Expiration Date
chapter /1
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. Maura approaches Jane's condo door with bags of empty toxic waste evidence bags in her hand. After knocking on the door she hears a thud , she leans her ear to the door to try and figure out what was making the sound. She hears rustling then a big bang like a door being slammed shut. The door knob begins to rattle and then the door swings open . She sees a totally disheveled Jane adjusting her clothes and pushing her hair away from her face.
"Hey Maura."
"Jane did you forget I was coming over ?"
Jane adjusts her shirt more "No, no..well yeah I got caught up in something else." She motions for her to come in. "Now Maura , tell me again what it is you wanted to do today? And what are those toxic waste bags for, are we going to hide a body or something?"
Maura smiles knowing she is joking. Because Jane has been dreading letting her throw out all her expired food for over a week now.
"Now Jane you know I want to empty your place of everything that has expired. You promised I could do this for you."
Jane starts to come out of her daze "Oh yeah , yeah , yeah I know. I just forgot it was today. But really there isn't a lot that is expired in here."
Maura just chuckles as she heads pass Jane and walks towards the kitchen . Jane picks up the bags and walks in the kitchen . She sees Maura's head sticking inside her refrigerator.
"See everything is good in my fridge right?"
With her head still inside the fridge Maura starts throwing out behind her jars of expired condiments onto the floor. She is making disgusted sounds as she spots more expired bottles still inside.
Jane grabs one of Maura's bags and starts putting the thrown bottles and jars into the bag. She picks up a jar of Mar-mite and shakes her head no.
"No Maura not this, you gave this to me it's special. Here put it back?" Jane holds out the jar to her.
Maura turns and gives her a frustrated look. "In the bag Jane it's over 5 years old. You said you weren't going to fight me on throwing things away? I'll buy you a new jar of Mar-mite."
Jane drops it in the waste bag. She picks up a ketchup bottle, "Fine. But the ketchup stays." She hands it out to Maura.
Maura smiles "Okay but that is all that is staying. And only because it still is good for another 6 months. Why don't you start gathering all your cereal boxes together. I know they all must be expired ."
Jane whines "But Maura, I.."
Maura sternly looks at her and points to the bags for her to put them in. "You promised Jane."
Jane stomps her feet like a 5 year old over to her cereal boxes. She begrudgingly drops them one at a time into a bag.
Jane's phone vibrates she answers " Rizzoli. Yeah okay today? Well okay I'll be there as soon as I can . Yeah bye."
Maura turns to Jane "Work?"
Jane nods as she looks for her keys on the kitchen counter. "Yeah work, Korsak says Cavanaugh needs the paperwork on the last case we worked. He wants it today , can you believe that? I have it only half filled out. It's going to take me a few hours Maura. Oh crap! I forgot , would you mind walking Jo Friday for me?"
"No not at all. I can also finish here while your gone. It should go a lot faster without you here." Maura laughs.
Jane picks up her keys and starts walking out the door. She yells back "Not funny Maura. Don't throw out too much and leave my ketchup alone. Be back soon. Thanks for walking Jo for me."
Jane turns back as she realizes she forgot her gun. She unlocks a door in the hallway with a key . She walked in and walks out with her gun. Maura curiously watches as Jane adjust the holster on her hip.
Startled as she looks up seeing Maura watch her. She slams shut the door behind her as fast as she can then nervously Jane walks fast to the door .
"Bye again Maura."
Jane leaves as Maura stares at the hallway door that Jane had tried to close. She notices the door didn't shut all the way close because she saw a light coming from behind the door. Maura's curiosity gets the best of her and she walks over to the door.
Maura walks slowly like she's sneaking up to the door and peeks in. She had always thought it was a small hall closet. But she did wonder why Jane always kept the door locked. She thought maybe it was because it was where she put her gun and badge when she was home. But as she carefully opens the door she gets a surprise. This wasn't a small hall closet. It was more like a big walk-in closet almost as big as hers . There were hundreds of old books stacked up half way to the ceiling all along the walls. Maura places her hand on top one of the stacks of books and a orange colored highlighter marker fell to the floor. She bends down to pick it up and notices a cozy little makeshift bed with layers of blankets and pillows in the back of the closet with a laptop laying on it.
Maura stands up and sees a book open on one of the stacks. She goes over and picks it up . She sees a love poem is highlighted in orange in the book. She picks up the book underneath that book and flips through it finding another highlighted love poem. She looks through a half dozen of the books , they all have highlighted love quotes or poems.
