A/N: I don't usually update this quickly, but I couldn't stop writing, and this has been such fun! Also I'm foreseeing a busy couple of days ahead, so I wanted to get this up while I could. Thanks for reading!
"Hey Phillips, who's your new girl?"
"Lay off, Carter, I mean it," Vivian said through her teeth, stealing an awkward glance at Dr. Isles and seeing the woman's confusion. Maura knew Vivian was gay, but had no idea of the desire that pulsed through Viv each time she saw the medical examiner.
"You into that?" asked the man named Carter, now having the audacity to address Maura directly. "You like when good old Officer Phillips puts her hands up your tight pussy?"
Maura was alarmed, parttly by the vulgarity of this remark from a perfect stranger, but also by the violent manner in which Vivian had thrown herself off her bar stool, clearly about to go for Carter. Thinking fast, Maura quickly intervened, getting off her stool as well and grabbing one of Vivian's arms before the off-duty cop did something she would regret. Carter and Vivian shouted angry remarks at each other as Maura did her best to pull her imposing, strong co-worker out of the bar. Once they were outside, Maura loosened her grip, and Vivian jerked her arm away.
"Why the hell'd you do that, Maura?" she asked.
"You were about to attack him!"
"Of course I was! I should go back in there and kick his ass for saying something like that to you!" Vivian practically shouted, though she turned to start walking in the opposite direction.
"He was drunk, Vivian," said Maura, hurrying to catch up.
"That doesn't matter!" Vivian said hotly, turning again to face Maura. "He's a sleazeball who has no business speaking to a lady like you, let alone making remarks like that about you!"
"Are you offended that he insinuated we were in a sexual relationship?" Maura asked, wondering why she was worried that the answer might be yes.
"No!" Vivian answered, a little too quickly. "He was crass and way out of line!" She took a moment to compose herself, sighing heavily and running a hand through her thin red hair. "Geez, Maura, I'm sorry. I like going there to unwind, but I don't know what I was thinking taking you to a place like that. I'm so sorry."
Surveying her with curious eyes, Maura said, "Are you sure you don't know what you were thinking?"
Vivian glanced up, her blue eyes meeting Maura's hazel ones, and catching in that moment a hint of reflected desire. Inspired in part by the alcohol she had just consumed, Vivian pulled Maura into an aggressive kiss. There had been too many months of quiet observation and silent study of Dr. Isles for Vivian to handle it anymore: the gentle bounce in that gorgeous hair, the impeccable taste in clothes that always made her look ready for a photo shoot, that adorable smile, and those playful eyes. It was entirely too much for Vivian to take, and tonight she was finally able to do what she had wanted for so long, harshly claiming those soft lips for her own. She felt a surge of desire rage through her as Maura started responding, her slender fingers threading through Vivian's short, fiery hair. She started walking Maura backwards, lifting a hand to shield the back of the doctor's head as she pushed her against the outer wall of the bar, still kissing her ferociously.
When they pulled apart to breathe, Vivian's eyes shifted briefly to Maura's heaving chest, and the pent-up desire overflowed. She grabbed Maura's clothed breast, driving her tongue into the doctor's mouth at the same time, feeling gratified by the whimpering moan she got in return. Maura was not accustomed to be treated this way, especially not in a first kiss, but the fact that she'd been so caught off guard was what she found so arousing. Despite the cool night air, it somehow felt stifling out there on the street.
They broke apart again, and Vivian rested her forehead against Maura's, shocked at how much that experience had risen above her expectations.
"Wow," was all the taciturn cop could think to say.
"Indeed," was Maura's response.
Vivian chuckled at the cute, Maura Isles-ian reply. "My place?"
"Let's go."
Sitting at her desk safely behind closed doors, Maura put her face in her hands at the memory. For the second time that day, she felt totally blindsided—first when Angela had asked about Jane, and now seeing Camille Saroyan out of the blue, here on Maura's turf. She was grateful that Cam was only stopping by, and wouldn't be hanging around to help with the case. It made it much less likely that she would mention Vivian to Jane, which was all Maura needed right now.
