A/N-It's obscenely late at night and I'm very tired, but I wanted to get this up for ya'll. Please pardon any silly mistakes...
If you are under the impression that I own R&I at this point in the fic, I'm flattered, but a little confused...
Jane was surprised when they didn't actually end up at some haughty French café or some other place that she would make just as much a fool of herself. Maura pulled over and parked in one of the nicer areas of Southie in front of a place where Jane might actually look like she belonged.
"Come on," Maura said, waving Jane along as she walked around the car towards towards a place with a sign that said Murphy's Pub and Grill.
After the host sat Jane and Maura and gave them each a glass water, Jane took the opportunity to look around. It was funny, Maura would probably be more in her element at someplace even fancier than the Grotto. Yet here they were in a casual dining place that probably turned into a rowdy pub around nightfall on the weekends.
"This is my kind of place," Jane said as she took in the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins memorabilia lining the walls. "This was your first choice?"
"Don't sound so shocked," Maura said as she picked up one of the laminated menus. "I go to the Dirty Robber with you all the time."
"Yeah, but this was, like, your choice, anywhere in Boston. I usually drag you along to the bar," Jane said. She knew there was more to Maura's decision than the fact that she wanted to find somewhere like the Dirty Robber, and the detective in her was determined to get to the bottom of it. "I thought for sure we'd be at some place where I can't pronounce half the stuff."
"Don't be silly, Jane. I wouldn't take you somewhere that you would embarrass yourself," Maura said.
"Thanks," Jane said, then she thought again. "Hey, wait a minute. What makes you so sure I would embarrass myself?"
Maura just raised her eyebrows.
"What?"
"We were at the same Fairfield banquet, correct? The same banquet where you drank their champagne like it was water and stabbed the fish as if it personally insulted you family," Maura said, clearly enjoying herself and the fact that she had made good use of non-literal comparisons.
"Yeah, well," Jane said, trying and failing to think of something to respond with. "I guess being fancy is just not my strength. I'm good at other things."
"I would say that you are excellent at a number of other things," Maura said as she placed her menu in front of her and leaned with her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. Jane knew, she could just tell that Maura was also thinking about how well their last date had ended.
"See, now you're getting the hang of this charming thing," Jane said. She reached her foot out to rub it against Maura's ankle. "Before you know it, you'll have me doing whatever you want."
Maura tilted her head to the side and squinted. "Don't you already do whatever I want?" Maura asked, completely serious, as if she thought there might actually be a possibility that Jane still had some freewill when it came to Maura.
"Sorta, yeah," Jane said. She smiled at Maura then looked down at her hands then back up at Maura. "But I don't really mind too much."
Maura reached out and took one of Jane's hands in hers. Usually Jane got a little shy when people went for her hands. The scars didn't hurt anymore, but their presence there still made Jane feel vulnerable. Yet, for some reason, she trusted Maura enough to the point where it didn't bother her so much.
"You're sweet," Maura said. "I wish you would let people see that."
"Eww," Jane said, scrunching up her nose. "Let's not start those kinds of rumors. Before you know it the whole department will be talking."
"Your secret is safe with me," Maura said. She smiled and picked up the menu again. "Have you decided what you want to eat? Based on my research, this establishment is well known for something they call a grilled cheese burger."
"Not sure what a grilled cheese burger is, but it sounds good," Jane said. She pretended to read the menu for Maura's sake. She wasn't really that hungry and she would rather spend time looking at Maura than at the menu. "Hey, you never answered my question though. Why'd you pick this place of all the places in Boston?"
"I did some research earlier today," Maura said as she unwrapped the utensils and set them out in their appropriate places, a ritual Maura always did before ordering at restaurants that didn't set out the silverware already. "And I found this restaurant suited us both quite well. It has the ambiance that you appreciate and it embraces my Boston Irish heritage."
"So," Jane said, almost automatically turning on the part of her brain that translated Maura speak. "You mean casual for me and Irish for you?" Jane said.
"Succinct and to the point, as always," Maura said, nodding her approval as she took a sip of water and placed the glass back down.
