Author's Note: School is kicking my behind, but I made time for this. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Mentalist and would not be foolish enough to claim to.
"Patrick!" Tommy's shout rang out loudly, greeting him through the open door almost before he'd had a chance to knock.
Jane laughed, allowing himself to be pulled inside by the youngest Lisbon, looking up at Teresa hanging in the archway to the kitchen with a silly grin on her face.
It was enough to stop anyone's heart.
A dangerous game he was playing.
No matter what the cautious side of him said to try to talk the rest of himself out of it though, Jane just couldn't stay away. He knew he probably should. If he cared about Lisbon as much as he had admitted to himself- if that sprout growing in the now full sunlight was really... love and he really did love her, he should run as far as he could away from her before she and the boys got hurt.
Because he was fooling himself now, wasn't he, when he tried to pretend he belonged here, among the warn furniture and happy family smiles. Which was the most dangerous game of all of course. Wasn't that the first warning he'd ever been given? The conman that falls for his own con ends up dead or worse. If someone came for him, if things went slanted... Teresa with her unshielded heart would undoubtedly be one of the first to feel the backlash. The mere thought of causing her more harm than she already felt, or crushing those fragile little feelings she'd let him see beneath her mask of loose, wavy curls- that made his heart shrivel inside his own chest.
Lisbon probably would have been better off if they'd never met, but there was no way to change that now. He'd woken up to that knowledge every day of winter break, but every few days or so, he still found himself leaving the house and walking the long distance to the bus stop, just so that he could take public transportation to that little maybe blue, maybe gray house. He couldn't help it. It was like a drug he had become addicted to and now couldn't live without. Of course, he was careful to only come during the middle of the day, when Mr. Lisbon was at work.
No complaints though. Things had been going well for the Lisbon family. Mr. Lisbon was going through what Jane surmised was a rare streak of sobriety. He didn't want to mess that up in any way, not least whys because he couldn't bear to see Teresa hurt, but also because despite how happy it seemed to be making Teresa and her youngest brothers, he couldn't shake the sinking feeling that it wasn't going to last. Nor was he going to air his worries out loud.
Even though he had no real excuse to intrude on the Lisbon household so often, whenever he showed up at the front door, Tommy opened it with a shout like today, Teresa right behind him and smiling. He tried not to feel every time like he'd come home.
Drew was excited to see him too, as usual, though was more reserved about it showing it. His quiet, yet slowly unfolding sarcastic nature was endearing to Jane, especially when he peeked out of his shell and smiled that goofy grin that reminded him of Teresa's.
So much like Teresa it was hard not to ruffle the kid's hair every time he said his name. Jane was just glad he seemed to bring that happiness out in the Lisbon boys. It was probably because he usually took some time away from Teresa's side to play with the them.
The way into Teresa's heart was intrinsically tied up with her brothers, after all, and the kids were sweet.
Still, this day felt a little different. Almost like his brain was trying to memorize every little detail.
"Patrick, you have to be the police man, so that I can be the thief." Tommy ordered, calling Jane's attention away from Teresa in the kitchen, back onto the board game they had set up on the remarkably cleared coffee table in the living room.
He shook his head, ready to agree with the kid nonetheless.
"Don't just give orders, Thomas." Drew said to his brother, quietly sneering. "He can be whoever he wants."
Tommy shoved him.
He shoved back.
"Easy boys." Teresa sounded from the kitchen, without even having peeked their way.
Jane was impressed.
The boys went back to just glaring at each other, before the younger's face fell. "But Reese is always the police man. It makes the game funner." Tommy grumbled, but dropped the piece he'd been holding.
With a gentle, wide smile, Jane picked the piece up, not saying a word.
Looking his way, Tommy's eyes practically shone.
Drew just rolled his eyes and sighed.
"She always wanted to be one, you know that?" Tommy said conspiratorially across the board as they set up their pieces. "Reese, I mean. James told me so."
Surprised, Jane cut his eyes back to Teresa's form. He was sure the young woman could hear them, but she was being decidedly silent about the subject.
How intriguing.
"James also says it's because of the cop that came to the house that day." Drew murmured, barely loud enough for Jane to hear him and hopefully not loud enough to carry into the kitchen.
