A/N: Thank you all for your comments, follows, and favorites. We pick up right where we left off...
Jane wasn't sure how long she had been out here. Long enough to be shaking with chills, her body quivering as the morning ocean breeze wreaked havoc with her body temperature. It maybe wasn't the smartest idea to storm out of the house onto their deck butt naked, but Jane hadn't been thinking, too hurt by Maura's words to logically do anything other than get away from the source of that hurt.
At the sound of the sliding glass door opening, Jane curled up into herself, turning away from the door, trying to protect herself from both the cold and the woman who was aptly nicknamed Iceman. No words were said but Jane felt a blanket being draped over her shivering body, the edges being tucked in around her. Jane sighed at the warmth and snuggled into blanket, rubbing her tear stained face into the soft material. After a few moments of tense silence, Maura finally spoke, her voice strained with emotion.
"Jane, love, I understand you are upset, but I wish you would have let me finish before. You know I don't always read situations well and I could have chosen my words more carefully." Jane sniffled, the distress in Maura's voice effecting her despite still being hurt by the woman. I guess this is what love does, Jane thought. I'm so mad at her but I'm still sad because she's sad.
At Jane's lack of response, Maura continued. "What I meant to say was that because I have been missing you so much, I have been a nightmare to work with. Susie and Stinger have been all over me for how I have been behaving. Apparently, I needed to go 'fuck my wife and come back only when I was sufficiently fucked' as Stinger put it."
Hearing her wife use such crude language caused Jane to peak out of her blanket fortress and look at Maura. Maura wore a light blush and looked sheepishly at Jane from her place on the lounge chair next to her. She had put on one of Jane's Red Sox sweatshirts and a pair of black yoga pants. Despite all her chaotic emotions, Jane couldn't help smiling at how cute Maura looked, loving when Maura wore her clothes. Her smile slipped from her face when she finally processed the meaning behind Maura's words.
"So, you're telling me, that you were granted leave because you were being an insufferable ass because you weren't getting any?" Jane asked stormily. She had been in the military a long time and had never heard of being granted leave because someone needed a conjugal visit with their spouse. Things weren't adding up.
Maura looked at Jane with shock plainly in her eyes, evidently not expecting Jane's tone nor her response. Jane watched as Maura's eyes flicked back and forth, a sign that she was thinking at high speed, something Jane usually enjoyed but at the moment only caused her anger to increase.
"Jane, no, no, not, I mean, yes, but no," Maura sputtered out, holding her hands up in surrender as Jane stood up abruptly, blanket wrapped around her like armour as she started pacing the length of the deck, needing to expel some of her pent up anger.
"Well, Maura, that is exactly what it sounded like. You only needed me to get your rocks off so that you could return and be the rock star pilot that everyone expects! Am I wrong?!" Jane shouted, hands flailing until she stopped them when she felt the cool air against her skin and wrapped her arms protectively around herself, securing the blanket once again.
Maura looked over at Jane with tears in her eyes causing Jane to huff out in annoyance. She hated when Maura cried but she wasn't going to let this affect her right now. Maura had some explaining to do and Jane was going to remain strong and not give in to a few tears.
"Jane," Maura said shakily, her voice thick with emotion. "Baby, I missed you. All of you, even your stubborn anger. Stinger was the one who put things so crudely. It was never just about 'getting my stone's off' as you said-"
Maura stopped abruptly at Jane's snort of laughter. At the confused look on her face, Jane relented and answered her silent question, "Maura, it's rocks. The saying is get your rocks off. Sorry, continue," Jane said shaking her head while motioning for Maura to carry on with her explanation.
Maura looked at her sternly for a moment, clearly irritated at the correction and interruption but did in fact continue. "As I was saying," she paused to see if Jane was going to interrupt again, "I missed you so much, even your incessant need to correct me, that I was behaving erratically. I was still performing the missions but I was withdrawing from everyone and snapping at anyone who tried to talk to me. Susie suggested that maybe being deployed was not the best decision. Clearly, I needed you. I need you, Jane."
