Author's note: Thank you very much for all the reviews!

Chapter Fourteen

"You should have seen the results. The presence of diatoms in the lungs was incredibly high..."

Maura's genuine excitement warmed up Jane's heart. The passion Maura had for science was cute, extremely cute. A single second spent with her and she could convert anyone to forensics in the most bizarre way ever.

Trying to remember the last case they had had to handle at the BPD that had confronted them to diatoms, Jane frowned and concentrated hardly.

"Presence of diatoms so... He drowned, right? The presence of diatoms in the lungs indicates a drowning. These are the limnologic results."

Maura nodded and barely hid a proud smile. Jane was making the effort to follow a conversation that she probably didn't enjoy much all in all. It was late in Boston – she was working – but she was still there, paying attention to every single detail Maura could tell her. There was nothing sweeter. It was going straight to Maura's heart. She nodded, way too shy to ever express her feelings out loud.

"Therefore the importance of limnology in forensics. The presence of diatoms clearly indicates that the victim drowned, that he or she wasn't dropped into the water while the heart had already stopped. Of course the drowning still can be accidental but..." Maura interrupted herself as Jane seemed to look at something – unless it was someone – on her right. She forced a smile. "Is everything alright?"

Jane had insisted on having the Skype session even if she was still at the BPD. She had said to Maura that it was all fine, that she wasn't busy. Yet obviously something had caught her attention since she wasn't looking at the screen of her computer anymore.

"Hmm?" Jane raised an eyebrow and feigned to be surprised by the question. She immediately straightened up on her seat then nodded before motioning someone to approach. "It's just Liv, she was passing by."

Maura clenched her teeth. It was ridiculous but she didn't appreciate much the fact that her Skype session was interrupted by some woman she didn't know. Especially when the aforesaid woman was Liv Mayer.

Feeling a cold anger boil in her lower stomach, she cast a furtive glance at her bedroom then took a deep breath to calm down. In vain. She was officially pissed.

"Oh. I see. Good evening, Ms. Mayer. I'm Dr. Maura Isles."

The psychologist timidly waved at Maura as she appeared on Jane's right. Way too close to Jane for Maura's taste.

"Good evening, Dr. Isles. You can call me Liv. I'm looking forward to working with you, here. I've only heard good things about you."

"I'm afraid I can't say the same about you."

Maura's snappy remark made Jane choke. She nervously smiled at Liv before widening her eyes with great confusion at Maura. The cold treatment was definitely not necessary. Thankfully, Liv didn't seem to take it badly. She actually burst out laughing.

"There I was, hoping that my skills at playing darts had reached Oregon already!"

The friendly tone used by the psychologist didn't reach Maura the slightest bit. She simply raised an eyebrow and looked at Liv; impassive.

"Jane and I had better things to do when she came to visit me over the weekend. We didn't waste time talking about our colleagues. Even less new ones."

Someone called Liv on the other side of the bullpen. She politely excused herself then left. Jane looked at her go away before leaning over her computer visibly angry with Maura. She scoffed.

"What on Earth was that, Maura? What has she done to you to deserve the bitch treatment? She's a cool cat..." She hissed. "Why, you don't wanna pee all around me to mark your territory too?"

Maura rolled her eyes. She had never been the jealous type. As a matter of fact, it was the very first time that someone made such remark to her. She shrugged, not really knowing what to say. She didn't like Liv Mayer. It was a fact. And it wasn't her fault. She had no hold over her emotions.

"I don't urinate on people, Jane. I am not a cat." Maura paused. Avoiding the issue was coward and childish. "She was ogling you."

Jane gasped. Under other circumstances, she would have found Maura's jealousy very funny; maybe even cute. But at work, it was a completely different story. Jane was pretty sure that Liv wasn't single and she couldn't care less about her anyway. It wasn't the person she had in front of her eyes all the time. She barely saw Liv, actually.

Yet she assumed that it was a bit early to let Maura know about this.

"She was not! How dare you..." Jane scoffed. She knew it was stupid but she couldn't help it: Maura's reaction drove her mad. She didn't like it when her partner was territorial. It made her suffocate. "If you don't trust me then we're gonna have an issue here, I tell ya!"

...

