Sorry for the many weeks(to put it nicely) of not updating. i swear i have a good excuse. I've been busy with work and some personal issues. Thanks to everyone who have taken their lovely time and reviewed. I really do appreciate the support. You are all amazzzzing and deserve chocolates and more. xD Some of you have asked about Jack... mmm Is he, or not? What happened with Nick? Some many questions. I cut this chapter into two parts cause it would have been too long. Enjoy...

Thanks to Zanny for taking the time to beta, despite fanficfion being mean to us. ;) You rock, girl!

Disclaimer: I hate saying this, but no, nothing belongs to me. I just borrow the characters to mess with them.

******THE MENTALIST******

She couldn't believe she was really doing this. Was she crazy? And out all the people in the world, it had to be with Patrick Jane?

She felt like a teenager skipping school, scared that she'd get caught.

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this, Jane."

"Too late now, Lisbon. I'm not turning back."

"But what..."

"I told you, I paid the bill. They won't even notice we're gone." Jane dismissed her worry with a wave of his hand, earning a scathing glare.

"They'll notice!" She looked out Jane's car window. "I can't believe I left them there."

Jane rolled his eyes. "If you're worried about Jack, don't be."

"And why not?" She turned to look at him while he continued driving, his eyes glued to the road.

Jane didn't want to say anything, but he was starting to get more than a little annoyed by her concerns for this other man.

"He's a big boy and he can take care of himself, Lisbon. What are you, his mother?"

She pinched his arm.

"Ouch!" He yelped, rubbing his 'wound'.

"That's what you get for being an ass." Lisbon turned to look back out the window and silence fell.

Jane could sense she was a little upset, and he felt a tinge of guilt. He really didn't mean to upset her; this night was supposed to be about her having fun. Why did she have to be so stubborn? Why couldn't she stop thinking (especially about Jack) and let herself go?

Then again, that was a large part of why he loved her so much. He wouldn't change her for anything. She was amazing, just the way she was. Stubborn and over-thinking and amazing.

"I'm sorry, Lisbon," He began. "I wanted you to be happy for once."

"Who said I wasn't happy before?" She crossed her arms.

"That's not what I meant…" He said. "But I want you to be happy, because of me. Because of something I did. I want to spend some time with you alone." He pouted. "Is that so wrong of me?"

Her walls crumbled hearing his voice. That was sweet of him… Strangely sweet…

You know, why was it strange? Though his methods were unorthodox and some of the weirdest she's ever seen, he could be pretty sweet if he wanted to. Not that she would ever admit it to him. His ego was big enough as it was.

"No, it isn't, Jane." She smiled – he could see she meant it, it twinkled in her eyes. "But don't you feel guilty or anything? I mean, we just left without saying a word…"

He smiled and looked back at her. "Don't worry; I left them a note."

That sneaky bastard. He left a note. He knew she'd say yes.

She wasn't even gonna go there. Arguing with him wouldn't lead anywhere. So she let that pass. At least for now.

"So where are we going?" She changed the subject. He noticed but didn't want to ruin the moment.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out later." His eyes were twinkling with mischief. She noticed when he momentarily turned to look at her.

"Those weren't the rules, Jane." She said, crossing her arms defiantly.

He let out a small laugh; loving how easily it was for them to banter. He loved it. He loved her.

"When do I ever follow the rules, Lisbon?"

XXX

He led her to their table where James and Rigsby were. He turned to look at the dance floor where Teresa was still dancing with Jane… W-wait? She wasn't there anymore… Correction, they weren't there anymore. What the...

They had just been there not a minute ago. Hmmm.

"Is something wrong?" Grace noticed his concern.

"Did you happen to see Teresa and Jane?"

"Yeah, they're on the dance floor…" She turned to point them out. "Or they were." She said when she couldn't find them.

"I wonder where they disappeared to."

"Is there something wrong?" James asked.

"Did you see where your sister went?" Jack asked turning to look at him.

