Author's Note: Short Chapter, but I needed a break somewhere. This one is for Superpicklechops, who, as far as I can tell, has been my most ardent supporter. You rock. You ALL rock.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Mentalist and would not be foolish enough to claim to.
"You're sure about this?" Rigsby put his truck into park and then leaned in his seat toward the steering wheel to see out the opposite window. "Here?" One eyebrow rose to his hairline and tilted with uncertainty.
If he even knew.
Suppressing a chuckle, Jane smirked lazily instead and clapped the guy on the shoulder. "It'll be fine, trust me." He said it as convincingly as he could, waiting for a nod of acceptance in return, but in truth his heart and stomach were both tight with fear. The laughter that wanted to escape from him was nervous in nature, for he really had no idea if it would be fine, but he was out of any other options and he'd come this far after all. Looking out the window himself, Jane couldn't help but feel this might be a really bad idea all together, but- what else could he do? Hurting people- really hurting them, wasn't what he'd signed up for. Especially people that he cared about.
And Lisbon was...
He didn't know what she was. Except that she was beautiful and witty, strong and vulnerable all at once. She was sarcastic when she needed to be and deliciously prudish when it struck her, so that she turned a delightful shade of red at the mere sound of his voice, with that tiny tilt at the corner of her lips that always gave her away. Self-sacrificing, compassionate, full of righteous anger. Stoically good and tantalizingly mysterious. She was... a layered enigma he was constantly struggling to figure out. No matter how much he knew about her, no matter how well he could guess her responses, there was always going to be more to discover because he couldn't get enough. It almost hurt to think about how much he lov- liked that about her. How much he liked her.
Forget his classes. Forget his job. Screw all of this- none of it was worth her. If he had caused any harm to befall Teresa, he'd never forgive himself. He'd not be able to live with something like that. Now more determined than ever, Jane clutched the handle and shouldered the rusted door of the truck open. Carefully, he jumped down to the street and slammed the thing closed behind him.
They were in a residential neighborhood, quiet and deserted at this time of day, so he wasn't too worried about getting out at the head of his intended street. Nodding once more in satisfaction with his decision, he looked back through the open passenger window. "I owe you one for this."
"Better believe it." The jock groused behind the wheel. "I'm gonna be so late to Biology class, this isn't even gonna be funny."
Jane slapped the cab with another smirk, giving his permission to drive away. As the other kid did just that, his eye caught on a car seat in the trucks bed, an old one with a faded blue cover. It was obviously well used, but carefully nestled between dark two bags as though precious. Puzzled, he stared after the vehicle, mulling over the item. A car seat and a rear facing one at that. That meant a child under that age of what? One? Two? Something like that. Put that together with the bits of conversation he'd heard earlier and the picture he came up with was fuzzy and incomplete but simple.
A baby? But whose? Rigsby's or maybe a little sibling of his? But why would he be talking about it at school then?
With a shake of his head, he filed the information away for later. He had enough to worry about for the moment without bringing more on himself with his infernal curiosity. Straightening his heavy jacket against the too chilly wind, Jane took a deep breath. Once he was sure the truck was out of sight, he slowly turned to the street he'd been dropped off at, eying it in the unattenuated daylight for the first time.
It was just a bit run down, but most the lawns were well kept and the paint on the houses wasn't chipped. All except for one little house nestled between two similarly sized ones right in the middle of the block. He shuffled his way toward it unhurriedly, taking in the whole of it, trying to garner some kind of information about Lisbon's well-being just from it's outside appearance. It would be completely fruitless, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. Funnily enough, even in full daylight, he still really couldn't tell if the house was pale blue or light gray, only that the paint on this particular house was starting to peel. As he walked up the front path, he tried not to notice that grass had begun to invade the concrete, a pot full of empty soil lay broken on its side near the door, or that someone had left a beer bottle near the front window that he could just see through the drawn curtains. He made the tiny step up to the front porch and then stopped for a moment to get his heartbeat back under control. It was going to be fine. It had to be. What's the worst that could be behind that door?
He immediately stopped his brain from answering that particularly loaded question before it began to simmer. After a moment to gather up the gumption, he finally stepped forward decisively, lifted his fist and rapped on the wood. Hurriedly, he stepped back and paused there for a long moment, waiting for an answer. It was the waiting game again rearing its ugly head, which he didn't appreciate. He tapped out a nervous rhythm with his fingers, whistled just a little bit, all in an effort to distract himself. His brain was having none of it.
Just as he went back to knock again though, the entryway shuddered.
The door was pulled away backward till the chain on it cinched tight and suddenly wide blueish-green eyes were looking up at him. Eyes just like James and Tommy.
After a hesitant moment of silence between them, Jane decided to break the ice. He grinned down at the unfamiliar Lisbon boy, who appeared to be a scrawny eleven or twelve years old, if that. "Hey there."
"Who are you?" The kid asked without preamble, curiosity clear, but tone still civil.
Though he opened his mouth to respond, something stopped Jane immediately. It was a voice, one that almost made him pass out with relief when he heard it ring out from somewhere within.
Her voice.
"Andrew, what have I told you about opening the door to strangers without permission?"
The kid let out an odd squeak and slammed the door closed in Jane's face.
He blinked at it as the sound of two hurried sets of footsteps sounded within, overlaid with Teresa's wail that was at once amused and frustrated.
"Don't just slam the door in their face!" The door opened, straining at its chain again, but this time, he saw who he was looking for. "Jane?" It closed and rattled as the chain was taken off and then spread wide. There she was, wearing heavy socks, some kind of soft black trousers, and a blue tank top that showed off the delicately soft and pale skin of her shoulders. The top half of her hair was even pulled back loosely while the rest was a tangle down her delicate neck, further exposing them.
Call him whatever you liked, but he thought he might be in love with those shoulders. Oddly unable to stop himself, he stared at her, his eyes taking in her every inch. He needed to, in order to feel like seeing her was real and not just a dream. Only when he realized she was staring at him staring at her, did he stammer out a response to her questioning gaze. "Y-You didn't show up for school." Then he closed his eyes. Lamest- Conversation- Starter- EVER.
Teresa just leaned against the door slightly, a tiny disbelieving smile tilting the corner of her mouth and nose upward adorably. "Drew's sick. He's been throwing up all day and he can't be left alone but- I-" She shook her head, laughing a little bit. "What are you doing here, Jane?"
"Well, I-" Uh, fie and curse the way she tied his tongue in knots! "When you didn't come to class, I thought-" He stumbled to a halt, unsure how to go on from there. He couldn't exactly say, 'I was panicked that your dad had put you in the hospital' or something like that. "I was... worried." He finished weakly.
"Worried? You?" She seemed oddly pleased with the idea.
"Yeah." He rubbed at his neck self-consciously. "Guess it kinda sounds stupid now."
A full blown smile lit up her features and maybe helped to heal something inside of him as her eyes fairly sparkled- like real emeralds. "Maybe- a little. Maybe... it's kind of nice." She seemed to hesitate, but then shrugged. The door opened even wider. "Come in?"