Warning: Sex and I'd say definitely M-rated this time


When the non-resident guests had taken their leave, Jane was just about to get back into the kitchen to clean up when he was intercepted by Cho. "No chance you're tidying up tonight, Jane. You've prepared a gourmet dinner for nine. You've done more than your share."

"Oh, I had a lot of help from Lisbon and I don't mind."

"Still not fair. I'm volunteering. Anyone else up for the task?" Cho asked.

"I'll give you a hand," Hightower offered. "Probably a good idea to reacquaint myself with my kitchen. I have barely set foot in there lately."

With the matter cleared up the others all went to their respective guest rooms while the Asian agent and his former boss disappeared in the kitchen. To their complete astonishment it didn't look that bad.

"Always suspected Jane to be a neat-freak deep down," Cho stated. "Still unbelievable that he managed to conjure a dinner like that for nine people without creating total chaos when he has such a talent for causing havoc everywhere else."

"He's certainly a man of many talents," Hightower replied, blushing deeply, busying herself with the dishwasher.

Cho ignored her discomfort and simply nodded. He went over to the sink and started to run the warm water, planning to clean some pots and pans not suitable for the dishwasher. "It's quite amazing how much you still don't know about the people you've been working with for almost a decade," he said conversationally. "Admittedly Jane's been the biggest surprise. But then again, that's actually no surprise. He's always been quite secretive and has kept us all at arm's length. So it's no wonder there's tons of stuff we don't know about him."

Cho's tactic of drawing Hightower into a talk about the consultant seemed to succeed. She listened avidly.

He suspected that her sudden deep feelings for the blond man were mostly caused by the fact that he'd appeared human for the first time and Cho wanted to find out more about her state, maybe even offer some advice because he felt kind of bad for the woman.

Jane had always had that overwhelming, charming, charismatic but utterly inapproachable personality that fascinated and drew in people at once but put the man completely out of reach at the same time. Now that he finally allowed some select people to get closer he seemed suddenly accessible.

Cho wasn't a woman of course, so certain aspects of female patterns of attraction were a mystery to him, but even he could see that Jane was a handsome man and that the vulnerable side he'd allowed to be seen on a few occasions now just added to his appeal. Instead of the charming, but offish, abrasive, know-it-all, smug, arrogant, selfish, deceptive jerk they were now confronted with a still very charming (and annoying) but also sensitive, helpful, smart, kind, and vulnerable person.

It was a shock even to him, though he'd always seen all those characteristics in the guy, just deeply hidden beneath mask upon mask. But sometimes one could see traces of his real personality shining through. Like when he was dealing with children, or when he discovered some natural phenomenon he deemed beautiful, or when he encountered genuine tragedy during their cases. Cho had seen him offer real comfort, had observed him secretly helping out people financially, or witnessed him using his charm to make some officials bend the rules for a grieving relative. If he hadn't noticed all that and firmly believed in those qualities in the other man, he wouldn't have allowed himself to become his friend.

This morning while trying to prevent the idiot from running off on his own Cho'd felt a strong wave of protectiveness that had nothing to do with Jane being his teammate, but everything with him being family. During their struggle he'd felt the man's pain and hurt and it had touched him.

Cho had long felt like this about the others on his team. Rigs was a nag sometimes with his constant eating and swooning over Van Pelt, but he was his partner, his brother, his friend. Lisbon, no, Teresa, was in fact one of his closest friends, even though they didn't have much contact outside of work. She'd chosen him for her team when she first started out as senior agent although he'd had a past, or now he guessed exactly because he had one. He'd do just about anything for her. And Grace, well, one just had to like her. She was smart, compassionate and still tough enough to be an excellent cop. She'd lost a lot of her naiveté and had paid a high prize for it, but she still possessed a bit of that innocence that qualified her as little sister material in Cho's eyes. In other words: they'd all been family to him.

Only with Jane it had been slightly different. He'd liked the consultant well enough but he didn't trust him - not with his own life and certainly not with the lives of the rest of their family. Cho had thought the other man too broken to care enough for anything besides his revenge. He'd been afraid that Jane might get them all killed in the process. His other fear had been that the bastard would break their boss's heart because he'd long since realized that she'd lost it to the blond man.

Now he had to revoke his judgment. He'd underestimated Jane's capacity for love and even more important: his strength of character. Because the other man was even more damaged than Cho could have ever imagined and he'd still managed to first survive and now live again.

