(A/N): Eek, I love you guys so much! Okay, I'm thinking of doing all the episodes, and splitting the fics into seasons. I'll definitely do season 1, but then if I decide to do season 2, it'll probably go under a different name to this fic.
Response time! And a group thank you to all of you that reviewed!
LAurore: I know, right?! If you watch the episodes, and keep in the front of your minds that the pair are married, then the show and the things they say take on a whole new meaning hehe! Glad you liked it :)
LouiseKurylo: Half of it didn't come up until I wrote it down haha! But you're right, assuming they're intimate leads to everything changing in meaning :)
lili87: Aww, thanks. And your opinion counts!
HeavenJu: Yay! Thanks :)
Guest: Here I am, updating :)
joyo-yoyo: I know, but it does seem like something Lisbon would say. I think this chapter is happier and sadder all at once though.
jalita: I think you're right, and we can see gradual changes too that way :) thank you :)
Okay, I will leave you all to get along and read this. I'll update when I can. Let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. The. Mentalist. Writing the disclaimer sucks.
HeavenSkye x
Through Thick And Thin.
Chapter 3.
Red Tide (1x03)
"Teresa."
Lisbon murmured a little, before snuggling further into the pillow called Patrick Jane and resuming her sleep. Jane rolled his eyes before nudging her again. Usually, he'd try not to wake her until the alarm went off, but she was leaning on his arm, which had gone numb two hours ago, and he desperately needed the bathroom.
"Teresa." He tried again, louder this time. Lisbon murmured in her sleep again, but still didn't wake. How was a woman who was a state agent such a heavy sleeper?
"Teresa!" He almost yelled. Lisbon shot upright, reaching for her gun under her pillow immediately. Jane held his hands up in surrender, one of them tingling like mad as all the blood rushed back into it. "Don't shoot, it's just me. I need the bathroom." He told her. She groaned before flopping back down onto the bed and covering her face with a pillow.
Jane went to the bathroom and then back to the bedroom, feeling relieved. Lisbon hadn't moved, the pillow still covering her face. "Teresa?" He tried softly, only for her to stick her middle finger up at him, without moving the pillow from her face.
"Well that wasn't very nice, Teresa."
"Neither was waking me up at four in the morning after I've only had three hours sleep." Lisbon growled back, her voice slightly muffled by the pillow. Jane grinned, before lying on top of her, knowing his weight on her would make her move the pillow. Sure enough, two seconds later, she moved the pillow off her face, only to find Jane's face two inches from hers.
"Let me make it up to you then." He whispered huskily, before covering her mouth with his own.
…
Jane smiled as Lisbon snuck into the mens restroom, glancing behind herself as she did. Hurriedly, he finished washing his hands before pulling his wife into his embrace. They stood there for a few minutes before pulling back.
"So, what was so important that I had to sneak into the mens room?" Lisbon asked. Jane grinned.
"I know you heard the wager I made with dear Van Pelt."
"Yeah, so?" Lisbon asked, folding her arms over her chest. Jane kissed her briefly before pulling back again.
"So, my wonderful wife, where did the rookie hide the keys?"
…
They had a new case. A teenage girl had washed up on a beach, drowned. Lisbon shuddered. She hated cases that involved kids. Still, she had to go and brief the team, before they packed up all the equipment they could possibly need. They'd had to review all of their equipment two days earlier, and so no-one had been able to find what they were looking for since.
"Victim is Christine Tanner, 15. Drowned. Washed up on the beach in Santa Marta." Lisbon stated as she rounded the conference table all the cases were resting on. Everyone was looking for the equipment. Well, other than Jane and Van Pelt, who looked like they were doing some sort of strange dance. Lisbon rolled her eyes, ignoring the pair. "Who's got the ultraviolet?"
"Yup." Rigsby stated, handing his boss the hand held device. Lisbon nodded her thanks as she pushed it into its place in one of the shiny cases on the table. "So, she drowned. Why us?" Rigsby asked.