Little did she know what was going on just outside her office.
Naturally Cam had no comprehension of the magnitude of the bomb she had just dropped, and initially she didn't read too much into Booth's shocked expression: "I know it's kind of surprising, because well, Dr. Isles is so feminine, and there's such a stereotype about women who like other women, but…" As Booth's mouth continued to hang open while he stared at Cam in disbelief, it dawned on her that his surprise might go deeper than she thought. "Is… there something I'm missing here?"
"Maura…"
Cam glanced at Maura's closed door, then back at Booth, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, Seeley? Did I just crush a fantasy?"
Booth's mind was reeling, and he all but collapsed onto the stool right behind him. "No," he said after a long pause. "I mean, I like Maura, but I've only known her a few days. It's just…"
"Just what?"
"She never said anything. Cam, you gotta tell me more."
"Why are you so curious?" Cam asked, her brow contracting.
Knowing it would be wildly out of line to tell Cam the real reason for his interest, Booth fought to come up with a good answer: "Because …I—I'm fascinated. I mean, this is crazy that you guys used to be co-workers! And now she and I will be working together for a while, so it… it'd be a good idea to know more about her."
"I'm sure she wouldn't mind telling you all this herself," Cam said.
"Yeah, but she doesn't know me that well."
With a casual sigh, Cam shrugged and took a seat on the stool next to Booth. "To be honest, I don't know her all that well, either. Our paths barely crossed, even professionally; I didn't work as closely with her as I do with all you at the Jeffersonian. The only reason I really know her at all is that she started dating a cop I worked with quite a bit."
"This Vivian person."
"Vivian Phillips."
"Right. What was she like?"
"Viv? Oh, you know. She was kind of the strong, silent type. Really smart, though; just real quiet about it. I think Maura liked that. I remember being surprised when they started dating, because Maura's so… warm and outgoing, and you barely knew where you stood with Vivian unless you got to know her really well."
"Cold in the streets, hot in the sheets, huh?" Booth asked.
Cam granted him a laugh. "Boy, I guess. If you got on her bad side, though, look out. We used to have a joke in the department about her temper coming from her red hair, but then she told me she was actually a natural blonde. She'd been dying it for years because of that dumb blonde stigma."
"Do you know why they broke up?" Booth asked, captivated.
With another shrug, Cam answered, "Not sure. Vivian and I worked together a lot, but she wasn't really into the whole disclosing-personal-information thing, if she could help it." She frowned and narrowed her eyes, staring once again at Maura's door. "Come to think of it, I didn't even know they'd broken up until Maura left for Boston. I asked Vivian how she felt about it, and she said they were done." Cam turned back to Booth, her eyes wide. "Do you think that's why Maura left?"
It was Booth's turn to shrug after giving Cam an incredulous look. "How would I know? Could've been a contributing factor though, right?" After a short pause and more internal debating, Booth said, "Jane… doesn't know."
"About Vivian?"
"About Maura ever being with a woman. She told me Maura's straight."
"Huh," was all Cam said. "I may have jumped to conclusions, then. Maybe Maura is actually bisexual, or maybe it was ...an experiment?"
"Yeah, maybe." The more Booth thought about it, the more uncomfortable he got with this conversation. It was crazy enough that Cam and Maura knew each other, but then for Cam to so casually bring up Maura's affair with another woman was just unbelievable. Obviously Maura hadn't cared about people in New York knowing about her attraction to women, so why hadn't she bothered to tell anyone at BPD?
