Closer:
Maura had been reluctant to leave Jane, but she could see the wheels turning in the detective's brain, her brow furrowed in distant concentration, and she decided it would be best to pursue her own line of thinking outside of the brunette's presence. She prided herself on her ability to think logically under pressure, but unfortunately, she was finding time and time again that her most lauded quality was severely distorted around Jane. If she was truly going to help her friend - lover - whatever Jane was... sort out this mystery, she needed time to think. Alone. She thought again of Rule Number Four, and decided to meditate first thing in the morning.
Two hours later, Maura was not contemplating the case, nor was she meditating. She was, however, in somewhat of a trance, but her thoughts lay with a certain recovering detective and the way her fingers had felt massaging her scalp earlier. While she pictured Jane's hands, her own were not idle, and she found them wandering to places on her body that she hadn't intended to touch. Eventually, Maura decided that she might as well ease some of her tension. But if she was going to satisfy herself, she would do it properly so that she could continue forward with a clear head.
'Masturbation is a perfectly normal, healthy expression of human sexuality,' Maura said, but the words in her head were far from convincing. Sighing, she got to her feet and wandered into the bathroom, opening the mirror cabinet and pulling out some bath oils. She hoped the small indulgence would melt away some of her stress, at least for a little while. After all the trouble Jane had gotten in to lately, Maura definitely needed it.
Choosing vanilla for her scent, the medical examiner began to run her bath, trying to steer her thoughts away from all of the problems that seemed to be piling up around her. She couldn't stop herself from thinking of Jane, though, and eventually accepted the fact that she would not be able to banish the detective from her mind. At least images of the gorgeous brunette would be helpful for the rest of that night's plans. Maura quickly stripped out of the tank top and yoga pants she had been wearing, lowering herself into the bath tub even though it wasn't entirely full. The heat was too tempting to resist.
The medical examiner sighed as she settled into the tub, the heat of the water searing her skin, but she endured it with a pleasurable hiss. She let her toes graze the faucet, turning down its heat just a bit, but leaned her head back against the edge of the tub as the water slowly heightened its volume, edging just under her breasts, then slowly covering her nipples.
She inhaled the scent of the oils, which tickled her nose. She couldn't pretend that she had chosen vanilla naturally. Rather, the simple fragrance reminded her of Jane. Not the hospital clothed, spongy slippers Jane, but the woman who consistently pleased her senses with an aura of unqualified sweetness, something simple and honest. She sighed, turning the faucet completely off now, letting her hands float beside her body, as if she wasn't quite sure of the path they were yet to take.
She thought about Jane, who was probably asleep in her bed by now, knocked out by the dosage of pain medications the nurses continued to bestow upon her just to ensure she got an adequate night's sleep. Did she think about Maura before drifting off into a listless sleep? Did the detective ever touch herself while thinking about her?
'Stop,' Maura commanded herself. If she wanted to sexually please her own body, then she could do it without help. Instead, she tried to concentrate on her own hands, which strayed closer towards her breasts, grazing her own nipples just slightly. She wondered what Jane thought when her fingers toyed with the same hardened points... 'Stop it,' she told herself again, letting her hand move down between her legs, only far enough to let her fingers put pressure onto her most sensitive bud, which, she was almost afraid to acknowledge, was swollen with an unmet need. 'Jane...'
An angry buzz jarred her from her thoughts, and she jumped, water splashing over the edge of the tub. Thankfully, it didn't hit her cell phone, which was continuing its excited dance from the tiled floor. Maura quickly picked it up, and with a quick look down at the name flashing across the screen, almost wished she hadn't.
"Jane, shouldn't you be resting?"
"Maur, I can't do anything but rest."
That wasn't necessarily true. Maura's mind flashed quickly back to the scene in the hospital room where she had coaxed the taller woman to orgasm with her fingers, and blinked hard, shaking the image from her mind.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to take a bath."
"What do you mean, 'trying'? Is it proving difficult for you?"
She heard the laughter in the detective's tone, and could almost picture the snarky grin that curled her lip as she spoke. She flinched as she felt her free hand drift down her stomach, and glanced down at it, as if surprised by its path. "No," she replied, her voice huskier than usual. It feels great, actually."
