A/N: About a year ago, I visited Rome for the first time. I fell completely in love with the city and its people, so I was excited finally to find a way to incorporate those feelings into a "Mentalist" story (thank you, Nerwen, for the inspiration). Here, then is probably my most blatantly unapologetic romance ever. Not a murder in sight, nor much angst at all, so if that doesn't appeal to you, turn back now. I will try not to make this a travelogue, but Rome is definitely one of the main characters, and by the end of my tale, hopefully you'll have begun your own love affair with Rome.

So, sit back and enjoy your flight…

The Mentalist: Amore a Roma (Love in Rome)

Chapter 1: Jane on a Plane

May Dawn Nelson

And

Virgil Giovanni Minelli

Request the honor of your presence

As they join together in Holy Matrimony

Saturday, the 13th of April

At nine o'clock in the morning

Two-thousand and thirteen

Santa Maria in Trastevere

Rome, Italy

Patrick Jane had just received his invitation from the CBI mail delivery intern when he entered Teresa Lisbon's office after barely a knock. He waved the fine white vellum in front of her.

"Did you get one of these?" he asked her, taking a seat before her desk.

She looked up from her computer.

"Yes." She smiled. "I'm so happy for them."

"Yeah, me too," he replied, with a smile of his own.

She evaluated his expression. "You look pretty smug. Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you set them up in the first place, would it?"

"Now, Lisbon, I'm completely offended by that assumption. Any time two people can find love, it's a beautiful thing meant to be celebrated. You're mistaking smugness for extreme satisfaction."

"Satisfaction with yourself and the part you played in this union."

"Tomayto, tomahto, Lisbon."

She shook her head, giving up. "Anyway, how romantic that it will be in Rome."

"You're going then?"

She hesitated. "I wasn't going to at first, but Virgil and May asked me to dinner last week, and practically begged me to come and stand up for them. I admit I was worn down pretty easily. A lot of Minelli's family still live there, and that's where he and May decided to honeymoon, so they figured they may as well get married over there too. And anyway, Virgil is like a father to me…"

She trailed off, her eyes going misty. Jane always knew she'd had a special relationship with their former boss, that she missed his cantankerous sarcasm around the CBI. Jane too had a fondness for the man, who had, once upon a time, hired him despite Jane's formerly tenuous grip on his sanity. He probably had saved Jane's life, as he had definitely given him purpose, a reason to go on without his family. So with regard to Virgil Minelli, he knew where Lisbon was coming from. He'd get misty too, if he dwelled on it too long.

Lisbon cleared her throat around the sudden lump of emotion.

"Are you going?" she asked him.
"Yes. They can hardly get married without a best man."

Lisbon laughed in spite of herself. "You?"

"As you say, I introduced them, after all."

She couldn't believe that Minelli didn't have other, older friends that could fill that position. She almost expressed the thought aloud, but thought better of it, since he seemed so proud of himself.

"I was about to make my plane reservation. You uh, want to take the same flight?"

Jane raised an eyebrow as she blushed slightly. "Sure. I'll reimburse you."

"Okay," she agreed. "And May already reserved our hotel rooms. They overlook The Spanish Steps."

"Sounds lovely," said Jane blandly. "I'll take care of our car rental."

"But Virgil said he'd have someone pick us up from the airport."

"Meh, I like having my own vehicle."

"Fine. I'll leave it to you then."

They quietly smiled at one another, unexpectedly enjoying making plans together.

"I can't believe you're taking time off to do this," said Jane, ruining the mood.

Her smile faded. "I have months of vacation time built up."

"That's what I mean. Good for you, Lisbon." Then he looked at her closely. "Don't tell me you're just staying a night for the wedding. That's a hell of a long trip just to stay a couple of days, then leave."

"Well," she reasoned, "it will take a whole day of travel to get there, one to get back. A day and night for the festivities, then one day for sight-seeing. So, technically I'm taking off four whole days—"

The way he looked at her, she was actually feeling even guiltier for her plans, though now for a completely different reason.

