Jane was sitting at his desk. When he had got there it had taken the team a few minutes to remember that he even had a desk. He had never used it before, preferring to do his work lying down on his sofa. But Jane didn't remember that and so he sat at his desk instead. He had the bottom desk drawer pulled out and his broken leg was propped up on it. It was his first day back at work and so far he was finding it incredibly boring. Cho was also apparently bored or, at least, didn't have anything to do. The rest of the team was out interviewing the family of the murder victim in their latest case and Cho had been left behind to "baby-sit." He was taking the opportunity to catch up on his reading.
Jane didn't know why Lisbon refused to take him with her. She said that he might be a consultant still, but was more of a liability in the field with his leg the way it was. He didn't know why he needed a babysitter either, but Lisbon had insisted that he not be left unsupervised. Apparently Minelli had said that if Jane did anything stupid while he was in his current state Lisbon would be the one held responsible. From the look on Lisbon's face as she was relaying the news to the team, Jane would guess that it was not unusual for her to get in trouble for what he did.
He was starting to doze off when Lisbon's voice caused him to open his eyes. "Sleeping on the job? I suppose some things never change."
"Do I sleep at work often? Doesn't seem very professional." He was awake fully now. He had never really been asleep to begin with.
"It wouldn't be you if you weren't asleep on the job," Cho said from his desk without looking up from his book.
Jane decided to ignore Cho's comment and instead turned to Lisbon. "Do I get to do something now? Because this whole sitting here doing nothing thing? I could be doing that back at your place."
Lisbon rolled her eyes "Yes, Jane, you can come observe Cho in interrogation. Just observe, not participate." She led the way to the observation room. They watched Cho with the suspect in silence for a while. Lisbon was starting to think that Jane had lost interest when he suddenly spoke.
"He's lying! I can feel it." He had a smug look on his face and Lisbon wasn't having any of it.
"You can feel it? Give me something I can work with here. What do you think you are? Psychic? Remember, you're good, but not psychic." She was still looking in the room trying to see what Jane saw that would give the suspect away as lying. "He's looking down and to the left. He's definitely lying, but not about committing the murder. He's lying about where he was last night. Probably with another woman. I'll have Van Pelt check it out."
"How do you know all that?" Jane looked a little crest fallen. He had never seen anyone come to the same conclusions as he did so quickly.
"I've been spending too much time with you. You can stay here and finish watching if you'd like, but no interfering. I don't want to botch this case because you couldn't keep your mouth shut." With that, she walked out of the room in search of Van Pelt.
Jane waited until he saw Cho leaving the interrogation room and then went out to talk with him. "That guy's lying." He said with confidence. Just because Lisbon seemed to know didn't mean that Cho had picked up on it.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks, man, I'll tell Lisbon." He started to walk off.
"What? Aren't you impressed?" Jane was a little peeved. He was used to people being in awe of him. This was ridiculous.
"You're kidding, right? I bet Lisbon figured it out, too." He walked away, leaving Jane standing in the hall trying to figure out what he was going to do.
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Jane had been back to work for a week now and was really having a hard time. He was used to being able to impress people just by looking at them, but the team seemed impervious to his normal charm. He had been able to use his normal charm and psychic-like abilities on the suspects in their current case—at least they had been impressed.
He was sitting at his desk again. He really wanted to sit on the sofa next to his desk, but was trying to maintain a professional feel. He had noticed that no one ever sat on it. Lisbon occasionally sat on the arm, but other than that no one went near it. It puzzled him. It looked comfortable and definitely worn, but no one ever sat on it. He couldn't think about that now though. He was waiting impatiently for Lisbon. He was supposed to get his cast off today.
"Teresa!" He called when he saw her coming near. "Are you ready to go yet, gorgeous? I can't wait to get this thing off my leg."
Lisbon restrained a sigh. She couldn't wait to be done chauffeuring him around. He was becoming very irritating. "Better get a move on then. I'm leaving now with or without you."
"It wouldn't do much good for you to go to my doctor without me. You'd just have to come back." He smirked at her, but she just shook her head and walked toward the elevator. He quickly grabbed his crutches and stood up, trying to get to her before the elevator came.
At the doctor's office Jane spent most of his time flirting with the nurses and charming the doctor who, even though he was a man, still wasn't impervious to Jane's charm. It was really starting to get on Lisbon's nerves. In the past week he had taken to analyzing and reading anyone he could get his hands on, showing off his "psychic" abilities. The staff at the doctor's office was no exception. It was when he made the receptionist cry by mentioning her dead father that she decided she had had enough.
"You need to cut it out, Jane. We all know you're not a real psychic. It's getting a little annoying." They were back at the office now, standing just outside of the kitchen. "Just save your mind reading for the suspects, ok?" She was trying to be gentle. He still didn't have any of his memory back and was still trying to get his footing at the CBI.
"You fascinate me, Teresa. Did you know that?" He had stopped moving and was now looking at her. No, staring was a better word for it.
"What?" She wanted nothing more than to just go into her office, shut the door and pretend that Jane wasn't here. It would seem, though, that she was as fascinated with him as the nurses at the doctor's office had been. She couldn't seem to make her legs move under his intense gaze.
