Author's note:
Hallo, folks. I just wanted to tell you how happy and proud you are all making me feel. It continues to blow my mind that there's people from all over the world who read my stories and actually look forward to my new chapters. I've been writing for most of my life and in different languages, but I have never shown any of it to anyone besides my parents (when I was really, really young) or a few very close friends. I still can't believe that you enjoy my little fan fiction and I hope I can continue to deliver! For the last week or so, I've been sick with the flu and had a lot of free time to write; hence the daily updates. I went back to work today but I will try my best to keep up the fast updates; I'm in some sort of writing frenzy and wish I could do nothing but write all day. I'm so excited for what will happen to Jane and Maura next… I wish I could write as fast as I'm seeing it all in my head! Okay, I know you're not here to hear from me but to dive right back into Jane's adventure so I will shut up now. Last thing though: Thank you so much for your reviews! I love reviews – never mind if positive or negative, long or short –; they make me feel like I am in contact with all of you, like we have a dynamic exchange of ideas and emotions. And most of all: they help me improve as a writer and creative thinker. So thank you so much and I appreciate every single one.
After getting home from her little postal delivery, Jane tried her best to calm herself down and get at least a few hours of sleep before another day of crime solving would require her mind to be sharp and her body to be alert – in vain. Just when she'd finally managed to doze off into another dream (she would not remember later), her alarm clock rang and it was time to get ready for work. What would happen? Would anything happen at all? Maybe Maura didn't even read the note, maybe she didn't know that Jane had written it – or did she know her messy handwriting well enough? Would she talk to her, or get angry and throw the piece of paper in her face? Now, in the cold hard light of day – okay, it was actually still dark outside – Jane suddenly felt very silly and imprudent. How on earth had she been crazy enough to drive to Maura's in the middle of the night and deliver an anonymous message? Did she really believe what Judith had told her? Maura, in love with her? She had written what she had heard in her mysterious dream but did she really "get it now"? Was the idea of her best friend having romantic feelings for her really something that could be "gotten", could be understood? Before regret could start taking over her body and eat her up from the inside out, Jane sighed and blindly stumbled into the bathroom; maybe a cold shower would wake her up and help her accept whatever the consequences of her little trip would be. After all, what's done is done, right?
Coffees for everyone (Maura, too) in hand, Jane hurried into the office only to find that everyone else was already there – including Maura, who was pinning a few sheets of paper on the whiteboard. "Jeez, sorry. Did I forget about an early morning meeting?" She blurted out as she handed a cup to each of her colleagues. Upon hearing her voice, Maura turned around and suddenly, and for what seemed the first time in forever, hazel eyes met their brown counterparts: "Good morning, Jane. Thank you for the coffee. That's very thoughtful of you." Clearly smiling at her – yes, at her, Jane Rizzoli –, Maura held out her hand, and when she took the paper cup from Jane, their hands touched lightly and, Jane thought, probably accidentally. Jane quickly withdrew her hand and discretely stared at it for a moment; she felt like it was burning hot. Probably from the coffee, as she had forgotten to ask for sleeves at Boston Joe's.
Maura's words hadn't been much more than small talk, but she had inhaled them like much needed oxygen and now they were causing a warm, fuzzy feeling inside of her. Maybe Maura had read her note after all and decided that they could finally be friends again; or at least work towards it. She had smiled at her! That had to mean something, right?
Before she could dwell on the most recent developments any further, it was her brother who pulled a typical "Frankie" and spoke before he could think: "Oh hell, yes. Thank you, Maura. I thought you would never speak to Jane again. I think none of us will miss the awkwardness of the last few weeks. Cause… phew. It was very hard to be around you two." Korsak laughed and gave Frankie a thumbs-up, Nina shook her head in disbelief but smiled encouragingly at Maura and Jane, Judith simply stared at Frankie, and Jane wanted to disappear from the face of the earth and tried to kill her brother with one of her famous death glares. Maura, however, chuckled weakly and shrugged: "I know that I have been behaving strangely of late, some might even say childish. I'm very sorry if I caused discomfort to anyone in this room; that was not my intention. The rest is between Jane and me, though, and I am confident we will work through our issues together. That is, if she still wants to." Again, Maura looked directly into her eyes and gave her a smile that wasn't unlike the one Jane had seen in her dream the night before. For a moment, everyone else in the room seemed to disappear and Jane once again felt like she'd forgotten how to breathe or articulate herself.
"Wha–. Yes, yes of course", Jane half stuttered, half whispered and her voice sounded strangely hoarse in her ears. It seemed like her little message had been the right thing to do and suddenly, for the first time since Maura had started ignoring her, she felt something like confidence. Yes, they would work through the issues and come out even closer on the other side.
"Now that Rizzoli Junior has cleared up how awkward we have all been feeling, I believe it's time to go back to work and focus on our poor Mr. Johnson", Korsak got up from his chair and walked over to the whiteboard. "Lewis and Rizzoli Senior here have done some excellent work yesterday and found out that our vic had been in a relationship with a man prior to his death", he explained and continued to bring them all up to speed on the latest results.
