A/N - I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll let y'all figure out why I had so much fun. Continue to read, review, and enjoy.
Jane tapped impatiently against the steering wheel of her car, waiting on the light to change. Angry crimson rays travelled through the tinted windows of her car and, as the phone went to the soothing tone of Maura's outgoing voicemail message, her mood descended even further into blinding frustration. Damn it, where is she? I can understand being busy but Maura could, at the very least, send a text message? I feel like my mind is all helter-skelter. I don't like this. The light changed to red before she could reach the intersection and Jane waited expectantly in preparation for the green light.
"Well, I don't like how you've been keeping me waiting, Jane. How do you think I like it when I can't hear your voice without crying in misery? I hate you so much," Maura's voice echoed from the shadows of the car, shocked surprise radiating from Jane's body. Her eyes drifted toward the rear-view window and, unexpectedly, the slight tingling of soft fingers grazed up the brunette's bare arm.
"Oh, honey, don't waste your time trying to disprove me with what you know to be true," Maura cooed into Jane's waiting ear, her hands travelling down yearning muscles. Warm crimson light continued to wash upon the two women, Jane's teeth clenching in a misguided effort to repel the stinging satisfaction of the building whimper in her throat.
Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel, blinding red light making her eyes narrow. "This isn't happening. This isn't happening. You're just a result of my overactive imagination and exhaustion. If I could just get some more sleep, this wouldn't be happening."
"Oh, I love it when you self-analyze, baby. Sometimes when I'm alone at home, I fantasize that you're there with me, telling me about all of the things you want to do with me with that sultry voice of yours," breathing heavily into Jane's ear, Maura grazed the inseam of the uncomfortable brunette before moving those irresistibly nimble fingers toward her own legs, "and I get so wet. Sometimes I have to change clothes because you get me so soaked, Jane. Can you believe that?
"I've even had to move dry cleaners three times since the first day we met. It's just so hard explaining the reason of the condition of my stained clothes to some people."
"Do I really," the frustrated brunette said with a whimper as Maura's hand journeyed perilously close to intimate territory that hadn't been navigated in far too long, "make you that turned on, Maura?"
The blonde's answering laugh caressed Jane's psyche with its easing lilts and passionate undertones. God, what I wouldn't do for this woman.
"Don't lie to me. You can't even fully accept that you've fallen in love with me. Let me go, Jane. It's obviously too much stress for you to accept what's plainly obvious."
Jane's blackened eyes met the saddened fiery hazel orbs of the woman beside her. "That was then and this is now. It took some time for me to get my ideas in order but, goddamn it, Maura, I can give you what you want now."
"It doesn't work like that, Jane." Maura said solemnly, looking away from the need radiating in the homicide detective's eyes. "I'm not a toy you can drop and pick up at your leisure. You waited too long for me and I've found someone else; someone more prepared to give me what I need than you obviously are."
Loud honking from the line of cars behind Jane ripped her from Maura's attentions. The now green traffic light pulsed irritatingly into the darkened car, proving no one was there besides Jane and her vivid thoughts. Her skin still tingled with the touch of Maura's teasing hands. That felt too real…
"That's because it was…well, to you at least. I may be just a simple product of your overactive imagination trying to play tricks but, you want me to be real so, therefore, I am." Maura mused from the backseat as she lowered the window to light up her cigarette. Each neon ribbon of constantly shifting light from the nightlife of late-night Boston streets painted itself upon the primal snakeskin print of the blonde's Balenciaga high-waist leggings.
The sudden appearance of Maura's sensuous body in her backseat surprised the wrung-out brunette, her foot punching the gas-pedal, and causing a sudden acceleration that garnered a slight yell from the displaced blonde. "Could you be any more abrupt, Jane? You know, just because you have problems concentrating on the road, doesn't mean you should take it out on the rest of us."
"Fuck, Maura. If anyone is abrupt, it's you." Jane exclaimed before easing off the gas. "Wait a minute…are you smoking? You don't smoke. What are you doing wearing those clothes? You look like a hooker I collared a couple of years ago."
Despite the surprised response, Maura seemed to be unperturbed by her new attire and unhealthy habits. A puff of smoke wafted sensuously in a halo around the blonde's head before exiting out of the open window.
"Honey, I thought we had this figured out. You're the mastermind behind this conversation, not me. Whatever impulse in your head apparently wants me to be," she looked down at her expensive, but certainly not conservative, wardrobe and immediately frowned in annoyance, "borderline slutty is in control. Do you see something you like, Jane?"
"Shut-up! You aren't real. This isn't real."
Laughter rang through the small car. "Are we back on this again, Jane? I know that I'm not real and you know that you aren't really talking to me like this. But that hardly changes the fact that you're too late. I'm an attractive, intelligent, wealthy woman in my prime reproductive stage, why does it irk you so much that I've moved on to some young stud with low expectations and a high sperm count? You brought this on yourself for waiting so goddamn long. At the very least, you could have told me how you were feeling but no, that's too much to expect from Ms. I-Wear-My-Boots-A-Half-Size-Too-Small."
Anxious calm spread through the small cabin of the car as Jane extended a hand into the passenger seat and grabbed the loose Gucci silk top, pulling the blonde toward the driver's seat. The car drifted slightly to the left lane which earned a honk of annoyance from several drivers but, remarkably, the car stayed in the control of the preoccupied detective.
"If only you could use some of this aggression with me…maybe I wouldn't have to find someone else to share my cold, empty, king-sized bed." Maura antagonized playfully. "God, you should see him, Jane. He's a work of art, the crème de la crème of masculinity and heterosexual bliss, completely unlike you. Sometimes, when we're lying in the sweat-stained sheets of another marvelous night of utter fulfillment, I tell him about you. He laughs, I laugh, hell, even Bass throws in a reptilian snicker. He just can't believe that you let someone like me go because…well, why did you let me go, Jane? Was it a logical result of your ingrained homophobic tendencies or was it just the idea of being with me that you found so damn repulsive? Oh, well, doesn't matter because, either way, you missed out."
Choked pain ran trails through the brunette's shuddering frame. "But…you promised you would wait for me, Maura."
"I did, honey," Maura breathed out of clenched lips, real emotion evident for the first time since her appearance, "but I couldn't wait forever. He gave me the decision that you couldn't. This is real life, Jane, not a fairy tale."
Jane could hardly find the strength to respond as Maura's words iced her soul. She's right, isn't she? I was so caught up in my own selfish need to return back to the department to even notice that Maura needed me to comfort her. How could I be so oblivious?
"I thought I was doing the right thing by waiting till it felt right. I know I screwed things up with you Maura but, please," Jane muttered, her grip loosening, releasing the silk strands from her grasp, "don't give up on me. Just…don't leave me, Maura. I need you in my life and I'll be damned if I lose you. "
After several moments of complete silence, the brunette twisted in her seat and found the familiar black faux-leather seats staring back at her innocently. Besides the movement from outside the Boston police department headquarters that Jane had somehow miraculously managed to drive herself to, the car was empty. Thank God she's gone…the last thing I need on my jacket is a detailed report from some rookie who saw me having a vivid conversation with my car seats.
"Now, why don't you go in there and tell me that instead of assuming I'm clairvoyant," Maura's disembodied voice said before finally leaving Jane's consciousness.
She's right, it's time to put up or shut up. Jane grabbed the car door and opened it upon her future regarding Maura Isles.