Tommy grew still, but then picked up the dice without comment and handed them over.
Still looking at the back of Teresa's head, trying to read anything from her body language, Jane took the dice distractedly.
Not even looking toward them, Teresa shook her hands clear of water and took up a towel to dry the dishes she'd just finished washing.
They played through the game in a somewhat subdued way after that. At least, until Tommy got Teresa to come play a second round with them, taking her turn as the police officer.
The youngest Lisbon caught his tongue between his teeth, setting everything up with such care, it looked like he was building a masterpiece with his pencil.
There was a strange smile of Teresa's face though and he found out why when her piece was released. Despite the careful preparations of her brothers, she caught their pieces within minutes, making Tommy howl as he tried to think straight and avoid her while laughing his head off like a maniacal little lunatic. Then she narrowed in on Jane's little running man before coming in for the kill, figuratively speaking.
After it was over, Jane stared at the board for a moment, dumbfounded.
"Don't feel bad." Lisbon teased him, grinning and gathering up the pieces to put them away in the box while the boys gathered up the rest of it. "I've been ruled at this game since I was five."
"Ah, defeated!" Jane made a show of clutching at his chest, and falling backward on the carpet, making the boys giggle and Teresa smile. However, when Teresa went back into the kitchen to start dinner, at a time he'd usually make himself scarce and go back home just to be on the safe side, Jane instead sent the boys outside to the small backyard and joined her among the sounds of clattering pots and pans.
He approached her back carefully, not wanting to startle her or put her on the defensive. Trying for nonchalance, he came around her working at the stove and sat half-way on the counter, leaning against it. As he tilted to look at her face, he smiled. "You know, that was pretty impressive."
Teresa just scoffed lightly, not looking up as she prepped the simmering water with a little oil and salt.
"No, I mean it." Jane repeated sincerely. He hopped up on the counter so that he could sit facing her while they talked. It helped when he could see her face. "I don't usually lose at those kinds of things unless it's on purpose. I'm a fake psychic, remember?"
She shot him a look.
"What?" Picking out a green pepper slice from where Lisbon was chopping, he started munching on the end of it. "You know, you could go into law enforcement. If that's what you really wanted to do."
Her surprised eyes leapt to him, than back down. "Yeah, right." She smiled at him nonetheless.
"I know you could do it."
That made her pause, but she didn't stay still for long. She busied herself with her cooking, before finally speaking up. "Well, you're obviously very intelligent. Fake or not, there's no other way you could glean as much as you do from a single look at someone otherwise." She sighed, almost wistfully. "You actually could do so many things with that. Anything you wanted to."
Jane picked at what she was preparing now, dragging the broken end of a hard noddle against his lips as he regarded the young woman beside him.
She was cooking a dinner for five right now, and had already spent all day watching two kids. Her eyes were edged with a gentle exhaustion, her movements sure and steady. Familiar to her. She'd been doing this for five years now, if Jane's calculations were correct, and it made him want to shake her that she was doubting her own abilities to fulfill her dreams.
Teresa really had no idea how amazing she was.
"I guess I could." He shrugged, before leaning in a little and catching her eyes. "I'd be willing to do anything, as long as I could do it with you."
She blinked at him, then blushed a dark crimson.
What a fantastic color on her. "So... you want to be a cop?" He asked, changing the subject back onto what they had been discussing as his companion put the noodles in the roiling water.
Without meeting his eyes, Teresa nodded slowly, almost shyly. Like he was going to make fun of her and she was just preparing herself.
He was thoughtful for a long moment. "I could get behind that."
Her expression morphed into a disbelieving smirk and she spoke sarcastically as she finally looked at him. "Re-ally?" Her cracking voice turned the word into two syllables and her eyes turned it into a statement rather than a real question before flitting away again.
Shrugging, Jane scooted over a little closer to her and leaned into her line of sight as she tended the pot in front of her. "Why not? After all, what's police work but interrogations and asking people questions to figure out the truth. Seems pretty clear-cut to me."
"There's also guns and getting shot at." She said laughingly, shoving on his shoulder to get him away from her cutting board so she could use it for onions.
His smile slipped at her words. "Hmm... true. But that's why I have you, right?" His grin returned. "Maybe I'll just have to find a way to be- 'cop-adjacent'."
