Thought of the day 10/01/17 (or 01/10/17 for all you 'Murricans): I'd like to clarify that my ideal FF plot would just be pages and pages and pages of me making out with Simon Baker. I think everyone should be grateful that I didn't succumb to that particular whim.
Disclaimer: Don't own any characters, don't own any borrowed plot lines. Also I'm from New Zealand and know very little about American cities or towns or laws so excuse any mistakes I may make!
A/N: This takes place after Jane returns from the island, and after Abbott has agreed to all his terms. I've stuck to most of the canon of 6x09 with just a few changes, for instance in this universe, Jane has demanded that the whole CBI team work for the FBI. Also, excuse poor formatting, didn't quite copy over as I expected. I'm working on it.
I will probably edit this over the next few days, as well as add Chapter 2. Thanks for reading!
I sit at my desk aimlessly staring at the list of suspects. So much desk work in this job, sometimes I miss the constant adventures with Jane, even if he does infuriate me.
"Bored?" a voice comes from behind me.
"A little," I say, turning to face Jane.
"They'll get used to me soon, then we can go out and play," he says to me with a grin.
It has only been a week since Abbott agreed to Jane's terms. I was one of the terms. I can't say that I am too upset to be here rather than Washington, but I had a picture of everything going back to the way things were in California. Fun, games. Not that I'd admit that to Jane.
"Who says I want to play?" I ask him with a smile.
"Oh, you don't fool me, Lisbon," he replies, taking a sip of tea. I look down at his feet. He is wearing the socks I gave him.
"They're great socks," he says. He puts a hand on my shoulder and peers down at me. "Let's solve this case."
"What do you think I'm doing?" I ask him. I turn back to my list and stare at it as if something is going to jump out at me. He takes his hand from my shoulder and I hear him walk away.
"It would be a lot more fun if you came with me," he calls from across the room. I pause for a moment, then nearly leap from my chair and stride after him.
We meet with Karen Graham at a small coffee shop in Chinatown. Odd place, but it's probably relevant in some roundabout way, knowing Jane. Karen is one of the victim's close friends, and I suspect she was his lover.
As we walk over to where she is sitting, I ask him about the cafe.
"Good tea, I hear," he replies.
We sit down at the table opposite Karen.
"This is Teresa Lisbon," Jane says to her. He winks. "She's a real cop, I'm just a consultant."
Karen is beautiful, long blonde hair, dark blue eyes. And she looks at Jane like he is the only person in the cafe.
"I'm sure you're much more than just a consultant," she tells him with a shy smile.
"Oh, you have no idea," he says.
He rests his arm on the back of my chair. I lean forward so that we are not touching.
"Was there anyone that would have wanted to hurt James Redmond?" I ask her.
"No," she replies. "We all loved him. Everyone loved him."
"And is it true that you were in a relationship with the victim?" I continue.
She frowns. "No. Well, yes. A long time ago. We are- were just good friends. I go to school with his sister."
Jane moves his arm from my chair and drinks from his teacup. "Mmm, good tea here. I must get some more."
He stands and walks up to the counter. I hear him asking the man at the till what the tea is, where it's from.
"I'm sorry Karen, but I have to ask. Where were you on the night James was killed?"
Karen opens her mouth slightly in surprise. "At my parent's place. They had people over, six of them. They can all confirm I was there. What is this, am I a suspect?"
I shake my head. "Just covering all my bases."
She looks at me suspiciously, then her expression changes. She turns and looks over at Jane.
"Are you two...?"
"No," I say, much too loudly, screwing my nose up. "God, no."
She lowers her eyes and smiles a little. "Oh. Cool."
Jane returns, a metal jar in his hands. He places it on the table. "Imported from China. Good stuff," he tells us. Karen smiles at him.
"Are we done here?" I ask Jane, trying to hide my impatience. This is going nowhere.
"Ahhh," he says, looking around him then settling his eyes on Karen. "Yes, almost. Will you give me a moment alone with Karen?"
"Fine," I say. I storm off back to the car. Fine, don't tell me what you're up to. Nothing new.
