Musings of a Couch

The Mentalist

I knew her. I knew her the moment she entered the showroom. Okay so I didn't know her name or her story or anything really but I knew she was the one I was waiting for. I knew she was mine…sort of. She wasn't going to buy me for herself. No…I was for someone else. But she was going to buy me.

I watched Reggie show her around the showroom. I watched her face as she frowned at all the others. She sat on a few. She bounced. Sometimes she even stretched out. But none of the others were what she was looking for. I was.

Finally Reggie led her to me. There was a softening in her features and she ran a hand over my back. Then she sank into my embrace and sighed happily at the comfort I offered. I knew she wanted me. She turned and stretched out. I was far too long for her short frame but she grinned and nodded to Reggie.

"Excellent, Agent Lisbon," Reggie exclaimed. "If you'll follow me we'll get the paperwork out of the way."

She hopped up and followed Reggie away. I ignored the jealous mutterings and discontent from the others and waited happily.

Soon I watched her walk out of the store and then the movers were carrying me away to my new home.

PJ/TL PJ/TL PJ/TL

I must have dozed off while they were transporting me. Yes, even couches need a nap now and then. Anyway…the next thing I knew they were carrying me into an elevator and then down some stairs and into a set of offices. It made no sense to me. I was not an office type couch. I was a living room couch. I was made for comfort.

Still…it had to be better than the showroom. At least here I was going to be used for my intended purpose. I hoped.

And then I saw her again. Agent Lisbon. She came from an office and I wondered if that small room was where she was going to put me. I didn't want to go there. I wanted to be around the people but…I was just a couch. She couldn't hear me. And she probably wouldn't listen if she could. Humans didn't.

But then she smiled. Oh, not a lot and more in her eyes than on her lips. But it was a happy smile. And she directed the movers to place me in a corner of the main room. It was close to the small kitchen and off the main flow of traffic but close to it. My back was to the rest of the room but that was okay. I was a couch. I had 360 vision.

"No," she shook her head a bit. "Tilt it just a bit to face the room. We don't want him completely cut off from the sounds of the room. He'd hate that."

"Nice couch," a red haired woman observed. "Why do we need a couch in the office again?"

A buff Oriental looking man came to stand at her shoulder and he stared at me before a tiny smile lifted one corner of his mouth. "So that Jane will actually get a bit of sleep," he told her easily.

The red head blinked and then stared at Lisbon then the man and back again. "Pardon?" She finally asked.

"Jane doesn't sleep," another man walked over and stood with the others. "Except here."

One red brow winged up as she turned her attention to him. "Pardon?" She said again. "What do you mean he doesn't sleep?"

The Oriental man shook his head slowly. "Could you sleep in the house where your wife and child were brutally murdered?" He asked her in a low voice. "I couldn't."

Her lips tightened and she turned her head away from them for a long moment. "Still…why…he only sleeps here?"

The other three nodded solemnly. "He doesn't sleep in motels when we're on a case, you can tell," the second man said. "He comes down with bags under his eyes and a wild look in his eyes."

"And he doesn't sleep at home," the Oriental man said. "That's just as obvious. The bags and the look and the fact that he dozes most of the mornings away with his head propped on his fist."

"It's the flow of people," Lisbon observed. "The noise soothes him. He's more relaxed here than I've ever seen him anywhere else. And I'm sick of him rubbing at his neck and forehead because he has a stiff neck and a headache from sleep deprivation."

The red head shrugged and the foursome walked away. I never heard them discussing me and Jane in that way again. In fact, I doubt they said anything to each other on the subject again. I learned that Jane would have been…wounded, offended, whatever to know that they had discussed him like that.

I finally met the man I'd been bought for the following day. They watched him covertly as he strode in and passed out the coffee's he'd brought. His eyes passed over me as he walked by on the way to the kitchen. He paused in his steps for only an instant and then continued on.

When he came back out of the kitchen he held a blue mug of tea in his hands. He gave the four agents a long look and then shrugged and sat down. He seemed reluctant to relax at first but my comfort overpowered him. His shoulders slowly slumped as he sipped the tea and then his rigid posture relaxed and he sank into my cushions.

It didn't take long for him to set the mug of tea down. He relaxed more and more until he slowly tilted to the side. His feet came up and soon he was sprawled out and completely relaxed into sleep.

"Knew it would work," Lisbon murmured as she gently removed his shoes and covered him with a throw.

"That was almost too easy," the red head, Van Pelt, nodded and took his mug to the kitchen.

"Only this time," the Oriental man, Cho, observed as he waved some other agents away from the area.

"He'll be faking it to eavesdrop on us soon enough," the last agent, Rigsby, nodded and closed the blinds.

Lisbon shrugged and headed for her office. "At least he'll sleep now," she told them. "Back to work."

They all nodded and silently went to their desks. Occasionally one of them would glance over and a small smile would cross their lips. Lisbon made trips into the kitchen nearly twice as often as she had the day before. Eventually Jane stirred and sat up.

"It's a good couch," he said grudgingly and accepted the mug of tea from Van Pelt. "I like it."

"Good," Lisbon nodded from the doorway to her office. "We have a case," she held up a file. "We're off to San Francisco. Missing person."

"Fun," Jane commented and sprang to his feet. "Let's go."