The elevator dinged and the doors rolled open to the homicide floor. Jane blinked as detectives rose from their desks to greet her with enthusiastic applause.
"Way to be an idiot, Janie."
Jane rolled her eyes at Frankie as Maura guided her out of the elevator and into the homicide bullpen. Of course he and Korsak would be there to chide her for bolting into a busy street after a perp. "I caught the guy, though, didn't I?" She rattled her bottle of newly prescribed pain management medication in his face.
He pulled her into a bear hug. "God, you're so stupid. You scared me!"
"She scared all of us," Korsak added, exchanging a look with Maura, who nodded. "But here she is: the conquering hero, home from the hospital." He chortled.
"Frankie, you're going to break more ribs if you don't let go!" Jane gasped.
Alarmed, Maura stepped in quickly, trying as politely as she could to extract her detective from Frankie's embrace.
Korsak took a bouquet of carnations off his desk and handed them to Jane.
"Flowers?" Jane took them, looking sheepish. "Korsak, you know I was just doing my job. We all were."
Frankie tapped her arm lightly with his fist. "Yeah, but you caught the guy, didn't you?"
They all laughed as Jane's mock bravado was used against her.
"Very funny, Frankie...ow. Maura, why haven't these meds kicked in yet?"
"It shouldn't be too much longer." Maura gently rubbed her lower back beneath her blazer.
The applause died down as detectives all returned to their desks. Korsak looked at his watch. "I think it's time we called it a day." He looked to Jane and Maura. "Buy you guys a drink? You, too, Frankie."
Jane moved gingerly to her desk. "I still have some paperwork to finish up, but after that I will take that drink."
"Aw Janie, you can finish your pencil pushing in the morning," Frankie said.
Maura cleared her throat. "I'm not entirely sure Jane is going to be here tomorrow morning."
"Whoa!" Jane wheeled on her. "Controlling much?"
"Jane, if you want your ribs to knit quickly, you need to rest so they can heal."
"Whatever, Doctor Mom. We'll see. But I do want to get this stuff done today. One less thing to worry about tomorrow." She lowered herself carefully into her chair.
"Wise." Maura smirked. Jane flashed her that winsome Rizzoli grin, and Maura beamed. We're happy, she thought. They'd come through hell, and maybe they were a little singed, a little scorched in places, but they'd earned the right to smile again.
She looked at Korsak. "You guys go. I'll catch up in a few minutes." She returned her gaze to Maura. "Meet you there?"
Maura shook her head. "I'll wait for you. I'm not letting you drive under the influence of pain medication."
"Aww, that's sweet." She waved to Frankie and Korsak as they headed for the elevator. Once they were out of earshot, she reached for Maura's hand. "It's nice to know I have a designated driver whenever I need one."
Maura resisted the sudden urge to kiss the backs of Jane's fingers in front of the entire homicide unit.
"You sure you wanna hang around and watch me do paperwork?" Jane asked as she pulled open one of the top drawers of her desk.
Maura smiled. "I don't mind. We've both done our share of watching each other 'push pencils,' as Frankie would say." She pulled up another wheeled desk chair. She peered at the manila envelope Jane laid on her desk. Watched Jane hesitate to open it.
She read the words "Civil Court" in the return address. "Jane...what is that? Is that even for a case?"
Jane looked at her, inexplicably sheepish. "Divorce papers. Casey sent them."
Maura instantly regretted her decision to separate herself from her best friend when she did. Jane likely would have informed her, had she not been so determined to honor Maura's request for space. "Jane, I...I had no idea. I was too caught up - I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to apologize for. It's not your fault." She pulled the papers out of the envelope and held them up. "This right here is a compilation of mistakes that he and I made," she laid them flat on the desk in front of her, "and our failure to fix it like adults and compromise. No one but us is responsible."
Maura watched Jane scrawl her signature on all the designated lines. After signing the last page, Jane turned to her. "I think I have a pretty good idea what you're thinking right now."
"Do you?" She felt herself start to flush under Jane's scrutiny. The woman could still read her like a book.
"Yeah," she husked. "And we will."
"We will...? I'm not sure I follow."
"We'll talk about it. All of it. I owe you better communication. But I want to wait. At least until it's...just the two of us. Is that okay?"
Maura took a few seconds to consider. "Yes. Of course. I'm glad you're open to discussion. But...have you told anyone else about this?"
"Ma knows. She came over after the fight that did us in."
Maura tilted her head. "When was this?"
"Um...well, it was the night we ran into each other at the gym."
"Oh." Maura winced.
"Yeah. Just throw that on the mountainous pile of things I'm sorry about. I went home, hit the case file again. Did more drinking than crime-solving that night, to be brutally honest. Then Casey showed up. Come to find out: whiskey is Jane Rizzoli truth serum." She rubbed her face with her hands. "I said a lot of things that I needed to say, but with the worst possible delivery." She sighed, face hidden behind her palms.
Maura wrapped her fingers around Jane's forearm. "You can tell me the rest at home. But I think if you're done here, we shouldn't keep Korsak and Frankie waiting."
Jane lifted her eyes to Maura as the medical examiner stood and held out her hand. She managed a weak smile, and let Maura lead her to the elevator. "Can we at least stop by my place so I can change?" She looked down at herself.
Maura laughed softly. "I was just going to suggest that. Your slacks are looking a little worse for wear."