"Coroner found a wound consistent with getting hit in the head with a surfboard and water in her lungs, only it was ditch water. No salt, lot of bugs." Lisbon explained as she began to pull on her black suit jacket over her dark red t-shirt Jane had insisted she wear that morning.
Cho looked up at her from where he was packing, but then his attention was caught by Jane.
"So the killer is clever, but not as clever as he thinks he is." Jane commented from where he stood with Van Pelt, leading her around the room gently. He knew where the keys were obviously, but that didn't mean everyone else had to know how he knew that.
"Santa Marta sheriff's not taking this one?" Van Pelt asked in confusion.
Lisbon span around. "State beach, state case." She rolled her eyes at her husband's trick. She'd told him where the keys were, so now he was just showing off. Or something. "All right, what are you doing?"
Jane explained what was going on as he led Van Pelt around the floor of the bullpen, ignoring Lisbon's jibe about him being psychic. If anyone else had made light of something like that, he would have been livid, but he'd long made peace with telling her about his conman days, and knew she would never say anything like that in order to cause him pain. After a suitable amount of time, he let go of Van Pelt's arms and rounded the bullpen to the corner between the bullpen and Lisbon's office, where a lone potted plant sat. There, hidden beneath the leaves, were the car keys to the team issued SUV. He pulled them out and held them up with a grin, widening it when he saw the smiles on the faces of the rest of the team.
"Who's got shotgun?" Jane asked.
Lisbon shook her head, but she was smiling. "Can we go now?"
…
Lisbon looked round the Tanner house, eyes wide as she recognised things she'd rather not. The grungy mess of the place, despite obvious efforts to clean it up, the overwhelming aroma of grief and alcohol, and the countless bottles all over the house. It was almost an exact replica of her childhood home. Suddenly, she realised why she felt so strongly about this case. Christine Tanner had been her. Christine had been the one to cook and clean, and look after her younger siblings when she was just a child herself, just like she had had to. Mr Tanner didn't look like the violent type though, which was a relief, and meant that it was most likely that the father didn't do it.
During the interview, Lisbon felt herself spacing out, regressing back to when she was Christine's age and looking after her three younger brothers. It had been the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, and she really didn't want the other girl in the household, Lisa, to have to take over from where Christine left off. It wasn't right, and it most certainly wasn't fair.
As she walked out of the house, trying to sort out her notes with Van Pelt following behind her, she forgot about the steps and tripped, landing on her hands and knees and dropping the papers everywhere. She gritted her teeth and gathered up her papers before standing back up. Her knees were most definitely grazed.
"Are you okay?" Van Pelt asked, concerned. Lisbon glanced at her t-shirt. Her rings were still hidden, so it was good on that front, but her notes were all out of order and her head was pounding.
"Damn it." She muttered.
"It's gotta be tough." Van Pelt said softly. Lisbon could practically feel the pity oozing from the redhead's voice.
"What?" Lisbon asked in confusion.
"I mean, a drunk driver. Isn't that what happened to your mother?" Van pelt elaborated gently. Lisbon felt all the colour drain from her face, leaving her looking like a ghost, her freckles a stark contrast to the rest of her face. No, anything but that. She hated when people brought up her mother. Unless it was Jane because she knew he only did it to comfort her and make her feel better. He understood what it was like to lose someone that you loved very much, and he didn't speak with that pity in his voice that Lisbon hated so much.
Suddenly realising she'd probably gone too far, Van Pelt apologised. "Sorry. It's not my business."
"We don't discuss our personal lives in this unit. It's not useful and it's not professional." Lisbon sniped back, feeling a little colour return to her face. She also felt a little guilty. She'd married someone from her unit, for crying out loud! That was about as personal as it could get, and there she was, berating Van Pelt over mentioning something personal!
To cover herself before she let something slip by accident, she pulled her cellphone from her pocket and dialled Cho's number, telling him the names to run down. From the corner of her eye she saw Van Pelt move towards the car.
As soon as Cho ended the call, she placed another one to Jane, who answered it on the second ring.
"Hey beautiful."
Lisbon felt herself blushing, and the infuriating man wasn't even around! "Hush. I wanted to know how you are."
"Teresa, what's wrong? You don't normally sound like that. What happened?"
