Better, Rating: G

[HearMeCalling]

SPOILERS FOR 2x03 RED BADGE

(Posted Image)

Title: Better
Author: HearMeCalling
Rating: G
Characters: Jane/Lisbon
Disclamer: Not mine
Summary: How do you go about winning a trust that has been shattered? Can you win it back at all? Jane/Lisbon introspection post-2x03
Spoilers: 2x03 Red Badge

Better

Part One

“I don’t want your stupid, damn coffee Jane,” Lisbon snapped.

“But…”

“Just, just go and do something useful for a change.”

Jane stood, holding the polystyrene cup of steaming hot coffee and simply stared at Lisbon, refusing to move. Never before the whole McTeer debacle had she refused a cup of coffee from him. Eventually, he sat opposite her instead, staring directly into those haunted green-grey eyes of hers and trying desperately to work out what was going on in her head. It was only natural that that case was going to get to her. Despite all of Minelli’s hard work, her reputation had still taken a bit of a battering and it was obvious that people were still looking at her thinking that she could quite easily turn. That little Teresa Lisbon was a prime candidate for becoming a murderer. Even members of her own team were slightly more suspicious than before. And it was all because somebody simply wanted to blemish her testimony rather than admit to the crimes he’d committed.

“You accepted that doughnut from Marie’s without question.”

“Why would anyone at Marie’s want to drug me?”

“Why would I want to drug you?”

“You tell me.”

Yes, he pushed the boundaries a little and yes, he had always been aware of their minor trust issues, but he had sincerely believed that they had been working through them. It was like they had gone two steps forward and seventeen steps back. Silently, he cursed the wedge that had come between them. It was like he could hear the fractures in their already fragile friendship cracking as they became wider and wider, threatening to shatter beyond repair. Jane hadn’t realised just how much he relied on Lisbon before she had almost been whisked away through no fault of their own. He didn’t want to lose her, he couldn’t. It was a big thing for him to admit, but she grounded him somewhat and far more than he had ever realised before.

[HearMeCalling]

“When I had to fake concern to get Minelli to send Carmen over, I wasn’t pretending.”

“Is that meant to make me feel any better?” she snorted. “Go away, Jane.”

He refused and she scowled at him, quickly attempting to distract herself with the paperwork lying in front of her. Her eyes narrowed when she picked up a seemingly harmless memo from Minelli. There was no way she was going to agree to that, not since one psychiatrist that her boss had trusted had already abused her trust. She stood and Jane smiled gently at her.

“He wants you to see another shrink, doesn’t he?” he whispered.

“It’s none of your business Jane,” she seethed as she rose from her seat. “Haven’t you heard of curiosity and the cat?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, maybe you should take heed then.”

“I would, but I’m not a cat.”

“I expect you out of here by the time I get back.”

Without a second look back, she stormed out of her office and past a rather bemused looking Grace Van Pelt. She stormed into Minelli’s office without knocking and he looked up at her genially, with a rather expectant look on his face. Normally, he would be annoyed with anyone who just walked into his office uninvited but Lisbon was a special case and to be entirely fair, he had been waiting for her to do so all morning. Irritably, Lisbon slammed the memo down in front of him and folded her arms across her chest, simply waiting for an explanation. When he didn’t answer, she sighed heavily and flopped in the chair opposite him.

“Why?”

“I believe it’ll do you good, Lisbon.”

“And what if I refuse?”

“I’ll have to restrict your work in the field,” Minelli replied. “I can’t risk having you out there otherwise.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” she muttered. “You know my team need me.”

Minelli narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Fine,” she sighed. “But I’m not happy about this.”

“I know, Teresa.”

[HearMeCalling]

Part Two

“Anyway, now we’ve come to some kind of agreement, you have a new case.”

“We do?” Lisbon replied, immediately brightening.

Minelli nodded and went about briefing her. Meanwhile, Jane was in the process of deciding whether or not to actually wait for her in her office. He made his decision when he caught sight of a flustered Van Pelt heading towards him and arranged his face with a bright smile to greet her.

“What’s wrong with Lisbon?”

Jane shrugged at the red head as he walked out of Lisbon’s office. With the mood she was in, it would be like poking a caged tiger so even he knew that it was safer to be out of her domain by the time she returned rather than flagrantly disobeying her rules again. As usual, he headed towards his couch and sat down, not expecting the eyes of the other three agents to still be trained on him. With a sigh, he demanded that one of them fetch him a cup of tea first and after a fiercely fought battle of ‘rock, paper, scissors’, Rigsby, yet again, pulled the figurative short straw. While he was out and complaining loudly in the kitchenette, Cho frowned at the consultant.

