Love From Red John-The Mentalist 'Jisbon'

Chapter One~A Hurricane Of Feelings

Teresa Lisbon

'Look, Lisbon. It'll be fine,' Jane tries to soothe as I pace across my office. 'You've done things like this before.' I start nibbling at my bottom lip, an irritating habit I have when I'm nervous. When I walk past him he gently pulls my sleeve guiding me to the space on the couch next to him. 'Look at me...' He says. It takes me a moment to register but I obey. 'You have to carry on like normal... For them,' he motions to the rest of the team who are sat at their desks in the bullpen, busy working. 'You mustn't worry more than you need to.'

'Helpful,' I give him a deadpan look. 'Cause right now, I'm worrying about what I need to worry about. I haven't even looked in detail for other things to stress over.'

'Well don't search for those things.'

My stomach's a hurricane of feelings; nervousness, stress and anxiety mainly.

'What is it you have to do, exactly?' He questions.

'Present myself to the highly ranked deputies informing them about the Red John case...'

He studies my face, probably trying to read my expression. 'I don't know what to do... If I don't give them what they want, I'm out. If I give them too much, I'm out too.'

'How so?'

I get up again, restless.

'If I don't give them enough information, they'll think I can't do my job. If I give them too much, they'll wonder why we haven't caught him yet.'

I notice I'm pacing again when he taps my previous seat beside him.

'You're making me dizzy,' he says as I fall onto the couch.

'I need to make sure that I give them the information they want. But that'll be giving them all the details.'

'So give them all the details, they can't judge what you're doing. I don't see any of them working the case, do you?'

'No but-'

'I can help?'

'No. I've got to do it on my own.'

****

Patrick Jane

'No. I've got to do it on my own,' she says. I thought she'd be like this, she's a very independent woman. I look at her, her leg bouncing slightly and bottom lip turning red...

'Oh Lisbon...' I jump up into sitting position and touch my pockets searching for something to use. I pull out my pristine white handkerchief and wrap it around my index finger whilst she sits looking confused. As I lean in she realises the blood quietly oozing out of her lip and tries to push my hand away but I persist. I take her wrist and move it back down to her side then dab as gently as I can at the red liquid which slowly runs down the paths of her chapped lips. She allows her head to drop onto the back of the couch and the expression on her face is irritation. Our eyes encounter for a brief second and I realise where I am and what I'm doing. I move back and hand her the square of cotton then leave her office pretty sharpish. I go into the bullpen and Van Pelt looks up at me, so does Rigsby and Cho.

'Is Boss okay?' She asks.

'Uh... Yep, yep. She's fine.'

I'm hoping they didn't see what I don't want them to see.

'She looked anxious. What's up?' Cho says.

'She's just a little stressed. She has to present some information to the deputies, you know what Lisbon's like.'

Rigsby looks into her office. 'I've never seen her like this... She looks really... out of it.'

I turn to follow his gaze and sure enough she's sat in the same position, arm propped up holding the handkerchief in place, looking completely lost in her head.

'I'm not quite sure what's going on either. It's not all to do with this presentation I can tell. But I'll try to find out...'