"Wasn't she dancing with you?" Rigsby pointed out.

"Yeah man, what happened?" James asked.

"She was dancing with Jane," Jack added. "I just don't see them anymore."

"It is kind of dark. Maybe they just blended in with the crowd." Grace said while scanning the floor once more.

"Maybe they are making out in a dark corner." James joked.

Rigsby almost choked remembering the incident on the roof. Grace gave him a side glance.

If only he knew, both Rigsby and Jack thought.

"Sir, this was left for your table." A waiter handed Jack a note. Everyone looked at him expecting answers.

"What is it?" Rigsby broke the silence.

"It appears that Teresa and Mister Jane received a message and had to leave for a work-related emergency." Jack said, while watching how Grace and Rigsby acted on reflex to get up. "They said not to worry. That is something they can take care of themselves and we should stay and finish the night. Everything is paid for and the tab was left open in case we wanted to stay a while longer."

"See? They are fine," James smiled. "I say we should stay a little longer and get some more free drinks."

Rigsby shrugged and turned to look at Grace. "I guess if they needed us they would have said something."

"Yeah." Grace agreed with reluctance.

"Would... I mean... Do want to go dance with me, Grace?" Rigsby managed to ask.

She smiled. "Okay."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay just a little while." Jack admitted with a smile.

"No, it wouldn't." James agreed, smiling, and he caught the eye of the lovely girl across the room who he's been eyeing all night.

XXX

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost. Hold your horses, woman."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. Patience has never been a strong suit for her.

"I don't get why you had to stop and blindfold me halfway through the trip." She pouted.

She was adorable – sitting there beside him, pouting so cutely with her arms crossed in defiance. He had to hold himself back from kissing her senseless.

Oh, he hoped he wouldn't have to go through this torture all night… Not with her lips so inviting and so close…

"Lisbon, Lisbon…" He shook his head – not that she could see him. "It wouldn't be half as much fun if you could see."

"You have a sick sense of fun." She shot back and he couldn't help himself from laughing. "Keep it up, Jane. I swear to God..." She said, warning heavy in her voice.

The car stopped. "We're here."

"Finally!" She said raising her hands to take the blindfold off, but halfway there, his hand stopped her. Their hands touched and froze.

It felt irrationally good to sit like this. Holding hands like teenagers – with just one, small touch, they silently grew addicted.

Lisbon cleared her throat, ending the moment.

"Just wait a little bit longer." He told her gently as he reluctantly released her hand.

"Hurry up, Jane." She said, amusement in her voice to ease the atmosphere. She desperately strained to keep herself from shivering, an after-affect from his touch.

"Alright then, let's go." He opened his door and went to open hers. "Take my hand."

"Why? I can walk by myself." She tried to argue.

"Lisbon, please just do what I ask this once," He grabbed her hand. "Trust me."

And she did. Why else would she have let him blindfold her if she didn't trust him? Realization hit her.

"Okay, but this better be good." She couldn't help and smile.

She trusted him. That was enough to take him over the moon. Trust from someone like Lisbon, someone who's been through so much, meant a lot. For her to let her control-freak ways go long enough to let him blindfold and lead her, was a giant step in the right direction. He was beginning to feel her edge closer and closer to him – something that neither of them expected or really wanted at the very beginning – and he was starting to suspect that it was something more than friendship and trust. Maybe it was love? Their life-changing kiss left a giant unanswered question. And tonight would be the answer.

"Hold on tight; I'll lead the way." He wanted to laugh at how obedient she could be. Adorable.

To tell the truth, he didn't really know where he would be taking her when he asked her to ditch the others. The only thing in his mind was to get her out of there and be alone with her. It was driving him crazy to see her across the table, talking with Jack, when he had so many things he wanted to say to her alone. He just wanted to be close to her and keep her away from...ahem... certain people.

He thought of the perfect place to bring her only while he was driving. In truth he was driving around the block for about five minutes, just passing time until he could think of a place.

