Teresa Lisbon sat on her usual cushion on the couch, slowly sipping from her morning coffee. She was staring at a random spot on the floor, trying to fight off her droopy lids. She could barely hear her colleagues talking in the background, too absorbed in her inner thoughts. She was finding the new change difficult to cope with. Without a case to constantly challenge her brain, she didn't know what to do.

"Guys, we've got a new case-"

She almost smiled, but reminded herself that she shouldn't be happy over a murder. "Alright, what do we have there?" Standing up, she dusted herself with one hand while the other held the cup.

Agent Kimball Cho leaned over his computer desk to read the report. "Richard Garfield. 46, married with no children. Worked as a waiter in some restaurant downtown called 'Nightingale'. They found his body in a freezer room. We're still waiting for the Forensics, but they think he's been there for at least a few days."

"Wonderful. Let's go check out the crime scene. Van Pelt, I need you to stay behind and do a background check for the victim. We might also need you to look up any suspects we may find." She ordered and it naturally came to her. She was often told she had great leadership skills.

"You got it, boss." She nodded seriously and instantly got to her computer.

Lisbon's eyes appraised the three men. "Everyone else, let's go."


It'd be questionable in morals if she said it out loud, but investigating the crime scene used to be fun.

Before they hired a consultant. Now, Patrick Jane did everything while the agents followed him around and cleaned the mess he left behind. Yes, he closed cases. But were they supposed to tolerate this behavior forever because of that?

She'd just finished talking with the local police, ready to talk with the widow when something tickled her ear.

"I have some tips for ya, grasshopper." She yelped in surprise and jumped away from the psychic, who'd somehow crept his way over to her without her realizing. He chuckled in response. "Boy, you sure are jumpy."

"I'm not interested in having any sort of conversation with you, Mr. Jane" She tried to keep her tone unwelcoming and cold, really wanting to get rid of the blond so she could work in peace.

"Wait, is this about our little chitchat in the bullpen?" His grin widened, as if he'd found his new target of the day for harassment. Her glare only amused him further. "Oh- my god, Terry! Do you really want to play that game? We're both grown adults, we don't plot against each other." Again, it seemed like his gaze turned sincere, leaving her uncertain.

The threat about turning people against her really kept her awake at night. Might've had a mild case of paranoia which added fuel to the fire-

It was strange that there was no grudge in those light green eyes, only kindness and energy. It made her slightly doubt her own thoughts.

Sensing her hesitance, he added. "I can't believe you took that seriously. Agent, you need to relax." He attempted to joke. "I was just going you give you a heads up before you talk to the widow."

Coming out of her daze, she nodded. "Alright. Let's hear it."

Suddenly he seemed slightly nervous and fidgety, though he kept his smile. "Ah, well.. you see, I don't feel very comfortable talking about it, but I believe it's only fair that you know." Lisbon arched an eyebrow, a tad intrigued. "I talked to Lila just now, and she kinda, uh, when I asked her whether or not she might have some guesses on who did it, she kinda pointed at you." He finished with careful words.

"At me?" She echoed, her brows furrowed in confusion. "Did she say why? Does she even know me?"

Jane cringed. "She said you were 'the short whore that took her Richie away from her'." Her jaw dropped. "And I quoted, her words." He quickly reassured, detecting anger in her demeanor.

"And what else did she say?" She asked calmly. [Dumbledore asked calmly] The man gave a helpless shrug, trying to flee but Lisbon caught his wrist. "Hey, hey, you can't just go! I need to know what I'm dealing with here. What else did she say about me?" She demanded. A bad feeling nagged at her about this whole deal, but she pushed it aside.

He gave a long sigh. "Well, she said mean stuff, that's all." Her anticipating glare made him continue. "That you seduced him away and oh, I dunno- other stuff, maybe ask her yourself? Clearly, I have no idea what's going on, Agent Lisbon." He raised two hands in defense.

She let him go. "Yeah, yeah. She's probably mistaken me with someone else anyway. No big deal."

The consultant chuckled nervously and scratched his neck. "Uh, maybe, but she had your name right. Can that be a coincidence?"

She didn't reply, staring blankly at the house in front of her.

"I'm gonna take one last look at the corpse before they take it away-" He excused himself from her presence, quickly going to Rigsby and Cho. Now all he had to do was wait.

"What's so funny, Jane?" Cho asked him in a nonchalant voice.

He didn't stop smiling, only let his eyes follow the female agent's form that approached the house. "I don't know yet. But I talked to the widow and I think she's a little unstable. Just curious to see how grasshopper's gonna handle that."

