BOKEN BOUNDARIES Ch. 1

This is new territory for me, and I feel like I'm shaky ground. I usually don't open a story with Maura because she's more difficult for me to write. Please let me know if I should scrap it or continue. Thanks!

Maura struggled to unravel the situation that lay before her. It was clear that Jane was unhappy with her, but she failed to grasp why. It wasn't for a lack of trying, she simply couldn't understand Jane's outrage over something she herself deemed trivial, but that was often the case with them. Frequently, they encountered situations that elicited strong visceral reactions from Jane, but left Maura completely non-responsive. The M.E. took a sip of her coffee and absently placed the cup down on the glass coaster next to her favorite paperweight. She then tried to distract herself by reorganizing the files on her computer, but it did little to take her mind off of her latest disagreement with the detective.

Maura rested her hand on her cheek and was racking her brain when Frankie passed her office. His shoulders slumped and a sheepish look plastered his face. She immediately realized Jane had confided in him about her transgression because he was unable to make eye contact with her. He snorted as he glanced at the doctor remembering why Jane dubbed the whole thing "Boundarygate." He blushed slightly as Maura gestured toward him.

"Frankie, may I see you for a moment?"

Groaning internally he responded, "Uh…I have to…uh...umm." He looked at the Dr.'s crestfallen expression and finally answered with a less than enthusiastic. "Yeah sure."

"Jane isn't speaking to me. She's angry with me about what happened, and I was hoping you could clarify the situation. I fail to see why what may be a minor incident at best has upset Jane so much."

Frankie raised both of his eyebrows. "Well, uh…. no offense, but considering the circumstances and the feelings involved, if I were Jane, I'd be upset too. You just gotta give her some time. She'll come around."

"The feelings?"

"Yeah, you know Jane really, she uh, cares about you."

"I really like her too; she's my best friend, but why was what happened so offensive?"

Frankie started to sweat; the gravity of the situation really escaped her, and he had no desire to be the one to spell it out for her. "Maura, maybe you should you know, wait a couple of days and talk to Jane about it. I don't think I can explain it." With that he nearly slid on the floor scrambling from the M.E.'s office.

Maura had had enough. She couldn't bear getting the cold shoulder from Jane, nor could she stand Frankie's evasiveness. She marched up to the squad room to put an end to what she decidedly felt like was torture.

When she stepped off the elevator, the bullpen was in total chaos. There were uniformed and plain-clothes officers rushing about the room, answering phones and narrowly escaping running into one another. Jane was at her desk with a look of utter displeasure on her face. Her brows were knitted together and she definitely wore a scowl that tightly drew the corners of her mouth.

"Jane, what's going on?"

"Not know Maura; some jerk started firing a gun from a parked car on Grove Street. I'm waiting to hear if there were any casualties."

A look of concern washed over the doctor's face as she twisted the ring she wore on her left hand. She waited patiently for Jane to say something, or at least look at her. Whether it was more information on the shootings, an invitation to stay, or an offer to talk later, Maura needed to have Jane address her in some manner. Instead, the detective stared at her phone as if her glare could induce it to ring. The lack of attention deflated and worried Maura; she feared a panic attack would consume her right there in front of Jane and at least a dozen other co-workers.

The doctor swallowed hard, and silently returned to the morgue when it was clear Jane had nothing more to say. If there were casualties, and she was needed, Dispatcher Lewis would call her. Now, she wanted to be alone to collect her emotions. When she went upstairs, she was determined to resolve the situation, but now, Dr. Maura Isles was barely able to control her own breathing.

"Damn it." She cursed under her breath, and disappeared down the long corridor into autopsy suite one and made her way toward the cooler. She pulled out the drawer of a John Doe from the previous day. The cool steel handle refreshing her clammy hand, she looked down at the young man and thought, "sometimes I wonder if it's better to be anonymous?" She closed the drawer and returned to her office.