Title: Perfidious
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I am not Walter Mashburn. I cannot own The Mentalist.
Summary: "We're helping the boss." Team. Spoilers for 4x24
Grace focused intently on the laptop screen in front of her, while she sat uncomfortably in a metal fold-up chair. She, then, eyed Jane, who had been comparing melons to Lisbon's head. She had found his whole plan to be rather ridiculous because the last time they had done it Jane's way, she had ended up shooting her fiancé and Lisbon had gotten shot. He had hurt the team more times than she could count and frankly, this had been the last straw, in her mind. He had been in Las Vegas for six months without a word to anybody, he had been lying to the team about Red John for over a year, and then he just expected to waltz back into the CBI and have them help him?
Unfortunately, it hadn't been up to her and the rest of the team. It had been up to Lisbon and she had decided to help him. Of course, she thought Lisbon had been too fast to just jump in and help him, but when Lisbon ordered something, you would do it without another thought.
Much to her dismay, Jane spoke out. "Listen, I wanted to apologize for deceiving you." She rolled her eyes and could only manage to quickly respond with, "Whatever." Jane's apologies meant nothing to her. Especially, when they were usually without any actual sincerity. Jane would only say sorry if it would get him what he wanted and like always, it had been for the same reason – to catch Red John.
Lisbon had always imposed on them all that they were a family and that they shouldn't keep secrets from one another. How could they be a family, if one of them continued to break their trust and put them all in harms way? What kind of family would that be? Is it a family at all?
She then heard Jane continue on. "And thank you for helping me now."
"We're helping the boss." Cho replied bluntly. Lisbon, to him, had been the only reason he had agreed to this in the first place. Lisbon had been a leader. Lisbon had been somebody he could look up to and admire. Lisbon always had the best of intentions and knew what would be best for the team. Jane did not and it further proved that Jane had only one motive – Red John - and could not be trusted. His apologies meant nothing; they had never been genuine.
He felt that he had been the only one, since Jane had been working with Lisbon and the team, that Jane had never been trustworthy. He had only turned to Lisbon and the team when he needed to fulfill his own selfish agenda. Jane had never cared about justice or the law. He knew, once Jane had what he wanted, he would leave the CBI and would never talk to any of them again. In his mind, that had been just fine, but he wondered if Jane realized that it hadn't been just Red John who had been going around hurting people for years?
He had wondered if Jane understood what this had been like for Lisbon and the team? If Jane had even considered their lives at when he had been keeping this secret? Or had he, once again, only been thinking of Patrick Jane?
While he had been looking at Van Pelt's laptop screen, Rigsby had spoken out as well.
"Yeah. She's helping you, we're helping her." It had been true. Lisbon had always had their best interests at heart. Jane, however, never did. How could the team ever trust him again? How would they ever look at him the same? He had been keeping secrets for more than a year and this hadn't been the first time. In fact, he had been sure that there had been more that Jane hadn't told them.
He knew Jane had been selfish, but for him not to confide in them about Red John being alive had been enough to never look at Jane the same way again. Jane had already hurt the team on numerous occasions, whether he realized it or not, but most of all he had hurt the Boss, which only furthered his anger.
However, he had hoped that Lisbon would have come to the same conclusion. That Jane had betrayed them all in countless ways and that maybe it would be best if they terminated the consultant. Not that Jane cared, but this team had a lot more on their minds then just Red John. He, personally, had Benjamin to think about. Little had he known when Benjamin had been born that he had a huge target on his back because Jane hadn't told them about Red John. He could have died and had left Benjamin fatherless, which had never been an option for him.
Rigsby knew that once he had become a father, he would never become like his Dad and abandon his child. He wanted to see him grow-up and become a man and if Jane continued on with this pattern of endangering their lives, could he still work for this unit? For the CBI?
He then heard Lisbon reprimand them all.
"Guys, cut him slack." She announced this to the team quite harshly. They had all been too harsh to Jane. Had the team forgotten that they had been a family? Sure, Jane screwed up – big time, but she didn't know if the team realized that forgiveness had been the easiest route.
She had chosen to help Jane because, despite his mishandling of the Red John situation, he deserved forgiveness. Jane had already had it hard enough and there had been no need to make it harder by being bitter about it.
That had been pointless to her and when Jane had first come onto her team, he had wanted help to catch the murderer of his wife and child. Despite their relationship in the beginning, she had been more than willingly to help him because even someone like Jane hadn't deserved what had happened to his family.
Although, there had been a part of her, especially now, if she had gone too far. That maybe she shouldn't have said yes to Jane and his plan. That maybe she should have let him go about it on his own and get himself in trouble.
If she had done that, Jane would be dead right now and she could never let that happen. She had said that she would be there to stop him from doing something foolish and she had plans to carry that out. She had also hoped that if the team wouldn't do this for Jane, that they had meant what they had just said and done it for her. For that, she would be eternally grateful.
Jane had no words for how the team had reacted to him. Of course, Lisbon had risen to his defense, for which he had been grateful. However, he hadn't understood how they had reacted to him.
Sure, he had been keeping this from them, but it had only been for their own protection. He knew he could trust Lisbon with the secret. He had always trusted the team, but why put more people that he cared about in danger? Lisbon had been enough to worry about, but if he had had to worry about the team on top of it? He hadn't even wanted to think about that. Lisbon had been enough of a liability and she already would be in enough danger if, later, the plan wouldn't work.
He feared that if this plan didn't work, how would he ever get the team to trust him again? Could he get them to trust him again? He needed them. He needed their support, little did they realize. When he had apologized, he had meant it.