Full Chapter now posted below!

Be sure to pop over to my profile and add 3 Month Leave the MENTALIST to your reading lists! That's where I'll be posting the short story that takes place after Ronnie gets out of the hospital.

MISS RED : pt I

"Something wrong?"

Ronnie snapped her cellphone shut and set it down on the counter, shaking her head abruptly. "Not at all." Eggs and sausage sizzled deliciously in the pan on the stove, filling the kitchen with the savory aroma. She sprinkled a healthy allowance of crushed black pepper and went back to slicing up fresh avocado. She'd been up for a few hours, some of her new aches and pains keeping her from sleeping fitfully.

It was the new normal, after Arlov.

Cho paused by the sink to set his water glass in the basin. He glanced at her phone and took two mugs from the cabinet. "You've been checking your phone a lot lately." They'd gotten into a good routine since living together, and moved seamlessly around each other with the same ease that they found in working together.

His blonde partner shrugged casually. Too casually. He always knew when she was hiding something. "Breakfast is almost ready."

He poked his nose over her shoulder to take a whiff of the eggs and sausage, and then moved over to the toaster to butter their toast when it popped. "You really don't have to cook so much. It's not like you don't pay rent."

Their shared living space had morphed to accommodate the two of them since she moved in. Instead of the sparse counters and minimal amount of dishes that he'd had three months ago, his kitchen was now furnished with a new, bright red blender for their protein shakes, a vase of flowers on the bar because Ronnie couldn't help herself every time she passed the flower market every Saturday, and a cartoon drawing of a jacked Mona Lisa hung above the sink captioned 'Mona Lifta', because for some reason she thought gym jokes were the funniest way to decorate a house.

She dished up two plates and placed the avocado slices delicately on the sides. And, all of a sudden, he was eating eggs and sausage and toast with avocado for breakfast instead of microwaved bowls of instant oatmeal. "You don't like it when I cook?"

Cho dropped a slice of toast on each plate and then turned and placed bracing hands on her shoulders. His richly dark eyes dug into hers sincerely. "You'll have to fish later, Ronnie. The compliments aren't biting today."

"Shut up." She threw him off and gut punched him as he jumped out of her way, grinning as he went. Cho may have been the funniest person to flirt with, since he powered down like a desktop from the nineties every time she showed him womanly affection, but he was physically incapable of being manipulated, even as a joke.

She took both plates to the table and took a seat. "Look, if you don't like it when I cook, I can stop."

Cho sat across from her and set two cups of coffee down, one for her and one for him. He smoothed down his tie and ran a hand through his black hair. "Your cooking's fine. Just don't feel like you have to."

They ate breakfast in silence for a few minutes before her text alert sounded and drew their attention to where her phone sat on the counter. Ignoring his pointed stare, Ronnie got up to grab it and flipped it open. Cho watched her face lift as she smiled down at the little screen, keeping it carefully tilted away from his view. She sank back into her chair and typed out a message before dropping it into her lap and picking up her fork again.

He took a bite of toast and watched her for a few more seconds. "You've been texting someone."

He was catching on, far faster than she was ready for him to. A rush of panic clenched in her chest. "It's a cellphone, Cho, that's what they're for." Ronnie sipped her coffee and raised her eyebrows. It was time to turn up her powers of deflection. "Do you want to hit the gym today?" There hadn't been a new case in the week since the Didrikson/Russo case, and she was almost entirely through her stack of paperwork. She foresaw quite a bit of downtime that afternoon.

"No, like, you've been texting someone."

She blinked at him. Clearly, she no longer had powers of deflection. Forcing herself to hold his gaze and not look guilty, she quirked her lips in a 'yes, and?' expression.

"You've been texting someone."

Ronnie's cheeks flushed. "I told you I've been dating."

"No, I told you that I've been dating. Since when are you dating someone? Oh my god." Cho's eyes went wide and his fork lowered ever so slightly. "It's Jane, isn't it?"

the MENTALIST

Given that deranged assumption, the game of the day was simple: convince Cho that she was dating Jane. He deserved it for thinking that she would date a man twenty-five years her elder—a man who had stepped in as her unofficial father figure since she'd joined the team. Jane wasn't the type of man she'd date, he was the type of man she'd ask to godparent her children. Or honorarily grandparent her children.