Both of them jumped when Maura suddenly reemerged from her office, studying one of the case files. "Agent Booth, I—"
"Oh, look, Jane's calling me!" Booth said, truly believing that God was delivering on a solid by giving him this legitimate excuse to get away. It was actually a text, and after looking at it, Booth hastily made for the door and said, "I gotta go, Cam, sorry—have Maura tell you what she knows so far!" His heart was hammering, and he wasn't totally sure why, unless he was still overwhelmed on Jane's behalf. She had asked him to meet her outside the interrogation room, and once he did, he found himself pitying her in all her innocence and ignorance regarding Maura. "What'd Cavanaugh want to see you about?" he asked, trying (and succeeding) to mask his concern.
Jane waved a manila folder. "He found something on Alicia that he wants us to ask Eden about. Oh, and he also wanted to tell you that if you want, you're welcome to our department's Thanksgiving 'shin-dig' tomorrow, as he put it."
"Great, I'll think about it," Booth said distractedly, motioning for Jane to open the door. "But let's do some work, huh?"
"Right, let's do it." They walked into the room, where Eden was waiting patiently for them. This was the first time they had seen her in something besides her running clothes, and she cleaned up very nicely. Once the obligatory greetings were out of the way and they'd all sat down, Jane said, "I'm going to get right to it, Eden. Is there anything about your relationship with Alicia Howard that you've left out?"
Eden looked at Booth, as if hoping he would provide her with the answer Jane was looking for. "No ma'am, detective. She's my best friend, I told you that."
"And that's all?" Jane pressed her.
Comprehension dawned on Eden's features, and she sat back in her chair with a quiet groan. "Gross. Who told you otherwise?"
"Your ex-fiancé intimated that it was why you broke up," Jane said. She opened her folder and pulled out a sheet Frost had printed out earlier. Tossing it across the table to Eden, she said, "We found this earlier this morning. It's from your school newspaper. Apparently you and Alicia wanted to start at a GSA last semester at your religious school?"
Barely sparing a glance for the article she'd already examined several times, Eden said, "Yes ma'am, we did. Something like that."
"And then you and Brock both say that Alicia convinced you to break off your engagement," Jane said. "Can you understand why we might have come to this conclusion, especially considering Brock's other comment?"
"I can't believe he said that," Eden half-laughed. "Brock's the—Brock must be scared, that's why he told you that. He knows Alicia and I were never more than good friends. I'm not a deviant, detective!"
Jane bit her cheek and leaned back. "Well maybe you wouldn't mind explaining to this deviant why you wanted to start such a club, then."
Eden looked instantly regretful at her choice of words, and with a heavy sigh, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. It took her a while to find the picture she wanted, to the point that Jane almost asked her to put it away, but then Eden held the phone up so Booth and Jane could see it. "This is my cousin, Derek. We have the same birthday, or we did, anyway. He killed himself last year. He killed himself because he was gay and he had nobody to talk to about it. People at church told him gays were damned, and his family, his immediate family, wasn't much better. I wasn't much better. None of us knew he was gay until we read it in the note he left, and I started thinking …I thought of all the stupid things I'd said. Nothing damning, but incredibly just, dumb and careless stuff. Mean. See? I even screwed up again, right now. I am so sorry, Detective Rizzoli."
"So this club…?" Booth asked.
"It was going to meet off campus. It was Alicia's idea, when I told her about Derek and how awful I felt about it. She thought religious people needed to learn how to talk about homosexuality in a civilized, kind way. Church isn't supposed to be about hate. It's supposed to be about love and compassion. I don't pretend to fully understand proclivities like Derek's, but… I want to. I want to learn the right language and the right spirit. We hoped this club could help other people too, like, I don't know, a sort of sensitivity training, I guess."
Jane exchanged a look with Booth, who said, "Can you tell us exactly why your engagement with Brock got called off?"
"Is it relevant to the case, Agent Booth?"
"If you have no reason to believe Brock genuinely thought you were involved with Alicia, then he was evading something. We're not asking if you thought he killed Alicia. But we need to know if there's anything he was angry at her for—besides having a hand in your engagement getting called off. If you withhold anything from us…"
Eden pursed her lips together tightly and fidgeted. She felt so terrible for inadvertently insulting Jane that she couldn't bring herself to look at her, so she instead stayed focused on Booth when she gave her reply: "Do you promise not to tell his parents?"
