SELECTED SHORT SUBJECTS
A collection of shorter bits about Jane and Maura at various stages. I like to write these shorter pieces, and I'll post these aggregates from time to time, until somebody tells me to stop. I'll try and discipline myself that each set will be about 2000 words. Enjoy and review, please!
Academics
Jane's phone rang, and Maura's picture filled the screen. "Hey, Maur."
"Hello, Jane. I'm sorry, but I really need a favor."
"Sure. Name it." Jane was always more than glad to do Maura any favor she was asked. Jane worried about that.
"I need a ride. There's something wrong with my car…it won't start. I have to get to the BCU campus in twenty minutes. Would you? Please?"
The appealing tone of that last word did things to Jane's insides, and her outsides, too; she started to break out into a sweat in the middle of February. And forgot about any impulse to tease Maura about that extravagant car.
"Alright. Meet me in the lobby. Oh, and bring your BCU hangtag. Just in case."
As they pulled past McCormick Hall, Maura said "You can just drop me off. I'll take a cab back."
"Nah. The weather's shitty. I'll park and wait for you."
"Not in your car. At least come in. There's a coffee shop on the first floor, although I don't recommend eating or drinking anything there."
"Nah...I'll just sit up in the back while you give your lecture. It's only an hour."
Maura looked at Jane as if her friend had been replaced by an alien. "'Biochemical Events Immediately Concomitant to Blunt-Force Trauma'? You'll be bored to death."
"I don't mind."
"Why not?"
Jane put the car in park and turned off the engine. "Because you're giving the lecture."
Attention
Maura kissed me.
She was leaving my apartment last night, after one of our usual (I was going to say normal, but no moment with Maura is ever 'normal') evenings of TV and talk. I walked her to the door, and, before she turned to go, she lifted her face and kissed me. Just...kissed me. Then she said goodnight, and left.
It was very nice. Her lips are silky, firm...they taste sweet, a little like the wine she was drinking, and...something else.
Shit. I have the attention span of a five-year-old the day after Halloween. I'm trying to review incident reports, citation records, cold cases, trying to track this suspect through the system. And all I can think about is Maura's lips on mine. I'm no damn good for anything else.
Frost just whacked me on the back of the head for zoning out while he was showing me...something...on my computer.
I'm an idiot.
And here's the weirdest part of this. I didn't try to stop her.
I kissed her back.
What the hell do I do now?
Scheming
I kissed Jane tonight.
I knew exactly what I was doing. I knew I was going to do it the moment I walked into her apartment tonight. I'd been thinking about it for weeks.
But I was a coward. I waited until the last minute, until I had an escape already in place, until I could do the deed and run away. Despicable.
But...I liked it. It was sweet and warm and sexy. I want to kiss her again.
I know she liked it. She didn't pull away, she took part, she reciprocated.
I've made a mess of things, now.
I have no idea what to do next.
Clueless
Maura stood, smiled at Jane. "I have to go. See you at lunch?"
Jane stayed seated, finishing her coffee. "Sure. I'd like that."
Maura gave Jane a lingering look. "'Bye."
Jane looked back through hooded eyes. "'Bye."
Jane watched Maura walk out in her clingy dress and short jacket, her hips swaying sweetly, innocently. Jane also noticed that Maura attracted the attention of the two men in suits at the next table. The younger man, facing in Maura's direction, stared unabashedly. "She sure is hot, don't y'think?"
His older, crew-cut companion craned his neck to look behind him, just in time to see Maura turn the corner and vanish from sight. "Yeah, she is a looker. She's supposed to be a genius, but she's really clueless."
Jane felt the anger-driven bile rise in her throat. She walked by the men's table on her way out, paused. "She's not as clueless as you think, " she rasped, her displeasure clear in her tone. "She's smart enough to know not to date someone like you."
Before either man could reply, she turned away and walked out, her vigorous, heavy steps thumping on the floor.
As she reached the elevator she allowed herself a little mental high-five. She'd done her good deed for the day.
Mano a mano
The coffee table's cluttered with a half-empty pizza box, three beer bottles, and an empty wine glass. Oh, and my feet. Iron Man 2 is on the screen; it's our regular movie night.
Maura's leaning on my shoulder. I can't see her face, so I don't know if she's fallen asleep or not. One arm's wrapped around mine; her other hand's in my lap.
I take her hand in mine, gently, so as not to wake her. I'm watching the movie, sort of, and my thumb explores the back of her fingers and knuckles. I don't actually watch the movie. I don't look at Maura or our joined hands, either. I'm not really sure where I am. But I swear to God I could recognize Maura's left hand if I held it blindfolded.
How can I not tell her I love her? How can I know if she loves me?
The she squeezes my fingers. Lightly, gently. Once, twice. She murmurs contentedly into my shoulder.
Maybe I do know.
Forecast
Halfway through unfastening the buttons of Maura's blouse, in the middle of tasting the sweetness of Maura's tongue in her mouth, Jane paused and drew back. "Are you really ready for this?"
