Jane and Maura – A New Year's tale
Jane glanced out of the window into the vast white mountains. Thick flakes were falling from the heavy clouds. They had been all day.
"I cant believe that we really gotten snowed in." she mumbled to no one particular but the reflection of herself in the windows. "We are in the mountains, detective Rizzoli. This is pretty common up here." Maura who was going through the small book collection on a shelf replied. The brunette turned with a huff.
"Damn, ma is going so pissed that I miss family dinner. She's already mad at me for being a detective. This will just give her another reason to fuss about my choice of career."
"Language, detective. And you are a grown-up woman. You can do whatever you want. You know that."
Jane glanced at the petite after slumping onto the couch. Maura was currently reading the summarized context of a book on its back and didn't notice the chocolate eyes which were studying her thoroughly.
The blonde hair was tied into a ponytail which was as meticulous and perfect as the rest of Maura's appearance. Jane didn't know much about her, but as a detective she could deduct that Dr. Isles had a lot of money. Rumors at the precinct had it, that she owned a house in beacon hill and the first time Maura had appeared on a crime scene was in a Mercedes.
Dr. Isles had been appointed to be the new Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts only one month ago and they had worked only one case together so far. This was their second. A woman had been brutally murdered in her flat in Boston.
Her husband, the suspect, had been seen in this area which made sense as the couple owned a small cabin up here. "Its just a short trip into the mountains." Jane had told her mother earlier that day. "We are going to check the lead and be right home for dinner." She had promised.
Angela's deathly glare popped up in Janes mind and she cringed. "I'm going to get some wood from the shed." She mumbled and the doc only nodded. By now her inspection had arrived at the last book in the shelf.
It was freezing cold outside and Jane scolded herself for not putting on her coat. With already red hands from the cold, she pulled out her cellphone to check for some signals. But there weren't any. There was no chance to call for help or her mother to tell her that she wouldn't make it home tonight. Which was a shame because the last day of the year was always a big celebration at the Rizzoli's. Usually, they stayed together until the New Year began.
Rolling her eyes and rubbing her hands together against the cold, she moved towards the tiny shed they had explored earlier when finding the cabin, leaving deep footprints in the fresh snow. She quickly grabbed an armful of logs and rushed back into the cabin. It wasn't exactly warm inside either. But at least dry.
Maura was going through some cupboards on the lookout for food. Janes stomach rumbled slightly, and she hurried to start the fire in the chimney. "Whoever owns this cabin is not a huge fan of healthy nutrition." Maura complained. "We have the choice between baked beans, Spaghetti and Tomato soup. All coming from cans."
"Well, its to be expected. It would make no sense to keep fresh food up here when you are only staying occasionally. And I guess whenever the owner comes to spend a few days, he would bring food." Jane felt like defending the unknown person against the food police and almost laughed.
Maura shot her a warning glare before lecturing her about vitamins and their benefits. Jane, who felt slightly grumpy just shrugged. "I'll have the baked beans." Hell, I don't want to be in her husband's place when she is mad, Jane thought when the doc pulled out some pan and more or less dropped it madly onto the oven.
"You don't have to cook, I can do it." Jane offered, hoping to smoothen the waves. If they were going to spend the entire night together it couldn't be of any damage to prevent any fights.
When the doc didn't reply, Jane wandered off to sit on the couch by the fire. The room was already warmer than before, which made the brunette relax a little. At least they wouldn't freeze to death tonight. And hopefully someone would find and safe them tomorrow.
By now it was getting dark outside. Some animals were howling, and Jane wondered if there were any wolves or other dangerous animals. Better get some more logs before its completely dark she thought and lifted from the couch.
This time she wore her coat as she made four rounds, piling up the logs next to the chimney in the cabin. When she was at her fifth, she noticed something sticking out from behind the place where she had taken the logs from. Curious she used the torch function of her mobile to take a closer look.
