Chapter 5 – How?

"A D? But… what? How?" a furious Jane had stormed through the corridors to find her friends, they were all laughing in the cafeteria, not a care in the world, that was until Jane let loose her frustration that had been building ever since her argument with Coach Cooper the previous night. She had just picked up her test from Doctor Isles' new 'Marked Work' tray outside of her room, and she wasn't impressed with her results.

Steve grabbed the test from her and let out a low whistle, "Damn Rizzoli… what happened? Even I got a C."

"You got a C? She hates me. She clearly hates me. That's the only reason." Jane flopped down on the table in front of her, her wild curls hiding her from the cruel world that was the marking system of high school. She looked as though she was impressed with my answers in form time, she was smiling at me all morning, she looked so genuine when she told me she could tell I tried really hard. Why has she marked me so low?

"Frost… what did you get?" She sheepishly peered through her mane at her best friend, hoping for some solidarity.

Frost however blushed and quickly looked down at his food.

"What?" she insisted, her head rising slowly out of her arms, glaring at her best friend, dark chocolate eyes staring down even deeper mahogany ones.

"I…erm… got an A." Instinctively ducking his head, after many years of knowing the fiery Rizzoli he wanted to give himself the best chance of not being beaten up before he'd eaten his sandwich.

Letting out a disappointed howl, Jane disappeared back into her curls, there was Cooper's excuse to bench her from the team. "AN A? Oh man. Cooper is never gonna keep me on the team at this rate. My life is over. Frost, say a prayer for me. Tell my ma I loved her really. I'll never forget the gnocchi…OW!"

A soft punch to the shoulder broke her dramatic monologue, "Calm down Rizzoli, I'm sure Dr. Isles will let you make up the test, no biggie. It was only that stupid 'Get to know your Science' quiz anyway, I'm sure she wasn't expecting much after a whole summer of no studying! See, it even says here to go see her after school. Go sort it out before Coach Cooper comes down hard on you… again! She's already got Davies and Thompson benched for the next couple of practices."

"Seriously? They're benched? But they're our best defence! It's only the second day of school! What is Cooper playing at?"

"Yeah, I think Isles gave them an E on their quiz. Cooper was not impressed. Never seen her yell like that before. It was scary, I wonder who's pissed her off to get that reaction?" Frost looked directly at Jane, but she pretended not to notice him, he knew something had happened after practice, the tension was too high between the two women for it to just blow over. But he knew how Jane worked, she needed to be ready to feel comfortable enough to tell him.

"We've got Doctor Isles again last period, I'll hang back and see her after class. She can't tell me I'm that bad right?" Admitting defeat, she finally took her peanut butter and fluff sandwich out of her bag, the taste releasing instant endorphins and sending a warmth throughout her body, slowly bringing her heart rate back to normal.

"Well that depends," Frost felt brave enough to chime in, "you are pretty terrible at Biology… you wearing your lucky underwear?"

The whole table erupted into laughter, Jane blushed and finally gave in and started laughing too, slowly forgetting about all the anger she had held when she entered the cafeteria. However, a strange emotion was starting to overcome her. Nerves? Was she nervous to see Dr. Isles? Surely not. 'woman up Rizzoli. You saw her this morning and you were fine! It's just Doctor Isles…. Absolutely gorgeous, wonderful Doctor Isles.'

Knowing that she had to see Dr Isles later that day alone, the once cocky and confident Jane Rizzoli turned into a nervous wreck. She couldn't concentrate on any of her work, her palms were sweaty and when she got called on in her maths class to explain what Pythagoras' Theorem was, the only word she could muster was, 'triangles?' Much to the amusement of her classmates.

She had seen Doctor Isles talking to Coach Cooper in the hall numerous times that day on her way to her other classes, they looked friendly, but Jane was relieved (why am I relieved?) to see nothing more than that in Maura's eyes. Maura on one hand had always turned to say hello to Jane and whoever she was walking with, whereas Riley had completely ignored her every time, until she was walking with Frost who she uncharacteristically high-fived instead.

"Okay that was weird." Frost muttered as they passed Coach, "she would never intentionally speak to me before you. You're like the chosen one with her. What's going on Jane?" He looked worried.

"Not now okay. But I may have pissed off Cooper." She whispered, looking around to see if anyone heard her.

"Jane." Frost warned, "You're the reason that half the team are scared to go to practice? Jeez." He let out a deep sigh, "You better hope no one finds out or you're dead meat."

