So this is my second Mentalist story, the idea occurred to me the other day. Hope you enjoy, reviews would be wholly appreciated for inspiration :)

Don't own the mentalist, never have and sadly, never will :(

Grace hated that feeling before they did a break in, standing outside having no idea what they might find inside just waiting for someone to tell them to go. It had become harder since she'd shot Craig, she wasn't so much afraid to shoot if she needed to, just more aware of how she might feel after and that scared her more than anything, she'd had so many nightmares since that day – she didn't want anymore. This case was difficult enough to deal with; standing outside the door behind Lisbon they were briefed that 2 children lived in this house with their dad – the suspect and this concerned Grace, she felt she needed to protect them from being hurt by the team about to go in all guns blazing on their dad. It was hard being the caring one on the team.

The next few seconds seemed to pass ever so slowly as silence fell over them all and everyone got in to place with Cho at the front, ready to work the door in his usual way and Rigsby stood behind him on the opposite side of the door to Grace. She looked over to him, maybe for some sort of encouragement or reassurance which he gave her with a slight nod just before Lisbon gave the call and they all burst in. Grace followed her and split off to head upstairs with Rigsby and began to check out the rooms. She could hear Lisbon and Cho clearing all the rooms downstairs, making it more likely they were going to find Paul Jacobs up here, and it wasn't long before her suspicions were confirmed as Rigsby backed out of one of the bedrooms followed by Jacobs and a gun, his gun must have been knocked out of his hand. Lisbon and Cho came upstairs just as Jacobs appeared and started shouting at him "Jacobs, put the gun down, don't make this work for us…" But whatever she was saying faded in Grace's ears as she spotted a child peaking out of the door beside her, staring at her holding her gun up. Immediately she lowered the gun and pushed the door open, going in and shutting it before the children could see their dad, knowing she was leaving Rigsby out there, but he was safe with the others help.

Both the children were in here, a boy and a girl. Neither was older than about 5, how could their dad do this to them? Grace was angry, scared and really had no idea what to do, but she was faced with 2 young children scared stiff about what was happening so she knew she had to do something.
"It's okay; I'm not going to hurt you… I'm a policewoman; my friends are out there trying to talk to your daddy yeh? But he's having a little strop so they're just telling him off; it'll be fine though okay? Don't you worry about it. I'll look after you for now, is that okay?" She'd hardly finished before both children ran over to her, hugging her tight, and Grace suddenly knew she needed to protect them so she sat down, one child either side and waited, keeping her gun at close range.

Outside things hadn't got much better, Lisbon was still trying to talk down Jacobs and Rigsby was still in a bit of a precarious decision, he had noticed Grace's disappearance which quite frankly he could've done without at that moment but he was sure she had a reason for going in that room.
"Come on Paul, give it up now. You're not getting away and shooting a cop would make your sentence an awful lot longer and what then? You must care about your kids…" Lisbon immediately regretted that last sentence as Jacobs fired a warning shot at the ceiling.

Grace jumped, she couldn't hear much of what was going on outside due to some fairly thick walls but she could hear that, the shot. She tried hard to suppress any tears of worry as the kids burrowed their heads closer in to her, leaving her to whisper to try and calm them down. "It's okay, don't worry, just a loud bang, everything's alright…" but she knew it wasn't. Rigsby might be wearing a vest but it doesn't cover all of him, and even if Jacobs had shot the vest, at that close range it would definitely have winded him. Grace really wanted to be out there, to know if he was alright or at least what was going on, but she could feel the children shaking beside her and so realised she needed to put her worries aside for now, and focus on them.
"Why don't you tell me your names?" she smiled at them to reassure them, however fake the smile it seemed to work.
"I'm Joseph… and that's Hannah…" the older of the 2 spoke up, looking up at Van Pelt's face.
"And how old are you both?" she kept the smile on as it seemed to be helping.
"I'm 5, Hannah's 3…" Joseph sounded unsure about telling her this, but she nodded to thank him and considered her response a moment
"Well I'm Grace, and I'm a lot older than you" she replied, getting a little smile from Jacob but Hannah didn't really understand the joke.
"Grace…" Hannah repeated what Van Pelt had told her and received a nod in reply. The name seemed to help both children, she supposed because she wasn't a stranger anymore. Grace just wished she could calm down as easily as them, only one person could manage that and he was out there, possibly hurt.

