Chapter4
Jane tried to act normal as she walked into autopsy. Normal! Whatever that meant. The room felt a lot warmer than usual, and smaller. Jane looked around searching for something to play with as Maura walked around the corpse that lay still on the table. She picked up a latex glove and pretended to be interested in the elasticity of it. Maura stared at her. "Jane, over here." Maura directed.
Jane walked towards the doctor still staring downwards, fiddling with the glove. "What is it that you wanted to show me Maura?" She asked in the politest voice she was able to conjure.
"Oh nothing." Maura smirked.
Caught off guard, Jane looked up at her in disbelief. She quickly turned her attention back to the ground. "Ok, that's it." Maura stated. "What is it? Is it this dress? It doesn't look good on me does it? It's an Antonio Berardi."
Jane remained still. She hadn't even noticed the dress. All she could think about was the bare skin that was underneath the dress. "No Maura, forget it."
"Well what is it then? Do I have something in my teeth?" Jane continued to ignore all eye contact with the doctor who was self-consciously checking herself over. "Jane! Look at me!"
Jane's dark eyes darted towards Maura and locked on to her hazel ones. She was trying hard not to blush. "Yes?" Jane shouted at her friend.
Maura seemed taken aback by Jane's coldness. Jane could see that she had been hurt as the doctor said never mind and asked Jane to leave. The detective thought about taking her exit. It would have been a lot more embarrassing then admitting what was really going on inside her head. But Maura had been Jane's best friend. She could never hurt her purposely, not if there was anyway to avoid it.
"It's not you Maur'….. it's… " Jane's voice trailed off. Was she really about to say It's not you, it's me… This isn't a break-up. "I just woke up in a bad mood." That should explain it. Besides Maura knew me… she wouldn't think any further into it.
"Clever Jane. How come you can't look at me? You're my best friend Jane."
"Exactly!" Jane yelled. "That is exactly why I cannot tell you I had a sex dream about you." Jane turned read and covered her mouth. She tried to hide her face in horror.
Maura began laughing at Jane's confession. "Is that all Jane?" she asked.
"Is that all? Is that all?... Well yes that is all! Why are you laughing" Jane finished.
"It's nothing to be ashamed about Jane. You have been my partner in more than one of my erotic dreams." Maura laughed. "We can't control our dreams Jane."
Jane continued to stare at her friend in dismay. As Maura looked up from the body, Jane crossed her arms across her chest as if to cover herself up. Is Maura imagining me naked now? How often did this happen? Jane's thoughts ran wild in her mind. She started to make her way to the exit when Maura stopped her.
"Jane, are you forgetting something?" Jane turned around and saw that she was holding out the autopsy report. She grabbed it from the medical examiner's hand and muttered something that was almost a thank you and started towards the door again. "Oh and Jane?" … Maura continued. Jane glanced over her shoulder to see the big smile on the blonde's face. "Was I any good in this dream of yours?" She teased.
Jane almost died of embarrassment as she left autopsy, barely escaping with her life. Or at least that is how she felt at this moment. Was she any good? Was she any good? Jane kept repeating silently in her head. No Maura. You were horrible. This is why I can't even look at you. Jane had not even bothered to answer her colleague's question. She continued seething as she entered the elevator. She needed to collect her thoughts and unfortunately there was nowhere to do this privately.
The elevator beeped loudly, letting her know that she was on her designated floor. As the doors opened, Frankie appeared. "Where are you going?" Jane asked her younger brother.
"To see Maura," He replied
"NO!" Jane shouted. "I mean what for?" Jane calmed herself. She had been too afraid that Maura might tell Frankie about Jane's dream.
"She wanted to asked me a question regarding a dress she was wearing," Frankie informed her.
" Oh trust me. She doesn't need your opinion anymore." Jane said dragging him away from the elevator. " I helped her out with that little problem."
Frankie's phone buzzed in his left hand. A text from Maura. "You're right Janie. She just texted me never mind…. Are you ok? You seem I don't know. Off."
