Chapter 1
"I don't need a man to make me happy. Why can't she get that?" Jane exclaims to Maura. "My god, she made me buy a dress and get all gussied up for what? Joey Grant? A guy I've known since grade school!"
Jane fled her mother's house with a bottle of wine and is at the morgue with Maura.
As the two women sip wine and rehash the evenings events, Maura tries to console Jane. "Jane, she just wants you to be happy." Maura says in defense of Jane's Mom. "And Grant is sexy in a masculine way."
"In a masculine way? What does that even mean?" Jane asks confused, then adds "Are you kidding me? Look at me, I look desperate." Jane is still upset about the little black dress her mother talked her into wearing tonight.
"Are you kidding me? How do you not know?" Maura asks her good friend. "You are gorgeous, my friend." The doctor can't help but admire Jane in the dress and heels.
"Really?" Jane asks before considering the oddness of the interaction. "Well, thank you. I think." She says confused. Then putting her wine glass down, Jane says, "I"m just going to go solve this murder."
Later that night, Jane wakes up on her couch to a loud crash. Grabbing her gun and jumping up to see what caused the sound she sees a broken vase of flowers on the floor in the kitchen. Jo is still sleeping in her bed and there's no way she could have knocked the vase off the counter. Sufficiently freaked out, she grabs the phone and calls a familiar number.
Knock, knock. "Jane?" She calls softly. Jane looks through the peephole to confirm it is Maura, then lowers her gun and opens the door.
Maura walks in wearing an overcoat and her pajamas. She pauses a moment to look at Jane holding the gun.
Sensing the awkwardness, Jane looks at her gun, then moves over to the kitchen counter and sets it down. "Maura thanks for coming over. Look, I'm just a bit spooked and now you're going to think I'm crazy."
"Should I do a brain scan?" the doctor asks.
"So you do think I'm crazy? Great!" Jane says stalking across the room. Between the dream of the boy and the purple flowers and then the broken vase in my kitchen. What the hell is going on in here?" she says tapping her temple.
"Jane, you're not crazy." Maura says. "Wait did you say he was holding purple flowers?" Maura asks. Sitting down at Jane's computer she types quickly. "Did they look like this?"
Walking over to the laptop, Jane looks at the screen. "Yes, I think so. Are they poisonous?"
"Yes, Jane they are poisonous. But they are hard to detect on a normal tox screen. First thing in the morning I'll order a more complex screen and see what turns up." She says standing up and walking towards the front door she adds, "Can we get some sleep now?"
Jane smiling at her friend as she turns the lights off. "May as well, come in here, you are still in your pajamas." She motions for her friend to join her in her bedroom. Laying side by side in Jane's bed, Maura can feel how stressed Jane is so she reaches out for her friend's hand and rolls over to hold on to her arm and rests her head on her shoulder. Comforted by her touch, Jane closes her eyes and relaxes a bit. Soon they are both sleeping soundly. The next morning, Jane wakes up startled by her alarm and then by the arm resting across her stomach.
Maura wakes up when Jane sits up and pulls her arm away. "I'll make coffee, do you want to shower here?" Jane asks.
"Jane, I need to run home first, I'll just meet you at the station. Maura says walking into the living room. Spotting her coat on the chair, she puts it on, steps into her shoes and walks over to the door.
"My coffee isn't that bad!" She says as Maura opens the door. "Jane, it's only slightly better than the coffee at work" The doctor says as she heads out the door.
Catching Frost up on the lead from the night before, but skipping the part where she dreamed it, Jane looks up when she sees Maura enter the bullpen. "Any news?" She asks.
"The new screen confirmed that he was poisoned by Monks hood. And I think I know where it came from." Maura states.
As they park the car, Jane asks Maura, "Can you type the poison in the kid to the plant that it came from?" "No, that isn't possible." Maura states definitively. "Can you say that it is, to bluff for the investigation?" Jane asks. "Bluffing is lying Jane, and no, I can't do that. You know I can't." Maura says offended slightly. "Okay, can you just go along with it if I say it then?" the detective asks getting frustrated. "Yes, I think I can do that, " the doctor says smiling in relief.
Chapter 2
Back at the Robber, Jane and Frost are celebrating closing the case. The step-mother confessed to poisoning the boy with the Monk's Hood. "Wait, are you saying that you dreamed about the purple plant and that's why Maura ran that last toxicology report? What are you "The Boston Medium' all the sudden?" Frost teases.
