Thank you for the nice reviews and support. You´re all awesome!
I´m truly sorry for my mistakes (English is not my 1st language) and my delay.
Now, without any further delay: chapter 10. Enjoy!
Andrea sat at her desk going through some reports with Jack, when the distint sound of her ringtone was heard. A smile blossomed on her handsome face when she saw Maura flash on her blackberry´s screen.
"I need to pick this ok? Entertain yourself for a minute or two."
She watched her best friend snicker at her and she tilted in head in confusion, before he quickly raised and picked the phone from her hand, in a smooth movement.
"Hey Maura. How´s it going? Yeah, it´s Jack."
The Italian huffed at the tall man's childish antics as she raised herself from her leather chair.
"No, she´s right here but I was nearer the phone, so yeah. How´s everything?"
Andrea couldn´t help the laugh at Jack´s peculiarities. Going around the table, she took the blackberry from his hands. Covering the speaker, the Rossi heiress spoke to the brunette man-child in front of her.
"Go over the next month´s event. I want to bring Disclosure to the 1st week´s live act. See if they fit the budget."
She watched as he nodded, before she removed her hand and slapped the back of handsome man head.
"Owwwww."
"Jack? What was that?"
"Hello lovely. Oh, it was nothing." She watched as the man huffed and she mockingly smirked at him. "I´m sorry about Jack. He stole my phone. I think he likes you."
"He does?"
Andrea smiled.
"Of course. I can understand his motives too."
Feminine giggles reached her ears and her smile widened.
"You are too much of a charmer, Andrea."
She watched as her best friend looked at her making kissing faces, before she hit him again.
"Ouch. Stop it woman!"
"What was that?" Maura alarmingly asked.
"Nothing. Jack tripped. Don´t worry. He´s very ungraceful."
"Hey! Stop that. I´m not! Maura, I´m so graceful!"
"Forgive his childish behavior today. I forgot to bring his pills."
She heard the blonde laugh again. Andrea smirked at her friend who stuck his tongue at her, before he returned his attention to the ipad.
Maura repositioned herself on the comfortable couch as her laugh subsided.
"I hope I´m not interrupting…"
"No, lovely. We are just going over some of this month´s reports." Andrea´s husky voice filled her ears and in that moment she wanted nothing more than her calm presence beside her. "Jack´s being difficult. Nothing new, really."
An indignant shout was heard and she giggled, again. She had been in a sour mood all day. Since the ME saw the ring on Jane´s finger, shinning proudly, almost jeeringly, she had gone into auto-pilot. Her work had been done. All the proof collected and posteriorly analyzed on the lab. The report had been meticulously made and she had answered all the questions made in order to help the detectives, the best she could. But she just couldn't shake that feeling… That jealousy…
"Maura?"
She snapped out of her haze at the unmistakable worried tone that filtered through her thoughts.
"Yes?"
She heard the husky chuckle and she couldn´t suppress a tiny smile at the sound.
"I think I lost you for a minute."
"I´m sorry. I´m awfully distracted tonight."
And she was. Among other things.
Andrea´s eyebrow rose at the distracted tone of the gorgeous woman on the other line.
"Maura, would you give me a second?"
"Sure. Would you want me to call you later?"
"No, bella. It´s just a second."
"Of course. Take as many seconds as you need."
Andrea smiled at the adorableness of the ME before she kicked Jack´s left leg, playfully.
"Owwwww. C´mon. Stop hitting me."
"Shhhh. Keep it quiet. I kick you a lot harder on our sparring sessions and you never complain."
"You´re too violent."
She laughed at her best friend's whining, before she ruffled his hair.
"Can you close tonight?"
"Sure." The tall man replied seriously. "I´ll also review the reports. I´ll stop at the apartment tomorrow and we can continue the briefing. Just send me a message if you sleep at Maura´s so I won´t lose my trip."
"Shut up!" Blushing slightly, Andrea kicked her friend again, glad that she was still covering the phone´s speaker. "And make sure to bring me some chocolate muffins."
Uncovering the speaker, she let her voice drift across the line.
"Maura?" Hearing the soft voice murmuring her presence on the other line, the italian continued. "Would you mind if I visited you?" She looked at her rolex. 10:05 pm. "I know that it´s a little late…."
