**DISCLAIMER – I do not own the characters, they belong to TNT and associated bodies. **
(However I have a wonderful imagination and that belongs all to me, just sometimes Jane and Maura wind up naked in it, and there's not a thing I can do to stop it. Gutted.)
How to solve a problem like a wedding ring.
Chapter One: Running away from you.
(Author's note: this is my first piece of fanfic. I'm ready for a barrage of bad reviews, but keep them flying in; I won't learn otherwise. I've had this story in my head for over 4 months and finally I'm writing it. Updates may be weekly, but I'll upload the first two chapters first and see how we go. For the time being it will be Rated T. Fear not, I adore smut and it'll hit M at some point :-) )
There were three things in this life that Maura Isles was utterly certain of. One was that getting Jane to say no to a tequila shot was impossible. The second was that convincing Jane her subsequent hangover was the tequila's fault, was also impossible. And the third, the most impossible of all; was that Maura was impossibly in love with the detective. As things stood, the present situation was the single most impossible thing of all; Maura had lost Jane.
Maura surveyed the empty desk; scuff marks from Jane having her feet up, two faint marks on either side of the keyboard where Jane would rest her head on weary elbows at the end of a tough day, marks carved into the wood from Jane crashing pens into the surface in complete frustration. Maura could almost see her still there, still smell the lavender before the brown orbs would turn to her, before the teeth of the detective would shine in a way only reserved for Maura, with the lopsided grin that made her breath hitch. Things she would regret throwing away; for the rest of her life.
Everything had happened so quickly. For everything Maura could understand of the human condition, reading about it was different to experiencing it. Nothing Jane had ever done had bypassed friendship in Maura's eyes. Maura had nothing to compare it to, in her defence. A life of loneliness was shattered when she shook the hand one . Dinners, sleepovers, falling asleep separately and waking up entwined; how was this different from college friendships she had witnessed? Was this not a sisterhood, a bonding of fragile souls?
Everything hit home on one unsuspecting Friday evening, the night she cursed herself for running from the only thing that she knew. Running from Jane...
Crashing through the door of Jane's apartment, Maura erupted into a fit of unprecedented giggles.
"And just what is so funny, Doctor Isles?"
"You, my dearest, dearest detective," Maura sighed, before wiping the tears that had escaped.
"You are just about the cutest thing in this whole world when you have your tequila smile."
"Cutest thing in the entire world, huh..." Jane smiled as she stepped directly in front of the M.E. As Jane leaned into close the space between them, Maura panicked. Every insecurity, every taunt, every cruelty inflicted upon her; reared their ugly memories at that moment. With her final thought, Maura felt her resolve crack. She raged inside, pushing Jane away. "Is this what I am to you? A convenient peice of meat? A bet? We are friends, Jane; Jane stood dumbfounded as the door opened and slammed shut before she could even process what had just happened. If Maura's sexuality was a mystery to her, it wasn't anymore. Maura had made it more than clear she was straight, and that Jane had just destroyed the most important thing in her life.
"If you could only see yourself the way I see you..."
The only thought going through Maura's head, the one thought she had hoped never to have of
''I'm a pawn to her . . . I'm little weak Maura . . . I'm probably going to win her $50 in the morning . . . I can't do this . . . '
It took until Monday morning for Maura to gather the courage to call Jane. After getting Jane's voicemail for the fifth time, and having no reply to her three texts; Maura called Korsak in desperation. Of all the ways she imagined Jane leaving her life, all were more dramatic than the current situation. She hadn't been shot to pieces heroically in the line of duty, she hadn't been knocked down saving the life of an innocent person. No. She left. She simply left.
Korsak hadn't pushed Maura for details. She liked this about the veteran detective, he was astute to the point of intuitive. He had told her, simply and calmly; that Frost and Jane had been called into the Precinct late Saturday night. Agent Dean had a situation in Iraq, tragically similar to the case of the apprentice that had come so close to taking Jane's life. He needed one of the team to go out in the field with him. There was no questioning in Jane's mind, she knew the case, she had served Cadets, she trusted Dean. By Sunday morning she would be signing her papers in Washington. By the time Maura had picked up her cell-phone to tentatively call her on Monday morning, she would have already embarked on her duties.
Maura thought of the cruelties that had been inflicted upon her in her life. To lose Jane, to lose her to the unknown; this was surely the cruellest hand fate had yet dealt her. The cruellest hand it could ever have dealt her.