January 6 - Epiphany

"You got extra cheese and extra pepperoni on my half, right?" Jane asked, pulling out two plates from the cupboard and placing them on Maura's kitchen island.

"No. I got extra pepperoni, but not extra cheese," Maura replied, as she deposited the pizza box next to the plates. She walked over to her wine cabinet and began looking over the available options. "It's bad enough to add an increased risk of high blood pressure from all the salt in the pepperoni. I'm not going to add an increased risk of raising your cholesterol from the cheese too."

Jane opened Maura's fridge. "You owe me both after that salad," she grumbled, searching for a beer.

"The salad wasn't that bad, Jane," Maura replied distractedly, preoccupied with selecting a bottle of wine to accompany her meal.

Jane shut the refrigerator door forcefully. "Not that bad?" she exclaimed incredulously. "There was no bacon dressing, no bits of bacon, and no egg."

"I never said there would be," Maura replied, not understanding the other woman's grievance. Decision made on the evening's refreshment, she pulled out a bottle of Pinot Noir and turned around to face her friend. "All I said was that we were going out for a spinach salad."

"Exactly!" Jane shot back, a triumphant note in her voice. She used the bottle opener hanging on the side of the fridge to open her beer and then took a long drink. "Spinach salad is supposed to have bacon bits and egg in it."

"Spinach salad is supposed to have spinach in it," Maura corrected her friend. "Anything else is based on the chef's imagination and inspiration."

"'Imagination and…,' Jane sputtered indignantly. "It had strawberries in it, Maura. And oranges…and kiwi! Who the hell puts kiwi in a salad?"

Maura heaved a long suffering sigh. She'd heard nothing but complaints from Jane ever since the salad in question had been placed in front of the detective at lunch that afternoon. The medical examiner opened a drawer and took out a corkscrew. With practiced ease, she began to open the wine. "You like strawberries and oranges–"

"NOT on salad!" Jane practically growled.

"And you could have pushed the kiwi to the side," Maura continued unfazed, uncorking the bottle.

Jane stopped in mid retort. "Wait…what? I thought I had to eat all of it. Why didn't you tell me I could skip the kiwi?"

Maura shrugged negligently, while she poured a glass of wine for herself. "You never asked," she pointed out, struggling to hold back a smile.

Jane's eyes narrowed. "You think that's funny?"

Maura coughed to cover up a laugh. "I don't find it 'unfunny,'" she admitted. The medical examiner pushed the pizza box towards the other woman, before taking a sip of her wine. "It was one meal out of the entire month, Jane. You'll be fine, even without extra cholesterol on your pizza."

In response, the detective opened the box and grabbed a piece of pizza. Locking eyes with Maura, she folded the slice in half and took an enormous bite.

Maura shook her head in exasperation and crossed her arms over her chest. "Slow down," she admonished, her lips thinning into a grim line. "I'm not going to save you if you choke."

Jane washed part of her food down with a healthy chug of beer, and then stuffed even more pizza into her mouth. "Yeah you will," she mumbled confidently.

Maura arched an eyebrow at her friend. "You sound certain about that."

It took several seconds for Jane to finish all the food she had in her mouth. "I am," she said. She put another slice on her plate and moved to sit down at the kitchen island. "You need me," she finished with a wink and a cheeky grin.

Jane's sudden flash of good humor momentarily caught the medical examiner off guard, but almost immediately she found herself smiling back at her friend for two completely different reasons. First, she realized the detective wasn't actually all that upset about what she had had to eat for lunch. Jane's tirade about the spinach salad had mainly been for the sake of appearance to preserve her image as someone who only consumed completely unhealthy food. Second, the blonde had to admit that her friend was right; Maura definitely needed Jane in her life.

For the longest time, Maura had believed that she was destined to go through life surrounded only by casual acquaintances and work colleagues. Having never had a best friend or even particularly close friends growing up, she had seen nothing unusual about such an arrangement. She had even managed to make herself believe that she wasn't missing out on anything important without close friends and family surrounding her. After all, it was hard to miss something that she had never really had.

But then she had met Jane: stubborn, impulsive, kind, amazing Jane. And meeting Jane had changed everything for Maura.

Of course, their friendship hadn't happened overnight. Maura had been far too socially awkward when they had first met to have been capable of such a thing. But from the moment that Dr. Isles, Chief Medical Examiner, had been formally introduced to Detective Rizzoli, newest member of the BPD homicide unit, Maura had found herself drawn to Jane in a way that she had never been drawn to anyone else before. The raven-haired Italian had filled a hole inside of her that Maura hadn't even realized existed, and the friendship they had formed had become the most important relationship Maura had ever had. The simple truth was that she honestly couldn't imagine what she would do if Jane were no longer a part of her life.

