Jane sighed heavily. "I can't see, Maura." She tried making herself taller in her seat to see through the clear spot right in the wake of her frantic windshield wipers. The rain that pelted against the front of their rental barely allowed her visibility to see a full four feet in front of her, maybe this would help. Jane glanced over to her right before bringing her attention back to the road. "How far are we?" She put both her hands on the steering wheel.
Maura regarded her GPS system. "An hour minimum." Jane sucked her teeth. "Let's stop, Jane." A simple four-hour trip was now nearing its sixth hour and judging by the way the thick water molecules of rain danced off the vehicle and back into the air creating an even thicker haze an hour was a generous estimate.
Jane glanced at her again. "You wanna stop?" She did not want to see what she looked like if Maura looked this beat. The ME had a hand to her cheek and was leaning gently again the passenger side door as she crossed one leg under herself in a makeshift yoga pose to maintain attention as she focused on navigating them forward "Unbelievable." Jane shook her head at the storm before them. The first two hours of their mini road trip hone had been clear. After stopping for gas and coffee the two fell into a comfortable silence before picking up on the case back home. It wasn't until Maura offered to drive for the fourth time that a heavy cloud the color of ink settled above them. Thunder rolled in next crackling the sky open and before either woman knew it a handful of raindrops that sweetened the air around them turned into a raging storm.
Maura was already tapping away at her tablet to route them to the nearest accommodations. " The act of warm air rising and cold air sinking—" She yawned and then blinked rapidly. "Is…" Jane laughed.
"Don't worry about explaining it, just worry about getting us out of it." Her tone was somewhat worn and raspy but affectionate, nonetheless.
"Yes," Maura agreed while focusing her attention on the mini map in front of her.
"Nothing?" Jane asked as she quickly flickered the windshield wipers on and off to clear a certain spot in her field of vision. "Man it's really coming down."
"We have a few options coming up."
"Thank God." The homicide detective narrowed her eyes and put both hands back on the wheel after adjusting her seatbelt against her chest the correct way and not the cop way. The last thing they needed was an accident. "What's the closest?"
Maura brow wrinkled. "The Holiday Express Inn…"
Jane nodded. "Cool, where do I get off?" Maura said nothing as she scrolled through the images provided. "Maura?"
"Their reviews don't look—"
"—We're not going to get a spot at the Ritz this far from the city so it's either whatever you just found or sleeping in the car… Either way I'm stopping." She glanced at her again and sighed after a moment of silence between them. "Don't we have that international mite spray with us? I'll spray down the place." She nodded when Maura looked at her. "It can't be that bad."
"Yes well… They do provide access to the ice machine."
Jane tried not to laugh, "See? We can... make ice."
Maura sighed. "I am honestly too fatigued to put up much more of a fight than that."
"Good. Which exit?"
"In approximately three thousand two hundred and fourteen meter—" Jane was giving her a look. "The next one." Maura took a few large slips from her water bottle and put it away before looking over at Jane. She was seemingly surrounded by empty coffee cups and had barely touched the baby carrots she had left open for her in the center console. "You need to eat something." The only response she received was a distracted shrug. "Or at least consume something that isn't caffeine. Otherwise you won't be able to sleep."
"Oh believe me I'm passing out the second we get a room." She promised. Maura began to gather all her empty cups.
They took the next exit and Jane rested her forehead on the steering wheel when she was finally able to put the rental in park. "Mauraaa." She whined. The ME smiled softly and touched her back.
"We're here." She reassured before picking up Jane's water bottle and motioning it to her. "Drink this please." Jane sat up and took the water from her to take a few large gulps before looking around them at the parking lot.
"Guess everyone had the same idea." She motioned to the full dirt lot packed with cars.
Maura was getting her bag together. "It's far too dangerous to drive any further."
"Yeah but now we'll have less ice in the ice machine that we access to." It made Maura laugh unexpectedly which Jane felt proud for being able to accomplish under these circumstances. "Alright." She pulled out the car key from the ignition. "Let me see what the room situation is like." Jane paused. "You're okay with… y'know sharing?"
Maura looked up at her, a thought passing through her features Jane could not place. "Yes, if you are comfortable—"
"—Yeah I am."
"I'll come with you."
