Frankie had offered to watch the girls with Nina, when at the dirty robber the previous night. So, now Maura and Jane found themselves alone in the house kind of not knowing what to do with themselves out of surprise.
"I like how Frankie and you have become friends." Maura said, when they settled on the couch.
"Yeah, me too." Jane smiled.
They decided to spend the noon at the house and then go out for lunch later.
"Would you like to watch a movie?" Maura asked and Jane chuckled. The blonde looked puzzled and Jane told her to google what her question meant. Maura blushed when reading it, while Jane flipped through the channels to find a good one.
The brunette coughed in surprise when Maura asked if they could watch a gay movie and if she knew some which were good. Jane knew plenty and started looking if she could find any on Netflix she liked. She had her favorites on DVD at home, if she had known she would have brought some.
But she got lucky when finding "A family affair" on an illegal streaming channel. Maura went to get some juice and make some popcorn, while Jane wondered if she should tell the blonde about the source. To her surprise Maura knew, at least she gave a hint, but didn't complain about a detective trespassing the law. Probably eager to see the movie, Jane mused in amusement.
It was an older movie, but sweet and funny. This was why Jane liked it. As she had seen it several times, she focused more on Maura who sat stoically on the couch. Her feet tucked under her body as usual. It was clear to her, that this was Maura's first movie of that type and she couldn't help but love to see the scientist in her examining what was going on on the screen. That was so Maura she thought. The woman was always open minded when it came to new things. But she usually approached it from the scientific side.
Jane wondered if Maura was uncertain how sex with a woman worked. But who knew, maybe she had already made love to another woman. The brunette nibbled nervously on her thumb not being able to say what exactly made her nervous.
"Want to see another one?" Jane asked when the movie was finished. She was beginning to relax. A noon on the couch was good after the excitement of the last weeks.
The blonde nodded and smiled. "its interesting how it stimulates me more to see two women kiss than if I see the same between a man and a woman." She scientifically stated. The brunette wanted to say that this was because she was gay, but bit back her comment and grinned. It amused her for Maura seemed to be the only person she knew who was putting feelings into a scientific context.
I love you Maua Isles she thought to herself while she searched for another one finding "Loving Annabelle". The brunette had never seen it herself but knew that it was highly praised, so she chose it after checking with Maura if it was okay. So far, their physical contact had been reduced to some kissing, holding hands and a little bit of snuggling. She decided to move a little bit closer, wrapping her arm around Maura's shoulder who seemed to like it.
Sometimes it felt as if they explored love like teenagers who had no real clue. Maura laid her hand on Janes thigh and they smiled at each other. Jane gave a comfortable sigh and started to focus on the screen.
Being lazy they decided to order Pizza and eat it while watching another movie. Jane ignored her buzzing phone when they began kissing and making out a little. By now they had spooned on the couch and Janes long fingers were running slowly over Maura's soft skin on the arm, causing goosebumps, when there was a knock to the door.
"Don't open." Jane mumbled and nibbled on the blonde's ear. "Maybe its Frankie with the kids." Maura stated as she got ready to rise from the couch, leaving a slightly disappointed Jane behind. The brunette sighed and reached for her phone in the meantime to read a message from Frankie.
We ran into ma at the shopping center. She is probably on the way over to you.
Well that warning was a little bit too late as a red headed Angela busted into the living room of Maura's which made Jane immediately sit up straight.
Her mother was steaming in anger, demanding to know why Jane hadn't bothered to tell her that she was in town. The brunette felt a headache raising and massaged her temples thinking about how to react. She wasn't up for that drama, and it had to stop.
When she glanced at Maura, she saw a questioning look and she saw that the blonde was willing to step up for her. But she slightly tilted her head wanting to do it by herself.
"Hey ma." She started, offering Angela a seat. But her mother denied, her arms stemmed against her waist she demanded to know what was going on. Jane remembered this gesture from her childhood and tried not to feel like an intimidated child by it. She bit her lips and said "Maura and I are dating. We are happy."
