'Till Death Do We Part

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! When I opened my inbox this afternoon it was flooded! Thanks to all my reviewers and those who added me to their alerts or favorites. Believe me, you have no idea how happy it makes me to see all of the emails in my inbox. :D

Oh, and another thing. This takes place sometime after Bloodshot for the Mentalist, and after Liz left but before Megan left for Numb3rs.


Chapter 2: The Mystery Begins

"What've we got David?" Don asked, following the black agent into the house.

"Our dead guy is Jeremy Brownfield," David answered, pointing to the body lying in the middle of the floor. "He lived here with his girlfriend. Moved here from Sacramento six years ago. He lived with his brother, a Mac Brownfield, up until then."

Don knelt down next to the body. "Murder weapon?" he asked.

"Forensics said it'll take a while to be sure, but they're guessing it was a carving knife," David replied, glancing down at a file in his hands. "The girlfriend said there was one missing."

Don straightened. "All right, let's talk to her then."

"Megan's already on it," David told him. "And Colby's talking to the neighbors."

Don remained impassive on the outside, but on the inside, he swelled with pride. His team worked well together. Better than any other team he had worked on. He just nodded, though.

"So what do we know about Jeremy Brownfield?" he asked.

Consulting the file in his hands, David said, "Twenty-one years old, parents died in a car crash when he was seven. He lived with his brother and aunt until he was eighteen, then moved in with his brother. Arrested twice, first time for a DUI, second for armed robbery and assault."

"Apparently, he and the brother did not get along," came a voice from behind them. Don turned. It was Colby Granger.

"Why do you say that?" Don asked.

"Just spoke with the neighbors," Colby answered. "Both said they had seen Brownfield get into some heated arguments with his brother."

"Did they hear what they were arguing about?" David asked.

Colby shook his head. "No. They did say that the brother came around regularly. About once or twice every two weeks."

Don nodded and looked over to David. "Where's the brother live?"

"Sacramento," David said, glancing down at the file again.

Don blew out a long breath. "Damn. That's out of our jurisdiction."

Megan stepped inside. "What is?" she asked.

"Sacramento," Don replied.

"I'll go," Megan volunteered. At the surprise on the other agents' faces, she shrugged and said, "I've got nothing else to do."

"I'll go with you," Don said.

"Fine with me," Megan said. Don nodded, quickly gave a few orders to David and Colby, and followed her out the door.

Finally. The last ones had come and gone, and now Lisbon was finally offered a chance to rest. She sighed and fell back on her bed.

I'll take a shower in the morning, she thought sleepily. Now, I'm going to sleep. I'm going to–

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden loud knock on the door, knocking her out of her sleepy haze and off her bed.

"Dammit," she grumbled under her breath. What now?

Climbing to her feet a bit unsteadily, Lisbon made her way back to the front door, the obnoxious banging continuing incessantly until she yanked the door open, not bothering to look through the peephole.

"I'm out," she lied.

"Oh, come on. You know you can't lie to me."

Lisbon wrenched her eyelids open to glare at the curly headed, moronic, stupid–

"Trick or treat!" Jane declared, holding out a pillow case half full of sugar and calories.

"NO," Lisbon snapped. "No Jane. Not tonight. Go home. I want to sleep."

"I can tell," Jane said, smiling. "But come on. You can't honestly tell me that you don't want to share your candy..."

"No!" Lisbon snapped back. "I don't. Go away."

"You didn't tell that guy earlier to go away," Jane shot back.

Oh crap. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. Patrick Jane had seen him. Mac Brownfield. Patrick Jane had seen Mac Brownfield ask to take Teresa Lisbon out on a date, and she hadn't said no! Her life was officially ruined!

"W-what guy?" she stammered. Maybe he hadn't seen. Maybe he was just guessing. Maybe he meant a kid.

Yeah. And maybe Rigsby would finally ask out Van Pelt.

Jane rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, did you expect me not to know? Your neighbor, the old lady with the cat, she saw it all."

That bitch! "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said nervously.

"Mac. Brownfield," he said, emphasizing each word.

Come on, she whimpered internally. Why? Why Jane? Why not Cho, or Van Pelt, or... No never mind, not Rigsby.

"So he asked me out," she said, trying for a different play now. "What's it matter to you?"

Jane shrugged. "It'll make a good piece of gossip. The ladies in accounting always love to hear it. They're waiting for Rigsby and Van Pelt to finally go out."

"You wouldn't," Lisbon said, glaring.

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Try me."

"No," she said, wondering internally who she was trying to convince. "You wouldn't. You fear for your life too much."

He just stood there.

She broke. "Okay, what do you want?"

He held out his pillow case deliberately. "Chop, chop."

Glaring, she snatched the basket off the floor and poured what was left into the pillow case. "There, happy?" she snapped.

Jane smiled. "Yes," he said. "Yes I am." He turned and started to walk off, then stopped and turned around.

"What?" Lisbon snapped. Let me go to bed already!

He smiled. "Have fun on your date," he said, and then he turned and walked away.

A/N: Don't expect the updates to come this quickly in the future. I'm just in a writing mood and I guess my fingers feel like typing. :D Plus I had to work off some steam. Too much homework. Review!

Off to take over the world,

Crazy Girl