"No. I would love to see you." The ME softly interrupted. And she would. Although the blonde couldn´t shake her uneasiness at that day´s events, Andrea´s presence always made her feel better.
"Then I´ll meet you in 20 minutes, ok?"
"Andrea?"
"Yes lovely?"
"Thank you."
"You have nothing to thank me, lovely. I´ll see you in a bit ok?"
Disconnecting the call, the brunette woman picked her leather bomber, before slipping it on.
"I own you one, Jack."
Bumping fists with her best friend, the Italian turned to the door.
"You don´t own me anything…" She felt her best friend grabbing her hand. "You´re my best bud..." She looked warmly into moist blue orbs. "I´m just glad that someone has you smiling so much, again."
Andrea remained quiet as the brunette man rose from his leather chair and embraced her.
"Thank you..." She buried herself on the man that she considered family, melting as his stronger, taller frame engulfed her. "Thank you for always being there for me."
"Always, mate. I´ll always be here for you."
Hearing the knock on the door, they let go of each other, coughing slightly.
"That was gay."
She laughed at the embarrassed man, punching his shoulder, playfully.
"You´re an idiot. I´m off. Take care of the house, will ya?"
"Of course, mate. Go and tell that gorgeous woman of yours that I say hi."
"Hmmm…let me think… no. And she´s not mine… or anyone´s else, for that matter. She´s her own."
Smiling one last time at the handsome man, she turned, opening the door.
"Alex." Her smile faltered as she stepped aside. "Please, come in."
"Are you leaving?"
Andrea watched the blonde woman enter the room. Blue eyes locked with her own and her heartbeat increased as the stunning woman skimmed past her.
"Yes. But if there´s something that you need to discuss with me, I can stay. Is it the twins? Is something wrong with them?"
She could feel her palms starting to sweat and an uneasy feeling setting in the pit of her stomach as her mind conjured sceneries in which her 3 year old godchildren could be in any harm.
"No!" Warm, soft hands covered her own and she felt herself relax. "They´re fine. They are with your parents and everything´s fine. I just needed to talk with you about something on the beverages list."
Her eyes drifted from their adjoined hands to cerulean orbs.
"Oh. Ok then. Then if it´s work related, Jack can take care of that. I really need to get going."
Letting go of the smaller hands, she kissed the blonde´s right cheek before leaving her office, closing the door softly behind her.
Jack watched from his perched position on Andrea´s table, as the emotions flickered on Alex´s face as she watched the Rossi heiress leave. His blue gaze never left the blonde and he noticed her shoulders sagging as soon as the door closed, before she sighed and turned to him.
"You do understand that this is all your fault, right?"
They had known each other since they shared the same classes at Harvard. Jack and the twins hit it off since the beginning and in no time were sharing a cool yet modest apartment near the university premises. They had partied hard. Studied very little, but well, they were college students on their first year away from home and, at the end of the year, they still managed to make it through most of their classes. They met Alex on their second year. It was yet another frat party at some gama something sorority.
Flashback
"Damn. Dudes, she´s so freakin´ hot." Armando all but drooled.
"Fuck! She is!" Jack murmured, fascinated by the blonde in skinny ripped jeans and loose dark grey thank top that approached the bar.
"Guys, c´mon, behave yourselves." Andrea had said before she turned and her eyes landed on the blonde beauty. "Oh shit! She´s stunning…"
Jack laughed as identical expressions of awe graced the twin´s faces.
"I´m off to talk with her. See you later, losers."
Jack watched as the Rossi heir, opened another button on his Ralph Lauren shirt before marching to the stunning woman.
End of flashback
Jack smiled, as he remembered watching the blonde leave his friend company after just a few minutes. Needless to say, Armando was the apartment´s joke for almost a week, after as luck would have it, they were soon partnered with the blonde beauty in Economics 101 that they flunked, probably thanks to the male twin. In time, they had created a great bond and at the end of the second year Jack was proud to call Alex his friend. The blue eyed man had actually thought that the blonde beauty was crushing on Andrea, when surprisingly on his last year at Cambridge, she started dating her male version. He had some difficult wrapping his mind around the fact for quite some time. The agonizing sight of his sorrowful best friend was heartbreaking and Jack spent the rest of the year feeling impotent. Thankfully, they soon finished their time at Cambridge with Andrea as top of their class with Jack close behind. Armando still had some classes to finish and he took another year, ending his time at Harvard with Alex. Jack remembered flying from NY to Massachusetts with Andrea so they could be there for the couple.
