A/N: So…In this story, Season three's finale hasn't happened yet.
I don't know how many chapters this is going to be, but probably not very many.
Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist. (Do you think that I should add the disclaimer: I don't own FanFiction . net?) All of the writings and pen-names are made up.
Patrick Jane was in mourning. The CBI had decided that the couch in the bull-pen was pointless, and was making him less efficient, so they took it away, and told him to sit at his desk.
And he was bored.
After a few moments, he cut on his laptop, and went online. He wasn't really looking for anything; he was just too bored to sit in the seat doing nothing anymore.
He thought for a few moments, before typing his name into the search engine.
There were a few stories about cases he had solved and such, but then he noticed a site a little different from the others.
"FanFiction, huh? I wonder what that is…"
He clicked.
There was story after story about some TV show called "The Mentalist."
And the characters' names were the names of him and the people he worked with.
He curiously clicked one of the stories.
After reading for a few moments, his eyes narrowed.
"'Oh, Lisbon, I'm so glad you're ok!'
She threw her arms around him and replied, 'I am fine. Your plan worked perfectly.'
'But what if it hadn't? What if he had shot you? It would have been my fault!'
She smiled at him. 'Jane, I always trust your plans. You should, too.'
But she could see that he was still extremely worried, so she gently leaned up and pressed her lip against his. Then, she…"
He quickly hit the 'back' key. What is this, he wondered. I always trust my plans. And Lisbon wouldn't kiss me if there was even a small chance that my plan wouldn't work, especially if it put her in danger. If anything, she'd hit me!
Slowly, though, a grin spread across his face. After all, he thought, if this is the kinds of stuff they write about Lisbon and me, I wonder what they write about Rigsby and Van Pelt?
He changed the settings to "Wayne R. And Grace vP. Romance."
He was surprised at how few there were. One, however, caught his eyes: "Deserves."
The summery read, "Lisbon's thoughts about Grace Van Pelt and Wayne Rigsby's relationship."
Unlike most of the authors, this writer's Pen Name wasn't "Always4Jisbon," or "Jisbonisawesome," instead, it was, "TTJML."
He curiously clicked on the story.
"Lisbon glanced up from her paperwork out to the bull-pen. Van Pelt was laughing at something Rigsby said. She really felt bad for them. Hightower had been right to break them up, she knew, because she was their boss. However, they really loved each other, and they both deserved someone."
He read the rest of the story, practically hypnotized be the writing. It didn't make Lisbon sound weak, it didn't make Rigsby sound dumb, it didn't make anyone on the team sound like aliens with the same names, and the writing style? Captivating. When he reached the end, there was an author's note. It read,
"Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed. Feedback is, as always, appreciated."
He smiled, and clicked the review button.
He was surprised when what popped up was a message: Anonymous Reviews Disabled.
This author does not accept anonymous reviews. Please login and come back to submit a signed review.
He hesitated, before scrolling up to the top of the page and clicking 'Sign up.'
He thought about his Pen name for a few moments. Finally, he decided. He typed, 'Shadow Man.'
After setting up his account, he retuned to TTJML's story. He clicked 'review,' and typed,
"My dear, I am new to the FanFiction universe, but from what I have seen of it, they have trouble capturing these characters. Not you. You make Lisbon, Rigsby and Van Pelt sound completely in character. I can almost hear this actually happening. This sounds like something she might think. You really are an amazing writer. I see that you have written some other stories. I shall go read them, now."
He scanned over the review, amazed at how easily he had typed so many honest words. Even if it was just a review for a story, it had been a long time that he had said so much, so honestly. He glanced at the 'My Dear,' and chuckled. Something left over from my 'psychic' days, he noted. Then, he clicked 'Add story to favorites,' 'Add author to favorites,' and 'Subscribe to author.' Then, he clicked 'submit.'
He clicked the link to her profile page, and began to read.
'Hello, all. If you are on my profile page, the first thing you're probably wondering is the story behind my name. It is just the initials of me and my three brothers. I would tell you our names, but that wouldn't be smart, would it? Because if you really need to know, that would mean you were a stalker.'
He chuckled, and then continued reading.
'Anyway, I'm older than most of the people on this site, but I have a really stressful job, (Made more stressful by some of my co-workers, LOL,) and this provides a nice escape. I write for the Mentalist a lot. In fact, that's probably the only fandom I'll be writing for.
I write Jisbon, (By the way, just out of curiosity, who makes up these shipper names, anyway? Jisbon? Really? However, I shall abide by the shipper terms.) Although at some point I might try Rigspelt.
One last thing: I sound very different in real life, but I like the freedom on here to talk however I feel like, without anything being expected of me.'
He smiled. Then, he scrolled down and clicked on her next story.
Suddenly, he heard foot-steps heading toward him. Recognizing that they were Lisbon's, he signed off of AOL. He knew she probably wouldn't be pleased with him being on the site when he was supposed to be working, and would probably try to have the site blocked. And with no computer at home, he thought, By letting her block it I would be losing my only link to TTJML.
"Hey, Jane?"
He looked at her cheerfully and asked, "What's up, Lisbon?"
She studied him, trying to hide her worry, and replied, "It's nearly midnight. Shouldn't you be going home?"
He chuckled. "Pot, kettle."
She rolled her eyes and replied, "I'm getting ready to go home. You don't need to sleep at the CBI tonight."
He sighed dramatically, and replied, "Very well, Lisbon, if you insist."
She laughed and answered, "Good."
He stood and, making a dramatic show of it, walked to the elevator door and pressed the button.
She watched him until the elevator doors closed, then returned to her office to get her stuff and cut the computer and lights off.
Before she logged off of the internet, she realized she had a new e-mail. She scrolled over it, and saw that she had a review alert from FanFiction.
She hesitated. The professional thing to do would be to cut off the computer, go home, and read the review at home. However, she really wanted to read it, and after a few moments, curiosity won out.
She clicked.
"My dear, I am new to the FanFiction universe, but from what I have seen of it, they have trouble capturing these characters. Not you. You make Lisbon, Rigsby and Van Pelt sound completely in character. I can almost hear this actually happening. This sounds like something she might think. You really are an amazing writer. I see that you have written some other stories. I shall go read them, now."
She blushed. She was used to the usual "Great job, please write more."
This…this was detailed, interested…She smiled.
She clicked out, got her stuff together, and left.
When she got home, she went straight to her computer to check and see if 'Shadow Man' had reviewed anything else.
When she saw that she hadn't, she frowned.
That's weird, she thought, I was sure I had a fan. Oh…well…
She kept making excuses to stay up, such as making dinner, (even though she had already eaten,) checking her TV, (Even though she knew she hadn't missed anything,) and even dusting.
She kept checking to see if he had reviewed. She finally gave up and went to bed at around one A.M.
That night, Jane didn't dream of Red John, as he usually did. Instead, he kept replaying the story he had read in his sleep.
A/N: So…Feed-back? Please? It would make my day! (And you never know! I just might be Lisbon! LOL…maybe not.)