Hey guys! Welcome to new readers and welcome back to old friends! It's been a long time! I honestly hope you are all well and happy! :) I've been quite busy with another story these past months but I'm back to writing about The mentalist. This idea has been in my mind for some time now, it won't be a particularly long story but I hope you guys will enjoy it! So here comes chapter one! :)

Disclaimer: Sadly I still can't say I own it…

Chapter 1

Lisbon rolled her eyes as she heard the soft shuffle of feet behind her.

"I told you to stay there!" she murmured to Jane, her eyes fixed on the scene in front of her.

"You might need my help." he argued and stepped closer to her.

"With this? I highly doubt it!" Lisbon said sarcastically with a smirk on her face. "I do believe I can pick out my own lunch, but thank you." she told him as she finally closed the fridge door and turned back to him. He was standing beside the counter in the CBI's small kitchen, holding his turqoise teacup gracefully between his index finger and thumb. She started walking past him in the direction of her office and Jane followed her like a puppy.

"You didn't pick anything!" he observed.

"I didn't like any of the stuff in the fridge..." she muttered, thinking about ordering a pizza.

"Maybe if I helped..." he offered and Lisbon bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning.

"Don't you have anything better to do, Jane?" she asked, trying to sound annoyed. Frankly, she was delighted that he was there with her, back to his old, teasing self, annoying the crap out of her. For weeks now, he had been locked up in his attic, working on tricking and finding Red John and shutting her and everyone out and today was the first day he came down on his own without a strict order from her.

"I was hoping we would have a case… Isn't there a body or something?" he asked as he plopped down on her couch, making himself comfortable.

"Jane, I think we've talked about this before, we don't hope for a body. If we have a body it means somebody died and that is a bad thing..." she explained to him, like he was a five year old who needed to be reminded.

"I know, I'm just so bored." He sighed and took a sip of his tea.

"Well I have loads of paperwork to do, so I will definitely not be bored until about…" she looked at her watch before continuing. "About 5 in the afternoon." She said matter of factly.

"Then I guess I have nothing better to do than stay here and keep you company!" Jane told her with a small shrug, sounding all too pleased with the outcome.

"So what, you're gonna watch me do paperwork all afternoon?" she asked doubtfully, sitting down and grabbing the edge of her desktop to pull herself closer to it. She elbowed on the desktop and scowled at the pile of files for a second before reaching for the first one.

"I wouldn't exactly call it watching..." he tried to sidestep and deflect her question. "Just being here in case you needed insight on something, or maybe you need me to make you coffee though I would still recommend tea. It's way healthier and classier. You should totally change to it Lisbon." he suggested with a know-it-all expression.

"Sure, whatever." she murmured back, but her attention was already entirely on the document in front of her.

An hour passed by like this, with him sitting on her couch, peeking at her from the corner of his eye, reading a book, whistling a little tune from time to time. Lisbon was halfway through the paperwork when he put his book down and started sighing dramatically. He crossed his legs, swinging his foot up and down a few times before changing legs and doing the same with the other.

"Lisbon…" he spoke up after a few minutes, his tone whiny. Lisbon put her pen down and looked up at him expectantly.

"What Jane?" she asked, her tone now genuinely annoyed. The little noises he was constantly making bothered her to the point of not being able to write down a sentence correctly so she had been just waiting for him to interrupt her work since he put his book down.

"Don't you want to play a game?" he offered and he scooted to the end of the couch which was closer to her desk, blinking at her hopefully.

"Jane, I've got work to do…" she said with a sigh and she had to keep a straight face when he pouted.

"But you have been doing that for over an hour now and it's absolutely boring! You could use a break as well!" he tried to convince her.

"I would like to go home in an agreeable hour today so I don't have time for a break!" she told him and reached for the next case file.

"But Lisbon…" he sulked.

"Okay Jane, let's play the silent game, all right?" she suggested with the purse of her lips. She liked having him around, she really did but when he was a pain in the neck she couldn't bear him for long. Especially not when she still had at least an hour of paperwork to look forward to.

"Very funny, my dear, so hilarious!" he muttered with an amused smirk on his face. "Come on, a guessing game! Or a chain of words… Or 20 questions! Or chess! Or cards! I've got a deck of cards in my desk…" he said, getting all excited as he listed the games.

"Jane how old are you?" she asked with a quirk of her eyebrows as she flipped the file open.

"Lisbon, please!" he lengthened his words with a pleading tone and Lisbon rubbed her face with her hands. She would sure as hell get no work done if he kept on this childish attitude.

"Hey Boss!" Cho stepped into her office after a short knock on the open door.

"Cho, what's up?" she asked from him with a relieved smile.

"We've got a new case!" he informed her with a stoic face, glancing at Jane who was on his feet next to the couch the moment the agent stepped into the office.

"Oh thank God!" she let out an exhale, grateful for any distraction from desk work and Jane's nagging, and pushed herself away from her desk.

"Lisbon, need I remind you that when somebody dies it's a bad thing?" Jane scolded her seriously, shaking his head disapprovingly but when Lisbon glared at him there was a mischievous sparkle in his crystal blue eyes.

