I thought I'd update this before I packed up my car and headed back to school, as it's been close to a week since I last updated this (sorry!). Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, enjoyed, subscribed, and favourited. You guys are awesome! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist. Sadly wasn't in my stocking. Bad Santa!
Chapter Three
October 12, 2002
Jane found himself back in Sacramento a little after October blew in. He had no show planned, but the CBI had called him in to help investigate the murder of a young man, Russell Andrews. Russell had been shot point blank in broad daylight, and so far, they CBI had hit dead end after dead end. So, naturally, he offered his services, despite Angela's expressed wishes that he stay home.
When he had first seen Lisbon upon walking into the Headquarters, she first gave him al look of surprise and then annoyance. He was quite happy that the annoyance happened after the surprise this time. It was an improvement compared to the last time he had first met up with her at a crime scene.
"Would you like to do dinner again?" he asked when he fell in step with her.
Lisbon looked over her shoulder at him and then back to front. "No," she said with an annoyed tone.
"Why?"
"Because I have a boyfriend, Jane," she snapped over her shoulder.
Jane paused and looked at her, she stopped a little bit away from him after realizing that he had halted. She was lying, of course! He raised his eyebrow at her and smiled. "Liar!"
Lisbon rolled her eyes and turned around once more to continue on walking. Quickening up his pace a little bit to catch up with her, he was in step with her again, almost jogging to keep up with her.
"You lied to me now, why is that?" he questioned, "You seemed to have enjoyed yourself the last time we had dinner together."
She stopped again and turned to look at him. "You're married," she said through clenched teeth, "Stop it!"
He was about to toss his head to the side and say "meh" when she narrowed her eyes and continued. "I don't like you, Jane! And I don't want to start something that I already know the end to!"
As she turned away from him, he reached out and grabbed her elbow. Tugging her closer to him, he sobered up his expression a little bit, knowing she would not like to see a carefree expression on his face.
"How do you think it is going to end, then?" he asked her.
Lisbon shook her head, as if she were trying to avoid answering the question. "Badly."
"And what makes you say that?" he asked as he cocked his head to the side. "Why so pessimistic?"
She shook her head again. "I'm not being pessimistic, Jane, I'm being realistic. Take your hand off of me."
"No," he said, shaking his head.
"Jane, I'm warning you."
He just merely shrugged his shoulders, not seeming to realize how truly annoyed she was at him. It was a dangerous combination, for her to be angry with him as he held onto her elbow.
At his reluctance to unhand her, Lisbon's eyes narrowed almost dangerously. She moved back slightly, tugging her arm as if to try and get away from him once more. He still did not release her from his grip. Drawing her mouth into a thin line, Lisbon clenched her other hand into a fist and began to raise it. Jane would have noticed it if he had not been so focused on studying her face. When she lifted her clenched hand, that was when he finally realized that he really had ought to let go. Without giving him another chance to back away, she hit him squarely in the nose with her knuckles.
Jane instantly yelped and jumped back, bring his hand up to gently prod at his nose. It was turning red and Lisbon could see the blood begin to flow from his nostrils. In slight shock, he looked up at her.
"You hit me!" he said accusingly.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "I told you so."
Without letting him put in another word, she turned away from him and started to walk away towards the bathroom. He was sure that her knuckles hurt, as for a small woman, she sure packet a punch.
She had told him that she already knew how this would all end. Though, he was not one hundred percent sure she was correct, he knew there was some shred of truth in her statement. And that she was being realistic. And pessimistic, too. Lisbon was only protecting herself, and Jane knew that he would have to gain her trust and affection.
Leaning into the nearby wall, he smiled at his thoughts about the first two steps of seduction, and he hoped that Teresa Lisbon would not be immune. He would first have to gain her trust, and then her affection. How he planned to gain both, he had no such idea, but he doubted they would be hard to come by.
He would have to do something out of character for her to see him in a different light, he decided. She would have to see a more honest and kind side of him in order to gain her trust. Though, it would be tough as to how he would be able to manage that.
Now, he needed a pack of ice.