"Intuition is not unique to any individual. In fact, there are many ways to develop and enhance your intuition abilities. Detectives by nature are typically more intune with their 6 senses than the average person. It makes perfect sense that someone like Jane would be very intune with all of her senses…" Neither detective saw Maura approach the table, but she had their full attention as she spoke.
Laughing and moving over to make room for her friend, Jane pushes a glass of merlot to the doctor and says, "Oh, I'm very intune, in fact I sensed that Dr Isles would like a glass of Merlot after work…"
"Or maybe its because that's the only wine they have here that she likes?" Frost says laughing.
"Jane, you should keep a dream journal. Who knows how many of your cases you could solve in your sleep!" Maura says enthusiastically.
"Yeah, Jane don't you remember that from the Academy!" Frost adds sarcastically.
"Shut it Frost." Jane says defensively. Then just to be funny she adds, "I am not clairvoyant, I can barely get my ESPN in tune at home, let alone my ESP."
"Jane, that doesn't even make sense." Maura says dismissing her comment.
Jane and Frost bust out laughing and Maura looks at them strangely. "It was just a joke Maura, jeez, lighten up." Jane says knocking the doctor with her shoulder.
"Okay, but its not funny. ESPN is a cable …." Maura shakes her head trying to understand.
"Maura, ESPN and ESP? Come on you get it? That's the joke." Jane says frustrated. "Jeez, you're the dumbest genius I know!"
"It only takes an IQ of 150 to be a genius Jane and mine is quite a bit higher than that." Maura says modestly.
Rolling her eyes, Jane takes another sip of her beer and then knocks Maura again with her shoulder.
"Jane, why are you doing that? I don't understand the purpose?" Maura says delicately taking a sip of her wine.
"It's equivalent to a boy pulling your hair in grade school…" Frost says boldly.
"What? No, its just a thing, not an 'I like you' thing. Don't you see me do that to Frankie and Tommy?" Jane quickly explains shooting daggers at Frost.
"Oh, you don't like me?" Maura asks feigning confusion and hiding a smile behind her glass.
"Yes, of course I like you. Frost see what you started?" Jane empties her beer and pushes the empty towards her partner, "Get us another round!" She demands.
Now its Maura and Frost's turn to laugh at Jane. "I was just joking Jane, of course I know that you like me." Maura replies smirking.
"Frost! Beers now!" She bellows, turning beet red. The younger detective jumps up and heads to the bar.
Meanwhile, Jane and Maura exchange sidelong glances and Maura leans over and knocks Jane's shoulder which makes Jane laugh. "Thank you again for coming over last night, that was some freaky situation. Do you really believe all this sixth sense mumbo jumbo?" Jane asks seriously.
"Jane, there are a number of studies that show people in law enforcement have developed their sixth senses to a heightened degree of awareness. In fact, what you commonly refer to has your gut, is really your intuition or sixth sense." Maura responds, then finishes her glass of wine, just as Frost returns with another round.
"Well, my ESPN tells me that the Knicks are going to beat the Sixers and this game is over." Frost says gesturing to the TV above them.
Groaning, Jane responds, "Thank god Opening Day is only a month away!"
Leaving the Robber, Maura looks for her cab. "This cab company is terrible. I called them 20 minutes ago and they're still not here." She says annoyed.
"Just come back to my place, tomorrow's Saturday anyway." Jane says grabbing her arm and leading her down the street.
"It is a nice evening for a walk." Maura says brightly.
"And I think I have another bottle of that Chateau Saint Whatever it was that you liked so much…" Jane offers.
"Oh, good. And that 2011 Ethos Merlot was a real surprise find, Jane. I was quite impressed by that vintage." Maura says as they walk down the street arm in arm. Smiling secretly to herself, pleased with the evening's turn of events.
Unlocking her front door, Jane calls for Jo Friday. "Jo, come here. Let's get you out good girl." Picking up the leash from the side table, Jane says to her friend, "Make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back."
Watching Jane and Jo leave, Maura stops to take her shoes off. Then walks over to the kitchen, reaches in to the pantry and grabs the bottle of wine. Crossing back to the kitchen to get the wine opener, Maura opens the wine and lets it breathe. Then she goes into Jane's room and pulls out a pair of yoga pants and an old Red Sox t-shirt to put on. By the time Jane returns from walking the dog, Maura has found a movie and is about to pour her second glass of wine. "How was the walk?"
