"Maura!" Jane flew into the morgue, stride wide and voice full of venom. "Where are you?" She rounded the corner, making her way the the ME's office.
"What's happened?" Maura was calm as she watched the brooding detective come to a halt in front of her desk.
"Cavanaugh happened." Crossing her arms and scowling down at the honey brunette, the detective's face shut down, hiding her emotions as her voice came out in a suddenly quiet and calm fashion. The transition from angry to calm was eery. "I just walked out of his office after he showed me your ICE paperwork. You should have told me before you updated that form."
"Why would he have my ICE form?" Careful to not make a sudden move that would increase Jane's obvious anger and frustration, Maura mirrored the darker woman's demeanor. Calm and quiet, she managed to not show outwardly her sudden inward feelings of panic. "The only individuals to have that paperwork should be Human Resources."
"Yeah, well, Cavanaugh says that he gets a copy of all ICE forms for anyone on his team, and he had it, Maura. I saw it with my own eyes." Jane's jaw muscles flexed as she stopped talking to glare down the doctor. "He called me into his office to tell me that if you and I had drama that we needed to keep it out of here or he would pull me from homicide." Her demeanor shifted from calm to angry again, and she slammed the back of her left hand into the palm of her right to emphasize her words. "Pull. Me. From. Homicide." He eyes widened, breath coming faster. "For being your girlfriend."
Maura took in a slow deep breath. She willed her anger at the situation to remain at bay as she tried to gather all of the facts. "What did you tell him?" Despite the evenness of her tone, her eyes betrayed her fears at what Jane might have said.
"I basically told him to fuck off!" Jane ran a hand through her hair as she rolled her eyes. "Where does he get off telling me anything about my relationship with you? Like I told him, there's nothing on the books that says you and I can't date each other and work together."
"That is true," Maura nodded slightly. "I'm very concerned as to how he came into contact with that paperwork. I'm not technically on is team."
"I'm concerned that you changed that paperwork before telling me. Forget that he has it. Why didn't you warn me? I thought we agreed not to tell anyone until we'd told my brothers, Frost, and Korsak. You should have known that, as soon as anyone besides our friends knew, that it would be all over the station." Shaking her head, Jane began to pace in the area in front of Maura's desk.
"Human Resources is obligated to maintain confidentiality," the smaller woman stood up slowly to make her way around her desk. "They've clearly broken protocol, and," she paused, a thought occurring to her. "Jane, are you upset that I've changed the paperwork for my emergency contact, upset that Lieutenant Cavanaugh knows and said something inappropriate about this situation, or upset because others know outside of our circle of close friends?"
"I... what?" Jane stopped pacing. "Am I what?"
"Why, exactly, are you angry about all of this?" Maura crossed her arms, tilting her head to the side as she rephrased the question. "Are you angry because there is an HR leak, or are you angry because people know what's going on between us?"
"Really?" The detective rolled her eyes, sighing heavily. "No, Maura, I'm not upset because people know. I'm pissed because Cavanaugh threatened me about my relationship with you, which he had no business doing, and I'm pissed because he wouldn't have known if HR hadn't decided to put their nose where it doesn't belong."
"So you are upset that others know?" The doctor's face shut down, mouth turning down at the corners.
"What did I just say? I said that," Jane's face dropped as she finally understood what the other woman was asking. "Oh my God, Maura, no." She shook her head, voice going soft. "Sweetie, I'm not embarrassed by us. I promise. I'm just really pissed about how this went down. I don't like it when people try to tell me how to run my personal business, and I really don't like it when people threaten you."
Maura nodded, body relaxing. "I'm glad to hear that," she said. "Jane, I want to find the leak, but I don't want to cause a scene. I think that would end poorly for us."
"Yeah, you're probably right." The taller woman took the two steps needed to be in front of the other woman. "Maybe we should let it go?"
"No, I don't want to do that. I'd hate to think someone else was outed because of an HR leak, but I don't want to go in there angry, either. I'm just not sure what the best course of action is. If we do turn in Lieutenant Cavanaugh, we run the risk of increasing your job's difficulty level, but, if we don't, then we run the risk of this happening to someone else or other things happening to us." The doctor frowned. "I don't like this situation."
"Yeah, neither do I, but," Jane reached out to pull Maura into a hug, "I think this might be one time where being quiet would be better than causing a scene. He's not telling anyone else, and we've already agreed to be out once we've told the important people. You have to pick your battles, you know?"
"Perhaps," Maura wrapped her arms around the lithe form of her girlfriend, placing her head on Jane's shoulder. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you in advance. I didn't think this would happen, so I didn't see it as an issue. I should have told you."
"It's okay. I mean, yes, you should have told me, but I'm glad you changed it. I'm glad you trust me enough to be your emergency contact." Placing a kiss in the crown of curls before her, Jane pulled back. "I want to change mine, too. Is that okay?"
"Yes," Maura smiled gently, "That is more than okay."
"Good, when I turn in my ICE form this afternoon, I'm writing a dirty note on the back telling off whoever the prick is that outed us to Cavanaugh. You okay with that?"
Maura chuckled despite herself. "No, and I still feel we should take some kind of action, but I suppose I can't stop you."
"How about we think about it to really figure out what the best plan of action is here? If we're going to do something, I want to make sure it's the right something." Jane stepped back, reluctantly pulling away from Maura. "Fair?"
"Yes, I'm agreeable to that." The honey blonde smirked. "If you do write the letter, please do me one small favor."
Jane narrowed her eyes. "What?"
Maura's eyes twinkled with mischief. "Don't use crayons this time."
"Hey! It was all I had to write with! Geez, you write one complaint letter using crayons, and no one ever lets you live it down!" The detective snorted in mock frustration.
"Well, it was very colorful. I give you points for creativity. I've never seen a rainbow colored complaint letter before or after, but, this time, you may want to consider using a pen." Maura leaned over to lay a kiss on Jane's cheek. "See you tonight?"
"Yeah," Jane rolled her eyes as she turned to the door. "I'll there around 6 assuming nothing comes up," she said as she left.
As always, your reviews are very much appreciated.