Anastasia and Maura discuss their weekends
Maura's viewpoint
I was standing in line for a mid-morning coffee when I heard a cheery 'Good morning Doctor' from behind me. Turning I saw Natalie's partner Anastasia strolling up to take the next place in the line.
"Good morning Anastasia, please, it's Maura" She smiled.
"Then its Maura if you call me Ana" I smiled in return.
"Ana it is then. How has your week been?"
"Busy, chasing down information for Major Crimes on their cases, plus the usual other work. I'm sure you've been pretty busy with the warehouse case though"
"Regrettably yes, I have not had to deal with so many victims from a single crime scene before. Fortunately the Medical Examiner's team here is quite competent, which makes my job a little easier" Anastasia nodded.
"Yeah, Natalie filled me in on the situation there, pretty nasty. I've never dealt with such a large crime scene either"
"You and Natalie have only recently relocated here, have you not?" She nodded as the line moved forward a place.
"Yeah, we moved here from Seattle, Nat was media liaison with the Seattle PD and I had the Bureau Liaison role there" I nodded, realising they were indeed in a similar situation to Jane and I.
"We only recently arrived from Boston, on a six month secondment, so we are still getting to know the city"
"We're doing the tourist thing at the moment. We went to Disneyland last weekend, have you been?" I smiled.
"That was one of the first things we did once we got here, we went the weekend before you, Jane insisted, but it was wonderful fun"
"We had fun, I always wanted to go when I was a kid, but most of my time as a kid was spent in either Europe or the East Coast" Europe?
"Oh, which parts of Europe?"
"Germany; the UK and Italy, my dad was in the Army so we moved when he did"
"Ah, I spent some time in Europe as well, France mostly, although I did visit some other places, mostly on school excursions" At her enquiring look I clarified. "I went to a French boarding school"
"Ah, I see. No Euro-Disney back then" I shook my head, imagining the tutors response to a request to go to a theme park.
"I doubt we would have been allowed to go, even if it was available at the time"
"Well, at least we both got to Disneyland eventually. We're looking at doing some of the other tourist things as well" I stepped forward as the line moved along.
"We only have six months in Los Angeles before we return to Boston, so we are looking forward to as much of the tourist experience as we can while we are here"
"Well neither of us are California natives, so it's all new to us and we want to get out and see things, take advantage of the weather here, it's a lot nicer weather than Seattle"
"Yes, while Boston's climate is not too extreme the winters have a chill to them. I was pleased to leave our winter clothes in storage when we moved out here"
"So what's next on your itinerary?"
"We had discussed perhaps a studio tour, although we've not yet made up our minds"
"Well, they're on our list too, Nat was mentioning it last night" I smiled as I realised I may have an opportunity to spend some time with them away from work.
"Perhaps we might do the tour together, if you think it would be appropriate. Perhaps share the experience" Anastasia smiled widely.
"That would be great, Natalie mentioned she had spoken to you and suggested we might catch up. I'll have a chat but I'm pretty sure what her answer will be. Let us know when and where" I smiled; this was proving easier than I had thought. Anastasia was as easy to chat to as Natalie.
"That would be lovely, I can chat to Jane but I'm sure she will love it as well"
Seeing the person in front complete their order, I stepped forward and placed my order before turning back.
"What were you having Ana?"
"A cappuccino please Maura" Waving away her attempts to pay me, I placed our orders and we stepped to one side to wait.
"Thank you Maura"
"My pleasure" On an impulse I turned to her. "How about you chat to Natalie and I have a chat to Jane and we catch up for lunch, perhaps we can agree on something for this weekend" As I spoke I realised that it must sound terribly forward of me. I watched Anastasia frown, had I been too pushy?
"Hmm, I have some stuff I was supposed to do over lunch, but it was paperwork, which I have no problem tossing, Is Jane available for lunch?"
"Yes, I believe she should be, I can find out"
"How about you bring Jane and I bring Nat and we do lunch while we work out where we might want to go" I smiled in relief.
"That would be lovely; do you have a place in mind?"
"No, but I'm sure we can find something. I'll ask a few people if there is anything decent close by for lunch"
"May I ask a question?" Anastasia smiled at me.
"Of course"
"How long have you and Natalie been together?" She nodded.
"We've been together almost four years; we met in Seattle through our jobs. Have you and Jane been together long?"
"Not as long as a couple, almost a year, but we were close friends for over two years before that"
"We knew each other for about four months before we got serious, best thing that ever happened to me"
"Well, Jane is the best thing that has happened in my life, I'm very fortunate"
"Me too, looks like we're both lucky" I nodded, as our coffees were placed on the counter and our number was called.
"How about I call you after I check with Nat, if Jane's also free we can meet in the foyer at, what? 12.30?"
"That would be fine, I do hope their free. If they're not, we can still do lunch and try and work out what we can go and see in the coming weeks"
Picking up our coffee's we made our way back to the elevators to head our separate ways.
"Speak to you soon Ana"
"Shouldn't be long, I might just head up to Nat's office and ask now" I smiled at the idea, then thought, why not?
"Excellent idea, I might see if Jane is at her desk now"
Stepping into the lift, we rode up to Major Crime's floor. Taking my leave, I walked towards the murder room, thinking that things seemed to be looking up already in our move to California.
I had a good feeling about both Anastasia and Natalie and hoped that we might get to know them better. We had the beginnings of a friendship and hopefully it would grow stronger.
I reflected that only yesterday I had hoped to find ways to keep in touch and now we were looking at spending time together on the weekends.
I smiled, with a little luck we might be on the way to making our first friends here in LA.