A/N: For any of you who have read my previous fanfics this is going to be very different but hopefully you'll give it a chance and like it. It's an AU of how Jane and Lisbon meet and set around the time season two began. It's quite a light-hearted romp but there will be some more serious scenes too. Warning! You may not like Jane much for a little while but I promise you'll grow to love him...

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist, the wonderful Bruno Heller does.

Deception

Chapter 1 – Dogs & Death

Patrick Jane woke to the feel of cool Egyptian cotton sheets covering the bottom half of his naked body and the warm rays of early sun streaming through his bedroom window. He blinked a few times, listening to the sound of seagulls in the distance and the waves lapping onto the shore outside. He exhaled and smiled to himself as he looked around the pure white bedroom with its expensive marble floors, bespoke furniture and carefully chosen artwork.

He'd made it.

He told himself this every morning as soon as he opened his eyes at his house in Malibu, his life now so different to the one he had growing up. He glanced over at the beautiful woman lying next to him and smirked. Without waking her, he slid out from red satin sheets and walked over to the large picture window, the focal point of the room.

He loved watching the ocean at this time of day, the sunlight turning its waves golden and orange like crackled glass with bright shards of light reflecting off them as they rolled nearer shore. Hearing a mumble from the sleeping form in the bed he turned around to study her.

She had her back to him and her long blonde hair hung around her shoulders in faultless waves as if she had purposefully styled it that way. His eyes wandered to her ass that was pert and tanned and perfect. Her long legs now draped in satin, he had explored every inch of the night before. He smiled at the memory of having sex with her, of watching her come alive against his nimble fingers and then his tongue before he entered her and she orgasmed once again. In truth, it wasn't making a woman feel this way he liked so much, it was more the control he had over their bodies he enjoyed, teasing them to the edge before making them almost beg for release. On many occasions they did just that, he recalled with another smirk. She moved again. She would wake soon and he sighed. He put on a silk robe and headed towards his kitchen downstairs.

Teresa Lisbon drove up to the red bricked mansion on the outskirts of Sacramento and flashed her CBI badge to the local police guarding the house. She walked inside and spied her team members Cho and Rigsby who were already in the library where the body had been discovered. Quickly she studied the scene in front of her. Her expression rigid she asked them, "What have we got?" as she crouched to get a better look at the dead man lying on the hardwood floor.

Cho replied, "Malcolm Warren, stockbroker, aged fifty-nine. Found with a gunshot wound to the head. Looks like a 38. No signs of a break-in."

She nodded. "Did he own a gun?"

"Wife says yes."

"Okay, get a hold of it and get ballistics to check for a match first. M.E. call it yet? Murder or suicide?"

"Not yet, should have the report later."

She nodded again as she looked at the placing of the body once more, angling her head to look at his arms. He wore his watch on his right wrist so was more than likely left-handed but the gunshot wound was at his right temple. Definitely murder she decided immediately but would wait for the report to confirm as was procedure.

"Anyone talk to the wife yet?" she asked both men.

Rigsby replied, "Yeah, I tried but she's a little..." He moved his head from side to side, trying to decide the next word to come out of his mouth.

"Little what Rigsby?" she asked with irritation. She hadn't had her caffeine fix yet this morning and it was making her patience run thin.

Cho replied for his colleague. "Nuts."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "In what way?"

"I think you should talk to her, boss." She rolled her eyes and went to find Malcolm Warren's so-called 'nutty' wife.

Upon arrival in the kitchen, Jane was immediately welcomed by his golden retriever Victor and he knelt in front of him, hugging him and letting the dog lick his face. "I know, you want to go for a walk, buddy, but I need your help first, okay? You know the usual routine when I have a guest stay overnight?"

The dog looked at him with more love than he deserved, his tail wagging enthusiastically. Jane removed a timer from the top of a drawer and laid it beside the dog. Victor wagged his tail again in acknowledgement. He loved this game as it normally meant an extra long walk with his owner.

Jane made the woman upstairs a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon. You didn't have as perfect a body as hers without giving up a few indulgences he guessed, but he wished she had at least kept down the dinner he'd made for her the night before after all the effort he'd gone to. It was none of his business, of course, and he had no interest in interfering; if she wanted to be bulimic it was up to her. She was a model and it wasn't the first one he'd come across one with that particular problem. He smiled to himself as he remembered her excusing herself about ten seconds after her last mouthful, before returning and smelling of the mouthwash she must have kept in her purse before telling him how full she was after the meal. He had almost laughed out loud at her attempt to fool him.

