**DISCLAIMER – I do not own the characters, they belong to TNT and associated bodies. **
(However I have a wonderful imagination and that belongs all to me, just sometimes Jane and Maura wind up naked in it, and there's not a thing I can do to stop it. Gutted.)
Short chapter to begin with. This story begins with the ending. The entire story will be told with a mix of the present, to link in with flashbacks to bring us essentially back to the start, which is the end. Confused? (.com) Sorry, couldn't resist. This story won't end well, just to warn everyone. But it'll be happy throughout, so just ignore the sad parts if you like.
HERE WITHOUT YOU
Chaper Two.
Sitting in the Robber, Maura moved the lemon beside her shooter glass. She lifted the glass gently, slowly swirling the golden liquid around the glass, watching as it left drain marks on the sides. She set the glass down on the black napkin and turned her eyes to the figure approaching.
"Seat taken?" Frankie's eyes gestured to the booth, empty save from memories of the brunette who used to slouch there.
"That seat is always taken, you know that," she smiled sadly. "You can sit here," she patted the space beside her.
Frankie gently lowered himself into the booth, joining his hands in his lap as his eyes rested on the empty seat in front of them.
"You're not alone, you know that, right?" He whispered, without looking at his companion.
"I know," she reached over and took his left hand between her own, patting it as if it were her childs. "I know."
Six months previously . . .
Janes head thudded on the table, followed by a very unlady-like grunt.
"Jane, honey; the tequila was your idea . . ." Maura teased in the direction of the mass of curls. "You said you would, and I quote 'Drink me under the table'. You look dangerously close to sliding under that very table."
Jane raised her head, just enough to gain eye-contact, albeitly blurry.
"I said," she swallowed and grimaced, "I said, I would match your glass of wine with a beer and a shot. I had also said I havn't slept in three days and havn't eaten properly in three days. How the hell can you drink so much?"
The Doctor smiled, looking into golden brown orbs.
"I have had adequate sleep, I have eaten and I pace myself with a glass of water to each glass; dear Detective."
Maura reached accross the table, placing a wild lock behind Jane's ear.
"Your choice of combination has only served to inebriate you more. Had you chosen to match me drink for drink, on the same drink; I do believe that even with your current physical deprivation, you would have stood a fine chance at, as you call it; 'drinking me under the table'." Maura smiled, touching the brunette's nose gently before bringing her finger to the rim of her now empty wine glass; tracing the outline.
"I hate to admit this," Jane said straightening and stretching, "but you win," Jane whispered, hoarsely.
Maura's eyes lit up.
"Excuse me, Det. Rizzoli; but I didn't quite hear what you said," she turned her head playfully, gesturing for the other woman to repeat.
Jane sighed and looked to the roof, before exhaling heavily.
"Maura, Doctor Isles; you have out-drank me. You win."
"Yes!" Maura exclaimed, throwing her arms above her head in a victory airpunch.
"Does this mean we can leave now?" Jane rested her head on her left hand in a way that made her look adorable.
Maura watched Jane's facial muscles relax, watched her breathe slowly, watched her pupils dilate.
"Yes, yes we can leave now. You wanna stay at mine?"
She couldn't look at the woman opposite her, as she distracted herself with gathering her belongings. Things with Jane had been different lately. The two had crossed an imaginary line. The usual eye lingering moments had intensified, there was unnecessary touching, late night conversations too long and too regular for just a close friendship.
Jane had accelerated the change. Maura had become unnerved initially as she noticed the brunette push the boundaries of their friendship.
Their lunch dates became more regular, Jane was always chivarlrous but the dynamic had changed; she would watch people, eye them if to claim that when Maura was with her, she was hers and hers alone. Jane had begun to spend nights at Maura's, and offer her home as a place for Maura to stop over. The first few nights had been like any other that they had spent together, but on more than a few occassions Maura had woken to find herself enveloped in the arms of the woman asleep behind her.
She struggled to comprehend the comfort that the hands of another brought her, questioning the feelings that Jane's presence, her touch; brought. The night she stopped questioning was as a result of waking to find wild curls surrounding her face, when Jane had fallen asleep on her chest. She stroked the Detective's face gently, using her other hand to trace patterns accross the brunette's hand that rested on her hip.
From that night, they had slept intertwined; neither having the courage to further the situation, nor the want to end it and return to lonely beds with cold, spare pillows.
"Do you want me to stay at yours?"
Something in Jane's tone was different. Pleading, rather than questioning.
Maura locked eyes with her then.
", I do."
Maura's eyes searched the empty seat in front of her, no trace of the individual who had once, had always; occupied the space.
She looked at Frankie.
"She's always with me, that I have no doubt of," she tried to smile, swirling the liquid in her glass before lifting it and letting it burn the back of her throat.