"C'mon, Jane. Just do it. Don't be a coward, just tell her!" She thought to herself as she went up a few steps to knock on Maura's door. "She's not gonna be mad at you..." Rizzoli decidedly raised her hand to ring the doorbell, but something stopped her.
"No! She is going to kill me! I cannot tell her!" She shook her head and turned around, intending to go down her friend's doorstep. "On the other hand, though, I might as well just tell her. It's not like I can keep this a secret for much longer… Yeah, okay. I will tell her." She turned back and before she could even change her mind, she pressed the doorbell ring, then putting both hands in her pocket waiting for Dr. Isles to show up and open the door.
It didn't take too long.
"Jane! What a nice surprise!" Maura greeted her friend with a smile and widened the door. "Come in. Please."
"Maura, I need to tell you something."
"Gee, it seems like you've been in touch with a specter."
"Can't you just say I look like I've seen a ghost?" Jane ran her fingers through her own hair.
"Whichever you prefer." Isles grinned at Rizzoli. "But what's wrong? You do seem a little worried."
"That's because I… I…" Jane looked Maura in the eye, trying to gather up the courage to say it.
"Yes?"
"I lost Bass." She finally let it out, closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to see Isles' immediate reaction.
"You… You what?" Maura kept looking at her friend, waiting some kind of explanation. "What do you mean you lost Bass? How can you even loose a tortoise?"
"I'm sorry, Maura, I am! I just left the door open and went down to talk to Frankie 'cause he was downstairs waiting to take Jo Friday for a walk and when I came back Bass was gone. I'm so so so sorry."
"They're not dogs, Jane! You can't just lose them! I'm pretty sure you can beat them in a race!" Maura seemed angry, annoyed and yet a little confused with the whole situation.
"I know, I'm sorry, I just can't find him and I swear I looked everywhere and I—"
"One week, Jane. I asked you to have him for one week while I repainted my apartment so he wouldn't feel nauseated or lick some paint off the walls and you, you loose him?"
"I already said I was sorry! What else do you want me to do?"
"I want you to find him, Jane, that's what I want you to do!" Maura went to the couch and grabbed her purse and jacket. "C'mon. We are going to find my tortoise." She passed by Jane, who followed out the door.
The first place they went looking was Jane's apartment. They searched what it seemed every little inch of her place. Nothing.
"Oh, God, turtle, would you just give it a rest? C'mon!" Jane cried while keeling down to check again under the couch.
"Tortoise, Jane. Please." Maura corrected her friend, still with a grumpy face on.
"You, too, Maura! I mean, yeah, I lost your turtle, but I'm already feeling crappy about it, so please forgive me and stop acting like that!" Jane flipped, getting up and pointing at Isles.
"Tortoise! But yeah, I supposed you're right… This fighting won't get us nowhere… let's look outside, shall we?" She walked towards the front door and waited for her friend to come and open it.
"Thank you." Detective Rizzoli said in a low voice, following her friend's steps.
They turned Boston upside down looking for that damn tortoise. At that point, Maura was almost giving up.
"It's no use. He's gone, we're not going to find him." She sat down on a bench lowering her head and taking her hand to her forehead, as her eyes filled with tears. "God, I can't believe this."
When Rizzoli saw Isles like that, her heart just broke. I mean, it was her best friend sitting there, mourning the loss of her turtle.
"No. No, we're not done. We're going to find him, do you hear me?" Maura just kept looking down. "Hey!" Jane grabbed her best friend's arm. "Look at me." When she did, the detective continued. "We are going to find him, okay?" The blonde just nodded, through tears, as Rizzoli put her arms around her to comfort her.
"It feels nice to hold her like that." Jane thought, but shook it away a few seconds later.
"I know she lost Bass, but I can't be mad at her… I mean, not really." Maura put her head on Jane's shoulder as this thought came to mind.
An hour or so later, they were back in Jane's place.
"I have to pee. I'll be right back." Jane said, leaving Maura alone, who just threw herself on the couch, exhaling and closing her eyes.
When the detective was washing her hands, she heard a knocking sound coming from the closet below. She instantly thought "Nooo…. I mean…. We looked everywhere…. It's impossible…." But at the same time she couldn't help but hope it. So she kneeled down and opened the door. Yep, there he was. Gasping for air and immediately putting his little paws and little head outside the closet.
Jane felt like she had never been so relieved.
"HEY, MAURA! COME HERE!" She sat down on the bathroom floor as she heard her friend's footsteps getting closer.
"What? What's wrong?" Maura stopped and looked at Jane. "Why are you sitting down on the f—OH MY GOD, BASS!" The woman smiled widely as she got closer to her pet. "Oh, God, are you okay? Mommy was so worried! We looked everywhere! Where were you?"
"He… he was inside my bathroom closet. I must've left the door open and then I bumped into it and it closed without me even noticing he was inside."
Maura looked at her friend, sympathetic.
"It's okay, you know? You did everything you could to find him. I know that. It's okay. I'm not mad."
"You're not?" the detective smiled at the doctor, who grabbed her arm and held her hand.
"I'm not. I just… should've known better not to leave my turtle with you." Maura replied to her smile with another one.
"Hey, you said turtle!"
"I meant tortoise." They both giggled a little and kept staring at each other. "You're really the best friend I could ask for, you know."
"Oh, I know." Jane said as Maura rolled her eyes and they let go a little laugh. "You're not so bad yourself, Dr. Isles."
That was it. They looked at each other and they knew it. This wasn't just friendship. It was more than that. Both of them had already thought about it, but kept pushing those thoughts away and locking them up in a box, one that no one could ever open. They were scared. They were really scared. It was new, everything was so new to them.
Without even noticing at first, they were bringing their heads closer together. Their eyes were half closed, so when they were close enough to feel each other's breathing Jane panicked and lowered her head slowly.
"Maura, I…"
Instead of giving up, Maura held her hand.
"Jane, hey, it's me… It's just me…" she gave Jane a shy smile, while taking her other hand to the woman's chin, lifting her head up. "It's okay…" she nodded as if to reassure the detective that everything was fine.
The hand that was on Jane's chin went to her cheek as the girls got closer and closer to each other. Suddenly, their lips met. It wasn't an instant kiss, though. They both wanted it to happen slowly.
About three seconds later, Jane half opened her mouth and Maura put her upper lip in between it. And so they started to kiss. Jane's hand went instantly to Maura's waist when that happened.
As each second went by, it seemed like everything was falling into place. On the opposite of that they thought, being with each other felt… right. It was almost as if they belonged together.
"OW!" Jane stopped the kiss and exclaimed, out of the blue.
"What? What happened?" Maura asked, shaking her head.
"Your turtle just bit me!" Jane whined as Maura widened her eyes.
"Tortoise. And he wouldn't do that!"
"Well, this proves you wrong." Jane showed Maura the tip of her toe.
"Bass! Bad boy!" Dr. Isles pointed at her tortoise as if she were talking to a dog.
Jane laughed.
"What are you laughing about?"
"You."
"Hey!"
"I love you." Jane said, looking Maura in the eye, holding her hand and intertwining their fingers. "I really do. It took me a while to realize it, but I finally did."
"I love you, too, Jane." Maura felt her eyes filling with tears for the second time that day and fought hard – uselessly – not to let them roll down her cheeks.
Without even another word, the detective took her hand to Maura's face cleaning her tears, as she leaned forward to kiss her again.
That kiss didn't end so fast.
For what it's worth, it felt like that kiss went on forever.