AN: Special thanks to all those reviewers without accounts who have been so lovely and anonymous. I can't say thank you via PM so I'd like to take a moment now. Enjoy the chapter!
Maura adjusted her cashmere scarf to protect her neck from the stinging air as she watched Jane and Vince talking about the crime scene at a distance. The seasoned Sargent Detective's shoulders remained wide and open to whatever Jane was saying but with a clear air of wisdom and authority. Jane's hands moved as she spoke, her weight pivoting from foot to foot every now and then and her sharp chin angled downward somewhat. She respectfully disagreed.
Maura would never admit to being distracted on the job, she was hardly able to admit it to herself, but once her role was complete and the initial field information was passed on to the right people she sometimes occasionally maybe indulged in watching the way Jane moved about a world she had only recently in knowing the detective become familiar with. In befriending Jane Maura was able to ask all the questions she wanted, input her own traditionally quieted opinions, and feel some true responsibility for the investigation and not just "poking at the dead for clues" as one narcotics detective had so delicately put it.
it wasn't a distraction, it was more of an… An appreciation.
Besides, human behavior especially nonverbal body language was always something that intrigued her, counting for more than half of their species communication yet so often overlooked Maura frequently wondered what the world would be like without sound, how would they manage without words? She had come to the conclusion some time ago that somehow Jane Rizzoli would get on with her work just fine which made for rather curious observations.
It was a Thursday evening, cold and a bit windy. The weather forecast had showed no signs of letting up toward the end of the month and Maura though incredibly patient when it came to certain things had exhausted her winter wardrobe and was looking forward to wearing dresses again whenever possible.
The week had proven to be pretty quiet in comparison to the two weeks after her trip. From what Jane had shared so had homicide, Maura was looking forward to capping the week out without much incident so she could spend the weekend working on her writing or preparing for New York panel without needing to play catch up with the ME's office. That wasn't looking likely though with the call they got in around five thirty today at Roonie Park. A woman in her early forties had been found with multiple stab wounds to the chest, thigh and groin, the assault was inflicted post-mortem which seemed strange given the public nature of the attack.
Judging by her stance Jane was most likely thinking the same thing.
"Dr. Isles?"
Maura turned and regarded one of their newest crime scene techs Morgan. "Yes." She blinked.
"Should we begin intake?" He still seemed uneasy around the newly perished.
Maura nodded and motioned to Vince and Jane. "When the two lead detectives allow us we can proceed."
"But… isn't the longer she's out here the more likely evidence will be lost?"
Maura nodded. "That is true." A tad squeamish but scientifically minded, she liked him. If he lasted the year she was sure he would stay. "There are many things one can gather from an initial intake. Sargent Detective Korsak and Detective Rizzoli like to step away and then approach the victim again with multiple theories. Once we begin our intake the exact manner in which our victim was left is lost and that information could be paramount. There is only so much crime scene photos can capture." It was one of she and Jane's first casual disagreements when they began working together, Like Morgan Maura wanted to save the evidence believing it to be the only real thing to stand up In a court of law and she hadn't been wrong but there was more to a crime scene than the body. Jane had placed her beer bottle down on the booth they shared at the Robber and asked her to take a photo of it. When Maura had pulled out her cell phone and the photo was captured Jane took the beer away and asked her the significance of the level of fluid in the bottle. The ME had thought long and hard about it but was surprised she couldn't really tell how full the bottle was. She remembered Jane savoring a small grin as she took another long sip before explain that the detective's job was to get on all fours and look through the bottle, to be the criminal who put it there, maybe it had just been emptied enough to look through and see someone across the bar without drawing attention to themselves, maybe that person was their victim, suddenly they had opportunity. Maura beamed at the notion, what an interesting angle of inspection! She had vowed then to work with whatever detective was on her assigned autopsies from then on to get every angle possible and to learn a bit of patience so they could work together to solve the case.
For her example she used a window with curtains and not a bottle of beer, Morgan seemed to pick up on it just as well though. He nodded slowly.
"We do not want to jeopardize that for haste don't you agree? Molecularly speaking evidence has a window, their job does not."
"That's interesting. It… makes me look at things a little differently." He nodded faster this time and then looked over at Jane and Korsak.
"I'm glad." Maura followed his glance. "They shouldn't be much longer."
Both Jane and Vince were nodding as they spoke in agreement of the correct course of actions.
"…Heard she shot herself to save another cop." He had heard rumors of his employer and the detective's friendship, but he doubted Dr. Isles would let him ask her to sign his limited addition copy of his favorite comic book Bostonia. The author Chip Edmondson had eluded in an interview recently that the muse for his vigilante was taken from Boston PD itself, and Morgan almost chocked on an apple he was eating when Detective Rizzoli rounded the corner with a case file for Dr. Isles while reading the interview on his lunch break.
Never mind it being completely unprofessional of him to ask, the other lab techs also seemed a little scared of her so he kept his theories to himself.
Maura nodded once. "They are both quite remarkable at what they do." She looked over his shoulder at the rest of her team surveying the area. "Would you mind combing over the parks two entrances again? It could be possible blood was left when the offender escaped." Morgan darted off leaving the Chief Medical Examiner to her thoughts.
