A/N: Hey readers! I'm so happy to finally be updating. I'm so sorry for the wait, but work keeps getting in the way. Thanks so much for your support!
Jane hesitantly wrapped his hand around the doorknob. He rested his forehead on the door and took a deep breath, composing himself. He had to keep his jealousy hidden and get Lisbon away from Pike. He blew all of the air out of his lungs and pulled the door open. "Hi, hope I'm not interrupting." He moved further into the room and found Lisbon sitting at a small table with Pike. They were starting to pull food from the tray and move it onto their own plates.
Pike looked up in surprise, "Oh hey Jane. I didn't think you were coming over yet."
Jane paid no attention to Pike. He couldn't take his eyes off of Lisbon. She was putting some french fries on her plate. Her body was turned away from him, but she glanced up and her eyes caught his.
Jane held the eye contact with Lisbon. "Yea I decided I was bored and hungry." He stopped a couple feet from the table, while Lisbon halted her movements and continued to look at him.
Pike sat down at the table and took a bite of his sandwich. "So Agent Fischer showed me the video of this afternoon..." He trailed off once his eyes moved in Jane's direction. Jane was staring at Lisbon like he wanted to say something. Pike turned to Lisbon and saw that she was staring back at Jane with the same expression. Pike, once again, felt awkward in their presence. He coughed loudly. It seemed to startle Lisbon. Pike saw her flinch and turn back to the food, avoiding eye contact with him.
"Well, can I steal some of your food?," Jane asked the agents without looking at either of them.
"Yea, I mean, be my guest. Whatever's left." Pike gestured to the plates.
Jane studied his options: fries, hamburgers, pancakes, and fruit. His nose scrunched upon seeing the pancakes. He hated pancakes. They really were the worst breakfast choice. Who wanted to eat stacks of dough? They were so unoriginal anyone could make them, unlike Jane's favorite choice of eggs. Only certain people could make great tasting eggs. And they could be made into different types. Even though his favorite was simply scrambled eggs. He didn't know what kind of eggs Lisbon liked. She was more of a muffin and bagel type of person, at least that's what he thought. She was always in a rush to eat breakfast and muffins and bagels were on-the-go foods.
Jane picked up one of the hotel plates and pilled on a hamburger and a handful of fries. He stole a glance at Lisbon's food and saw that she was eating the same as he was. She was hesitantly biting off pieces of a fry. Jane knew what her problem was. She didn't have any ketchup. "You forgot to ask for ketchup?," he asked her.
"I didn't order," Lisbon said softly without making eye contact.
"You wanted ketchup? Sorry I didn't know," Pike replied to her.
She gave him a small smile. "It's okay."
Jane tried to keep the grin off of his face. Strike one for Pike.
"So um, Jane I saw that video from this afternoon. That was pretty impressive work." Pike took a bite of his pancakes.
"Not many people thought so," Jane said cryptically.
"You must be really great at reading people."
"I'd like to think so." Jane stole a glance at Lisbon. She was avoiding even looking in his direction. "I used to be a fake psychic."
"Fake psychic?," Pike asked with a confused look on his face.
"Psychics are by no means real. Everything they say and do is a lie." Out of the corner of his eye, Jane saw Lisbon flinch at his statement. "They're trained to pay close attention to detail and to read people like a book."
"So you read Hector and Gabriel so well that you knew which one of them was truly in charge?"
"Yes," Jane said simply.
"So...you could like read me?," Pike asked him.
"No," Lisbon interrupted. "Trust me, you don't want that to happen."
"She's just saying that because I can read her like a book. She can't hide anything from me." Jane flashed Lisbon a fake smile.
Lisbon avoided looking at him by focusing her attention on Pike.
Fine, Jane thought. If she was going to refuse to acknowledge him he would force her to pay attention. "You're around 38 years old. You have one sister. She's younger than you. Parents are divorced. You decided to join the FBI after becoming a city cop. You were able to move your way up and impress the suits." Jane paused. "That's just the basics. Shall I go on?"
Pike's jaw was hanging open in disbelief. "Yea, keep going."
"You're a respectful guy. You know what you want and you take it. You see no sense in lying and pretending. You've had multiple long-term relationships, but your girlfriends always end it because you're work is so demanding. That's how you ended up in the art squad. You changed positions to cut down on the late night calls because art isn't as pressing of a topic as murder. And you've seemed to take a liking to Agent Lisbon." Jane sat back in his chair with a smug expression. He could tell that Pike was too stunned to react. Lisbon on the other hand was pissed. She flashed a disgusted face at Jane. She scooted her chair out and stomped her way to the bathroom. Then, she slammed the bathroom door.
