A/N: Here comes the next chapter! WOW I was so happy to get all of your reviews, thank you, I really appreciate it! This is so awesome that you like the story and I hope you'll like the next chapter as much as the first one.

Again a big thank you to Nerwen and Steele! You're great, guys :)

Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist, but maybe my parents will surprise me with something on my birthday... one never knows ;)

(2)

"So, Teresa, welcome to Carmel Valley", Mancini said cheerfully as the car passed the big entrance sign at the end of the road. They had arrived at San Diego International Airport two hours ago. An FBI Agent had greeted them and lead them out into the parking lot where they got into the waiting Porsche Cayenne, their car for the next few weeks.

Usually Lisbon was the one to drive the car when she was with her team. No one ever doubted that, not even Cho… Jane maybe. But she could count the times she let him drive while she was sitting in the car. She preferred to get to her destinations… alive. Since Lisbon was only a "guest" in this undercover scheme, she tried not to hard to push Mancini and backed off… for now.

If he thought that, only because she agreed to accompany him, she would change her behavior due to the fact that they were playing a couple, he was very wrong.

The flight on the plane had been nice. They had mostly talked about the case, filled each other up and checked out their knowledge about the fake identity. Not that it was quite difficult.

They had met each other at a bar where she'd been a waitress, married quickly after a few weeks and been together for two years now. Since Gabe used to be working for a high rated economic company and gotten a very good job offer in San Diego, they had decided to move here.

She didn't like her part that much, because she was supposed to play the role of a cute little housewife who was waiting every evening for her husband to come home, but she had no choice. It wasn't his fault; he'd explained to her on the plane, some guys of the FBI's undercover unit had come up with it.

For the time they "moved in", Mancini was supposed to be on vacation for two weeks until his official new job started. If they hadn't busted up the arms and drugs deal then, he'd have to pretend to go to work over the day and come back in the evenings.

Now here they were, Elizabeth and Mark Smith, on their way to their new home!

Lisbon watched out of the car window, a little stunned from the beauty of all the big houses where the riches and famous of San Diego lived. The only house she knew which looked similar from the outside was Jane's Malibu house, which he inherited with his dead wife and child.

She had never lived in a house which came near the standards of these ones. Of course she grew up in a big house with her brothers, but after her mom died and her dad stopped working and became a drunkard, they'd soon run out of money.

Sighing, the agent leaned back in her seat and watched the houses flying by. Probably most of the people who lived here never had to experience what she'd been through in her life. Most of them were simply born rich; the less of them went from rags to riches.

Lisbon was reminded of whne she tasted the advantages of being rich, when Mashburn had took her out on dinner once and into an expensive hotel afterwards, where she'd had her last one-night-stand for almost two years. God, this was weird. She shook her head in memories to that night. Not that this dinner had been anything special. Jane took her out on fancy locations all of the time and although she often denied it… she liked it. A lot. Her consultant made everything being fun, no matter if it was an expensive restaurant or simply a sundae at the rooftop café of the CBI… Dammit! She was supposed to concentrate on the job and not on Jane!

Mancini pulled into a street and drove, until he reached the end and drove up a short drive way in front of a house build in a Mediterranean style. For a second Lisbon thought she'd seen a car similar to Jane's in the only half closed garage of the neighbour house, but she shook her head and ejected the thought off her head.

Why did she have to think about him now?! She should be glad to finally get a little vacation and not having to worry about her job or him. Damn this house right next to theirs!

The family who lived there simply had just a bad taste in cars… like Jane. Maybe this was such a thing in this world, she'd never truly understand. Showing off their money by collecting and driving weird old or over expensive cars.

"So, here we are… Elizabeth", Mancini grinned and turned off the engine. "Do you think I can shorten your name a little? Into Ellie, Liz or Beth or something? I mean, you're still my wife and Elizabeth sounds so… pretentious."

Lisbon made a face and nodded. She hated to be called by nicknames, except from her family. But this time she had to bite the bullet and go along with it.

