Fic Commentary: Resraints, Ch. 4
Alright, here we go. The chapter with the original vignette. I tried not to change it as much as possible. I think all of the actual dialogue is unchanged, but obviously the POV does change. This is from Jane’s POV mostly, as opposed to Lisbon’s and the narrator is always known. But the purpose was different, so it makes sense.
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Chapter 4
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Lisbon looked down at the handcuffs around her wrists in a mixture of confusion and shock. “You handcuffed me,” she said stupidly.
“Yes,” Jane agreed, pleased that he sounded much calmer than he felt.
“You handcuffed me with my own damn handcuffs,” Lisbon repeated, anger seeping into her voice.
She gets angry first. Of course she does. She doesn’t ask why, anger first. And who can blame her? Could he really give her a satisfactory explanation for it that wouldn’t make her angry? Not to mention, she’s panicking a little (though she’d never admit it). After all, she’s got no idea what’s going on. And the unknown element unnerves her.
“You threatened to get out of the car,” Jane defended, like that explained everything.
“I was joking!” she snapped. “Because you asked if you could talk to me, you drove me all of the way out here, and then you didn’t actually say anything, you idiot. Now take these off!” Lisbon demanded, holding up her wrists and trying to look authoritative despite the nerves suddenly breeding in the bottom of her stomach.
What’s Jane up to after all? She knows it’s something new, something different. She knows something’s going on...
“No,” Jane refused obstinately. Okay, he may have gone a bit far by actually handcuffing her, but he’d genuinely panicked when she’d said she would leave. He needed to talk to her. He needed to keep her near him. Besides, she’d handcuffed him once, and look how that had worked out (all for the best in the end, though unpleasant at the time). Handcuffs were a previously tested and successful method of keeping someone in a car. Jane needed to keep Lisbon in the car. Ergo, the handcuffs. To be extra sure she didn’t try to escape he decided to lock the doors.
And this is where it ties into the first half of the fic. Same pair of handcuffs, in a car. A way of keeping someone restrained, for their own good. (Although, I suppose one could debate whether or not this is for Lisbon’s own good. From Jane’s perspective it is...)
“No?” Lisbon repeated in a daze. “Oh, that’s mature,” she added when she heard the doors lock.
He’s not mature. And he knows that now that he’s crossed this line, he may as well go full speed ahead. After all, she’ll kill him if it doesn’t work.
“I’m not known for my maturity,” Jane said smoothly. Admittedly, this conversation wasn’t going like he’d hoped, and that was probably his fault. But, he’d found long ago that once he’d committed to one of his plans, it was far better to stick to it than admit defeat. For example, in this case if he removed the handcuffs now, Lisbon would probably deck him (at the very least). And that would make the situation far worse, given that at the moment, while Lisbon was definitely irate in his general direction, she was restrained from physically abusing him.
I think this is true. Half of the reason Jane’s plans succeed so often is that he commits to them whole-heartedly. I think it’s a confidence thing. Go in, pretend you know what you’re doing, people tend to play along. So now he won’t back down.
“That’s an understatement,” Lisbon muttered, as she fiddled with the locks.
The second she got her door unlocked, Jane simply re-locked it.
Because Jane is a child...
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded, trying one more time to unlock the doors.
Jane had them locked a third time before Lisbon could even reach the door handle.
“Oh, that’s great,” she growled.
“It’s for your own good,” Jane said smoothly. “After all, how are you going to explain the fact that you’re in handcuffs to anyone you happen to encounter on your way back to the CBI building? Better yet, how are you even going to get back to the CBI building? It’s a bit far to walk, and your purse is in the backseat so taking public transit might be difficult. Really, I’m just thinking ahead on your behalf. Because unless you’re planning on calling someone to come and rescue you, in handcuffs...”
He has a fair point here, actually. Unless she actually fears for her own safety (which she doesn’t), it might be less embarrassing to go along with whatever he has planned. Because what’s she going to do? He’s not about to take the cuffs off under any circumstances, and she knows it.
“Bastard,” Lisbon muttered, though she did lean back against the seat.
“Sometimes,” Jane murmured in agreement. “You know that,” he added as turned the car back on and shifted into reverse. Clearly having this conversation in the car wasn’t working. Probably best to fall back on his original plan, albeit a slightly modified one. “You may want to put on your seatbelt,” he added solicitously, trying not to think about the expression in her eyes right before he’d snapped the handcuffs closed. New impulsive plan or no, he was not seducing Teresa Lisbon in a car. Not the first time at least.
It was a temptation though. I like that idea in this fic, that she tempts him. That she, without realizing it, has thrown him off-balance.
Lisbon complied and reached for her seatbelt, all the while muttering under her breath (Jane figured he probably didn’t want to hear it after catching the words, ‘idiot,’ ‘cretin,’ ‘damn consultant,’ ‘what the hell’). “Oh, isn’t this comfortable,” Lisbon said sarcastically, when she realized that seatbelts weren’t exactly designed to be worn with handcuffs.
I couldn’t resist a conversation about it, after spending a few days trying to resolve the issue.
“Just think how all the criminals you arrest feel,” Jane said cheerfully, his sense of humour returning to him now that it was becoming clear that Lisbon wasn’t going to put up enough of a fight to actually leave (and wasn’t that interesting? After all, he would hardly have been cruel enough to abandon her in a park in handcuffs...)
Also true. She hasn’t put up a heck of a lot of resistance. Because he wouldn’t have abandoned her had she insisted on getting out of the car...
“Shut up!” Lisbon snapped.
“Fine, dear,” he agreed.
“And don’t you dare call me dear,” Lisbon added venomously. Jerk was enjoying this. She knew he was. Just wait until he took the handcuffs off. Then he wouldn’t be laughing any more. He wouldn’t be laughing ever again; she’d make sure of that. What in the hell was the point of handcuffing her? What did he think she was going to do? Like she needed to be restrained just to talk to him... Like the people they dealt with on the job, “I’m not a criminal,” she added with a growl.
Lisbon doesn’t like this. She really doesn’t like this. (Except for the part of her that kind of does...) But her first reaction is panic. She has no idea what’s going on, and that’s dangerous.
“I never said you were,” Jane reminded her calmly.
Lisbon ignored him, the jerk. “If anything, you are. This is little more than kidnapping.”
“I told you, I need to talk to you,” Jane explained again.
“And I need to be handcuffed for a simple conversation, why?”
“To make sure you don’t leave,” Jane explained patiently, with a hint of a smile. He knew handcuffs weren’t typically used for conversations between friends, but he couldn’t afford to take any more chances with her. Not with that unwanted interloper just waiting in the wings, ready to pounce.
Also, he likes having her in handcuffs. Not like *that* (okay, a little bit like *that), but because she is off-balance. He can see her nerves. He can see her reactions. And he likes it.
Lisbon stared at him. She thought Jane had known that she that he could count on her to stick by him. But obviously there was no point in talking to him. Just when she thought their relationship was making progress, that things were becoming more stable, that they could trust each other. “I wasn’t going to leave,” Lisbon explained again, feeling like the conversation was going in circles. “But now I may be re-thinking that...”