"Take a week. At least. Come on, Lisbon, you deserve it."

"An entire week? What if a big case comes up?"

"There are other employees in the CBI. And if they can't solve it while we're gone, we'll do it when we get back, in a fraction of the time, too."

"But-A week?"

"At least. Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say, so I imagine it'll take more than that to see it all."

"I don't know—"

"Come on," he coaxed, his eyes persuasive, his smile charming. "You know you want to."

She was tempted. Boy, was she. Rome had been a dream of hers ever since she had first seen the movie, Roman Holiday as a teenager.

"Have you ever been to Rome?" she asked, slightly changing the subject. A brief cloud crossed his sunny features, but he masked it almost immediately.

"Angela and I toured Venice, Florence and Milan the year before we had Charlotte, and we fell in love with Italy. We'd planned to take Charlotte to Rome when she got older…"

Lisbon's face softened at his unspoken but. "I'm sorry," she said.

Jane shrugged. "I do look forward to seeing the city, especially the ancient part. And it will be nice to get away from…everything."

She knew he meant his endless ruminations regarding all the people he'd shaken hands with since his family was murdered.

"I suppose I'm more surprised that you would take off," she said. "You claim to be so close now."

"I am. But it's a long plane ride, Lisbon. Lots of time to think." He tapped his temple. "All the possible clues are stored in my head, I just need to put them together in the right way. A change of scenery might be just the thing to spark a new idea."

She actually hoped it would serve to take his mind off his endless pursuit, at least for a while. Maybe the added lines that had formed around his eyes and mouth in recent weeks would smooth out in the rays of the Roman sun. So, in light of that possibility, she made up her mind.

"Okay, one week."

Jane smiled. "Good. Make those reservations."

"Oh, I wonder if the rest of the team was invited."

"Yeah, they all got the same envelopes in the mail today," he supplied.

"I'll see if any of them want on the same flight."

Was it her imagination, or did his gleeful smile falter a bit at her announcement? She shook her head at her own musings as she walked past him to the bullpen.

But she hadn't been imagining things. Jane had felt a flash of disappointment that they were unlikely to be on this trip alone. He thought how nice it would be to get away with her, to see what this new vibe meant that was humming between them. It had been nearly a year since he'd slipped and confessed his love for her, and no pathetic denial could take those words back. He knew it, and she knew it, though neither of them had mentioned it since. Still, it hung in the air between them like an ax ready to fall—horrible imagery to describe such beautiful emotion, but that was exactly the way it felt.

"Hey," he heard Lisbon say, calling her team to attention. "Any of you planning to attend Minelli's wedding?"

"I can't," said Rigsby, clearly disappointed. "It's Ben's birthday party that weekend."

"I just took my vacation to visit my family," said Van Pelt. "I don't have any more time off."

"That's too bad," said Lisbon, genuinely sympathetic. She was becoming more excited about the trip the more she thought of it.

"I'm in," said Cho.

Everyone looked at him in surprise. On the surface, Cho seemed to be the least frivolous of the group, so a wedding trip to Europe would appear out of the question for him. Then again, Lisbon thought, he loved classic romance novels, and she'd often seen him with books of poetry. Such a beautiful place might well appeal to his latent romantic sensibilities.

"I was going to make mine and Jane's reservations. You want me to get you a seat on the same flight? We'll be gone a week."

"Sure," he said. "Thanks."

"Good. I'll e-mail you the itinerary."

Cho watched his boss leave, a feeling of excitement stirring in his gut, though you wouldn't know it from his face. Rome. A city of history, art, and beauty. This was just the thing he needed to pull himself out of the rut he was in. All he'd done in the past year was work, go to the gym, and read. He'd gone on exactly two dates. One was a disastrous set-up by Rigsby. She'd been really hot, but dumb as a post. He didn't even have the heart to sleep with her when she offered.

