Hi all! This one pretty much speaks for itself, let's assume Halloween is somewhere in the middle of this story! And this one does connect vaguely with The Baseball Game.
Halloween
"No Maura. Not going to happen. No. You would have to physically pick me up and…wait, not giving you ideas. No!"
Maura's lip pouted theatrically as her shoulders sagged in disappointment. Jane didn't buy it for a moment; there was no way her friend was going to let her off the hook that easily.
Sure enough, Maura's face lit up as she started on a new angle. "Please, do it for me. This is an important step for me. It is a way to help me own my new reality, a way to have fun with it, a way to enjoy myself without having to hide! And since you are a part of this I need you to come and enjoy this with me! Please? For me?"
The head tilt and pleading eyes did it. Jane couldn't resist, even at great personal cost, when Maura begged.
She rolled her eyes at her own weakness, secretly pleased to be able to help her friend have fun. "Okay fine, I'll come. You so owe me for this!"
Maura bounced excitedly, her hands clapping at slightly faster than human speed in her elation at getting her way. "Yes! And I have the perfect outfit all ready for you, and I'll do your makeup. Come on Jane, we've only got an hour and a half to get ready!"
Jane's jaw dropped and her hands flew up in indignation. "I said I'd come, I didn't say I would dress up in whatever monstrosity you've picked out for me! Maura! I know you heard me! Maura!"
An hour and a half later Jane was trying to maintain her usual grumpy attitude unsuccessfully in the face of Maura's delight at seeing her in a costume. The final touches were being put on her face, with Maura stepping back and squealing in delight.
The excited woman bounced yet again as she put away the makeup. "Oh you look so perfect Jane! And you can scowl as much as you want, it goes with the costume!"
Maura disappeared momentarily into her closet, reappearing fully changed and made up after about ten seconds, her appearance perfect as always. Jane rolled her eyes in disgust before breaking out into a smile at her companion's happy look.
Jane glanced down at the doctor's shoes and smiled again. "I see you finally got those reinforced shoes you were waiting on! You're right, they wouldn't go so well at work, but they look great with….that."
Maura beamed at the compliment. "I know, I'm so pleased! I can finally wear high heels again! Okay, we need to go. We can't be late!"
Jane allowed herself to be shepherded out the door, her mother unfortunately noticing them leaving and squealing before stopping them for pictures. Jane managed to extract a promise not to disseminate the incriminating photos before Maura dragged her to the car.
They arrived at the BPD Halloween party only ten minutes late. The party was in full swing, free booze ensuring that everyone got there early and dove straight in to the action. Due to Lieutenant's orders everyone was in costume, with only about half the room wearing some version of a cop uniform. There were a few firefighters, a few paramedics, several serial killers and several mad scientists (Maura made a mental note to check for missing lab coats on Monday).
Predictably, Jane and Maura were the only two vampires. Their entrance didn't go unnoticed, several wolf whistles greeting the pair as they swept into the room, their black capes and high collars highlighting their matching orange eyes and comically long fangs. Their hair was styled high and dramatically, Maura's still curly since it was impossible to straighten. The leather outfit complete with corsets completed the very striking and memorable outfits, drawing every eye in the room.
Jane glared warningly at everyone she saw, the vibe only adding to her costume as Maura had predicted. Maura tried to mimic Jane's manner, but she was enjoying herself too much and broke character after about five seconds, beaming at Korsak when she picked him out across the room.
Their gruff friend had decided to go with a lumberjack axe murderer look, complete with real axe. A splattering of fake blood on his flannel shirt was the extent of his makeup as far as Jane could see. He was smiling in awe of their outfits, and Jane internally winced, waiting for the inevitable teasing.
Vince smiled warmly as he walked over to them, stopping next to Maura. "What are we drinking ladies? Not me I hope!"
He put up his hands in mock fearfulness, hamming it up ridiculously. Jane rolled her eyes as Maura giggled at the lame joke. "Really Korsak? What are we drinking? Really?"
Korsak just shrugged helplessly, a smug smile still plastered across his face.
