A week later Jane found herself where she usually was on a Friday night, on the couch chilling with Maura in their PJ's. They would often be watching some documentary that Maura was interested in, but tonight the Sox were on and Maura had asked Jane to teach her more about the history and intricacies of baseball, to which she happily agreed.

During a commercial between innings Jane asked "So how was dinner with Andy the other night? Are you hitting it off?"

"Dinner was delicious, the baked orecchiette was amazing-we should go sometime. But actually I don't think I'm going to see Andy again, at least not romantically."

"Oh, really? Why's that?"

At that moment there was a dramatic play in the game, and Jane started yelling. "Oh! Ohh! Get him! Uhhh! Tag him! Tag hiiiiimmm! Oh! Get the other one! They can't do that shit!" She even set her beer down so she could be appropriately enthusiastic with a lesser chance of spilling on Maura's rug. "Hahah, yes!"

She looked back over at Maura, who she expected to be sitting there shocked, but she was just watching Jane with an amused grin.

"Here, let me show you this, this is a great teaching moment." Maura was always teaching Jane something new, and Jane always liked when she was able to teach Maura about something she wasn't an expert on. Jane grabbed the remote and rewound a minute back.

"Okay, so. See how there's runners on first and third?" She pointed with her pinky and thumb to indicate opposite corners. "The guy on first is taking a big lead—"

"Which he does to get closer to the next base, but the other team can put him out by tagging him with the ball when he's not on the base?"

"Yeah, exactly. So that's what our catcher is trying to do, catch him off the bag. But when he throws the ball, the guy on third starts running home, trying to get there before they can throw the ball back to the catcher to get him before he scores. But our first baseman, Gonzalez, sees what he's doing, and throws the ball back to the catcher, Salty, without worrying about the dude on first. So then—"

"Salty? That's quite a strange name, is it short for something?"

"Uh, yeah, Saltalamacchia. Okay so the guy who's running home is stuck between third and home, and we're trying to tag him before he can get either back to third or forward to home plate. See how our team is throwing the ball back and forth to each other, narrowing the space the runner has to try to escape them? That's called 'caught in a pickle.'"

"What does it have to do with preserved vegetables?"

"Uhh.." Jane paused the replay. "You know, like you're in a pickle…you're in a not so great situation that's not easy to get out of…you know, like a dilemma, stuck between two things?" She looked at Maura, seeing if she understood.

Maura tilted her head and creased her brow, like she had never heard such an expression before.

Jane waved her hand to push aside Maura's confusion. "Whatever. Doesn't matter." She directed their attention back to the play. "So we tag him out, see, but then the guy who was initially leading off of first is leading off of second now like he's trying to steal third because everybody's been preoccupied with getting the out at home, but Middlebrooks, our third-baseman, is really quick and chases him down between second and third. Double play ends the inning!"

"That's quite chaotic."

"Yeah, that happens once in a while, and it's always fun to watch. Anyway. Back to you. Why're you done with Andy? Is she bad in bed?" Jane smirked and took a cautious sip of beer, ready to be smacked again.

Maura doesn't respond and takes a sip of wine.

"Maura! So that is why!"

"Well, partially. Chemistry during sex is a good indicator of two people's overall personal connection."

"Well then that's a bummer you weren't connecting."

Maura stood up and walked to the kitchen to get them a second round. "Yes, but I've been chatting with another woman, and we're going out for drinks on Monday."

Well shit, another girl already? She wasn't messing around with this whole dating thing. "Damn, Dr. Isles is gettin' aalll the ladies."

xx

When Monday evening rolled around, Jane, Maura, Frost, and Korsak were in the squad room going over details of a new case.

"So you think it was a suicide, doc?" Frost asked.

"That does seem to be the most probable explanation, yes."

Jane let out a small sigh of relief. They of course weren't happy to know that a person killed himself, but it meant there was one less killer for them to find and less work for them to do. "Alright, we'll do some interviews tomorrow to see if that adds up."

