Chapter 14
Jane allowed her lips to finally make contact with Maura's and couldn't believe the effect it had on her body and mind. It was almost too overwhelming so Jane attempted to push all thoughts away and simply feel the kiss.
Don't think, Rizzoli, just act.
Maura's lips were as soft as Jane thought they would be. She had watched Maura countless numbers of times apply lipstick to her supple lips, jealous of the expensive lip gloss Maura insisted on buying. It wasn't the cost or brand that created the jealousy; Jane had never wanted to be an overrated, expensive lip gloss applicator until she met Maura.
I'm touching her lips now, with mine. How could I have gone this long without this?
Jane reached out and touched Maura's face as she deepened the kiss. Jane was vaguely aware that, despite the fact that Maura had initiated the kiss, she was allowing Jane to dominate it and direct it to fulfill her needs.
Maura felt her bottom lip being drawn into Jane's mouth; her teeth nipping at it as Maura failed to stifle the moan that escaped. Maura's tongue was begging to leave her mouth and enter Jane's, but Maura didn't want to force the kiss and overwhelm them both.
I knew Jane would feel this way, her lips so gentle, and her face so soft against my palm.
Maura felt Jane's lips drag her tongue out of her mouth to suck it into her own.
Thank you, Jane, thank god you read me so well.
Maura felt owned, she felt Jane's possessiveness of her as Jane sucked harder on her tongue. Jane worked Maura's tongue mercilessly with her lips and teeth while placing her hands on the back of Maura's head to pull her in closer. Maura's hair was so soft, draping over Jane's hands as they got lost in it.
The manner in which Jane was kissing Maura vibrated through Jane's body. Every movement she made with her own tongue and lips seemed to travel through her body settling uncomfortably between her legs. Jane was throbbing; she felt her wetness easily soaking her underwear and she became keenly aware that she needed to gain some control over the situation before she embarrassed herself.
"Please Jane…" Maura whispered as she took a much needed breath and then touched her lips once more to Jane's.
The sound of Maura's voice was enough to send Jane into overdrive. Her fingers curled around Maura's hair, holding it tight. Maura moaned into her mouth indicating to Jane she liked things to be slightly rough.
File that for later, Rizzoli…wait, what am I thinking? There's going to be a later?
The force of the kiss was intense for both Jane and Maura; they both knew instinctively that the kiss was about to end. Maura's lips held onto Jane's as long as possible, drinking up the last of the sensation of having finally felt Jane's lips upon her own.
Jane broke the contact and waited for Maura's eyes to open. When they finally did, she felt lost in them; the hazel color somehow seemed brighter and more enticing than it had ever been. Both women were breathing heavily, the effect of the kiss visible on both.
Jane's signs were classic. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes dilated, her skin flush as she scooted back toward the end of the couch, away from Maura, in silence.
You can't hide your arousal from me, Jane.
Maura, on the other hand, remained rooted to the spot where she had first sat down, touching her lips with her shaking hand. She had no desire to hide her reaction; she wanted Jane to know the effect she had on her. Maura tried to focus on Jane, but the aching between her legs was making that an almost impossible task.
"Jane, I…"
I can actually see the walls crashing around Jane. You've clearly overstepped, Maura.
"Well that's one way to stop your Google talk." Jane mustered a smile as she stood from the couch and traveled into the kitchen.
Use humor to deflect real feelings, how often have I seen this tactic, Jane?
"Jane, I…."
"No harm, no foul, Maura. I know it's upsetting and overwhelming to think of your chance at knowing your mother slipping away. That kind of fear makes people do crazy things."
"That's not it, I actually…"
"We just need to find him, and then we won't be so clearly out of our minds trapped here. Try to think of anything you can tell me, even if you don't think it's significant. The walking stick is a perfect example, if we can have more information like that we might be able to put things together and find him."
"Um…" Maura blinked several times to try to gain her composure. The switch in topics and Jane's walls erecting at rapid speed after their brief encounter made Maura's head spin.
Is this how we're really going to deal with this, Jane? I didn't kiss you because we're trapped here and my chance at meeting my mother is drifting away. It's you, Jane, it always has been.
"I can't think," Maura admitted, her voice sounding foreign due to her arousal. "It's all a blur."
Jane allowed her head to drop as she leaned against the countertop in the kitchen. Her shoulders were slumped, her head hanging low, her posture indicated a unique combination of defeat and sadness.
"Jane, aren't we going to talk about this?"
"I have a case to solve, Maura." Jane didn't bother to look up at Maura but stared instead at her own foot gliding across the wood floor. "I'm not sure what you think there is to talk about. It's natural, being cooped up in this cabin and the mix of emotions you're feeling from all of this."