He opens the passenger door and slides in. I am busy fuming, glaring down at the steering wheel.
"Are we going to go?" he asks eventually.
I snap out of my thoughts. "Yeah. Yes. We're going."
We are silent for a few minutes. I concentrate on the road, letting my mind calm itself. He is humming a tune I don't recognize and I begin to settle down. I've missed him, no matter how angry he makes me.
"This is nice," he says, looking at me.
"What is?" I ask.
"You and me, back on the road. Solving crimes, saving lives."
I laugh, despite myself. "It's not bad."
"You shouldn't get so mad at me, Lisbon."
"Who says I'm mad?"
He shrugs and look back out the window. "You were mad."
I take my eyes off the road for a second and look at him with a frown.
"Why would I be mad? It was a basic questioning, much more civil than I'm used to from you."
He meets my eye, that look again, the look that tells me that he's up to something.
"You were mad at me. You're always mad at me." He looks away again. "But you love it."
"Well, what did you learn. What were we doing there. Come on, tell me."
He laughs. "We were just questioning her. Like you said."
"Come on, Jane," I am smiling now. But I want to know. I want to be a real part of his plan, not just his oblivious sidekick. When will he start opening up to me.
"All will be revealed, Lisbon," he says. "All will be revealed."
We are in the entrance of the building running over our plans for the day. Just as we are about to leave, Jane's phone rings and he answers it with a smile in his voice.
"Karen. Good to hear from you. Are we on for tonight?" He pauses as he listens to her reply. "Very good, I'll meet you there at eight. Looking forward to it."
"You asked her on a date?" Kim Fischer says, giving him an incredulous look. Jane shrugs.
"Yes, why not? She's a beautiful woman."
I assume he has asked this woman on a date to find out more about the case, but I never know with Jane. Maybe is ready to start dating again.
"Well, good for you, I guess," Fischer says. She raises her eyebrows at me.
"Are you jealous, Kim?" he asks her with a smile. She glares at him but doesn't reply. I wonder again what happened between them on the island. I've asked twice now, but it doesn't seem prudent to ask a third time.
"She's jealous," he says to me as we walk away. Then he turns, calling back to her- "You're jealous, Kim, don't deny it!"
I laugh. "Come on, Jane. Let's go."
As we get into the car I ask him "Why don't you call her Fischer? Are you just winding her up?"
He considers me for a while, then turns away.
"Because I met her as Kim. I'd like to keep thinking of her as Kim. I don't like Agent Fischer nearly as much."
"But you like Kim?" I ask.
"Yes. I did like Kim," he replies, smiling a little.
I can't imagine Fischer as someone that Jane would particularly like. Maybe she was different on the island, like he said. She would have had to been very different indeed.
"So, your date," I say. "What's your angle?"
"No angle," he says. Then quieter. "No angle at all."
"I wish you wouldn't lie to me," I sigh. I am sick of this. After two years away, after tricking the FBI into hiring me and forcing me to move and start my life over yet again, I deserve more respect.
"Why do you think I'm lying? Am I not allowed to go on a date?" he asks me. But he is smiling that smile that reminds me of every time he hid his plans from me, lied to me, made me look foolish.
"I don't believe you'd date someone involved in our case just for fun," I say to him, starting the car.
"I don't meet a lot of other people, Lisbon. Would you rather I dated someone from the FBI?"
He is staring at me, but I don't meet his eye as I pull out of the parking lot.
"I don't care who you date, Jane," I reply. We drive out into the sun and pull onto the main street.
"I don't believe you," he says.
He stares out the window as we drive. I wonder what he is thinking, as I always do. Perhaps he is just admiring the view, perhaps he is still caught up in his past. I suppose it's a question that I'll never know the answer to. As we near our destination he turns to me.
"Would you prefer it if I called you Teresa? Would it help you stop wondering about Kim?"
"I do not wonder about Kim. About Fischer," I say indignantly. "And no, I don't care what you call me."
"Liar," he says, grinning.
I can't help but flash him a smile in return. "Why, do you like Teresa better than Agent Lisbon?"
