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As always, thanks for your wonderful comments!
Sorry for the delay... Finally, here's the last chapter. Hope you like it.
When Maura had been picked up by Korsak mere minutes ago, she had been crestfallen. However, her initial consternation was quickly replaced by enragement. How on earth could Jane do that to her? Even if Jane in retrospect declared their tryst a mistake, she would at least have expected to be notified about it. But apparently, she wasn't worth the effort.
Even though Maura's car ride over to the precinct didn't take long, twenty minutes were indeed sufficient for the anger she felt towards Jane to fester and grow. So upon entering the lobby at the precinct and spotting Jane promptly, Maura felt sickeningly uncomfortable just by looking at her. 'Show no weakness, Maura, no weakness!' she repeated the litany in her mind in a desperate attempt to control her racing pulse.
Jane was chatting amicably with a fellow officer, two coffees in her hands and Maura mentally cursed her autonomic nervous system for betraying her despite her anger as she immediately felt her heart skip a beat and her mouth go dry. Quickly putting her cool, aloof façade back into place, Maura headed towards her colleagues.
"Good morning, gentlemen." Smiling politely, she looked at everyone briefly as she greeted them. Her smile however turned to a death glare when her eyes came to rest upon Jane, who had turned around to greet her with a beaming smile plastered on her face. Which faded gradually until it was replaced by a confused frown upon seeing Maura's icy glare aimed directly at her.
The sudden chilly atmosphere in the lobby didn't go unnoticed. Frost and Korsak exchanged confused looks, hoping they wouldn't end up in the line of fire between Maura and Jane.
Handing Maura the coffee, Jane tried a tentative "Hi, Maura. I brought you coffee", instantly feeling the uneasiness creeping down her spine, when Maura wordlessly took it from her without acknowledging Jane's efforts at all. She addressed Frost and Korsak instead. "Gentlemen, would you care for breakfast? It's my treat!" She was just getting started.
Maura's cold eyes held Jane's gaze deliberately as she turned around histrionically, walked over to the nearest trash can and dumped the coffee theatrically. Seeing the aghast looks on her colleagues' faces, Maura simply batted her lashes, all the while smiling politely as she addressed Frost and Korsak once again. "Shall we?"
She linked arms with them, proceeding to usher them out. "Doc, um, what about Jane? Isn't she coming with us?" Frost asked cautiosly. He was silenced by Maura's glare and decided he had no intention of knowing what had caused the ire in Maura's eyes.
Struck dumb by Maura's grand entrance, Jane stood rooted to the spot, simply staring at the retreating forms. She could practically feel the sting of Maura's figurative slap in the face on her cheek, but was completely in the dark why the ME would pull such a stunt. Certainly not after a night like that.
Mocking her in front of her colleagues was one thing, but being rebuffed like that by Maura left Jane with a myriad of thoughts running through her mind. Her confusion turned to anger and her anger ultimately turned to something bordering on hate. Towards the one person that meant the world to her.
A hell of a lot to digest before breakfast.
.
Maura certainly wasn't happy about her behaviour towards Jane, but at least she felt some sort of gratification. Apart from that, there was a snag, as Maura had never felt so empty in her life before. Their relationship had gone to hell in a hand-basket because of the previous night, the person she loved the most had treated her like dirt and to top it all, she had the nerve to act as if nothing had occurred at all.
The information that breakfast was on Maura that morning spread like wildfire and so it wasn't exceedingly abnormal that Frankie decided to join them, grabbing a handful of donuts upon entering the diner.
"Morning Doc, have you seen Jane yet?" Frankie asked while sitting down beside Maura, completely oblivious of the turmoil his question evoked.
"Briefly." Maura peered angrily through her lashes, hoping that Frankie would get her warning. This wasn't something she wanted to talk about. Especially not with him.
He inhaled the rest of his donut and continued through a mouthful of food "After her outburst yesterday at the Robber I was prepared for World War 3 today... But then she showed up and she was so happy! Must be hormonal, I guess..."
Maura put down her new coffee. "What do you mean, she was happy?" she asked calmly. Her curiosity was piqued, that was for sure.
"Yeah, strange, isn't it? I've never seen her so happy before. She was practically beaming with joy."
"Intriguing indeed..." Maura's voice trailed off. In fact, that particular piece of information was so interesting she forgot about berating Frankie for his disturbing eating habits. 'So Jane is aglow with happiness because she got laid and she didn't even have the spark of decency to leave a note for me?' Maura thought indignantly, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore.
.
Maura was grateful for the distraction when they were called to a crime scene a few minutes later. Here, she could concentrate on being the conscientious fact-finder, instead of having her mind occupied with mundane profanities such as one-night stands.
Jane approached her while Maura was conducting the preliminary examination of the body. When Maura felt Jane's sceptical scrutinising eyes on her, she pasted a phony smile on her face an turned towards Jane, intent on keeping her detachment in place this time.
