FIC: If Life Gives You Lemons (1/1)
Title: If Life Gives You Lemons
Author: tromana
Rating: T
Characters: Jane/Lisbon
Summary: Making do is something she's always been used to doing.
Disclaimer: Not mine
Notes: Written for the Jello Forever July 2010 Challenge. Prompt: Lemonade
If Life Gives You Lemons
"Oh stop crying, please stop crying."
Teresa glanced at the door warily as her toddler brother continued wailing. If he got much louder, he could awaken the beast and if that happened… Well, things just wouldn't be pretty. It had been bad enough just after their Mom had died, all of eleven months ago, but now, things were different.
He started drinking. Regularly.
She'd always known that her Dad didn't mix well with alcohol. There had been occasions in the past, when she was younger, when he'd had just a little too much and caused her mother some bruises that she tried to explain away. Though she wanted to, Teresa hadn't believed her - the stories never quite added up.
Now she was just grateful for the forewarning.
Fretting, she carried on splitting her attention between the door and young Joshua. The young boy was clenching and unclenching his fist in frustration, still caught up in the middle of his temper tantrum. Her Mom had always been able to manage to get him to go to sleep, it didn't matter how bouncy he was. She'd just had the magic touch. However, she wasn't here now and there was nothing any of them could do about it. It was down to her to make sure that Joshua got his rest, had everything he needed and that her father didn't lay a finger on the young boy. It was just, sometimes, he made it so difficult for her.
"I'll buy you some candy tomorrow if you just shut up."
Joshua clamped his mouth shut and looked up at her with watery eyes. Teresa slid down the wall, thoroughly relieved that he had actually listened to her. It wasn't the best of solutions, but it would do.
For now.
***
Accepting her father's death came all too easily.
At least he wasn't there to lay a finger on any of them anymore. It didn't matter that they were orphaned and none of them were legally adults.
They were safe.
***
She wasn't even sure what made her ask for the form.
Teresa had never really considered the idea of being a police officer before. Maybe it was because it was a good, solid career and that the civilized world was always going to need police officers in one form or another? The fact they were omnipresent in society and she had willingly accepted their aid on occasion helped too. She was grateful for that because without them, Richard would be dead. But that didn't mean she desperately wanted to be one and there was no overwhelming urge to do good or to lock criminals up in jail. However, she knew she would be good at it; she'd been managing dangerous situations virtually single-handedly for too long now. Her childhood, or lack thereof, had almost been the perfect training ground without needing to attend the Academy.
But if she could truly be honest with herself, what she'd always wanted to do was work with animals of some variety. Be a vet or zoologist or something like that. If she had been allowed, Teresa would have had her own personal petting zoo, but her Mom had been allergic to pet dander and her Dad… well. She still didn't like thinking about him and the scars he'd caused - both physical and emotional.
She couldn't think about indulgences right now though. Teresa needed a reliable career, one that wasn't likely to be pulled out from under her feet without a moment's notice or require too many years of expensive training. Anyway, it wasn't as if she couldn't have pets when her brothers were all financially independent and she had the money for them. Besides, it was theoretically possible for her to specialize in dog handling. Maybe. If she was lucky.
She was skeptical about that. If there was such a thing as that damn 'lucky break', she sure as hell wasn't going to get it. Teresa had never had that kind of blessing - anything she wanted, she had to earn.
She started filling in the form anyway.
***
It wasn't long before she realized that she actually enjoyed police work. There was something more gratifying about bringing people to justice than she realized. It felt like somebody was constantly giving her a puzzle to solve and she knew it would be impossible to grow bored with that, at least.
The snide remarks from the other (male) students weren't pleasant, but she knew she'd have to deal with them if she was serious about this.
Which she was. Now.
***
Upon graduation, she joined the San Francisco Police Department and was placed under the supervision of Samuel Bosco Junior.
The man was a respectable member of society, a competent cop, wonderful tutor and about as good as they came. He didn't hold anything against her because she was just a mere woman and instead pushed her as hard as any of his men. It didn't matter that she was meant to be the member of the fairer sex, he saw her for what she was: a diamond from the rough, eager and ready to be polished up.
