The Bet

hi guys, this is my first try at a fanfic for this fandom so forgive me if It sucks:( Please note that this story may be a little OOC... sorry. I hope to improve in my writing skills, but for now, I would be grateful for a few reviews on how to improve:P

Disclaimer- If I owned them, Jisbon would have had more scenes in season 3.

-

"I'm absolutely serious about this decision."

"I know you are, but I'm your friend, I don't want you to make the wrong choice."

"Well, as a friend, I ignore your advice politely."

"Okay. It's your choice. Are you sure you want to give up everything that could happen between us?"

"Yes Jane, I'm sure."

"Okay. I'm taking your queen." Jane leaned forward and moved his bishop forward, picking up her queen and putting it aside in the process.

"F***."

"Don't curse, Lisbon. It's unbecoming of you."

"I will do more than curse if you start gloating about how you're going to win again. " Lisbon gave him a heated glare and ran her fingers through her raven hair in the process.

"Just to clarify things, I wasn't gloating. I was giving you a chance to win by seeing through my moves."

"Oh really? You seem pretty happy that you're about to win."

"Well, considering the bet we had, it would be in my best interest if I won. Besides, yours was boring."

"Hey! I-" Lisbon was about to continue when the office door burst open. "Hey boss. I checked out on the lead you wanted. Got an address, since it's not too far, do you want to send Cho and Rigsby ?" Van Pelt stuck her head into the office room with a tinge of guilt for disturbing their game.
Jane had been expecting someone to interrupt them, since he noticed that Lisbon never locked the door, and Van Pelt never knocked. And also, the hurried footsteps that had been heading towards them were quite a big hint.

-
"What do you think they were betting on?" Rigsby leaned forward on his desk and asked the quiet man who sat in front of him.

"It's either sex, humiliation, or food." Cho answered shortly, not even lifting his head up.

"I bet sex and food." Rigsby said quietly as he showed Cho a fifty dollar bill.

"You're always thinking with your stomach. I bet sex and humiliation." Cho said, taking out another fifty dollar bill.

They both turned back to their work just as their team leader stepped out from her office with an irritated look on her face.

"Cho, Rigsby, you're going to question the suspect and bring him in if necessary. Van Pelt, you can say here while me and Jane go and talk to the victim's sister and see if they can recognize him." Lisbon said as she turned and headed towards the elevator with her keys in hand, until Jane stopped her by calling out to her.

"Actually, I think I would like to go with the lovely Van Pelt this time, if it was possible." He stated innocently. Lisbon turned around with a shock. "Oh." She replied shortly.
"Go ahead then. Van Pelt, watch him." Lisbon said before swiftly turning around and walking away, throwing a look filled with jealousy at Van Pelt, which made the poor girl nearly cower at her possessiveness.

"Don't worry about Lisbon, Van Pelt. She probably won't be able to handle being left out and come by to 'supervise' us later." He smiled reassuringly.
"Yeah, but did you see how much she wanted to have you to herself?" She mumbled under her breath.

"Van Pelt, don't mumble." She cursed at herself for being caught, and Jane merely smiled and said "And don't swear. My goodness, you ladies really are getting foul-mouthed these days."

Seeing the red head send him a grin, he opened the door to his side of the car and got in without a fuss as they drived off.

-

As it turns out, the suspect's house wasn't as nearby as they thought. It was a five hour drive both ways, because it was nearly at the edge of the state. Therefore, it was almost nightfall by the time they were back on the road again.

The road was so quiet that even Jane could count the number of cars that they had passed by in the past hour on his two hands. Plus, the place was so far out that even the radios could only receive feedback. The dull, yet consistent droning soon lulled Jane to sleep. Without Jane to keep her awake with his jokes and comments, Van Pelt drifted off to sleep too.

The car screeched as it went off the road, effectively waking the two up. Before they could do anything however, the car tipped off the side of the road, and fell onto its side. The road fell back into its silence once again.

