NOMINATIONS: Best Dramatic Moment

[admin]

The Heart-Pounding Pineapple Jellie

This award goes to the Mentalist fic with the best dramatic moment, where Jane encounters Red John or any other tense situation any character may find themselves in.

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 a brief description of the moment in your nomination.

[lilsmiles]

Nominee: Choices in Blood

Author: brwneyes1324

Rating: T

Story: LINK HERE

Moment:

“Freeze!” a strong female voice demanded. Lisbon stepped out of the shadows behind Jane, Cho a step behind her. To either side of Red John, Rigsby and Van Pelt moved out, guns aimed and ready. The CBI agents fanned around their target, blocking all avenues of escape. Red John snarled as he realized he was surrounded. Jane felt a cold smile form on his lips as he stared at the man who had taken everything from him.

“Drop the knife,” Lisbon said in false calm, her eyes darting between Red John and Patrick Jane. Jane stood stiffly and didn’t move, glaring with cold fury at the serial killer. Red John seemed to only have eyes for Jane, and Lisbon felt the potential for disaster in the air crawl along her skin. Lisbon felt a pulse of terror when she realized just how close Jane was to the mad man. Too close.

[tromana]

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

Moment:

He tries not to think about the last few weeks, but he has never been particularly good at dealing with memories. Moments come back to him in flashes that he wishes he could shut out; little details that he wishes he could ignore. The gun in the attackers hand, his finger poised on the trigger, shaking but determined. The hard rope securing Lisbon's hands and feet to the chair, and the fear on her face. The blast from the gunshot, and the sound of his own voice, nearly unrecognizable with panic. The blood - the blood - everywhere, pooling on the floor beneath her, soaking her clothes and his hands, warm and wet and sickening. The ashen pallor of her face, her bloodless lips and faint, thready pulse -

No.

He screws his eyes shut to force the images out. He never thought anything would ever compare, but somehow these memories are just as bad as the ones Red John has given him. He's not entirely sure what that means.

[diviniaserit]

Nominee: In Nomine
Author: Kalistrata
Rating: M
Link: LINK HERE

I don't want to quote too much and give it away, so here's a little taste!

“Lisbon!” Jane panted as he tried to escape, to come help her. She was facing him, could see him, she realized. Sorry, Jane. Patrick. Sorry I got us killed, she thought as she held his blue eyes with hers, briefly. Her body relaxed at the sight of him, despite his agonized expression. She couldn’t fight it.

Teresa Lisbon gave up. She released herself to the black, and it slowly closed in on her vision.

Monaghan shoved her head back to the floor, the harsh impact stunning her.

“Lisbon! Teresa!” Jane’s voice was as panicked as she thought she’d ever heard. He was distant now. Goodbye, Patrick Jane.

[lilsmiles]

Nominee: For the Living

Author: Broedy

Rating: T

Story: LINK HERE

Moment:

Lassiter frowned. "You mean you're still hunting the son of a b**** who did this?"

"Yes."

"And when does it stop, Patrick?"

Jane's expression was impenetrable. "When Red John is caught and I've killed him."

"And then what?" Lassiter threw up his hands. "You spend the rest of your life in jail? Or you get locked up in some loony bin again?"

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that he will have paid for what he did."

"The rest is your punishment, is that it?"

Jane looked down at the table.

"You… You're an idiot, you know that? An egotistical, self-centered, self-pitying idiot. Do you really think that's what my girl would have wanted? To see you like this? Well, listen here, boy-o. I knew her a lot longer than you did and I loved her too. She never would have wanted this."

Jane's fist came down heavily on the wooden tabletop. "What do you want from me?" he asked in a low, deadly tone.

[tromana]

Nominee: The Call of Duty
Author: Ebony10
Rating: T
Link: HERE

Moment:

Merkowitz finally lost control and charged at Jane, forgetting his gun in his rage. His immediate anger brought on a more primal urge to hurt Jane with his bare hands. Lisbon, ignoring her injuries, tackled him. Jane started forward anxiously only to see Lisbon skid across the floor and Merkowitz hop up, gun moving frenetically between Jane and Lisbon. Jane stepped toward his battered friend and carefully, slowly, helped her up. She felt small beneath his hands and he worried about where to hold her so he wouldn't hurt her further. There was deep-seated rage in his gaze as he watched Merkowitz—along with an insolence that almost dared the crazed man to use his weapon.

“None of you understand. None! It wasn't supposed to turn out like this. Life wasn't supposed to turn out like this.” The words spilled from Merkowitz in an emotional tumble. Lisbon watched him.

“It never is,” she agreed solemnly. Both men looked at her and it was the hint of understanding on her face that pushed Merkowitz over the edge.

Growling, incensed that she would pretend to care, his finger moved to pull the trigger. A shot rang out before Jane could grab Lisbon's arm to push her to the ground underneath him. The three figures froze. Jane frantically looked Lisbon over, but she met his gaze reassuringly. He sighed. “Thank God.”

“Who?” Lisbon teased tiredly, quietly. Jane made a face at her.

“Figure of speech.”

A gurgling sound brought them out of their world. Merkowitz seemed suspended in air, shocked at the blood that poured from his torso. And then many things happened at once.

Merkowitz started falling to the ground and Jane turned his head to see officials heading toward the bank entrance, ready to swarm the place. Turning back to the scene in the interior, he saw the gun slip from Merkowitz's hand and cringed.

Lisbon had told him time and again that dropped guns were always a hazard. For the first time in a long time, he prayed to anyone who would listen that it wouldn't go off as it hit the ground.

Jane figured there wasn't a God because a second gunshot rang through the air and he felt Lisbon jerk back as if she were a puppet being tugged by a string.

It was all he could do to catch her body and ease her slowly to the floor. Dimly, he registered the cops swarming and the call for paramedics (they would need two gurneys now). The crunch of broken glass underneath their feet as they entered. The static of the walkie talkie as Emily called out for her brother. The fragility of Lisbon's small body against the cool floor of the bank.

[admin]

Nominee: Blood Red

Author: EmmaLeigh7

Rating: K+

Story: LINK HERE

Moment:

The sniper team was set up in a building across the street. They were getting a line on Jane every so often, and if need be they could take him out. Lisbon had hated calling them, but what else could she do? When Jane had offered the choice of ‘Grace, or Red John’ he had forced her to have to decide another question: Jane or Van Pelt? The answer, analytically, was obvious. Jane was out of control and would likely spend the rest of his life either in jail or in a mental institution. Just because it made sense didn’t make it easy. She felt like she might as well be the one pulling the trigger.

Michael Masters, the sheriff, was now trying to negotiate with Jane.

“Listen, Mr. Jane. This isn’t worth throwing your life away on. Surrender now, and you’ll be in a mental hospital for a few years, then you can be free again. This guy probably isn’t even the real Red John, in fact, I highly doubt it. There’s lots of evidence pointing to the contrary.”

“No! I know it, and you are going to bring him to me, or Van Pelt dies!” he yelled, waving the gun in her direction, looking even more maddened than before.