Maura Isles was tired. Her feet screamed as she toed off her new pair of heels in the doorway. She regretted wearing them on this particular day. With two of her lap techs out with the flu, things were hectic in the morgue. A distant cousin of the mayor had been killed in a car accident and he requested that she do the autopsy personally, before she left for the night. The hands of her wrist watch fell over the 10. All she wanted was a salad, a glass of wine, and to curl up next to her girlfriend. She did not register the sound of music until she'd put her coat away in the hall closet.
The followed the melodious sound in the bedroom. She expected the stereo in her and Jane's bedroom to be playing, but what she found threw her off. Her dark haired detective lay in the center of the bed, a black guitar sitting in her lap. Her long fingers held on tight to the neck of the instrument as her other hand held a pick and strummed across the steel cords.
"Beauty queen of only eighteen. She had some trouble with herself. She was always there to help her. She always belonged to someone else." Maura quickly noticed the change in pronoun, but chose not to make her presence known. Jane seemed so at piece, she couldn't bear disturbing the nightmare plagued woman. Her hands moved with great ease.
This side of Jane was a mystery to Maura. She did not know that Jane knew how to play the guitar. There was hinting over the years about piano lessons as a child but her first encounter with Charles Hoyt left her cringing at the thought of her long fingers ghosting of pearly white keys.
"I drove for miles and miles and wound up at your door. I've had you so many times but somehow, I want more." The warmth of Jane's voice wrapped around Maura like a wool blanket on a cold night. She leaned against the door and melted into the sound of her lover's voice. It was also new to her that Jane could sing. With a voice like the detectives, it shouldn't be a surprise, but it still was.
"I don't mind spending every day, out on your corner in the pouring rain. Look for the girl with the broken smile; ask her if she wants to say a while. And she will be loved. She will be loved." Maura was so entranced that she didn't notice Jane looking up at her, smiling as she sang. She nodded for the doctor to come closer. Maura inched closer to the bed.
"Tap on my window, knock on my door. I want to make you feel beautiful. I know I tend to be so insecure. It doesn't matter anymore." Brown eyes sang to her as her heart flutter in her chest. Well, not literally, but the metaphor seemed to be the only way she could describe how she was feeling at the moment. Jane was singing to her. Jane was singing about her. It wasn't her song, but the sentiment was not lost the medical examiner. She placed her knee on the bed and climbed across, sitting in on the heel on her feet as Jane sang.
"It's not always rainbows and butterflies. It's compromise that moves us along, yeah. My heart is full and my door's always open. You can come anytime you want." The song was true. Life was not always rainbows and butterflies. It was hard. They both knew that from experience. The last year had been the hardest of them all. Between the warehouse incident and entering into a relationship, things were hard.
After rectifying her mistake, Maura did whatever she could to find her way back into Jane's good graces. It was not easy. The detective was not easily trusting and leaving had cost Maura every ounce of Jane's trust that she'd earned over the years. There was not a day that she did not regret her actions. She wanted to be angry but what Jane did was right. She was the only one in the wrong. Paddy Doyle was a known criminal, wanted by the FBI. Sure, he was her biological father, but all he did was contribute the sperm. He gave her up. He told her birth mother that she'd died. He kidnapped her and used her like he did everyone else. What made Maura chose him over the woman who had saved her life so many times? She couldn't figure it out, but she vowed to never betray Jane like that again.
They fell into bed quickly; the need to satisfy a sexual tension that had built up over the years greater than their need to hate each other. It was violet and rough. There was hair pulling and biting and a battle for dominance. Eventually, Jane won. After several hours of avoiding the elephant in the room, Maura finally made the decision to grovel. She thought it would take everything she had to get Jane to forgive her but the detective shocked her.
Jane had forgiven her long before she chose to arrive at the woman's doorstep with her tail between her legs. It was a relief, to say the least. Maura felt like a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She wrapped her arms around the naked woman and hugged her as if it was the last chance she would get to feel her lean body against her curvy one.
"I don't mind spending every day, out on your corner in the pouring rain. Look for the girl with the broken smile. Ask her if she wants to stay a while. And she will be loved. And she will be loved" Maura climbed across and leaned against the headboard, her head falling onto Jane's shoulder. She felt the movement of Jane's hands as she strummed. "And she will be loved. And she will be loved. I know where you hide. Along in your care. Know all of the things that make you who you are. I know that goodbye means nothing at all. Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls."
The crack in Jane's voice alerted her to the pain the other woman was feeling. She looked up and saw hot tears streaming down her lover's face. Her heart ached. She hadn't realized that she'd caused Jane so much pain. She didn't cry often and when she did, it was heartbreaking. Maura reached up and wiped a stray tear from her face.
"I'm so sorry, Jane. For every thing. I never meant to hurt you like this." She whispered into her ear. Jane did not reply to her. She continued to sing until she neared the end of the song. Her hands were sore and her body exhausted but she was determined.
"Please don't try so hard to say goodbye. Please don't try so hard to say goodbye. I don't mind spending everyday out on your corner in the pouring rain. Try so hard to say goodbye." She lifted the guitar and rested it on the floor. She slowly turned to Maura and captured the other woman's lips in a gentle kiss. She pulled back and searched hazel eyes. "I love you."
"I love you too."