Hey mentalistas! Here's the intro for my latest fic Red Hot Desert. Hope you enjoy! -Sleepy.

It was 8:30 am, and a door being slammed shut was was the most prominent noise in the CBI. Lisbon's door no doubt, she was late, and from past experience, this was usually not a good sign. Not for Jane anyway.

"Uh oh, grumpy's here." Jane whispered to the rest of the team.

"Really? How did you manage to piss her off already, she just got here!" Van Pelt hissed, equally as quiet.

Jane smiled, eyes still shut, laying on his beloved couch. "I'm flattered, Grace, but as much as I would love to be the cause of that poor door's abuse, I didn't do anything."

They all looked at each other knowingly. "Ten bucks says you did."

"I'm telling you Cho, I'm innocent." he shrugged with a smile.

"Well if you're so innocent then why don't you just make the bet?" Rigsby chimed in.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement, "Alright then, you're on, Cho."

Rigsby smirked at his little victory. "Ha, easy money, Bro."

And just as Jane was about to retort, it happened, the inevitable that is.

"JANE, my office, NOW!"

Vanpelt raised her brow at Jane, "...You were saying?" she deadpanned, but before he could respond she shoved a steaming hot cup of coffee in his hands and added "Here, this should prevent at least one injury."

Begrudgingly, he took the cup and handed Cho a ten, and a slightly poorer Jane made his way to his Boss's office.

The door was ajar so he stuck one arm through, coffee in hand, while the rest of his body took cover behind it .

"Don't shoot, it's me...wait, no, it's Grace!" he corrected, considering his predicament. (which apparently was not good).

She rolled her eyes, "My guns in my cabinet, Jane."

" And your stapler?" he asked, still hiding behind her door.

"Out of staples" she huffed. He then leaned his head inside and stated with a toothy grin, "That's never stopped you before."

She looked up from her paperwork just long enough to fix him with a glare, "So come in before I change my mind."

Whew, she was touchy today, "Alright woman, no need to fuss." He handed her the coffee and watched her instantly relax. She took a tentative sip, and then another.

"Tell VanPelt I said thank you."

He smiled, Grace had a tendency to go overboard with the sugar. "I will."

He took his place on her couch, crossed his legs and prepared for his biweekly lecture. He thought he had been behaving recently, well...for the most part anyway. Now that he thinks about it, there may have been a slightmishap last week...

"You pissed off three CEO's in four hours, Jane."

Ok, so "slight" may have been an understatement. They're case last week involved the murder of a GreenCorp Executive. A company that created fuel out of organic resources. A company thats also had a lot of competition. So he poked a few big wigs to find the killer. Nothing a few lawsuits couldn't straighten out, surely.

"Meh, they were way too easily offended, Lisbon, terribly short tempers."

She looked at him incredulously, "You called one of them 'a self-absorbed, misogynist', and told him his greediness would run his company into the ground."

He waved it off, "So I had to rile them up a bit to weed out the killer, besides, everything I said was true, he deserved to be knocked down a few pegs, the old bag."

She sighed, "Jane, how many times do I have to tell you, you can't just insult people for a lead!" Even though he did, all the time.

"Oh come now Lisbon, we solved the case, that's what counts."

She shook her head, they sounded like a broken record always having the same argument, "When are you gong to learn that the way we solve a case is equally as important."

He made a face, "Well, I wouldn't say equally..." which earned him an eye-roll from Lisbon. "Besides, I didn't even get punched in the nose this time, how mad can they really be?

"So because they barely managed not to cause you bodily harm, you consider this a win?"

He shrugged, "Well you have to admit, I've had worse days."

"No kidding, sometimes I feel like you enjoy getting in trouble."

Jane smiled coyly, "Only by you, Lisbon."

She glared at him to hide her blush, then gave in, shook her head and sighed, "Just go, Jane."

That was unlike her to give up so fast, he thought. Their arguments, or as he liked to call them, their discussions, usually concluded with her making him apologize for his most recent stunt or at least making a compromise of some sort. But instead she was telling him to leave? He thought something was off when she showed up late to work, but now he was sure of it.

When he got up from his place on her couch, she assumed he was leaving, but instead he wandered over to her desk and took a seat. He sat back, folded his arms and tilted his head, just staring.

She held his glance as his eyes swept over her body and then back to her eyes. He was analyzing her and she knew it. He took in the slight slouch in her posture, the tiredness in her face and her overall irritated nature. She hadn't slept all night. Sure his antics usually got to her but not like this, she was stressed out and Jane wasn't the only reason.

He unfolded his arms, leaned over her desk and as if nothing had happened he asked, "Do you want to go get a bear claw?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "What I want is for you to apologize to those CEOs."

As if that would ever happen, she thought defeatedly.

"Fine, I'll apologize to those greedy jerks as soon as you tell me what the real problem is."

Crap, he knows. "I thought we established that it's you."

"Very funny Lisbon, come on, we can talk about it at Marie's." He marched around to the front of her desk and grabbed her coat off of the hook behind her. She got up to protest but that only made it easier for him to put it on.

"I have work to do Jane, and besides I'd really rather not talk about it to be honest." She watched futilely as he scrambled to collect her purse, phone and keys.

He handed them to her expectantly, "You won't be able to concentrate anyway if you don't talk about it, Lisbon, you'll feel much better afterwards, I promise."

She gave him a look of disbelief.

"...And If you don't feel better," he continued, "you can punch me in the nose until you do."

She rolled her eyes and took her things. In Lisbon language, that meant yes. With a satisfied smirk he ushered her out the door and past the bullpen where he told the team that they would be back shortly. They watched with bemused expressions as the pair disappeared into the elevators.

Rigsby shook his head, "Figures he'd get a date out of it."

What's got Lisbon so stressed out? Chapter 2 will have more answers! Let me know what you think so far :)

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