"Of course you can. I didn't come up with that stupid name anyway. You don't want me to call you Marky, do you?"

"In the bedroom, maybe", he laughed while Lisbon's eyes widened. "I was just kidding, Teresa. This house has four bedrooms, so we don't have to share one."

"I don't have a problem with sharing a bedroom", she pointed out, "Four you said?"

Mancini shook his head and got out of the car, getting their luggage out of the trunk. Because the house was fully furnished, they didn't had to bring anything but clothing.

Lisbon followed his action and closed the car door silently. So… this would be her new home for the next few weeks.

The house was an ochre and sandy colour, with a russet roof. It hat two floors, whereat the second one was right underneath the roof. A small stone way lead around the right side of the huge garage to a little entrance area with a wooden front door.

It was nice. Not as fancy as the other houses here, but really nice, Lisbon thought and turned around to look at the front garden, where little palms and bushes were growing on the grass area.

"Would you help me with the baggage, sweetheart?", Mancini asked suddenly.

"Sure uh… Mark." She'd tell him later, that he should never call her this again. Ever. Neither in public nor when they were private.

They took their suitcases to the front door and Mancini handed the key over to Lisbon, who opened the heavy door with it. This was, when she suddenly lost the ground under her feet and found herself in the arms of the FBI Agent. A little scream escaped her mouth, while she struggled and wanted to be let down, but his grip was hard.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Isn't it usual for the husband to carry the wife over the threshold?"

"With newlyweds, yes! Let me down, Gabe."

Mancini laughed and stepped inside the house to let her down. Lisbon straightened her blouse and threw him an annoyed glance, before she pulled the suitcases inside the great hallway, which contained a beautiful marmoreal fireplace with a leather suite in front of it. On the left hand side, a wide stairway led up to the second floor.

"Looks nice, eh?"

"Yes", she answered looking around with curiosity.

"The house is actually sold, but we got the permission to live here, until the new owners show up here in about six weeks. So... Do you want to see the bedrooms? I could show you around."

"Sure..."

Mancini lead the way across the hallway into the open kitchen, which was featured with lots of expensive kitchenware, Lisbon didn't even knew existed. Well, if Mancini thought she'd stand in the kitchen, pretending to be the little housewife, who took her husband the shoes off after he came home from work, he was totally wrong.

It wasn't that she couldn't cook, she had make meals for her brothers every day after her mom died and the boys got tired of spaghetti with tomato sauce four times a week.

They had to arrange something with the cooking though.

As if he'd read her thoughts, Mancini turned around and leaned against a counter.

"I'm not the worst cook, what about you?"

"Me neither", she answered hesitantly.

"Good. I think we can share then, it's only fair. And I don't think we'll be here most of the evenings anyway, since we have to get more information about El Barón and his trade with drugs and especially arms across the Mexican border. We won't get it with sitting in front of the fireplace."

Lisbon nodded: "We know his name. It can't be that difficult to find out who he is. It'll be more difficult to prove that he is the boss of it."

"You're right, but we shouldn't underestimate his influence here. People are afraid, at least that's what our informants found out about him. It'll take more than a badge to make them talk. They're scared he'd find out. And El Barón is not known for letting people who blow the whistle on him alive."

If she wouldn't know, she'd think Mancini looked a little bit worried. For the first time since they left Sacramento, Lisbon really smiled and let herself lean onto the counter next to him, brushing his shoulder friendly with hers.

"We're going to do this, Gabe. We're good agents."

"Wouldn't doubt it for a second." He shot her a glance she couldn't quite define, that's why she got up and pointed to the living-room on their left site.

"Shall we finish our tour through the house or what, Mr. Smith?"

He grinned and nodded, leading her the way into the living area, which had also very high furniture and another fireplace at the wall.

"Why do people need two fireplaces when it's nearly always summer here?" Lisbon asked shaking her head.