The smirk slowly dissipated from Jane's face. He didn't expect her to react that poorly.
That sat in silence for a minute.
Pike's eyes were wide. "Are you two dating?"
Jane's attention snapped back to Pike. "What?" He couldn't process why Pike would ask that.
"Are you two a couple or something? It just seems like there's something going on between you two," Pike explained.
"No. There's nothing. We're just partners." Jane put a mouthful of food in his mouth in order to stop himself from telling Pike to back off.
"So she's not like dating anyone? Because I'm pretty interested. She's amazing."
Jane shook his head in response while his blood began to boil. They just met! How could he say that she was amazing when he'd only known her for a day? He didn't know how great of a person she was. He didn't know how kind and caring she was. How she did everything that she could to save and help Jane with Red John. Pike didn't know anything about her and he was going to swoop in and take her away.
Meanwhile, Lisbon stood staring at her reflection in the mirror. She felt so angry that a couple of tears had rolled down her cheeks. She didn't even know why she reacted like that. Her emotions felt like a tornado in her brain. Earlier, she felt relaxed and content to be undercover with Jane. Then, he pulled a gun on Hector. She felt betrayed that he couldn't confide in her. She was hurt and angry. She didn't know what to do about her relationship with Jane. It was strained, to say the least. They hadn't worked side-by-side in a while. It was like they drifted apart and didn't know how to come back together. And now, Jane was acting like some kind of uncaring, smug jackass. She wanted to hit him and yell at him. And thinking about Pike made her even more confused. He was new and sweet. He said what was on his mind and didn't play games. It was a refreshing contrast to Jane. She felt attracted to Pike. She was so overwhelmed. She studied herself in the mirror. She had dark circles under her eyes and her face looked paler than usual.
Lisbon jumped as she heard the door to the hotel room open and female laughter. She had to pull herself together. She sucked in a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face. She opened the bathroom door and walked out to see Kim and Cho sitting on on of the beds talking to Jane and Pike. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Kim and Cho looked a little too comfortable with each other. There was less than an inch between them on the bed.
"Oh hey Teresa. I didn't know you were here too. It's like a big FBI party in here!" Kim laughed and leaned comfortably into Cho's side.
Cho snorted at the joke.
"Well somebody's a little drunk," Lisbon commented.
Kim pulled away from Cho and sprawled out on the bed. "Time for bed," she murmured. Her eyes were closed and she was smiling dreamily. "Kimball, why don't you join me?"
Cho instantly sobered. "Okay I think it's time for everyone to fan out." He looked pointedly at Jane and Lisbon. He helped Kim stand up and lay properly in the bed, while he covered her with blankets.
"Yea it's probably a good idea for you two to get some rest. We can't have you falling asleep on the job." Pike began to clean up Lisbon's files for her. He handed them to her.
She smiled appreciatively. "Thanks Marcus."
Jane's stance grew rigid. Marcus? She called him Marcus? They were on a first name basis now? Jane grabbed Lisbon's plate of food and offered it to her. "Here Lisbon. You probably want to finish eating."
Her smile fell off of her face once she looked at Jane. "No thanks. I lost my appetite."
Jane rolled his eyes at her behavior. He knew that she was hungry. She simply didn't want to accept anything that he gave her because she was mad at him. He wanted to grab her and shake her senseless. They needed to solve their issues immediately, but not in front of the other agents, especially Marcus Pike.
Lisbon moved to exit the room. "Goodnight Kim...Cho." She stopped and looked at Pike. "Night Marcus," she called out in a throaty bedroom voice.
"Night Teresa," Pike flirted back.
Jane huffed. Now he truly knew she was acting like this just to get a rise out of him. "Goodnight everyone," Jane said shortly. He walked back to his room with Lisbon and shut the door. He saw her moving around her luggage.
She lifted up a black briefcase onto the chair that she was resting in earlier and roughy stuffed the case files in it. Her movements slowed and she stood completely still, facing the wall. "What?," she finally asked.
"What? What?," Jane repeated back. He saw her shoulders drop.
"Why are you staring at me?" She was still talking to the wall. Jane almost laughed at the situation, but he didn't want to give her reason to flee again.
Jane walked slowly over to her, giving her time to escape if she didn't want him close to her. Jane kept a couple of feet of distance between them. He didn't want her to run away. He reached out and laid a hand on hers that was resting on the briefcase. "Why can't you look me in the eye?," he whispered.
She turned around hesitantly and met his gaze. Their hands were still linked. She could feel the heat radiating off of his palm onto hers.
