Radioactive Roses
A/N: Thank you all for your responses. I appreciate the number of people who followed and reviewed. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
Chapter two
Lisbon shook her head, but the voices wouldn't leave her. She stood up, and went back to her desk. No shrink in the world would believe that she was actually hearing voices. That was an absurd thought in itself. Lisbon tried to tune the voices out, but she couldn't seem to get them to stop. The door to her office opened, and Cho entered.
Suddenly, one of the voices got louder. 'New case. Downtown', it said. Cho looked at Lisbon. "We caught a case. Downtown."
Lisbon nodded, too stunned to speak. Cho shut the door and went back to his desk. "Did I just read his mind?" said Lisbon out loud.
The idea itself was absurd. Lisbon stood up and headed out to where her team were getting ready to leave. Proximity to a person seemed to have an effect on how loud their thoughts were. Rigsby's were the loudest, as he was standing next to her. He was thinking about Grace Van Pelt, his wife. Van Pelt was thinking about the case; she was apparently the one who got the call. Cho was thinking about his book. Then Jane stood up.
Lisbon would have sworn that Jane was standing right next to her talking loudly into her ear. He was considering lunch, the case, and the properties of water, all at the same time. His thoughts were chaos. Lisbon tried to tune him out, and managed with difficulty. "Are we ready?" asked Lisbon.
Three affirmative answers – their thoughts echoing them – greeted her, and they headed for the elevator.
The car ride to the scene was torture. Rigsby kept wondering about lunch, which Lisbon found irritating. And Jane skipped from one thought to another with very little provocation. Lisbon found it almost fascinating to listen to how his thoughts processed everything around him. Cho kept wondering about his book. And Van Pelt was concerned about an upcoming party later that week.
They arrived on the scene, and headed inside. A housewife lay facedown in a pool of her own blood. Three gun shot wounds to her back were the obvious cause of death. Lisbon turned to Cho. "Find out if there were any witnesses." She turned to Rigsby. "Check for signs of an intruder."
Jane was already on the other side of the room. Lisbon and Van Pelt headed over to him. "Any ideas?"
Jane turned to the body. Lisbon listened to his thoughts as he summed up the scene. He shook his head. "Housewife lives with her husband and three children. Husband was out. No signs of a struggle. Probably someone she knew well, or invited in for an argument."
Van Pelt frowned. "How do you know that?"
Lisbon pointed to a crack in the wall. "Looks like a coffee cup hit there." She bent down and touched the ground under the crack. "It's sticky." She stood up and turned to Van Pelt. "Get forensics to find out what was in that cup."
Van Pelt nodded and disappeared. Jane turned to Lisbon. "How did you know?"
Lisbon shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess I saw the crack before you did."
Jane shook his head. "You're a terrible liar, Lisbon."
Lisbon looked around. "Not here, Jane."
Jane nodded, but his thoughts were already turning over, trying to work out what Lisbon would tell him. Lisbon shook her head. "It's no good guessing, Jane. You are not even close."
Jane frowned. Lisbon walked away to check the rest of the scene. Jane went into the kitchen to see if there was anything of interest. But something bugged him. 'How did Lisbon know I was guessing?'
He found three sets of coffee cups. There were supposed to be six cups in each. One set was green, one was blue, and one was red. But one of the red cups was missing. Jane dug in the trashcan, but didn't find the cup. He then headed outside and dug in the can outside. Right in the bottom, he found the cup. It was in five pieces. Suddenly, Lisbon appeared next to him. "What did you find?"
Jane stepped back so she could see the cup. She nodded. "Van Pelt, tell forensics to bag it."
Van Pelt nodded, and Jane followed Lisbon back inside. Lisbon shook her head in response to his confused thoughts. "Don't worry, Jane. I'll explain it all later."
Inside, the husband was sitting upstairs. He was in shock. Lisbon sat opposite. "Mr Willow, I need you to tell me what happened."
Paul Willow nodded. "I got home after dropping the kids at school. I work the afternoon shift at the office. It finishes at nine. I walked in and found Marisa, like that…"
He broke down and began to cry. Lisbon sat opposite him, and let him cry. Jane was walking around the room. "Mr Willow, was Marisa having an affair?"
