Teaching A Lesson

Summary: Set during the first season. Jane does a lot of seriously questionable and outright dangerous things to solve his cases. Eventually, Cho takes issue with that
Warning(s): Spanking; major spoilers for season one of The Mentalist; references to violence and murder; references to canon character death; AU
Pairing: Kimball Cho/Patrick Jane
Author's Note: I started rewatching The Mentalist after finding it available for free on Amazon Prime. Since Patrick Jane has a very similar mode of operation to Malcolm Bright from Prodigal Son, I figure he needs someone to rein him in as well. Cho just seems like one of the better options

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"We need to talk."

Jane opened his eyes and peered at Cho, who was standing over him. The man's face was as calm as ever; his body language giving very little away. Except it was slightly more tense than it normally was. And of all the team members likely to confront him about things he'd done or his beliefs, Cho was fairly low down on the list. Which meant that something had pissed him off. "Uh-oh," he said dryly. "What did I do to poke the hornet nest?"

Cho's face didn't change. His eyes remained fixed on Jane's face as he said, "We should talk in private."

"What's wrong with right here?" Figuring he wasn't going to get any proper rest, even the tiny amount he could manage at the office, Jane sat up slowly.

"It's not private enough."

Jane looked at Cho, into his eyes, for a few moments before he finally nodded. "Okay. I'm flattered, that you want to get me alone. Of course, I'd prefer it if you'd buy me dinner first...." He waited, but when Cho didn't so much as crack a smile, he snorted. "Tough crowd." He gestured ahead of them. "Lead the way."

Cho shook his head, but didn't put voice to whatever thoughts were going through his mind. Instead, he turned and began to lead the way, heading towards and into one of the interrogation rooms, closing the door behind him and Jane.

Jane raised his eyebrows and walked over to the mirror, peering through it as if he could see to the other side. "Interrogation room, huh? Are you arresting me for something?"

"You should sit down."

Jane turned away from the mirror and focused on Cho. "You're angry about something," he observed. "Something I've done. Which is odd, since I haven't done anything to you. Not specifically, anyway. Unless you're acting on someone else's behalf. Lisbon, perhaps?" He gave a disarming smile. "Of course, Lisbon would tell me herself if she had a problem with me. And you wouldn't bother acting on behalf of someone else, so...what problem do you have with me?"

"Are you going to sit down?" Cho asked.

"I'd rather stand." Jane shrugged. "So are you going to tell me why you're angry? Or do we need to play twenty questions?"

"Why do you put yourself in dangerous situations every case we have?" Cho asked directly.

There wasn't much that surprised Jane. In fact, there was very little that surprised Jane, let alone enough to make him temporarily speechless. Cho's words did that, though, and all he could do was stare at the other man.

Cho waited for a few seconds before he continued speaking. "I know you don't have a death wish. You value your quest for vengeance too much to throw your life away. So what's going on?"

By that point, Jane had found his voice. He deflected with, "Maybe I just don't care if I live or die." That had been the truth, once upon a time. Right after Red John had murdered his wife and daughter, before his need for revenge had consumed him.

"You're reckless," Cho said. "But you aren't stupid. And if you were dead, you wouldn't be able to catch Red John."

"I wouldn't be able to kill Red John." Jane had already said the words to Lisbon, that he intended to kill the person who'd destroyed his life. He figured he should make sure there were no doubts on the table about his intentions. They'd try to stop him, of course. But nothing was going to stand between him and the inevitable confrontation with Red John.

Cho nodded. If he was surprised by the response, he didn't show it. Instead, he said, "You can't do any of those things if you end up getting yourself killed."

"I didn't know you cared." Jane smiled.

Cho stared at him for a few moments before he said, "You're one of my colleagues, Jane. More than that, I'd say that you're a friend. And as a friend...."

"You're about to give me some hard truths. About how my family wouldn't want me to throw away my life. You're good, Cho," Jane allowed. "But you can't tell me anything that I haven't already told myself. Though I must say I'm surprised you're not trying to talk me out of claiming my vengeance," he added. "Lisbon believes she can stop me from killing Red John. You're not even going to try. That's interesting."

Cho waited a few seconds after Jane had finished talking before he said, "You're deflecting."

Jane shrugged. "Maybe." He cast a glance towards the mirror. "So is the rest of the team on the other side? Is this going to be some kind of intervention?"

"It's just me." Cho took a step closer to Jane as he spoke. "If an intervention was likely to work, Lisbon would have organised one for you long ago. And I know that just talking to you isn't going to do any good. But that's okay, because I'm not planning to do much talking."

"Really? Because you've been doing an awful lot of talking."

"I'm going to punish you," Cho said.