"You're telling me! I didn't want this to happen, but she… it doesn't matter. Let's get to Biology, we'll be late!"

Shaking his head at how close he'd been to getting Jane to tell him the truth, he followed her into their new favourite lesson. "Yeah we know how eager you are to get there!"

She punched him on the shoulder as they parted ways to go to their respective seats. He laughed as he watched Jane's expression change to one of a child who had been left in a sweet shop by themselves, as the beautiful doctor sat on Jane's desk to chat before the lesson began. If Frost didn't know any better, he'd say the two had known each other for years. The ease at which they talked animatedly to each other, and the familiarity with which the doctor would place her hand on Jane's shoulder as she laughed. He had to admit he didn't blame Jane for ogling the doctor the way she did. Doctor Isles had chosen an emerald green dress that again was a perfect cut for her, the shade perfectly matched not only her hazel eyes, but her beautiful honey-blonde locks as well, and Frost for the first time saw shades of auburn he hadn't noticed before. He noticed the doctor wink at Jane before calling the class to order, when he finished unpacking his things, he caught Jane's attention and mouthed at her, "Lucky son of a bitch." She grinned like a Cheshire cat mouthing, "I know!" Back at Frost, Some people have all the luck.

…..

As the final bell of the day sounded, Jane and Frost along with their peers started to pack their things away.

"Thank you for your attention today class! And well done for your first test results, next lesson you may sit wherever you like!"

A cheer ruptured through the class amongst many, 'Thanks Doc!' 'Thank you Doctor Isles!"

"Miss Rizzoli if you can remember to stay please?"

Frost smirked once again and whispered, "Be good" running away before Jane had a chance to hit him. Jane smiled as she sat on her desk facing Doctor Isles, "Of course Doctor."

Maura felt instant goosebumps at the deep, scintillating voice of Jane Rizzoli. Closing the classroom door behind the last student, she made her way back to her desk, collecting any stray textbooks as she went, she could feel the eyes of Jane Rizzoli burning into her. Taking a deep breath, she finally looked up, the textbooks almost dropping from her finger tips as she saw the undeniable, raw, burning lust that was engrained into the young Italian's eyes.

"Jane… I" but the thought was gone.

She moved closer to Jane, very aware of keeping the textbooks between them as a safety precaution. Their body language changed so fluidly, Jane turned more squarely to face Doctor Isles, her legs unintentionally parting ever so slightly. Maura's eyes flicked down to observe the subtle action, and felt the warm sensation between her own thighs returning.

"Jane…" she tried again, this time finding her voice. "I wanted to see you about your test."

"Doc, you told me this morning you could see I'd tried really hard, you were nothing but encouraging to me, yet I pick up my paper that has a big fat 'D' on it and a note to see you…not that I'm complaining of course." A smirk followed Jane's statement, and she could tell she was having the desired effect on Doctor Isles.

"I need to confess something." Maura walked around to the other side of her desk and sat down, depositing the textbooks and picking up a small cube, her fingers turning it over and over.

"We aren't in church doc, you don't have to be so nervous." Adjusting herself so she was facing Maura yet again, Jane noticed the cube.

"Is that one of those fidget cubes? I thought they were just an advertising ploy on Amazon." She said laughing.

"Yes… it's actually proven to help the effects of anxiety and also ADD; on each of the six sides there's something different to play with; one side clicks, one side you can roll. One side is actually supposed to represent a smooth worry stone often used in Chinese tradition. I find it's very efficient for-"

"Doc…" Jane said softly, "You don't have to be nervous around me. It's okay."

"You do make me nervous Jane, I can't explain it. You probably think I'm silly. A grown woman playing with a toy."

"Hey," Jane stood up and moved closer, taking the cube and Maura's hand into her own, "if it helps you. It's not a silly toy is it? In fact, I might have to borrow it for when I do my homework. My attention is similar to that of a magpie. Or so I've been told."

Looking confused, Maura looked up into the smiling face of the Italian, not removing Jane's hand, "Oh! You mean because in popular culture magpies are associated with shiny things, and are therefore distracted easily." She laughed nervously, "sorry…I don't quite understand most things to do with sarcasm or slang, by speaking my findings out loud it helps me to process it so I can identify it in the future."

