Cookies

Disclaimer: The Mentalist show and characters are the property of Bruno Heller, Primrose Hill Productions, Warner Bros. Television and I'm sure others (CBS, etc.). I am not profiting from this story.

Author's Notes: This story was written for meekkk246 on Jello Forever ProBoards as part of a Summer Secret Santa gift exchange. There were 5 prompts I could have chosen from and I meant this to be a one-shot on the onset, but it turned multi-chaptered and used almost all the prompts and tried to fulfill the request to the best of my ability. I can't give this story a stamp of quality as it has not been edited in my rush to try and get it done, nor is it as good (in my opinion) as some of my other stories. There may even be a detached feeling to it.

Chapter 1

Lisbon's shoulders subtly drooped as she found that they were gone. She tried not to let her disappointment show, which would be a bit embarrassing if anyone were to witness it.

The senior agent had strode into the break room under the guise of getting another cup of coffee, but really it was in hopes of snagging one of the treats Grace had brought in from a bakery. Cookies to be exact. To her dismay all she saw were golden crumbs in an otherwise empty plastic container that somebody had neglected to have the decency to throw out. It just sat there on the counter, a cookie carcass mocking her.

Lisbon looked up from the countertop, the heavy steps of her tall agent having caught her attention as he walked up to the shining refrigerator. He gave her a nod and reached in, pulling out milk. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted crumbs about his cleanly shaven mouth and a few that trailed down his shirt. Of course. Who else would have inhaled the cookies that were brought in not even half an hour ago? She really should have expected it. It was her fault for not foreseeing this situation and having snagged a cookie from Van Pelt before they were placed in this room, open prey for the lumbering bottomless pit.

The brunette's hair flicked out behind her as she breezed past the giant drinking milk. She couldn't stop the thought of hoping the glutton would choke on it a little, karmic payback, but brushed the thought aside. She shouldn't be so childish. They were just cookies and she could go buy them herself if she really wanted them. They just wouldn't taste as great as a free one. Who was she kidding, they'd still be delicious.

Walking into her office she was greeted by the sight of Jane on her office couch, clearly not pleased with its lumpy cushions as he shifted about on it.

"Morning Lisbon," he offered up to her with a smile the crinkled the corners of his eyes.

"Do you want something?" she asked testily as she walked around her desk and seated herself, setting her mug down, sifting through the papers on her desk. She could feel his eyes on her, analyzing. Nothing new about that. She glanced up, her green eyes meeting his almost blue ones. Hazel? Her eyes flicked back down to the white papers on her dark desktop protector. In that brief moment she saw that he appeared to have a thoughtful look.

She could almost hear her brain sputter and screech to a halt, completely losing her thoughts on the paperwork when a cookie was thrust in front of her. She looked up to Jane who seemed to have teleported to right in front of her desk, the golden brown treat in his hand.

Jane smiled down at her, amusement glimmering about his mouth and eyes, "I can't promise you any milk, but then again you enjoy these with your coffee anyway. Lisbon, please, your eyes are going to fall out if you stare any longer."

She blinked at him and grumbled out, "Thanks," still a bit surprised, not bothering to ask how or when, but instead commented wryly, "I'm amazed your arm wasn't mauled."

He smirked, pulling his hand back from the napkin wrapped cookie Lisbon had accepted. He sank into the chair in front of her desk and leaned back into it, watching her take a bite, noticing the tiny curl of her lips in childish enjoyment, the sigh of contentment.

The beginnings of a foul mood lifted, she went back to work, half of the large cookie still uneaten, sitting near her coffee on its napkin. The consultant, in his typical style of dress, was so quiet she almost forgot (impossible) he was there. That was not at all typical of him. She glanced up at him to find the man staring at her, not exactly a new thing. He raised his eyebrows in acknowledgment of her attention, but nothing more as he simply stayed seated, relaxed in his chair, chin resting in the palm of one hand, his elbow digging into the armrest. She decided not to comment, waiting to see how long this silence would last. His silence when not "napping" was not typical, especially around her, but he had played this game with her before, just waiting for her to ask.

Lisbon's pen scratching against the paper, slight shift in her office chair, and an occasional small sigh were the only sounds in her office. There was a background thrum of office life outside, phones ringing, scrapes and squeaks of chairs being pushed out from under desks, filing cabinets slamming shut and the like that was wholly separate from this tiny piece of world.

In ignoring him finally she was pulled back into endless work and was surprised to remember that Jane was with her as he had been so silent. She looked up again expected to find him staring at her, but saw that he had his eyes closed, it almost appeared that he was sleeping, not that she let that fool her.

He was rather calculating when it came to appearances (even when it seemed he was carefree), though why he wanted to look like he was sleeping now was beyond her. Perhaps he was hoping to catch her doing something she wouldn't do if she thought he was awake? That struck her as rather too simple for him. Well, whatever the reason she decided to continue working. This was a rare opportunity for her as he was being quiet and within her eye sight, likely unable to cause trouble for her elsewhere if he was present. Right? Such thoughts were making her a bit suspicious and slightly paranoid. Better get done what she could before the building fell down around her ears or Hightower stormed in. There was no way everything could be going as smoothly as she thought they were.

