"Maura, Jane, what are you two doing here?" Korsak questioned as they stepped under yellow tape on their way to the crime scene.
"I'm here to look at my crime scene, Korsak. What do you think we're doing here?" Jane replied as Korsak walked beside her in step.
"You and Frost are not on call tonight," Korsak replied as he reached out to grab Jane's shoulder, stopping her from going any further. "Jane, you shouldn't have been called. Detective Crowe is here. It's his case."
Jane sighed as she looked at Maura who had initially continued walking, however was now making her way back to them. "Detective Korsak, why was I called out to inspect a body when Dr Pike is already on the scene?"
Detective Korsak looked between Jane and Maura and noticed the tension between them and their frazzled state. Not wanting to interfere, he passed over it before answering Maura.
"I'm sorry, Dr Isles. There must have been some mix up," he said apologetically. "I hope we haven't kept you from anything important."
Maura and Jane's eyes met briefly, before returning to face Korsak.
"It's perfectly okay, Detective," Maura replied, smoothing the invisible wrinkles in her dress. "It didn't even occur to me that I'm not on call tonight. If you'll excuse me."
Maura made her way to the car under the watchful eye of Jane.
"Is everything ok, Jane?" Korsak asked, pulling Jane's gaze away from Maura.
"Everything's fine," Jane replied without hesitation.
"If you say so," Korsak replied, disbelievingly. "Get out of here Jane. We can handle this. And you've been drinking, so you shouldn't even be here."
Jane looked at Korsak wondering how he knew she had been drinking… and also wondering how she failed to register this fact before she and Maura made their way out to a crime scene.
"Yea, sorry. Habit I suppose," Jane replied with a slight smile before patting Korsak's arm and following Maura to her car. "See you Monday, Korsak."
As Jane approached Maura, who was sitting in the driver's seat of her car, she felt relief that she wasn't on call for the week end. Her attendance at a crime scene under the influence of alcohol was poor judgement, and she felt the need to sort out whatever it was that was going on between herself and Maura before going back to work. It was obviously affecting her, and as a result it would affect her work.
Jane opened the passenger door to Maura's car and got in, surprising Maura.
"Jane!" Maura jumped.
"No car remember," Jane replied. "Drive me home?"
"Yes, of course," Maura replied as she started the engine and left the crime scene.
As they pulled into a car park out the front of Jane's apartment, Maura turned off the engine.
"Are we going to talk about what happened?" Maura asked without taking her eyes off the road in front of her.
"Nothing actually happened, Maura. It just…" Jane sighed, lowering her voice to a whisper, "almost happened."
Maura looked over at Jane as she sat kneading her hands in her lap. She looked as confused and as terrified as Maura felt, which, oddly enough, made Maura feel just that little bit better.
"Jane," Maura began in a whisper, "when I saw the ring on your finger today, it felt…" she paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "It felt like my heart was breaking."
Jane looked over at Maura at the sound of her voice breaking and noticed the tears that were again threatening to fall.
"Maura, I… I don't know… what to say," Jane replied hesitantly.
"You don't have to say anything, Jane," Maura replied, taking a deep breath to control her emotions. "I think I'm just a little emotional, and when I thought I could lose you, I… I don't know."
Jane looked at Maura, attempting to understand exactly what she was saying.
"Are you saying you tried to kiss me to get me to stay?" Jane asked, confused and a little upset.
"What? No," Maura replied turning to face Jane. "That's not what I meant. At least… I don't think that's what I meant."
"You don't think?" Jane replied, turning the heat of the conversation up a notch. "You try to kiss me, and now you're saying you don't even know why?"
"That's not fair, Jane," Maura said diplomatically. "I was merely trying to say that… that… that I'm just a little emotional right now."
"That's not an excuse Maura," Jane replied.
Maura looked up at Jane, hearing the hint of venom in her voice.
"Now wait just a minute, Jane," she started, sitting up straight in her seat and shifting to face Jane properly. "You keep saying that I tried to kiss you, but you aren't innocent in this whole scenario."
"So you didn't want to kiss me?" Jane asked exasperated as she instinctively leaned closer to Maura.
"Of course I did!"
They sat, facing each other, searching each other's eyes as the intensity of what this conversation meant started to sink in. They could have played it off as nothing. They could have passed it off as an emotional outbreak brought on by the possibility of their separation. But as their voices halted and their eyes remained locked, they both realised that this was not some passing moment that could be waved off as something insignificant.
As they both realised that the other wanted this to happen, eyes again fell to lips, and hands slowly reached across to find skin. As they moved together to breach the small gap that lay between them, a car alarm sounded behind them causing them both to jump.
On instinct, Jane jumped out of the car, her hand hovering over her weapon, to see what had set it off. As she approached the car, her neighbour came out of his house to turn off the alarm.
"Sorry," her neighbour called out. "It's been doing that today. I'll be getting it fixed tomorrow."
Jane just waved a 'no worries' at him accompanied by a fake smile before making her way back to the car. She kneeled at the passenger door as she spoke.
"Do you want to come up?"
Maura looked into Jane's eyes. She saw the confusion mixed with want that she was sure was also evident in her own eyes. She knew that if she went up to Jane's apartment tonight in her current state, something might happen between them, and that was something she needed to deliberate on before acting on. There was too much as stake not to.
"I think I should just go home, Jane," Maura eventually replied, her eyes unable to hold contact.
"Probably a good idea," Jane sighed. "Besides, I think the world is trying to tell us something," she finished with a slight chuckle.
"Jane, the world is certainly not capable of speaking," Maura replied, confused.
Jane smiled, finding Maura's lack of comprehension of idioms endearing.
"Unexpected call outs and random car alarms suggest otherwise," Jane replied with a smile before standing to leave. She popped her head down as she held the car door open. "Good night, Maura," she whispered, before closing the door and heading into her apartment.
"Good night, Jane," Maura replied as she watched Jane climb her stairs and enter her apartment building