Jane, sitting on the stool Maura provided, fidgets and whines like a seven year old being kept a moment too long from the playground.
Maura, crouching down, looks up and sighs motherly — a mix between obtaining patience from deep within her and losing it simultaneously — like Angela used to.
"If you'd stop moving, this would be over a lot quicker." Maura reminds, using her gloved hands to stable Jane's knee. "Please," she tries through her clenched teeth, annoyed.
Jane rolls her eyes. "Well I'm sorry you don't know what you're doing." She waits a beat for Maura to protest but then continues. "I mean you work on the dead, Maur. I know I got pretty banged up but I didn't think it was that bad."
Maura works her jaw, trying to just ignore Jane's tactics of provoking her which are so close to actually working. She just applies the rest of the ibuprofen gel on the her best friend's freshly cleaned knee wound.
"Are you giving me the silent treatment now?" Jane asks, kicking her knee.
It almost knocks into Maura's face. She grabs it firmly and presses the leg against the desk.
"Fine," the injured woman smirks. "But just so you know; you're not invited to beer with us after now."
The Medical Examiner applies the band-aid then stands, snapping her gloves off. Jane winces at the sound but pretends she didn't. "I can't go, anyway." Maura turns to push the tray holding her supplies away.
Jane looks visibly deflated. "What? Why?" her arms drop and her brow is pulled together in confusion.
Maura shrugs, "I have a date."
"A date?" her voice is flat and unapproving.
Maura is oblivious. "Yes, a date." She assures in an obvious way. Like she doesn't believe Jane doesn't know what a date is.
"What kind of date?"
"Well, I'm not sure."
"You're not sure?" again, Jane's voice is flat. She stalks up behind her best friend but keeps a two foot distance between them. "What kind of date is it? Business or pleasure?"
Maura chuckles, almost innocently, because she actually thinks Jane is joking. With her back to her best friend, she doesn't see that Jane is actually really intrigued and pissed off and visibly fuming at the idea.
"I don't think there are very many business dates at night, Jane." She turns. She stops suddenly when she sees Jane is closer than she thought and her friend is quite obviously unimpressed with the news. "I didn't think I was invited to drinks anyway, Jane. We lost the game."
"All those other lab geeks aren't invited," Jane waves dismissively. "You always are."
Maura looks touched. "Thank you,"
"So you're coming?"
She frowns. "I can't. I have a date." She repeats, this time more firmly to imply that she's actually looking forward to it.
"So, what? Call him and reschedule for next Friday when I have work Beat with the newbies."
"You have to work Beat?"
"Cavanaugh thinks it'll inspire the newbies to be better," she shrugs off the conversation like she doesn't care. "C'mon Maur, I can buy you a consolation drink. You guys really tried this time."
Maura looks confused. "This is only our third loss."
Jane sighs. "I'm aware of the freaking score, Maur. I just think you need a drink. You're not used to losing."
She smiles. "You're not used to losing. I accept defeat very well. I learn from it." She's taking off her jersey now.
The prominent red letters spelling out "BPD Forensics" float into Jane's sight and she has a moment of resentment for Maura's natural talent at baseball. But then again, she isn't surprised because Maura's a natural at everything. Especially if she applies science to it.
"So you're not coming?" she asks, the question really being "you'd rather go on a date with a stiff than have a drink with me?"
Maura picks up on it and turns to face Jane. She looks at her friend softly and tries to sound as apologetic as she can manage but she has to be firm with Jane for her friend to understand. "I spend nearly every night with you, Jane. At The Robber, your apartment, my home, or even in the Homicide bullpen upstairs."
"Hey, it's fine." Jane backs away from Maura, her hands up and palms out. "I get it. You wanna get laid, that's cool. I'd be doing the same if someone finally showed interest in me too." She means for it to hurt and ignores the urge to immediately apologize when Maura's face falls into something resembling hurt.
"I suppose." The honey-blonde musters, quietly. "So we're at an understanding?"
"Yup." The brunette swallows. "Clear as a freaking crystal-ball." She grabs her mitt and ball on her way out.
Maura watches as she leaves with a crestfallen look but doesn't follow after Jane. She wants to. Desperately, she does but she needs some time away from her best friend. It's only healthy that they have their space. Jane would understand if it were her that studied human behavior.
