"Argue with her on this one, Maura." Frost told her. She waited for a brief second, before jabbing Jane in the arm with her elbow.
"I don't suppose you would consider this group?" She asked. "They were quite satisfactory, by or standards."
"No. The standards are different here." Jane bit back slightly harsher then she meant to. Maura allowed her gaze to get icy for a brief moment, before rolling her eyes upwards, and sighing loudly. "What? You're new at this, remember? I've been doing this longer than you realize and-" Maura smirked, and caught the smirk of one David LeViad, hidden behind his full glass of wine.
"I understand, Amy." She sighed, as if she had promptly given up on trying to persuade the raven- haired woman of anything. She waited quietly for the end of the group auction, before Jane rose, and she followed. Pentral also rose, stating his goodbyes conservatively before he disappeared out the sliding door. Jane nodded her head to LeViad respectfully.
"Tell me how it goes, and what you want to work out for that deal from earlier." She stated. He nodded his head.
"Sure enough, Othran. I always do." Jane's lip twitched and Maura reached out, gripping his hand briefly, before nodding to Barker.
"Pleasure to meet you both." She stated, staying close to Jane's side regardless.
"Sure thing! You're welcome over here any time. With or without Amy." Barker stated, his eyes clawing up and down her figure briefly, before Jane's gaze all but fried him. "I mean, good day, Lady Toivonen, Lady Othran." LeViad smirked, raising his glass to them, yet not saying anything. They stepped towards the hallway, and then towards a set of barely- lit stairs. Maura slid one of her hands inside Jane's biting down on her lip when the other woman paused, before drawing away. Maura allowed the singing feeling in her stomach to last on the briefest heartbeat, before she reached forward again, threading her arm through the other's, clamping it there.
"You won't give up, will you."
"Never." She whispered, blushing slightly. "I'm surprised you haven't figured it all out yet, detective." The darker- haired woman's head snapped around, and she glared at the blonde, hope flickering in the back of her eyes.
"Faith, you can't mean-" Maura smiled, and then nodded slightly. "Oh my god." Barely a breath. They continued walking, going past rooms marked with brass numbers. "Oh my God!" They stopped, and Jane's hand fumbled with the key card, Maura's hand bracing her own and swiping, barely waiting for the lock to click open before she pushed the detective through, turned her, pressed her up against the closed door. "Oh my god, Maura." The blonde moved before Jane had even begun to finish processing the change in her; long legs had wrapped themselves around her hips, and lips were pressed together tightly enough to steal breath away from them both. One of Jane's hands braced beneath her legs, the other tangling helplessly into thick blonde hair as she moaned; tears welling in her eyes. "Maura. Oh my god, Maura."
"Shhh. Baby, I'm here. I'm back. Its okay." Jane smirked, pressing hurried kisses against her lover's jaw.
"That's supposed to be my line. Don't steal." Mura giggled, before their lips met again in a kiss no less frenzied than the first.
"Damn, a Hell of a lot can change when a girl has to pee." Maura pulled back, tilting her head to the side.
"Really, Natasha." She sighed, and Jane smirked.
"I forgot you were bugged. It's just audio, right? Right?!" Maura blushed, nuzzling into Jane's hair, guiltily. "Ah, Hell. Frost, I'm sure you loved that visual. You too girl. That's just weird; you guys are my partner and like.. my emotionally, time- line challenged child. Awkward."
"Tell her I shut the video down as soon as you jumped her, Doctor. If you would. Please." Maura nearly laughed at how he sounded. She placed a kiss below the detective's ear, blush coloring her cheeks.
"Frost said he cut the video as soon as I jumped you." She heard Natasha snort, Jane's arms tightening around her waist. Jane tilted her head back, and the doctor leaned ever so slightly so that they could talk more like normal people.
"Well, awesome. Okay seriously, what the fuck guys. Did I not just mention our relationship statuses? Embarrassing!"
"Drop the headphones guys, two minutes. We have to talk a little bit, alright?" Maura whispered, tilting her head slightly as they closed the gap between them, her eyes drooping as she tucked into Jane's form, legs tightening.
"Of course, Doctor."
"Sure think, Lady." She brushed her lips against Jane's, before the detective sighed a word.
"Gone?"
"Gone." The kiss was soft, slow. "Oh my God, Maura. I never... I never thought i would get this chance. Never again." Maura's fingers wound into dark raven locks again, and she shook her head, tears brimming in her own eyes before she could help it.