The three mingled and enjoyed the evening. The costumes had drawn comments from pretty much every male detective in BPD, as well as some of the braver patrolmen and even one of the lab techs. Maura was loving the attention, thrilled to be back to her social best. Jane was doing her best to remain civil, but was quickly losing the battle.
She sensed an impending disaster when Detective James sauntered towards them dressed as a gladiator. Maura also sobered, remembering their altercation at the recent ball game.
James took a few seconds longer than necessary to look them over before speaking, his voice obviously intended to be charming but just sounding sleazy. "Well, don't you two look good enough to eat?"
Jane couldn't hold in the derisive scoff. "Yeah, and you look good enough to club over the head and leave for the lions. Take a walk James."
His face twisted into anger before stalking off, muttering something under his breath. Jane didn't catch it, but she could infer the sentiment from the black look on Maura's face. She put a restraining hand on her shoulder, orange eyes snapping up to meet hers before they softened and Maura nodded, her anger evident but under control.
A few minutes later it was time for the costume prizes. The grand prize was a bottle of a fairly cheap wine, so nobody had put much effort into their costumes. Cavanaugh called the top five costumes up onto the stage so the crowd could vote for a winner.
Unsurprisingly Jane and Maura were called up. Susie Chang was also called up, her imitation of Dr Isles alarmingly accurate, down to the wig and designer clothes under her lab coat. She stood next to Jane looking rather scared, and Jane was unsure whether it was her own outfit or the fact that Susie was convinced that she had insulted Maura with her costume choice. When Maura slipped past her and praised Susie for the costume she smiled thankfully, then returned to her fearful expression after glancing at Jane.
The fourth finalist was Williams, a patrolman who was dressed as Wolverine. He had managed to bend almost all of his claws during the course of the evening, ruining the effect slightly. He weaved his way onto the stage, clearly well past tipsy.
The last contestant was Detective James. He smirked at Jane and Maura as he walked up to the stage, giving a very theatrical yell and waving his sword around as he reached the centre, getting a big cheer from the somewhat inebriated crowd.
Jane couldn't resist getting into the spirit a little bit, pulling back her lips, baring her fangs and giving the best impression of Maura's snarl. Maura realised what she was doing and joined in, her snarl sounding a lot more threatening than Jane's. The crowd cheered again at the show, most of them knowing about the animosity between the women and Detective James.
James glanced at the pair, shrinking back slightly at the threatening display while trying to avoid looking like he was scared. He glanced over at Williams, who was laughing with his buddies near the edge of the stage, before grabbing the swaying X-man and pointing him towards the two vampires.
After a bit of nudging in the right direction the two men squared off against Jane and Maura, the smirk back on James' face. Without any thought of chivalry or banter the pair charged. Jane wasn't quite sure what James was trying to accomplish with this stunt, but it would end badly if they either crashed into Maura and broke their shoulder or worse, managed to bleed near Maura.
Fortunately Maura thought fast. She gracefully stepped to the side of the charge, grabbing James by the arm and skilfully redirecting his momentum to propel him off the stage and into the crowd. The spectators in his path all jumped aside, not making any move to catch him. He fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs, drawing a collective laugh from the crowd as he cursed and stumbled to get back up.
Williams had tripped and fallen before even making it to Jane, who simply gaped at Maura before breaking into a knowing smirk. Maura returned the look quickly before falling back into her persona, giving the crowd one last hiss before walking back to Susie and pulling her towards the podium for the judging. The crowd loved every minute of it, cat calls and whistles joining the cheers for Maura.
Cavanaugh was shaking his head in exasperation after the display. Wanting to get this over with before someone actually got hurt he whistled to get everyone's attention, his gruff voice penetrating the last few chuckles. "Okay, let's get this over with. If you think Senior Criminalist Chang's costume is the best, move to the right of the stage. All those for Detective Rizzoli, go to the left. Anyone for Dr Isles, move to the centre. I'm declaring the other two disqualified."
Another round of laughter echoed around the room as almost everyone moved into the centre of the room. Jane stifled a laugh when she saw Susie moving to the centre of the stage as well, deciding to join her.
Maura looked around the room in surprise before a huge smile blossomed on her face. Cavanaugh smiled at her before handing over the bottle of wine. "Congratulations Dr Isles. You make quite a convincing vampire!"