Thanksgiving was over and done with two days ago. Boston Homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli let herself sleep in a little since it was a Saturday. However, now that she was awake, she decided to put her Christmas decorations up.
She may not keep her apartment as tidy as her best friend, Maura Isles, kept her own house, but Jane did like getting her Christmas decorations up as soon as Thanksgiving was over. If she didn't do it right away, then the murders and suicides that always seemed to increase around the holidays would start up. Then she'd be swamped with work and would never get the place decorated.
Not decorating only happened once. It was the worst Christmas Jane could remember, not because the holiday itself sucked. It just didn't feel like Christmas that year. Since she was a kid, Jane always enjoyed sitting in the living room with no lights lit except those on the tree. She'd listen to Christmas music or watch random Christmas movies. Sometimes she simply laid on the couch or the floor under the tree and gazed at it.
In the past few years, Jane even made a list in her head of people to send holiday cards to while basking in the glow of the tree. She never wrote the list down, because who was she kidding? Other than Maura, her ma, brothers, nephew, and grandparents, she wouldn't be sending out cards. And none of those cards had to be mailed since she'd see them all in person. No, something as Martha Stewart-y as sending out cards was Maura's style, not Jane's. It was bad enough having moments of wishing she was Holly Homemaker enough to send out cards to people she rarely saw without actually doing it. Thankfully, wistful thoughts like that were very few and far between. And she blamed Maura's example for every single one of them!
After a quick tidying up of her apartment, giving a bit more attention to the living room, the detective pulled out the boxes of Christmas decorations. She saw Jo Friday laying on her doggie bed, looking at her with a tilt to her head.
"What? I do clean up, ya know! And not always at 2 am." Jo Friday tilted her head in the other direction. "Yes, I do! And stop doing that tilt thing. Maura taught you that, didn't she?" Jane groused.
She put some Christmas music on to get in the mood. Some were older standards with newer cds mixed in. The newest which she just bought a few weeks ago was from that woman in the last Disney movie. She had a great voice, and Jane really liked the song selection. She even managed to rehabilitate "All I Want for Christmas is You"; a minor miracle in the brunette's opinion since the original song suffered from a severe case of being overplayed on the radio at this time of year. She found herself singing along with this particular cd before Thanksgiving, even if she did feel like doing so gave Thanksgiving a shorter shrift than it already got.
By the time she put the tree and its lights up, Jane had sung with Perry Como, Dean Martin, and the Partridge Family. Jo barked when that last cd started. Jane just looked a her dog, "Yes, the Partridge Family. I was alive in the 70s. Be glad I'm not listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks because our ears would never forgive me."
The brunette took Jo out for a potty break and decided to eat lunch before breaking into the box of ornaments. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer played during lunch. Jane chuckled out loud, "I don't know if I'd die laughing or pull my hair out if I got called to that crime scene."
She addressed the dog, "Jo, can you imagine what Maura would say about the body?" Here Jane switched to a close approximation of Maura's voice and manner of speaking, "'Multiple blunt force trauma injuries to the head and body by different objects. However, each injury is consistent with the size and shape of a cloven reindeer hoof.' Of course she will know the scientific name for reindeer. But she wouldn't guess that it was specifically a reindeer as opposed to some other member of the deer family until she measured everything."
Resuming Maura's voice, Jane continued her autopsy report for the terrier, "'Parallel bruises matching those produced by sleigh runners with associated crushing injuries. Two large, booted footprints to the abdomen and chest.' Hmm, I wonder which of all those would be cause of death?"
Before the album had played halfway through, Jane made good progress on getting the ornaments up. The next album up was Idina Menzel's. When track five had almost finished, she decided to take a break. The next song really struck a chord with her, so she wanted to enjoy it. As soon as she laid down on the couch, Jo Friday jumped up onto Jane's stomach. Shifting into a more comfortable position, the brunette didn't notice her phone under her elbow or how it eventually fell to the floor.
Maura Isles woke up early Saturday morning. Wanting to get some shopping done in the morning, she chose not to indulge in the extra thirty minutes in bed she usually allowed herself on the weekend. She showered, dressed, and grabbed herself a light breakfast while planning out her shopping trip. She wanted to make sure her route did not utilize any major thoroughfares leading to malls or big box stores. Anything she needed to purchase from such places could be bought online. Let the Black Friday weekend shoppers get caught in the mall insanity. She preferred to spend her time actually shopping rather than looking for parking or fighting through crowds. No, her destinations were small boutiques and proprietorships in the downtown shopping district.
Maura wished Jane could have come shopping with her. Even though the brunette didn't share her enthusiasm for shopping and often complained about how much time the blonde spent mulling over items, considering factors such as quality, workmanship, aesthetics, value, and need versus want, she enjoyed having the companionship of her best friend. Jane always joked that Maura wanted her there just for her pack mule services, but she knew how to deal with a large load of packages on her own. How did the brunette think she went shopping in all the years before they had met? She was more than capable of spurring on the economy on her own, but the joking and teasing from Jane added good memories into her shopping days.
However, this time Maura didn't even ask her friend to spend the morning with her. The reason was simple; she wanted to look for a Christmas present for Jane while she was out.