"Fine. Hey did you find a movie for us to watch?" Jane asks locking the door and crossing over to retrieve a beer from the fridge. "Yes, you're going to love it. 'The Sixth Sense" just started." Maura responds.
"Wait is that the one with the "I see Dead People" creepy kid in it?" Jane asks sitting down on the couch and taking a long sip of her beer. Nodding, Maura moves over and picks up the blanket for Jane to scoot under, then she slips her feet underneath Jane's legs. Jane looks over at her, "What? You know once my feet get cold they'll be cold all night, you don't want them cold all night do you?"
"No. I hate your cold feet." Jane admits taking another sip of her beer.
Chapter 3
"Nice movie choice, Maur." Jane says standing up and stretching. "I'm going to brush my teeth and change clothes," she says yawning and leaving the room.
Maura stands up stopping to pick up Jane's empty bottle on her way to the kitchen with her own wine glass, she pauses and looks around Jane's apartment, it is amazing how comfortable she feels here. Smiling she walks into the bedroom and sees that Jane has turned down the bed and hung up the clothes that she left laying over the chair. She's never had a friendship like this. Until Jane, the only time she slept over at someone's place was if she was in a relationship with them. Well, she thinks, this is a relationship. It's just not sexual. I wonder if Jane's ever had a sexual relationship with a woman. Is that something I should ask her?
"Earth to Maura!" Jane is standing beside the bed trying to get her attention.
Shaking off her thoughts, Maura looks at her friend and says, "Sorry, what were you saying?"
"Did you set up the coffee? I want to sleep in tomorrow…" Jane says sitting down on the bed.
"I did not set up the coffee. We should get up and go for run tomorrow morning." Maura says laying back and getting into the bed.
"Ugh, I know. But doesn't a 9 am run sound nice?" Jane says hopefully as she turns off the light.
"We'll see." Maura responds softly.
Jane waits a few minutes, then turns to face her friend. "Hey what's going on, why are you so quiet. Usually once we lay down, you start emptying your brain of all the random questions that have occurred to you but you have no context to ask." Jane asks as she turns to look at her friend.
Pausing to consider the opportunity now presented, Maura decides to go for it. "Is this normal for adult women to have sleep overs? I just have no basis for comparison, usually the only time I sleep over is for sex."
"Is this your odd way of telling me that you're attracted to me?" Jane asks raising up on her elbow.
"Jane, answer the question." Maura counters.
"Well, I don't know. Now that you mention it, I really haven't had sleep overs with friends since high school and college. But some of those were… wait, you didn't answer my question?" Jane counters back.
"Jane, you're a detective and I can't lie. Do you honestly think that I could hide that from you?"
Laying back down to consider that point, Jane asks, "Well, you could if you were a cyborg. Maura, would you tell me if you were a cyborg?"
"No, I don't think that I would." Maura responds closing her eyes.
As they finish up their run, Jane can't help but notice that Maura has been preoccupied and not her usual chatty self. "Okay, Maura what is on your mind today? If I'd have known that you were not going to do your google-mouth thing today, I'd have brought a headset."
Stopping to stretch on a bench, Maura considers if she should ask Jane the question that's been on her mind since last night. "When you had sleepovers in high school and college, were they usually with women?"
"Yes, Maura. Of course they were. Usually with teammates, we'd hangout after practice or something and stay up late, then sleepover. Why are you asking about this? What are you really trying to ask me?" Jane says flatly.
"Okay, then I'll just ask. I mean you know that I went to boarding school…" she starts nervously…
Jane reaches out to stop her from stretching and makes her sit down on the bench together. "Maura, you can ask me anything, we are friends." Jane says to reassure her again. "Have you ever been with a woman?" Maura finally blurts out. "I mean I have, but I'm sure that's not surprising to you, I've often talked about sexual fluidity, but something you said last night made me think that maybe you had and it surprised me."
Almost choking on her water bottle, Jane looks at her and smiles, then looks down. "I will answer your question, but its between us. This is not a topic of conversation for anyone else's ears, especially anyone with the last name Rizzoli, capisce?"
Then putting her arm on the back of the bench and leaning into speak privately, Jane says. "Yes." Then pulls back away and takes another pull of her water bottle.
Maura then opens her mouth to ask another question, when Jane puts up her hand. "We are not having this conversation here on a bench just down the street from our office. This is a conversation that we will have over dinner preferable at one of our houses with at least one bottle of wine, probably two." And with that she holds up her car keys and jogs off in the direction of their parking garage.
