Author's notes: The very first episode of the Mentalist is titled 'Pilot' So here Nick looks back at when he first joined lsp
Nick places his briefcase on his desk and returns to the main office area of LSP. He's early enough that it's still empty but in another hour or so it'll be teeming with lawyers and clients. He looks around as he waits for the coffee machine to run through its programme and deliver a okay cup of coffee. His mind wanders down memory lane, to the first time he stepped out of the lift and entered a whole new world.
He was a different person back then. A drug addict despite working for him, estranged from his father. He had no relationship with him that was positive, except they did love each other in their own messed up ways. He blamed his dad for many thing, for everything that was wrong in his growing up years, for tossing him aside, when he needed him the most. He smiles to himself when he remembers Laurie Solt's verdict of his character, he couldn't disagree. What had she said about their first meeting, "She truly disliked him." He was ashamed of the arrogant tone he'd taken with her as he berated her for remarking on his suit. He'd belittled her. Now, they were good friends.
But it was the cases that really changed him, especially the kids. the cases were suppose to be an irritation, something that took him away from his real job, the excitement of intricate deals, making lots of money. He just did them. That's what he kept telling himself, but from the very start, he admits now, that wasn't true. Hunter! He'd connected with the boy, the similarities of his situation when he was his age was not lost on him. Hunter had lost his mother by witnessing a violent horrific event, perpetrated by his own father. His own mother died after a long battle with cancer, but he'd also witnessed her death. He'd sat by her side, holding her hand with tears running down his face, until his father had arrived and taken him home.
Just as he'd lost his father and found himself abandoned in a boarding school, Hunter was to lose his father to the prison system. He'd felt the need to help him and he had, or thought he had. He found evidence that his father wasn't at fault and reunited them through the courts. But it had been too soon. Hunter's father couldn't handle what he'd done and Hunter found him after a suicide attempt.
Hunter was the first, many more came, they seemed unending, everyday there was another tragic story, each one needling their way into my soul. Lesley ought to have told me that I was a lost cause, that eventually this is where my future lay. I was her foster parent, me a single man, just recently arrested for drugs and I was taking on a very sick child because I hated the idea of her dying. She did anyway. I was too late.
He smiles to himself, I wonder what Mastterson would have said that first week, if someone had told him I would have his job one day, he wanted me out, but for a reason that was lost on me at the time, I chose to stay, probably just to needle him. I know that's not right, it's because the place was already getting under my skin.
The elevator pings and he's brought out of his revelry. He looks up as Trevor enters.
"You're here early Trevor?"
He waves a file at Nick.
"I need some help with this case."
Nick pushes himself off the reception desk and takes a sip of his drink.
"Follow me Trevor."
He enters his office and sits down behind his desk, Trevor takes the chair on the other side and another day begins.