Mend This Tear- chapter four
DISCLAIMER: The Mentalist does not belong to me. It is the creation of Bruno Heller. I'm writing this fiction to express my love for the series and maybe vent a little.
"So tell me about your day. "
Cho lay his head back on the headboard of Elise's bed in mild irritation.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes. We had an agreement," she reminded him, smiling encouragingly.
It had been a couple of months ago. The couple had been dating for a year and to celebrate their anniversary they had planned on spending an entire weekend together. Due to the nature of his job; that in itself would have been a novelty. He'd asked Lisbon for the time off and she had given it to him. But Teresa Lisbon had had to call him back in for the Bajoran case; they'd discovered that Walter Mashburn was being targeted and she needed Cho to guard the man
It was the job. And Cho loved his job. But he also loved his girlfriend, who had given him a hug and told him to be careful; understanding even when she was disappointed. It had stirred him.
"I'll make it up to you," Kimball had promised in a rare flow of emotion.
"I'm sure you will," Elise had agreed, already knowing what she'd ask of him.
When Elise had been attacked in her home, beaten in front of Kimball as a threat during one of his cases, Cho became very attentive. He'd even opened up to her; so remorseful was he over what had happened. They had gotten closer than ever; found a silver lining in their black cloud.
But as time passed and they'd both gotten over the scare; they'd fallen back into the normal pattern of silent nights and her trying to guess at what her stoic partner was thinking. Elise realized that they needed to make communication an ingrained part of their relationship; a ritual.
But she had been wary of sharing her idea with Cho, knowing he wouldn't want to.
The ruination of their anniversary plans finally gave her the perfect opportunity to do so.
The next time they met, she'd told him that they needed to 'talk'.
"You know Kimball, we're both busy people, we don't have a lot of time to spend together. So why don't we go for quality instead of quantity?
"Sounds good," he'd agreed readily. At least, it wasn't nearly as ominous as what he'd had in mind when she said they needed 'to talk'.
He had no idea.
"So, let's start out our evenings by you telling me a little about your day. Then we can move on to more fun things to do."
Cho realized that he had been conned, yet strangely he didn't mind. Elise had stuck with him longer than any other woman. She'd never complained about his abruptness or his lack of conversation. Even now, he knew she just wanted him to share enough to get to know him more; to love him more.
Most importantly, Elise made him feel like he was a good man; never held his past against him. He could even imagine himself marrying her.
If talking was what she wanted, he'd try to give it to her.
But to his surprise (and relief) she rarely invoked their agreement. He thought she must have forgotten it.
Cho now realized she was just biding her time. Elise didn't want to abuse their deal and had been waiting for when she thought he really needed to let off steam; when he was being even more close-mouthed than usual.
Like tonight.
The senior agent let out soundless sigh. The woman was smart. She'd even waited until after they'd finished 'more fun things' so that he wouldn't feel that she was using intimacy as a weapon. She was relying solely on his word.
"Come on Kimball. Tell me about work."
"It's really late," Cho said. Also, he had a headache but he wouldn't tell her that.
"Yes it is. So tell me what's bothering you. You'll feel a lot better and will sleep much quicker once it's off your chest," Elise said, leaning into him. She had an inkling it would be easier for him if he didn't have to look at her as he shared. She was right.
"It's been really tense," he started.
"Mhmm."
"The guy we caught, the case we just wrapped up? Someone set him on fire in his cell."
"Oh my God," she commented, raising herself up to look at him. Kimball nodded at her, before gently pulling her back to him, wrapping an arm around her, holding her head to his heart.
"Personally I could care less. I mean, he was a cop killer who also killed an innocent woman," he revealed, "But it's going to be a real pain. The higher ups are going crazy, which means boss is going to be facing a lot of heat. And she's already tense enough."
"You're worried about her," Elise stated. She wasn't jealous. She knew Kimball considered his team family and he held Teresa in especially high regard. She might have been worried if Kimball had been any other man. But her boyfriend was as honorable as he was handsome. And although Elise only met Teresa once she could tell she was a lovely woman.
"She didn't look good today. Something was off," Kimball added.
"You didn't ask her?" Elise wondered, even though she knew the answer.
"It's not something I'd do; although I might have today. But she was in her office all day; didn't look like she'd appreciate being disturbed."
"I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Yeah. It probably has something to do with Jane. He hadn't been around either; holed himself in his attic."
"You didn't ask him either?"
"Like Rigsby says, 'not touching that'. It's none of my business. Besides, I don't know what I might be getting into. Don't wanna know actually."
"You think they're in love?" Elise ventured cautiously. The little that Cho revealed about his colleagues had left her curious, but she never asked before now. Kimball was a fiercely private man who also respected the privacy of others. She was always worried he would think less of her for her interest. But now, lying against him listening to his musings, his hand stroking her shoulder, Elise felt confident enough to wonder out loud.
"I don't think Lisbon is. She's too smart to get involved with him. But she does care about him as much as any of us, and that's a pretty damn lot."
"You know, when we met, she seemed lonely," Elise said tentatively. She had noted that Teresa was drinking coffee, although the work day had been officially done. That meant she was staying at the office after hours, working. Elise had been just as much of a workaholic before Kimball came into her life; she had nothing else.
"She's got us," Cho said firmly.
He doesn't understand, Elise thought. Loyalty was all well and good, but nothing could substitute being in a warm loving relationship. But she dropped the matter. She didn't want to push her luck, not when their 'talk' was going so well so far.
"And Patrick?" Elise asked, moving on, "How does he feel about her?"
"He loves her." Cho said simply. Elise pulled back a bit from him to look at him in astonishment.
"Really?"
"Rigsby thinks so," Cho said.