He feigns hurt and puts his hand to his heart. "No, of course not. I like them both equally. I like them both quite a lot, actually."
We pull into the driveway of the victims apartment.
"You know, they called me Paddy on the island." He shrugs. "I kind of liked it."
I look at him once I've turned off the engine. He doesn't wear a vest anymore. He wears his shirt unbuttoned at the top revealing part of a tanned chest. These days he seems happy sometimes, but he is still holding something back.
We get out of the car and walk side by side to the door. He knocks, and looks at me with that smile. Helen Redmond, the victim's sister opens the door.
"I'm not calling you Paddy," I say to him as he leads me in, his hand on the small of my back.
He laughs. "Very well."
I don't see Jane until late afternoon the next day. He is overly cheerful, which immediately puts me in a bad mood. And not only because I suddenly remember he had a date last night.
"Nice of you to turn up," I say to him.
"I knew you'd be lost without me," he says back.
I roll my eyes and we head towards the bullpen. He's such a child.
"How was your date," Fischer asks when we walk in. She doesn't look up from her desk but she is frowning slightly.
"Very good. I had the ribs. I highly recommend them."
I make a face and Jane shoots me a quizzical look.
"You don't like ribs?" he asks me, eyebrows raised. I don't reply.
"Well, come on, we have a ball to go to," Jane tells us both with a smirk.
Fischer looks up from her paperwork. "Oh yes?"
"Yes. It starts in a few hours. I assume you girls will need a bit of time to spruce up?"
Ugh. Another plot. The last thing I feel like doing is going to a ball with Kim Fischer. Or Jane, I guess.
"Well, if you've got another plan that's going to get me in trouble, then count me out. Take Lisbon."
I sigh inwardly with relief. I don't hate the woman, but if I'm going to be part of Jane's games again then I don't want to be watched, to be judged. Not by her.
"But I need backup. Come on Kim, I know you look beautiful in a dress," he tells her. Then he gives her a suggestive glance. "I remember, you know."
She looks at him with a little smile and I glare down at my shoes.
"You can take Rigsby," Fischer says.
"He doesn't nearly look so good in a dress," Jane says with a frown.
"Fine, take Van Pelt too," she says, still smiling. Then she looks at me, as if just remembering that I am here. "And Lisbon. I'm sure she looks good in a dress."
Jane looks me up and down and grins. "Oh yes, she certainly does."
I am sure I am blushing a little, and I cannot suppress a twinge of jealousy. He likes her. Jane likes Fischer. Well, he likes Kim. Maybe he is trying to get her to be the Kim that he met on the island.
Jane shoots a petulant look at Fischer. "Well, if you're sure you won't come then I guess we can solve the case without you."
She gives him a sarcastic smile and motions for us to leave.
"Why are we going to a ball?" I ask Jane.
"For fun, for dancing!" he replies.
"What if I don't want to go, did you think of that?" I say to him.
He frowns at me and shakes his head. "Its for work, Lisbon. Be professional."
"Very funny."
He points a finger at me and looks me up and down. "I'm guessing black dress, fitting, but not too tight. No heels." He shakes his head with mock disapproval. "It's a shame, you'd look better in green."
He walks towards the elevator then spins around and grins at me. "And heels."
I laugh and go back to Fischer's desk.
She looks up as I draw near. "So you'll keep an eye on him?"
"I'll try," I say.
"I suppose it's fun," she says. "Going along with his plans."
I shrug. "Sometimes. Sometimes not so much."
She smiles. "I see. Well, I hope it is this time. I hope it's productive at least."
She motions for me to sit, so I sit behind my desk opposite hers. The chair is cold, too upright. I squirm a little to get comfortable. She eyes me up and down. Clearly she thinks there is more to figure out about me than there actually is.
"What is it with you and him?" she asks finally.
"What?" I ask, alarmed.
"It's something- he trusts you. I know that's difficult for him. Have you two ever...?"
I cut her off. "We've worked together for a long time. That's it. He'll learn to trust you eventually."
She shakes her head. "I don't think so."
