Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Note: It's pre-relationship and pre-Adelaide, but it fits in my alternate universe as it reveals when Patrick Jane first calls Teresa Lisbon 'Tess'.
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The anniversary of the death of his wife and child finds Patrick Jane alone, drowning his sorrows at a bar. Upon arrival, he'd paid the barman $50 upfront to keep them coming, and he'd willingly relinquished his car keys after his fifth drink. He was now ploughing his way through god knows what number drink.
It is Teresa Lisbon who steps in the door and heads over to the glaze-eyed patron at the bar later that night. Struggling to focus on the new arrival, Jane suddenly shuts out her name once he realises who it is. 'Lisbon. Have a drink!'
Figuring that Jane would of course be a happy drunk, Lisbon winces at the loudness of his yell as she takes a seat next to him. Ordering lemonade she prepares to pay the barman, but when he places the drink in front of her, she is surprised when he declares it on the house. 'If you take this fellow with you, that's payment enough. You're the best thing to walk into his life I reckon. That's the happiest I've seen him in these past three years.'
Realising that even after a few, Jane still felt the need to keep his shield up around her, Lisbon somberly accepted her drink, sitting beside Jane in silence. When Lisbon doesn't respond to his usual jibes, Jane's ramblings turn to other patrons at the bar as he cheerily spouts of random facts and nonsense.
Three drinks later for Jane finds Lisbon declaring that it's time to go home. It's like these words were magical words that slipped straight through the alcohol-induced haze and straight to the sarcastic centre of Patrick Jane as he reverted his happy – albeit drunk – attentions back to the woman beside him. 'Listen to that, boys. She's taking me home! Whoo!' he declared to no one in particular.
Calling over the barman, she realises that Patrick has exceeded his tab. Unable to get Jane focused enough to hand her his wallet, she looks through the jacket slung carelessly over the back of his bar stool. Finding no wallet, she pushes him off his seat as she slips her hands into his vest pockets. When she runs her hands around and down to the back pockets of his pants, she startles when Patrick gives an almighty yell. 'Officer! Officer! Indecent assault.'
Knowing he won't remember anything the following day, but so wishing she could bring it up again, Lisbon rolls her eyes and ignores him. Determining that his wallet was in his front pocket, and wondering why the hell it had to be the front one, Lisbon struggled to insert her hand into his front pocket as Jane continued to flail about.
Finally accessing the desired object, she turns to the grinning barman to settle the tab. Pocketing his wallet in her own pants, she watches the barman head down the bar to retrieve Jane's car keys. Her surveillance is interrupted when Jane plasters himself at her back and places his hands on either side of hers on the bar. 'Oh barman, sweet barman!' Turning in the circle of his arms, Lisbon placed her hands on his chest to brace him up in a bid to prevent her own potential suffocation. As Jane wraps his arms around her in a firm hug and refuses to let go, Lisbon manages to get a hand free to reach for the keys the barman holds out. 'We'll come back for the car tomorrow.'
'That's fine,' nodded the barman. 'Good luck!' As he watched the young lady pick up the suit jacket and lead the drunken man out the door, he conceded that she was going to need it. Fingers crossed that he wouldn't have the gentleman in his bar again come next year.
Driving to her place, suspecting that Jane wouldn't want to handle his own house tonight, Lisbon watches as said man rests his head back against the passenger seat, eyes shut. He is silent at last, but she finds herself missing his usually annoying noise and presence.
Reaching her apartment, she opens his door and leads him by the hand into her flat. Guiding him to the spare room, she's unable to halt his momentum as he pitches face first onto the bed. Knowing he would be too heavy for her to move, she contents herself with removing his shoes and carefully reaching under him to unbutton his vest buttons. Not willing to venture further south to unbuckle his belt, Lisbon pulls the edges of the doona over him, before she departs the room to leave him to sleep it off.
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Entering her kitchen the following morning for her morning shot of caffeine, hair rumpled and still clad in her pyjamas, Teresa Lisbon is annoyed to find a bright, chirpy and impeccably dressed Patrick Jane making himself at home in her kitchen. He's sipping a cup of coffee and reading the paper as she heads over to him. 'Good morning sunshine,' he declares, pushing a cup of coffee her way.
Readily accepting the coffee he offered, Lisbon grouched. 'How can you look and feel that good after last night?'
'It's the genes my dear. It's the genes!' laughs Jane in response. But the amusement leaves his face momentarily as he grows serious. 'Tess. Thanks for last night.'
Not quite sure how to respond to all of this, Lisbon nods her head, avoids his eyes and takes a sip of her coffee as she turns to go about making breakfast. Jane hadn't expected an answer from Lisbon, but as he watches her flit around the kitchen, he was certain that both he and their relationship had taken a turn for the better.