A/N: I bet you thought I'd given up on this story, didn't you? Ha! You're not getting rid of me that easily. :) It might take me two more years to get to the end of season 1, but I'm determined to do it. In other news, I'm still chipping away at my original novel and have a few other J/L stories in the hopper to work on when I need a break from the novel.
A note about this installment: My favorite scene in this episode is actually the moment when Lisbon is telling Felicia that they won't be pressing charges against Sydney and Jane is gazing at her with 100% heart eyes, followed by the scene where J/L have an extended session of eye sex by the coffee maker. Sadly, I didn't manage to work either of those moments into this little scene, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
xxx
After listening to Felicia Scott's confession in the interrogation room, Jane wandered into the kitchen in search of tea.
Lisbon passed by him a few minutes later, returning from processing Felicia and turning her over to the county to be sent to prison. She gave him a brief nod as she passed but didn't stop on the way into her office. She sat down and opened a file on her computer, then started typing briskly, no doubt finalizing the case report to include the details of the confession.
Jane watched her for a minute, watching her sure, efficient movements and thinking of how she'd dealt with the overly dramatic players in this week's case, from Gabriel's spoiled manchild nature, Sydney's tortured teenage angst, and Felicia's devious manipulations. She'd been impatient with Gabriel's blatant self-interest, and uncompromising when it came to his efforts to fob off the investigation in favor of his devotion to his 'oeuvre.'
With Sydney, she'd been different all together. Tough, but compassionate. She treated her like an adult—Jane was reminded that by the time she was Sydney's age, she'd been running a household and protecting three younger brothers from an abusive father for several years. Lisbon had no sympathy for teenage drama, but she saw the difficult time the girl was going through and went out of her way to give her a second chance.
And there was no comparison between Lisbon's quiet, no nonsense method of dealing with any situation that came her way and Felicia's histrionic need for attention.
It had been interesting, watching Lisbon around the movie set. She betrayed no interest in the trappings of fame, and was downright disgusted with the attitudes of Mitch and Gabriel when it came to their prioritization of the movie over the investigation of a murder. Jane had been fascinated by all the lights and cameras, but Lisbon, as ever, remained focused on the task at hand.
It was too bad. Lisbon would have been excellent leading lady material, if she'd had any interest in movie making.
Jane idly considered what sort of movie Lisbon would be best suited for. An action movie would be the natural casting choice for her, he supposed. She could make hardened criminals cower—she'd certainly be capable of inspiring fear in the hearts of mere actors playing hardened criminals. Not to mention kicking ass. A female James Bond, perhaps. He thought about her chasing down perps twice her size. Or a superhero.
No, not an action movie, he decided. She got quite enough of that in her day job.
Maybe a procedural drama. She could pull off a tough, no nonsense lawyer intent on uncovering the truth at all costs. She could fix her steely gaze on opposing counsel and destroy them with her sarcastic wit while she entranced the jury and judge with her passion.
A medical drama might work. If she played a brilliant surgeon, for example, her crisp natural authority would be balanced by her soothing compassion.
Or a historical drama. She could play Clara Barton, or a young Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Someone with fierce intelligence and inspiring ideals.
No, Lisbon would no doubt rebel at the notion of wearing all those layers of petticoats under those hot lights.
A small independent film might work, he mused, but he failed to think of a premise adequately grand to showcase Lisbon's talents.
He decided to cast her in a romance, instead. Yes, a romance would be far more suitable. Something full of longing but with a happy ending. Might as well take advantage of those soulful emerald eyes and that enticing unconscious pout of hers.
He picked up his tea and ambled into Lisbon's office.
She looked up when he came in. "Hey."
"Hey." He gestured to the paperwork. "Is there ever an end to that stuff?"
Her lips quirked upwards. "It's not as bad as usual. No one even threatened to sue you this case. You must be slipping."
"Brandon threatened to sue Cho and Rigsby," he reminded her. "I thought they should have a turn."
"Very generous of you," she said dryly.
He meandered over to her couch and sat down. "Did you know that they have free food on movie sets?"
"I can't say I've ever thought about it one way or another," Lisbon said absently, clicking her mouse.
"They really put on a very impressive spread," he said idly. "Quite a variety of the most delectable items."
Lisbon looked up, half exasperated, half amused. "What did you take?"
He grinned and produced a small collection of gourmet chocolate carefully folded up in a napkin. "Dark chocolate truffles. Your favorite."
She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile that threatened to take over her face. She pushed her chair away from her desk and came over to sit next to him, just like he'd planned. She peered over his shoulder. "Lemme see."
He made a show of pulling the napkin full of chocolate closer to his body. "Did I say you could have one of those?"
She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and liberated one of the truffles from his grasp. She popped it into her mouth and made a sound of pleasure that Jane felt to the bottom of his toes. "That's amazing," she said around a mouthful of chocolate. She reached for another. "Where is this from?"
"It's from a boutique chocolatier in Santa Monica," Jane said, inching the napkin of chocolate closer to her. Inadvisable as it may be to subject himself to such a thing while he was sitting so close to her, he wanted to hear that sound again. "Gabriel had them ordered specially to celebrate the first week of shooting."
"I wonder what's going to happen to the movie, now that his leading lady is locked up for murder," Lisbon said, nibbling at her second piece of chocolate. "I guess they'll probably have to shut down production after all, huh?"
Jane shook his head. "My guess? They'll revise the script to feature Sydney more prominently, cast Felicia as the villain, and use the existing footage of her to drum up publicity before the release."
Lisbon wrinkled her nose. "You think?"
"Absolutely. Gabriel is too much of an opportunist to pass up the chance to trade on the cachet of the final onscreen appearance of a real life murderess."
"He's definitely a piece of work," Lisbon agreed.
"What about you?" he said with feigned idleness. Did you ever dream of making it big on the silver screen? Becoming an actress?"
Lisbon snorted. "Yeah, right."
"Why not?"
She looked at him. "You're kidding, right? You're the one who tells me what a bad liar I am at least twice a week."
He grinned at her. "So? Being a terrible actress never stopped anybody from making a success of themselves in Hollywood."
"Thanks a lot," she said, rolling her eyes.
"I'm not talking about whether you could actually pull it off," he clarified. "I'm merely curious as to whether you ever had a girlhood dream of being part of all of that movie magic."
"No way," she said, appalled. "Being on camera, with all those strangers watching your every move? That's my nightmare."
He could just imagine her skulking around the edges of the set, trying to avoid getting caught on camera. He smiled a little, charmed by the image. His intense little introvert. Perhaps she wasn't destined for the spotlight after all. Ah, well. That was okay.
On second thought, he preferred having her star's light all to himself.