"Jane. I'm here Jane, you found me." She whispered. "You never gave up, and now I'm back." She whispered gently, rubbing the detective's tears away with her thumbs as they fell. "I'm here."
"God, Maura. How could you ever forgive me? I let them take you. I promised you-" Another soft kiss, long enough to make her sound breathy when she spoke again. "I promised you."
"You kept every word you said. I'm safe with you. Even here." Jane paused, as if she didn't believe the words, when Maura glared at her again. "I always have been." She whispered.
"Maura..." It was almost a moan, her arms tightening again, if that was even remotely possible. "I..."
"I know. Later. I promise." She whispered gently. They were silent for a moment, when the blonde untangled her legs from the other's waist, before resting her head against her shoulder, keeping their bodies close together. A long time passed, where they just stood together, locked in that embrace, drinking in the very being of the other, when a knock on the door made them both nearly reached for her gun, Maura reaching for hers as well, when the voice came through.
"Othran, a word." Maura tilted her head to the side, when Jane reached for the door, opening it only enough before closing it quickly. He paused, making sure it was quiet outside their room before he spoke. "Its started."
"No way in Hell." Jane sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Seriously?" The man raised an eyebrow, blinking. "Damn it."
"Is your audio on? Video? Tracking? Something?" He asked. Jane turned to Maura.
"Get Frost and Nat online again. Tell Korsak we will probably need him." Maura tapped on the receiver on the back of her earring, wincing as it shrieked loudly in her ear.
"Listening."
"Video back online too." Maura stated.
"You jumping one another still?" She rolled her eyes, as if they could see that.
"No. I am not jumping her anymore. Thank you. You're my intern, now drop the subject, and do your job. Before I decide to smack you when I get back there. Or rip your pretty little dress." There was a gasp on the other side of the receiver, and Jane's jaw dropped, quickly covered by her hand.
"You wouldn't!"
"I would. Now pay attention." The man smirked even, as Maura smiled at Jane, nodding.
"Right, what have you got for me, Dave?" She asked, holding out a hand. He passed over a folder, which she shook her head at the information within. "Beautiful. They definitely know its me. Who's the leak?"
"Barker." Maura furrowed her brow; it was the young kid? The young kid had given them away?
"Knew I never liked that sleazebag." Jane hissed. "Eyeing up my fiancee like she's something to eat. What an ass." Maura smirked, kissing her cheek lightly. "Frost, get a perimeter set up. This is going to be a fire fight. And it will degrade to that fast."
"Where do you want me?" The trader asked, patting his pocket. "you've gotten out of a shit ton of bad situations, Amy." Jane nodded, thinking, pulling out a map and handing it to Maura.
"Give me a good plan, Google." Maura's eyes roamed over the blueprint, noticing the small details that so many would pass right over. She spread the sheet across the bed taking a seat beside it. She felt Jane come up behind her, slipping her hands over her shoulders. She tapped a place on the map.
"We're all here, right now. I'm using scientific theory to deduce that these rooms here are filled with the other um, guests."
"True." LeViad stated. She hmphed, and Jane smirked, looking at him.
"She won't believe it unless she sees it herself, man. I need a plan."
"I'm getting there." She pointed to another row, on a different floor diagram of the map. "This is the girls. I'm also deducing that we are rescuing them."
"You catch on fast there, Doctor."
"Natasha, don't you dare take that tone with me. I can make you work with Pike." There was a mumbled apology in her ear, and Jane snorted before leaning over her again. "We go down, get them out as quietly as we can. Your card should unlock the cells there, the only thing I'm worried about is singles. You need admittance there too, in order to-"
"Don' worry about the singles. I'll get them out." Maura's eyes narrowed as she glared at him.
"How could I possibly trust you?" Jane rubbed her shoulders, shaking her head.
"Love, stop. Without him, I wouldn't have found you." Maura turned, hazel eyes locking into chocolate ones. "He bought you for me." Maura waited before nodding slightly.
"Alright. But I don't like it." He held his hands up.
"Trust me, Lady. I don't blame you. Amy doesn't tell me everything, but what she does is pretty bad. I've been protecting her ass as well as I could for that past eight months. Been in it for a while."
"Huh, never knew that was for real." Frost commented. Maura raised an eyebrow.
"Frost says they didn't know that was for real." Jane smiled.
"'Course not. We are in a world of secrets, you know." Maura rolled her eyes, tapping on the map again.