Maura laughs and gets up and runs after her. Catching up to her as Jane gets into her car, she calls out. "Okay, I'll make dinner, you bring wine!"
"Deal!" Jane says as she pulls away.
Finishing up some paperwork at her dining room table, Jane looks at the clock. Its almost 4 pm, I should take Jo for a walk before I get cleaned up and why not walk over to the Wine Cellar a few blocks over and get wine for tonight. Better text Maura and find out what to get, she thinks picking up her phone.
Jane: Red or White?
Maura: Get a Malbec for dinner and a Spanish Carmenere for dessert.
Jane: Dessert too? Glad that we ran today.
Maura: ETA?
Jane: 8?
Maura: not funny. The wine needs to breathe and I made bruschetta.
Jane: kidding! dinner at 8 = 7 pm, I know!
Smiling she sets the phone down and picks up Jo's leash. "Ready for a walk, JoJo?" She asks, as the little pup jumps up from her bed and starts running around, always happy to be going for a walk. As they leave, Jane grabs her wallet, phone, keys and the neoprene wine carrier that Maura gave her for Christmas, now that she found this wine shop, the carrier has been very handy.
"Hey, the wine lady suggested a Sangiovese to go with the Bruschetta, but I wasn't sure if it would go with dinner, so I brought a Malbec and the Carmenere too." Jane says walking into the house and going directly to the kitchen to set the wines down for Maura's appraisal.
"Three bottles of wine? This must be some conversation we're having tonight my friend!" Maura teases.
"I don't have much to tell, but I'm assuming that you do, so yes. We'll need at least this many to get through this conversation!" Jane sasses back.
Picking up each bottle and checking the vintage, Maura smiles at Jane. "What exactly does this wine lady look like?" she asks.
"Uh, well…" Jane blushes a little, "Maura! See this is why I don't talk about this stuff with my 'friends'." Frustrated, Jane walks around to retrieve two wine glasses from the cabinet.
"Jane, friends should talk about these things. It's no different than when we talk about guys at the gym. My point is that these are nice wine selections, if you're not interested in her, then I want to meet her…" Maura says playfully, grabbing the wine opener.
"She's in her early 30's, just moved back from France after finishing her Sommelier's test. She had a great job in New York, but her grandmother got sick, so she moved back to Boston and opened a wine shop here, in her grandfather's former clock shop." Jane says as she watches Maura pour a little bit of wine into her glass and swirl it around. "What does that do exactly? I see you do it all the time, yet I don't know why?
Stopping for a moment in her process. She pours a little bit of wine into Jane's glass and holds it up to the light, "This allows you to see the body of the wine and check out its tears."
"Now you're just making fun of me." Jane says setting the glass back down.
"No, I'm not. See the body of the wine? This Sangiovese is a medium weight wine due to the fruits and tannins. The Tears are what the French believe demonstrate the quality of the wine, but it's actually been proven that it is simple physics that cause the wine to tear down the glass." Maura then passes the glass under her nose.
"Now what are you doing?" Jane asks repeating the motion.
"Swirling the wine releases the bouquet and many wine connoisseurs like to identify different properties in the wine before they taste it. We should really sign up for a wine tasting, I'd think you'd enjoy it." She remarks as she samples the wine. "This is an excellent vintage. Here try it with the bruschetta, the fig and goat cheese should pair well with it."
"Okay. Well, I was really hoping that I'd like this wine, especially since its Italian. Ma, thinks I'm a heathen since I don't like Chianti, but this is way better than Chianti." Jane remarks.
"Jane, the Chianti that your mother buys is barely drinkable, that's why you don't like it. She buys a common vintage that's barely even aged, its practically juice." Maura says lightly. "That's not to say all common table wines are bad, in Italy some of the best wines I've ever tasted have been served in small trattorias near Turin." She adds.
Reaching over and grabbing the bottle and pouring more wine into each glass, Jane can't help but comment, "I need to win the lottery soon, so I can go to Italy and see for myself!"
"Actually, Jane you don't need to win the lottery. We have a small villa outside of Turin. I'd love to show you Italy." Maura says wistfully.
"Of course they do." Jane says smiling. "Remind me why you work again?" She adds teasingly.
"You know why I work. It's the same reason that you do. I'm good at my job and I enjoy it. Now, let me tell you about each of these bruschetta toppings." She says pulling the detective around the counter and pointing at each one and describing the toppings.
