Downtime was few and far in between for Maura now that her life revolved around work and unpacking, but her new apartment was coming along nicely. Her closet was now completely organized the way she liked it and her beloved Bass had an area designated just for him. The apartment held no reminders of Jane. There were none of her material possessions in Maura's room and there were no pictures of Jane in sight. Maura would always have memories of the time she spent with her wife, memories that she would hold close to her heart, but she was now in a Jane-free zone. Jane had never been to her apartment and, as far as Maura knew, Jane had never even been to her building and she planned on keeping it that way. If she wanted to heal, she knew she would have to keep her distance from Jane outside of work and spend time with people who had never known Jane Rizzoli and would never bring her up in conversation.
The weather was lovely and, from her bedroom window, Maura could see people going about their day. She contemplated doing the same, maybe even getting some shopping done, but a knock at her door snapped her out of that. Please, let it not be Jane at my door.
When Maura opened her door, she was surprised to find Samantha. The blue-eyed blonde was dressed head-to-toe in designer labels with flawlessly applied make-up and not a single hair was out of place. Maura couldn't help notice she looked even more beautiful now that she was relaxed instead of struggling with shopping bags as she was when they first met. Maura had become so entranced with this woman that she had failed to notice the bottle of wine she was carrying.
"I thought you could use an apartment-warming gift," Samantha said as she handed the bottle over to Maura.
"Please, come in," Maura said nervously. "I'll let this chill for a few minutes."
"It's already been chilled to its proper temperature," Samantha informed her. "You didn't think I'd welcome you with an un-chilled bottle of wine, did you?"
Maura just smiled at her. "No, of course not. Have a seat in the living room. I'll pour a couple of glasses for us."
"Your apartment is coming along nicely," Samantha told her as they started sipping from their wine glasses. "You've only lived here for four days. It took me weeks to get organized."
"I started with my closet," Maura informed her. "Organizing my closet is what motivated me to do the rest."
"You have impeccable taste," Samantha told her.
"I could say the same about you," Maura responded as she tried not to blush. "Are those shoes Yves Saint Laurent?"
"Givenchy," Samantha corrected her. "The same as your perfume. It smells so good on you."
Maura was starting to become uncomfortable. She knew Samantha was flirting with her, so to ease the tension Maura decided to pour herself another glass of wine. Samantha was a beautiful woman and if this were under different circumstances she could see herself having a physical relationship with her.
"How long have you lived here?" Maura asked in an attempt at changing the subject.
"Five years," Samantha told her. "This apartment was a gift to myself on my 30th birthday."
Maura was taken by surprise. "You don't look thirty-five."
Samantha started laughing. "It's the Botox, sweetheart. It works wonders."
"Oh," Maura said and averted her eyes.
"What do you do, Maura, if you don't mind me asking?"
Maura was on familiar territory now. "I'm a medical examiner." She usually wasn't so nonchalant about her career, but she was still trying to gauge Samantha.
"That's fascinating," Samantha responded, her eyes slightly widening. "I bet you have so many stories."
"There's never a dull moment," Maura said and smiled at her.
"Do you work for Boston or Cambridge?" Samantha asked.
"Boston," Maura said matter-of-factly.
"This may be me just reaching for the obscure, but do you know Jane Rizzoli? She's a detective now, but I knew her way back when," Samantha said with a huge smile on her face.
"How did you know her?" Maura asked as she pieced everything together. It all made sense to her now. This was Jane's ex-girlfriend and mistress.
"In the biblical sense," Samantha said and winked at her. "Just between us girls, I've been fucking her on a regular basis. She's amazing, Maura. I don't know if you're into women, but if you are, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you joined us. It wouldn't be our first time having a threesome and you look like you'd be her type."
Maura tried to hold back her tears. "She's still seeing you?"
"She's been seeing me a couple of times a week for the past few months," Samantha informed her. "Her wife doesn't know how she likes to be touched, so she comes to me every opportunity she gets. Why is this upsetting you so much?"
"I'm the wife who doesn't know how she likes to be touched," Maura said angrily. "I'm the one she leaves every opportunity she gets, just like you said."
Samantha was flabbergasted. "So, you're the one I sent those pictures to? Maura, I'm so sorry. Had I known it was you, I wouldn't—"
"Save it!" Maura yelled. "I want you to leave!"
"Maura, we should talk about this," Samantha urged her. "We get along so well. Jane's the one at fault, not us. Jane is the cheater."
"Sam, I need you to leave my apartment," Maura said, gritting her teeth.
"Maura, we're the victims here," Samantha tried explaining, but Maura wasn't going to hear it.
"Get out!" Maura yelled. She threw her wine glass down on the floor, leaving Samantha to watch it shatter. When she refused to leave, Maura slammed another one down. "Get out! Get out! Get out!"
Maura was too angry to care what she was ruining. Her best wine glasses had been shattered. She had thrown her favorite vase across the room. Samantha slipped out without Maura even noticing. Maura Isles Rizzoli was despondent once the initial anger had subsided. She was now crying uncontrollably. Her Jane; her beloved Jane had betrayed her far worse than she had expected.