Chapter 1: Prologue
A/N: I have no idea how I missed this perfect fanfic opportunity even though I've seen the show [too] many times, lol. So, you can all thank my friend (who *still* does not have an account I can tag – you know who you are 😜) for inspiring this one! This chapter is canon heavy (all credit goes to the writers, creators, etc. of the show), but that will decrease in subsequent chapters.
Because of the tone of the opening story, I wanted to keep this a fun/funny story, so it will not include Tasha or Jane's miscarriage. Essentially, it will diverge from canon during the case.
"Did you really like him?" Maura asked Jane as they walked up to the crime scene. Last night, Jane, Maura, and Maura's new boyfriend Jack had gone out for drinks at the DirtyRobber so that Jane could meet Jack. Since then, Maura had asked Jane over and over again whether she liked Jack.
"No," Jane huffed. She knew Maura wanted her approval, but geez, she'd already given it. Besides, why did Maura care that much what she thought. Okay, she knew the answer to that, but still.
"What?!" Maura exclaimed in surprise.
"Well, I answered 'yes' the first 17 times you asked. I'm thinking it's the wrong answer," Jane quipped. And 17 may have been an understatement. She wasn't annoyed though, even if she was pretending to be. She just wasn't sure what else to say.
"Well, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop," Maura said.
"I'm the other shoe?" Jane said to Maura before redirecting her attention to Korsak and the dead body on the ground. "What do we got?" she asked.
Clearly not done with the conversation, Maura added, "Well, I didn't mean you were a shoe."
Always so literal. Jane sighed, and her mind travelled back to the previous evening.
Jane had to keep reminding herself to focus on Jack – the man who was talking – and not just stare at her friend. But, god, Maura was beautiful, and even though Jane wished Maura wasn't so nervous about Jane meeting Jack, Jane loved 'vulnerable' Maura. It was one of her favorite Mauras. Hell, what was she thinking; she loved every version of Maura.
Jane forced herself to focus her attention back on Jack.
"Then I realize my fly is open…has been for the last 46 minutes," Jack said with a laugh. Okay, at least he was funny, Jane thought to herself.
"Now, there's only four minutes left in the class. What do I do? Do I zip it up? Do I leave it alone? I mean, I'm new. Is it better to be the guy who knew or the guy who had no idea? And all these thoughts are swirling through my head, and I freeze. I just…go completely silent…Ticktock, ticktock…for four minutes until the bell rings."
"And…and what? Did they all file out with their eyes down, desperately avoiding eye contact?" Jane asked, trying to control her laughter.
Jack blushed slightly as he nodded before adding, "A couple students didn't look at me all semester."
They both laughed, and Jane glanced at Maura as Jack said, "Uh, I'm gonna go get us – and, of course, I mean me – refills."
"Okay," Jane acknowledged. As soon as Jack was out of earshot, Jane turned to Maura. "He's great!" she said genuinely despite the fact that her heart was breaking.
"You think so?" Maura asked, her voice full of uncertainty.
"Yes!" Jane said. "There's only one problem with tonight."
"What?" Maura asked, clearly concerned.
"You!" Jane said with a playful laugh as she dipped her fingers into her waterglass. "He's awesome. I'm awesome. You…" she paused to flick water on Maura's arm, "…way too stiff." Jane's tone became more serious as she added, "Maura, relax, okay? The evening is going great."
"Oh, no, it isn't. Now I have all these water spots on my blouse," Maura whined.
"Great," Jane quipped. Okay, she loved 'always perfect' Maura, too. Damn, the woman looked adorable when she was worrying about the most inconsequential things. "Well, then, think about that instead of wondering whether or not we're having a good time, because we're having a good time."
Jack returned with his beer, noticing Maura dabbing her napkin on her sleeve. "Oh, what happened?" he asked.
"Oh, uh... I have the dropsies," Jane said sarcastically, but Jack seemed to only have eyes for Maura.
"Do you want me to get you a towel?" Jack asked Maura, his voice full of concern.
"Oh, no," Maura said, offering a stiff smile. "No, it's fine. But since we're telling funny stories, I…"
"Really?" Jane couldn't stop herself from interrupting in her surprise. "You're gonna tell an embarrassing story about yourself? Okay, this…this is a first," she added to Jack. Hearing whatever came out of Maura's mouth next might make this evening worth it. Okay, no, nothing was worth losing Maura to someone else, even someone as tolerable (read: nice) as Jack.
Maura smiled. "No," she said simply. "But remember the time we went to the Adirondacks?"
"Don't you dare," Jane warned. Nope, no, nuh-uh, Jane thought to herself. Maura wasn't going to go there!
But Maura continued anyway, "Jane and I had never tried it, so we went camping."
"Uh-huh," Jack acknowledged.
Jane chuckled nervously, and Maura laughed. "She really doesn't like this story," Maura told Jack through her laughter.