"And you agree."
"I've seen the way he looks at her, like she's something precious."
It's the same way I feel about you, he thought, stroking her hair.
"Plus, he doesn't flirt with her anymore. Not consciously anyway," Cho added. Elise's delicate features scrunched slightly.
"I don't understand, Kimball. Why would a lack of flirting mean that he loves her. Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
"Not with Jane. He used to flirt with Lisbon all the time to embarrass her. It was fun for him. So why'd he stop? I'm guessing he started getting uncomfortable with it because he started feeling more. It's not a game anymore so it's not as fun anymore."
"But if you're right, then why doesn't he just ask her out?" Elise asked reasonably.
Kimball smiled a rare smile, remembering that Van Pelt had wondered the same thing. A few weeks ago Cho had listened to his colleagues argue over their boss and the consultant. It was ironic how straightforward the women's perspective was. If anything it was the men (in this case, Rigsby) who were being all gray about the situation. Cho himself had come out of the conversation pretty much the same way he'd entered it: ambivalent.
He didn't want to see two people he cared about get together only to ruin each other.
The mentalist had helped Cho when his best friend David Seung got killed. Cho hadn't wanted to get involved but Jane had insisted he follow up on the case; to ease his conscience, he'd said. He'd even tagged along with Cho when he went AWOL and eventually came up with an idea to find David's murderer.
Cho can never forget a favor like that.
It made him realize that despite the man's aloof demeanor, Jane regarded them as family. That his annoying nosiness might even stem from genuine concern; at least sometimes.
Lisbon had also come through for him during the ordeal. As his boss, she could have penalized him for his disappearing act; for investigating on his own and not returning her calls. But she had been mostly relieved when he and Jane finally returned to CBI. Oh she'd threatened him with suspension if he ever pulled a stunt like that again; but he'd known her anger was out of worry, not resentment. Later, she even sanctioned Jane's crazy plan, despite knowing that lawsuits would be brought on her head. Cho knew she'd done so out of desire to catch Cho's best friend's murderer, and Elise's attacker. She never would have knowingly thrown herself to the wolves otherwise. Luckily, when complaint came, she had been able to deal with it deftly; as if it never happened.
The prospect of Jane and Lisbon being in a relationship was only agreeable if it meant their happiness. Good friends did not always make good lovers. Everyone knew that.
Even Grace and Rigsby's relationship couldn't last; and all they had to endure was working in a different place to stay together.
Jane and Boss have infinitely more baggage to contend with, he thought. Maybe that's what held the man from making a move.
But Cho did not like to speculate on unknowns. At least not out loud. Plus, it had been a long day and his head was still throbbing slightly.
"I don't know why he doesn't ask her out," he told Elise simply.
"Is it because of what happened to Kristina?" Elise of course knew about the psychic's disappearance, and reappearance. She had also known that Jane liked her. The day Patrick went out on a date with Kristina had been one of the rare times Kimball had smiled openly. He'd come home, dimples on display, and told her that Jane was going on his first date.
"Does he still have feelings for her?" Elise asked.
Cho quickly dispelled that notion.
"No. No way Jane's hung up on that psychic."
Although Cho had seen how frantically Jane had left the bar when he saw Kristina on television, how worried for her he was, and how depressed he became when she remained missing, he had also seen Jane with her after they found her. The consultant had sat with the unresponsive woman in one of the CBI interrogation rooms. Watching from the 2 way mirror, Cho could see that while there had been affection in his questioning, even tenderness, there hadn't been any love. In fact, when Kristina only responded to Jane under the guise of a séance, he had gotten angry with her, with her contention that she was dead. If nothing else, the haste with which Jane concluded his questioning, putting out the candle, giving up on her, was enough to illustrate how low she had become in his esteem.
Again, Cho didn't feel up to sharing all of this with Elise. So he just gave her the gist of his thought process.
"They only had half a date. It's more likely that he's afraid Red John will get Lisbon like he got Kristina."
Elise's fine eyebrows furrowed.
"Why would he think that? Didn't Red John go after Kristina for talking about him on TV? Why would Jane think it's because she went out with him?"
Cho studied Elise, thinking over her words.
"That's a very good question. I don't know," he said, gazing into her eyes, still running his fingers through her hair.
"You were right, you know," he admitted.
"About what?"
"This was nice, talking." His headache was practically gone.
"It's nice to listen for a change," she said, smiling beautifully.
"Don't get used too used to it," Cho said, leaning in to kiss her.
His cell phone rang on her bedside table. Sighing, Cho reached for it.
"It's Lisbon," he told her as he answered.
"Boss?"
"Hello?" An unfamiliar man said.
"Who is this," Cho demanded, immediately alert.
"Mr. Cho?"
"How do you know my name? Where'd you get this phone?"
"My name is Dan Keller, I'm a medic for the Sacramento EMT. Do you know a Caucasian woman, green eyes, dark hair, small build?"
"That's my boss, Teresa Lisbon. Did something happen to her?"
"Do you know any next of kin we can-"
"I'm here medical proxy. You can talk to me."
"Okay. We were sent to her location when she made a 911 call and the dispatcher was able to trace it. We found her collapsed off the side of a rode, barely breathing. We've stabilized her but she's unconscious and we have no idea what's wrong with her. It could be anything; an allergic reaction, respiratory disease. We found some vomit nearby, so it might have been a toxin. We're on our way to Sac General now. I thought I'd save the doctor's some time and see if I can get in touch with someone who can give us more information about her, better her odds for recovery."
"I'm on my way," Cho said, hanging up.
Author's note: Everyone, thank you so much for the reviews. There are invaluable. Please continue giving me your feedback. This story is a monster.