Jane's apartment is invitingly warm but repugnantly cluttered. Frankie, Frost, and Korsak all sit on her couch with a beer in their hands and their feet rested on her coffee table.
She looks at them all with disgust before walking through and knocking their feet to the floor. "This isn't the Robber and this isn't your own place." Jo Friday follows her.
"Don't mind her," Frankie puts his feet back up despite his sister's warning glare. "She's just mad because her girlfriend didn't want to come."
Frost snorts. "You and the Doc are fighting again?" only he says it like it's a regular occurrence and he's not even surprised that they're right on schedule.
Which it has been for the last three weeks. No one, not even Jane and Maura, know why.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Korsak intervenes before Frost accidently digs himself in a hole and finds his ass working back in Robbery before he can finish his beer. "Oh nothing, Rizzoli. You girls just have high estrogen levels, that's all the kid is saying."
Not only Jane, but Frankie and Frost look at him with an appalled look. "Girls?" Frost mouths to Frankie?
"Estrogen?" Frankie mouths back with disgust.
They shudder.
"Excuse you?" Jane pushes the foot rest on her recliner down. "We are not girls, we're fuckin' women Vince. Alright? And fuck you, my estrogen levels are fine."
"Coulda' fooled me." He shrugs nonchalantly, apparently not realizing that he's being sexist.
Jane wants to say more but Vince is just an old asshole who wouldn't know a thing about women even if he had a set of tits himself. Jane eyes him over her beer as she downs it and notices his chest is a little flabby.
She sighs frustratingly and turns the volume on the game up.
Maura's date is a tall man with jet black hair that stands stylishly on his head at an inch in height. He's muscular and wears an expensively gray fitted suit. His bluchers correspond with the color of his hair.
He sits across from her at a restaurant she's been herself dying to try out. She's never had anyone but Jane to take with her but her best friend refuses to be caught dead in a place she knows everyone will assume she can't afford.
So Maura eats at three-star restaurants for the benefit of her friend.
Up until tonight, she thought she didn't mind only ever doing what Jane wants to do but as she talks to the most fascinating man she's met in a long time, she finds that her separation from Jane was long overdue.
"So," he grins and his teeth are perfectly aligned. Maura can't help but think it would piss Jane off to see him smile. He's truly unaware of his good looks because he looks at her nervously. "What's it like to be the chief Medical Examiner?" he fingers the cloth on their table.
Maura's smile is hesitant and her eyes give a vague look past him through the intimately lit restaurant to the Charles river. "It's an interesting job. I'm quite glad I decided to work in Boston."
"Was it not your original choice?" he asks with a look of actual interest. It's something, she notices almost sadly, Jane never gave her.
"No," she shakes her head no and looks at him finally. Her smile grows bigger because he's here and he's listening. He's not upset with her at all and that makes her happy. He recipocrates her smile with one of his own that obviously states he's been reassured of her interest in him. "I worked in Jamaica Plain before I was promoted to Chief. Before that, I was offered positions from San Diego, Seattle, and Portland in Maine."
"Once news spread that Massachusetts wanted me as their Chief, I was given offers from D.C., New York, and Florida."
"D.C., huh?" he asks with a vague sense of intimidation. "Why'd you turn them down?"
Maura looks thoughtful. "I'm not sure. I certainly believe I am far more qualified for Washington D.C., I suppose I just stayed here because I thought of it as home."
"Thought?"
"I still do." She assures only half committally.
"Good." He drops his head, sheepishly. "Actually, I'm kind of glad you're still here. I may be stuck sitting across from an old man white hair and dentures."
Maura laughs softly. "I suppose I'm doing you a great justice?"
"I suppose you are."
They slip into a leisure discussion.
Jane's run out of beer and Jo Friday is asleep in her lap. The game is almost over and her guests are nearly half asleep.
She sighs annoyed. That's it, she decides. She's getting those freeloading, beer-finishing, hamburger-inhaling assholes out of her apartment.
She moves her legs and Jo jumps to the floor. The small dog curls up next to the recliner and falls back asleep easily, so easily Jane is almost envious.
"Hey!" she claps her hands thunderously.
All three men jolt awake then look at her tiredly.
"Time to get up and go home." She grabs Frankie's hand and pulls him to his feet. He leans against her.
"Five more minutes," he mumbles on her shoulder.