Finally accepting and willing to be the police officer she could and would be.
Teresa loved that. Finally, somebody was recognizing her as another human being and treating her as such. For so long, people seemed to think she was there to use and abuse and forgot that she actually had feelings. Sam, though abrasive, often had a kind word to say and that always lifted her spirits when she was feeling down.
He was also engaged to be married. To his childhood sweetheart, no less.
She'd told herself, when she was younger, she would never do anything as foolish as falling for a co-worker. It was always messy and there were never any happy endings. If the company didn't force you apart, power play within the office would.
Teresa knew she was being ridiculous allowing herself to harbor any feelings for Sam whatsoever. She knew she should be grateful for what they had, because it was better than nothing.
Besides, relationships between tutors and students were even worse than that of mere colleagues.
***
She couldn't believe her luck when the telephone call came from Sacramento.
The CBI was the premier crime fighting organization and on more than one occasion, they'd taken cases from Sam and his team. He always grumbled under his breath about the unfairness of it all, about how they made him look incompetent but Teresa always marveled at how they worked. She'd always told herself that if she ever had the chance to work for the CBI, she would grab it with both hands, even if it was as a janitor, receptionist or anther menial position.
Only problem was, they were expecting her to go backwards with her career. Wanted her to take the rookie position in Petty Crimes. Apparently, she wasn't even worthy for a role in a team dealing with the more complex cases, like the Major Crimes Unit. She'd also been told she would have to completely retrain, to learn how to do things their way rather than the way every other law enforcement company in the country worked.
When she had said that she would work for them in any capacity, she knew, deep down, she hadn't meant it literally.
But still, she informed Sam that she was leaving and tried to ignore the hurt expression in his eyes as he realized it was for the CBI. As she did so, she told herself that it was a foot in the door, that it was better to get her face known in the organization rather than waiting for them to offer the perfect job on a silver platter. That kind of thing never happened, not to her, anyway.
Once the bosses realized how competent she was, she'd receive promotion. And she would work damned hard for it, at that.
***
"Boss, you cannot be serious."
Minelli's face remained severe and Lisbon almost shrank back. She'd heard of this Patrick Jane - he'd tried to fleece Josh out of his life savings once. She never approved of the fact that he had hired the charlatan in the first place. Lisbon had told herself that it didn't matter, that the CBI was a large company and they would rarely come across one another. Besides, she worked out of town on cases so often now that she was finally where she wanted to be and that would make avoiding him all the easier.
It had worked, for a while.
She knew Jane had a personal interest in the Red John case, the one she had accepted just three months ago. However, she'd always assumed Minelli would be wise enough to keep the consultant as far away from it as feasibly possible.
Lisbon had watched as Jane was shunted from unit to unit, always feeling particularly sorry for the senior agent who had to wrestle with him at that moment in time. She never really thought that one day, it would be her having to deal with him.
"I'm running out of places to put him, Lisbon. He'll listen to you."
"What makes you think that?"
"You have Red John."
With a shake of the head, she swallowed down a bitter laugh. Letting Jane loose on Red John was crazy. Completely insane. It certainly wouldn't be enough of a reason to convince a madman like him to work on their terms. She didn't think it was even feasibly possible for him to know what rules actually were.
"Jane's…" she started and instead, pinched the bridge of her nose.
She wanted to say that taking on Jane would be career suicide. While each unit he had worked with had experienced a spike in the number of cases they closed, the number of complaints had also grown exponentially. It was a general consensus that he wasn't really worth the hassle, hence the reason he never stayed in one place for longer than six months at most.
"He closes cases. Surely that's enough?"
"We've closed plenty of cases without him."
"Look. Teresa," Minelli started and she flinched at the use of her first name. "You're right, but I really think you'll have more success controlling him than anybody else."
"Why? Because of Red John?"
"Because you're a woman and he'll feel the need to respect you."
That's bullshit and you know it."