"Right. So, what we do is get these girls out, while you get the singles." She pointed to the back wall of the compartment the man would be working on. "This is the only exit in the back of the building, since they've sealed off this one." She pointed to the one where she and Jane were planning to be. "What we do is have me run to the back, get the girls from these eight, while you get the forward eight. I'm concerned about them not trusting you, so if you can't get them out, yell for me."
"Because they'll just immediately trust you. Right, Google. They probably won't even understand you." The blonde held out a hand.
"The tie on Nat's holster please."
"I can't, it'll fall off." Jane's voice was slightly whiny, and Maura smirked.
"Is she calling my thighs fat? Really?"
"Hey, I like them just fine."
"Nat says don't call her thighs fat." Her brow furrowed, and she tilted her head to Jane. "Did you know Frost is dating our surrogate daughter?" Jane smirked, shaking her head.
"No! That's good. Seems we'll have to have a talk with them when we get home. You two, be ready for it."
"Shit."
"Fuck."
"Natasha, language. Frost, you too." She glanced down at the map one final time. "To get out Jane, we'll have to go through the main hall again, and either out the front, or out the back with LeViad. Personally, I believe it might be easier to get out the back, especially with everyone being completely aware of our presence by this point."
"You alright with that, Dave?" The man nodded, and he followed the path she traced with her finger.
"May I make a suggestion?"
"Be my guest." Maura stated, making room for him to stand beside her.
"What if you brought the girls out in sections; every couple of cages or so. Then you wouldn't have so many to get from here to there in one shot." Maura tapped her chin.
"It might work, however, they'll easily figure out what we're trying to do, and there is not enough of us to keep them all safe." Jane finally held out her hand with the tie she had used to tighten the gun holster around her thigh, holding it out to Maura, who slid it around her wrist. She reached down, unsnapping her own and handing it out to Jane, who promptly swapped the leather holster with her own, handing the other back to Maura. "I could always stay and keep unlocking cells, while you go and get them to the back. Sound good?" The detective nodded.
"I don't like it, but it is logical. I have this pain in the ass tracker on, right? Someone will be watching?"
"I'll be the only one here, Frost and Korsak are leaving now with the vans. You two come home safely. And don't freaking forget to call me on your way home. If one of you dies, I have to certify the other as mentally unstable."
"If one of us dies, Natasha, you will be lethally injecting the other within two days, I'm positive. We've been apart for too long, I couldn't bear that again; and my reality was excessively distorted over that time period." She paused, taking Jane's hand and squeezing lightly. "If the vans are leaving, how long do we have?"
"About twenty minutes." The raven- haired woman sighed. She looked over to the man. "You ready to start?" He nodded, drawing a .45 from inside his jacket. "Awesome plan. We'll make it out alright. I can feel it." Maura nodded, before winding their fingers briefly.
"Um, I have a question." Jane nodded, and Maura blushed slightly. "What ever did happen to my engagement ring? I can't imagine that I lost it, but I don't remember anything from..." She let her eyes drop, when Jane reached beneath her skirt, untying the chain she kept there with her badge.
"Dave, you have a chain in that coat of yours?" He pulled out something that looked aluminum, or cheap silver. Maura raised an eyebrow. "What the Hell, man."
"I break chains a lot."
"No wonder, with the quality. I can't wear that, I'll have an allergic reaction."
"Well we couldn't possibly have that now, could we." Jane replied sarcastically, slipping the homicide badge from her own gold chain, handing it to the man, who raised an eyebrow. Maura's eyes locked on to the other badge hanging there, and the white gold ring with a dark emerald encased in delicate prongs.
"You've had it all this time?"
"Of course. I held on to the faith that you were out there, somewhere." The detective whispered, handing the badge to its rightful blushed, allowing her to slide the white gold band back over her left ring finger. LeViad shook his head, handing the detective's badge back to Jane.
"Who are you guys? You know what, don't tell me. I'm not sure I really want to know." Jane smirked.
"Nah, you don't. Not yet at least." She stated, folding up the map and handing it back to him. "So, lets go." She drew her pistol, preparing it before she turned towards the door. "Everyone ready?" Maura smirked, nodding. LeViad opened the door for them, and Jane went through first, turning left for their destination; the lower floor, and hopefully their last heist here.
AN- wow, a cliff hanger. Haven't written one of those in awhile. This chapter is kind of long, which probably means that the next one is going to be shorter. Plus, its an action scene, so its definitely going to be shorter. But it should be the last one (not counting my epilogue to tie everything up in a neat little bow.) So I don't really have much else to say about this one, so I'm just going to start the next chapter. ;) I'm not working again today, so I'm hoping lots of uploads!
~SnapTobiume