Rigsby snorted beside him, and Jane went through the plan in his head, making sure he didn't leave anything out.


"Mrs. Garfield. Do you believe in an afterlife?" He asked in an even calm tone as he sat across from the widowed woman.

"I do, as a matter of fact." She gave a small polite smile. "Is this somehow related to the investigation?"

"Oh, yes." He nodded. "It's just that.. I feel your husband's presence in the room at this moment."

She looked confused. "O-oh?"

"Yes." He drawled, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. "He- he says he has a confession to make." He scrunched his face in fake concentration. "Engh, he says he's.. sorry. And that there was a woman-"

"Mr. Jane, please." Her sad chuckle slightly caught him off guard. "I ask you to stop this nonsense. I know you can't really speak with Richard. Save us both the trouble."

'A non-believer, eh?' He thought in amusement. "As you wish, Lila. Is it alright if I call you Lila? Anyhow, my job is to consult people in any way they find comfortable with. I just made assumptions, so I apologize." He bowed his head politely.

"It's quite alright." She sniffed and dried up a newly formed tear. "I appreciate the thought, though."

"You have a pure soul." He noted in amazement. "There's not one lying bone inside your body."

"Thank you! That's quite flattering." An appreciative smile cut through the grief.

"Yes, well. Unfortunately for me." He hummed distractedly. "It certainly makes my work harder." A frown started to appear.

"What are you talking about?" Lila narrowed her eyes, starting to get defensive.

"Oh, nothing... I want you to look out the window." He suddenly raised his voice, pointing at the direction. "Do you see that woman in a black leather jacket? Black shoulder-length hair? She's talking to the local cop."

With some squinting, she found the woman with that description. "Uh, I guess? Who is she?"

"It doesn't matter. Do you think she's a bitch?"

She turned around to meet his eyes, offended and shocked at the same time. "Wha- I am in no position to make such a judgement! And that's some vulgar language, Mr. Jane!"

"You're right, you're right." He soothed, using a hand to rub her shoulders while he used the other to start tapping on the coffee table. "I apologize. I just want you to keep staring at that woman. No judgements, just look." Her tense body started to relax, her previously sharp look now unfocused.

Jane smirked, knowing that he had her. "Now notice that I've been playing a tune with my fingers on the table. Try to follow the pattern. It's familiar, isn't it? It's something old and nostalgic. It soothes you, slowly consuming your entire train of thought…"

After a minute, he stopped, certain that she was now in a light trance. "You still see that woman." He finally spoke. "You thought that she was pretty, but not on the inside."

"No?" Came the soft bemused reply.

"No. Her name is Teresa Lisbon, she's a cop for the CBI, but don't let that fool you." He warned. "She's the short whore that took Richie away from you."

"That bitch." Lila mumbled darkly.

"That's the spirit." He grinned. "You stood by and let that happen because you were a nice person. But now Richard's dead. Do you think she might've killed him?"

"Do I?" She blinked.

"Yes, you do. Now when I tap your shoulder twice like this, you're going to wake up from this trance, but remember- she's your enemy."


He grinned at the memory. Flawless.

"Seriously dude, doesn't your face hurt from all that smiling?" Wayne Rigsby playfully nudged him in the rib.

"What's the harm in being happy?" He chirped. "This is a wonderful day, don't you think, Rigsby?" The poor man didn't get the chance to figure out an answer as a loud shriek of rage was heard from the Garfield household.

"MRS. GARFIELD, PUT THE GUN DOWN!"

"Only if you do it first, YOU MAN-STEALING BITCH!"

"I don't even know you! Nor your husband, but he isn't quite a catch from what I've heard anyway-"

"WHY YOU LITTLE-"

"What in the actual hell?" Rigsby exclaimed in utter bafflement, but pulled out his gun on duty and gestured for Cho to do so as well. "Jane, stand back where you are."

"A wonderful day." The psychic whispered once they were gone, allowing himself a shit-eating grin.


Lisbon didn't dare look up once, standing in Virgil Minelli's office. She felt too ashamed to face her boss. It didn't help that her team members were all standing by the door behind her.

Her outburst that morning was scandalous and horrible. She'd drawn her gun because a grieving and clearly unstable had woman accused her of something she didn't do. That was not typical behavior of her at all…

"Agent Lisbon." Her jaw tightened. "Face the consequence of your actions and look me in the eye, agent." The tone was firm and urgent.

She gulped and complied. "I'm sorry, sir." The plain apology sounded better than the usual ones, given that she'd had to give a lot of them lately.

