Jane woke up the next morning wondering as they hadn't been able to finish their talk. Her mother had occupied most of Maura's time after they had finished the movie. It had been some dull comedy, but Maura had seemed to like it. It had been shortly before midnight when she had left for her own apartment and the door hadn't even been closed behind her when her mother had started marveling about the doc.
As assumed, Maura had already been kind of adopted by Angela which Jane found absolutely sweet but also a bit unnerving. She hated that she didn't know where they were standing at. Rubbing her eyes, she walked to use the bathroom. Jane stared at her sleepy face when staring into the mirror of the bathroom that she shared with her two brothers and was annoyed when she noticed that one of them had used her razor cream again to leave the lid open.
It was with a huff that she tried to push the dried piece of cream out of the tube before she could shave herself. Where was everybody anyways, she wondered as she realized how eerily silence the house was this morning.
She stopped her doings to listen intently but there was indeed not a single sound to be heard which was highly unusual when so many people where around. It was then when she realized that she had overslept. "Shit!" she exclaimed and hurried.
Frankie's shaving cream was empty which delivered her the culprit of the crime. With a grimace she reached for her fathers' old electric shaver and tried the best she could to get the task done before running back into her room to get dressed.
Jane was 90 minutes late when she silently opened the door to the classroom. Immediately she could feel all eyes on her and cursed. "Good morning Ms. Rizzoli, nice of you to join us today." The professor gave her a sarcastic grin. Jane could only duck her head and apologize. She hadn't only forgotten to set the alarm but also to prepare for the test. Her eyes scanned the open papers on the desks and cringed.
The professor dryly handed her the test and she walked dumbfounded to a seat at the back. Great! She had missed the first 90 minutes. This wasn't going to end well she mused while sitting down and reaching for a pencil.
She could feel Frosts studying eyes on her but avoided looking up. He certainly wore his teasing smile or made a questioning face, and she wasn't up to it. Instead, she focused on the first question. It wasn't a bad one and she could answer it within seconds.
The second question was okay as well and so she had miraculously answered all questions in the last 30 minutes of the test. Now she could only hope that most of the answers were right and that she didn't have to repeat the test.
"Where have you been?" Frost asked after he had caught up on her outside of the classroom. Jane briefly thought about lying. She could easily say that she had gone to bed late because she had learned which had been the reason that she had overslept. But she never was a liar.
Yet she didn't really want him to know about the previous evening with Maura so she went with a simple: "I overslept." That too was unusual for her which made him ask further questions. But she stuck to evasive answers until reaching her locker. His was further down the hall which meant that their ways had to separate. Jane was glad that she didn't have to answer more questions as she watched him leave.
Truth was that she didn't want to talk about it as long as she didn't know what was going on herself. There was nothing she could say, right? Yet, her heart was pounding wildly in her chest when she thought about how they had ended up in bed and how she had almost kissed dr. Isles. The doc had turned her head away and Jane still felt the pang of rejection.
Her mother had chosen that moment to enter her room and ask if they wanted to watch a movie with her. The thought of how they had guiltily tried to look innocent almost made her laugh tough. It had been a mess and she wondered about what her mother was thinking. She hadn't been mad at Jane though when Maura had left which made it seem okay. Well technically they had already left their compromising positions by then.
Jane bit her lip as she reached into her locker to take out a heavy book for the next class, when she sensed someone approaching. "Frost, im not going to answer any further questions." She huffed and turned red when she saw Maura standing next to her after she had closed the door from her locker. Maura gave her a weird smile and Jane cringed.
"I'm sorry, Frost has been bugging me all morning because I overslept." Jane truthfully apologized her harshness towards the blonde who nodded. The brunette could sense that the blonde wanted to ask or say something and watched her shift nervously from one foot to the other and she felt at a loss.
The situation had been awkward to say the least. Maura had rejected Janes kiss and avoided looking at her for the rest of the night. The goodbye consisted of a quick "See you around Jane." Which had left Jane in a turmoil. It had only been four in the morning when Jane had been able to turn off all stupid questions and thoughts that had kept her from sleeping and she felt weary.
She waited and bit her lips, but Maura didn't speak. They just stared at each other while standing in the empty corridor. All classes had started without doubt, but Jane couldn't care less. To janes surprise, Maura swiftly moved onto the tips of her toes and left a quick kiss on her cheek before whispering "Lets talk later." Her mouth was probably still hanging wide open long after the blonde had disappeared around the next corner of the hallway.
