Ronnie Masters | the MENTALIST (COMPLETE)

REDWOOD : pt II

The minutes passed by like seconds, and before Ronnie knew it, she was sitting at the breakroom table with Kyle, laughing together and sharing stupid stories with each other. She knew better than to waste so much time on the job, but she did her best to justify it to herself. They were both cops; she had nothing to do until the team got back.

And she wasn't flirting with Kyle, she was just networking with a cooperating colleague.

"...And then my idiot partner tackled the guy, throwing them both, full-body, into the ball pit at McDonald's." Kyle closed his eyes, chortling at the memory.

Ronnie laughed along, only happy to have found someone who was perfectly happy exchanging tackle stories rather than discussing the legal procedures that their cases were going through. The last time she'd made polite conversation with another officer, all she could talk about were the politics.

Ronnie didn't know the politics.

All she knew for sure were threats to her team, and that was all she cared to bother herself with.

"What about you?" Kyle wondered. "You ever get stuck with any dud partners?"

That gave Ronnie pause. She'd never had a dud partner. She'd gone through schooling and training for the CBI, and the people she'd worked besides had their own issues, but she'd only ever had Cho. "No, actually," She responded. "My partner is--"

Her partner was suffering from a burning of the ears, apparently.

"Masters," Cho appeared in the doorway of the breakroom, and hesitated when he saw her sitting and chatting with a stranger.

She turned, feeling caught. "Yep?"

He wasn't looking at her anymore, rather staring flatly at Kyle. "Aren't you supposed to be out with the search party?" He leaned on the door frame, gaze not shifting at all even when Ronnie got up to toss her empty coffee cup in the sink.

Kyle straightened in discomfort. "Um, kind of—I mean, I took a double shift out there this--"

"They found Nicole Gilbert." Cho interrupted, and finally turned to Ronnie. "Lisbon and Jane are going to the hospital with her and then they'll be back here afterwards." Without waiting for her to respond, or even to face him in acknowledgement, he left the doorway of the breakroom and disappeared back down the hall.

Kyle dumped his own coffee mug in the sink and adjusted his glasses. "I'd better get to the hospital before I get myself in trouble," He gave another sweet smile. "But it was really nice meeting you, Ronnie. It was great talking to you."

She smiled back. "You too. I'll see you, probably." Before she made her way out the door, she heard him say her name.

"I really hope I see you again."

THE MENTALIST

"What's got you all zip-lipped?" Ronnie settled into her previously claimed chair where she and Cho were set up with the computers. She crossed her legs and tapped her fingers against the tabletop.

Cho was throwing himself down in a chair, lips pursed a little. He only looked slightly more upset than usual, but Ronnie could see it in the tightening of his shoulders.

Cho shot her a quick look and then went back to staring around the office. "I'm not."

"I mean, you always are, but you seem perturbed now." She leaned forward, inching closer to him.

The gruff agent met her eyes. He held her gaze for a long second, as though reading something in her expression. Finally, like he'd found the information he was looking for, he turned away again. "I guess Jane won the bet, huh?"