Authors note: Sorry this took me so long to write, but I always have problems with intermediate chapters. Plus I partied waaay too hard in London and it took me a while to recover. Hopefully you will also forgive my vague descriptions of American sports. I know nothing about them. I have no Beta mistakes are all me.
Thanks to everyone for the reviews they keep me writing :)
Disclaimer: I own a ever expanding Christmas gut, but nope no Mentalist or Simon Baker...if only.
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Not long after their previous outing with Jane and his new girlfriend, Lisbon and Rigsby had gotten into a heated argument about ice hockey, during a stakeout. The other's had silently laughed as they baited each other about the game. While it was all in good humour, both defended their teams with zealous.
They both gave and took innumerable jests, ribbing each other over choice players and wins. As the few hours they were stuck in the car together passed the banter cumulated in various bets about just how badly their respective teams would lose, and further belittling over their teams previous failures.
Van Pelt had piped up that she had a friend that sold tickets and she could get some tickets cheap for the next hockey match. Everyone had thought this was a great idea, so it was decided that the next Thursday a game was on, they would all head to the rink.
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Arriving separately, the team milled in about ten minutes before the game and took their seats near the glass. Lisbon risked the wrath of home teams supporters and wore one of her Chicago jerseys. Cho laughed outright when he saw her, she grinned back, challenging him to call her on it. It may not be her team playing, but she was a true Chicago fan, through and through.
Cho was aware it was a ballsy action to do, but despite her small stature, she had a strong enough air of authority to scare most people away. Plus Rigsby's face was frozen in shock, with half his hot dog hanging out of his mouth, he would get into a fist fight with some irate fans, just for that alone.
She took the seat beside him, leaving the final two free for Jane and Alicia.
They arrived shortly after, plonking down on their seats. Jane looked Lisbon over, chuckling at her outfit.
"Unusual choice for a hockey match, Lisbon my dear, shocking even" he chortled.
"Why... its a hockey jersey isn't it, just because I'm clarifying that I don't normally support such a mediocre team... it's hardly shocking." She looked to Rigsby, who she knew would shoot her a playful glare at her little jab.
Jane leaned in, "Well I find you wearing your sleepwear to a game, for whatever reason, is still scandalous" he whispered, watching as Lisbon turned bright red at his suggestion.
"Hush Jane, this is not one of those jerseys, and nobody here knows what I wear to bed" she hissed, hoping no one had overheard him.
"Well I do and now, how am I supposed to focus on the game, Lisbon" he mocked.
She lightly smacked him on his arm, still resembling a tomato.
Jane stood up, "Ok, who wants what?" he was hungry, and still had time to go to the vendor.
"Beer" everyone said in unison.
"Oh and a hot dog for me as well" Lisbon added. "You still owe me from the last case."
"Ill help you carry them sweetie." Alicia said accompanying him to the stand.
Alicia followed the other's lead and got herself a beer, but skipped the hot dog, camaraderie is one thing, food poisoning another. Alright, she decided, she was definitely not going to complain about the pubs again. She really was going to have to put her foot down and choose the location for the next group outing.
Jane passed everyone their drinks and gave Lisbon her hot dog. He was tucking into his hot dog, but it was lacking the strong flavour he liked. He noted he had been screwed on the amount of onions he was given, while Lisbon had plenty,... in fact by his estimation she had too much.
He snuck his hand across to her dog, grabbing some off the top.
"Jane" Lisbon shrieked indignantly, thwacking his retreating hand.
"Lisbon?" he replied innocently.
"Jane..." she growled, "you have your own."
"Not enough, and I always share with you" he pouted at her.
"Yeah right, like what."
"Eh, I offer your mousse, sandwiches, get you bear claws, ice cream..." he trailed off pleased with his speedily constructed list.
"Oh that's crap and you know it" she said incredulously. "Half the food you offer, is from crime scenes and I pick up the donuts, the pizza, not to mention the numerous chocolate and candy bars, that I give you money for."
"Well then, I buy the coffees Lisbon", he countered.
"I buy you tea" she fired back.
Well I bought the beer in your hand, plus you don't even like onions that much, so everyone wins, we're even." He finished quickly.
