This chapter was inspired by the show "The Mentalist." It's one of my new favorites and I thought it'd be fun to Patrica Jane meet Horatio and Ryan.

Mental

Las Vegas Police Department Crime Lab
Las Vegas, Nevada
12:27pm

Horatio's phone vibrated and he excused himself to answer the unfamiliar number. "Hello?"

"Hello, Lieutenant Caine?" the chipper voice on the other end said.

"Yes, speaking."

"Yes, my name is Patrick Jane and I work for the California Bureau of Investigation. I'm calling you because I believe there's something here you've been looking for."

Horatio was confused by the man's words. "You have something I'm looking for? What would that be?"

"What? Just a beautiful young woman named Jessica."

Horatio felt his heart stop and his mind went completely blank.

"Hello? Lieutenant Caine? Are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm still here. What do you mean you have Jessica?"

12:47pm

Greg and Ryan were secretly playing a game online on Greg's computer when Catherine and Horatio walked in. Greg hurriedly closed the window and tried to act normal.

"Hey Catherine, what's going on?" he quickly asked.

"Well besides the fact that you're behind on getting the fingerprints you lifted from that game you're currently playing that's still evidence-"

"It was research." Greg quickly interjected.

"Research, yeah sure, Greg, just like the swimsuit editions of Sports Illustrated Magazines you used to keep in the DNA lab were research."

"Ok, I was guilty there."

"Anyways, Lieutenant Caine needs Officer Wolfe back. They're leaving for California in an hour."

"Wait, why are we going to California?" Ryan asked.

"Because the California Bureau of Investigation may have located Jessica," Horatio informed him. "We need to leave now because our flight leaves in an hour and I know you're going to need most of that hour to pack your things in that way you pack them." Horatio said with a brief roll of his eyes. "Fucking weirdo."

Ryan's eyes grew huge and he felt his stomach tie into knots. "They found Jessica?"

"That's what Mr. Jane told me, but we need to leave now," Horatio sternly said.

Ryan looked at Greg and then threw his arms around him. "Good-bye big brother! I'm leaving you for a woman!"

"Ryan's leaving Greg for a woman?" Nick asked as he strolled into the room. "I didn't know you guys were dating. Does Jessica know?"

"Shut up Nick," Greg said, rolling his eyes as his ears and Ryan's turned the same shade of red.

Nick looked at Ryan who was collecting his things. "Where you going, Ryan?"

"California!" he excitedly declared, "The CBI has Jessica!"

"CBI? What's that, a misspelling of CSI?" Nick asked.

"I'll explain it to you later Nicky," Catherine said. She held out her hand to Horatio and smiled. He grasped it with a smile of his own. "It was good seeing you again, Horatio."

"Like wise, Catherine, I just wish it was on different terms."

Nick grabbed Ryan's arm and smiled at him. Ryan smiled back and embraced him in his arms. "Thanks for keeping my Jessie safe while she was here."

"Not problem man," Nick said, "Anything for you guys."

"You're going to come back and visit, right?" Greg asked as he walked over with a smile on his face.

Ryan chuckled and hugged him. "Of course, but you guys have to come visit us in Miami sometime."

"Sun, beaches, babes," Nick said, "Yeah I think you guys have everything Greg's looking for."

"Shut up, Nick," Greg scoffed as he playfully punched his arm.

"Oh sorry, guys apparently," Nick said with a laugh.

"I'm going to hurt you."

Nick scoffed. "Please, like you could."

"Ryan, we need to leave now." Horatio said, "We have a plane to catch."

"Sorry H," Ryan said as he followed him out the door. "Can we go to Lego Land while we're there?"

"Nope, we're going to Sacramento."

"Aw man!"

California Bureau of Investigation Headquarters
Sacramento, CA
3:30pm

Horatio and Ryan passed through security and up the elevator to the third floor. They walked into the busy office, stopping a woman to ask for help.

"Excuse ma'am," Horatio said, "But we're looking for an Agent Lisbon."

