"It'll be over soon, dear-heart," Maura whispered as she stepped up behind the tall brunette and wrapped an arm around her waist. "You know they don't mean anything they're saying right now. It's all a ruse."
"Yeah, I know, but that doesn't make it any easier to hear." Jane sighed as she leaned into Maura's arms. Dark brown eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she stood at the windows looking into the backyard of Maura's home and watching the men help her mother move from the guest house. Occasionally, one of them would throw her a disgusted looked, and there were times when the wind would blow in the direction of the house and the muffled sounds of their voices became easy to understand.
Those were the hardest times. The things her family said about her and the tiny woman now beside her as they loaded her mother's belongings into the trailer of George Arnold, one of the two uniforms Angela had spoken with less than a week before who had offered to help her move from the 'hell hole' that was Doctor Maura Isles's home, were harsh and bordered on cruel.
"Everything they're saying is what I thought they'd say about me if I ever told them I was a lesbian." Jane's voice cracked, and she her body trembled slightly. "What if they really mean some of that, Maura?"
"They love you, Jane. They're doing this to help you, to help both of us. Remember, they came up with this plan, and," the doctor gave a little squeeze to try and reassure the other woman, "you know they're only saying these things to protect their cover."
Jane snorted. "Cover, right." Shaking her head, she turned and walked away from the scene. Maura let her go, watching the slumped shouldered, lanky form move through the newly redecorated living room on the way to the bedroom. "I'm going to finish unpacking the last of the clothes, okay?"
"Would you like some help?" Maura followed behind, cautious but concerned.
"No, but you can keep me company." Jane stopped and looked around the house. "I can't believe how fast those movers and that decorator of yours put everything together. It's crazy." She glanced to a wall that now held both her plaques and Maura's. "I mean, it looks like I've lived here this whole time."
A smile broke across the honey brunette's face, and her eyes sparkled as she looked about her home. "It does, doesn't it? See? There was no reason to worry that your things and mine wouldn't blend well. It's practically a perfect balance."
"Of what?" Jane reached forward to straighten a plaque on the wall. "Of your really nice, really expensive girly things and my not-so-nice, kind-of-cheap guy stuff?"
"No, Jane," Maura's tone chastised even as she walked over to again wrap her arms around the other woman. "Of us."
"What is this?" Maura sat in the middle of her bed as she pulled items from the last of Jane's luggage while Jane put them away.
A blush crept across the detective's face. "That's… well, you know, Maura, every kid has something they carried around with them all the time. Some kids have blankets. Some kids have stuffed animals…" She trailed off, sure the doctor followed the line of logic.
One perfectly arched eyebrow rose in amusement. "Your security item as a child was a stuff narwhal?"
"Hey," despite the offense in her voice, Jane smiled wider and blushed even more. With a chuckle she nudged the other woman over and settled next to her in the large bed as she took the small, grey stuffed animal from her. "Leave Nam alone. He's clean. I ran him through the washer the last time I did laundry." She ran an affectionate hand over the well-loved toy.
"Nam?" Maura smiled brighter. "Cute." She reached over to pet the narwhal. "Please to meet you, Nam."
Jane's eyes narrowed. "Are you patronizing me?"
"No, of course not. I understand the emotional attachment children have to inanimate objects. In case you've forgotten, I was a child once, too. Besides," Maura scooted to the edge of the bed and hopped off. As she spoke, she knelt down to open the bottom drawer of her nightstand. "It's not uncommon for those childhood attachments to carry over into adulthood. So, if Nam was your comfort object as a child, then it only stands to reason he's still important to you now." She glanced up from what she was doing to offer a reassuring smile. "Correct?"
"Yeah," Jane begrudgingly admitted. "Man, if they guys knew that I still…"
"I won't tell. You know you can always trust me," the doctor said as she crawled back onto the bed and resettled. "Chester," she offered as an explanation as she held up a small stuffed penguin that was as equally well-loved as the narwhal still sitting in Jane's lap.
Jane's smiled beamed as she looked at the little toy. "He's cute."
"I've had him since I was born. Mother tried on several occasions to discard him, but I was a persistent child. Each time she tried to take him from me, I'd spend hours staring at her until she finally gave in and returned him. I believe she didn't want me to become emotionally dependent on a stuffed animal, but," Maura shrugged, "we traveled a great deal, and, as you know, I went to boarding school at a young age, so it was only natural that I developed an attachment to something from home."
"Nam was a gift from my grandfather when I was about five," Jane moved the narwhal so that it lay between them. "When I first had him, he was a lighter shade of grey, and he had a policemen's hat, but I have no idea what happened to it. I'm willing to bet Ma cut it off at some point. I just," she shrugged, "I don't know. My grandfather and I were close – Pop's dad."
"As I understand it, Chester was a gift from a friend of the family." Maura set the penguin down so that it leaned against the side of the other toy. "I really don't know why this specific toy was the one I became so attached to."
"Well, he's cute, and I'm glad you showed him to me. It makes me feel less lame that I still have mine." With a chuckle, Jane turned her head to lay a kiss on Maura's cheek. She glanced back down "Hey, don't penguins and narwhals live in the same place or something?"
"Not exactly," the doctor tilted her head, thinking, as she looked at the toys. "Narwhals live in the Atlantic and Russian waters of the Artic Ocean . Penguins, on the other hand, populate the southern hemisphere, mostly around Antarctica."
"So," Jane smirked, "they both come from mostly cold places but from completely opposite sides of the world?"
"Essentially." Maura nodded.
"That seems about right," the detective chuckled as she pulled away to stand again. "I'm going to finish this unpacking thing, and then can we, maybe, go see a movie or something? I feel the need to get out for a little bit."
"That sounds lovely. I'll go shower and change while you finish here. Do you want me to look up movie times, as well?" Maura began to pull off her clothing as she headed to the master bath.
"No, I'll do it. If you're taking a shower, I've got plenty of time." Dark brown eyes watched the smaller woman move across the room, clothing falling off as she went. "On second thought," the detective said as she let the suitcase fall to the floor, "a shower sounds good."
With that parting thought, Jane followed Maura into the master bathroom leaving Nam and Chester to keep watch over the bedroom and the various items belonging to both women that were now skillfully displayed about the room.