A little Truth or Dare story—just for fun! Jane learns a few things about Maura and then a few things about herself. May be a one-shot, maybe not. It's going to be up to the reviewers.
Disclaimer: Again, I own just but a few things—a car and some chocolates. TNT and the writers own the girls we write about.
Finally, it was Friday. The week had been long and hard for the staff of the BPD, the only case came at the end of the week-a murder/suicide. Before they had caught that open/shut case, they were assigned cold cases that about caused murder in the homicide squad room. The captain too the rest of the week off and Korsak wouldn't let them cut corners or slack off. Friday afternoon brought all of the detectives waiting for the clock to strike five. Jane felt like she was back in high school.
Maura and Jane walked into the Robber and made their way to a booth in the back amidst fellow officers calling their greetings to the two. Everyone's mood was bordering on ecstatic hysteria. Jane laughed as she flopped into the booth and opened a menu.
"What's so funny?" Maura asked, opening her own menu and keeping her eyes on Jane.
Jane kept her eyes on the menu, mentally preparing the congratulatory feast she was about to order, consume, and be happy about. "Everyone's acting like it's the last day of school. Have you ever had a hot wing? Don't you ever want to eat food that isn't good for you?"
Maura skimmed the salad and soup section of the menu, knowing that Jane was going to try to get her to share the grease feast she was forming in her mind. "We have different digestive systems, Jane. It is highly doubtful that I would be able to digest a "hot wing" that wouldn't cause unpleasantries. If I had been raised on the type of cuisine that you had been, I would not fear eating a "hot wing". However, I was not."
The waitress appeared with a smile. Maura ordered a glass of the white wine she had ordered a case of, brought in and asked the owner to keep in stock for her. Jane ordered a light beer and a shot of bourbon then launched into her order as Maura looked on with a mixture of awe and frustration. Hot wings, mozzarella sticks, fish and chips with cocktail sauce. Maura ordered a bowl of soup and a salad.
"The complexity of the digestive tract and all of its functions can result in a number of different problems when things go wrong, Jane." Maura began to launch into her own way of showing her displeasure if Jane's eating habits, "Symptoms like bloating, gas and nausea can be caused from simple things like the food you just ordered to more severe causes such as infection. Greasy foods are one such culprit of stomach pain, especially when associated with gallbladder complications."
"Thank you, Doctor," Jane smiled at her, "I'll let you know if I have any problems, but I did order fish, and you always tell me that eating fish is good for you, so there."
They began to talk about their week, and food arrived. Jane began her ritualistic eating, starting with the fried cheese, then moving to her wings before tackling the fish and chips. Maura politely ate her soup, then salad while keeping the small smile on her lips, watching her best friend eat like she hadn't eaten all day.
"So what did you do all day, Maura?" Jane asked, "Re-organize your scalpels? Brush up on the latest medical journals? Order shoes?"
"I did order some shoes, yes," She answered, "But I also bought some new curtains for the living room, a new bath set for the master bath, and looked into having the soaking tub replaced with a spa."
"Really?" Jane dipped her fish into the sauce popped it into her mouth, "Must be nice not having a sup breathing down your neck all day long when there is nothing to do. I could barely check my email today without Korsak giving me the evil eye."
"It has been a slow week for everyone. I had my assistant clean every inch of the autopsy suite. Then I sent him home early in order to keep my budget low." Maura said, sipping wine. "An assistant is nice to have, but not when there is nothing to do, and the last thing I wanted was to be discovered shopping online." She smiled.
Jane smiled too. "Funny. So you DO break rules. Amazing."
A few drinks later, the bar was in full swing and Jane and Maura were in the middle of a game of truth or dare. It had been Maura's idea, saying it would be fun to play an adolescent game in the middle of a packed and noisy bar. So far, Jane had prank called the fire station about stealing their coffee maker and Maura had walked up to the bar and ordered a "Screaming Orgasm" in front of dozens of tongue wagging cops.