While Maura is plating the linguini with shrimp and pesto cream sauce, Jane pours water into each of their glasses on the table. Then she picks up the wine again and looks at her friend confused, "Wait, I don't know much about wine, but shouldn't I have gotten a white wine to go with this dinner?" She asks walking over to the wine cooler in the corner to pick out a white wine."
"No Jane, this one pairs perfectly with the pesto sauce. Trust me." The doctor says setting the plates down and picking up the opener and handing it to Jane. "Wow, Maur, this sauce is really excellent. And I do like this wine with it. There are not many white wines that I like with food."
"Jane when it comes to wine and food, you should always just drink what you like. Once you learn a little bit more about wine, you'll understand how to pair food and wine. Its really not that difficult."
"Says you. You've probably been drinking wine your whole life. Isn't that what they do in France, let the kids drink wine instead of milk?" Jane says with a smirk, standing up to clear the table.
"It is true that I tasted wine as a child, but children's livers are not fully functioning until well into their late teens, so early alcohol consumption can cause serious problems in young children." The doctor replies "And leave those dishes in the sink. Bring the rest of that bottle of wine and join me on the couch."
Feeling quite relaxed by the wine and the tempo of the evening, Jane decides to start the conversation on the defense, if she can get the other woman talking then maybe it won't be so weird. "Maura, how many women have you been with?"
Sipping her wine, she responds "Mmm, I prefer not to quantify sexual encounters. But I will say that I've had two relationships with women. One was a young teacher at my boarding school my senior year and the other was during my residency at Mass Gen."
"Your teacher? Wait, I think I saw that movie, 'Loving Annabelle' wasn't it?" the detective says teasing her.
"You've seen that movie? Oh Jane, no this woman was only a few years older than I was. She was a Senior in college and had just turned 21." Maura explains.
"Was she your first?" Jane asks tentatively.
"Well she definitely was my first sexual encounter with a woman, the others were just girls in school. Sexual experimentation does occur in boarding schools." she explains.
"Well it certainly occurs in high school, especially on team buses late at night." Jane replies, blowing her chance to stay quiet. But actually its not as uncomfortable as she thought it would be, after all, its just Maura and they do tell each other almost everything, of course after tonight, they may not have any secrets left, come to think of it.
"Really?" Maura responds in her best imitation of Jane.
Which initially surprises Jane, then she gets it. "Nicely done Dr. Isles. You think mocking me will get me to open up to you, is that it?" Jane reaches over to grab the bottle and top off their glasses. "Bottle two is done," she says setting it back down.
Tucking her feet under Jane's legs, Maura smiles at her friend, "So, who was your first? A teammate or a coach?"
This question almost causes Jane to choke on her sip of wine. "Maura! A coach? Really?" Jane sets her glass down and then laughs, "Okay, she was an assistant coach and she was a junior in college. Happy now?"
Faking surprise, Maura covers her mouth in shock.
Picking up her wine glass again, Jane continues her story. "I had the biggest crush on her, I just didn't really understand what I felt, you know. I just thought she was so cool. She had a car, she lived off campus. I'm sure you can imagine how much I wanted to be out of the house and away from my brothers. Not to mention Ma. And Cheryl was a great field hockey player, I was the tallest girl on my team, so I didn't have much competition in practice unless I talked Casey in to working with me outside of practice. But then these two college girls showed up at practice one day and started working out with us. I know it was because I was trying for a scholarship to BCU and the coach there sent them to work with me since they were both student teachers, they could interact with me, but the BCU coach couldn't because of NCAA rules. Anyway, it just so happened that Cheryl and I hit it off immediately and we were inseparable. We had so much in common and I don't think I would have gotten through high school without knowing her. Even after she moved away we were still friends."
Stunned by how much Jane just shared with her, Maura takes another sip of her wine and then asks, "Where is she now? Do you still have contact with her?" "Actually, she lives in Revere with her wife and two kids. I used to play a pick up game of field hockey there on Sundays." Jane pauses thoughtfully.
Maura gently moves her feet under Jane's leg prodding Jane back to reality. "I wonder if they still play? I guess I haven't seen her in about 5 years. Once they had two kids, the Sunday field hockey games didn't happen very often, then I got promoted to the DCU and well, you know the rest."
Moving one of Maura's feet from underneath her, Jane begins to gently massage it as she asks, "so tell me about your other girlfriend."