Maura starts to feel guilty spying on Jane and places the books back just the way she had found them. But she can't seem to get herself to leave the closet just yet. She goes to the bed and sits down on it. She casually glances over to the laptop. She casually brushes her hand over it and the laptop screen comes on to what Jane had been looking at.
Jo Friday comes running in the closet hopping on Maura's lap.
"Oh hi Jo. I need to walk you don't I?" She stands up holding Jo but looking still at the computer screen. She can make out that it was on the Tumblr site. Maura laughs never thinking Jane would be on that site but is pleasantly surprised .
Maura looks at Jo "Let's not tell Jane I was in here okay Jo?" Jo barks Maura smiles "Good girl , now let's take you for a walk."
Maura feeling guilty still closes and locks the closet door behind her. She puts a leash on Jo and they go for a walk .
Jane comes back home . She has brought Chinese food for Maura and her dinner. She comes in and walks into the kitchen expecting Maura to be still working in there. But she looks around and there is no Maura. It doesn't even look like anything else had been put into the toxic waste bags. She sits the food down on the counter.
"Maura? Maura where are you?" Jane starts walking and looking around the condo. She sees the hallway closet door is ajar. Jane panics and opens the door. She sees Maura sitting comfortably petting Jo on the bed with one of her books in her hand reading it. Maura doesn't even look up at Jane.
Jane tries to play it cool and says " Hey I know the books look old but I don't think they have expired yet so don't throw those away okay?"
Maura holds up a finger to Jane trying to tell her to wait a second until she finishes reading the poem in the book in her hand.
"Maura? How'd you even get in here ? I locked this door."
Maura raises the finger up again. Jane hates to be ignored , she gets ready to yell but Jo jumps up and runs over to her.
Jane picks her up "Hey Jo how you doing? Did you go for a walk?"
Jo squirms and barks happily in Jane's arms. Jane gives up and goes and sits down next to Maura on the bed. She plays with Jo while Maura keeps reading the poems. Jane watches Maura as she is so focused on one of her books . Then Jo jumps on Jane with a little teddy bear she'd found in her mouth. Jane tries to grab it out of her mouth.
"No Jo Friday, not a toy. We've been through this before this is Tru and where is her little friend Blu? You had better not chewed up the little donkey? Jo let go !"
Jane wrestles it away from Jo and holds it up out of her reach.
"Here is this what you're looking for?" Maura holds out the little donkey and Jane takes it.
"Yeah it is, Frankie gave this to me when I got out of the academy, Tru & Blu." Jane smiles looking at the bear and donkey.
Jane stands up and places them back on the shelf in the special place she always kept them. She looks down at a guilty looking Maura looking back up at her.
"So , Maura you want to explain why you're in here?"
"I'm sorry Jane . I.. was curious , I just wanted to know what you were locking up in here..."
"Sorry to disappoint you, it's only books. I lock up my gun in here that's why it's always locked. Speaking of which, how did you get in here ?"
Maura hangs her head and answers "When you left you didn't shut the door all the way. I did lock it back when I took Jo for her walk though. But when we got back I needed to read more of these poems. So...I sorta picked the lock." Maura hangs her head feeling even more guilty.
Jane raises her hand over her mouth to hide her smile and tries to sound mad . She pulls out her handcuffs.
"You know I could arrest you for breaking and entering Maura?"
Maura looks up worried Jane was really mad enough to do it. But instead she saw Jane smiling and twirling the handcuffs on one finger.
Maura smiles relieved and teases Jane "You arrest me and I'll tell everyone your secret."
Jane tilts her head confused "Secret? What secret?"
"That you are a closet love poem reader."
Jane clutches her chest in mock horror "You wouldn't dare?"
Maura nods yes and they both start laughing.
"I brought us some Chinese for dinner, you hungry?"
"Oh sounds good yes."
They go into the kitchen and sit down to eat. Sitting in silence each trying to think of what they should ask the other about the closet situation. While eating they take turns sneaking peeks at the other to try to figure out what other is thinking.
Maura breaks the silence and asks "So who is she?"
Jane totally lost says "Who is who?"
"The woman you're in love with? The one all those poems and quotes are about? Do I know her?"
"What are you talking about ? What do you mean a woman? I'm not gay. I've never been with a woman before. I like reading those books , that's all."