Splashing some cold water in her face, Lisbon looked at her reflection. She hated how she could allow Jane to get to her, and that she had even thought about proceeding into the land of being the other woman. Hell, she should just shoot herself for possibility thinking of such actions! The man had a beautiful wife and daughter, and she would not be the one to screw that up.
Though, something told her that he had not given up. Nor would he anytime soon despite the fact that he had just become her human punching bag. Quite literally. Patrick Jane seemed like the kind of man who liked to get what he wanted, and absolutely hated being denied anything.
She jumped when she heard Martin bang on the bathroom door, calling for her to get a move on and go after a lead with Flores. Glancing at her reflection once more for good measure, she ensured that she was well composed and exited the bathroom and confirmed to Martin that she would indeed go with Flores.
"Women," she heard Martin mumble as he started to walk back to his office. He was most likely griping about women and their tendency to stay in the bathroom for a long period of time.
Well, in her defense, Simmons was far worse than she was! Especially if he had Thai food during a stakeout and then some sort of unhealthy junk food to top it all off. Though, he did not know that she knew about this. Simmons, that is, for his wife wouldn't approve of his gluttonous behaviour.
She dropped by the bullpen to see Flores holstering his firearm. Eyeing him for a second, she walked over to her desk and pulled her own out and started to place hers on her hip. While doing this, she ignored the feeling that someone was watching her. She didn't need to look around to try and see as to who was watching her. She already knew it was Jane.
"You ready, Lisbon?" Flores asked her as he picked up a couple of files and started handing them over to her.
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready."
Flores glanced down at her knuckles, which were still red, and only raised an eyebrow. He didn't ask any questions, but only snatched up the car keys and started to head down to the garage towards the vehicles.
As they started to walk out of the bullpen, Lisbon glanced over her shoulder and flashed Jane an annoyed look. He stared back at her as if he were trying to figure her out, and this unnerved her to a certain extent.
Taking a deep breath, she followed suite after Flores down to the CBI issue Suburbans and went off to follow some leads. And she hoped that, by some miracle, Jane was gone when she got back.
At the suspect's home, Lisbon felt uneasy. As soon as she and Flores had pulled up to the curb, the feeling set in and the hairs on the back of her neck stood tall. When they had walked up to the door, Lisbon was sure to keep her hand in close proximity to her firearm. Despite the reassuring looks that Flores kept on shooting her, she had a gut feeling that this place was unwelcome to law enforcement agents.
Flores took lead asking the suspect various questions, and she should be writing them down like he had asked, but she kept on looking around the area. Something was not right, she could feel it, though she could not put her finger on it.
"Where were you last night, Mr. Stevens?" Flores asked the burly man before them. "These are standard questions, sir."
Mr. Stevens shook his head, his eyes narrowing almost dangerously. "I didn't do nothing," he spat.
Flores nodded stiffly, "We're not saying that you did anything, Mr. Stevens. We're just asking you where you were last night."
The man before them shook his head again, not really liking the attention he was getting. Lisbon didn't feel unease with Stevens' attitude, but she didn't like he refused to cooperate with them. That was never a good sign, especially in a rather "ramshackle" neighbourhood as this was.
"I was here last night," Stevens finally said.
"Can anyone confirm that?"
Stevens shook his head and narrowed his beady eyes. "I was alone."
Flores drew his lips into a thin line and looked over at Lisbon. She grasped onto her pen tighter and shrugged at her colleague.
"What was your relationship to Russell Andrews?" Flores finally asked.
Stevens shrugged coldly. "Never heard of him before in my life."
At his reply, Flores narrowed his eyes. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Stevens," Flores said to the suspect and turned away, gesturing over his shoulder for Lisbon to follow. "Did you write anything down?" he asked her.
She shook her head. "No, I wasn't able to focus."
Flores nodded. "Yeah, this place has me feeling unsettled. I say we get out of here and just write a couple of things down for Martin."
Though Lisbon didn't really agree on that plan, she nodded in response. This place was creepy, and she wanted to get away from it as fast as she could.
As they were making their way back to the car, Lisbon jumped at the sound of something rustling in a nearby tree. She quickly turned her head in search of the cause and calmed down. She just saw a couple of pesky squirrels running about in a frisky manner. Mumbling something incoherent under her breath, she started back towards the SUV.
