Cho Finds Out
A Mentalist Story
By Brown Eyes Parker
Author's Note:
This might be slightly out of character. I always have trouble capturing Cho's voice though, so I hardly write him but I decided to give it my best shot anyways. Sorry for any inconsistencies in his character.
Rated: K+
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
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Cho found out one night when they were driving back to Houston. Jane and Lisbon were sitting in the backseat of the SUV together, he could see them holding hands in the dim streetlights, their hands were resting in the middle seat, and their fingers were intertwined. They probably thought because it was dark, they could get away with it, and that nobody would notice them.
He turned his attention back to the road and tried to pretend he had never seen their supposed covert display of affection. It was still strange to think about Jane and Lisbon having feelings for each other like that. But at the same time, Cho couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before; there had to have been a million different moments that spoke to the fact.
Maybe he had just been too wrapped up in the drama that was Rigsby and Van Pelt to notice.
Maybe he hadn't wanted to notice.
One workplace romance was enough to make one's head spin. Maybe his brain had known that he wouldn't be able to handle two of them at once. But then, Jane and Lisbon had never really had a workplace romance.
A workplace flirtation, maybe.
But never a workplace romance.
Maybe that why he had never been good at reading the signals. Because you had to squint to notice it, or maybe their bigger moments had been ones shared in private. Away from the inquisitive eyes of the rest of the team.
Except for the moments they had all walked in on, it hadn't seemed like anything. But now. . .
Cho suddenly remembered Lisbon and the hideous pink dress and the way Jane had been looking at her in it. Looking back, he should have seen it then. There had been admiration in the consultant's eyes. Like he wasn't looking at the terrible dress but the woman wearing it.
And way before that, he had shot a suspect that could have led them to Red John. Cho had thought anybody with common decency would have reacted like that. But now. . .
He had been the only viable lead to Red John and Jane had given him up to keep Lisbon from being killed. Maybe back then Jane and Lisbon hadn't put a name to it; maybe they hadn't even known what was going on.
Cho tried to think about any other times he had caught them together but came up empty, too exhausted and too embarrassed to think about them like that. He was a little ashamed that he hadn't noticed the signs back then, he was a good detective. Despite Red John and the Rigsbys, he should have seen it. He should have had an inkling.
But then, he had never been good at matters of the heart. The beautiful, vivacious Summer had to spell out both their feelings for him. And if Rigsby and Van Pelt hadn't been as obvious as they were, he probably wouldn't have noticed them.
He looked in the rearview mirror and took a long sip of his Big Gulp as he watched them. They were still holding hands, Lisbon had dozed off and Jane was looking at her like he still couldn't believe she was there or maybe he was expecting her to disappear or maybe not be there at all.
He turned his head for a second and caught Cho looking at them.
Cho looked away, stopping right in the nick of time as the lights turned red.
Maybe he had known the whole entire time about the pair in his backseat and he had just denied it because he had wanted them both to be smarter than Rigsby and Van Pelt had been. To not fall for a co-worker, to not. . .
He lost his train of thought and sighed. Maybe in the end, they had been the smart ones. They'd found somebody to build a life with, while he had thrown himself into his work and closed himself off from anything real. He had thought it was the brave thing to do, to be by alone in a world where everybody had someone.
But in the end, Jane had been the brave one . He had lost so much and he had still managed to love again. In the end Lisbon had been the brave one, she had given him another chance after there weren't any more chances to give. She had let love chase away her past and ventured into a beautiful unknown with a man who was just as broken as her father.
But unlike her father, she had been able to save him in the end.
It was almost poetic; the kind of ending you didn't get to see in real life every single day. He couldn't believe he was admitting it, even if it was just to himself, but he was happy for them. Even if it was still a little strange to think about the two of them together and in love when he had never seen them in that way.
He figured he would get used to it after a while.
They reached the FBI and Jane woke Lisbon up, they gathered up their things and before they left Cho stopped them.
"Guys, just. . ." he trailed off and took a breath, thinking of what to say next. "Take care of each other, okay? And don't hurt her, okay?"
Jane shook his head. "I'm not going to," he said.
Cho looked at Lisbon. "And you, you don't hurt him either. The two of you have been through enough crap already. You don't need anymore."
Lisbon looked at Jane, pure and unadulterated love was painted on her features. She looked back at Cho and nodded. "Okay. Thank you."
"That's all," Cho said.
They took it as their cue to leave, he watched them go, walking close together but not holding hands because they were still trying to keep their relationship a secret.
Since he had figured it out, he knew it would only be a matter of time before Vega and Wiley put the pieces together and it wouldn't be that much longer until the whole FBI building figured it out.
But for now, Cho was content to keep it to himself and savor in the realization that sometimes it felt sort of good to be so wrong about something.
_End_
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Author's Note II:
I hope you guys will tell me what you think. I have a few more people to write about in this series, I think. So, be on the lookout for those and of course you can read They Meet until then.
Until Next Time!
Love,
Holly, 1/10/2015_