Minelli's eyes narrowed at the use of a profanity, but he didn't comment on it. He knew how fiery Lisbon was. That was why he hired her, made her work harder than she should have to become the senior agent of the Serious Crimes unit. Besides, it had been low, dragging her gender into the mix, but he had a feeling that it would make all the difference. The senior agents Jane had worked with thus far - all good men - had simply had Jane pull outlandish stunts, not caring about the repercussions as they could look after themselves. Despite the fact Lisbon was as competent, if not more so, than these men, he was banking on Jane's natural desire to play the white knight with Lisbon. Of course he'd still do weird things to close cases, but he would hopefully scale it down a little.
"If it doesn't work out, I promise I will remove him from your team immediately. Give it a three month trial, at least," Minelli eventually said, hoping that she would finally agree.
She nodded and her shoulders sagged. It was a compromise and Lisbon knew she wasn't going to get any better than that.
***
"You don't have to do that."
"I do. Nobody else will."
"But…"
"My only resources are my time and these case files," she stated, stubbornly avoiding looking at him. "I have to make use of what little I have."
She selected a file and scanned through a case report. Almost as quickly as she picked it up, she slammed it back down again. Nothing. Why was the Duchovy case causing her so much hassle? It was meant to be open and shut, as simple as that. Lisbon cursed under her breath; this was the fault of politics. Again.
"If life gives you lemons, make lemonade," she added, under her breath.
"And what if you don't want lemonade? What if you want coke?" Jane piped up and Lisbon scowled. She'd hoped that he would leave without another word.
"You have to make do."
"You know, you don't have to just 'make do' all the while."
Lisbon snorted derisively and went to carry on working, but Jane caught her elbow and held it firmly. It was the only way he was able to stop her from opening yet another box of files pertaining to their current case. Lisbon glared at him, frustrated at the fact that he was severely slowing her progress. Before he'd found her deep in the CBI archives, she'd been managing to get through a box or so every fifteen minutes.
"No, really. There's a team of individuals upstairs who'd be more than happy to help if only you ask."
"They're barely my team anymore," she snarled and he took a step back. "All you have to do is say 'jump' and they'll reply with 'how high?'"
"Lisbon, I'm…"
"That's just the way it is, Jane. Now please, leave me alone, so I can get some work done in peace."
***
It was frustrating seeing the team following Jane's every whim. She wasn't a competent senior agent anymore - she was a joke.
She didn't even have Minelli anymore. He couldn't back her up, couldn't get rid of Jane the way he promised to. Like so many people, he'd just walked out of her life because it was the easier thing to do.
No wonder Hightower was threatening Jane through her - it was easy and whatever the consequence, would be a win for the new boss. It didn't surprise Lisbon that the new director wanted her out. It did, however, surprise her just how easily she'd accepted it.
There was nothing she could do now except wait.
***
"I thought you were going to stop me?"
"I tried," she hissed.
And tried she had, but typically, she'd been five minutes too late. Lisbon knew that she would be walking into a bloodbath, but she honestly hadn't expected Jane to be the one alive.
Lisbon genuinely hoped Jane was happy now that he'd killed Red John. She also hoped that he realized just how completely idiotic he'd been in doing so; the serial killer's death didn't bring back his family.
Still, she read out his rights and Jane willingly proffered his wrists to be handcuffed. He smiled gently as she lead him towards the SUV, to take him back to the CBI headquarters for the routing questioning and to be charged.
This was something she should have acknowledged was going to happen a long time ago. It didn't make it any less of a bitter pill to swallow.
***
She watched as the officer lead him out of the dock and down towards the cells. Patrick Jane had just been convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
Madeleine Hightower hadn't survived the scandal. Neither had she.
Lisbon had decided to go back east, to work nearer her brothers. Though she'd never have the reputation to work in an agency like the CBI again, there were plenty of places in desperate need of a competent Sheriff. And more importantly, there were no Patrick Janes waiting to pull the rug out from under her feet.
They'd be happy to compromise, to have her and the ghost of Red John hanging over their shoulders.