"That's nice," the voice said after a short pause. Maura thought she detected a hitch in the brunette's breath. "So, are you sure taking a bath is all you're doing right now?"
Maura gasped in surprise and embarrassment, shocked that Jane had figured out what she was doing so quickly."I, um - how did you..." she stammered, completely unsure how to respond. For a moment, she worried that Jane might tease her, maybe use a joke to gloss over any awkwardness, but instead, the detective took them down a completely different path, one that Maura hadn't been brave enough to consider, even in her head.
"Exactly how involved were you before I interrupted?" Jane purred, sounding as if she genuinely wanted to know. It was obviously an invitation and not just a question. Although Maura didn't consider herself inexperienced when it came to sex - quite the opposite, in fact - neither phone sex nor masturbation had ever interested her before, and so she had never brought up trying either one with previous partners. But for some reason, when it came to Jane, everything interested her.
Maura took a deep breath and made a decision that she knew she might regret later. She had intended for this 'thing' with Jane, whatever it was, to slow down, at least until the detective recovered and was strong enough and clear-headed enough to analyze her feelings, but it seemed like her body wanted to charge full speed ahead without her mind's consent. Her hand cupped back between her legs, and she turned the phone on speaker, setting it on the edge of the tub and praying that it wouldn't fall in.
"Not as far as I would have liked," Maura said, finally answering Jane's question. If the detective noticed she had been put on speaker, she didn't say anything, but the nonverbal gesture communicated a lot nonetheless. Maura had stepped through the door that Jane opened. "Would you like a... more detailed description? If nothing else, maybe it will save you from boredom."
"I would," the brunette said in a low voice. "So, Dr. Isles, just how intimately were you touching yourself before I called?"
Describing what she had been doing to Jane wasn't as difficult as Maura had expected. "My right hand was between my legs, with my fingers brushing in light circles over the tip of my clit." It had taken some trial and error for the two of them to learn what kind of speech was acceptable in the bedroom - Maura had a tendency to go anatomical if she wasn't thinking about it, although that habit was rapidly disappearing, and Jane usually didn't know what to say at all. In a much softer voice, Maura confessed, "and I might have been thinking about you." Once the words escaped from her mouth, the medical examiner realized just how intimate it sounded, and she tried to backpedal. "I was thinking about how you seduced me at the hospital."
Jane didn't let that last step backwards discourage her. She knew what Maura had meant, but decided not to tease her about it. "Were you inside of yourself?" she asked, wanting to encourage Maura to continue instead of making her feel uncomfortable. The sound of the blonde's voice, low and laced with arousal, was having a noticeable effect on her own body.
"Not yet..." Maura breathed as her hand cupped between her legs again, returning to the position she had just described to Jane. "Do you want me to be?"
"No," Jane said, and for a split second Maura's fingers froze against her center. "Not just yet. I want you to take things slowly."
Maura let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. Slow hadn't been her intention when she first began, but the sound of the detective's voice could certainly convince her to draw things out. Realizing that her silence might not have registered appropriately, she quickly spoke. "Okay," she said tentatively. "We'll take things slow... together." She cocked her head, remembering the way she had taken great pains to ensure the detective hadn't worsened her injuries the last time they were together, and for a moment she slipped back into her medical mentality. "Jane, maybe we shouldn't -"
"Shut up, Maura," the brunette cut in, before the other woman's brain got in the way of her libido. "I want you to touch your breast with your left hand."
Maura's hand moved immediately towards her chest, obediently following the detective's instructions. Her skin was slick and smooth above the waterline, her nipple already hardened from her previous touch, and she felt her breath hitch as she let her hand knead it softly, imagining Jane's fingers on her. "My nipples are hard for you," she said, at this point not caring how intimate her wording sounded. She just wanted Jane to coax her further into pleasure. Briefly, she allowed herself to imagine what Jane would look like if she was touching herself, too - was she touching herself? Maura desperately hoped so, but was too shy to ask.
"Pinch it for me," came the response, and Maura arched into her own touch. "Roll it between your thumb and forefinger, and imagine my teeth grazing across it."
Several miles away, Jane listened into the phone for any telltale signs of Maura's response, but all she could hear was the soft sounds of water as the blonde's fingers followed her commands. What Jane wanted to hear was a moan, but she knew that would come with time. The medical examiner was always quiet in the beginning, but she warmed up quickly. For her part, she was having trouble keeping her own body still as she lay in her hospital bed, and for the millionth time she cursed her injury as her hands found their way underneath her gown. "Maura, tell me how you feel," she said, wanting to hear the medical examiner's voice.