"Yeah, well don't push it," Maura replied with mock sternness, as she placed a slice of pizza on her plate and moved to sit down beside her friend. She took a small bite and watched as Jane continued to devour her second piece. Realizing that the only possible way to slow the other woman down was to engage her in conversation, Maura asked the first thing that came into her mind. "Have you learned to speak any Italian yet?" she asked, not really expecting the other woman to say yes.

Jane, however, surprised her. "As a matter of fact, I've learned two phrases," she said, pushing the food in her mouth to the side so that she could speak. "Want to hear them?"

"Of course," Maura replied, delighted that at least with respect to the matter of learning new skills, Jane was showing actual interest and initiative.

Jane swallowed her food and then cleared her throat. "Dove si trova la stazione di polizia?" she said slowly and carefully.

Maura regarded her friend with a look of disbelief. "Really? 'Where's the police station?' That's the first thing you decided to learn how to say?"

Jane looked at Maura in surprise. "How did you know what I said?"

"For one thing, I speak French, and Italian is fairly close. For another, 'stazione di polizia' isn't exactly hard to figure out. Honestly, Jane, out of every phrase you could have chosen to learn, that's the one you picked?"

Jane's grin was not the least bit apologetic. "Hey, you never know what might happen on vacation," the detective replied. "Want to hear the second phrase I learned?"

Maura sighed in resignation. "Probably not, but let me hear it anyway."

Jane sat up perfectly straight and composed her features into a mask of complete seriousness. "Dov'è la toilette?"

Maura poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue and counted to three before speaking. "Let me guess. 'Where's the bathroom?'"

"Yup," Jane replied, her eyes gleaming with amusement. "You can't possibly disagree with the importance of that phrase."

Maura closed her eyes and drew in a slow, deep breath. Technically, she couldn't fault Jane's choices. After all, they were phrases that could in fact be useful on vacation. It was just that she had expected the other woman to take their New Year's resolution more seriously, and by extension, take their agreement to try to make positive changes in their lives and move out of their comfort zones more seriously as well. It was obvious, though, that as usual, Jane was choosing to fight all efforts to try to improve herself, while taking advantage of the chance to needle Maura and try to get under her skin.

As tempting as it was to be frustrated by the fact that Jane was clearly messing with her, though, Maura couldn't find it in her to be upset. It was in Jane's very makeup to mock and ridicule, and when all else failed, use sarcasm as a way of protecting herself when challenged. Maura had essentially thrown down the gauntlet and dared the detective to try to change part of who she was. It was only natural that Jane's first reaction would be to resist as strongly as she could. Maura remained hopeful, though, that if she was patient, Jane would eventually come around and see the resolution not as a challenge to be defeated, but rather an opportunity to be embraced.

"Parfois, vous êtes un enfant idiot, mais je ne sais pas ce que je ferais sans toi," Maura said affectionately.

Jane had been about to take another bite of her pizza, but she paused in mid motion when she heard Maura's comment. The detective's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What was that?"

Maura smiled and reached out to place her hand lightly on the detective's forearm. "I said I like you," she answered, deliberately "paraphrasing" her statement.

Jane continued to watch the other woman carefully. "I'm pretty sure I heard the word 'idiot' in there."

"I definitely did not say 'idiot,'" Maura replied solemnly, deliberately pronouncing the word with an American accent so that her denial was not an actual lie.

The knowing gleam in the detective's eyes told the medical examiner that Jane was well aware of what Maura had done, but was choosing to let it pass. "So I've learned two of my five phrases. What about you? How's the pen spinning coming along?"

Maura shrugged and grimaced slightly. "I've found several websites that identify various tricks. It seems like a rather pointless activity though."

Jane took a long pull on her beer. "And have you learned any of those tricks yet?" she asked innocently.

Maura wasn't fooled. She could see the smug expression on Jane's face, and it confirmed what Maura had suspected for the last couple of days: that Jane had intentionally chosen a ridiculous skill for her to learn in an attempt to annoy her. Not wanting to give her friend the satisfaction of objecting, Maura simply filed the fact away to deal with at a later time. "Not yet."

"You're falling behind, Maura," Jane taunted. "I've already learned two phrases. Don't forget, five tricks or the resolution is off."

