Chapter 4 is up! And drama shall now ensue. Why? Because I love drama, and this is a TV drama (and a fanfic. And really, what fun is a fanfic if it's not ultra dramatic, fluffy, sexy, etc?). Thank you to all who've taken an interest in this story! I would really love reviews, ideas and criticism (and cookies). It helps me improve, and I promise I will work harder to review everyone else's stories!

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Ch. 4 – Assault

"Tell me about Joyce, John." Jane asked calmly.

"Beautiful woman. Always has been. Those long legs... curves in all the right places. She always had that beautiful, long, red hair. And boy was she one hell of a lover!" Boris chuckled.

"You two grew up together in a small town, surely you had to know her better than just her looks?"

"Eh, yeah. She was pretty outgoing, determined to make it big. But any deeper than that, it didn't really matter. Y'know?"

"No, I don't."

Jane's face was very serious. He hated men like this, the men who only looked at physical beauty and never bothered to look deeper. His wife was incredibly smart and caring. She wasn't particularly funny, though bless her she would try. Always telling horrible jokes, never being able to hit the punch line just right. But Jane would laugh anyway. He found himself missing those terrible jokes.

"We're just animals, Mr. Jane. Everything ultimately comes down to physical attractiveness. I mean, all animals do it. They pick out the mate that has the most important physical qualities. So do humans."

"You pig."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You're a pig. You're only interested in physical beauty when there's so much more to it. Joyce helped get you into this job, tolerated you. And instead of mourning her death, you're having sex with other models."

"Look, just because you're angry that I get to bang whatever hot model I want while you're stuck with one ugly bitch doesn't mean you have the right to say things like that to me!"

A chord snapped in Jane's mind. He thought that chord might have been tied to his vision, because he didn't even remember punching that pig square on the nose. But he did, and he felt absolutely no regret about it.

Boris fell over, trying to catch the streams of blood pouring out of his nose. He was too in pain and shock to fight back.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyer you asshole!" Boris screamed as Jane walked out of the room, fiddling with his wedding ring.

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"What the hell, Jane?!"

Lisbon stomped over to Jane. Her face was red with fury. Jane didn't even look in her direction, his gaze fixated on the city beneath them, still fiddling with his ring.

"Boris is filing assault charges on you! And there's no way you can get out of this one! This was way more than just a tweak on the nose!"

Jane still remained silent.

"Well do you have anything to say for yourself?!"

Nothing.

"...Jane. Why'd you do that?"

"He deserved it."

"Even if he did, that doesn't mean you can! We're trying to get on good terms with our new boss. How am I supposed to explain this?"

"I dunno."

"Jane." Lisbon clutched onto his arm, looking up at him. He hadn't looked at her this entire time. She was growing concerned.

"...He insulted my wife." He finally turned to look at her. His eyes were obviously fighting back tears.

"What did he say?"

"What does it matter?! Tell the bastard I'll see him in court." Were Jane's final words before stomping off.

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Lisbon stood outside of Boris's studio. She had to fix things, and legally there was no getting around it. Maybe if she could appeal to his softer side? If he even had a softer side. This man had already pissed off two of her co-workers, causing one of them to actually punch him. This was not going to be easy.

"Mr. Boris?"

"Go away, I've had enough of you and your team for one day."

"I'm terribly sorry for what happened, Mr. Boris. I have no excuse for Mr. Jane."

"Oh you will be sorry! I've hired the best lawyer I could find! I'm sending that maniac away for that, I'll make sure of it."*

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I was wondering if there was any way we could get you to drop the charges. I'm willing to help compensate for your injury."

Boris eyed Lisbon suspiciously before taking a seat in front of her. His hand lifted to his chin as he eyed Lisbon up and down for what seemed like an eternity.

"Hm. Well, maybe you could make it worth my while."

"What would you like me to do?" She had a strong suspicion as to what it exactly it was he wanted. But she asked, in the far hopes he didn't mean that.

"If you come to my apartment tonight, maybe I'll think about dropping the charges."

Was she really willing to go this far just to get Jane out of trouble? Did Jane really mean that much to the team? To her?

Lisbon's mind rushed back to when her father would come home wasted. The smallest thing would set him off. Sometimes he'd come home to find that one of her brother's didn't clean his room, or a note from school telling him that they'd misbehaved again. And once he sent her brother, Mike, to the hospital.

She knew she had to protect her brothers, but she just didn't know how. Until one night her dad stomped into the kitchen, startling her youngest brother into dropping and breaking a glass. She panicked when he raised his hand, she had to do something, anything. So out of sheer desperation to protect her youngest brother, she grabbed the nearest thing to her, a wooden spoon, and threw it at her father's head. She doesn't remember the rest of that night.

But she remembers the terrifying feeling of having to protect those she cared about. And whether or not she would admit it out loud, she cared about Jane. But she also felt like she had to protect the team, keep them together. The way she had failed with her biological family.

She hoped maybe she wouldn't remember this night either.

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* According to the very little internet research I did, assault charges can land you up to 2 years in a county jail if you have proof of injury. It's all very dependent, but that's the charges I was leaning towards, in case you were wondering.