Twenty Facts about Teresa Lisbon
One: Lisbon didn't learn how to drive until she was 18. She had hated cars since her mom died. No one really blamed her, but eventually it simply became an inconvenience. James wanted to play hockey, and then Tommy wanted to learn how to drive. And, well, someone had to teach him.
Two: She took an alternative public speaking course in college. Which really meant that she took a drama course.
She was never really a fan of the dramatic arts, per se, but she needed another elective. Public speaking is useful.
But really, there was this guy who came into the coffees shop she was working at, and he loved drama, and she figured that it wouldn't hurt-having something to talk to him about.
Three: Lisbon knows how to cook five things with incredible talent, and another five things with not-so-much talent.
She can make a home-made pasta sauce that really is to die for. She and her best friend from high school came up with the recipe in the tenth grade, and mastered it by the twelfth. They email back and forth, sometimes, if they ever add anything new.
She can bake peanut butter cookies. She likes to add a single chocolate chip to each.
She eats a slice of toast every morning, with melted butter and a brown sugar-cinnamon mix on top. Something her mom used to do, when she would get home from day shift at the hospital. She would opt for the toast instead of the leftovers. The convenience and indulgence found in such an easy thing…it never escaped Lisbon, really.
She loves her chinese food. When she was in the Academy, there was a guy on her training squad who also loved chinese. He taught her how to make this stir-fry and, despite all the mess she got into because of him, she just couldn't help herself. She couldn't throw away the recipe.
She can also make a wicked batch of scalped potatoes; a family tradition that, unlike everything else, didn't die out.
She can also kind of make homemade burgers, lasagna, chicken noodle soup from scratch and blueberry scones.
She has also recently taken to melting cheese onto bagels in the oven, and she counts that as cooking.
Four: The first time she met Jane, he was incredibly polite to her. Charming, almost. She knew about his family, she had read the Red John file. So the first time she met him, she knew. Right away, she knew, that everything for him was a charade.
It was probably the only time she has ever had the upper hand in their relationship.
Five: Not that she would ever admit it, but she did keep a diary until she was 15.
Six: She had called James 16 times in the first ten minutes. If everything was fine, she was going to look like a total idiot. If everything wasn't fine… well, she wasn't quite ready to think about that.
By the first half hour, she had called him closer to 100 times.
On the forty-second minute after the plane hit the first tower, her phone rang.
"Reese," James coughed. "Reese, I'm okay."
That was the most she had ever cried.
Seven: She lost her virginity to Samuel Harris, who was the first boy at college to talk to her, let alone ask her to go for coffee. He was a nice kid, had these dorky glasses and floppy hair.
So when she meets Sam Bosco, well.. She's always had a soft spot for name.
Eight: She hates going into the bank. When she was hired by the CBI, she was all too happy to sign up for direct deposit. Her general dislike for the establishment could easily have everything to do with the fact that they have long lines and are generally noisy. Or because she has seen that episode of the X-Files where Mulder keeps getting blown up in the bank.
Either or.
Nine: Up until the ninth grade, Teresa had always wanted to be a doctor. It wasn't until then that she realized that she really wasn't that great at science. After that, she thought she wanted to be an English teacher. After writing the SATs, she didn't want to write another subjective essay ever again. In first year, she took a psych course and being a cop eventually became obvious.
Ten: Within the first month of working with Jane, Lisbon thought that he was many things. Tactless, arrogant, devious, and childish. She would even say that he could be occasionally cruel. The fifth week after he joined her unit, they got a call to house with a face on the wall.
That was the day that she made sure she would never forget what he went through.
Eleven: She actually declared her minor in art history. Irrelevant to anything, she knew, but she had the credits. Even so, when she watches Jane throw the painting that he had stolen from the Russian mobster…It makes her cringe, just a little.
Twelve: It only happens one time. Just the once. It was after she had dropped Jane off at his apartment, early on in their partnership. Just because he could see again didn't mean he should be driving right away.
He had been so close to her the whole time. Holding onto her for dear life. He had been pathetic, of course. But somehow charming about it at the same time.
She's sitting on her couch with an empty glass of wine on the coffee table. She thinks about how he had wanted to know what it feels like when you smile, Lisbon. Please?
Her hand travels under her shirt on its own accord. Back and forth and forth and back.
It's hard and fast and she can't help but thinking that if it were his hand, it would be a little bit better. But they work together…they're friends.
It doesn't happen again.
Thirteen: Her friends in college used to watch that TV show about the vampires, with the blonde girl. They all had a crush on that Angel guy. At least, she thinks that's his name. She never really followed it and sometimes they called him something else. But she always kind of had a crush on the teacher…the british one. He was British, for starters. And he was also sort of ruggedly handsome and learned.
Of course she never told them that.
Fourteen: After Jane met Tommy, he sometimes took to calling her Reese, just to make her mad. Although, it was always when they were alone, so she found that eventually, she didn't really care anymore.
Fifteen: She's never been to Canada, or Europe, or Asia. She knows that Canada isn't a separate continent, but it has it's own novelty to it.
She wonders if Jane has ever been to any of those places. He would probably like the tropics. He seems to love the beach.
Sixteen: He's drunk one night, which is a rarity in and of itself. But Rigsby calls her at 11:30 to explain that he offered to share a cab with Jane, but that he claimed he wasn't ready to leave yet.
"I mean, I'm pretty wasted boss, but I don't know, he never drinks."
