This fic is dedicated to phormastobia, in kudos for giving up smoking! Happy Rizzles!
The look on Jane's face took Maura by surprise, the sly half grin, the mischievous twinkling mirth in her eyes, and a twitch of delight that lifted one thin ebony eyebrow. Something was on the detective's mind.
"What?" the blonde finally asked.
"Oh just remembering something," Jane answered. The detective still looked down at the edge of Maura's desk and pushed at the ancient tribal piece in fascination. She tilted her chin in an authoritative manner; eyes still lingered on the object.
Maura shrugged out of her lab coat and closed her laptop without taking her eyes from the brunette.
The odd expression left the detective and a neutral one took its place.
"Remember what you told me that one time," Jane started.
"I've told you several things," Maura countered as she hung up her lab coat and grabbed her purse, her back to the detective.
Jane bit her lip before elaborating, "About breaking the law."
Maura slowed her task as she looked at the detective.
"Yes," Maura said, facing the woman.
Jane looked up.
"I need-" Jane stopped herself, her voice catching, she swallowed, "I wanna show you something."
The serious tone caused an unsettling feeling to churn in Maura's gut; she tried not to listen to it, she never listened to her intestines.
"Okay," Maura offered cautiously.
"I'll drive you," Jane said.
"I don't know how I feel about this," Maura finally voiced her concern.
"You don't even know what this is," Jane said.
"I don't want to be arrested...again."
"Who said anything about getting arrested?" Jane asked.
"It comes with breaking the law," the blonde said.
"Nah, you just gotta know the right people," the brunette offered.
The car rolled to a stop.
"I hope you can climb in those," Jane said, pointing to Maura's heels, before opening her door.
Adrenaline coursed through Maura's body; she could hear her heart pulsing in her ears.
"Jane, I don't know if I want-"
"Oh, come on, Maura, I know you like it," the detective teased in a low rasp before stepping out of the car.
Maura gave a small pout before looking around.
Boston streets during the day were one thing; Boston streets at night were another. The blanket of black masked the entities of reality, as night claimed all. The yellow of streetlights were the only defense against the unruly.
She watched as night captured the fleeting detective, her silhouette becoming just another piece of darkness.
"Jane wait!" Maura finally scurried from the car and chased after her, crossing the street. The silhouette slipped around a corner.
"Jane!" the doctor called in a quiet hiss, as not to bring attention to her. She continued, giving a gallop as she stepped up the curb in her heels. "Jane!" she called after her again, her pace quickening.
Making her way around the corner, Maura skidded to a stop. The chain link gate stood tall, preventing entrance.
"Jane?" Maura called confused, the brunette nowhere to be found.
Great, Maura thought, I am going to die.
A metallic clank and the sound of steel against steel made the woman jump. Looking up, she watched as the fire escape ladder descended to her. A black blob poked out from the ledge.
"You won't need a boost, will you?" Jane asked from the ledge.
Maura glared at the blob.
"Jane!"
"C'mon, we're going to miss it!"
Exasperated, yet intrigued, Maura grabbed at the rung a few feet above her head. With a strong tug, she lifted herself and was able to place her right foot on the bottom rung, which sat just thigh level.
"I bet you can jump a fence in a skirt too," Jane disembodied voice quipped.
Maura just rolled her eyes as she made her way up the rusted ladder.
As she made it to the first landing, Jane offered her a hand, keeping the blonde from staining or ripping her designer clothes.
Making it safely onto the landing, Jane released her and reached down for the ladder. With a heave, the metal ladder retraced and crawled up against the building.
Jane turned and smiled; her teeth brighter than her shadowed face.
"C'mon," she said and grabbed Maura's hand.
Slowly, carefully, they made their way up six stories of rusted fire stairs; Jane throwing back glances every now and again.
The rush of adrenaline grew with each passing step, Maura's breathing quickened.
Coming to the top, they met one more ladder, one to which Maura did need a boost.
"Here," Jane said, coming to squat and bringingt her hands to the cradle position.
Placing the ball of her heel into the detective's palms, Maura hiked her skirt again and steadied herself.
"Ready?" Jane asked. Maura nodded.
"On two, one, two," the two pumps came even and Maura popped to the ladder with ease. She made it up two rungs before she hear Jane grunt and felt the shimmy of the metal. Looking over her shoulder, Maura watched as the brunette's arms flexed in effort as she pulled herself up the ladder until she had footing.
Jane gave a nod, "Go on." The same mirth she has seen on the brunette's face earlier returned.