Jane half smiled at Maura and fidgeted with the corner of her paper placemat out of some kind of subconscious desire to always be doing something. Maura must know what the deal was with that, Jane would have to remember to ask her sometime.
A few moments later the waitress came over to take their order. Jane placed an order for the grilled cheese burger and Maura ordered the fish and chips.
Jane always thought that the perks of one of these places was that the food came quickly, and this waiter did not disappoint. Before Jane and Maura could even get back into full flirting mode, their food arrived at the table. Jane had not thought she was hungry when she left the precinct, but the sight of that delicious looking burger made her forget all that. She took a big bite and it was just as good as the melted cheese and toasted bread made it look.
"Mmm, God, that's so good," Jane said as she licked some ketchup off of her finger.
"You approve?" Maura asked, her face lighting up like she was a kid on Christmas.
"Definitely," Jane said, nodding vigorously to reinforce her point before taking another bite.
Jane noticed that Maura started into her meal much slower than Jane had started devouring her meal. She cut off a small piece of her fish, tasted it, nodded and took another bite, this time dipping it in the ketchup. She continued eating her meal methodically while Jane forced herself to slow down so that she wouldn't finish before Maura was even half way through her meal.
Maura paused about halfway through her meal and squinted at Jane. Again with the diagnosing face. Jane didn't so much mind it because she was convinced that Maura had no idea that she was making it, but it took awhile to not be unnerved at suddenly becoming a specimen.
"What?"
"Nothing," Maura said putting down her fork to reach across the table and put her thumb on Jane's cheek. She slowly rubbed it and then pulled her hand away to wipe her finger with the napkin. "Just some ketchup, as I suspected. I wanted to be sure that you weren't developing a rare skin condition."
"What did we say about diagnosing people, Maura?" Jane said, raising her eyebrows, more amused than annoyed by Maura's compulsion.
"That there is a time and a place for it," Maura said reluctantly.
"And?"
"If I look hard enough, I will eventually find some abnormality in everyone," Maura said. She pursed her lips as if trying to hold back what was coming next. "But I would think you might want me to point out if your health is failing in some way. I was trying to help."
"And who says I'm the sweet one?" Jane said.
"I wasn't aware that anyone said that about either of us," Maura said as she ate one of her fries. "On the contrary, some of the nicknames your coworkers have for both of us might indicate otherwise."
Jane nearly laughed out loud at the fact that Maura had actually interpreted what she said literally. She refrained though, because she knew Maura was sensitive about such things. There was a brief pause during which Maura looked deep in thought.
"Oh, I see. It was a joke," Maura said, apparently very pleased that she had finally figured out Jane's meaning.
Jane smiled and nodded. She looked at Maura for a moment, just watched as Maura got entirely into eating her food in a way that no one else could.
Jane was startled by a sudden jolt of realization. She was falling for Maura. Jane rarely fell for anyone, and she never fell quite so quickly. They weren't even officially a couple, so she couldn't be falling so fast. That was not how Jane did things. She kept her guard up until the other person let her in first, but she was almost certain that the roles were now reversed. Jane suddenly felt very vulnerable and she did not much like that part of falling for someone.
"Jane," Maura said. She was touching Jane's hand, caressing her fingers. "Are you feeling alright? You appear to be under the influence of some type of stressor."
"Nope," Jane said. She smiled at Maura. Even though she still felt entirely vulnerable and at Maura's mercy, it was not at all forced because she was in the position where she felt most comfortable: touching Maura. "I'm doing great."
By the time Maura arrived back at the police station with Jane, they each only had about two minutes left in their break. Maura had determined that it would be best for her accompany Jane to her desk so that she could give the other detectives an in depth update on her autopsy findings.
And of course to spend more time with Jane until the next autopsy came in. But the official work reason, as far as Jane's coworkers were concerned, was so that she could be of assistance in the investigation. Until she could determine the exact nature of her new relationship with Jane, Maura was glad to let Barry and Vince believe that she and Jane were strictly platonic friends.