Flashback
He watched proudly as the couple walked towards them, hand in hand. The sudden gasp next to him, made Jack look from the clasped hands of the gorgeous couple a few meters in front of him to the suddenly stoic body, neatly encased in a blue suit beside him.
"Mate, you ok?
"Is that a ring on her finger?"
Jack glanced at his business partner and best friend and watched as emerald orbs filled with tears, before Andrea quickly picked the aviators from her blazer pocket and put them on. He sighed. Jack had tried to send her on dates but it never seemed to work out and he suddenly realized why. Andrea was still in love with Alex. Letting his eyes leave the handsome woman at his right side, he looked at the couple, noticing for the first time, the huge ring on the blonde woman left hand. The tall man didn't say anything, opting to let his right hand rest on the Andrea´s shoulder, in silent comfort.
End of flashback
Jack still remembered vividly that particular night. After the ceremony at the Harvard´s ground, they had left to continue the festivities at some fancy restaurant. The dinner had been going well and as soon as Alex had abandoned the table in search of the ladies room, Armando had asked them to be his best men. Later, at his hotel room, Jack consoled the green eyed woman with ben & jerry´s and vodka, as she cried herself to sleep.
Alex took a step back as her friend´s words hit her. Jack´s blue orbs, usually kind and playful, were now dark with something akin to hate.
"I don´t know what you are talking about."
She watched as the handsome man, raised his right hand from the table, angrily sweeping it through his hair.
"I don´t?" He laughed, humorlessly. "I don´t?" He looked at her like she was crazy. "I WAS THERE!" He all but screamed. "I was there..." He murmured, this time. Softly. Defeated.
"Jack…"
"Do you know what it was like?" She watched as tears filled his blue orbs. "She was so in love with you..."
He let his tall body slump into the leather chair near him.
"She spend years courting you…" He sighed, dejectedly. "And you fucking let her!"
Alex didn´t realize she was crying until a sob racked her frame.
"Don´t cry, Alex!" Jack´s voice was calm. Collected. Angry. "You don´t have the right!"
The blonde let her small frame slump against the door, as small sobs racked her.
"You don´t know anything, Jack!"
"There you go again." He chuckled, darkly. "But you know what? I know some parts. I know the parts where I had to watch my best friend crumbling from the vibrant woman that she was to a…to a…" His first hit the armrest in his frustration and wrath. "Do you know what it´s like to see someone that you adore falling to pieces? Do you know what it´s like?"
"Yes. I know." Alex replied calmly while the tears fell steadily down her face, her body suddenly torpid as she remembered that night.
"Are you fucking kidding me, right now? What the fuck do you know?"
She laughed, humorlessly.
"What the fuck do I know? What the fuck do YOU know?" She screamed. Stepping closer to the angry man in front of her, she lowered her voice. "How good is it to be a heterosexual man, huh?"
"What?" Stormy sets of blue eyes gazed into each other, angrily.
" .me."
"But…"
"My fathers threatened to disown me." She murmured remorsefully, lowering her head. "I talked to them one day, at dinner. About how happy and in love I was." She took another step closer to the still man. "I talked about someone that made me feel like I was the most important person that ever walked on Earth…like I was the only one that mattered…" Sighing softly, she sited on the chair opposite from the taller man. "When they asked who the lucky man was, I… I…"
Jack stood still, looking at her. His hands knotted into each other. His gaze firm. His eyes clouded.
"I told them it was a she..." She breathed out, painfully. She could still remember her father´s words. Raising her right hand, she wiped her eyes. "He hit me that night, you know?"
"Alex…"
"Don´t. Let me finish."
She watched the brunette man nod and she sighed, trying to compose herself.
