Jane had never been more thrilled to get home, the past forty eight hours had been gruelling and she hadn't realised the toll it had taken on her until twenty minutes earlier when she had walked out the front doors of the Boston Police Department. She barely remembered the last time she ate, not counting the donut she took from Korsak in an act of sudden ravenous hunger uncountable hours ago. 48 hours ago they had been struggling to track down a copycat clown who had been repeating kidnapping incidents of young children on their way home from school, something that happened in 1988. Now the creep was safely locked behind bars where he would be staying for a very long time, and now Jane could finally get something decent to eat and a proper nights sleep. After discovering some leftover lasagne Angela had made in the fridge and quickly devouring it followed by a beer, she collapsed onto the couch and let her eyes shut. Jane had contemplated calling Casey, but she couldn't be bothered even moving to get her phone which sat on the coffee table in front of her. In the time that she had been trying to solve a homicide Casey had given her a ring, and when she had shown it to Maura received a less than excited reaction. Maura. Jane thought suddenly, she hadn't had a chance to say goodbye to the medical examiner tonight, Maura had left an hour or so before Jane, slipping out the back without notifying anyone of her departure which seemed very un-Maura Jane had thought. But now checking in on her best friend would have to wait until the morning, she sunk deeper into the couch as her as her thoughts began to fade and she slipped into the peaceful abyss of long needed sleep.
A disruptive noise jolted Jane from her sleep, it felt like only 5 minutes since she had shut her eyes but as she pushed her eyelids open and found herself submerged in the darkness of her apartment she knew it was late. The white light of her phone filled the room with an unpleasant glow as it sang loudly demanding to be paid attention to. Jane fumbled for her phone eventually picking it up and seeing Maura's name displayed on her screen.
"Shoot" she muttered cursing herself for not taking two minutes when she had got home to call Maura, it was now 1.43am and she couldn't possibly think of what her friend would need her for at this time, unless it was something bad.
"Maura what is it?" she answered sleepily leaning back on the couch and forcing herself not to shut her eyes again.
"Jane" Maura's voice was hushed "can you come over?"
"It's almost 2am Maura, can it wait?"
"No" Maura said after a pause and something about her voice sounded off, Jane didn't like it. Was she in trouble? Was someone at her house? Within seconds Jane pulled herself off the couch and changed into her favourite Red Sox jersey and sweatpants, grabbing her gun and keys off the kitchen counter she was out the door. It didn't take long to get to Maura's house, Jane leapt out of the car and quietly slipped around to the backdoor, all the lights were on in the house which was a good sign, she tapped quietly on the door and not long after that it swung open and she was greeted by a wide smiling Dr Isles, who was dressed in yoga pants and her red work blouse.
"Well this is a new look" Jane said arching an eyebrow at her giddily happy best friend.
"Jane guess what?!" Maura exclaimed excitedly, grabbing Jane by the arm and pulling her inside shutting the door loudly behind them. Taken aback by the doctor's strange mood Jane turned around curiously and looked at the honey blonde.
"What?" she asked both her eyebrows still raised at the unusual situation.
"I didn't get hives" Maura grinned and skipped past Jane into the kitchen.
"What's that red spot on your neck then? Tomato sauce?" Jane asked following her and putting her gun down on the counter.
"What?" Maura gasped trying to look at her own neck craning her head in unnatural ways.
"Maura stop" Jane demanded and folded her arms across her chest "You made this sound like an emergency so what's happening?"
"I needed to see you" Maura said finally looking back up at Jane "I needed to see you" she repeated slower and putting more emphasise on her words.
"Why?" Jane asked her eyes aching from all the light she had suddenly been confronted with. Maura didn't answer she simply turned and looked at her island counter which was unusually cluttered for such an organised and particular person that she was. Her mail was scattered across it unopened, her purse had been carelessly dumped with things spilling out, there were unwashed dishes and several bottles of alcohol sitting around or on top of the mess too.
"If you could drive your car straight up you would arrive in space in just over an hour" Maura said finally "wouldn't that be fun?"
"No, not really" Jane said bluntly her arms still tightly crossed as she watched Maura closely.
Maura sighed and turned back to Jane "a pigs orgasm lasts 30 minutes"
"What?"
"30 minutes is quite a long time, can you imagine…"
Jane cut her friend off "No I can't and please stop with your fun facts, it's the middle of the night and I want to know why I'm here sooner rather than later"
Maura giggled at her friend. Maura giggled Jane suddenly realised, Maura never giggles. She is not a giggler.
"Maur," Jane said slowly and taking a step closer to her friend examining her closely "Are you drunk?"
The medical examiners cheeks flushed pink and she scrunched up her nose holding her thumb and index finger up only millimetres away from each other.
"What the hell Maura" Jane frowned as her friend confirmed it "It's a Wednesday night!"
