The Bucket List (The Mentalist)

7.

7. Slow Dance To My Favourite Song

It had been a long day for Teresa Lisbon and her team. First, Lisbon's boss assigned her a special case with highest priority. The daughter of a highly regarded politician was found next to the dead body of her boyfriend, completely high and terrified at the same time. Of course this case had to be handled with greatest discretion since it would have been a scandal like no other if the public found out about this. Then it turned out that it wasn't the daughter who killed her boyfriend but her father, the powerful politician himself, who thought a boy like that simply wasn't the right company for his beloved child and therefore killed him and drugged his daughter to wipe her memory.

Lisbon sighed as she filled out the last of many forms, placed it inside the file and leaned back in her chair, shaking her hand which was hurting from writing so much. Her eyes wandered over to the pile of paperwork she just worked through and she shook her head in utter disbelief. This definitely wasn't why she chose to do this job. Then she risked a look through the glass windows of her bullpen to where the desks of her team mates and a certain brown couch were situated. At the familiar sight of blond curls a smile formed on the senior agent's lips and she contemplated whether she should go over to him or not.

Things had been awkward since they almost kissed. They did manage to ignore it whenever they worked together but as much as everyone noticed them flirting, everyone also noticed the small gestures of uncertainty between them. Neither Jane nor Lisbon knew how to act or what to say and didn't want to lose the other one so they simply tip-toed around each other. Teresa sighed. Their relationship has been a rollercoaster recently. One day they are all giddy, flirting and "accidentally" bumping into one another and the next day everything is silent and tense between them and no one can look the other in the eye.

The senior agent was annoyed, very much so that she decided to get up, walk over to her consultant and talk it all out. She didn't know where this boost of confidence came from but she quickly stood up before her newly regained bravery vanished as fast as it appeared. During the 5 seconds it took to walk out of her bullpen and into the big office room she thought about how she could start this conversation best until she finally stood, completely unprepared, in front of the couch. After a few more seconds of awkward silence, which was only filled with the quiet sound of the radio that stood on a table next to the couch but no one ever used, she cleared her throat. Jane woke up, he shook out of his sleep and looked at her quite startled.

"W-what? Did something happen?" his voice was a bit hoarse as he sat up and rubbed over his eyes. Teresa smiled and admired how adorable he was half asleep but quickly snapped out of her stare. After some contemplating she sat down next to him an his couch to which Jane reacted with a raised eyebrow. "To what do I owe this honour?" he asked, a slightly mocking undertone in his voice. The agent rolled her eyes but smiled as she looked at her partner. "I was.." she trailed off and had to move her eyes back to her hands again. "I thought we.." she tried again but the words wouldn't come out properly.

She was scared. Scared that everything that happened between the two of them was just something that happened in her head, not real, just imagination. She was scared that he would laugh at her, or even worse, be weirded out and distance himself from her. But she had to say something since she started like that so she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and said "We need to talk. About us and this thing that's going on between us." As soon as the words were out, Lisbon wanted to run away and hide in her bed. She didn't want to see his reaction she just wanted to leave this room immediately. But she stayed, of course she stayed.

Jane's heart started racing as he heard her saying that. Thoughts filled his head. Thoughts about how she noticed him flirting and how that made her feel uncomfortable. Or about how she was his boss and she wanted him to be professional and how she didn't feel the same for him. His mouth was dry as he answered "Which thing?" The consultant had never felt so insecure in his life, not even with Angela. Intently, he watched his partner who was just starting to speak but suddenly stopped in the middle of her sentence. Teresa's eyes lit up and her mouth curved into a smile.

"I love that song." was all she said and swayed her head in the rhythm of the music. Jane smiled too, the stress leaving his body as he got up and reached out his hand for her to take. His boss looked at him questioning and he chuckled a bit. "It's the last thing on your list, Lisbon." The brunette smiled even more now and as she blushed slightly she grabbed his hand and let him lead her to the middle of the room. Slowly they both moved closer and while their hands stayed together, they rested their other one on each others back.

The two didn't look at each other, they were too close to build up eye contact and so they simply started to move to the rhythm and enjoy the warmth of their bodies. After some seconds Teresa leaned her head against Patrick's shoulder, closed her eyes and sighed quietly. This was what she had wished for a long time. And it felt so good to be in her partner's arms, she felt warm and protected. Jane himself leaned his head against the smaller woman's head, closing his eyes as well and smiling at the intimate moment they shared with each other.

The awkward conversation, or start of a conversation, they had just a minute ago seemed forgotten and all the tension that had built up between them during the last days disappeared and all that was left was the cozy, warm feeling that spread between the two of them. Unfortunately, the song ended after a few minutes and an awfully corny love song followed it. Jane and Lisbon broke apart, not fully but enough to look at each other and laugh lightly at the new song. They were still embracing each other but their faces were now so close, Lisbon could feel Jane's breath on her nose.

"Thank you." she said quietly. "For everything. For this present. It truely has been the best birthday I ever had." The senior agent smiled and her consultant felt a warm feeling spread through his whole body. "Oh Teresa." Her body tingled as he said her first name. "You deserve so much more than I gave you during the last weeks." He moved both of his hands to her cheeks and gently brushed over them. Lisbon was flustered, she couldn't say anything, all she could do was wrapping her arms around her consultant's waist.

And then the thing they both have been anticipating for weeks, the one thing that was building up between them the whole time happened: They finally kissed. It was nothing like Lisbon imagined. She expected him to be rough, passionate and fierce. But his lips touched hers so gently, she almost didn't feel them at first. After the first, careful contact was made, they opened their mouths and their tounges danced just as gently as they did only seconds ago. Jane's fingers stroked over her cheeks repeatedly and they kissed each other like that for as long as they could without breathing.

But the human body needs air to function and so they broke apart eventually, faces flustered and out of breath but both of them smiling brighter than the sun. "I guess this is the thing you wanted to talk about?" Jane teased his partner and earned a playful slap against his chest for his comment. "Hush, you could use your lips for something more useful than sarcasm right now." The consultant chuckled at that and leaned down again to kiss the woman he has been wanting to kiss for years now.