Mancini shrugged. "Don't ask me… Now, would you like to go upstairs and chose a bedroom? We could still sleep together in one… Okay I'm just joking. Be cool, Teresa", he laughed and held his hands up in surrender.

The first floor had four bedrooms, each one attached to a separate bathroom. One of them was a child's room, so this fell out of the line.

While Lisbon inspected every one of the three bedrooms, she found out especially the last one had a flair she liked. The room was modern, but not too particular. It contained a nice wooden king-size bed with big red pillows and a fitting blanket. There were some colored pictures on the walls and hidden closets. All in all this was a room she could live in for the next few weeks.

Besides it was the only bedroom with an attached balcony on the side.

Smiling, Lisbon opened the French window and stepped out on. A little iron chair with a fitting small table stood on the left side and gave everything a cute touch. Lisbon leaned over the balustrade and watched right into the bedroom of their neighbour's house, which were only a few yards away. It had a balcony too.

She had to remind herself to always close the curtains, because she didn't want to give strangers access to look into her room.

"Teresa?", Mancini called and made her turn around.

She closed the door and stepped inside, where her pretend-to-be husband was waiting with her two suitcases.

"What did you put in there? Bricks?"

"Something like that", she laughed a little hysterically. Maybe she shouldn't tell him, that one of the suitcases contained three other weapons, beside the one in her purse. If Jane was here, he'd call her the poster girl of the year for the NRA again.

"What's so funny?" Mancini asked and sat her suitcases down on the bed.

"Nothing, I was just thinking", Lisbon said quickly, "I guess I'll take this bedroom if it's okay with you."

"Of course. I thought as much, it really fits to you. I'll take the one across the hall, so if you ever feel the urge to visit me…"

"Gabe!", she mumbled offended and blushed at the same time.

Why did he have to be making ambiguous offers to her? They were on a case and they had to be professional. There was no place for attractions to each other and she didn't want the whole thing to become some kind of undercover love affair with her colleague.

Mancini was a nice guy, she liked him and she'd go so far to say that she was attracted to him, but they couldn't risk anything. It was one thing to play a couple, but it was another one to really be one.

"Well… I'll leave you alone now, so you can unpack. Maybe we can order some take-out food tonight, because I'm beginning to feel a little hungry. How about you?"

"Uh… sure", Lisbon said, hiding her hands in her pockets, "See you later."

Mancini left her room and suddenly she was all alone.

Sighing, she lay down on the bed, next to her suitcases and rubbed her hands over her face.

"So, Teresa. Here you are."

Why did she agree to this again? If she weren't here right now, she'd be sitting in her office with her team right next to her in the bullpen, working on some files or a new case… Then she'd go over to remind Cho and Rigsby to do actual work and not play one of their paper basketball games, then Jane would distract her and making her sit down on the couch next to him. They'd bet who of the two agents would win and afterwards she'd go back into her office, Jane following her. Jane…

No, she shouldn't think of him! But everything seemed better at the moment, even boring paperwork than being here.

She didn't want to admit it, really didn't want to, but deep inside her stomach she had this weird feeling, she remembered from when she was a child. The feeling of homesickness.

In a minute, Lisbon had grabbed her phone and pushed the speed dial to Cho's cell.

"What's up, Lisbon?" he asked in his ever stoic voice.

Now she hated herself for being chicken and calling her second in charge. He'd feel like she was checking up on him, although he was totally capable of dealing with everything himself.

"Uh… I… I just wanted to ask if you got a new case." Okay now she felt stupid.

"No."

"Ah…" Lisbon answered and a long silence followed.

"You alright, boss?" Cho asked, a little bit concern in his voice.

"Yes, sure! It's great here, we have a great house and it's a great neighbourhood and Mancini is great and everything is great." Did she really use the word "great" five times in one sentence? Now she really sounded pathetic.

"Glad to hear that, boss." He sounded amused.

"Yeah… well… uhm… greet the team for me, will you?", she asked.

