Maura continued to tickle at Jo Friday's chin, tap her paw pads, and rub the elusive, wiggling head, not to stall, but to collect her thoughts. "I know, Jane. I trust you," she finally said with a smile, looking really open, really herself, for first time all day. "So." She slipped off her heels and set them by the table, then sat with her back against the counter and legs stretched out, Jo frisking between the two women and eating up all the extra contact. "When I was in second grade, a representative of the Girl Scouts came to my school and offered to sign up anyone who wanted to be in the Brownie Scouts and could get parental permission. She did a presentation, but I don't actually remember much of what she said. I remember thinking I really liked her uniform…"
"Her uniform? Well," Jane gave a little shrug. "They are cute, but they don't strike me as very fashionable. You however, strike me as having been a fashion guru from the moment you were born. But, whatever works." Realizing she was rambling, she made an apologetic face. "Sorry, go ahead." With a flick of her wrist, she waved her hand in the air above Joe's head, playing a game of 'can't touch me', as she called it, with the still wiggling dog.
Jo nipped, but never actually on any fingers, well restrained for such a small, excitable animal. Maura watched, sometimes assisting with a hand placed on the tiny, soft underbelly to help her keep calm. "It wasn't so much the fashion as the… I don't know. It looked crisp and smart, like the person wearing it was a part of something, and she was offering me a chance to be a part of it, too. Even at that age, I knew I'd need help being part of any group, and I thought if I had a uniform like everyone else's… not that it helped in school, so I don't know why I thought that. Maybe because with school, everyone had to be there, but with Scouting it was a voluntary thing. People would only join if they wanted to join, and I thought I might find some like minds.
"Plus, even though it wasn't what you'd call really fashionable, it did look really sharp, and I sort of had a fascination with uniforms. You know," Maura emphasized, "uniforms. Wearing one automatically confers upon the wearer an aura of… hm. Authority? I suppose that's it. Authority, invincibility, strength. Power."
"I'm a cop. I totally get that." Jane gave her friend a warm smile. "I don't do it very much anymore, but I still get a little thrill every time I wear my uniform. Plus," she lowered her voice as if other people were around who might hear her, "I think I look good in it." She let out a snort. "Do not," she pointed at the woman beside her with the hand she had been using to tease her dog, "tell anyone I said that."
Both Maura's hands flew up, spread, palms forward in a don't-shoot-me pose. "I would never," she vowed, though she did add with another of her too-warm smiles, the kind that made dates ecstatic with the thought that she was a sure thing (and that made pretty much everyone else really uncomfortable), "but I'd love to see you in it someday. If you like, I can make that the price for my silence on the matter." Then she laughed, taking the seriousness away from the gentle blackmail, and returned her right hand to Jo Friday's back as the dog flipped over onto her feet. "Anyway, I got permission and signed up to join my school's Brownie troop. I attended all the meetings, memorized the Girl Scout law, motto, and so on. In several languages, actually. Did you know that in some countries, instead of Be Prepared, the motto translates to Always Ready?"
Jane narrowed her eyes as she gave her friend a hard look. "Maybe, if you're really good, I'll drag my uniform out so you can see it. It might be a little tighter than I remember, though." She laughed.
For three heartbeats, Maura's laughter stilled, then returned as she bent over Jo again to kiss the furry little head, hair falling to cover her face for a moment. The dog was winding down, less wiggly and more laid-back, now that her need for the touch of her humans had been well sated.
"You know, if you keep telling me historical facts about the Girl Scouts, I don't think we're ever going to make it to dessert, and that chocolate whipped cream stuff is calling my name." She winked at the honey blonde before turning serious again, ignoring Joe's pleading look for more attention. "Maura, I can tell this is really making you uncomfortable. You only go Wikipedia mouth when you're trying to avoid really talking about something, are nervous, or you're trying to talk me into something really… Well, anyway, my point is you don't have to keep going if you don't want to."
Quieting, Maura took a deep breath and let it out to give herself time to process. Her laughter subsided, and her dog-tickling turned to idle ear rubbing for a moment. "Maybe we should get to dessert, anyway. It's… I wouldn't call it a horrible memory, but at the time it hurt, and while chocolate and sugar are not healthy ways of coping with childhood trauma, I think I need something to distract me just a little bit." She got to her feet and offered both hands to Jane for a pull-up assist. "I do want to tell you, though. Maybe this time it will be something I can laugh at, the way my nanny promised would eventually happen."
Jane took the offered hands, letting Maura help counter balance so she could stand up. "Your nanny sounds like a wise person." She gave the hands in hers a little squeeze. "I'm going to go wash my hands real quick. I know where Joe's been." The detective made a face. "I do not want to eat anything Joe's been in." She walked over to the kitchen sink. "Chocolate always helps; it makes everything better. What was it you said about chocolate? Something about it being for happy chumps or something?"
"Chocolate Happiness Undergoing More Pleasantness," Maura corrected as she followed Jane to the sink to wash her hands and even her mouth where she'd given the pooch a smooch. She pumped soap on both their hands from the little bottle near the dish soap so they could wash jointly as she elucidated further. "The study concluded that ingesting chocolate makes us happier." Once the requisite thirty seconds of sudsing had taken place, she rinsed, then grabbed a clean towel to dry her own hands, then held it out to dry Jane's. "Of course, I later read a different study from a more authoritative source that explained that chocolate doesn't create happiness, nor even cause the brain to produce happiness chemicals. What chocolate actually stimulates are the chemicals that are released by orgasm. Not many, of course, or we'd be able to supplant sex with chocolate entirely, and the human race would die out of species-wide obesity. Smiling, though," Maura added with a grin and that flirty little nose-wrinkle thing that she did.
Obediently, the brunette held her hands out to let the doctor dry them. "What is it with you and things that make you feel like you're having an orgasm?" Jane shook her head. "I swear, woman, you talk about sex more than any person I know. If I wasn't a hardened homicide detective, you might throw me off guard a lot." She dropped her hands down at her sides and swaggered toward the table where the cakes were waiting. "But, considering my dry streak," she signed heavily as she plopped down in a chair, "My very long dry streak, maybe I should be taking notes." She picked up the forks, holding one out to Maura as she motioned with her head for her friend to come sit next to her.
Maura accepted the fork and sat opposite Jane, opening up the dessert box and sticking in her fork just enough to get some of the fluff off the top of the cake, along with the cherry on top. "I like orgasms," she said with infectious enthusiasm. "They release Immunoglobulin A, which helps the immune system against colds, for one thing. They cause the irises and the tiny muscles around the eyes to contract, which tightens the facial muscles in general, which keeps them from sagging, so you look younger for longer. They tone several muscles in the middle and lower body, flood the bloodstream with a rush of extremely pleasant chemicals, excite the neurons in the brain, and they actually create feelings of closeness and trust as long as there's nothing preventing those feelings from taking root. They're one of the healthiest things that a human being can actively enjoy and seek out." So saying, she popped the bite into her mouth. "Mmm. I wish this topping was as healthy as an orgasm. Try it."
"Orgasms or the cake?" Jane raised an eyebrow as the corner of her mouth tugged toward a classic Rizzoli smirk.
