The First of Many Times
Summary: Patrick Jane's first apology to the Senior Agent of the Serious Crimes Unit, Teresa Lisbon was bittersweet. For the Jello-Forever July Challenge: Lemonade.
Disclaimer: I seriously don't own this, and I probably never will…so I should probably stop living in all of this denial and just accept that.
A/N:
I don't even know where the idea for this piece came about, one moment I was thinking about goats and the next I was writing about apologies; the last time I checked goats weren't exactly apologetic… but oh well, Jane apologizing to Lisbon always makes for a better read, doesn't it?
Patrick Jane's first apology to the Senior Agent of the Serious Crimes Unit, Teresa Lisbon was bittersweet.
He didn't make her any paper origami frogs or give her any fancy jewelry, but he had learned quickly, after their first seventy-two hours together, that Lisbon wasn't like any of the other unit heads in the CBI; not only was she an extremely attractive woman, she was also a very stubborn one at that and his apologies meant nothing to her, beyond another reason on an endless list of whys he shouldn't remain on her unit.
In his first seventy-two hours, he had managed to catch a murderer and save a life but, he had also managed to earn a few lawsuits and apparently, that was a huge demerit in the legal aspect of justice, which didn't make any sense to him considering that they if they caught the murderer, and it didn't result in anyone's death or petty extortion, they why was anyone throwing a fit about it?
It seemed like everything he did in those first seventy-two hours was completely off its intended mark—his first full morning of being switched from the OCU to the SCU, he brought his new boss coffee and had accidently spilt it down the front of her blazer, it was the first time he had ever seen Teresa Lisbon angry and he had hoped it was the last, but he knew that was hoping for a miracle as six paper towels, and five minutes later, he was being hauled to Minelli's office on a sexual harassment charge.
He had only tried to help her too.
Minelli dismissed the charge and told her to suck it up and deal with it.
(Jane tried to hide his small smile, but he failed miserably and she saw it.)
For the rest of his first work day, she wouldn't talk to him—not even after he bought them all lunch from that nice little bistro down the street.
OoO
The next day became his first official case with the SCU, and he could see why his fellow co-workers, Wayne Rigsby and Kimball Cho had an ample amount respect for the petite woman, she was professional in everything that she handled, even after he had managed to set off a family member of their dead victim.
(She didn't ignore him, but she did give him one of the longest lectures in the history of lectures on their way back to HQ on why it was wrong to anger anyone.)
He also managed to find some pretty good information for all the trouble he had caused her, and in return, he received his first small smile from his new boss.
(He'd never admit it to her or anyone else, but she was even more attractive when she smiled.)
The smile lasted all of five minutes, because he just had to open his mouth and ask why she had trust issues. He received another lecture on the reasons why he shouldn't pry into his co-worker's personal lives.
(That didn't stop him from later asking Rigsby about the brunette from accounting that the man had his eyes on.)
To say that Lisbon was pleased with him would be a lie, especially when she arrived back to HQ and into the comforts of her own office only to find Minelli waiting for her, a file of complaint in his hands.
("You're the last hope on him, Lisbon." Minelli told her, as Jane pressed his ear against the office glass door. "He closes cases, and we don't want to loose him.")
Jane silently promised to close the case the next morning, it was the least he could do.
OoO
The next morning, they managed to close the case and Jane was hailed as a hero within the CBI to everyone except the one person's life he had saved, he hadn't understood her reasons for her extreme distaste of him saving her life until he had passed by Minelli's office, with every intention to resign from the CBI.
("He saved me, but he needs to learn that he's technically still a civilian, not an agent.")
Her single sentence gave him more than anyone could have imagined, to him, Teresa Lisbon wanted to protect everyone from becoming a victim at the cost of her own life, and instead of interrupting their conversation, he slipped back to the bullpen, and to that worn brown leather couch, which he had claimed as his instead of that empty desk, and stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought. Did the woman not realize that by sticking her own neck out for everyone else, that she would in turn make them all victims of circumstance?
If anything, Jane decided, he wanted to stick around, not just because he had nothing else better to do (like he would tell her later when she would ask why he bothered to stick around) but also because he wanted to be the one to save her from what she considered to be her own good intentions, because whether she knew it or not, those "good intentions" of hers were eventually going to become her downfall and he could only hope, in time, that she would let him in, and in return, he could one day save her and receive not just a complaint in return.
But first, he had to convince her to let him stay on with her unit, which definitely wouldn't be easy, but if there was one good thing to be said about Patrick Jane, it was that he enjoyed a good challenge and Teresa Lisbon was definitely a good challenge.
