After a night of beautiful love-making with Maura, I wake up with my face in her pillow, inhaling the beautiful scent of lavender. It isn't very strong because Maura isn't in the bed anymore. I groan in a highly-disappointed manner, turning over completely onto my stomach for a few moments before slipping off of the bed. I take one of her short, silk robes out of the drawer, considering the fact that I'm as naked as the day I was born, and head out of the master bedroom without even trying to fix my wild hair.
Maura looks up from the espresso machine to see me walking into the kitchen quietly. She smiles brightly, and I'm pretty sure I know why. Our first time being together...and it was phenomenal. I sigh when I see that she has already dressed in a pair of dark skinny jeans and a teal sweater that has a large scoop neck, considering that closes the door for starting on our second time together. When I reach her, she uncharacteristically pulls me around toward her, pressing me against the counter with her entire body. Our lips mesh together in a marvelous display, and after a few moments, she finally speaks. "Good morning, darling." Her arms are wrapped around my waist securely, also pushing me out of my normal place of dominance and into more of the receiving role.
"You're in an oddly-good mood today, ." I rest my hands on her neck, looking into her eyes with a large smile on my face.
"Very perceptive, Detective. It's true; I had a beautiful specimen whom I am in love with over last night...Let's just say, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Oh, and I'm also taking her to the beach today." She pulls away from the embrace to finish her espresso, pouring me a cup as well.
"Say what? What beach?"
Taking a sip from her drink first, she responds. "Carson. I hear the tides are going to be spectacular today. Plus, the crowds should be smaller since it is Monday...and I also want to have another day spent with you before I head back to work and go through all the stress of explaining where I've been for the past week. So, go shower, put on some clothes, and grab a bathing suit too." Though I wouldn't normally agree so easily, I do in this case. I realize Maura and I won't be able to do this as often for the next month unless we go today, so I hurry and go to get ready.
Once we arrive at the beach, Jane and I head immediately to the emptiest set of changing rooms we can find. We both go into the same one, and I undress first and put on my ruched, teal, and strapless bikini. I push my white sunglasses up onto my head as a headband and also slip on my white, wrap-dress cover up before turning to see Jane's exact progress in dressing. I am flabbergasted by the bathing suit I see Jane holding.
"Jane Clementine Rizzoli, in the name of all things holy, you cannot wear a one-piece. You wear bikinis all the time, as you rightly should. I mean, look at your body!" I am fierce and sound angry, but Jane knows that I'm just concerned.
"Maura, it's not the same..." She looks down sheepishly, her arms crossing over her chest.
"What's not the same...?" Before I even finish asking the question, I answer it mentally. Her scars... I slowly walk closer to her, not saying anything more as I analyze the expression she has on her face. I know what I have to do...I slowly get down onto my knees, not breaking eye contact with Jane as I lift up the hem of her shirt ever so slightly, just enough to expose her most recent self-inflicted wound.
"Maura..." Her voice is pained, as if she wishes I'd just leave the topic alone...I know that I have to show her what her scars truly signify...Without further hesitation, I press my lips to her scar gently, kissing over the entire span of it. I hear an audible change in her breathing patterns, and I can tell that she's crying. Once I finish, I pull her shirt back down and stand up, kissing the scars on both of her palms and then her lips.
"Jane...You have no reason to be ashamed of these scars...Sure, the ways that you got them were gruesome at best, but they are just testaments to how strong you are..." She looks away from me, and I just move my head to force her to look into my eyes. "My love, you're so strong, so much stronger than I could ever be...You're my rock, Jane." I kiss her forehead again. "My beautiful and amazing rock." After holding her momentarily, I turn to pull out of my bag a much more Jane-appropriate, plum-colored and also strapless bikini. Handing it over to her, I whisper softly, as if I don't want anyone else to hear. "I want to be able to show off how strong you are." This makes her giggle quietly, wiping her tears out from under her eyes and taking the bikini to change into it. I murmur my approval before we pack up our clothes into my beach bag and walk, hand in hand, out of the room and onto the beach.
Throughout the morning, Jane and I have intervals of sleeping, swimming, and her chasing me with handfuls of sand in an attempt to put it inside of my bathing suit top. Needless to say, it's been fun. I see her still in the water, swimming around absentmindedly, so a devious idea comes to mind.
"Race you back to our stuff!" I scream it and am immediately barreling down the firm part of the sand. I hear Jane scream a few profane phrases before she is running after me. She yells out to where I can hear her.
"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS, CHEATER!" I cannot help but chuckle as I continue to run, but within a few seconds I hear Jane's steps right behind mine. Darn it...even with a head start, she's still faster than me. I squeal loudly as I feel her hand briefly grab my bikini bottoms. I try to speed up, but to no avail. Even though we are almost back to our stuff, she still manages to snake her hands around my waist and to jerk me up into her arms. Somehow I end up over her shoulder with her tickling my abdomen relentlessly.
"Jane!" A round of laughter ensues. "Jane, put me DOWN!" I cannot stop laughing long enough to really yell at her. She just keeps doing what she's doing until she thinks I've learned my lesson. I'm panting when she finally lets me slide off of her shoulder and into her arms, my feet still not touching the ground.
"Mercy...Mercy..." I whisper while she holds me, her arms firmly supporting my entire weight with apparent ease. We make deep eye contact, the only movement from either of us being the slightly-strained rise and fall of our chests. I am looking down at her with my hair down and curling wildly from being exposed to the ocean water, and when I realize how I must look I bring my hand up to my hair and run my fingers through it, looking away briefly.
"Hey..." Jane's voice is soft and stern. "Don't mess with beauty." That makes me bust out laughing, putting my head over her shoulder and hugging her tightly.
"You're a mess, Jane." I cling to her, not letting her pull away or set me down.
"Correction: I'm your mess." I roll my eyes, pulling back to look into her eyes again as we both laugh, but something shakes us both out of our momentarily blissful moment.
I hear the voice shouting both mine and Jane's names before I see the person, and when I turn my head to look, I am stunned. There, standing in front of us and looking quite worried and confused, are Korsak and Frost.