A/N: Yes, you read that right: 'Red Halloween'. I know it's not Halloween yet, but I asked my lovely classmates if they knew something to write about and they told me that it had to be something Halloween related. Well, I couldn't just write plain fluff with 5x02 in the back of my mind so this will be my second episode tag, though you can better set this as 5x01 tag because there's not much about Charlotte and Angela in it.
It was revealed today where our UK trip will be heading next year April; Birmingham, Liverpool and Wolverhampton! Ah, I'm so excited, I really can't wait!
Anyways, this one-shot is a bit... strange, but hey, I said that about 'My family' as well and the reviews don't seem to stop coming, so yeah, maybe my definition of 'weird' is... weird. xD
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well, I own some things, like my laptop, my mobile phone and my school books... but no, The Mentalist isn't mine. Bruno hasn't called me yet. But I'm waiting. Who knows?
Lisbon focused on her screen, knowing that the cause of her headache was standing in her doorway.
"Go away, Jane," Lisbon murmured, but of course he didn't leave. He never left.
"I'm serious, Jane. Leave," she said, now louder and more insistent. She looked up. Green eyes crossed equally green ones, and Lisbon's breath caught in her throat. There was a level of seriousness in them she hadn't quite seen in his eyes.
"Jane...," Lisbon breathed, trying to get both of them out of the spell they were under – though, if it was really a spell, it was a dark one. It bothered her to think that this was how their friendship was going to be now, after all that happened in the past few days. Were they seriously going to give each other the silent treatment now?
Jane was the first one who was able to tear his eyes away, and coughed, focusing on his true purpose of him being there.
"Halloween's coming up," he said, and that almost startled the hell out of her. There he was, Patrick Jane, intently staring at her, and then, all of a sudden, he starts about something as meaningless as Halloween?
Lisbon just nodded, and looked at her screen again. She was not encouraging this.
"Are we doing a theme or something?"
That threw her, completely. Why would Jane want a themed workday, that suggested you should have fun, while she was feeling so crappy? And why was she even asking these questions? She knew nobody would answer her, and even if somebody, god knows who, answered her, that would only add to her misery and that was the least thing she wanted.
"Why?" Lisbon asked, more snappy than she'd intended, but the goal was reached. Jane sighed, and hung his shoulders.
"There's this... this – thing – hanging between us."
Lisbon put down the pen she had subconsciously picked up, and chose to stare at him.
"And why do you think that is?"
Jane lifted his head to look at her, but then chose to look at the ground instead. Lisbon knew she was practically penetrating him with her glare, but she didn't care for once.
"Lisbon, look-"
"No, Jane. We won't have a 'theme or something'," she snapped, and looked at her screen again, more than aware that Jane was standing on the same spot she'd found him in moments ago, and he wasn't about to change that either. When she quickly peeked a look at him, she saw he looked like a little boy that had just done something completely stupid but knew no way of apologizing.
"Go away, Jane. I don't want to talk to you-"
"I didn't drink the tea the second time to undermine what you told me," he said, matter-of-factly, and that caused Lisbon to look up from her screen again.
"What do you mean?"
"I know you told me to be careful, and not to drink the tea again, but I didn't drink it the second time to pester you. You must know that your opinion really matters to me, Lisbon. And... I've come to realize something, because of Charlotte."
Jane lifted his eyes again, and the same thing as before happened, only now, strangely, Lisbon felt a spark of electricity running through her body. Why did she feel like this now?
"I love you, Teresa."
Lisbon shook her head. This couldn't be happening. Not again, not after the last time he had told her these words and did not mean anything with it at all. It had crushed her majorly, she couldn't take the pain anymore.
"No, no, you don't love me," she murmured.
Jane took big, but unsure, steps towards Lisbon and turned her chair around. He grabbed her arms, not caring she protested heavily, and pulled her up from the chair, right into his arms.
When Jane lifted one hand to brush her cheek, she flinched away from him and took back her personal space.
Lisbon took in a few desperate breaths, but didn't meet Jane's eyes in these long moments.
"Teresa...," Jane whispered. Lisbon shook her head again.
"No. If you think that all the dirt you've thrown in my face is going to be resolved by telling me you love me-"
"I don't think that," Jane protested.
"How can I know for sure? Do you have prove?" She hated how she sounded. She sounded so childish, but she didn't know how to react around Jane anymore.