The other date had been with Tamsin Wade from the Gang Division's Rapid Response Team. He'd kept it a secret from Rigsby, given that he'd been so jealous of her taking Cho away from their team. But he'd admitted once she was hot, and Cho thought so as well. She was a former Marine, highly intelligent, knew her stuff, and since she worked for the CBI as well, (though in a different unit) she understood his hours and the work he did, so it was refreshing that he didn't have to explain. They'd seemed perfect for each other.

He'd been attracted to her from the moment they'd met, so it wasn't really a surprise when they wound up in bed the first (and only) night they went out. What had surprised him was how completely dominating she was in the bedroom. Afterward, he'd felt like he'd been assaulted in prison. He wasn't into pain—not his thing at all. Sure, a little aggressiveness could be sexy, but Cho was at heart a traditionalist. He treasured women, loved to please them, to see to their every need both in bed and out. He liked how manly and protective the right woman made him feel. Tamsin made him fear for his own protection. Definitely not the right woman for him.

So, he'd told her he'd see her around and went to the bathroom to nurse his wounds. When he'd come out, she was gone. Neither of them ever called again. No one, he realized, would ever be like Summer. Sure, she was trouble from the beginning, but she had totally consumed him, brought out his innate protectiveness, challenged him, infuriated him, and turned him on like no other woman had before or since. He wanted someone who would awaken him like she had, but without the drugs and danger and lies. Part of him would always love her, but he'd long ago accepted they weren't meant to be. Too much work. Too much drama. Too much pain of a much different kind.

And so, Rome. He allowed himself to imagine meeting a beautiful Italian woman and having a whirlwind romance such as the great novels promised. He wouldn't seek her out; it would just happen as naturally as breathing. But he pushed the thought from his mind. It was unlikely such a thing would happen, so he was better off not thinking about it to save himself from disappointment. No, he'd enjoy Rome for the city itself, eat a lot of pasta, and come home with many pleasant memories to see him through the lonely days ahead.

"Maybe you'll meet a hot Italian girl," Rigsby was saying from the desk behind him.

"Didn't even cross my mind," lied Cho. "I'm going for the ancient ruins."

Rigsby snorted. "You'll never get laid at that rate."

Cho shrugged, but a secret smile briefly lit his eyes.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Three weeks later…

"Uh, ma'am. I don't think these are out seats," said Lisbon as she looked again at her ticket, then at the flight attendant.

They had stopped in the first class area of the airplane. The smartly uniformed woman peered down at the proffered ticket, newly printed out at the departure desk.

"That's right. You must have been upgraded. Congratulations." She moved on to help other passengers find their seats and store their carry-on bags.

Lisbon looked at the wonderfully spacious leather seats. "Did you have anything to do with this?" she asked Jane suspiciously, as they settled into the two seats in the middle row of the large passenger liner. Cho gladly took one of the window seats across the aisle from them.

"It's a long flight, Lisbon. I think we all deserve the utmost comfort."

She shook her head. "But—"

"Don't worry about the extra cost. It's on me. Consider it payback for all my former shenanigans."

"If that were true, you would have bought us an entire plane."

Cho grinned at her witty reply, and secretly concurred.

"My upgrade was free, if that helps any."

She relaxed gratefully into the luxurious leather. "How did you manage that?"

And then she remembered how the woman at the counter had flirted outrageously with him when they'd checked in. His smile was almost embarrassed.

"Never mind," she said with a knowing smirk.

"Thanks, Jane," said Cho.

"Yes, thanks," she said with a sigh, her eyes closed as she felt her nervousness begin to rise.

"My pleasure."

After everyone was onboard, and the flight attendants had offered their spiel on flight safety, Jane noticed Lisbon tightly gripping the arms of the seat.

"Plane travel is still one of the safest modes of transportation."

"There's always the exception," she whispered, lest some other phobic flyer hear her words and panic.

His hand rested atop hers, warm and dry to her cold, clammy one. He began massaging her fingers with his.

"There is nothing to fear. The plane will lift us gently into the clouds, and all your worries will disappear as we float safely over the earth."

She opened one eye. "Don't bother; I'm too tense to be hypnotized," she said as the engines revved and they sped down the runway.

