Summery: What Jane thinks of the dress.
Prompt: Pre-episode tag to "A Price Above Rubies". Jane's reaction to Lisbon's dress.
She didn't like these sorts of functions. Schmoozing with all the wealthy and stuck up people just because they donated money to someone or something. So they paid her paycheck, that didn't mean she wanted to drop a boat load of money on a dress that she was probably only going to wear once. She didn't even like to wear dresses. At work she wore pants and dressed less feminine so that people wouldn't think she was incapable of doing her job. At these functions, she had to dress like a woman; it was something she had a hard time dealing with.
She had taken a taxi to the function, she knew that she'd never be able to drive in this dress, it was far too poufy. Standing in front of the door she caught her reflection in the glass, despite her displeasure of having to dress up and act pleasant and grateful to the people inside the hotel, she did love the way she looked, even if at the moment she still had her jacket on.
She noticed a glint of color out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Jane's car pulling up to the curb Not wanting him to see her standing there admiring her own reflection she quickly went inside to shed her coat and find the rest of the team. If she was going to be put through the hell of making nice with the donors, she might as well make them participate too.
The first thing Jane noticed when he pulled up outside the hotel that the CBI had rented out for the night to throw their little gala was Lisbon hesitating before going inside. If he wasn't mistaken she had actually been looking at herself in the glass of the front doors. He wasn't close enough to see what she was wearing yet, but knew that her in a dress was an almost once in a life time opportunity and so he quickly passed the keys to the valet and went pounding after her.
There was already a large crowd of people in the ball room when he got past security and was finally admitted to the party. He glanced around quickly at the waiting hoards of people, there to be entertained, not really seeing them. He had eyes for just one woman right now, and that's who he was really looking for.
It didn't take him long to see her, standing there; ramrod straight back, next to Cho. The back of her dress was stunning, it was obviously strapless, and the sight of her bare shoulders was enough to send him either running to her, or running away from her, he hadn't decided yet.
He knew it was a dangerous slippery slope, but he couldn't help it. He had to keep looking. He maneuvered around the room so that he could see her from the front. She was so regal looking, her makeup was impeccable, even from the distance he was at he could tell that. She didn't wear much makeup at work, something he's always wondered about. He assumed that it was because she didn't want to look too feminine in such a masculine job.
But tonight, tonight she was anything but trying to hide her femininity, she was embracing it. He felt the same desire to go running for the hills, but knew that Lisbon was counting on him tonight to be on his best behavior, or, at least to do some tricks and raise some money.
He might not be able to come to grips with the fact that he might be looking at someone other than his wife in a way that wasn't pure friendship, he could go about the shell of a life that he had developed in the past years.
He took one last lingering look at Lisbon talking to some of the benefactors and sighed, time to put on a show.