The young woman looked at Horatio confused. "Yes, speaking, that's me." She looked at the two men again. "And you are?"

"Lieutenant Horatio Caine and CSI Ryan Wolfe from Miami Dade," Horatio explained as he displayed his credentials and badge, "I received a call earlier today just after noon that my daughter was somewhere here at the CBI. I was given instructions to find you and you would be able to take me to see a…" his voice trailed off as he looked at the name on the back of the Las Vegas business card he held in his hand. "Patrick Jane."

"That's me," a vaguely familiar voice said behind Horatio and Ryan. They turned to see a blonde hair man leaning against the elevator doorframe. He was wearing s button down shirt and vest and had a case file tucked under his left arm. He walked over to them and extended his hand. "You must be Lieutenant Caine," he said as he shook Horatio's hand. He turned and looked at Ryan. "And you must be Ryan Wolfe. My name's Patrick Jane, I'm the one that called you this morning, Lieutenant Caine, about your daughter."

Lisbon stared at Patrick. "Jane, what's going on?"

"Oh you didn't know?" Patrick asked, "We've had a missing Miami woman in our building all day."

"We what?!" Lisbon snapped.

"We've had a missing Miami woman in our building, more specifically my office. I thought you would have known that."

"Jane, we had a missing woman in our office and you didn't think it was important to tell me?"

"Well I assumed that since you're the boss and you seem to know everything, so you would have known about a missing woman in our building. I mean her picture has been all over national television. She's quite beautiful, you really can't miss her."

"Wait, is this the Miami woman who's been missing for seven months after the case of her death went cold?" Lisbon asked, "The one where the police thought it was a suicide but then they couldn't find evidence of a suicide so then it was declared a homicide and then hit a dead end when there wasn't enough supporting evidence. That missing woman?!"

"Yes, that one," Patrick said. "Haven't I been saying that all along?"

"So this woman is somewhere in our building?"

"No, not anymore," Patrick said as he dug through a candy dish on the nearest desk. "Oh lemon drops."

"Jane!" Lisbon snapped, "Pay attention! What do you mean not anymore?"

"Well she left, about three hours ago." Patrick thought it over for a second before he spoke again. "I think that was part of the plan."

"You mean Jessica's not here anymore?" Ryan asked annoyed, "Are you sure it was even her?"

"Yes it was her and yes she left already. We had a very interesting meeting though."

"How long was she actually here?" Lisbon asked.

"Oh about thirty minutes, or at least that's how long our meeting was. I don't know how long she was in my office before I got there."

"Mr. Jane, what did you discuss with her?" Horatio asked.

"Well it was quite interesting actually, we talked about me and then her and then about her computer skills, which are quite amazing by the way."

"What did you talk about?" Horatio inquired.

"Well first she informed me of our less than attentive security guards who let her in even though when they swiped her ID card it identified her as me." Patrick explained, "I guess when they get hungry they'll let just anyone in. Then we played a brief game of twenty questions where I had to guess who she was and I got it right." Patrick smiled. "I was very proud of myself."

"Patrick, are you going somewhere with this?" Lisbon asked.

"Yes I am, but you have to be patient," Patrick said to her. He turned to Horatio and Ryan. "Sorry, she gets so impatient with me and my story telling skills."

"I'm getting impatient," Ryan muttered angrily. "Please tell me where she is."

Patrick scoffed and shook his head. "Officer Wolfe, you just need to relax. Just relax and concentrate on your breathing, you'll feel much better. Just think about breathing, in and out, in and out, in and-"

"Patrick don't you dare put him in a trance!" Lisbon snapped.

"Oops, I got caught."

"Wait," Ryan stuttered, "You were putting me in a trance? What kind of trance?"

"He was trying to hypnotize you." Lisbon explained, "He does that a lot. Keep your guard up with this one."

"You're all so angry," Patrick said with a smile. "Have some lemon drops, they make me feel better. I promise no tricks with these."

Ryan hesitated but took one from his hand. "If I pass out I'm kicking your ass when I wake up."