She held his gaze and felt compelled not to look away, both eyes opening to stare into soft, still pools of sea green. The rest of the world drifted away, and she found her held breath expelling from between her lips, then evening out, matching him breath for breath. In the back of her mind, she felt the plane rise into the air, pinning her gently back into her seat until it leveled off. The ding of the seatbelt light flickering off awoke her from her spell, and Jane smiled, then squeezed her hand.

It had been the most carefree take-off she'd ever experienced.

"Thanks," she mouthed over the hum of the engines.

He nodded his head, then closed his eyes, reclining his seat back all the way to take his morning nap. His hand still rested on hers, though, a lingering reminder of his kind gesture.

And so it went for the next two legs of their nineteen-hour journey, Jane by her side, offering her a calm she usually only obtained through several shots of whiskey. She watched three movies, read half of her thick crime novel, ate too much, and napped. Jane slept most of the way, enjoying the fawning attentions of the flight attendants when he awoke to drink his tea or eat the first class cuisine the ladies presented to them. He peaked in on Lisbon's movies from time to time, but otherwise took little interest in the video screen. Instead, he seemed to lose himself in thought, and Lisbon had no doubt he was quietly contemplating his list of Red John suspects. Across from them, Cho finished one novel and began another, he too catching a few winks when the quiet of the cabin allowed it.

Morning came again and they found themselves finally touching down in Italy. Just like in an old movie, they climbed down a ladder to the tarmac, travel weary but exhilarated to be in Rome at last. They passed quickly through customs, then to baggage claim, and onward to retrieve the car Jane had arranged to wait for them.

"Grazie," he said, his accent perfect as he took the keys from the car service employee. It was a Mazda Miata convertible, its top down, red, with room enough for only two.

"But there's no back seat," Lisbon chided. "What about Cho?"

Cho didn't look perturbed at all. Actually, he looked rather relieved. "I've heard about driving in Rome. I'll take a cab." He turned abruptly away to walk back toward the taxi stand, his leather duffle bag in hand.

"Sorry, Kimball," called Jane, not the least bit apologetic. Lisbon frowned at him.

"Well, that was inconsiderate, even for you," she said, watching as he loaded their luggage into the tiny trunk. Cho wouldn't have even fit in there. "That's the last time I leave you in charge of anything."

"An innocent oversight," he said with a grin. Then he opened the passenger side door with a flourish. "Your chariot, Signorina…"

He got in on his side of the little sports car and took his sunglasses from his inside suit pocket. "You got one of those GPS thingies on your phone?"

She sighed and brought out her phone, fingers crossing that its GPS ap would be working outside of the states. Trepidation filled her as she punched in the address of the hotel, but thankfully, it worked.

Lisbon spent most of the ride with her eyes half-closed. Even compared to California, driving in Rome was an absolute nightmare. No one seemed to obey any known traffic laws, including such basic things as using turn signals or stopping at red lights. They narrowly avoided being involved in a collision—three times—and when an angry Roman cursed and honked at Jane, he did so right back—in fluent Italian.

Lisbon sank deeper into her seat, more fearful now than she'd ever been on a plane. Jane, however, seemed to be having the time of his life. It was like the city was built just for his driving style, and he directed many a gleeful smile at her as he drove, his sunglasses hiding the sparkle she knew must be in his eyes.

When they caught their first glimpse of the Coliseum, however, Lisbon forgot the terrors of the Roman highways and sat up straight in her seat, her jaw literally dropping open in awe.

"Oh my God," she murmured. "It's…incredible!"

Jane also seemed overcome, and for a brief, dangerous moment, spared a look at the ancient monolith. The slight jarring of their rear bumper, followed by more honking, shook him out of his amazement, and he sped up amidst a shower of uncomplimentary Italian.

