A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic, and I really hope all turns out well. I'm not exactly sure how long this will be, although I am aiming for a multichapter. I have been reading Mentalist fanfics for months now, and finally got the courage to write on of my own. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist. I wish!

Like Red on a Rose

The sound of a gunshot could be heard echoing throughout a dilapidated vacant house on outskirts of the Sacramento city limits. Patrick Jane looked past the pistol in his shaking hand to the scene that was in front of him. A man in a grotesque mask clutching a sharp knife was now slumped over the still body of Special Agent Teresa Lisbon.

Jane ran over and threw the man, who now had a bullet hole through the back of his head and was oozing blood, off of Lisbon. He stared at her lying on the icy stainless-steel table among knives and other various tools that looked as if they came out of a horror movie. Surprisingly, Lisbon did not have one scratch on her, yet she was unconscious. She had small pools of crimson around her neck where the blood from the man's gunshot wound trickled onto her.

"Lisbon," Jane shook the shoulder of the woman laying in front of him. He assumed she had been drugged up with a potentially fatal tranquilizer. Frantically he reached out and brushed the hair off her neck to feel for a pulse. He placed three fingers against her cool clammy skin. "Don't do this to me, please, Lisbon."

"Teresa...please..." He couldn't breathe and he felt like his world was caving in around him. His deep blue-green eyes were full of tears that refused to fall. Jane knelt beside Lisbon, pressing his fingers harder into her neck, searching for any sign of life. Then he felt it. The best feeling he had ever felt. A faint little thump thump against his fingers. He let out a breath he had been holding for what seemed like hours.

He fumbled his phone out of his pocket, his eyes never once leaving Lisbon. He quickly dialed 911.

"911, What's your emergency?" The voice of the operator was calm and steady, something Jane needed at the moment.

"I need an ambulance, fast. My best friend... she's unconscious with an unsteady pulse and has been drugged up and... I don't know what to do." Jane paced back and forth in front of Lisbon in a state of mild panic.

"Sir, please stay calm, I have pinpointed your location but you need to tell me what happened so I can relay the information to the paramedics who are on their way to the scene."

"Okay, calm, I can stay calm." Jane took a deep breath in before continuing. "My best friend... She is a CBI agent. She was lured into a house, and he got to her before I could save her... and I don't know what he gave to her. He was going to kill her. He had the knife in his hand when I walked in... and I had to shoot him to save her."

"Sir, there is more than one person injured? Do you know the attacker and could you describe the extent of his injuries?" The operator was now obviously confused on what happened. When she first received the call, she brushed it off as a common accidental drug overdose. Now she saw that this was definitely serious and more authorities needed to be dispatched to the scene.

"Red John, he's dead now. I shot him." Patrick glanced over at the body laying on the floor. The man who had destroyed his life once and may have destroyed him again if Lisbon didn't get help quick.

The line was silent for a minute. The dispatcher obviously didn't know how to respond to what Jane had just said. She was the first person besides the man on the other end of the line to get news that the most wretched serial killer in the state of California had been finally slain. When she finally spoke all she could mumble was "Oh... thank God."

Jane understood the woman's relief, but could not fancy himself to the same feeling. The single most important person was in front of him, obviously fighting for her life. Jane's eyes made their way to her face. Her facial expression was relaxed, almost peaceful looking, but not quite. He once again knelt beside her and grabbed her hand. It felt cool and clammy against his warm hand. The last time he held her hand it was just after his fingers had almost been chopped off by Lorelei Martins. Now his still intact fingers gently wrapped around her petite hand and gave a small squeeze. It wasn't until the voice of the 911 dispatcher jolted him from his daze that he realized he hadn't hung up the phone.

"Sir, help is on the way."

Jane didn't respond. The phone slid out from his grip and fell to the floor. Still grasping Lisbon's hand, he gazed at her face. Tears started running down the sides of his cheeks as he spoke to her.

"Oh god Teresa, I am so sorry."

Then he felt the second best feeling he had ever felt. The weak, shaky squeeze of his hand by the woman in front of him. All Jane could do was smile because in that moment he felt a surge of hope that maybe, just maybe, everything would turn out all right.

A/N: Well, there you have chapter one! My other chapters will definitely be longer than this. I was just setting the scene for what goes on later! I probably won't go into detail about the whole Red John take down, because that is not what this fanfic will be about. Review, review, review!