The Mentalist
- Stained Memory -

For just a short second, he just stood there. He did nothing. He looked at his daughter, her dead eyes wide open, looking at the wall, her throat slit, blood everywhere around her. Then he looked at his wife, his beautiful, young wife. Her eyes closed, her lips pale. Wearing his T-shirt. Blood layed all around her, the T-shirt was partly shredded to pieces so he could see her stomach and collarbone. Patrick Jane looked at her feet. Her toenails were painted red, but it wasn't nailpolish. It was blood.
Suddenly, he struggled to breathe. His heart pounded in his throath and his eyes were burning. Patrick wasn't a man who cried easily. He hadn't cried at the funeral of his father or the funeral of his mother. As a kid, he hadn't cried when his dog died. He hadn't cried when he got rejected to the college of his dreams. Patrick had only shed a few tears at the birth of his daughter Charlotte and he'd teared up when his wife walked down the aisle to marry him, but those were tears of joy.
Right now, when Patrick Jane fell on his knees, weak and shaking, he cried. He cried hysterically, watching his wife and daughter lay dead, covered in blood. The two people he loved the most. He cried so hard his throath hurt and his lungs were screaming for air.
Eventually, he managed to pull himself up and stumbled towards his deceased daughter, whose eyes were focused on the wall with the smiley face. Her lovely green eyes, always so bright and sparkly, now still and lifeless. ''Charlie'', he whispered. Patrick softly pressed his hand to her cheek and turned her face, so her eyes looked right into his, but they saw nothing. ''God, no, Charlie''. He grabbed the side of the bed and looked at his daughter. Five years old, so much ahead of her, and now robbed of her life, because of her father. Patrick had indirectly killed his own child.
The pain he felt was horrific, he felt like he was being stabbed, right into his heart, again and again. He felt like he was in a nightmare, and he so desperately wanted to believe that, but every few seconds he realised it was real, and the pain got worse. ''I'm so sorry! I'm sorry!'', he screamed out, gasping for air and pushing his hands to his face. She was dead, because of him. Red John had murdered her while she was asleep, next to his wife. In that seconds, he hated himself. He was disgusted by himself, he hated the person he was and what he had done, so badly that he screamed, as loud as he could, letting pain and anger and grieve get the best of him. After a few seconds, his screaming stopped, his shoulders sagged, and he burst out in tears. Patrick placed his shaking hands on Charlotte's cold cheeks and softly kissed her forehead.
Then he grabbed his phone, and while he called 911, he stumbled across the bed like he was drunk, and he fell to his knees, next to his wife.
''This is 911, how can I help you?'', a male voice asked.
''Yes.. hello, this is Patrick Jane. I need the police. And an ambulance'', his voice sounded hoarse as he tried to hold back the tears while watching his dead wife.
''Sir, what's the address?'', the man asked immediately.
''23 Oakley Avenue'', Patrick told the man, his eyes still on his wife. He was fighting so hard against the tears. He didn't deserve to cry. He deserved all the pain that he felt and worse. Though the man told him not to hang up, Patrick slowly lowered his phone, away from his ear. Then he hang up, and he tossed his phone away.
Defeated, full of hatred, and in a tremendous amount of pain, he tenderly took his wife in his arms. He softly brushed her blonde, wavy hair to the side, revealing her flawless face. Her nose was broken, her lip was swollen, but to him, she was still beautiful. He clenched his teeth and pursed his lips together, his eyes wide open, barely blinking. Then he broke. Patrick took her tightly into his arms, his head slowly dropped and he let it rest on her shoulder. He took a sharp breath, and finally burst into tears.

Suddenly, Patrick Jane was awoken by two hands on his shoulders, shaking him hard. His eyes flew open and he sat upright immediately, looking right into Teresa Lisbon's green eyes. ''Wake up Jane, Kaleb Nichols was murdered this morning and we need to go talk to his widow'', she told him while walking towards the door.
Mr Jane didn't move, he just looked at the wall and swallowed hard.
''Now!'', Lisbon commanded. When he still didn't respond, she turned around irritated and opened her mouth to make a bitchy remark when she noticed Jane's pale face and his widened pupils.
''Jane? Are you okay?'', she asked softly. Jane turned his head to face her and nodded quickly. ''Are you feeling sick, because you can stay here, really, I'll take Cho'', the agent told him. Her green eyes looked at him with a mix of curiosity and concern. ''Don't be silly, you need me'', Jane said quickly, returning to his consultant state of mind.
''M'okay, your decision'', Teresa said, raising her eyebrows. The blonde young man smiled at her. ''Right''. Patrick jumped of the couch and grabbed his dark blue jacket, then followed his partner out the door of the office.

After a fifteen minute drive to Sacramento, California, Lisbon parked her car in front of a big, expensive looking mansion. ''Woah'', Patrick mumbled. ''This one must've been rich''. ''He owned his own company, Nichols Investments. Multiple locations, including New York, Los Angeles and DC'', Teresa explained while they walked towards the front door. ''Ah'', the consultant smiled, and he pressed his thumb to the doorbell.
Just seconds later, the door opened, and Patrick froze. In the door opening stood someone he recognized immediately, though it had been over seven years since he'd last seen her. Her flaming red hair was longer, her blue eyes looked tired and red, from crying, Patrick suspected. But the biggest difference was her stomach. It wasn't flat anymore. The woman was pregnant.
Evalynn Montgomery, Eva for short.
And she recognized him too, as soon as she layed her eyes on his face, she held her breath and they looked at each other, frozen. ''Woah''.

- If you want the next chapter please let me know, also, reviews are very welcome -