Jane laughed. He couldn't help it. "Congratulations, Cho. It takes a lot to surprise me...to come out with something I'm not expecting. Somehow, you've done that." He eyed the other man, keeping his own body relaxed. "Just say I let you get the drop on me...let you...how did you plan on punishing me?"

"I'm going to spank you," Cho said, simple and direct.

Once again, Jane laughed. He couldn't help it. It wasn't that he found the situation funny, far from it. It was just that laughing was the only way he could truly respond to what was being said. He didn't laugh for long, though, before he asked, "And what's your plan to get me to submit to this? To agree to you...spanking me? You've got to admit, it is a little unorthodox."

"In that case, it should be perfect for you," Cho said. "You're all about unorthodox."

"True," Jane allowed. "But you're not. So I'm curious about who put this idea in your head. Who thought I deserved a spanking...and more to the point, who thought you should be the one to do it?" He moved a bit closer to Cho. "Was it Lisbon? Minelli?"

Cho was silent for a few moments, just standing there, before he finally said, "No one suggested I use spanking on you. No one else knows about it. I looked it up."

Jane raised his eyebrows. "You looked up how to control a wayward consultant?"

"I looked up how to half the self-destructive path someone you care about is on."

Jane paused at the response, which was a little more honest than he was expecting. There was no real reason to disbelieve Cho. The other man wasn't really prone to lying. Which meant that Cho was serious in his spanking idea. It also meant that the other man was serious about caring for him. If Jane was honest, that made him feel good. Knowing that he was cared about was a good feeling.

Was he seriously considering letting Cho carry out his idea?

"How are you planning on doing this?" Jane asked finally. "Not to say that I'm agreeing to this, of course. But if I did, how would you intend to...spank me?" Somehow, saying the word was more awkward than he'd thought it would be. He'd nearly stumbled over it.

"I think here will work as well as anywhere else," Cho answered. "There's no one on the other side of that window, and no one's likely to be coming in here for a little while."

"Unless there's a case and they need the room to interview a suspect...though if that was the case, we'd be involved too," Jane allowed. "So we've got the location covered. How are you planning to do it? To...spank me?" Once again, there was that slight stumbling over the word. And he hadn't missed the fact he wasn't speaking of this as a hypothetical.

"This is the first time, so I don't think there's any need to use an implement or make the spanking otherwise more severe," Cho said. "What I'll do is sit down on the chair. You will lay across my lap. I will bare you. And then I will spank your bare backside until I feel I've got through to you. At least for now."

"For now? So this isn't going to be a one-time thing?" Jane asked.

"No." Cho kept eye contact with him as he continued, "I doubt very much that your behaviour will change after just one punishment. So I expect it will need to be repeated in the future."

"And you're doing this because you care about me." It was a statement, not a question.

"I am," Cho confirmed. "I care about you."

"Okay." Jane didn't know why he was agreeing to this and not telling Cho to back off. Of course, he would never have said words to that effect. He knew what buttons to push to make Cho back off. And if that failed, he could have called Lisbon in. He didn't even need to tell her what was going on, since he had no doubts that Cho would back off as soon as she was there.

But he wanted to see how far Cho would take this.

Cho looked at him, almost studying him, for several long moments before he nodded. He walked over to the table and pulled one of the chairs out, then sat down with his legs spread slightly apart. He took a deep breath and then ordered, "Come here."

"You've been practising this." Jane couldn't help the slight teasing note in his voice, even as he walked over to stand by Cho's side. "Do you want me to take these down? Or do you want to do it?" He indicated his pants.

"I'm not sure you're taking this seriously."

"Oh, believe me. I'm taking this very seriously." Jane waited a beat, but when Cho didn't say anything, he figured the other man hadn't thought things out this far; that he hadn't truly expected Jane to agree to this, deep down in his subconscious. So he figured he'd make it easier on the other man. He unfastened his own pants, so that Cho wouldn't have any trouble taking them down, and then leaned forward, positioning himself over the other man's lap.

Almost hesitantly, Cho's hand came to rest on Jane's lower back. He rubbed gently for a few moments, then moved his hand a bit lower and hooked his fingers in the waistband of Jane's pants, easing them down over his backside. He pushed them down to Jane's knees, then followed them with his boxers.

Breathing in deeply, surprised by how exposed and vulnerable he felt, Jane allowed himself to slump over Cho's lap. He'd agreed to this, and almost been in control of it...right up until the point of Cho baring him. Now, it was as if he was choosing to give up that control to the other man; choosing to submit to him.

This felt like it had taken a much more serious turn now.

Cho cleared his throat, hand resting on Jane's lower back and rubbing gently. "This spanking is for putting yourself in danger. For taking actions you know are unnecessary. You can't be officially punished by the department...and the only other way to force you to stop taking chances would be to stop you working with the CBI. And I know you need this job."