Paul shook his head. "No. we loved each other."
Lisbon wasn't really listening to the man's spoken words. 'I know Marisa wasn't cheating. Why the hell would they ask that? Do they think I killed her?'
Jane nodded as the man spoke. "Were you having an affair?"
Paul stood up. "That's ridiculous. I don't appreciate the way you come in and assume things about me that aren't true. Now leave, please."
Lisbon ignored the outburst. His thoughts gave him away. 'Susan Shepherd. Good colleague. Great in bed.'
Lisbon didn't really want to hear the rest. "We'll leave now, Mr Willow. Thanks for your time."
Jane followed Lisbon from the room. "He's lying," she said.
Jane stopped. "How do you know?"
Lisbon turned to him. "I'm a detective. I'm trained to pick up on that. But, there is another way that I know that."
Jane raised an eyebrow. 'This ought to be good.'
"Oh, hush," replied Lisbon, answering his thoughts unthinkingly.
"I never said anything." Jane replied.
Lisbon sighed. "Let's go."
They headed downstairs. The team were waiting for them at the door. Lisbon tried hard to tune out their thoughts, especially Jane's. He was making himself particularly obnoxious, commenting on every single thing he saw. At the car, Lisbon handed Rigsby the keys. "You drive."
Rigsby was stunned, but nodded and got behind the wheel. Lisbon sat in the back with Van Pelt and Jane, and shut her eyes. Jane was still being obnoxious. 'Why did you let Rigsby drive? You never let me drive. Or Cho. Cho hardly ever drives. I know Grace is a scary driver. But I'm not that bad.'
Jane went on and on for the entire ride home. Rigsby thought about the donut he had stashed in the fridge. Van Pelt was considering the aspects of the case as it currently stood. Cho wanted his book, because things were getting exciting in it.
XxxxxxxxxxxX
Lisbon sat down at her desk and rested her head on the file in front of her. Jane shut the door behind him. "Lisbon," he said. "When were you going to tell me?"
Lisbon sat up. She was tired from having to tune the voices around her out. "It only happened today. I don't know why, but it happened."
Jane sat down. 'Is there any reason why?' He thought.
Lisbon shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that Mr Willows has a mistress named Susan Shepherd. Thinks she's good in bed. I tuned him out after that."
Jane nodded. "I assume the team doesn't know."
Lisbon shook her head. "I haven't the heart to tell Van Pelt that Rigsby thinks about food almost as often as he does about her."
Jane laughed. "I would have thought that about him anyway."
Lisbon looked at Jane. "You can be very irritating."
Jane smiled. "I'm off to find my teacup and couch."
Lisbon nodded, and he left.
XxxxxxxxxxxX
Jane was lying on his couch. It was late in the day, and the people around him were starting to leave for the evening. Lisbon was still in her office, presumably trying to work out how she could suddenly read minds. As Jane lay on his couch, his vision began to cloud. It was like being asleep, but he was fully aware of what was happening around him. A sudden pain to the back of his head caused him to jerk upwards. He flopped back onto his couch, and his vision slowly returned.
Jane sat up. The pain was gone, and his vision was back to what it had been before. He stood up and headed over to Lisbon's office. She was leaning over her desk, fast asleep. Jane knocked on the door, and she jumped. "People's thoughts come into my dreams too," said Lisbon, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Rigsby really likes donuts."
Jane smiled. "Lisbon, what happened to you just before you realised you could read minds?"
Lisbon thought for a moment. "I had a splitting headache, and lay down on my couch. I took two painkillers. When it faded, I heard the voices."
Jane nodded, and ran through his experience in his mind. Lisbon listened to it all, and nodded with him. "Sounds similar, except my vision didn't vanish."
Jane sat down opposite Lisbon. "I can't read your mind, Lisbon. I don't hear any voices at all."
Lisbon sat back in her chair. "Is this not an after effect of the radiation we were exposed to?"
Jane shrugged. "More than likely. But I don't know what effect it's had on me." 'This is most confusing.'
Lisbon nodded in agreement. It really was a mystery.
A/N2: Let me know what you think in a review please. Also, it would be interesting to hear what you think the effect on Jane is. Any ideas are good. Thanks.