What was truly remarkable was the amount of restful sleep she had been getting this week. The disorientation of travel had finally worn off along with the general excitement of the precious week's events. She received a call from Professor Dooley to meet over lunch soon about the next semester at BCU, Angela was back in her spirits and her book club had finally picked something Maura was excited to read. Things seemed to be getting back to normal.
Most things.
She and Jane remained changed, alone the kisses on the cheek continued with the other's departures, the subtle lifts in lips when the other walked into a room as if they shared a valuable secret. They hadn't rescheduled their experiment yet, but Jane had stayed over every night that week and they had held one another goodnight each time. Maura knew it could no longer be called a hug, hugs generally lasted three seconds. Cross-cultural studies dating back to 1911 had shown that people tend to operate in three second bursts. Goodbye waves, musical phrases, and infants' bouts of babbling and gesturing all last about three seconds. Many basic physiological events, such as relaxed breathing and certain nervous system functions do too. Several other species of mammals and birds follow the same general rule in their body-movement patterns.
She knew this because she had done her research.
Maura wanted to make sure she was classifying the change correctly.
When she thought about their arm wrapped around one another and the softness of Jane's rough veneer the doctor flushed, so to save from having to explain it she instead tried to focus on her surroundings…
Jane's conversation finished and the tall woman looked over the crime scene lit park to find Maura before starting toward her. She had a beanie on with a low ponytail trailing behind her and was wearing her dark woolen slacks and BPD windbreaker with her badge dangling around her neck and her gun at her hip. She looked especially determined to close the space between them.
"Hey, you get anything else?"
Maura adjusted her scarf again as a particular breeze brushed passed them. "It may be possible to pull something from the nails but I can't tell in this light if they are just poorly maintained or may yield some other biological residue."
"Biological residue like DNA?"
She nodded. "It's possible." Jane nodded to herself. "The stabbing wounds are consistent with a rage attack, in order to get that deeply under the layers of muscle of the thigh you would have to exhibit an almost inhuman amount of force."
"So it was a bear attack?"
"I said almost, and the wounds are inconsistent with the canines of any animal capable of such force."
Jane looked down at the tarp covered Jessica Hanover. " Someone was pissed enough to kill her and then stab her." She looked around the area and then shook her head. "Wonder if this park means something to them." She looked back over to Maura. "Unsub had to be someone she knew and trusted enough." She checked her watch. "Or someone she may be acquainted with…it wasn't too late when they entered the park together… You're sure this is where she died?"
Maura nodded. "Of course I cannot say a hundred percent—"
Jane bent to examine the area around the body a little more. "Well in the interest of not freezing my arms off I'll settle for seventy three percent, Maura."
"I'll know more once we get her to the lab," Maura shook her head with a small smile. " and I told you to bring a real coat today."
Jane stood and raised a brow as she peeled her crime scene gloves off and stuffed her hands into the front pockets of her windbreaker for warmth. "Was this before or after I had coffee this morning?"
Maura looked at her curiously. "Do you truly wait just so you don't have to be responsible for the things I say prior to your coffee?"
"Sometimes."
She shook her head and motioned to the victim. "I can have a report within a few hours."
Jane nodded in thanks. "I need the COD, Maura."
The Chief Medical Examiner slipped her own hands into her fashionable coat pockets and tilted her head in a silent challenge. "I can have a report within a few hours."
Jane grinned to herself as they wordlessly agreed to begin walking back to the group Korsak was leading. Their boots crunched against the small bits of gravel on the park's path as they fell into a momentary silence. "…Probably gonna be a late night for me." The detective looked over at her friend. "You have my permission to finish that documentary."
"Really? You don't want to see the ending?"
"Maura I didn't want to see the beginning or the middle." Jane deadpanned.
Maura remained amused at her honesty having already known this. A medical documentary on grave robbing in the early days of surgery was incredibly interesting to the ME and Jane sat through it still enough. "You can admit to liking something that isn't baseball." She reminded. "And I will leave the kitchen light on for you."
Jane nodded at the subtle belief firmed into fact that she was staying over again. She liked the idea that Maura wanted her close by. Plus the detective had been itching for an opportunity to bring up taking Maura out again, she was sure Maura believed she had forgotten, but Jane hadn't. How could she when every night since Sunday she had talked herself out of turning her head slightly through their embrace and kissing her best friend goodnight? Friends didn't do that, but people who had been on a full proper date did, and she couldn't take Maura on one of those until they had talked about it, and the questionnaire, and those results. It could seem silly she knew, but procedure was important to Maura and Jane wanted to respect that. More importantly she wanted Maura to know that she wanted to take her time, treat her right. The weight of that potential responsibility had hit her last night; arms wrapped around the shorter woman's shoulders, nose pushed gently into her hair.
Jane Rizzoli had always considered herself protective of the people she cared about so that weight sat on Jane's chest all night. She would already put out the world for a tear in Maura's eye, but as… more? There was probably a whole list of responsibilities she never considered and though it scared her Jane really wanted to know what it was that Maura needed that she couldn't give her as a best friend.
