Jane's Reply to Maura's poem
Disclaimer: I only own the story idea, the characters are borrowed from the tv show.
Readers, this is my Christmas present for you, as the latest chapter on the Holy Joe Killer story is not very Christmas-y. Enjoy Rizzles Christmas.
Prompt: Jane's reply to Maura's poem.
In her apartment, Jane idly checked her phone, looking at Maura's photograph there, smiling gently, as she was wont to do when thinking of her. She looked down at the piece of paper in her other hand and read Maura's words again for the umpteenth time.
"She is fierce and first to defend me
in my moment of need,
her wit and laughter sustain me,
and never come at my expense.
And whenever we part, there is
no sadness because our bond is always there.
She is not just my friend,
but a gift, both precious and rare."
Smiling to herself, Jane looked at the picture of Maura once again, and tried to think of a response that would reflect how she felt about Maura. She pulled out a pad of paper and pen and started to write.
After what seemed like hours, but was only 45 minutes later according to her watch, Jane gave up. Looking at the bin in the corner, full of discarded crumpled-up pieces of paper, she despaired. She just wasn't a poet. She gave up on writing a poem, but she still wanted to do something for her Maura.
Racking her brain for ideas, she came up dry. She decided to have a little nap before the baseball game reruns started showing on the Sports Channel. Setting the alarm on her phone so she wouldn't miss the game, she settled back onto the couch and slowly fell asleep.
Jerking herself awake, she sat up, befuddled. Looking down at the corner she expected to see Jo, before she realized. She sighed. "I really miss that mutt. Ugh." Taking a glance at the wastebasket full of crumpled up bits of paper, she grunted to herself when the alarm beeped. The game!
Pulling open a bottle of beer, she settled back on her couch, ready to start yelling at the screen; however, she soon found that her heart just wasn't in it tonight. Sighing, she paused the game, to return to the matter at hand: her response to Maura's beautiful poem. She slowly smiled when she thought of something.
"Maura's all about the finest. The best. She's also Irish. Ok, let's see... where can I get the finest, the best of the Irish, here in Boston?"
She started googling and happened upon a particular website. She ultimately became engrossed in the material she found there. She took some notes, chewing her pen as she mused on her options. Jane punched her fist in the air in excitement as the perfect idea came to her. Delighted with herself, she grabbed her car keys and left the apartment.
There were big crowds in town to do their Christmas shopping. Jane had to take the long way to the Irish-American grocery. Upon entering she saw that the vast majority of the people in the store were indeed Irish-American. They did not pay the detective much notice as they were busy getting their things. Jane grabbed a shopping basket and pulled out her list.
Looking at the various breads on the shelves, she saw what she was looking for. Just to the left of it, she noticed an elderly lady trying to reach the top shelf. Being in a good mood, Jane politely approached her.
"Want some help?"
The little old lady beamed at her and nodded. She then pointed at the flour,
"If you wouldn't mind, two packets of the Odlum's plain flour, please."
Jane looked at the flour packets and picked out what the old lady wanted, and put them in the other woman's basket.
"How kind. You are a credit to your parents!"
Jane smiled and said nothing, just shrugged bashfully. The lady continued.
"I wonder if you could come and get the Demerara sugar for me, too? It's also on the top shelf, down there."
Jane took one glance at her shopping list and saw she was headed that way, so she accompanied the woman. Jane, without much difficulty, reached for the sugar and put it in the lady's hand.
"Here you go."
"Thank you so much. I see you have your own list printed, there. Is there anything I can help you with?
Jane shrugged, reasoning it would do no harm to tell the old lady her plans.
"Well, you see, my best friend wrote me a poem. I'm not a poet, but I wanted to give her my response in the only way I knew. I have this idea…"
Once Jane explained what she had in mind, the old lady, whose name was Gladys, was delighted to help. The glow in the tall Italian's eyes and the eagerness with which she shared her plans told the older woman all she needed to know.
They snuck into the little cafe inside the shop and sat down. They continued the conversation, and Jane was comfortable enough to tell Gladys how she felt about Maura's poem and why she was so anxious that Maura enjoy her response. Gladys perceptively noticed that Jane wouldn't talk about her feelings, but noted the way Jane was anxious to make her "best friend" happy.
"Jane, I don't know you, but you have to tell your best friend how you feel. In words as well as in doing this. You remind me so much of my grandson. He was very stubborn in denying his feelings, too, but I could tell they were in him and I can tell they are in you. You have a strong romantic streak. I can see it as plain as day, and I'm wearing very strong prescription glasses! No point in hiding it! Listen dear, if I can see it, so can Maura."
Blushing furiously, Jane weakly tried to protest, but quickly quietened down when Gladys smiled at her knowingly, patting her left arm.
"Lie to yourself if you must, but I'm too old to be lied to. The happiness in your eyes... Jane, I normally don't give my recipes away willy-nilly. I think what you've got there - from the computer, is it? - is alright, but it's nothing special."
