*This is my first fanfic.
*It's 'T' for now, but it will earn it's 'M' rating one of these days…
*It's set sometime after the season one finale…
*I do not own any of these characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Maura Isles' fingers danced across her bottom lip, as she sat and waited nervously in the detective's apartment. Jane was about to return home from the hospital for the first time since the shooting. Jo Friday lay next to the door. It was as if she could sense the impending arrival of her owner. Jo's ears perked up, as someone started fumbling with the doorknob. Maura stood up from the couch and smoothed down the front of her dark blue dress. She fiddled with the large stone ring on her left hand, as the door opened and the apartment quickly filled with noise.
"Ma, I told you that I can open the damn door myself. Why did you insist on escorting me back home? I'm a big girl. You'd never do this to Frankie," Jane whined.
Maura cleared her throat. Jane and Angela Rizzoli looked up, not in the least bit shocked to see Maura standing in the living room. Maura smiled warmly. "Hi…" she said with a small wave, not knowing what else to say.
"Maura," Jane said softly. Her face softened. Jane shook her head a little, as if collecting herself. "What are you doing here? And how did you get in?"
Maura held up the emergency spare key Jane had made her months ago. "I just thought… I—"
"Jane, I'm your mother. And you're my baby girl. I had to make sure that you're taken care of," Angela Rizzoli said, interrupting Maura.
"Ma, Maura's here. She'll take care of me. I'll be fine." Jane quickly snatched her house keys from out of her mother's hand and softly ushered her back out the door. "Send my love to Pop. Now go bother Frankie," Jane said, as she swiftly kissed her mother on the cheek.
"But Jane," Angela started. Jane closed the door on her mother and locked the door.
Jane looked at Maura and rolled her eyes. Maura just grinned back at her. This wasn't the first time Maura had seen how overprotective Angela Rizzoli could get. And Maura really couldn't blame her. Two of her children had been seriously hurt. Frankie was still in recovery. And here Maura was in Jane's apartment. Her own "mother bear" had come out to see that Jane was taken care of.
"How are you feeling?" Maura asked.
Jane threw her keys down on the kitchen bar and laughed. She bent down to scratch behind Jo Friday's ear. "Just as well as I felt when you asked me yesterday, Maura. Still a little sore, but I'm ready to get back to my life. And by my life, I mean work."
Maura smiled. "Do you feel good enough to join me at my yoga class tomorrow morning?"
"I don't think I'll ever feel good enough to want to go back there," Jane said with a scowl.
"Oh, Jane," Maura said, disappointed.
"What? I'd rather get shot than go back to that yoga class. Trust me, I know," Jane said with a teasing smile. "Anyway, I can't go back there. Not after you told Jorge that I'm gay. Now everyone in the class thinks I'm a lesbian. Maura, it's embarrassing."
Maura frowned. "I don't see what's so embarrassing about that, Jane. At least ten percent of the population is gay, and even more than that is bisexual. So, statistically speaking, there are probably at least one or two gay people in my yoga class."
"Whatever, Maura," Jane groaned.
"Besides, everyone in the class thinks I'm gay as well, but I still go. I don't see what the problem is."
"Maura, I just don't like it when—" Jane hesitated. "Wait. What?"
"You know, when you talk like that, I have trouble following your train of thought. It would help if you could at least finish a sentence."
"Maura!" Jane sighed, frustrated. "Why do the people in your yoga class think you're a dyke?"
"You know, I don't really like that term. 'Dyke.' It's rather offensive," Maura said, wrinkling her nose. "Not to mention the fact that 'dyke' is really a term for to describe more masculine, or butch, lesbians. And I'm hardly butch, Jane."
"Maura," Jane warned.
"Right," Maura said, stopping herself. She tapped a finger against her right cheek. "Me. Gay. Yoga class. Well, when I told Jorge that you were gay, or when he assumed that you were gay, rather… He may have also assumed that we were…" Maura bit her bottom lip nervously. "…A couple," she finished. She flashed her biggest smile at Jane.
"Maura… Why would he assume that?" Jane asked in faux-anger. A small smile tugged at her lips, which she tried to force back.
"Well, he said something about how we interacted on that double date with him and Brock," Maura explained. "And there may have been a comment about how we were in the bathroom together for a long time."
Jane gritted her teeth. "We were shaving my legs."
Maura thought a moment. "Yeah, I don't think that would help either of us to prove that we're straight… Although in Ancient Greece—"
"Maura, I love you and all. Even when you get all 'Mr. Wizard' on me, but I'm really tired. And I'm definitely too tired for this right now," Jane said, waving her hands at Maura. "You can tell me all about Ancient Greece and the women's weird ass grooming habits tomorrow. But right now, I need to get some sleep."