The challenge of explaining the pleasure that she felt coursing through her body like a jolt of electricity proved difficult, even for Maura's academic mind. Her vocabulary had seemingly fled, and the only thing left was a prolonged moan as she felt the ache increase between her legs. The moan made its way through the connection, and Jane smiled at the sound that she had been waiting to hear. "Maura," she said again, her voice gentle but firm, "I want you to put two fingers inside yourself. But do it slowly... and let me hear you."
Maura let out a soft, high-pitched whimper as she obeyed Jane's instructions, abandoning the hard point that begged for her attention and positioning two fingers at her entrance. Moving carefully so that she wouldn't cause any painful friction underneath the water, Maura lifted her hips and slid inside of herself, curling her fingertips forward to stimulate her sensitive, ridged inner walls. "Oh God, you feel - so good..." the medical examiner panted as she continued working her fingers deeper. She didn't even notice that she had said 'you feel' instead of 'it feels'. Jane, however, did notice, and the detective felt a fresh flood of wetness coat her own hand as she listened.
"I love being inside of you," the brunette said in a low purr. Like Maura, she was finding it hard to form words as her own fingers worked between her legs, the tips swirling around her entrance and drawing up to roll over her clit.
Forgetting her earlier shyness, Maura asked the one question that had persisted despite the intense pleasure she was bringing herself. "Jane... Jane - are you -?" Something in her needed reassurance that Jane wanted her as well, that she wasn't in this alone.
"Mmm... yes, I'm touching myself too, sweetie... I'm doing exactly what I asked you to do." Maura knew that Jane had let the endearment slip on accident, and even though it was probably just bedroom talk, it warmed her heart anyway and ratcheted her arousal even higher.
"I wish you were here," Maura sobbed, her words slurring together in a series of quick breaths as her thumb settled back into place above her entrance, rubbing in furious circles. "I want this to be you, Jane... I need -"
"It is me," Jane said, shocked at just how desperate her usually collected friend sounded. "I feel you, Maur..."
Maura abandoned herself to the fantasy, grinding down onto her fingers and pushing in just a little too far, curling her fingers sharply like she imagined Jane would do. "Oh, Jane - please..."
The detective was in tandem with her lover, her own breaths becoming shorter as she imagined the feel of Maura's snug walls around her fingers. "Yes," she said, "come for me." She let her fingers delve deeper inside her own core, and curled them slightly. "Come with me."
The words were all Maura needed to hear, and she let go, her moan echoing into the phone as she felt her muscles clutch tight at her fingers, pulling them even deeper. Her hips bucked, and water splashed over the edge of the tub as her foot wrenched forward with a squeak. She felt a wave of contentment coupled with another pulse of desire as Jane's satisfied groans sounded from the speaker of her phone.
Jane's own orgasm coursed through her body, and she forgot the pain of her injuries for a moment as all of her nerve endings seem to concentrate solely at the small bud at her center. Maura's name slipped easily from her lips as she hit her high, and she wished she was cradling the medical examiner in her arms rather than simply listening to her.
The sound of the detective uttering her name made Maura grind the heel of her hand hard against her clit, and drew another small, but just as satisfying orgasm from her now depleted body. Her deeps groans of satisfaction trailed off into soft, pleased sighs as her body stilled, and she angled her ear towards her phone, hoping her splashes in the heat of the moment hadn't rendered her technology useless.
"Maur?" Jane asked, removing her fingers and picking up her phone.
Maura kept her hands inside herself, a request that Jane had fulfilled many times for her after she climaxed, and she let out a pleasured sigh. "Yes, Jane..." Her body hadn't felt this relaxed in awhile, and she simply wanted the brunette's voice to float over her.
"How you doing over there?"
Maura smiled, letting her fingers slide out of her center. "Never been better," she said, letting her head rest against the back of the tub.
Jane got the sentiment of the statement, but she still felt her brow furrow. "I would hope that me being physically present would make it a little better."
The feigned petulance pulled a chuckle from Maura's lips. "You make everything better, Jane Rizzoli."