The Mentalist: Substitutes
Title: Substitutes
Rating: K+
Summary: Lisbon keeps turning down Jane's offers of lemonade and he doesn't know why.
Authors Note: Entry for Jello Forever July challege, prompt: lemonade.
Disclaimer: I, of course, don't own the characters or anything other than the plot.
A male dead body was lying on the ground by their feet and Jane was far too happy considering it was middle of a Californian heatwave. Lisbon was crouching down when she felt Jane tapping her on her back, "Do you want some lemonade, Lisbon?"
She twisted her neck round so she look into his face, her loose dark hair cascading over her other shoulder causing it to almost touch the corpse. Her eyebrows looked as though there was just one thanks to her look of astonished disgust, he was grinning whilst they were supposed to investigating a murder.
"No thanks Jane, I don't want anything to drink just now." He shrugged his shoulders and turned away. Two minutes later though he watched as she twisted open the top of a bottle of water. He dismissed it as a last minute want of a drink, not that she might have been refusing something he offered her.
Two days later the team had finished work and had just arrived at the bar. They were settling down around the small, round table they had used for as long as Lisbon had been head of the unit, still in their work clothes and with their jackets over the backs of the chairs. It had been Jane's turn to buy the drinks for months and the four others had been arguing with him for the journey here about it, he had finally caved in so was now asking what they wanted.
He asked Lisbon last, "Teresa, what do you want to drink? How about a glass of lemonade?"
"No thanks Jane, I don't need anything to drink right now."
He shrugged his shoulders, trying to hide the irritation on his face since she carried on rejecting all his offers of lemonade. He was only trying to be kind and make sure she wouldn't dehydrate, and it was summer so lemonade should be welcomed. As Jane was coming back over with the drinks Lisbon stood up to go to the toilets, on her return she ordered a glass of cola and took it to the table, much to the confusion of Jane - the others not understanding why he was staring at her so much.
A week after the first time he asked her if she wanted a drink, the weather was just the same, if not even warmer but the team were too busy with paperwork and interviews for their current homicide case to take a break and go outside for some of the cool air. Everything seemed to be against them this week: the case, the heat and the air conditioning had broke (Jane had pulled out a wire wrongly thinking it had been a device someone had planted to listen in to the team).
Lisbon had retreated to her office so she could ignore the constant moans from her team about how they needed a break and how there must be something that would require field work. She felt the same as them but knew that if she let her weakness show through it would provoke the others to increase their irritation by at least ten-fold.
Jane bounded into her office, it seemed to be even warmer inside this room than it was over beside his couch, she hadn't even put the fan - that he had left in there for her - on.
"Do you want a drink, my dear?" He grinned whilst showing an unopened bottle of lemonade.
"No thanks," she looked up at him, shaking her head a little.
"Come on Lisbon, it's summer, it must be against the law to not have a glass of lemonade in this heat." He wanted to test if it was just him that she was refusing or if she really didn't want lemonade whenever she said no to the drink.
"Jane, I don't like lemonade that's why I have some water and am desperately trying to ignore your childlike whining."
He clutched his chest in mock agony whilst she rolled her eyes, "I think you may have actually broke my heart, Lisbon. How can you not like lemonade?"
"It's too sharp and tastes like metal," she said wincing slightly.
"Is there anything else you want to tell me about your food likes and dislikes?"
"In what way?"
He shrugged, "Well dear, are there any other fruits or fruit juices that you dislike?"
"Jane, two things, firstly I don't see any point in this conversation and secondly I do not like pure orange juice, especially if it's from a carton."
"I thought I knew you but now that transparency I used to know is disappearing. You're surprising me more with every sentence you utter."
That was all she had wanted from the past week; to make sure Jane knew she was in charge and that she was more private than he gave her credit for. It had taken all her willpower to not laugh when she saw his pout every time before he turned away from her. The thing about the pure orange juice had been true however; she didn't want him to start bringing in a bottle of that and persuading her to drink it.
Lisbon sighed deeply, "Is that all you wanted?"
"For now," the look of disappointment washed across his face, he wasn't even attempting to conceal it any more, "My brain is hurting from trying to get you."
Lisbon smirked as Jane turned and left the room, shaking his head in amazement as he went.