Jane studied their surroundings as best as she could with the storm raging like this. The parking lot had a few low beamed lamps overhead which made visibility of some corners near impossible in the dark of the night. There was a payphone at the far end west end of the lot near a couple of large dumpsters and what looked to be a generator or AC unit. They were parked between an old slightly rusted red pickup truck and a blue sedan with Massachusetts plates. "You have everything you need for one night in that bag?" The ME nodded. "Okay." She unbuckled her seatbelt and reached behind them to the back seat to grab a hat and her overnight bag. She paused a moment in thought before continuing to dig around until she found the lock box with her off duty firearm in it. "Let's make it one trip." She nodded when she finally brought her torso back to the front seat.
"Can I help?"
"No, I got it." She frowned and looked at Maura's lack of covering and then to the rain outside. "Here." She gave the ME her hat.
Maura smiled at the gesture. "What will you use?"
Jane shrugged. "It's not far."
Once they got all their belongings out and attached to their person it was a mad dash toward the entry of The Holiday Express Inn. The interior was something cut right out of an old easy living magazine from the seventies. All patterns and frilly trim. The large desk at the center of the lobby was painted an off-putting pastel green, Maura supposed it was to match the upholstered green chairs that lined the entry way. There was a faint aroma of moth balls and a chemical agent Maura realized she was too tired to articulate, and the young attendant behind the counter looked like he was too stoned to care. The ME clutched her bag closer to her and began to drag her attention across the rooms tilled floor, something had spilled or was tracked in and had not been thoroughly cleaned…
Jane handed over her credit card before looking over at the ME who seemed almost comically out of it as she studied the room with a wrinkled brow soaking wet in her Red Sox hat. "Maura." She whispered to get her attention. The pathologist turned to her and tried to offer up a brave smile. She came to stand beside her having realized that she was wondering off to follow the drag patterns of grey matter on the ground.
"The air in this room is poorly circulated." She whispered back.
Jane nodded. "Yeah, it is a little stuffy." She motioned to the young man with the ponytail typing away Jane's information before them. "We're almost ready."
"Is there a bathtub?"
"Maura I'd be surprised if there is even a toilet."
"Something was removed." She motioned to her chin to ground.
Jane followed her gaze and nodded. "Looks like rain gunk."
Maura furrowed a brow further. "I don't believe I know what that is."
Jane gave her a goofed expression. "Mud and stuff, tracking." Maura nodded and Jane looked to follow the trail with her eyes. "Dirty mop water?" She shrugged before looking back at her best friend. "Makes sense with everyone coming in from outside."
"A 1971 study printed in the New England Journal of Hospitals found that mops, stored wet, supported bacterial growth to critically high levels and could not be adequately decontaminated by chemical disinfection." Jane nodded supportively. "Laundering and adequate drying provided effective decontamination, but buildup of bacterial counts occurred if mops were not changed daily or if disinfectant was omitted from the wash water."
"Well maybe they just got busy y'know?"
Just then the young attendant sighed to himself, as if the effort of being here was just too much. He stood and handed Jane two key cards and her credit card back. "Um, here's your stuff." He looked around at the desk before him. "Oh." He pulled opened a drawer with dusty plastic menus stacked inside. "Room service is open till… uh well it's closed now man."
Maura and Jane glanced at one another. "Thank you." Maura tried.
"Yeah," Jane added as she looked at the key cards in her hand after grabbing the menu from the attendant. "There's no room number on these."
"Right so, the elevator isn't working and uh… you guys are on the second floor…" He cleared his throat when the taller of the two women began sizing him up. "Room 4D."
Jane quirked a brow. "4D?"
"Yup." He nodded.
"Wouldn't that be on the fourth floor?" Maura pointed out.
"Oh…" The attendant paused. "Yeah… yeah.. 2D."
"How old are you?" Jane began to question but stopped when Maura touched her arm. "That payphone outside still works?" She decided to shift what was left of her focus.
He nodded quickly all to happy to change the subject. "Yeah yeah, it only takes quarters though."
Jane nodded. "Thanks." They began to walk toward the stairs.
"Do you think they have sodium hypochlorite available?" Maura asked.
Jane hiked her overnight bag on her shoulder and reached into her pockets to jingle the loose change from her coffee (three quarters) before putting a hand on the small of Maura's back and gently directing her attention forward instead of on the muddy slush in the hallway. "I don't know."
##
"Mhm." The detective agreed quietly as she watched the rain smash against the muddied surface of the parking lot below. She couldn't see much from her spot near the window peeking through the blinds, but she could make out the fuzzy blue light of the payphone booth and the silhouette of their rental. The Holiday Express Inn's neon green sign reflecting again the storm gave her a somewhat obstructed view of the path just before the entrance of the Inn as well.
Maura ran a gloved hand holding a sanitizing wipe over the nightstand for the third time. "It just seems rather unreasonable."