"He told me that no child of his would be a dyke… I was so afraid… He never raised his voice at me before. I was his little girl. His princess." She sighed again as painful memories, resurfaced. "I´ve never been more afraid of someone like I was of my father, that night. He was so angry… He didn´t look my dad, Jack… He just keep repeating how disgusted he was, how I was such a disgrace… and my mom?" She laughed, her fingers running furiously through her hair. "She didn´t even open her mouth."
"Alex…"
She looked up, startled by the warm voice that brought her back to the present.
"I… I was just afraid… I was afraid of losing my parents." A sob escaped her. "I didn´t want to lose my parents, Jack."
The blonde watched through teary eyes as the brunette man rose from his position and knelt before her.
"I´m so sorry..." The taller man murmured, ruefully.
Alex remained silent as strong arms wrapped around her waist. Her appreciation was halted, her voice lost as her throat tightened, and soon the tears come quietly, hot and salty on the dark fabric of Jack´s t-shirt.
Jack felt his heart break, all over again. He doesn´t speak. He can´t. He´s suddenly overcome with sadness and he hopes that his actions speak louder than his words.
"Jack?"
He feels Alex losing her hold, before the soft sound reaches his hears. Swallowing past what's caught in his throat, Jack rises. Taking a step back, he tucks some blonde strands behind her ear, his thumb brushing softy across high cheekbones, before he sits, matching blue orbs staring thankfully into his own.
"You could have just left, you know? You could have told your bigoted father to shove it up his ass and I don´t know... I… we could have come up with something."
He hears the soft sigh and the little sob that escapes after.
"I couldn´t. I… I was too young... too scared…" Pained blue eyes left his own and stared at the ground. "They were my parents, Jack. I just… I couldn´t…"
Suddenly, blue eyes closed tightly and he swallowed tightly as realization hit him.
" .God!" He exclaimed, rising again. Fury encompassed his whole being and he couldn´t keep still. "Oh my … FUCK! I can´t believe you!" He stopped his erratic passing, halting in front of Andrea´s desk. The brunette man took a deep breath in order to calm himself as his palms came to rest on the desk.
"You couldn´t have her…" He looked sideways, ire dripping from his words. "… so you picked the closest thing."
A few tears escaped the blonde beauty and his heart squeezed painfully for the sad story unfolding before his eyes.
"My father gave me an ultimatum… I had to get a boyfriend or he would disown me. I didn´t care that much about the money but…" She sniffed, as fresh tears escaped from her light blue eyes. "…I didn´t want to be alone. I … I just… I didn´t want to lose my parents…"
His stomach lurched at the haunting truth and he felt a sudden hate surface at Alex´s parents.
"Please… try to understand, Jack."
He sighed, desolately. Resuming his previous position before her, he knelt down, picking her hands.
"The twins might have been identical physically, but they had very few in common besides that, Alex."
The blonde woman let out a humorless chuckle.
"I choose to believe otherwise…" She murmured, as tears cascaded down her face. "In time, I realized how terrible that mistake was…"
Jack stood motionless in the quiet and pained atmosphere of Andrea´s office. It was already twelve o'clock and he was completely drained of all his energy after the night´s events. His body was beyond exhausted and looking at the stunning woman next to him, he knew that she most feel the same.
"Did he ever hurt you?"
He watched closely as her eyes clouded, darkening slightly, before her mask was back in place.
"Physically? No. He never hit me."
The tall man sighed, relieved. He had seen how the once vibrant, lovable man had turned into a shell off what he once was. His destructive behavior had started in college but Jack had thought nothing of it. They were young and the Rossi twins had money, so champagne and other beverages were always available in large quantities. Soon after, he realized that the Rossi heir turned into stronger substances. His classes were quickly forgotten as his constant partying took over. It was on their 3rd year that Jack spotted him in a room with 3 or 4 girls snorting cocaine and the brunette man could still remember Armando´s dazed glance as he tried in vain to get Jack to snort some. He still remembers picking up the smaller man by his collar and dragging him all the way back to their apartment where Andrea and Alex had stayed, studying, that night. After that episode, he realized that Armando had been smarter, more careful, because he never caught him again. The green eyed man started sleeping out a few nights a week, so that might have been the cause. He sighed remorsefully. He never told Andrea what he had seen that night, having invented some excuse for the state that he dragged her twin to his bedroom. He also regrets it, everyday.
