Jane Rizzoli: A Case Study
Part Two: Questions
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Maura's not a guesser. So, when she comes up with a theory as to her best friend's recent change in behavior, she sets out to test her hypothesis the only way she knows how: careful observation and experimentation.
Warnings: The following fic is rated M (NC-17) for language and sexual situations. Readers be warned.
Maura was not herself the next day.
On top of being up most of the night worrying, she had not had a very pleasant morning. She accidently slept through her alarm by nearly twenty minutes. While this might be a slight setback for most, it completely threw off the pattern of Maura's morning. Because she was rushing to get ready, she mistakenly left without her usual cup of coffee, and because she was running late, she got caught up in morning traffic. Traffic then made her late to work by fifteen minutes, which was completely unheard of for the timely and precise M.E. Finally, by the time Maura sat down to sort through her paperwork, she was already starting to get a headache.
"You okay?" a gentle, familiar voice came from the doorway.
Maura smiled softly. The smell of hot coffee wafted into the room. The honey blond stood up and took the cup eagerly. She took a long sip before saying anything to her friend.
"That bad, huh?" Jane smiled sympathetically. "What? You have too much wine at dinner?"
Maura shook her head, smiling appreciatively, "No. I just didn't sleep very well. Then I woke up late…"
Jane touched Maura's elbow gently, "You feeling okay? I mean, you sick or something?"
As soon as Maura's eyes dipped to where Jane's hand was on her arm, Jane pulled away. It was barely noticeable, but Maura could swear that she blushed. She decided to leave that thought for later. Instead, she replied softly, "I just have a lot on my mind."
Jane frowned for a moment, considering her. Then she asked, "You're not worried about your mother, are you?"
There Jane's hand was on her arm again. Did she step closer? Maura thought as she peered into Jane's soft, coffee colored eyes. Maura didn't dare look down at Jane's hand. She would surely step back again if she did.
"No," Maura smiled, "She's fine. I'm fine. Really." She watched the movement of Jane's eyes. The brunette looked down at her lips, then back up to her eyes.
She smiled, squeezing Maura's elbow before stepping back, "Good."
"Thanks for the coffee, by the way," Maura added.
"Anything for you," Jane responded with a wink. When Maura looked at her curiously, Jane grew uneasy. She stepped further away. "Anyway… about the case."
Later that afternoon, as Maura spent a late lunch alone, she pondered her situation. Here she was, a scientist and a woman of reason, beset with a quandary of the heart. She was hopelessly in love with her best friend. And because Jane was her best friend, she could not risk their friendship to determine if her feelings were requited—even broaching the topic of relationships made Jane shut down.
So, instead, she was left to carefully analyze bits and pieces of Jane's behavior to determine if revealing her true feelings would be anything more than a tragic mistake. But Jane was by far the most complex person Maura had ever met. Even after years of being her friend and countless hours interacting with her, Maura was still surprised at how much Jane perplexed her.
Like her behavior in Maura's office that morning. Jane seemed so eager to touch her. She seemed to find the smallest excuse to add physical touch to a warm smile, but the moment that touch was recognized, by Maura or by herself, Jane would pull away. Was such behavior normal? It didn't seem like it to Maura.
Jane had always been close to Maura and vice versa. The two women hugged often—though Jane had said on multiple occasions that she was 'not a hugger.' Jane sat close to Maura whenever she could. At Maura's house on the couch and at the dinner able. On the couch in Maura's office. Jane also often found excuses to touch Maura's hands, arms, and shoulders.
As of late, however, those hugs lingered. Maura often found herself soaking in the smell of Jane's shampoo for a few moments before Jane ultimately pulled away. And Jane had sat closer to her lately, even letting her hand drift over her knee during conversation. It seemed as well that Jane found the smallest reasons to touch her. The day before she had even been playing with Maura's hair until Maura noticed. Jane had blushed, pulling away quickly.
So, as Maura did her final checks on the body before signing for its release, her mind was on a question not related to the case. It was one of the many questions that had kept her up late the night before. Her problem had been that she couldn't settle on just one. She needed one defining question to focus her research if she was ever going to settle whether or not her best friend returned her feelings.
Finally, after hours of distracted work, she settled on her organizing query: Is Jane Rizzoli physically attracted to her?
