DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Mentalist nor the characters that appear in the show. They belong to Bruno Heller. However, there are a few major characters that belong to me.

Hi stranger, I've known you since forever

There are many kinds of mornings. Many people claim that most of them influence your whole day.

There are mornings when you wake up and you wish to either die or sleep more. You get up, though, because that's your job. The day is as terrible as the beginning of it, most of the time, until you decide to change your mood. You usually don't.

Mornings when everything sems good from the moment you open your eyes. Fantastic even. You think you can change the world and even if you don't do it, you manage to do something admirable or productive.

Also, there are the neutral ones. You can't predict what your day will be like, because you don't feel anything at the moment. Days when you could wake up with a stranger at you door saying that you've just won at the lottery or that someone you cared about just died.

Patrick Jane had woken up bored. With his situation, with himself and most people around him. Basically, with the life. He had all reasons to: Most cases were damn boring, Lisbon spent less time with him, and he still hadn't found out the true origins of dolphins. He didn't drop the idea they might be aliens. It was too cool not to think about it from times to times.

There was nothing he could do about any of the problems, though. He couldn't make a case for himself (he would know how to solve it, obviously), he couldn't tell Lisbon to stop dating Pike (because, as she had pointed out in that eye-opening flight, it was her life and he had no right to tell her what to do. But damn, it hurt a lot.) and he had no idea how to discover the origins of those extremely intelligent animals.

He sighed, taking another sip of his morning tea. The only good thing of this life and day. Tea. It would forever be by his side, waiting for him to drink it, to cherish it. It would accept all the compliments he would give; it was not a human so it couldn't complain. It wouldn't leave him for another thing, like...coffee. Coffee, which reminded him of Lisbon again. He pouted. Everything reminded him of Lisbon.

Normally, it was refreshing to think of her. Lisbon was lovely. Pike, who apparently was Lisbon's type wasn't. At least not to him.

His thoughts were intrerupted by loud knocks in the door. He glanced at the clock: six AM. Who would be at this time at his door? Surely it wasn't Abbott or Fischer. Neither of them were morning persons, nor that eager to meet him. It was less probable to be the lovely former CBI agent.

He got up. Fortunately, whoever was disturbing him opened the door for himself, saving him the trouble to do it. In another circumstances, he would be more worried. It could be someone dangerous, some enemy he managed to make during his years as a consultant; someone who came back to revenge for any stuff he might have done. Or, it could be a tall, blond, woman whom he was positive he had never met before.

Which it was, indeed.

"Took you ages." he heard, as some sort of explanation. She didn't say or seem to be sorry that she had just broke his door.

" I never expected anyone", he replied, sitting back in the chair.

She frowned and invited herself in the Airstream. Now that she was closer, he could see better in the light of the now rising sun. She didn't seem much younger than him. She was definetely an over-confident person, if her cocky posture gave away anything. What intrigued him the most, though, were her eyes. Blue-green, with a hint of mischievousness, of superiority. Her smirk went along with them. Hadn't he known better, he would have said that the whole picture reminded him of...himself.

Such an absurd thought.

"Who are you?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously. He went on drinking his tea, though. She didn't seem really dangerous (or at least she didn't have the aura tht she was going to kill him) and he highly doubted she hid a gun anywhere. (She wore a blue chemise and a thight dark skirt. It wasn't really much room for any weapon, but women can be surprising.) Even if she did, though, it wasn't like he could do anything about it. At the most, hypnotize her to calm down.

She simply ignored him and his question. She started to rummage through his things, opening the drawers and the cupboards in a rush, barely glancing at the objects from within. Well, make yourself comfortable, dear stranger. It isn't like it is rude to break into someone's house during his breakfast and look into his belongings.

Perfectly normal, if you asked him. Five minutes later, after she discovered where he kept the cutlery he never used and how many tea boxes he had (about fifty), she bothered to answer him:

" Patricia, your twin sister. Three minutes older, actually. Don't you have any hot chocolate sachet? Too bad."

Oh, Patricia, what a lovely name. Like his, but he wasn't known for being a modest person. Twin sister.

Twin sister.

He blinked twice, in confusion.

"What?"

" Hot chocolate", she repeated, huffing exasperated. " Tea is not my cup of tea." she smirked.

Ha, what a funny pun.

"No, the other thing." he clarified gesturing towards himself. The thing he most probably misheard or invented; his brain was starting to do some funny things.

"No, you don't have anything like that", she sighed, most probably talking to herself rather than him. She took the kettle, intending to make herself either tea or coffee, since those were the only things he had (The coffee was for Lisbon. Maybe someday he would get the chance to open it.)

"Uh...Patricia? The twin thing?"

"Uh, I would have thought you are more open-minded." she muttered. "Yeah, I'm your partener in crime since we lived in mom's belly."

She wasn't a very patient person. Neither was he, though, at this point. If you show up and claim to be related to someone, you're expected to give some details.

Abandoning his tea, he tried to pursue her.

"Why do I find out about you now?"

"I'm a terrible sister so I decided not to tell anything until now. Came in town and thought that'd be cool to meet you.", she answered, finally looking at him.

It was strange how much the presence or absence of a hot chocolate sachet could change someone's look. Not ten minutes ago she had looked as if she was going to pull a prank on the President, now she looked like someone suck the life out of her.

"For how long did you know?"

She remained silent for a few moments, looking at the ceiling, as if to calculate.

" For...about thirty-six years."

" So considerate of you to visit me before I am sixty."

"Terrible sister, as I said."

Suddenly, the idea that this younger looking(how could she be younger? Some feminine secrets, like face creams made of suspicious ingredients) woman could be his twin didn't sound that improbable anymore. There was some kind of connection between them. Despite him being cliche - again - this was true.

He asked her to tell her story. She did so. Or at least, the beginning, until he intrerrupted unceremoniously. She was telling him about the years spent with their mother when something in his head clicked. He had other kind of information related to the woman.

"Dad told me that she is dead." he said with a confused face.

She didn't seem as disturbed nor confused as he felt.

"Well...she is now.", she answered,

This is so helpful, thank you very much, he thought bitterly.

He had never liked his father in any way (a man who used his child in order to get more money was in no way admirable) but he had never suspected him of lying about such a subject. He would have felt offended if there had been a point. His father was pretty much dead, as well.

Patricia looked at the clock.

" You usually start the work at seven AM, yeah?"

" Usually."

" Great. Be late today."

With this, she dissapeared in the same mysterious and rude way she had appeared.

This day wasn't boring anymore.

Author Note: Yeah, another story. This one, though, is a long one (or at least I planned it so). I've thought about it for a while and I finally decided to put it into words! I know this one is not that great (or at least as great as I'd want it to be) and maybe confusing - don't worry, Jane's also confused! - but I hope that you'll like it in the action takes place in the sixth season, after Lisbon gets in a relationship with Pike, but before he asks her to move out with him. I wanted it to be that way so that I can transform the drama into something funnier.

I'd really appreciate if you told me your opinions, especially critics (as long as you are not too rude). Everything counts, really.

Sorry for my english, if there's any mistake. I tried to correct most of the words but english is not my mother language so I can't be too sure.