Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist, it belongs to Bruno Heller (that tease!).
Author's Note: This is the sixth fic in my one-word prompt series.
"It's a matter of principle, Jane."
"No, Lisbon, the way I see it, it's a matter of heart."
"What does that even mean? You violated protocol, not to mention the security of our investigation by telling the family! Do you know what that means? The whole damn thing is compromised and the DA has to work harder to cover your ass!"
"I don't care, it was the right thing to do."
She scoffed at his lofty, self-righteous tone, "It's a bit late for you to be thinking about the right thing to do. In fact, I'm fairly certain that you waved goodbye to 'right' a long time ago."
Jane went completely still and leveled a warning glare at Lisbon, "I would be careful with those accusations, Lisbon, because you have no idea what you're talking about."
Lisbon looked abashed, "Look, I'm sorry, Jane, that was uncalled for and unkind, but I need you to consider how important confidentiality is and weigh it against the cost. I wish that I could give them closure, I wish that I could hold their hands and tell them that it's okay, we got the son-of-a-bitch. But, I can't. What I can do is my job, to the best of my abilities, and make sure that the responsible party goes away for a long time. That's what I do, Jane, and my head and heart are pretty much together on that one."
It was Jane's turn to feel ashamed, " I know I make your job hard and your life miserable, but I promise to try and do better. I'm going to slip up and do what I think is right because sometimes that's more important. But, I also promise that I'll make sure it doesn't come back and bite us in the ass. That's the best that I can do."
"I'll take your best, Jane, it's better than what a lot of other people can do."
"Thank you, Lisbon."
"You're welcome, Jane."
"Can we hug?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I'm still pissed."
"Can we hug later?"
"Sure, Jane, we can hug later."
"Good."