OoO
On the fourth day of him being in the Serious Crimes Unit, he nudged his shoulder against her office door with a pitcher of lemonade in one hand and two clear glasses in the other.
"Come in!"
Jane pushed the door open to find Lisbon at her desk, eyes immersed in her paperwork as he sat his apology down on her conference table.
"I brought lemonade." She didn't even look at him, and he wondered if she heard him. "Lisbon?"
"I heard you, Jane."
"Do you want some?" He asked her and received an annoyed sigh in return.
"If I say yes, will you leave me alone?"
"Yes."
"Then yes, I will have some lemonade." Jane beamed and went to pour two glasses full of the liquid for the both of them, before he handed one of them to Lisbon and sipped at his own.
"Thank you."
She placed the glass back down on the desk, and continued at her paperwork, he lost his grin.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sure you are."
"I truly am."
"Jane, I've heard nothing but sorry come from your mouth over the course of seventy-two hours…" Lisbon chided, green eyes focused on him. "You close cases, but that doesn't mean I'm going to tolerate your crap." He tried to go for an innocent abashed look, to which she rolled her eyes. "You may have everyone else here enticed, but…"
"I'm not leaving, Lisbon."
He wasn't just talking about her office.
"That's not your call or mine." Lisbon answered. "That's Minelli's."
"You have pull." Jane responded, his green-blue gaze held her green one. "You can trust me."
"Trust you?" She scoffed, her eyebrow raised. "What have you done over the past seventy-two hours to prove yourself trustworthy…?"
"I saved your life."
"Jane, you ended up with a concussion in return due to your noble deed of hitting the man over the head with a lead pipe."
"Still, I saved your life—I think that's considered trustworthy material." She sighed. "Drink your lemonade." Lisbon picked up the glass on her desk, brought it to her lips and sipped at it.
"Are you happy now?" The question was laced with bitter sarcasm, which didn't bother him, at-all.
"Yes, I am." He gave, once more with a bright grin spread across his face. "Thank you for asking." Jane waited until she sat the glass down to continue. "I just wanted to say I was sorry, and that I'm a lot like lemonade, because I can be bitter but I can also be sweet." He inclined his head toward the glass of lemonade on her desk. "I want to stay to prove that to you, but…" He allowed his voice to fade when she didn't interrupt his small little speech. "I guess I'll leave now, thanks for everything, Agent Lisbon." He knew defeat pretty well, and he had a feeling that a second chance weren't in his hands which lead him to do the only thing he could think to do, retreat—he turned away from her, shoulders hunched and he placed one hand on her office door when her voice called out to him.
"I don't think I told you to leave." He turned toward her, his mouth open and ready to contradict her. "I said that earlier, yes—but right now, I don't think I told you to leave." He bowed his head. "Let me tell you something about myself, Mr. Jane." Jane glanced up at her in surprise, her green eyes purely focused on him. "I'm not one easily impressed, and I'm not one easily amused either." He knew that. "Our situation is too much like vinegar in that aspect."
Well, out of everything he had expected her to say in response, that wasn't one of them.
"Vinegar, Mr. Jane, is a liquid that leaves behind a lingering smell and an awful aftertaste but yet it can also cleanse you, you don't see me pushing any form of vinegar in your direction as a grand welcome gesture or an apology for what you've lost, now do you?" He didn't reply, although he thought it would be oddly comical to see the woman pushing a glass of vinegar across the desk to him— though, as a not-so-secret pursuer of fine literature (and a secret pursuer of Lisbon's overall wellbeing, now), he understood her metaphor better than most, Lisbon believed herself to be like the vinegar and he believed himself to be like the lemonade—one liquid meant to entice and deceive with its color and taste while the other, the more bland, overpowering liquid wasn't meant to either entice or deceive, it was meant to aid someone, and most people would take the lemonade, any day. It didn't mean however, he was going to let her take that metaphor to heart. "I appreciate the gesture, Jane, but you can't expect me to forgive you every single time you do something wrong with a single glass of lemonade, keep that in mind." He grinned; it meant she was going to allow him to stay on the unit. "You can leave now." He left without complaint; he knew his stay had worn out well beyond its initial welcome.
The next time he angered her, and he needed to apologize (which would happen because it was only inevitable), he ended up giving her two full glasses, one of lemonade and the other of vinegar instead of just once glass filled with lemonade.
She only sent him a small smile, before she threatened him out of her office and told him to take his vile combination with him, he let her keep the glass of lemonade and he took a small sip of the vinegar to which she merely grinned, as he tried to not pull a face of utter disgust.
(But seeing her grin was well worth the taste, he ultimately decided.)