"Yeah." Jane narrowed her eyes to watch a car slowly roll into he is parking lot and begin to circle. "Hm."
"What was that?" The ME asked as she went over the receiver of the phone a second time.
"Nothing." Jane watched the car look for a spot before deciding there were not any free. It rolled to a stop near the payphone and the light of the interior flickered on. Occupied twice… "I guess it's for the ice machine access and the in room bathroom." She continued their conversation on the relevance of a cleaning fee attached to the overnight stay.
"Well not much stock has been taken to properly disinfect anything." She moved to the old television console in the front of the room and frowned at the thin layer of dust caked on top of it.
Jane watched one figure in the sedan below hop out clad in a dark colored hoody and make a slight jog toward the payphone. "This area isn't too popular amongst tourists, Maur. All they probably get is truckers and—"
"—I hope you are not about to suggest prostitution, Jane." Maura had freed a new wipe and began cleaning the surface of the television monitor.
The figure was making a call. Jane looked over her shoulder at the ME cleaning. "Well what do you wanna call it?" Maura looked up at her as she worked. "Not much else to do out here." Maura went back to her task without responding and Jane sighed to herself before looking out the window again at the figure at the payphone.
They did that for an hour more.
Jane finally stepped away from the window when her eyes began to sting with exhaustion. She yawned and plopped herself down in a chair in the corner of the room and brought her lock box onto her lap before digging in her pocket for the key to open it. Maura had pulled apart the bedspread already and was working carefully to examine the hem of the worn mattress with a small medical grade flashlight.
"You almost done?" Jane asked tiredly as she freed her firearm from its foam surrounding began to inspect it.
Maura exhaled evenly. "No." Her mind felt fevered with her current process.
Jane let the magazine fall from its chamber to check the bullet's condition and then slipped it back in with a satisfying snap before pulling the safety back and off. "I'm gonna shower." She announced before walking toward the window again and pulling aside the blinds once more to sweep their surroundings. "Maura…" She turned and motioned to her firearm. "It's live okay?" She rested it on the nightstand closer to the blonde before turning to examine the room. It wasn't as bad as she imagined it might be. The room was large enough for a mini fridge with a broken ice tray in it. There was a chair in the corner of the room, the kind you'd find at library or a dentist office waiting room. The ground was a trampled on but clean enough looking carpet with alternating floral designs, which of course matched the thin duvet of the full-size bed in the middle of the room. Jane had truly seen worse. Maura however was having a difficult time with it and Jane felt a little helpless with what to do about it. So she'd let her be, and give her the space to find some sort of comfort in her process. It was what the ME preferred anyway. Jane checked the bolt on the front door again before finding her overnight bag and pulling out the pair of sweats and a tank top. When she came out ten minutes later Maura was sitting in the chair with her toiletries on her lap looking at her cell phone.
"We'll leave first thing." The detective reassured her noting with a softness how clean the room now looked and smelt.
"Yes." Maura agreed while standing and walking toward the bathroom door where Jane was standing.
"Hey." Jane stayed in her way.
Maura's features softened when their eyes met. "I'm okay." She mouthed. Jane's eyes gently searched her for any trace of misinformation. When she found none, she bit a corner of her lip unsurely before surprising the ME by leaning in and pressing a long kiss on her cheek.
"Okay." Jane stepped out of the doorway.
When Maura emerged from the shower fifteen minutes later she found the homicide detective standing near the window again peering down at the parking lot below. The storm had not let up, yet the detective seemed determined to see through its haze. "Have you seen something?"
Jane turned and looked over at her best friend. She had changed in simple red yoga pants and a white cotton shirt with her hair pulled out of her face. "I don't know." She admitted before letting her fingers slide from the blinds to her side. "I can't shake this feeling." She shook her head at herself. In all her surveillance she had not witnessed anything out of the ordinary for where they were, and yet she still couldn't help but feel vulnerable. So much had happened in the past few years, she'd be lying if she said it didn't make her feel a little paranoid.
"There has been strong evidence that lack of sleep contributes to persecutory ideation." Jane simply exhaled. "fantasies of being victimized and picked on." She explained as she put her worn clothes from earlier into a separate cloth bag in her overnight tote. "Come."
Jane nodded. "I am, I am.." She watched the ME move to sit on the bed closer to the bathroom. Jane came to sit on the side of the bed closest to the front door and window before tucking her long limbs under the sheets and resting against the backboard.
"Shall we sleep?"
"I'm pretty sure this is a dream anyway." She unceremoniously sunk down into the bed and glanced at her firearm sitting on the nightstand again before exhaling slowly.