Jane looked at her, before once again turning his eyes towards the floor. "No..."
"Get out of here, Jane. I don't want you."
"But I want you-"
"And I don't want you, Jane. You see what I mean here? Have you ever for once considered my feelings? Just for a few seconds?"
Lisbon took his silent as consent.
"You may not have realized this in the haze of your 'brilliant' plan, but what you did by leaving for Las Vegas was throwing away our friendship. And you are the one that has to fix this. Though I don't think this can be fixed. I don't even know if I want your friendship anymore. I want to trust my friends. Can I trust you, Jane?"
Jane shook his head.
"I don't deserve your trust. And you can't trust me either. But I do love you... More than anything-"
"Why do you do this, Jane? Is this your way of torturing me for loving you?"
"I'm not torturing you, Lisbon!"
"Cut the crap! You know you are! Haven't you hurt me enough? Just leave me alone!"
And in that moment, when Lisbon looked into Jane's eyes one final time, she saw he knew. He finally knew. He finally found out that he was chasing away the one person who loved him, the only one, and the only one he loved back – apart from Angela and Charlotte.
And she knew that Jane knew that she hadn't wanted to let that slip. She hadn't wanted him to found out how much she'd missed him, how much he'd really hurt her.
He let out a soft whimper when Lisbon swallowed her tears away.
"Teresa...," he whispered, and Lisbon averted her eyes. Jane let out a small sigh. "Oh Teresa."
"Jane... Please, just go-"
Jane cut her off by pulling her towards him and linking their lips, swallowing all her sadness, taking it away from her.
Jane didn't miss how Lisbon tensed, before she complied and swung her arms around his neck, kissing him back. He also didn't miss how he felt Lisbon getting heavier, and felt his cheeks moistening, and when he pulled away slightly, he saw Lisbon had lost the fight against her tears, and her knees were giving up.
Jane thought over his next move carefully, but he saw Lisbon didn't give a damn what he did now – as long as he didn't leave her alone, despite what she had told him. He knew she wasn't speaking the truth, but she was only trying to protect herself and it hurt to think that he himself was the cause for her misery.
Jane scooped her up bride-like and carried her over to the couch in her office. He was glad the blinds were closed and the door was too. He wasn't going to try anything on Lisbon but he knew that Lisbon didn't like everybody to see her crying.
Lisbon struggled though when Jane moved her to sit down on the couch.
Jane just held her, every swing and slap of Lisbon's hands causing another hairline fracture in his heart.
After a while, Lisbon discovered she was not stronger than Jane. She was too weak, her sadness overtook her body. Soon, Jane's arms were wrapped around Lisbon's body and she had her head on his chest, calming down from his calmer heartbeat.
"I... I'm so sorry, Teresa. And I know nothing will ever fix this anymore, but I'm asking you for one chance. Because I can see you're hurt and I don't want you to be hurt. I hate to think that all the sadness you're feeling right now is my doing. I can't promise you anything, because I don't have anything. And I can't promise that I won't look for Red John. But he's not mine anymore. He's from the CBI. Because if I kill him, I'll lose you."
Lisbon sniffed, and traced little circles on Jane's back, while he whispered sweet nothings into her ear.
"I'll be here with you, Teresa. Forever. And I might hurt you sometimes, but know that I'll always, always, love you."
They were silent for a while, before Lisbon pulled away slightly from Jane and wiped at her eyes.
"I love you," she whispered, and Jane brushed her cheeks to remove all her tears. "And you'll pay dearly for making me cry."
Jane couldn't help but chuckle. "I expected nothing less. So, how can I repay my damsel in distress."
Lisbon could only just suppress the chuckle leaving her mouth, but then, much to Jane's displeasure, got an almost evil smile on her features.
"I know how to repay me."
"And whatever you're going to say is not going to make me happy, is it?"
Lisbon chuckled, and Jane knew that he was definitely not going to like her plan.
But he would do everything she wanted from him. From now on, she was his master and he was her slave and he wouldn't deny her everything.
"As long as I don't have to show up at work, dressed as a kinky nurse with a short dress for Halloween, I'll do everything for you."
Judging from the way Lisbon was chuckling as she looked into his eyes, that was exactly what she wanted of him.
A/N: I know, the ending was just weird, but yeah... let me know what you think in a REVIEW anyways, thank you!