“Even in handcuffs?” Jane reminded her.
“You’ll have to take them off eventually,” she threatened in return.
“Not exactly incentive for me to do it anytime soon, is it then?” Jane asked casually, really enjoying himself now (god she was fabulous when she was angry). “If you’re issuing threats.”
Lisbon lapsed into more muttering about the proper way to treat a friend, a woman even.
That finally seemed to provoke her consultant.
“And is that what you want then?” Jane growled. “A man who’ll just fawn all over you and do whatever you want, do the proper thing? Someone who’s so ridiculously safe he may as well have been made-to-order? Someone without even a hint of a spine? Not willing to take a chance, ever? Or willing to let you make all the decisions?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Lisbon snapped, her head starting to spin. “What does that have to do anything? I’m not talking to you anymore; you’ve obviously gone crazy.”
Jane rolled his eyes at her, gripping the steering wheel in frustration. But he figured in a way she was right. Having this conversation in the car was definitely not a good idea. He needed to be facing her, among other things.
Yeah, he’s not doing so well with the whole talking bit with her. Probably better to wait until it’s the only thing he has to focus on.
He couldn’t help glancing at the woman still fuming beside him. Muttering a wide variety of personal threats under one’s breath really shouldn’t have been an attractive position.
But he found it endearing. While the object of his affections obviously had no idea how strong his feelings were.
"You'll pay for this," Lisbon growled, suddenly breaking her silence. She supposed she should be grateful he'd decided to let her stay in the front seat. The way he'd been... manhandling her, she'd expected to be humiliatingly shoved in the back seat of the damn contraption they were currently riding in.
"Will I?" Jane asked, obviously amused. "Somehow I don't think so."
Bravado and over-confidence. Because he knows he really has to sell this. If he doesn’t, well, things aren’t going to go well for him.
"I'll make sure of it," she spat out.
"Such threats Agent Lisbon," he murmured patronizingly. "A little ironic given your current position. I'd have thought you'd think to try being nice to me."
"I'll show you nice, you arrogant little…" she seethed, her face livid.
"Tsk, tsk. Temper, temper. Wouldn't want to give yourself a heart attack or an aneurism would you?" he asked with a grin.
He still can’t resist teasing her, because he’s starting to see the funny side of this. Even if it’s not ideal.
She didn't answer, preferring to stare stonily out the window. She was really done talking this time.
When Jane realized that she was actually going to stick to her vow of silence, at least for the time being, he was forced to admit, for about the tenth time in the last five minutes, that he definitely could have handled the whole situation better.
Ah well, too late for that now.
xxxxx
After her final refusal to speak to him, Lisbon did indeed lapse into silence.
There really was no talking to Jane when he was like this.
Imagine, handcuffing someone because they made an innocent little joke about getting out of a car! Honestly. Especially since she’d stuck by him through far, far worse.
But really, what could she expect from Jane? His views on what was socially acceptable were shaky sometimes. And he had been acting strangely all week. Add to that the constant touching, and the way he’d been looking at her... and...
And what had been with his little game to get her handcuffs in the first place?
And why on earth did she need to be restrained? Even in Jane’s mind.
God.
Jane had restrained her. He’d restricted her freedom. She was, she was almost contained, definitely handicapped.
And here we go, Lisbon’s issues. She has serious control issues, and he’s challenged them, which is kind of the heart of things.
She was in Patrick Jane’s power. (And he could do anything he liked...)
To a certain extent at least. Until he saw fit to release her. Because Jane was right, she’d just about die of embarrassment if anyone else found out about this.
Not that she was worried about that. She was fairly certain Jane wouldn’t tell anyone. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did. Maybe it was just that he knew she’d actually kill him if he did and even Patrick Jane had more of a sense of self-preservation than that. Either way, whatever this was, it was between the two of them. And Lisbon knew it would stay that way. She trusted him at least that much.
She just did.
Which was part of the reason she wasn’t frightened now.
It was really important to me that she’s not frightened here. I didn’t want this to enter into dub-con territory. The restraints are there to bring the issue to the forefront, that part of the reason Lisbon likes him is that he doesn’t just roll over and let her take charge. He frustrates her and drives her crazy, but at least he’s a challenge.
She’s angry, but part of her’s curious about what he’s planning. She’s confused, and anger’s easiest. Because she also won’t admit to nerves.
And not just because she was far too angry for anything else. (As if she’d ever be frightened of the likes of Patrick Jane. Idiot. She’d show him. Just wait. Whatever little sleep he did get had better be with one eye open.)
Besides, Lisbon knew, whatever he had planned, Jane would never deliberately hurt her.
He’s her best friend (BEST FRIENDS), so unless she thought he’d had some sort of mental breakdown...
So why had he handcuffed her? She couldn’t help be a little bit curious.
He’d claimed it was to stop her from leaving. (But she hadn’t been going to leave.)
He’d claimed he needed to talk to her, and that it was important. (What could be so important that he needed to handcuff her, just to have a discussion?)
Most intriguing of all, he wasn’t quite calm. (He was hiding it well, but he was periodically gripping the steering wheel like his life depended on it and he couldn’t seem to stop from glancing at her every thirty seconds.)
And that’s the other thing, she knows he’s not quite calm, despite his best attempts, she knows something’s up.
Patrick Jane was agitated.
Good.
Lisbon hoped he was afraid of what she’d do to him when she finally did get free. (She’d meant it about the sleeping with one eye open.)
Wonder what her punishment would have been. Who knows, she still might enact something, just to teach him a lesson.
Until then she’d just wait impatiently. With no idea where he was taking her or why.
She had no idea about any of this.
He wasn’t going to hurt her. She trusted him, but...
She had no control.
Her hands were literally tied.
Lisbon tried to ignore the dark and dangerous feelings brewing in the pit of her stomach, and when she couldn’t, she told herself they were just anger. At Jane.
Damn Patrick Jane.
Who kept looking over at her and smirking, affectionately.
Like it was adorable that he’d handcuffed her, and this was all just a big game to him.
Ass.
It’s not a game to him, but he is still enjoying it. He can’t help himself.
She wanted to smack the smirk off his face. But that’d be awkward in handcuffs. There had to be another way to wipe it off his face... Not that she was speaking to him.
What did he want with her?
He wasn’t going to hurt her. She trusted him.
Why had Jane taken control, her control?
What had he said before? Did she really want a man who never challenged her authority? Well, Patrick Jane certainly wasn’t that. Not that he was hers.
But he’d been touching her lately. And turning those unexpected, ultra-focussed eyes in her direction.
Now he’d handcuffed her in his car.
He’d handcuffed her in his car.
She keeps circling around it, going back around and around. He won’t hurt her. But he’s handcuffed her. And she’s in his power. But she trusts him enough that the idea doesn’t frighten her. Not in terms of her safety at least. And the fact that part of her is kind of intrigued confuses her more, which in turn makes her angrier. I think it’s a reasonably accurate reaction, when you consider that she’s attracted to him, and he’d been looking at her like he was attracted to her five minutes ago.
He had some nerve! Lisbon deliberately let herself get worked back up into a temper.