"Rick, I…" Lisbon trailed off self-consciously. She'd had the forethought to call him Rick whilst Van Pelt was still in earshot at least, but she didn't want to tell him on the phone when her rookie could overhear every word. Luckily, her husband seemed to understand that.
"Tell you what, there's a wonderful diner near the hotel, and I'll take you for dinner. You can tell me all about it then, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. Thank you, Rick."
"No problem, sweetheart. Van Pelt is still in earshot, isn't she?"
"Yeah, so?"
"That's why you're calling me Rick. Anyway, I'll see you later. Love you."
"Charmer." Lisbon shot at him playfully before hanging up. It's not like she could've said that she loved him too if Van Pelt was stood right there. That would have made everything three times as awkward as before.
…
Jane heard the disconnected tone and smiled. Sometimes he just couldn't resist. He turned back to Flipper with a grin. "The wife." He told the younger man cheerfully.
"She checkin' up on you or somethin'?" Flipper asked curiously as the pair made their way up to the trailer that Flipper called a home.
"Nah, she just worries about me." Jane smiled again. "Now, lets play some chess."
…
As Lisbon and Rigsby entered the trailer, she felt a sense of dread. Jane had something to do with it, she was sure of it. Since when did Jane just want to stay at the beach?
As soon as Flipper spoke, she knew. Jane poked his head round so he could see them and smiled. Lisbon glared at him. Flipper was dangerous, and Jane thought it was a good idea to follow the man to somewhere secluded where no-one knew he was there? How crazy could he get?
…
Lisbon's eyes widened as Christine's father started to get angry. It was all getting too much, reminding her too much of her own father. Bracing herself, she pushed Mr Tanner into the wall, standing in front of him and holding him back from going after Flipper.
"Go home now!" She yelled at him as the man began crying, in agony at losing both his wife and now his eldest daughter. "look at me." She told him firmly. Internally, she reprimanded herself. This man is not your dad, he is not that violent, sorry excuse for a drunk. You can do this. "Look at me." She repeated as she saw Cho show up from the corner of her eye, no doubt willing to step in if he had to. Cho was loyal that way. "Look at me. You need to go home." She told him in a low voice. The man had sunk a little, so that he and Lisbon were face to face. He was sobbing, barely coherent, and Lisbon was surprised that he'd actually heard her.
Lisa stepped away from Micah, putting her hand on her father's arm, and smiling softly at Lisbon before returning her gaze back to her broken father. "Let's go home daddy." She said gently, before helping him stay upright as they moved back down the corridor, Mr Tanner making sure Micah came along with them.
Lisbon watched them go, trying to get her breathing back under control. She was thirty year old Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon. She was not the scared fifteen year old girl trying to hide the abuse she got on a daily basis. Not anymore.
She heard her phone ringing, and answered it with a short, "Lisbon." She turned as she listened, only to catch Van Pelt staring at her with the same pitying expression she'd had earlier. Lisbon gritted her teeth before concentrating solely on her phone call. "Yeah."
…
Jane remained silent until after they'd interviewed Christine's friends. "So, what's wrong?" He asked in a hushed voice as they walked back to the car. Lisbon stopped walking, swallowing heavily. Jane stopped too before walking up to her and placing his hands on her upper arms. "Teresa, look at me." She did so reluctantly. He saw the tears in her eyes. "Oh sweetheart, come here." He whispered as he pulled her into a hug. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be okay, Teresa."
Lisbon simply buried her head into the place where his neck and shoulder joined, shaking her head. Jane soothingly stroked her ponytail.
"Let me know when you want to talk then."
…
"How do you manage it?" Lisbon asked, exasperated as she held tissues to her husband's nose.
"Ah, dunno." Jane replied, wincing as his wife pressed the tissues more firmly onto his nose. They were both sat in the latter's office with the blinds closed. The rest of the team assumed they were shut so that they wouldn't have to be witnesses when their boss finally killed the consultant.
Jane winced again at the pain radiating through his face. Lisbon glanced at it speculatively. "It's not broken." She told him. "However, you're definitely going to have to black eyes come morning."
