Disclaimer: Know what I'm gonna say yet? You probably do. I do not own anything related to R&I or anything else that may seem familiar. That all belongs to the various copyright holders, etc.
AN: Hey y'all! I know, I am back for another update already! Which should make those of you currently in camp 6 the 'Hurry up and type faster because I NEED to know what happens' camp. There's also camp 7 now. That is a secret camp though and there are certain things you have to have figured out to get in there. I am also considering camp 8. The 'Loathing Grace' camp. With all that said, why don't we find out what the aftermath of last night will be shall we? Enjoy!
"Ugh," she grunted as she rolled over in the bed. Light was still streaming in from the curtains even though they were closed. She stopped herself mid roll because the whole room seemed to be moving around her more than she moved. She finally rolled herself the rest of the way over and then waited once again for the room to stop. It did a couple of moments later and she finally cracked one eye open. If she didn't know any better she could swear that the sun was right here in the room with her. She was never going to drink that much again.
Slowly she started to sit up and that's when the pounding in her head started. She placed one had on her head and looked over to the clock on the bedside table to check the time. She found water and aspirin sitting there waiting for her. She needed to make sure she thanked her mother for that when she made it out of the bed. She gently reached over for the glass when she noticed something else was sitting on the table.
It was the envelope she had given to Jane the night before. She picked it up carefully and opened it, sliding the papers out. She looked them over. On every line needed, on all three copies, Jane had signed. All that was left to do now was add her signatures to them and get them in another envelope at the post office. She would overnight them back to Buford and Buford so they could get started with the rest of the paperwork that would need to be done right away.
She laid the paperwork down and reached for the water and aspirin. She knew that the hangover would just have to work itself off, but that the water and aspirin would help a little with some of the symptoms.
Maura eased herself out of the bed and slowly made her way down the hall and to the open living room and kitchen. "Good morning," she mumbled to her mother, her throat a little raw from whatever had happened the night before. She made her way over to the coffee pot to help that.
"Good almost afternoon," her mother responded.
Maura glanced at the clock and realized that her mother was right. It was closing in on the afternoon. She couldn't believe that she of all people would have slept that late. She wasn't out that late last night. Of course the hangover that still tortured her mind told her that it was still too long. She had things she needed to get done today though, and she needed to get to them. "Thank you for the aspirin and water," she said in between sips of her coffee.
"I'd say you're welcome, but I actually can't take credit for it," her mother said looking up from the paper she was sitting reading.
Only now did Maura fully take in her mother. Her mother looked sort of business casual this morning. She tilted her head slightly to the left as she pondered what it could be that her mother was up to. And also what her mother meant by not being able to take credit.
"It was Jane," her mother finally supplied after seeing her curious expression. "She set them out last night when she put you in bed."
Maura spit a bit of her coffee back into the cup. Not the most polite thing to do, but she thought that would be better than choking on it. Really, Jane had put her in bed last night? How could she have no memory of that? She remembered getting into Jane's car last night, but she couldn't remember anything after that. That would explain the papers by the bed this morning though. Jane must have signed them and placed them there at the same time last night.
"I take it you don't remember much of last night?" her mother asked.
Maura started to shake her head, but quickly found out that was not a good idea before saying, "It's not that. I remember enough of it, it's just I didn't remember that part."
"Well, it was Jane. She still cares about you and that was one little way that she could show it."
"Ha," Maura said as she let out a kind of breathy laugh. "She really shouldn't. Not after the way I've treated her and acted."
"We all do things we aren't proud of at times," her mother commented. "But there's still time, you're still here."
Maura nodded her head and picked her coffee back up to take another sip. "So, what do you have planned for today?" she asked between sips.
"Oh, I've got a few meetings for the foundation today, and a couple of other things to do. Why do you ask?"
"I just thought we might be able to spend some time together. I probably need to catch a flight tomorrow and I thought we could have a nice dinner together tonight before I left."
"You know, that sounds quite lovely. It's not often that we get a chance to have dinner together anymore. Though I'm not sure how long all of these meetings are going to take. I'll call you later this afternoon when I have a better idea of when I'll be free?"
