Ask Me
Disclaimer: I do not own Rizzoli and Isles, including the book and the TNT show; Jane Rizzoli belongs to Tess Gerritsen and Angie Harmon, and Maura Isles belongs to Tess Gerritsen and Sasha Alexander. The plot for this story is my own, but that is all I could or would stake claim to. Leave feedback if you wish; these girls are delectable, and my muse would appreciate your affirmation!
Synopsis: "It's just that I didn't ask for much. I don't think I really knew how." In the face of Maura's childhood, can Jane teach herself to give what the doctor can't ask for? Post-ep for 1 x 08, with lines from 1 x 06. Mostly fluff with a little bit of sugar on the side. Rated M for language use only.
She'd really only had a week to plan. Between a string of weather-induced murders which had dragged Homicide into several, consecutive triple shifts, and her impromptu decision arriving only a month before Maura's birthday, the brunette detective was working quickly. And when it came to figuring out what in heaven's name Maura would ever want for her birthday, working quickly was not the best case scenario.
Fortunately, work was the easy part. Jane called in a couple of favors and ensured that Maura and she both had Friday through Monday off and that, barring a city-wide emergency, neither were on call. Jane decided that Maura could spend Friday being pampered at a local spa, and then her actual birthday, Saturday, would be the big to-do.
Jane figured she was pretty close to genius level with most of her plan. First, she'd let Maura believe that the day pass for the spa was Jane's gift to her. Once she expected nothing else, Jane could really begin to prove how far she'd go to make the blonde doctor happy. And what she decided for Monday, well, that was going to have to wait until the weekend in case anything ended badly.
And it all could end pretty badly.
Jane was going out on a limb in even considering that Maura might return her feelings, and if she did not? Jane didn't want to think about that.
The elevator bell shook Jane from her thoughts and she stepped out into Maura's stainless steel domain with only minor trepidation. She gingerly carried a medium sized box wrapped childishly in brown paper, on which Jane had drawn ridiculous, stick figure cartoon scenes of their friendship, written quotes from their favorite movies, and, in large letters, blocked out "Happy Birthday Maura!" Inside, she had sealed a box of tuna and crackers, the day pass for the spa, and a chocolate lollipop in the shape of a high heeled shoe. All-in-all, Jane was pretty proud of her gift.
Part one, anyway.
When Jane stepped into the autopsy room and found it empty, she panicked slightly. It was only four o'clock and Maura hadn't told her she was leaving early at all. She should have been cleaning meticulously, as she did at the end of every day. Jane sniffed. Definitely lemon disinfectant. So, Maura had been through recently.
And then Jane heard the printer in Maura's office begin to chug rhythmically and grinned. Her love was shoe shopping. One sheet. Normal. Two sheets. A good purchase. Three sheets. Youch, that was going to be a large box. Four sheets. Uh oh. Something was wrong. Maura only bought that many shoes at once when she was particularly upset.
Steeling herself, Jane knocked lightly on the door jam to Maura's office. The blonde shut her laptop quickly, spinning around.
"Oh Jane, it's you!" Maura relaxed when she realized that no one had caught her shoe shopping during work, but Jane could tell that the beautiful doctor was still upset.
"Hi," she stated simply, settling against the door jam with the box held behind her. "What's up?"
Maura tilted her head to one side in confusion, but quickly remembered that "what's up" was an idiom that Jane used frequently when requesting information about her day or current emotional status.
"Nothing much," the shorter woman replied, testing out a response she'd often heard Jane and Barry utilize. "I have completed all but one of my waiting autopsies and filled out all of the necessary paperwork. My afternoon has been…uneventful." Jane grinned, but sobered because Maura's mirroring smile had not stretched up to her eyes as it usually did.
"You want to tell me what's wrong, then?" the tall brunette asked gently. Maura looked down at her hands which were twisting in her lap.
"No," she finally responded quietly. "No, I do not really wish to talk about it currently." If Maura had been anyone else, Jane would have been angry about the blunt response, and she would have pushed for them to open up regardless. But when Maura finally met her gaze again, Jane realized that Maura was simply telling the truth. She was obviously upset, and clearly knew that Jane was quite aware of it, but hadn't processed whatever it was enough to have a conversation about it. For a moment, Jane let their gazes remain tethered, letting Maura know that she was going to drop the subject but was far from leaving it in the past. When Maura finally nodded in acceptance and dropped her line of sight once again, Jane finally brought the box out in front of her.
"Well, I'm pretty sure this will cheer you up!" she teased. Maura's reaction was priceless. She spotted the box and her gaze snapped up to Jane's, her face spreading into a blinding smile as she clapped her hands together like a young child.
Adorable. How could anyone be that adorable?
Jane placed the box on top of Maura's closed laptop and squeezed her best friend into a one-armed hug. "Happy Birthday, Maura."
"Oh, Jane, this is so beautiful!" Maura gently traced the marker designs and pictures with her fingers, laughing at an image of stick figure Jane tackling a stick figure Gabriel Dean while stick figure Maura covered her eyes in embarrassment.
"Yeah, well, the best part's inside," the detective brushed off, blushing lightly. "Open it already." Maura laughed.
"Don't you think it's my present to enjoy?"
"Okay, yes. You can spend an hour taking the wrapping off with a scalpel if you like." Jane pretended to be grudging about it, but her smile gave it away as teasing. Still, Maura played along.
