A/N: Sorry I kept you hanging on that cliff for so long, but I'm back! And with a new chapter I wrote in about 1,5 hours! Forgive me if it's not what you wanted to happen, but I just wanted to break that line of 'I can only write stories that are 8 chapters long'. I seriously hated that my stories were that short. So, Chapter 9 it is :D.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist.

"What have you been through?" Teresa asked.

Jane sighed, aware of what he'd just brought up.

He shook his head.

"A lot of bad things."

"Yeah, but what?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he said, and rolled onto his side, facing her with his back.

It didn't take long to feel one of Teresa's small hands on his arm, tugging gently to get him on his back again. He complied.

He looked at her.

"Tell me, you can trust me," Teresa whispered. Jane swallowed.

"Well... I once... Had a wife and child. But because... I acted recklessly, they are now dead. They were murdered," he said, and heard Teresa gasp.

"Oh my... I'm sorry, Patrick," she said, and stroked his cheeks softly.

"It doesn't matter, you couldn't know," he said. She nodded.

"At moments like these, I want that I knew who I am, and who you are. That I was not twelve but 38," she whispered.

Jane understood what she was saying: she felt lonely. He would feel the same if he didn't knew who he was supposed to be, or how he was supposed to feel.

Jane rolled on his side.

"Did you have any plans tomorrow?" he asked, hitting himself internally for asking. Of course she didn't have anything to do, she was on sick leave, and since he had to go to work...

She shook her head.
"No."

"Then, would you like to join me to the zoo tomorrow?"

-YulianaHenderson-

Teresa stood in her bedroom, and looked at the made-shift wardrobe in the corner of the room. It was actually just a bench with clothes draped over it, but it was enough for her. As long as she had a few of her own clothes, well, something like that, she was happy.

She just couldn't decide which clothes to wear. That white blouse, with the little blue flowers on it? Or the dress that came to just above her knees? She felt really great in that one, but she thought that it might look strange on her, considering she was 38 now, not twelve.

Why was she even worrying about what to wear? It was just Patrick she was going to hang out with, for God's sake. Nothing to worry about, right?

"Teresa, are you almost ready?" Jane suddenly asked, knocking on the door.

She startled, and turned around. She quickly decided to just wear a plain white T-shirt and jeans.

She opened the door when she was dressed, and saw Jane shortly scanning her from head to toe, before looking in her eyes.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, hitting his arm.

She looked at him. She had to admit, in the few days she'd spent with him now, she was getting used to see him in that usual three-piece-suit of him. She'd always thought that men who wore expensive suits like that were mean and cold-hearted, but Jane wasn't.

So seeing him in just a simply shirt as well, a dark jeans covering his legs, surprised her. She nodded in approval.

"Much better," she said, and he frowned.

"What do you mean?" he asked. She smiled.

"That suit you kept wearing was annoying me," she simply said, and walked past him. He sighed, and rolled his eyes. She's just twelve, Patrick Jane, let it go.

She walked away, in a childish way, almost to say: Got you!

They got into the car, and Jane shot her a death glare. She just raised her hands in defense, and he smiled.

The ride to the zoo was quiet. Neither of them wanted to say anything, fancying the sweet silence there was. They both could think about things this way, and that was what they both wanted.

Jane thought about his feelings. He knew for sure that he loved Lisbon, but was he in love with her? He still wasn't quite sure of that yet, but if it was true, he wouldn't mind it. Lisbon living with him now was something he was already getting used to, and it took great effort sometimes to remind himself that it was necessary because she wasn't mentally healthy. But on some moments he imagined that they lived together, and these moments made him feel great.

Teresa just basically tried to remember anything from before the accident. Maybe she could remember some moments, like why the hell she was there in the first place. She was a team leader, obviously, but from what? And what were her tasks if she had to go to work? She knew that she was on that sick leave until the 'real her' got back. But who was the real her?

She was the center of Jane's fantasies, that's for sure. But why?

She looked at him, and saw he was in deep thoughts. She just hoped he would still watch the upcoming traffic, she didn't entirely feel like ending up folded around the next silver Peugeot they saw.

She gently pinched his arm, which dragged him out of his thoughts. He looked at her, and immediately looked at the road when he saw she was pointing outside.

"Sorry, I was thinking," he said with a smile. He turned right on the next exit point, and motioned to the sign next to the road.

"We're here already," he laughed, and she laughed as well.

"Well, that was sure a long drive," she said, when she saw the sign he was pointing at: The Sacramento Zoo.

Of course. Jane wouldn't want to go far while Teresa was in this state. This way he could still call the team when something happened, and they could be here in minutes.

Jane parked the car, his car, which Teresa happened to like a little bit too much, and stepped out of it. Like the gentleman he was, he immediately ran over to the other side and opened the door for her. She blushed, and hit his shoulder gently.

After Jane'd paid for two tickets, which was very awkward because he had to buy two tickets for two adults, instead of one adult and one youngster, the two of them entered the zoo and were immediately greeted by the gift store.

They just stood there, looking at it, and Jane told her a story about how smart it was of them to place the gift store there, instead of at the back of the zoo. Teresa'd rolled her eyes at it, but enjoyed his smart talk.

Teresa had, after another fifteen minutes of his lecture that had now processed into him talking about the arrangement of the entire zoo, according to the map, and how they could expand it without losing the essence of the child-friendly and small zoo-like identity, pulled him into the zoo, in the direction of the lemurs. She always loved lemurs, they were sweet and cute, and sometimes acted a bit strange even.

After walking around the zoo for three times, they sat down on a bench, enjoying everything that happened around them. Some moments Jane pointed at people, telling about their pasts or about who they were in person.

Like for example little kids who were running around, being followed by their panicking parents, or little kids being followed by grandparents, who knew that there was no way in calming the kids down in a freaking zoo.

Or younger pairs, who didn't even look at the animals, only at each other. It was kind of awkward, sometimes you saw a silly in love nerdy girl with the popular football player from school, and you could just taste the awkwardness. He wasn't interested in her one bit, while the poor girl probably had a secret altar in her room, with his picture on it, surrounded by lots and lots of rose petals, and candles.

Suddenly, Jane grabbed her hands, and pulled her up on her feet.

She was confused, but complied.

She let him lead her to the beginning of the zoo, into the gift shop.

"Close your eyes," he said, and she did so, a wide grin on her face.

He returned a few minutes later, and tapped her arm slightly. She opened her eyes, and was pleasantly surprised when she saw what Jane'd bought her.

A/N: What do you think? What would Jane buy Lisbon? Something sweet? Or something with a less innocent tone? No, just kidding, it will probably just be something sweet, but I'm addicted to asking questions to nobody in particular :D.

Let me know what you think in a REVIEW, thank you!