A/N: So, some housekeeping things:
1) this is the first of two chapters that will drop today, so be on the lookout for chapter 7 in like ten hours.
2) The italics scene below picks up right where chapter 5 left off, and the rest of the chapter is the next day.
3) To all the followers and reviewers, thank you so much for your engagement and support! It really does keep a writer like me going. :) I know this plotline is a little different, but I'm glad to see you've stuck around and are enjoying it.
4) And to our slut-shamers in the reviews: welcome! I was wondering when you and your backwards-ass opinions were going to show up. Please enjoy the next ten chapters of unadulterated, unashamed sluttiness! It only gets sexier from here!
"So…" Jane started, and the buzz of it tickled Maura's nose, which was right up against Jane's neck.
Maura giggled at the sensation. "Yes?"
"You said the other day that you and Tommy came up with rules. Should we be doing that, too?"
Maura rose on her elbow and traced her finger over the crease between Jane's wondering eyebrows. "Mmm. You want to keep seeing me?"
Jane gulped. She hadn't meant to presume. "Y-yeah. If that's what you want."
"It is what I want. But it needs to be what you want irrespective of whether or not I want it," Maura said softly. Her fingers danced down Jane's chest to her belly.
"I… I want you. Like this," Jane said. "I think you're the only person I trust for no-strings-attached sex."
"Then yes. We should have rules. Well… that term is so rigid," Maura began.
"Isn't that what you called 'em with my brother?"
"Yes," Maura said, "but he's not my… you. I know you, deeply. I know him through you. It's different. We should have guidelines."
"Ok. What kinda guidelines do we need?" Jane asked, and she put a fingertip on Maura's lower lip. Maura sucked it into her mouth, swirling it with her tongue and biting softly before she let it go. "Before you make me wanna go again," Jane growled.
"I wouldn't be opposed to that," Maura said in her deepest register. For a moment, her eyes met Jane's and the heat between them grew.
Jane broke their trance, and it nearly broke her heart. "Guidelines first. Then sex. Maybe."
Maura made a show of sighing loudly and then smirked. "Yes. First - you cannot get mad if I see him."
"Tommy?" asked Jane. When Maura nodded, she nodded back and looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah. I know we're not together. It's not my business, I guess. And I know that if I really don't like it, I can always take my ass home."
"That's true," said Maura. She saw the hesitation in Jane's features, and so she ran her hand over the the top of Jane's head. Jane didn't want to take her ass home, metaphorically, but she also struggled with Maura and Tommy's situation. Maura needed to make her see that they were different. "But… I would like to be this for you. A place you can come when you need to blow off steam - I'm only seeing Tommy, and we're very careful. I would like it if you knew you could come here after a hard day and just be with me. Like you said, no strings and no questions, just knowing that I'm a safe space."
Jane's smile for her was timid. "You gonna be my sex prescription?" she joked, her eyes alight with both teasing and admiration.
Maura experienced only innocent excitement. "Yes, Exactly! Tommy is kind of like that for me. Let me be that for you."
At the mention of her brother, Jane soured. She looked down at her hands and rubbed them together for a long moment. "Sounds like an awful lot of usin'," she finally said, just above a whisper.
"That's archaic, Jane," Maura said firmly. "Tell me that what we just did felt only like using. And even if it did, tell me what would be so bad about that, considering we're all consenting participants."
"Yeah, ok. You're right," Jane said, rubbing her hands over her face. Maura took one and held it.
"Say it again," she teased, and Jane scoffed.
"Ha. Ha. I think we need a rule-" she was interrupted by Maura's upturned brow, "a guideline… that we do not fall asleep in each other's beds."
"I like you," Maura said. Her honesty sounded so good to Jane.
"What was that for?"
"I just think that is an excellent guideline. One I suggested to your brother. We are very similar, despite our differences."
"Yeah maybe. It's just… that's how people catch feelings."
Maura paused. "That's what Tommy said."
"Well, look at that. He got somethin' right. He's dumb for not catching feelings anyway," said Jane. she scrunched her face in disapproval. Maura laid back down against her to imbue a little calm, their hands still linked together over her shoulder.
They lounged for twenty minutes, maybe longer, neither saying anything. They enjoyed the sound of each other coming down, of hearts slowing and breaths evening out.
"Text me in the morning about that joint training we have to attend. I want to walk over together," Maura said, and she sounded exhausted.