"Sure… take care, boss. Van Pelt says she misses you."

This touched the female agent's heart and raised her to smile: "Thank you. I miss you, too. Goodbye, Cho."

"Bye, boss."

With this she hung up and tossed her phone onto one of the large pillows. This had been so awkward, so embarrassing. No doubt Cho knew exactly why she called. The only good thing about it was that Jane wasn't there to vex her with it.

"Argh!", she groaned, hitting the mattress with her head a few times. Even when her annoying consultant was not there, he succeeded in messing with her head.

Somehow she had the feeling, this six weeks would become really long.

After unpacking her baggage, Lisbon had calmed down a little and debated whether to go and talk to Mancini or exploring the house a little more. Since she wanted to avoid conversation with her colleague right now, she went downstairs, looking for a door into the backyard.

She finally found one between the kitchen and living-room and pushed it aside, so it could lead her out onto a small terrace, framed with lovely flowers and a white pebble stone way to the Pool a few yards away from her. On one, side, only a small hedge separated the house from her neighbour's one, while on the other side, a huge batten fence blocked her view.

Next to a few palms, there was also an orange tree next to a few rosebushes. Lisbon left the pebble stone way and went over, to see if it had fruits and was happy to find a perfected round orange. Some of the other ones were still a little green, so it would take some time, until they could be harvested.

She picked the fruit and smelled it's delicious smell. Oh how she loved fruits! Usually her favourite fruit were strawberries or sweet red apples, but she had none of them right now, so the orange was perfectly fine.

Lisbon began to peel the paring off while walking towards the pool in front of her. Gladly she realized she brought her bikini, so perhaps she'd have some time to take a bath in the cooling wet.

The pool was oval and surrounded by sandstone colored flagging. A small stairway lead the into the pool, so it was easy to get in and out.

Although it felt a little awkward, she turned up her trousers and put off the shoes, sitting down and sliding her feet into the water. It was a nice cooling, because the heat of the afternoon sun made her sweat a little. Peacefully, she finished her fruit, making the water splash a little with her feet, when a loud scream of a woman disturbed the silence, followed from a loud splash and laughter of another woman and a man.

Out of curiosity, Lisbon got up and went back to the orange tree, where the hedge had a little hole. She hadn't seen any of her neighbours yet and wondered, how they were. Wasn't it usual to greet the new neighbours with something?

Because she couldn't see much, she stepped forward and pushed a branch aside. Yeah, this was better. She could see the large pool now and something which looked like an island air mattress.

Seemed like her neighbours were the fancy kind of type and probably not the kind of people she'd like to hang out with, she thought, when she saw a woman climbing out of the pool.

The blonde woman looked like a model with fake breasts, wearing a too tight bikini and sunglasses. Why would people swim with sunglasses in their hair? To her surprise, another woman turned up, reaching her a small towel. She did not look too much different except for her fake blonde hair and too many hours on the tanning bed. All in all they both looked like they had just jumped out of the last Playboy.

Oh God, Lisbon thought shocked, maybe their neighbour was some kind of a Hugh Heffner wannabe with lots of money and a naked girl in every bedroom.

"The water is beautiful!", the blonde one said loud in the direction of the house, a part Lisbon still couldn't see. She'd have to lean more forward to get a glimpse on the house, but then the Playmates – how she'd decided to call them - would see her.

"Yes", the faked blonde agreed, "thanks for letting us having a little cool down here. Too bad our own pool was broken when it's so hot!" To support her statement, she waved some air with her hand into her face.

Lisbon raised an eyebrow. Of course, the pool was broken.

"Don't you want to join us, Patrick? It really is refreshing!"

"You just want him to take his shirt off", the other one laughed.

"No thank you, ladies", a man answered chuckling.

The agent held her breath for a few seconds. No, this was just a coincidence, this couldn't be! But she knew this voice and she'd recognize it within thousand other ones. No way, no. He was on vacation, he… this was just a coincidence. They'd called him Patrick.