"Okay you don't want to tell me fine. But everyone of those I read were clearly about loving a woman Jane. Not one was about a man. You know denial is present in the beginning of bi sexuality lifestyle that "
"Whoa whoa whoa Maura. I am not gay or in denial."
"Okay then can you explain why you are reading those books and highlighting them? Which you really shouldn't do. Highlighting the books lowers their value . I can help you get copies of them online so you won't need to highlight the books."
Jane frustrated sits and thinks . She gets an idea and stands up "C'mon show me what you read. Then maybe I can explain it to you."
Maura smiling stands up with her glass of wine in her hand. Jane grabs Maura's wine bottle and gets herself another beer. She walks to the closet with Maura close behind .
Jane walks in first and motions to Maura to sit down on the makeshift bed. Maura gets comfortable.
Jane still standing says "Okay tell me which book says I'm gay?"
Maura laughs "None of these say you're gay Jane. Come sit let me show you what I mean by the poem I was reading when you came in." Maura pats the space next to her.
Jane sits down and takes a long big drink from her beer and waits patiently.
Maura smiles as she takes a small sip of her wine. She looks over the poem in the book . She changes her mind and sits the book down and opens the laptop.
Jane did a spit-take when she saw her laptop "You were on my computer too? Maura why?"
Maura brings up her tumblr blog and points to it "Because I saw this. It clearly insinuates that you are in love with a woman. Here take this one for example. She felt like hot lightning flew from her fingertips as they touched my breasts. I urge her to"
Jane stops her and puts her hand over the laptop screen.
"Alright stop, stop, that's enough. And you're wrong that is not about sex. Well it is about sex but not really for me anyways."
Maura grins and shakes her head "Okay you're going to have to explain that to me. Because this one is definitely about sex to me."
Jane takes another long and big drink from her bottle of beer. She takes the laptop away from Maura and puts it in her own lap. She loudly clears her throat and stares at the computer screen and begins.
"Okay I guess you say it's sort of a form of escapism for me. You see when I go on that site my mind is calmed. Um , I'm not explaining this right...Can't you just take my word for it?" Jane nervously laughs.
Maura laughs and rubs
her hand up and down Jane's forearm trying to comfort her.
"Jane you are explaining just fine go on , please."
Jane inhales a deep breathe then exhales it . "Okay but don't look at me ."
Maura gives her a strange look. Jane nods and points at her smiling.
"Yeah like that look ,don't do it okay?"
"Jane, just tell me I'm not going to judge you no matter what you tell me."
Jane seeing how serious Maura is looking at her tries to make her laugh.
"Okay I wrote every single thing in here, And I'm going to quit being a detective and just write more for the rest of my life."
Maura studies Jane face to make sure she's not serious.
"Really Jane? I think that book over there says Robert Frost. Jane come on seriously talk to me."
Jane grins "Fine but no laughing and I'll take you up on the no judging too."
Maura nods as Jo crawls up in her lap. They both are silent and waiting for Jane to explain to them.
Jane leans back against the wall and adjusts a pillow behind her back. She then looks down watching her fingers . They starting to fidget with one another as Jane nervously begins. She picks up the first book Maura found and read.
"Alright , this is the one that started this little reading room. I was so stressed out about a case and couldn't relax. I got on my laptop and tried to find something anything to distract me. I read a e-mail from Giovanni of all people. He sent me a picture of a dog that looked exactly like Jo. The dog was playing with a big turtle that looked like Bass."
Maura can't help herself she interrupts to correct her. "Tortoise Jane not turtle."
Jane smiles and stares at Maura for second then continues.
"Okay Jo & Bass look a likes . Dog and turt ...tortoise playing together. I thought this was the cutest and most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen before."
"Oh I want to see that picture. Do you still have it?"
"Not the point Maura. I went to the source of the pic and it was tumblr." Jane looks over at Maura who had a sad look on her face. "Maura I'll show you the pic later okay. You want to hear the rest or not?"
Maura smiles at the thought of seeing the picture. But sees Jane's getting mad.
"Yes sorry Jane I really want to hear the rest please...and the picture later." Maura smiles up at Jane.
Jane shakes her head then gets serious. "I went on the site to see the picture. But I saw a quote above it. The one you were reading when I walked in here. I must have read that a thousand times. I know you say it's about sex. But it was more to me. I felt it, I mean the words were actually landing on and sinking into my skin all the way down to the bone. My mind actually was calm for the first time in weeks. It was reaffirming my belief in love which I had long ago had given up on ever finding. So I started viewing other quotes and poems on the site . I was finding amazing ones and having different reactions to each one."