Jane heard it, and took her cue. "Ok. Hey Maura?"
"Yes?" Maura asked, her eyes still closed.
"I'm gonna go home, try not to think about how you had sex with my brother just a few hours ago, ok? I left the tox file for the Bryant case on your counter. Can you break it down for me tomorrow when you get a chance?"
"Of course," Maura answered with zeal, suddenly wide awake. She opened her eyes and licked Jane's scar before she kissed it one last time. She tried not to investigate her growing disappointment when she finally let that hand go.
"Thanks," Jane said, and sat up. Her feet planted themselves against the carpet and she rubbed the back of her head. "Let's do this again sometime soon, huh? Maybe not the same day you see Tommy, though."
Maura's disappointment was assuaged. She decided not to investigate that feeling, either. "Yes, let's."
The next morning, Maura had barely made it from the elevator to Jane's desk before Jane had decided to head to the conference room alone. They locked eyes just as Jane stood, and Maura chastised her without speaking. Jane turned red, having been caught in her own impatience.
Maura's lips twitched with the grin she failed to hide, and she had to resist the urge to touch when she approached. "The tables turn one time…"
"And I become the world's biggest asshole? I'm sorry. But you're never late," Jane whined. She stamped her foot and clenched her fists. "I was only gonna leave without you because I didn't think you were gonna make it."
"The call with the mayor did last longer than I anticipated. Next time just text me," Maura stated. Jane snatched the blazer over the back over her chair and shrugged it over her black t-shirt.
"Ok," Jane responded. She ushered Maura back out through the bullpen with her hand on the back of her all-blue Gucci belted dress. She twiddled her fingers against the finery of the Italian design, somehow feeling at home and out of her league all at once. "I'll probably be texting you throughout this thing, too."
She pressed the down button and smirked when Maura gasped. "Jane! Equality in the workplace is very important!"
"I know," Jane said loudly. "You don't gotta tell me: I'm a woman in a male-dominated field."
"But it goes beyond just that. There's disability justice, racial justice, gender and sexuality-"
"Ok, ok," Jane interjected once they were safely inside the elevator and going down. "I get it. There's a lot for me to learn. Do me a favor and let them tell me about it, a'right?"
Maura chuckled. "You're very ornery sometimes," she said. When Jane glared, Maura patted her cheek. "Don't deny it."
"I won't. I just don't like hearin' it," said Jane. The doors dinged open, and they stepped out, Jane inches from Maura's back the whole walk to the giant conference room.
Maura tsked. "Mmhmm. Find us some seats. I'll sign you in, since I know you also don't like waiting in line."
"You're the best!" Jane exclaimed, voice bright with faux sweetness. She eyed Frost and Korsak about three rows from the back, and walked over to them.
"Surprised we got here before you and the doc," said Korsak, his eyeglasses low on his nose as he perused the training material they'd been given.
"Yeah, she usually gets hives if she's not the first one here," Frost chimed in.
Jane winced on her way down into her seat, crossing her arms once she got there. "Yeah well, combine a late night with an early morning and a call with the mayor over the Bryant case, and you got a recipe for 'just-in-time'."
Frost's brows rose and all his pretty teeth showed in a smile, and Jane gulped at her own error. "Late night, huh?" Frost asked. "She still seein' Tommy?"
"Yeah but it wasn't Tommy she saw last night," she said cooly, half-expecting him to call her out on her skittish body language and sniffly nose. All her tells were on display.
"Well damn. Go Maura," Frost said, and if he saw her nervousness, he chose not to address it. "I'd like to fuck just one person."
"Good luck with that. And when she gets here, you're gonna keep your mouth shut, because she's a lady," Jane warned, leaning in with her crossed arms. He put his hands up in surrender and Korsak chuckled as he made some notes in the margins of his paper.
"Who's a lady? 'Cause it sure ain't you," another voice chimed in. Frankie Jr. pulled out one of the chairs from the table in front of them and sat in it. He adjusted his hips to accommodate his overburdened utility belt and patted his styled hair.
"You lost? Because this looks like a detective's table to me," Jane prodded, looking pointedly between herself and her two partners. Frankie glowered at her.
"That insult only holds water til Maura sits here, Janie," he shot back, and Jane had to give him that. "And plus, I'm technically sittin' at the table in front of you. So there."