"Ow..." Van Pelt groaned weakly. She reached out for Jane in the dark, but she couldn't seem to feel him beside her anymore. Her head felt like it was exploding, and when she touched her hair, her hand came away red with blood. "Jane?" she called out, louder this time. She finally heard a rustling of leaves and thought that worst case scenario, it was a wild animal, best case scenario, it was Jane, alive and well. She figured that reality lay somewhere in between the two.

After a long moment, Jane popped his head through the open car door. "Van Pelt? Are you alright?" He asked as he attempted to get her out of her seatbelt. "Yeah. But I can't move my arms. Sorry Jane, this is all my fault."

"No. It's my fault. I apologize for not staying awake to keep you awake." Jane finally took out his pocket knife and cut the belt and lifted Van Pelt out of the car without hesitation. 'Wow.' Van Pelt thought. 'if Jane wasn't already being eyed by Lisbon, I would have jumped at this chance.'

Jane set her down on the side of the road. He had called Lisbon, but she didn't pick up. Maybe she really was pissed with him... So he sent her a quick text, even though it barely went through since his phone had no bars. Van Pelt was exhausted and so was he. They lay down beside each other and fell asleep in minutes.

-

Teresa Lisbon was hurt. Jane had just dumped her for Van Pelt, well, it couldn't really count as dumping, since they weren't actually together 'officially' (even if her feelings for him were not at all friendly), and neither were Jane and Van Pelt. But still, it hurt. She blinked back her tears as she concentrated on her paperwork. 'He didn't even look at me when he walked out. What does he want? Was I supposed to stop/interrupt him?' she pondered about the possibility before dismissing it and dragging her eyes away from the couch that she had been eying for a while.

"Boss, Van Pelt and Jane still haven't returned, and since it's getting late, me and Cho were thinking about heading home. That is, unless you want us to wait." Rigsby asked after knocking on the door.

"Yeah. Sure." she replied half-heartedly and waved him off. She just wanted to be alone. She heard two sets of footsteps retreating, and a lift door closing, before it was silent once more. She sighed and went back to writing the report to keep the Hightower updated on the status. All of a sudden, she felt a jolt in her mind. It was like someone was screaming, and it sounded like Van Pelt. Although it was seemingly impossible, she became slightly self conscious and placed her hand against the gun in her side pocket. Before long, she decided to pack up and leave, since the precinct was a little too quiet that night. She headed for the bathroom, ignoring the vibration of her handphone. When she returned however, she saw the new text message that Jane had sent and instantly regretted that decision. She scooped up her bag and ran out of the office, hoping that by blind luck they would be okay. She couldn't afford to lose him.

She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that Jane had activated a tracker and was leading her straight to where they were. What she found strange, was that they were basically in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town was a couple of miles away. 'Van Pelt must have gotten the scale wrong...' she thought as she started the car and dialed for backup in case something was wrong.

She reached the tumbled car when the sky was showing the faintest rays of sun. She was exhausted, but the sight of the two agents cuddled together shook her enough to knock all the tiredness out of her.
"Jane? Are you hurt?" she crouched down to his body, noting that his hair was tousled and it made her want to mess it up even more. He had a few minor cuts along his body, but he wasnt moving, so she gently lay her head on his chest to check his breathing before she could stop herself. She could hear his heartbeat in his chest, and she felt him smile against her hair. She jumped up in embarrassment, but immediately left his side to check on Van Pelt. She had a broken arm and several cuts that may need stitches like Jane, but nothing too severe. It was a huge relief for the paramedics who came to take them to a hospital. Lisbon reluctantly released Jane's hand when they brought him into the van. Cho and Rigsby arrived just to see that scene and smiled to themselves.

Jane reached for her the moment she let go. He was semi conscious, but he could sense her uneasiness and fear. Even in that state, he wanted to relieve her of her fear. It wasn't her fault, but she was blaming herself. He was half surprised when she didn't show up to interrupt them but he figured that she was still hurt and didn't want to cause a misunderstanding between her and Van Pelt. Now that she had seen them cuddled together, he wondered what she was thinking, since she was uncharacteristically touchy.