"Right," Maura tried to convince herself that Jane's rationalization was correct. "Although actually, it's argued by Cannon that the particular response you're referencing actually could halt or at least slow down a sexual response. Sexual functions are controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system and therefore are often suppressed during stress or fear. It appears the opposite is true for us."
"Sexual responses are actually non-existent when Google talk is present." Jane was pleased with herself dodging the conversation with humor and stubbornness.
Jane scowled at her phone when it rang indicating an incoming call. She drew her eyes away from Maura, taking a deep breath before answering.
"Rizzoli," Jane cleared her throat trying to sound as normal as possible.
"We got another one," Frost said, stepping around the roped off body in the middle of the park.
"Who is it this time?"
"Korsak ran the prints taken by CSI before I called you. He has a rap sheet the size of Korsak's lunch bag!"
Jane smiled at Frost's joke about Korsak before settling back into the couch near the folders, getting ready to find the new victim's file.
"Gimmie a name, Frost."
"Brian O' Malley," Frost said looking at the driver's license in his gloved hand. The wallet was expensive, leather that had been broken into a comfortable crease.
"Brian O' Malley…" Jane's voice trailed off as she searched for his file in the large stack ahead of her. She opened the file and saw the various crimes that the young man had committed, no doubt for Doyle. Maura watched as Jane switched the phone to speaker and set it beside her to avoid a balancing act between her shoulder and ear. "Have you seen this guy, Maura?"
Maura looked closely and shook her head no, fixated on Jane's form in front of her. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a sudden loss given the space both physically and seemingly emotionally between her and Jane.
"Boy, isn't our friend Mr. O' Malley one lucky son of a bitch," Jane mumbled going through his arrest record. "Petty theft that was dismissed, a drug charge that fell apart, and my personal favorite assault that the victim suddenly withdrew charges on. Paddy Doyle certainly has bailed him out on more than on occasion."
"The name Brian means high, noble, strong….not lucky," Maura tried to comfort herself in her own routine behavior. Spilling facts about random information somehow seemed to begin to calm her nerves.
"Well he's not those either," Jane shot back in frustration. "Why would Doyle keep him around though? He seems more trouble than he's worth."
"And if he hasn't been around Doyle, if he isn't one of the chosen, why knock him off? He's sort of sandwiched in the middle in the rank and file. He's hardly going to take the reigns," Frost offered.
"Maybe he's working for the suspect who killed off Doyle's top men and is after Maura?"
"So we're assuming his organization is split in half between those wanting new leadership and those remaining loyal to its dictator?" Frost asked.
"Assumptions are dangerous and not advised." Maura rubbed her hands over her arms to still the goose bumps that formed as her thoughts continued to swarm around the kiss with Jane.
"Well the first two we know were loyal." Jane's forehead scrunched up as she looked through the file in her hands. "I can only assume there are others lining up to be loyal to Doyle. Those are the assholes in the house with him. When you were there and found him missing, was anyone else there?"
"We wouldn't likely have gotten access if there was." Frost signaled Korsak to meet him back at the car while he wrapped up his conversation with Jane. "They had been stonewalling like crazy. But this time, the place was empty."
"So either they were out looking for him or out helping him."
"Korsak is makin' his way to the car; we'll call you when we get to Doyle's house."
Jane hung up the phone and continued to stare, in silence, at the file in front of her. She wasn't reading the words on the pages, but rather just staring as a means to distract herself from Maura and the tension that had built up in the room.
Jane exhaled a rather large breath she didn't realize she was holding when Maura chose to vacate the couch and move toward the kitchen. Maura busied herself boiling water to make tea, and Jane took the opportunity to watch her movements with great interest. She watched as Maura filled the kettle and lit the stove. She placed the kettle onto the flames and reached to the upper cabinet for the tea bags. Jane saw the small patch of skin near her waist become exposed as Maura reached high into the air. It looked like it was as soft as the skin on her face, the skin that Jane had caressed, her fingertips still tingling from the interaction.
She kissed me….I kissed her back.
Jane cleared her throat as she focused on Maura's movements, desperate to avoid all conversation regarding the kiss until she had time to analyze what exactly had happened.
"Jane?" Maura's voice rang out, breaking the silence that had overwhelmed the mood of the room. She hadn't turned around, but her posture indicated she was uncomfortable with the situation at hand.
I'm not ready to discuss this, Maura.
Maura turned around to catch Jane's eyes and held her gaze until she offered the most rehearsed smile she could muster. The smile, in Maura's eyes, was the equivalent of Jane's 'fake hug' that she had only witnessed once, when Theresa was on the receiving end.
"I'm making some tea, do you want some?"
Jane politely declined, pinching the bridge of her nose to ward of her pending headache.