Pulling out a scrap of notepaper along with a pen, Gladys peered at it and nodded, writing out a recipe in her spidery handwriting.
"Jane, this is an old family recipe brought over from Ireland by my great-grandmother. You can incorporate that in your recipe. Oh, my, you've made my day! Such romance! Please do call, and make an old lady very happy, by letting me know how it went. Here's my phone number at the back. I won't keep you, you have some baking to do, but I won't forget your kindness." With that the lady patted Jane on the arm, and moved on, leaving Jane to her shopping. Jane looked after her and smiled.
Looking down at her list, and at Gladys's recipe, she noted she needed two separate types of sugar, white and brown. She reached for the Demerara sugar, and noted the store also stocked Siucra sugar, which was imported from Ireland. She thought to herself... "Just perfect. IRISH sugar..."
Leaving the sugar and condiment aisle, she went on to get the other ingredients she needed.
She mused as to which wine would go with the smoked salmon in her shopping basket. Smiling to herself wryly, she realized this was just the sort of thing she would normally ask Maura about - but she could hardly ask Maura for her advice on this! So she decided to go by her gut. "Or go by my intestines, as I suppose Maura would say", she muttered. "Then she'd tell me five things about the intestines that I really never needed to know…"
Back in her apartment, Jane started baking. Then while the Irish soda bread was baking, Jane started preparing the paste, using her grandfather's recipe. She ended up making enough paste for two separate containers, one for her and one for Maura. By the time this was done, she had pulled out three loaves of brown bread from the oven, and set them to cool.
Once the bread was cool enough, she started breaking up one of the loaves into crumbs; then, she blended the crumbs into the cooled paste in the bowl. Once the two were well blended Jane put it in the freezer, in two bowls. It would make a fine dessert.
An hour later, Jane spoke to herself, telling herself it would be alright, as she walked to her car. She was carrying a bowl of the dessert, a packet of wild Irish Atlantic smoked salmon, and Italian wine. Jane peered up at the clouds and muttered to herself, then drove to Beacon Hill. She decided to walk a little to shake off some of her nerves so she parked a block away from Maura's. Unfortunately for her, she was caught in a sudden downpour, so she hurried on until she arrived at Maura's front door. She had it all planned out in her head. She wouldn't use her key, but knock on the door, and when Maura answered it, Jane would give her the present, then once Maura had her presents, she planned on returning home straightaway. She knew she'd be feeling all jittery.
Ok, here goes nothing...
Knock, knock.
Footsteps, then the door opened. However, to Jane's consternation it wasn't who she was expecting to see.
"Ma?! What the hell are you doing here? Where's Maura?"
"Jane Clementine Rizzoli, what on earth is wrong with you?! I didn't bring you up to talk to me like that! Oh good heavens, you'll catch your death of a cold, you're drenched. Come on in, don't stand out there like a lamp post! Get out of these wet clothes! Maura had to stay on late at work, she'll be home soon."
Grousing, Jane walked past Angela and entered the kitchen. She put the dessert in the freezer, the smoked salmon in the fridge and the bread in the bread basket, before going up to have her shower. There were clean clothes belonging to her here. They were always here for her, kept in the drawer that had been given over to her use up in Maura's bedroom dresser.
Jane enjoyed the warm water of the shower, and felt much better after putting on her clean clothes. She came down to see - to her horror - Ma, eating the brown bread that she had worked so hard on to make for Maura! Beyond furious, Jane was about to scream at her, when she suddenly gave up - she just wanted to get out of there. With an inarticulate grunt of rage, she threw her hands up and stormed out. She barged out the front door, to very nearly bump right into an arriving Maura. The doctor saw Jane's angry face, and behind her Angela's equally angry face, and asked what was going on as Jane ducked and skirted her to leave the building and walk away.
Angela was furious at Jane's rudeness at her for no good reason, and wasn't shy in letting Maura know of what she thought of it. Knowing this was typical Rizzoli family drama, Maura sensed that it was probably once again Angela interfering with Jane's plans that had her friend so upset. In order to get to the root of it all, she would need to talk to Jane, but where had she gone? She ran out to the street herself and spotted her friend walking farther along it. Maura hurried to catch up.
"Jane! Jane, it's me, Maura. What happened?"
Not stopping, but at least slowing down, Jane angrily wiped at her eyes before answering.
"Ma is what happened. I wanted to … I wanted … Why does Ma have to be in my face all the time!?"
Jane stopped and looked at her friend. Sighing, she continued,
"Just … come over to my apartment, Ma won't be there. I need to show you something."
At her apartment, Jane gruffly explained, pushing towards Maura the extra bowl, loaf, and fresh salmon that she had planned for herself, but which now she'd decided to give to her friend anyway as it was unsullied by Ma's depredations.
"Maura, I made this for you. Well, the one in your kitchen, but Ma couldn't help but interfere and started eating my reply to you before you even saw it!"
The other woman saw that Jane was getting all wound up again so she intervened.
"Jane. Jane, eating my reply, sorry? I don't understand what you mean. Is this an idiom?"