All 3 agents outside had panicked at the warning shot. Paul Jacobs wasn't looking like he was going to back down anytime soon and Lisbon knew if things got any worse they would have to shoot him down, which they really didn't need today. She tried to ignore the look on Rigsby's face – he was obviously trying to look calm but she could see the panic causing him to shake slightly, this just made her feel worse for prolonging the whole thing. Jacobs wasn't moving now, nothing was being said but right now, at the angle they were Lisbon couldn't risk shooting him because the danger to Wayne Rigsby was too great and there was no way she could move from her current position. Cho too was out of shooting range so the current position was pretty much stuck for a while.

Back in the bedroom, Van Pelt had finally managed to calm the children down enough to avoid conversation of the events in the corridor and instead was listening to them talk all about what they'd been doing today. She nodded every now and then, and gave the odd 'wow' when Hannah showed her the picture she'd drawn that afternoon or when Jo told her about his certificate from kindergarten; but secretly she couldn't stop thinking about how everything was outside. She'd guessed from the lack of movement that Rigsby must be alright, however this also led her to presume there was still a gun being pointed. Her suspicions were soon confirmed as she hurt Lisbon shout, very loud, for Pierson to move the gun, and Grace knew she couldn't leave them out there any longer. She could feel anger shooting through her body that this Jacobs guy wouldn't leave Wayne Rigsby alone, and so Grace stood up.
"You two stay here okay? I need to go help my friends," she reassured the children and headed to the door, taking her gun out slowly and opening the door, taking her time so as not to be noticed.

Jacobs was holding the gun even more convincingly now and a lot closer to Rigsby. Lisbon and Cho were still in their same positions, but too nervous to try and get him from there. All 3 agents knew that they were going to have to take Paul Jacobs down as he was refusing to lower his gun from its position by Wayne's neck. Grace stood back, keeping quiet and keeping her gun by her side as she stood in the shadows watching the almost statue like situation.
"Get out, leave me alone or I will shoot." Paul Jacobs suddenly spoke up after keeping silent for so long. This spurred Lisbon in to a slight movement.
"Paul, you know we can't do that. So why don't you make this easier for all of us and come easy…" unfortunately, as expected, this didn't work too well.
"No, I'm not going with you; I've not done anything you can't take me!" Paul replied, starting to look very angry which scared Grace – angry people holding guns are never good news (she didn't even think to link this back to herself at this moment).
"I'd say this is proving you more guilty than innocent Jacobs" Lisbon replied, but Paul's reaction was not good. He cocked the gun and moved it slightly, he was ready to shoot.

Grace reacted immediately, anger surging through her body. She picked her gun up and aimed it straight at Jacobs. She knew this was going to be close, she didn't have a bit aiming spot, but she had no choice, everyone knew she had no choice. Lisbon and Cho turned round when they heard her and automatically moved out the way, they knew Grace was a good shot (they didn't believe she had the most guts until this moment) and she pressed the trigger.

The bullets seemed to move really slowly through the air, and everyone seemed to be watching them head towards Jacobs. Two of them, close together, but soon people realised they weren't quite heading in the same direction. Bullet number one hit Jacobs, hard, right in the centre of the chest and he was down leaving everyone relieved as his gun hit the floor. It took a second or two however, to see bullet number two hit Wayne Rigsby's lower neck and cause him to fall down. Everyone watched, frozen, as the tall agent fell down, holding his neck.