Author's note: thank you very much for the reviews and I'm really sorry for the glitches, hopefully will manage to sort it out soon.
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Amadeus
"Fuck it!" Her fist landed on top of the car. She leaned her head backwards – took a deep breath – and let a moan of frustration pass her lips. They had failed, missing the suspect by thirty seconds no more.
With his legendary calm – the one she had a hard time to understand at times – Frost rested his hand on her shoulder and nodded in silence. She knew that they would have other occasions but t was still very frustrating. A game of cat and mouse that – for once – she didn't enjoy properly. Adjusting her coat and her sunglasses, Jane turned on her heels and headed back to her car. She would need the rest of the day to process the whole thing.
Needless to say that she had high chances to be in a bad mood by dinner time with Maura and half of the medical examiner's family who was on some sort of pilgrimage through the State.
The ride back to the BPD turned out to be silent, awfully silent. Fists clenched – the bitter taste of the harsh failures in mouth – she kept on playing the scenario they had elaborated in the morning.
It was not acceptable. They should have got him, caught him right in the middle of some awful traffic.
Human traffic. Children.
It hurt even more for a soon-mother-to-be. Her cell phone vibrated. Barely caring about the fact that she was driving, Jane grabbed the electronic device and opened the message that came from Maura.
Have you ever seen an extremely large heart?
I have one right now on my autopsy table. Fascinating!
How about filet mignon for dinner, tonight?
Jane made a face and let a 'what the hell' pass her lips. Maura really needed to learn about transitions. The way she could pass from a subject to another – meat related – was gross.
With the mushrooms and the melted cheese?
The French you do at times?
Large heart or not, the Italian hadn't lost focus on the second part either. As a matter of fact and now they were talking about it, she was hungry. Sort of. She was still gutted about their suspect. Without any problem at all, she parked in front of the BPD and got out of the car then walked up the stairs.
Deal! Stop by the butcher when you leave, thank you.
Ps: the kidneys are oddly small...
Oh God.
…
A door got slammed – heavy steps resounded loudly in the corridor - but as soon as Jane walked in the bathroom, she forced a smile at Maura. Her features softened, sweeping away a wave of cold anger.
Mascara in hand, the honey blonde raised an eyebrow at the reflection of her wife in the mirror and bit her lips. Even if they hadn't been married, she would have known that it was a delicate moment for Jane. Obviously, the phone call to Frost regarding the case hadn't gone as well as the brunette had hoped.
"You know that it requires patience, anyway." Maura's voice floated in the air, peacefully. Reassuringly. With an expert hand, she applied her makeup but giggled as she felt one of the babies move.
"I just want this case to be over already. I hate it." Undressing to take a shower, Jane took a deep breath then sighed heavily. Her eyes stopped on the scientist's stomach. How could people even give in human traffic in the first place? She would kill with her bare hands anyone who would dare to approach Maura and the twins. Anyone. Absolutely anyone. "Which one is moving?" Softer voice. She wouldn't let their morning fiasco ruin her evening.
"Alba. Lucie is a very quiet baby." Maura turned around to properly face Jane and leaned there against the sink. She smiled - bit her lower lip almost playfully - and followed with her eyes the way Jane came closer – knelt down – to plant a kiss on her prominent stomach. "I am sure that they will love this story of you sitting naked on the bathroom floor kissing my stomach to say hello to them."
Jane smirked – stood back on her feet – and stepped into the shower. "I will make sure they will never know about it. There is no way this comes to the light at some point. They will have enough to hate us with when they hit adolescence." The hot water embraced her sore body. She relaxed. Eyes closed. Within a couple of hours, her in-laws would arrive – as well as her mother – for another family gathering. When she thought about it, she had never had to attend so many dinners like this one until she got married.
Maura's pregnancy helped as well. Everyone wanted to see her before she gave birth.
"Why would they despise us? We will be good mothers!" Maura made a face and swallowed hard as she noticed her slightly panicked voice.
Jane chuckled. "Teens, Maur'. They're supposed to hate the whole world except for shitty music bands and a bunch of acne-lover so-called actors! Have you forgotten how you were at the age of 14?"
Visibly annoyed, the honey blonde went to sit on the chair Jane never used to fold her clothes on – the Italian preferring the throw-it-all-on-the-floor method – and looked down at her stomach. Frown. "You think that they will try to dye their hair purple and pass it for a scientific experimentation too?"
Jane turned around and swept away the shampoo that was covering her eyes. She blinked, stared at her wife yet blessing the Italian shower that allowed her to not use any curtain whatsoever. "You did what? No way..."
Eye roll. "There was this girl at school..."
"Ah, your school crush!" Smirk.
Maura shook her head, very serious. "No and by the way, you should start rinsing your hair. These are not healthy products you are using. The longer you keep them on, the worse. Anyway... As I was saying before you interrupted me with your sapphic ideas, there was this girl at school who wanted to dye her hair except we weren't allowed to buy anything to do so. These European boarding schools can be quite strict when they want..."
"No kidding." Jane rolled her eyes and rinsed her hair before grabbing the conditioner. How she loved it when perfect Maura didn't turn to be perfect at all and looked terribly guilty when her actions hadn't been harmful in any way whatsoever.
"So to make her happy – and because I was maybe hoping that she would become my friend – I tried to create a hair product myself. See? I wasn't even lying when saying that it was a scientific experience! I made sure – once I was done – that it would work and since I had nobody but myself to try it on... Well it didn't turn out to be very conclusive. I mean it did for the whole dyed hair but the school didn't like it the slightest bit."
"Did she become your friend?" Jane stepped out the shower and grabbed a bath towel. The time she would have blushed for standing naked in front of Maura was long gone now and always made her smile when she thought about it, the way she had been in Punta Cana at the start of their relationship.
Maura shook her head and looked aside, embarrassed. She ran her tongue over her lips, frowned. "No. She mocked me instead."
Jane felt angry. Angry towards whoever had hurt the woman she loved the most in the world. But soon her feelings melted into a pain that made her swallow hard. Still damp and naked – not giving a damn about it – the brunette approached Maura – knelt down – and cupped her face in her hands to force her to look at her in the eyes.
"Then she has no idea what she missed... Too bad for her. You're the sweetest friend she could have had and you'd better keep that in mind."
The sound of a piano made them jump of surprise, breaking the tension right away. Perplexed if not just scared, they turned their head towards the door of the bathroom and frowned.
Jane cleared her voice, stood up. "Who the hell is playing with my piano?" Although playing was quite a big word. Hitting on every key at the same time was more correct.
"I am not sure..."
Quietly – wrapped in her bath towel – Jane exited the bathroom and took the stairs down to the living-room. Maura followed her in spite of the Italian having told her to stay up on the first floor. Nobody – absolutely nobody – usually touched her piano. Not even herself, actually. She had stopped playing a very long time ago and people knew better than to ask her to resume the activity.
"What the..." Jane stopped – sighed – and shook her head. "This cat, I swear..."
Coco Loco seemed to have discovered the instrument and was now coming and going on the keys at a rather high speed; not afraid at all by the sound he was producing. Maura laughed at the scene – passed an arm around Jane's waist – and rested her head on the brunette's shoulder.
"I was really hesitant at first when you asked me to keep him but I have to say that he never ceases to entertain me."
Jane turned around – looked at her wife – and smiled proudly. "He's my Coco Loco. Although maybe we'd have named him Amadeus if he likes music so much."