"You said he was doing nothing illegal?"
"That's right."
"Okay then, we won't." Unless we have to.
"And—you won't tell him I told you?"
"We might have to do that, Eden."
She rubbed her arm, looking painfully torn. It killed her to have to rat out Brock, who she didn't blame for feeling insecure and lashing out at her. But if it would help solve her best friend's murder… "Alicia borrowed his computer once, and she found pornography on it."
"Is that all?" Jane snorted. "That's why you broke up with him?"
Her flippant tone earned her an incredulous look from Eden. "Detective, one of the major tenets of my religion is the sacredness of the human body and chastity. I feel no shame in saying that I think pornography is absolutely disgusting. If that had been all, we could've maybe worked through it. He could have repented and moved on. But…" She looked back at Booth, and impressively, this was the first time it sounded like she might start crying. "It was gay porn."
"And that's unforgivable?" Jane pressed her.
"Detective," Eden said, trying not to lose her temper. "That's not it. You saw this article." She pushed the sheet back across the table at Jane. "You didn't see the letters to the editor, calling for my and Alicia's expulsion, our excommunication, even! People are so cruel and misunderstanding about it that Brock was ready to marry me as an attempt to cure his homosexuality. He denied at first that the porn was his, but he finally admitted it because I wouldn't let it go. We grew up together, me and Brock. I've known and loved him for a long time. When I wanted to start this club thing with Alicia, he thought it meant I could cure him."
"Do you think there's a cure?" Booth asked.
"I don't know, sir," Eden sighed. "But I really don't think marrying me would have solved anything. Do you? Brock's scared, I know, but… what if Alicia had never found out? What if she hadn't told me? I'd have married a man who—who I wouldn't ever be able to satisfy. Who knows what could have become of us?"
Naturally, Booth and Jane could both wager a guess as to exactly how that might've felt. Booth seemed almost cowed by the spew of rhetorical questions, never having guessed that he'd have something so specific in common with a college-aged Mormon girl. Jane picked up the slack for him: "So you got some angry letters about this club."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Did either of you ever get any death threats?"
Eden shook her head. "No, ma'am. Nothing that extreme."
"Do you still have them, the letters? Do you have any names?"
"I didn't keep them, but some of them are probably still on the school paper's website. A few people sent me messages on facebook, but I deleted them."
"We may have ways of accessing those if we need them," Jane said curtly, opening the folder again. "One more thing. The Howards are Democrats."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Did Alicia become more conservative out there in school with you?"
Eden made a point of picking up her bag and dropping it on the table. A large Obama button was in plain view, and she said, "We talked a lot about politics, naturally. We both grew up feeling marginalized because we came from religious families that are Democratic on most topics. There's only one issue I know of that Alicia changed her stance on after her conversion."
"Abortion," Jane offered, showing Eden a small clipping Cavanaugh had given her.
"That's right, ma'am."
"One of Howard's major initiatives," Jane explained to Booth. "He's for it and Alicia was apparently vehemently opposed."
"Abortion is murder," Eden said flatly.
"You don't think it's a woman's choice?" Jane couldn't help asking.
"I certainly do, ma'am. Unless she was raped, she already made her choice."
This answer caught Jane off guard, and curious though she was to continue the conversation in this vein, she knew it would be getting a tad too off topic. Trying to bring things back around a bit, she said, "We know Howard has Presidential aspirations. According to this article, his daughter was ready to launch a local campaign against his stance on abortion, and it could've easily gone national if she'd had the time to really get it going. Do you think Frederick Howard is the kind of man who would put political ambition above his family?"
Before Jane had even finished the question, Eden was shaking her head in disbelief. "No, ma'am, oh no. Senator Howard loves his family. His children are very important to him, and I—I hate that you even need to ask."
