Chapter 4:

Jane didn't skip so much as he bounded joyfully and mischievously into the bullpen where the rest of his team, his more than likely unwilling test subjects, were listening to Lisbon babble on about some case they had just been assigned. It appeared to him like the group was purposefully trying to ignore him. Quite amused, he quietly sat down on his couch, crossed his legs, and grinned right at Lisbon whose back was to him. Everyone knew that you could feel it when someone was staring at you. Stare at them long enough and, well.......

"What are you doing?" Lisbon huffed, turning to him agitatedly.

"I'm looking at you." he answered like the answer should have been obvious.

"I know that, but why?"

He jumped from the couch and grinned happily. "I'm glad you asked me that. I want to--"

"No." she said, cutting him off.

"But you didn't hear--"

"No." she said again, turning her attention back to her agents.

"Lisbon."

She ignored him.

"Lis-bon" he said, drawing her name out the annoying way a child does when it feels it's not being heard.

Again, she kept on talking.

Never deterred, he walked up behind her, his arms clasped behind his back and whispered. "Lisbon." in her ear.

"What?! What do you want? Can't you see we are trying to work?"

"Trying... but failing." he corrected.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cho asked from his perch which just happened to be the seat across from Rigsby.

"It means that you are all so caught up in the Jane/Van Pelt date--"

"Non-date." Grace added quickly.

"Non-date-- fiasco that nobody is thinking about the case and nobody had even written down one fact that she has told you--- am I right, Rigsby?"

Rigsby looked like a deer in the headlights. He looked to his boss who gave him the "Oh please don't tell me Jane is right." look. "Sorry, boss." he admitted unwillingly. "I've got a lot on my mind."

His admission made Jane move toward Grace. "And Grace, what was the last thing Lisbon said?"

He stood in front of her, rubbing his fingers together like he did when he was interviewing a suspect. Grace didn't like it, didn't appreciate it, and thought it was rather cute all at the same time. Putting that last thought way in the back of her mind, the young agent squared her shoulders back, lifted her chin to Jane and replied, "She said that the victim's name was Jason Copola and that he was found dead from a stab wound to the jugular."

She smirked to Jane who in turn looked to Lisbon for verification. The boss shook her head and sighed. "Actually, I said that the victim's name was Jack Hess and that was found beaten to death at his LA home."

"Darn it." Grace slammed her pencil down on the desk and sulked inwardly.

"I knew that." Cho announced without provocation. He just wanted it out there.

"Well, that's because you are a goody-two shoes, know-it-all." Rigsby told him, not able to cast his eyes in the direction of his boss.

"What does all of this prove?" Lisbon asked annoyed that: One, her agents couldn't focus on the simple task at hand and Two, because it proved that Jane was right. Damn.

"It proves that I'm right. That you are all so caught up in this non-date, kissing mess that you can't focus. You need my help."

"For what? A kissing booth?" Rigsby mumbled.

Jane smiled in his direction. "No, to settle this so we can get back to work and find the bad guy who killed Jason Copola--"

"Jack Hess." Lisbon corrected.

"Whoever. He deserves justice and we will give it to them--- but first---"

It was the but first that had everyone worried.

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The conference room at the state building was a place where the team rarely went. Lisbon had gone a few times in her tenure for various meetings and seminars, and all had gone to initiation there on their first day at the bureau, but it wasn't a room they frequented. The room was stark white, uncomfortably white, with a few pictures of past presidents and bureau leaders slapped on the walls for decoration. The room had 20 brown rectangular tables in it, equally spaced apart, each with ten silver folding chairs around them. The floors were tile and the color of the walls. If it was a special occasion, the tables were decorated in colorful linens and floral centerpieces. As it was now, it was just a big white enclosure... like a padded room.

The team stood in a circle at the center of the room just as Jane had instructed. All had grumbled about it, none more so than Rigsby who thought this was the stupidest idea he'd ever heard of.. and said as much, loudly and in many different ways. It hadn't worked and for some reason unbeknownst to him, his boss had decided to just let Jane do his mojo on them. Great.

Even though it was a circle, Jane stood at the 'head' position. To his left was Grace, then Cho, Rigsby, and finally Lisbon who was on Jane's immediate right.

"So, you got us all here, now what?" Lisbon asked him, wondering why in the heck she'd decided to go along with this cockamamie plan.

He was grinning... with a twinkle in his eye... it wasn't going to be good. "Ok, we are here because I want to show you that you can in fact go on a," he used air quotes, "'non-date' with some one and even be kissed by them and still just be friends. That it means absolutely nothing in the long run."