"But…?"
He heard her sigh, before Alex motioned for the large grey couch. Jack followed her lead and sat, raising his right arm as the smaller woman nestled into his side.
"He was always such a gentleman. Before we married, he always planned the best dates. He was so romantic…"
Jack tensed. He remained quiet and waited, expecting the blonde woman to continue her tale.
"But after our marriage… he changed." She murmured. "There were no more flowers waiting for me when I arrived home. No date nights. No little surprises… There was nothing."
Jack eyes brightened with unshed tears as he remembered who had always been the one behind the surprises. Who was the one that Armando called for advice to date locations or programs.
"I was, suddenly, just a housewife… a lonely woman that stayed home when her husband went out, got drunk, drugged or both and fucked countless women just because he could. Did you knew?"
He felt her chuckle humorlessly against his chest.
"Of course you knew."
He remained quiet.
"I was so happy when I became pregnant. I thought that he would change, you know? He was going to be a father…"
"But he didn´t." Jack murmured, remembering a particular phone call. Andrea had put her brother on speaker as he delivered the news. When the phone beeped, indicating the disconnection, he could almost taste the twin´s anger at Armando´s apathetically discourse.
"No. he didn´t." She trembled in his arms and his grasp tightened, trying to convey his sympathy. "I think I actually saw him less…"
Jack knew all about it. Alex was probably in her 4rd month of gestation, when Andrea asked him if he was against a move from NY to Boston. The tall man understood her reasoning and in a week, they were back at the Rossi heiress hometown, working on opening a new consultant office.
"He never went to any of my maternity appointments…"
"Andrea did…" The tall man casually inserted and he watched as a small smile appeared on her face, before it vanished just as quickly.
"Then… the accident." A few tears escaped her eyes and the tall man couldn´t help a quiet sob of his own.
"Fuck!" He chuckled, darkly. "I hate crying."
Flashback
Though it was the Rossi patriarch responsibility, Andrea was the one to organize the funeral.
Everyone was welcome to the wake, but the funeral ceremony was reserved to the family. There were less than 30 people present. Women dressed in black dresses and men in black suits. Jack still remembered how Andrea had stood in the front. The green eyed woman stood poised, her shoulders square and her frame shaking from time to time in barely suppressed sobs as tears steadily run down her unusual pale high cheekbones. The Rossi couple stood right behind her, a destroyed image of the stunning couple, and to their right side Jack, supporting the shaking frame of a 8 month pregnant Alex.
The day was cloudy and the wind was strong, but the only image that wouldn't leave Jack´s mind until that day was the wrecked semblance of his best friend, kneeling before her twin´s brother grave as the final piece of soil covered the black wooden coffin.
End of flashback
"I miss him, sometimes." She let her head raise from her position against sculpted pectoral muscles. "Am I a bad person because I don´t miss him, everyday?"
Warm blue eyes stared back at her, before his owner replied.
"No."
She let her head rest on its previous place as calloused hands ran through her hair, soothingly. She waited, letting the tall man continue.
"I only seem to remember parts about our college times…"
She hummed against his chest in acknowledgement.
"Was it my fault?" Her heart squeezed painful as she murmured the question that´s been haunting her for years.
"No!" She noticed his hand stopping his ministrations before she was turned to his frame. His shocked blue eyes burning fiercely into her own. " What the hell…" His stunning face contorted in despair. "Do you actually believe that?"
She remained silent, letting her gaze drop into her lap.
"Hey…" His right hand left her shoulder, coming up to her jaw. "Hey, look at me."
She obeyed the soft whisper, looking her eyes into an almost twin set.
"I´ll admit that it was selfish of you to use him, BUT it was not your fault. He was already a drug addict in college… I thought that he had changed…" She watched as his gaze turned moist. "how did you…how could you bear it for so long?"
"I believed that it was my punishment…"
Shocked, stormy eyes looked into her own before she was encompassed in strong arms.
"…and he was never violent. Only rude. And a cheater. And self destructive…"
"I wish that we could have done something. Anything…."
She let her hands mimic his previous ministrations and she combed his hair like she usually did to calm her toddlers.