Patrick simply chuckled and continued on with his story. "So I go up to my office and find this radiating young woman sitting at my desk. Once I figured out who she was we talked a bit about Red John."

"Red John?" Ryan questioned, "Whose Red John?"

"Red John is a serial killer we've been tracking for years." Lisbon explained, "We're currently working on a case about him right now."

"No we're not," Patrick said.

Lisbon shot him a dirty look. "What do you mean we're not?"

Patrick held out the case file for her. "It's a copycat."

"How do you know?" Lisbon asked as she took the file. It was the one she had been looking for. "And how did you get this out of my desk?!"

"Well in both cases it was Dr. Caine who pointed it out." Patrick explained, "In the pool of blood by the bed we found a partial shoe print. Red John would not have made that mistake."

"And the case file?" Lisbon prompted.

"Dr. Caine stole it out of your desk," Patrick quickly said.

Lisbon stared at him dumbfounded. "She took it from my desk? How did she do that?"

"Yes she did and I don't know. We never got around to discussing that. I've noticed she's very good at hiding out in the open. She probably just walked up, picked the lock, and took the file."

"Are you talking about that smokin' hot blonde that was in Lisbon's office earlier?" a tall man with dark brown hair asked as he approached the group. He smiled and held out his hand to Horatio and then Ryan. "Agent Wayne Rigsby," he introduced himself.

"Rigsby, you saw someone in my office and didn't do anything about it?" Lisbon asked.

"Well sure I did. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was just borrowing the Red John case file. She said she was from the forensics department and she was new. I just kindly told her that next time she needed to check with you first, boss."

"Did you ask her anything else?" Lisbon inquired.

"Yeah, I asked for her number." Rigsby proudly declared, "And I got it!" He pulled a business card from his pocket and waved it around happily. "Guess who's calling her later tonight!"

"I wouldn't bother," an Asian man blandly said, "She was clearly engaged." He also extended his hand. "Agent Kimball Cho."

"Lieutenant Caine and Officer Wolfe, Miami Dade," Horatio said. "Can I see that card?"

"Only if I can have it back," Rigsby said as he handed the business card to Horatio. "I can't keep a fine lady like that waiting."

"Don't bother," Cho said, "She's engaged."

"Just because she was wearing a ring doesn't mean she's engaged," Rigsby retorted.

"Actually Rigsby's right about this one," Patrick said, "She's not engaged. Officer Wolfe hasn't popped the question yet."

"Haha, see!" Rigsby laughed. "Wait, what?" he asked suddenly confused.

Horatio looked at the CBI business card and chuckled. "Dr. Jessica Stone," he read, "I know that name."

"That's the name your daughter uses when she doesn't want anyone to know who she is, isn't it?" Patrick asked.

"As a matter of fact it is." He laughed as he read the number printed on the card. "Well Agent Rigsby, why don't you give her a call right now?"

"Well she might be working," Rigsby said, trying to seem professional.

"Oh no, she'll answer," Horatio said as he handed Rigsby the card.

Rigsby gave him a questioning look and pulled out his phone. He dialed the number on the card and brought the phone to his ear. Ryan's phone began to ring in his pocket and he pulled it out and read the unfamiliar number across the screen. He looked at Rigsby and held his phone up for him to read. Rigsby's face flushed and he quickly hung up his phone.

Patrick laughed and jumped from foot to foot. "Oh that was good!" he happily said, "She knew that was going to happen! She knew Rigsby was going to meet Officer Wolfe so she gave him his number! Oh that was so good!"

Rigsby stared at the floor and shifted uneasily. "Well then, I'm going to, um, I'm going to get back to work."

"Good idea," Lisbon said. "Cho take this and start looking for new suspects. This guy isn't Red John. Look over the witness statements again."

"Got it boss," Cho said as he walked away with Rigsby.

"I was right though," Rigsby said to Cho as they walked away, "She wasn't engaged."

"Yeah and that's about the only thing you were right about," Cho blandly retorted.

