Work Text:
They’d been searching for houses for three weeks when they finally chose a simple three bedroom home. They could have an at home office and a guest bedroom. After that it took a few weeks to finalize things before the house was officially theirs. During that time, they solved several cases, including a jewelry heist, a baseball murder and a high school reunion revenge story. During these weeks, Patrick didn’t obsess over Red John and instead put his focus into their future home and their work. His decision to not put all his energy into Red John wasn’t an easy one. He wanted to find the psychopath who killed his family, but he was creating a new family and that had to take priority.
In Patrick’s mind, the jewelry heist wasn’t very exciting, though he did have fun threatening the killer using a voice modulator. The baseball murder was also kind of boring, but the baseball to the head did bring a concerned Kimball and that was definitely nice to see. The memories that came to the surface, however, could have been long forgotten. The team knew he had faked being a psychic as an adult, but they didn’t know about Patrick’s childhood. He’d never intended to share that part of him with anyone ever again, but his relationship with Kim complicated things. He didn’t want any secrets between them and their pasts? Those were secrets they both kept.
The evening after the sports case wrapped up, they were sitting on the couch eating take out and watching a baseball game, well Kim was watching it, when Patrick decided to bring up the memories that were bothering him.
“Kim.”
“Yeah, Pat?”
“I’m a con man.”
That got Kim’s attention and he looked away from the game. “What?”
“I mean, I was a con man.”
“I know that.” Kim muted the TV and gave Patrick his full attention.
“Not just as an adult, but as a child.” Patrick didn’t stop to let that sink in, wanting to get it all out in the air before Kim made a judgement. “My father trained me to read people when I was a kid, and then had me use that skill to con people into thinking I was a psychic, or to manipulate people into giving us money.”
Patrick kept his eyes on Kimball the whole time he was speaking. He didn’t get any negative vibes off the man but Kim was harder to read than most people. “There was this one time, a girl and her grandmother came to us. The girl had cancer and my dad made up some story about how we had a magical crystal that could make the tumors disappear. I didn’t want to do this con, I cried and stormed out, but they saw it as me just being emotional about it and they bought it…I assume the girl died not much later.”
Kimball laid his hand on Patrick’s. “None of that is your fault, Pat.”
“How is it not? I couldn’t even stand up to my father and put a stop to it.”
“Sometimes family is all we have and being forced to choose between losing family or doing something they want us to do? That’s not an easy choice, especially for a kid. Your dad forced you into a terrible situation. It’s not your fault. It’s his.”
“I continued to con people well into my thirties. That is my fault.” Patrick felt an intense overwhelming guilt that had been haunting him for ages, one he thought he’d moved past.
“Maybe, but you stopped eventually, and now you’re making up for it by helping people every day.”
“Helping people now isn’t going to help the people I hurt in the past. That girl died, Kim.”
“She was likely going to die whether you sold her the crystal or not. That’s not on you.”
Patrick knew Kim was right, but that didn’t ease the guilt that those memories brought up. Patrick leaned into Kim and the man pulled Pat into his arms. He didn’t fight it anymore and let the guilt overcome him.
“How can I help, Pat?” Kim asked.
“Don’t leave me.” Patrick held tightly onto Kim’s shirt.
“Never.”
“Jane’s been taken.”
“What?” Kimball’s brain short circuited.
“Jane was taken by Jasper.”
“You’re never going out for tacos without me again.” Kim told Patrick as he uncuffed the man from the chair in the cabin Jasper had taken the blonde.
“Deal.”
Kim helped Pat to his feet and gave him a once over, checking for injuries. They didn’t hug, as they were at a crime scene and it wasn’t anyone else’s business. But once the two of them were in Kim’s SUV, alone, Kim grabbed Pat’s hand. Patrick squeezed back.
Two days after Jane’s small kidnapping, it was move in day. Patrick had easily conned the team into helping out with the move. Patrick was directing Lisbon and Van Pelt on where to put the boxes and Kim and Rigsby were taking care of the furniture. It was a good thing Kim was actually organized and labelled all the boxes.
“And why are we carrying all the boxes while you stand there?” Lisbon asked. She set down the final box for the kitchen on the tile floor and turned to raise an eyebrow at Patrick.
Patrick smiled. “I’m not merely standing here, I’m directing you all on where the stuff goes.”
“All the boxes are labeled, we don’t need you directing us. Come on, you’re grabbing a box.” Lisbon and Van Pelt dragged Patrick outside and to the moving van.
Patrick pouted but grabbed the lightest box from the top of the pile.
It was in the afterglow of them breaking in their new bedroom that Kim’s phone rang, ruining the glow.
Patrick pulled Kim closer. “Don’t answer it.”
“It could be work.”
“Or we could do round two.” Patrick trailed kisses down Kim’s neck. He took it as a small win when Kim hesitated before reaching for his phone.
“Cho,” Kim answered.