She’d kill him.
Lisbon didn’t care that she knew he didn’t mean her any harm. She meant him harm.
How much longer was this little impromptu trip going to last anyway? Jane certainly hadn’t enlightened her. And the hell if she was going to ask him.
Lisbon glared at the cuffs in front of her, the ones holding her hands hostage. She couldn't believe he'd had the nerve to use her own handcuffs to restrain her.
You didn’t handcuff a cop with their own handcuffs. You just didn’t. If anyone found out... If he ever let it slip (which he wouldn’t. Besides, who would he even tell?)
Lisbon sat in stony silence, for the remainder of the drive, her mind whirling in circles of anger and confusion.
Five minutes later when they pulled up in front of a little bungalow she’d never seen before, her resolution not to speak to him again wavered. "And what are we doing here?" she asked.
"It's private," Jane told her calmly. "I thought you and I needed to have a little talk."
"You kidnapped a CBI Agent just to have a little talk?" she asked incredulously. "You are insane."
Jane smiled at her dramatics (though his smile was partly to mask re-emerging nerves). "Perhaps if you weren't quite so… stubborn, we could have had this talk under other circumstances," he said with a shrug, as he opened the passenger-side door and led her into the house. Lisbon couldn’t help noticing that his hand was hovering near her hip-bone again (just shy of actually touching her). "But you can be remarkably unyielding at times Agent Lisbon,” Jane continued as he unlocked the front door. “One might say almost implacable. It raises certain difficulties."
Really, her stubbornness isn’t what’s to blame for this. This one’s pretty much all on him.
She glared at him.
"I would ask if I could take your coat," he continued, not at all perturbed by the look of pure hatred he was on the receiving end of. "But that might be difficult under the circumstances," he said, gesturing to her handcuffs and trying not to laugh.
Because he likes her angry. He likes that she’s not going to back down either.
"You're enjoying this," she growled. "You think you have all the control, that you're so clever. Well, let me tell you something, you conceited, scheming, untrustworthy, idiot…"
"You're enjoying it to," he said sharply, cutting off her rant before she could really get started. He was suddenly tired of the pretence. He’d seen her eyes when he’d let his hand explore along her hipbone to distract her and find her handcuffs. She’d wanted him to touch her. And unless he was very much mistaken, she still did. Made him wonder what her anger was really masking.
He knows her well enough to know that. Or at least, he hopes so. Because if he’s wrong, if he’s misjudged this badly, he is well and truly screwed.
Lisbon gaped at him for a minute, before finding her powers of speech. "I… I am not!"
Except that she’s inadvertently effectively just confirmed his suspicions there.
Suddenly her tormentor grinned, approaching her slowly. He suddenly felt a little more at ease. This was his Lisbon, ever-stubborn. Never giving an inch. Well, she hadn’t ever gone up against him before. Not directly.
Which is interesting. They often don’t agree on things 100%, but I don’t know that they’ve ever directly been working against each other. There’s usually common ground of some kind, even if their methodologies differ.
Lisbon took a step backwards. Then she saw Jane’s grin turn predatory, triumphant, and she resolved to stand her ground. She was an agent of the CBI and she would not be cowed by this… by this bully. She squared her shoulders and raised her chin in challenge.
She can’t back down. Her stubbornness won’t let her. Not quite yet at least.
"Of course you’re enjoying this,” Jane informed her in a voice so smooth it positively screamed sinister intentions. Lisbon could practically feel it trying insinuate itself into her brain.
"Don't be ridiculous," she retorted immediately. She had no idea what he was talking about. And even if she did, she certainly wasn't going to agree with him. What had gotten into him anyway?
"Am I?" he wondered. "Then why didn't you jump out of the car?"
"Jump out of a moving car?" she asked in disbelief. "In handcuffs? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. This isn't the movies," she scoffed, trying to buy herself time to figure something out.
"Are you telling me that tough, fearless Teresa Lisbon couldn't handle jumping out of a moving car while we were still in the city and driving at a reasonable speed?" Jane wondered. He certainly wouldn’t recommend it, but he was equally sure that if Lisbon ever thought it was necessary to catch a suspect, she’d roll out of her seat in a second.
"Maybe I never thought you'd take it this far," Lisbon countered quickly. "I incorrectly assumed you'd come to your senses. There will be serious consequences now." She had assumed he’d release her eventually. He had to. What purpose could keeping her handcuffed possibly serve? For one thing, he wouldn’t last a week at the CBI without her around to defend him.
"Of course there will," he acknowledged. He was counting on it actually; they just had different ideas of what those consequences would be. "But when have you ever known me to back down?"
"When have you ever known me to?" she shot back her anger simmering happily away again.
She has to keep the anger going. It conveniently prevents her from acknowledging any of her other feelings, those ones lurking just below the surface.
"Ah, but that's the point, isn't it?" he told her, deliberately provoking her, trying to knock her off balance since at this point any sort of calm conversation wasn’t possible. He couldn’t honestly say he was all that disappointed. She was too fabulous a challenge to resist. And if he was honest, his control was shaky at best now too. "You always like to be in control, Agent Lisbon. Crave it really. It's practically pathological at this point. And as a result people always thrust control on to you. It makes someone like me want to try and break it," Jane informed her bluntly, knowing that it would do to her.
Here we go. This is also key. He’s off-balance and showing it. He’s been off-balance for a while, but somehow managed to keep a lid on it, mostly. And also, Jane is contrary. He would try to break her control just to test her. It’d be an irresistible challenge, in more ways than one.
"Wh-what?" Lisbon stuttered, suddenly unsure of where this, he, was going.
"Do I make you nervous Teresa?" Jane whispered in her ear as he took a step closer, enjoying the slight tremor his breath chased down her neck.
He couldn’t keep out of her personal space at this point, even if he wanted to.
Lisbon forced her spine straight and refused to step back in spite his proximity. "No," she insisted. She wasn’t frightened of Jane. Whatever he was up to, she wasn’t frightened. And she definitely wasn’t nervous.
I do love her trying her damnedest not to bend.
"Mm. Very good," he hummed his approval. "Vocal tone was strong, determined, almost angry. You almost had me fooled Teresa. Almost. Still, A for effort."
"What do you want?" she asked him, trying to ignore what she could only assume were his deliberate attempts to bait her.
Jane chuckled. "But I told you what I want," he reminded her. "I want to break your control. And what's more, you want me to."
He’s got to break through her self-imposed walls. This way seems like the most fun. Also, as I mentioned before, he’s already pretty committed to this.
"And why would I want that?" she asked sarcastically, determined to keep her irritation to the forefront, deliberately ignoring the other emotions bubbling just underneath.
Jane grinned lazily. Bad idea Teresa, he thought to himself. Asking a question you didn’t actually want to hear the answer to. Or... maybe she did. Maybe that was the issue. Part of her desperately wanted someone else to not only recognize the question (the one he was sure no one else had ever even considered), but to know the answer as well. So Jane told her, "Because you're sick of holding on to everything so tightly. You're sick of constantly being the responsible one. Sick of having to take care of what feels like the entire universe. You want to let everything go. You want to give in to someone else. In fact, I think you let me handcuff you."