"This is what you dream about?"
Jane chuckled. "No, I usually dream about bacon chocolate…."
Maura got out of the bed to turn the lamp off across the room before returning and touching the lamp on her nightstand as well effectively casting the room into complete darkness. When she found the dark she took her time climbing into it beside the other woman. The ME took in a deep breath and for the first time since it started she took a moment to marvel at how magnificent the storm sounded from the safety of a warm bed.
"Goodnight Jane."
Jane yawned. "Night Maur…" She smiled a little to herself when the ME scooted closer to her on the bed, and even though they weren't spooning or touching at all really both women could feel the tension of the day eased away as they registered the other's presence beside them.
Two hours later Jane was startled awake by a sound she could not place immediately. With a careful exhale she could only hear the rain outside her window and a door being closed somewhere in the room beside them or below them. The detective looked about the room and noticed with a small breath of relief that nothing had been disturbed, and a sleeping Maura had at some point rolled into her side and was breathing lightly against her bare shoulder. She was just about to close her eyes again when the sound of another door slamming got her attention again. She stilled her breathing again and stained to listen to the muffled sounds of voices she now identified as escaping from the bathroom vent and through the door they had left slightly ajar.
There was a soft rumble beside her before Jane felt the pressure of a hand on her arm bring her attention back to Maura.
She blinked a few times. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Jane shook her head. Their eyes met. "Just some couple arguing I guess." She whispered. The two lay awake listening to the muffled argument for four real minutes.
"He makes a valid point." The pathologist spoke into Jane's shoulder before finally closing her eyes.
The Boston native chuckled warmly at the sudden commentary. "Wow, Maura."
"What?" She smiled to herself.
"Mind your own business."
Maura exhaled. "It is becoming increasingly difficult to with the octaves they are reaching."
Jane shook her head in amusement. "Want me to call it in as a noise complaint?"
"Please." She curled in herself a little more.
Jane looked at her and smiled. "Alright." She tried to get comfortable again. "I'm on it." She promised before drifting into thought but was pulled out of it again when Maura stirred beside her for the second time. "What's up?"
Maura took pause before speaking to make sure she was hearing clearly. "Is that…?"
Jane furrowed her brows and strained to listen to the now muted sound of bedsprings squeaking in place of the muffled argument. "You gotta be kidding me." She hissed. Maura rested an arm over her midsection while chuckling quietly against her shoulder. Jane looked down at her. "Oh you think this is funny?"
"Most heterosexual couples have penetrative intercourse that lasts for an average of nine minutes." She kept her eyes closed but could feel Jane gaping down at her. "Try and sleep, it'll be over soon."
Jane just stared at her relaxed form incredulously. "Maura how in the hell—never mind, I really, really don't want to know." Jane yanked the covers over herself further in efforts to muffle the squeaks coming from above.
The third time Maura stirred awake it was early morning, the storm now a patchwork of scattered showers cleared enough for some light to bead through the closed blinds and cast long lines of light on she and Jane's bodies. Beside her Jane was still lying on her back snoring quietly. Maura tried to focus her mind on sleep again, and for some time it worked, she were able to drift into a sweet dizziness of falling asleep until Jane shifted too causing her eyes to focus open and find themselves gazing into deep pools of black as Jane shifted toward her slightly to get a better look at her.
They did not seem at all surprised to meet the other here in the dark.
"Go back to sleep." Jane rumbled as she turned on her side and wrapped an arm around the other woman's body protectively. Sleep was so clearly on Jane's mind, but she did not relax into the embrace until Maura herself nodded and snuggled closer to her. There was something so divine about Jane's embrace, it made the stiffness of the motel sheets and pillows seem a cursory thought. Maura let her arm come to hold the other woman too, and her heart picked up a beat when Jane made a small noise of appreciation. She could feel her take in a large breath of air and then instantaneously fall right back into her light snores.
The next morning Maura woke to Jane's hushed tone speaking to someone over the phone.
"Mhm." Jane paced the room quietly as she spoke to whoever was on the other line. "It's just, not a good time for us…" Upon turning toward the bed to make another lap Jane locked eyes with Maura and offered her a small wave. The ME dipped her chin in greeting. "Well we'll be back in time for that…. For tomorrow." She nodded once more. "Ok, I'll talk to you later." She hung up the phone and took a hesitant step toward the bed where Maura was beginning to sit up. "Hey."
Maura blinked a few times before smiling gently. "Good morning, Jane."
Jane moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "Rain stopped."