"I'm going to shoot you…" she hissed through gritted teeth and a cheeky grin spread on the blond consultant's face.

"You wouldn't do that. It would just give you more paperwork!" he replied confidently and he motioned towards the door. "Shall we? A body's waiting for us!"

She rolled her eyes and grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair before following Cho out of her office.

"Cho, text me the address!" she called after the man who was already on his way to his own desk in the bullpen.

"You got it, Boss!" Cho nodded.

"Come on Jane, let's go!" Lisbon said over her shoulder as she started for the elevator. She repressed her grin when she heard his quick steps behind herself and she could practically see him jogging after her. He caught up to her in front of the elevator and they stepped in together. During the short ride down her cell phone beeped, signaling she had a new message. Opening it she saw that it was the address of the crime scene from Cho.

"Can I drive?" sounded Jane's enthusiastic question as they reached her car in the garage.

"My car?" she asked back and he nodded. "Not a chance!" she told him coldly and opened the door to the driver's seat.

Jane let out a displeased huff as he climbed in next to her. He was silent for a bit and Lisbon began to hope that he would behave until they got to the scene. But just as she drove onto the highway he turned to her with a grin.

"Do you want to play a traveling game?" he suggested but Lisbon only growled, gripping the steering wheel tightly to keep from punching him in the nose.

"I'm so going to kick you out of the moving car..."

By the time they arrived at the crime scene Lisbon was more than glad to get out of the vehicle. When she refused to play games Jane started to whistle, to 'entertain himself' and when she tuned on the radio he started to hum along to every single song that aired and didn't stop it until the moment he caught sight of the police cars and the people gathered around.

As soon as she stopped the car he hopped out and rushed forward, not even waiting for her to get out. She rolled her eyes as she hurried after him towards the big house, flashing her badge at the door.

"Agent Lisbon, CBI. Who's in charge?" she asked from the officer who greeted her.

"I believe that would be me, agent. I'm Detective Shane." a tall, red headed man stepped up to them and extended his hand before the officer could say another word.

Lisbon shook the offered hand firmly then looked around to take in the scene.

They were standing in the hall of a nice looking mansion with soft carpets under their feet and a huge, wooden staircase leading up to a second floor right in front of them. The wallpapers were deep orange and there were flowers on every small table.

"The victim is in the kitchen, just across the living room on the left. Your agents are already there…" The detective said and motioned towards the room on their left. Lisbon nodded and briskly crossed the living room, barely taking time to admire the enormous fireplace and the elegant decoration.

The first thing she saw when she reached the kitchen was her consultant, frozen to the spot a few steps away from the victim. His unfocused eyes were fixed on the corpse, full of pain and sadness. His face contorted in an expression of grief Lisbon knew all too well. An expression that only appeared on his face when…

She looked around frantically, her eyes sliding over the white walls until she saw. That unmistakable, horrendous sign. A red, bloody smiley.

Her breath got caught in her throat as she took in the room. The tiles covered with splattered blood all around the body of a young brunette. The smudge of crimson blood on her torn green summer dress. The bruises on her wrists, the way her legs were tangled. The mess that her hair was. The broken pieces of a coffee cup on the floor just next to the sink.

All and every detail started to swirl and mix up with the haunted expression of Jane, the tears in his eyes. Eyes that not so long ago sparkled at her mischievously, tempting her to smack him in the face for annoying the hell out of her. Eyes that now looked as if he had seen ghosts, as if he had seen all the bad in the world…

Lisbon took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, clear her dizzy mind. The pervasive smell of blood and death didn't help but she managed to compose herself enough to step further into the room.

She tore her eyes away from the sight in front of her and searched for Cho. Her agent was already coming towards her with his trademark, stern face and his notebook in hand. And if Lisbon didn't know him so well, she would have said that it didn't shake him at all. But she knew him like a brother, and she saw what he tried to cover with the mask of professionalism, she saw the deep sorrow and empathy for Jane in his eyes.

"You didn't tell me it was Red John…" she muttered, her voice low and careful, respectful of the victim of the violent act that happened in the room mere hours ago.

"They didn't say!" Cho stated, his tone the slightest bit defensive and Lisbon met his eyes, assuring him with a look that she wasn't blaming him at all.

"What do we know about her?" she asked, nodding towards the woman.

"Her name is Lucy Winters and she's 27. Cleaning lady found her when she came at 4." He nodded towards the trembling old woman out on the terrace with an uniform. "She lived here with her husband, William Winters, head of Winters Co., a chemical and biological testing company." Cho said, his eyes now on the brunette, a small wrinkle between his eyebrows as his eyes ran over her.

"I want uniforms canvassing the neighborhood, asking around for anybody who might have been suspicious and pull the security camera footages from the area. Also, ask VanPelt to check out her phone records, I want to see who she has been in contact with!" she told him with a practiced ease and he nodded. Even though they both knew that Red John cases were special that they were walking on thin ice with each one of them, they had to start the investigation from the basics just liked with any other case.

