NOMINATIONS: Best Beginning

[admin]

The Once Upon a Time Mango Jellie

This award goes to the Mentalist fic with the best beginning, where the author pulls you into the story with the opening words.

Each person can nominate up to two fics for this category. Please remember to include the title, author, rating and a link to the story. Also include and excerpt from the beginning in your nomination.

[lilsmiles]

Nominee: Another Stupid Love Song

Author: falling into heaven

Rating: K

Story: LINK HERE

Moment:

Lisbon glared at Patrick Jane. Stood there, his blonde hair brushed back hastily off his face. His blue eyes, twinkling with joy, creased at the corners, brimming with happiness. Happiness she never thought it was possible to have. She was furious, but his mood was infectious. She could feel warmth bubbling under her frosty exterior – not good when she was trying to reprimand him – once again – for disobeying orders.

Stupid happy-go-lucky psychic.

[cureless]

Nominee: 25 Departures

Author: YellowRosesAndHearts

Rating: K+

Story: LINK HERE

Moment:

Late-August, 2007

Jane was handsome.

It was an reasonable and clear observation, and it didn’t bother her to think it. Lisbon was a red-blooded, heterosexual female, and in some objective way it didn’t escape her that the new team consultant was attractive. He was wearing a gray suit and a matching vest, which was unusal in the California heat, but it seemed to fit into what she knew of the man. The charming smile and expensive-smelling cologne did not. According to Minelli, the man had an eerie ability to figure out incredibly private things about a person simply by observing them. It was this fact more than any other that made her uncomfortable to meet him.

He reached out and took her hand for a lingering shake in both of his; he looked for her eyes, and she gave them, albeit reluctantly. The way he looked into her face—wide-eyed and probing, seeming to absorb bits of her, was surprisingly and frighteningly intimate; there and gone in the next second, replaced by the dancing blue eyes.

He said his name was Jane, and there was a pause, in which she was probably supposed to give her name but didn’t, her voice somehow caught behind her teeth.

[PhoenixWytch]

Nominee: Super Powers

Author: CaterinaCarmela

Rating: T

Story: LINK HERE

Moment:

Teresa Lisbon had no idea that having a blind Patrick Jane would be way more complicated and trying than having one that could see. Her emotions were starting to play tricks on her, wanting her to feel sorry for him. She also really wanted to sit him down and have a long serious conversation with him just to make sure he was okay, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. After he had wanted to feel what her face felt like when she was smiling, the only thing she could think of was the way his lips would feel like against her own. Just the touch of his fingers had sent electricity surging through her body she could only imagine what his mouth could do.

[PhoenixWytch]

Nominee: You Mean Something

Author: NellietheItalianOne

Rating: T

Story: LINK HERE

Moment:

Sometimes taking down a suspect had consequences, like today for example. Lisbon had taken down a three hundred pound man using mainly the force of her right shoulder. That probably hadn't been her best idea ever. The ache that presented itself had started as a dull throb, more annoying than painful so she had ignored it and continued to work through the day unfazed. A few hours passed before it turned into an unpleasant sharp stabbing pain with every breath she took. Every small movement of her arm caused discomfort. Sitting upright proved to be an issue, as did walking around. Nothing was comfortable enough to ease the ache at all.

[Nellie]

Nominee: Stay Here Tonight

Author: CaterinaCarmela

Rating: T

Story: Link Me

Something was lingering in the air tonight, clouding judgement and blurring the lines of reality. Teresa Lisbon really should have left the CBI building alone, but she didn't. One man followed her out asking to talk and she had agreed. The look in his eyes showed her that this was something he needed to do, something serious. They'd taken separate cars to her place; parking only a space away from each other. No words were spoken on the way inside, usually none were needed but this was different. This was the first time he'd been invited into her home. The first few minutes after they'd walked through the door were awkward for her and he had teased. It was his way to break the ice -- so to speak -- to make things more comfortable for the long conversation that was about to ensue. She was grateful for the distraction even though it had caused her cheeks to flush bright pink. She'd told him to make himself comfortable while she went to get them drinks. The choice was water tonight, mainly because she didn't trust herself with anything else while he was there. When she had returned she found him with his head in his hands slumped over on her couch and jacket tossed in an unceremonious heap on the floor.

[tromana]

Nominee: Aftermath
Author: Hollow Nightmare
Rating: K
Link: Here

Moment:

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It's hard to tell whether the sound of the heart monitor is driving Lisbon or Jane more crazy. To Lisbon, it's the ticking of a clock, counting how long she's been here and drawing out time so that she feels she'll be stuck in here forever. To Jane, it is a constant reminder of just what happened that made her need to be in here, a reminder of her own frail mortality and the fact she had come this close to losing it.

"You're doing it again."

Cho's voice comes from somewhere off to the side, and both of them turn their heads to look at him. He's sitting in a hard plastic chair, the ankle of one foot resting on the knee of his other leg. There is an open book laying against his shin, but he's not reading it; he's looking at them with his typical blank expression.

"Doing what?"

Lisbon has always had a sort of raw voice, but now it's even hoarser than usual, and Jane grinds his teeth together.

"Glaring at an inanimate machine," continues Cho, deadpan.

Lisbon's face blanches. "Oh. Sorry," she says quietly, but there is a hint of a smile tugging at her lips.