Hi everybody!

I've written several short stories and decided to put all of them in one collection titled "In search of missing scenes". I'm French and I'm not very good at translating, so I have a precious help: Afterglow04 corrects everything I write and changes certain phrases and sentences around when what I wrote looks slightly weird. And sometimes she even translates one of my 'little scenes' herself. (I'll tell you when)

I hope you'll enjoy the concept.

Of course, I don't own the Mentalist (even if I already tried to steal the scripts from Bruno Heller ^^)

Happy reading!

I translated this first scene and Afterglow04 corrected it.

Cinderella

Jane walked into the bullpen, a smile already on his lips. The sun had graced them with its presence early in the morning and it was proving to be a truly wonderful day.

"Good morning!" he greeted his colleagues.

"Hi."

"Morning, Jane."

"Hi Jane."

"Is Lisbon around?"

"In her office, as usual…" Cho muttered, still concentrated on his work.

"Thanks!"

Jane threw his jacket onto the couch and proceeded into Lisbon's office without knocking. He found her perched on a chair, eagerly scrubbing one of the windows in her office with a dust cloth in her hands.

"What on earth are you doing?"

"Good morning, Jane. Yea, I'm alright, thanks for asking. How about you?"

He smiled at her obvious sarcasm.

"Me? I'm doing fine; I'm not the one in the middle of a cleaning spree. You, on the other hand…"

Lisbon sighed and got down from her chair to spray some more cleaning product onto the cloth, before she got back up and continued her work.

"You do know they have a cleaning crew for that?"

"I don't like the idea of someone I don't know poking around my office."

"But they won't 'poke around' your office," Jane said mildly amused as he walked closer, resting his hands on the back of her chair. "They're paid to clean, they just do their job and they leave."

"Well, I can clean the windows in my own office just fine."

She studiously scrubbed for another moment, then she got down from the chair and pushed it up to the second window, spraying more product around and climbing back up.

"You've already finished with the first window?" Jane asked somewhat incredulously.

"Yea. What, you can't tell?"

"Where did you learn to do your cleaning?" he laughed at her. "There's at least a dozen stains left!"

Lisbon looked down at him, an annoyed look crossing her face.

"Well, go ahead, do it yourself. I'm not stopping you."

Jane took the bait and immediately climbed up on the chair, holding onto Lisbon for support.

"Jane! What the hell are you doing? There's no room on this chair for the both of us, get down!"

"Well, if there's room for one..."

He snatched the dust cloth and bottle out of her hands, spraying the liquid onto the glass. Then he scrubbed with all his strength to get rid of the remaining stains.

"Okay, first of all, Cinderella," he offered up his nicest smile. "You should spray the cleaning product directly on the glass, it's much more efficient that way."

"Don't call me Cinderella."

Their faces were only inches apart, causing Lisbon to make a face at him as she grabbed the bottle back. Though she would hate to admit it, she did trust his advice and decided to use his method on the second window. Jane, in the meantime, didn't seem to feel the need to get back down, choosing instead to stay glued to Lisbon as he wondered why she hadn't pushed him down yet. He'd left the door to her office wide open, and Cho hesitantly walked in.

"Boss, I'll…just put this on your desk." He said, dropping a paper on Lisbon's desk. "It's the research you asked for."

He frowned, shooting Jane a questioning look when he discovered the obvious amusement in his eyes.

"Thanks," Lisbon answered without taking her eyes off the window.

"We're cleaning," Jane clarified.

"I can see that."

"Care to help us?"

"Thanks, but I've got more than enough windows at my place. Plus, three people on one chair…"

Cho stepped back out into the bullpen, and Jane turned back towards Lisbon to observe her improved cleaning skills.

"Excellent! Now you're the perfect Cinderella!" he complimented her. "Do you have a Prince Charming?"

"Whatever," she huffed.

"Because, you know, if you want…I could be your Prince Charming."

Lisbon stopped cleaning and turned to face her consultant. Her eyes met his blue gaze and an electric jolt seemed to course through her body. There was an unrecognisable expression in his eyes, something Lisbon couldn't quite place and it prevented her from looking away.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Jane asked, his voice suddenly much softer.

"You wouldn't be good for the role of Prince Charming," she finally replied, averting her eyes.

She went back to cleaning, but a small smile played on her lips and it didn't go unnoticed by Jane.

"You're kidding me, right? I'd be a perfect Prince Charming! I mean; I have money, a big house, an irresistible smile…" he trailed off.

Lisbon's smile widened as she looked at him.

"And so modest!"

"Don't try to deny it, I know you love my smile."

"Ah ah, still, you can't be my Prince Charming. Cinderella's Prince Charming had brown hair."

Jane burst out laughing.

"How many times have you watched Cinderella, Lisbon?"

"Hmm…a few times," she said, a faint blush colouring her cheeks.

"I can imagine! But you know, Cinderella had blonde hair and you have dark hair. So to make up for that, you'd need a Prince Charming with blonde hair."

"Get down from my chair, Jane."

"Ah, I'd been wondering when you were going to ask me that. It took you long enough. So do you like my smile?"

Lisbon gave Jane a push, and he laughed as he jumped to the floor.

"Your smile infuriates me!"

"I know."

She finished the final window and stepped down, putting the cloth and cleaner on her desk before rubbing her hands on her pants. Jane suddenly stepped closer.

"And it's normal, really, because I know it's the main reason you let me get away with so many things…"

"It's not because of your smile," Lisbon countered.

"Well, what's the reason then?"

Lisbon smiled but didn't answer.

"If it were the other way around and I was your boss, it would be your eyes that would make it impossible for me to refuse you anything." Jane confessed in a much calmer tone of voice.

Lisbon felt something stir in the pit of her stomach.

"So what about you? Why do you let me get away with all my crazy stunts?" Jane insisted.

"Because…you're…" Lisbon stammered, blushing. "You're you."

"I'm me?"

"Yes," she confirmed.

"Your Prince Charming," Jane added.

He stared at her intently, offering up a lazy smile. If that wasn't hypnosis… Lisbon tried hard to fight the sudden force that seemed to pull her towards him. Then, Jane reached out, gently caressing her cheek with one finger before turning around and leaving her office without another word.