I also like this. That he pushes her enough, and forces her to stop taking responsibility for everything. He helps her break the rules.
"I did not let you handcuff me!" Lisbon countered quickly. She ignored her suddenly tripled nerves. "You tricked me."
"I provided a convenient pretext for you to let yourself be put in my power," he corrected, taking a step closer into her personal space.
Lisbon's mouth dropped open in shock. A second later she remembered herself and snapped it shut. "Oh that's ridiculous," she said, finding her irritation again. After all, any other reaction was unthinkable.
"Is it?" her antagonist wondered, trailing his nose slowly from her ear, down the line of her chin to brush his lips against the hollow of her throat. He could feel desire beginning to spread through his chest. It was the way she smelled; he knew the fragrance, but he’d never experienced it this close.
Lisbon jumped. He may have been touching her lately, but he’d never... not anything so direct... "What do you think you're doing," she asked her voice betraying an unconcealable hint of nervousness.
Jane chuckled against her skin. "Shattering your control," he whispered, unable to resist brushing his lips against her neck a second time. How had he managed to keep himself from this for so long again? And why?
Lisbon put her hands firmly against his chest. "Wait," she ordered quietly but firmly.
Because she’d never just fall into his arms. She just wouldn’t.
"Why?" Jane whispered into her other ear as he placed a hand on the small of her back to hold her still. He certainly wouldn’t force her, but he also wasn’t going to let her escape unless she insisted, which she certainly wasn’t (she hadn’t said no, she’d said wait). He couldn’t lose her now; he might go mad.
This was hard to write. Because she had to fighting him, but not so much that he was forcing himself on her. It was a fine line. I like to think the way I did it works.
She paused, trying to think of a reason, before remembering that she didn't have to. "Because."
True. She doesn’t need a reason to tell him to stop. But the fact that she doesn’t have one doesn’t really help her case.
"That's not very convincing," Jane informed her, his lips only centimetres from hers, ready to close the distance the second she gave the sign.
He won’t force the issue, but he won’t back down unless she insists.
"Step back," she whispered.
"You step back," he countered, remembering the best way to use her stubbornness against her just in time. "Or is that too much of a sign of weakness, Agent Lisbon?"
Because he’s got a point. He’s holding her in place, but lightly. She could step away if she really wanted to.
"Bastard," she growled.
"Maybe," Jane admitted quietly. "But you're still not moving. And we both know that even with your hands restrained, you could still easily cause me more than enough pain to make me back down, especially given my current position. If you wanted me to back down that is."
"I do," Lisbon insisted just as quietly. She did. Didn’t she? And what was Jane doing? He wasn’t attracted to her, couldn’t be attracted to her, not really. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure.
"Okay," her oh-so-skilful tormentor replied, trailing his fingers slowly up and down her spine, smirking when her eyes fluttered closed momentarily before popping back open in shock. Jane watched her marshal her anger yet again, and prepared himself for another fight. His grin turned wicked. Truthfully he'd hoped she wouldn't give in quite that easily. None of this may have been his original plan, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to enjoy it. He hadn’t enjoyed anything so much in a long time.
"Why this? Why now?" Lisbon demanded, pushing against his chest with her hands so he was forced to take a half a step back.
"Why not?" Jane asked drolly. And he certainly wasn’t about to admit that her half-witted dinner companion had upset all his romantic plans and spurred him into unexpected action. "I certainly don't have any scruples of any kind. Now seemed as good a time as any."
Telling her the real reason doesn’t sound good. Of course, it’s not the whole story. But the whole story would take too long at this point.
Lisbon almost rolled her eyes at the flippant response. "Then why me?"
Her question finally made Jane’s control visibly start to fray. He positively growled, pushing himself closer to her in spite of her hands. He’d wanted her desperately for longer than he cared to admit. He wouldn’t listen to her question that of all things. "You know the answer to that," he hissed before nipping her ear.
He’ll let her question everything, but not the fact that he wants her. That he’s sure of. Although, to be fair, he hasn’t really told her that yet. But still, all of a sudden it stops being a game.
Lisbon gasped before she could stop herself. This was a different Jane. This wasn’t her breezy consultant who took almost nothing seriously on the surface, who thought everything was a game . This was the Jane of the unwavering stare and the fleeting touches along her hipbones. Her next breath came out as a sigh.
She felt Jane grin against the shell of her ear. "You like that I kidnapped you," he whispered, his voice shaking slightly. "You like that I'm a little bit dangerous. You like that I'm not gonna follow any rules. And most of all, you like that I'm not backing down like that vacillating namby-pamby of an attorney you went to dinner with last week would have. Idiot obviously isn't a trial lawyer." Useless imbecile. Jane knew that Lisbon hadn’t responded to that jellyfish in any kind of significant way. His arm tightened possessively around her waist.
And there he kind of plays his hand. Not that she catches all of the implications. Her mind is a little busy with other things at the moment.
"What?" she asked, her head spinning. Jane had known about her dinner date? That in and of itself wasn’t so surprising, but why hadn’t he said anything if it’d bothered him this much? She’d never dreamed... "When did you…"
"I saw the walking bore when I came downstairs to get a cup of tea," Jane admitted. "You don't want him, and you know it. We both know it. You want someone who'll fight with you. Who'll stand up to you. Who'll push you as hard as you push them," he said, adding even more pressure against her hands, until they gave way. "And yeah, you want someone you can beat, at least verbally. But the funny thing is," he added, nipping briefly at her neck again his voice suddenly low, "You want someone who can beat you right back. You want someone who'll push, and prod, and rub you the wrong way," he informed her, trailing a hand up her spine again. "And you desperately want someone who'll take the time to wrestle the control you cling to from your hands."
He wants the same thing. Or rather, he wants someone who’ll stand by him. Who’ll put up with his crap, and call him on it when he goes too far. In my head that’s part of the reason he freaked out a bit when she jokingly said she was going to leave him. This is Lisbon after all. And Lisbon is always there. He doesn’t like the idea of having to give her up or share her.
"I don't," Lisbon whispered, but even she knew she was lying.
"Don't you?" he wondered, angling his body back where it had been, dwarfing her smaller frame.
"No," she said hoarsely, her voice shaking as much as his was as she tried to remember why she was even arguing with him.
"Then why haven't you kneed me in the groin before now?"Jane asked, his eyes finding hers. "Why are you tolerating my presence in your personal space? Why is your breathing quick and shallow? Why are you practically fighting to keep your eyes open? And why, instead of pushing me away, are your hands fisted so tightly in my clothing that I'm not entirely sure I could take a single step backwards, even if I wanted to?"
"Damn it Jane," she moaned, letting her head fall back against her shoulders.
He grinned triumphantly. "Tell me why," he repeated, whispering insistently against her lips. "If you don't want this, tell me why you'd surrender completely if I kissed you right now."
Lisbon sighed and leaned her forehead against his, her opposition gone. "Stockholm Syndrome," she murmured. Before giving into herself and letting him prevent her from saying any more.