"That sounds perfect," Maura said, giving her mother a big smile. "I suppose I should go get ready. I have a few things I need to get done today if I'm going to be leaving tomorrow. I'll see you later mother."
"Of course darling," her mother said as a way of parting.
R&I
Maura slid the manila envelope that contained the papers Jane had signed into another larger envelope and sealed it. She filled out the address of the law firm and put attention Robert Buford on it so it would go straight to his desk. She waited in line at the counter so she could ship it across the country overnight.
She walked up to the counter and told the postal worker what it was she needed. She laid the envelope on the counter and gave it a long look. Inside was the dissolution of more than ten years of her life. In some sense it was a bit of relief that she was mailing it off, but in another it hurt more than she would ever be able to explain to anyone.
Jane had been the first person to completely accept her for exactly who she was and didn't want to change anything about her. Jane may still be the only person who didn't want to change anything about her. For a moment she considered grabbing the envelope and taking off with it. Maybe she wasn't ready to do this just yet.
As quickly though as the thought entered her mind the postal worker told her the cost to overnight the envelope and she quickly pulled out the money to pay. She had to get it sent off before she changed her mind again. The worker handed over her receipt and she watched as the man put the correct overnight label on it and added it to his pile of out-going mail.
She turned away from the counter and headed for the door. That was it. The paperwork was in the mail. That part of her life was now over and she could move on to other things. She slowly made her way through the doors. Her heart felt heavier now though than it had before she'd even met Jane when she first moved back to Boston. It was a strange feeling, but hopefully would pass quickly. She still had a few other things to take care of today.
R&I
"Honestly?" Her mother practically shouted the question at her. "You can honestly stand there and tell me that you had no idea about any of this?"
"Mother I had no idea about that part of Maura's life," Grace said trying to calm her mother down.
"Who proposes to someone before they even know that they were married once before and had a child?" Victoria shouts at her again.
"I knew Maura had moved out here because she had a relationship that fell apart. She never actually told me that she was married. Honestly though, it doesn't matter to me that she was married before. It's not like it affects either of us."
"Like hell it doesn't," her mother fired back at her. Her mother had called her in a fury this morning yelling something about something showing up in the background checks that were done. She had no idea what exactly it was until she had made it into her mother's office. "I told you that my opponents would dig into the background of everyone else around me. So, I decided it would be beneficial to see what they would find. Instead I find out that your new fiancée had been married and had a child. Tell me how it is they won't find some way to jump all over that and use it against me. And that's just what came back in the preliminary background reports. God only knows what may show up once they've had time to dig a little deeper."
"Mother you've really got to calm down. All of your supporters and opponents already know that you're a Democrat. I don't see how any of what you found will change their ideas about you no matter how your opponent may try to use it."
"Are you kidding me? Have you been living in a dream world in the past few years? You know how bad the mudslinging can be and if I have a shot at getting into Congress that is controlled right now by the Republican Party, I'm going to need more support than I've got right now and I'm going to have to find ways to get it."
Whoa, when had her mother decided to run for Congress? The last she had heard her mother was trying to be elected to the State House. When did that change and why didn't her mother tell her? "When did that change? You told me you were going for the State House, not Congress?" she asked, with the annoyance of not knowing being heard in her voice.
"It changed a couple of months ago," her mother relented telling her finally.
"Oh, so right about the time that you decided to graciously loan out some of Dad's pieces to the museum?" She should have known when her mother made the decision to do that there were high stakes attached to her political move than just trying to be elected to State House. "Looks like my fiancée isn't the only one who's withheld some information then." The sarcasm dripped from the words she'd just said.
"Don't take that tone with me," her mother replied crossly.
"No, mother, don't you take that tone with me," Grace said interrupting her mother. A bold move on her part; no one usually dared to try and cross her mother and now she had more than once in just the last few days. "Now if you don't mind, I have some business to attend to. You might as well drop this little fit that you're throwing as well. It's not going to change the way I fell about Maura." With one last bold move she walked out of her mother's office. She had some things that would need to be sorted out.
