Unforeseen Circumstances: Chapter 3
Hi guys! Thanks for all of the positive feedback. Sorry if I disappointed some of you with the unoriginality of the boyfriend-thing, but I am planning on making this more than the average sucky-boyfriend story where Jane valiantly saves her from a bad relationship. It's going to have a lot more twists and turns.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine
It was his first day back, and he couldn't even get out of the damned car.
He sighed heavily, running his fingers through his disheveled curls.
The big hand on his wrist watch was rapidly passing twelve; he should've been in by now. Not exactly getting off to a good start...
But he couldn't bring himself to raise his hand and open the car door. So he just sat in the car, parked in his usual space in the parking lot by the CBI Headquarters, with a tray of Styrofoam coffee cups cooling on the passenger seat. Listening to a morning radio show host babble on about his particular brand of psychology.
Last night was trying, to say the least.
After leaving the bar he spent a sleepless night of hard thinking. When the sun rose, he came to the conclusion that he really wasn't sure if he wanted to come back to the CBI.
Yes, he wanted to see the team again. And he really wanted to see Lisbon again.
And, honestly, he didn't have much else left to do.
But the thought of seeing her every day, knowing that someone else gave her that smile, someone else gets to take her home and hold her and...
He couldn't imagine living through that particular brand of hell.
His eyes went down to the Starbucks cups and the quickly-diminishing amounts of steam floating up from them.
He had to make his choice soon. The way he saw it now, he had two options:
Option number one: Reverse out of the parking space, avoid awkward eye contact with the gate guard, dump the cold coffee in the nearest garbage can and take off for New Mexico. Live the rest of his life drinking Peña Colada's somewhere on a beach, lonely and sad and pining for his beautiful dark-haired boss.
Option number two: Man up, grow a pair, and march into HQ. Talk to the new boss, Philips, and make an arrangement. Spend his days solving crimes at record speed and feigning sleep on the couch in the bullpen. Watch her be happy with someone else. Die a little more inside every day.
Option one? Option two..?
His mind was going crazy with the flashes. Either way, it wasn't going to be fun. But then, when has his life ever been?
His flurried thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his window. He looked up and saw the same face that was haunting his mind.
She smiled, and gestured for him to roll down the window. He did.
"What are you doing? Just sitting here and brooding?" She peeked inside, no doubt catching a whiff of her beloved caffeine beside him. "Is that coffee for me?"
"Well, good morning to you too, Teresa. Yes, it is." He looked at his wristwatch. "Are you just coming in? A bit late, are you Agent Lisbon?"
She quirked an eyebrow. "Actually, I came in a while ago. We're moving out to a crime scene now and I happened to see you sitting here alone. Are coming?"
Her question was more loaded than she knew.
But after a barely-noticeable beat of hesitation, Jane had made his decision. It wasn't a hard one with her face peeking through the window, so very close...
"Of course." He said with a gentle smile. Without a fraction of the uncertainty that the same action held just moment ago.
He grabbed the tray of coffee as he got out and tentatively handed the lukewarm latte to Lisbon, walking towards the black SUV that stood parked outside the building. The team was getting into the other SUV that was parked beside it and greeted him enthusiastically when they say him.
As he got into the passenger seat of Lisbon's SUV and watched the team take their standard seats in the other one, a warm sense of familiarity spread over him. He felt at home again. And he decided that in that split second at the window, he had made the right decision, because no amount of tropical cocktails and beachside beauty could replace his family.
The engine started and Lisbon pulled away. "So... Have you even gotten your job back yet?"
X
The victim was a young woman named Marlene Connor. A pretty 20-something, with dark curls and unblemished skin, originally from the Midwest. She had moved to California looking for a more glamorous life, no doubt. For the sun and the surf and the men and the money.
She was found face-down and fully dressed in her bathtub, drowned in icy cold water, by her roommate coming back from a night spent at her boyfriend's. Marlene was wearing eveningwear and was heavily make-upped. When the coroner turned her body around to look for any wounds, the mascara was running across her face. He also discovered angry bruises all across her forearms, back and shoulders.
