A mental rant about my personal life led to this Mentalist one shot (pun clearly intended..lol). Enjoy!
Communication
Lisbon hit the speed dial number for the third time that morning. Jane was late for work, again. Jane not being on time wasn't all that rare of an occurance but he would usually call with one lame excuse or another. The man was horrible at keeping the time and probably only managed to keep a semi-dependable attendance record because he spent most nights in the attic of the CBI building. It helps if you sleep at work. Lisbon was fairly certain Jane didn't own a watch and the voicemail coming through the speaker told her the man cared little for his phone either.
This is Patrick. I've anticipated your call and clearly already know whatever it is you're trying to contact me about so leaving a message is probably pointless.
Lisbon slammed the phone down on her desk. They were supposed to have left over a half-hour ago for a meeting with the governor. Thinking about it now, it was probably the very reason for the consultant's absence. Then again, it could very well be a good thing Jane and the governor wouldn't be in the same room together. Lisbon shivered at the nightmare that could have brought on. Looking down at her watch, she realized they would have to seriously hustle to make their meeting on time so she grabbed her notes and strolled out of her office.
In the bullpen, Lisbon found her team crowded around the television in the back, Van Pelt turning up the volume. It was aerial footage of the Sacramento river and what looked like Pioneer Bridge. There were three main bridges that crossed the river into Sacramento and this was one of them. Lisbon listened as serious voice of news reporter filled the bullpen.
"Good Morning. I'm Melinda Green, reporting to you live from Pioneer Bridge, along the riverfront in western Sacramento where the body of a man was reportedly found sometime early this morning. As of right now, the authorities are calling this probable suicide although Pioneer Bridge is strictly a vehicle crossing unlike the Tower Bridge downtown which is frequently used by pedestrians."
"Boss isn't that right near where…"
"Shh." Lisbon cut Van Pelt off, her eyes still glued to the screen.
"The victim's identity isn't being released at this point but he's described as being a male, of average height and build in his mid to late forties."
Lisbon didn't realize she had completely crumpled the notes in her grasp until Cho snapped her out of it.
"Boss, it's just a coincidence." He said, taking the papers from her hands and attempting to flatten them against his desk.
"Sacramento police have closed off the bridge until investigations are completed."
"Well, that explains the insane detour."
Lisbon's worry instantly turned to anger at the new voice behind her. She turned to find her smug consultant standing there, phone in one hand, a tray of coffees in the other.
"I would have called but I left my phone here." He said by way of explanation.
Lisbon just stared, her fiery gaze never leaving its target.
"I brought breakfast." Jane added.
The team watched in awe and amusement as their boss took a single deep breath, stomped over to Jane, plucked her coffee out of the offered tray, and then hustled back to her office without a single word to the confused consultant.
"What's got her panties in a bunch this morning?" He asked.
"She thought you jumped off a bridge." Cho said simply.
"There was a body found in the Sacramento River near the Pioneer Bridge this morning." Rigsby clarified.
"Ah." Jane understood. Pioneer bridge was within walking distance of his extended-lease motel room.
Lisbon had just hung up with Wainwright when the knock sounded on her door. Thankfully, their meeting with the governor had been postponed do to the insane traffic now being rerouted through two bridges instead of three.
"Come in."
Lisbon was fairly surprised to see Jane stroll in, white paper bag in hand. The first surprise was the knock in general as Jane always just barged in whenever he felt like it. The second was that the man looked genially nervous.
"You ah, forgot your bear claw." Jane placed the bag on the desk and sat in the chair wearily.
Lisbon distracted herself by sipping her coffee and then peering inside at the pastry. When the consultant still hadn't uttered a word, she closed the bag and crossed her arms in front of her on the desk.
"I wouldn't jump."
She looked up at that.
"If I was going to, you know…" His gaze fell and wandered until it settled on the gold glint of his wedding band.
"I've already done the whole drowning thing and I've found it's highly overrated." Jane grinned but it didn't reach his eyes.
Lisbon still didn't utter a word.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry that I made you think…" He hesitated, struggling with his words. "I don't want you to worry, that I would do something like that. I'm not that…"
"Broken?" Lisbon offered in the slightest of whispers.
Jane nodded. "Broken, damaged, whatever."
"Jane?" She asked a bit more confidently this time.
"Yeah?"
"If, at some point, things do get that bad… If you start having those kinds of thoughts…"
"You'd be the first, the only person I'd call." Jane reassured, echoing a conversation they had years prior.
Lisbon nodded.
"By the way, I'm sorry I left my phone here." He pulled the thin razor phone from his jacket pocket and held it in his palm. "I would have called."
Meanwhile, Lisbon rummaged through the top drawer in her desk. Jane watched curiously as Lisbon grabbed his hand containing the phone. In one swift motion, he heard the rip of the duct tape as she wrapped it around his hand, trapping the phone.
"How am I supposed to answer it now?" Jane asked, holding up the taped hand.
"That's your problem. Now scoot, so I can enjoy my breakfast in quiet."
Jane grinned, for real this time and stood. He didn't go far though as he plopped himself down on Lisbon's white couch.
Lisbon rolled her eyes and peeled open the paper bag greedily.
Fin