R&I
Maura once again climbed the steps of BPD. After leaving yesterday she wasn't sure that she would ever set foot here again. Her actions last night though required that she would. She carefully took the box in her hand and made her way through the entrance doors. She stepped over to the side of the security line and over to the main desk.
"How can a help you?" a young uniformed officer behind the desk asked her.
"Oh, I just have this that I need to leave for Detectives Korsak and Frost." She would rather hand deliver them, but she knew there was no way she would be let into the building. She was nothing more than a citizen in this place and it was extremely hard to gain access as a citizen, unless you committed a crime. But she didn't need to add getting arrested to the list of things that she had done while here, so she decided just leaving the box of their favorite cookies and pastries with an apology note about last night would have to suffice for now.
"Are the Detectives aware that you were going to leave something here for them?"
"No, this was a last minute decision," she replies confused at the new line of questioning.
"Well, you're going to have to wait. I'm sorry, but new policy states that an individual isn't allowed to leave a package for anyone employed here."
"Can you call one of them for me then? Tell them it's Doctor Isles."
"Yes ma'am," he replied. "Just give me a moment." He turned away to one of the phones to see if he could reach either of them.
"Maura," she heard her name from somewhere behind her just a few moments later. "Barry, she said turning around, finding one of the men she needed to see.
"What brings you by?" he asked.
She motioned to the officer at the desk that she had found one of the detectives and he nodded and hung up the phone. He then turned back around to continue on with the paperwork he had been going over.
"I wanted to drop these off for you and Vince," she said as she handed over the box. "There's a note in there that goes along with them. It just explains how sorry I am for the things that I said last night."
"Thank you," he said.
"I will see you around then," Maura said as she started to walk off.
"No, Maura wait," Frost said stopping her in her tracks. "It's alright, you know," he said looking deep into her eyes. "I know it couldn't have been easy coming back here after all this time. Though we might all have carried on with our lives the best we knew how after…" he said pausing there. He couldn't bring himself to say the words. "It was hard on all of us and I we haven't been the same since. I know I especially, miss the team that we used to be. While I might have tried to support you right after, I didn't do anything to try and keep up our friendship after you left, and for that I'm sorry. I should have tried harder." His eyes shifted down to the yellow tile under their feet now.
"Let's let bygones be bygones then?" she asked him as acceptance of the apology he'd just made.
"Of course," he replied.
They stood there for a couple of seconds in awkward silence. Both of them shifted uncomfortably as they tried to come up with something else to say to the other. "She went out there you know?" Frost suddenly said, when he couldn't think of anything else.
"Who? Jane?" she asked surprised.
"Yeah," he said nodding. "She went out there just a few months after you left. She wanted to tell you how sorry she was that she hadn't tried a little bit harder to understand how you felt and to try and bring you home. But she got out there and saw what California was like and couldn't bring herself to actually see you once she got out there. She said that things there were too beautiful to try and get you to come back to a place that held so much sadness for you. She had some crazy idea that if she could try and add some beauty to the city then she might be able to convince you to come back one day. She's been trying to do that ever since."
Maura looked off to the side of his head; her eyes shone with tears. She wished she had known that Jane had been there. She probably would have come back to Boston in that instant. Jane was right. Her life here in Boston had been filled with a lot of heartache and sadness, but there were a couple of things that had always been a bright spot to her. Jane though, had always been the brightest. No matter what had happened to either of them Jane always knew how to brighten her world and make things right again. Except for five years ago, when they both had lost their way; and then she had left about a year later. "It's why she kept sending the papers back." Maura said as more of a statement than a question.
"Yeah, I think it is," Frost supplied her with an answer anyway.
"Thank you," she said trying to hide the emotion in her voice. She leaned over and gave Frost a sort of half hug. "Take care of her, please?"
"Of course," he answered.
With that, Maura turned on her heel and left. She needed to get out of there before she burst out into tears over what she had just discussed with Frost. She could cry, but she would still need to pull herself together. She still had one person she needed to see today.
Well? Any changing of camps? And new ones that should be added now? Do you think Maura might be changing her mind any at all about things? Is she just being stubborn? Come on, you know I wanna hear it!