"Why, Dr. Isles," Jane sounded like she was just about to begin a friendly conversation, "Completely without your posse this time? Judging from my experience earlier I thought you were inseparable..." Jane's acerbic remark caused Maura to look up to Jane with her mouth gaping wide open.
"Cause of death?" Jane bellowed.
Given the fact that Maura had just arrived at the crime scene, she was irritated by the evident asininity of Jane's question. "Give me time, Detective. Will you?" Maura was fairly sure she didn't succeed in sounding civil either.
"Well, if the illustrious Dr. Isles can't find a cause of death, then I'm sure there is none!" Jane commented cynically.
Raising slowly from her crouching position, Maura squared her shoulders. "Detective, I'm sure our ,mystery guest' here would appreciate it if you let me concentrate on discovering the cause of his demise! Don't you have some bad guys to catch or are you just intent on preventing me from doing my job?"
So much for professional detachment.
Looking straight into Jane's eyes, Maura could see them darken considerably. She felt something snapping in Jane and flinched involuntarily.
"What the hell? What page are you on, Maura?" Jane hissed, glaring at her. They stood close, their noses nearly touching, their eyes raging with fire and Maura fought an internal battle to just grab Jane and kiss her, but quickly reminded herself that that was what had brought them to this impasse in the first place.
"What were you thinking? Was the 'uber-female' thinking at all?" Jane yelled, not being aware that her yelling was drawing attention.
"Excuse me? The 'uber-female'?" Maura frowned indignantly.
"Yes, Dr. Isles, also known as the 'uber-female' - well-educated, polite, charming, compliant and lovely to look at above all. But obviously not very bright." Jane's voice caustic, the vitriol in it hurting Maura deeply.
Upon hearing Jane's hissing at her, Maura felt a shiver running down her spine. "Tell me, was it a game for you, Maura? Were you just curious what it would be like? Or were you just using me?"
"I beg your pardon?" Maura responded incredulously. Jane had the nerve to accuse her, to act as if it was Maura's fault?
"Oh, you heard me." Jane came even closer to Maura as she threatened her. "There will be repercussions, I can assure you. I won't let you do that to me and let you get away with it scot-free. This isn't over yet, Maura." With that she left Maura and headed for Frost.
Maura watched Jane leaving, completely puzzled. She was quite sure Jane had just made her the culprit responsible for the mess they were in. And she certainly was having none of that!
"Detective Rizzoli, may I have a word with you?" Maura called, her tone clearly signalling she was on the warpath.
"Not now, I have some bad guys to catch..." Jane called over her shoulder as she was about to enter the house adjacent to the crime scene with Frost. Maura swept towards Jane, reached for her arm and yanked Jane around violently, praying that Frost would get the broad hint and leave them alone.
Still not letting go of her arm, Maura hissed "If you don't want me to cause a scene here, you'll listen to me!"
"Let go of me!" Maura had never heard Jane's voice sound so menacing before, but she stood her ground, staring Jane straight into her eyes.
"First of all, your accusations are preposterous, not to mention slanderous!"
Jane merely raised her brows dismissively.
"And being the astute observer you certainly are, Detective Rizzoli, you might have noticed our co-workers seem to be rather interested in our dispute. So I suggest you meet me in the morgue after we're done here."
"Fine." Jane said in a dull tone that implied nothing fine at all, shrugging off Maura's hand fiercely.
"Fine."
"I'll be counting the minutes" Jane's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
.
Some time later, Jane breezed into the morgue and came to stand in front of Maura's desk, arms folded, a judgemental smirk on her face. "Time to face the music!"
Maura sat at her desk and took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the upcoming confrontation. "How dare you accusing me of being responsible for this? How dare you, Jane? That borders on insolence! Apparently I was sorely mistaken about you."
Jane's eyes flew wide open for a second.
"You act like it's me who's done something wrong!" Maura yelled, an emerald fire raging in her normally pristine hazel eyes.
Jane's tone was sharp, sarcastic. "Right, my mistake! How could I forget that Dr. Isles is above and beyond reproach? Oh, and let me amend my earlier statement about you by saying that I was obviously wrong. In your case the term 'uber-female' doubtlessly stands for pompous, big-headed, presumptuous and petulant."
Completely stunned by Jane's tirade, Maura gasped for air. Jane's sable eyes were sparkling with rage as she continued. "Or were you just looking for a good fuck?"
Maura's throat seemed closed tightly, but she managed to mumble a disbelieving, "What are you insinuating, Jane?"
"What? Isn't the expression ,to be fucked' part of your common parlance, Maura? Maybe I should label it 'need for physical release', as you so aptly put it yesterday?"
Maura's temper was rising, but she battled to control it. She had known this wouldn't be easy, but Jane was doing her best to make it downright difficult. And insulting.
"Was it just a means to an end, Maura?" Jane continued reproachfully. "If I didn't know it better, I'd say you had that planned in order to get laid... With me being the surrogate 'cause that freak wouldn't do you!"
"Out of bounds, Jane!" Maura's voice thundered through the morgue. "That's an out and out lie and you know it!"