"Oh. My. God", she said aloud in shock and drew the Playmate's attention on herself. Dammit!

Lisbon tried to hide behind the hedge, but her hair got caught up in some twigs so there was no way to get out of sight in time. Even worse, she had to step forward to disentangle her hair. How embarrassing!

"Seems like we have some unexpected audience", one of the girls giggled, while Lisbon still tried to free herself from the twigs.

"Need some help?", a voice next to her asked chuckling. If she didn't believe until now that her former suggestion was right, well here was the proof. Beside her stood none other than Patrick Jane himself.

With a rough pull, she ripped her hair out of the hedge, turning around and shooting him a death glare. Why did she leave her gun in the house? Because right now she felt the urge to shoot someone!

"You!", she shouted angry and pushed him backwards, "You bastard! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Ey!", one of the girls exclaimed, "leave Patrick alone you bitch!"

"Don't you dare to call me a bitch, you…", Lisbon hissed but was stopped when Jane put a hand on her arm. "Don't touch me!"

"Everybody calm down", he said in a calm voice and smiled to the women in the bikinis.

"Patrick, who is this woman? Do you know her?", woman who called her a bitch asked.

"Yes, Ashley, this is…" Jane shot her a glance. Oh right, he didn't knew her undercover name.

"Elizabeth", Lisbon growled angrily.

"Oh hi Elizabeth, nice to meet you. I'm Mandy", the other one said and made a gesture to shake her hand, which Lisbon took rather unwillingly. Oh how she hated artificial friendliness.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know you knew Patrick", Ashley said a little embarrassed, "Shall we go to the pool and sit down?"

"No, I really have no time and I'd like to talk to Patrick in private."

"I think the pool is a good idea", Jane said smiling and led the way. Of course he'd rather stay in company since he could imagine what would happen when Lisbon got to speak to him alone.

She still couldn't believe he'd done that. This was what he'd been up to the whole time, why he didn't try to talk her out of the whole undercover thing with Mancini. This bastard had everything planned! Trying to sabotage their mission, ha!

Lisbon regretted every single thought about Jane in the last 24 hours. How she'd been afraid something was wrong with him, that he'd fall apart once again… Wanting to be home with her team, with him… For what? That he thought he could show up here, in a house right next to theirs, pretending to be… Yeah. What was he pretending to be?

At least one thing she knew. He wouldn't know what hit him after she was ready with him.

The Playmates sat down on two sun loungers, while Jane pointed on a chair right next to them.

"Thank you, but I prefer to stand."

"So… Elizabeth. You're Patrick's new neighbour?", Mandy asked. Somehow she sounded not as interested as she pretended to be.

"It seems so", Lisbon muffled, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"What a coincidence", Ashley laughed, "And how did you guys get to know each other? I mean it doesn't seem like you are that comfortable with each other…"

"We met at work", Lisbon answered when Jane said at the same time, "She's my ex-girlfriend."

"I'm not your girlfriend! I never was your girlfriend and if I was, I would have killed you!", Lisbon screamed, making a fist. She'd like to punch him right there and now!

Jane chuckled and waved it aside: "You must know Liz left me for this guy… Sorry what was his name again?"

"Oh no, I'm not going to play this game, Jane. Cut the crap!", she warned him in her boss voice, but he seemed to enjoy embarrassing her in front of the girls.

"She left you? How could she leave someone like you?" Ashley shot her a meaningful glance and patting Jane's thigh.

"I keep asking myself that", Jane mumbled.

"Where did you meet?" Mandy asked.

Somehow Lisbon had the feeling that they totally forgot her standing right next to them.

"It was on one of those parties, a few years ago. I was a very well known psychic… with my own show and everything." The Playmates made appreciating noises as he went on. "One evening I was invited to this said party and her manager introduced us to each other."

"Manager?" Ashley asked surprised.

"Yes", Jane answered and before Lisbon could cut in, "She's an actress."

"What?!" Lisbon exclaimed.

