The Bucket List (The Mentalist)

2.

2. Bake My Own Brownies

It was a Saturday, a Saturday morning to be precises and that was why Lisbon wasn't very happy when Patrick Jane showed up in front of her house at 8 o'clock in the morning. She still wore the shirt-dress with her name on its back which she always wore to sleep in because it was big and comfortable and reminded her of her brothers.

She woke up to the sound of some very stubborn knocking on the front door. At first, Teresa tried to ignore it and just go back to sleep. But after a few more seconds of loud knocking she groaned loudly and got up, ready to beat up whoever had the nerve to wake her up at such an hour and in such a way.

While rubbing some sleep out of her eyes she unlocked and opened the door and revealed a beaming Jane. "Good morning, sunshine." he cheered. The senior agent rolled her eyes and immediately regretted even getting up. "What do you want, Jane? Do you know how early it is? What has gotten into you?" she complained and Patrick waved all her questions away and walked past her into her home, leaving behind a now rather confused and very angry Teresa Lisbon.

The consultant headed straight towards the kitchen and Teresa now realised the bag in his hand. "Jane. Can I get an answer as to why you more or less break into my house on a Saturday morning?" she tried again. "Eh, Lisbon. I didn't break in, you volunteerly opened the door for me and I took this as an invitation to enter your home." Patrick answered. "Volunteerly, yeah right." Lisbon muttered under her breath and the blond cocked his head in confusion. But the senior agent only smiled her pettiest smile and turned around to put on some clothes.

As soon as she returned back into her kitchen, Jane already put some bowls on the small table. Lisbon also noticed other kitchen supplies like whisks or spoons but she was too tired to put the puzzle pieces together. So she simply sat down at the table and watched Jane search through her kitchen drawers. He opened and closed drawers, looked into every space he could find until he had all the things he needed, gathered on the kitchen table.

Then he grabbed the bag he brought with him, he placed it next to the other supplies and started to take out flour and sugar, butter and eggs, a bag of milk and a bar of chocolate. Meanwhile, Lisbon poured herself a cup of coffee and the caffeine was doing its work. Her mind cleared a bit and she noticed that Jane obviously wanted to bake something, hence all the stuff which was sprawled in her kitchen.

"Jane, does this have to do with that list I wrote?" she asked, already knowing the answer. He would never rush into her house like that just to bake. The blond looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Lisbon, your bright mind surprises me every time." The agent rolled her eyes in annoyance but couldn't help but smile the tiniest smile. "I hope you know how to bake brownies because I surely don't." she joked and stepped closer to the table to look at everything. Patrick looked down at the table as well and shrugged. "How hard can it be?"

~°~

"Wait, do I have to put in the flour already?" Teresa's dark hair was held back in a pony tail but one strand of hair got loose and was now in her face. She tried to remove it, frantically blowing air out of her mouth and at the hair strand. But because of the sweat that already coated her skin, it stayed exactly where it was. "Wait, let me.." Jane said and moved his hand up to stroke the strand back behind her ear. She didn't really know what to do at first, just kinda froze in the middle of her movement. It all went by so quickly she didn't even have the chance to react in any way. But she could feel his warm fingers against her skin, even after they were long gone. Teresa smiled to herself, not knowing that Jane saw it from the corner of his eyes.

A shiver ran down his back and he had a hard time not to stare at her in awe. She was beautiful, he rarely saw her like that. All loosened up and relaxed in casual clothes and with a smile on her lips. Every time he had the chance to see her like that he memorized her, the way she looked, how she talked, even her smell. He savoured every single one of these details so he could remember them when he had troubles falling asleep. Imagining her really helped. Of course, he knew it was kinda creepy and he could never tell her but she calmed him down. She made him feel less guilty, less cold, less like a monster.