When Maura arrived at Jane's desk, both detective Korsak and Frost were very gracious in welcoming both herself and Jane, although Jane seemed less than pleased by their reaction. Perhaps it had something to do with an earlier discussion or some inside joke that the detectives had going on.
"I knew I'd seen that shirt somewhere, Janie," Korsak said pointing at Jane's shirt then looking to Maura. "Doctor Isles, isn't this your shirt?"
"She let me borrow it," Jane cut in before Maura could answer.
"Really?" Korsak said, raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah, uh," Jane said. "Laundry day, I didn't have any unwrinkled clothes."
"Laundry, hmm, is that what they're calling it nowadays, Frost?"
"I don't know," Detective Frost said. He looked somehow amused and nervous at the same time. Oh, so they were playing a trick on Jane; that was the same look Detective Frost got the time that he had decided to hide Jane's desk chair in a broom closet.
Calling what laundry? It was infuriatingly difficult for Maura to understand conversations when people used pronouns without antecedents even if the meaning should be inferred based upon some shared body of knowledge.
"If you don't mind me asking," Maura interrupted, tired of being out of the loop in a conversation that might have something to do with her. "What precisely are we talking about here?"
Jane seemed to understand his meaning just fine though, because Maura noticed Jane's fists clench by her side.
"It's nothing, Maura. Don't worry about tweddle dee and tweddle dumb over here," Jane said turning so that she was facing just Maura with her back to the other detectives, a gesture often used to create a sense of intimacy between two people. She also put her hand on Maura's arm. "Why don't you go get the autopsy report and we can go over it up here."
"I will go get it if you think it would help," Maura said, although she did not see any particular need for the report at that exact moment. "I'll be back in a moment."
After Maura was out of sight, Jane turned sharply to glare at Frost and Korsak. This was the exact reason that she never told them anything about her love life. They acted like annoying little brothers even if Korsak was almost old enough to be her dad.
"You two," Jane said pointing from Frost to Korsak. "Need to stop it, right now."
"Aw, come on Janie," Korsak said putting his hands up in front of him. "We're just giving you shit. It's how we express our love."
"Well, find another way," Jane said, folding her arms over her chest. She was not at all convinced by Korsak's argument. "At least while Maura's around. I can take it, but Maura, she doesn't understand it. She'll take things seriously, so I do not want you giving me shit like that again when she's here."
"How romantic. Protecting the lady from distress," Korsak said, putting a hand on his chest, then he added with a wicked grin. "I'm touched. As I'm sure you both were last nig—
"Be civilized for once in your life," Jane said, after delivering a vicious blow to Korsak's arm. Jane grinned as she watched Korsak wince and rub it.
"I don't mean to interrupt," Maura said as she walked up behind Jane holding the file. "But I'm not sure that punching people is very civilized of you either, Jane."
"Really?" Jane said, giving her best 'what the hell' look. She had been protecting Maura, granted Maura probably didn't know that, but still, it wasn't fair and Korsak totally had it coming.
"What? I was simply making an observation," Maura said.
Jane wondered if Maura knew more than she let on about the conversation that had taken place in her brief absence. She didn't seem to because she launched into a detailed description of her autopsy, complete with medical jargon, half of which Jane did not understand.
"So we've got nothing, is that what you're saying?" Korsak asked when Maura finished.
"That's not what I said at all," Maura insisted. "It means that this would have been a non-fatal wound had he receive medical attention within a few hours. That must be a substantial development."
"Yeah, you know what, it could have been a robbery gone bad, the guy threatens him, he refuses to give up the money, which was still on him. The killer accidentally shoots him, panics and runs, only dead guy isn't dead yet," Jane said. What little evidence they had all fit perfectly into the robbery gone bad scenario and it wasn't all that unusual for something like that to happen.
"That wasn't what I meant," Maura said, waving her hand and shaking her head to try and slow Jane down as she did when Jane even ventured slightly into the hypothetical. "I was thinking something along the lines of a more accurate time of death. Your theory seems to contain an awful lot conjecture."
Before Jane could respond that they had to start somewhere, with some sort of plan, Maura's cell phone rang. When Maura saw the number, she looked a little confused, as if the number looked familiar, but she couldn't place it.
