Upon entering her office, Lisbon threw a quick glance at the pile of paperwork sitting on her desk and sighed. It was true that when it came to the cases they had to solve, the closure rate had increased considerably; however, the amount of complaints had increased even more, and both those facts could be put down to the man that was currently dozing on the worn-out couch in a corner of the bullpen.

The new consultant that Minelli had insisted on hiring was much of a walking contradiction. In the space of a month he'd managed to anger half of the people in the building, and yet her other team members already considered him as one of their own; they were ready to put their lives on the line for him, and the same applied to her as well.

On their first meeting Patrick Jane had looked utterly lost, her motherly instincts had prompted her to take him under her wing and try her best in order to save him. He'd lost his wife and child to the serial killer Red John, the subsequent grief and guilt too heavy a burden for a man to carry.
As much as she deemed it foolish to go and speak about a serial killer on TV, there was no way she could held him entirely responsible for what had happened.
He did, however, and kept on torturing himself with dark thoughts – and at the same time plotted to exact revenge on the man who'd robbed him of his family.

Teresa didn't want to see him go down in flames, either by another nervous breakdown or by staining his hands with murder instead. She'd grown fond of him, and she was fiercely protective of those she cared about; that was why she always kept a discreet eye on him, even while he was supposedly taking a nap on that piece of junk he'd dug out of the evidence room.

With another sigh she sat at her desk and grabbed the first form that was waiting for her to fill it in. She worked relentlessly for the better part of the morning, taking just a couple of breaks to refill her mug with fresh coffee from the kitchenette.
When she walked out of her office around lunchtime, she met Jane strolling out of the kitchenette with a newly brewed cup of tea.

"Morning, Lisbon," he smiled at her, and the now familiar rush of affection shot straight to her chest. Sometimes she just wanted to take his pain away, wished to be able to shield him from all the cruelty of this world.

Instead she simply nodded and brushed past him. He was a grieving widower focused on revenge, she'd better not even go there lest she ended up with a broken heart once again.

It seemed that she was destined to be alone, and if that was what God wanted for her then so be it. She gulped down the tears that were lingering at the back of her throat along with her coffee, the bitterness of the mix only making her even more determined to put everything firmly behind her back.

As she strode back to where her duty awaited her, she heard a familiar voice coming from the corner where Jane's couch was located. Much to her surprise Mary Beth stood there, apparently enjoying some small talk with her consultant; immediately she felt the urge to protect her daughter from an unnamed danger, and she quickly stepped in.

"What are you doing here, Beth?"

"Oh, hi Mom. I just popped in to see if you wanted to grab a bite with me. I don't have any more lessons until later in the afternoon."

All of a sudden she felt Jane's eyes on her, and she fought back the blush rising to her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, darling, I've work to do. Maybe another time, okay?"

Mary Beth nodded understandingly and made to leave. "I'll see you in the evening then. Goodbye Mr. Jane, it's been a pleasure to meet you."

They both watched the girl walking out of the bullpen, then Jane's voice made itself heard.

"So you have a daughter – and a beautiful one too. You've never mentioned her before."

"That's none of your business," she shot back curtly, only to feel ashamed of herself a moment later. Even though she wasn't comfortable with talking about her personal life, that didn't mean she had any right to treat him like that.

"I'm sorry, Jane. Looks like I'm a bit edgy today."

He glanced around as if checking that there was no one in the bullpen apart from the two of them. Most people had already left for lunch, so he rested an hand on her shoulder.

"You're just trying to protect your daughter. I understand that."

She bit her lip when Jane trailed off, clearly thinking about his late daughter; she really shouldn't have snapped at him like that.

"I didn't mean…"

However, he shushed her by pulling her in for a gentle embrace. He'd never done that before; she froze momentarily, then wrapped her arms around him in response.

"I can see that you've suffered a lot in your life. It's okay that you don't want to go through it anymore."

And for a brief moment she allowed herself to feel just safe in the shelter of his arms.