FIC: Vigil (1/1)
Title: Vigil
Author: tromana
Prompt #: Light
Prompt table: D
Fandom: The Mentalist
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing: Jane/Lisbon, Team
Word count: 1,246
Disclamer: The Mentalist is not mine. That’s probably a good thing.
Summary: Jane is keeping vigil. He's counted the days, hours, minutes, since she has been like this.
Notes: Written for the LJ dailyfics challenge. Day 4.
Vigil
Carefully, he extended a finger and gently allowed it to stroke along her exposed arm. A wry smile traced across his lips as he imagined the way she probably would have snatched it back with a withering glare if she were conscious. She’d been unconscious for a good month now and her doctors appeared to have no idea as to when, or even if, Teresa Lisbon would ever wake up again. Patrick Jane had been keeping watch for much of that time. He had counted the days, hours, minutes, since she has been like this and he didn’t like the way that each number was getting larger and larger with no end in sight. Jane glanced up as he heard the door creak open. He had got to the stage where he could virtually ignore the various bleeps and flashes of the machinery, all of which was keeping her alive. Keeping her with him. So long as there wasn’t any change in the frequency of the noise or bright lights, he knew that he could breathe a little easier.
“How is she?”
“No change.”
“She’d want you to try and sleep, at least,” Van Pelt murmured, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “This isn’t doing either of you any good.”
Jane glanced quickly at his watch. He hadn’t realized just how late that it had gotten. The bright lights and closed blinds of the private hospital room had extinguished his perception of the passage of time. Van Pelt’s fingers tightened around his shoulder as his gaze remained firmly fixed on Lisbon, watching the rise and fall of her chest, still being controlled by the ventilator. With a sigh, he nodded. While he didn’t want to leave his lonely vigil, Van Pelt did have a point.
“You just… keep fighting okay?” he whispered, stroking her cheek gently, carefully avoiding all the wires and tubing. “We… I need you. So you better hurry up and get better. You’ve been asleep for way too long now.”
If she noticed the tear coursing its way down Jane’s cheek, Van Pelt didn’t mention it. Instead, she lead him through dimly lit corridors in silence and out of the hospital. It wasn’t a chore any of them particularly liked doing, but she, Rigsby and Cho were taking turns in dragging Jane out of there. They felt guilty because they were leaving Lisbon alone for the night yet again, but really did she even know she had company in the first place? And they had to remind him that despite the fact that their boss was sick, gravely so, the criminals didn’t stop. They needed him to do his job to bring about justice for others. Though she didn’t like putting words into the mouths of others, Van Pelt could be fairly certain that that was something Lisbon would want.
“She might wake up tomorrow?” she ventured.
Jane stared up at the moonlight. So much like the night that it had all started.
“Maybe,” he mused. “I hope so.”
“We all do.”
***
Lisbon turned to look at Jane, having heard his foot break a twig. Her green eyes grew wide as the bullet pierced her skin and Jane froze as she collapsed. She looked him directly in the eyes and all he can see is just how fearful she looks. Her head collided with the ground heavily, a thump echoing around the copse they were trapped in. Desperately, he tried to move from the spot but he was stuck and all he could do was stare at her prone body as she slowly bled out. His knees eventually buckled with a crack and as he too fell, he could hear a maniacal laugh taunting him.
He gasped as he awoke from the nightmare. It was new, in the sense that he had only been having it for the past month rather than having experienced it almost nightly for years. That doesn’t mean it’s welcome relief from the other one, if anything it’s worse. It constantly reminded him of the simple fact that he could potentially lose someone else he cared about due to his own folly. Jane tried to regulate his breathing as he recollected his thoughts. Lisbon wasn’t going to die. She was too strong to let something as silly as a shooting take her. At least it hadn’t been the one where she fell from a tall building and he’d failed to catch her…
***
“How is he?” Rigsby piped up as Cho entered the bullpen.
“Same as usual.”
“And Lisbon?” Van Pelt queried.
“No change,” Cho muttered. “If she dies, it’ll kill him.”