"I'm sorry." He suddenly said. Lisbon looked at him confusedly.
"What for?"
"We came back home before nightfall, so we didn't have the chance to go out to the diner for dinner."
Lisbon shrugged. "I'm sure you know of a good diner round here."
Jane smiled, which quickly fell as it hurt his nose, before pulling his wife into his lap on the red couch. "Love you."
Lisbon smiled, stroking his face gently, careful not to touch his nose. "Love you too."
…
"You brought him all the way back here, why?" Minelli asked, clearly pissed. Lisbon rolled her eyes as she hurried to keep up with him. She loved Minelli like a father, but there were many things she hadn't told him. Such as her marriage to a certain pain-in-the-ass consultant. Sure, it was in her file, but Personnel had sorted that out, and as both Lisbon and Jane had a particular friend in that department, the news hadn't spread round the building like wildfire.
"The local sheriff begged me not to put him in his jail." Lisbon explained. "Kurtik's a big cheese down there."
"That is a signal." Minelli returned immediately. £Is that not a signal that we should cut this man loose?" He asked crossly. Lisbon fought the urge to roll her eyes as she took the file back from her boss.
"He hit Jane pretty good." She told him. Minelli was the one to roll his eyes at that. Jane had stuck to Lisbon's team like glue, and Lisbon was very protective of her team. Minelli knew Lisbon wouldn't go into the interview, even if it was only to ensure she didn't hit him in return for hitting a member of her team, no matter how much they deserved it. "People were watching. I had to arrest him."
"This guy is connected. This guy is-" Minelli scoffed. "He has the governor's home phone number. And we both know that Jane was asking for it. You couldn't just give Kurtik a stern talking to instead?"
Lisbon sighed. She hated politics. Why should she care if the guy had the home number of the governor? He was still a human being, just like everyone else. Still, that wasn't an argument she could make to her boss. "What about Christine Tanner sir? If Kurtik was having sex with her, that gives him motive to kill."
"If. And that's a hunch. Based on rockabilly."
"It's a Jane hunch. You keep him around for a reason. Look, just let us work with Kurtik until his lawyer gets here. Maybe we can get something more."
"All right." Minelli gave in. He couldn't deny her when he saw her hopeful expression, the one that said she believed he could do anything in the world. "Work him gently." He warned her as he walked off. Damn, he could never say no to her.
…
Jane smiled as Kurtik threatened him and his wife, fastening the cuffs of his shirt. Kurtik was all talk anyway. He wouldn't do it because then the reason why would get out. Even the hint of statutory rape would ruin Kurtik's life forever, and the odious man knew it.
Kurtik turned round, only to nearly bump straight into Lisbon. He blatantly checked her out, his expression smug.
"Keep walking, Mr Kurtik, or I'm gonna have to arrest you again." She stated, annoyed. She hated people checking her out, and those times were the ones when she desperately wished her ring was on her finger and not hidden down her shirt. She also hated the man because of what he'd done. If Jane said that Kurtik had raped Christine Tanner, then she believed him one hundred per cent.
"If you were fifteen years younger, I might give you a shot." Kurtik said lecherously, bent a little so he and Lisbon were face to face. He winked, as Lisbon narrowed her eyes in disgust at him. After a moment, Kurtik walked away.
Jane glanced over at his wife. Kurtik had obviously been disappointed not to have gotten the dark haired agent in his bed, no matter what he said about age. Lisbon however, looked disgusted, like she wanted to shower his words away. She locked eyes with him as he stepped up to her.
"Ignore him Teresa. You're beautiful, and I wouldn't change anything about you."
…
That night, Jane got home to find his wife curled up on the couch, looking at a photo album. He set his jacket down over the back of the couch and sat beside her. Immediately, she moved in so her head was resting on his chest and his arm was round her shoulders. She still had hold of the album. He took one look at the pictures before understanding washed over him. This was the reason she'd been upset all day.
"Christine's dad reminded you of your own."
Lisbon nodded into his chest. Jane held her tighter. "The house was almost exactly the same, right down to the bottles of alcohol scattered round. God, it makes me sick, Patrick. I hate him so much!"
