Friday

Maura showed Grace the picture of Bass and Jane in their baseball caps. Grace laughed, showing Maura a picture of her Maine coon in a Blue Jays shirt.

Jane had barely glanced at her phone all day. Between getting a car from the pool and getting therapy set back to fortnightly instead of weekly, she felt invincible. It had been a long week, filled with uncomfortable moments with Maura's staff eyeing her, and the replacement ME not being as thoughtful as Maura with his scalpels, waving them around to punctuate his sentences. Eventually Susie pointed out that he was in violation of OHS, and he stopped, Jane shooting her a grateful glance. Frost had impressed Jane again, using his skills to repair a phone she'd thought was well beyond repair, pulling out a text that incriminated their perp.

When Jane did check her phone, Maura had texted. She was coming home. Jane let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.

She called her back.

"Doctor Isles," Maura answered, and Jane chuckled at the formality.

"I just got off from work, I'm glad I caught you before you got on the plane. When's your flight landing?"

"Eleven tonight," Maura said.

"I'll be there," Jane said.

"I don't want to inconvenience you," Maura said stiffly.

"You could never," Jane said softly. "And I can't wait to see you." She swallowed. "I missed you," she said gently.

"I - I'll be fine to get home on my own," Maura insisted.

"I know where you've been, what you've been doing. I had to let you go alone, but you don't have to come home to an empty house, ok?" Jane's voice softened.

"Bass is there," Maura hedged.

"Don't make me beg, please," Jane said. "I want to see you. Please."

Maura hesitated. "I'll see you tonight," she said finally. "Jane? Thank you."

"I'll count down the minutes."

Maura came off the plane quickly. She'd spent the day in Halifax, Kelly Sparks' body being cremated there with Caiden's. She'd attended the funeral, both parents thanking her. She'd stepped back when it looked as though they were going to hug her, feeling her usual fear and repulsion at the very idea, but Grace had been with her, delivering the last of the children home, and she had borne the brunt of the gratitude.

Maura's breath caught at the sight of Jane, who was leaning against a wall, worn jeans and sneakers, a nice Letterman style jacket over her shirt in concession to the cooler weather. Casual and nondescript, yet still so compelling, that wild hair, that cheeky grin. Maura felt her heartbeat speed up at the smile that spread across Jane's face when she finally saw Maura in the crowd. Jane pushed away from the wall on seeing Maura, and the genuine smile that remained on Jane's face made the anxiety in Maura's chest ease. She'd been tense, she realised now, since the moment she'd last seen Jane. The bodies, the small bodies, watching small town ME's cut into them, her own fingers itching to take over, to do it properly. A moment later Jane's arms closed around her like a warm blanket, and Maura had planned on being firmly polite, on being aloof, but her hands caught Jane, pulled her closer, slipping under Jane's arms to hold her shoulder blades. She'd been to airports hundreds of times, and never had anyone pick her up since she was of age. There had never been anyone she'd wanted to pick her up, anyone she was ever anything more obligated to see in any town. But Jane had come, despite Maura's less than welcome tone over the phone, and Jane was holding her tightly, as though Maura was someone she enjoyed hugging, someone she was pleased to see. As though Maura was someone she cared about, someone she'd missed. She was finally one of those people she'd always watched enviously, being enthusiastically greeted once the wheels hit the tarmac. Maura had been many places, but this was the first time she felt like she'd arrived home.

Jane had kissed her goodbye, but she hadn't kissed Maura hello, and Maura realised now she was a little disappointed. Jane pulled away, smiling at Maura, whose mouth automatically lifted at the sight of Jane, eyes dropping to Jane's mouth, trying to figure out how to close the space between them.

