I was asked to write a little something between Cho and Patrick (as Red John) with Charlotte still being alive. Well, this is the first chapter of that. This is going to be fun!
Warnings: Sex. Murder. (This is an ongoing story and warnings will be added as I go along.)
If you want to be kept up to date with redos on stories or want to know more about stories that will be started soon or even ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook or on Tumblr (I made a Tumblr!) under SilverMidnight52! I own nothing!
Walking out of the elevator Charlotte made her way through the office space her eyes darting around. It wasn't often that she went to where her father worked, but she always did find it interesting when she was there.
There was something about watching the police in their natural environment that made her mind wonder. Everyone seemed so normal and boring in this setting. It was more like a business office than a place where police worked. Suits did a lot to make it seem that way.
If it wasn't for the suspects and interrogations going on it would have been dull. It was in those moments though that you got to learn about who the cop was. If they could get inside someone's head or if they just used intimidation to get what they wanted.
She had been able to watch everyone on the team in the interrogation room at least once and she had been impressed by them all. They were all fairly good at getting someone to talk without resorting to threats and schoolyard bullying.
Of course, Cho was the best. In that room the man was completely at peace and was able to control everything perfectly. That was actually when she first started to think that him and her father would be good together.
He was exactly the type of person that you underestimated until he was at your throat. People did that with her father all the time. The difference between them though was that Cho held no qualms fighting when it came down to it.
Her father was more in his mind. He planned and plotted the perfect crime to the last detail so everything went his way. There was nothing that he could not control and he was very much aware of that.
Cho was more physical. Even with how smart he was and how much control he had he knew that there was always need for a good punch. It might not be the cleanest way to do something, but it did get the job done.
It was the perfect combination. Her father could calm Cho down if he went a little overboard with the punching and Cho could calm her father down if he got caught up in his mind. How was she the only one that saw this?
So here she was ready to put her plan into motion. It had taken more time than she liked to admit thinking of ways to get her father with Cho. The two men were just too smart to fall for pretty much everything that she thought of.
She hadn't really had many reasons over the years to come up with schemes. That was her father's thing and she was more than happy to let him have it. She liked her sleep too much to let herself get that caught up in running other peoples lives.
That was when it hit her. She didn't need a big elaborate plan to get them to see how perfect they were for each other. All she had to do was act like she thought they already were dating, but were keeping it quiet.
It was brilliant and simple. Which she had learned from Cho was the way that most people fell. They thought of plans that were so elaborate that they started to forget the little details and everything fell apart.
Her actions would force them both to start questioning themselves and make them really look at each other. It was in that second glance that they would see what they were missing and they would finally get together.
She didn't even have to act all that different. Just had to say what she was thinking. A few key words here and there. Asking how Cho was specifically instead of as part of a group. Going out of her way to talk to the agent herself.
Before they knew what was happening they'd be with each other. Okay, so she had glossed over a few steps. Some really important steps like whether or not Cho was dating anyone or if he was even attracted to men.
She was really glad that her and her father had had that conversation about sex. It was beyond awkward at the time, but it helpful and she now she knew that her father was attracted to both men and women.
That left Cho. She didn't think he was homophobic by any means, but she also knew how he was brought up. Gangs, military, and police weren't exactly known for their love of the LGBT community.
She knew that that had to have had a huge effect on the man. Whether he was aware of it or not. Which meant that she would have even more work to do. She really hoped that he wasn't the man that let childhood prejudice rule his life.
Once she had those questions answered she could start to slip that she thought they were together. She had to be careful though. If she did this too quickly then it was just going to end up hurting them both. That was the last thing she wanted.
"Hey, Charlotte," Grace greeted walking up to her, "Are you looking for your dad?"
"Yeah," the teen replied holding up a copy of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', "Book report time. I wanted to pick his brain."
"Well, he and Lisbon are off talking the family of our victim, but I've seen Cho read that a few times over the years. He's at his desk."
"Thank you."
Waving at the woman Charlotte made her way into their bullpen and looked around. An amused smile came to her lips when her eyes landed on what was dubbed as her father's couch. He really did know how to take over a place
Moving towards the desks she saw that the only people that were there were Cho and Rigsby. Though the younger one was balancing a pencil on his upper lip so she didn't know if he was there mentally.