She's in her yoga pants and a sweatshirt when she sits beside him at the bar.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, dear Lisbon?"
"I was in the neighbourhood."
"Liar. You were asleep."
She waves to the bar tender, asks for a cup of Earl Grey, if they have any, please.
"Is that going to be for you, or for me? Because I have to say, it wasn't necessarily hitting the spot for me tonight."
She shrugs and mumbles a "Maybe we can share it."
After he backs another double of scotch, she's finally able to convince him to call it a night. He leans on her all the way to her car, and she has to buckle him in because Woman, why do they make these things so annoying?
"Where do you want me to take you tonight?" She asks, because Jane well… His living patterns are erratic, so to say.
"Please don't take me home, Lisbon," he says, eyes closed.
"You wanna take the guest bed at my place, then?"
He nods, and she drives them home.
When they're walking in the door, he smiles at her. "I'm happy that you didn't hesitate. You must really trust me not to lay the moves on you."
She snorts, rolls her eyes. Sits him down once they get inside the front door and helps him get his shoes off. "I'm serious, Lisbon. It's rare that a man and a woman can come home from a bar and-"
"Okay, Jane, I get it. But we don't want to talk about this now, do we."
He nods and adds, "You're right. But when it does happen, and we actually share a bed, you know I won't let it be because of something like this, right?" He's waving his arms around his face.
After that, she sort of knew that them sleeping together was just one of those things that was bound to happen. When the time was right.
Seventeen: She's always wanted a dog. She's never had one. She thinks she would like a big one. Maybe a lab, or a German Shepard. She hasn't actually thought about what kind of dog she wants.
So when the rules for her town-house development change, she was really considering it. She hadn't told anyone about it, but one day when Jane came into work, he was holding this big brown box.
He set it on her couch, looked at her expectantly. "Well, aren't you going to come see what it is?"
She cautiously rounded her desk, and flipped the top of the box open.
There was a chocolate Retriever puppy sleeping in the corner with a thin pink collar around its neck.
"What! Jane why did…" And as her surprise wore off, she looked at him. "How did you know?"
"You're an open book, dear," he said, a large smile spreading across his face.
Eighteen: Lisbon and Jane go to question a victim's husband one afternoon, and the guy just freaks. Pulls out a gun after they were settling around the island in the man's kitchen. Jane's hands are in the air within a split second, and her gun is out just as fast.
When she first met Jane, he always said she had the quickest draw in the West.
Jane hates guns.
And when the bullet hits him, she imagines that he must hate them even more now. He's down fast, and the suspect is out the door not long after. Lisbon is over him in the time it takes him to blink.
"Lisbon, go get him, I'm fine," he groans. For someone who is always a baby about everything, he's always willing to let himself suffer for others.
When the ambulance gets to the scene, and Lisbon can finally hand the suspect over to someone else, she heads towards Jane. He's sitting on the gurney, arguing with the EMTs.
"Lisbon!" He shouts to her. "Tell them it went clean through. That they can just give me some drugs and it'll be fine."
"I'm not a doctor, Jane. Let them do their jobs." She turns to the young man who is trying to get Jane to lie down. "Take him to the hospital, I'll be there right after you." Jane starts to argue, and she just looks at him. He shuts up.
That night, she learns that the only thing that can really get Jane talking (and talking and talking and talking) is oxicodone.
Nineteen: One Tuesday, she snaps at Rigsby twice before ten o'clock. She proceeds to lock herself in her office until 5, and slips out of the building while everyone is listening to Jane tell a story in the break room. He meets her eye as she leaves, but doesn't show any other signs of having seen her.
She's home for twenty minutes before Jane knocks at the door.
He smiles at her, and she picks at a piece of lint on her yoga pants. "What do you want, Jane?"
His smile widens. "I've got two different pints of Ben and Jerry's, some movies, a bottle of chardonnay, some other groceries. You going to let me in, or what?"
She sits on her couch, pulling her throw blanket back over her. He brings her a glass of wine, two ibuprofens, then prompt returns into the kitchen. When he comes back, he has two spoons and a pint of mint chocolate chip and a pint of cookie dough. "I've got Casseblanca and Breakfast at Tiffany's, which one first?"
She points to Casseblanca, and he smiles. "Don't look so proud of yourself, Jane."
"You know, for someone who prides themselves in being stoic, you're not very good at hiding your PMS symptoms."
She doesn't even blush at the comment, which is a feat for her. But she did grow up with three brothers, so Jane isn't much of a match for them.
Twenty: Her and all three of her brother's have matching tattoos. In different spots, yes, but they're all the same. Hers is on the side of her ribs. A smart spot, really. No one ever sees it. Probably don't know it's there. Why would Saint Teresa Lisbon have a tattoo of a wish bone on the side of her ribs? It's so…unlike her.
The first time anyone from work sees it is when Grace has her trying on a bunch of absolutely gaudy bridesmaids dresses. She says she likes it, but she would never get one herself. Lisbon knows it's a lie.
When Jane finally sees it, his eyes widen. But he smiles, and gently places his fingers over it. "Did it hurt?" He asks. When Lisbon nods, her lip between her teeth, he simply kisses it, and moves on.
Takes it in stride, knowing that she is much more than a sum of her parts. Acknowledges that he didn't know everything about her before, and that after this, he still won't.
A/N: If y'all want to leave a review about this one, that would be appreciated. If you seem to like it, I'll probably do a follow up about Jane. Let me know!