Van Pelt pulled a pained expression. “Don’t talk like that. She won’t die. She can’t.”
***
The first thing that she noticed was the sensation of choking, quickly followed by loud noises, people shouting and as she tried to open her eyes, a blinding light. After an eerie state of nothingness for so long, suddenly everything was happening at once and it threatened to overwhelm Lisbon until she felt familiar fingertips grasping hold of her hand. It was quite some time before she realized just where she was and why she was there. She held onto his hand as tightly as she could, though not really having enough energy for more than just a gentle squeeze.
Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, she had numerous tentative visitors, all wearing very similar expressions of relief. Jane remained reassuringly constant, informing each one of the sea of faces that he would try his best to ensure that she didn’t ‘try to run before she could walk’. Her trademark withering glare came as a relief to anyone on the receiving end. For the first time in far too long, they can believe that they are going to be getting their Lisbon back.
***
Lisbon couldn’t wait to be discharged from hospital. As far as she was concerned, she had already wasted well over a month lying down when there was work to be done. It also frustrated her just how quickly she tired out at times since the incident but she knew that it was going to take time to rebuild her stamina. Patience had never been Lisbon’s forte and she, along with everyone else, suspected it never would be. Yes, she can understand the importance of playing the long game but on those occasions she merely tolerates the waiting game. Waiting to get better wasn’t something that came naturally to her.
It didn’t surprise anyone when Jane moved in with her when she finally was discharged. When it came to mother-hen tendencies, he was almost as bad as Lisbon herself was. He actually managed to do some work, with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. The team would laugh affectionately at his tales of her overdoing herself and smile warmly at the fact he was so happy to have someone to go home to. Her first day back at work was entertaining to say the least, with him threatening to handcuff her to her seat if she tried anything too strenuous. She simply glowered, hoping that she could reinstate her authority sooner rather than later.
And nobody asked if Jane was ever going to bother moving out again. The idea that he would never crossed any of their minds. In fact, they were simply waiting for them to announce that they were either in a relationship or already engaged.
end
Author: tromana
Prompt #: Light
Prompt table: D
Fandom: The Mentalist
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing: Jane/Lisbon, Team
Word count: 1,246
Disclamer: The Mentalist is not mine. That’s probably a good thing.
Summary: Jane is keeping vigil. He's counted the days, hours, minutes, since she has been like this.
Notes: Written for the LJ dailyfics challenge. Day 4.
Vigil
Carefully, he extended a finger and gently allowed it to stroke along her exposed arm. A wry smile traced across his lips as he imagined the way she probably would have snatched it back with a withering glare if she were conscious. She’d been unconscious for a good month now and her doctors appeared to have no idea as to when, or even if, Teresa Lisbon would ever wake up again. Patrick Jane had been keeping watch for much of that time. He had counted the days, hours, minutes, since she has been like this and he didn’t like the way that each number was getting larger and larger with no end in sight. Jane glanced up as he heard the door creak open. He had got to the stage where he could virtually ignore the various bleeps and flashes of the machinery, all of which was keeping her alive. Keeping her with him. So long as there wasn’t any change in the frequency of the noise or bright lights, he knew that he could breathe a little easier.
“How is she?”
“No change.”
“She’d want you to try and sleep, at least,” Van Pelt murmured, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “This isn’t doing either of you any good.”
Jane glanced quickly at his watch. He hadn’t realized just how late that it had gotten. The bright lights and closed blinds of the private hospital room had extinguished his perception of the passage of time. Van Pelt’s fingers tightened around his shoulder as his gaze remained firmly fixed on Lisbon, watching the rise and fall of her chest, still being controlled by the ventilator. With a sigh, he nodded. While he didn’t want to leave his lonely vigil, Van Pelt did have a point.
“You just… keep fighting okay?” he whispered, stroking her cheek gently, carefully avoiding all the wires and tubing. “We… I need you. So you better hurry up and get better. You’ve been asleep for way too long now.”