"So should we call it a night? Head to the Robber?" Frost suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Korsak pushed himself up from his desk, apparently very ready to leave for the day. "You comin', Maura? Add some class to our shenanigans?"

"Sorry I can't do that for you tonight Sergeant, I actually have a date to make."

"Ooh, who's the lucky guy?" Korsak asked cheerfully.

Jane was a bit surprised Maura was bringing this up to the guys. She generally didn't share much of her personal life at work, and she was setting herself up to have to out herself.

"Lucky woman, actually. Her name is Maria."

Frost looked up from shutting down his computer. "You gonna wear that outfit you wore undercover at the lesbian bar?" He quipped with a smile.

"Oh, I bet you'd woo her in that!" Korsak chimed in.

"I really don't think that's appropriate attire for where we're going."

"Well maybe you're going to the wrong place, then." Frost rebutted playfully.

They all laughed at the antics. Jane really appreciated that the boys hardly batted an eye at the gender of Maura's date, and were joking around with her as part of the crew. She knew she was Maura's first best friend, and that the addition of Frost, Korsak, and Frankie were the only real friend group she had ever had. Jane smiled as she saw in Maura's face the appreciation of their acceptance.

xx

Soon the three of them were at the bar playing a round of darts. As a start to a new conversation, Korsak piped "So Maura's gay, huh? Who woulda thunk?"

"You don't necessarily have to be gay to date the same gender as you, old man." Frost pointed out. "She's probably bisexual, and wants to mix it up." He shrugged casually.

"Maybe that's your problem, Jane, maybe you should try women."

Frost let out a whistle, clearly thinking that Korsak had miss-stepped and was about to get an earful from his offended partner.

"Oh, so I have a problem, huh?"

"Uhh, what I meant was…"

"The problem—" Jane pulled the darts out of the board. "Is that the men that are attractive, decent, and respect my job, are few and far between, and when I think I've found one of them, he's like 'Ha ha, fooled you! I'm actually a dickhead!'" She threw a dart casually, its location putting her above Korsak for the lead. This topic wasn't new for her. After she gave up on Casey (or accepted that Casey had given up on her), she had basically come to the conclusion that she was going to stop dreaming that the day would come when the perfect man would step into her life. She knew that that was unlikely to ever happen, and she had come to terms with it. Her life was just fine the way it was, and if she ever felt the urge to have children, she would just go hang out with TJ.

"Yeah, men are dickheads, sorry about that." Frost offered guiltily.

"Well I don't think you are Frost, but you're kinda like my brother so no offense I don't want to date you."

"You mean you don't want—" Frost lowered his voice into a mock sultry tone. "—a stormy, dark-skinned Casanova to take you away?"

"Ew, no."

xx

On her way home, Jane thought about how much she enjoyed hanging out with the guys. Chilling at the Robber when they didn't have a stressful case going on was always a good time, and despite how often they put their feet in their mouths, she knew they loved her and only had her best interest in mind. Working 60 hours a week with someone and protecting each other from bad guys makes you good friends or bad enemies real quick, and they were all very close. And now that Maura was actively dating, Jane knew that she would be spending more time with them.

As she got ready for bed, Jane resisted the urge to text Maura and ask how her night was going. If it was going poorly she would have texted her. Hell, maybe they were making out right now and Jane's message would just be an annoying interruption. Drifting closer to sleep, Jane's mind mused over the idea that maybe she didn't want Maura to be dating. It worried her that she might meet someone that could make her happier than she did, and she would get married and move away. What would she do? Maybe she could be a live-in nanny when they had kids, or…

Her thoughts turned more ridiculous and otherworldly as she dreamed, and she had only a fuzzy memory of her train of thought the next day.

xxx

With the mention of Casey in this chapter, I want to note that I see the timeline for this story as slightly different from the show, in that Jane is completely done with Casey in an earlier season..I suppose I see this story as existing essentially sometime between seasons 2 and 4 with some minor alterations.

Thanks for reading!