Jane was brought back to the present by the sound of Korsak's voice as he explained the details of the case, "Sydney Allen, out for a night with a friend. Came into the alley for a smoke." And with that, Jane was in case mode again. She'd have to leave her thoughts about Maura…and Jack for later.
"Looks like it was the husband," Korsak said to Jane when she walked into the bullpen. "Easy open and shut case."
Jane nodded, pausing next to Korsak. It wasn't surprising – he hadn't even called her cell phone when she didn't come home the previous evening. Sydney Allen's husband was Judson Allen, the C.E.O of a tech start-up; he was worth billions, but they didn't have a pre-nup. It appeared that Judson thought murder would be the easier and cheaper way out of his marriage.
"This is yours," Korsak added, handing Jane a small blue box with a ribbon tied around it.
"Oh, what is it?" Jane asked rhetorically.
"Toffee," Korsak answered. When Jane looked at him in surprise, he chuckled and admitted, "I made that up. It's wrapped. I don't know what it is."
Jane rolled her eyes. "You would," she said. But when she opened the box, she completely forgot about Korsak's cheesy humor. "Whoa!" she exclaimed as she lifted the baseball from the box.
"Whoa!" Korsak agreed. "Grover Verben," he read the signature on the ball. "The Dodgers' lefty lion."
"This is awesome!"
"Who gave it to you?"
"Maura's new boyfriend," Jane answered, unable to interpret her own tone. This was the perfect gift, and he'd only met her last night. Jack was technically perfect for Maura. Jane should be happy. She was happy for Maura. Okay, she'd work on it.
"Must be quite a guy," Korsak said. "Bet that's an expensive gift. You think he's trying to buy influence?"
Jane shrugged.
Is it gonna work?" Korsak asked.
Jane smirked. "No," she said. "But, still, a cool gift."
Korsak nodded as he tossed the ball in the air a few times. Jane snatched the ball out of the air on the next toss, shot him a mock innocent look, and returned to her desk with the ball.
Jane looked at the gift again. It was nice that Jack was trying to get to know her. Her was a nice guy. He wasn't the problem. Jane was. Because Jane was unequivocally in love with her best friend.
This thought sent Jane's mind back to the previous evening.
"She really doesn't like this story," Maura told Jack.
Jane groaned. Maura wasn't really going to…was she?
"So, it's late on the second night – probably after midnight," Maura continued. We were getting ready for bed when Jane decided she needed to urinate one more time before…"
"Really, Maur? 'Urinate'?" Jane whined.
Maura just gave Jane an exasperated look as she otherwise ignored Jane's interruption. "As she's on her way back, I heard something moving just outside the tent, but I knew that Jane was still too far away for the sound to be coming from her, so I called out to warn her."
Maura paused as she tried to suppress her giggles.
"What was it?" Jack asked dutifully.
"Ra-racoons," Maura choked out. She playfully glared at Jane, "Someone had left the snacks on the table despite the fact that I had told her to store them in the car."
"Well, I forgot," Jane protested.
"That's not the funny part," Maura said quickly, a huge smile on her face. "Jane might appear fearless, but as it turns out…she's not exactly a fan of wildlife."
"They were eating our snacks," Jane argued. Maura reached across the table and patted Jane's arm placatingly.
"You didn't shoot them?" Jack asked.
"No," Jane answered. "I didn't have my gun on me; plus, shooting blindly into the dark would be…"
Maura cut off Jane's oncoming rant about gun safety. "Not exactly," Maura interrupted. "Or at least she didn't shoot them with her gun."
Jane laughed at Maura's play on words despite herself.
"She did, however, shoot them with water," Maura continued. "She was still carrying her water bottle, and apparently, she thought it was a good idea to spray the racoons with water."
"Did it work?" Jack asked.
"No," Jane groaned.
"Not only did it not work, but the window flaps of our tent were still open," Maura added.
"Oh, no," Jack said.
"So now, our tent is wet, and we're surrounded by racoons," Maura continued.
"Oh, man," Jack said through his laughter.
"Yeah, not my finest moment," Jane agreed. She had to laugh at herself. It was a funny story.
"How'd you get rid of the racoons?" Jack asked.
"I ended up playing a loud noise from my phone," Maura answered. "It worked…but we still had a wet tent."
"And half eaten snack," Jane added, raising her eyebrow.
"Yeah, I made Jane throw those away with the explicit promise that I would procure her new snacks the next day," Maura said.
"Which, by the way, were subpar compared to the snacks we'd brought," Jane commented.
"You still had your s'mores," Maura said, throwing Jane a wink when Jack turned away.
Jane laughed as the conversation moved naturally to other topics.
Well, that wasn't the story Jane was expecting Maura to tell when she brought up the trip…there's no way Maura would share the rest of the trip with Jack, right?
A/N: For those following my other stories, I've started a new routine where I write a minimum of 1k words for Family by Love each day; then, after that I can work on anything I want – even new stories.