Maura looks in awe at a Jane's reflective realizations of her discovery. "That sounds wonderful."
Happy that Maura wasn't looking at her like she was crazy, Jane excitedly starts again."It was , it was like all my demons took a break from fighting me and was using the site as their own playground to play in. And my angels joined the demons and they fought with each other to see who got to post what. And I got to sit back and watch . I got to watch them with the calmest most serene mind I'd ever had before in my life."
Maura's mouth drops open from just listening to her. But when Jane got a little self conscience she stopped . Maura sat up and took Jane's chin in her palm and said.
" That was beautiful way to look at it Jane, don't stop. Please tell me more."
Jane chuckled " Oh I know it's a little crazy. But it is the only thing that calms me after a tough case anymore. Well of course you have the same effect on me. But that goes without saying you know that right?"
Maura surprised quickly turns her head toward Jane and smiles sweetly "Really? No I didn't know I could have that kind of effect on you. I'm very flattered you feel that way."
Jane shyly drops her head and turns away to hide the blush appearing across her face.
Jane clears her throat softly "You want to know why I started this little collection of books in here?"
Maura smiles and scoots a little closer to Jane "Yes please."
Jane takes a sip of her beer, She then holds up the wine bottle "Need a refill?"
Maura holds out her glass and nods. Jane fills her glass and sits the bottle back down.
"Well , when we were working on the husband and wife murder suicide remember that?"
Maura shakes her head "Yes that was so awful."
"Yeah it was. At the crime scene was a few books. All were covered in their blood."
Maura shakes her head sadly remembering.
"There was one book that didn't have any blood on it. The book was opened to a page with a poem on it. I took a pic of it on my phone I was curious what it said. But I had to finish running the crime scene first. So after I got to the station I looked at the pic of the poem."
Excitedly Maura says "What did it say?"
Jane laughs "It was the poem you were just reading. I thought I was just imagining it . Or maybe I had taken a pic off the internet of the poem and got it mixed up with the crime scene pic. So I went down to evidence room to check the book."
Maura impatiently asks "And? Was it the same ?"
"I checked out the book and took it to the stairwell and sat down and began reading it. And yeah it was the very same poem I had read. But I felt even more with the book and pages on my finger tips. It didn't even matter it had come from a horrific crime scene . The words felt more real and meant more to me . So the next day I went to a used book store and bought that book. And every poem or quote I like I try to find and buy the book." Jane holds her hands out to show all the books she had bought. "And see what has happened." Jane stands up "Too much beer , I'll be right back." Jane leaves to go the bathroom.
Maura looks down at the poem Jane was talking about. She traces each word lovingly with her finger tips. She was amazed at how sensitive and self reflective Jane was getting to be because of these books. She closed her eyes and moved her fingers across the page and tried to picture what Jane had felt.
Maura was floating off thinking about her feelings for Jane. Maura was always slowly falling more and more in love with Jane . With every new aspect of Jane she would fall deeper in love. But today with all these books and feelings. Maura wanted to , no she knew she had to read them all. Because today at this exact moment she knew she had fallen madly, deeply , hopelessly in love with her so- called straight best friend Jane. Now she had to convince Jane there was an expiration date on her heterosexuality and as of today it is expired.
Jane came back in smiling and laughing holding one of the toxic waste bags in her hand. She sees Maura smirking as she reads the poem.
Jane holds up the bag that had a single roll of toilet tissue inside of it.
"Uh Maura I don't think toilet paper have expiration dates."
Maura looks up and joins Jane laughing. "No, no Jane it doesn't expire. I spilled bleach on it so I put it in the bag. Come sit I want to discuss something with you."
Jane sits down and teases Maura "Huh oh ! Am I in trouble. Does our friendship have an expiration date?"
Maura smiles tilts her head to the side "Sort of but I hope you won't mind."
"What of course I'd mind if we weren't best friends anymore. What the hell are you talking about?"
Maura feeling more courageous than she had ever felt in her life decides to take a chance. She leans over and places a soft tender kiss on Jane's very surprised lips.
After they break from the kiss the shocked and surprised Jane with her eyes still closed asks "So does this mean the other rolls of toilet paper aren't expired?"
Maura furrows her brow then laughs "Yes they are good."
Jane opens her eyes and her lips curl up into the most beautiful smile Maura had ever seen in her life.