A/N: So, this popped into my head while I was listening to the song Love Is All Around by Ricki-Lee (Aussie artist, you might not know her...). It's probably bad, but oh well. I liked it.
Disclaimer: What do you think?
"Maura?" Frost's voice reverberated around the seemingly empty morgue. "You here?"
There was a commotion from around the corner, something Frost couldn't see, before Maura's voice emerged from the kerfuffle.
"I'm coming, Frost."
She turned the corner, and Frost began to walk briskly towards her. He stopped a foot short of the doctor.
"Maura, please talk to Jane. She's getting worse."
Maura knew that ever since Casey's passing, Jane had been sinking further into herself. Though the detective had known the high risks of Casey's surgery, it hadn't eased the pain, the sharp pang of loss Jane felt. Maura had tried to pull her out of her stupor, but nothing seemed to be working. Jane had spent a week just simply going through the motions. Doing things without thinking about them. She'd become a robot, a shell of herself. And it was starting to scare Maura. Everyone was noticing, everyone was affected. Jane's temper was shorter than usual, and more than once Maura had hidden tears at her friend's outbursts, and she'd seen the same thing happen to Angela. Frost and Korsak had been trying to work around Jane, not giving her too much work, not pressing her to talk. Maura had tried to reconnect with the brunette, but each time was rebuffed, and not exactly kindly. However, for Jane to get bad enough that Frost was actually coming to her for help, she knew she had to try at least one more time. She found herself nodding.
"Okay."
x
Jane dug her spoon forcefully into the tub of chocolate ice-cream and turned up the sound on the baseball game. She shoved the icy cold dessert into her mouth and tucked her legs under her, stopping mid-way when she heard a knock at the door. Swallowing, she debated ignoring it. She really didn't feel like socialising. Then again, when was the last time she did? Her visitor, however, was insistent, knocking on the door a second time when Jane didn't respond. Jane unfurled her legs and trudged to the entrance of her apartment. She didn't even bother looking through the peephole, instead choosing to fling open the door, a scowl already etched on her features. She wasn't shocked to find Maura on the other side, her hair mussed slightly from the wind outside, a concerned wrinkle between her eyebrows.
"Well?" Maura gestured behind Jane and stepped forward. "Can I come in?"
Jane was still for a moment, her brown eyes warring with Maura's hazel ones. The two of them were silent.
"Jane?"
The brunette sighed and stepped backward, allowing her best friend to enter the apartment.
Jane trailed behind the blonde as she strode purposefully into the room and sat herself on the couch. She moved Jane's tub of icecream aside, placing it on the table to make room for the detective on the couch beside her. However, Jane remained standing a few feet away, her arms folded defensively across her thin chest and her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Jane, talk to me," Maura's voice was uncharacteristically pleading. Every other approach so far had been fruitless.
When Jane turned and began to head in the direction of the bedroom, Maura surprised even herself by leaping up and seizing Jane's arm, dragging her backwards until only inches of space separated them.
"Jane, please," Maura could already feel the tears building behind her eyes, the fragile dam she'd erected already beginning to crumble. Her free hand reached up and caught hold of Jane's other arm. The tan flesh was warm beneath her fingers, and she squeezed Jane slightly. "I'm supposed to be your best friend."
Jane looked at Maura. She stared deep into those warm hazel eyes, the eyes that swirled with love and compassion and... fear? Fear of losing you, you idiot, she reprimanded herself. Fear that you'll leave her just like every other person in her life so far. Suddenly, she was hyper-aware of how close Maura was; her still-cool fingers curled around each of Jane's biceps, their bodies so close they would be touching if either one of them breathed too deeply. Slowly, Jane dragged her eyes upwards from where they rested on Maura's hands, to meet the doctor's own hazel orbs. There were so many emotions in her oh-so-familiar eyes that Jane had a hard time deciphering them all. The one that was foremost, however, was pain. Hurt. Jane saw the pain in Maura's eyes, realising she'd caused it. All of the pushing she'd done to isolate herself, all of the doors she'd shut, both figuratively and literally, everything she'd done to be all by herself, had hurt Maura as much as she'd been hurt by losing Casey. She didn't realise how much she'd hurt Maura; she'd been too caught up in her own feelings of angst and grief. A feeling of guilt, harsh and fierce, like fire, rushed through her veins, constricting her heart so forcefully it was nearly painful.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, never breaking eye contact. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes, burning, but she allowed Maura to see it. Maura's teary gaze bore into Jane's, the gaze that Jane had seen all too many times. Suddenly, a stronger feeling overwhelmed the guilt. Love. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. It was a love that was warm and pleasant, and spread through her body like a warm hot chocolate on a chilly winter's day, like the first rays of the sun in summer. It was a love that was completely unfamiliar. With Casey, it'd been originally the sexual component, and the emotional attachment had come later. She'd thought she was in love with Casey. But she'd always wondered if that's what love was. Now she knew that it most definitely was not. She always wondered why things never seemed to fall perfectly into place with Casey. Why she had always felt like she thought she was in love with him, but never really truly been as such. Now she knew why. She'd been in love with someone else the whole time.
Her best friend.
Jane bit her lip slightly as the two of them continued to start at each other in silence.
"Maura," Jane whispered, the usual raspy quality of her voice amplified by the tears that constricted her throat.
A small, cautious smile spread across the blonde's lips slowly. "I know," her voice matched Jane's in volume, in tenderness. "I love you too."
Jane slid her arms around Maura's waist, closing the small gap between them. Maura's hands glided from Jane's arms to rest around her neck. They stood like that for a moment. Jane's mind churned at a million miles an hour, her heart beating so loud and so fast she was nearly positive Maura could hear it. The neighbours across the hall could probably hear it. The doctor wrapped in the circle of her arms stood perfectly still, every muscle tense and immobile as she waited for Jane to move first. Jane was confused and nervous all at once, scared of jumping into the unknown. She didn't even know what it would feel like. Good? Bad? Odd? She hoped it wouldn't feel odd.
The smile that had ever-so-tentatively been playing at the corners of Maura's mouth grew into a bright grin as Jane leant into towards her.
"Hi," she whispered, a moment before their lips met.
Jane knew in an instant what she felt.
Fireworks.
A/N: I may continue it, if I get enough support. (In fact, I was going to leave it after the line "Her best friend"... Let me know if I didn't make the right decision.) But hey, if you feel so inclined, tell me what you think.