Maura lifted her chin to take note of the absence of rain thrashing against the motel southern walls like it had been for the majority of the night. "Hm." They looked at each other. "It seems so." Why did she look so nervous? "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah. I just got off the phone with Davies." Jane waited for a response of some kind by the other woman but all she got was a small nod. "Ma invited him to dinner."
Maura raised a brow. "Oh."
"And I just uninvited him."
She shook her head. "Why would you do that?"
Jane became confused. "Um… cause he's seen me naked?"
Maura let out an amused breath. "Jane—"
"—I didn't want it to be weird." She confessed. "I know I would feel weird so I thought…"
"You two are going to have to work together, we all are." It was something she had not fully considered until just that moment.
"Yeah but..." She shook her head. "That's different."
"I see."
Jane stood. "Anyway."
"Jane."
Jane was already moving away from the bed, she paused and looked back at the ME covered in sheets. "Yeah?"
"Thank you." The detective shrugged it off cutely. "Perhaps that would have been a little weird."
Jane let up a small laugh. "Perhaps?" Maura smiled. "I um, I forgot until this morning." She shifted from foot to foot. "He seemed to understand—Are you hungry? I'm hungry."
Maura continued to smile. "We have an hour drive remaining."
"Let's stop somewhere first." She decided for them.
"You don't want to order room service?" Maura asked in jest. She laughed when she saw Jane's expression screwed up.
"I rather eat my own laundry, Maura."
After the two got everything together they changed and checked out of the Inn without incident. Jane was familiar with the area around them by now, and since the weather had cleared up considerably, they were able to make there way to a diner on the outskirts of Boston proper. Jane ordered the lumberjack breakfast and a coffee, Maura sipped orange juice and ate yogurt and granola. They chatted mostly about their trip, and then a little about the case that the FBI had taken over and the bureaucratic nightmare that was going to be paperwork waiting for them. It wasn't until they were finished with a large portion of their meal and ready to leave that the ME snatched up the check before Jane could reach for it.
"Maura C'mon." Jane frowned.
"You can buy me breakfast next time." Maura opened out her designer wallet. Jane was in the middle of protesting when Maura cut her off. "What are you going to do once we arrive to Boston?"
"Probably go get a sandwich with Frankie and Korsak, see what they are saying."
Maura slipped a couple crisp bills into the pleather bound check book before closing it and setting it aside for their waitress to pick up on her coffee rotation. "Are you planning on speaking with your brothers tonight about your father?" She reached for her water glass.
Jane bit her lip. "Maybe." She still hadn't decided on how, but she knew Maura was right, sitting down and all getting on the same page would be important. "You gonna go into the lab tonight?"
"No, but I will stay later tomorrow to catch up." Maura put her water down after a few measured sips. "Would you like to stay over tonight?"
Jane sat up a little straighter at the invitation. "I could."
"I'd like you to."
"Yeah?" Maura nodded. "That how this works?" Jane smirked. "You tell me what you want and just like that, I'm required to do it?"
Maura's dimples made small impression into her cheeks. "Hasn't it always worked this way?" She challenged.
Jane seemed to consider the answer. "No. Not always."
"Okay." She was willing to be corrected. "How would you like to proceed?"
Jane thought before snapping her fingers. "I want beer and pudding cups available at all times if I am to stay over from now on."
Maura raised a brow in amusement. "Pudding cups?" A six pack of beer had somehow made it onto her staple grocery list five years ago.
"Yeah, the ones with the chocolate and then the vanilla and then the chocolate." Jane stacked the layers with her hands.
"I'll have to get back to you on that one."
Jane began to laugh as she shook her head along with Maura. "Oh yeah?"
"Yes."
"Too much to ask?"
Maura squeezed a piece of air to illustrated just how little lay in the balance. "Just a little."
Jane laughed. "Damn, this is going to be difficult." They smiled at each other. "I think I'm—" Just then her phone went off in her pocket. "I'll stay over this once without the pudding, but we're really going to need to come sort of an agreement, Maura." She joked as she reached for the device. "It's Ma."
Maura was smiling still, her cheeks just the faintest flush to them. "Answer it."
Jane nodded and brought the device to her ear. "Hey Ma."
"I wake up this morning, no call, no text, no nothing."
Jane exhaled and sent Maura a little look. "Maura and I stopped because of the rain, Ma. The roads were pretty bad."
There was a pause on the other end. " Are you two alright? When are you making it home?"
"We're fine Ma, in about an hour, we stopped to get breakfast." Angela was about to say something when Jane cut her off. "Oh yeah, and Davies said he can't make it."