And this last exchange, kind of my original thought for this fic. Because to the last, Lisbon refuses to concede completely, at least not verbally. They both know she’s done arguing though. Obviously.
xxxxx
TBC
And that’s me done for the day. Hope you enjoyed it.
xxxxx
Chapter 4
xxxxx
Lisbon looked down at the handcuffs around her wrists in a mixture of confusion and shock. “You handcuffed me,” she said stupidly.
“Yes,” Jane agreed, pleased that he sounded much calmer than he felt.
“You handcuffed me with my own damn handcuffs,” Lisbon repeated, anger seeping into her voice.
She gets angry first. Of course she does. She doesn’t ask why, anger first. And who can blame her? Could he really give her a satisfactory explanation for it that wouldn’t make her angry? Not to mention, she’s panicking a little (though she’d never admit it). After all, she’s got no idea what’s going on. And the unknown element unnerves her.
“You threatened to get out of the car,” Jane defended, like that explained everything.
“I was joking!” she snapped. “Because you asked if you could talk to me, you drove me all of the way out here, and then you didn’t actually say anything, you idiot. Now take these off!” Lisbon demanded, holding up her wrists and trying to look authoritative despite the nerves suddenly breeding in the bottom of her stomach.
What’s Jane up to after all? She knows it’s something new, something different. She knows something’s going on...
“No,” Jane refused obstinately. Okay, he may have gone a bit far by actually handcuffing her, but he’d genuinely panicked when she’d said she would leave. He needed to talk to her. He needed to keep her near him. Besides, she’d handcuffed him once, and look how that had worked out (all for the best in the end, though unpleasant at the time). Handcuffs were a previously tested and successful method of keeping someone in a car. Jane needed to keep Lisbon in the car. Ergo, the handcuffs. To be extra sure she didn’t try to escape he decided to lock the doors.
And this is where it ties into the first half of the fic. Same pair of handcuffs, in a car. A way of keeping someone restrained, for their own good. (Although, I suppose one could debate whether or not this is for Lisbon’s own good. From Jane’s perspective it is...)
“No?” Lisbon repeated in a daze. “Oh, that’s mature,” she added when she heard the doors lock.
He’s not mature. And he knows that now that he’s crossed this line, he may as well go full speed ahead. After all, she’ll kill him if it doesn’t work.
“I’m not known for my maturity,” Jane said smoothly. Admittedly, this conversation wasn’t going like he’d hoped, and that was probably his fault. But, he’d found long ago that once he’d committed to one of his plans, it was far better to stick to it than admit defeat. For example, in this case if he removed the handcuffs now, Lisbon would probably deck him (at the very least). And that would make the situation far worse, given that at the moment, while Lisbon was definitely irate in his general direction, she was restrained from physically abusing him.
I think this is true. Half of the reason Jane’s plans succeed so often is that he commits to them whole-heartedly. I think it’s a confidence thing. Go in, pretend you know what you’re doing, people tend to play along. So now he won’t back down.
“That’s an understatement,” Lisbon muttered, as she fiddled with the locks.
The second she got her door unlocked, Jane simply re-locked it.
Because Jane is a child...
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded, trying one more time to unlock the doors.
Jane had them locked a third time before Lisbon could even reach the door handle.
“Oh, that’s great,” she growled.
“It’s for your own good,” Jane said smoothly. “After all, how are you going to explain the fact that you’re in handcuffs to anyone you happen to encounter on your way back to the CBI building? Better yet, how are you even going to get back to the CBI building? It’s a bit far to walk, and your purse is in the backseat so taking public transit might be difficult. Really, I’m just thinking ahead on your behalf. Because unless you’re planning on calling someone to come and rescue you, in handcuffs...”
He has a fair point here, actually. Unless she actually fears for her own safety (which she doesn’t), it might be less embarrassing to go along with whatever he has planned. Because what’s she going to do? He’s not about to take the cuffs off under any circumstances, and she knows it.
“Bastard,” Lisbon muttered, though she did lean back against the seat.
“Sometimes,” Jane murmured in agreement. “You know that,” he added as turned the car back on and shifted into reverse. Clearly having this conversation in the car wasn’t working. Probably best to fall back on his original plan, albeit a slightly modified one. “You may want to put on your seatbelt,” he added solicitously, trying not to think about the expression in her eyes right before he’d snapped the handcuffs closed. New impulsive plan or no, he was not seducing Teresa Lisbon in a car. Not the first time at least.
It was a temptation though. I like that idea in this fic, that she tempts him. That she, without realizing it, has thrown him off-balance.
Lisbon complied and reached for her seatbelt, all the while muttering under her breath (Jane figured he probably didn’t want to hear it after catching the words, ‘idiot,’ ‘cretin,’ ‘damn consultant,’ ‘what the hell’). “Oh, isn’t this comfortable,” Lisbon said sarcastically, when she realized that seatbelts weren’t exactly designed to be worn with handcuffs.
I couldn’t resist a conversation about it, after spending a few days trying to resolve the issue.
“Just think how all the criminals you arrest feel,” Jane said cheerfully, his sense of humour returning to him now that it was becoming clear that Lisbon wasn’t going to put up enough of a fight to actually leave (and wasn’t that interesting? After all, he would hardly have been cruel enough to abandon her in a park in handcuffs...)
Also true. She hasn’t put up a heck of a lot of resistance. Because he wouldn’t have abandoned her had she insisted on getting out of the car...
“Shut up!” Lisbon snapped.
“Fine, dear,” he agreed.
“And don’t you dare call me dear,” Lisbon added venomously. Jerk was enjoying this. She knew he was. Just wait until he took the handcuffs off. Then he wouldn’t be laughing any more. He wouldn’t be laughing ever again; she’d make sure of that. What in the hell was the point of handcuffing her? What did he think she was going to do? Like she needed to be restrained just to talk to him... Like the people they dealt with on the job, “I’m not a criminal,” she added with a growl.
Lisbon doesn’t like this. She really doesn’t like this. (Except for the part of her that kind of does...) But her first reaction is panic. She has no idea what’s going on, and that’s dangerous.
“I never said you were,” Jane reminded her calmly.
Lisbon ignored him, the jerk. “If anything, you are. This is little more than kidnapping.”
“I told you, I need to talk to you,” Jane explained again.
“And I need to be handcuffed for a simple conversation, why?”
“To make sure you don’t leave,” Jane explained patiently, with a hint of a smile. He knew handcuffs weren’t typically used for conversations between friends, but he couldn’t afford to take any more chances with her. Not with that unwanted interloper just waiting in the wings, ready to pounce.
Also, he likes having her in handcuffs. Not like *that* (okay, a little bit like *that), but because she is off-balance. He can see her nerves. He can see her reactions. And he likes it.
Lisbon stared at him. She thought Jane had known that she that he could count on her to stick by him. But obviously there was no point in talking to him. Just when she thought their relationship was making progress, that things were becoming more stable, that they could trust each other. “I wasn’t going to leave,” Lisbon explained again, feeling like the conversation was going in circles. “But now I may be re-thinking that...”
“Even in handcuffs?” Jane reminded her.
“You’ll have to take them off eventually,” she threatened in return.
