Sorry if Lisbon is a little out of character when she has her thinking... for some reason she's harder to write then Jane. Also, just to point out, there's no fluff in this story at all.

And of course I don't own Mentalist

~Mpenguin

Chapter One: Introductions

With the early afternoon sunlight slipping in through the windows, Patrick Jane tapped his foot absentmindedly, watching Agent Virgil Minelli as he looked blankly at papers on his desk, tapping his pencil against his desk impatiently.

He obviously doesn't want me here, thought Jane as he gained knowledge about his soon to be boss, my presence must make him uncomfortable and unable to focus on his paperwork, which I assume he's simply pretending to do so that this silence between us isn't too awkward.

Agent Minelli suddenly looked up and said, "I'm sorry about Agent Lisbon's lateness. She usually is on time, she probably got called to a case."

"I understand; it's no big deal." Jane answered adding in his head, or she hooked up with someone. I hope it's the first though; the sooner I get working on Red John the closer I am to killing that bastard.

It only took a few more moments of silence before the door burst open and a woman said, "Sorry Sir, was called on a case and it took longer then I expected to look at the crime scene."

Turning his head around to see his new partner, Jane was surprised at the woman that stood in front of him. She was pretty and… small. She was still average size, but he had expected her to be much taller, not the petite woman that stood looking between him and Agent Minelli.

Jane wasn't the only one looking over their new partner. Lisbon too looked over Jane with a bit of a questionable air. It wasn't that she was surprised to find him handsome, though at how attractive she found him unnerved her a bit; it was a sudden gut feeling that told her one word, trouble.

"Ah, excellent. You've finally arrived Lisbon." Minelli said, grabbing both of their attention. "Now, shall we get this deal signed?"

"Yes sir." Agent Lisbon said as she settled herself down in a chair next to Jane.

"Right, so here's the consultant agreement." Minelli continued, grabbing a document that was lying on the side of his desk, "I've already filled you two in on this but I'll just sum it up once again. Mr. Patrick Jane you will be consulting with Agent Lisbon and try your best to help her solve the crime she's dealing with. Lisbon, Mr. Jane will be your complete responsibility, you have to look after him while out in the field. And Mr. Jane, if you are injured during an investigation, by signing this contract, you cannot sue the CBI. Any questions?"

"Yes, I have one." Lisbon said and turning her head towards Jane asked, "Mr. Jane, what exactly can you do? To help me solve a crime?"

Taking a moment to think of an answer, for he actually hadn't given this much thought, Jane then answered, "I'm good at reading people." And when he saw the slight puzzled look on her face that demanded more detail, he continued, "I can tell when people are lying, I'm good at figuring out when they're hiding something, and I'm very good at pulling out secrets others would rather keep hidden."

After a moment of consideration, Agent Lisbon nodded her head and turned her attention towards Minelli again, who, when he saw that she was satisfied with the answer, asked again, "Any more questions?"

This time, neither of them said anything.

"Alright then. Mr. Jane, could you sign here, " Minelli directed, pointing to the line at the bottom left hand corner, "And Lisbon, would you sign here." he said, pointing this time at the bottom right hand corner.

Both getting up, Jane grabbed a pen at Minelli's pencil holder and Lisbon waited as he scratched his signature, trying to quickly discern her sudden gut feeling. Not that she usually used her gut anyway, it was unprofessional, but this was one time she took it under consideration.

Trouble? How much trouble can he be? I don't even know the man. Lisbon thought reasonably. But, if I'm actually going to be listening to my gut, if he's trouble, he'll be good trouble. What the hell? Can there actually be good trouble? God, I think there's something wrong with my gut. And why in the hell am I giving this so much thought? I mean really, having him be my consultant can't be any life-changing decision.

When he finished signing, Lisbon quickly decided just to agree to it and then bent over to sign.

"So, Lisbon," Minelli said as she straighten back up, "take your consultant and brief him on the case you've just received."

With a swift nod, she went over to the door and held it open for Jane to walk through. When he did, she followed behind. As they walked their way through the CBI building, Jane glanced around, taking in things, and couldn't help noticing Agent Lisbon's uncomfortable and nervous posture.

"Do I need to show around first?" Agent Lisbon eventually asked as they waited for a man in handcuffs to walk past with the agent who was directing him.

"Nah, I'll figure things out myself." Jane answered.

Nodding her head, she headed off down the hall again and Jane followed. They walked on in silence again until Lisbon turned into a bullpen. There, Jane saw three men who sat at desk looking up at them. The one closest to the entrance was middle aged, probably the oldest of the group, and had blond kind of buzz-cut hair, rather small brown eyes, and probably medium high from how he was sitting. Cross the little pathway that was created from the desk of the blond was an Asian man, probably Koran; he was probably the shortest one there, black hair, black eyes, and a frown that showed he was a no-nonsense kind of person. The last man that sat at the desk furthest back was the tallest and youngest person in the group and was the worst in the group to hide his curious glances at Jane.

"Guys, this is Mr. Patrick Jane." Lisbon, whom Jane had noticed was now in her element and no longer uncomfortable, told the three men, "Mr. Jane is the consultant you've heard about that would be joining us. Mr. Jane," She continued now looking at him, "this is the team. The one in the front here is Special Agent Thomas Hummer. Then there's Special Agent Kimball Cho, and back there is Special Agent Wayne Rigsby."

Jane smiled and said a little cheerful hello, Agent Rigsby and Agent Hummer mumbled hello back while Agent Cho just nodded.

"Alright then. Since we've been all introduced, time to work on the case." Lisbon said briskly.

Finally, Jane thought eagerly as his anticipation grew. Now came the moment he had been waiting for. He had finally started. Today was the day he would start hunting down Red John.

"Hummer." Agent Lisbon suddenly snapped, "What do you have?"