If she noticed the tear coursing its way down Jane’s cheek, Van Pelt didn’t mention it. Instead, she lead him through dimly lit corridors in silence and out of the hospital. It wasn’t a chore any of them particularly liked doing, but she, Rigsby and Cho were taking turns in dragging Jane out of there. They felt guilty because they were leaving Lisbon alone for the night yet again, but really did she even know she had company in the first place? And they had to remind him that despite the fact that their boss was sick, gravely so, the criminals didn’t stop. They needed him to do his job to bring about justice for others. Though she didn’t like putting words into the mouths of others, Van Pelt could be fairly certain that that was something Lisbon would want.
“She might wake up tomorrow?” she ventured.
Jane stared up at the moonlight. So much like the night that it had all started.
“Maybe,” he mused. “I hope so.”
“We all do.”
***
Lisbon turned to look at Jane, having heard his foot break a twig. Her green eyes grew wide as the bullet pierced her skin and Jane froze as she collapsed. She looked him directly in the eyes and all he can see is just how fearful she looks. Her head collided with the ground heavily, a thump echoing around the copse they were trapped in. Desperately, he tried to move from the spot but he was stuck and all he could do was stare at her prone body as she slowly bled out. His knees eventually buckled with a crack and as he too fell, he could hear a maniacal laugh taunting him.
He gasped as he awoke from the nightmare. It was new, in the sense that he had only been having it for the past month rather than having experienced it almost nightly for years. That doesn’t mean it’s welcome relief from the other one, if anything it’s worse. It constantly reminded him of the simple fact that he could potentially lose someone else he cared about due to his own folly. Jane tried to regulate his breathing as he recollected his thoughts. Lisbon wasn’t going to die. She was too strong to let something as silly as a shooting take her. At least it hadn’t been the one where she fell from a tall building and he’d failed to catch her…
***
“How is he?” Rigsby piped up as Cho entered the bullpen.
“Same as usual.”
“And Lisbon?” Van Pelt queried.
“No change,” Cho muttered. “If she dies, it’ll kill him.”
Van Pelt pulled a pained expression. “Don’t talk like that. She won’t die. She can’t.”
***
The first thing that she noticed was the sensation of choking, quickly followed by loud noises, people shouting and as she tried to open her eyes, a blinding light. After an eerie state of nothingness for so long, suddenly everything was happening at once and it threatened to overwhelm Lisbon until she felt familiar fingertips grasping hold of her hand. It was quite some time before she realized just where she was and why she was there. She held onto his hand as tightly as she could, though not really having enough energy for more than just a gentle squeeze.
Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, she had numerous tentative visitors, all wearing very similar expressions of relief. Jane remained reassuringly constant, informing each one of the sea of faces that he would try his best to ensure that she didn’t ‘try to run before she could walk’. Her trademark withering glare came as a relief to anyone on the receiving end. For the first time in far too long, they can believe that they are going to be getting their Lisbon back.
***
Lisbon couldn’t wait to be discharged from hospital. As far as she was concerned, she had already wasted well over a month lying down when there was work to be done. It also frustrated her just how quickly she tired out at times since the incident but she knew that it was going to take time to rebuild her stamina. Patience had never been Lisbon’s forte and she, along with everyone else, suspected it never would be. Yes, she can understand the importance of playing the long game but on those occasions she merely tolerates the waiting game. Waiting to get better wasn’t something that came naturally to her.
It didn’t surprise anyone when Jane moved in with her when she finally was discharged. When it came to mother-hen tendencies, he was almost as bad as Lisbon herself was. He actually managed to do some work, with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. The team would laugh affectionately at his tales of her overdoing herself and smile warmly at the fact he was so happy to have someone to go home to. Her first day back at work was entertaining to say the least, with him threatening to handcuff her to her seat if she tried anything too strenuous. She simply glowered, hoping that she could reinstate her authority sooner rather than later.
And nobody asked if Jane was ever going to bother moving out again. The idea that he would never crossed any of their minds. In fact, they were simply waiting for them to announce that they were either in a relationship or already engaged.
end