Upon hearing that, Grace felt a little ping in her heart. Small sure, but it was there. She didn't know why it bothered her that the last thing that Jane said had an affect on her. It wasn't like she liked him. She liked Rigsby, not that anyone could know about that.

"So, what? We stand here and kiss each other?" Cho deadpanned half kidding, crossing his arms. He wasn't so much as annoyed with the idea of this little 'exercise' as the thought that he might have to kiss Rigsby.

Jane cocked his head to his friend. "Ding. Ding. Ding. Give the man a car, Vanna."

"You can't be serious." Grace said, rolling her eyes.

"I can be... serious. I am quite often in fact. It's just that no one believes me when I am."

"This is insane, Jane."

"No, Lisbon," the way he said her name mimicked the way she'd said his. "It's perfectly sane. And I'll tell you why. One by one, we will go walk to another person in the circle and kiss them. Once we've all kissed and we all see that nothing has came from it, then wha-la, things will get back to normal. You will all see that Grace's feelings for me are non-existent and we can go back to finding out whoever killed Mr. Copola."

"Hess." Lisbon corrected yet again.

"Whatever. Ok, Who's first?" He asked, trying to hide his giddiness, but not making it all the way. It wasn't so much that he wanted to see his collegues kiss, it was to prove he was right.. and that was all that mattered after all, that he was right.

"Wait." Cho interrupted. "Does this mean that I might have to kiss Rigsby?"

"What's wrong with Rigsby?" Jane asked, his brow furrowed in mock confusion.

Cho simply looked to his left, then back to Jane and raised a brow.

Jane laughed. "Well, do you think there is any difference between Rigsby and lets say Grace?"

"Yes, one is a man and the other is a woman."

"If you were staring down a man with a gun, trying to kill you, would it matter to you if Grace or Rigsby were your back-up."

"I could never look at that man again if I kissed him."

Rigsby chuckled quietly. "You'd be lucky to kiss me, man."

"No, not really."

"What?"

"What, what?" Cho replied. "Do you want to kiss me?"

"Well, no."

"Then, it's settled. Boys kiss girls. And girls kiss boys." Cho's rules and Cho wasn't going to back down. He knew that if they were even in a life or death situation, all he would be able to think of were the feeling of Rigsby's thin, little, tiny bird lips touching his and.... eww..... now the image was there, burned in his brain. He had been bored, but not this bored.

"That is so backward thinking of you, Cho, but ok. Boys kiss girls, girls kiss boys." Jane agreed begrudgingly. It would have been kinda fun to see Cho kiss Rigsby, but then he might have to kiss Rigsby and well..... "Cho, why don't you go first?"

"Why me?"

"Because someone has to--"

"Just humor him, Cho. The sooner we do this, the sooner we get back to work and the sooner we get to LA to investigate who killed Mr. Hess."

"Oh, take your time, Cho. I already know who killed him." Jane chimed in nonchalantly. From the little he knew about the case, he knew the killer had to either be the jilted lover, or the boyfriend of said lover... either way, it was good as solved.

"You don't even know his name." Lisbon shot back at him.

"Doesn't matter. Lets get this party started. Cho, pucker up my man."

The called out agent sighed heavily, but stepped forward. He walked directly over to his brown haired boss and kissed her quickly and lightly on the cheek. He then stepped back into position. "There."

"That was cheating."

"No it wasn't. You didn't say where I had to kiss her."

Jane dismissed him non-verbally then to Lisbon he said, "Well, what do you think? Are you madly in love with him?"

"Oh yes." she said sarcastically. "Cho is my man now. We're going back to work."

"Not yet. Grace, it's your turn."

"Hasn't she kissed enough people in here for one weekend?" Rigsby said under his breath. Making her cheeks burn. "If you've got something to say, say it."

"Nothing. Nothing. It's just... ok. Kiss Jane then." he challenged.

"Fine." she answered seeing red. How dare Rigsby speak to her that way, like she couldn't kiss whomever she wanted, whenever she wanted, however she wanted, and it mean whatever she wanted. The handsome blonde man was ready for her this time and when she turned to lay one on him, he was already there. He over dramatically grabbed her, dipped her down, and lowered his mouth to hers....

His intention was to make a big spectacle about it. To do this big, stupid, grand kiss and then when she was able to breathe again (because, face it, he knew he was a good kisser and that it would take her at least a few seconds to recover), she'd probably slap him but then tell the group that she had felt nothing. Nothing.