“Not exactly incentive for me to do it anytime soon, is it then?” Jane asked casually, really enjoying himself now (god she was fabulous when she was angry). “If you’re issuing threats.”
Lisbon lapsed into more muttering about the proper way to treat a friend, a woman even.
That finally seemed to provoke her consultant.
“And is that what you want then?” Jane growled. “A man who’ll just fawn all over you and do whatever you want, do the proper thing? Someone who’s so ridiculously safe he may as well have been made-to-order? Someone without even a hint of a spine? Not willing to take a chance, ever? Or willing to let you make all the decisions?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Lisbon snapped, her head starting to spin. “What does that have to do anything? I’m not talking to you anymore; you’ve obviously gone crazy.”
Jane rolled his eyes at her, gripping the steering wheel in frustration. But he figured in a way she was right. Having this conversation in the car was definitely not a good idea. He needed to be facing her, among other things.
Yeah, he’s not doing so well with the whole talking bit with her. Probably better to wait until it’s the only thing he has to focus on.
He couldn’t help glancing at the woman still fuming beside him. Muttering a wide variety of personal threats under one’s breath really shouldn’t have been an attractive position.
But he found it endearing. While the object of his affections obviously had no idea how strong his feelings were.
"You'll pay for this," Lisbon growled, suddenly breaking her silence. She supposed she should be grateful he'd decided to let her stay in the front seat. The way he'd been... manhandling her, she'd expected to be humiliatingly shoved in the back seat of the damn contraption they were currently riding in.
"Will I?" Jane asked, obviously amused. "Somehow I don't think so."
Bravado and over-confidence. Because he knows he really has to sell this. If he doesn’t, well, things aren’t going to go well for him.
"I'll make sure of it," she spat out.
"Such threats Agent Lisbon," he murmured patronizingly. "A little ironic given your current position. I'd have thought you'd think to try being nice to me."
"I'll show you nice, you arrogant little…" she seethed, her face livid.
"Tsk, tsk. Temper, temper. Wouldn't want to give yourself a heart attack or an aneurism would you?" he asked with a grin.
He still can’t resist teasing her, because he’s starting to see the funny side of this. Even if it’s not ideal.
She didn't answer, preferring to stare stonily out the window. She was really done talking this time.
When Jane realized that she was actually going to stick to her vow of silence, at least for the time being, he was forced to admit, for about the tenth time in the last five minutes, that he definitely could have handled the whole situation better.
Ah well, too late for that now.
xxxxx
After her final refusal to speak to him, Lisbon did indeed lapse into silence.
There really was no talking to Jane when he was like this.
Imagine, handcuffing someone because they made an innocent little joke about getting out of a car! Honestly. Especially since she’d stuck by him through far, far worse.
But really, what could she expect from Jane? His views on what was socially acceptable were shaky sometimes. And he had been acting strangely all week. Add to that the constant touching, and the way he’d been looking at her... and...
And what had been with his little game to get her handcuffs in the first place?
And why on earth did she need to be restrained? Even in Jane’s mind.
God.
Jane had restrained her. He’d restricted her freedom. She was, she was almost contained, definitely handicapped.
And here we go, Lisbon’s issues. She has serious control issues, and he’s challenged them, which is kind of the heart of things.
She was in Patrick Jane’s power. (And he could do anything he liked...)
To a certain extent at least. Until he saw fit to release her. Because Jane was right, she’d just about die of embarrassment if anyone else found out about this.
Not that she was worried about that. She was fairly certain Jane wouldn’t tell anyone. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did. Maybe it was just that he knew she’d actually kill him if he did and even Patrick Jane had more of a sense of self-preservation than that. Either way, whatever this was, it was between the two of them. And Lisbon knew it would stay that way. She trusted him at least that much.
She just did.
Which was part of the reason she wasn’t frightened now.
It was really important to me that she’s not frightened here. I didn’t want this to enter into dub-con territory. The restraints are there to bring the issue to the forefront, that part of the reason Lisbon likes him is that he doesn’t just roll over and let her take charge. He frustrates her and drives her crazy, but at least he’s a challenge.
She’s angry, but part of her’s curious about what he’s planning. She’s confused, and anger’s easiest. Because she also won’t admit to nerves.
And not just because she was far too angry for anything else. (As if she’d ever be frightened of the likes of Patrick Jane. Idiot. She’d show him. Just wait. Whatever little sleep he did get had better be with one eye open.)
Besides, Lisbon knew, whatever he had planned, Jane would never deliberately hurt her.
He’s her best friend (BEST FRIENDS), so unless she thought he’d had some sort of mental breakdown...
So why had he handcuffed her? She couldn’t help be a little bit curious.
He’d claimed it was to stop her from leaving. (But she hadn’t been going to leave.)
He’d claimed he needed to talk to her, and that it was important. (What could be so important that he needed to handcuff her, just to have a discussion?)
Most intriguing of all, he wasn’t quite calm. (He was hiding it well, but he was periodically gripping the steering wheel like his life depended on it and he couldn’t seem to stop from glancing at her every thirty seconds.)
And that’s the other thing, she knows he’s not quite calm, despite his best attempts, she knows something’s up.
Patrick Jane was agitated.
Good.
Lisbon hoped he was afraid of what she’d do to him when she finally did get free. (She’d meant it about the sleeping with one eye open.)
Wonder what her punishment would have been. Who knows, she still might enact something, just to teach him a lesson.
Until then she’d just wait impatiently. With no idea where he was taking her or why.
She had no idea about any of this.
He wasn’t going to hurt her. She trusted him, but...
She had no control.
Her hands were literally tied.
Lisbon tried to ignore the dark and dangerous feelings brewing in the pit of her stomach, and when she couldn’t, she told herself they were just anger. At Jane.
Damn Patrick Jane.
Who kept looking over at her and smirking, affectionately.
Like it was adorable that he’d handcuffed her, and this was all just a big game to him.
Ass.
It’s not a game to him, but he is still enjoying it. He can’t help himself.
She wanted to smack the smirk off his face. But that’d be awkward in handcuffs. There had to be another way to wipe it off his face... Not that she was speaking to him.
What did he want with her?
He wasn’t going to hurt her. She trusted him.
Why had Jane taken control, her control?
What had he said before? Did she really want a man who never challenged her authority? Well, Patrick Jane certainly wasn’t that. Not that he was hers.
But he’d been touching her lately. And turning those unexpected, ultra-focussed eyes in her direction.
Now he’d handcuffed her in his car.
He’d handcuffed her in his car.
She keeps circling around it, going back around and around. He won’t hurt her. But he’s handcuffed her. And she’s in his power. But she trusts him enough that the idea doesn’t frighten her. Not in terms of her safety at least. And the fact that part of her is kind of intrigued confuses her more, which in turn makes her angrier. I think it’s a reasonably accurate reaction, when you consider that she’s attracted to him, and he’d been looking at her like he was attracted to her five minutes ago.
He had some nerve! Lisbon deliberately let herself get worked back up into a temper.
She’d kill him.
Lisbon didn’t care that she knew he didn’t mean her any harm. She meant him harm.