Such a Maura-esque question made Jane smile and calm down. Somewhat taciturnly (to hide her bashfulness), Jane gruffly replied,
"Nah, it's my reply to your poem. This. Irish brown bread gelato. That's us. Irish Italian. We blend well, you know?. Brown soda bread and Irish smoked salmon. I left the Italian wine at your house."
Maura slowly looked at the food and up to Jane's beetroot-red face. Jane hurried to the other room, hiding from her.
Why was Jane blushing so furiously? Oh. OH.
Touched, her heart soaring with happiness and disbelief, Maura followed Jane into her room, to see her sitting on her couch. Sitting beside her, she noticed Jane wouldn't give her eye contact, so she gently but firmly moved Jane's chin until they were looking eye to eye.
"Jane, Now I understand. I don't blame you for being angry with Angela, but - she didn't know."
Jane nodded mutely, still gazing shyly into Maura's eyes.
"Come with me. I want to taste your reply with you there beside me."
Smiling bashfully, still somewhat red-faced, Jane nodded.
Maura took hold of Jane's hand and did not let go, pulling her into the kitchen with her.
"So this is your reply to me… we blend well." She tried the gelato. "Hmm. I'd say so."
Maura had some more and moaned at the taste, with her eyes closed. Jane smiled nervously.
"Oh, Jane, this is delicious!"
Maura ate some more, offering Jane some, which she accepted. Once they were done tasting the dessert, Maura put the remaining gelato in the freezer for later. Jane smiled again, wringing her hands bashfully. Her smile reminded Maura of one of the dwarves in the cartoon Jane had insisted they watch the previous day, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves".
"I'm wrong. Remember yesterday I said you reminded me of Grumpy the dwarf? You're not Grumpy. You're Bashful!"
Jane laughed at the unexpected silliness of it.
"Ah. Well … yeah."
Feeling somewhat spooked again, Jane left the kitchen and walked to the couch in the other room where she sat down, gazing-yet-not-gazing at the blank TV. Maura silently sat down beside her, sighed, and smiled.
"You're a spook."
That was enough to get Jane to look at her. "Wha'-?"
Maura smiled again before leaning in and whispering into her ear,
"You are, aren't you? You're a spook, but you're my spook."
Jane turned around in order to sass back to Maura, but the doctor was waiting and ready for it. With perfect timing, Maura kissed Jane on the mouth, holding both cheeks tenderly. Jane couldn't believe it, but she also couldn't help but kiss Maura back.
Their kiss deepened and increased in intensity. When they stopped for breath, Jane was smiling too - widely, with incredulity. Hesitantly, she kissed Maura again, embracing her as she did so. The doc was more than happy to embrace her and to kiss her passionately in return.
Half an hour later, somewhat shell-shocked at the recent turn of events, Maura, still in the other woman's arms, smiled, and hugged her Jane. The tall Italian smiled at Maura and kissed her forehead, saying nothing, but tightening her arms around her, resting her chin on Maura's head. After a few minutes of further snuggling, Jane spoke.
"It's your turn tonight. You said you wanted to watch "Pleasantville" since someone had recommended it to you? I have the dvd here."
Jane pointed to the dvd on the coffee table. Maura smiled to herself. How thoughtful of her.
Reluctantly Maura got up to put the dvd in the player, then returned to Jane's arms before she pressed play. Somehow their relative positions had shifted, so this time it was Jane snuggling into Maura.
Jane watched for a short while before losing her patience with it, muttering to herself, "buncha high-schoolers, black and white shit movie."
Maura laughed at Jane's words, and continued to watch. She was enjoying it immensely, especially the social commentary it displayed as part of the plot.
Jane snuggled further into Maura and just lay there, her head resting on Maura's shoulder. Instead of watching the movie, she chose instead to think of the day and what it had held, but soon enough her thoughts went only to Maura. Inhaling her scent, Jane smiled. She snuggled further into her. Maura enjoyed it as well and held onto her a bit more tightly.
"My tough, bad ass,... snuggle bunny!"
"I'll deny it if you say anything to other people!"
"Oh, quiet!"
Chuckling quietly, they lay peacefully on the couch as the end credits rolled up the screen. Even though Jane thought the movie was shit, she did not want to ruin Maura's enjoyment of it.
"I hope you liked it, Maura?"
Looking up at Jane, Maura smiled. "You didn't? It's not your type of film, but I really appreciate your watching it with me. Next week it'll be your turn."
Bravely, Jane kissed Maura again on the mouth. They kissed for a few minutes, then snuggled into each other once more.
Jane sighed in contentment, then with a devilish glint in her eyes, Jane teased the woman in her arms with "Looking forward to watching Aliens next week."
Maura tried to stifle a groan, knowing it was just what Jane wanted to see.
"Is it the sequel to that one that has parasites bursting out of people's abdominal cavities? It's just not anatomically possible. Why, the dimensions of the parasite alone, just prior to eruption, would preclude any-"
Jane silenced her, with a kiss. That kiss grew in passion with each passing second.
The End.