LET SLEEPING BLOOD LIE
CHAPTER 35 - Respite
Shannon had shuffled through the documents a few times and had pulled a few vital ones out and was re-reading them carefully when Jane finally and quietly emerged into the room leaving Maura sleeping on the single bed. She had been exhausted from the events of the day prior, discovering so much and a sleepless night, then an early relocation. On top of that was the emotions between them. It was hard to believe Maura had only knocked on her door only 18 hours ago. So much had happened so quickly. So many layers of herself peeled back, she was more confused than she had ever been. Elation and fear mixed together by the talks she had with Maura, worry for the future, and confusion over who she was now.
Jane pulled the wood chair from the wall a dragged it the few feet to sit beside Shannon, taking a beer out of the bar fridge before propping her feet up on it and leaning backwards stretching her legs. She hoped Shannon didn't hear too much of their make-out session in the bedroom through the thin walls before Maura had drifted off to sleep in her arms. If he did hear anything he gave no indication.
"What have we got?" she asked quietly, hushed so not to wake Maura.
"A lot of good documents." Shannon replies quietly, "It sure will make a few people very very unhappy." his massive mischievous grin is irresistible and his eye's dance with excitement. "Also," he adds with a smirk, "Some definitive secret society links to the people that took you." he hands Jane a document with a 'confidential' stamp across the top.
She takes it nonchalantly "There are a lot of 'them' out there, aren't there? People in the club?"
"Yes...It seems there are," he scratches him chin in thought, "And their power is prodigious. They've got their hands on every lever of power in the country. It's like trying to look into the Mafia...they're a secret society, too."
"Mhmmm"
Shannon looks at her a moment, regarding her, watching her eyes graze over the document barely feigning interest, "Jay, if you were a supersecret spy agency seeking to recruit the most trustworthy and able people, wouldn't you want someone whose life story, character, and secrets were already known to you? What sexual proclivities that might make the future spy open to temptation or blackmail."
Jane stares at him momentarily before diverting her attention back to the paper in her hands.
"The executive branches often recruit from those type of groups for that reason." He adds softly.
Jane shrugs in response.
"Are you having second thoughts about this Jay?"
She shrugs again and rubs her face frowning, then she sighs lost in thought again. Shannon can tell she is not even close to engaged in the topic. He didn't hear much of the conversation between the girls next door but wonders if it might be related to that.
"Are you really going to make her stay here?" Shannon pulls her out of her respite and she rewards him with a snort of laughter
"I am totally messing with her," she laughs, "I'll take her home soon"
Shannon chuckles too, "Personally, I can't believe she puts up with you. She is certainly one of a kind."
"True" Jane nods, "No guys survived very long with me."
"And you think it was to do with your personality?" he looks quite surprised
Jane looks towards to bedroom door where she wonders if Maura is sleeping or listening, "Nuh, you're right, they just weren't man enough to handle me."
Shannon laughs softly with her then after a pause they move back to business
Shannon points to a line at the bottom of the page still in Jane's hand. The sentence itself is too redacted to make sense of but the name Smith stands out to her, "Ricci dropped the name Smith...I think we found him."
Jane looks up abruptly at Shannon trying to control the waves of emotions flowing through her, then she glances at the bedroom door to make sure it's as closed as it can be, "You found him?"
"Yes. My sources say he is flying into Boston next week. What do you want to do?"
"I...I..." Suddenly she isn't sure what she want's, she glances at the door again.
Shannon follows her gaze as well as the workings of her brain, "Will you tell her?"
Jane swallows heavily before looking at her feet, "I guess it depends on what I plan to do."
"If you don't kill him, he won't repay the favor. But you don't have to go."
"Yes I do" Jane groans, her internal battle going on, "I just don't want to loose Maura. If I tell her I could loose her, she says it doesn't matter but so far I haven't...killed anyone...like this. If I keep it from her..."
She sighs and puts her head in her hand resting her elbow on her knee.
"You have to tell her, Jay."
"Shhhh." Jane frowns aware Maura could be listening
"If something happens to you...how do you think it will affect her?"
"I can't. She will hate me." Jane growls rubbing her hands together harshly
"And she will hate you if you don't" he retorts
Jane rubs her face again and leans back it the chair, rocking it on the back two legs.
Shannon points at the paper, "Why do you have to do this?"
As impossible as it seems Jane manages to slump further into her chair, "Because I can't get it out of my head, him...I can't get him out."
"What if he got struck by lightening? or hit by a car?"
Jane's eye's flared dark at the thought, her tone dark and dangerous, "Then I would be angry that I didn't get to be a part of instigating his death."
