A/N-A reviewer described the vacation chapters as a little fantastical, and I totally agree. The whole story won't be quite so fantiastical, but it's kinda fun to indulge in that type of fantasy once in awhile. We will be returning back to Earth very shortly...
Maura did a number of things on this particular vacation that she'd never done before. It was, in a way, a vacation of firsts. There were mundane firsts: first time on a Caribbean cruise, first time vacationing without a companion or family member. There were also unexpected first: first time Maura had ever rented out a nightclub VIP room, first time ordering room service and eating that room service in bed while completely naked, first time socializing with a casual sex partner's mother. Then there were the sexual firsts.
One of which had occurred on the very same night she was fairly certain Angela had irrevocably ruined the mood for the evening. Maura had been sure of it until Jane mentioned repayment outside the club.
Maura was thrilled that one of their few evenings together hadn't been ruined by the unexpected turn of events. As she walked back to the room, she ran through the possible rewards that she'd thought up for Jane, trying to determine which one was most appropriate for the situation. Maura grinned as she opened the door to her suite when the perfect idea hit her.
So far Jane and Maura had not seen a need for any accessories, but that did not mean Maura did not have a select few packed, just in case. And Maura knew exactly which one to pick.
Maura hadn't made extensive use of sex toys with the women she slept with; usually the relationships were too short-lived to warrant going through the trouble. The relationship with Jane wasn't any different, but this was to be a reward, and a reward, by definition, was something that one gave to another person that they would not otherwise receive.
So Maura would give Jane the opportunity to use the toy however she wished. Maura had never offered that reward to any of the women she'd slept with; she usually liked to have some measure of control and power in the sexual relationship.
Because of that, Maura had been hesitant to relinquish power so willingly at first, but was later very glad that she did. There was a physicality to Jane, to the way she moved and touched Maura that Maura found was unique to Jane. Maura had known that from the moment they'd met, but now, with complete, uncontested control, it came off of Jane in waves. Maura felt herself drawn to that energy in a purely physical way; she wanted that physicality in and around her at all times. On that night, Jane had been more than willing to give it to her. Repeatedly.
Needless to say, despite being a first for Maura, the reward had been a resounding success.
There was also one other first that Maura couldn't place in any one category, a big first that didn't quite belong exclusively in the sexual category just because it was so entirely unexpected as well.
Maura spent the better part of her day in bed with another person. She never considered herself a prude by any stretch of the imagination; on the contrary, Maura had no qualms about engaging in sex regularly, as she'd proven to herself in this tryst with Jane and a few other casual partners she'd had over the years. The associated health benefits of safe, responsible sex far outweighed any prudish impulses Sister Mary Ellen had tried to instill in her and her classmates in the Sunday school she'd attended out of curiosity while home from boarding school one summer.
No, prudishness was definitely not the reason she'd never done it before. It had more to do with the utilitarian view Maura had of sex. She had only ever had two meaningful, long term relationships, and even then the logical side of Maura saw no feasible reason to remain in bed with another person for such an extended period of time.
With this new fling though, this Jane Rizzoli, thing were different. Not in a sentimental, emotional way, but in a purely physical way. Admittedly, Maura suspected that the intensity of her arousal with Jane came from the fact that they knew so little about each other at the start of the relationship. But, now, having spent an entire week with Jane, Maura suspected there had been more to the attraction.
Maura knew there was more. Jane must have something that made Maura so eager, desperate even, to have sex with Jane; no, just to be near Jane, to be touching Jane at all times. She couldn't pinpoint it though, and that bothered the doctor to no end.
"You look kind of pissed," Jane said. She lay flat on her back next to Maura, one hand resting on her bare stomach the other under her head while Maura laid on her back staring up at the ceiling, which Maura was just now noticing was painted a soft, very light seafoam green.
"I'm not upset," Maura said, turning on her side and running a finger down Jane's arm then back up. "I'm puzzled. I cannot seem to figure you out."
"I'm an enigma, I guess," Jane said, laughing to herself. "I guess you don't have to worry too much about it now. Soon you'll be back in San Fransisco or wherever the hell you're working and I'll be back, well, in the same place I've always been."
"I suppose," Maura said. "I'm just not particularly fond of things that I don't understand."
Although Jane had set in place a 'vacation sex only' policy and Maura wholeheartedly agreed, a part of her was still sad at the thought that she wouldn't get to have such good sex with such frequency once she and Jane parted way. She couldn't readily understand the contradiction between her eagerness to remain temporary, casual sex patners and her reluctance to ending the relationship at the agreed upon time.
But the longer she thought about it the more she managed to make sense of it.
Maura reasoned that she was going to miss Jane in the same way that a person misses a vacation desitnation. Jane had been a nice escape from the reality, a fantasy fulfilled. But this, much like a vacation on a secluded, one person island, wasn't a fantasy that was sustainable.
"Well, let me get rid of all that worry it looks like you've got going on," Jane said as she rose and knelt on either side of Maura's waist. "And I'll make things real simple for you."
Jane bent down and kissed Maura as if it they hadn't kissed well over twenty times in the past week, with the kind of intensity meant to make everything else go away. Maura let it, she let all of that wondering go away, in part because she wanted to let it go, and in part because Jane's hands had moved between her legs and Maura could not have thought of much else even if she wanted to.