How much longer was this little impromptu trip going to last anyway? Jane certainly hadn’t enlightened her. And the hell if she was going to ask him.
Lisbon glared at the cuffs in front of her, the ones holding her hands hostage. She couldn't believe he'd had the nerve to use her own handcuffs to restrain her.
You didn’t handcuff a cop with their own handcuffs. You just didn’t. If anyone found out... If he ever let it slip (which he wouldn’t. Besides, who would he even tell?)
Lisbon sat in stony silence, for the remainder of the drive, her mind whirling in circles of anger and confusion.
Five minutes later when they pulled up in front of a little bungalow she’d never seen before, her resolution not to speak to him again wavered. "And what are we doing here?" she asked.
"It's private," Jane told her calmly. "I thought you and I needed to have a little talk."
"You kidnapped a CBI Agent just to have a little talk?" she asked incredulously. "You are insane."
Jane smiled at her dramatics (though his smile was partly to mask re-emerging nerves). "Perhaps if you weren't quite so… stubborn, we could have had this talk under other circumstances," he said with a shrug, as he opened the passenger-side door and led her into the house. Lisbon couldn’t help noticing that his hand was hovering near her hip-bone again (just shy of actually touching her). "But you can be remarkably unyielding at times Agent Lisbon,” Jane continued as he unlocked the front door. “One might say almost implacable. It raises certain difficulties."
Really, her stubbornness isn’t what’s to blame for this. This one’s pretty much all on him.
She glared at him.
"I would ask if I could take your coat," he continued, not at all perturbed by the look of pure hatred he was on the receiving end of. "But that might be difficult under the circumstances," he said, gesturing to her handcuffs and trying not to laugh.
Because he likes her angry. He likes that she’s not going to back down either.
"You're enjoying this," she growled. "You think you have all the control, that you're so clever. Well, let me tell you something, you conceited, scheming, untrustworthy, idiot…"
"You're enjoying it to," he said sharply, cutting off her rant before she could really get started. He was suddenly tired of the pretence. He’d seen her eyes when he’d let his hand explore along her hipbone to distract her and find her handcuffs. She’d wanted him to touch her. And unless he was very much mistaken, she still did. Made him wonder what her anger was really masking.
He knows her well enough to know that. Or at least, he hopes so. Because if he’s wrong, if he’s misjudged this badly, he is well and truly screwed.
Lisbon gaped at him for a minute, before finding her powers of speech. "I… I am not!"
Except that she’s inadvertently effectively just confirmed his suspicions there.
Suddenly her tormentor grinned, approaching her slowly. He suddenly felt a little more at ease. This was his Lisbon, ever-stubborn. Never giving an inch. Well, she hadn’t ever gone up against him before. Not directly.
Which is interesting. They often don’t agree on things 100%, but I don’t know that they’ve ever directly been working against each other. There’s usually common ground of some kind, even if their methodologies differ.
Lisbon took a step backwards. Then she saw Jane’s grin turn predatory, triumphant, and she resolved to stand her ground. She was an agent of the CBI and she would not be cowed by this… by this bully. She squared her shoulders and raised her chin in challenge.
She can’t back down. Her stubbornness won’t let her. Not quite yet at least.
"Of course you’re enjoying this,” Jane informed her in a voice so smooth it positively screamed sinister intentions. Lisbon could practically feel it trying insinuate itself into her brain.
"Don't be ridiculous," she retorted immediately. She had no idea what he was talking about. And even if she did, she certainly wasn't going to agree with him. What had gotten into him anyway?
"Am I?" he wondered. "Then why didn't you jump out of the car?"
"Jump out of a moving car?" she asked in disbelief. "In handcuffs? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. This isn't the movies," she scoffed, trying to buy herself time to figure something out.
"Are you telling me that tough, fearless Teresa Lisbon couldn't handle jumping out of a moving car while we were still in the city and driving at a reasonable speed?" Jane wondered. He certainly wouldn’t recommend it, but he was equally sure that if Lisbon ever thought it was necessary to catch a suspect, she’d roll out of her seat in a second.
"Maybe I never thought you'd take it this far," Lisbon countered quickly. "I incorrectly assumed you'd come to your senses. There will be serious consequences now." She had assumed he’d release her eventually. He had to. What purpose could keeping her handcuffed possibly serve? For one thing, he wouldn’t last a week at the CBI without her around to defend him.
"Of course there will," he acknowledged. He was counting on it actually; they just had different ideas of what those consequences would be. "But when have you ever known me to back down?"
"When have you ever known me to?" she shot back her anger simmering happily away again.
She has to keep the anger going. It conveniently prevents her from acknowledging any of her other feelings, those ones lurking just below the surface.
"Ah, but that's the point, isn't it?" he told her, deliberately provoking her, trying to knock her off balance since at this point any sort of calm conversation wasn’t possible. He couldn’t honestly say he was all that disappointed. She was too fabulous a challenge to resist. And if he was honest, his control was shaky at best now too. "You always like to be in control, Agent Lisbon. Crave it really. It's practically pathological at this point. And as a result people always thrust control on to you. It makes someone like me want to try and break it," Jane informed her bluntly, knowing that it would do to her.
Here we go. This is also key. He’s off-balance and showing it. He’s been off-balance for a while, but somehow managed to keep a lid on it, mostly. And also, Jane is contrary. He would try to break her control just to test her. It’d be an irresistible challenge, in more ways than one.
"Wh-what?" Lisbon stuttered, suddenly unsure of where this, he, was going.
"Do I make you nervous Teresa?" Jane whispered in her ear as he took a step closer, enjoying the slight tremor his breath chased down her neck.
He couldn’t keep out of her personal space at this point, even if he wanted to.
Lisbon forced her spine straight and refused to step back in spite his proximity. "No," she insisted. She wasn’t frightened of Jane. Whatever he was up to, she wasn’t frightened. And she definitely wasn’t nervous.
I do love her trying her damnedest not to bend.
"Mm. Very good," he hummed his approval. "Vocal tone was strong, determined, almost angry. You almost had me fooled Teresa. Almost. Still, A for effort."
"What do you want?" she asked him, trying to ignore what she could only assume were his deliberate attempts to bait her.
Jane chuckled. "But I told you what I want," he reminded her. "I want to break your control. And what's more, you want me to."
He’s got to break through her self-imposed walls. This way seems like the most fun. Also, as I mentioned before, he’s already pretty committed to this.
"And why would I want that?" she asked sarcastically, determined to keep her irritation to the forefront, deliberately ignoring the other emotions bubbling just underneath.
Jane grinned lazily. Bad idea Teresa, he thought to himself. Asking a question you didn’t actually want to hear the answer to. Or... maybe she did. Maybe that was the issue. Part of her desperately wanted someone else to not only recognize the question (the one he was sure no one else had ever even considered), but to know the answer as well. So Jane told her, "Because you're sick of holding on to everything so tightly. You're sick of constantly being the responsible one. Sick of having to take care of what feels like the entire universe. You want to let everything go. You want to give in to someone else. In fact, I think you let me handcuff you."
I also like this. That he pushes her enough, and forces her to stop taking responsibility for everything. He helps her break the rules.