Maura caught her breath. "If by this you mean am I ready to have sex with you, I am, absolutely."
More kisses, more buttons, more caresses. As Maura placed kiss after kiss on Jane's face and neck, she panted, "But…if you mean…something…beyond just sex…I'm…ready…for…that…too." She found Jane's mouth, drew her lips into her own. She faced Jane squarely, looking into her rich brown eyes. "And…I should warn you that this could go there, very quickly."
Jane kissed Maura's forehead gently. "I'll take that chance."
Sleep
Maura woke as the winter dawn was just breaking. It was dark in the room; but Maura's eyes, hours adapted to the dark, traced the outlines of Jane as she slept under the comforter next to her, to her left. It was surprising, and sweet, how they had adapted so well to sleeping in the same bed; Jane always on Maura's left side, Maura always on Jane's right. Jane slept on her back, her head to one side; although often they would spoon together, Maura wrapped up in Jane's body, behind her and tucking Maura into the pocket of her breasts and stomach. Jane's dark hair splayed out on the pillow, like those ancient sculptures of the solar disk with its twisted rays.
She had always been an early riser. Most days in the winter she woke before it was light, padding about the house, doing chores, feeding Bass, preparing for work. Today, Saturday, she was content to stay in bed, propped up against the headboard, watching this wonderful creature in repose beside her.
They had been sleeping together, making love, exploring each other, for a week. For Maura, who had been happiest with facts, logic, order, pattern, it was the most disorderly, illogical period of her life, and she was finding nothing but joy in it. She wondered what her life would have been like had she met Jane Rizzoli when she was sixteen, rather than in her thirties. How incredibly different it would have turned out.
As the room brightened she wanted Jane to wake. She wanted to feed Jane a nice breakfast, share the paper, chat around the table. Things that she imagined normal people did. She supposed, though, upon further reflection, that sleeping inordinately late might be something normal people did, as well.
Jane stirred. Maura helped the process along by gently stroking Jane's bare upper arm, and playing provocatively with her hair. Jane opened one eye, then another, sat up, and wordlessly reached for a kiss. Maura obliged, and Jane came fully awake. Maura was beginning to believe that this morning kiss was as necessary to jump-start her lover as that first cup of coffee, the aroma of which began to waft into the bedroom as the automatic timer on the coffee machine kicked in.
Jane smacked her lips, yawned, stretched, and smiled at Maura. "Good morning."
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah. Yeah I did." Jane considered for a minute, sitting up in bed. "Y'know, I've slept well every night this week."
"It must be the great sex. Post-coital endorphins…"
"Well, sure…you wear me out, I'll grant you that. But we didn't have sex last night. We were too tired, although I never thought I'd hear myself say that. I never sleep through the night when I'm by myself. Or even when I was sleeping with someone else...oh hey…sorry."
Her partner's brief scowl was quickly replaced by an affectionate smile.
"Nightmares?" Maura remembered several nights when Jane had called in the middle of the night, jarred awake with night terrors, bathed in sweat, voice weak and shaken. Nights when Maura had left her own bed to share Jane's, purely to comfort the detective and soothe her fears.
"Yeah. But not here. Not with you."
"Ever?"
"Ever. You must be good for me."
Maura felt a warm glow in her belly, a satisfying sense of accomplishment and attraction. The intensity of the sensation scared her, and she chose to deflect. "I'm glad to hear it. By whatever means, you need your rest. If only so you have enough energy to keep me happy. I am rather voracious."
"I've noticed. And speaking of which, maybe we can make up for last night's missed opportunities?" Jane grinned wolfishly and stroked Maura's back, pulled her lips within millimeters of her own.
Maura closed the distance with a kiss, and Jane's response lit her on fire.
So much for the nice breakfast.
They could always go out for brunch.
Contact
At four in the morning Jane was getting dressed in the dark, trying not to wake Maura. She'd come home at two, to grab two hours of sleep and some clean clothes. They'd been trying to track down this killer for five days now—the guy who came into all-night convenience stores, shot the clerk working alone, rifled the register, grabbed a couple bottles of booze, and disappeared. Camera footage wasn't helpful, the guy was masked and hooded; ballistics hadn't turned up the gun in any records yet, and Maura's autopsies had only shown one or two fatal bullet wounds. No connection between the victims. Homicide had been getting by on a few hours sleep here and there, ragging on every CI they could squeeze, chasing down leads that turned out to be false.
Despite Jane's efforts to be silent, Maura stirred, sat up in bed. "When did you come home?"
Jane was pulling on her shoes. "A couple of hours ago."
"You just slipped into bed?"
"I know how hard you've been working on this case. I didn't want to wake you."
"You've hardly touched me in four days."
"Maura, I don't..."
"When you come home again, please do something for me?"
"What?" Jane clipped on her gun, sat next to Maura on the bed, took her hands.
"Wake me. Please."
Jane felt like five kinds of shit. "Okay." She kissed Maura, lingered for two minutes with her arms around her, and left for work.