What she saw made her shudder. "Maura! Uhm I mean Dr. Isles?" she yelled after running back into the cabin.
The doc came out of the kitchen, holding the pan in one hand and a grumpy expression on her face. "No plates." She said. Jane shrugged. "There's something in the shed you should have a look at." She stated with some urge in her voice.
"Did you find some cutlery? That would be good because there is no cutlery either." Maura stated dryly and Jane first laughed and when seeing that Maura was serious, she gave her a strange look.
"No, but I found bones. A lot of bones. And as you are a doctor you might be able to tell if we are facing … ah you know what? Just come with me." The brunette dragged her literally out of the cabin into the shed.
Maura who hadn't had time to put on a coat shuddered. The temperatures had dropped into the minus degrees. Jane pointed to the bones behind the logs and shuddered too. Finding a dead body was one thing, but finding white, clean bones in a shed in the middle of nowhere was another.
Dr. Isles suddenly looked interested and crouched to pick one of the bones up to investigate it. "So, are they human?" Jane asked and caught her breath. "Did you find any skulls?" Maura asked, ignoring Janes question.
"No. But there are a lot more logs. Who knows what's hiding behind them." She shuddered again. "I bet we don't want to know." Maura sounded as if she did want to know, holding the bone against Janes torchlight.
"Lets get some more logs and go back to the cabin." The doc suddenly said and Jane more than welcomed the idea. Once she had loaded her arms with as many logs she could carry, Maura put the bone on top of the pile so that it was right in front of her face.
"What? No, no way this is going to come with us into the house. And I'm not going to carry this for sure!" Jane exclaimed.
"Aren't you a detective? This is just a bone. What do you do when you see a dead body? Run?" Maura chuckled at Janes antics and Jane blushed.
"A body is different than a bone!" she tried to defend herself, seeing that Maura only chuckled more. "The body consists of bones, muscles, organs and flesh detective." She lectured the brunette who gave in. "Fine! Leave it there. I will carry it inside." She huffed annoyed.
"That should be enough for the night." The brunette stated after they had dropped their load to the rest of the logs Jane had already brought in. "I hope so. Its going to be a very cold night." Maura replied, putting two fresh logs into the fire.
"I'm going to lock the door." Jane mumbled and left Maura in the living room to take another look at their finding. "This is very interesting." The brunette heard her mumble while leaving the room. To her the doc was like any other medical examiner. They never guessed and took their time to communicate their findings. Who knew if she would ever find out what bone it was.
In order to distract herself she grabbed the pan from the small table and brought it back into the kitchen to heat their food, which had gotten cold while they had been away. While the beans were simmering on the stove, she opened one drawer after the other to realize that Maura had been right. There was no cutlery. How on earth were they supposed to eat the beans without it?
Dr. Isles wandered into the kitchen to wash her hands. They had found out earlier that this cabin consisted of a small bedroom, a living room, an entrance hall and a kitchen. The only sink in the entire cabin was in said place.
"It's a human bone." Maura simply said as if talking about the weather. "But its old. Probably 70 years or more. The person was killed by stabbing. I could clearly see the marks caused by the knife in the bone."
"How about the other ones?" Jane asked, knowing that Maura couldn't possibly tell after checking just that one piece. But maybe the blonde had seen something while choosing the one bone out of the pile.
"I will take a look at them tomorrow." The doc said with a smirk but in a very calm tone. "Did you find any plates or spoons?" she asked and Jane tilter her head in no. "But I found some Whisky." she laughed and held up two full bottles of a very expensive brand. "Oh good. So if one of us gets hurt, we have a disinfectant." Maura claimed.
They both stared into the simmering food. "In Africa its common to eat with your hands. Guess that we are going to eat American food in an African way tonight." The doc said matter of factly.
It wasn't meant as joke, but Jane who found it funny laughed. She didn't know why, but the doc was somehow as intriguing as she was annoying. "How do you know all this stuff?" she asked, taking the food back to the living room. Maura who followed her huffed. "I just know them. That's all."