"Like hell we are." Lisbon grumbled.
"Fine Lisbon, I'll pick you up a blueberry muffin tomorrow, from the place I wont tell you the name of... deal?" He would have picked her up one anyway, but he may as well bargain with it.
"Deal, but I want a fancy coffee too, that one with the vanilla" she relented, passing over some more onions.
She hated that Jane still hadn't told her where he bought them, they were amazing, but he kept them as bribery tools.
Alicia had been listening to the two of them rib each other and felt very uncomfortable. They were so at ease with each other, even after a few months together, she and Patrick were no where near the familiarity with which they talked together.
Also the use of second names had started to grate on her, just why this woman called Patrick, Jane, and he let her, it was crazy. Calling him that made it sound like she was dating a woman.
"I have to ask" she interrupted, "Just why do you call each other by your second names."
"Well, It keeps everything professional" Lisbon provided.
"Even after eight years? and how professional do you need to be at a hockey match" Alicia questioned.
"I guess it's habit now" Jane added.
"It just seems very high school somehow, but it must be a cop thing I guess, I just find it strange..." Alicia trailed off.
Lisbon decided to ignore the woman, it felt like she had an eternal case of foot in mouth. She chose to focus on the teams that had begun playing and was quickly swept away with the game.
Jane on the other hand remained thoughtful. He was half watching the game, focusing in whenever Lisbon and Rigsby stood up yelling at the team's or each other, which was more often than he thought possible.
The night ended quickly and pleasantly, the game a blur of good natured joshing. The team left the arena for their respective cars amongst talk about getting season tickets.
Jane and Alicia got into the car, he half listened as she talked about the game and how much she enjoyed it. He was still stuck on her earlier comments regarding Lisbon and himself.
Alicia had basically chided them on their use of last names, likening them to kids with silly nicknames. Jane noticed the slight questioning raise of Lisbon's eyebrow, it was apparent that she had not been impressed but had remained silent. Unusual for her, normally she was first with a sarcastic comment. He didn't like that she couldn't be herself around his girlfriend.
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A few weeks later, they all sat in a fancy French restaurant on the outskirts of the city. Jane had persuaded the gang to head out again, determined to get them, to get on well together, but on arrival he had done his patented disappearing act. He was so like a magpie, anything shiny and he was gone.
It was Alicia's choice this time, she had told Patrick in no uncertain terms that she had gone along with his decisions several times and she was picking this time. Everyone had dressed up slightly as they knew they were going out after work, pretty tops on both the woman and less casual jackets on the men, but they had clearly not expected this place.
Alicia sighed, she was wearing a lush red dress and looked overdressed amongst the group, however quite accordingly with the rest of the patrons. It was like they didn't even try, she really felt isolated here.
She wanted to fit it but she just couldn't seem to find any common ground. Patrick was no help, since they arrived he had been over talking to someone he knew. The odd guffaws coming from his direction told her he wouldn't be back for a while.
Lisbon sat beside Grace, placing Rigsby and Cho between herself and Alicia for safety. It wasn't like the woman realised she was insensitive, but since they had all come from work and were far too under-dressed for here, she felt uncomfortable enough as it was without any comments.
Damn Jane for saying they were going to a 'nice restaurant', this was ten times grander than nice. Poor Rigsby didn't know what to do with his hands, or where to look and he just kept fidgeting. He had on his lost puppy face and she could almost hear his plea to go to taco bell. Lisbon tried to smile reassuringly at him but to no avail.
She thought to the few times her and her brothers had been dragged out to fancy dinners by well meaning relatives, under-dressed and out of their depth, they too had all grimaced their way through it. She really shouldn't but she couldn't stop seeing Rigsby as one of her younger brothers.
At least her second in command, if he felt in anyway uncomfortable, didn't show it. As a group they had all gone to expensive restaurants, nothing new there, but this place screamed snooty and the menu was in actual French.
Added to that fun detail, Alicia had mentioned the chef fused surprises, into some meals, like his version of surf and turf, which was a steak on a bed of seaweed with escargot. She was sure, no one here was ordering steak.
"Boss" Grace hissed, dragging her attention back to this side of the table.