Maura's chest was heaving, her teeth were clenched. She was getting angrier and angrier by the second. She took a controlling breath, hoping it would calm her down. "That's it, Jane. Just leave, will you. This was a mistake" she said, pointing at Jane.
On seeing Maura's finger pointing at her, Jane was on Maura in a flash, ungently taking hold of Maura's wrist, thereby lifting her bodily out of her chair. Maura made a furious attempt at removing her wrist from Jane's grasp, but Jane just locked on more tightly, giving her arm a firm tug, thus propelling Maura into her. She wrapped one arm around Maura's waist while the other still grasped Maura's wrist forcefully. Maura struggled against Jane vehemently, her eyes flashing fire at her.
"Enough!" Jane's voice sent a frisson through Maura, making her shudder. "Tell me, what exactly was a mistake, Maura?" Jane asked, looking at Maura, the challenge in her eyes more than evident.
"I thought we had a remarkable, wonderful, mind-blowing night! Dammit Jane!" Being finally sent over the edge, Maura lost all sense of propriety.
There was a twinkle in Jane's eyes as she dealt her trump card. "Well, romantic and silver-tongued, too. I hate to rain on your parade, Maura, but our night together was..., how shall I put his... beyond mediocre... You shouldn't judge every woman by your own inadequacies, Dr. Isles." Jane sneered at Maura and grasped her wrist even tighter.
"What do you mean, 'mediocre'? I gave you the best friggin orgasms of your life!" Maura nearly shouted, poking Jane in the chest, her fury climbing to a crescendo.
Snickering, Jane intensified her grasp on Maura's wrist, watching Maura flinch. "I feel a slightly inflated ego blowing in from the East..."
"You're going to feel my Louboutin blowing in from the South if you don't let go of me right now!" Maura glared at her and tried to pull away from Jane. Instead of letting her go, Jane's other hand went behind Maura's head, holding it forcefully. Their bodies were pushed together, their chests heaving angrily in perfect synchronisation.
Staring into Maura's wrathful eyes, Jane couldn't help herself. She pushed her lips against Maura's, completely devoid of passion. Maura responded to her harsh kiss, fuelled by her anger. They bit and nipped at each other without tenderness in their touches, their kiss intensifying, but still no passion, only fury.
After a short while, Maura shoved Jane away from her furiously, glaring at her with venom.
"Well done, Jane. Well done!
Simply staring at her, Jane stood rooted to the spot as Maura made her way over to the door, grabbing her purse and her coat an the way.
"I don't want to rehash this any more, in any form, Detective. Do I make myself clear?" Maura stated firmly.
"And what pray tell does that mean, Doctor?" Jane asked with the merest hint of scepticism in her voice.
"It means, we're done, Detective."
"What do you mean? We're done here?"
"No, Jane. It means WE are done." Maura's voice was filled with bitterness.
A slight panic crept into Jane's voice. "What? You can't be serious, Maura! Because of one fight? You can't just walk out on what we had like that."
"Had being the operative word, Jane."
"Maura, you can't..." Jane was desperate by now, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Watch me!"
.
Jane was still in the morgue an hour after Maura had walked out on her. She had sat down at Maura's desk, mindlessly staring at Maura's screensaver. She was back to square one, left with a stoic look of loss and resignation on her face.
"How could this happen?" she reiterated quietly, asking herself again and again how the most wonderful night of her life could inadvertently turn into this nightmare.
It seemed like an eternity since she had kissed Maura goodbye that morning...
Jane woke up up to the most beautiful sight: Maura in her arms, stark naked, illuminated by the rising sun. The perfect moment was ruined though by one look at Maura's clock. The night before, Korsak had announced he'd pick up Maura in the morning and Jane felt no desire whatsoever to meet him. Of course, Korsak was well aware of their sleepovers, but Jane wasn't particularly keen on him finding out she had spent the night at Maura's, obviously with Maura. Not after he had witnessed her becoming one of the Furies the night before at the Dirty Robber.
Jane tried to wake Maura up by gently kissing her, she even tried to nudge her, but the only reaction she got was a soft lovely snore. Another glance at the clock and Jane got up, hurriedly picking up her clothes from all over the room. She uttered a few choice invectives upon realising in horror that Maura had ripped her blouse to shreds as she had tried to get her out of it as quickly as possible the night before. Her pants were also ruined, as she had soaked them through. For once, Jane was happy she had a spare set of her clothes at Maura's. Dressing rapidly en route to the bathroom, Jane winced as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, quickly deciding she'd be needing make-up to look presentable. A lot of make-up. In fact, probably enough to spackle Maura's driveway.
Time was running out so Jane made up her mind to tend to her needs at the precinct, grabbing her toothbrush and make-up, leaving Maura's house in a hurry. She would get Maura's favourite coffee on the way and wait for her beloved doctor at the precinct.
Grinning foolishly, Jane had realised she was head over heels in love with Maura and couldn't wait to see and more importantly kiss Maura again.
Thanks for reading! What do you think? Hope you like it, even though it's not a happy ending.