It was somewhere he liked to go to, be by himself and get lost for a while. Now the only thing on his mind was that he wanted to get lost with her.

"Jane..."

"Oh, calm down. I'm not doing to walk you into a wall or anything." He chucked again. "Oh, I forgot something. Hold on. Stay right here and don't move, okay?"

"Where am I gonna move to if I can't see, Jane?" She said exasperated. "Just hurry up."

"Testy." But before she could reply he ran back to the car to get what was needed.

She was getting tired of all the waiting around, but didn't want to ruin the moment by yelling out for him. She wasn't that weak. Even if she didn't like to admit it, this was kind of fun. At first she was annoyed when Jane pulled out the blindfold, mainly because she was a notorious control freak and hated not knowing what was going on. But strangely, it was turning out to be pretty okay. Seeing Jane like this was a plus. He was simply adorable sometimes. Even though he could often be annoying.

But she wouldn't change him for the world. He challenged her, he intrigued her, he kept her on her toes.

Now she was just curious as to what he had planned.

"I'm back. Here take my hand. Though you might want to take off your shoes to walk comfortably."

"Why? Where are we?" She went to uncover her eyes but he stopped her again.

"Not yet, my dear." He was using one hand to stop her and the other to carry the things. Good thing he always carried a blanket along other stuff in his car. You never knew when you were going to need them.

"Fine, but give me support to get them off. I don't want to trip."

"We wouldn't want that would we?" He asked with a smile as she leant into him. He didn't mind at all. The more touch, the better.

When she finally took them off she could feel the sand in her feet. They were at the beach and the sand was warm.

"We're at the beach!" She smiled.

"Well yeah. I wanted to take you somewhere special," He looked up to see her smile, still blindfolded. He knew he did something right. "Come along." And so she took his hand again and with the other she carried her shoes.

They came to a stop and he spread the blanket. He helped her sit down and sat next to her.

"Can I take this thing off now?" She asked hopefully.

He removed the blindfold off her eyes and he found them closed. A smile crept over him. It seemed that he couldn't stop smiling when she was around.

"Open your eyes," he whispered. Their eyes met again and they felt each other being pulled together. Like two powerful magnets. All he wanted to do was kiss her but he used all the power he had not to. He wanted to show her that she was more than just a warm body for him. That he loved her and she wasn't just a fling.

He didn't exactly know what had happened to her in the past but he could feel it must have been something big to make her shut down like that. Not only the events with her father, but there was something much more to that. Maybe a past love gone wrong. Bosco? Jack? Someone he didn't know about yet?

"I brought you here so we could watch the sunset. I usually come here alone and think, but now I wanted to share it with you."

She didn't ask what he thought about when he came here. She didn't need to. All she did was caress his cheek and thank him. It was really sweet of him to bring her here. It meant a lot to her that he trusted and cared for her that much.

He found herself leaning in into her touch and closing his eyes.

Powerful feelings were surfacing, feelings he hadn't felt in a long time and wasn't supposed to feel ever again. But how could he resist her? After all the years of ignoring their chemistry, after all the years of depriving both of them from what he knew could be the greatest thing they ever knew…

She was special. She has been all along.

He cursed himself for not seeing it earlier, and silently made a mental note to thank Cho profusely for being so kind to point out the obvious. Without his gentle nudge in the right direction, they could both still be living in Denial City.

"Thank you, Jane." He opened his eyes and there they were: those soul-penetrating green orbs of hers, staring right at him. Those beautiful eyes that did all kinds of things to him. Those beautiful eyes that he wanted to wake up to every morning. The eyes of the woman he loved.

Yes, loved. He felt the words threaten to spill out of his throat, but he knew he had to keep them at bay. She was still a flight risk; if he scared her off now with big four-letter-words that start with "l", he could lose her and he wasn't about to gamble that.

"Thank you for being here with me, Teresa." Her name was velvet on his tongue. He hoped she wouldn't mind the use of her first name. Her eyes seemed surprised, but she didn't protest.

