A/N: Well, so this is my first fanfic! I didn't think I would write my first story for Rizzoli & Isles, but I couldn't get them out of my head. It's a quick one-shot, because I honestly haven't written anything fiction... ever. The last thing I wrote was an in-depth analytical paper on Hamlet's infamous soliloquy. So tell me what you honestly think, because I think I'd like to try my hand at some more stories :)
Oh, and I'm not sure if this qualifies as T rating, but I wanted to be safe.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show. They run around in my head all the time, though.
Goosebumps
Scientific inquiry relies heavily on observation. Maura Isles had just observed a phenomenon for which she could not understand the cause.
She and Jane stepped onto the elevator and stood side by side. Maura looked down momentarily to check that her clothes sat perfectly on her body before leaving for lunch with Jane. She couldn't help but notice goosebumps on Jane's arm next to her. Cutis anserina – the pilomotor reflex, a homeostatic response to maintain body temperature. She looked back up to stare at the elevator doors until she realized; it's not the least bit cold inside the elevator. Nor had it been cold before they had gotten in the elevator. She did not know Jane to get unreasonably cold.
Her eyes flitted back and forth momentarily as her quick mind sought to solve its newest mini-puzzle. The pilomotor reflex can also be triggered by an emotional stimulus, and some research suggests it can be triggered by music, the body creating a surge in dopamine. There is no music in this elevator. Process of elimination leaves an emotional stimulus. What had been said? What had been done? What specifically was the cause?
Maura recited the process of scientific inquiry in her head: Observation, Replication, Interpretation, Verification.
The elevator dinged as the doors opened to the car garage. As they both stepped out Maura held out her hand, "Wait." Replication.
Jane looked at her confused as Maura turned around and pressed the call button outside the elevator. The doors reopened half way through the process of shutting, and Maura could just catch a glimpse of Jane in her peripheral vision looking at her quizzically.
"Did you forget something?" Jane asked, more than just a little hungry.
"Uh, no. I didn't." Maura replied, concentrating on recreating her movements.
Jane continued to stare. "Well, then, what are you doing?"
"Observing." Maura replied as if it were obvious. She kept her eyes locked casually on Jane's arm. She did not want to cause alarm – that would introduce error into the experiment. So she remained vague.
As they stepped back into the elevator, she reached over Jane to press the button for the morgue. Maura's arm brushed Jane's as she put it back by her side, and at that moment the skin on Jane's arm broke out into goosebumps.
A glint of triumph in her eyes, Maura smiled a wide smile.
Jane turned slightly to the side to stare into her friend's face. "Maura, seriously, I'm hungry. I cannot think enough right now to decipher..." She waved her hands around in front of Maura, "..this."
Maura's smile faltered when she looked at a clearly frustrated Jane. She caught one of Jane's waving arms in midair and said, "My hypothesis was proved correct." She gave Jane a triumphant smile, and looked at her as if she should understand completely.
"What?" Jane jutted her head forward, still utterly confused.
The elevator opened at the morgue, but Maura made no move to get out. Since she was holding Jane's arm, Jane did not move either.
Maura looked at Jane's arm. She had caught it high in the air, and she slowly lowered it, keeping it in her hand. Her eyes followed her hand as she ran it slowly down towards Jane's hand. Goosebumps again.
Jane's eyes had fluttered oh-so-barely closed, but as Maura said, "Cutis anserina," her eyes flew open. Maura continued, staring distractedly at Jane's skin, "The pilomotor reflex."
"Maura, what does any of this mumbo-jumbo have to do with getting lunch or the fact that you will not get off the damn elevator?" Jane seemed unnecessarily frustrated.
"Your pilomotor reflex was triggered, clearly not by temperature. I hypothesized an emotional prompt, and replicated the environment. I was surprised to see that it was contact with my skin that was the original cause."
Jane bypassed the 'contact with my skin' comment, "My reflexes? What reflex, I was just standing here." They were now standing in a stationary elevator, Jane trying her best to deal with her friend's encyclopaedic impulses.
"I believe that you would refer to cutis anserina as 'goosebumps' or 'goose flesh,'" Maura said matter-of-factly. "It most prominently affects the forearm, but can also affect the legs, the neck -"
Jane cut off the recitation, "We're standing here because I got goosebumps?" Jane jabbed at the button for the car garage. "You probably tickled me."
Maura squinted, "It does not work like that," she focused on Jane. "Here let me show you," Maura lifted her hands to the level of Jane's ribs.
Jane immediately clenched her elbows into her body, jumping backwards away from Maura, "No, don't you dare tickle me!" She was smiling, but she was serious in her warning.
The elevator dinged at the car garage (again), and Maura smirked. "Saved by the bell." She turned to step off the elevator first, and behind her Jane visibly sighed her relief.
