Title: Sweetest Downfall

Author: Imzadi

Fandom: The Mentalist

Ship: Rigsby/Grace

Spoilers: "Aingevite Baa"

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: If I owned anything to do with The Mentalist we would have never gotten to this point.

Notes: Do I even have to tell you how heartbroken I am? How many tears I've cried? Suffice it to say this was written in emotional upheaval. Feel free to point out errors. Commets are love. Commual bitching about the writers is therapy.

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Lisbon really hated being left alone with Grace. She wasn't good at this. This womanly arm around the shoulder comfort thing. She approached Grace slowly, knowing she should say something but having no idea what that something should be. She reached out to put a hand on Grace's shoulder only to have Grace pull away as if she had been stung.

"Don't touch me! I don't like to be touched."

"Okay." Lisbon looked around, cursing Jane once more for putting her in this situation. "You like it when Rigsby touches you." She knew it was a stupid thing to say even before it left her mouth, but she couldn't understand for the life of her how Grace and Rigsby could go from a quickie in the office to this in the course of half a day.

Grace sobbed even harder and nodded her head in agreement. She loved it when Wayne touched her. His touch was addictive. She wanted his hands on her all the time. His lips. Nothing felt more right than their naked bodies pressed against each other. And now she'd never have them again. She wanted to die. She wanted to evaporate. She wanted to go back to the last time they made love and never let him go. Stop the world and preserve that perfect moment forever.

"Grace what happened? Tell me what happened."

"I told him I loved my job more then him."

"Do you?" she shook her head no. Lisbon wasn't surprised by that. This wasn't just a ended relationship breakdown. This was heartbreak, this was devastation. This was mourning.

"I told him that if he transferred he'd ending up hating me for it eventually."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I don't know." Grace whined. "I told him that I know who I am."

"What does that mean?" Grace looked up at Lisbon then, it was the first time she'd made eye contact with her. The look in Grace's eyes made a chill run down Lisbon's spine. Her eyes were red and raw from crying yes, but it was the emptiness that was shocking. Lisbon had seen corpses with more alive eyes.

"I think she let herself fall." The doors open the and Grace darted out with determination. No more sobbing, no more hunched shoulders. She was resound, decided. Though about what Lisbon couldn't hazard a guess. She chased her out into the parking lot, calling after her to get her to explain. But Grace wouldn't explain, wouldn't stop. And Lisbon was left in the lot alone, watching Grace's SUV pull out, being no more wiser the she been when Jane had left her earlier

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Jane. Jane was nowhere in sight. Lisbon found his car which meant he hadn't left. It was then she realized what Jane's indecision had been at the elevator and why he'd left her with Grace. He was upstairs talking to Rigsby.

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Jane had found Rigsby still sitting at his desk in exactly the same position as when Grace had left him.

Grace left him.

He couldn't believe it. Couldn't understand it. And now Jane was standing over him speaking words he couldn't register even if he had wanted to.

"What, do you think the job is going to love you back? You think you'll find something that'll make you happier then you were with her? I saw the way you looked at her. The way you always looked at her. She's your soul mate and you're just going to throw it away because you're some coward? You were willing to risk everything to get her but once you have her you don't want her anymore. Are you crazy? Do you know what I would give to have my wife back for one second?"

"She left me." They were the first words that Rigsby had uttered and they stopped Jane dead in his tracks and his tirade.

"What?" It wasn't that Jane hadn't heard him, he just didn't believe what he'd heard.

"She left me. She said if I transferred for her than I'd hate her for it one day."

"And what did you say?" It was like listening to a horror story unfold, he knew it was going to give leave him with images that would haunt him for a lifetime, but he just had to know.

"I told her I wouldn't. And I mean it. It's just a job. She's Grace." The thousand yard stare. Jane didn't like seeing it on Rigsby. He looked broken. Worse even then Grace had looked with all her sobbing devastation. Rigsby looked numb. Haunted. He saw that look every day he looked in the mirror.

"She didn't believe you?"

"I don't know. She said 'I know who I am'. What did she mean Jane?" He looked at Jane for the first time with tear-filled hurt eyes.

"I don't know Rigsby I…Grace is…I don't know."

"I'm going after her." He said, suddenly shooting to his feet and starting out of the bullpen.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Jane said, for once not already sure of the answer. He followed Rigsby into the elevator and watched the agent push the button for the ground floor with renewed determination.

"I don't care. I'm not giving her, us, up without a fight. I can't live without her."

"Why do I have this terrible feeling this is going to end up in a murder-suicide." Jane mumbled half to himself. He chased Rigsby out of the elevator and into the parking lot, calling after him. Jane knew it was probably a good thing that Rigsby didn't stop, he didn't know what he could possibly say to him if he did.

Rigsby left Jane standing in the parking lot seemingly alone. It took him a few moments to compose himself and realize that he wasn't the only one there. Lisbon was leaning against the hood of his car looking just as confused as he felt. He went and unlocked the passenger side door without a word. They didn't say a word on the drive to Lisbon's apartment either. She didn't invite him in, she didn't have to. He simply followed where she led, sitting on the couch making friends with her dog while Lisbon put water on to boil for tea before joining them.

She wanted to start with 'What the hell just happened' but thought it was too obvious. And from the look Jane had on his face she didn't think he knew the answer.

"You know she's been here a year end of this month. I was going to get her a cake. Now…"

"Yeah."

"She said things I didn't understand."

"To him too apparently. Grace is…"

"I know."

"What do you know?" He watched her closely as she sighed, she made eye contact with the dog instead of him. "More than I want to." That only made him more curious but for once he let it hang.

"I was thinking of killing our boss tomorrow." he said suddenly, trying to lighten the mood with dark morbid humor.

"I'll help you hide the body."