"You couldn´t have done anything." She sighed, dejectedly. "We tried everything. Armando was sent to rehab a dozen times… His parents even went as far as building him the lounge. Another caprice that they couldn't deny their little prince. The fools! As if the best way to help a drug and alcohol addict was to build him a bar, right?"
"They always treated the twins differently…" She heard him huff. "I don´t like them that much."
She chuckled slightly at his petulant tone.
"It´s because they don´t accept Andrea´s choices. At least, that´s what Armando confided after a very particular and awkward family dinner."
The taller man rose, suddenly.
"What?"
"Don´t be naïve, Jack."
"Are you fucking serious, right now?" Jack asked, his tone disbelieving.
Her answer was immediate. "Would I even play with something like this?"
"But… I mean…"
"Do you think that only my parents are bigoted? Please Jack. Her parents posture is different from mine, I´ll give you that. But they are also homophobic. The only difference is that they adopted the US army police `don´t ask don´t tell`. If they can´t see it, it doesn´t exist, right?" Blue eyes widened in recognition. "How many times have you heard her mother complain about Andrea´s attire choice? Or her haircut? For God´s sake! That woman even complained about her car choice, once…"
She watched as fury rose in the man across from her, as his hands turned into fists and his skin tone turned almost scarlet.
"That freakin´ … Her car is so dope!"
She chuckled, glad at his moment of humor.
"Yes, it is." Sighing softly, she turned fully to him. "The true is, I don´t think that we could have done anything more. In the end, it was Armando´s choice…."
His heart squeezed painfully in his chest, as her gaze filled with tears.
"…and he choose to leave his very pregnant woman at home, that night, and go party with a model or two."
"I´m sorry…"
"You don´t have anything to be sorry about, Jack."
The taller man nodded his disapproval.
"No. I do!" He snapped. Breathing deeply, he continued in a gentle murmur. "I should have been right beside Andrea… helping wherever I could. I was just… I mean… "
"Jack."
She watched the emotions flicker on his gaze, before only hurt and despair remained.
"I should have been there for you." The brunette said, sighing.
"You were. I know that you help Andrea with the twins."
"You do?" He replied, scratching the back of his head, embarrassedly.
She chuckled, smiling warmly at his sheepish gesture, so similar to Andrea´s.
"Yes dummy. I even have photographic evidence."
"I´m putting pepper in her lasagna, next time." He all but huffed, before his face turned serious. "But really. I should have been there..." She watched his struggle, as he tried to find the right words. "You were my friend too…"
Alex walks straight into the pained man without a thought and Jack takes her in, firm, gentle, and familiar.
"There´s still time if…" She chocks, her voice clouded by her emotions. Muscular arms tighten lovingly around her waist and she breaks down as three little words reach her ears.
"I´m here."
Opening her eyes, she let a small grunt. It didn´t feel like her bed. It didn´t even fell like morning. Stretching slightly, she turned her head and squinted her eyes to the bedside table, trying to find her blackberry.
7:05 am. Closing her eyes, she blindly let her mobile rest in its previous position, as her head hit the pillow again. Breathing deeply, she sighed as an opulent smell reached her nostrils and her fogged mind took only a few seconds to associate the mild and pleasant notes of birch and tulip with the gorgeous woman to which the bedroom belonged.
Opening one eye, she peered to her right side. Nothing. Closing her eyes again, she breathed deeply as she stretched slightly, before she pulled the sheets aside gently and got up quietly. Putting her feet on the floor, she momentarily shivered at the cold wood, before walking towards the suede armchair where she´d neatly put her clothes the night before.
The italian had just removed the LAPD t-shirt that she had borrowed the night before, when she heard the gasp. Turning around curiously, she looked at the blonde woman that stood frozen near the bedroom door and Andrea couldn´t help her eyes, as they swiftly roamed the petite woman´s figure, clad in a silk and very short black robe.
Maura looked back at the brunette standing by the armchair. The morning sun traced Andrea´s athletic figure, making the sight breathtaking. The blonde ME stood frozen as her eyes moved from a pronounced V-line to ripped rectus abdominis, to a small bust encased in a black bra and finally stopping on a defined clavicle. The hazel eyed woman felt a shiver racking her small frame. Her eyes, involuntarily, did the same route in reverse when, suddenly, her vision was obscured by black fabric and she looked up into mischievous green eyes.
