Author's Note: I don't own these characters or this idea, but I am sure having fun with it! Sorry it took a bit longer, I got sick and although I tried, a drugged up haze was not the best way to write this story.
"Jane, we need you in Patterson's lab. Right now," Zapata 'whispered' to Jane. She hadn't woken up at the crack of dawn to only get half answers; no, she needed details. Sure she was happy for her friends, of course. But that doesn't mean she wasn't curious. And besides, although she could technically argue that the kiss on the elevator meant she won the bet, she needed to make sure what really happened at the beach first. She looped her arm around Jane's and started pulling Jane back towards Patterson's lab.
Patterson could barely stifle her laughter. Poor Jane had no idea what was coming. She grabbed Jane's other arm, practically skipping alongside her coworkers. "We told you we'd need details," she teased, her voice sing songy.
"Um, but what about work," Jane protested weakly, glancing at her desk as they pulled her along. She had known her friends weren't going to let her off easy (that much was obvious from their texts), but she had hope that their little 'show' by the elevators would be the end of it.
"Some of us have been here for three hours already, working," Tasha stressed the last word. Sure, she hadn't exactly been working the whole time, but then again, clearly she had done more than Jane and Weller. Besides, a case could come in at any moment, so they needed to question Jane now, while they had the chance.
"Wait, what?" Jane looked at Tasha, confused. Three hours? Just how late had they been in getting into the office this morning?
When they reached her lab, Patterson quickly shooed away the other members of her team, ensuring they were alone, while Zapata lead Jane over to the stools, before sitting down across from her.
"So, spill," Zapata started.
"We, uh, we had fun." Jane said, a blush slowly spreading across her face.
"I knew it!" Patterson shouted with glee, pumping her fists in excitement.
Jane couldn't help but laugh. She knew what she was getting into, but it was nice to have someone to share this with. After spending the weekend under Sarah's watchful gaze, it was nice to just be able to talk freely about their relationship and what had developed. Not that she was planning on telling them everything, of course. But they were both trained FBI agents, and more importantly, her friends. At least this way she could try and pretend she had some sense of control over the information flow.
"So, he liked the swim suit, I take it," Patterson said. Of course she already knew the answer to this, but now she could actually see Jane's reaction. Patterson could barely suppress a giggle as Jane's cheeks flashed bright red.
"Yeah," Jane said shyly. She closed her eyes, and instantly, she was transported back to that first morning on the beach. How nervous she had been as she took off her clothes. And then, before she even could see him, how she felt Kurt's eyes on her. But instead of making her anxious or self-conscious, she felt calm. In that moment, she had seen herself through his eyes. And she felt beautiful.
"It was a little strange at first," Jane bit her lip. Under Kurt's watchful eyes, she had felt beautiful. But in the same moment, the memory of all the other reactions her tattooed body had gotten that week came rushing back. The look of disgust in other's eyes, the rude comments. "Here, I mean, sometimes I still get an odd look or something. But there…" her voice dropped off, her eyes downcast.
Patterson's heart ached. She reached out, gently rubbing Jane's arm. Even though she knew Jane had had a great time on vacation, clearly there were still some painful memories that were dredged up during the time at the beach. Maybe her instincts had been wrong, Patterson thought. Sure people would have stared regardless, but that didn't mean she had to encourage Jane to get the skimpiest bikini possible.
Jane took a deep breath before continuing. "Sarah and Kurt were great though." She gave a weak laugh, "Sarah even said it was just because they were jealous."
"With your body, hell yeah they are," Zapata replied. "You look hot in anything, embrace it!"
Jane's eyes brightened and she gave a small, but genuine laugh. "Uh, thanks. But that was all Patterson's doing." She smiled at her friends. "Thank you."
"And what is this about sunscreen? What happened?" Zapata smirked. She had seen that look between the two of them when they had mentioned it outside. Of course, the initial question was more general curiosity, nothing more. But the way both of them snapped to attention clearly showed there was more to the story than they were letting on.
Jane hadn't known it was possible to get any redder than she was before, but now her cheeks felt even warmer. Why did they have to mention the sunscreen? She quickly glanced down at her arms; there was no way they could have actually gotten sun burnt, right? She didn't think she looked tanned, but then again, the only place she could potentially see a tan line was a bit inaccessible right now.
"The fact that you just went ten shades of red proves that there's more to this story," Zapata egged her on.
"Nothing!" Jane insisted, an involuntary smile spreading across her face.
"No, if it was nothing, you guys would have just brushed it off when we first asked you. Instead, you both freaked out and started blushing. Spill."
"There's nothing to spill. It's just sunscreen." Jane insisted once more. Of course there was plenty more to the story. She didn't know if she could ever look at sunscreen again without feeling the same tingle she had felt as Kurt had rubbed it in, taking his time, tracing the lines of her tattoos up and down her back. Just the memory of it was so intense; she once again was forgetting how to breathe.
Patterson narrowed her eyes. Clearly, there was something about that sunscreen, more than Jane was willing to tell them. But this was not the right approach, they'd have to get it out of her another way. "Fine. We'll move on. Tell us about the trip. So we know you guys saw the Goo Goo Dolls – which, by the way, I listened to a few of their songs and so great. But, anyways, what else?"
Jane went silent, a smile spreading across her face. How could explain what the past three days had been like? So much had happened. Thursday felt like a lifetime ago. "Yeah, they played at this little park, right on the beach. It was so…. great." Jane sighed happily, the memory of Kurt singing in her ear during the car ride in her head. "Hey, can you help me get some of their songs?"