"I...," she looked away.
"Look Lisbon, we need to talk. We can't keep doing this," he told her.
Her eyes met his again and he saw a flash of anger. "Oh so now you want to talk." She ripped her hand from underneath his.
"Lisbon...," Jane pleaded. He followed her every move around the room.
She stopped."You're right we do need to talk, but not now. I can't do it right now. I'm tired Jane. We'll talk but in the mean time can we just act like civilized adults?"
"Yea...yes of course." Jane swallowed. He could read the hurt and exhaustion all over her face.
Lisbon gathered up her toiletries and entered the bathroom.
Jane fell in a heap onto the bed. She was right. All of this fighting really was exhausting. His head was pounding.
Lisbon came back out of the bathroom, but this time she had a red nightgown on with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. It was so domestic that he almost teared up. She was so comfortable with him that she chose to wear no pants. Granted, the nightgown covered most of her thigh and it was at least half the distance to her knee. She's trying to torture me, he thought. He could barely stand to look at her because she was so beautiful. And he had to control himself. But for now he let himself indulge. He ran his eyes from the top of her head to her feet and he wanted nothing more than to push her on the bed with him. Her hair was lightly curled and untamed, yet perfect all at the same time. She wore no makeup. He could tell that she definitely still had a bra on. The nightgown was button up. He could simply walk over to her and rip the whole garment down the front and she would be left in her lingerie. He looked down at her legs. They were toned and seemed to go on forever.
"Do you?" Jane heard the last part of Lisbon's question. She was standing in front of him still brushing her teeth.
"Uh what?," he asked her startled.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Do you need a toothbrush? The hotel left complementary ones in the bathroom."
"Oh yea." He hopped up from the bed and followed her into the bathroom. He guessed that she hadn't caught him staring. His eyes unconsciously wandered to her bottom. He watched her walk up to the sink, bend over, and spit into the sink. It was one of the sexiest things he'd ever seen her do. When did spitting toothpaste become sexy?
"It's green. I took the purple one. Hope you don't mind," Lisbon said while gesturing to the toothbrush holder. She flashed him her gorgeous smile.
Her smile was contagious. He watched her finish cleaning up while he brushed his teeth and then she walked out of the bathroom. He felt a warmth inside his chest. The whole process felt awfully domestic, yet comfortable at the same time. He relieved his bladder and then exited the bathroom.
All of the lights were out, except for the bedside lamp. Lisbon was laying on the far side of the king-sized bed leaving a huge gap. She was facing away from him. Jane didn't know what to do. It was the first time that he had felt awkward in a long time. He decided to make himself comfortable on the chair that Lisbon inhabited earlier. He curled up on himself and closed his eyes even though he knew sleep wasn't going to come.
He heard rustling coming from Lisbon. "Jane? What are you doing?," she asked. She sounded like a little girl.
He didn't know what to say to her. "Trying to sleep," he responded. He heard even more rustling around.
"Jane. Seriously. I'm not going to make you sleep in that chair. There's no way you'll get comfortable. Come on," she said in her usual cop voice.
He didn't respond. Instead, he rose from the chair gratefully and shuffled over to the bed. He stared at Lisbon's back as he slowly lowered himself into the bed. He shifted around, but ended up feeling most secure being able to watch Lisbon sleep. They still had at least four feet of space between them.
"Comfortable?," Lisbon asked. She flipped around to face him. The bedside light was still on and Lisbon's gaze focused on Jane's attire. "Oh my god Jane. How the hell are you comfortable sleeping in your suit? Do you seriously not have any other clothes?," she scolded him.
"Well...I," he said hesitantly.
"No. Take the suit off. Look I have one of Tommy's old shirts that you can wear." She jumped out of the bed and began to riffle through her suitcase. "Here." She threw a red t-shirt at him. "Change," she ordered.
"Alright. Alright." He quickly unbuttoned his shirt and slipped the t-shirt on. Then, he hesitantly pulled his pants down to reveal black boxers. Jane laid back down on the bed, this time closer to Lisbon. She reached over and turned the light off.
Jane chuckled.
"What?" Lisbon rolled towards him.
"We match." They were both wearing red shirts. Apparently, they were becoming more domesticated by the hour.
She laughed. "Goodnight Jane." Lisbon settled into her pillow.
"Goodnight." He smiled, at least they weren't going to bed angry at each other.
TBC, please review. Let me know if you want to see anything in particular. Thanks for reading and reviewing! :)
p.s In 6x16 Jane looked like such a sad puppy when Lisbon left with Pike :(