Moaning with delight at the foot massage, Maura relaxes and begins telling Jane about Rebecca, the brilliant neurologist that she dated her fourth year of med school.
As Maura finishes her story, Jane decides to retrieve the other bottle of wine, walking back to the couch she asks, "Do you find it interesting that when we told each other about our past relationships with men, it didn't take this long and we've both dated more men than women."
"Hmm, interesting. I see your point." Maura replies, then notices that Jane's about to open the Carmenere, which reminds her to get the blackberry tart out of the warming tray. Jumping up she quickly plates it and brings it over. "Oh, wait. I almost forgot the vanilla bean gelato." She says turning back around to the kitchen.
Jane opens the Carmenere and pours it into their glasses then waits patiently for Maura to return with the dessert. Taking the plate, she can't help but exclaim "God Maura this looks amazing. If I married you, I'd be big as a house!"
"No I don't think you would. Not only would we work out more, we'd have an amazing sex life," she states as Jane almost chokes on her wine.
Then setting down her dessert and picking up her wine glass she adds, "You know I've never lived with anyone but my parents.
Still wrapping her head around the first remark, Jane instead takes the bait and responds to the second one. "You never had a roommate in college?" "Uh no, actually. I lived in the cottage house at the Isle's estate all through BCU and during residency. Aside from an occasional overnight guest, which my parents never knew about since they traveled so much, I have always lived alone."
"Wow, I mean I know you told me that, but I didn't really consider it. And here I invaded your house two years ago and you just let me."
"Well, I've never had a friend like you Jane. Mostly, people seem to tolerate me because of my intelligence and social status, but you actually seemed to like me for me. I could tell that immediately, well not immediately because I upset you at first at that crime scene, then in the lab I upset you again. And you were so loud. I couldn't imagine how I was going to ever get along with you. But then all the sudden you brought me coffee to that early morning crime scene and then helped me back to the car when I broke the heel off my shoe. I'm not really sure how it happened, really." Flustered and a bit worked up, Maura starts to stand up.
Jane quickly pulls her back down and holds her hand as she says, "Well let me explain it to you then." Holding up her hand she says, "One, you shouldn't wear stilettos on cobblestone!" Maura punches her lightly in the arm, and then Jane continues. "Two I acted like an ass at the crime scene because you were a woman and if I wasn't the guys would start razzing me about girl talk and all that crap. But then I realized how smart you were and how good of a coroner you were and I decided to screw all that posturing bullshit and I would close more cases working with you. And I was right. You are brilliant, and so am I because I was smart enough to see it." She says smugly, setting down her empty plate. "And the joke's on them because those dumb asses don't get to enjoy your wonderful cooking and witty repartee."
Sitting beside her friend, Maura can't help but smile tearfully, so she leans over and knocks shoulders with her friend and says, "Then they are dumb asses too, because they don't get to enjoy your wonderful sense of humor and amazing grilling abilities. I can't wait until Spring, I am buying a new grill in homage to your grilling abilities my friend!"
"You are? Oh, will it have the side burner for the sauce and a thermometer on the outside?" Jane asks excitedly. Picking up her wine glass Maura proposes a toast to their friendship.
In another hour and a half they have polished off the third bottle of wine and are both dozing on the coach. Waking up and looking around a moment, Jane realizes that they should go to bed, so she gently wakes up Maura, "Maur, come on, let's not sleep down here on the couch when you have an amazing bed upstairs for us to sleep on." Jane gets up and walks over to the front door and makes sure it is locked, while Maura goes to the side door and checks it, then sets the alarm.
Jane picks up the bottles and puts them in the recycling bin, then looks over at the sink and sees that Maura snuck in there and loaded the dishwasher and tidied up the kitchen. Following Maura up the stairs in the fog of too much wine and so much late conversation, it dawns on Jane that Maura is right. This isn't normal, but what is it?
Chapter 4
Waking up Sunday morning, Jane is surprised to find Maura still in bed with her. Raising up on one elbow, Jane looks fondly at her best friend, Wow, she can sleep in. I wasn't sure that was an option. Startling awake, Maura looks around the room and then sees Jane staring at her and smiles. "Good morning, have you been awake long? She asks stretching and rolling over to lay face to face with the brunette. "Not long. How is it that you look ready for a photo shoot already this morning?" Jane asks.
Maura pauses to consider what Jane has said then shakes her head, sits up and turns to put her feet on the floor. Searching for her slippers, she asks "What do you want to do today?" now with her slippers on, she heads to the bathroom.