"Is this all your luggage?" Jane asked, taking the carry-on Maura had bought somewhere between Massachusetts and Halifax. Maura nodded as Jane started walking, her spare hand tucked into the crook of Maura's arm, tugging her along. "I've turned on the lights and set the thermostat, and I told Bass you'd be back tonight. I brought in some firewood in case you wanted a fire - it's still cold." Jane opened the passenger door of an unmarked car, ushering Maura inside and putting her luggage on the back seat. Jane hadn't seemed to have noticed Maura hadn't said anything, didn't seem to mind. "It's nice to have you home," Jane said, driving the car, obviously familiar now with the route to Maura's home. "I hope you don't mind, I've been keeping Bass company in the evenings. I know he's cold-blooded, but he always moves towards me when I come in, and it's kind of sweet. He shuffles off to bed when he's had enough, and I leave him be."

"It sounds like you were lonely," Maura said.

"Your house smells like you," Jane said quietly. "It smells safe. And Bass is a good guy - we've really bonded over the baseball games this season."

Maura wanted to tell Jane she'd missed her too, that she had been worried she'd made more out of their relationship - their friendship - than had been there, but Jane appeared to be genuinely delighted to have Maura back in town. She wanted to ask why Jane had kissed her goodbye, why she hadn't kissed her hello.

"I hope you don't mind," Jane said nervously. "I just didn't want to leave him unattended. He's kind of cute, you know, the way he wiggles when you scratch his shell."

"I was lonely too," Maura admitted. "Thank you for picking me up. And for taking care of Bass."

"You're welcome," Jane smiled over at Maura as she pulled to a stop behind Maura's house. "Do you want your key back?"

"Aren't you - would you like to come in?" Maura asked, and Jane turned the engine off with a smile.

"I - I didn't want to impose," Jane said, sounding almost shy, and Maura wondered how many people she'd hurt by being standoffish.

Bass did greet Jane, in his slow, calculated manner. There really was something so attractive about Jane, something that drew the attention of serial killers, reptiles, and somehow, Maura. Did that put Maura in the same category as the other two? Cold-blooded, isolated. It was something to consider, certainly.

Maura found almost everything where she left it - some dishes that had been in the dishwasher were now on the bench, the pleasant scent of Angela's cooking wafting through the house. There were two baseball caps lined up neatly on the counter, and the foreign touch to Maura's home would normally agitate her, would make her nervous because she liked things to be exact and precise and she owned this space, but she recognised the gesture as an attempt by Jane to bring Maura a little further into her world, to let her know Jane had been thinking about her.

"I put it in the oven to warm before I left. Thought you could use a good, home cooked meal." Jane looked anxious, as though she was worried she'd overstepped. Maura had, after all, only given her the key to send some clothes over. And yet she'd obviously been coming over to check on Bass, despite Maura having a service doing that for her. She watched Jane absent-mindedly take a strawberry from the bowl on the counter, take one bite and lean down to offer the rest to Bass.

"That sounds lovely," Maura said, looking around. Her house was tidy, and Jane was crouching next to Bass, who'd finally bumped into Jane's ankle. "It was - it was very thoughtful." Maura straightened her shoulders. "I'm going to shower, I won't be long. You're welcome to stay for dinner." She knew it was late, knew it was nearly midnight. Knew she'd invite Jane to stay later. Knew she was too weak to resist Jane's magnetic pull. Knew she'd end up curled in bed, waiting for Jane to fall asleep so she could weep alone for all those bodies, knew she wouldn't have the stamina to wait that long, knew Jane would hold her through the night. Knew the house she'd bought finally felt like a home simply because Jane was there.

"I missed you," Maura said finally, turning away and locking herself in the bathroom, letting the tears come earlier than she'd scheduled them.

Notes:

I've been going into the office a little more, and as I do I realise just how much I dread working with people. It's ok remotely, or when I'm in the field, but being in an office with cheerful banter is painful.

Um. So. I'm not good with people. So I don't often reply to comments, because it's a lot more terrifying to me than banging out a chapter. But please do know that all your comments are deeply appreciated and respected and absorbed into dopamine.

So I meant to post this before I went out for my first social event since 2019 (work Christmas parties and 3 bookclub meetings excluded) and uh. Yeah. Touch-starved applies here too, I guess. I like some people, and sometimes hugs are ok. I cross-post to AO3 and and thought I'd be able to get a few minutes alone with my phone but alas, not long enough to post.

Last thing: they're back together, so we're back to Monday and Friday posting.