"I contacted the taxi company last night and tracked down the driver who took Rhay home after his visit to Johnson's office. He confirmed the ride and said that it took almost an hour; Rhay paid by credit card and a copy of the receipt has already been faxed to us. Considering Johnson's time of death, Rhay isn't our man, which doesn't surprise me at all. He seemed to have been in a good relationship with the victim and had not reason to hurt him. We should definitely talk to Mrs. Johnson, in any case. Maybe she wasn't as supportive of her husband's homosexuality as Rhay told us – it wouldn't be too out of the question", Judith explained to everyone before turning to Maura, "Please tell us that you have some good news and lots of new leads for us".
Maura smiled and pointed at the whiteboard: "I wouldn't necessarily call them good news but we definitely found some interesting things. My team collected a few fibers on the window frame in Johnson's office and they successfully matched them to the pair of trousers the victim was wearing; we have therefore concluded that he was pushed out of said window and fell to his death. The defensive marks on his forearms and hands indicate a struggle and we can expect his killer to have a few scratches and bruises on his arms as well. Just before heading into this meeting, I received the results of the DNA analysis of the skin tissue found under the victim's fingernails. We couldn't match this DNA with anything in any of our databases but I can tell you with certainty that the person we are looking for is male and most likely white. Now, I know that that doesn't seem like much now, but as soon as we have a suspect we can compare DNA. The sample that Jane and Judith brought me last night is already being tested and compared and I will hear back from the lab by tomorrow. I'm sorry my news weren't better."
"Now, that was brilliant. Thanks, Maura", Jane blurted out hastily, "There is something that I didn't realize in time yesterday to ask Rhay in person. Remember how Johnson's wife told us that Rhay's manager blamed him for installing a faulty alarm system and that Rhay's stalker broke into his house? She said that said manager stormed into Johnson's office and insulted him. It just strikes me as odd now that Rhay didn't mention this to us at all. You'd expect a couple to talk about something like this, right? Bottom line, I think we should talk to this mysterious manager. After all, we're looking for a male suspect. Does anyone else have a theory?"
"You're right, that is indeed odd. If my boyfriend's manager yelled at me, I would probably complain to him about it. I will track down this guy right now and send you his info. Anything else?" Nina said and was already halfway at her desk.
"As Lewis already suggested, I believe it would be a good idea to talk to Mrs. Johnson again. DNA results clear her for the murder but Rhay said she had a boyfriend, too. Maybe the boyfriend was jealous of the marriage and decided it was better to date a widow rather than a married lady?" Jane brainstormed. "I feel like we're still pretty much at square one on this case; and yet the solution feels strangely close."
After the team wrapped up their meeting, Maura was already stepping into the elevator when Jane jumped up from her chair and ran after her: "Maura, wait." What else did she even want to say? She had no idea; she just knew that she wanted to speak to her best friend alone, without half of BPD listening to their private issues.
"Jane!" Maura smiled her best Maura-smile and held the elevator open for her. "Didn't you want to call the victim's boyfriend?"
In lack of any better idea, Jane stepped into the elevator and the doors closed instantly. Maybe it was because they hadn't been this close to each other for weeks but Jane didn't know how to behave around Maura at all. She could hear her breathe, feel her shift her weight from one leg to the other, hell, she could even smell Maura's perfume (a gift from Jane) mixed with the scent of what was clearly her favorite shampoo, lemon balm with a hint of spearmint. Taking all of this in simultaneously, Jane suddenly realized that she hadn't even answered Maura's question yet and was simply riding the elevator with her like some silent creep. "I… uh, yes. You're right. I should, eh, do that."
Maura giggled and pointed at the elevator door: "Did you want to call from the morgue?" Jane realized that her friend was probably messing with her and a wave of anger washed over her. She had ignored her for over a month; was Maura really in a position to make fun of her? One look at Maura's smiling face, however, dissolved any negative feeling and Jane helplessly shrugged and looked back to the floor. How could she be angry? She was simply too happy that Maura was talking to her again.
The doors opened before Jane could say even a fraction of all the things she wanted to say to Maura and she had no choice but to let her step out of the elevator and return to work. Before they closed again, Maura turned around and blocked them with her foot: "I'm afraid this isn't the time or the place. Come to my house at 8 tonight; bring my favorite wine and I will cook your favorite meal. Now go solve the case, detective." And without any further words of goodbye, Maura winked at Jane, stepped away from the elevator and disappeared into her office.
Jane would have needed the length of ten elevator rides to regain composure, but 20 seconds had to do the trick. In less than 24 hours she had made more progress with Maura than in the entire month before – and somehow, she felt like she had Judith to thank for it. Now she was invited back into Maura's house, back into her kitchen, back to her side. The thought of the conversation that would accompany wine and homemade ravioli made the coffee and the hastily devoured donut from this morning dance around dangerously in her stomach and, as she looked down, the goosebumps from the dream had returned to her forearms as well. Was she excited? Nervous? Scared? What would she even say? What would Maura say? Confess her love for Jane?
For now, however, a brutally murdered victim deserved her attention; nothing she could do would make 8 pm approach any faster. As she sat down at her desk and picked up her phone to call Rhay, she looked up and into Judith's curious eyes. Neither of the two had to speak; Judith raised her hand and gave her a thumbs-up, looking at her inquiringly. Jane couldn't help but grin like a Cheshire cat as she answered with an affirmative thumbs-up. 11 hours to go.