Yet another Rizzles Ficlets Sequel.
She'd been hiding out in her apartment almost a full day, but she should've expected Maura not to let her be after their early morning encounter. The knocking at her door didn't surprise her, though she did ignore it. Instead, she walked into her closet and huddled into a corner just as her front door opened.
"Jane?" Maura sounded about as exhausted as Jane was feeling. Saying nothing, she listened carefully to the soft footsteps treading across the floor of her front room.
"Jane?" Maura called again, now just outside the bedroom door.
Jane held her breath.
The closet opened and Jane squeezed her eyes shut, desperately hoping to blend into the framework of the walls.
"I can see you, you know." She felt the air shift as Maura crouched down beside her. She gulped.
"I called in sick today. You should probably leave before you catch what I've got." Jane wasn't exactly in the mood to be delicate. She opened her eyes only to meet the blazing gaze of one very disgruntled medical examiner.
"You and I both know you aren't sick. What's going on Jane? What was that last night?" Maura sat on the floor, blocking the only exit. Her earnest, searching stare made the green in her hazel eyes more prominent. Jane's breath caught in her throat.
Maura shuffled closer, placing a placating hand on Jane's knee. "Talk to me."
Jane sighed and rubbed her palms. "Maur, do me a favour and just forget everything that happened earlier, okay? I was momentarily nuts and in my lapse of sanity, I did something I should definitely not have. Can we please just leave it at that?" The plea in her voice was weak and vulnerable, even to her own ears. She hated it.
Maura's shoulders slumped and Jane felt an unsettling combination of relief and trepidation. Then Maura's spine straightened and a fierce determination crashed through her eyes. "No."
The word snapped any sense of control Jane had thought she'd had over the situation and the flood gates opened with purpose, tears decorating her cheeks. "Please," she whispered softly, begging desperately.
"No," Maura repeated. "You tell me not to marry Ian, you kiss me, and then you run away from me, from me; I think I deserve an explanation."
Jane shook her head. "I take it all back. You love Ian; you should marry him. And kissing you was a mistake that I wish I'd never made." Because now I can't get over the memory of feeling your lips on mine. Jane shrugged, "As for the running, I was in the middle of a jog when I stopped by your place. I had to get back to it."
"I think those may be the most flimsy, ridiculous, lying excuses you've ever given me, Jane," Maura stated, calling her on her bullshit. "I want answers Jane. I want to know: why I shouldn't marry Ian, why you were jogging at four in the morning, and why you've lost so much weight." She paused, "And I am not leaving until I get them."
"I got home from work and went for a run, tried to blow off a little steam and clear my head. That's all. And I haven't lost that much weight," Jane lied, staring intently at her hands. She could feel the frustration pouring off of Maura in huge, cascading waves, so she wasn't surprised when the doctor's hand moved from her knee to her face, angling it toward her.
She was surprised when she felt those sinful lips against hers for the third time in twenty four hours and her eyes closed automatically. Oh, she knew this would hurt when it was over, knew that it would only serve to make everything even more difficult, but she couldn't have given up the chance to feel like that again.
Maura was the one to pull away, but she didn't go far. Lips a few millimetres apart, "Just tell me the truth, Jane," she whispered.
Jane's eyes didn't open, but she softly said, "I can't, Maur. It's not fair to you."
"Don't you think I should be the judge of that?" Maura asked, stroking the detective's cheek with a fingertip.
Jane sighed and opened her eyes; the view of her best friend so close in front of her made her heart beat frantically increase. There was no way around it. "Okay, Maur. Have it your way, but don't say I didn't warn you."
Maura grinned at the victory. "Why were you really running at four a.m.?"
Jane nodded, this she could answer. "I wasn't lying before. I had a lot on my mind and I needed to forget everything."
Maura was shaking her head before Jane had even finished explaining. "No, I mean what were you trying to forget."
Pulse racing rapidly, eyes darting everywhere but in front of her, Jane responded, "That I'm in love with you."
And suddenly everything fell into place for Maura. At last, she understood the not-quite-genuine smiles the detective shoved on her face when doing anything wedding related. "Is that why you've lost so much weight?" she asked, concerned at the living skeleton who was her best friend.
Jane merely nodded, still tense and waiting for a reaction.
"Is that why I shouldn't marry Ian?"
Jane shook her head vehemently. "No! I would never – no. That's an entirely different can of worms. I would never be that dismissive of your feelings for him; I couldn't do that to you. If you felt like you had to choose between the two of us, it would tear you apart. I wouldn't do that to you."
"Then why?" Maura asked, painstakingly confused.
"Maur," Jane said softly, lovingly. "He doesn't deserve you. He's kept you on a string for years. He's been a hurricane blowing into and out of your life a few days at a time when it suits him. Never once did he consider the possibility that you wanted him to stay. Never once did he think he should be here for you. He asked you to marry him four months ago during a two-day stint. Now he's back for three days, trying to fit all the wedding planning into seventy-two hours. That's just the way he works and you don't deserve to be treated like you're a consolation prize."
Frankly, Maura was a little shocked that Jane was so forthcoming and honest with her. It was then that she realised that something had been missing in their friendship since the news broke: Jane's truthfulness. "You don't treat me like a consolation prize," Maura stated, surprised when she discovered just how true that sentence was.
"I never could. You're like the lottery jackpot; elusive, enticing, and way out of my league. I'm grateful for every single minute you choose to spend with me because I know that one day, the minutes will stop. I know that you'll see just how much time you've wasted with me. And when that day comes, I won't make a scene. I have nothing to hold you here with. I'll let you go and then I'll try to remember the time where I lived without you and I'll probably turn into a mess, but I'll be a happy, miserable mess because you'll be happy wherever you are and that's all I've ever wanted." Jane's confession gave them both a lot to ponder. They didn't say a word for several minutes.
Finally, Maura said, "Tell me." A pause. "Please."
Jane flexed her hands and stared at her scars before lifting her eyes to Maura's. "I love you."
Maura smiled and pecked Jane on the cheek. "Then I can't marry Ian."
The huge weight that's been tying Jane down is suddenly gone. The noose around her neck loosens and she finds it easier to breathe. There's one small sliver of guilt, one that she knows will probably stay with her for the rest of her life, but Maura's wrapped her arms around her and they're hugging and Jane just can't be bothered with the future right now.
Because Maura is here, with her, and it feels like perfection.