She would just have to be too. After all, she was getting very good at accepting second best.
end
Author: tromana
Rating: T
Characters: Jane/Lisbon
Summary: Making do is something she's always been used to doing.
Disclaimer: Not mine
Notes: Written for the Jello Forever July 2010 Challenge. Prompt: Lemonade
If Life Gives You Lemons
"Oh stop crying, please stop crying."
Teresa glanced at the door warily as her toddler brother continued wailing. If he got much louder, he could awaken the beast and if that happened… Well, things just wouldn't be pretty. It had been bad enough just after their Mom had died, all of eleven months ago, but now, things were different.
He started drinking. Regularly.
She'd always known that her Dad didn't mix well with alcohol. There had been occasions in the past, when she was younger, when he'd had just a little too much and caused her mother some bruises that she tried to explain away. Though she wanted to, Teresa hadn't believed her - the stories never quite added up.
Now she was just grateful for the forewarning.
Fretting, she carried on splitting her attention between the door and young Joshua. The young boy was clenching and unclenching his fist in frustration, still caught up in the middle of his temper tantrum. Her Mom had always been able to manage to get him to go to sleep, it didn't matter how bouncy he was. She'd just had the magic touch. However, she wasn't here now and there was nothing any of them could do about it. It was down to her to make sure that Joshua got his rest, had everything he needed and that her father didn't lay a finger on the young boy. It was just, sometimes, he made it so difficult for her.
"I'll buy you some candy tomorrow if you just shut up."
Joshua clamped his mouth shut and looked up at her with watery eyes. Teresa slid down the wall, thoroughly relieved that he had actually listened to her. It wasn't the best of solutions, but it would do.
For now.
***
Accepting her father's death came all too easily.
At least he wasn't there to lay a finger on any of them anymore. It didn't matter that they were orphaned and none of them were legally adults.
They were safe.
***
She wasn't even sure what made her ask for the form.
Teresa had never really considered the idea of being a police officer before. Maybe it was because it was a good, solid career and that the civilized world was always going to need police officers in one form or another? The fact they were omnipresent in society and she had willingly accepted their aid on occasion helped too. She was grateful for that because without them, Richard would be dead. But that didn't mean she desperately wanted to be one and there was no overwhelming urge to do good or to lock criminals up in jail. However, she knew she would be good at it; she'd been managing dangerous situations virtually single-handedly for too long now. Her childhood, or lack thereof, had almost been the perfect training ground without needing to attend the Academy.
But if she could truly be honest with herself, what she'd always wanted to do was work with animals of some variety. Be a vet or zoologist or something like that. If she had been allowed, Teresa would have had her own personal petting zoo, but her Mom had been allergic to pet dander and her Dad… well. She still didn't like thinking about him and the scars he'd caused - both physical and emotional.
She couldn't think about indulgences right now though. Teresa needed a reliable career, one that wasn't likely to be pulled out from under her feet without a moment's notice or require too many years of expensive training. Anyway, it wasn't as if she couldn't have pets when her brothers were all financially independent and she had the money for them. Besides, it was theoretically possible for her to specialize in dog handling. Maybe. If she was lucky.
She was skeptical about that. If there was such a thing as that damn 'lucky break', she sure as hell wasn't going to get it. Teresa had never had that kind of blessing - anything she wanted, she had to earn.
She started filling in the form anyway.
***
It wasn't long before she realized that she actually enjoyed police work. There was something more gratifying about bringing people to justice than she realized. It felt like somebody was constantly giving her a puzzle to solve and she knew it would be impossible to grow bored with that, at least.
The snide remarks from the other (male) students weren't pleasant, but she knew she'd have to deal with them if she was serious about this.
Which she was. Now.
***
Upon graduation, she joined the San Francisco Police Department and was placed under the supervision of Samuel Bosco Junior.
The man was a respectable member of society, a competent cop, wonderful tutor and about as good as they came. He didn't hold anything against her because she was just a mere woman and instead pushed her as hard as any of his men. It didn't matter that she was meant to be the member of the fairer sex, he saw her for what she was: a diamond from the rough, eager and ready to be polished up.