Jane might have tried to argue that...to protest, even if he knew Cho was right. But then Cho's hand left his back and landed in the first firm smack at the crest of his backside.

Even though he'd been expecting it, the first smack to bared skin caught Jane by surprise. He had to breathe in deeply, otherwise he might have yelped at the force Cho had put behind the swat.

Cho paused. It was only for a second, but long enough for Jane to wonder if Cho thought he'd made a mistake in suggesting this. Long enough for Jane to wonder if he'd made a mistake in agreeing to this. They were both hovering at the very edge, where either or both could put a stop to this. It would be easy for Jane to say that he'd changed his mind...and he knew that Cho would respect that decision. He suspected that was the reason the other man hesitated in continuing the spanking.

Breathing in deeply, Jane reached down and wrapped his hand around Cho's ankle. It was a small act, but he knew it would serve his purpose: it would let Cho know that it was okay to continue.

Cho didn't say anything. He didn't need to. He could understand what Jane was telling him. His other hand came to rest on Jane's lower back, even as he began to swat hard in earnest...covering every inch of Jane's backside, from the crest down to mid-thigh, in stinging swats.

Despite his intention to submit to the spanking, especially since it was being done because Cho cared about him, Jane couldn't help but begin to shift slightly, especially when Cho's hand delivered sharp swats to his thighs.

Once the first circuit of swats was finished, Cho began again from the top...and Jane's squirming became more pronounced as skin that had already received attention was smacked. He breathed deeply, his fingers flexing on Cho's ankle as he fought against his body's natural urges to try and get away from the stinging, burning pain of this punishment.

He'd agreed to this. He wasn't going to resist the spanking, even though it hurt. But his body had other ideas, beginning to twist and squirm in response to the stinging pain as it built.

In response to his squirming, Cho wrapped his arm around Jane's waist, pulling him close and tight against his stomach. He finished the second circuit of swats and began a third, going a fraction harder and faster. And then he began to talk, using the swats as an emphasis for what he was saying. "I know how important it is to you to find Red John. Even if you'd rather see him dead than in prison for the rest of his life, you're too smart to risk letting him go free because you went and got yourself killed taking a dangerous, unnecessary chance on a case."

"I wouldn't...exactly say they're unnecessary chances...!" The protest burst out of Jane before he could help it.

"Why are you doing it?" Cho asked directly. "Why take so many chances, when you could just as easily solve the cases without putting yourself in so much danger?"

Jane swallowed hard. The spanking stung, but it wasn't really unberable pain. He'd experienced worse, much worse, when he'd returned home to find his wife and daughter murdered by Red John. Spanking was barely a blip on the pain scale when compared to that kind of pain.

The spanking wasn't what was bringing his emotions to the surface. It was what Cho was saying to him. Hearing the care and concern in the other man's voice and knowing that Cho was doing this because he was worried? It was enough to break down Jane's defences. It was enough to bring the first tears to his eyes.

He'd agreed to this because Cho had been obviously worried, and because the other man had made it clear he cared about him. But he hadn't been expecting his emotions to lurk so close to the surface. He hadn't expected the very act of submitting to another person, to trusting another person to physically punish him, to cause him to begin to tear up...to react like this.

He hadn't cried since losing his family.

Jane's grip tightened on Cho's ankle. He was no longer holding onto the other man as an act of submission, to prove that he was okay with Cho taking this kind of control. Now, he was holding on because he needed to hold onto something. "I wasn't a good man!" The admittance burst out of him like a confession. Saying the words caused some of that iron control he had over himself to loosen its grip, and a harsh sob escaped his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut and breathed in deeply, not wanting to risk losing anymore control over himself.

Cho was quiet for a few moments, the only sounds in the room that of his bare hand connecting with Jane's bare backside; of Jane's wet, hitched breathing. When he spoke finally, it wasn't with a denial. "You weren't," he agreed. "But you learned from your past mistakes. You chose to join the CBI as a consultant, to catch murderers. That's something you're good at. And that makes you a good person now."

Jane swallowed hard. Somehow, even though his bottom was stinging and burning, Cho's words were having more of an impact on his emotions than the pain from the spanking was. More tears were slipping out of his eyes, running down his cheeks. As another sob was torn from his throat, he reached back with the hand that wasn't holding onto Cho's ankle. He put his hand over his backside, but it wasn't about trying to stop the punishment.

He just felt lost, out of control, without an anchor.

Cho took hold of his hand, moving it away from his bottom and pinning it against Jane's back, holding it there as he began to smack harder and faster, directing more to Jane's sit spots and the tops of his thighs...right where he'd feel it the most when he sat down for the rest of the day.