Knowing that her failure was exactly what the detective was hoping for, Maura waved her hand confidently. "Don't worry," she replied. "I'll learn them."

"Well good luck with that," Jane said, the tone of her voice making it clear she was certain that Maura would fail. She took one last bite of her second piece of pizza and then dropped the remaining crust onto her plate. For a few seconds, she studied the pizza box thoughtfully, and then shook her head slightly, apparently deciding that for the moment at least, two pieces made enough of a statement regarding her disdain for her lunch.

Hunger sated at least for the time being, Jane turned to look around Maura's home. "So you took all your Christmas decorations down yesterday while I was stuck at the precinct wrapping up the D'Amato case?"

Maura picked up both of their plates and began walking over to the trash. "Yes, I did. When I was a child, my mother was adamant that Christmas decorations had to come down by Epiphany, so it just seems wrong to me to see them up any longer."

Jane watched as Maura tossed the uneaten crusts into the garbage and then placed the plates in the dishwasher. "The lights are still up on your house, though. I thought the guys you hired to take away the tree were going to take care of those too."

"That was the plan, but the service I hired wasn't able to get over here yesterday. Several of their employees have called in with the flu so they're running behind. They won't be here until later this week to take the lights down."

Jane's brow lifted questioningly. "Then what happened to your tree?"

Noticing that Jane's beer was almost gone, Maura walked over to the fridge. "It was getting too dry for me to be comfortable having it in the house any longer, so Tommy hauled it away for me."

Maura pulled out a beer for the detective and then opened it for her. As she turned to face her friend, she immediately noticed the irritated expression on the other woman's face. "How did that happen?" Jane asked tersely.

Maura simply shrugged as she handed Jane her beer, and then sat down beside her again. "I mentioned my concern to Angela while we were having coffee yesterday morning, and she called Tommy and asked him to come over and take care of it."

Jane shook her head, obviously not happy with the medical examiner's answer. "Ma shouldn't have done that," she grumbled, before taking a long drink.

"Why not?"

"Because you don't need Tommy hanging around here making a nuisance of himself," Jane replied, her attention focused intently on her bottle of beer.

The medical examiner studied her friend in thoughtful silence. She knew that Jane was sensitive about the idea of Maura and Tommy spending any time together, particularly when that time was spent together alone. Jane had told Maura that she was worried about her reckless, unreliable brother taking advantage of her friend's generous nature. Maura, however, knew that that wasn't Jane's real concern. Jane was afraid that her youngest brother might try to make a move on Maura, and that Maura might not reject his advance.

On the one hand, Maura could understand Jane's apprehension. After all, if Tommy hadn't been related to Jane, he would certainly have been a possible "short-term" romantic interest for Maura. He was tall, good-looking, and despite his past history of troubles, he was a decent man with a good heart. In addition, Maura strongly suspected that Tommy would have no interest in any type of serious, long-term relationship with her, which was frankly the way that she preferred her sexual relationships to work. Objectively, all things being equal, Tommy would actually make a perfect lover for a few weeks or even months.

But all things weren't equal. Tommy wasn't just "some guy," he was her best friend's brother. Getting involved in a purely sexual relationship with Jane's brother would at best be ridiculously awkward for everyone involved, and at worst, could easily destroy her relationship with Jane. Since that was a risk Maura would never be willing to take, there was no possible scenario under which she would consider having sex, or for that matter even kissing, Tommy.

Maura had of course explicitly told Jane that she had no intention of becoming involved with her brother. Despite this, the detective remained so anxious about the topic every time it came up, that Maura had begun to wonder if there was some other reason behind her friend's sensitivity. Maura had painstakingly considered and subsequently discarded countless theories for Jane's behavior for months, until she finally found herself left with only one plausible explanation: the detective's attitude and behavior were far more consistent with someone who was feeling jealous rather than merely protective.

The major problem with this explanation, of course, was that as far as Maura was "officially" aware, Jane had no interest in her or any other woman. As time continued to go by, however, Maura found herself wondering if that particular fact was actually true. There had been more than a few times over the last several months when Maura had been all but certain that she had observed Jane "noticing" other women, including on a few occasions, Maura herself. Of course, the medical examiner couldn't be absolutely certain about what she had seen, and even if Jane had been looking at other women, it was always possible that there was a perfectly good, completely innocent explanation for her actions. Still, Maura would be almost willing to swear that there had been times when she had detected a hunger in Jane's eyes when looking at an attractive woman that couldn't be explained as anything other than pure desire.