Patrick didn’t listen to what Kim said, continuing to tease Kim with kisses and licks. He only stopped when Kim gently pushed him away and sat up. “What’s the address?…I’ll be there.” He hung up and climbed out of bed.
“Duty calls?”
“There’s a homicide in Oakland. They want help with an ID.” Kim started getting dressed.
“You’re going to abandon me, naked and willing, for a corpse? In Oakland?”
“Pat…” He hesitated again. “Job’s a job.”
Patrick was surprised Kim didn’t open up to him about what was going on immediately. But he wasn’t going to be thrown by that. He climbed out of bed and grabbed his own clothes. “I’ll come with you.”
“No. I’ll do this alone.”
Patrick didn’t stop getting dressed. He wasn’t going to back down on this. If this was important enough for Kim to leave him in bed like that, it was important enough for him to help his partner.
“Tell me about your time with the Playboys.” Patrick was sitting on the couch in their living room. Kim was knelt down by a bookcase, unpacking a box of books onto the shelves.
“Pat, Lisbon told us to drop the case. David was killed by the Playboys. Let’s just forget it.”
“I’m not asking because of the case. I’m asking because it’s your past and I want to know everything about you.”
Kim stopped unpacking and looked over at Patrick. “You really want to know about it?”
“As I said, I want to know everything about you.” Patrick said, and meant every word. He watched as Kim stood up and then sat down next to him on the couch. Pat moved in close and leaned against his lover.
“Well I joined when I was young, left when I was 18 and joined the army.”
They both jumped as the front door was kicked in. Two men entered in black masks with guns pointed at them. Patrick stared in shock as Kim moved between him and the intruders.
“Hey! Take it easy!” Kim stated.
“Shut up!” One guy grabbed Kim, the other Pat and dragged them to the ground.
“Kim,” Patrick mumbled. He watched Kim struggle as his hands were zip tied behind his back.
“Stay away from him!” Kim shouted. “Back off!”
“Stay out of Playboy business.” The man holding Pat down threatened then he let go of Patrick’s arms. Before Pat could react the man punched him in the face. Then punched him again. There was nothing Patrick could do but take the punches and then the kicks as the man beat him for what felt like forever. All Patrick could do was notice that Kim had gone silent.
Patrick was irritated that he couldn’t physically be there to help Kimball with the case. He also hated that Kimball hadn’t been to see him in the hospital and he hadn’t been home since he stormed off with Rigsby to chase down the Playboys. But he was glad they had half a mind to call him when they couldn’t figure it out. He explained Occam’s razor to them and helped them out with a plan. Then he waited. Alone.
Kimball took a deep breath before inserting his key into the new lock of his new home - Lisbon had the door repaired right after the incident. He had caught the guy who killed David and beaten Pat. He should be thrilled, but he wasn’t. He felt terrible. He still had to face Pat after abandoning the guy for over 24 hours after he’d been beaten in their home. He unlocked the door and headed inside. “Pat,” he called out, not wanting to startle Patrick after their recent home invasion.
There wasn’t a response, so Kim headed through the entry and living room and walked down the hall towards their bedroom. Pat limped out of their room before Kimball could reach it. “Pat.”
“Catch David’s killer?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” Pat limped past Kim and headed towards the kitchen.
“Pat, you should lay down.” His guilt skyrocketed at seeing Patrick hurting.
“I’ve been laying down all day. I’m hungry and I’d like you to cook me dinner.”
“Okay. I can do that.” He followed Patrick into the kitchen. His lover leaned against the counter as he searched the fridge for something to make.
There were several long, quiet minutes as Kimball made them tea and then started making dinner as requested. When Kimball handed Patrick his tea, their fingers brushed for a moment longer than necessary and Kimball let himself breathe a little. Maybe Patrick wasn’t mad.
“What did the doctors say?” Kimball eventually asked.
“Lots of bruising, a broken rib. Nothing that won’t heal on its own.”
“Okay.” Kimball let the food cook on the stove and glanced over at Patrick. His partner was watching him intently. “Pat…”
“Are you going to apologize?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“For putting work first.”
“Don’t apologize for that. You went after the guy who did this to me. I’m not mad at that.”
“But you are mad?” Maybe Kimball had misread it.
“I’m not mad. I’m more frustrated that you didn’t wait until after I was out of the hospital to go after my assailant. I should have been by your side for this whole thing. I know losing David was hard for you.”
“Watching you get assaulted in front of me was hard for me. David’s loss hurts, but not like watching that did. I had to take down whomever did that to you…because if they had been real Playboys, you’d’ve been dead.”
“Maybe, but I’m gonna be fine.”
“I know.”
“Good.” Patrick smiled for the first time that evening. “Now lets eat then go to bed. The only thing I want right now is to fall asleep next to you.”
“I think we can manage that.” Kimball shut off the heat on the stove before leaning in to kiss Patrick. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”