Chapter 18
"Oh no! If you want my mother to know where we are it'll have to come from you," Jane said emphatically. "But I warn you Maura, she is liable to get on a plane and storm the city. She's in true Hurricane Angela form. If you want to deal with her antics, you call and tell her where we are." Jane rose up one eyebrow and stared at Maura with an 'I dare you' look on her face.
Maura thought about what Jane was saying and realized she wasn't ready to handle Angela in full protective Mom mode. She dropped her eyes and a smirk came across her lips. "Upon further consideration thank you for not mentioning exactly where we are." Maura walked towards the ledge of the terrace. "Would you still like to see some of the city?"
Jane smiled and gently placed her hand on Maura's back. "Lead the way, Doc. Show me this city of yours."
The women made their way out of the suite. Maura was grateful for the distraction. She needed some time to be removed from her worries and nothing came as a better distraction as showing some of her favorite places in New York to Jane. Maura was surprised that Jane had never been sight-seeing in the city before and was happy that she got to show Jane the sights for the first time.
Their first stop was a walk through Central Park. There was such peace and tranquility in this park that it routinely enveloped Maura. As they strolled through the park, Maura pointed out all the sights. From the zoo, to the Kennedy-Onassis Reservoir to the Strawberry Fields Lennon tribute, Maura rambled on and on about the park's make up, history and a handful of interesting tidbits and observations. Jane walked along side Maura and just smiled as her tour guide pointed out everything.
From Central Park, Maura took Jane across the Brooklyn Bridge. At the halfway mark, they stopped and looked out over the city. The skyline was incredible. Jane got a strange look on her face as they looked out from the bridge.
"What?" asked Maura.
"I was just thinking how sad it is not to see the Towers," she said with unmistakable sadness in her voice.
"Yes, I sometimes am still surprised when I look up and see they aren't there. It was such a tragedy." Maura looked at Jane and noticed she had dropped her eyes and started rubbing the scar on her left hand. "Jane, are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just the last time I was in this city was in the aftermath of 9/11."
This took Maura completely by surprise. Jane had never once mentioned she had spent time in New York after 9/11. "I had no idea you came up here, you've never said anything about that."
Jane nodded her head, "I don't like talking about it much. A bunch of us from BPD came up here about a week after it happened to help out. So many lives were lost. The devastation was unimaginable. There really wasn't much we could do but most of us couldn't not come. I stayed for a week but then had to get back. Korsak stayed for almost a month." As she talked her tone got quieter and quieter. "There's a lot of evil in this world Maura." It was a statement that Maura just let linger because there was no arguing with it.
After a few minutes, Jane snapped out of a daze. "Ok, let's get moving. What else do you have to show me?" Maura was used to Jane's quick diversion tactics. Jane was good at changing the subject when she hit a point where she didn't want to talk anymore. Maura knew Jane well enough to know not to push so she let the topic go. The ladies made it back across the bridge and back into Manhattan.
They stopped for lunch at Gramercy Tavern, Jane being somewhat impressed that Maura knew the owner and they had managed to get a table without a reservation. The food was fabulous and the women had a relaxed, easy conversation. Both talked about the small, trivial issues in life and successfully avoided any heavy topics of discussion. Jane went into a short dissertation about why Boston's athletic teams were ultimately far superior to the New York athletic teams and Maura opted to not point out the staggering World Series title differentiation so as not to upset Jane.
After lunch Maura took Jane to her two favorite buildings in the city. The first was Grand Central Station. Anyone that just thought Grand Central was just a transportation center was missing out of the uniqueness and wonder of the architecture of the building. Jane was impressed before they ever even stepped foot inside.
"It started out as a train depot in 1871 but was eventually torn down and rebuilt as Grand Central Station in 1913. The building itself is a National Monument, but my favorite part is this," Maura said as she stopped and pointed up. They had wandered into the main concourse of the station.
Jane looked up at what Maura was pointing at, "Oh, wow!"
Jane was looking up to see two things. First was a large American flag hanging from the ceiling. "They hung the flag just after 9/11," Maura stated. Jane just nodded as she was absorbed by the second part of what made her say wow; it was the ceiling itself.
"The ceiling was originally designed in 1912 but had to be redone in the 1930s due to damaged plaster. In the 1990s, the ceiling was restored to its original form except one patch so people could get an idea of just how much it was been cleaned up." Maura pointed out the patch that was not restored.