Kimball had no illusions about knowing all about Jane's past, but what he did know and what he could safely surmise didn't paint a nice picture. He'd probably never had a decent role model in his life, no formal education, not even an official identity. He'd been made to develop his skills as a mentalist and con man from an early age instead - with brutal force from the sight of it. All of this made Jane's slightly dubious morals and ethical views just as understandable as his distaste of rules and authorities. In light of all that it was actually a miracle, the man could function in a relatively normal way.

If Cho compared this to his own misspent youth he had to admit that he came up short. He'd had loving, if overprotective and controlling parents and his rebellion against their high expectations and rigor had been fierce and violent. In a way he'd had too much where Jane had had too little in the way of moral guidance during the formative years.

But in contrast to the consultant Cho had always had his parents' love. He'd long believed it to be conditional, not unconditional and that's one of the reasons he'd joined that gang. But when the going had gotten really tough and he'd ended up in juvie – a bitter, defiant, stubborn rebel – they'd still supported and loved him. That's what ultimately led to him seeing reason and trying to put things right. He'd turned over a new leaf and tried to get closer to his parents again. He'd joined the army to get out of juvie on parole and the rest was history.

From what he could gather, Jane hadn't experienced unconditional love until he met his wife. And his only source of happiness, his little family, had been taken from him much too soon to make up for a childhood devoid of positive emotional support. That the man wasn't completely broken showed a strength of character Cho couldn't help but admire. It made him respect his teammate in a way he hadn't done before. And it firmly put Patrick in the family category.

Cho decided that he should tell Jane this at some point in the near future because by his estimation and considering how the man had acted tonight, the consultant was deeply embarrassed about his little meltdown this morning. He probably thought of it as a show of despicable weakness, whereas Cho saw it as the desperate actions of a strong fighter, a real survivor, someone struggling with all his might to keep it together in the face of one heart-wrenching low-blow after the other.


So yes. Kimball Cho could understand why Madeleine Hightower had just fallen in love with Jane, though on the other hand she couldn't have done a worse thing at a worse time. Which brought him back to the matter at hand and just in time to switch off the water before causing a flood in the kitchen. He'd been lost in his thoughts for several minutes he realized, but the woman next to him didn't seem to mind. She was light-years away as well from the sight of it.

It wasn't exactly his strong suit but he opted for the conversational approach again. "Penny for your thoughts, Mrs. Hightower?" he asked while putting a pan into the wash water.

She flinched a bit and came back to her senses. "There's no need to be so formal," she replied. "It's Madeleine. I'm not your boss anymore after all."

He nodded. "Alright. Well, what about your thoughts then?" He asked again, starting to scrub the pan.

"You wouldn't want to know," she admitted with a sigh and a blush, fidgeting with a wooden spoon.

"Jane?" he inquired carefully. She nodded bashfully and he went on, "Always difficult to get that guy out of your head. I was actually still thinking about him as well. He'd have a field day about it if he knew." Cho chuckled and put the now clean pan into the colander.

"Why where you thinking about him?" Madeleine inquired, getting busy with a dish towel.

Cho put another item into the water and bent over the sink to clean it. "Oh, just pondered all the changes we've been witnessing lately. Finally admitting to his feelings for Lisbon and getting together with her has certainly destroyed a few of his annoying masks. Can't say that I miss them." He cast her a sideways glance.

She eyed him a bit warily. "Is that your way of telling me that I've fallen for Teresa's lover or rather, for the man put forth by her love?"

"Yes," Cho said. "That's exactly what I'm saying. It's easy to like him now that he allows you a bit closer and shows his human side. He's suddenly approachable and now we've also been granted a glance behind one of his most favorite guises – those three-piece-suits of his - which is truly remarkable. Though they're not just guises, I guess. They certainly mesh with his personality." He paused with a smirk and made note of her even deeper blush. Oh, she had obviously liked what she'd seen, just as Lisbon had told them.

The Asian man put a cleaned pot into the colander and grabbed the next dirty dish. "But he'll never let you get really close to him because Lisbon loved him even before he opened up. I don't think anything could ever compare to this act of unconditional love in his eyes."

She dried the pot fiercely. "I know that I don't stand a chance and that this is all utterly foolish and pathetic," she said in agitation, more angry at herself than Cho.

"It's not pathetic, Madeleine. Love should never be viewed like that. You've fallen for a good man. How's that pathetic?"

She sighed. "Because I've never let it happen before and I couldn't have chosen a worse time to do so," she scolded herself and put the pot into the cupboard with a bang. "I've allowed a stupid little crush to get out of hand just because I saw the guy in shorts and a t-shirt and had a decent conversation with him for once. That's pathetic."