After a final flurry of smacks to those sensitive spots, Cho stopped spanking. He gently squeezed Jane's hand, then pulled his clothing back into place. Letting go of Jane's hand, he then helped him to his feet and stood up as well, wrapping his arms around Jane and just holding on.

Tears still falling down his cheeks, Jane wrapped his own arms around Cho tight in return and just held on. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was snuggling. His emotions felt raw and all over the place. He didn't feel calm and in control of himself at the moment.

Jane didn't know how long he stood there for, holding onto Cho and being held in return. It was long enough for the stinging ache in his backside to fade until it was just uncomfortable; long enough for the tears to dry on his face. It was long enough for him to realise he felt...comfortable, at peace. Like some kind of great weight had been lifted from his heart. It couldn't last, of course. The grief and guilt that were his constant companions would return soon to consume him.

But thanks to Cho, he had a temporary peace. And that was the only reason he could give for leaning in and kissing Cho full on the lips.

Cho stiffened against him, tense with surprise, but he didn't pull away. Instead, almost hesitantly, his own arms wrapped around Jane's waist. He leaned in, angling his head enough to return the kiss, deepening it. He pushed his tongue against Jane's lips and Jane opened his mouth automatically, allowing the other man to push his tongue inside to explore there.

Jane wasn't sure how long they stood there for, kissing Cho and being kissed in return. He hadn't ever been with anyone since his wife had died; hadn't thought about it, to be honest, even after making that bet with Rigsby. That had been about catching a murderer, after all, rather than wanting to move forward with someone else. Besides, he'd pushed Rigsby into making that bet. It had been easy to know who Rigsby would make the bet about, of course.

But even though he'd never considered being in a relationship with anyone else before...had never allowed himself to be this physically close to anyone else before...Jane couldn't help the need to be physically close to Cho. He pressed himself against the other man, feeling parts of his body stirring that had felt dead for so long.

And then he caught sight of the wedding ring he still wore.

Slowly, Jane pulled away from the kiss, letting his hands drop from Cho's body. He took a deep breath, his tongue touching his lips. He could still taste the other man there, and while a part of him wanted to move forward, back into the other man's arms, and see where things went...he couldn't bring himself to do that. It wouldn't be fair to Cho, if he let things progress without being sure of what he really wanted. "I'm sorry," he said out loud. He could have turned it into a joke...treated it like it was much less serious than it actually was. But Cho deserved to have Jane treat this situation seriously, instead of being blown off.

"Okay," Cho said quietly. "It's okay. Emotions are running high. Things happen. We don't need to talk about that anymore."

"You're a good man, Cho." Jane said the words with feeling. "I understand why you're worried. And I'll do my best to keep the dangerous behaviour to a minimum." It was all he could realistically promise to do. He was relieved that Cho didn't push him to explain why he'd pulled away from the kiss, especially since Jane was the one to initiate it.

"I'd appreciate that," Cho replied. "I'm sure we all would."

"But you're the only one who'll spank me for taking dangerous risks." Jane smiled. He reached back and rubbed his bottom without giving it much thought. When he realised what he was doing, he didn't stop it. After all, Cho needed to know the spanking had had an effect on him. "I appreciate it," he added, allowing a more serious note to slip into his voice.

For a brief second, a surprised look passed over Cho's face.

"Why are you surprised?" Jane asked.

"I guess I wasn't expecting you to be appreciative," Cho admitted. "I thought you might punch me."

"That's not really my style." Not that Jane needed to say those words, of course. By now, Cho knew him well enough to know what was more like him...and what wasn't. "But I do appreciate it," he added. "I appreciate you caring about me. About wanting to keep me safe. And now, I have much more respect for your right arm," he added ruefully.

"And I hope you'll remember it," Cho said. "Because I'm serious. I don't see this as something I only need to do once."

"I understand." Jane took a step back from Cho. He had to, otherwise he might have been tempted to move closer; to continue what he'd already started. And that wasn't fair to either of them. He couldn't move closer, so he stepped away instead. He could still taste Cho on his lips. He thought perhaps it would linger for a while.

Cho stood from the chair and nodded. "I'm glad you understand. Because I think I speak for the whole team when I say that we don't want to lose you because you do something dangerous without thinking it through." He walked over towards the door.

"Do you think we'll get a case today?" Jane quickly moved to catch up with Cho, so that they could leave the room together.

"Maybe." As he answered the question, Cho paused in the act of reaching for the door handle and looked seriously at Jane. "I really hope that, if we do, this spanking will linger in your mind enough to make you stay safe at least for the rest of today."

"Yeah. That's the plan." Jane smiled and took a step back, allowing Cho to open the door before he followed the other man out into the corridor.

Somehow, despite everything, he felt much more at peace than he had done only this morning.

The End