"You are?" the Playmates asked at once.

"Not a very good one, of course", Jane cut in and stood up, to stand beside her, tapping her shoulder like he was sorry for her bad acting abilities.

"In which movies have you played in?"

The ones where I kick Jane's ass, Lisbon thought angrily not able to say something. How dare he to put her in such a position?! Making up stories which could endanger their whole undercover mission, teasing her in front of two brainless idiots and…

"You know, she's a little ashamed of herself for letting a man like me go, but I can't turn back time."

Enough was enough! She grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him backwards. Jane stumbled and fell backwards into the pool, a surprised expression on his face. Well, he didn't count on that!

It splashed, when he fell into the water and dived under, just to come up again a few moments later, gasping for air.

"I would have loved you to show so much input when we were in a relationship", he coughed, rubbing the water out of his face.

Lisbon only rolled her eyes on this statement. He wanted to play a game, well he could have one!

"Yeah, it really broke my heart, letting an arrogant selfish jackass like you go. You know what? I'm glad I broke up with you, because Manc… Mark is a thousand times better than you… especially in bed! Duh!" She didn't know if the last part had been that necessary, but if a woman wanted to insult a man, she should question his sexual abilities.

Jane looked hurt, he looked really hurt, but she didn't care. He was the one who started it… and by the way, the view of him crawling out of the pool looking like a wet poodle was too hilarious.

The playmates looked stunned by what they had just witnessed and didn't dare to say a word.

"Goodbye Jane and mind your own business!" she said and he knew what she meant. Lisbon turned around, going back to the small hole in the hedge where she'd come from, pleased to have won this round and taught him a lesson.

"Lisb… Liz!" Jane shouted behind her, but she didn't turn around, "I'm giving a housewarming party tonight and would be glad, if you would come... please!"

"Patrick, why are you doing this? She threw you into the pool!" Ashley said still shocked about what just happened.

This made Lisbon stop shortly. He seemed serious, but she still was too angry with him to confirm his invitation. "Mark and I'll think about it", she answered instead and slipped through the hedge back into her own garden.

Mancini was making himself a cup of coffee with the automatic coffee machine, when Lisbon rushed into the kitchen, breathing heavy.

He looked up surprised and didn't hesitate long, but gave her the cup he'd just made. Lisbon took it without a word and gulped it down in less than a few seconds.

"Is everything alright, Teresa?"

"No!" she hissed and put the cup down so fast, that it broke into pieces. "I'm sorry."

"What the hell happened?" Mancini asked concerned now. He leaned against the counter and tried to figure out what happened to his partner.

"I just got to know our neighbour," Lisbon said while putting the broken fragments into the trashcan.

"And I suppose your first meeting didn't go that well the way you look like. What did he do? Does your husband have to tell him to leave him alone?" the FBI agent laughed.

"I suppose so. It's Jane."

Now it was off to Mancini to stare at her with his eyes wide open. What did she just say? No, she couldn't be serious! This was an FBI operation and this clown of a consultant had no right to interfere!

"I'll call my bosses! He can't stay here, ruining our undercover operation. Don't you have him under control at all?" He took his cell phone and tapped a number inside, while Lisbon stared at him angrily.

"You say I don't have my team members under control? Are you kidding me? It's not my fault that he's here! Jane is supposed to be on vacation…"

"Then you should have cancelled his plans, Teresa. I know what he's capable of. One wrong move and we can go back home right away."

"You don't know Jane at all", Lisbon said, not believing that she actually just defended her consultant in front of Mancini. She was mad at him. Mad, mad, mad, but she didn't like the way Gabe talked about him. Yeah, they didn't like each other, but… Lisbon's head shot up when Mancini's call was finally answered by someone.

He explained the situation, nodded a few times and hung up: "They'll see what they can do. This idiot. Where is he? I should go and talk to him."