Finally accepting and willing to be the police officer she could and would be.
Teresa loved that. Finally, somebody was recognizing her as another human being and treating her as such. For so long, people seemed to think she was there to use and abuse and forgot that she actually had feelings. Sam, though abrasive, often had a kind word to say and that always lifted her spirits when she was feeling down.
He was also engaged to be married. To his childhood sweetheart, no less.
She'd told herself, when she was younger, she would never do anything as foolish as falling for a co-worker. It was always messy and there were never any happy endings. If the company didn't force you apart, power play within the office would.
Teresa knew she was being ridiculous allowing herself to harbor any feelings for Sam whatsoever. She knew she should be grateful for what they had, because it was better than nothing.
Besides, relationships between tutors and students were even worse than that of mere colleagues.
***
She couldn't believe her luck when the telephone call came from Sacramento.
The CBI was the premier crime fighting organization and on more than one occasion, they'd taken cases from Sam and his team. He always grumbled under his breath about the unfairness of it all, about how they made him look incompetent but Teresa always marveled at how they worked. She'd always told herself that if she ever had the chance to work for the CBI, she would grab it with both hands, even if it was as a janitor, receptionist or anther menial position.
Only problem was, they were expecting her to go backwards with her career. Wanted her to take the rookie position in Petty Crimes. Apparently, she wasn't even worthy for a role in a team dealing with the more complex cases, like the Major Crimes Unit. She'd also been told she would have to completely retrain, to learn how to do things their way rather than the way every other law enforcement company in the country worked.
When she had said that she would work for them in any capacity, she knew, deep down, she hadn't meant it literally.
But still, she informed Sam that she was leaving and tried to ignore the hurt expression in his eyes as he realized it was for the CBI. As she did so, she told herself that it was a foot in the door, that it was better to get her face known in the organization rather than waiting for them to offer the perfect job on a silver platter. That kind of thing never happened, not to her, anyway.
Once the bosses realized how competent she was, she'd receive promotion. And she would work damned hard for it, at that.
***
"Boss, you cannot be serious."
Minelli's face remained severe and Lisbon almost shrank back. She'd heard of this Patrick Jane - he'd tried to fleece Josh out of his life savings once. She never approved of the fact that he had hired the charlatan in the first place. Lisbon had told herself that it didn't matter, that the CBI was a large company and they would rarely come across one another. Besides, she worked out of town on cases so often now that she was finally where she wanted to be and that would make avoiding him all the easier.
It had worked, for a while.
She knew Jane had a personal interest in the Red John case, the one she had accepted just three months ago. However, she'd always assumed Minelli would be wise enough to keep the consultant as far away from it as feasibly possible.
Lisbon had watched as Jane was shunted from unit to unit, always feeling particularly sorry for the senior agent who had to wrestle with him at that moment in time. She never really thought that one day, it would be her having to deal with him.
"I'm running out of places to put him, Lisbon. He'll listen to you."
"What makes you think that?"
"You have Red John."
With a shake of the head, she swallowed down a bitter laugh. Letting Jane loose on Red John was crazy. Completely insane. It certainly wouldn't be enough of a reason to convince a madman like him to work on their terms. She didn't think it was even feasibly possible for him to know what rules actually were.
"Jane's…" she started and instead, pinched the bridge of her nose.
She wanted to say that taking on Jane would be career suicide. While each unit he had worked with had experienced a spike in the number of cases they closed, the number of complaints had also grown exponentially. It was a general consensus that he wasn't really worth the hassle, hence the reason he never stayed in one place for longer than six months at most.
"He closes cases. Surely that's enough?"
"We've closed plenty of cases without him."
"Look. Teresa," Minelli started and she flinched at the use of her first name. "You're right, but I really think you'll have more success controlling him than anybody else."
"Why? Because of Red John?"
"Because you're a woman and he'll feel the need to respect you."
That's bullshit and you know it."