For being too blockheaded to see the actual nature of her relationship with the mentalist, Ronnie would show him precisely what he wanted to see, since he was such a good detective.

She booted up her computer and pulled her stack of outstanding paperwork out of her inbox. Flipping through the folders to find the one that she'd half completed the night before, she plugged in an earphone and turned on some music.

Behind her, Cho's phone rang. He listened for a few minutes, gave a curt response, and then put the phone back in the cradle. "The team's down in Sausalito, at the Pelican Cove Marina." He told her when the call was over. "CEO and founder of the software company Gaia Matrix, Jim Gulbrand, was reported missing by his live-in brother yesterday. Local P.D. found blood on the deck of his boat but no body, so the guys are giving it a look."

So much for downtime to go to the gym. "Everything going okay so far?" She asked.

"Apparently Rigsby's sick as a dog. Won't get on the boat even though it's docked in the marina." Cho went back to his paperwork. "They'll be back in a few hours."

Ronnie glanced nonchalantly over her shoulder. "Was Jane with her?" Rewarded with his signature blank stare, she shrugged and looked away again. She had the whole day to milk his suspicions and gross him out, and already she was having the time of her life.

"Yeah. He was playing with the anchor."

Her responding laughter was much lighter and more girlish than usual as she shook her head. "Of course he was."

the MENTALIST

When the team got back, it was with the news that Jane had found Jim Gulbrand's body chained to the anchor and plunged to the bottom of the marina. They also had news that when they had raised the body and Rigsby had seen it, he upchucked over the side of the dock.

It did wonders for his ongoing desperation to get Grace's attention.

Jane went on to explain that he and Lisbon had visited Jim's brother, a man who strongly resembled Sonny Bono, and learned that the victim was dating a psychiatrist from the brother's rehab center. Apparently divorcing his ex-wife was the best thing the victim had ever done, and that his new girlfriend was quite the improvement--'for a psychiatrist'.

"Grace can check out the brother's alibi, make sure his story about his lover can be corroborated." Lisbon ordered absently. "Cho, take Rigsby and check out Jim Gulbrand's business partner, Rick Bregman."

While Grace jumped to do her assignment, Jane moved over and sat on the edge of Ronnie's desk. Delighted by his inadvertent ways of making her prank on Cho even easier, she gave him her full attention, plastering a coy little smirk on her face.

"Morning, sweetheart, how are you doing?" Jane wondered pleasantly, stirring his tea bag around his iconic blue teacup.

Over his shoulder, Ronnie saw Lisbon staring at Cho, wondering why he hadn't scooped Rigsby out of his puddle of drool and left yet.

"I'm good." Ronnie beamed. "How are you?" She hoped she could be convincing, yet subtle, enough to freak Cho out without freaking Jane out.

Glancing from her emphatic expression to Cho and back, the consultant paused for a second. "Oh, you know. Nothing like a beautiful marina, first thing in the morning on a beautiful day. Apart from the dead man, that is." He shrugged one shoulder and took a sip. "Honestly, if you don't think about the dead guy, it was quite the perfect morning."

Lisbon rolled her eyes behind him. "Cho. What are you waiting for? Go."

Ronnie heard Cho's chair scrape back loudly and his footsteps scuffing along the floor as he gathered his things and kicked at Rigsby's desk. The jockish younger agent was face down, groaning into his keyboard, audibly congested.

Cho soon gave up on attempting to rouse the man from the living dead and glanced back at Ronnie, only to find her hiding a dainty laugh behind her hand at something that Jane was saying. Cho's eyebrows lowered in disgust. "Masters."

She straightened, feigning a flustered expression.

"Rigsby isn't up for this. You good to go?"

She grabbed her bag and her jacket, rising from her chair and flashing Jane a sweet smile. "See you," She touched his arm as she passed, refusing to meet Cho's eyes as she speed-walked out of the bullpen.

"Bye, Veronica." Jane returned, mildly confused but no less cheerful than he'd been a moment before. As Cho and Ronnie left, he turned happily to Lisbon. "I smell mischief afoot, Lisbon."

She scoffed. "I don't care whose feet you smell."

This one was fun to write. We're here for a good time, not a long time, lol. The silly chapters are the most fun for me, so I hope you guys like them.

I love you guys!