“You know more than that.”

“Yeah, come on Jane,” Van Pelt urged. “We all care about her.”

“She’s just a bit annoyed with the whole… McTeer thing,” he finished lamely as he accepted the cup of tea from Rigsby. “Oh thank you.”

“Yes, I put the milk in first. Not that it makes any difference.”

“Actually, it’s been scientifically proven that-”

“Anyway,” Van Pelt interrupted swiftly. “Are you sure that’s all it is?”

“I’m sure.”

“Right,” Lisbon announced and all four of them jumped simultaneously. “We have a case. So you four can continue your gossiping, or…”

“We’re coming, boss,” Rigsby replied hastily.

“Good. Van Pelt, you can come too.”

Jane relaxed on the couch, grumbling slightly about the quality of his cup of tea. Lisbon glared at him, hoping that would get him to move.

“Jane.”

“What? Can’t I drink my tea first?”

“Let me think,” she answered sarcastically. “No.”

[HearMeCalling]

Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt that they were able to take a separate car to the other two. Their journey to the crime scene, a mere half an hour away, was far more pleasant than it was for Jane and Lisbon. Every question Jane asked regarding her meeting with Minelli and the new shrink she was meant to be seeing she met with a stony silence. By the time they arrived, ten minutes after the others, both were in equally foul moods and were quite happy to get out of each other’s hair. Lisbon slammed the door to the SUV more roughly than was entirely necessary and stomped over to the rest of the team, who were waiting at the foot of a stairwell in the apartment complex for them.

“The victim’s this way,” Rigsby muttered while leading them upstairs, immediately noticing just how annoyed they both were. “Apparently, he’s Devlin Kennedy, twenty seven, originally from Chicago. Moved here ten years ago with his brother. Died of a single gunshot wound to the head. He’s a known drug user, boss.”

“Lovely,” she muttered. “Cho, I want you and Rigsby to canvass the neighbours. See what you can find out. Van Pelt, call up the brother, get him to meet us at HQ, then join me and Jane inside the apartment.”

The apartment was dank and dingy. It was obvious that Devlin Kennedy cared little about himself and even less for his environment. The place had a familiar coppery tang of stagnant blood and was in an obvious disarray. A bookcase was overturned, with the objects that had been stored on it strewn across the floor, indicating some sort of scuffle. The victim himself had bruised arms and the only sign of drug use was the fact that a needle was still firmly clasped in his right hand. Lisbon, pulling on a pair of latex gloves, knelt down to inspect the wound in the centre of the victim’s forehead more closely while Van Pelt and Jane scoured the rest of the apartment.

“Curious.”

“What is, Jane?” Lisbon replied wearily, while standing up.

“No drugs.”

“I can see that.”

“Rigsby said he was a known drug user.”

“He is holding a syringe, there,“ she pointed out. “But that means there’s been a thief about. Question is, were they here before, during or after the murder? You done, Jane?”

“Yes. We need to find his ex-lover.”

“We do?”

“He had a wedding band in a drawer beside his bed.”

“Oh.”

Van Pelt sighed as they continued to bicker all the way back to the CBI headquarters. She decided, however, that their arguments which were more akin to normality were far better than the stony silence she could have had to endure otherwise. Once they were back, Lisbon practically flew out of the car, as if the idea of spending a minute longer with Jane and Van Pelt was unbearable. She slowed down once she was indoors and practically crawled to Employee Support Services, where the newest psychologist had already taken residence. Quickly, she glanced at her watch and noted that she was ten minutes late. Sucking in a deep breath, Lisbon pushed open the doors and smiled weakly at the blonde woman, the new shrink that she was being forced to see.

“Dr. Bennett?”

“You must be Teresa,” the women smiled warmly at her. “Come on in, sit down. And call me Alysia, please.”

“Right…”

“There’s no need to be so dubious, Tess…”

“Lisbon,” she quickly interrupted. “Or Teresa, if you must.”

Nervously, Lisbon took a seat opposite Alysia. When offered a cup of tea or coffee, Lisbon shook her head violently and remained silent. The office hadn’t been redecorated much; simply stripped of Carmen’s possessions, which had been replaced with Alysia’s. Alysia quickly flicked through the file, refreshing her memory on the details of the petite agent’s issues. It hadn’t surprised her at all that Virgil Minelli had demanded that the brunette come and see her and she smiled warmly at her, hoping it would help Lisbon to relax.