Jane looked at Booth, then said, "Well. I think that's all for today then, Eden. Thank you for coming in."
Looking slightly dazed, Eden picked up her bag and got to her feet. "I don't mind, ma'am, really I don't. I want to do anything I can to help you guys. Otherwise the bad guy has it too easy. The only thing evil needs in order to prevail is for good men to stand around and do nothing."
"That was…eloquent," Booth said.
Eden shrugged and snorted a laugh. "Yeah, it's a quote from somewhere." She hesitated by the door, then said, "Detective Rizzoli? Can I have a word with you?"
"Uh, sure," Jane said, nodding at Booth to let him know it was all right.
Once Booth had walked away, Eden said, "I really do want to apologize for what I said. I don't—I mean, I don't want you to think that I think any less of you for your, uh, orientation. I understand that you were born with those feelings. I may not …well, it doesn't really matter what else I think. I just want you to know that I have so much respect for you and the work that you do. Anyone who ever calls you wicked is an ignorant fool, and I'm trying so hard to become less of one. I'm a… recovering homophobe, if you will. Gosh, I hate that word, sorry."
"Thanks, Eden. I appreciate it."
She smiled ruefully. "Anyway, I'll call you when we have a date for that service …it may not be until after Thanksgiving. Or it could be the day after tomorrow; whichever way would work for the most people. Today we're activating the Carlisle family phone tree—nine kids, so many cell phones!"
Jane smiled. "Right, just keep us posted. Do you know the way out?"
"Yes ma'am, I do. Goodbye."
"Bye…" She caught Booth's eye, and he followed her back to the elevator.
"What was that about?"
"She just wanted to apologize for calling me a deviant. Guess that was nice."
"Considering she didn't have to, yes. Do they have a date set for the memorial service yet?"
"No, she's gonna call me when they do. By the way, how did Maura warm up to the undercover idea?"
"Well, she was a little hesitant at first, but she seemed to have come around to it."
"Oh, right, she mentioned that… yeah, I know I said she sucks at lying, but I just remembered this one time we—where's the damn elevator?—there was this auto-mechanic fixing my mom's car, and he would not stop hitting on Maura. Like it was just getting gross. Finally it got to be too much for her, and we were at his shop, and she suddenly wanted me to pretend to be her girlfriend."
An hour ago this might have been merely funny to Booth, but after Cam's revelation, he was a bit startled. "What'd you do?"
"Nothing really," Jane said casually. I just put my arms around her, from behind, you know. Told Giovanni to back off in so many words."
The elevator finally arrived, and they stepped inside. "Was that when you liked her?"
"I've always liked her," Jane said softly.
Booth couldn't think of a good response to this, so he bravely attempted to change the subject: "Anyway…you going to this party tomorrow?"
"The policeman's ball? Yeah, I actually asked Angela if she'd go with me."
Booth punched her in the arm. "What! No way, what'd she say?"
Jane grinned at his enthusiasm. "I don't know yet. I called and left her that message she asked for, so…"
"Wow. She is going to listen the hell out of that thing."
"I just hope she says yes," Jane admitted as they exited the elevator. Frankie came running happily over, saying nothing but high-fiving his sister on his way into the elevator. "Looks like Frankie's getting his wish. Dr. Saroyan, what're you doing out here?"
Cam was standing a little further down the hallway. "I just had the sort-of pleasure of meeting your brother, detective. It seemed like he had something personal to ask Dr. Isles, so I made myself scarce."
"By…standing awkwardly in the hallway right outside the glass doors?" Booth asked.
"Nobody asked you, Seeley."
Maura appeared just then: "Oh good, you're back! Agent Booth, I've already filled in Dr. Saroyan on most of our forensic findings. Now would be a good time for you to talk more about what you and Jane have found. Jane? Could I have a word?"
"Uh, sure," said Jane, following Maura back into her office. "What's up?"
Closing the door behind them, Maura said, "Frankie just asked me to go to the policeman's ball with him."