That was his intention. But when he held her close to him, felt her soft body against his, the room slowly slipped away. The assembled group faded, and it was just him and Grace. Him and..... her. Her lips were so warm. So angry at first. He liked kissing his friend Grace when she was angry. Then something happened. He felt her relax and felt her arm slid greedily over his shoulder. His hand, too, decided to have a mind of it's own and found it's way to Grace's poorly replaced bun. His fingers gripped tightly to her hair, pushing her lips closer to his own. He hadn't kissed a woman since his wife. The kiss at the restaurant had been a fluke on Grace's part, her anger. This was something..... different. Something........

He didn't panic, but he did release the kiss suddenly and for a time couldn't stop looking at her. She was out of breath, that much he knew would happen, but there was something in her eyes.... terror, confusion, lust... Something was definitely wrong with this picture.

He lifted her back to standing and fixed his vest and jacket back into place. He ran his fingers though his blonde curls, killing time before having to look at the rest of the team. "See," he said finally. "You can kiss a co-worker and still be friends."

Cho's eyebrow raised. "If I kissed my friends like that, I'd have more friends."

Growing increasingly uncomfortable, Rigsby said, "Excuse me. I'm sorry, I forgot. I have to go--do-- something." He didn't want for anyone to stop him and exited the room hastily. His quick exit made Grace feel terrible. She didn't want to feel the feelings she had right that moment for Patrick Jane. Ewww... especially not Patrick Jane. She was supposed to like Rigsby. Well, in the sense that she couldn't date him, but he was hers. Jane was supposed to like Lisbon, and Cho had his mother... not like that. It was the way it was supposed to be... like it was written in the stars, but still. She'd felt something.

"Yeah, lets get back to work." Lisbon agreed, following after Rigsby. When she glanced over her shoulder to both Jane and Van Pelt, they could see the sadness in her eyes, sadness she probably had no idea why she felt. It made Grace feel about two inches tall.

"Yeah, I'll go too. Great experiment, though, man." Cho said, patting Jane on the shoulder as he walked passed him. Without anyone seeing, the agent smiled briefly, dimples showing. This hadn't been terrible, uncomfortable sure, but not terrible. He hadn't had to kiss Rigsby, and things sure weren't boring anymore.

That left only Grace and Jane alone in the room. They had separated and stood five to six feet apart. Grace leaned back on a chair for support because she felt like her knees would give way at any time.

"Are you ok?" Jane asked, genuinely concerned for his.... friend.

"No." she laughed bitterly. "No, I'm not. You?"

"I've been better." He placed his hands in his pockets and leaned on a chair next to her.

"That was a fluke, right? I mean...."

"Yeah, total fluke."

"Right, like, there's no way that you'd even remotely feel anything toward me."

He paused, looking at her the way he had Lisbon earlier. However, this time it wasn't to get under her skin. It was to get her to look him in the eye. She complied after a time, just like he knew she would. However, all of the things he knew were slowly fading away. "Grace, if I allowed myself, I could feel a great deal for you, I think." He stopped. Suddenly, his wedding ring felt very heavy on his finger. "I just, I can't deal with... feelings right now... it's not--"

"Me either, alright." She said, silently admonishing herself for feeling anything but annoyance and pity for the normally arrogant bastard. "Lets just pretend this didn't happen."

"But it did--"

"No, we'll just pretend it didn't."

"There were witnesses, remember."

She put her head in her hands. "Don't remind me."

He wanted to touch her, to comfort her like any friend would, but he couldn't. He didn't know if he should... didn't know if he shouldn't. "It could be worse, alright. You could have found out that you had feelings for Cho."

Like intended, she laughed. "Yeah, that would have been horrible. Or Cho could have fallen for Rigsby."

"That would have been a sight." Jane laughed, enjoying the lighter mood.

Grace wanted to add, And you could have kissed Lisbon and found your true feelings for her. But she didn't. However, the thought did damper her mood again. "I'd better go." she said, standing.

"It was just a kiss, Grace." he reminded her as much as himself.

She turned back to him and put on her greatest attempt at a smile. "Just a kiss." she agreed, even though her heart didn't agree with it.

After she left, he sat alone in the large empty room. Inside his pocket, he played with the heavy gold ring on his left hand, spinning it around his finger. "Just a kiss." he said again. Thinking back on how this perfect plan had gone awry, and how in the world he was going to fix it.

Like before, the answer came to him like a bolt of lightening. Quickly, he got up and left the room, heading straight for Lisbon's office.

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A/n: Yeah, that got a little dramatic LOL. Sorry. Anyway, there will be a chapter 5 and maybe 6, but it depends on how 5 goes. I hope you liked this chapter. Don't you Jisbon people give up on me yet... there is always chapter 5 :) Thank you SO much for all of the reviews :) All mistakes are mine.