Mentalist fic: Amalgamation - 04. Italian Apology
Title: Amalgamation: 04. Italian Apology
Author: Cat
Rating: T
Fandom: The Mentalist
Pairing: Jane/Lisbon
Summary: What if Jane and Lisbon were already married when the series started? Episode Tag fic; one episode per chapter.
Spoilers: Up to Ladies in Red (1x04)
Beta: fading_ripples -- your support (fic-related and life-related) is never-ending and I truly appreciate it.
Dislcaimer: All characters were borrowed for non-lucrative purposes.
Author's Notes: 5th part of the Amalgamation series: Amalgamation series tag.
~o~
Amalgamation:
04. Italian Apology
~o~
"I'm disappointed, I'm very disappointed and I'm embarrassed. How could you do this to me? I told the mayor of San Francisco that I was putting my best people on this."
Jane and Lisbon looked at each other. Lisbon was angry and ordering Jane to behave.
"Oh, holy mother, who takes off the freaking labels? I mean what is that? Is this real or is that decaf?" Minelli turned around and asked them, "how am I supposed to know which is which?"
"Mix them both half and half and drink twice as much," Jane advised and looked at Lisbon who was doing her best not to smile. So not that angry after all.
"Who drinks decaf anyway? What's the point?" He turned swiftly around, pointing to Jane as he said to Lisbon: "and what were you thinking, leaving him alone at an event like that?"
"No excuses," she replied, "I mistakenly treated him as a responsible adult."
"I do have a plan," Jane told Minelli, who did not look convinced.
"Which is?" Minelli asked Jane to elaborate.
"First, win the widow's confidence..."
"Aside from her lawyer making an official complaint with the Attorney General," Minelli interrupted, "how is that going for you?"
"She's playing hard to get."
"Jane, you close cases. You close like a fiend so I tolerate you, and I protect you, and I let you make Lisbon's life a misery."
Both Jane and Lisbon showed their agreement on that last statement. At the same time, if Minelli only knew...
~o~
In the seven months he had been married Jane never had to lie about his marital status. Either people assumed from the wedding ring on his finger that he was married or they knew about his story and assumed he wasn't. No one had asked him forthright. Except for Jennifer Sands. She asked him and he lied. He did it for her, for Lisbon. She was the one who wanted all the secrecy. Nevertheless, he felt a pang of guilt when he denied the existence of his marriage to the beautiful widow in front of him.
The whole situation made him sad. He loved Teresa Lisbon and hated denying it to strangers. He should be grateful that Lisbon wanted this secrecy, as trying to seduce the widow was part of his plan to crack the case. He felt, however, a certain repugnancy about this particular scheme. Even though he had absolutely no intention to betray his wife, he didn’t necessarily like the situation either. It explained why he was distracted at the office when Lisbon started commenting on the Sands finances.
"Looks like Sands was bust, all right," she said. "He used to be huge, but he made some really bad calls in IT. Over the past five years, his business has plummeted down to almost nothing. No clients, no income, their indictments and injunctions, the whole nightmare, coming just down the road."
"Strange thing is, until a couple of weeks ago, there was almost $10 million in his personal account in cash, in bonds and in stock, most of it deposited over the last year."
"The business has been dead for years. Where did he get the 10 million from?" Rigsby asked.
"And more importantly, where is it now?" Van Pelt chimed in.
"That's what his killers want to know," Cho said and then addressed Jane: "Hey, are you sure the widow doesn't know where it is?"
"No," Jane said. "She's genuinely broke and genuinely scared."
"You're not soft on her, are you?" Lisbon asked him.
"No. Maybe a little," Jane answered. "We need to talk to the lawyer."
"Bennet?" Lisbon asked. "No, we need to talk to him. You need to stay well away." She paused and then asked, frowning, "Did you say 'maybe a little'?"
"She's a gorgeous, grieving widow." He looked at her. "Of course, maybe a little." Lisbon knew she couldn't hide the hurt and betrayal she was feeling. Jane waved it off. "Don't worry, it's not going to affect my work," he said as he laid down on the couch. "I'm a law enforcement professional. Gees."
Lisbon walked away, angry. Why did he have to make a joke of everything?
~o~
Jane took Van Pelt's seat once she had left the room. Adrianna Jonovic sighed happily when Jane sat down and said, "Ah, the handsome one." Jane smiled at her while Lisbon wanted to take her head off. What was it with the women in Jason Sands life hitting on her husband? Unaware of the relationship between the two people sitting across from the table, Jonovic went on, "Gay, yes?"
Jane grinned and looked at Lisbon. His smile faded when he noticed how annoyed she was. Clearly, she was still angry with him for saying that he might be a little soft on the widow. Unfortunately, things didn't improve much after Lisbon had let Jonovic go. When he grabbed his jacket, ready to take off, Rigsby had asked him where he was going.
"To speak to the widow."
"Oh yeah?" Lisbon asked, barely able to keep the irritation out of her voice.
"I want to know if she knows about the mistress," he explained, avoiding her eyes, but just as he was leaving, he couldn't help glancing at Lisbon one last time. She no longer looked angry. She looked sad. That was definitely worse. He couldn’t dwell on it now though. He had to solve the case first. Then, he would make amends with his wife.
She watched Jane leave. She was never keen on Jane's plans but this one she hated. She wasn't completely aware of what he was planning, but she knew that one of the means to get there was to be nice and sweet to the widow. She wasn't a jealous woman, but it angered her that he did it in her face, knowing perfectly well that she couldn't say anything.
~o~
When Lisbon walked into her house, she could smell wonderful Italian food, which she knew was an apology meal. The table was beautifully set with a manicotti dish in the center. Jane walked to her, a bottle of wine in his hand.
"If you think you're going to win me over with manicotti, you've got another thing coming."
"Come on, Teresa, it wasn't that bad," he said as he opened the wine bottle.
"You tried to seduce another woman," she pointed out. "On a bet!"
"I did tell Rigsby that I couldn't seduce her, which is true. I couldn't when I'm already married."
"You said you wanted to though," she pointed out as she took a sip of wine.
"Well I'm married, not dead. If I had been unattached, it would have been a different story."
"I feel so reassured now," she said sarcastically.
Jane embraced her and rubbed her arms affectionately. "Aw, you know I wouldn't cheat. No woman really interests me other than you."
She closed her eyes and finally let it go. There was no point arguing about this. In the seven months she had been married to Jane, Lisbon had learned that there were things worth fighting about and things that were not. She knew deep down that he had no intention to even remotely cheat on her. This was not worth a fight. Besides, at least she got a good meal out of his latest stunt. She looked at the food on the table. "This looks amazing," she said. "I'm starving. Nothing could tear me away from this table."
"Wanna bet?"
~o~
To be continued...