The detective sensed that Maura didn't want to talk about it, but that there was far more behind her being cleverer than Wikipedia. Instead of pushing the doc though, she sat down and stared at the food which was far too hot to eat it African style right now.
She decided to take a sip of Whisky while waiting. Maura gave her an appalled glance and Jane couldn't tell if it was because she was drinking their disinfectant or if it was the drinking itself. Shrugging she took another sip before offering the bottle to Maura who declined the offer.
R&I
After dinner they washed their hands and the pan with Jane joking about how not using cutlery saved them some chores. Maura who didn't catch her joke just looked at her as if she was nuts. The brunette who was tired from the alcohol and hike shrugged. Obviously, they were too different from each other to ever become friends she thought and walked back into the living room to prepare the couch for the night.
Being a gentle woman, she had offered Maura to sleep in the only bed available. "Good night, detective." Maura peeked into the room where Jane was just folding some blankets to use them as pillows.
"Good night, Dr. Isles." Came the reply. She listened to the steps going down the small hall and then heard the door shut. With a sigh she slumped onto the couch and grabbed the bottle of Whisky which was still standing on the small table in front of her. After another sip, Jane laid back and stared into the dark.
The wind had freshened up by now and there were a lot of strange noises which made her wish that she had brought her gun to the trip. Was the murderer really out there? Was he lingering somewhere in the woods and waiting for his chance to kill them?
The only knife in the whole cabin was the small pocket knife Frankie had given her for her last birthday. It was perfect for slicing an apple or carving wood maybe. But surly no use for self-defense. Her mind wandered to Maura who was alone in the bedroom.
Then she heard it: footsteps in the hallway. They were approaching the living room slowly but constantly. Jane grabbed for the bottle of Whisky, which was the only reasonable weapon in reach.
When the footsteps paused short before the threshold of the door, the breath caught in her throat. Her strategy was to fake sleeping in the hope that the predator would come close enough that she could hit him with the bottle.
And the steps indeed moved into the room until they were almost at the couch. "Detective? Are you asleep?" Maura's voice shook in the darkness. Jane carefully opened one eye to see Maura's silhouette close to the couch.
"Oh god, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Jane exclaimed, but Maura pointed with her finger to her lips. "Someone is out there." She whispered. "I heard footsteps in the snow."
Now Maura's eyes were wide like those of a deer who got caught in the headlights of a truck when the steps were audible from the living room. Shit! Jane muttered, glancing around the room to find one window on her right-hand side. But none on the left, where the steps came from.
Shit!
"Language." Maura scolded her automatically which almost made Jane giggle hysterically. She wanted to ask Maura if she was serious but instead motioned to a corner where they were out of sight from the window.
The doc who realized what Jane was thinking protested. "He knows that we are in here because our footsteps only lead to house and between the house and the shed." She pointed out.
"Right Mrs. Pointdexter. But does he know where in the cabin we are hiding?"
"Well, the house is not so big, is it?" Maura replied smartly.
"Cabin, Dr. Isles. This is called a cabin." Jane mumbled while ushering the blonde into the hiding space.
"Right. And you call me Mrs. Pointdexter, Mrs. Smartypants."
Jane hitched a breath when a shadow passed in front of the window shortly after they had managed to hide. "I'm not married. So, if you want to call me names, call me Ms. Smartypant please." She whispered while her brain processed the shadowy figure and something else, she had spotted.
"Our suspect wears an antler. I guess its safe to leave our hideout." The brunette smirked.
"Are you sure?" Maura was now very close to her as if seeking protection. Jane couldn't say that she didn't like it. Why not stay a while longer? She thought and pretended to listen for footsteps. But there were none except for the ones of the deer or whatever had come to pay them a late-night visit.