"I'll be right back," Maura said to everyone although she looked at Jane as she said it. "This should only take a minute."
"Yeah, no problem," Jane said. She nodded and, before she could stop herself, she touched Maura's elbow as she said. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Frost and Korsak were giving each other knowing looks.
Jane watched as Maura walked out of sight, a part of her wondering why it was that Maura wanted to take the call in private. When she turned back around, the knowing looks had turned into grins. She couldn't blame them. She was being pretty obvious about her attraction to Maura, and was fully aware that the laundry excuse was not one of her shining moments.
She must have given them a dirty look, because Korsak gave her his best innocent face and Frost tried to look busy.
"We didn't say anything while she was here," Korsak said.
"Yeah, you didn't have to," Jane said as she sat at her desk, allowing herself a little smile. As much as the guys got on her last nerves sometimes, the teasing was all in good fun. Jane would probably do the same thing if Frost acted as smitten as she was acting around Maura.
Jane sat at her desk looking over lists of evidence and crime scene photos looking for some shread of evidence. When Maura hadn't returned after fifteen minutes, Jane found herself looking at the door more often than she looked at the work in front of her.
Seriously, who was Maura talking to in private for that long? Not that it was any of Jane's business, they weren't dating or anything. Just some kissing, groping and cuddling, that did not give Jane the right to know every single phone conversation. Jane's rational mind completely understood that, but Jane didn't exactly work rationally all the time.
She finally put down her pen and was about to figure out what had taken Maura fifteen minutes when Maura walked into the room. She looked really, really happy. Even though it concerned Jane that someone else had made Maura that happy, she couldn't help but smile.
"Who was that?" Jane asked.
"Doctor James Palmer, an old friend from Medical school who also went into forensic pathology," Maura said as she returned her phone to her purse. "He just moved back to Boston and he wants to go to out for dinner sometime this week."
"Great," Jane said, returning to her paperwork. She probably didn't have much to worry about. Maura was probably just excited that she had someone to talk to who didn't find cutting up dead bodies creepy. "Sounds like fun."
Jane briefly considered offering to go with Maura, but thought it would be too couply and forward of her to do something like that, especially in front of Frost and Korsak.
"Oh, and he also invited me to a forensic pathology conference in Hartford next month," Maura said. To look at how excited Maura was, Jane would have thought that someone had just proposed marriage or something. "Leading experts will be presenting on revolutionary autopsy methods."
"Sounds like a blast," Jane said. Even though she worked in Homicide, Jane still found Maura's fascination with cutting open dead people a little strange.
"Oh, it will be," Maura said in all sincerity. Then she added quickly, "I need to go finalize this autopsy report and put it in the database."
"Have fun," Korsak called after her.
"Well, I'd rather be doing autopsy, but I'll try," Maura said. Jane thought maybe Maura understood Korsak's sarcasm and was playing along, just based on knowing Maura and her mannerisms so well. "Oh, Jane, are we still on for Tuesday cocktails after work?"
"When have I ever said no to that," Jane said.
Maura smiled. Jane blushed at the thought that the smile was for her, caused by Jane and Jane alone. God, Jane needed to get control of herself, this was ridiculous, crazy even. As a detective, Jane should have developed a much better poker face.
After Maura left she turned around to see Frost with that shit-eating grin.
"You sure you're not madly in love with Dr. Isles, Jane?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Get back to work, Frost," Jane said, though she couldn't muster much of a glare or too much attitude for him. "We have a crime to solve. I think that's probably a little important than my love life."
Frost didn't say anything more. He just smiled and shook his head as he looked back down at the paperwork in front of him.
A/N-So, here's some more fluff for you. I don't think I'll get too many complaints though, since most of the reviews for last chapter said that there's never enough fluff. I will mosey my way towards the conflict, but being a conflict avoider in real life, I'm not in a huge rush to get there :)
Reviews are like the toppings on my fanfiction sundae. What good would an ice cream sundae be without sprinkles and chocolate syrup? Please review!