The mother of three couldn't help but be amused. "Jane you didn't"
"But I did. Last time I'm saying it, butt out."
"Well you know what I was only—"
"—Try to help. I know." She sighed. "You need anything at the store, Maura and I can grab it on the way in." Angela immediately went into raddling off a list of things they would need them to pick up and Jane instinctive reached for her blazer to find her detectives pad to write everything down. She made a face when she realized she were not in her usual suit and looked to Maura for help. "You got a pen?" She asked as she pulled a napkin close to her. "—uhuh, what kind? Maura knows? Alright…." Maura handed her a pen and watched as Jane jotted a few things down. "Alright bye Ma…" Jane rolled her eyes at something her mother said. "How about we ask the owner of the home next time….. yeah…. Bye….I love you too." Jane hung up with a sigh. "You sure you don't see any grey hairs yet?"
Maura leaned forward some. "Do we have a list?"
"We have a list." She pushed it towards her for examining. "You want me to drop you off so you can get settled while I grab all this stuff? I have to return the car too."
Maura studied the list before handing it back to her. "We can take my car."
"Or we can take my car." Jane offered. "You drive the rental and I follow you in mine."
"What is wrong with taking my car?" She examined the micro expression of mischief that flashed across Jane's innocent features. "You want to go to BPD?" The ME read easily.
Jane smiled sheepishly. "Just to get Nina's desk back." Lie.
"Nina has today off."
"Yes but—"
"—Jane don't you think it would be a good idea to ease yourself back into—"
"—The only thing I want to ease myself back into is our case."
Maura shook her head at her. She wished she were not serious, but she knew she was. "We have a list." She plucked the napkin from Jane's right hand and folded it into her wallet. "And then Sunday dinner with your family."
"Well here is how I see it." Jane stood and the ME followed.
"Enlighten me." Maura shook her head at the other woman's antics as they began making their way toward the entrance of the diner.
"I am a grown woman, with grey hair—"
"—You do not have grey hairs—"
"—I've been through way too much to have anyone no matter how stunning—" Jane raised a brow playfully and Maura laughed.
"—Flattery will also get you nowhere—"
"—Tell me what to do and when to do it." She nodded fiercely before pushing the front door to the diner open and motioning Maura through dramatically.
Maura rolled her eyes and stepped through the exit into the dewy morning air. "Jane I am merely offering a suggestion based on years—" She turned to look at her.
"—Years?"
"Years." Maura nodded surely. "Of calculated observation." She pointed for good measure. "You do this constantly."
Jane sighed heavily and motioned to the car. "Yes Dr. Phil, it's called my job." They started toward the rental.
"A little more balance never hurt." Jane touched the side of her abdomen and winced. "Oh stop."
The cop chuckled and lowered her hand. "Mauraaaa."
"You're not going in today."
Jane reached for her keys and pointed at her with them. "You can't tell me what to do." The ME crossed her arms. "At all."
##
"Would have thought I'd see you this morning." Korsak chuckled as he sat down behind his desk with the phone to his ear. "Bought you a coffee and everything."
Jane rolled her eyes as she watched the digital numbers behind the deli counter. "Yeah well…."
Vince was more than amused. "Don't worry, there will plenty to do tomorrow."
"What's it like over there?" She glared at the man beside her who's number was being called for the last five minutes but who now seemed to be aware.
"Well you know how these things go." He looked about the crowded office.
She uncrossed her arms only to cross them again. WHY was getting two pounds of mortadella taking this long. "Yeah I do, that's why I asked."
"Davies is playing teams though."
"Oh yeah?" Jane scanned the deli counter. One elderly woman was working a slicer and one younger slightly balding man was taking orders. They both moved at the rate of peanut butter falling out of a jar
"He's left us as involved as he can which helps. We need to work together on this one."
"No more victims though right?"
"None."
"Cavanaugh got us assigned to anything else?"
"Nope, but we are back on first response status, Jane."
Jane eyed the long deli line. "Well let's hope no one feels like killing anyone this week."
"I wanted to take a ride tomorrow toward the docs again."
"Why?" She glanced at the paper ticket in her hand. She was fourth in line. At least that was something. "You think we could have missed something?"
"I don't know. All the evidence points to the docks, maybe we've been fixating on the wrong ones."
Jane nodded. "Could be, but then we are looking for a vehicle of transport again."
Vince lowered his voice. "Nina may have something on that too."
Jane perked up at the prospect of a lead. "You're kidding?"