Just as her hand touched the handle, she heard it. She heard the sound of a powerful gun discharging from somewhere behind her and bullets lodging into the police vehicle. She jumped away and grabbed her gun from its holster, took aim, and started firing. She was not one hundred percent sure if she was even firing in the right direction, but it was better than nothing.
"Take cover!" Flores yelled at her from somewhere off to her left.
Blinking for a couple of seconds, she jumped sideways and began to run behind the SUV. She pressed her back up against it, her hands shaking as they clutched onto her firearm. Beside her was Flores, breathing heavily and bleeding from the upper arm.
"You okay?" she asked over the gunfire.
He only nodded, took in a deep breath and glanced around the car when the firing stopped for a few moments. "He's probably reloading the gun now. Call for backup!"
When Flores's teeth clenched, Lisbon grasped onto the door handle and wrenched the door open. She quickly fumbled for the police radio and pulled back, pressing the button and yelling into the police radio that shots were fired, and that they needed help.
The shots started up again as she started to climb out of the SUV. The glass broke above her, some of it flying out and hitting the back of her neck and hand. She yelped when the glass shards cut into her hand, and she bit her lip to prevent anyone from knowing that she had been hurt, albeit slightly.
The shooter paused for a couple of seconds, and then resumed. Lisbon wondered why for a little bit, but her thoughts were answered when a shot entered the upholstery beside her body. The shooter had been re-positioning his firearm so he could fire directly into the car.
Bracing her weight on his upper arms, despite the pain in her hand, Lisbon pushed off the seat and backwards out of the car door. She landed on the concrete road hard, her head slapping back. For a little bit under a second, her vision completely blacked out.
"LISBON!"
She felt a hand grab her upper arm and drag her off to the side. When her eyes started to open, she heard sirens quickly approaching in the distance. Relief flooded her and she looked at Flores, who was crouched over her. Here she could see his wound more clearly. It looked like he had been grazed by the bullet, but looked all right.
When the police arrived and surrounded the scene, Lisbon realized that her heart was beating erratically inside her chest. She already knew what she was experiencing; she knew she was having an adrenaline rush. Taking a deep breath, she let her body rest against the bullet hole-ridden SUV.
Everything became a blur after that.
When Jane had heard that shots had been fired, he decided that this would be the perfect opportunity for him to act like he cared. Well, in some sort of way he did care, but this was his chance to make it seem like he had different motives than he actually did.
He arrived at the scene with Martin and Simmons, his eyes scanning around for Lisbon. He saw her rather quickly, and was not surprised to see her wrapped in a blanket and looking from the decimated car to the house where he assumed the bad guys lived.
"Lisbon?" he called as he stepped out of the car. "Are you all right?"
Her eyes snapped towards him and she raised her eyebrows, quite surprised at his entrance. He had been around when shootouts happened, but never actually at them. Once hearing about them, he would stay tucked away safely at the CBI Headquarters.
"Jane?"
He came to stand close to her, his eyes raking over her frame. She shivered under his gaze and tried to pull the blanket ever her more tightly. Her hair was messed up, everywhere, actually. She had a rather rough looking scratch on her cheek and from what he could tell, one of her hands were bandaged.
"Are you all right?" he asked again, actually feeling some sort of concern at the appearance of her injuries.
Nodding, she loosened her grasp on the blanket. "Yeah, I'm fine," she looked over at the house and back at the car again. Apparently, she was still shocked as to what had just happened.
"And Flores?"
She whipped her head back in his direction and quirked her eyebrow. She seemed shocked that he had asked her about Flores. He would have been too, if he was not trying to seduce her.
"He'll be all right," she answered.
He nodded and looked at her for a couple of seconds when she continued. "The Stevens brothers killed Russell Andrews," she told him.
"Do we know why?" he asked, his eyes never leaving her.
She shook her head. "No, we don't know why."
Two days later, they figured out that Russell Andrews had unknowingly stumbled upon a drug deal. One that the Stevens brothers happened to have been involved with, and he hadn't stood a chance the moment his eyes had made contact with the senior brother.
I felt like Lisbon needed to physically voice her own opinion towards Jane in this chapter. He was getting far to comfy with getting too close to her and putting his hands around her.