"That's a great idea, Jane!" The shorter woman jumped up from her desk and brushed past Jane into her morgue where she retrieved a scalpel from a drawer. Jane rolled her eyes and hoisted herself up to sit on Maura's desk. If they were going to be here for a while, she might as well get comfortable.
Maura sliced carefully through each piece of tape on the wrapping, and meticulously folded the large piece of paper along the creases it already possessed, laying it aside to be preserved at a later time. Finally, Jane held her breath for the moment of truth as Maura lifted the box cover.
"You brought me lunch!" Maura's laughed openly, lifting the tuna and crackers out first.
"And desert," Jane supplied as Maura returned to the contents of the box and spotted the lollipop. The giggle it produced was worth the embarrassment Jane had felt that morning even purchasing the carved, magenta slab of white-chocolate-on-a-stick, and Jane swore that she would do everything in her power to get Maura to giggle more often if given half the chance.
And then Maura was sliding the day pass and schedule of events out of the spa's faded teal envelope, her brilliant eyes scanning the page and absorbing its contents immediately. "Oh, Jane, the Mandarin Oriental is supposed to be wonderful! How did you know?"
"I do occasionally listen to you when you speak, Maur," Jane teased lightly. "I know you read about them in one of those fancy magazines you get every month, and I thought you could enjoy a day of pampering." Jane frowned. Maura was looking in the envelope again as if something was missing. "It's, um… it's all paid for. And the chick said everything was set up for the whole day. You don't have to choose anything or whatev—"
"Where is the second pass?" Maura's gaze was confused and worried, her forehead knit an her hazel eyes glinting. Jane paused.
"The chick told me that was all you needed. Did they forget to give you a wristband or something? 'Cause I can go back and get it before tomorrow." Jane hopped off of Maura's desk to look at the pass for herself.
"No, I mean, aren't you coming with me? There should be a second pass if you are supposed to be there. I don't understand why—"
"Oh, Maura." This time, it was Jane's turn to interrupt her friend, chuckling lightly in relief. "No, there isn't a second pass. This is for you." Thinking that her words would return the easy smile to her friend's face, Jane hopped back onto the desk.
"What?" The smile had distinctly not returned. Instead Maura looked… hurt?
"I got you a whole package deal. All the stuff I think I remember you talking about like the dirt bath, and a massage, and they even give pedicures for like two whole hours. It was nuts."
"But you aren't coming?" Finally, Jane realized that her best friend was legitimately upset. Getting up off the desk, Jane squatted next to Maura' desk chair.
"No, hun, I'm not. This is for you. I thought you would be excited. I thought you'd like a place like this." Maura tried to smile weakly, but it failed.
"I do. I'm sorry Jane, I just thought…" She tried to replace the pass in its envelope and cover her face with a hand, but Jane had taken a hold of her fingers and refused to let her.
"Hey, whoa, you don't have to cry. I'm sorry you don't like it. I'll take it back and get you something else. I'm sorry, I—" Jane was becoming more and more confused as Maura started to shake her head fiercely.
"No, Jane, I love your gift. I love it. It's the most thoughtful gift anyone could have given me, I just…" When her voice trailed off again, Jane decided to stay quiet, hoping it would give the genius in front of her more time to gather her thoughts. After a few moments, Maura took a deep breath and, refusing to look Jane in the eye, blurted out, "It's my birthday. I just thought you'd want to spend it together."
Jane almost fell over as the breath left her. That voice had returned—the shaky, unsure voice that accompanied a half-hearted smile and a tiny shrug as Maura's eyes glistened. Jane couldn't handle that voice. It made her want to do awful things like kissing her best friend. Holding her best friend tightly and not letting go. Letting her best friend buy her high heels and a cocktail dress just to make her smile. Well, that might be going a tad far. No. Not too far. Jane couldn't say no to Maura on a good day, and there was no way that the brunette wouldn't cross half of the universe when Maura's voice got like this.
"Oh, Maura." Jane shifted positions next to Maura's desk chair, kneeling slowly as her protesting knees cracked loudly. Screw surprises, Jane needed to fix this. "Maura, I do want to spend your birthday together. I was going to surprise you. Please stop crying. You know I hate it when you're crying." Maura swiped at her face angrily, frustrated at her own inability to control her emotions.
"I'm sorry, I—"
"I know, your amidala and lackermal glands. It's fine." Jane mispronounced the medical terms purposefully, eliciting the intended small grin and accompanying sniffle. "Maura, I swear, we are going to spend your whole birthday together, okay? I've got a whole plan, 'kay?"
"But, Jane, this is too much. We could just watch a movie and get take out. That would be okay." Maura fingered the envelope carefully, her face more relaxed though her eyes were still rimmed with red.
"It was going to be a surprise, that's why I wanted you to have a day to yourself. Just you and the Egyptian towels and the weird cucumber water they always have at these places." Jane squeezed Maura's hands in encouragement one last time before hoisting herself off of the floor and stretching her long legs. Maura cracked another smile at Jane's description of the five star spa facilities.
"I'm sorry I spoiled your surprise, Jane," Maura finally stated, looking up at her tall companion. "This is a wonderful gift. I don't know how to thank you."
Jane grinned and mentally wrestled down the evil, I can think of a couple of ways.
"You don't have to." Confident that Maura was back on her feet, figuratively, Jane turned to leave the office. As she neared the door, she turned back to Maura who was tracing the lettering on the wrapping paper from her gift. "I'll be over at eight, tonight. I know you DVRed the baseball documentary."
Maura grinned.