"I wouldn't be here on a Sunday if I were." Jane made plans to meet Korsak early at Boston Joes to get a leg up on their lead and then waited an agonizing seven more minutes before she could order the deli meat her mother so desperately needed. She and Maura had already dropped off the rental and was now working their way down Angela's grocery list before driving Jane's car (a small win) back to the ME's place for dinner.
The detective found Maura in the floral arrangement section chatting it up with the young woman behind the counter wearing green overalls.
"—Really? How lovely." Maura smiled and then looked over when she felt someone standing beside her. Jane was wearing an annoyed expression and holding the plastic container of deli meat haphazardly at her side. She had to laugh. "It could not have been that bad."
"Maura I was in line for fifteen minutes. You almost had a crime scene on your hands." She tossed the deli meat into the basket the ME was holding with the rest of their items. "What are you doing?"
Maura turned back to the woman behind the counter and smiled. "I am purchasing flowers."
Jane looked between the two smiling women. "Flowers aren't on the list."
"No." She said simply before returning to what she and the other woman was talking about. "I'll take them."
"Would you like me to cut the stems for you?"
Maura put up a hand. "That won't be necessary." She turned to Jane. "Are you ready?"
"I was ready an hour ago."
"We haven't even been here an hour, Jane."
"Yeah well…" She shifted her weight impatiently. "I'm going to get ice cream." Maura chuckled as she watched her drag her feet away. She was acting out no doubt, but she found it very endearing, very Jane. When she was done with the florist Maura made her toward a check out line. Jane found her eventually and let a few pints of different flavors fall onto the conveyor belt along with a six pack of beer.
"Tasha call?" She wondered and she gently pushed the smaller woman aside to pay.
After being moved the ME shook her head in amusement, Jane cast her a goofy side glance in return as she was rung up. "No, however we have been text messaging."
The detective was putting her cell phone back into her wallet and sliding into her front pocket. "I like that we got to see her."
"We still need to discuss her graduate studies."
"Yeah but she's doing so well, give her a break."
Maura shook her head, this was always Jane's response. "I am only applying the right amount of professional pressure."
The taller of the two began reaching for the bags of groceries "and if she wants to become a cop?" Maura gave Jane a skeptical look. "I'm joking, Maura."
##
Their homecoming could not have been warmer. By the time two made it to Maura's place Frankie and Nina had already arrived to help set up dinner. Then Tommy and TJ showed up and with them an eruption of noise as the crew turned on the baseball game and opened a couple beers. Tommy and Maura chatted as Angela made her rounds between putting coasters down, kissing TJ, and orchestrating the execution of one of her favorite meals growing up in her mother's home. Braised veal, potato gnocchi and a raw broccoli rabe marinade.
"—So I'm thinkin' like maybe this guys got a few screws loose right? So I tell him hey!" Tommy dropped the knife he was using to clean the broccoli rabe and gesture to himself dramatically. "How hard is it to leave the packages in front of my door!" Maura was laughing.
"Thomas lower your voice!" Angela yelled from across the room.
"Ma!" Both Frankie and Jane called in unison as for a moment the television seemed to be muted by Angela's tone.
Tommy rolled his eyes at the commotion from the living room. "Next week, it's at my door, just like I said it would be."
Maura shook her head as she moved more greens to his cutting board. "Does your address have irregular characters? That could be where the confusion is stemming from."
"Well he aint confused anymore." Tommy huffed.
"Is not confused anymore." Maura nodded.
"Sure sure."
"How are things with Lydia?" She watched as Tommy checked to make sure they were the only ones in the kitchen and in earshot. "Good." He smiled happily. "I mean y'know we haven't…"
Maura raised a brow. "You haven't—?"
"Y'know, got back to uh…y'know."
She nodded quickly "Ah."
"Right." He blushed a little. He still thought Maura incredibly attractive, but he had really come to view as her as a close friend. There were only a handful of people who he could really connect with these days, and Maura was always so kind, so ready to hear him out without judgement. "Anyway yeah."
"Well I am glad that things are going well." Maura looked around the busy house. "Perhaps you should invite her next week."
Tommy seemed genuinely touched. "Yeah?" He looked over to his son who was laughing with the adults as if he understood the joke that Frankie had just told.
"Yes, absolutely." Maura nodded. "You can tell her that it was at my request."
"Thanks Maura." He went back to chopping the greens in front of him. "TJ got you something at the bookstore the other day. It's in my car."
"Oh, a book? For me?" She got excited. "Which is it?"
Tommy shrugged in that mischievous way that Jane always did. "Eh, you'll see."