Finishing with his next item Cho replied, "Don't be so hard on yourself. I bet, he's had you under his spell for all those years and you have a closer bond with him than most. He helped you escape after all. Not entirely for selfless reasons, but still. And you've been one of very few people in a position of power he's ever held any respect for."

He took a deep breath. All that talking was turning into really hard work. But Hightower seemed genuinely interested in his opinion and needed to get a few things off her chest. Considering the Red John stuff looming over them he knew it was important to clear the air as much as possible. And if he could help, he would do so. Besides, he liked and respected the dark-skinned woman. Not at the beginning when she'd tormented Lisbon but she'd come around after a while.

Another pot went into the water. "So my guess: you'd already gotten some glimpses of his true nature and I'd say, you already had more than a little crush on him. Probably only needed another small spark to start a real fire." He handed her the dripping pot to dry off.

She looked thoughtful while dealing with the dish. "You're probably right, Cho. I never looked at it from that perspective. Maybe it was realizing that he's not only bright and beautiful but actually a sexual being. He's always appeared almost asexual, hiding behind his wedding ring and all that, never dating – well apart from that Frye-disaster. But that was my fault."

Cho finished cleaning a wooden spoon and put it into to colander. "Maybe that was already your first attempt to see if he could be a potential partner. Subconsciously of course. And that Frye-experiment proved nicely that he wasn't ready."

"You're a very astute man, Kimball Cho," she stated with admiration after a small pause to contemplate his words. "Insightful even. Who'd have thought? You always seem so detached."

"It usually gets the job done," he deadpanned and put the last cleaned pot down for drying.

She smiled for the first time that evening and he took that as mission accomplished. "Thank you, Cho," she said warmly and pecked the astonished man on the cheek. "You're a good man too."

They finished with the last bit of cleaning, wiped the countertops and put away a few items in companionable silence, wished each other a good night and went upstairs to retire.


In the meantime Jane and Lisbon had finished their fourth love making session of the day and lay on the bed all tangled limbs and heated bodies, still intimately entwined and kissing languidly.

When they'd come down a bit from their high, Teresa asked curiously, "What did you and Virgil talk about in the kitchen?"

"Men's business," Patrick replied vaguely pecking her nose.

"Why so secretive?"

He put a strand of her hair behind her ear. "We just cleared the air. Remedied a few concerns and misgivings. There's really not much to tell you. I'm not trying to be sneaky or anything."

"I'm glad to hear that," she said warmly. "I hope he didn't give you a hard time."

"No, not really. But he did ask me about my intentions regarding you." His hand drew lazy circles on her back.

"Oh? And what are your intentions, Mr. Jane?" she asked teasingly.

"All purely honorable, Miss Lisbon," he stated with a cheeky grin and squeezed her butt.

She snorted. "Honorable my ass," she punned and they both chuckled.

"I told him, the con man will make an honest woman of you yet," he teased.

She couldn't quell a giggle. "Sometimes our language is really completely absurd," she said with amusement. "But did you really tell him that?" she inquired.

He smirked. "Yep. He pulled quite a face at first but asked for an invitation in the end. I take that as his blessing."

She pulled him into another deep kiss.

"Poor Madeleine. She had a hard time keeping her poise tonight," Teresa said a while later.

He sighed. "I guess. But she did a good job. I didn't expect her to cause a scene anyway. She's a very proud and controlled woman after all." With a grin he added, "I have a feeling that Cho planned to sort her out during their shared kitchen duties. He had that look."

"What look?" she asked skeptically. "Cho doesn't do looks."

"Of course he does. Everybody does. He just hides it a bit better than most. But he still has quite a few tells, you just have to know what you're looking for," Patrick provided snootily.

She rolled her eyes. "Have I told you lately that you're annoying?"

"I wouldn't know," he answered in the same snooty tone. "If I had to remember all the drivel you spout, my memory palace would have to be closed due to overcrowding after one day."

She slapped him on the chest and called him a jerk, just to press her lips to his again right afterwards.

He cupped her cheeks gently and brushed her face with his thumbs. "That's what I would call mixed signals, my dear."

"I can never decide whether to hit or kiss you, and it's all your fault," she teased, putting up a long suffering mien.

"In case it might influence your future decision making: I definitely prefer the kissing option."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh really? Just too bad you don't factor this into your own decision making."

"I do, Lisbon, I do. And I'm actually rather satisfied with my success rate." He grinned suggestively. "I got lucky four times today. Not bad, I'd say. Not bad at all."