Maura's voice had broken at the end, sounding so lost and despondent that Jane had stopped her pacing and was just looking at her love, her heart breaking now for another reason. God this woman was infuriating with her inability to just say things in a way that Jane would understand. Jane realized that she had overreacted to the situation but it was in no small part to Maura's way of communicating.
Shaking off her feelings of hurt and anger, Jane went to sit beside Maura on the lounger and put her arm around her wife, pulling her into the cocoon of the blanket, resting her head against Maura's.
"Dammit Maur, why didn't you just say that to begin with? You had me thinking that I was some awful mistake that you were regretting! Next time, baby, lead with that part first," Jane joked as she kissed the top of Maura's head, feeling Maura nuzzling into her arms under the blanket.
"Sorry, love. I am trying to work on my phrasing," came the muffled reply from somewhere inside the blanket. Jane just shook her head as she squeezed her enigmatic wife, the love of her life that would surely lead her to an early grave from a heart attack.
Maura eventually peaked out from the blanket and turned her face so she could look up at Jane. Jane sighed at the watery hazel eyes that reflected all the love she felt for this woman right back at her. "I'm sorry Jane. I didn't mean to imply that you were a mistake or that you were the cause of my problems. I am just so unused to being so affected by another person. I have never felt this loved before. It is addicting and I did not realize what it would do to me to be away from it for so long now that I had found it. You love me so well, Jane. Please never stop, despite all my foibles," Maura said with such sincerity and adoration that Jane felt her heart clench in response.
Jane knew she loved Maura more than even she had ever thought she could love another person and no matter what happened, as she had promised in her vows, nothing could stop her from loving her wife.
Kissing Maura sweetly on her full lips, Jane mumbled, "I guess I'll keep you. You really are good in the sack." At the jab to her ribs, Jane let out a, "Hey!", laughing along with Maura at her joke, alleviating the tension that had been surrounding the couple.
"You are lucky you are so attractive, Mrs. Jane Rizzoli. I don't know why else I would want you around," Maura teased with a mock glare. Jane started tickling Maura as payback for her comment which began an all out tickle war which left the women a mess of giggles on the lounger. This is why Jane knew they could make it through anything. No matter what happened, they would always end up in each other's arms, usually with big smiles from laughing so hard, together.
~R&I~
The couple had laid out on the lounger for awhile, just enjoying each other's company until Jane's alarm had gone off inside the house. With an annoyed huff, Jane had extracted herself from Maura's pouting grasp and gone in to shut if off. She hadn't been alone long when Jane was joined by her wife who wrapped her up in a tight embrace, not wanting to be alone.
"Baby, I'm going to have to start getting ready to go in. I have a class at 1000 and we have a few exercises today," Jane said reluctantly, the last thing she wanted to do was be away from her love today, but duty called.
"I know, Jane. It's ok, I have a few meetings on base today, so I couldn't have stayed in bed with you all day, as much as I would have loved that," Maura said with a sly grin. Jane felt her core constrict at the thought of being in bed with her sexy wife all day but that image didn't last long before Maura was walking away from her, headed toward their master bathroom.
"However, I do believe we have some time before we both have other commitments," Maura said coyly as she turned around at the entrance to the ensuite, slowly peeling off Jane's sweatshirt revealing her bare breasts that were just screaming out to Jane to be touched.
"Hmm, I wonder what we could possibly do?" Maura asked nonchalantly as she wiggled out of her yoga pants, throwing them behind her indiscriminately. Jane felt her mouth go dry at the sight of her naked wife, completely on display for her eyes only.
Dropping the blanket that was the only thing keeping her own form covered, Jane slowly strode to Maura, eyes skimming all over the expanse of creamy skin laid bare for her.
"You are looking quite dirty, Ice. I think I can be of some assistance in rectifying that," Jane whispered against Maura's lips before claiming them completely.
Jane whisked her wife into her arms and proceeded to both dirty and clean her thoroughly over the next half hour, for once following the directions of rinse and repeat.
A/N: They can't stay mad at each other for too long. :-) But Maura still has some explaining to do...Stay tuned!