"No!" Lisbon hissed and stepped into his way, trying to hold the man back from rushing out of the house, "No, Gabe. We have to think about this with clear heads. He's being visited by some neighbours at the moment, so you can't just go over there. I spoke to him; they don't know that he works with the CBI. Jane is pretending to be a psychic who's just tired of working and who bought himself a house to settle down."

Mancini wasn't persuaded at all, but he stopped trying to pass Lisbon. "You said you talked to him? In front of other neighbours? So they know that you know each other?"

She nodded, angrily remembering the story Jane made up. There was no use in hiding this story from Mancini, so the agent gave in and told him the short version about Jane making her his ex-girlfriend. Mancini didn't need to know what else she had said to him, especially not the pool and the bed thing. Like she knew Jane, he'd come back to that.

"You just left?! Why didn't you speak to him in private?"

"What else should I have done, Gabe? I was tired of playing the hysterical ex-girlfriend in front of two half naked pretend-to-be playmates."

"You said there were two women, not that that they were half naked!" Now the man actually grinned while Lisbon shot him an annoyed look.

Of course, if men heard the words women and naked, their brain was suddenly out of order and everything wasn't as bad anymore. Somehow she wondered why Jane let Ashley and Mandy inside his new house anyway. Their pool was out of order, pah! Usually Jane smelled a lie it was within 10 yards.

Furthermore, two blonde bikini girls, seriously? What happened to the Jane who refused a women's offer before she even knew she was thinking about it? Did he plan her to catch him with the girls? No. It was a coincidence that she was outside… he couldn't, could he?

"There are no such things as coincidence, Lisbon" she heard his voice in her head.

Groaning, Lisbon sat down on a chair at the kitchen table, Mancini following her: "Do you want another cup of coffee? Since you smashed your last mug, maybe you should start to drink out of plastic mugs."

If this should have been a joke, Lisbon didn't really feel like faking a laugh. Instead, she rubbed her hands through her face, thinking. They had to find a solution to the Jane problem… but maybe he could help them first!

"He… invited us to his housewarming party tonight", she said. Mancini looked up, waiting for her to go on.

"Maybe we should go."

"This would only show him that we accept his presence here, Teresa. My bosses are taking care of him… or at least trying to."

Lisbon didn't like the way he talked about Jane like he was some disease one had to get rid of. Her consultant had made a mistake and she was not about to forgive him for making fun of her in front of the two women, but…

"We should see this as a chance."

"A chance? For what?" asked Mancini.

"Look, Gabe. We don't know anyone here. We're new and have to socialize with some people if we ever want to find out who El Barón is. Jane's party would be a good start."

Although Mancini didn't look pleased, at least he nodded convinced: "Sounds plausible. But do you think a lot of people will come?"

"I don't know, but I think so. Everyone is suspicious about their new neighbours, especially when they seem to be a kind of famous. This party is their chance to take the first look at him and maybe decide if they want to establish some kind of friendship… or just talk about him behind his back. I guess it's both."

God, she sounded just like Jane…

Mancini eyed her for a short moment, before he agreed: "So you think I should call my bosses and tell them we will need him for tonight before they make him leave Carmel Valley? "

"Yes", Lisbon mumbled but had the feeling that it would be easier said than done to persuade Jane to leave. He had a game in motion, that was for sure and Jane could be like a dog with a bone sometimes. She had to figure out what it was and until then, she'd try to live with the situation, hoping that Jane did not intend to introduce her as his ex-girlfriend to the other neighbours.

"Everything alright, Teresa? You don't seem happy with the situation at all… and it's not just because of Jane."

Lisbon quickly shook her head and stood up: "No, everything's aright, I just… it was an exhausting day. Maybe I should take a nap." Okay when was the last time she had taken a nap in the afternoon? College? She should have asked Jane for a crash course in "how to lie convincingly" before agreeing on an undercover mission.

Mancini didn't look convinced at all, but let her leave without another word.

A/N: Thank you for reading til here! Feel free to write a review and tell me what you think! Liefs :))