"Oh, hi!" Maura tried not to sound guilty. She had tried to duck into the next aisle, but it had been far too late. Angela Rizzoli looked like she might hug her if Maura stepped too much closer, and Maura feared that/ She'd always loved Angela's affection, but she was afraid a hug from Jane's mom might make her break down in the grocery store, in front of a crowd of hungry eyes.
Maura blinked her eyes a few times, trying to stash the tears away for later. Angela was making a concerned face now. "Honey, you're beautiful, but you look awful. Have you been eating?", Angela was truly worried now, as she noticed how frail Maura looked.
Maura took a moment to actually think about that question, and realized she hadn't been. "Not really", Maura admitted. "Oh, no", said Angela, as she came up and finally did what Maura had feared. Angela hugged her so tight that Maura could barely breathe, and she loved it. Maura buried her head in Angela's undeniably motherly bosom and sobbed, right there in the grocery store, in front of everyone.
Jane had been going over old notes in her cold case files. Some of the cases were her own, names and dates and faces that haunted her; others were famous cold cases she had always wanted to solve, some of them were older than her. The folders were spread out all over her table, counter, and chairs. Pretty soon, Jane would have to start using the floor. As she looked around, Jane realized she should probably narrow it down.
There were two cases older than her that had always called to her. One was a homicide of a little girl from five years before she was born. Something about the girl's picture looked familiar to Jane. She studied it more closely. "Ruth Ann Platts" was the name beneath the old photocopy. Jane wondered what it was about Ruth Ann that drew her in. Whatever it was, it was the only thing that had successfully kept her from thinking about Maura for over ten minutes, so she decided to dedicate her research to Ruth Ann, in hopes that she would somehow forget everything real about her own life.
Jane swigged her beer and started in on the file. There had been two suspects. One was a fat, hairy old man who had lived down the street from Ruth Ann. Jane recognized the street name, it had been in a part of town where she had played with her brothers sometimes. Tommy had gotten involved with a couple boys from that neighborhood when they were all a bit older, and Jane was sure nothing good had come of them since then.
Jane slid her finger across a picture of another man. He was tall and normal looking. He could have been any All-American baseball player. Jane thought he seemed like a nice looking man, but something about him was too normal, which made him…weird. Jane found his statement and studied his words so carefully that she lost track of time, and fell asleep with his picture in her hand.
They had gone to lunch. Somehow, it seemed fitting, although Maura sort of wished they were back at her house, and Angela were still living with her. It was odd, because she had often felt smothered by Angela when she had been there, but now that she was gone, Maura missed her painfully. When Maura really thought about it, she supposed the only times she really had been annoyed by Angela were when she and Jane had been trying to have some alone time. Even before the…event…they hadn't spent any real time together, just them, in a while.
Angela cocked her head and finally asked the question Maura had both been hoping to hear and fearing most, "when are you and Jane going to make up?"