“A lot has been going on lately, I see,” Alysia spoke.

“It has.”

“You’ve been involved in a shooting and framed for murder and that’s without mentioning your history. How does that make you feel?”

“I’m fine,” Lisbon said, a little too snappishly. “Really, I am. I don’t see why Minelli wants me to see you.”

“But nearly losing everything you’ve worked so hard for must have made you feel something, Teresa.”

Lisbon snorted and refused to answer the younger woman. She still didn’t quite understand the point of the psychologist. She was being paid to theoretically listen, being paid to care. It didn’t have any effect on her whether or not Lisbon poured out her heart and soul. And frankly, the bubbly blonde unnerved her a lot. Doctor Alysia Bennett was too cheerful for her own good and she reminded her a bit of Jane. Except, Jane’s was a mask and she couldn’t be quite sure whether or not Alysia was being genuine.

“I’m here to help you,” Alysia urged. “I can’t do that unless you speak to me.”

“I’m gonna go now,” Lisbon replied. “We’ve just got a new case. Lots to do. I don’t have time to waste sitting around talking to you.”

“Fine. Come and see me again, same time on Thursday.”

“But that’s only in two days-”

“Minelli believes an intensive programme will do you best and frankly, I agree.”

“Right, fine then.”

“Stay well, Teresa.”

“Whatever.”

[HearMeCalling]

Part Three

“Did you really think she could kill someone?” Cho asked Rigsby as they knocked on yet another door to an empty apartment.

“She has killed before. Why not?”

“It’s always been in the line of duty though,” he replied. “I mean, do you really think she could kill in cold blood?”

“Anyone could,” Rigsby answered grimly. “Stranger things have happened.”

Cho eyed Rigsby suspiciously. He honestly thought that the arson specialist had been more loyal to the boss than that. Then again, the younger man hadn’t spent as long working with Lisbon as he had, a mere couple of years. Cho had felt like he’d known Lisbon for all of his working life and was grateful for that. She was a good agent, an even better friend and he’d learned a lot from her, hoping that the feeling was entirely mutual. He’d never doubted her innocence, not once, which was something that even Patrick Jane couldn’t claim. He knocked on yet another door, hoping that this time they would actually come across someone and was relieved when a thin woman with dirty, auburn hair, harassed features and a bouncing baby boy in arms answered the door.

“Good afternoon, ma’am,” he announced swiftly and flashed his badge. “CBI. Do you have a spare few minutes to answer a few questions?”

The woman eyed the two agents warily before waving them both into her modest lounge. Before taking a seat, she placed the babbling toddler into a playpen, where he immediately started trying to gum a plastic toy car to death. Rigsby, in particularly, eyed the boy warily and kept as far away from him as feasibly possible, something which amused Cho particularly.

“Lewis won’t hurt you, he’s only just started teething,” she grinned before sobering quickly. “Is this about Devlin Kennedy?”

“Yes, ma’am. Did you know him well?”

“Not really,” she admitted. “Didn’t want him near Lew, you know. Not a good influence for a child.”

“We mainly wanted to know if your saw anything suspicious between the hours of….” Rigsby flicked open his notebook and retrieved the details. “Seven p.m. and one a.m yesterday night.”

“Nothing. But I do know his brother…” the young woman furrowed her brow, trying to remember his name. “Jackson, had an argument with him yesterday morning. Now Jackson, he’s a good role model for kids…”

“Right,” Cho said quickly. “Thank you for your time, er…”

“Bethany Harrison,” she answered. “Beth, to my friends.”

“Ms. Harrison.”

[HearMeCalling]

Once outside the apartment, Cho immediately dialled a number on his cell phone and waited impatiently for someone to answer. As they walked back to the car, Rigsby indicated with some rather impressive hand gestures that he’d like to drive, to which Cho nodded and threw him keys.

“Lisbon.”

“Hey, boss.”

“Got anything, Cho?” she enquired, glancing quickly over at Jane who was distracting Van Pelt with mindless chatter.

“Not much,” he admitted. “Hardly anyone’s home. One woman noted that she didn’t notice anything suspicious within the allotted time frame, but the victim was seen arguing with his brother, Jackson Kennedy, that morning.”

“Right, I’m on it,” she replied quickly. “Nice one, Cho.”

She turned off her phone, satisfied with the latest developments.

“Anything interesting?”