Minelli's eyes narrowed at the use of a profanity, but he didn't comment on it. He knew how fiery Lisbon was. That was why he hired her, made her work harder than she should have to become the senior agent of the Serious Crimes unit. Besides, it had been low, dragging her gender into the mix, but he had a feeling that it would make all the difference. The senior agents Jane had worked with thus far - all good men - had simply had Jane pull outlandish stunts, not caring about the repercussions as they could look after themselves. Despite the fact Lisbon was as competent, if not more so, than these men, he was banking on Jane's natural desire to play the white knight with Lisbon. Of course he'd still do weird things to close cases, but he would hopefully scale it down a little.
"If it doesn't work out, I promise I will remove him from your team immediately. Give it a three month trial, at least," Minelli eventually said, hoping that she would finally agree.
She nodded and her shoulders sagged. It was a compromise and Lisbon knew she wasn't going to get any better than that.
***
"You don't have to do that."
"I do. Nobody else will."
"But…"
"My only resources are my time and these case files," she stated, stubbornly avoiding looking at him. "I have to make use of what little I have."
She selected a file and scanned through a case report. Almost as quickly as she picked it up, she slammed it back down again. Nothing. Why was the Duchovy case causing her so much hassle? It was meant to be open and shut, as simple as that. Lisbon cursed under her breath; this was the fault of politics. Again.
"If life gives you lemons, make lemonade," she added, under her breath.
"And what if you don't want lemonade? What if you want coke?" Jane piped up and Lisbon scowled. She'd hoped that he would leave without another word.
"You have to make do."
"You know, you don't have to just 'make do' all the while."
Lisbon snorted derisively and went to carry on working, but Jane caught her elbow and held it firmly. It was the only way he was able to stop her from opening yet another box of files pertaining to their current case. Lisbon glared at him, frustrated at the fact that he was severely slowing her progress. Before he'd found her deep in the CBI archives, she'd been managing to get through a box or so every fifteen minutes.
"No, really. There's a team of individuals upstairs who'd be more than happy to help if only you ask."
"They're barely my team anymore," she snarled and he took a step back. "All you have to do is say 'jump' and they'll reply with 'how high?'"
"Lisbon, I'm…"
"That's just the way it is, Jane. Now please, leave me alone, so I can get some work done in peace."
***
It was frustrating seeing the team following Jane's every whim. She wasn't a competent senior agent anymore - she was a joke.
She didn't even have Minelli anymore. He couldn't back her up, couldn't get rid of Jane the way he promised to. Like so many people, he'd just walked out of her life because it was the easier thing to do.
No wonder Hightower was threatening Jane through her - it was easy and whatever the consequence, would be a win for the new boss. It didn't surprise Lisbon that the new director wanted her out. It did, however, surprise her just how easily she'd accepted it.
There was nothing she could do now except wait.
***
"I thought you were going to stop me?"
"I tried," she hissed.
And tried she had, but typically, she'd been five minutes too late. Lisbon knew that she would be walking into a bloodbath, but she honestly hadn't expected Jane to be the one alive.
Lisbon genuinely hoped Jane was happy now that he'd killed Red John. She also hoped that he realized just how completely idiotic he'd been in doing so; the serial killer's death didn't bring back his family.
Still, she read out his rights and Jane willingly proffered his wrists to be handcuffed. He smiled gently as she lead him towards the SUV, to take him back to the CBI headquarters for the routing questioning and to be charged.
This was something she should have acknowledged was going to happen a long time ago. It didn't make it any less of a bitter pill to swallow.
***
She watched as the officer lead him out of the dock and down towards the cells. Patrick Jane had just been convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
Madeleine Hightower hadn't survived the scandal. Neither had she.
Lisbon had decided to go back east, to work nearer her brothers. Though she'd never have the reputation to work in an agency like the CBI again, there were plenty of places in desperate need of a competent Sheriff. And more importantly, there were no Patrick Janes waiting to pull the rug out from under her feet.
They'd be happy to compromise, to have her and the ghost of Red John hanging over their shoulders.
She would just have to be too. After all, she was getting very good at accepting second best.
end