Maura slammed the door of her bedroom and rushed to the kitchen. She needed to get out of the house to get some fresh air but the pouring rain stopped her. Angrily, she opened the fridge then grabbed a bottle of wine. She poured herself a glass, swearing between her clenched teeth.

Laughter rose in her back. She didn't need to turn around to know who was sitting by the fireplace, amused by her current state of mind. She rolled her eyes.

"There is nothing funny, William. Absolutely nothing."

"Oh c'mon, sweetheart. The anger face doesn't suit you at all. It doesn't match your pretty features. What happened that you're now fuming?"

Maura clenched her fists – closed her eyes – and tried to analyze the storm of feelings that was taking place in her head right now. Sadly she wasn't calm enough to come to any conclusion, to see anything relevant in all this. On the verge of bursting into tears, she turned around to face her colleague and swallowed back a wave of sobs.

"We argued."

The confession surprised William. He raised an eyebrow – as if waiting for further details – then laughed lightly as Maura remained quiet.

"And...? That only takes you one step closer to the married life, Maura. Big deal, really."

Maura grabbed her glass of wine and took a long sip of it. The alcohol burnt her throat and made her choke slightly. She needed to slow down a bit if she didn't want to end up intoxicated, crying away her ridiculous sorrow.

Her ridiculous jealousy.

"You don't understand... It's our first argument... As a couple, I mean. It's... And it's all my fault."

She had to admit that if it had been Jane's fault then perhaps she would have seen the situation differently. But things were such that it wasn't. She had started it and couldn't but admit it. Nervous, she started biting the nail of her thumb and waited for William to say something back.

Emma and Vera walked into the living-room. It was dinner time; or at least time to decide whether they cooked or got something delivered. The day had been long at the morgue of Newport and everyone was tired. Besides, they all had to write a first essay about their new limnologic knowledge related to drowning cases. The second one would happen later.

"Well, there's a first to everything. If you don't like it then go apologize right away. That's how it works. Easy. A piece of cake. Look at Michael and I... We argue but make peace right away... Sure you can't have angry sex and that's a shame because there's nothing like angry sex but sexting isn't bad either."

The suggestion didn't embarrass Maura the slightest bit. She simply found it ridiculous and preferred to roll her eyes while Emma and Vera burst out laughing.

"What happened?"

Maura pursed her lips and waited for a couple of seconds before replying to her colleague from New York City.

"Jane and I went into an argument. I... I didn't turn out to be very polite when she tried to... Well, when she tried to introduce me to the new psychologist who works now at the BPD. What can I say? The woman kept on ogling Jane all the time. I'm not supposed to like this kind of behavior."

"Oh... Catfight much?" Vera poured herself a glass of wine before offering an apologetic smile at Maura. "Something tells me you don't have to worry. We've all seen how Jane was looking at you. I know it's just my opinion and it's worth what it is but... I guess Jane can't see anyone but you right now. Really, Maura. She's way too much in love with you to even notice someone else's presence around. Relax. There's nothing to fear, here."

Maura swallowed hard and clutched to the kitchen counter as her colleague's words rushed to her mind. Neither she nor Jane had really expressed the feelings they had for each other. Hearing someone else openly talk about it was strange, slightly confusing.

"But I'm not there... Who knows if she'll wait for me... Nobody ever did, actually. Nobody ever waited for me until now."

The inaudible whisper that passed Maura's lips caused Emma to take her in her arms for an unexpected yet relieving hug. Perhaps Maura had misjudged the weight of the distance in her relationship with Jane. Perhaps she had rushed to conclusions and was now facing the truth that couldn't be more different than her original opinion.

If being with Jane had brought her a surge of happiness she hadn't felt in a very long while, it seemed like that the relationship had also opened the doors to a thousand insecurities that she had abandoned in a corner of her mind.

A long time ago.

She didn't have the best of romantic backgrounds. Her self-confidence was quite low in spite of her hopes. She wasn't good at human relationships, let alone romantic ones.

"I don't want to lose her." Maura shrugged. She felt sorry, atrociously sorry. Her behavior was ridiculous. "That's all. I don't want to lose her. And she's so far from me..."

Starting a relationship while being on the other side of the county was anything but easy. Maura was slowly realizing it now. And she didn't like it.