Lisbon spent just a few more minutes bent over the papers, but the accumulating stiffness in her shoulders and neck urged her to take a short break as she pulled herself up in her seat, slightly rolling her head around. She looked at the still form of Jane who had not moved since she last checked. She noticed the lines on his face, she'd noticed them before and he had a couple of years on her, but they were always a little surprising each time she noticed, especially with how immature he appeared. Okay, perhaps not so much immature as arrogant and arbitrary, qualities she associated with youthfulness even when plenty of older adults demonstrated them, just not to the same degree Jane did.

Sudden eye contact startled her as the subject of her musings awoke, or opened his eyes in any case. The agent was momentarily frozen, feeling slightly guilty, as if she was caught with her hand in the… hmmm, that half a cookie was still sitting on her desk.

Jane blinked, clearing his eyes of the sticky feeling of sleep. He quirked a small smile towards the woman studiously ignoring him, staring at her papers again and he knew she must have been staring at him moments before. She may not believe it, but he actually had drifted off for a little while. His back certainly wasn't thanking him. He could have at least lain out on her couch (poorly cushioned though it was). He stretched up, rubbing his lower back.

"You have a perfectly good couch waiting for you."

Jane looked up, slightly surprised and yet not at all, that Lisbon had broken the silence. He was certain she was waiting for him to be the first to speak. He smiled suggestively; an eyebrow cocked just so, "Is that an invitation?"

Predictably she rolled her eyes and took a sip of her cooled coffee, a grimace tightening her lips in displeasure. She threw him a look, her head tilted towards her papers again, "Should I be preparing for any calls or visits?"

He looked up at her, acting baffled, as if he knew nothing of what she meant, "I don't know, why do you ask?"

She gave a derisive grunt, her mouth twisting momentarily.

"You shouldn't do that, it'll give you wrinkles even if your face won't freeze in that shape," the consultant teased, his teeth flashing.

"You give me wrinkles," she retorted, shuffling through her apparently finished papers, double checking to see if she had missed anything before holding them up and tapping them against her desk, aligning their edges into a neat stack.

"Ah, so we are growing old together."

Her head snapped up, her mouth forming, "Wha-?"

"Boss," Cho interrupted, a quick knock before he pushed the door open enough for his head, "Hightower sent us a case."

"Understood," she replied, immediately in business mode, making her way around her desk to head out, but not before sending an exasperated look at Jane.

He just grinned.

"What were they doing?"

Cho kept his eyes on the road, driving, while Rigsby occupied the passenger seat of the car. The stoic agent replied, "Sitting."

The tall man bent his brow down unbelievingly at his fellow agent. They were alone in the car on their way to a crime scene, where they would meet up with Lisbon and Jane.

"Just sitting? Jane was in there a long time," Rigsby puzzled, he rarely thought about the boss and consultant's relationship outside of how Jane got into trouble with her. There had been moments though, that he wondered. Right now was one of those moments, a reprieve from his regrets with a certain red head.

"You think they're, you know?" Rigsby turned his head momentarily towards his partner, before rummaging through his pockets. He could have sworn he had saved a cookie wrapped safely in a napkin. Maybe he ate it, but he had saved it specifically for something to snack on later. He was dissatisfied with his fruitless search and settled back in his seat, all the more irritable for it.

"No," came Cho's succinct answer, dark eyes never straying from the road ahead.

Rigsby sighed, trying to get his thoughts off of… the cookie. Not the person who brought them this morning of course.

"But they might sometime," Cho suddenly added, sensing he had regained Rigsby's attention. Sometimes he tried to help keep the other's thoughts from drifting into the recent past. Only sometimes. He was a grown man after all and should be able to handle his own life, but letting Rigsby stew on his own when they were isolated in the car was asking for trouble. The kind of trouble which was more of an annoyance, asking Kimball his advice on if he thought Grace thought about the taller agent, if she had mentioned anything, if she seemed depressed, any number of questions the serious, black-haired agent would rather not talk and hear about continuously for the remainder of the trip.

"Oh? Why do you think so?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," Cho flatly answered and heard Rigsby snort, causing the driver's lips to minutely curve up.

"You know what? I'll bet you that Jane will end up asking the boss out," Rigsby finally said, having turned his head towards Cho. This is what happened when they were bored. Of course, thinking about a bet would also help keep his mind off of other things, a person he had to see every day at the office.

"Hm. He asks her out all the time, that's not a bet."

"I mean on a real date, and I'll bet dinner on that," Rigsby said with finality, "You in?"

Cho's brows wanted to raise slightly, but not one to turn down a challenge he instead said, "I'm betting Lisbon will ask him out and I'll let you choose where you'll eat."

Rigsby laughed, a grin splitting his face, no doubt already thinking of where he wanted to eat, "You're letting me win. No way would the boss ask Jane out. You could have just bet that Jane wouldn't ask her out, that's more likely."

Cho put one hand out towards Rigsby for a handshake, "Seal the deal?"

Rigsby met it with a firm, decisive shake, almost gleefully, until Cho smirked, "You never said in what order they'd have to ask."