Once she parked in the shopping district, the blonde worked her way up the street looking in promising shop windows to check out later. She had appointments at two boutique clothing shops first. As an Isles, Maura received numerous invitations to holiday galas and functions every year. While the Isles Foundation's Winter Gala was practically mandatory, she had yet to decide which other parties to attend. Normally, she bought dresses after she knew where she'd be wearing them. If she found more than one irresistible dress, she would work with it. If not, then one dress for sure and a list of possibilities to decide between later.
Three hours later, Maura had a dress, a list of three other possibilities, shoes picked out for each dress choice, and a nice yet tasteful silk nightgown and robe combination for Angela. The Rizzoli matriarch had commented on one of the blonde's recently, so she decided to surprise her with something similar. Maura chuckled to herself, "Jane would never let me buy silk lingerie for her mother. She still might kill me when Angela opens that box." There were some other items in the lingerie shop she had contemplated for a long while before shaking her head and moving on.
After lunch at a vegetarian bistro that she never would have been able to try had her friend been with her, Maura started down the other side of the street. After another two hours, Maura's Christmas list had only one name left to cross off. The perfect gift for Jane proved more elusive than she had hoped. As much as she wanted to keep looking, her feet ached from so many hours walking in high heels. Shopping tended to have that effect because, as wrong as it was, Maura knew that dressing the part for boutique shopping did improve service.
Retrieving her Prius, the blonde drove up the same street she just shopped along. Parking in a loading zone, she called a few numbers. A small army of workers exited the nearby shops and loaded her purchases into her car. She tipped each one with some money, a sincere thank you, and a gleaming smile complete with dimples. About half of the workers clearly considered the smile the best part of the tip. She repeated these actions at two other loading zones along the street.
Maura's feet thanked her when she arrived at home and put on some flats before unloading the car. It took several trips to get everything inside. Before she could start putting the bags in her room and office, her phone rang. A smile appeared on her face because it was Jane's ringtone.
Slipping her shoes off, she curled herself onto the couch and answered the call. "Hello, Jane," she said happily. There was no answer. "Jane?"
Maura looked at the display on the phone, but it confirmed that the call had indeed connected. She was about to say the brunette's name again when she heard music in the background. Instead she waited to see what might be going on. She recognized the song since she bought the cd a week ago.
Fifteen-seconds into the music, a pleased smile curled Maura's lips as Jane's rich voice sang out, "Maybe it's much too early in the game/Ahh, but I thought I'd ask you just the same/What are you doing New Year's/New Year's Eve?"
Only two other times had the blonde heard Jane sing seriously. She didn't often sing in front of others. When it did happen, it was always in a goofy manner. The two times Maura had caught her really singing, Jane had stopped as soon as she realized she had an audience.
The doctor settled into the corner of the couch to enjoy this treat, murmuring, "Her gluteus maximus must have dialed."
She closed her eyes to better concentrate when the second verse started. "Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight/When it's exactly twelve o-clock that night/Welcoming in the New Year/New Year's Eve."
Maura didn't even know what function she would be at on that night. She had several invitations, some of them from individuals asking her to be their date.
Jane's voice rose with the music into a plaintive wail, "Maura, Maybe I'm crazy to suppose/I'd ever be the one you chose/Out of the thousand invitations/You received. Oh, Maur…."
Maura's eyes shot open, and she almost pulled the phone away from her ear to look at it. She felt her heart rate speed up, knowing with certainty that her name was Jane's addition to the song.
The voice in her ear became soft again. She could hear a shrug of the shoulders in Jane's tone, "Ahh, but in case I stand one little chance/Here comes the jackpot question in romance/Maura, what are you doing New Year's/New Year's Eve? Ohhh, Maura."
Jane must have called on purpose. This is just her way of playing a practical joke. Maura thought. Or her way of asking so she can pass it off as a joke?
All her thoughts came to a screeching halt when the detective started talking during the instrumental portion.
Jane sighed, "What am I gonna do, Jo? God, I wish I could really ask her out for New Year's, or any day for that matter. I love her so much." She gave a sad, self-deprecating laugh, "But she only sees me as a best friend, so I guess I'm stuck. Aren't I, Jo?" She gave a resigned sigh, "Yeah, I'm stuck."
Hazel eyes darted back and forth, not really seeing anything. Her breathing had turned fast and shallow. Her heart felt like it was lodged in her throat, and her hands shook as she listened to Jane's confession and the implications that the words held. She had no idea Maura was hearing any of this. This whole song was the truth that she hid within herself, not a joke at all.
Maura's mind spun in circles, unable to gain traction as the world seemed to slip from beneath her feet.
"Maura, maybe I'm crazy to suppose/I'd ever be the one you chose/Out of the thousand invitations/You received. Ohhh…."
"But in case I stand one little chance/Here comes the jackpot question in romance/Maura, what are you doing on New Year's Eve?/Tell me what are you doing New Year's Eve?" Jane's voice died out as the final bit of instrumentation played.
Before the last note of the song played, Maura shook her head and quickly disconnected the call. She prayed that the screen on Jane's phone went dark before she saw evidence of what had happened. The very last thing she wanted at this particular moment was for Jane to realize Maura had heard everything from the past five minutes. She stared at her phone, unsuccessfully trying to will her heart to slow down. As the first tears slipped from her eyes, Maura dropped the phone in her lap. Wrapping her arms around herself, she bowed her head and cried.