"First you sneak away from your assigned cases." Minelli counted. "And now you're pulling a gun on an innocent widow. What is wrong with you?!" He landed a punch on his desk, sounding frustrated.

"Uh, she had a gun too." She weakly protested.

"From what we heard, you were the one to threaten her first." The man's glare bore holes into her soul and she squirmed uncomfortably.

"I… don't have an excuse for my behavior, sir." She exhaled with the admission. "Will I be suspended?"

"At least a month of suspension and eight months of Anger Management classes. You are now permanently off the Red John case if not banned." He announced. "Now, splendid work on getting yourself half-fired. Go home and try to think about not attacking the victim's family the next time you see one."

Behind her, a voice broke through her shock and made her tense.

"Wait, hold on Virgil- suspended? What about her team?"

Lisbon turned around enough to give Patrick Jane a glare of 'since-when-do-you-care'. But the blond didn't even catch her eye. "Cho's in charge while I'm gone. That's kind of obvious." She explained reluctantly.

"Look, Mr. Minelli, can I have a word alone with you?" Lisbon and the rest of the team exchanged glances, wondering where this was going.

"Yes, Mr. Jane. Agent Lisbon was about to leave anyway." A deadpan. That was her cue.

Exiting the room, another comment made her pause. "Actually Teresa, stick around a little while. We'll talk."

Lisbon just snorted and walked away. "He has something to do with it." She clenched her fists, muttering under her breath. "I'm sure of it."

"Boss, that's just going too far." Van Pelt tried to reason. "He wasn't anywhere in the house when the fight started. Just all the bad things happened to come together in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Grace." She sighed, refusing to explain further on the subject. The phrase 'they'll take my side' still haunted her mind. Something told her Patrick Jane had more control than she'd originally given him credit for.

"I don't mean to pry, but..." The redhead paused. "That was really weird, Lisbon." She looked concerned and slightly freaked out. "Did you know any of them before? You almost never lash out like that. Not unless it's necessary."

"I know." Was all she offered. "And no, I had no idea who the hell they were. Now, lets just hope Mrs. Garfield doesn't sue me and get to work, shall we?"

Grace smiled despite herself and nodded. Not the best timing for the consultant to approach them. Lisbon's own smile fell. "Can we have a word, Agent Lisbon?" He smiled charmingly at her, something about the aura feeling dangerous.

"No." She was beginning to sense a pattern in how he addressed her in different situations.

Jane rolled his eyes. "I just saved you three weeks of suspension. Is that how you thank me, Agent?"

Lisbon narrowed her eyes in suspicion while Van Pelt gasped. "Oh, my god! That's so kind of you, Mr. Jane!"

The agent suppressed a groan and wordlessly followed the psychic to a more private corner. "Okay, what the hell's going on?" She crossed her arms with the harsh remark.

"Woah, cool it down there Agent. Save it for Anger Management." He smirked and held his hands in the air in mock surrender.

"Stop playing dumb with me." She warned, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "I know you said something to the widow. My question is why you went to argue with my boss to narrow down my suspension to a week. That, I don't understand."

"Well, that'd be no fun." He looked at her incredulously, like the answer was obvious.

Lisbon shook her head. "Hold on. You did it because you'd get bored with no one to torment in here while I'm gone?" She tried hard to keep her voice steady. Perhaps she really needed the classes.

His smirk didn't waver as he maintained eye contact. "Maybe I'll just miss you." But the glint in his eye suggested otherwise.

The senior agent gritted her teeth. "So we're 'grown adults', huh? We don't 'plot against each other'?"

"Of course not." He had the audacity to sound patronizing. "Seriously, who taught you this stuff? We're all friends in here grasshopper, don't you agree?" A small wink.

"I can't believe I fell for your innocent act in there." She whispered, mostly to herself. "Like a goddamn idiot."

"Meh. Don't beat yourself up about it, happens to the best of you." He waved it off, straightening his suit. "I guess see you in a week, Terry." A grin overtook his features.

"Every time I think the nicknames can't get any worse, they just do." She said dryly. "Wait, hold on- you were aiming for the Red John case, weren't you?" Her eyes widened with the realization. "You used the fact that everyone thought the case was making me crazy to get me banned from the case!"

He slightly leaned down so their faces were in closer proximity than she would've liked. "Bingo." He murmured with a knowing smile, then stepped back. "Like I said, Terry. See you in a week!"

Lisbon watched in a daze as the smug blond dodged the crowd, getting back to the bullpen, only to take her spot on the couch like he owned it.