Maura was not distracted from her purpose for long. She stopped in the corridor to the garage. Interpretation. She had always disliked this portion – she had always required excessive evidence and confirmation before any interpretation seemed probable.
"So I would have to deduce that contact with my skin induced an emotional response, unless my body temperature is significantly cold, which I can say with certainty that it is not."
"Maura, are we going to leave for lunch?"
"Not until my curiosity is satisfied." Maura said, putting her hands on her hips.
Jane huffed, "Okay, so what have you been talking about this whole time?" It's safest to play dumb.
Maura set her face in determination, but did not reply. She knew Jane, and she knew she had followed everything except the medical terminology. Her gaze wandered around Jane's face as she slowly lifted her hand.
Maura hesitated for an instant with her hand near Jane's neck. With her eyes on Jane's face and neck, she could feel her friend's eyes boring into hers. She should meet Jane's gaze, but she needs to watch the facial muscles. What was she seeing? Anticipation?
Her hand caressed Jane's jaw, and finally she looked at her eyes. Jane's eyes had lingered on a blink, but as she opened them and looked into Maura's eyes, Maura witnessed... An emotion, certainly a strong emotion, but she was at a loss placing it. She searched Jane's face.
Jane's lips were tight and thin. Her jaw was clenched. She swallowed as Maura let her hand slip from Jane's face. Maura's brow furrowed. She hadn't meant to make Jane uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I was just..."
Maura trailed off as Jane put her hand on Maura's face in the exact way that Maura's hand had been on her face. Maura watched Jane.
"Your orbawhatever is moving." Jane said blankly.
Maura stared, "Jane, there's no -"
"You smiled."
Maura smiled again. "Well, actually the risoris is responsi -" Jane placed her thumb on Maura's lips to silence her.
Jane smirked as she looked at Maura. "Tell me, doctor. Is the cause of your smile contact with my hand?"
Maura smiled more at Jane's attempt to sound scientific. "Well, Jane, I am not prepared to make that interpretation without further examination."
Jane raised her eyebrows and cleared her throat. "Exhibit A." She took a small step towards Maura and ran her hand lightly down Maura's arm. Maura shivered almost imperceptibly.
But Jane noticed. "Cold?" She smiled with her own version of triumph.
"No." Maura was a little surprised at how easily Jane had turned the tables and made this into a game – but she didn't mind at all.
"Hmmm. Exhibit B." Jane leaned in and ran her hand up Maura's other arm more slowly and deliberately than before. Maura's eyes fluttered closed as Jane's had earlier. Jane left her hand on Maura's shoulder, and took the small step left between them. She leaned her head in and put her mouth close to Maura's ear.
"What is your interpretation, Dr. Isles?" Jane whispered huskily.
Maura made a soft sound that fell somewhere between a sigh, a whimper, and a groan. Jane smiled and breathed on her neck. Maura involuntarily cocked her head, offering the expanse of her skin. Jane's warm breath on her neck felt like pure ecstasy right now, and she lost the ability to form a response. Her head felt heavy and light at once, and she reached out to stabilize herself, her hands falling on Jane's hips.
Jane couldn't always understand medical terminology or watch people's orba-whatevers, but she could read Maura pretty well right now. She took Maura's closed eyes and tilted head, and the hands on her hips as encouragement. Jane let her lips float just above Maura's skin as she ran them slowly from where she had lingered by Maura's ear, along her jawline, to her chin.
The movement caused Maura to straighten her head and open her eyes just enough to see Jane's face hovering close to her. It was overwhelming. The only thing Maura could see was Jane – her senses were flooded by Jane and only Jane. Her breath caught in her throat.
Jane's eyelids were heavy as she lingered just inches – maybe less – in front of Maura. Her breath caught in her throat at her sudden inability to move.
Neither initiated the move to close the meager space between them. The air was charged – there should be sparks flying from the electricity. Neither moved. Neither breathed.
Suddenly a car revved loudly in the car garage just outside the corridor; both women jumped and catapulted away from each other as if electrocuted. After an instant, they simultaneously released the breath they had been holding; Maura bringing a hand up to her chest, Jane letting her hand leave its instinctual position by her sidearm. Their eyes met, and they both began to laugh heartily.
Maura recovered first, pushing herself off the wall where she had landed after launching away from Jane. She reached a hand out towards Jane and said, "Come on. Let's go get lunch."
Jane breathed to stop her fit of laughter, and replied, "Alright, where to?" She held her elbow out towards Maura's outstretched hand.
Maura smiled, and as she slid her hand around Jane's elbow, she looked down at the goosebumps that formed on Jane's skin. Verification.
As they walked away, Maura began to plan her next investigation.