Hello there!

I am new to this fascinating world of fanfiction, but have read a great deal of them, so I decided to have my own go at it. As you may notice while reading, I'm not a native speaker, so please forgive any mistakes in grammar or spelling, however, if you find something that you cannot leave their with a good conscience, then tell me, I'd be grateful.

And, although this is my first fanfiction, I know one thing: I have to say I don't own any of the characters. Some people are very creative at writing disclaimers, I am not one of them. So, here we go.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, they belong to their creator who still doesn't want to make them a couple. (This is torture. Does he even realize that? Sometimes I imagine him sitting in a corner and laugh like an evil witch while he watches us fans suffer.)

You have to know this story takes place before Red John was killed, and even before that list of seven existed. It sets in a little time after "Black Cherry", I think, before Lorelei dies. So what happens in here is AU.

Enough of this talk now, I would be happy if you left me a note. I know there doesn't exactly happen much :)

Enjoy

TheReflection

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He remembered very well the day sometime after Lorelei Martin's escape from her sister's cabin in the woods. He and Lisbon had been walking down a little hill on the golf court of one of those bigwig-country-clubs because a body had been found in the duck pond.

The whole drive to the scene he'd had his nose buried in his newly bought notebook, jabbing down names of all the men he remembered having shaken hands with over the past nine years. When they'd gotten out of the car when they'd reached their destination, Lisbon had asked him something that almost had made his heart stop.

„Am I in that book?"

He could hear the hope that she wasn't in her voice, but he picked up on the hint of fear she tried to hide, too.

„Huh."

At first, he thought it stupid of her to even think of asking such a question. Then he remembered she hadn't been present when Lorelei Martins had told him. So he felt compelled to explain.

„She said it's a wonder Red John and I didn't become friends. Now what we have, I consider a friendship. So, my friend, you are free and clear."

She pondered that for a moment, remaining silent, until she said: „That's a relief."

Lisbon smiled at him thankfully and he searched her face for any traces of emotions that would tell him what she was really feeling. To his own surprise, he found nothing but what she had told him: relief.

If only he'd known the truth by then already, then he would have known it had all been a lie.