He brought the water up to the bed and placed it on the nightstand beside her. He spoke in soft tones. "Selina, baby, wake up. I brought you a drink."

He rolled his eyes when he heard no response. He bent down and planted a kiss to her neck, moving his tongue to her pulse point. This was always tricky to manoeuvre. To get a woman awake but not arouse her so much she wanted to have sex with him again. He hadn't time for this today, he was expected in Sacramento by evening, and even if he had time he had explored her fully already and felt no desire to do so again. She stirred at last and he moved away as her ice blue eyes looked up at him and her pupils dilate with desire. He supposed he should be flattered but he really just wanted her to leave.

"Morning, sexy," she said suggestively, pulling the covers away from her body swiftly, an obvious invitation to join her under the sheets again.

He looked down at her glorious nakedness and was temporarily tempted by the vision in front of him. If she hadn't called him sexy he may have just given in. But he had inwardly rolled his eyes when he heard the word, too clichéd for his liking.

"Well, aren't you a lovely sight first thing in the morning?" he replied instead with a dazzling smile. "I really wish I could join you, baby, but I have to get going. I have some appointments later on so need to leave soon." He moved his face towards hers and deposited a lingering kiss, hoping that would suffice. "And if I got back into bed with you I'd only be tempted to cancel them," he added smoothly.

She reached for him but he extricated himself from her arms and stood over her again.

She pouted in a way he supposed she learnt from modelling, a fake and vacuous expression behind her eyes.

"I'm going to take a shower. Take your time, though, no hurry." The last sentence was a lie as he walked into the bathroom, locking the door. He turned on the shower and listened outside. Sometimes they came to join him and he didn't want the bother of turning her down again. This was where Victor came in handy. Right on cue, he heard his faithful hound race into the bedroom before he began barking loudly at the sole occupant of the bed. Less than a second later he heard her scream in response.

"Patrick, your dog, it's going crazy!" she shouted and he chuckled quietly. Victor was as gentle a soul as you could imagine but an incredible guard dog.

He shouted out to her, "Oh, sorry, he doesn't like strangers sometimes." He opened the bathroom door an inch and the dog ran in. "Maybe you should go? It's hard to settle him when he gets like this."

He grinned at the dog again and gave him the command to bark, Victor's tail going into overdrive as he played his part to perfection.

He soon heard her gather her things and mutter some swear words before leaving. It was the perfect plan, no uncomfortable goodbyes or promises of calling them later and it always went off without a hitch.

"Mrs Warren, I'm Agent Lisbon. I'm sorry for your loss."

The older woman nodded. She was in her early fifties with greying hair and a ruddy complexion. As she sat stiffly on her couch while fingering the pearls around her neck, Lisbon noted she had perfect posture, no doubt ingrained in her through finishing schools she'd attended.

Lisbon interviewed her quickly, noting she had found the body. Apparently, she had been at home, asleep in bed, before coming down that morning to find her husband dead. She hadn't heard any noise or noticed any signs of disturbance but admitted that she took a sleeping pill each night in any case so it would have been unlikely she'd have been aware of intruders downstairs. She and her husband had separate bedrooms so she had thought nothing of not seeing him that morning until she'd made the gruesome discovery in the library.

"We'll do all we can to find out what happened," Lisbon said.

"Oh, I know you'll find out what happened, Agent Lisbon."

"Well, we'll certainly do our very best."

"No. That's not what I meant. Malcolm will tell us what happened."

Lisbon glanced quickly at Cho and Rigsby as they stood behind Mrs Warren, Rigsby ineffectually attempting to suppress a smile.

Lisbon squinted her eyes as she looked at the other woman again. "Excuse me?"

The woman nodded in understanding. "It just so happens I have an appointment later this evening with a wonderful gentleman who can help us talk to Malcolm now that he's passed over to the other side."

Lisbon instinctively rolled her eyes.

"Agent Lisbon, I can understand your cynicism, but Mr Jane is an incredible psychic. I'm sure you've seen him on TV. I used to be just like you but he helped me so much when our daughter died and I'm absolutely positive he can help with this too."

Lisbon nodded a fake smile, making a mental note to find out exactly where Mr Jane was at the time of Malcolm Warren's murder.

A/N: So, what do you think? I'd love to get some reviews. More of Jane's backstory will be explained in later chapters.