"It might help with your headache," Maura offered as she clearly read Jane's physical signs.
Stop reading my body language, Maura!
"Rizzoli," Jane pounced on her ringing phone, thankful for the distraction from Maura.
"We're back at the house," Frost said carefully as he walked closer to Patrick Doyle's now occupied bed. "I've been asked to contact you. Our friend Mr. Doyle would like a word…." Jane sat up straighter as she comprehended the words covered in Frost's own version of sarcasm.
"Detective Rizzoli," Patrick Doyle's voice was stronger than it had been in their previous conversation and Jane's gut instinct went into overdrive.
"Where were you?"
"It's very difficult being confined to this house." Patrick Doyle was being obtuse frustrating Jane even further. "I went for a walk."
"You went for a walk when someone so obviously wants you and those around you dead? Are you serious right now?"
"I'm confident that the danger has passed, Detective Rizzoli; I assume this news will make you happy? You can return to Boston with my daughter. I'd like to see her before it's too late."
"You think there's no danger?" Maura was shocked at the octave that Jane's voice reached. "From what I'm told another one of your employees will soon be making a trip to the morgue!"
"It is rather unfortunate," Patrick Doyle's voice remained even and calm, "accidents happen all the time though don't they?"
"Oh, we both know this was no accident."
"I doubt that you'll find anything to the contrary."
"If you're trying to tell me something," Jane growled through her clenched teeth, "then do it straight up with no games, Doyle. Are you trying to tell me that you killed him because he was your leak?"
"Your theory," Doyle responded quickly.
"Damn right it's my theory, considering you did everything you could to mislead us and have us focus a lot of wasted time on Irish crime families when it was your organization we should have been looking at!"
Doyle was impressed with how quickly Jane had put things together. He hadn't shared that with her, he simply used the correct phrases and tenses in a conversation with her. She was so obviously tuned in to detail; it pleased him to know that he had made the right decision to call her to protect Maura.
"I wouldn't dare to offer you any of my theories when you're leading the investigation. I'd like to talk to my daughter please, in person, before it's too late."
"I'm not bringing her back until I know there isn't a threat to her life, Doyle."
"How can I assure you that she is safe to return home?"
"You can stop with all this bullshit and tell me straight up if the dead guy found this morning is the same guy that killed Michael and Sean."
"I want to talk to my daughter," Doyle's voice had now changed; it was weaker, pleading to Jane for his last chance at redemption.
"I can't bring her back without knowing she'll be safe."
"Isn't it up to her, Detective?" Doyle was challenging her in such an obvious way Jane wanted to scream. "I know I don't have a lot of time and despite the fact that I don't deserve to see her one last time and try to make amends, she hasn't done anything wrong. I give you my word that she's safe to come back; I wouldn't risk my only daughter. You may not understand it, she likely doesn't understand it, but I do love her more than I can ever express."
"We'll be in touch," Jane said closing the phone tightly in her hand. She waited for a brief moment and then looked at Maura.
She had finished making her tea and, despite Jane's protest, she had made her a cup as well. She was leaning back on the counter, sipping her tea, trying to gain her composure before speaking.
"Doyle said it's safe to go back to Boston."
"I'm gathering from your side of the conversation that the victim Frost found earlier was the leak?"
"He didn't say." Jane rubbed the back of her neck feeling the stress building up in that location. "Doyle won't say because he doesn't want to incriminate himself in murder."
"But you don't think it's safe?"
"I don't know…." Jane's head fell forward and her posture sagged in defeat.
"What does your gut tell you?"
"When did you suddenly stop relying on science and put faith in my intestines?"
"When they've always proved right." Maura placed her mug on the counter near her crossed her ankles in front of her. "I don't trust other peoples' intestines, but I trust yours."
"What if I'm wrong?"
Maura smiled sadly at Jane when she saw fear reflected in her expressive brown eyes. Maura could see Jane's fear so clearly ruling her emotions.
"If I take you back there and it isn't safe, I couldn't live with myself if something happened."
"You'll stay with me," Maura simply said as if Jane's fears were completely irrational without actually dismissing them. "He'll die in a matter of days, Jane, if he's already experiencing the surge of energy that comes in near the end."
"I need to know for sure…."
"And I need to know my birth mother," Maura reasoned cautiously. "Please, Jane, I know I'll be safe with you."
Jane ran her fingers through her unruly hair before grabbing a fist full of it and growling through her clenched teeth. Maura knew this was the physical display of Jane's emotions warring with one another; she smiled at being able to read Jane so well despite her own social ineptness.
"Please tell me I won't regret this…." Jane's question was rhetorical, but didn't matter anyway headed toward the bedroom to begin packing their bags for the return to Boston.