After some good 10 mins without further suspicious sounds, she stood because her knees began to hurt from the crouching position. Still not daring to make too much noise herself she sneaked to the door and pulled away the chair from under the handle.
With Maura practically clinging to her arm, she peeked outside the door, finding nothing but the footprints of an animal and a starry sky. It was freezing cold and the snow was glistering in the light of the full moon, which was very romantic.
The two walked around the cabin but found no further signs of another human being. Jane still put the chair back under the handle once they were back inside. The door had no lock, which had played in their favor when they had sleeked shelter. But now it left her with a very uncomfortable feeling.
"We should stay up. At least one of us. Just in case." Jane glanced at the blonde who nodded in agreement. "We could keep each other awake by playing games." The brunette suggested.
"And drinking." Maura stated after taking a sip out of the bottle. "And its Ms. Pointdexter, just for the record." She said in a fierce tone. Jane laughed and lifted her hands. "All right. But we could also call us by our first names." She suggested. "Jane." She offered her hand, and the doc took it. "Maura."
It was only then Jane noticed that the blonde wore nothing but her underwear and boots. The ME had a nice body as she noticed before averting her eyes and blushing. "I'll start a new fire while you get yourself dressed." She mumbled.
"Why aren't you wearing your clothes anyways?" she dared to ask, and Maura huffed. "I like to sleep in the nude. Its healthier and much more comfortable. Don't tell me that you had planned in sleeping in your clothes?"
Yeah, why not? We are sleeping in a stranger's cabin in the middle of nowhere with a possible murderer nearby Jane thought but didn't reply. Then she settled onto the couch waiting for the doc to get dressed.
Both ended up sitting at opposite sides of the couch and sharing the bottle between them. Silence lingered over them for a long time until Maura spoke up. "I read a lot of books because my classmates didn't like me. That's why I know so much."
Jane raised an eyebrow. "They called me Maura the bora if you need to know."
The brunette chuckled. "They called me Roly poly Rizzoli if that helps." She looked up from her hands which were peeling the label of the bottle and winked at the blonde.
"Maybe a little." Maura said seriously and then began laughing. "Where you overweight as a child? I'm asking because you are gorgeous now. I would like to know the secret."
"There is no secret and you definitely don't need it. You are beautiful if I may say."
Maura blushed. "Thank you."
"Yeah uhm." Jane began, not wanting the conversation to stall. She listened into the wind and shuddered while thinking about how to continue their talk.
"Why didn't they like you?" Jane ended up asking, scolding herself as soon as the words were out. This was an awfully personal question. Maura bit her lip and gave her a pensive glance. "Probably for the same reason you don't like me." she ended up saying.
"Who says that I don't like you?" Janes head shot up to give her a puzzled look.
"Oh, come on Jane. Be honest." Maura replied.
"Okay, there was a time I was… uhm…. But I never said that I didn't like you." The brunette hid behind the bottle which had passed two rounds since the beginning of their talk. She knew that she sounded as if in self-defense, which she practically was. But it was true. She found Maura intriguing and attractive.
They were staring at each other in silence for another while. The only noise coming from the wind outside and the swapping fluid in the bottle when it travelled between them.
"We have never toasted on changing to the first name basis." The doc suddenly said and lifted off the couch to return with the second bottle a few seconds later. "Aren't we going to waste the disinfectant fluid? What if one of us gets hurt?" Jane joked.
"Are you making fun of me?" the doc asked and glared at her.
"No, well, maybe. But it wasn't meant in a bad way. Basically, I wanted to point out that we shouldn't use up all the Whisky." She stumbled and Maura nudged her with a grin. "It was funny. You are funny. I like your jokes."
"The jokes are my books." Jane stammered. "I know. You hide behind them. Its okay. Just wanted to tease you." Maura winked and explained to her that they had to link arms, drink out of the bottle and then exchange a kiss.
