A/N: Hi! I'm new to this fandom, but I love the show and thought I'd try my hand at writing for it. I thought I'd start out small, maybe dip my toe in with a one-shot episode tag. Please let me know if you like it enough for me to do more. I live for feedback!

Red Hot—Episode Tag

"You slept with him, didn't you?"

"What? Who?"

"You know you can't hide it from me."

She was resolutely silent. He decided to carry on the conversation without her.

"For one thing, you're wearing the same clothes you had on yesterday. For another, you look much too radiant for someone who was up all night and hadn't even had the time to change before work."

The straight line of her lips tightened a fraction, coinciding with the whiteness of her knuckles as they gripped the steering wheel. He leaned a little closer to the driver's seat, taking a deep whiff. She shot him a look of extreme annoyance, moving as close to the door of the SUV as she safely could.

"His expensive cologne still clings to your clothes. You, however, smell fresh as a daisy. Hotel soap?"

"Enough with your bloodhound act. I'm not a case for you to crack, Jane."

On the contrary, he'd been trying to solve the mystery that was Teresa Lisbon for years.

"Walter Mashburn is a self-indulgent asshole, you know this, right?" said Jane conversationally.

Her lips unexpectedly twitched at that. Pot, meet kettle. She grinned in spite of herself.

"Oh, now you tell me," she said wryly, "After pushing me at him throughout the entire Bajoran case."

"What? I did not."

"Meet Walter's new girlfriend," she mimicked him, recalling the party at Mashburn's house. "Your pupils are dilating. Blah, blah, blah."

"Well, I didn't expect you would sleep with the guy."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Awwww…"she said, as if she'd just had a major epiphany.

"Awwwww….what?"

"You're jealous, that's what."

"I have no desire to sleep with Walter Mashburn."

She snickered. "You know what I mean. I had a great night with a charming man for the first time in—forever, and there you sit, stewing in your self-imposed celibacy."

Her words hung in the air, and she immediately regretted them. She knew Jane's reasons behind his lack of attachments, and it was all tied to the wedding ring he still wore on his left hand. She glanced at his suddenly tense form beside her, his face an unreadable mask. Well, unreadable to those who didn't know him like she did.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, eyes on the road ahead. "That was unfair of me."

He looked sightlessly out his window a moment, as the golden California hills whizzed past them.

"No, you have every right to lash out at me. It was self-defense. Your private life is none of my business, Teresa."

"Still, it was—"

"Forget about it."

The silence in the car grew awkward again, and Lisbon vacillated between anger at herself and anger at Jane for ruining what had started out as a very nice day. Fortunately, it wasn't long before their exit off the freeway loomed ahead, and she could focus on crossing traffic and moving to the far right lane. They were meeting the rest of the team at the crime scene in Costa Mesa, and, since his place had been on her way from Mashburn's hotel, she'd called and offered to pick up Jane. She was beginning to regret that impulse now.

A few minutes later, they pulled to a stop near a cluster of police cars and an ambulance, and Lisbon turned to look at him. She ignored the brief jolt of electricity as she placed her hand on his knee, drawing his eyes first to where she touched him, then up to meet hers.

"One of these days," she said gently, "you're going to find someone you'll feel ready to take that ring off for." She squeezed his knee slightly in compassion, feeling it flex a bit in reaction beneath the soft fabric of his trousers. She smiled wanly, then got out of the SUV to join Cho, already walking over to meet her.

Jane could still feel the tingle in his leg, and he allowed himself a single moment of longing.

"I think I've already found her," he said to himself. "Too bad I don't know what the hell to do about it."

He shook his head once as if to clear it, then, pasting on his usual sunny smile, Patrick Jane got out of the car to join his team.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think.