"No way," she shoves him off and he stumbles to land on Vince and Frost. "Oh jeez," she sighs when her partners protest loudly. "You guys are pathetic."
"Take it easy," Frankie stands. "We're not the ones you're mad at."'
"Oh really?" she gives him a questioning look that implies they very much are. "You assholes ate my food and finished my beer. I'm pretty pissed at you."
"What are you gonna do, let us drive home drunk?" Frost yawns but stands, barely.
"Guess that wouldn't be in my best interest as a cop, now would it?" Jane closes her eyes trying obtain as much patience as possible.
A beat passes, then: "Fine, let's go. I'll drop you all off and you can come get your cars in the morning."
"But, Janie I rode here with you." Frankie says.
"Then I guess you won't have a reason to come back tomorrow." She pushes him out the door.
Korsak is the last one out.
In the hall, while she locks her door, the three men stand tiredly but more alert now than they were a minute ago. "You know, tomorrow is gonna be hell." Frost says to Korsak.
"Tell me about it." Frankie rubs his eyes. "Janie's gonna be hungover, Maura's gonna be happy-"
"Why is she gonna be happy?" Frost asks in an innocently confused voice.
"She had a date tonight."
Frost and Korsak let out a long, "oooooooh," as they finally understand what's got Jane's panties wound so tight. "That explains a helluva lot." Frost continues.
"Let's go." She ushers them to the elevator.
They walk with a deliberately slow pace. "Wonder if it was that Pediatrician we brought in for questioning last week. You know, they really hit off. He had her laughing in the cafe for fifteen minutes." Korsak informs casually.
"Nah," Frost shakes his head. "I bet it was that lawyer from court on Monday."
Frankie and Korsak share a look of "yeah probably" until Jane scorns them.
They drop their gazes but Frost doesn't see. "If it's not him, it's probably the Assistant D.A."
"James Corvall?" Jane scoffs. "That man wouldn't know what to do with Maura."
"And you would?" Frost shoots back.
Jane hesitates for a beat. "Well I'm not a dyke if that's what you're getting at but yes. If I were a man I probably would know how to treat a woman. Way better than Corvall the assface."
Frankie chuckles quietly next to Korsak.
"What's so funny?"
He shakes his head and wipes his smile away. "Nothing, Janie. Jesus, nothing."
"Speak up, you got something to say then say it."
"You're so goddamn clueless, that's all."
She clenches her jaw and counts to ten, then twenty, then thirty. She really fucking hates Frankie sometimes.
James' coat is draped over Maura's shoulders as they walk. The street is loud with loud footsteps of other pedestrians and cars honking. Around them are inviting neon signs and beautiful buildings.
"I really like being with you." James's hands are stuffed into his pockets. He steps evenly with her and even bumps his shoulder playfully into hers.
Maura smiles. "Me too."
He grins and sighs happily. "So, is there a chance we can do this again next Friday?"
She thinks about Jane for a moment. The fact that Jane told her she'd be busy doesn't even cross her mind nor does it encourage her to decline him. But she does it anyway. "I...have a confession."
They both stop walking when they come to a bench small enough to only fit them. He gestures for her to sit.
Maura does. "I don't think I'm entirely ready to begin dating. I...I can do casual."
"Casual?" he lifts an eyebrow.
She nods.
James rubs his hands together. "I can do casual too. I really like you, Maura. I hope that doesn't change anything. Though I won't lie if this does ever turn serious, I wouldn't really complain. You're a beautiful woman, obviously." He gestures and they both laugh a little. "Really established and smart, did I mention beautiful?"
She smiles.
"But we can take this slow, if you'd like."
She nods in appreciation.
"May I ask why? Did you just get out of a relationship or something?"
Maura thinks. She hasn't been in anything more than a one-night-stand with dinner and sex since Dennis. Which was nearly a year ago.
"Not recently, but I'm still not ready for anything long term." She frowns.
"I understand." And he sincerely does.
They watch as the city moves before them. It's quiet between them and she doesn't mind it. She even scoots closer to him to soak in his warmth. She feels comfortable. But she doesn't feel much more than that. She doesn't feel what she feels when she's next to Jane and that was the whole point of dating James.
He's Italian. He's tall. He's sleek and lean and muscular. He's almost perfect to her.
But he isn't Jane.
A/N: Everybody leave a review on your way out. They're like gift baskets...for the author.
