A/N: This date marks the end and the beginning. Happy anniversary.
To celebrate, here is the first chapter of my The Mentalist AU. This story starts with Jane and Lisbon as teenagers and ends (sort of) with their first meeting as adults. Could tie in with the events of Red Dawn if you use your imagination a bit, but whether anything after Red Dawn makes sense with this story will be left to your own interpretation. It is an AU after all.
This story will have four chapters, but as I am not completely done with the second one, and currently being kicked in the butt by my first year at university, I can't promise very regular updates. The third and fourth chapters are completed though, so no need to worry that I will leave you hanging.
Trigger warning: Mentions of alcoholism and abuse.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist or its characters. I am making no profit from this work of fanfiction.
Teresa Lisbon lets herself into the house. It's early evening and the lights are off. She had to stay at school to work on a project, and has only managed to get home now. The house is dim and quiet.
She steps over the beer bottles in the living room and goes over to her father who is lying on the couch in a peaceful, alcohol-induced sleep. It's the only time he can be described as peaceful. She looks at him for a moment, then turns around and begins to clean up after him, picking the bottles up one by one so that they don't clink together and wake him up. He's not easy to rouse in this state, but it's better to be safe than sorry. She throws the bottles away and then goes to check on her brothers.
"Hey Reese," they greet her softly. All three of them are sitting in Tommy's room. Stan is reading a comic, and Tommy and James are on the floor, playing with a train set.
"It's a train from the future, it travels very quietly so that it won't wake Dad," Tommy explains to Teresa.
She gives him a grateful smile and ruffles his hair affectionately. He ducks out of the way and smooths his hands over his head.
The next day isn't so easy.
Teresa gets home in time to crash-land in the middle of one of her father's rages. He's opening and then slamming cupboard doors, searching for a carefully hidden stash of money that he's now forgotten the location of. And all the time he is yelling, swearing, "Those damn kids must have taken it," and yelling some more.
Teresa moves through the house quickly and goes to find the boys. For once her father barely registers her presence. She finds them huddled in her room, silent and terrified. She grabs a pre-packed backpack that she keeps hidden inside her closet and then hustles her brothers out the back door when their father isn't looking.
They have a place that they go to when he gets like this. They don't always make it there (Teresa sometimes has to wear long sleeves in the middle of summer) but when they do, it is where they feel safe.
~~~
Patrick Jane is walking through the carnival grounds just before one of his shows. It's that beautiful time of night where the sun is setting and stars begin to dot the sky along with the lights on the rides.
Patrick loves this time of day.
He is freer to observe now. It's easier to tail the marks when he can use the gathering darkness as cover. He uses this time to prepare for the show. The ticket-collector stamps the wrists of the people going to see the Boy Wonder, and that's how Patrick knows who to pay attention to and who to ignore in the crowds.
There's a stamped man, bending down to give some cotton candy to a little girl. They're alone and they don't seem to be looking for or waiting for anyone. Patrick notes their interaction; the similarity of their hair colour. Father and daughter, no wedding ring, divorced or never married, he's probably taken the girl out for the day and so she lives with her mother most of the time... The observations and deductions run through his mind automatically. After all, he's been taught how to do this almost from the day he could walk. The man smiles at his child, and as Patrick walks casually by, close to the two of them, he sees that the smile is tinged with sadness. He misses her. Patrick adds that last and most important observation to his memory palace and moves on.
~~~
Teresa and her brothers arrive at the field. Their field. It contains a three-walled structure with a roof that must have at one time been a shelter for horses or cows, but became the Lisbon kids' home away from... their house after their mother died and they needed a place to hide sometimes.
An abandoned field with a fairly reasonable shelter has suited them well. At least, that is what is usually here.
Now, as Teresa sweeps her gaze over the field, she sees that the carnival has come to town. They have apparently decided to use her field as their temporary place of residence.
She is slightly annoyed that they don't have the place to themselves, but when she looks down and sees her brothers' faces filled with joy as they take in the scene before them, she relents.
"Can we go, Reese, please?" the three voices clamour for her attention.
She holds up a hand and they quieten down. "First rule?" she asks with mock seriousness.
The boys snap to attention even as wide smiles spread over their faces because they know she's going to allow them to go.
"Always stick together," Stan answers. They all know by now that there is safety in numbers.
"Second rule?"
"Find you if we feel scared or uncomfortable," James replies.
"Third rule?"
"Make wise choices," Tommy laughs.
Teresa digs around in the backpack and finds her own stash of money, earned by babysitting for the neighbours. She hands each of her brothers a note. "Meet me back here in," she glances at her watch. "Two hours. Have fun!" she finishes with a small smile.
The boys run off, cheering, and Teresa watches them disappear into the crowd. She shrugs the backpack onto her shoulders and follows.
~~~
Patrick is walking near the entrance to the carnival when one person catches his eye. She doesn't have a stamp on her wrist, so she's not going to his show – yet. He notices her because she has a backpack and beautiful dark hair and she looks to be about his age. Is she running away? When she looks up, his observations end right there. He finds himself staring into the most gorgeous green eyes that he has ever seen in all seventeen years of his life, and these eyes quickly and effectively shut down the majority of his brain.
His feet carry him towards her seemingly of their own accord, and he is only shaken out of his stupor when her eyes narrow and she takes a step back.
"Hi, welcome to the carnival," he says, his brain switching back on. He puts his hand out to shake hers and gives her a friendly smile. "My name is Patrick Jane."
She eyes him warily; doesn't take the offered hand. Trust issues, he thinks.
"Teresa Lisbon," she replies eventually, apparently deciding to trust him with that much information about her.
"Teresa," he repeats softly, still somewhat awed.
Her name is as beautiful as her eyes, and everything about her has instantaneously and absolutely captivated him.