A/N: Hey all…. I know it's been a while since I worked on any R and I stuff…. But here's one I've been working on…. Let me know what you guys think : ) updates for the other stories are on their way! Toodles!
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"What do you mean you don't want to go get drinks? Maura… It's Friday we always go get drinks." Jane let out a frustrated sigh, twirling the phone cord in her free hand. "Yeah I guess. Okay. Hey Maura? Call me if you need anything. Goodnight." Jane hung up the phone and started at it.
Frost would never dare to mention it aloud, but the look on Jane's face could be described as nothing more than a pout. A pout solely developed simply because Maura wouldn't go out with her. Shaking his head, he laughed quietly to himself. "Girlfriend stand you up?"
"Shut up," she scoffed, throwing a highlighter across their desks at him. Getting a little more serious, she quietly confessed, "She said she doesn't feel like being social. Whatever that's supposed to mean." Shuffling some papers on her desk, she tried to pretend that it didn't
bother her.
"She's defragging," Frost said matter-o'-factly.
"She's what?" Jane snapped, shaking her head at him. Looking at her partner, incredulously Jane motioned for an explanation.
"Remember last month when your computer was running slow?" he asked, patiently.
"Yeah, but what the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"Check your inbox Rizzoli," the younger detective told her, nodding towards the paper tray at the end of her desk.
She glared at Frost for another moment before finally shuffling through the papers. Finding a pamphlet amongst them, she read aloud, 'Caring for Your Introvert'? Frost what the hell is this."
Frost shook his head in frustration. "Geeze Rizzoli, how do you manage to solve so many cases and yet seem to know nothing about your friends?" He watched her face pantomime several emotions before he realized she wasn't going to respond. "Maura's an introvert Jane. You do know what that is right?"
"Yes asshole," Jane snarled, annoyed by the fact that he might just be right. She knew Maura on the surface, but there were so many aspects of her best friend that left her confused and frustrated. "What the hell does that have to do with defraggling my computer?"
"Defragging," Frost corrected, "If you got fraggles in your computer, we've got a whole different set of problems. Anyways, Maura is your computer-"
Jane couldn't help but cut him off, mumbling, "You can say that again." She was quickly cut off by his glare. "Sorry."
"When your computer has been running for a while and working on various things, things start to get messy and slow." Frost hated explaining defragging to people, they never got it.
"Okay I've seen Maura slow, but I have never seen her messy," Jane pointed out.
Frost let out a frustrated groan, "Your computer is your sock drawer."
"I thought my computer was Maura?" Jane asked, exasperated and really only listening to about half of what he was saying.
"Just let me finish," Frost said obviously agitated. "If I dumped out your socks and spread them all over your room they'd be a mess. If I asked you to find some that matched it would take a while right?"
"All my socks are the same, any two would match," Jane answered.
"Pretend they aren't! If you pick them all up and sort them back into pairs and put them in the drawer it's easier to find a pair and faster right?" Frost asked, as if he was trying to coax a two year old into grasping something obvious.
"Right, that's what that defraggling thing was right?" she vaguely remembered him trying to explain this once before, "It's a program that uh, puts all the data stuff back where it belongs? But what does this have to do with Maura not wanting to get drinks?" Jane asked, confused that things weren't all coming together.
"Maura's like your computer. When she's out in public or being social or in new situations, she's constantly processing. She's reading body language, she's collecting random bits of data that you and I will never understand, she's constantly on high alert, right?" Frost asked, needing some sort of confirmation that Jane was following.
"Okay yeah, I get that," Jane nodded, briefly glancing at the pamphlet. Maybe Frost did know what he was talking about after all. She may not have gotten Maura all the time, but she cared about her. There had been plenty of times in the past that she had wished Maura had come with instructions.
"Jane this week has been tough on the doc. You took her on interviews most of last week, she's spent three days in court this week, not to mention you guys have been going out almost every night. The woman needs time to process all that. Her brain doesn't work like ours. You're lucky to remember what we talked about when you got in this morning. She could probably tell you the conversation you had a month ago over breakfast. She needs down time to process all that information into the right boxes Jane. She's defragging. "Frost said, nodding towards the pamphlet.
Jane gave him a look that let him know she was not too thrilled that he understood her best friend better than she did. She wasn't above accepting his help, however. Flipping through the paper, she began to read every single word.
She had made it through the information twice, not wanting to miss a single thing, when her phone rang. When the music roared into D.I.S.C.O., she looked slightly mortified over at Frost's desk and answered, silently cursing herself for adding it as Maura's home phone alert. It seemed humorous at the time, especially since Maura rarely used her home phone. "What's up Maura?" Jane asked, trying to keep her tone neutral.
"I just wanted," there was a brief pause while Maura sighed and tried again; "I know I seemed kind of short on the phone. It's just been a really long couple of days. I don't know if you've made any plans and I really don't feel like going out, but I wouldn't mind if you wanted to come over and have a few drinks hear or something?" Maura sounded more than a little self-conscious and quite a bit nervous. She was used to just following Jane's lead and rarely needed to offer plans of her own making.
"Are you sure Maur? I mean if you need some down time or whatever it's fine," she paused when she saw Frost shaking his head and held up three fingers. Quickly glancing down at the pamphlet she remembered rule three. When an introvert goes out on a limb it's better to take them up on the offer, otherwise they tend to withdraw even further, "I mean, I'd rather spend the evening with you and if you're free that's even better, but don't do this because you feel like I'm pressuring you." Biting her bottom lip she nervously glanced at Frost who was nodding his head yes and grinning.
"Jane of course I'm sure. I wouldn't have called you back if I wasn't. You're my best friend Jane, being around you isn't stressful like it is being around other people," Maura said, her smile evident just from the lightness in her voice. "So I'll see you in a little while?" she asked, almost shyly.
Jane grinned, trying not to laugh as Frost pumped his fist in the air knowing his prepping had led to a success. "Yup. Just give me about forty minutes. Bye Maur." She hung up her phone and three a nearby phonebook at her gloating friend. "I'll see you tomorrow," Jane said, laughing at his shocked face.
"Yeah yeah, later Rizolli," Frost said, letting her get about four feet away before he started sing, "She is oh-oh-oh." When Jane snapped around to glare at him, he was already turned back pretending to read a case file grinning.
"Frost, keep it up and you're dead," Jane threatened.
"Anyone mention you got anger issues Rizzoli? All this swearing and threats and throwing things," he said, as a cheeky grin spread across his lips.
"You, my friend are only safe because you advice turned out to be helpful for a change." Jane smirked playfully at him, "For now at least."
"I'll be sure to find you some pamphlets on anger management then. Never know when you'll be coming out of that aggressive closet," he yelled as she left. More quietly he added to himself, "Or a certain other closet that you've been hiding in."
Tbc?