DISCLAIMER: Not my concept, characters or premise. But have borrowed and will play with nicely.
"Maur."
"What." She didn't look up from her microscope, annoyed and tired. Frustrated by the slide telling her that Jane's instincts were wrong. Frustrated that her impulse was now to go with Jane's instincts rather than what the evidence said in black and white.
"I'm busy, Jane."
Though she couldn't see it, she knew Jane was crossing her arms, planting her feet. "And I'm not?"
She sighed. It was 1 a.m.; neither of them had slept the last 24 hours. Her tendency to work through the night on difficult cases meant the lab was deserted and the only light came from her workstation. Turning to look at Jane, she could tell the shadows on her face weren't solely from the light. "Since my being busy is usually derived from your workload, I'm quite aware you're busy too." She registered the flicker of hurt, quickly hidden, in Jane's face, and softened her tone. "It's been a long day."
Jane's mouth quirked up. "I keep telling myself to stay away but then your voice shows up in my head telling me to stop being an imbecile." She ran her gaze deliberately over Maura. "So really, it's your fault I keep interrupting you."
She blinked, then caught the tease in Jane's eyes and chose to ignore the latter part. "An imbecile."
"Yup. And I don't even know what that is except I'm pretty sure you're not telling me I'm Queen of the May."
She frowned. "Jane – Queen of the May is a tradition –"
Jane cut in, rolling her eyes. "I know, Google, I just meant even when you're insulting me in my own head I don't understand you."
She glared at Jane, still irritable, about to make a sharp remark. Then she noted the way Jane's hands rubbed against each other, noted again the shadows under her eyes. "Well, you're providing a good demonstration of an imbecile at the moment." She quirked her lips as she said it and Jane's eyes flicked up to meet hers. The relief in them made her feel guilty.
She tilted her head, studying Jane. "Why were you telling yourself to stay away?"
Jane grimaced, blushing a little. "You'll think I'm stupid. And then provide facts to back it up."
Maura flinched, feeling her irritation return. Felt a small measure of ice-cold panic worm its way down her spine. "Is that really what you think of me? That I'm so cold-hearted that I'd do something like that to someone I love?" She turned back to the microscope, trying to adjust the slide through the tears, angered by the fact that she was crying. She felt fatigue and ill-temper rise up and suddenly all she wanted to do was go home and sleep for a week. "I really am busy, Jane. We should talk at another time. "
She could feel Jane's uncertainty, was both fiercely glad she'd caused it and hated herself for turning cold. Jane couldn't reach her when she froze her out; Maura knew she'd retreat, then come back to circle anxiously with inane remarks and half-comments, all the while pretending she wasn't, until Maura let her back in. It was their routine.
She heard the door close, and let her shoulders slump, her hands stilling on the controls. She didn't look up. Jane had left and she was startled to find that she couldn't find it in herself to be glad. She couldn't think why she should be on the verge of tears because Jane was just following the pattern-
"-I hate it when you do that."
She jumped, spun around. Jane was leaning against the closed door, watching her. "I thought you'd gone."
Jane ignored her. "You shut me out, you...you deny our friendship. You deny us, Maur. It's like you suddenly become an island, like you need to prove you don't need anyone – that you don't need anyone to touch you." She moved, deliberately pacing to stand in front of Maura, her tone mild but her eyes challenged and held Maura's.
Maura inched back into the table, her chin rising when Jane stepped forward into the space she'd created. "What do you want, Jane?"
"You."
She wanted to roll her eyes, wanted to show Jane that she wasn't having any effect on her, that she hadn't breached the shield Maura had spent years building around herself, but Jane chose that moment to move into her, her body aligning with Maura's so that they were barely touching.
She closed her eyes. "Let me rephrase." She was annoyed her voice came out, lower, hoarse. She refused to give Jane the satisfaction of clearing her throat or meeting her gaze. Knew she'd find that particular combination of mischief and warmth that got under her skin with distressing regularity if she did. "What are you doing, Jane?" She tensed when she felt hands on her lab coat, undoing the buttons.
"Tell me you need me to touch you."
She opened her eyes to stare at Jane. The expression on Jane's face wasn't light, wasn't mischievous.
Jane took a deep breath, her hands stilling on Maura's coat. "Tell me you need me to touch you." She repeated, and this time Maura heard the plea, heard the meaning beneath the words.
She couldn't though, not yet. Not with the case and the hurt and the fatigue still swirling through her mind. "Why do you tell yourself to stay away?"
Jane eased back to look at her. "Because the real reason I came down here was to look at you." She rolled her eyes at herself. "Because sometimes I just need to...check, that we're still us. That we haven't changed." She smiled ruefully, and Maura caught the spark of heat at the back of her gaze. "Also, there's this little sound you make when I kiss you that honest-to-God...it drives me nuts, Maur, it really does." She brought up a hand to trace lightly along Maura's collarbone. "And do not even get me started on your perfume."
Maura frowned, trying to ignore Jane's fingertips as they moved back and forth along the collar of her shirt. "What's wrong with my perfume?"
Jane's touch changed slightly as she moved her hands to rake her nails gently along the back of Maura's neck. "It makes me want to bite you...here." Her fingers stroked along the join between collarbone and neck. "And here." Behind Maura's ear. "...Here." Her thumb found Maura's lower lip, pressed lightly.
Maura's fought to remember why she'd been angry as the sensations from Jane's touch sparked along her skin. "But you said-" She broke off as Jane's hands found their way under her shirt. Jane stepped close to speak into the shell of her ear.
"I know what I said, Maur. I'm tired, you're tired, and when we're tired we say things that we don't mean." She paused, then huffed a laugh that had Maura's hands clenching in reaction against the table. "And I'm a Rizzoli so my mouth is notorious for saying things I don't mean when I'm tired. I'll work on that, for you. But you need to show me that I can reach you...because even when you're an island, I love you."
She kissed Maura's temple and made to step back. Maura captured Jane's hands as she pulled them from under her shirt. "You want to know that you can reach me?"
Jane shrugged. "Yeah. You're the only thing that keeps me sane some days. And you're that only thing that makes me crazy the rest of the time."
Maura rolled her eyes. Stepped forward, into Jane's embrace. "No man is an island, Jane."
Jane pulled her closer, rested her head on Maura's shoulder. "Yeah, but whoever said that clearly never met you, Doctor Isles. Stubborn is your middle name. As well as annoying. Maura Stubborn Annoying Google Isles." She yelped and shifted as Maura's hand poked her side. "Hey! Payback is a bitch, Maur."
She smiled into Jane's neck. "I need to you touch me, Jane."
She felt Jane still, tense in expectation. "Yeah?"
She eased back, smiled at the look of absolute terror warring with blatant desire on Jane's face. "Yeah. Take me home."
A/N: Pull back, push forward, pull away...wonder why you went. Everyone is motivated by fear or love – but it's so human to mix them together, right?