Her smile remained on her face, and he felt the urge to kiss her fall upon him again. So close… Inches, mere inches, from those addictive lips of hers and he couldn't.

"The sunset looks beautiful out here. I wanted to share that special moment with you. Only you." His eyes were twinkling; she found herself wanting to capture his lips. She fought off the urge, unbeknownst that her object of desire was fighting the same action as she did. "I'm sorry you had to leave your brother and friend. Forgive me?"

How could she be mad at him or not forgive him when he said things like that? The man was one smooth talker. Something about the way he said things, and the things he said, made women weak in the knees. Oh, and that smile. She found herself frowning at that thought. She didn't like it when he smiled at other women. She didn't like all that special attention directed at someone else.

"What's wrong?" He asked, noticing her frown and the small pout she had started to form.

"Uh, nothing." She said too quickly and turned around, no longer touching him.

"Lisbon, I've known you longer than yesterday. Something's up. What did you just think of that bothered you?" He tilted her chin to his direction, bringing her eyes along with it. "Please tell me. I hate seeing you upset." Even if that pout was adorable and all he could think about was kissing it away.

"Nothing really. It's just something silly that popped into my head." She looked down.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you were acting like a total gentlemen for a change."

He chuckled. "Hey, I'm always a gentlemen." He teased.

At least that earned him a smile.

"Are you going to just tell me, or are we going to do this the hard way?"

"No, forget about it. It's nothing important."

"Everything is important when it comes to you, my dear."

She couldn't help smiling. The man was too good looking and sweet for his own good. Good looking? Where did that come from? she thought. Dangerous thoughts, Teresa! Well, he was. There wasn't really arguments to be made. Jane was easy on the eyes. Everyone knew that. No big secret.

"This isn't; trust me."

"Teresa, please trust me."

There it was; her name coming out of his mouth. It made her feel like nothing she had felt before. Not even with Nick. And she had been in love with him. Maybe it was because Jane was special. Nick had turned out to be a jerk and she sometimes wondered what she ever saw in him to begin with. Was what she had with Nick all those years ago really love? Or was it just a naïve flush of hormones and fun that ended up sticking? Sticking like gum on one's hair…

The gum that once you got off, you wanted it gone forever. Cause sure, it had tasted good at first, but once the flavor was gone, it was tar in your mouth. Especially if it somehow landed in your hair. But Jane… something in her told her he was different.

"I was just thinking that you smile like that a lot. To the ladies, when they pay you attention." She kept her eyes down, not wanting to look him straight in the eyes. "Nothing important, just a thought I had."

"Are you jealous?" He found himself saying before thinking it through. The words just came out and he wished she was. If someone was jealous it was because they liked you, right?

"Don't be silly, Jane!" She looked up at him with a frown. "I am not jealous. You can go smiling and flirting with all those women if you like. I don't care."

"Then why are you mad?" He asked with that irritating smile of his.

"I'm not mad! Why are you being such a jerk?" She turned to look elsewhere. "And wipe that stupid smirk off your face!"

He was loving this. She was jealous. He could see it in her eyes and in her attitude. She was jealous! Of him paying attention to other women. Like he was of her attention to Jack or any other man to think of it. This was great; he couldn't help being delighted. It meant that she was interested in him. That made him want to jump up and do the macarena.

"There's no need to lie," He joked but he noted that she didn't find it amusing. "I'm sorry. To make it even, I'll tell you something."

That got her attention even though she was still avoiding looking at him.

"I'm jealous of Jack." He confessed, truthfully.

"What?" She turned around, facing him once more. She had heard it from Jack's lips, but didn't actually think it was true. It seemed ridiculous.

"You heard me," He took a strong hold on her hands. "I don't like sharing you with another man. I'm selfish like that."

That's when she felt it; when his hand smoothly ran across the skin of her arm – bare.

He wasn't wearing his ring.

******THE MENTALIST******

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