"You are a very strong woman. You had to grow up very fast, didn't you? Your mother abandoned you when you were young and you were left to raise your brothers without much help from your father." He opened his mouth to say more, but wasn't able to get a word out as Lisbon spun around and slapped him in the face. Her eyes flashed with anger as she yelled at him.
"Do NOT ever try to read me, Jane. You think that we're all just toys for you to play with. You're forgetting that I know all about you. You do not want to cross me." She looked like she was going to say more, but changed her mind. This was not the right way to tell him about Red John. Instead, she stormed away and just barely managed not to slam her office door as she shut it.
"Dude, you're an idiot," said Rigsby, walking by with Cho and Van Pelt.
"What did I do?" He really had no idea. He was just trying to do his thing with her. Isn't that what they paid him for?
"A big idiot." Cho added, going to sit at his desk.
"Do you really have no idea?" asked Van Pelt, coming and standing next to him.
"I was just trying to do what I do best." He walked into the kitchen and sat down. His leg was killing him. He had no idea that his leg would hurt so much after getting his cast off.
"What? Pissing off the boss?" Van Pelt replied, coming in after him and sitting across the table from him.
"No. I was just doing what I know how to do best, telling people about themselves. Why would she get mad?" He played with a napkin on the table. It was a nervous habit, something that he had been working to get rid of. He had hoped that in 15 years he would have overcome it, but it didn't seem that way.
"We don't talk about our personal lives in this unit—at least, that's what Lisbon says. She hasn't had the best past in the world." Van Pelt paused for a minute and took the napkin away from Jane before he could shred it to pieces. "Do you ever think to ask her about her life, instead of just guessing?"
"I don't make mistakes." Jane was being defensive now. Was she really saying that asking someone was easier than doing what he did?
"Really? Because Lisbon's mom didn't abandon her. She was killed by a drunk driver. Her dad turned into a drunk and she practically raised her younger brothers. He ended up killing himself and then she really did raise her brothers by herself. Next time you're going to read someone, you might make sure you get it right before you tell them. You might get more than just a slap on the face—you might get blown up."
She stood and walked out of the kitchen at that point, leaving Jane to think. What did she mean blown up? Had that really happened? The way she said it made him think that it might have. He had really screwed it up this time. He was just trying to impress her. He liked her, that was sure, but she didn't seem to like him. Sure, it had seemed that way when he was in the hospital, but since he'd been out her patience had seemed to grow thin with him. Maybe he should lay off for a while, give her time to get over being mad at him. Time always seemed to help.
He sat there for a few more minutes before getting up to go talk to her. He hated apologizing, but it would probably be the best thing to do in this case. He went to her office and knocked before going in. He was surprised to see her office empty. He walked into the bullpen. "Has anyone seen Lisbon?" He asked loudly so that everyone could hear him.
"Yeah, she went home," said Cho. "She said that you could find a way back to her place tonight if you want or you could just sleep here for all she cares."
Jane just stood there looking at them. He really had pissed her off.
Jane did not want to ask anyone in the team to give him a ride back to Lisbon's place that night, but he didn't want to spend the night sleeping on the CBI sofa either. In the end, he ended up calling a cab, hoping that when he got back to Lisbon's apartment she would let him in. He slowly walked up to her door and knocked.
"Go away, Jane!" She called without even coming to the door.
"Teresa, please let me in. I just want to talk to you." He hoped that she would come to the door and, sure enough, a few seconds later she ripped open the door, glaring at him. She held it open for him to come in.
She walked into the apartment and sat on the sofa. She had the TV on, but Jane could tell that she wasn't really paying attention. He stood in the doorway for a minute before going over to sit on the sofa next to her. "I had a talk with Van Pelt after our 'disagreement' today. I just wanted to say I'm sorry."
Lisbon just snorted. She didn't believe him. She knew Jane. If anything, an apology from him was a manipulation tactic. She wanted to tell him off again, but knew that he was looking to get a rise out of her.
"Teresa, I mean it. I read it wrong, I'm sorry." He reached over and grabbed her hand, not allowing her to pull away. "I had no idea about your mom."
"I know you, Jane. I've seen what happens when you get it wrong. You've almost gotten killed before because you don't always get it right. The last time it happened, Rigsby and Van Pelt almost went with you." She stopped, clearly trying to contain her emotions. He placed his other hand on her shoulder.
"I will try, Teresa, but there is only so much I can do. I am who I am." He was trying to reassure her, but he didn't know if it was working. She pulled herself away and stood up.
"Just keep your magic for the suspects, ok? Don't try to work over the team. We've been through a lot together and we don't need your attempts at mind reading tearing us apart." She slowly walked toward her bedroom leaving Jane on the sofa to contemplate what she'd said.
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Blood, everywhere. Covering everything—his hands, the room. He didn't know where he was but it all looked and felt familiar. There was something on the wall. He walked toward it, a smiley face in blood.
Jane woke with a start. He was dripping sweat and his heart felt like it was going to break out of his chest. That dream—no, nightmare—had been so real, like he had seen it before. He couldn't stay in bed. He had to get up. The darkness seemed to swallow him up as he searched for a light.
Finally he turned on the lamp and he realized where he was. He was safe. He was at Teresa's apartment. He was safe.