Having been attracted to both men and women for as long as she could remember, Maura certainly wasn't bothered by the idea that her best friend might be attracted to women. Truth be told, Maura had found herself entertaining thoughts of what it would be like to cross the line between friends and lovers with the beautiful homicide detective on more than one occasion. But unless she was absolutely certain that Jane was interested in women, Maura wouldn't even consider raising the issue.

Knowing that there were simply too many barriers to get past before the subject could ever even be broached, Maura did what she always did at time like this and dismissed the issue from her mind and instead focused on Jane's concerns regarding Tommy. "He wasn't hanging around making a nuisance of himself," the medical examiner explained patiently. "He came over, helped Angela and me with the Christmas decorations, and then took the tree away to have it composted. That was it."

The tension in Jane's body dissipated noticeably at the mention of her mother. "Ma was here too?" Jane asked, turning to look at her friend.

"The entire time," Maura confirmed.

Jane considered Maura's response for a few moments, and then nodded her head in acceptance. As she did, Maura was once again struck by the fact that it was impossible to determine whether Jane's behavior was a result of her being concerned that her ne'er-do-well brother might hurt her friend, or if it instead was a result of being jealous over the thought that her brother might become romantically involved with someone in which she herself was interested. Before the blonde could pursue that line of thought, however, Jane spoke up, effectively, and Maura immediately knew, deliberately, changing the subject.

"So how did your date go with Jerry go?"

Seeing no point in challenging Jane on the topic change, Maura simply went with it. "It was very nice, actually. Gerald was a wonderful dinner companion," she replied, correcting Jane on her date's name.

"And where did your wonderful dinner companion take you?"

"Craigie on Main."

Jane's eyes widened and she whistled softly in admiration when she heard the name of one of the top French restaurants in Boston. "Not bad for a first date," she said, obviously impressed. "And afterwards what? Coffee? A movie? A long, insanely cold walk along the Charles?"

"We went to see a movie: National Gallery."

"Never heard of it," Jane replied, as she took a sip of her beer.

"It's a documentary that takes a behind the scenes look at one of the world's greatest museums, London's National Gallery."

An indignant look immediately appeared on Jane's face. "Dang it Maura!" she swore, slamming her bottle of beer down onto the kitchen island with a loud thump. "You went to see a movie about a museum? I can't believe you didn't save that movie to see with me!"

A faint smile tugged at the medical examiner's lips. There had been a time when she would not have recognized that Jane was teasing her unless and until the detective had explicitly told her that she was kidding. Now however, Maura was able, at least sometimes, to recognize when the other woman was playing with her. That fact filled her with a small sense of comfort and pride in the knowledge that she understood her friend as well as she did.

"I'm sorry," Maura said feigning contriteness, "I promise that next time I'll check with you first."

"Please do," Jane said archly, as she lifted her bottle to take another drink. "It's a little something I like to call manners."

Maura laughed lightly and then got up to refill her glass of wine. Deciding that two glasses would be enough for the night, she returned the bottle to the cabinet, and then turned back to look at Jane. "Are you done eating or should I put the rest of the pizza in the refrigerator?"

"Fridge is fine."

Maura placed the pizza box in the refrigerator and then glanced around the kitchen. Everything appeared to be in order, so she picked up her glass of wine and took a drink. She turned to look at her friend and was about to ask if she was ready to watch the movie, when Jane looked up and cleared her throat. "I'm glad you had a good time," the detective said, her tone quiet and sincere. "Gerald sounds like the kind of person someone like you should be dating."

Maura tilted her head to the side, a quizzical expression on her features. "Someone like me? What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, honestly not certain how she should take the other woman's statement.

Jane shrugged and focused her attention on her beer. "You know, someone smart, classy, kind…beautiful," she replied, picking at the label on the bottle. "You're special, Maura. You shouldn't be wasting your time spending it with someone ordinary."

Maura knew that ostensibly, Jane was talking about her brother. After all, they had been speaking about Tommy right before they began talking about Gerald, and Jane had on more than one occasion made it clear that her youngest brother was not good enough for the medical examiner. But there was something about the way Jane's shoulders were slumped, how she refused to meet Maura's eyes, the bittersweet note in her voice that made Maura think that maybe this wasn't really about Tommy…that maybe this was about Jane not believing that she was good enough for Maura. Unfortunately, even if her suspicions were right, Maura couldn't be certain whether Jane simply didn't believe she was worthy of Maura as a friend, or as a lover.