"I need to go home and get ready for the week. You know, groceries, laundry, throw out all the take out containers that have accumulated from the past week…" Jane says getting out of bed and stretching. Maura sticks her head out of the bathroom and asks, "Oh. Okay. I guess I need to do that as well. Will you stay for breakfast?"
Nodding, Jane heads downstairs, turns on the coffee maker, punches in the alarm code, then steps out the front door to get the paper. Walking back to the kitchen, she carefully pulls out the sports page and sets it down on the counter. The rest of the paper she smooths out and sets in front of the chair nearest the corner of the counter. Then she sees Bass, so she opens the refrigerator and pulls out a few of his leaves and strawberries and sets them down for him to eat.
Hearing Maura on the stairs, Jane pulls down two cups and sets them in front of each portion of the newspaper. Maura walks into the kitchen, looks down at Bass eating his breakfast, so she stands in front of the coffee maker for a moment then asks, "Omelets or crepes?"
"Omelets, if there is bacon." Jane replies looking up from the sports page. Smiling, Maura replies, "We have pancetta, which is better than bacon!" Then the coffee maker beeps indicating that it is through brewing, so she picks it up and pours it into both cups. Setting the pot back down, she grabs the sugar bowl and a spoon and sets both in front of Jane.
Barely looking up from her newspaper, Jane adds a spoonful from the sugar bowl into her cup and stirs, takes a sip and says, "I think I'm getting used to this Stevia stuff, when I put sugar in my coffee now it tastes funny."
Smiling, Maura sips her coffee and then starts preparing breakfast.
Suddenly, the theme from the Twilight Zone plays indicating a call from Jane's mom. "Yeah Ma, what's up?" Jane asks answering the phone. "Did you ask Tommy? How am I supposed to know, he was the last one to use it." She listens to Angela's response. "Ma, call Tommy. I don't know." She looks over at Maura and rolls her eyes. "I can help later, if and I mean IF he doesn't return your call. But I've got a lot to do today. Okay? Just let me know."
Hanging up she quickly calls Tommy and leaves a message, "Call Ma! Don't make go over there today. Haul your ass out of bed." Satisfied with herself, she sets her phone down. Then quickly picks it back up and texts Frankie. "Ma needs you to stop by later."
"You threatened Tommy, then told Frankie to go over there?" Maura says frowning at her friend.
"Hey, if you had brothers, you'd understand how this works. I'm the oldest, I don't have to spend my days off helping Ma, as long as they are single, that's their job. Plus, its Tommy's fault she needs help anyway."
Setting the omelets down on counter, Maura pours more coffee and then sits down beside Jane. Taking a bite of her omelet, Jane looks up and says, "My god this is good. Maura, if you ever decide the whole medical examiner thing isn't working for you, I think you should open a restaurant."
"No, I don't think so Jane. I prefer to cook what I like, when I feel like it." Maura replies thoughtfully.
Finishing up a load of laundry Jane hears Fancy playing on her phone, so she drops the clothes she was folding and grabs her phone, "What's up Maura?"
"I hope you changed my ringtone like I asked, the Funeral March is embarrassing." She replies.
"Don't worry, I updated your ringtone. Is that why you're calling me? " Jane teases.
"No, of course not. I'm putting together my drycleaning to drop off tomorrow morning and I wondered if you wanted me to put the two suits that are here in for cleaning as well?"
"Oh, sure. I have court next week and I'll need at least one of them for that. Thank you. Oh and I just washed your workout clothes that you left here the other night. So we are ready for yoga on Tuesday night, schedule permitting as usual." Jane adds.
Hanging up the phone, Maura smiles and heads into her mediation room, where she turns on Yo Yo Ma and then sits down into a full lotus position.
"What's up Maur, I've got 3 minutes…" Jane says answering her phone as she pulls up to the office building and watches Frost park his car.
"I have tickets to the symphony on Saturday, I think you'll like it. 8 pm?" She asks quickly. "I'm in as long as it's not Yo Yo Ma, he puts me to sleep." She replies, "Send me the link and I'll check it out later. Gotta run." She says hanging up and putting her phone in her pocket.
Frost holding the door open for his partner says "I'm guessing Maura hasn't heard her new ringtone yet?"
"What? Not yet, no." Jane smiles brightly, "Now, let's go see what this guy has to say about the vic." Jane says as she passes by him. "God I hate cold cases."