Didn't sound so hard to do and was certainly fun Jane thought while watching Maura open the second bottle. The timing seemed a little strange though. They had met maybe for the third time and practically didn't know each other. But the situation probably justified this sudden closeness on the other hand. Thinking that she had already seen Maura half naked, that they had practically snuggled and eaten with their hands out of the same pan it seemed to be a reasonable thing to do.
So, why not? She giggled when Maura's arm linked with hers. Their eyes locked for the fraction of a second and Jane was suddenly mesmerized by the hazel orbs challenging hers. They drank and bent forward for a quick touch of their lips.
A touch which turned out to last longer than intended and when Maura parted her lips the brunette had no problem accepting the invitation. Her tongue found Maura's silky one and they began to dance with each other.
If the touch of their lips had sent a shiver of arousal down to her center, the passionate kiss lit her fire. Also Maura's as Jane could tell by a silent but sexy moan. She felt how Maura took the bottle out of her hand to place it onto the table while keeping their delicious kiss going. Then she was gently pushed back into the pillow made of blankets. Maura straddled her and grabbed her wrists to lead them over her dark curled head.
The woman was surprisingly strong, Jane thought and enjoyed being powered over in such a hot way. A pool of wetness was already soaking her panties and she could feel Maura's heat at the same spot.
When Maura pulled back slightly, she lifted her head to catch the lips for more kisses and grumbled when not being able to lift her head high enough. The doc grinned teasingly and moved her hips on Janes midst which made the brunette forget literally the entire world around her.
She buckled her hips against Maura who moaned at the touch. Their lips met again while Maura kept moving herself on top of the detective who tried to free one hand to touch the doc. But Maura was strong and held her hands tight in place which somehow drove Jane even wilder.
"Oh god." She whispered and thought that this was the hottest sex she had ever had in her life. The docs mouth left a trail along her jawline and then down the neck. Jane was sure that she would find some nice hickey when checking her appearance in the mirror the next day. But decided that it was definitely worth it.
She knew that almost every guy at the precinct was chasing after Maura's skirt and couldn't believe that she was just getting laid by her. Maura had chosen her, Maura had said, that she was gorgeous. Their eyes locked again while their bodies moved in the same rhythm. One of Maura's legs was on her center and Jane felt that she was already close to the edge.
But seeing how Maura's whimpers became higher and faster it was probably good timing. She didn't hold back the wave which was rushing over her when it was time to let go. Neither did Maura who screamed out her name.
Only then Maura let go of her hands and Jane slowly moved it upwards to gently put a strand of lost blonde hair behind the ears. She caressed the cheek, noticing how soft the skin was. And then dropped her hand again.
Both suddenly laughed and Jane felt the petite glide into her arms. "Its been a while since I wanted to do that with you and ask you out." The doc admitted to Janes surprise.
"Yeah? Why?" her hand was now back to caressing Maura's head.
"Didn't you notice? I have been intrigued by you the moment you walked onto the crime scene with your swagger."
"My swagger?" Jane giggled and lifted her head to search the docs eyes.
"Yes. You have quite a swagger. Its hot." Maura's hazel eyes were on hers.
"Well, I guess I'll take it as a compliment then." Jane giggled and laid her head back. She gratefully noted how the sun was slowly rising in the window and suddenly felt the urge to ask Maura one question.
"Would you like to go out with me?"
"I'd love to Jane." The doc replied sincerely and both grinned at each other.
"Okay then. Then I'm ready to get saved."
And as if on command they heard an approaching helicopter. They hurried out of the cabin and Jane had been so deflected by Frost waving at them from the helicopter, that she didn't notice how Maura slipped the bone from the shed into her bag to solve the mystery another time.
The murderer of the woman in Boston had been solved because the husband had gotten a bad consciousness and turned himself in.
Jane relaxed after the news and grinned at the doc who simply grinned back. This could be my significant other Jane thought and smirked when realizing how interesting this was going to be with their differences.