Her long fingers reached for the burning spot on her cheek, and she didn't know if she should grin or huff in frustration. Well, Maura wanted to talk. So it couldn't be that bad that she had completely lost her, but she still felt like a stupid fool.
It was only after classes that Jane got around to check her phone for the first time of the day. The battery of her phone was almost dead, but she still had enough power to scroll through the missed messages. There was one from her mother, reminding her to buy some groceries for dinner. There was one from Frankie with a funny meme, several ones from Frost asking her where the hell she was and one from Maura. It had been sent around six in the morning saying: Good morning Jane. I'm sorry for leaving so quickly yesterday evening but I didn't know what to say…. She almost yelled in frustration when her phone decided to die exactly in that moment, leaving her unable to read the rest of the message.
It was as if the universe had something against her. She glanced at her grimace which was being reflected on the dark screen of her phone when she heard someone approach. "Not again Frost!" she said and heard Maura giggle. "He's giving you a hard time today huh?"
Jane looked up into bright hazel eyes and huffed. "You have no idea. He should be a detective or something. He has been torturing me with question whenever possible."
Maura laughed lightly and slightly touched Janes forearm. "Have you read my message?" she asked a bit shyly and Jane rolled her eyes inwardly. "I was just reading it when my phone died. I'm sorry." She apologized. Mauras hand was still lingering on her arm, her eyes studying Jane carefully.
"We could talk now." Jane said as they stood facing each other in the parking lot of the university. Mauras eyes turned regretful at her words. "Not now. My parents are in town and want to see me." Jane nodded in understanding. She felt some loss when Maura pulled her hand away from her arm. "They'll be here the whole week." She explained furthermore and Jane understood that Maura would be too busy for the talk and enjoying the rare moments that she probably had with her parents.
"Its okay." She replied to let Maura know that she wasn't mad at her. A small smile found its way onto Mauras face. "No, it's not." She mumbled and Jane could feel that she meant it. This was one of those delicate moments where things could go terribly wrong Jane felt. One wrong word… so she decided to keep her mouth shut and nodded.
She hoped for another kiss on the cheeks before parting ways, but it didn't happen. Instead, Maura took a step back, leaving a void of emptiness in Janes heart which as itself felt ridiculous. She was going to see Maura again. But still… Then Maura said a simple "Goodbye Jane" and walked off to her car.
The first thing Jane did when coming home was dropping the groceries onto the kitchen counter and walking to her room to load the battery of her phone. She waited impatiently for it being charged enough to open Mauras message. And as she did after what had seemed to be an eternity she read: Good morning Jane. I'm sorry for leaving so quickly yesterday evening but I didn't know what to say. I was overwhelmed by finding you. Xoxo Maura
Then Jane found a new message: You've been so sweet and honest. I wasn't though. Im going to leave Boston very soon because I decided to engage in humanitarian aid a while ago. The doctors without borders expect me to arrive next week. I'm going to stay for three months at least. Im crying right now because I don't want to leave you. But you'll understand. I rarely found people who liked me the way I am. And if I did, they usually left me sooner or later. And I want to spare us the awkwardness of you explaining away that you cant stay in my life. I wish you the best life possible Jane. Goodbye.
The brunette felt sad and enraged at the same time. She immediately dialed Mauras number but only reached her mobile box. Sign of how determined Maura was to make a cut to their relationship. Jane knew that there was no use of calling over and over again and finally dropped to her bed with dwelling tears in her eyes. Maura was gone. The worst thing though was that she had never gotten the chance to talk to her or have her say. She would have waited the three months. Hell, she would have even waited a year if necessary.
Especially after it was clear that she wasn't the only one having feelings. She suddenly felt angry at Maura for not giving her a chance. More tears were streaming down her face when the door to her room flew open and Angela appeared in her room. Jane could see that her mother had wanted to scold her. She shouldn't have left the groceries unpacked on the kitchen counter.
But now Angela's face softened, and she closed the door behind her before sitting down next to Jane. "What happened, Janie?" her mother asked, rubbing her hand over Janes upper leg. She sounded worried and Jane just wanted to blurt out that Maura was leaving her, but she couldn't. the words had gotten stuck in her throat which was probably best because who knew how her very catholic mother would react if she learned that Jane was gay. But she realized that she could say that Maura – her friend – was leaving.
The words rushed out of her before she couldn't stop them and Angela held her for a long time while she cried against her shoulders.
Can we at least see each other one last time? Jane hit the send button before she could overthink the message or her request. Her mother had just left the room and she leaned back against her cushion and stared at the ceiling while hoping for a reply which never came.