AN: I'm still on a temporary hiatus, so I guess this is a hiatus from the hiatus!
This oneshot is a little different from anything I've written. It jumps back and forth in time: regular text is during the season 4 finale, and italicized text is from season 2. Hope you guys like it!
Title is from the song "Long & Lost" by Florence and the Machine. I also blatantly steal a line from the television show Bones. I own neither of these.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist.
Between the Words We Spoke
She calls him one last time. His voicemail is, of course, already full, presumably from the hundreds of times she's tried to get a hold of him. He never answers, and this time is no different.
Lisbon sighs as she waits for the elevator. It's a late night, even for her, and she feels exhaustion setting into her bones. Somehow, clarity arrives with the waves of fatigue, and it occurs to her that doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome is a textbook definition of insanity. So she breaks the pattern as the doors open and she steps inside.
The elevator doors close around her, and she deletes Jane's number from her phone.
"You okay?"
Lisbon glares at him – he's standing in front of the buttons in the elevator, ensuring that she can't access them, and as a result, the elevator remains stationary.
"Right as rain," she says, a slight edge to her voice.
"Bullshit," Jane says. "You loved him – you were in love with him. There's no way you could possibly be okay."
She feels herself become enraged, but this soon fades. It's simply too draining to maintain after the events of the past few days.
Lisbon leans against the wall of the elevator. "I wasn't in love with him," she says sharply.
Jane's eyes turn pensive. "No," he agrees. "I guess you weren't. He was in love with you, though."
"He was married," says Lisbon. "He had no business falling for me while…"
"Is that what you told him?" asks Jane softly. "When he…showed interest?"
She straightens her sleeve. She nods. "I cared for Bosco, sure. But was I in love with him?" Lisbon glances at Jane before looking away. "No. He would have cheated on his wife, and somehow that was a major turnoff for me. Doesn't change the fact that he was a damn good cop – and a good friend."
Jane is silent for a beat for saying, "I'm sorry, Lisbon."
She hears him press the button for the first floor, and he comes to stand by her. His shoulder brushes against hers, and she leans into him slightly as the elevator begins to move.
Lisbon blinks, suddenly aware of her surroundings. Wondering why the elevator ride seems to be taking so long, she glances at the lights to her side.
"Damn it," she says. She hadn't hit the button when she stepped in.
Lisbon reaches forward with an exasperated groan.
She opens her refrigerator door one afternoon and stares inside, mentally inventorying her stock of food.
It doesn't take long considering the stock is embarrassingly meager.
A takeout menu lying on her bookshelf in the living room catches her eye, and Lisbon quickly decides in favor of Pad Thai over a trip to the grocery store.
She crosses the room and picks up the menu.
Jane whirls around. "Wait – Lisbon, hold on. I just had a thought."
Lisbon tries to hide the action of wiping her eyes by running her hands through her hair. "Jane, forget it. I'm fine. I'll figure something out."
Jane crosses from the front door to stand in front of her in the living room. He bends his knees slightly so that he can look her in the eyes.
"Do you trust me?" he asks, his voice low.
Lisbon rolls her eyes. A tear escapes, and she doesn't bother wiping this one away.
"You know I do," she says.
"Then, please – let me help. I think I know who's framing you and how we can catch him."
"'Him'?"
"Your shrink."
Lisbon gapes at him, and several seconds pass. "That son of a bitch."
"That's the spirit, Lisbon."
Lisbon meets his eyes. "He messed with my memories," she deduces. Jane nods. "By drugging me?"
He nods again. "I've been telling you for years that your caffeine addiction was going to get you into trouble, Lisbon. And I was right – a psychopath used it to frame you for murder."
"You're so full of shit, Jane," she says, but she can't help but smile at his snark. She is no longer Atlas, carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.
He grins at her. "And yet, you still want to be my partner." They hold each other's gaze for a few seconds before Jane breaks the silence. He grabs the Thai takeout menu on the bookshelf. "Let's order in while I explain the plan. My treat – this could take a while."
Lisbon feels her eyes water up for a completely different reason. "Thank you, Jane," she says, her throat tight.
"Anything for you, Lisbon."
Lisbon shakes herself and focuses on the menu again, slightly more wrinkled now than it had been two years ago. She brings her phone to her ear, and, on a whim, orders Jane's favorite entrée rather than her own.
He wraps his arms around her, holding her tightly to him, and Lisbon tenses. He's been gone six months without a word to her – and suddenly he comes back into her life and expects her to help him? Has he gone mad?
Has he always been mad?
She wraps her arms around him as soon as he steps into her office. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispers in his ear, and she feels his hands come to rest on her back.
"In a manner of speaking."
She's alarmed. "Did he do anything to you?"
Jane's grip tightens. "No," he says. "On the contrary, he saved my life."
"Red John saved your life?"
"I don't understand it either."
Lisbon's grip tightens. She's not ready to let go yet – what if he leaves her again for another six months?
"Good luck, Teresa. Love you."
It took him six months to lose her, but it only takes him five words to bring her back to him again.