A/N: This story is probably more than OOC, but I don't really care, I wrote it as a prompt for the French Forum CPAF and I wanted to share it with English speakers. We had to imagine a non-romantic love declaration. I am French, so there will be mistakes in there, but don't shoot me, I'm trying to learn. Oh, and it's stupid, but eh...
Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist or any of the characters (would I really be here writing ridiculous FF if I did?)
Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon was filling out the last of her paperwork when her infuriating consultant opened the door and entered her office without knocking.
'Hi, Lisbon,' he said with a charming smile.
'What do you want, Jane?'
Her answer was rather harsh, she knew it, but if his grin was any indication, today was not going to be a good one. He frowned, and leant forward, his hands laying flat on the wooden surface of her desk and then, slowly, very slowly, another grin lightened his face, a mischievous one. That only meant trouble.
'Well, thank you Lisbon, I'm fine, and you?' he answered sarcastically.
'Cut the crap, Jane. I have work to do,' she groaned.
'Meh, paperwork is not interesting!' He smiled even more when he saw that he was making her angry. Angry-Lisbon was always so much fun. He knew she wanted to add something like "It's your fault it's there in the first place", but he just winked at her and turned away. He heard her sigh, and as he was about to leave the office, he turned back to her and looked at her straight in the eyes.
Lisbon stood there, stunned for a few seconds. Uh-oh! She had the strange feeling that that gaze just meant '"I know something you don't want me to know"… Dread filled her and she looked at her computer screen, feeling her cheeks growing redder and redder.
Patrick Jane sat on his couch with his usual cup of tea. Everything was going smoothly with his plan. Lisbon's face was still red, and she was still glaring at her computer screen. He had seen the little black tattoo on her right hop the day before and it had surprised him. It wasn't something 'girly' or worth hiding, no embarrassing heart or ex-boyfriend name. No, the tattoo represented a hawk and he thought it was really representative of her personality.
Right after seeing the little decoration, he had worked up a plan to make her admit it was there, and then, curiosity had taken the best of him and he had wanted her to tell him how the bird had ended up on her hip, and why. The fact that she was already angry meant that it would be easier than he thought to get the info out of her.
His cup of tea now empty, he set in on the floor before lying down on the couch and feigning sleep once again. Now, he had to put part two of the plan on motion.
At noon, she was still locked on her office, and he was getting bored. There was no case and he had promised her not to try to hypnotize Rigsby into eating paper anymore, so he had nothing left to do. He could have tried to make Grace admit that she wanted to ditch O'Laughlin for Rigsby, but something told him that the result would not be fun and might be hurtful for the poor redhead and as for Cho… Meh, no way he was trying to annoy him, it would mean signing his own death warrant and he was not stupid.
No, he had no choice but to go and annoy Lisbon instead. He got up from the couch and went to the kitchen to make some tea for himself and some coffee for her. He needed a peace offering if he wanted to enter the office without having his head ripped off.
'Hey,' he announced himself.
'Hey yourself.' She was calmer, he could tell she regretted the way she had sent him away that morning and he waved it off with a warm smile. He wanted her to admit about the tattoo, but he didn't want her to be angry at him or hurt. He gave her the mug of coffee and sat on the white couch.
'I know your secret,' he said softly.
'What secret?' she asked frowning.
She was really worried. She had thought she had been hiding it particularly well, but Jane being Jane, she knew there was no way she could keep anything from him. Not even something as… Disturbing? No, strange? No… Shameful? No way! She would not be ashamed of it, never! Well, no matter what it was, she could not keep anything from him.
'You know which one!'
'Well, if you know, then…' She didn't finish that thought. She wasn't sure what she wanted him to do about it. 'Now, can I go back to work please?'
'No,' he said simply, still sipping quietly from his tea.
'Why?' she whined, and then, he knew the game was on.
'Because I want you to admit it! Knowing is one thing, Lisbon, but hearing you admitting it is a completely different matter!'
He smiled. She was pouting now, and damn! She was cute. 'Jane, please!'
'No, begging won't get you out of it!'
She thought for a few seconds, maybe, if she said it now, it would save her further embarrassment… She scoffed. No way, she would never hear the end of it. But he already knew so… She would just say it, push him out of her office, throw her stapler at him, maybe and to hell with it… Yeah!
'Fine!' She snapped. 'I…' Now, it was really hard to say… 'I…'
'Just say it Lisbon, I won't make any commentary.' He was kidding, right? Ahrgh…
'Uh…' You can do it, Lisbon. 'I love you!'
Now it was out! And he was going to make fun of her, again… Or maybe even reject her, his answer wasn't the one she was waiting for.
'I know that!' He said, with a wave of his hand, I wasn't talking about that but about your tattoo.'
She was speechless, and that didn't happen often. Jane took a moment to think about it and he realized that saying he knew she loved her was not the wisest idea he ever had. He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off.
'My tattoo?'
'Yeah, how come you never told me about it?' he asked with a childish whine.
'Well, you didn't ask…'
They stayed silent for a few minutes before Lisbon, suddenly realizing what he had said, lowered her head and looked at her desk.
'You know…?'
'Of course I do, I already told you, you're translucent, my dear.' Every trace of mischief had left his eyes, and he was deadly serious. He heart dropped at the thought that he was going to reject her, but she asked anyway.
'Why didn't you say anything?'
He smiled, her voice was so low that he wasn't sure he had heard right. He got up, walked to her desk and leant against it, just beside her.
'You have big trust issues, and fear of commitment. I knew that saying anything would send you to the other side of the country. I was just waiting for you to work it out…' Something wasn't right; she should have been smiling by now. Then it occurred to him that he might have forgotten something while playing his little game. 'Lisbon,' she was still stubbornly looking at her desk. 'Lisbon, look at me.' He waited a few seconds for her to obey before talking again. 'You know that I love you too, right?'
'You do?'
He could have laughed at that, but her face showed so much vulnerability that he choose not to. 'Of course I do! Do you think I would be bringing you coffee and bear claws if I didn't?'
'You bring food to Rigsby too,' she smiled.
'Yeah, but that's when I want something from him. You know as well as I do that food is the best way to get whatever you want out of him!'
Her laugh warmed him inside and he squeezed her right hand before straightening up and turning towards the door. 'Now finish these up, so I can take you out for lunch and you can tell me everything about that tattoo, I still want to know.'
She laughed again. 'No way! A girl gotta keep her secrets!'
FIN
I'm slightly ashamed of it, so if you could be nice...? ^^