Lisbon looked at Patrick, who gave her a cheerful smile. "Do you have anything else you need to tell us Jane?"

Patrick weighed out his thoughts. "No, I don't think so."

"Uh, boss," a young red headed woman said from her desk, "My computer's acting weird."

"Van Pelt can't you figure anything out on your own?" Lisbon snapped. She walked over to the young woman's desk and leaned over her shoulder. A baffled expression washed over her face as she stared at the computer. "What are you doing?"

"Well I was trying to access the file the AV guys sent me but it's blank." Van Pelt explained, "When I tried opening it again it just said 'You got Stoned.'"

Ryan and Horatio looked at each other for a moment before they rushed over to the desk. Ryan looked over the computer screen. "Would you mind if I took a look?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," Van Pelt said as she stood from her computer.

Ryan slid into the chair and looked over the message. He brought up a few windows and began typing commands. "You guys use a different program than we do," he commented as he worked.

"Can you still get through?" Horatio asked.

"Oh yeah, Jess taught me all she knows, which I hear she learned from her father."

"Her biological," Horatio commented, "He taught me everything I know, too."

"Oh, you're not Jessica's biological father?" Patrick asked, eating a sandwich.

"Nope, I adopted her fourteen years ago, after both her parents died."

"Well I must say, I don't know how, but your eyes look beautiful on her."

"Thank you," Horatio commented, "Kidney transplant made her eyes change colors."

The computer beeped and an alert flashed on the computer screen. "I was right!" Ryan exclaimed, "Jessica hacked you!"

"Hacked us?" Lisbon asked, "You mean she's the one that's been hacking us from our own office."

"No, she was somewhere else," Ryan explained.

"But our AV department said the hacker was inside the building," Van Pelt commented.

"That's what the virus she sent you told you."

"She sent us a virus?" Lisbon asked, rather irritated.

"Yes, but it was harmless," Ryan said as he typed on the computer. Another alert flashed with a message stating the virus had been destroyed. "There, it's gone now. Oh and you got another message from your AV department. Do you want me to scan it first?"

"Might as well," Lisbon sighed.

Ryan began to scan the message for another virus but the scan was blocked and a window popped up. "I knew she was going to do that," he muttered as he started the video.

Jessica's face filled the screen and she smiled with a mischievous grin.

"You were close but I got away again," Jessica said in the video. "Now try again. Come on big Daddy, Pumpkin you can do better." Jessica waved and smirked at them.

The window closed and Ryan sighed, shaking his head. "Damn it Jess," he muttered as he continued working on the CBI computer. "There, all the viruses are gone. You're clean now."

"Thank you Officer Wolfe," Lisbon said. She turned back to Patrick Jane. He gave her a pleasant smile and held out his sandwich. "Roast beef?" he said.

"No Patrick, I don't want any of your damn sandwich!" she snapped. "I want you to start talking!"

"About what?" Patrick asked around a mouthful of sandwich.

"You knew she did this!" Lisbon continued to snap at him. "You knew Jessica Caine hacked our computer system and you didn't tell me! This is a major crime, Patrick!"

"Oh don't send the poor girl to jail," Patrick said, "The jail wouldn't be able to handle her. She'd overtake and then probably escape. Then we'd have to go through with the whole messy fugitive hunt thing and you know how grumpy the cops get when we have to do that."

"Can you actually prove my daughter did this?" Horatio asked.

"Well Officer Wolfe and Jane both just admitted she did it," Lisbon stated.

"But she didn't do anything," Ryan said. "Look all she did was hack into your system to lift some information about Mr. Jane. She took his ID number and it seems transferred it to another card. So really it's your fault for making your system so easy to hack."

"Excuse me, our system is not easy to hack," Lisbon snapped. "We have a very advanced security system."

"No you don't," Ryan said. "Look I just hacked in and made myself an employee."

"What?!" Lisbon exclaimed. She leaned over Ryan's shoulder and stared at the screen. Sure enough Ryan had entered himself into the system as a forensic specialist under the name Brian Johnson.

