The Mentalist 5x09 Tag (Panama Red)
Chapter 1 – Pandora's box
"oh my keys there they are" Lisbon said with a look of satisfaction on her face as she smashed the small wooden box Jane had put on her desk with a hammer
"you have a hammer in your desk" Jane said with a little bit of fear in his eyes
"there are a lot of things you don't know about me" she said with pride
A couple days went since the little incident went by and the team was having another case yet. They had followed the leads easily and after a week the case was already closed.
Lisbon went to her office to fill out some of the usual amount of paperwork she had to after they catch the killer when something caught her attention.
A small paper note was glued to her black computer screen and it said do you want to play ? At first she was scared of its provenance but then she saw the initials PJ in the corner.
She sighed because with Patrick Jane she never knew what awaited her. Most people would find it intriguing but frankly not knowing was killing her. Even thought she would never admit it, Jane knew she loved the thrill and she couldn't afford to not play at his game. Maybe he did really know her after all.
But how could she play when she didn't have any leads. Suddenly realization hit her when she saw the blue ink imprinted on the paper. She had to turn it to see yet another small note at the back of the paper.
It was a charade : my single word is French for the letter K and my second is the opposite of a loan what am I ?
It was typical Jane to complicated things but somehow it was feasible since her had picked up one of her favorite drink in the world. Feeling the adrenaline rushing through her veins Lisbon rushed to the kitchen and found the steaming cup of coffee on the counter.
She immediately picked it up and she hastened to look up for any clues on the folded paper cup. She was almost disappointed when she didn't find anything when she saw it, the small stem of wool hanging from the lid.
As she drew the stem, something stirred out of the lid spilling a bit of hot coffee and making a small cracking sound. Lisbon stepped in surprise and found the perfectly intact origami frog folded in her hand. Somehow the paper was completely dry and she supposed it was a manoeuvre orchestrated by Jane since he knew how she loved it and the she would never forgive him if he would have ruin it.
Speaking of which, Jane had given her this origami frog on the very first year they met in an attempt of apology and she had kept the crafted object safely put in her closed top drawer among other of her most personal stuffs.
Even though she would never admit it, she hadn't been able to toss it away since it was probably the cutest thing someone had ever gave to her.
Lisbon suspected he had always known it was a secret she wished he didn't know about and somehow he had never teased her about it probably for solemn reasons. If he had brought it up only now she felt it was a way of renewing his apologies for whatever he felt the need to apologize about or at least she hoped so.
To her greatest happiness she didn't have to unfold the origami frog to see the next clue since she found at the hem of the binding a miniature plan of the bullpen with a red spot she supposed that indicated the emplacement of the next clue.
Glowing from impatienc, Lisbon rushed in the bullpen immediately trying to figure out where it was. According to the plan the next clue was supposed to be coming from Jane's drawer so she gave it a quick look.
But the next clue was nowhere to be found and all she could find was Jane's note that said "stop looking into my drawer". She knew it wasn't meant for her nor it was part of the quest because Jane had put it there on purpose a couple time ago now.
On the contrary it only proved her consultant's tendencies to play with people's mind and trick them with small clues and puzzles. For some reason it drove her crazy but it was also one of the reason she liked him so much. She laughed at the irony though.
Lost in her thoughts, realization suddenly hit her when she figured out she had been wrong all along. The small spot on the plan was indicating Jane's drawers but she hadn't notice the small arrow pointing to the left until now.
Lisbon held back a chuckle, typical Jane. He hadn't resisted the urge to involve his most beloved couch in his little scavenger hunt.
She looked everywhere from under the cushions to the smallest cracks of the armrests but she couldn't find anything. But there was only one place she didn't look yet and she knew she would find the next clue there.
Carefully leaning on the ground, Lisbon grinned as she withdrews the small red cardboard from under Jane's couch. There was only a couple lines on it.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
If you are sweet
I might kiss you
Fortunately she was alone in the bullpen because anyone who would see her right now might wonder why she was smiling like such a fool.
Had Jane really meant those words ? Or is it just another one of his scheme ? Anyways, Lisbon's heart was beating faster in her chest and she needed to find the next lead asap or she would loose patience for good.
Eventually Lisbon's smile faltered as she realized there was no indication whatsoever in the poem of where she might go from here. Maybe it was meant to be that way to tease her afterwards for being such a believer.
Almost resigned she sighed in consternation. As she was turning back on her feet she found Jane staring at her with his usual grin holding a steaming cup of tea in his hands.
"oh my god Jane you scared the crap out of me" Lisbon said trying to hide in vain the previous smile on her face
On his side, Jane was probably enjoying himself too but did a much better work at hiding it.
"wasn't my intention" he told her innocently
"did you do this ?" Lisbon asked her voice suddenly changing from hoarse to acute as she waved the heavy piece of cupboard with the poem on it
"oh yes that" he said faking a smile
"is this some kind of a joke ?" Lisbon asked
"why would it be ?" he told her as he took a sip of his tea
"I don't know just trying to figure out your little game" Lisbon said giggling a little
Jane noticed her sudden change of demeanor and knew she was suspicious.
"I don't have any game per se Lisbon I meant what I wrote and i assure you my writing will be put to action as soon yours do so" he said taking another sip as he gave her a dry smile
"my actions" Lisbon trailed as she gave him a mixed look of confusion and anger
Lisbon's growing anger and frustrations was the paroxysm of pleasure to Jane's sight. Too bad he didn't have any cheese plate to fulfill the special occasion because this was definitely getting better.
"yes…if you read the poem correctly it said that if you are sweet than, and only than I might kiss you now we both know that you have some steamy unresolved anger management you have to deal with first" Jane said but was interrupted by a heavily panting Lisbon
"oh I can bee sweat, sweat is my middle name" Lisbon said trying to contain her anger
"well Mr. Hammer hiding on your top desk drawer says otherwise my dear Teresa" Jane said with a grin referring to her previous use of the object to use it to break the small wooden box he had gave her
"laugh all you want but you are damn well lucky Mr. Hammer isn't here to talk some sense into you don't wait for me to bring him here…" Lisbon said trying to threaten Jane but was interrupted
"you mean THIS hammer" Jane said as he got out Lisbon's hammer from his jacket left pocket
Lisbon almost burst into rage when she finally realized that all this nice little game that Jane had planned for her was only another con, a distraction with the ultimate purpose to steal her hammer when she least expect it.
More than that it was his way of driving her nuts. She was so furious with him but was even more mad with herself to have let herself been dragged into Jane's manipulating game for the umpteenth time.
"JANE GIVE IT BACK" Lisbon almost shouted as she started racing after him
Like the chicken he was Jane fled full speed from Lisbon's chase teasingly showing her the hammer at the edge of his grip.
Unfortunately Jane was faster than her and managed to escape in the elevator. But this was only round one and Lisbon knew just the way to give it back to Jane the way he deserved it.
Lisbon smiled a Machiavellian smile as he mentally prepared herself for her next more. What she would reserve him he would not be ready to forget. He wanted sweet and yet she would give him just that, the sweetest of the revenge.
Author's note : hope you like it because I had a lot of fun to write it. I know the characters were maybe a lot occ and I'm sorry about it. I will try to upload the next chapter tomorrow and the fanfic will be complete.