YEAH! I am on a roll tonight. I promise there will be more tomorrow! I'm trying to write as much as possible before I start school on Tuesday. It gets pretty angsty here, so I'll probably be OOC. But anyway, still not owning The Mentalist, and as always, reviews are welcome. Don't make me beg! -begs-

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Ch. 8 – Breaking the Dam

Jane was eating a sadly quiet dinner with the team. They didn't have a case for the night, and the team were going to treat Jane and Lisbon to dinner in the slight hopes it would help lighten the situation. Only, no one could get a hold of Lisbon.

"I can't believe you two were suspended over assault charges that were ultimately dropped!" Rigsby really was upset about the whole thing. Besides, the jerk got what he deserved.

"Why is that exactly?" Cho asked.

"Well, on my part it's obvious. But she thinks Lisbon threatened the guy to drop the charges."

Van Pelt did her best to hide the fact that she almost choked on her food at that comment.

"That's ridiculous. Lisbon wouldn't, I mean. You don't think she did, do you Jane?"

"Well to be honest, I don't know. I wasn't there with her."

"She was really upset after meeting him. Who knows? Maybe she did threaten him." Van Pelt was shocked by Rigsby's comment. But the boss had been acting weird.

"Either way, you should be grateful, Jane. She did whatever she did to save your ass, and now she has to pay for it." Cho said just a little more harshly than he had intended.

Jane sat in silence for a minute after that comment. He really was grateful. Lisbon was always there to clean up whatever mess he made. It never dawned on him that he forgot to express his gratitude. Maybe that's why she was acting so weird, and being so unresponsive to anything he did or said. He had to go talk to her, see if he could help make things just a little bit better. And with that thought, he got up and thanked everyone for dinner before excusing himself.

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This was Jane's sixth attempt at knocking on Lisbon's door. And every time he called her phone, it would go straight to voicemail. He was growing increasingly worried. Jane pressed his ear against the door, hoping he might hear any sounds of movement.

"What are you doing here?" A familiar voice called behind him.

Jane shot his head back to see a wobbily Lisbon with a very confused look on her face. She was wearing a black, knee-length skirt that flared just a little at the bottom, black heels, and a purple, ruffled blouse that revealed more than Jane had ever seen before. Her hair had a light wave to it, but was a bit messy in the back.

"Where were you? The guys and I have been trying to reach you all night. They invited us out to dinner." He was trying not to sound too worried.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I was out clubbing with Pat. We hadn't really hung out much outside of work lately and I thought: well, I have plenty of time to now." Lisbon shrugged. Her words were coming out pretty slurred, she'd obviously been drinking.

"Oh, well that sounds like fun." Jane masked a quaint smile.

"It was. But, why are you here?"

"Oh. Well, it doesn't really matter, it's not urgent. I just thought you might like the company. I'll come back later, when you're a bit more sober."

Lisbon crinkled her eyebrows in slight confusion. And if she had been sober, she definitely wouldn't have even thought of offering, but the alcohol mad her mind fuzzy so she asked without even thinking.

"Well, if you want company, you could stay here for the night? It's okay, you could sleep on my couch."

"Okay, sure."

Jane didn't really know why he accepted the invitation. Lisbon was upset with him not too long ago, and now she was drunk. He knew he should have just declined and come back later when she was completely sober. But maybe he could talk to her in the morning, thank her for what she did and apologize. And that way, she wouldn't be able to hide or run away from him.

Lisbon unlocked her door and flung her purse onto the floor, not caring where it landed.

"I could make us some tea?" Jane offered. "It might help lessen that hangover you're doomed to have in the morning."

"Sure." Lisbon just sat on the couch and turned on the tv, flipping through infomercials and documentaries.

Jane brought back two cups of chamomile tea and noticed Lisbon was still wobbling a bit, even seated.

"Here." Jane handed the cup to her.

"Thanks." She took a sip. "You know, at first I was really pissed about this whole thing. But then I realized that I could actually use the time off, even if I didn't choose to. Things have been so stressful, it was nice just to go out and have fun and not have to worry about work for once."

"I'm glad you're taking this so well." He offered a smile, glad to see her loose for once.

But then Lisbon started tensing up again. "I mean, who cares what Sasha thinks anyway! I know I didn't threaten that bastard. I should've, but I didn't."

That last comment seemed to have opened a dam that let all the memories of that incident flood back into her consciousness. Her eyes seemed glued to her tea with furled brows.

"...Lisbon? You okay?"

Lisbon tore her eyes away from the cup and made eye contact with Jane. There was a look he'd never seen in her before. A look of disgust, anger, desire and lust all mixed in to make one unrecognizable emotion that was flowing through her.

Before he knew it, Lisbon pressed her lips to Jane's and was lustfully kissing him. He felt the world around him start to fade away as he lost himself in those beautiful lips. But when she started unbuttoning his shirt, reality came crashing back. He tried to push her off gently, but she wouldn't give. He shoved her off of him.

Lisbon was angry, and tears started forming in her eyes.

"What?! Don't I deserve a bit of gratitude?! I did it for you! It's always been about you!"

"Calm down, Lisbon. It's okay." He grabbed her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Did what for me?"

The tears broke loose and were flowing uncontrollably down Lisbon's face. Her sobbing prevented her from speaking, and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

Jane held her in a tight hug, rubbing circles on the small of her back, trying desperately to calm her down. Eventually her crying stopped and she fell asleep. He picked her up and carried the sleeping girl to her bed. He wanted her to be in more comfortable clothes, but the gentleman in him prevented him from undressing her. So he just tucked her in the way she was, drying off the rest of her tears before turning off the light.