A/N: Hey! So, this is just a fluffy little one-shot based on something that tumblr user namelessdudette added to a tumblr post. Anway, enjoy!
"Are you doing what I think you're doing?" I asked Jane while trying to look around her so I could see what was displayed on my computer screen. Jane didn't turn around and didn't answer. Maybe she wasn't looking at Casey's medical records after all. I moved towards her quickly.
"Jane, what are-" I quickly shut my mouth when I saw what she was staring at. My heart sped up and my mind was racing, trying to come up with a good excuse.
"Maura, what is this?" Jane was staring at a 20-page document with information I had found on sarcasm and jokes and colloquialisms. I had researched the subject a few days ago. How was I supposed to explain that I was researching all of this so I could understand Jane better and she would be proud of me because I would use correct idioms or crack jokes? Or that maybe, just maybe, Casey wasn't the only one that understood her?
"That's for research purposes, Jane." I said, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice. Jane looked at me and raised her eyebrows.
"On sarcasm?" She let out a small chuckle. I could feel a blush forming on my cheeks. I looked at the floor.
"Inter alia." I mumbled. Jane's smile fell and she looked confused.
"Inter alia?" She asked.
"It means among other things. It comes from the Latin phrase inter alios which means 'amongst other persons and-" Jane cut me off.
"Alright I get it Maura." My blushing intensified. I was nervous therefore I Google-mouthed as Jane liked to call it.
"Why are you researching sarcasm?" Jane asked and she didn't sound condescending or freaked out, she just sounded curious. I took a deep breath. I knew I couldn't lie but I could pick one truth out of several, right?
"so I could understand you better." I mumbled. I didn't say why I wanted to understand her better or that I hoped she would smile and her dimples would show when I told her one of the jokes. I felt two fingers under my chin, lifting it. I met the coffee brown eyes before me.
"You don't have to do that Maura." She whispered and suddenly it was like we weren't in the morgue and we weren't surrounded by cadavers. It was like it was just the two of us and Jane's unspoken words lingered around our heads. I didn't say anything.
"Why did you want to understand me better?" She asked and this time I didn't hesitate to answer because in this place where Jane and I were, nothing could hurt me. So I looked into Jane's beautifully expressive eyes and spoke.
"Because I thought you would like me better." I whispered and I didn't even say it sadly or angry, I just stated a fact. But Jane looked like I had just broken her heart. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me and I breathed in her incredible scent and I stood there surrounded by warmth and comfort and safety.
"Don't." She whispered against my skin and I felt it more than I heard it and I knew. I knew that it didn't just mean 'don't think you have to do anything to make me like you better', it meant 'don't think you're worse than Casey' and 'don't think you're not my first choice' and most of all, it said 'don't walk away from me, please' and that broke my heart while making it swell at the same time. Because Jane had just opened herself up more with one word than she had ever done with all of the other words she had spoken. And just when I thought I loved her more than I ever thought I could love anyone, she spoke those three words and I fell for her all over again.
"I love you." She whispered the words. They weren't pleading or asking me to say it back like they were when other people spoke them, they weren't trying to guilt me into saying it back. They were simply those three words, filled with love and passion. So I leaned back a little bit so that I could see her face and her eyes told me that she wasn't lying. That she loved me and that she was desperate for me to love her back but that she would never express that because she wanted me to be happy above all else, but I did love her back. So I leaned in and I softly pressed my lips on hers and she kissed me back and it wasn't like in the movies where it was passionate and fast, it was slow and soft and nice and loving. When I pulled back I put my head back where it had been on her collarbone and I pitied every pillow in the world because they would never even come close to the comfort of Jane's chest, where I could hear her heartbeat and I could feel her warmth.
"I love you." I whispered back and I didn't say 'I love you, too' because it wasn't the same. Because I loved her like the best medical book I had ever read and the day I graduated from BCU and the day I got a job as chief medical examiner and tortoises and documentaries all combined and she loved me differently. Maybe she loved me just as much, but it was different and so I couldn't say 'I love you, too' because her love was so different from mine. I didn't know why, but I suddenly felt the urge to tell one of the jokes I had looked up on my computer.
"Two cops rush to a crime scene behind a grocery store. The homicide detective is already there. 'What happened?' asks the first cop.
'Male, about thirty, covered in Raisin Bran and dead as a doornail.'
'Oh my God,' says the second officer.
'Didn't we have one covered in Frosted Flakes yesterday? And Captain Crunch last week?'
'You're right. I'm afraid,' said the detective as he took a drag from his cigarette,
'this is the work of a cornflake killer.' "
When I was done, Jane was laughing so loud that her whole body was shaking.
"M-Maura, it's a 'cereal killer'!" She said. I could feel a blush creeping up my neck again. Why did I have to mess up the punch line? Jane looked at how my face fell and she quickly leaned in to kiss me.
"I love how you make crappy jokes and you don't understand sarcasm." She whispered against my lips before kissing me again and I couldn't help but grin when Jane said things like that. And so we stood there, not in the morgue, but in our own little world. And we kissed until Jane had to go back upstairs and I had to go back to the autopsy and no one knew why both of us had huge grins on our faces for the rest of our day.
A/N: Hope you guys liked it! please review and tell me what you think.