"Never apologise for your quirks, they make you, you. It's what makes me undeniably and uncontrollably attracted to you." The spark as they touched had grown steadily stronger the longer the contact had been sustained between them. It made them study their fingers closer, trying to grasp what it was that made them feel so strongly towards each other after only 24 hours. It was insane. It was so wrong. But why did it feel normal? Why did it feel right?

Jane looked up at Maura, her eyes longingly wanting her to put into words what it was they were both feeling.

"I think maybe we should leave that conversation there for today." Maura broke their eye contact and looked down at the papers on her desk.

"The reason I really brought you here." Handing Jane a piece of paper, Maura watched her eyes go wide as she realised what it was.

"But I have my paper, I got a D?" she asked uncertainly.

"No Jane, I may have told a little white lie. This is your original paper. You got an A."

Watching the smile break on Jane's face, Maura's heart skipped a beat.

"But what? Why? I've been beating myself up all day wondering what I did wrong!"

"No Jane nothing like that, in fact it was a very selfish reason of me. I wonder, where should you be right now?" Maura asked, a coy smile dancing on her lips.

"Practice… why?"

"And who do I get incredibly jealous by, when I think of you spending time there without me?"

"You did all this to spend some time with me?"

"Are you angry? I know how much you love practice, and I know you need to be there especially as it's only the second day, but I needed to see you. To try and talk to you about this… alone." Maura's tone was playful, and she hoped Jane would play along.

"And what Doctor Isles, was so important you needed to take me away from practice to tell me?" Jane had caught on, and was matching Maura for coyness. The heat between the two women rising by the second.

"I like you Jane. I really, really like you, and I know you feel it too. I know I'm your teacher, I know there's six years between us, but there's something that science can't process or explain to me how I feel like this, and that scares me. Science has never let me down before"

Jane's expression was unreadable and Maura started to panic.

"Jane I'm so sorry, please just ignore this ever happened. I can never read social cues well and I must have misjusg-"

Lips. Jane's lips had closed on hers and the sense of euphoria she felt was nothing she had ever experienced or dreamed of before. Through the fireworksMaura's hands came up to Jane's face, softly caressing the dimples she had longed to touch. Jane's hands however had come to rest either side of Maura's waist, pulling their bodies flush against each other.

"You didn't misjudge how I feel. I have never felt this way about anyone… ever! Let alone after 2 days! This is crazy. All I have done since we met is think about you. I have constantly craved to have you look at me just one more time, or speak to me, the hours I've spent daydreaming about your lips touching mine. Doctor Isles… can we do this?"

"Jane, if we are to do this you need to call me Maura." Sharing a smile, the older woman continued, not believing how comfortable and safe she felt in Jane's arms. "This is dangerous. If we get caught… We shouldn't Jane. We-we can't. Oh god we can't."

"Maura please. You know this feels right. You can feel the electricity every time we touch. This isn't a coincidence. We can do this." Jane's hands clutched to the Maura's hips, not wanting – or willing- to let her go.

"I think we need time to think. Coach Cooper will be waiting for you at practice. Thank you Miss Rizzoli you are free to go." Maura turned, trying to escape from Jane's embrace, but Jane saw the hesitation and hung on to it, pulling Maura gently back towards her.

"Please don't dismiss me or these feelings right away okay? Promise me that when you say you're going to think about it, you actually will? Please Maura. That kiss was perfect. My hands upon yours, our bodies together, don't you agree it feels so right?"

Turning to look at Jane, she reached out and took her hand once more. "Jane, that kiss was perfect. I want nothing more than pursue whatever this is between us, because you're right I've never felt anything like that, not even close, but right now my head is taking over my heart. Please let me think about this. We both have a lot to lose if anything goes wrong."

Jane paused before she spoke, "I think you should think on the bleachers. I hear they've got a great view of the potential talent of this school." Jane took Maura's hand, brought it to her lips and kissed it softly, "I will wait for as long as it takes. I know this is right. We are right."

Maura continued to look at her hand long after Jane had left her classroom, the skin on her hand still burning from the touch of the young Italian's soft lips.

Only yesterday she was excited to embark on her new career path, maybe meet someone on the staff and finally feel like she belonged somewhere. Forty-eight hours later and her heart was already taken, but not by a staff member but a student in her senior year. Closing her eyes and leaning against the classroom wall, Maura knew this wasn't what she bargained for when she came to this school.

I need some fresh air.

dun dun dun... what do we think? 2 in one day! I've got a lot more time to write now, so as soon as I can upload chapter 6 it'll be coming your way! :) F xx