"I made breakfast!" She abruptly said, a little too loudly, before quickly moving in the direction of her en suite bathroom.
The brunette joyful laugh was her only reply as she quickly closed the door behind her and sighed.
"That's a very fine specimen." Laughing softly at her previous debauchee antics, she quickly disposed of her robe, before stepping into the shower. As soon as the hot water poured over her, she closed her eyes as the memories from the night before played behind her eyelids.
Flashback
Maura was on her feet as soon as she heard the doorbell. Moving quickly through her house, she stopped in front of the front door. Inhaling deeply, she composed herself before opening it.
The exterior lamps cast exquisite shadows on her guest and she smiled at the brunette woman, who sheepishly grinned in return as she raised her hands.
"Hi! I took the liberty of picking cookie dough and chocolate fudge brownie."
Maura could only laugh, as she stepped aside and motioned for the handsome woman to enter.
"Cookie dough is my favorite."
The taller woman stopped in front of her and as she bended, the scent of citrus, watery and herbal notes surrounded her. The ME felt the soft kiss on her cheek and she blushed as sparkling emeralds stared at her, before she closed the door.
"Where do you want me to put these?"
"Oh... you can take them to the living room. I´ll just pick some spoons." Andrea smiled again, nodding and sliding past her and into the living room, gingerly sitting down on one of the armchairs.
The ME wordlessly went to kitchen before following her guest and sitting down on the couch beside the italian. She handed one spoon to the brunette enterpreuner and received the pit of her favorite ice cream in return.
"How did you know it was my favorite?" She asked curiously, as she took the lid and gently laid it on the coffee table.
"You always order it. It was quite an easy riddle."
Maura observed her intently as the brunette took the lid of her chocolate flavored ice cream and gracefully deposited it beside hers. As Bass slowly approached them, her ice cream was momentarily forgotten and the green eyed woman let it rest on the floor near her black brogues encased feet.
"Hey buddy."
Maura smiled at the Rossi heiress as she took her time petting the tortoise. The ME used the brunette´s obvious distraction to let her eyes wander freely and unashamedly over the slender body at her left side. She watched the way her jeans fit perfectly onto her lean legs, and how the dark t-shirt framed her torso when she swiftly took her jacket off, depositing it in the back of her seat, before resuming her ministrations on the large pet´s head.
"Want to tell me what happened?" Andrea smiled gently at her and she observed as the italian let her finger drift one last time over Bass´s little head, before the brunette scooped her ice cream and turned to her.
"How did… I mean… how…"
"Oh, you know, magic." The taller woman replied, seriously, settling herself on the leather seat.
"Really?" Hazel eyes widened, almost comically.
"No leggiadra. I was just kidding."
Maura watched Andrea deposit her untouched ice cream near its lid, before she moved to sit on the armrest of the couch and the blonde heard herself sigh as slender fingers combed through her hair.
"I don´t know. I guess that your voice was an indicator that something was bothering you." She smiled, touched, moving closer to the lean body beside her. "I really want to help." The Italian husky voice murmured and he hazel eyes brimmed with tears.
"Jane´s engaged…" The ME said quietly.
Andrea remained quiet, her fingers running steadily through Maura´s hair.
"And that bothered you?" The brunette asked after a while.
"I can´t lie, Andrea…" Maura raised her head from the italian´s shoulder, and sorrowful orbs shined with unshed tears.
"I know." The taller woman raised her hand and effortlessly captured the lone tear that ran over a pale cheek. "And you don´t have too."
They remained silent, as the brunette sat down on the couch, pulling the smaller woman into her taller frame.
"I read this somewhere." Andrea softly spoke, as her right hand soothingly moved over an uncovered arm. "There's not an ounce of excitement. Not a whisper of a thrill. This relationship has all the passion of a pair of tit mice. I want you to get swept away out there. I want you to levitate. I want you to sing with rapture and dance like a Dervish."
The blonde gasped, turning shocked, pained eyes into the taller woman. Hazel eyes watched as Andrea picked the cookie dough ice cream from her freezing hand and deposited it next to the already melting chocolate one.