Jane saw how Angela shot Maura a mischievous look. "What? You too? I couldn't believe it when Giovanni told me, but now I see. The poor lad was all in tears when he told me" she spat accusingly. Then looking back at Jane. "Look what you've done!" This was the moment when Jane realized that there was no way to escape the drama.
"Actually, I've been in love with her for a long time. And yes, this is because I'm gay too. And if you have a problem with it or can't behave like an adult, I would ask you to leave MY house. But maybe you consider your attitude and we can talk about everything."
Angela blushed and snorted. She turned on her heels and left the house. Jane thought that this had been very brave of Maura. But the blonde appeared to be tired of lying and denying too.
"Why is it that she is so homophobic?" Maura asked after exhaling loudly. "You seemed to get on your nerves but at the end you liked each other. What happened?"
"Honestly I don't know. This started after I came out to her." Jane dropped back to the couch and shrugged.
"Maybe its because of her religious believe?" Maura asked, knowing that the catholic church wasn't that excited about homosexuality.
"I really don't know, Maur." Jane started to become aggressive, immediately excusing herself for the harsh tone. "Look, I need a run. I'll feel better afterwards. I'm sorry." she said softly and kissed a stunned Maura to the cheek before leaving to change into her work out clothes.
"Its okay, Jane." Maura said when she reappeared. "This woman drives me nuts too."
"I didn't really mean to bark at you. I shouldn't have. Sorry." Jane said, feeling guilty. "Want to join me and run if off too?" Maura smiled. "Yes, but only if I don't intrude your personal space if doing so."
Jane smiled at the blonde, pulling her into a hug. "I would love if you joined me." she whispered kissing her forehead.
"I gave up on trying to understand her. Frankie tried to talk to her but also got away emptyhanded." She told Maura when coming out of the shower, rubbing her wet hair with a towel. The run had been great. After starting slowly they had easily fell back in their old rythm. "I get it if she doesn't appreciate my live style to quote her words, but I don't get why she keeps bothering me with it." Jane sighed.
Maura nodded. "Yes, I agree. This drama is unnecessary, and it doesn't really help. What I don't get is, that she still wants to see you. Then when she gets the opportunity, she is mean. But it looks as if she keeps coming back to you for a reason, and I don't think that its to convince you of becoming straight."
Jane gave it a thought. This was all just so confusing and made no sense.
"Maybe she wants to see her grandchild." She mused another theory.
"I don't know, Jane. But fact is, that this is nerve-wracking."
The brunette knew that this was the only fact which could be mouthed with certainty. It was good to talk about it with Maura.
Sunday came quicker than anticipated and Jane packed Julia into the car for their drive home. Jane and Maura silently stood face to face when saying goodbye, not knowing when they could see each other again. Maura pulled Jane into a hug and they kissed without saying much.
Monday morning Jane sat hunched over some files at her desk in the squad room. But her focus was less on the papers in front of her than on the events of the last two weeks and a certain woman, whom she missed. Her elbow was resting on the desk and her hand held her temple, while her wild mane formed a curtain to the left side of her face.
"Jane Rizzoli, you have no idea how glad I am to see you." A well-known voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to find Cavanaugh standing next to her desk.
"Care to get some coffee and talk?" he asked with a smile on his face. Jane who was happy for some distraction and curious what her boss from BPD was doing here nodded and grabbed her jacket. She took him to a nice place close to the precinct.
"What are you doing here?" she asked after they had settled into a booth with their beverages. His eyes were fixed on something on the streets. Spring was here and the sun was shining. Lots of people were out there, enjoying the first real warm days of the year as Jane noted.
The man glanced at her, clearing his throat. "I've got demoted to NYPD because of something Crowe did. Did you know that he was on the payroll of Paddy Doyle? Well, I didn't until internal affairs knocked on my door telling me to pack my shit and move to NY because I should have known. But believe it or not, I can feel lucky because I learned later that Crowe had tried to drag me into this shit by claiming that I had known all about it all along."
His eyes darted out of the window again in order to avoid eye contact with Jane. She could feel that he was somehow ashamed, but also angry. She wondered why Frankie hadn't told her last weekend because it had happened a while ago. Cavanaugh had started working for NYPD last week already.