Lisbon jolted slightly while Jane spoke and quickly shot a withering glare at him. Honestly, the man moved a quietly as a cat. One of these days, she was going to cause him a serious injury simply because he kept scaring her out of her wits. With a sigh, she didn’t bother answering Jane’s question and instead stalked into the bullpen.

“Van Pelt, we need to go and talk to Kennedy’s brother. Call ahead then meet in the van in five minutes,” she said. “Both of you. I just need to go and talk to Minelli.”

“He’s not going to stop your appointments with the shrink, you know. Not until she’s happy.”

“It’s none of your business, Jane,” she snapped. “Now go.”

Without waiting to see his response, she walked away purposively, relieved that Minelli had agreed to the meeting at all. When she arrived at his office, she went to tap on the window but he waved her in before she got the chance to do so. Apprehensively, she sat down in front of the CBI director, twisting her hands nervously on her lap. Minelli knew exactly what this was about; Lisbon was never going to react well to even more counselling and he wasn’t surprised that she was already on the warpath after just one session.

“How did you find Dr. Bennett?”

“Fake. Pushy. Too nosy for her own good. A bit like Jane and I don’t mean that as a compliment.”

He smiled and she glowered in response. Lisbon was never one to mince her words.

“You’ll get along fine then.”

“I doubt that,” she replied quickly. “Speaking of Jane, I think he should be seeing her, too. You cannot trust Carmen’s opinion, surely?”

“You know as well as I do that that’s pointless,” he murmured. “He’d just charm his way out of it, like he does everything else.”

“But…”

“He’s a lost cause,” Minelli continued. “You are the only person he ever listens to these days and I would be foolish to believe anything else.”

“Sir, I…”

“Dr. Bennett would like you to be on time to your next appointment, Lisbon.”

“Right, fine.”

[HearMeCalling]

Lisbon stormed out of the office and straight to the SUV, where Van Pelt observed her nervously and Jane just smiled. Often, Van Pelt found Jane and Lisbon’s bickering a bit tiresome and she wished that they would annoy each other a little less. However, when presented with a situation without it, she found herself missing it terribly. The car was heavy with tension and the red head found herself staring out of the window longingly, watching as the sun set. She was just relieved that Jackson Kennedy had agreed to being interviewed so late in the day, otherwise Lisbon would have been fuming.

As they pulled onto the University campus, Jackson Kennedy was already waiting for them, a sad smile traced across his features. As Lisbon slipped out of the driver’s seat, she already had her hand on her badge to show the gentleman and quickly introduced themselves. Wordlessly, he nodded in response and led the three of them through to his poky office. He viewed himself as being lucky that it was as big as it was. Jane immediately started scanning the shelves, looking at the titles of the various history textbooks with interest, slightly surprised to find a copy of Darwin’s ‘the Origin of Species’ nestled amongst them. What he found more intriguing, however was a greasy stain on the wall where something had obviously been attached with Blu-Tack for a considerable amount of time.

“We’re very sorry for your loss, sir.”

“Terrible situation,” he murmured.

“I’m sorry, but I have to ask,” she started. “Where were you between the hours of seven p.m. and one a.m. last night?”

“At home, alone, watching TV. Why?”

“You were spotted arguing with your brother shortly before his murder.”

“And let’s be honest here,” Jane added quickly. “You two aren’t exactly similar. He’s out enjoying himself with girls, drugs… and you’ve well, you have your books.”

“Jane… she growled warningly.

“No, he’s okay,” Jackson interrupted. “He’s right, I did have a problem with his drug addiction, I thought he was better than that.”

“Jane. Leave, go,” she growled, not in the mood for his games. “We’ll finish up here, alone.”

Jane scowled but listened for a change and Van Pelt quickly excused herself to ‘keep an eye on him’ on Lisbon’s behalf. She shuffled after the consultant, who was moaning under his breath. Eventually, she caught up with him by the lakeside, where he was observing a couple of ducks squabbling over a piece of pond weed. He smiled briefly as he felt Van Pelt’s fingers tighten around his shoulder and glanced at the young woman appreciatively.

“She still doesn’t trust me, does she Grace?”

“I don’t think she trusts anyone right now,” she answered before quickly changing the subject. “What do you think of the brother?”

“There’s something he’s hiding,” Jane mused as Lisbon approached them. “It’s linked to his brother, but I’m not sure how.”

“Right,” Lisbon stated. “We have a name for a drug dealer. Have either of you heard of a ‘Fireball’?”