"Jane, seriously? We live in NYC, the music capital of the world, and you are getting swept away by a concert at the beach? I mean, I'm sure it was cool and all that, but," Tasha pulled out her phone, and a few clicks later, "Just this month, we can go see Beyoncé, Bon Iver, Teagan and Sara, even Bieber if that's what you're into."
Jane laughed, "It was pretty special, but… maybe next time?" she offered hopefully. Her first concert experience had been one for the memory books, but maybe going to one with her friends would be just as fun. Well, at least a different kind of fun.
"Fine, we'll download the songs for you, but what else?"
"Well, the beach was nice. The waves were kind of intense the first day, but it was kind of fun, getting pushed along by the current. Sawyer loved it. Then we built this sand castle with him, it was pretty impressive actually. Sawyer clearly knew what he wanted to do; he had these crazy tall towers with spires on them, arches and walls. I think he even made a staircase. It looked awesome." Jane pulled out her phone, searching for the picture. She was sure Sarah had sent it to her at some point. "Oh, here it is," she held out the phone, showing them the picture of the castle with the construction crew behind it.
"Whoa, Sawyer did that? That's smart. See, a lot of people don't realize how important the ratio of water to sand is. About a one to one ratio is best, as long as the water has a place to drain. But see here," Patterson took Jane's phone, enlarging the image, "Sawyer thought ahead and made the structures stable enough so that when excess water was around, it was easy enough to drain and not lead to collapse."
Jane took back her phone, and looked once again at the image. "Pretty sure you're giving him way too much credit there. I think he just was having fun bossing us around."
"Okay, okay, fine. The beach, the concert, the sand castle, what else, what else. And I mean good stuff this time," Tasha teased.
"Well," Jane bit her lip to stop from smiling so much. "So, that Friday night, we went to this seafood restaurant. Every table had a fire in the middle of it. Like, an actual fire. It was so mesmerizing watching the flames dance. The food was delicious. And then it started to rain, but we just walked down the boardwalk, and we were soaking wet, and then…" she could feel Tasha's and Patterson's excitement radiating as she paused. "Then, we kissed. I know it's totally cliché, but it was… perfect."
Patterson turned to Tasha, her smile wide. "Friday night," she said. "They kissed on Friday night." She turned her attention back to Jane. "So, you love him, right?" Her voice was straightforward, as if she was simply stating a fact.
Zapata sighed, staring at Patterson, before turning her attention back to Jane. "Well, of course she loves him; we've known that, like, forever…. But, did you actually admit that you love him? Have you guys told each other?"
Jane paused, as once again, the memories of this weekend overtook her, a look of blissful happiness spreading across her face. "Yeah…" She could hear Patterson's excited squeal. "Friday night, actually. After the kiss." All at once, she was back there, remembering how they laid in bed together, felt his hand on her cheek, her breath catch in her throat. "It's strange. I mean, I know… I know I must have, but I really can't remember that feeling from… before…. But then again, even if I had remembered it, I know it wasn't ever as good as it is now. This feeling… it's indescribable."
"So you guys slept together, right? Because after that…" Zapata asked, almost sounding bored with the conversation now.
"Tasha!" Patterson shouted, gently slapping her on the shoulder. "We can't ask – well, you did, right?" she asked, turning back towards Jane, her curiosity getting the best of her.
Jane said nothing, ducking her head so they couldn't see her flushed cheeks.
"You did!" Zapata said excitedly. "So tell me, did he have you seeing stars?"
"Tasha, this is our boss and our friend! I don't want to know that!" Patterson exclaimed, her cheeks almost as red as Jane's at this point. When people found out about Robert and her, she'd been faced with her own round of gossip and teasing, although she was certain it was nothing compared to what Jane and Weller would be getting. She realized it was slightly hypocritical to be feeling this way, especially since they were essentially interrogating Jane right now, but that was beside the point. Either way, she really didn't want to think about them in that way. Just as long as they were happy.
"Next question, please!" Jane half begged, half laughed. "I'm not answering that!"
"Fine," Zapata said with a half pout.
They stayed inside talking for almost an hour more, as Jane told them about the dolphins, the frozen yogurt, the little girl who admired her tattoos, even about how they buried Kurt in the sand. Almost every story was met with more questions, most of which caused Jane to blush.
Tasha and Patterson, for their part, tried to keep it under control, remembering just to be happy for their friends. But that didn't stop them from asking questions; especially the more Jane's cheeks became flushed. It was almost like their own little lie detector, they quickly figured out how far they could push her before she shut down entirely, usually leading to a pretty good idea about how far Jane and Weller had taken things on this trip of theirs.
Soon enough though, Jane had reached her limit, insisting she actually did have some work to do. Tasha gave her a quick hug before going out to the bullpen also. After Zapata left, Jane turned to Patterson one last time. "Thanks again for the swim suit," she said, smiling, before turning and walking out the door.
Jane walked over to her desk, the one she'd finally claimed as her own. And as she sat down, she instinctually looked over at Kurt's office, smiling at him. No, she hadn't remembered being in love before. But, that didn't matter. It had been two long years, but now she knew, it was all to get to this point. And she could never forget how she felt right now.
I work pretty much exclusively with tiny humans. We don't really gossip. In fact, our conversations are more like "go to sleep little monster!" than anything in this chapter.
There's going to be one more chapter after this because I can't seem to stop writing.
Favs, Follows, and of course Reviews make my heart very happy.