Lisbon laughed aloud.
"Well, that's a sound I haven't heard in a while."
Both of them turned abruptly, looking toward the kitchen arch.
Mr. Lisbon stood there, shoulders stooped and exhausted, covered in a fine layer of dust and grime. He gave them a wane smile, but really, his eyes were for Teresa. "It's nice."
Teresa just swallowed, obviously at a loss for how to respond to that.
Jane wouldn't have known either, but the way Teresa's father looked now, compared to the drunken shamble he'd been the first two times, was shocking.
Gone was the weaving on his feet, the bleary eyes. Gone was the feeling of short temper and harsh words. He seemed... normal. Almost kind.
It left Jane speechless.
Shrugging off his construction coat as he came in, Mr. Lisbon finally spared Jane a glance. "Hello-" He left the greeting open as he stuck out his hand.
"Jane, Mr. Lisbon, sir." Patrick slid his but as unobtrusively from the countertop as he manage in a hurry to shake the man's hand. The grip he was met with hurt a little, but was surprisingly steady and strong. "Patrick Jane."
"Ah- right. The kid who invited Reese to dinner the other night." Blue-green looked Jane up and down. "Well, just you keep in mind that's my little girl your running around with, Mr. Jane." He seemed more alert all of a sudden, even though his Chicago accent deepened. "So no funny business. Don't ya hurt her."
"Dad." Lisbon hissed, turning her face toward the floor as it colored. She glanced through her lashes in Jane's direction.
For a moment, Jane couldn't speak, but rather than the quip that hovered on his tongue, he took a chance. "I'd never let anyone hurt her." He tried to imagine that it was either more or less challenging to the larger man.
They locked eyes for a long time, before Mr. Lisbon nodded minutely. He stepped back the way he had come, going to the foot of the stairs. His steps, in his large work boots, thunked heavily on the linoleum and onto the carpet. "Do I got time to shower before dinner, Reese?" He hung up his coat as he waited for her reply, right on the wall by the entertainment center.
"Yeah. But not too long, okay?" Teresa called that last after him, though he was already disappearing with his heavy footfalls climbing the stairs.
"Well, make sure... Jane, stays for it. Gotta return the favor sometime." A door closed upstairs.
It wasn't till the sound of the water running upstairs shook the pipes in the walls that the tension in the air finally lessened.
Teresa turned back to the food before it burned.
Feeling weak, Jane took a step back to the counter to let it hold him up, but didn't dare sit on it again. He kept his words soft. "Is- Is it always like that?" His only response was a brief, questioning look. "He looked exhausted."
"He works a lot." She answered, sounding a little defensive. Her quick, small hands placed the strainer and made to lift the heavy pot of noodles to dump it in.
Jane stopped her and did it instead, wanting to help.
Lisbon just watched his face, brow crumpled. After he shook out the last of the noodles and set the pot down, she sighed. "Just ask, Patrick."
He didn't turn toward her. He wasn't sure if he even could, so he looked out the window at the darkening sky. "When he's drunk- is it like that too? He's tired, so he uses it to escape?"
She was quiet for so long, he thought she'd never answer. Then her voice cut through the space like an icy dagger. "He misses her." The response was so full of hurt and anguish, so wrenched from somewhere deep down, that he didn't need to see her face to know what she was feeling.
"And still walking on eggshells around him all the time now? I thought it'd be different... I mean, you said he was sober."
"He is." Teresa growled emphatically.
He turned his head.
She stepped back to the cooking vegetables and added the can of sauce sitting open next to it. Her hand stirred dully.
"I know." Jane murmured quietly, finally turning to face her fully and drawing closer to her.
Her body leaned a little toward him, unconsciously.
Jane studied her profile, noting the tension in her shoulders and the stiff way she was keeping her back. He reached out and barely brushed his palm down it.
She shivered and turned her head.
"He seems like he's really trying." Jane said gently. "Maybe you don't have to walk quite so carefully."
Blinking rapidly, Lisbon used her teeth to catch her lower lip. "He's tried before. I don't want to mess that up. So she was just as worried about a relapse as he was. At least she was on guard.
When she said no more, and still didn't look away from the food, Jane let it be.