Maura walked over to stand beside the other woman. She reached down and took Jane's right hand in her own, and waited patiently for her friend to look up at her. It took several moments, but eventually the detective lifted her head so that she could meet the blonde's gaze. "I'm not," Maura said softly.

Jane's brow furrowed slightly. "Not what?" she asked.

"I'm not wasting my time with someone ordinary. As a matter of fact, I'd say that I spend most of my time with someone rather extraordinary."

Jane entwined her fingers with Maura's and squeezed lightly, silently acknowledging that she recognized the meaning behind the medical examiner's words. Slowly, a smile tipped up one corner of her mouth. "So what movie are we stuck with now that National Gallery is off the list?"

Maura laughed and shook her head. She knew that Jane was again deliberately changing the topic, but since she also knew that the detective was doing so because she was generally uncomfortable dealing with serious emotional issues, she decided it was best to simply accept it again. "Shakespeare in Love."

"Wow," Jane said, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she released her grip on Maura's hand. "That sounds like it might be just as good as National Gallery."

"It seemed like a logical choice," Maura replied.

"Uh huh. And what logic would that be?"

"Last night was Twelfth Night. From what I understand, the movie references Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night on several different occasions."

"Oh yeah," Jane said rolling her eyes. "That's totally logical."

"Says the person who watches a movie set at Christmas every New Year's Day."

"It's tradition," Jane growled in mock annoyance. "Show some respect."

Maura laughed as she got up and walked into the living room. Placing her glass of wine down on the coffee table, she picked up the remote, turned on the TV, and then pressed the button to get to her Amazon Prime account. Jane followed her friend into the living room, settled down into one corner of the couch, and watched while Maura moved through the various menus to find the movie. "So," Jane asked. "Is this a documentary about Shakespeare's life?"

"No, it's a romantic comedy," Maura replied, pleased with herself for again knowing that Jane was teasing her.

"Ahh, good, because the only thing that could possibly be better than Shakespeare, is a romantic comedy about Shakespeare."

Seeing the title Shakespeare in Love appear onscreen, Maura simply ignored Jane's comment and started the movie. She placed the remote back on the coffee table, picked up her glass of wine, and then sat down on the couch beside her friend. Almost instantly, Jane moved to accommodate the medical examiner. Maura automatically leaned back against the detective, and Jane moved to rest her arm casually around Maura's shoulders. The entire process took place without either woman saying a word, or in any way questioning the act itself. It was, Maura suddenly realized, simply the way they always ended up when they watched a movie. Sometimes it took a while to get here, such as last week when they had been arguing over the resolutions and the remote. But for longer than she could remember, watching a movie with Jane had consisted of cuddling together on the couch, or at least, it did whenever they were alone.

Maura shifted in Jane's embrace to get more comfortable and allowed her head to fall back against the detective's shoulder. "So how much of all that growling and whining about lunch earlier was just for show?"

"Hmmm," Jane murmured thoughtfully, "I'm not sure." She took a sip of beer and continued to watch the opening credits of the movie. "Maybe 70…75%" she finally said, a hint of laughter in her voice.

Maura grinned but remained silent. She had her victory. There was no reason to push any further.

"Don't make me eat kiwi again," Jane suddenly said after nearly a minute had passed.

Maura considered the other woman's statement thoughtfully for a few moments, before turning around to look at her friend. "So does that mean you would be willing to eat that salad again if they left the kiwi off?"

Jane shrugged. "I guess, but give me a couple weeks."

Maura turned back around so that Jane wouldn't see the knowing smile that was beginning to spread across her face. Jane didn't want to admit that she might actually like the salad as long as the one ingredient she had truly objected to was kept off, but that was perfectly fine with the medical examiner. If pretending that she was simply tolerating the salad and not actually enjoying eating something that was good for her was what it took to get her friend to eat healthier, Maura was more than happy to play along. "Ok," she agreed. "We'll go back sometime next month."

"Alright," Jane replied in a tone that implied she didn't really care one way or the other.

The two women continued to watch the credits of the movie in silence, before Jane suddenly spoke up again. "Hey, does that mean–"

"No," Maura replied, cutting the other woman off before she could finish, not bothering to try to hide her amusement. "It won't count as your one healthy thing to try for the month."

"Damn," Jane swore quietly. "Well, I had to try."

"I know. I'd have been a stunned if you hadn't."

Parfois, vous êtes un enfant idiot, mais je ne sais pas ce que je ferais sans toi.
Translation: Sometimes you are a silly child, but I don't know what I'd do without you.