"Idiot," she muttered, blushed and slapped him again. She wriggled against him, as usual slightly embarrassed when he talked openly about them having sex.

He groaned and pulled her fully on top of him. "If you don't stop that right now, I might just be up for round number five, Teresa."

The sudden arousal that flooded her veins at the feeling of him getting hard beneath her chased away any lingering thoughts of abashment. She wriggled a bit more, felt him grow harder and took in his appreciative moans with satisfaction. One of her hands wandered down between them and she changed her position so she could join them easily. She took hold of his erection and guided it into the right place. He thrust into her and they both set a slow pace.

"God, I love the honeymoon phase of our relationship," she groaned.

He devoured her mouth with his and enhanced the force behind his thrusts. His hands took hold of her hips and guided her movements so he could deepen the penetration as much as the position allowed him to. "I just hope this phase will last very, very long," he said huskily. "You're so beautiful and if I could, I'd just stay joined with you all day."

"I know what you mean," she replied breathlessly. "I love to feel you inside of me, have you so close." She gyrated her hips a bit to add to their pleasure, feeling a climax approach.

He sensed it as well and made sure to rub her clit during the next moves. She shattered around him and buried her face in the space between his neck and shoulder shakily. He held her close, stroking her back. Exhausted and utterly spent she fell asleep still intimately joined with him. He didn't mind and smiled indulgently. After four releases already that day he didn't feel an overwhelming need to come and just enjoyed the continuation of their deep connection instead.

Maybe he could maintain his erection for a while longer with the help of some bio-feedback, he pondered. That would indeed be excellent and come as close as feasible to fulfilling his wish to stay joined with Teresa all day, well, night in that case.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing and the feel of her body around his penis. It was almost overwhelming, very exciting and emotionally satisfying in a way he hadn't experienced before. He gloried in the feeling of their deep connection as long as he could and fell asleep still buried inside of her – completely relaxed and utterly contented for the first time in years.


The team wasn't on call that weekend, but with Teresa still acting as supervising agent and after her impromptu day off the previous day, she made it clear during breakfast that she needed to spend some time at the office. In addition they all required clean clothes and such and therefore a round-trip to their respective homes had to be organized. Jane added grocery-shopping to their to-do list.

Finally it was decided that Van Pelt and Rigsby would team up and visit their apartments together as well as getting the shopping out of the way, while Lisbon, Cho, and Jane would go to the office together and get their stuff from home on the trip back. After informing him of their plans LaRoche offered to come and keep Hightower company as an additional security measure, though the house was still under security watch.

They reconvened at the Hightower residence in the afternoon. There weren't any news on the Red John front and there had obviously not been any breakings and enterings into their homes in their absence. All of this led Jane to the conclusion that the bastard was planning his grand finale which would probably take place sooner rather than later and the rest of the party agreed. It was a logical assumption and besides they trusted Jane's insights.

Hence the atmosphere was very tense that day and they all felt like they were just experiencing the calm before the storm or, as Jane with his infinite sense of sarcastic humor and love for wordplays put it, the calm before the 'Gale'. This bad pun was met with several rolled eyes which he answered with a feigned innocent smile and a shrug that led to several giggles.

In all honesty they were all glad to hear Jane joking and he seemed in an all around relatively good mood – an astonishing, but welcome development during a Red John situation. And ultimately it helped to put the others a bit at ease as well.

When the consultant announced he would start making dinner Madeleine offered her assistance in her kitchen. He raised his brow and eyed her carefully but seeing her determined look he shrugged, grinned, and punned, "Be my guest," which earned another round of rolled eyes and snickers.

He put her to work cutting vegetables for the pasta sauce he had planned and started with some preparations of his own. They worked a while in silence both casting covered sideways glances at the other. Finally Hightower broke the tense stalemate with a sigh. "Look, Patrick, I'm sorry I've caused this mess. I thought it would be a good idea to spend some time alone with you to clear the air but obviously it was a mistake."

"No, it wasn't. I mean, it took you some time but now you've opened the channels of communication. It's progress," he replied evenly.

"I was hoping, you would be the one to start the talking," she admitted subdued.

He chuckled. "Oh, I know. But it wasn't my place to do so."

She shook her head. "You're not going to make this easy, are you?"

"As easy or as complicated as you want it to be, Madeleine. I'm just following your lead here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she inquired curiously.

He looked at her earnestly. "This is your show. I don't need this conversation – you do. I'm absolutely willing to accommodate you, but ultimately this is mostly for you and you should take from it whatever it is you're seeking. If it's some kind of absolution from me – you have it. If you feel the need to explain or justify yourself, please do so."