"I was just um" Maura appeared to be lost for words which was certainly out of character for the doctor, everything about this was out of character for Doctor Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner of the state of Massachusetts, Jane had never known Maura to get drunk, this drunk, with no reason behind it whatsoever, in fact she recalled the doctor telling her at some point that the main reasons people drink are to mask anxiety or depression, and as far as Jane was aware Maura was neither anxious nor depressed. Running a hand through her dark messy curls she let out a deep sigh none of this made sense, and the lack of sleep Jane was facing was starting to give her a thumping headache but she very well understood that she would not be returning home tonight, not with Maura in such bad form. She didn't pretend it didn't worry her, she never liked to think about anything bad ever happening to her best friend, after everything Maura had been through she didn't want her to have to been in any kind of physical or emotional pain ever again.
When she finally shut her thoughts away and turned her attention back to Maura she noticed the blonde was swigging from a bottle of wine, which appeared to already be half empty.
Jane stared at her with wide eyes, not even using a glass? She thought, something really must be wrong. And as much as she hated to admit it to herself she was hurt that Maura hadn't come to her earlier, they told each other everything.
"It's very odd you know" Maura said setting the wine bottle back down on the counter.
"What's odd Maura?" Jane said slipping onto one of the counter stools, figuring if she was going to be all ears and figure out what was going on with her friend she may as well make herself comfortable.
Maura ran her finger down the wine bottle she had just put down, everything was a little blurry and her head almost felt light enough to detach from her body and float up to the ceiling, even though she was aware that was scientifically impossible.
"It's just, I just- " she was frustrated with herself for not being able to find the words, but at the same time she was at ease with the fact her brain felt dull and unwillingly to cooperate with her, it was the first time it was almost quiet up there, instead of the usual endless stream of thoughts and information she never seemed to be able to shut off. It was peaceful.
"What is it Maura?" Jane was lost as Maura's train of thought continued to start and stop and start and stop then leave them in silence, as her big hazel eyes would gaze at something in the distance.
Suddenly Maura erupted into hysterical laughter.
"You're going to marry him" she managed to say in between breaths "him"
"And you're wearing that" she jabbed a finger at the ring on Jane's finger.
Jane was dumbfounded by Maura's sudden outburst, she watched as her friend failed to control her laughter, she watched without saying a word, she had no idea what to say in all honesty, so she just watched Maura take another long guzzle from the wine bottle and slowly stop laughing, eventually turning to Jane with tears in her eyes and a quivering bottom lip.
"I don't want to lose you" Maura mumbled so quietly she barely heard herself as she reached for the bottle again. This time Jane quickly got up from her chair taking the bottle from Maura's hand and placing it out of her reach.
"I think you've had more than enough Doc" she said realising that whatever was happening with Maura was affecting her a lot more than Jane had hoped. She looked at Maura who stood with her hands by her sides like a naughty school child who was about to be punished, and realised just how small and innocent her best friend seemed tonight, which made Jane desperately want to find out what was troubling her.
"Can you please tell me what's going on Maur?" Jane said trying to sound comforting, her dark eyes watching Maura's every move.
Maura didn't reply, she stared long and hard at the colourless crystalline form of pure carbon that sat on Jane's finger gleaming in the light, she stared at it until she couldn't bare looking at it any longer, shifting her gaze avoiding Jane's eyes so she wouldn't see the tears that had began to well up again in Maura's eyes.
With no straight forward indicators of what was bothering Maura, Jane figured herself it was something to do with the new rock she was sporting so she grabbed her ring and twisted it off her finger. She hadn't said a definite yes yet anyway.
"This make you feel better?" she asked placing it down on the counter and holding her hands up in surrender, wondering whether perhaps it was her that was the problem, but if it was so then why had Maura called her over.
Maura stopped.
"You took it off" she stated and began to take a step back unaware that Bass had crawled into the room and was sitting serenely behind her feet.
"Maura the turtle" Jane exclaimed quickly grabbing Maura by the arm pulling the doctor with such an unexpected force the petite blonde was thrown into Jane's chest. The two looked at each other entirely aware of their close proximity. It was then Jane noticed how truly amazing Maura's eyes were, they were green and gold and rustic brown and they stared up at her with an unreadable expression. It was a look she had never seen her best friend exhibit before, especially not when looking at her, there was something about her wide eyes that almost seemed sad, and as much as Jane struggled with that idea, she acknowledged the fact it made those big hazel eyes look even more beautiful.
"Tortoise" Maura said finally without moving her eyes off Jane's.
"Right" Jane said the word coming out like a breath.
"Is it hot? I'm hot" Maura finally breaking the silence that had quickly filled the non-existent space between them, she slid her hand between the two women and started unbuttoning her blouse without a second thought.
"Maura what are y-" Jane glanced down her eye catching the black lace of Maura's bra before she quickly averted her eyes to the side. She had never thought about Maura in a romantic way, but that didn't mean she wasn't well aware of how attractive her colleague was, and in these few brief moments the two had spent so close to each other she had sworn the warm rush that she had felt inside her was attraction to Maura, although she quickly brushed it away, it was Maura before herself tonight. It was Maura before Jane always.