Title: In Five Years

Author: Miss Peg

Rating: K+

Pairing: Rigsby/Van Pelt

Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist, 'nuff sed. ;P

Author Note: I seem to be on a roll. Intimacy, this and probably the next 3 fics are all in the same line of story, just different time frames. I'm doing a challenge on Livejournal based on 5 prompts.

In Five Years

In five years' time Grace wanted everything. She wanted a top position doing a job she loved; perhaps taking over from Lisbon, if she ever left. She'd settle for special agent in the FBI. Craig would like that; he talked about the benefits of his job enough, even tried to persuade her to apply. Not that they'd be able to work together there anymore than she'd been able to work with Rigsby at the CBI.

She wanted to be married, preferably to somebody stable, probably not an officer or agent. Someone dependable, who worked hours where he could pick their children up from school and put them to bed on the evenings she worked late. They'd have four children altogether, twins first, boys, spitting image of their father. They'd stay as a unit for a few years before expanding. They'd go to private school where they'd have the best education money could buy.

When she dreamed of her future it became hard to see what she wanted clearly. When she thought of the high powered job she pictured Lisbon several years her senior, unmarried, too busy for romance. She didn't think she'd ever seen her in a relationship, in anything other than the sexual tension that screamed out every time she got close to Jane. Did a high powered job mean no time for family? Did a family mean no time for a high powered position?

Then there was love and romance. She'd always dreamt of being swept off her feet in a whirlwind romance like from the old romance films. But she couldn't think of love without thinking of Wayne. They couldn't be together. An impossibility if ever there was one. She'd loved him, still did. If she'd met Wayne under any other circumstances, been friends from their rookie days perhaps, or met on a case where he'd been an officer. Maybe things would be different. Maybe then they could have been together. Not now, not ever. That's why she couldn't marry someone from the inside; too many complications to deal with.

Then there was Craig; strong, responsible but ultimately boring. Sure he'd killed several hardened criminals and arrested countless more, he rode around in a helicopter like most people drove cars and he played Poker on a regular basis. But he didn't excite her. His exciting life stopped where personal came in.

She preferred the thought of marrying a banker, or an accountant; even an elementary school teacher. Anyone who wasn't working to protect the nation, anyone who wasn't Wayne.

In five years' time, she wanted it all.

Who was she kidding?

In five years told she'd either have a higher position and no relationships to speak of, or she'd be married to a boring man in a boring suit popping out children and working in the local police station.

She'd be working somewhere that Wayne didn't work. Not because either of them had chosen to leave the CBI, but because life moved on, promotions cropped up and they both wanted more for their careers. They'd go their separate ways, find new lives. She'd marry that boring man and Wayne would get a trophy wife. They'd have a couple of kids each and take them to soccer practice and football games.

Then they'd meet somewhere in the street, or on a job, and their eyes would connect in the way they had before things grew more complicated. They'd fall in love again, cheat on their partners break up their families all because she would never be able to get him out of her mind.

In five years' time, she could be Mrs Rigsby. In an ideal world. They'd find a way, force the rules to change, marry in a small ceremony by the ocean and settle down in a house with white picket fences and a garage. They'd have three children, two girls and a boy. They'd teach them that dreams come true even if it takes a few years. That love matters more than careers and that family is everything.

In five years' time she hoped life would be simpler.