"I win," Ryan said with a smirk.

Lisbon scoffed and paced. "I can't believe this."

"So who is this gang Jessica's hiding from?" Patrick asked as he continued to eat his sandwich.

Horatio gave him a questioning look. "Excuse me?"

"Well she's hiding from someone, that's why she disappeared, right?" Patrick asked.

"Well yes, she's hiding from someone."

"Who attacked her?"

Horatio sighed and shook his head. "No one attacked her. An innocent woman died in an attempt at her murder. Jessica couldn't take it anymore. She faked her own death in hopes the Crip Kings would leave her alone once and for all."

"Well I think her plan is going to work," Patrick said, "I mean a genius like her seems to already know how everything's going to play out. So clearly this plan is going to work."

Ryan chuckled. "You think Jessica's a genius too, huh?"

"Oh no I know she's a genius." Patrick said, "She told me her IQ and wow she's smart!"

"I bet she's smarter than you," Lisbon muttered.

"Actually yes she is, by three points."

"Three points?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah her IQ level is higher than mine by three points," Patrick commented. "Anyone want some fruit? I think there's still some in the employee frig."

"What's her IQ level?" Ryan asked as he followed him subconsciously.

"Oh you don't want to know," Patrick insisted, handing Ryan a pear.

"What does that mean?" Ryan asked as he bit into the pear absentmindedly.

"Well those of average or above average intelligence always feel inferior when they learn their significant other has a higher IQ level than them," Patrick said, trying to decide between an apple and a banana.

"Are you calling me dumb?" Ryan asked defensively.

"Ryan," Horatio said in a warning tone.

Ryan shot him a withdrawn look. "Sorry H," he quietly muttered.

"No I'm not calling you dumb," Patrick said. "In fact I would place you in the above average intelligence range. You're incredibly intelligent and observant, Officer Wolfe. You've already proven that by figuring out Jessica's virus. I'm just saying you're probably one of those people who get self conscious easily and have a problem with wanting to prove yourself all the time. You need to stop that. Jessica loves you for who you are and you need to stop these stupid thoughts about her leaving you. You're a smart, successful, and talented young man, who, if I might add, is quite handsome. So relax, Jessica's not going to think less of you because your IQ is lower than hers. She loves you, that's why she's going home."

Ryan smiled and took a bite out of his pear again. "You really think so?"

"Well of course," Patrick said with a smile, "She probably likes you better not as a genius."

"Really?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, sometimes it's annoying being around another person with a high IQ," Patrick said. "I mean you get a group of geniuses together and nothing gets accomplished because all they do is fight and argue about why they're right. I mean just think about a group of OCD people in one room."

"Sounds like chaos," Horatio muttered, "And would probably smell like hand sanitizer."

"See you can't put people like that together," Patrick said. "Havoc will ensue."

"So where's Jessica now?" Ryan asked as he followed Patrick through the office, still eating his pear.

"Oh I'm entirely sure," Patrick commented as they walked towards Lisbon's office.

Agent Lisbon sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe this, Jane. We had a missing woman in our building and you didn't tell me about it."

"Well you never said I had to tell you there was a missing person in our building." Patrick said, "Excuse me, I need to use the restroom." He turned and walked towards the restroom. His shoulder collided with Horatio's and he stopped and steadied them both. "Oh dear, Lieutenant, I'm so terribly sorry. I'm such a klutz sometimes."

"Quite alright, Mr. Jane," Horatio said, straightening his jacket. "No harm done."

Lisbon sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. "I'm so sorry about all of this," she said. "Jane isn't usually quite this difficult."

"No need to worry, Agent Lisbon," Horatio said. "He reminds me a lot of my daughter."

"Only male and not attractive to me," Ryan chuckled.

Patrick walked back towards the group and bumped into Horatio again.

"Damn, there I go again, tripping over my own feet." Patrick chuckled. He looked down and cocked his head at the sight of something lying on the floor. "Oh, what's this?" He picked up a wallet and flipped it open. "Oh dear, Lieutenant, it appears you dropped your wallet."