"Yeah?" Lisbon turned, leaning in to hear Van Pelt.
"I have no idea what half of these things mean, let alone are, I don't want to order pasta combined with frogs legs or something" she whispered, embarrassed by her lack of knowledge.
"I know I'm sticking with poisson, its just fish, figure its safe." Lisbon told her, pointing to her choice.
"I'm not a fan of fish though, really I'm not sure what ill eat." Van pelt threw her a desperate look.
"Em, that one is like a plate of cheeses, and I think this one is a simple salad." Lisbon shrugged looking at the ones she could read, never more glad for high school French, "maybe ask Jane, he usually picks something good."
"If he ever comes back" Van Pelt grumbled.
Lisbon was about to answer her rookie when she was distracted by how fast Rigsby had suddenly begun flipping through his menu. Sometimes she still felt like she was raising her brothers.
Alicia placed her hand on his arm to stop him.
"Is everything ok Wayne?" she questioned, glancing around to make sure he hadn't drawn unwanted attention.
"Yeah I can find the wine, but cant find any beers?" he answered, still looking for the correct page but more slowly.
"It is not that kind of place, they only sell the wine the owner's vineyard makes" she smiled.
"I like wine, I just prefer beer, it's not a problem." Rigsby defended, colour rising to his cheeks.
"Of course, red or white?, the Riesling is to die for..." Alicia could tell she had offended him but before she could make amends the waiter arrived over.
"Are you ready to order?" he asked with a strong accent.
"Our colleague is not back yet" Lisbon responded, glaring at Jane's pinstripe clad back, in the distance.
Following Lisbon's eyes, the waiter assured them he had already ordered. Damn she had wanted to check her choice with him.
Alicia went first, ordering in perfect French and requesting two bottles of wine. On completion she nodded to Wayne who kept it simple with pasta, followed by Cho's order and Lisbon's fish. Van Pelt shrugged in defeat, glancing longingly in Jane's direction before ordering the salad. The waiter nodded and left.
Alicia smiled at Grace, "Good for you, the little steps make all the difference." She would give the younger woman her trainers number, it was so hard to maintain a healthy work life balance. Maybe they could even exercise together.
Grace half heartedly smiled back, before muttering that the wine better arrive soon.
Alicia turned to Cho, Patrick was saying the man was very learned, but they had never really chatted.
"So Kimball" she started.
"Cho" he interrupted.
"Ok... Cho then, where are you from." Alicia inquired.
"Sacramento" Cho answered.
"I mean originally" she clarified.
"Sacramento"
"Well, the surname Cho, that's Korean right" Alicia tried again.
"Yes" Cho mono-toned.
"Such an interesting history, amazing cultural art too." Alicia had taken an undergraduate course in foreign history and art.
"True." Cho responded.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, with Alicia trying to think of a way to get more than one word answers out the man. She sent a silent thank you to the above when the wine arrived followed swiftly by Jane.
Jane came back like a whirlwind, all talk and jokes, the table seemed to release a collective sigh of relief. Every one got through their meals without any unpleasant surprises, though Lisbon could hear Grace's stomach rumbling throughout. The salad had clearly barely dented her hunger.
The evening ended early enough with excuses about work in the morning. They all walked out together, waving goodbye to Jane and Alicia who were first to their car. Lisbon deliberately held back until they had gone.
"Ok Van Pelt, lets go" She smiled at the red head.
"Huh boss, go where." Grace scrunched her face up, confused.
"We are going and getting burgers, I had to listen to your stomach for the last hour, and that small piece of fish and tiny salad I had, was never going to fill me up. So what do you say, there's a great joint ten minutes from here" Lisbon began ushering her to her car, glad she had only a small glass of wine.
"Wait" Rigsby called catching up with them, "Did you say burgers? I'm starving."
"You ate your dinner." Grace laughed.
"It was tiny" Rigsby defended "These fancy places never fill you up."
"I'm with him, even I'm still hungry" Cho added, having silently joined the group to hear what the gathering was about.
Lisbon laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation, standing in one of the finest restaurants in the county, all wanting greasy burgers. They joked all the way to the burger joint with Rigsby doing an incredibly accurate French accent.