"Lisbon?" he croaked out when she climbed into the back of the van beside him. "Yeah. I'm here, Jane." She murmured as she fingered his palm. "Why did you do that? Leave with Van Pelt when you probably knew that she got the scale wrong."

"Well, it was a lost opportunity. Nothing to be bothered about."

"LOST OPPORTUNITY? You're the one to say that. Do you know how much I wanted to kill you for humiliating me in front of everyone?"

"You don't mean that. I can tell you don't."

She sighed in frustration and was silently debating if she should tell him that she was really jealous and ask him out... If he was really worth it.

"Just tell me. I know what you want to say, but I want to hear you say it." he grinned mischeviously at her that confirmed her choice.

"I just wanted to tell you that...I would love a cup of coffee." She smiled back.

"That's good. I need a cup of tea too. You want Rigsby to get it for you?" He countered, and got slapped in the shoulder for it." Ow! Actions speak louder than words Lisbon."

Lisbon rolled her eyes at him, and leaned forward to surprise Jane with a kiss on the mouth. She could tell it worked, for he was tense at first, but he quickly slipped his tongue into her mouth. She cupped his face with her hands and gently leaned her body onto his. The kiss turned passionate in seconds, eliciting a moan from Lisbon, and she was reaching for his shirt buttons when the door opened, to reveal Cho. They jumped apart at once.
"Good day boss. Hope you're feeling better Jane. I sent some guys over to the suspect's house. He's on the run, everything's gone. We will be going over there soon, you might wanna join us, after you clean up a bit." he gestured to their faces and left without an expression.

"Man, that guy is good."

"He IS a trained detective..."

"Okay, well I'd better go get the guy."

"Okay..." Jane looked like he was trying to say something, but didn't know how to put it. So, Lisbon smiled to herself and quickly put his mind at ease. "You choose the venue this time, pick me up at 6-ish at my place. I'll make you tea the way you like it." seeing Jane's embarrassed expression, she continued, "Does a lady have to do everything by herself? It's not the first time we are doing this, so you don't need to be nervous about asking me." she kissed him on the cheek and walked away.

######}a month later{#####

Teresa waited patiently for her consultant/boyfriend to show up. He was late...again. She idly flipped her phone open and dialled his number for the third time in the past hour. The first was because she missed him. The second was to tell him she was on her way. "Where are you? You're already fifteen minutes late." she said grumpily.

"Aww I'm touched that you were concerned about me." came a voice standing behind her. She whirled around in surprise and her expression turned into a pout when she saw Jane standing there, smirking at her. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Since you came in. You sure take a long time to call someone if they're late." he chuckled as she slapped his arm, but with a certain amount of playfulness. "I certainly would have called if you were five minutes late."

"Yeah but that's the difference between you and I, I, however, am rarely ever late." she glared at him while he took his seat in front of her.

It has been about two weeks since they're first date, and Lisbon realizes that she somewhere along the way, she had gotten into Jane's head, or maybe he was just letting her reside there for a while. But either way, she found herself understanding him better in ways she couldn't even begin to think about.

He was her missing puzzle piece, and she was his whole new complete picture altogether.

"Jane, stop reading me. I'd like to order for myself for once." she glanced up at him, and he looked back at his menu. He was absolutely adorable that way, but she'd never tell him that, for she will never hear the end of it otherwise. Then again, it was these small things that he did that made her fall in love with him all the same.

Also, she had been wanting to tell Cho and Rigsby that they were wrong about the bet she wasn't supposed to know about. They had been betting on whether or not they should tell them that they had already gotten together about two days before it.

-

Heehee so thanks for reading my short story:) I don't think I'll continue it since I still have my other stories to finish. But i can say that this most probably won't be the last Mentalist fic I will write. So, if you guys like it or hate it, please review all the same. I would be very grateful :) (.)

-Lianna