CHAPTER TWO
Jane feels odd entering her own home. She was hoping she would get to spend the night at Maura's, but after that encounter in her office going home seemed like the wiser choice. She heads over to the bathroom and pauses in front of the mirror. Her eyes linger on the red mark across her cheek as she slips out of her clothes and into pajamas. She is never going to be able to wear those again so she dumps them in a corner, left to be dealt with on another day when exhaustion does not threaten to claim her.
She slips into bed, but all that waits there is hours of tossing and turning. Imperceptive? What was she being imperceptive about? Maura has always known Jane is in the business of saving lives, putting everyone else before her. What has changed now? An uncertain feeling gnaws at her, but all Jane can do is wonder what pushed Maura to physically strike her? It is hours later that she can finally close her eyes and drift into oblivion, but even oblivion is plagued with the terrors that come with almost drowning.
When Maura leaves her office she cannot got home. She will not be able to face Jane if she happens to come there. Instead, Maura drives around. She takes new roads, discovering secrets to her city yet not really paying attention to much. She actually slapped Jane. The realization still hasn't quite sunk in as she makes a right turn. Not that it wasn't deserved, but still. In some ways Maura feels good, the weight she has been carrying around on her chest has finally lifted. Yet she can't help but feel a certain gnawing. Was the slap really necessary? Has she marked their relationship in a way that it can never recover from?
Maura deftly sweeps questions that present themselves into a box that she does not intend to open again anytime soon. It is a box that she has been filling ever since the day that she met Jane Rizzoli. The next turn she makes lands her in her own street so Maura braces herself and drives home.
Her watch reads 3:17 and Maura is glad that Jane's car is not in the driveway. But she expects that someone would have driven her given her current condition. She takes a deep breath and steps inside. In a sudden flurry of motion Angela rushes over and throws her arms around her.
"Where have you been? Have you seen the time? I have been worried sick!" She launches into a tirade. It is often that Maura has to deal with this, she is used to it by now. Angela stands in for the role of her mother, worried sick unless informed that Maura will either not be coming home or be late.
"Did you see Jane?"
"Yeah, she wanted to be alone, but she looked like she'll be fine. I thought she would come over here for a couple of nights at least."
"I slapped her." Is all Maura can really say.
Angela pauses. She raises her eyebrows and considers this and then laughs.
"I should have done that."
So Maura laughs back. Maybe everything will be alright. Maybe Jane won't jump off any bridges again.
So this is a short one, but more coming soon.