Shannon doesn't look nearly half as surprised as he should, "Vengeance is a dangerous thing Jay. Once you get what you want will you be satisfied?"
"Yes, then I know it will be over."
"That's what everyone thinks, but unfortunately no one ever is truly satisfied. Once the bitterness has taken over, it is not easily removed. Should I be worried about you?"
If looks could kill he would have died right there and quite suddenly, her glare and every muscle in her face said for him to leave it alone and leave her be. It worried him but he held his tongue. He knew the war that raged within her, he had seen it hundreds of times before in victims and he had experienced, it in a sense, himself. He would let her be, but he would not leave her on her own. At some point, probably when Smith was dead, she would be empty and vulnerable and that is when she would need someone to hold her up and fill the emptiness with a new purpose, a purpose hopefully not embroiled with hate. The least he could do was be there if no one else was.
"Ok Jay." He flashed her a grin and gently thumped her in the arm in a friendly manner and she smiled softly back.
Shannon hold's up another document checking for details.
"You'll let me know when?" She asks cautiously
Shannon nods confidently, "I will give you all the details when I have them."
"Do you need my help with anything else?"
"I'm away for a few days, just relax, spend some time with your girl."
Jane's face falls, she suddenly feels anxious, like the freedom might be dangerous.
When Maura enter's the room a few minutes later Jane can tell by her face that she has heard at least some of the conversation, she wonders how much, she anticipates a lecture of sorts. Maura smiles at her softly instead, "Whats for lunch?"
Jane smiles back, relieved, "Let's get you home, shall we."
"Jane?" It's dark and Maura can feel her pulse is fast, too fast, and she feels lightheaded, slightly sick, she has vertigo. "Jane where are you?" She is wide awake now and after a few moments her pulse returns to normal, her cognitive senses separating reality from her dreams, or her nightmares, and the vertigo passes.
It was a nightmare, she had has it several times now over the past week, the same nightmare.
Scientifically she knows it is related to ongoing unresolved stress, knowing this does not make it any easier physically. She lets out a breath and calms herself slowly.
It is a horrible nightmare...Jane is missing, again, gone for four days. Only in these nightmares she knows who took Jane and what they are doing to her. But as usual she can't catch them, stop them in time. They are too fast, too powerful, too connected.
And she always wakes up opening that damn envelope she found under her door. It's a photo of Jane, her Jane. Only it is no bribe, there is no note, no mission. In the image, in this photo, she finds she can easily differentiate alive from dead, this Jane is dead. Her throat slit, she is partially naked, and written across her stomach in her own blood is the numbers '322'.
In her nightmare the photo explodes into flames in her hands. It burns her, and she wakes burning up, the sheets soaked in her sweat.
She knows it isn't real...
It was just a dream, Jane isn't kidnapped, she is just not here, she is gone like usual
She hates these moments, moments when her lover is gone without a word. Alone in her bedroom with the silence all around her. She pulls her knees up to her chest still wrapped in white sheets and bites her lip. The last week they have spent mostly together, when Maura isn't at work, but Jane disappears in the middle of the night. And when Maura wakes up in the morning Jane is back, her soft snores and gentle breathing heavenly to Maura's senses. It has been a magical week, even the tense conversations have been wonderful in an intellectual sense. Lots of secrets revealed, and a lot kept hidden, she can tell.
Jane where are you
She switches on the bedside lamp to check the time on the clock, but the clock is missing completely. Frowning at the oddity of the loss she looks for her phone but finds it is missing too, only the charging cable remains hanging uselessly from the wall. She turns her wrist so the face of the watch is directed towards her, but doesn't tell her the time...it is broken, smashed and unreadable and bloody...and her hands too are drenched in red stickly blood.
"Noo..." Maura jumps off the bed and pulls the sheet away. Jane's side of the bed is covered in blood, the pillow, the sheet, the headboard and a reddish-brown splatter sprayed up the wall.
"Noo..." she cries out running her bloody hand through her hair, tears trickle down her face and her knees feel weak. She falls to her knees, the room spins wildly around her...
Jane
She wakes violently, arms thrown out and a moan like a drowning scream leaves her throat and she gasps sitting up
"Jane" she cries, "No..Jane..."
She is hot and wet from sweat, her head throbs in her skull and she could pass out.
The hands suddenly on her arms are firm and strong and cool like ice, and she hears Jane calling her from what sounds like far away
"Maur"
It's foggy, she feels foggy, she isn't sure where she is, and her stomach is like a million explosions of pain.