"Crowe has always been a piece of art." She mumbled, feeling sympathy for the man. Okay, at the beginning she hadn't exactly been friends with Cavanaugh, but she had come to appreciate her boss for his loyalty and honesty. Besides he was a reasonable man, who did a good job.
"I know." He sighed, finally looking at her. "Anyways, I'm glad to work with you again. You seem to be the only sane person at the precinct." He said and rose an eyebrow. Jane chuckled; she would never have thought that someone would call her sane when it came to work. Usually she heard about bridges and shooting herself.
She thanked him for the compliment and agreed. The homicide department at BPD was a family, except for some people. But there was no family feeling to the homicide unit of New York. There were too many loners, and too many fights against and among co-workers. It was the same to the morgue and the lab.
Her own partner bullied her for two reasons. First, because he believed that women didn't belong in the police. And second because of her sexual orientation. He spent most of his time, making fun of her and bragging around what a champ he was, while Jane quietly did all the work.
If she had learned something over the last years, it was that life wasn't always fair, and that it was sometimes easier and better for your sanity not to pull up a fight, but just do your thing and ignore the drama.
Jane gave him her number when parting ways at the precinct later, telling him to call her if he needed help or information about anything. He smiled and thanked her.
I've got a new boss. She texted Maura later and smiled. She liked having Cavanaugh as her boss again.
I hope he's okay. Came the blondes reply soon after.
Yeah, he is. Its Cavanaugh. Tell you all about it on the phone later.
She put the phone down and started to work on the cold case she had been assigned to. It was about a stabbed woman found in Central park around Christmas five years ago. There was something intriguing to the case Jane thought while looking at the list of evidence to see if there was something which hadn't been checked because the right technique hadn't been introduced yet. But she couldn't put a name on it yet.
Later that night she settled on her couch with a beer. Julia was already asleep, Of course she was sad about being separated from Sophie. Jane and Maura talked about the girls for a bit, then Jane told her that she had talked to the lawyer and that he saw a good chance that she didn't have to pay Chris debts any longer, which was really good news.
She pictured Maura sitting on her couch with her feet tucked underneath her body with a glass of wine in hand, while the blonde told her about her day. She had used the nice weather to do some gardening. The governor had called to offer her a job at the morgue in Boston. But Maura seemed to be reluctant to take it for some reason which she didn't elaborate to Jane. But the brunette didn't push her to do so, having the feeling that sooner or later she would get to know why. Maybe Maura didn't like the offer or wasn't quite ready to work again she mused.
These daily talks became a routine over the next weeks. Usually they talked about their days but also started to get in dept of what they had missed on each other's life while not talking to each other. They were slowly building a relationship like they had done over the seven years in Boston. The only difference was that their relationship was of another nature.
They laughed together about funny things, and sometimes cried about the sad things. At one point Maura asked why Julia had hidden from Chris at the fun fair. And Jane had told her, that Chris could be emotional abusive. The brunette felt ashamed to have fallen into the trap but talked openly about it even though. Maura admitting that she had fallen into the trap with Louis too.
"Well, at least we managed to get out of it." Jane said, feeling sad.
"Yes, thank god." Maura added sighing.
When Jane came to the office a few days later, she was more than surprised to see her partner sitting at his desk, actually working. Something she had never witnessed before. She asked Cavanaugh about it, when they met by coincidence on a Sunday in a park. It was clear that he had something to do with it. And there was talk about the new boss in the hallways.
"Well, I honestly don't care if they don't like me. And I won't let them threaten me. Its highly unfair, that the work is always done by the same people. I made a point to them, that I could dismiss them all easily, if they don't work, because then obviously we have to many people in the department if the workload can be done by three."
Jane looked at him and laughed. Well he clearly had a point there. Anyways, since Cavanaugh's actions she made it home on time almost every day.
"Which one is yours Rizzoli?" he asked glancing at the kids on the playground.
She pointed to Julia who was swinging wildly. He grinned. "Of course. Looks and behaves a lot like you." He smiled and winked.