"So what you're saying is that there are no hard feelings?" she asked warily.

He smiled gently. "No hard feelings, Madeleine. Why would there be? You haven't done anything to warrant that. I'm flattered, actually. You're an attractive woman after all. But unfortunately for you, you're not Lisbon."

Hightower blushed, but fought to stay composed anyway. "You're really very mature and sympathetic about this whole matter," she stated somewhat awed.

"And the fact that you react like that to it should tell you something." He caught her eyes and continued, "Madeleine, you've a keen mind. You're analytical, proud of your achievements, and very disciplined. You're also crafty and astute. And though you're a warm, motherly woman as well, you like to present yourself as professional and aloof."

She nodded hesitantly at his precise assessment of her and he went on with it, "You enjoy being in charge and you're at ease on the political stage. You like to match yourself with those in power and you thrive on playing games to reach your goals. Am I right?"

She nodded again, a bit flustered at his thorough dissection of her personality. He took a deep breath and started to speak again afterwards, "In quite a few ways we two are very much alike, Madeleine, which makes us rather compatible in a working environment, at least to a certain degree." He smirked remembering their past co-operation. She couldn't help but return his grin. "And though you're relatively good at hiding your emotions, I've still never had much of a problem to understand what makes you tick and especially why you feel so attracted to me. It's logical actually, given the facts."

"Is there a point to this somewhere, Patrick?" she asked with irritation in her voice. She didn't particularly like the notion of him being so open and frank with her. It felt a lot like being naked in front of him. And right now he was about the last person she wanted to appear naked in front of. And she especially disliked not to know where he was intending to go with this.

He chuckled. "Yes, and you've just made it."

She groaned and glared at him. "Can you just cut the crap for once and get straight to it? I hate this beating around the bush. Why do you need to play mind games all the time?"

He chuckled again, irritating her even more. "But that's my very nature, Madeleine. And besides showing a point is usually much more efficient than just making it verbally."

"Well, as long as your counterpart GETS the point, Patrick. I can't say that I do at the moment." She was really starting to get annoyed with him.

Jane was completely unfazed though. "Oh you will – eventually." He went back to the cooking he'd neglected during their talk and saw Hightower fuming beside him, a fact that the onions on her chopping board would have felt the effect of, had they been animate.

"Well, if you're trying to put me off by being a pain in my neck I have to tell you that I already very much knew that side of you and it didn't stop me before," she finally hissed.

He had the audacity to chuckle yet again. "Ah, no. Believe it or not, but I'm not trying to be willfully annoying. On the contrary. I'd like for you to calm down and go over our conversation again. I'm trying to tell you something and it would be best if you figured it out for yourself. It wouldn't be half as sobering if I just right out told you."

"Sobering?" she asked, totally bewildered now. "Right at the moment it's just painful and confusing to be honest."

"I never said, it won't be painful. Certain truths are hard to face. I don't want to hurt you but I guess it can't be helped because I'll never be able to give you what you want."

She didn't know if it was his words or the onions, but for her own dignity she would always claim it was the latter that caused the tears silently running down her face. She wiped them away shamefully.

"I'm sorry, Madeleine," he whispered gently.

She shook her head. "Just the onions," she muttered meekly.

"Of course," he said, watching her with kind eyes.


They concentrated on their tasks again for a while without speaking. She pondered his words and their conversation and it started to dawn on her what he'd meant to tell her.

They were too much alike to be a good match. And he was too strong willed and had too keen a mind to be the kind of partner she needed.

She wanted to be the leader, the one pulling the strings. She had a constant need to be the smartest person in the room and when Patrick Jane was present she most certainly wasn't. She had to admit that. They would be in competition all the time or rather she would try to challenge him constantly to re-establish her superiority. And he wouldn't budge an inch.

Until she'd seen his vulnerable, kind, and approachable side her mind had instinctively known all of that and accepted that this man was extremely attractive and a more than worthy challenge for her, but certainly not suited as a love interest. Like always before in her life she'd used her keen intellect and analytical mind to assess a potential partner and her ratio had warned her off.

Apart from the other circumstances like him practically still being married to his late wife, the fact that he'd seen through her schemes and manipulations right away had set off the warning bells in her mind and countered the many other plus factors that had made him appear so suitable and desirable at first glance.

Yes, he did possess a lot of traits she found attractive in a partner. He was headstrong, exceedingly intelligent, sophisticated, handsome, complex, extremely charismatic, and a bit dangerous. He also loved kids and she was a divorced single mother.