"I hope you paid for the extra insurance," she said in annoyance, but Jane only chuckled and drove regretfully past the Coliseum toward their hotel.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Lisbon stepped onto the balcony off her small but lovely room, a smile lighting her face as she took in the Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps below. It was a beautiful spring day, and despite her tiredness, she was restless so couldn't see herself napping. She breathed deeply, letting the essence of Rome seep into her soul as she watched the milling crowds and the brave souls climbing to the top of the Steps. She couldn't wait to explore.

A knock came from within and she stepped back into her room.

"Lisbon," came a familiar voice. But the knock hadn't come from the front door—it had come from the adjoining room. She went to the door and unlocked it, and there was Jane, smiling that smile that always managed to annoy and attract her in equal measures.

He was about to compliment the pretty sundress and ballerina flats she'd changed into, when she said: "You changed rooms. You were supposed to be down the hall."

He shrugged. "I thought it would be safer to have someone you know in the adjoining room."

She eyed him suspiciously. Safe would not be a word she would use to describe Patrick Jane. "I'm a cop, Jane. I don't need protection, least of all from you."

"I thought it the gentlemanly thing to do," he said, once more dismissing her opinion. But then, she should have been used to it by now. "Hey, you want to go out for awhile until it's time to meet everyone for dinner?"

Her spirit of adventure quickly overwhelmed her testiness, and she smiled. "Sure!" Then she remembered their other colleague. "Did Cho make it here okay?"

"Yeah, I ran into him in the lobby when I was changing my room. He already went out on his own. I picked up a city map from the front desk. It's mostly in Italian, but I think we can figure it out."

"You speak Italian, Jane."

"I do?" he teased. "Well, that's lucky."

"Someday you'll have to tell me that story," she said, but he only grinned mysteriously.

They spent the afternoon exploring, grabbing pistachio gelato and eating it near the top of the Steps, browsing through the pricey shops on the Via Fratinna. Lisbon dipped her hands in the boat-shaped la Fontana della Barcaccia at the foot of the Steps, and at the encouragement of a local, took a drink from the water that originated from the famous Roman aqueduct. It was fresh and cold. She splashed at Jane, but he handily avoided a soaking. They moved on to a bench near the perimeter of the square, and sat watching the people enjoying the day, just as they were. His arm rested casually on the bench behind her shoulders.

As the sun began to sink below the horizon and the lights of the city turned on, Jane grabbed Lisbon's wrist to read the time on her watch.

"We'd better get back. The gelato was great, but I'm still starved." He patted his stomach for emphasis.

Lisbon sighed, and Jane reached down to pull her to her feet. They walked very closely, laughing at nothing important and taking it all in. They both fought the strange urge to hold hands, even though it seemed like it would be the most natural thing in the world. She shivered a little in the cool evening air, and without asking, he removed his suit coat and placed it over her shoulders.

"Thank you," she said almost breathlessly. She meant for the coat, as well as for the lovely afternoon, but most of all, for his cheerful and amusing company.

He smiled and held out his arm for her to take as they strolled back to their hotel.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As they walked across the square, Jane came to an amazing realization. He hadn't thought of Red John since the moment the plane had touched down. Rome had captivated his attention, but no more so than the woman at his side. He hadn't seen Lisbon laugh or smile this much in, well, ever. Not all in one day. She'd been carefree and excited, reaching for him when she was struck by something she saw. Every time she pulled on his arm, it was like she was tugging at his heart, and for once, he wasn't afraid to feel this way with her.

And to think, this was only the first day of seven still to come. The hours stretched before him like a long banquet table, filled with glorious things for him to savor. He need only share her tonight and tomorrow for the wedding festivities, then she was all his. It would be a veritable Roman feast.

"You warm enough?" he asked her, and he felt the blissful heat of her body against his arm again.

"More than," she replied, looking up at him with a dimpled smile.

For a brief moment he thought that if he never heard of Red John again, it wouldn't matter to him one bit.

A/N: In love yet? I hope so! But don't get too comfortable—it's not going to be that easy for Jane and Lisbon to find one another. The course of true love and all…And I did promise a little romance for Cho as well. All of this and more coming soon. Ciao for now!

"