"You're ok Maur', you're safe" It's muffled and familiar and the body smothering her smells just like Jane.
Jane is pressed close to her whispering soft promises in her ear, and she feels like she is home. Her head stops spinning and her muscles relax like putty. She breathes in deeply the scents around her, sweet reminders of what is right in front of her. And then she can open her eye's, and her eye's confirm for her that Jane is living and breathing. She wants to pinch herself, just to check she is really awake this time...but then again, she wouldn't really mind if this was a dream.
"Jane" she whispers
The hot breath against her neck is enough to be sure it is real, "You're ok Maura, you're ok. I'm right here."
"You're here" she whispers back
"I'm here" clarity, with a tickle of a kiss against her jaw
"I'm glad" she smiles to herself, "I had a horrible dream you were gone, forever."
Jane pulls back still holding firmly and their eyes lock. Her chocolate brown eyes like an endless pool of peace and love, a quirk of a smile playing on her lips, the dimple on her left side making a welcomed appearance and then hiding again. Then Jane nibbles her bottom lip, it's innocent but it is beautifully seductive. Eye's studying her own, eye's that are unfaltering in their genuinity while being mysterious and complex.
Jane moistens her lips before she speaks, and takes a deep breath, "Never. Never forever. I am here with you."
"Stay" A request, a command, a petition.
One Jane cannot commit too, "I'm here", it's all she can offer for definite right now.
For now it is enough and Maura relaxes into Jane's strong body and they spoon together until the suns rays stream brightly into the room.
Maura won't speak of her dreams, their moments together are to perfect, too sweet, too loving. She won't destroy them with her fears. Taint their time together with sadness. Dreams inside dreams that torment her, until she is awake and at peace. She makes herself forget, pushes them away. She won't let them ruin what she has.
The day was sweet and joyful like the last six days before it had been. Hours spent together sometimes without words. Sweet kisses, gentle caresses, jokes and longing looks. It was as if nothing had changed, as if the last 12 weeks never happened. It was like the day before Jane had been taken...almost. They laughed together and cried together and they ignored everything else.
There were subtle differences, but if you squinted enough you couldn't really see them.
The cracks blurred when you closed your eyes and kissed them away.
They had been for walks through the park, reminisced of old times, of walking Joe Friday, preparing for triathlons. They had eaten corndogs, sat in the back rows of movie theaters and the front row at ballgames. Steaming showers together, bubble baths, and bottles of bubbly.
The passion was heightened everyday as both let go of inhibitions and trusted the other.
And then Jane had gone to an art gallery as well, it was icing on the cake. She had met Maura there, and just for Maura, she had dressed to the nines. A seductive strapless black dress that fitted her perfectly, it squeezed the top flesh of her breasts out on display. And it took Maura's breath away completely. The length was enticing, the slit up the side bewitching, revealing so much soft olive toned skin. It had caught the eye of every man in the room and even a few of their wives. She looked delicious, and Maura spent more time looking at her than the art. In fact if you asked her what was on exhibition she couldn't tell you. And when Jane sauntered around the gallery she felt burning between her legs, a pounding of desire and want. She knew she had stopped breathing. She remembered Jane gently taking her elbow and dragging her towards the ladies room, telling her to breathe, please breathe. Her legs had followed willingly and she had forced herself to obey.
And then in the ladies bathroom, she confirmed for herself just how delicious Jane was...it was an event made memorable for them both, Jane had literally taken her breath away before and after, with whispers in her ear and long caresses under her dress up her thigh to where she was wet and longing. With nibbles between her earlobe and her bosom. Her desire's had been meet with her hands in Jane's hair and Jane's hands everywhere, long slender fingers that knew where she needed touched, lips between her legs making her crazy. And then she had made Jane crazy several times when they returned home in a rush and slightly disheveled. On the couch, against the wall in the hall and finally on the bed. Heavy panting and whispered confessions between them. Language that would make a priest blush. Unrestrained moans, not muffled with kisses, moans that would terrify small animals and make wolves howl nearby if there were any. And the tastes, the willing tongues, lips, and sweet saliva...and the longing, the taste of want electrifying, impossible. She couldn't get enough. It should be illegal.
It had ended finally in complete exhaustion, and complete satisfaction. Damp hair and damp skin, heavy limbs, flushed faces, swollen lips, joyous fulfillment. And grins that could not be defined as anything other than delight.
It was paradise. It was how it was almost meant to be, should have been...
and then, just when it was perfect, it was ripped away from them...
...to be continued...
It's official...only 2 chapters to go... :)
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