"The interesting thing about this ceiling is that first the sky is backwards and second the stars themselves are slightly displaced. The most popular theory is for the sky being backwards is that it is supposed to represent what the sky would like to God looking down over the Earth. Others think it was just a mistake by the artist but I have always found the God theory a bit more magical. It's hard to call any part of this ceiling a mistake."
"It's breath-taking," was all Jane could manage.
The second of Maura's favorite buildings was the New York City Public Library. Jane never thought she would be impressed by a library but the building just fascinated her. Its size alone was impressive.
"It's the second largest library in the United States," Maura commented when Jane said something about the size. "It was originally the merging of John Jacob Astor library that was started in the 1850s and the John Lennox library from the 1870s. The then Governor of New York Samuel Tilden bequeathed most of his estate to help with that merger envisioning a free, public library system for all of New York and in 1895 the two libraries merged. Andrew Carnegie would eventually donate the money in the early 1900s to help branch out the public library into 65 other locations, but this building was meant to the center of it all."
"It's so peaceful," Jane whispered.
Maura smiled. "I used to love coming here when I was a kid. My fath…." She abruptly stopped the sentence before she finished it. "Come on, let's get going. I want you to take in one more sight before we call it a night."
Jane considered pushing Maura about what she was going to say but knew it was about her father so she decided to let it go. Today had been a good day and Jane didn't want to pull Maura into a dark place if she wasn't willing to go there yet. So, she just nodded and followed her friend.
Their last stop on the sight-seeing tour was Times Square. It had gotten dark enough outside that Jane got the full effect of the lights, sounds and energy of this small piece of Manhattan. Jane and Maura stood in the middle of it and Jane couldn't help but smile. She loved Boston. It was home, but in that moment, she couldn't help but be impressed with this part of New York. The lights, billboards, sounds and people all combined to completely overwhelm the senses and it took Jane's breath away. They lingered a bit taking it all in but eventually decided to call it a night.
On the cab ride back to the penthouse Jane noticed Maura had grown quiet and was staring out the window. They didn't say much to each other until they got into Maura's suite.
"Would you like something to drink? I had the concierge get some beer for you," Maura stated.
"A beer would be great, thanks."
Maura opened up a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass and got a beer from the refrigerator for Jane. The two ladies made their way into the living room and settled in on the couch. Both sipped their beverages in silence for a few minutes. Jane again found herself in the position of not wanting to be the first to speak.
"You must be exhausted Jane," Maura said with concern in her voice. "You never did sleep last night did you?"
"Not really on the sleep side. And I'm tired but not exhausted."
Maura seemed to consider this and the silence returned. She liked the comfort of silence with Jane. It felt as safe as anything she could remember. After a few minutes, Maura stirred. "Come on, let's go to bed."
Jane nodded. "Got a guest room for a tired detective?"
"Yes," Maura said but Jane detected a bit of sadness in her voice.
"Or, would you like a bed-mate for the night?" They had, on many occasions, shared a bed when one or the other just couldn't bring herself to fall asleep alone. Jane sensed that Maura was in that very state.
"A bed-mate if you wouldn't mind."
"I wouldn't mind at all."
They both got up and Jane excused herself to the guest room to get ready for bed. She joined Maura a few minutes later and claimed her side of the bed. They settled in and Maura turned down the lights. They both laid there and looked up at the ceiling.
"Thank you for today Jane."
"Considering you were my tour guide, shouldn't it be me thanking you?"
"I didn't mean that part."
"What part did you mean?"
"I meant for letting me go on and on about things that had nothing to do with me. You haven't pushed me about anything all day and I'm grateful for that. So thank you."
"We all need a break from time to time. I figured today was a break day for you."
Maura nodded. "Will tomorrow be a break day too?"
"Tomorrow will be whatever you need it to be. I'm not here to force anything from you. We will go at your pace on all of this, I promise."
Maura nestled in closer to Jane, resting her head on Jane's shoulder instead of her pillow. "Good night Jane."
"Good night Maura."
Jane was just starting to drift off to sleep when Maura startled her slightly. "Jane?"
"Yes…"
"Don't let tomorrow be a break day."
A/N Sorry if it feels like this chapter rambled a bit, but I wanted to take the ladies through NYC a bit. Felt they needed to take advantage of being out of Boston and I do think that sometimes people just need a mental break day from time to time. And as for the 9/11 reference I just don't know to be in that city and not at least acknowledge the tragedy. More to come- should make good progress over the weekend. As always- review graciously accepted and appreciated.