Quality time
On the day that Red John was executed, it was raining. Jane didn't utter a single word as Lisbon drove him back to his motel afterwards. He didn't show up at work the day after. Lisbon tried to call him many times, and in the evening he found her standing on his doorstep, bringing a tub of ice cream by way of a peace offering.
They ate the ice cream, drank tea and watched a documentary on penguins. A small smile showed on his lips when she said that the penguins reminded her of him. She said that their black and white plumage was too formal an outfit for the place where they lived.
He wished her goodnight when she left. She just nodded, knowing that he wasn't going to have a good night at all.
In the following days he decided to take a break from the CBI. He needed some time to figure things out, or so he said. She didn't object; he hadn't given her much of a choice, anyway. As long as he didn't shut her out, she was fine with whatever he chose to do.
In the weekend she took him to the zoo. He teased her about it, though not quite as he would have done before. They stood for a long while staring at the zebra, the giraffe and the lion. Jane said they should go and see the hippopotamus too, and then wait for the penguins to arrange a jailbreak as they did in the Madagascar movie. She nudged his ribs and made a mental note of it. They could rent the movie and watch it at her place; it was fun enough, after all.
Fun was much of an understatement anyway, as she discovered one of the following nights. For Jane made silly comments from beginning to end; she almost choked on her belated mug of coffee as consequence.
After that they spent a fair amount of time together. They shared dinners, went to the movies, strolled through the park on Sunday afternoons, and the like. Once he took her to the county fair. Unsurprisingly, she particularly enjoyed the shooting gallery. However she liked the expression on Jane's face when she won a stuffed animal even more so. She smirked and told him she was going to call it Patrick. The fluffy grey cat actually bore some kind of resemblance to him.
Things shifted slightly on a sunny morning as they were sitting on a bench and eating ice cream.
Lisbon chuckled as she noticed some chocolate lingering at the corner of his mouth. She wiped it away with her thumb and flinched slightly when she noticed the odd look on his face. Both of them were silent after that; Jane seemingly distracted and Lisbon wondering whether or not she should apologize.
They were more wary about each other after that. Careful to avoid the minefield that now stood between them.
It was late one night and they were curled up on the couch in her apartment, half watching the TV and half making small talk, when Jane suddenly decided to take charge of things.
His fingers grazed her cheek as he placed a featherlike kiss on her brow. Then, his lips descended down her nose and rested lightly on her mouth. He waited for her to wrap an arm around his neck before whispering a soft love you against her lips.
Lisbon simply hoped he wasn't going to regret this anytime soon.