Peace

I apologise that it took me so long to update. I was studying for an exam and it took over my life for a few months. I hope this was worth the wait.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Mentalist, and no profit is garnered from this work of fiction.

Jane sauntered into the interrogation room casually, steeping a teabag an FBI branded coffee mug. Cho was already waiting for him, sitting across from Safiya Lopez, already in stalemate. But as he entered the room, she sat up a little straighter.

"Hello Patrick." His name sounded poisonous from her lips.

"Safiya." He acknowledged her with a little nod, not looking up as he pulled up a chair. "Finally, we can speak plainly. No more silly little games."

"I don't know. I quite enjoyed your little theatrical display. Felt like old times."

Jane scoffed a little. "Old times, huh?" Cho started beside him. "Let's reminisce."

"I'm not sure what you'd like me to say? You seemed to have created a beautiful little narrative of my life all on your own."

"Why don't you tell us your version?"

She smirked and shrugged. "It's true enough that I was born Safiya Lopez. I had a difficult life. Until I escaped all of that and made a new one for myself, as Rebecca Russo. And I did witness a criminal act in that church. One that has gone unpunished."

"You've witnessed a lot of criminal acts. Committed a few as well. You really went for my throat, Safiya." Jane piped up, sipping his tea, the picture of calm.

"A girl's gotta know how to protect herself."

"Did you ever have to protect yourself against McCallister?" Cho asked. "He was a dangerous man. He killed 41 victims himself, that we know. Even more through his proxies. Most of them young, vulnerable women – just like you. Did he ever threaten you?"

After a careful beat, she seemed to relent to her urge to talk about him. "Never. Thomas was a good man." She said lightly. Despite replying to Cho's question, her eyes never left Jane's. "I never felt safer than when I was with him."

"Did you kill for him?" Cho continued. Safiya didn't reply to that, simply shot him a glare.

"I've always found it interesting how McCallister's followers were able to compartmentalize murder." Jane commented off-hand. "Skim past the horrific killings as if it somehow fit into his vague philosophies on morality."

"His philosophies were anything but vague." She scoffed, unable to resist a little theological debate. "Thomas spoke the truth – he introduced me to a richer and deeper plane of understanding."

"Yes, I've heard that pitch before throughout the years. Seems a bit superficial to me. Murder is acceptable if it fits with this one man's motives?"

"It is your understanding that is superficial. Besides, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black? You devoted your entire life towards killing one man."

"And what did it get me?" Jane frowned down at his own hands. "Trust someone who knows, Safiya, who's been through it. I thought my revenge would bring me… peace. For two years I sat waiting for it to come. Peace does not come from this. You are playing a dangerous game to win an imaginary prize."

The tension hung thick in the room. Jane could feel the terse awareness from even the ever-unflappable Cho beside him. But across the table, Safiya smirked. She extended a hand and patted his wrist, her voice a low whisper. "Congratulations, by the way."

Jane blinked. "On what?"

"Finally making your move. He always liked the two of you together, you know." She smiled slyly. "That's why he chose the Martins girl as your peace offering. He thought she bore a closer resemblance." Although her cool hand was still wrapped around his wrist, her eyes seem to look just past him into the two-way mirror. An arrow to Lisbon in the observation room, aiming where it hurts. When he didn't respond, her steely gaze finally fixed upon him again. Distantly, Jane could hear a door open and close in the hallway. Lisbon leaving the observation room, he knew intuitively. His pulse jumped, but he maintained an outward façade of calm. Unfortunately, Safiya seemed to hear it too. Smirking, she continued: "Don't you want to know how I knew?"

"I suppose you're going to say he taught you." Jane turned to Cho beside him, forcing casualness. "McCallister asserted he was a real psychic." He explained to his colleague. "He told me so himself. Just before he died."

"He was a real psychic." Safiya asserted. "He was a brilliant man, with a connection to the other side. He showed me; taught me. He still teaches me."

"Still having chats from the afterlife, are you?"

Safiya nodded serenely. "Every day."

"And how is serial killer heaven? Nice? Hot?" Jane clicked his tongue a little. "There's no use arguing with a fanatic, I suppose. You believe in one thing. I believe the opposite. Lucky though that soon we'll have our answer."

"Oh? How so?"

Jane leaned forward onto his arms on the table. "Well, you're not giving Agent Cho here any useful information thus far. Soon the FBI will tire of you and transfer you to prison, pending trial. You know better than anyone how the Blake Association deals with their loose ends. And you are – were, excuse me – top dog. Out there some deputy is just licking their chops thinking about company advancement. If I was a betting man – and I am – I'd say by week's end, we'll find you lying on the floor with a smudge of green poison against your neck." Safiya's gaze remained steady but the flicker of tension in her jaw gave her away again. "But if you are right and you really do end up in serial killer heaven - you can just send me a little message from the beyond. I suppose I'll have to concede then."

She scoffed. "Leveraging my safety? That ploy failed you once before."

Jane shrugged. "You can call it leverage if you want. I'm just pointing out the obvious. The only member to ever exit your little association and survive long enough to even give testimony was Reede Smith. Amid its collapse, and only to be placed in WitSec."

"Near-collapse." She interjected, the frustration creeping in.

"Oh, I apologize. Near collapse." Jane paused. "Because you rebuilt."

Cho interjected. "We can help you, Safiya. Like we helped Smith."

"Please, that worm." She scoffed.

"I suggest you consider it." Jane pushed his chair back. "Perhaps discuss your legal options with Agent Cho here. I'm bored with this."

"He's just chasing after his girl." She whispered conspiratorially to Cho, but Jane didn't break his stride or relent to her goading.

Jane exited the interrogation room and, without breaking stride, quickly peered through the glass of the observation room door – finding only Fisher and Abbott looking back at him. He continued to the main bullpen, letting out a disappointed sigh finding her desk empty. After several minutes of searching, he found Lisbon sitting in the break room with a cup of coffee.

"I'm sorry." Fell from his mouth as soon as he saw her. He recovered after a moment. "That must have been difficult to watch."

She looked up at him. "Um… yes, it… wasn't great." She sipped her coffee as he sat beside her, her face turning in a grimace finding the contents of her mug cold. "Not how I wanted Abbott to hear. You handled it well, though."

"You left."

"You heard that?" Lisbon sighed. "I just didn't really want to hear what she had to say anymore, to be honest."

"That's fair." Jane stood, took the cold coffee from her hand and started making her a fresh cup instead along with a cup of tea for himself. "We can talk about it, if you want. I know it was a particularly difficult time."

"It was." She wrung her hands and Jane held his breath. "Maybe another time. Definitely not at work."

"Okay." Once prepared, he handed her the fresh mug of coffee and sat next to her again, his tea steeping.

The crossing of the boundary between friends and lovers was so fresh, so new, but they both seemed to understand the gravity of the change. It all felt so precious and precarious right now. Tentative, he gently took her hand in his under the table. He had only woken up in her bed for the first time that morning, and their new relationship was immediately being bombarded with such missiles as Lorelai Martins. The thought that he might lose her before their relationship had even really begun was terrifying. But she squeezed his hand reassuringly as she raised her mug to sip her coffee.

We'll weather this together, her eyes said. Jane felt his pulse rate calm as Lisbon gently stroked the palm of his hand with her thumb.