Title: Just Before
Fandom: The Mentalist
Rating: K
Length: 100 words
Content notes: Spoilers up to and including Violets
Author notes: Title taken from the list of earring names by elisem
Summary: Her eyes light up now...he should have been the one to make them do that.

Just Before

Her eyes light up now, in a way they haven’t since before Red John and before he left and before the world crashed down around them. He should be the one to make them do that, the one that makes her eyes wrinkle at the corner when she smiles a real true smile. But he’s not. He waited too long, took too long to decide. Now it’s someone else who’s making her eyes sparkle and her face glow. He wants to be happy for her, wants her to be carefree. But he can’t help but think it should be him.