"What are you two fighting about now?" Maura's feminine lilt settled over them just then, and when she put her purse on the table top, she set Jane's paperwork under a steaming styrofoam cup of coffee. The kind that Maura herself would never drink. "I brought you two sugar packets instead of putting them in, because I'm holding out hope that you'll heed my advice of switching to one."
Jane pulled out her chair for her. "With this stale-ass coffee? I might need three sugar," she said. "Sit down."
Maura obliged, taking the last chair in the row. The five of them settled into playful, easy conversation until the training began, and then they turned toward the front of the room to listen, Jane admittedly only because everyone else did.
But soon, her attention drifted. Her knee started its signature bounce, and she chewed on her thumbnail to stop herself from getting up. The trainer's voice sounded further and further away, less coherent, less able to be understood, and ultimately, less interesting. She revised - less than interesting. Her body began to send her signals to stand, to jump, to pace, so she pulled out her phone and did the next best thing.
Kill me now. You'd get away with it.
Maura heard her bag buzz and pulled out her phone, so absorbed in the material that she hadn't noticed Jane texting right next to her. She smirked when she saw the message. It's not that bad.
Maura. I'm so bored I want to die and you can help me with that. Jane looked over and pouted, lip out and all.
You don't want to die. You want to get up and move. There's a very big difference. Maura kept her eyes on her screen, having found something more engaging than the talk she'd previously been immersed in.
:/ I guess. Jane typed. She wiggled her foot some more and scrutinized her keyboard, clearly contemplating sending something else. Got plans tonight?
Maura did look up this time. Jane's face was unsure, but she couldn't help the full-blown smile she sported. Only if they're with you, Maura replied.
Jane was spiraling. She had a pillow over her face and she was biting it, but somehow her lustful moans echoed throughout Maura's room anyway. The sweat on her torso was hot and spreading. There was a sheet draped over her lower body and she had wanted so desperately to see what was happening to her, but Maura worked in secret and she decided to focus on feeling instead.
It was death to her self-control. Her stomach clenched, trying to stave off the inevitable as Maura stroked the most intimate parts of her with an expert tongue, splitting and pressing and kissing and ugh. Her efforts rapidly became futile, and she groaned especially loudly when that tongue dipped inside, only to swirl the entirety of her and start all over again. "Fuck…" she breathed, muffled by the pillowcase, writhing as she made her ascent. Her back arched and she didn't care if it made her a minute man, she needed to see what Maura was doing. She was rewarded when she tossed the pillow to the side and saw Maura's head bobbing under the surface of the white sheet - it was just enough sexy mystery for Jane to throw her own head back and let go.
Maura held down Jane's hips, continued her decadent assault until the shivering stopped, and then emerged from her place sweaty-faced and pleased. Jane jerked when Maura's torso settled between her legs and she laid her head on her belly.
"Remember when I asked you to kill me this morning? You succeeded," Jane huffed, rubbing Maura's shoulders with her hands and reaching down as far as she could.
Maura hummed happily at the sensation of it against her sore muscles. "I'll take that to mean you enjoyed yourself."
"I'll say," said Jane. "Gimme a minute and I'll make sure you start enjoying yourself, too."
"I'm holding you to that," Maura replied. She turned her face into the skin of Jane's abdomen and kissed over every muscle she could find. She yelped when Jane flipped them, landing on top.
"Maybe less than a minute," Jane said, kissing everything in her vicinity passionately - an earlobe, a jawline, a neck, a collarbone.
"Oh," Maura sighed when fingers found the wet flesh between her legs. They played, explored, and she bit her lip. Jane adjusted so that her arm could provide as much leverage as possible, and she chuckled when she felt teeth sink into its shoulder. Soon enough she was inside, and Maura was holding onto her, legs draped over her calves and arms locked under Jane's.
"You like holdin' onto me,'' Jane said cockily. "You like me bein' on top of you."
"I do," Maura admitted shamelessly. She bucked her hips up to make her point. Jane met her thrust for thrust a few more times before she gave into the urge to kiss her. Their tongues connected, sounded as wet as their union below. "Would you consider… wearing something, while you're there?"
Jane froze, but only for a second or two. "Like a toy? No."
"No?" a gasp, and then an insistent press of palms on Jane's back. "Not even if I like it?"
"No," Jane said again, but not as forcefully as the first time. How could she, when Maura was pleading, when Maura was sucking that spot just below her ear?
"Not even if I promise that we'd take it slow? That I'd make it worth your while?"
