back his original come-back. She was obviously taking this conversation seriously, and he supposed he owed it to her give her the answers she apparently wanted, even though it was definitely on the long list of things that he really didn't want to revisit.

"You didn't have a choice," Lisbon began with a brief nod, though whether it was to fortify herself or whether it was for his benefit, Jane couldn't tell. "You were a kid. No matter what you thought you wanted, when you're faced with the choice of doing what your dad wanted, or being kicked out…well, it's not much of a choice at all, is it?"

"It wasn't like that," Jane told her, "I mean, yes…it certainly wasn't ideal, but I did go to school until I was old enough to leave. It's not like he kept me out of school completely. I attended plenty, I can assure you of that. More than enough."

"Was it hard, going to so many schools as a kid?"

"Hard?" Jane frowned. "Not really. I was never really one for making friends with normal kids anyway."

"You didn't have friends?"

"I spent all my recesses either reading books or scamming people out of their lunch money," Jane told her. "Including a great majority of the teachers. Not exactly conducive to making friends."

"Oh," Lisbon replied.

"Don't worry, my dear," he continued. "I had plenty of friends. Granted most of them were adults, and most of them were carnies, but they were friends nonetheless. Your concern is completely unnecessary. My childhood certainly wasn't what you would call normal, but it was interesting, and over the years I learnt a hell of a lot more than most kids ever would at school."

Lisbon huffed slightly, but she didn't argue with him. Maybe it was because she believed him, or maybe it was because she simply saw it as a futile argument. In the end, all that mattered to Jane was that he'd won.

"Sorry for the 'unnecessary concern'," Lisbon replied, scowling slightly, though Jane thankfully detected a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"That's quite alright, Lisbon," Jane smirked, well aware that he was winding her up, and enjoying every second.

Lisbon wasn't finished, however, and she turned to glance at Jane one more, a smirk growing on her own face. "Sometimes you act so normal that I forget how completely not normal you really are."

Jane simply grinned in response. "Well, I see that I might need to refresh your memory every now and then. When we get another case, I'll be sure to solve it in the most obnoxious, elaborate and unnecessary way possible."

"How is that different from usual?" Lisbon shot back.

"This time I'll be trying," Jane smirked, and was pleased to note a touch of very real fear on Lisbon's face.

Jane grinned as he turned back to face the window, sighing contentedly as he allowed his eyes to fall shut once more. Lisbon fell quiet as well, and as his mind began to wander back to their dance, Jane wondered idly when Lisbon's next high school reunion was scheduled for.

Mentally, he made a note to find out. As soon as possible.

A/N - How was it? I realise that not a lot happens in particular, but I hope you liked my attempt at an episode tag anyway. I enjoyed writing it, so there is a strong possibility of more in the future. In fact, if you have any particular suggestions or requests, let me know in a review. Or you could send me a review just to say "Hi". That's always nice too. Until then, though, thanks for reading!