A/N: Ok, this takes place…Late season Four, or early season Five. Let's say that the psychiatrists were able to fix Kristina.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Mentalist, I'm just borrowing them for a while. I promise to put them back when I'm done with them! :-)
Patrick Jane sat down on a bench in the middle of the city and sighed.
He was more exhausted than he had been in long time.
That day, Lisbon had been kidnapped. The team had searched for her, and had finally found her, but not without Grace getting shot in the arm. Lisbon was fine, thankfully, but it was safe to say that Jane had been worried.
And worrying takes energy, he thought.
He closed his eyes. Ahhh, that feels good, he thought. The wind blowing on my face…
"Hey." He knew who the voice was before he even opened his eyes.
"Hey, Kristina."
She smirked at him. "What? You aren't even going to open your eyes?"
He replied, yawning, "Why would I? I know who you are, and I'm tired."
She smiled gently. "Why? Oh, wait. Wait, I'm getting something…Someone you care about…someone on your team…Agent Lisbon, was it? She was kidnapped. And someone else was hurt…I'm seeing…Red…Hair, I think. Agent Van Pelt. I hope they're ok."
His eyes flew open for a moment, startled. How could she know that? He wondered.
She smiled at him confidently.
He thought for a moment, before remembering several news vans parked outside of the house where they found Lisbon.
He chuckled. "You saw it on the news."
The look that flickered through her eyes before she could answer was all of the answer he needed. He chuckled. "Come on, Kristina. How long are you going to try to convince me you're psychic? We both know the truth."
She laughed. "You almost believed. I could feel it. And, besides, I knew before it was shown on TV."
He raised his eyebrows. "Sure you did," He teased.
She blushed, before composing herself and replying, "Ahh…one day you will see the truth."
He chuckled and replied, "And one day you'll admit you're not psychic."
She shook her head condescendingly at him.
A few moments of silence passed, before she asked, in a much gentler voice, "How are you holding up?"
He playfully replied, "You're psychic. You tell me."
She raised her eyebrows and replied matter-of-factly, "You're dodging."
He smiled sheepishly, and looked down at his shoes for a moment. Finally, he replied, "I'm holding up ok, I guess."
She crossed her arms, looking at him doubtfully.
He sighed, realizing that he wasn't getting out of this. "For a few hours, I thought I had lost her. For a few hours, I had no one I could go to, no one I could cry with. I never have really cried with her," He added, answering her unspoken question, "But I knew I could. I always had someone I could go to, and for a few hours, I didn't have that. I was alone. And I didn't like it."
She was startled by his honesty. She took a few deep breaths before saying, "Patrick, you aren't alone. The rest of the team cares about you, too, and you know you can always come talk to me."
He shrugged, afraid that if he answered he wouldn't be able to stop. He had already done that once in a day. He didn't feel like doing it again.
She placed a hand on his arm. "Patrick, listen to me. It's going to be ok. Pretty soon, this will pass, and you'll be able to move on. You'll feel free then. Won't you? Won't that be nice? To feel…free?"
His eyelids lowered, feeling a strangely calm feeling wash over him.
And then he realized what she was doing.
He opened his eyes, trying to hide the fact that it had almost worked.
"Are you trying to hypnotize me?"
Her cheeks turned dark red, but she replied, "No. Why would I do that?"
He chuckled. "I'm not sure. Why did you?"
Her eyes widened, before she replied teasingly, "You admit you don't know something, huh? I can't believe it!"
He laughed, before replying, "Now who's dodging?"
She laughed.
The two sat in silence for a few moments, before she stated, "You didn't tell her."
He raised his eyebrows. "Tell her what?"
She replied, "You didn't tell her how worried you were."
He didn't deny it. Instead, he shrugged, before asking, "What would be the point? She's fine now."
She shook her head. "I'm getting the sense the Agent Lisbon wonders if you really care about her. If you told her how worried you were, she might understand that you care."
He closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them and explaining, "I don't know. Lisbon would probably think I'm up to something."
She smiled at that. "Imagine that, huh. But really, I think that it would be good for you to tell her."
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I will."
"Liar," she stated confidently. "Despite everything I've said, you're still not going to tell her that you were worried, because you don't want to mess up the delicate balance you think you and she have."
He shrugged. "Yeah, that's about right."
Her eyes narrowed. "Now, why is that? Why is it that you are so scared of messing up that balance? I mean, you're logical, you know that there's nothing to fear. That tells me that…you're in love with her."
He raised his eyebrows. "You got that from that?"
She grinned. "Well, no. I got that from many different things about your behavior since…well, since I met you! Plus, her dad told me."
That part, he knew, was just to bug him with the psychic thing.
He rolled his eyes. "Oh did he now? Wait, don't answer that. So I'm in love with her, am I?"
She nodded. "Yes. I…I spoke with your wife." She leaned toward him slightly. "I asked her what she thought of the situation and she said she was glad. She said it was time for you to move on."
Tears entered his eyes, but he blinked them back. He crossed his arms and answered seriously, "No you didn't, and no, she didn't."
Her eyes grew gentle, and she took his hand. "In this case, no. I did not speak to your wife, and she didn't tell me that. But she would have. And you know it. That doesn't mean that I don't ever talk to people who have passed over, it just means I didn't in this case."
He debated for a moment, before he saw Lisbon's car pulling up to the bench. He murmured to Kristina, "I'll admit to her that I love her when you admit you're not psychic."
Before she could reply, he hopped into Lisbon's car, and waved goodbye to Kristina, who knew his statement had basically meant that he would tell Lisbon when pigs fly.
She smirked. Suddenly, an idea entered her head. It was a little risky on her part, but after a few moments' debate, she decided that it was worth it, and pulled out her phone to dial a number she knew well. "Hey, Karen Cross? Yeah, this is Kristina. Could you make room for me on your next show? I have a story for you that I need to do. It's urgent. Can you get me on ASAP?"
Karen chuckled and replied, "Of course. You know I always have room for a psychic on my show."
A/N: So, what is she going to do? This is going to be a two-shot. Reviews make my day! I will have the next part up soon. :-)