Jane arched up, intent on making her stroke extra devastating. "Am I not enough?" she asked into Maura's ear, deepening her voice in the way that Maura liked, beckoning with her fingers to make her point.
"No, of course you are," Maura said forcefully, before she moaned at the intrusion. She squeezed because it was welcome and because Jane shuddered when she did it. "I just meant… I want to feel your hands on me when you're inside me. But… oh god. I won't make you do anything that makes you uncomfortable."
Jane considered this explanation, but said no more. She continued, forearm tensing, flexing with effort, until Maura went rigid, and then lax under her. She moved her hands to either side of Maura, effectively propping herself up. She dropped her hips and ground forward, investigating as she did - watching Maura's face, the flush over her skin, the way her arms stretched outward and groped for the sheets below.
Maura's mouth dropped open and her eyes dropped shut. Jane did it again, and then Maura arched backwards, into the motion. Hmm. She stopped, and Maura pouted when Jane fell back into her arms.
"You're not disappointed that I'm not a man?" Jane asked against the pillow under Maura's head.
"God no. That's what I like most about you," Maura replied. "I meant what I said. I just want your hands on me."
"That's good. It was a hard no, but maybe it's a soft no now," said Jane. She rolled off and let Maura come to her.
Maura laughed. "I accept that. I think you'd enjoy yourself, but it's totally up to you."
Jane pulled her close and kissed her hair. She tried not to succumb to the urge to move over and go to sleep. "Mmm. Let's change the subject. Like maybe you can let me sweet talk you into rushing the trace analysis on Bryant's sheets."
Maura pinched her side. "I feel much too good to give up my scruples for you right now."
"Ow!" Jane said, much more dramatically than the pain that she actually felt. "It was worth a try."
"And I still might," Maura acquiesced. "But you need to ask me again in the morning."
"Yes ma'am. No work talk in the bedroom, understood," teased Jane, and then she rolled over to rummage for her pants on the side of the bed, intent on following the rules they'd put in place the night before.
Maura pulled her back, unwilling to let her go just yet. "Somehow I feel that you're going to violate that, sooner or later," she said, one hand just under Jane's ribs, while she inhaled the sweat and perfume between Jane's shoulders.
"I already did," Jane said. "But, I promise not to break any of the other rules."
"Mmm," Maura hummed in suspicion, good-natured though it was. "You were born to break the rules."
"Maybe," Jane said when she found all the clothes for her bottom half. Maura didn't move, and she found herself not wanting to, either.
"So excuse me if I don't hold my breath," teased Maura. Her thumb swiped over soft skin and her lips kissed against the strong vertebrae pushing back on them.
"Fair. Even so, I'm gonna be a good girl and try, because I kinda like what we got going here. But…"
"But what?"
"But that means I need my clothes," Jane said. When Maura nodded, but didn't move, she continued. "That means I gotta go, babe."
And at that, Maura finally laid on her back and sighed deeply. She said nothing.
Jane sat up, unsure whether or not she should continue the conversation, so she dressed in silence. It was only when she had everything on but her boots, when she reached into the nightstand for her firearm and her badge, that Maura spoke again.
"Jane?"
"Yeah?"
"I give you three weeks."
Jane chuckled, shaking her head, thankful that her best friend knew how to break the tension. "You're on, Dr. Isles. You're gonna see just how long I can last."
Maura propped up on her elbow and smirked. "I like the sound of that."
"Don't be nasty. At least, not when I'm gettin' ready to walk away," Jane returned in kind. Then she walked back to the bed and planted both of her hands on the mattress, waiting for Maura to grasp the sides of her face. When she did, Jane kissed her, softly and quickly. "I'll call you tomorrow, a'right? I'm droppin' by the donut shop for Korsak and I'll pick you up whatever you want."
"Already with the gifts, hmm?" Maura said, her lips still connected to Jane's. "Why does Korsak need donuts?"
"You know that this isn't any different than before we were sleepin' together,'' Jane warned, but she didn't retreat. "Melody's in town." At this last part, she grumbled.
Maura laughed. "You're a good partner. In lots of ways. Lock up for me?"
Jane stood up straight and gave her belt one last, good tug.
Maura tried valiantly to keep her eyes on Jane's, but failed. They dropped to the round, silver buckle, and she bit her lower lip.
Jane smirked, and filed both the image and the thrill it gave her away for later. "Always do. Night, Maura."
P.S. I take it back - Jane AND Maura are so oblivious.