Back at the precinct, they review the file and create a timeline on the board. Jane reviews the past interviews and Frost pours over the victims financials and phone records. After a couple of hours, Jane gets up. "I'm going for coffee," she announces leaving the bullpen.
Walking into Maura's office, she is not surprised to see her at her desk. "Hey can you take a look at the autopsy on this cold case?" Jane asks entering the office and stepping up to peek at Maura's screen to see if she is working or shopping.
Smirking because she was able to prevent Jane's snooping, she looks up and asks for the case number. Jane leans over and writes it down quickly, "you up for a drink at the Robber tonight? Today is going so slowly, it already feels like Wednesday?" the detective explains.
"No, I finally got into that Spin class at the gym and it starts tonight." Maura says excitedly.
"I'd rather run a marathon than take a spin class." Jane says as she walks to the door, "Let me know if you see anything in that report that we've overlooked."
Walking into the cafe, Angela walks up to her daughter as she's fixing a cup of coffee and says, "Jane, your brothers are so thoughtful, they both came over yesterday and we got the garage organized and I can park in it again."
"Well most of that crap is theirs, so they should help you with it." Jane replies. "Ma, I gotta get back upstairs, but I'll see you later. Love you." Jane sticks a couple of dollars into the jar and heads back upstairs.
"Where are we? Did you solve it yet?" She asks hopefully, setting his coffee down on the desk.
"Yeah right! Did you ask Maura to review the file?" He asks as she sits down at her desk.
"Yeah, why?" the dark haired detective asks. "She's already unarchived the files and has sent me a list of questions about the victim." Frost says smiling.
"Okay, let me pull up her email and see what she's asking." Jane types in her password and starts to read. Soon, she is combing through the case file pulling out the documents that she needs to answer Maura's questions about the scene and the victim.
"Rizzoli! Come in here, you too Frost. I need to know where you're at on this cold case." Cavanaugh yells from his office door. Jane hits print and grabs her notes off the printer as she walks by into the Lieutenant's office. Frost follows her and motions, that she has his print out as well. She looks at the documents and passes two of them to him. They spend about 20 minutes reviewing it with him and he tells them to work half a day on it tomorrow and he wants another progress report, if they don't have anything to go on, then they box it back up and move to the next one.
Walking back to their desks they look up at the clock. 5 o'clock on the dot. 'Eight hour days don't come along very often," Frost says logging of his computer. "I'm going to make it to the Monday night pick up game in time to get on the good team!" He says wadding up a piece of paper and taking a jump shot.
"Nice shot player," Jane says sarcastically following him out the door.
"Wait, the Symphony event has Opera music? This is like a 2-fer? I get Opera and Symphony points for one show?" Jane got back from her run and finally pulled up the link Maura sent her earlier."
"Points Jane? Really?" Maura asks confused.
"I get points for going to your stuff and you get points for going to my stuff." She says simply as if it should make perfect sense to the doctor.
"How long have you been keeping track of this?" Maura asks.
"Ever since that first time I went to the opera with you. Why do you think I wanted you to go the Opening day with me last year?" Jane replies.
"Wait, so for each cultural event I invite you too, you've countered with a sporting event?" Maura asks to make sure that she understands.
"Yeah, I've got to get something out of doing these things that I don't want to do, its only fair to make you do something that you don't want to do."
"And making me happy by attending with me isn't enough?" Maura asks indignantly.
"Oh, well yeah. Of course, but can you honestly admit that you are going to all these sporting events just because it will make me happy, or is it because I went with whatever with you." Jane counters. "Look just think of it as the friendship version of quid pro quo." She adds.
That makes Maura laugh loudly into the phone. "Okay, that I understand." Maura relaxes onto the couch.
"So we're good now? How was your spin class?" The detective asks opening up a beer and taking a long drink.
"It was an amazing workout, I see why there's a waiting list for the class. I am about to take an ice bath to help me recover." Maura replies.
"You're a better woman than I am. I can barely take a cold a shower, let alone sit in a tub of cold water." Jane shivers at the thought and sits down on her couch.
"Frost went to play basketball, so I got in a 3 mile run tonight. I have some new thoughts on the cold case, so I'm going to make some notes. Are you picking me up in the morning?"
"Yes, be ready at 7:15 and we can stop at Boston Joe's. Good night Jane."
"Okay, setting my alarm now. Night Maur." Jane says setting the phone down and picking up her laptop.
