Ronnie Masters | the MENTALIST (COMPLETE)

RUSSET POTATOES : pt I

Self isn't something you find
It's something you create
The more action you take
The more progress you make.
|| the Mentalist, S1E18

The morning bottleneck. The worst part about working for the CBI. The daily ritual of misery. Standing in line at the security checkpoint with all of the other agents who happened to arrive at the same time, getting bags checked and badges scanned, waiting to be allowed access to the building.

Every.

Single.

Morning.

That morning, mercy of mercies, Ronnie arrived to work at roughly the same time as Cho, Lisbon, and Jane. If nothing else, at least they could spend the next fifteen minutes keeping each other company while they waited to be patted down by guards they'd known for forever so that they could go inside and sit at the desks they'd driven for years.

Jane spotted her first, locking his vintage car manually with his key before trotting over to her with the brightest, crinkly-eyed smile. "Good morning, Ronnie my dear. And don't you look nice?" He looped his arm through hers and cast an cheerful glance at her work outfit for the day.

She was pretty pleased with it too, if she did say so herself. Bright, bold red Henley snug around her curvy form, her thick thighs wrapped in stretchy skinny-cut dress pants, pulled together with a fitted black blazer and knee-high chunky sole boots. She'd been waiting to wear that outfit for ages but had never worked up the courage to go to work in such a tight, bold shirt and risk the teasing comments about her big clunky boots.

Something had come over her unexpectedly that morning and granted her the confidence to wear it. After a thorough examination of herself in the mirror, she'd concluded that she looked great and that no amount of teasing could change that fact.

"Thanks," she flashed him a cheeky grin and let him lead her towards the building where they joined Cho and Lisbon. "Good morning."

The boss nodded a greeting back, her gaze locked on her phone screen. "Morning everyone."

In the seconds that followed, while Jane yammered on for a moment about how sweet the air smelled and how warm it was for even so late in the year, Ronnie caught Cho giving her a once-over.

He's checking me out?

Of course he's checking me out.

I'm wearing my lucky outfit.

Everybody's gonna check me out.

"Morning." Cho uttered gruffly, holding the door open for them. The three colleagues passed through before him, each saying polite thank yous before shuffling to the end of the security line. The room was exceptionally full of agents and police officers and lawyers, backing up the checkpoints and slowing down the progress of the morning.

When Ronnie zoned back in to Jane's monologue, he was gesturing across the room to a woman who wore a matching red skirt suit, currently going through a metal detector.

"Okay. Lady in red. Guess."

At Jane's invitation, Cho followed his eye line and studied the languid movements of the woman as she collected her things from the guard. "She's, um..."

The woman pressed a dainty finger under her nose and sneezed.

"...Allergic to perfume." Finished with his guess, Cho turned his eyes back to Jane, who was very simply unimpressed. "It's a good guess." He defended himself. "She just sneezed."

That infuriating little smirk was tugging at Jane's lips, causing Lisbon to roll her eyes and smile warily at her agents as she watched.

"She's having an affair." Jane said. "Next?"