"Maura, you deserve to be happy." Slightly calloused hands grabbed her smaller ones. "And … I mean… I know that you seem attracted to me, but…" The brunette sighed, looking down and Maura felt her throat constrict. "I´m not naïve. I know that you…" The blonde felt her heart squeeze painfully at the defeated tone of her handsome guest. "… you are not in love with me."
Moist hazel eyes looked into stormy dark forest orbs as the Italian lifted her gaze up.
"I know it's a cornball thing, but love is passion. Obsession. Someone you can't live without." The blonde´s eyes filled with tears as she recognized the words. "I say fall head over heels. Find someone you can love like crazy, and who'll love you the same way back."
Maura was staring at the other woman with her mouth agape. How could she have known? She watched as Andrea sighed outwardly, her eyes lifting to the ceiling as her heartbreakingly beautiful rendition continue. "To make the journey and not fall deeply in love… well, you haven't lived a life at all. But you have to try, because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived…"
Maura was openly crying as Andrea finished.
"You quoted Meet Joe Black?" She sorrowfully murmured, a small pained smile teasing her lips.
"Yeah." The Italian chuckled, humorlessly. "Alex made me see that movie a dozen times. I think it has something to do with Brad Pitt being on it, you know?" A single tear fell from impossible dark green eyes. "That quote just stoke with me…"
Maura looked up into stunning dark green eyes. How can someone be so beautiful when crying? She sighed. Letting her frame rest against a defined torso, she couldn´t help the thought `Why can´t I love you?`
They remained quiet. Andrea´s hand resting on top of her shoulder as the brunette´s thumb soothingly rubbed her shoulder.
"She´s engaged…"
"She´s not married tho´…"
"Andrea!"
The enterpreuner chuckled and she smiled slightly.
"I have only one regret in my life…" The brunette murmured softly and if it wasn´t for their close proximity Maura would certainly miss it.
"… I let the one I loved marry someone else."
Maura remained silent, her hand squeezing a larger one affectionately.
"I thought that I was doing the right thing… Loving is all about letting the one you love go or so they say, right?" A few tears cascaded down high cheekbones. "I should have told her how I felt… because in the end… I lost her anyway…"
Her manicured hand cupped a tanned cheek and her thumb carefully wiped the remained tears.
"Andrea…" The blonde forced out, trying to find words that could bring some comfort to the pained woman beside her. She looked up into deep wet forest eyes and felt soft lips on her own. Their faces connected in a sweet, heartfelt, tender kiss as their pain, hurt and agony mixed together with their tears.
They pulled apart slightly and she felt Andrea´s letting go of her waist.
"So, what I mean with my little tale is – don´t have any regrets. Tell her. Or better yet, show her. If she doesn´t feel the same, then, at least, you can move on. But if she does…"
Her hands wiped the brunette´s moist cheeks and she felt her smile in appreciation.
"…you owe it to yourself to give it a shot."
"I don't want to be alone tonight."
Her quiet murmur broke the quiet atmosphere on the living room, as she finished her ice cream. Looking sideways, she peered at the taller woman.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
She watches as the brunette nods once and her mouth curls softly upwards.
Raising, she picks the empty containers and after depositing them on the trash can and the spoons on the washing machine, leads them upstairs.
End of flashback
She sighed and finished her shower. Getting dressed in the grey dress and black pumps that she had previously picked, she made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, finding a smirking brunette sipping her coffee.
"You look beautiful."
She blushed slightly at the Italian.
"Thank you… and thank you for last night."
The brunette woman rose from her position, depositing the mug on the sink, before approaching her.
"You don´t have anything to thank me."
Accepting the embrace, she let her head nestle against a defined shoulder blade.
"But I do…"
She felt the brunette´s arms leaving her body and she mimicked the action. Curiously, she looked into sparkling green eyes.
"No, lovely. You don´t."
She watched Andrea as the entrepreneur raised her right arm and soothingly rubbed her cheek, before she felt a soft kiss on her forehead.
"That´s what friends are for."
Hope that you enjoyed and that you´re having a nice day, btw. And I´m soooo sorry for the delay.
By the way, about my previous rant, just think about Erika Linder. She would make a good Andrea if she had green eyes and shorter hair.