But before Maura could formulate a hypothesis, she needed to make some more observations. She was a skilled scientist after all. So, she set about her research the way she would anything else: she took notes.
To determine if Jane felt more than just a fondness for her best friend, Maura would have to be very careful to test the waters slowly. Any bold moves would risk not only the results of the experiment, but also their friendship. And Maura was not about to risk her connection with Jane just for science.
"What behavior have I observed?" Maura thought in a mumbled whisper as she sat at her desk with a notebook open and a pencil ready, "… behavior out of the ordinary?"
She had only written down a few ideas when she heard footsteps in the doorway.
"You still working?" Jane said softly, a bit surprised. "It's past six."
Immediately Maura closed the notebook. She tried not to look suspicious, but she was worried by Jane's raised eyebrow.
"No," Maura said, standing up. "Just making some notes."
Jane frowned, "About what?"
Maura tried to shrug casually, "Just some personal things."
"Okay…" Jane said, still looking at her doubtfully. "You ready to go home? I thought we could walk out together."
"Yes," Maura smiled, tucking the notebook into her purse, and taking her coat from the coatrack by her desk. "I was heading out soon anyway."
"Sorry to interrupt your frantic notetaking," she jested.
"It's nothing; I can finish at home," Maura shook her head. They stood waiting for the elevator. "Speaking of, why don't you come over. We could have leftovers and watch a movie?"
As the elevator doors opened, Jane smiled at her, "I was just over last night. You're not sick of me yet?"
"Jane, I could never be sick of you," Maura said in all seriousness.
The brunette chuckled lightly. "No. Thank you, but I think I need to spend some quality time with Jo. She's been cooped up a lot lately with this case being as it is."
"Yeah…" Maura said softly, trying not to sound disappointed. She had hoped to use the opportunity to determine what methods would be best used to test her developing hypothesis. That, and she found she craved Jane's closeness even more every day.
Jane's hand went protectively to Maura's back as they stepped off the elevator. Maura tried not to react, to encourage Jane's touch to linger, but she found that she shivered with her mind so focused on Jane's hand.
"You cold?" Jane said, gesturing to Maura's unbuttoned coat. "You better button up, it's chilly out there tonight. It's supposed to be below freezing before midnight." Jane's arms went instinctively to Maura's shoulders, rubbing her arms to warm her.
"What about you?" Maura laughed lightly, turning to look at Jane shivering in only her suit jacket.
"What? I'm fine." Jane shrugged nonchalantly, "It's not even that cold."
"You left your coat in the car again, didn't you?" Maura smirked.
"It wasn't that cold this morning." Jane almost whined, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Here," Maura said, tugging Jane by the arm, "my car is closer. You can at least wear a scarf."
"Doctor Prepared left her scarf in the car?" Jane mocked. "Impossible."
"It's your scarf," Maura chuckled, "you left it in there last week."
The honey blond unlocked her car and took the scarf from the back seat. She turned to find Jane very much in her space. She wasn't sure since it was so dark, but she was fairly certain Jane had been looking at her ass as she leaned into the car. She decided to store that observation for later inquiry and opted instead to wrap the scarf around Jane's neck, taking her quite by surprise.
"Thanks." Jane said breathlessly, as Maura wrapped the thick, fluffy garment around her neck and pulled her ever so slightly closer.
Maura could not help but peer at Jane's lips. Their breaths lingered together for a silent moment, visible as the late autumn temperature dropped. When Maura looked up to Jane's eyes, she noticed that the brunette had only just looked up from her lips.
At last, the honey blond stepped back. "Better?" she smiled.
"Y—yes." Jane blinked, as if waking from a dream.
"Well," Maura said, opening the driver's side door, "goodnight Jane."
"Goodnight…" Jane said in a far-off voice, not moving from where Maura had left her.
That night, Maura formulated her plan. Starting with her main question, she explored other related ideas. She sat awake on her bed for quite some time writing them down before she finally closed the notebook and turned off the light. Among the notes, she considered what evidence she might be able to collect to determine and test a hypothesis.
Many of the notes related to the observations she had made as she had quite purposefully pulled Jane into her space that evening. The lingering eyes. The catch in her breath. The blush on her cheeks. The reluctance to move when Maura stepped away. All of these seemed excellent indicators that Jane might just wonder what it'd be like to close that space between them.
To be continued