Turning back to the rungs, Maura climbed the remaining bars.
As the rungs continued up past the brick ledge of the roof, Maura slipped to the backside and swung her feet over the lip and onto the solid roof. With a sigh of relief, she released her grasp and surveyed the rooftop.
Jane swung a leg over and landed with a clop.
"Trespassing? That's your big off?" Maura asked in a scoffing manner.
Jane made a face as she passed the blonde. Maura followed.
Briskly, Jane made her to the opposite side of the roof.
"Wait here," she instructed. Maura stopped where she stood and watched as the lanky woman swung her leg over the lip and disappeared for a second before reappearing on the neighboring building's fire escape.
She watched in rapt exhilaration and fear as the woman stalked her way up another floor before she knocked on a window and then, once again, disappeared.
"Jane!" Maura called concernedly.
A few angst filled moments passed. Maura bit at her lip.
I'm going to die.
Just as she was deciding to go after the brunette, Jane reappeared in the window. She held something in her hands, but Maura couldn't quite make out what it was. She unknowingly held her breath as Jane made her way back.
Jane emerged from the shadows, a grin on her face as she held on her hand, which grasped a bottle of wine and two glasses.
"Do I have a great C.I. of what?" Jane said. She nodded her head towards the west side of the roof, "I have chairs."
As they made their way past the air unit, Maura found two folding chairs resting upon the elevated slab on cement. Maura took her seat first as Jane opened the wine. She let Maura read the label as she handed her a half glass. Blonde eyebrows raised in surprise. That was a great year.
"What is this place?" Maura asked as Jane took her seat.
"I come here sometimes, to clear my head. Nobody knows about it. Well, except Rondo."
"And what are we doing up here?"
"Shh," Jane hushed, "it's starting."
In the distance, Maura could hear the faint timbre of a growing orchestra. As drums accompanied the string, a distinctive thoom perforated the night.
With a boom, silver danced in the sky.
Thoom... Boom! Blue twinkled over the buildings.
"I can't remember exactly, but this is the final event, fireworks in the park.
Jane toasted to the explosion of orange and took a sip. Maura took a drink.
They watched for a while as burst of fireworks colored the sky, both now on their second glass of wine.
"I like the ones that zip around like fireflies," Jane commented before giving a chuckle. "Frankie and I would always try to guess which color was coming next." She made a thinkers face, "I've always kinda wondered how they did it."
"Different compounds," Maura offered. A silver ball twinkled. "Titanium." A green. "Barium with a chlorine producer." An orange. "Calcium chloride."
Jane placed her hand on Maura's. "We can go over those later." She stood from her chair, approached the waist-high lip, and rested her forearms upon it.
"You can see them dance in the harbor," she said over her shoulder. She finished off her glass as Maura approached.
Maura leaned beside her, watching as the colors danced both in the sky and along the water. They mirrored one another, resting on their forearms, the distance between them, small.
Jane looked over and smiled as she watched the doctor, who was enchanted by the flashes of color. She watched as the bright explosions illuminated the shadowed contours of Maura's cheeks and made her eyes dance with delight.
"You're missing quite the spectral," Maura said without taking her eyes for the display. When the brunette offered no response, Maura looked at her.
Eyes danced back and forth, the fireworks forgotten.
Maura tilted her chin, suddenly drawn to the brunette next to her, and leaned over. Jane leaned too; and gradually they occupied the other's space.
Slowly, very slowly, they came together, the tips of their noses meeting skin before gently, almost imaginarily, their lips brushed.
With her left hand free, Jane brought it to Maura's cheek, as she closed her lips over Maura's.
The blonde leaned further into the kiss as she sat down her wine glass.
The chaste kisses gingerly turned into open explorations.
Maura retrieved her arms from the ledge and threaded them around Jane's waist as her tongue sought entrance past Jane's lips. The brunette gave a little hum of delight, smiling as her own tongue soon found its own rhythm.
The finale proved powerful as strings of fireworks exploded simultaneously, fueling the drive between the two women.
As the last boom dissipated from the air, they could both hear the sound of their kissing, which caused them both to moan.
Maura paused for a breath. "Did you plan this?" she asked behind closed eyes.
"No," Jane answered, resting her forehead to Maura's.
The faint applause and whistling drew their attention back out over the building.
"Tell me I don't have to wait for the next firework show to do this again," Maura.
"I may still have 'Pop Goes the Fourth' recorded," Jane said with a smile.
Maura returned it before placing her lips back to Jane's.