"Fine," Maura said with a shrug. "And you're right, you do need sleep. Even though you're out of the hospital, you still need to take it easy." Maura reached out and rubbed Jane's shoulder. Jane smiled. "It is late. I should go home." Maura walked over to the couch and picked up her Birkin bag.
"Maura…" Jane said softly.
Maura shifted her eyes nervously. "Yes, Jane…"
"Can you… can you sleepover?"
Maura smiled. "Of course, Jane."
"I'm just—I can't be alone right now." Jane scratched at her shoulder, as she looked down at the floor, embarrassed.
"Jane, I understand. It's a perfectly normal human psychological response to the kind of trauma you went through. A study from three years ago found that…" Maura stopped herself. "I'll tell you tomorrow."
"Thanks," Jane said with a smile, as she started to shuffle back to her bedroom. Maura dropped her purse back down on the couch and started to follow Jane. Jane stopped her. "Where are you going? You have to sleep on the couch. I don't want some lesbian in my bed."
"I, uh, um, I, I," Maura stammered, as she started fidgeting with her ring again.
Jane winked and Maura's body relaxed.
"Can I borrow a nightshirt and a hanger? You know how I hate…"
"A wrinkled dress," Jane finished for her. "I know, I know."
Jane and Maura walked into the detective's bedroom. Maura sat on the edge of Jane's bed, as Jane dug through her armoire. Jane walked back to Maura and gently placed a large cotton shirt, sweatpants, and a plastic hanger next to her.
"I know it isn't silk pajamas or anything, but…" Jane said with a shrug, as she grabbed another shirt and pair of sweatpants from the armoire and headed into her bathroom to change.
Maura deftly reached back to unzip her dress. She slowly dragged the zipper down her back. She eased the dress off of her shoulders and down her body. She stepped out of the dress and started to place it on the hanger. Jane, having wasted no time, emerged from the bathroom clothed in the shirt and sweats.
"Good God, Maura! You could have warned a girl," Jane said, quickly and awkwardly looking away. Jane glanced back as Maura zipped the dress onto the hanger. "Couldn't you have done that after you put on some clothes?" Jane asked. She walked over to snatch the dress from Maura to hang it up in the armoire.
Maura furrowed her eyebrows. "Jane, I'm wearing a bra and underwear. And we are anatomically the same. Besides, I had to hang up the dress first so it didn't get wrinkled." Maura quickly pulled the borrowed cotton shirt over her head.
"We aren't the same, Maura," Jane said. Maura raised an eyebrow at Jane. "I mean, yes, we have the same basic parts. But they're, yours are… Are you going to put some pants on?" she asked, flustered.
Maura looked down at the sweatpants on the bed and shook her head with a scrunch of her eyebrows. "Too hot," she explained with a wrinkle of her nose.
Jane rubbed her eyes with her long fingers and sighed. "Alright, just get in bed. Let's just… go to sleep."
Maura handed the unused sweatpants back to Jane to put away. She slid into the left side of the bed. She watched as Jane flicked off the light switch before stalking over to the bed and plopping down next to her.
"I missed this," Jane sighed softly. Maura glanced over at Jane. Her eyes were shut and she was breathing softly. "I really missed my bed," Jane continued. "And my pillow."
"Oh, right… Of course. It must be nice to be back in the familiar." Maura kept staring at Jane, smiling a small smile. She had missed it too. Being able to see Jane like this. Almost back to normal.
One of Jane's eyes opened and she saw Maura staring at her. "What? What's your problem?" Jane asked with a smile.
"I-I…" Maura stammered.
"You're such a goof," Jane said, as her smile widened and she shut her eyes again. "Maura," Jane said. The tone in her voice had changed and softened.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for visiting me every day in the hospital. It meant a lot."
Maura quickly broke her stare with Jane. She cleared her throat before meeting Jane's gaze again. "Of course, Jane. I care a lot about you. You know that, right?"
"Yeah. Just… thanks." Jane's voice caught in her throat. "And you know that I… I care for you too."
"Jane…" Maura murmured.
"Shh. Sleep," Jane said, almost snapping.
Maura lay on Jane's bed in silence. Minutes passed. Maybe even an hour. Jane's breathing had long since regulated.
"I love you too, Jane," Maura whispered softly.
Jane's hand reached out and rested on top of Maura's naked thigh.
"Oh my God," Maura mouthed to herself. Her body tightened and mind started to race. Maura breathed in deeply and let her body relax into Jane's hand. She's probably in Stage N1 of her sleep cycle, Maura thought to herself. Hypnic jerks are not uncommon in that stage. Especially in response to any sort of outside stimuli.
Two hours later, after Maura felt that she had sufficiently memorized the feel of Jane's hand on her thigh, she finally drifted off to sleep.