"Well, you did trick him. On the island I mean. It might take some time. What exactly happened there?" I ask cautiously. Maybe it is safer to ask her than it is to ask Jane.
She smiles that terse smile. "Nothing. We had dinner. We talked. I was undercover, I confirmed his identity and then Abbott brought him back here. That's it."
Dinner huh. A date perhaps? I wonder if Jane had known she was undercover.
I meet Jane in the car park. I am wearing a green dress that has been sitting in the back of my closet for almost eight years. He greets me with a growing smile as he looks me up and down, I smile back at him and spin around.
"You said green?"
He nods with a grin, and rests his hand on my lower back as we begin to walk towards the entrance to the hall. "I'm shocked, Lisbon. This is very good. Very good indeed."
He looks down at me and I let myself meet his eyes, a smile still plastered on my face. I like to surprise him. And as much as I hate to admit it to myself, I like that I can still make him smile.
"We should wait for Rigsby and Van Pelt," I say, as we near the door. He agrees and we stand in the shadows. I watch him inspect every person that walks in. I cannot see anything unusual about any of them, but then again, I am not Jane.
"They're late," I say, looking at my watch.
Jane shrugs and shoots me a smile. "We were twelve minutes early. We can wait a bit longer."
"We should go in, they can meet us in there," I continue. He just shakes his head at me.
"No, we can wait. It's better if we go in once everyone has settled in."
I sigh. I guess I'm not his boss anymore. More his minder. A glorified babysitter. I fiddle with the neckline of my dress. It's cut a bit lower than I'm used to, probably why I never thought to wear it again after my brother's wedding.
"Stop fussing, you look good," Jane says to me, and when I look up at him he doesn't look away. I screw up my face at him.
He laughs, then looks down at my feet. "Nice heels. Very pointy."
Yeah, nice. Uncomfortable too.
"I hate heels," I grumble.
"Well I appreciate that you wore them for me," he replies.
"I didn't wear them for you, I wore them because they've been sitting in my closet for just as long as this dress, and I thought they deserved a chance." I am smiling now, I can't help it.
"Well, you look good," he tells me again. "But you didn't have to wear heels for me, the dress is sufficient."
Rigsby and Van Pelt arrive together. I can see the bulge of a gun on both of them.
"You won't need those," Jane says, motioning to their poorly hidden holsters.
They look at me questioningly and I shrug. "Don't ask me, I don't know what the plan is."
"We were told we were backup?" Rigsby says.
"I guess not. You can put the guns in the car, Rigs," I tell him.
"Good," Jane says with a wide grin. "No need for guns tonight. We're going to have fun. Relax, have some drinks, have a dance."
He wanders ahead of us, through the big door to the hall. Rigsby and Van Pelt look at me in confusion again.
"Why are we here?" Rigs asks me quietly.
"No idea," I reply, following Jane into the hall.
We all sit at the table. Well, all of us except for Jane. He is sitting at a table with a group of people that I don't recognize. Is he just socializing, or am I missing something? I have a beer sitting in front of me that I've barely touched. I have to drive, and for all I know we're going to end up in a high speed chase at any moment.
I am lost in thought when he appears beside me. He holds out his hand for me.
"I know you want to dance," he says, smiling down. I begin to protest, but before I can formulate a full sentence I am on my feet and following him to the dance floor.
"Jane, we're on a case," I tell him. He is a good dancer. He is warm, confident, and strangely light on his feet.
"Oh, this is all part of it Lisbon, don't you worry." He looks down at me, eyes bright. Then he moves his arm further around my back, and his cheek rests against the side of my head. I try to settle my heartbeat, knowing he can feel it, knowing that he has noticed.
"See that man in the dark blue suit?" he murmurs into my ear. I break out of my stupor and follow his gaze.
"Yes."
"That's Redmond's chemistry professor. Gallagher. Let's move a little closer."
The man in the blue suit is arguing with his dance partner. As we draw closer, I can see his dance partner is Helen Redmond. They glance at us as we get too close, and move away.
"Damn, she recognized us," I say.