"I did not let you handcuff me!" Lisbon countered quickly. She ignored her suddenly tripled nerves. "You tricked me."
"I provided a convenient pretext for you to let yourself be put in my power," he corrected, taking a step closer into her personal space.
Lisbon's mouth dropped open in shock. A second later she remembered herself and snapped it shut. "Oh that's ridiculous," she said, finding her irritation again. After all, any other reaction was unthinkable.
"Is it?" her antagonist wondered, trailing his nose slowly from her ear, down the line of her chin to brush his lips against the hollow of her throat. He could feel desire beginning to spread through his chest. It was the way she smelled; he knew the fragrance, but he’d never experienced it this close.
Lisbon jumped. He may have been touching her lately, but he’d never... not anything so direct... "What do you think you're doing," she asked her voice betraying an unconcealable hint of nervousness.
Jane chuckled against her skin. "Shattering your control," he whispered, unable to resist brushing his lips against her neck a second time. How had he managed to keep himself from this for so long again? And why?
Lisbon put her hands firmly against his chest. "Wait," she ordered quietly but firmly.
Because she’d never just fall into his arms. She just wouldn’t.
"Why?" Jane whispered into her other ear as he placed a hand on the small of her back to hold her still. He certainly wouldn’t force her, but he also wasn’t going to let her escape unless she insisted, which she certainly wasn’t (she hadn’t said no, she’d said wait). He couldn’t lose her now; he might go mad.
This was hard to write. Because she had to fighting him, but not so much that he was forcing himself on her. It was a fine line. I like to think the way I did it works.
She paused, trying to think of a reason, before remembering that she didn't have to. "Because."
True. She doesn’t need a reason to tell him to stop. But the fact that she doesn’t have one doesn’t really help her case.
"That's not very convincing," Jane informed her, his lips only centimetres from hers, ready to close the distance the second she gave the sign.
He won’t force the issue, but he won’t back down unless she insists.
"Step back," she whispered.
"You step back," he countered, remembering the best way to use her stubbornness against her just in time. "Or is that too much of a sign of weakness, Agent Lisbon?"
Because he’s got a point. He’s holding her in place, but lightly. She could step away if she really wanted to.
"Bastard," she growled.
"Maybe," Jane admitted quietly. "But you're still not moving. And we both know that even with your hands restrained, you could still easily cause me more than enough pain to make me back down, especially given my current position. If you wanted me to back down that is."
"I do," Lisbon insisted just as quietly. She did. Didn’t she? And what was Jane doing? He wasn’t attracted to her, couldn’t be attracted to her, not really. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure.
"Okay," her oh-so-skilful tormentor replied, trailing his fingers slowly up and down her spine, smirking when her eyes fluttered closed momentarily before popping back open in shock. Jane watched her marshal her anger yet again, and prepared himself for another fight. His grin turned wicked. Truthfully he'd hoped she wouldn't give in quite that easily. None of this may have been his original plan, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to enjoy it. He hadn’t enjoyed anything so much in a long time.
"Why this? Why now?" Lisbon demanded, pushing against his chest with her hands so he was forced to take a half a step back.
"Why not?" Jane asked drolly. And he certainly wasn’t about to admit that her half-witted dinner companion had upset all his romantic plans and spurred him into unexpected action. "I certainly don't have any scruples of any kind. Now seemed as good a time as any."
Telling her the real reason doesn’t sound good. Of course, it’s not the whole story. But the whole story would take too long at this point.
Lisbon almost rolled her eyes at the flippant response. "Then why me?"
Her question finally made Jane’s control visibly start to fray. He positively growled, pushing himself closer to her in spite of her hands. He’d wanted her desperately for longer than he cared to admit. He wouldn’t listen to her question that of all things. "You know the answer to that," he hissed before nipping her ear.
He’ll let her question everything, but not the fact that he wants her. That he’s sure of. Although, to be fair, he hasn’t really told her that yet. But still, all of a sudden it stops being a game.
Lisbon gasped before she could stop herself. This was a different Jane. This wasn’t her breezy consultant who took almost nothing seriously on the surface, who thought everything was a game . This was the Jane of the unwavering stare and the fleeting touches along her hipbones. Her next breath came out as a sigh.
She felt Jane grin against the shell of her ear. "You like that I kidnapped you," he whispered, his voice shaking slightly. "You like that I'm a little bit dangerous. You like that I'm not gonna follow any rules. And most of all, you like that I'm not backing down like that vacillating namby-pamby of an attorney you went to dinner with last week would have. Idiot obviously isn't a trial lawyer." Useless imbecile. Jane knew that Lisbon hadn’t responded to that jellyfish in any kind of significant way. His arm tightened possessively around her waist.
And there he kind of plays his hand. Not that she catches all of the implications. Her mind is a little busy with other things at the moment.
"What?" she asked, her head spinning. Jane had known about her dinner date? That in and of itself wasn’t so surprising, but why hadn’t he said anything if it’d bothered him this much? She’d never dreamed... "When did you…"
"I saw the walking bore when I came downstairs to get a cup of tea," Jane admitted. "You don't want him, and you know it. We both know it. You want someone who'll fight with you. Who'll stand up to you. Who'll push you as hard as you push them," he said, adding even more pressure against her hands, until they gave way. "And yeah, you want someone you can beat, at least verbally. But the funny thing is," he added, nipping briefly at her neck again his voice suddenly low, "You want someone who can beat you right back. You want someone who'll push, and prod, and rub you the wrong way," he informed her, trailing a hand up her spine again. "And you desperately want someone who'll take the time to wrestle the control you cling to from your hands."
He wants the same thing. Or rather, he wants someone who’ll stand by him. Who’ll put up with his crap, and call him on it when he goes too far. In my head that’s part of the reason he freaked out a bit when she jokingly said she was going to leave him. This is Lisbon after all. And Lisbon is always there. He doesn’t like the idea of having to give her up or share her.
"I don't," Lisbon whispered, but even she knew she was lying.
"Don't you?" he wondered, angling his body back where it had been, dwarfing her smaller frame.
"No," she said hoarsely, her voice shaking as much as his was as she tried to remember why she was even arguing with him.
"Then why haven't you kneed me in the groin before now?"Jane asked, his eyes finding hers. "Why are you tolerating my presence in your personal space? Why is your breathing quick and shallow? Why are you practically fighting to keep your eyes open? And why, instead of pushing me away, are your hands fisted so tightly in my clothing that I'm not entirely sure I could take a single step backwards, even if I wanted to?"
"Damn it Jane," she moaned, letting her head fall back against her shoulders.
He grinned triumphantly. "Tell me why," he repeated, whispering insistently against her lips. "If you don't want this, tell me why you'd surrender completely if I kissed you right now."
Lisbon sighed and leaned her forehead against his, her opposition gone. "Stockholm Syndrome," she murmured. Before giving into herself and letting him prevent her from saying any more.
And this last exchange, kind of my original thought for this fic. Because to the last, Lisbon refuses to concede completely, at least not verbally. They both know she’s done arguing though. Obviously.
xxxxx
TBC
And that’s me done for the day. Hope you enjoyed it.