"Hey guys," Charlotte greeting causing the younger agent to jerk to attention making her laugh.
"Charlotte," Rigsby grinned a blush on his cheeks, "I did not see you there. How have you been?"
"I've been well," she offered wondering, not for the first time, if he was part puppy.
"Yeah? Because Jane was talking about your next piano recital. Something about the song the teacher picked for you to play?"
"Mrs. Bush does not like me. I don't know how exactly she thinks I do this, but she's accused me of cheating more than once. She gave me a piece that most teachers wouldn't give someone until they were college level. She wants me to mess up and prove her right."
A soft snort came from Cho's desk when she said that causing her and Rigsby to smile at each other. They had all come to her last few performances. They also probably heard from her father just how often she practiced on the piano they had at home.
They knew that she was as good as she was because she worked at it. Still, it was nice to know that the older man had faith in her. He didn't even know the piece just that she was playing it and therefor it would be good.
Walking over to his desk she sat in the chair next to it and smile. She watched his lips twitch slightly though he never looked away from his computer. He was a good agent, but sometimes she wished that he would loosen up. Maybe just be Kimball instead of Cho
"Why doesn't your father just get you a new piano instructor?" Rigsby asked a little confused, "Wouldn't that be easier?"
"He said he would if I wanted to," Charlotte shrugged, "But that felt like I was letting her win. That she got to me to the point of asking my Daddy to fix things for me. Not happening."
The smirk grew on Cho's lips at that and she knew he agreed with her. It wasn't about being the best all the time. Sometimes you just had to shove it in somebody's face that they could do what they wanted and you were still going to win.
"Hey, Cho," Charlotte said turning fully to him.
"What do you want?" he questioned getting straight to the point.
"What makes you think I want something? Maybe I'm just waiting for my dad and noticed that you hadn't even said hello to me."
"Hello, Charlotte. What do you want?"
"Again. What makes you think I'm not just waiting for my dad?"
"If that was it you would have made a cup of tea and sat on his couch after you talked to us. You didn't. You want something. What is it?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you'd make a great detective?"
The agent's eyes sparkled in amusement as Rigsby chuckled behind his computer. This was her favorite part of seeing the older man. He knew that she was playing him and he gave as good as he got. It was refreshing.
"Okay, you got me," Charlotte admitted after a moment, "I'm supposed to..."
"I'm not doing your homework for you," Cho giving her a droll look.
"Frankly, I am insulted that you would even think that. I simply wanted to discuss the book because Grace said you've read it a few times. I was going to talk about it with Dad too."
Cho turned fully to her for the first time giving her the same look he gave suspects in the interrogation room. Smiling happily she held out the book and let him take it. It was amazing to watch him soften slightly when he caught the title.
That was not something that happened everyday. Cho was in control of himself. It only happened if something truly shocked him. The book must mean something to him. Now she was a little happier that she had picked the one her father said.
"Have you read it yet?" Cho asked handing it back to her after a moment.
"Not yet, but..." she tried to start only for him to turn back to his work.
"I'm not writing your report for you."
"Report?" her dad asked walking in with Lisbon, "You finally picked what book you were going to read."
Jumping to her feet she made her way over to her father and hugged him. His arms tightened around her before he was leading her over to his couch. She let herself get dragged into a conversations, but her eyes kept darting over to Cho's desk.
He looked like he normal did, but she felt like something was off. Maybe she was getting better at reading him. Or he felt worse about her ending the conversation than he was letting on. That didn't make her feel bad at all.
"Hey, Cho," Charlotte called out to him making his eyes flick over to her, "Was Grace right? Have you read the book?"
"Yes," he replied a smile ghosting across his lips.
"Do you like it?"
"It's one of my favorites."
"So we can discuss it? After I read it, I mean. Just you, me, and Dad? He loves the book too."
Cho looked past her towards her father. He must have seen what he needed because he nodded once before going back to work. She forced herself not to smile. She couldn't let anyone know that she was up to something.