Immediately the list of suspects popped up in his mind. A crime of passion, no doubt. The scene spoke volumes, if the bruises didn't.
Marlene had no lack of suitors, from the contents of her apartment. It was filled with trinkets and tokens, and there was a bunch of red roses in a vase by the window, drying out in the sunshine.
Clearly the murderer was one of them. Had come by before or after a date, maybe for a glass of wine of coffee or something; the conversation took a nasty turn and he drowned her in her own bathtub.
"Crime of passion, you think?" Jane asked, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets as they walked out of the bathroom and into the living room.
"Looks that way." She gestured to bowl filled with long-molten ice and lukewarm champagne sitting on the kitchen table. "She took out champagne. She's all dressed up. Looks like she just came back from a date, or was on her way to one." Scrupulously, she picked up a picture framed of Marlene and a tall-dark-and-handsome type wrapped up all around each other.
"I was thinking the same thing." Jane said with a smile.
Lisbon didn't notice. "Van Pelt, where's the roommate?"
"She's with Cho, in the neighbor's place. Having some tea to calm her down. She's pretty rattled."
"Could you go ask her about this guy?" Lisbon handed her the picture frame. "If it's a current or even recent boyfriend. And find out if there were any disgruntled former interests hanging around."
"Right, Boss." Van Pelt said, efficiently heading to next door.
And then they were alone; just him and Teresa, looking around the crime scene. She was crouching on the carpet of the living room. "Cell phone." She said, reaching under the couch and retrieving a pink-covered Blackberry between her gloved fingers. "Hers, I hope."
He chuckled as she bagged it and tagged it. Trying very hard to ignore how speechless he was all of a sudden, how stupid every word he tried to say sounded. Had it changed this much just because she was seeing someone?
Well, it just wouldn't do anymore, he decided. He had to confront the situation head-on.
"So... So, I was thinking...?"
"Yes? Thinking's good." She said with an amused smirk, still on her hands and knees looking for evidence on the carpets. He tried not to stare at the very tempting sight of her jean-clad- uh... Never mind...
"I was thinking that I want to meet this man that's made Agent Teresa Lisbon break all her rules. What did you say his name was again?"
"I didn't." She said and a familiar pink tinge reached her cheeks. "His name is Rob. And I'm not sure that's such a good idea..?"
"Why? Are you ashamed of me?" He teased.
"It's not that. I'm just afraid you'll... I don't know, scare him off?" She said, getting back up.
"You're super-cop Robbie is going to be scared off by some blonde-haired, gun-phobic consultant?"
"Oh please, don't flatter yourself." She said rolling her eyes. "I just mean that you can be a little bit... overwhelming at times. With the weird psychic-stuff and the knowing every little detail about a person after two minutes of talking to them."
"You think I'm going to scare of your boyfriend by telling him every bit of life experience that's happened to him since the age of six?"
"Yes, that's closer." She pulled her rubber gloves off with a distinctive snap. "Come on, I think we're done here."
"What if I promise to behave?"
She stopped in her tracks, eying him up and down with a calculating expression. "Jane, with all due respect, that's a promise I've heard before..."
"No, really. This time I'd really behave. Promise." He raised a pinkie, as if to pinkie promise, but she stared at it suspiciously.
"I don't know..."
"Come on, Teresa. I just spent more than a year alone in a cell... I'm longing for some companionship. Introduce me to your boyfriend." He pouted, watching her resolve dissolving. "Besides, I have to make sure this Rob-character is good enough for our Saint Teresa."
"Oh, shut up." Her blush was bright red now. "Fine. I'll set something up."
"Thank you." He smiled triumphantly. "Well, let's go take a look at that roommate. I've got a feeling she's hiding something. And I'll bet an arm and a leg it's about where she was last night..."
So, what do you guys think? I'm putting in a romantically-motivated crime there for some future symmetries maybe. But, you know... I don't write these fics. They write themselves. So any plans I make usually get overruled by the power of the keyboard...
REVIEW! Pretty, pretty please?
Much love, Zanny