Title: A chance encounter

Author: Little Firestar

Fandom: NCIS/The Mentalist

Characters: NCIS ensemble; Lisbon/Jane.

Genres: Hurt/comfort; friendship.

Rating: K

Word Count: 890

Summary: "Trust Jane to make a messy cross-jurisdictional, cross-agency even messier. The idiot had kept making suggestive remarks about a relationship between Agents DiNozzo and David, and then he had started talking about what he had defined as "Gibb's rules of engagement", claiming that Gibbs himself had never been able to follow them, just to move then into private territory and explain him why he was a serial divorced. Poor McGee was the only one who had been spared-until that very moment.

Note:written for, and because of, Lothiriel84. She knows what I mean.

"Agent Gibbs, please, I know that..."

Despite Lisbon's plea, Gibbs kept walking through the hall of the federal building refusing to acknowledge her presence. He just stopped when he reached McGee's desk, and yet, he didn't give any sign of wanting to listen to any of them.

Not that she blamed him. Jane had been harsh and tactless, and frankly, she was surprised by his behavior, especially toward the older man. She would have guessed that once her consultant had learnt that Gibbs had lost both a daughter and his wife just like he did, he would have been a bit more... thoughtful, at least with him.

But, of course, no. Trust Jane to make a messy cross-jurisdictional, cross-agency even messier. The idiot had kept making suggestive remarks about a relationship between Agent DiNozzo and David (earning a punch from DiNozzo on the nose and a dislocated shoulder from David-very unintentional, she was such a klutz at times...), and then he had started talking about what he had defined as "Gibb's rules of engagement", claiming that Gibbs himself had never been able to follow them, jut to move then into private territory and explain him why he was a serial divorced (earning another punch and, this time around, a black eye).

Poor McGee was the only one who had been spared-until that very moment.

"McGee!" Gibbs shouted, despite being just at the guy's side. Lisbon didn't envy him, McGee seemed to be on the verge of having to deal with a very annoying Jane, and his boss...she guessed that he was also about to get a slap on the back of the head. Again.

"Abby needs some help. Go to her and bring him" he hissed, pointing a finger at Jane "With you. Now!"

McGee did immediately as he was told, and he run toward the elevator, Jane, grinning, at his heels. The consultant couldn't be any happier, it looked like "the kid" (the eternal rookie despite the age, just like Van Pelt with them) was scared of him.

And if not scared... at least he made him uncomfortable.

"You all right, Agent McGee?" Jane asked casually, leaning against the wall of the elevator with a diabolic smirk on his face.

The other man didn't answer, just kept looking in front of himself, rigid like a statue, but not in the controlled and cool way that was Cho's signature. McGee was emanating nervousness along with sweat.

What a mark Jane thought. "It's ok, agent McGee. You can talk with me. I'll not tell Agent DiNozzo that you secretly liked that I put him back in his place because you can't stand that he keeps behaving like you were a newbie even after almost a decade."

"I didn't!" McGee answered, but he bit his lips, grunting, when he realized that he had done just too quickly, like he would have done if he was lying.

Well... more like since he was lying.

Jane grinned triumphant, and was looking all smug when the doors of the elevator opened, but his arrogant grin disappeared as soon as he walked right into the person that was waiting for them.

The woman had to be Abby-and she didn't look like anything he had ever seen working for a government-related agency, if not in some weird movie.

She looked like a Goth on the outside, with her dark clothes, the smoky eyes and the black tainted hair, the huge, tribal-style, black tattoos (he could spot a spider or two), the jewels (especially the spiked collar), the crosses and the small decorative coffins every now and then in what was clearly her domain.

The inside, though, said the opposite.

Abby was the example that a person shouldn't be judged by their clothes. Her smile was contagious, and illuminated everything. It wasn't just because she loved her job, he could tell. It was more than that. It was her attitude. He didn't need to be a genius- well, maybe just himself- to see that she had gone through a big deal in her life, some big sufferance she was still dealing with underneath her facade (even if he didn't know to which degree, and what exactly it could have been). But, still... it wasn't a mask. It wasn't like with his fake smiles, and the air of superiority. Whatever had happened in her life, she knew that it was part of her, that it made her who she was, and...

She was like a light at the end of the tunnel, with her positive attitude. She wasn't simply a survivor of whatever had happened to her. She was a fighter. And she was someone who had made it.

Or at least... that was what she inspired in people.

"Hi! You must be Mr. Jane!" she said, cheerful, hugging him like he was some sort of long lost friend. She wasn't doing so because of pity-the word had such a negative connotation- it was... had to explain. The only thing he could think was unconditional love, and hope.

For once, he wasn't annoyed that someone had probably googled him.

Maybe he didn't hug her back like he did with Lisbon, but it was a bit more that his usual tentative touch. Because maybe... he could dream, and hope.

Maybe, one day, he would have made it too.