"Yes, I'm fine Frankie. And please stop calling me Janie at work." Jane groaned before departing ways with her brother.
Jane could see that BPD was just starting to come alive as she plodded toward homicide. She had been up for hours, and now the faces of well-slept, cheerful police officers were coming to remind her that the day had just started. Jane reached her chair and sat down heavily. She propped her feet on the desk and opened the autopsy report that Maura had given her just a few minutes earlier. Jane took a sip of her coffee as she realized that Maura had left a message on a yellow sticky note on the first page in her report. She choked on her coffee as she read the single sentence. "I am thinking about you, I hope you're thinking of me too." Jane quickly grabbed the note off the paper and hid it in her hand. She read it again and noticed the winky face that Maura had added at the end of her note. Jane didn't crumble the message and throw it away, although she did think about it. She opened her drawer and placed the handwritten note under a stack of papers so that she could come back to it later. She wasn't sure why she kept it, but she couldn't bring herself to discard it in the trash.
"Alright" Jane spoke. "Frost. Korsak. Late teen male victim with a single gunshot wound to the abdomen. 9mm. No identification. What do you guys have?"
"Uh. We have nothing Jane." Frost admitted. " All we have is a McDonald's receipt, a broken cellphone, and a small piece of paper with something written on it, but I can't make it out."
"Why not?"
"Well, because he wadded up his gum and stuck it in the paper."
Jane looked at her partner disgusted. "Who does that? Don't people litter anymore or is that a thing of the past? …. Is there any way to retrieve anything on the cellphone? And are we able to somehow remove the gum?"
Frost laughed at Jane's facial expression. "I am working on the phone. I am currently uploading all of its contents on a secure drive on the computer and the lab has the gum paper."
"Alright, well then let's canvass the area where the body was found. Someone has to know something. This isn't just some street kid…."
Maura entered the room grinning. "I want to come."
Jane rolled her eyes. "Ok well Frost, you and Korsak take the crime scene. Scan over it for anything we may have missed. The doctor and I will survey any bars and clubs nearby." She looked at Maura with suspicion.
"And McDonald's" Frost reminded his partner.
"Right, and McDonald's" Jane repeated.
"We're going to McDonald's?" The medical examiner asked in very enthusiastic voice as they were exiting BPD.
"Yes Maura. It will be our first date." Jane replied sarcastically.
"No Jane. This will be our 226th date." Maura corrected.
"What?"
"We have eaten together 225 times." Maura explained.
"Shut up and get in the car." Jane chuckled as she walked to the driver side door. Only Maura would be counting the times they had shared a meal together.
"I think your math is off Maur'" Jane teased.
"No Jane. I can assure you that any math you may be referring to is correct" Maura replied.
"C'mon Maura. We eat together almost every night."
"Yes, but not every night Jane. I did not count the nights we ate with others whether it was Angela or Sergeant Korsak or Detective Frost. I also did not count the times we ate while on the job, or undercover…." Maura's voice trailed as Jane interrupted her.
"Undercover? When were we undercover together outside of the Merch deal?" Jane asked.
"Last month when you and I had lunch while working that case at that seafood restaurant where the victim had been shot."
"No, Maura. We were not undercover." Jane said.
"Then what would you call it then?" Maura inquired.
"I would call it lunch Maura. I was hungry and we were already there doing some routine follow-ups." Jane laughed.
"Oh well … Don't laugh at me." Maura pushed Jane's shoulder playfully.
"Hey, c'mon… I'm driving Maura" Jane chuckled. "Plus you laughed at me when we talked in autopsy."
"You mean when you told me about your dream?"
"Yes and can we please not talk about it." Jane insisted.
Maura leaned over the center console of the blue cruiser. With one hand on Jane's leg and her lips inches away from her ear she whispered. "I only laughed because I was afraid that the real life Maura wouldn't be as good as your fantasy Maura."
Shivers went down Jane's spine as Maura's words and hot breath hit her ear. Maura rested back in her seat and stared out the window with a satisfied grin. Well then, this is going to be an awkward ride, Jane thought.