Before, she'd used his supposedly bad shape, his brusqueness, and his acerbity as excuses not to pursue him as a possible partner.

Then suddenly she'd been confronted with two previously completely unknown facets of him: his gorgeous body and his soft underbelly. The first had destroyed one of her false pretenses immediately, the latter had been even more devastating. Her mind had automatically assessed his being understanding, mature, kind, accessible, and open as potential weaknesses, which would allow her to take on the role as the dominant partner in a relationship with him. As that was ultimately the position she always wanted to assume this had made him tremendously attractive all of a sudden.

This however – and that was probably what he'd wanted to tell her – wasn't the reality of things at all. That man was never going to submit to anyone. He would fight tooth and nail if anyone tried to push him into a certain role. Just because he could also be kind and understanding didn't mean he'd suddenly turned into a push-over, would let himself be manipulated or controlled. And when it came down to a real power struggle between them the past had already shown, he would always win over her. That in turn would be the end of any kind of relationship, maybe even destroy them in the process.

Patrick could only accept someone as an equal who'd earned his trust and respect and took him exactly the way he was. Someone who didn't insist to be his boss and change him, but balanced his free spirit, his non-conformity and eccentricity naturally. Someone who allowed him enough leeway but still maintained to be a strong counterpart just by being genuine in their beliefs and true to themselves. Someone leading by example and with honesty. In other words someone exactly like Teresa Lisbon.

This had been the basis for their long standing, excellent working relationship (a lesson Madeleine had had to learn the hard way during her time as their boss) and it was now also the foundation of their romantic one. It didn't matter to them who might be stronger or smarter, they had no need for any competition like that. Of course they had the occasional 'power-struggle' between them as well, but those were caused by completely different reasons. Ultimately they knew each others' strengths and weaknesses and accepted and appreciated them. They just felt deep respect for each other and were in every sense of the word partners – at work and in life.

Madeleine was very envious of this, though she knew that her personality didn't allow for such a relationship. But it still appeared as something desirable to her, especially when watching those two. She imagined it would be fabulous to be loved and accepted as an equal by someone like Patrick Jane. She still knew herself well enough to understand that she would try to become his superior sooner rather than later nonetheless. And she would probably try to exploit every little sign of 'weakness' he showed to reach that goal. It would destroy them both.

It's not that she wanted someone weak or submissive, quite the opposite. She wanted a man who was strong and confident, intelligent and at peace with himself and still willing to accept her position as the slightly predominant one.

Sometimes she was a bit tired of always being strong and in need of control. Both Jane and Lisbon were control-freaks as well in many ways, but in their cases that behavior originated from the experience of being helpless and without any control over their lives. Hence it was learned behavior and that allowed them to act differently with each other. For her on the other hand it was deeply ingrained in her very nature. It was still taxing at times.


A delicious smell brought her out of her deep ruminations. She realized that she hadn't chopped anything in a long while and had been miles away. The onion she'd tortured ealier had obviously already found its way into the sauce simmering on the stove. Patrick was busy with both preparing a salad and adding seasoning to the pot at the same time.

He smiled warmly at her. "Back again?"

"Yes, as you very well know. I'm sure, you followed my train of thought through my body language."

"Ah, you give me too much credit, Madeleine. I might be a relatively decent multi-tasker but for the sake of our dinner I concentrated more on that task than you." He grinned. In a more serious tone he added, "It would've been very rude, if enlightening, to observe you. I decided to grant you some privacy."

"I guess, I have to thank you then," she said with a hint of irony.

He chuckled. "No thanks necessary. Did you have a productive time of it?" he asked curiously.

She nodded. "If you mean: did I eventually get your point, then yes."

"Good. Do you agree with it as well?"

"I would be an utter fool not to."

After the words had left her mouth she finally realized what this meant. She was about to say goodbye to her feelings for this man, to her first real experience of love, even if it was misplaced. He was still so very desirable to her and even if her intellect knew it was a mistake, her heart told her something else. And it hurt like hell.

She stood before him with hot tears running down her face and fought for her composure. He was a bit helpless and undecided, unsure of what to do. Should he call for someone else to comfort her? Maybe Grace? Or was he in a position to offer it himself? And would that be smart? Was he even willing to do so? Would she accept it? She was a proud woman after all.

He read her carefully and saw that she was just as flustered as he was and obviously in dire need of some solace. He switched off the stove and without further ado he opened his arms invitingly. After only a second of hesitation she closed the gap and accepted his hug and started to sob in earnest.