In the living room TJ announced to everyone that he had to pee and squirmed his way off his aunt's lap and disappeared into the hall. Angela looked between them and followed after him before he used the good towels again. Jane and Frankie chuckled at the memory while Nina sat in her chair studying them.
"So what happened to your lip?" Frankie motioned with his beer toward his sister when a commercial came on the television advertising toilet paper.
"My lip?" Jane put a hand up to her face and sucked her teeth gently when her finger brushed against the rough skin. "Ah yeah…"
"Looks like you lost a fight." Frankie chuckled.
"It doesn't look that bad." Nina stepped in.
"Thank you Nina." Jane bit her lip "I cut it on a ah… beer bottle." She nodded. Her jaw thank goodness was not swollen and this was the only thing she could think to explain away.
"A beer bottle?" Frankie asked in that way of his.
Jane brought her beer to her lips and took a sip. "Yeah that's what I said."
Frankie looked over at Nina and furrowed a brow but before his fiancé could take the clue he was sending the baseball game started back up and TJ came back to sit on the ground at their feet. Jane exhaled a little in relief and cast a sideways glance at her brother. They would be fine, they always were, but she could still sense a new reserved nature about him that she wasn't quite comfortable with. "I'm gonna get another beer, you guys want one?" She asked when she realized hers was empty. "TJ, you want a chocolate milk buddy?"
"Oooh yeah!"
"Get me one, Janie?" Frankie asked while handing her his empty bottle.
"I'm okay Jane, thank you." Nina decided she would save herself for wine at dinner.
Jane pulled herself off the couch. "Alright, two beers and one chocolate milk coming up." She made her way into the kitchen with the empty bottles and slipped in into the recycling bin beside where Maura was standing readying a pot of boiling water for the gnocchi.
The ME smiled at her before going back to her task. "How are we?"
"Smells good in here." She glanced at Tommy cutting greens in his own world. "I'm just here for a chocolate milk and two beers."
"That's a strange combination."
Jane reached for the drawer right in front of the ME for the bottle opener. "Chocolate milk is for TJ."
"Ah." Maura moved away from the other woman to go to the fridge to grab a beer and a yellow yoohoo box for TJ. She couldn't say why, maybe it was the wine she had been sipping, but having Jane so close was causing her to get flustered. "Here they are."
Jane smiled in thanks. "You need any help?" She motioned to her brother. "He wash his hands?"
Tommy chuckled. "I can hear you, Janie."
"Yeah and I'm still asking."
Tommy moved the final bit of the greens and made a show of wiping his palms in his jeans. "You need anything else Maura?"
Being slightly perturbed by the causal natural in which they joked about cross contamination was one thing, but her inability to accurately recall if Tommy had actually washed his hands was a whole other thing. "No, thank you Tommy." The two of them watched him leave the kitchen to join the others in the couch where Jane had been sitting.
Jane crossed her arms and raised a brow at the ME who turned to look at her. "You need me to go get more greens?" Maura looked guiltily at the greens causing Jane only to smile more. "I'll be back."
"No Jane wait, don't go." She handed her the chocolate milk box and the beers. "We will make an easy alteration. I will just braise them with the veal, that way they reach one hundred- and sixty-five-degrees Fahrenheit. That will kill off any—"
"Coodies?"
Maura cleared her throat. "Yes."
"Fantastic." Jane moved to open her beer as Maura made space on the stove to include the greens. "I um…this feels wired." She said after watching the other work for a moment.
"I understand your concerns, though heat will certainly eliminate any living bacteria it does little to kill their secreted toxins or any viral cells that might be present…"
Jane watched her. "Huh, Maura?"
The pathologist looked up from her work cutely. "The greens." Jane wiggled an eyebrow once while shaking her head. "No?" Maura smiled.
"Mmm no, Maura." She took a swig of her beer. "I'm going back to watching the game."
Maura grabbed her arm. "No, tell me. You have my undivided attention." Just then a timer went off somewhere in the kitchen and Maura winced in response. "In.. two minutes."
"I'm gonna go confided in my tortoise."
"Jane."
"No no, he's the only one who cares anyway." She gave the ME a pointed look that turned into a soft expression, Maura returned it easily. "Don't burn the gnocchi." Jane motioned to the timer with her beer bottle.
"Don't go too far."
Jane was already walking away. "Mhmmm."
AN: Who else is binge watching Rizzoli & Isles? I have, and you all have really been on my mind because of it. I hope you're well, please take care.
KathleenDee
PS- Whoever "hope" is, thank you for your long and lovely reviews. I loved seeing your reaction in real time.