"I know," Jane said. "I saw him a minute ago, and he was smiling like crazy."
"You knew he was going to ask me?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't care?"
"Well…no…am I supposed to?"
"Why doesn't it matter to you if I go to this thing with Frankie, but you—wig out every time Tommy is near me?"
"…did you just say 'wig out?'"
"Jane."
"I'm sorry, I just don't think I've heard that since Buffy."
"Since what?"
"Come on, really? Buffy the vamp—okay, never mind. Sorry—why are you upset, again?"
"I'm not upset," Maura sighed, sitting down. "I'm just a little confused. You are always sensitive whenever I mention Tommy saying something nice to me, or whenever I try to do something nice to him. Like that kiss on his birthday. It was just a kiss. But you tell Frankie to just go on ahead and take me as his date to the department's party?"
"He's only taking you as a friend, isn't he?" Jane asked.
"Well, yes, but—"
"Then there you go."
"So because one of your brothers happens to have a very understandable attraction to me, I can't spend time with him?"
"Hey, I never told you not to spend time with Tommy—"
"The hell you didn't!"
Maura was not one to use even light swear words frivolously, and Jane could feel her body preparing itself as if for a physical attack. "I asked you not to get involved with him. Tommy's not good enough for you, Maura, and you haven't heard the way he talks about you. He doesn't respect you."
"That's for me to decide, if I ever want to find out," Maura said acidly.
"Frankie's a nice boy, Maura, and he's not going to try anything with you."
"So you don't want me hanging around with Tommy because you're afraid he'd try something? Do you want me to live in celibacy, and only go on dates with men if they make it a point to fervently express the fact that they view me as nothing more than a friend?"
"No, Maura, I just—why are we fighting?"
"We're not fighting!" Maura insisted, rising angrily to her feet. When Jane raised her eyebrows at this, Maura sighed and folded her arms. "I apologize, Jane. It was very uncouth of me to spring at you like that. I suppose I was a bit taken off guard by Frankie's proposal, and it's just been a… day of surprises. Not all of them good ones."
Frowning, Jane took a step closer to the desk that separated her and Maura. "What's going on?"
Maura shook her head. "Nothing I can't handle. It's just… Dr. Saroyan's presence brought up some memories."
Jane was now very prepared to do what her mother used to call "active listening." Maura had hardly ever spoken about her time working in New York, and Jane wasn't sure why. It wasn't usually in Maura's nature to share things out of the blue, and since Jane had never asked that much about it, the NYPD just never came up. If she was hoping Maura would spill now, though, Jane was about to be disappointed.
"I won't get into it now," Maura said. "But what about you, are you going tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I think I might," Jane said. "I asked Angela if she'd go with me, since I don't think I'm going to make it out of here tonight."
"Oh," Maura said softly. "Well that's nice. That'll be…nice."
Jane shrugged, trying to play it cool. "I guess it will, if she says yes."
"She'll say yes," Maura said with a weak smile, walking back to the door of her office. When she opened it, it was to see the morgue considerably more crowded than she'd left it: Brennan, Hodgins, and Angela had returned, and were catching up with Cam. "Oh! Hello again, everyone," said Maura.
Jane stepped out as well, and immediately caught Angela's eyes. "Hey, Angela. Did you uh, get my message?"
"I sure did," she answered with a smile.
Booth leaned in closer to Cam and whispered, "Okay, now watch this," through his teeth.
"And I'd love to go with you," Angela said.
"Fantastic," said Jane, looking genuinely pleased.
"Oh my," Cam whispered back to Booth, looking from Angela to Jane to a clearly less-than-thrilled Maura. "Oh my, indeed."
A/N: Thank you for reviewing, they are so very greatly appreciated/adored/loved. I really am enjoying writing this even more than I thought I would, and I am also grateful that everyone's mostly on board for the Jane/Angela-ness to spark things up for Rizzles. :)
