Ok, so, the December holiday is the obvious one. It will be in several short parts. Since part 2 is the Secret Santa gift for WildDaisies, I guess this whole thing is an expansion of that gift. So Shelly, your prompt has taken on a life of its own. Enjoy!!
DISCLAIMER: If Santa makes a list, will what I want to do with Rigsby make me naughty or nice??
DECEMBER - CHRISTMAS pt 1
For the first year after, Patrick Jane hated Christmas, All that happiness and cheer grated on his nerves. What was wrong with people? They all expected him to put on something red or green and be happy. It wasn't that easy. He felt it would never be that easy again.
As the years slowly took him farther away from the time when he had been whole, a father and husband, his anger at the holiday abated. The pain of their loss was still branded on his soul. But he was able, a year later, to at least not snarl at people during Christmas. He felt that was a huge concession.
In the succeeding years, his ability to deal with the seasonal cheer grew slowly. All those ads with happy families were constant reminders of the few precious Christmas mornings he had enjoyed as a dad.
For some reason, this year, his traditional stonewalling of the holiday's existence didn't feel as right. This year, he discovered that Teresa Lisbon hated Holiday office parties. It was apparent as soon as she announced the time and date for theirs.
Cho responded to the announcement in typical fashion. He nodded and pulled out his blackberry to note the date and time. Jane saw half a smirk ghost the corners of his lips and knew a woman put it there. Cho was quite the ladies man. Jane knew that none of the rest of the team knew, but he had seen women fall all over themselves to get any kind of reaction out of him. Jane was amused at Cho working his natural stoicism to his advantage.
Van Pelt and Rigsby tried to hide their glances at each other. They would arrive separately, and use the loose atmosphere of the party to spend the evening together. Van Pelt would get a ride there with someone and ooops, Rigsby would have to drive her home. Patrick was pretty sure that Lisbon either knew or at least guess about them. To their credit, they have behaved with a fair amount of discretion. Most people knew about the crush Rigsby had, but they general consensus that Grace was too tied up in her career. Patrick Jane was not most people. He had pinpointed to the day that Rigsby finally made his move.
But Teresa Lisbon was not happy about the office party. Jane was pretty sure she enjoyed dressing up. But like him, her past would preclude her from really enjoying the Holiday spirit. Oh, she talked a good game and pretended. But again, Patrick Jane was not most people.
It was that look on her face that decided him. Barring a case coming in between his plans and the holiday, Teresa Lisbon was about to have Christmas blitz her life.
He began the day of the office party. One day, the office was in its quiet, institutional mode. The following day, it was like Christmas had thrown up on the Serious Crimes bullpen. There were lights that twinkled, lights that flashed, and lights that shone steadily. Huge red and gold bows and pine roping covered every available spot.
Each desk was its own theme. Van Pelt had the Nativity, complete with sheppards, angels, and Magi. Rigsby's desk was decorated with an entire army of gingerbread men, complete with a badges and guns. Cho's desk was made up to look like the book "A Visit From St Nicholas". Each panel of the story could be read by walking around his desk.
Large stockings with names had been hung along the wall. The green velvet with the white trim said "Lisbon". Cho had one in black, which should have looked odd, but strangely looked cool and mysterious. Grace's stocking was a pretty glittery gold. The one for Rigsby was sky blue with candy canes spelling out his name. And finally, in paler green velvet, as if it was meant to match Lisbon's was one with out a name. It just had the initials P.J.
As Lisbon strode past this, her blood pressure boiled. This was the kind of over the top nonsense that she hated. All this forced merriment. She opened her door that had also been wrapped as a package, warily. It was worse than she could have imagined.
Her office was set up to look like Santa's workshop. There was 5 foot tall Santa sitting in the chair in the corner, with a naughty/nice list in his hands directing the elves that were hanging from every available space. Each one had a toy half finished in its hands. Opening her door caused the Chipmunks' Christmas song to blare out.
She had two choices; she could laugh and go with it. She was NOT in a kind mood this morning.
"JANE!" Even if she had been inclined to be forgiving about this stunt, she still had to yell over the Chipmunks. Freaking Chipmunks.
"Oh, good morning, Lisbon. I think this change improves the office considerably.
Just then, the voice screamed "ALVIN" in exasperation. Lisbon completely understood how he felt!
"See you tonight at the party?"
Damn the man!
Next up, the party!!