Comforting crying females was way outside of Patrick Jane's comfort zone and something he normally avoided like the plague, but in this case it probably couldn't be helped. Awkwardly he patted her back and murmured reassuring phrases, which was exactly the way Lisbon found him/them when she entered the kitchen a few minutes later. He was very relieved to see her and looked at his girlfriend with pleading eyes. But his relief was short-lived because she made no attempt to come to his rescue and cast him a bemused smile instead conveying 'You caused it – deal with it'.

"Help," he mouthed imploringly, which Teresa ignored completely or rather decided to apply to his cooking. Madeleine was too lost in her grief to notice her anyway and so Lisbon stepped over to the stove merrily and took a look at the pasta sauce, asked her boyfriend with her eyes whether she should switch on the burner again and at his resigned nod and a mouthed "Traitor" from him she did just that. With a smirk she found a spoon for a tasting and mocked him with an expression showing exaggerated delight.

He decided that his girlfriend had definitely spent too much time around him and that he'd created a monster and that he could just as well concentrate on the matter at hand again – namely the hysterical woman in his arms. He did so and even went as far as applying some soothing techniques. He didn't aim for a full blown trance, just for the assuasive effect of his tone. It worked and she calmed down a bit and loosened the strong hold she had on him. He handed her a handkerchief and she cleaned her face, looking suddenly mortified.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Patrick! This is so embarrassing."

"Sh. It's okay," he tried to ease her mind, though he appeared a bit rattled as well and his smile looked sheepish, but very gentle.

In her confused and vulnerable state it was the most beautiful expression she'd ever seen on his face. He looked so kind and impish and she felt so much warmth for him at that moment that she couldn't stop herself from cupping his face and pulling him down into a kiss.

She'd obviously surprised him because it took him a moment to realize what was happening. When he did and came out of his shell-shock, he pushed her back resolutely but with caution. He shook his head and searched her eyes. "No, Madeleine," was all he said, clear and categorical but still without real harshness.

"Sorry," she stammered, now completely mortified, and hid her face behind her hands. Only seconds later she rushed from the room with a sob.


Lisbon didn't know whether to laugh or fume. She'd just watched Hightower kiss her boyfriend after all, but Patrick's expression was so hilarious she couldn't stop herself and giggled.

"Thanks for the help, Teresa," Jane muttered. "It's always good to know you have my back," he added with sarcasm in his voice.

She stepped over to him and caressed his cheek. "Oh, I think you handled that rather well on your own, Mr. Jane. She only got to kiss you for about five seconds after all," she teased him.

He blushed. "Gosh. This is really embarrassing. Mostly for poor Madeleine though."

"Oh yes. She'll have a hard time looking you in the eyes again and she didn't even realize, I was here and witnessed it. Well, serves her right for kissing my boyfriend," Lisbon said a bit annoyed.

"Are you jealous, my dear?" he teased her.

"What? No, of course not. She still had no right to do it. You're mine," she replied possessively.

He chuckled. "Not jealous at all I see." He turned serious. "Don't worry. She was just a bit confused and acting without thinking. Her tears were actually tears of mourning because I'm relatively sure I got through to her." His expression was relaxed now. "She's accepted that she fell in love with a certain image of her and me together, not with something existing in reality. What you saw was her dealing with the loss. She's feeling a lot of hurt and pain right now but she'll be fine. Soonish, I hope."

He bent down to kiss Lisbon, but she turned away. "Urgh. I'm not sure, I want to kiss you right now. She just had her lips there," she said indignantly.

"Geez! Do you want me to wash out my mouth with soap or something?"

"That's actually a pretty good idea. It'll teach you not to kiss other women," she answered defiantly.

Ignoring her in his opinion ridiculous protests he smirked, cupped her cheeks so she couldn't dodge again, and pulled her into a deep lip-lock. Any resistance from her stopped after only a few seconds. She moaned and pulled him even closer, buried her hands in his curls, and marked her territory emphatically. He answered in kind, one of his hands wandering down to her butt to press her firmly into him, the other caressing her cheek.


It was just her luck that this was the exact scene that greeted Madeleine Hightower after she'd calmed down, when she came back into the kitchen to apologize for her outrageous behavior. It brought home once and for all and with the force of a sledgehammer just how out of reach Jane was. Patrick's and Teresa's kiss was so heated that Madeleine almost expected they would tear off their clothes any minute and have sex on her kitchen counter.