"Doesn't matter," he says. He pushes me gently away, spins me around, then pulls me back to him. He grins at me as the song ends, and then takes my hand and leads me back to our table.
"We're done here," he tells Rigsby and Van Pelt. I suppose we are then, Jane. I roll my eyes.
We walk to the parking lot together. Van Pelt is a little drunk. She is holding hands with Risgby and they laugh together. I'm glad for them, but a little jealous. I shake it off.
"See you all tomorrow," I tell them. Rigs and Van Pelt wave goodbye and leave us. Jane pauses for a moment when we reach my car. When I unlock my door, he holds it open for me and squats down after I have got in.
"Lisbon," he says.
"Yes, Jane?" I reply, slightly impatient. I can't wait to take these shoes off.
"You look beautiful tonight."
I blush and cannot stop a smile forming. He sees it, of course he does, and beams at me.
"And me, how do I look?" he asks.
I look him up and down. He is wearing a vest tonight, it reminds me of bad times, and good times too. It reminds me of a bit too much, and I frown slightly.
"You look the same," I say. "The same as before."
I didn't mean to say that- the same as before.
He casts his eyes down and is quiet for a moment.
"You look good," I say, trying to interrupt his thoughts.
"Thank you," he replies, looking up at me with a wide smile. "That's very nice to hear."
"Hello Teresa," Jane says as I walk into the kitchen for my morning coffee. I raise my eyebrows at the use of my first name and he laughs. A game, always a game with him.
"Patrick," I reply. He laughs again and offers me the teapot.
"Thank you," I say. I take it and pour myself a cup of tea. What am I doing, I came in here for coffee.
We sit at the table and he puts a small thread of cotton in front of me- "Et voila!"
"What's that?" I ask.
"I plucked it off Gallagher last night. It's the same material that James Redmond's suit was made out of. The one he was wearing when he died."
He looks smug, but I don't know what he has figured out from this. It's a connection, sure. But so what if two people happen to have the same tailor or shop at the same store.
"And what does that mean?" I ask.
"Last night was fun, wasn't it?" he says. "We should do it again."
I give him a withering glare. "Sure, sure. But what has this material got to do with anything?"
"I could tell you, but it would be much more fun to show you," he says with a grin. He puts down his tea and moves around behind me. He reaches over my shoulder and takes my half empty cup from me. I can feel his breath on my neck. He puts the cups in the sink and washes them carefully, then dries them.
"Well come on then," I say, turning to him. "What are you going to show me."
He turns around as if surprised. "Oh yes, let's go."
We meet Fischer in the bullpen as we are leaving.
"And where are you two going?" She asks, glancing down at the keys in my hand.
"To solve the case, of course," Jane says. "Do you want to come?"
She shakes her head, exasperated. "No, do what you need to do. Keep me informed."
"Sure. We're going to need to borrow Cho. He'll meet us there."
Fischer gives him a controlled smile and says- "Okay, fine."
When we walk away, I cast a glance behind me. Fischer is still watching us, an odd look on her face. She turns her eyes away when she sees me looking.
He doesn't tell me where we are going, but he directs me as I drive. We pull up to a cheap motel and when I turn off the engine, I look at him impatiently.
"Hurry up then," he says with a grin.
We get to Room 18. He already has a key. Of course he does. He opens the door and holds it for me as I go inside.
"What are we doing here, Jane?" I ask. He sits on the bed and motions for me to sit beside him. He points at the window. The curtains are slightly parted and we can see the traffic moving down the highway.
"In about half an hour, Professor Gallagher is going to walk past that window and go into Room 19," he tells me.
Oh for God's sake, how does he know that. What the hell is going on. This is much too secretive, even for Jane.
"Oh yes," I reply. "And what are we going to do for half an hour?"
He raises his eyebrows at me and I blush again. God damn my pale skin, God damn Jane.
"Oh Lisbon, that's inappropriate. I can't believe your mind goes to such places," he says to me with a smile.
"Oh shut up," I reply.
"We're going to set a little trap, that's what we're going to do for half an hour."