Jane's parting from her vacation sex friend was unsentimental and actually quite nonchalant. She gave Maura her number if Maura was ever in town again and wanted to hook up. Aside from that, there had been no big goodbye. Except, of course, for the marathon sex session, but that had more to do with the fact that it was her free day, the one day where her parents insisted she go off on her own and enjoy herself, than with any emotional attachment on either of their parts. It 'd been like a a summer romance type thing; fun while it last, but neither woman had any illusions about the fact that it would come to it's inevitable, natural end. There really wasn't a ton of angst about the whole thing, and Jane liked it like that. She couldn't deal with the kind of emotional stuff that came with anything more complicated or involved.
So, why, about three weeks after arriving back in Boston, did Jane find herself staring at that phone number as if she were considering calling the woman? She wouldn't. Jane never would, but just looking at the number gave her a small thrill, to think of those hours spent in Maura's luxury bed between Maura's zillion thread count sheets. When Korsak strolled over, Jane snapped the phone shut and tried to look busy.
"Hey where you off to so early?" Jane asked as she slipped her cell back in her pocket.
"Finished up on my papers, just on my way to the briefing," Korsak said.
"What is it with all the goddamn meetings? No wonder I have paperwork here from two weeks ago, we're always being told shit we already know," Jane said.
Korsak shrugged.
"Guess it's something real important this time. Brass said it wouldn't take too long, just a quick announcement," he said.
"Hmm," Jane muttered. "I guess I'll meet you there then."
Jane took her time finishing off the form in front of her. She knew that a few of the guys in the department had a habit of being chronically late, so there was no need to rush after Korsak.
When Jane finally did reach the conference room, she took one of the last remaining swivel chairs, much to the disappointment of Crowe and Turino, who were forced to stand in the back as the captain addressed the entire homicide unit.
The usual first order of business, chastising everyone for late paperwork, was relatively quick and painless. The second order of business, a few personal announcements about Turino's wife having a boy, things like that, went by quickly too. Jane began to wonder if the captain even had any news or if this meeting was just a formality. Then, just when Jane thought that the meeting should be adjourned, captain announced that they were getting a new member of the team.
Jane looked around to see that just about all of the other detectives appeared pretty surprised by the news as well. Usually those types of things got at least a few weeks' notice.
"Because of unforeseen circumstances that the DA will not discuss, Doctor Holmes tendered his resignation yesterday," captain said. He paused to allow the frenzied murmur about backed up autopsy reports before continuing.
"However, a friend of the city of Boston has offered to step in on a permanent basis for Doctor Holmes. She is one of the best in her field and I trust that you will all treat her as such. She is moving in today and will be officially instated and introduced by the end of the week."
Despite the excited chatter about the new M.E. after the meeting ended, Jane noticed that none of the guys actually bothered to go down to meet the mystery doctor. Jane figured this would be an opportune time to get in good with the new M.E., maybe get her to hurry along an autopsy or two.
Before anyone else could beat her to the M.E., Jane slipped silently out of the room and down the stairs towards the morgue.
Maura did not like to rush. She refused to rush autopsy reports, and even eating a good meal took a certain amount of attention and thoroughness. For that very reason, she felt more than a little frazzled at the prospect of moving into a new job in a new city and getting to work in the span of a little less than a week.
The housing was not an issue, as Maura already owned a house in Boston from when she was in graduate and medical school. It was more the prospect of arranging her new office that Maura found daunting. She needed to find an appropriate place for her writing implements, set up an area for completed reports, find another area for report requests and get acquainted with the setup of this particular morgue.
The only reason that she had taken the job on such short notice was the location. She honestly missed living in the Boston area and this job was a perfect opportunity to return to the area that Maura knew so well from her years in college.
Maura turned to puzzling over the matter of how she should arrange her medical reference texts. There was always the traditional alphabetical order, or she could arrange them by subject, and within that subject alphabetize according to author. Then she recalled one particularly eccentric professor who had arranged the books according to color. Although impractical and essentially useless, Maura had to admit that the arrangement was aesthetically pleasing, so it remained an option.
As Maura sorted through her first box of books, she thought she heard the door to the morgue open, but decided to ignore it. Hopefully whoever it was would think she was out and leave so that Maura could get back to arranging her office.
No such luck though, because Maura heard the footsteps move closer. Then she heard a knock on the door. Now she could not very well ignore that; whoever it was could probably hear her rummaging through her things.
Maura stood up, straightened out her shirt and ran her hands over her skirt. This would, after all, be a first time meeting, and Maura was all about making good first impressions. There was another, more impatient knock on the door. Goodness, Maura thought, this person really was persistent and impatient.
Mildly annoyed at her visitor's impatience, Maura walked briskly across her office and opened the door. She stopped in her tracks and, in an extraordinarily rare inarticulate moment, simply stared at her visitor. Standing in front of her was the very same woman who, in a casual vacation fling, had given Maura some of the best sex of her entire life.
A/N-I know, I suck with the cliffhangers. I usual try to do it only once in awhile, but this is how the chapter breaks have fallen. As it is, I'm a little concerned about having too much happening too quickly in this chapter. A part of the abruptness is intentional, to sort of mirror the abrupt, jarring shift in thier relationship. Not sure how well it works though. Thoughts? How do you think this meeting will go?
I somehow managed to catch a cold in 90 degree weather. Help me feel a little less crappy with a few reviews, wontcha? Ya'll have been so wonderful thus far! :)