Horatio turned and looked at him. "Did I?"
"Yeah, must have happened when I plowed into you." He handed the wallet to Horatio, who flipped it open and looked through it.

"That's alright, everything's still here. Thank you, Mr. Jane."

"Jane," Lisbon said, "Is there anything that Dr. Caine told you of importance before she left?"

"Oh yes, she did actually. She told me I need to get a new lock on my office door. Apparently it only took her twelve seconds to pick the lock. Can you believe it, twelve seconds! I'm impressed. If she wasn't headed back to Miami I'd say we should hire her. But she seems to love the wonderful sunshine state."

"Wait," Ryan interjected, "She's going home?"

"Well not right now. Eventually though she'll be back with you. Which by the way, you better have that ring ready."

Ryan looked at him surprised. "What ring?"

"The ring you bought her, you know so you can propose to her."

"What makes you think I bought a ring?"

"Oh, so it's an heirloom. Nice, very nice. You have good taste, Officer Wolfe."

Ryan stuttered and shook his head. "How did you know I was going to propose to her?"

"Well she had a ring already and I would assume that if it was an engagement ring she would have called you her fiancé. She didn't so I'm guessing you're not engaged yet. Besides, if you were engaged I would think she would have dragged you along for this country wide road trip. I mean really, what kind of woman leaves her fiancé with her father when she tours the world hiding from thugs?"

"Jane," Lisbon interjected, "Did Dr. Caine tell you anything important?"

"Oh right, I almost forgot." Patrick grabbed Horatio and Ryan's arms and led them towards the window. "Jessica wants to see you one last time."

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.

"Just wait and watch." Patrick looked at his watch. "It should be happening in about twenty seconds."

"What's happening?" Ryan continued to question.

"Just watch, just watch," Patrick assured him. "You'll see soon enough."

"Jane, what's going on?" Lisbon asked as she approached the window.

"You're so impatient, Lisbon; you can't rush these kinds of things. Oh, there it goes!" Patrick pointed to the window towards a plane flying through the air. The wheels were still folding up as it took off. "There she is!"

"She's on that plane?" Ryan asked, his voice shaking slightly.

"She sure is." Patrick smiled. "She picked this building because it has a great view of the Sacramento Airport. She wanted the two of you to see her just before she left."

Horatio chuckled and shook his head. "Sounds just like my daughter."

City View Condominiums
Miami, FL
11:37pm

Ryan laid on his stomach on his bed watching the videos on his computer McGee and Abby had sent him. It was of Jessica singing various songs while playing a guitar that had been entered as evidence. She smiled at the camera as Abby encouraged her from her place behind the camera.

"Keep going, Jessie!" Abby said, "You have such an incredible voice!"

"Oh come on, Abbs," Jessica chuckled as she continued to tunelessly strum the guitar, "I'm not that good."

"I'd say you're pretty good," McGee commented as the camera swiveled to look at him. The shot lingered on McGee for several moments as Jessica continued to play. McGee looked at the camera and a slight blush formed on his cheeks. "Abby, Jessica's over there."

"Oh right!" Abby's voices sounded as the camera jerked back towards Jessica. Jessica laughed and smiled at the camera.

"Alright, this one's for Ryan!" she happily exclaimed as the tune of the guitar changed.

Ryan smiled to himself as Jessica began playing Journey's "Don't Stop Believein'." She smiled brightly at the camera and Ryan felt like she was singing just to him. Abby began singing along with her, slightly out of tune.

"Come on, McGee!" Abby said, "Sing along!"

"I don't sing, Abby," McGee sternly said.

"What's going on here?" Gibbs's voice sounded as Abby's camera turned just in time to catch sight of him walking out of the elevator.

"Nothing, Gibbs!" Abby said.

The computer screen went black and the video stopped. Ryan stared at the blank screen and sighed.

"Please come home, Jess," he whispered, "I need you."