"You got it, Boss!" Cho said and closed his notebook. He cast one last glance at the victim then his eyes slid to Jane's unmoving form, still standing next to the body. Then without a word, Cho turned away and made his way out of the house to start giving orders.

Lisbon followed him with her eyes, stalling as much as she could before turning her eyes on Jane as well. She knew what came next, she had to go there and throw off the safe mask of a cop and be a friend. On the one hand, she hated it. Hated to see the pain in his eyes, hated to see him crumbling to pieces every time Red John appeared. Hated to see how he relived those fateful, horrible moments over and over again. Hated to witness how he got obsessed every time, how he didn't eat or sleep as he made up a plan to catch Red John and then see how he failed again. Hated to feel the way he shut everyone out in the process. It broke her heart to be the one who picked up the pieces and tried to fix him every time. But on the other hand, she loved that he trusted her with seeing him this broken, he trusted her with seeing him at his worst. She loved to be there for him, she loved to hold him, to be the shoulder he could lean on, she just wished it didn't have to hurt him so badly. And no matter how much it hurt her to see him in this pain, she couldn't have resisted the urge to help him even if she wanted. She cared for him too much…

So she had to go there and put on a brave face for him.

She approached him slowly, carefully, knowing that he was in such a deep haze of memories and thoughts right then that he was probably unaware of the things happening around him. With her eyes on him and him only she reached out and gently touched his arm.

"Jane!" she murmured and felt him startle. He broke his eyes away from the woman's body and looked at her, his cold, troubled stare giving her chills down her spine. He looked so tormented.

"It's him, Lisbon…" he croaked, his voice emotionless.

"I know, Jane. We should go…" she suggested, stroking his arm to relax his rigid posture.

"I can't. Not yet." He whispered, turning back to the murdered woman a few feet away from him on the ground. Lisbon saw the way his jaw clenched and felt the muscles of his arm under her fingers as he fisted his hand.

"Okay, then we stay." She told him softly, not wanting to push anything. She turned her eyes back on the victim again, watching her closely. She was really pretty even with her young face morphed into an expression of panic. Her forest green eyes were still open, staring into nothing. Her upper lip was ruptured and there was a small droplet of blood at the corner of her mouth.

It was this violent, disturbed, completely unpeaceful state of the dead that always made Lisbon shudder. When she was a little girl, she was told by her parents that death was a natural thing. That was the rest after the work of a long life. But this, what she saw almost every day, what people did to others couldn't be further from natural. These victims didn't get the chance to live their full life, they didn't get to work until their well deserved rest came. They got deprived from their peace by the aggressiveness of other people. And that was one of the reasons why she worked so hard to bring these people to justice. To give the victims at least some part of the peace they deserved. To honor them. To make up for the fact that through no fault of their own their well deserved rest was ripped from them and their lives were cut short, ended unnaturally.

A slight movement from Jane made her look up again, her eyes searching for the blue eyes of her consultant, waiting for the reassuring that he was ready to go. But instead she found his eyes squeezed shut and his lips pressed tightly together in a firm line. The expression on his face is one that she barely ever seen on Patrick Jane. One of pure agony. One that only ever appeared on his beautiful face when he thought of his family, of what Red John did to them, when his unreasonable guilt had taken over him. And she couldn't bear that expression on the face that was always radiating joy and hope, it made her feel weak and exposed and alone. She shyly reached down and clutched his hand, a feeble attempt to anchor him to reality, to reassure him that she was there for him.

An excruciatingly long minute passed by until Jane finally opened his eyes again and turned his attention towards Lisbon. Their eyes met, his sad ocean blues piercing into her greens and she realized that she was still holding his hand. She instantly tried to let his hand go while fighting against a blush, but she found that his fingers curled around her palm and he stroke her skin softly. Silently thanking her without words.

"Let's go!" he muttered and she nodded. He broke the eye contact and without looking at the room one more time he spun on his heel and made a bee line for the front door. Lisbon followed him with worry etching her heart, only stopping to give quick orders to the ME.

He was waiting for her next to the car and as soon as she opened it he got inside. All the way back to the headquarters he didn't say a word, a rare occasion which Lisbon would have appreciated if it wasn't in the given situation. When she parked the car in the garage she turned to him, taking in his rather shaken appearance before taking a breath.

"Jane please don't do this… Don't shut us out. We've talked about this about a hundred times already. We have to work together as a team, that's the only way we have a chance at catching him." she said quietly but he just kept staring out the windshield. "Patrick, please!" she pleaded with him and at last he looked at her.

"I'm just putting you in danger, Lisbon." He sighed. "You all would be better off without me…"

"Jane, we've been over this. We are friends, we are family. Let us be there for you!" she reached out and put her hand on his for a moment before turning to get out of the car. "Work with us on this to catch him!"

He didn't answer anything, he just got out of the car as well but as they walked to the elevator, Lisbon felt the barely there pressure of his hand at the small of her back.

So, this was it. I really hope you liked it and I hope you are interested in more. I would absolutely love to hear your opinions so please leave me a review and tell me your thoughts! I would really appreciate it! :)
Thank you all for reading and reviewing!

If all goes as planned, next chapter will be up in a week! So until then, xxx