Both lovebirds were so lost in each other that they didn't notice her at first and even though Hightower was ashamed about her own conduct earlier and this whole situation was growing more embarrassing by the second, she gathered all her courage and cleared her throat loudly to get their attention.

Lisbon and Jane came back to the present, flinched and released each other, albeit reluctantly. Teresa blushed a deep red but Patrick just grinned. "Guess, we should've gotten a room," he stated merrily, trying to ease the mood and to act as normally as possible around Madeleine.

She appreciated his efforts, but on the other hand his seeming nonchalance - only minutes after she'd abased herself by almost forcing herself on him - still hurt. Thus instead of apologizing as she'd planned, she huffed, "Is it really necessary to rub your happiness in my face like that?"

This in turn upset Lisbon who couldn't stop herself from uttering accusingly, "And this from the woman who dared to kiss my boyfriend in front of me without batting an eyelash."

Madeleine visibly lost color. "You were here? Why didn't you make your presence known? Oh my god! You aren't supposed to know. That was a private moment," she stammered.

"Not supposed to know? Do you really believe, Patrick would keep quiet about something like that? Hah!" Lisbon muttered.

"Girls, please!" Jane chimed in. "This is completely unnecessary. Let's act like adults, alright?" They both nodded a bit sheepishly, embarrassed that it was Patrick of all people who had to remind them to behave maturely.

He addressed the dark-skinned woman, "Madeleine? I'm sorry, you came in at a bad time, but Teresa and I are not going to start concealing our feelings for each other just because it might hurt you. You have to either live with it or if you can't, we'll have to find another solution for our current living-situation."

His attention turned to the other woman. "Teresa? Don't make this extra hard for Madeleine. I'm sure, she's mortified enough as it is and regrets her imprudent action. There's really no reason to make a mountain out of a molehill."

Finally appealing to both of them he added urgently, "Can we all just try and get over it? We can't afford to treat each other like that right now. And it's not fair to any one of us either."

"You're right," Teresa admitted. "I'm sorry, Madeleine. I can't say I liked what I saw earlier, but I'm not really mad. It's just, well… Anyway, Patrick explained the situation to me and I'm ready to forget it ever happened."

"Thank you. I'm really sorry. I don't know what came over me. I've never been so impulsive before," Hightower said meekly.

"I beg to differ," Lisbon replied.

"Excuse me?" Madeleine sputtered.

Teresa was unfazed by the interruption and went on, "While you're usually very controlled, when you're overwhelmed you have a tendency to act in the spur of the moment and often in a physical way." With a contemplative expression she continued, "The day I watched your children while you were out in the field with Jane digging for gold comes to mind. You pulled me into a bear hug all of a sudden when you got back. Maybe you're not aware of it, but I think it's your normal way of dealing with an emotional overload."

Patrick cast his girlfriend an appreciative look. "That was very astute, Lisbon. Maybe the years by my side haven't been for naught after all," he stated snootily. She glared and he winked. "But seriously, Madeleine, Teresa has a point. I agree one hundred percent. It wasn't a strange reaction, rather a typical one for you."

Hightower sighed. "Seems like I'm learning quite a bit about myself these days. My self-perception is obviously off." She took a deep breath. "I still want to express my apology for the whole mess I've caused. I…"

"Please stop, Madeleine," Patrick interrupted her. "Stop apologizing. We all know that this is painful and that this is harder on you than on us. I don't know how we can make this easier for you but I still think, facing and confronting this head on is the best way even if it hurts you." He cast her an encouraging glance. "And you'll be fine. Soon your heart will catch up with your head. In the meantime we're all ready to make allowances for you."

After that he went to the door and held it open with ostentation. "And now you two ladies are going to leave the kitchen or I'm afraid, there won't be any dinner tonight. If you thought this crisis was bad, imagine what our lives will be like with a hungry Rigsby around. So, shoo!"

The women rolled their eyes but left him to his cooking. As a last parting shot just as they were on the threshold Patrick addressed the dark-skinned woman gently, "Madeleine, I know this'll sound completely inconceivable right now, but when this whole Red John mess is over, do yourself a favor and go out on a date with Cho." Hightower looked at him in speechless astonishment, Lisbon gasped in total surprise. "Yes, you might not believe me, but let me tell you that you two are very well suited. Just think about it for a while. Trust me, you'd be fabulous together."

With that he turned back to his pots and pans with a satisfied and smug grin. Jane's Lonely Hearts Club indeed…


TBC

More RJ to come very soon, I promise. In the meantime: feel free and invited to leave me a little something.