"Okay, truth." Maura told Jane, who thought for a few seconds before coming to her question.
"Truth: Have you ever had an affair?" Jane asked, knowing that Maura couldn't lie and that her answer could be very good.
Maura thought for a second, swirling the wine in her glass. "Is this affair one of a sexual nature, or would an emotional affair count?" She asked.
"Either, I guess." Jane responded, "It would surprise me if you had either."
"Well," Maura began, "I was involved in a very intense relationship with someone that was married. It lasted just over a year before I came to my senses and moved to Boston to get away from her."
"Her?" Jane asked, "You mean his wife found out. Maura! I can't believe it! That's why you moved here?"
"Not exactly, Jane." She said and sipped her wine. "The affair I was involved in was with a coworker of mine, a woman named Susan Vaughn. She was married and I think we both went a little out of our minds for a while. I am not even sure what kind of affair it was. We never slept together, only had one kiss, but we were so drawn to each other that it would have ruined both of our lives."
Jane's face was a mixture of confusion, rapt attention, puzzlement and wonder. "Wait a second. You never slept together? It was a woman? She was married? Who are you anyway? This is the last thing I expected to hear from you. Now you gotta tell me everything. I didn't know that you dated women."
"I think I'm going to need another glass of wine," Maura said as Jane signaled for another round. "It isn't as easy as all of that, Jane. Haven't you been completely drawn to someone so much that they consume your thoughts, actions, everything? Well that's what happened the moment I met her. It was confusing and inspiring at the same time. I was not able to get her out of my head. At first we just way each other at work. I became aware that we took every chance we could to be in the same room. Or she'd pop in to say hi, or I'd go to her office with some made up question just to see her." The waitress delivered the drinks and Jane took half of the bourbon shot as Maura continued, "I fretted for weeks on how to ask her out for a drink after work. I didn't want to appear presumptuous. I knew she was married."
"To a man?" Jane asked. Maura nodded.
"Oh yes, and I had met him at our annual Christmas party." Maura said, "Nice guy. Handsome too. We all three spent the entire evening talking to each other. Then over time came the text messages, and I became aware that she also was drawn to me without conventional explanation. We began having drinks every night after work, and for a while we didn't hide it from our partners. I was dating a doctor that I had known for a few years. But then, we both claimed that we had to work late on the nights we would go out together. Late night phone calls in secret. Rendezvous at the downtown dance clubs. Eventually, the man I was dating broke it off with me. I was never around for him."
"Okay, so you say you never slept together." Jane said, "And only had one kiss. How does this make an affair?"
Maura sipped her wine, her eyes bright, "Well, for one thing it was the most intense relationship I had ever been in. We became almost impossible to be without each other but the more dependent we became, the more we never spoke about what was going on between us. One night, I met a group of her friends who swore we were sleeping together. One of them even told me that all Susan did nothing but talk about me since the day we met, so I decided to find out how deep we were in myself. I took her into the ladies room and kissed her. And oh my god, it was the most intense kiss I have ever had. I had to walk away from her immediately after that. And that is when I realized what we were doing. Yes, we had only been carrying on in this fashion for a year, but I knew how invested we both were. That next week, I applied for the Chief position here."
Jane was slowly shaking her head, "What were you going to do if you didn't get this position?"
"Well, I didn't at first," Maura said, "So I flew to Capri for a week and tried to figure out what I was going to do. I knew I had to quit my job no matter what. When I got back, I went to her office and shut the door and told her I was going to quit. It was very hard for both of us, but we both knew it was the right decision. I cried for days after I left."
"Wow." Jane said, "I didn't even know that you liked women. I would have never guessed."
Maura thought about that one, "Attraction is fluid, Jane. You can't help who you are attracted to. It's a chemical response. Sometimes you just have to hold on tight until you can figure out what's going on."
"Wow." Was all Jane could say again.
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