"Yeah, I hear that a lot." Jane laughed and shrugged.
One evening Jane was still sitting at her desk, rubbing her face, trying to focus, when her phone buzzed. It was one of these days when Maura and she wouldn't get to talk on the phone, because the brunette had only 12 hours left to nail the suspect of a homicide. Otherwise they would have to let him go.
She almost choked when finding a picture of Maura in her message box. It was not unusual per se to receive pictures from the blonde, but they usually showed drawings of Sophie or other stuff. The brunette leant back in her chair and clicked her tongue as she glanced at the blonde in a bikini. Hope you enjoy! She read blushing. Of course, she had seen the blonde in this before. But it was a long time ago.
Jane had found her and the picture uhm very sexy. After picking up her jaw from her desk, she dialed Maura's number.
"This is torture." She blurted out to the blonde's amusement.
"I thought about you and how you must be tired and all. So, I decided to cheer you up." The blonde said in a teasing tone.
Jane pinched her nose and chuckled. How on earth could she not love this woman? She already had a plan to get back to her though. They hadn't seen each other for weeks now and although talking much on the phone they had never surpassed snuggling and kissing. She felt surprised by Maura's bold move to a new level, but was totally comfortable with it and the topic of making love.
"Tell me Jane. What's the matter?" the brunette sighed. She was not allowed to discuss any cases with strangers. But they did it all the time. Therefore, she gave it a shot and told Maura everything she knew on the case. "There is something I just don't see, I feel it in my gut that he did it, but I just cant get a hold of it." She finished.
There was silence on the other side of the phone and Jane could picture Maura sitting on her couch, thinking.
"Jane, do you have the autopsy report?" The brunette shuffled through the papers on her desk, pulling it out from under a coffee cup.
"Yes. I have it right here. Why?"
Maura directed her to a section in the file and asked for the abbreviations written there. Jane rubbed her head as she read them out.
"Then I have good news for you Jane. You will be home soon. Because what you just read is proof that the guy did it." Maura went on to explain and Jane had to stop her several times, "Could you please say that in English?" she chuckled as the doctor had to translate several times. Jane took hastily notes in between the interruptions.
"And you are sure this is it?" Jane asked, feeling silly, for Maura was never wrong when it came to science. Thank god the blonde was used to her questioning and wasn't offended.
"I'm sure, Jane. Wrap it up and go home to your kid." The warmth of these words spoken so softly reached the brunettes heart.
"Thanks Maur. You're the best!" she said.
"I know." The blonde said to Janes amusement. "Take care, Jane." Maura's voice softened as they said their goodbyes.
"You too Maur. Good night."
She finished up with the urgent stuff and left the rest for the next day. She couldn't wait to get home to Julia.
Revenge is sweet she thought, when hitting the send button on her phone a few days later. It was in the middle of the noon. Maura was presumably just busy working when Janes bikini picture would reach her. At least she hoped so. The brunette smiled while shutting off the computer, calling it a day. The case had consumed a lot of time and Cavanaugh was only too glad to let her go home.
Maura occasionally worked cases for the BPD, but she wasn't willing to work fulltime again yet.
Jane had barley reached her car, when her phone announced an incoming call. She giggled when Maura's name appeared on the display. The thing was, that Jane usually wasn't the bikini type, settling more for swimsuits. She preferred functional when it came to sportswear. Therefore, Maura had never seen certain parts of her body.
"Did you like it?" she asked after picking up, chuckling when noticing that the doctor's breath war faster than usual.
"You drive me crazy detective, do you know that?" Maura gasped.
Jane had to laugh now. "Well I hope in a good way." She said nonchalantly.
"You definitely made my day." Maura stated, joining the laughter.
"I'm glad to hear that. What are you doing Maur?"
"I'm sitting in my car, driving to the morgue. I was just at a crime scene. You?"
"Sitting in my car, driving home. I got the rest of the day off." She smiled.
"You deserve it after the last weeks." The blonde said. "I have to go now, Jane. I just arrived at the precinct. Call you tonight."