"Sssh," He soothed her gently. "I'm actually grateful for your dad. And I feel a little sorry for him too."
"What?" Lisbon tore herself from his arms, setting the album down on the coffee table as she pulled her shirt up slightly, showing a thick white line on her stomach. "How can you be grateful for a man that did this to his little girl?" She demanded.
Jane sighed. "Teresa. I hate what he did, and if eh was still alive now then I would most likely kill him myself, but if your childhood hadn't been like it was, could you have guaranteed that any of this would've happened?"
"What?" Lisbon whispered as she slumped in her seat. Jane quickly gathered her into his arms again.
"Teresa, I'm grateful because I got you. I feel sorry for him because he never got to see just how amazing you are."
"Patrick-"
"Ssh, let's go to bed."
…
"Statutory rape, huh? What'll he get?" Mr Tanner asked, looking halfway sober for the first time since Lisbon had met him.
"He probably won't serve time." Lisbon admitted. "Not without Christine's testimony. But we'll have fun trying." She assured him.
She watched him carefully, warring with herself. Jane had said it was okay if she felt personally involved in the case, and especially if she wanted to make life better for Christine's younger sister and brother. Deciding, she opened her mouth. "You have good kids."
"Yeah, I do." He replied slowly.
"You're all they have."
"Yeah, I know." He made to move past her. Her next words caused him to turn back to the petite brunette.
"Be good to them."
As he looked into her eyes, he felt like he'd been punched. In the agent's eyes was the same look he'd seen so many times from his daughter. That look that said I know exactly what you're doing, so why won't you stop? mixed with a little bit of hurt and pain.
"I am good to them."
Lisbon swallowed heavily. She had to make him understand, make him get help somehow. "My father was a good man, just like you are. And after my mother died, he was a self-pitying drunk, just like you are. He killed himself. Damn near killed me and my brothers too." She pulled out a card, holding it out to him. "Get some help. Your kids deserve it. So do you."
Staring into those eyes that reminded him so much of Christine's, he knew. He'd get better. For his kids, for Christine. Lisa and Micah needed him, and he needed them too. He took the card gently, nodding his thanks to Lisbon before walking off.
Lisbon turned as she caught Jane staring at her, concerned. He'd obviously heard everything. She nodded her head to tell him she was okay. He nodded in return before making his way back down the corridor.
…
Four hours later found Jane and Lisbon packing up the second car to go back home. Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt had taken the first car, as the boys had refused to drive alone with Jane again. Lisbon smirked. Jane was almost intolerable on car journeys, unless they were going somewhere he wanted to go.
"Agent?" A young voice asked, causing both Lisbon and Jane to spin round. They found themselves staring at Lisa Tanner.
"Yeah, sweetie?" Lisbon managed through her surprise, suddenly remembering Jane's arm was round her waist. Lisa looked uncomfortable. "Do you want to speak to me alone?"
"Who is he?" Lisa asked instead.
"Patrick Jane. He'd my husband, Lisa." Lisbon told the girl gently. Lisa nodded as she appeared to gather up her courage.
"Daddy told me what you said to him." Lisa blurted out in a rush. Lisbon coloured a little, but before she could say anything, Lisa's arms were round her waist, hugging her. Lisbon hugged her back hesitantly as Jane smiled at the pair.
"Thank you." Lisa said as she hugged Lisbon tightly. "When daddy came home, he threw away all the beer and told me things were gonna be real different. He sounded like my daddy again. Thank you."
Lisbon nodded as she crouched until she was level with Lisa. "Its okay, sweetie." She handed Lisa one of her cards. "If you ever need anything…"
Lisa nodded, pocketing the card before waving to them both and running out of the parking lot. Jane walked up beside Lisbon, putting his hands on her waist and turning her to face him.
"See? You saved them, sweetheart. You're incredible."
Lisbon shook her head. "No, I'm not. I just don't want anyone else to have to go through what I did."
Jane nodded. "I still call incredible. So, how about the beach for our vacation?"
TBC…