It obviously didn't need to come from a man.
Right?
"You wanna watch the weirdest stuff." Jane continued.
"All you want to do is watch sports. Surely there must be something else you'd enjoy."
Jane chuckled. "We deal with the worst parts of people Maur, sometimes sports are all I can watch."
Maura looked at her. "I suppose I never tire of processing new information, analyzing it, constructing realm in which it could be applicable to me or our work." She blinked as if realizing for the first time she had hazel eyes. "I wonder why that is."
Jane chuckled. "Easy, you're a cyborg."
"A fictional or hypothetical person whose physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements built into the body?" She shook her head missing the look Jane was giving her. "I assure you Jane, I am anything but hypothetical."
The detective only smiled at her while shaking her head. "Goof."
They approached Korsak and the officer who had responded to the call Joe Finch. He was a tall man with boyish features and a strong Boston accent. Jane didn't like him much but he was good at his job and never really got in her way… Well not exactly anyway.
"Thanks Joe." Korsak nodded.
The officer smiled. "Yeah Vince, anytime. I'll make sure our boys guard the area nights through." He looked over at Maura. "Dr. Isles, you could always y'know stick around." There was a chivalrous yet contradictive suggestion to his tone.
Maura smiled politely still. "Oh, that would be interesting. I'm afraid I have an autopsy to prepare, maybe next time?"
"Hope so, Doc."
Jane rolled her eyes as Joe tipped his policeman's hat before walking off. "Isn't he married?"
Vince laughed. "Yeah, if you call living in a different state from your wife married." He regarded Maura. "Was there anything else, Maura?"
"I was filling Jane in on the possibility of DNA evidence under the nailbed but I would need to confirm."
"Hard to imagine someone fighting back after they were already dead." He thought aloud.
Jane nodded and looked around them. "Also hard to imagine no one saw anything." The park was not large by any means. Someone had to notice them enter it. "Had to be late evening right? Who's out here then?"
"School kids most likely, a parent called it in."
"Damn." The parents would never get them involved.
"Luckily the weather was cold enough for the tissue damage to slow the decaying process. I can get a better gauge of the lividity when I do a full autopsy."
Vince nodded and looked over at Jane. "Let's head back."
"Alright, gimmie a sec." Jane nodded and waited for Korsak to start walking away before turning to Maura. "You let me know when you're leaving?"
She smiled. "Are you going to walk me to my car?"
"Sure."
"My hero." She teased; Jane let up a small laugh and rolled her eyes as she turned to catch up to Korsak. Maura watched her leave and chuckled a little when Jane glanced over her shoulder at her. She could be very sweet when she wanted to be, it made her blush a little when she realized it was because of how she felt for her. Like a teenager? Wasn't that what they agreed it felt like? The ME shook her head and turned to her team to begin the tedious task of orchestrating respectful efficiency when removing a murder victim from their own crime scene.
##
By the time Jane Rizzoli got into her car to leave work the sky were a thick dark blue battered with dark greys. purples, and pinks. A great big beautiful mess.
She yawned as she slipped her seatbelt on and tucked the chest strap behind her (An old beat cop habit to be able to get out of the patrol car faster) before pulling out her cell phone and shooting Maura a quick text. The ME would be worried when she woke up and Jane wasn't there. She tried to rationalize going over to Maura's at this hour and couldn't. She needed a shower desperately and knew that there was a real possibility that Maura could probably still be asleep. She wouldn't want to wake her. So Jane opted for a simple explanation and left her phone in her lap to turn on the radio so she wouldn't fall asleep behind the wheel. The detective drove on silently into the morning thinking about the case and then her family.
Tommy had been texting she and Frankie about the plans for the zoo this weekend. Jane just hoped she didn't get called in for anything she really was looking forward to spending the day with everyone.
She stopped at a light and was surprised to feel her phone buzzing wildly in her lap. The Boston native smiled a little when she saw who it was calling and brought the device to her ear quickly. She was only a block or so away from her place, if stopped she'd just say it was official police business. "Morning."
"Or is it goodnight?" Maura sounded wide awake
Jane smiled. "Who knows."
"It's six in the morning, Jane." Jane checked the time on her watch.
"The glamourous life of a Boston Homicide Detective." She let herself joke if only to ease whatever worry she recognized in Maura's tone. "Did you get my message?"
"I did. Has something developed or is this just a late one?" She was standing in her kitchen in her robe sipping some warm water to activate her metabolism for the day. Maura knew Jane wouldn't be coming over like they planned when she woke after falling asleep in her book on the couch to Angela urging her to sleep in her bed. The mother of three had stopped in to borrow a particular tea, it had been midnight. No text messages or calls meant Jane was fully engrossed in what she was doing and had lost track of time. If something were seriously the matter Angela wouldn't have been humming to herself while she made tea and Kennedy their ops dispatch would have sent her a notification. After Jane jumping off that bridge her case blinders admittedly continued to hurt Maura's feelings in a way she didn't understand, but as time went on she realized that sometimes Jane's only focus, care, or concern was her work.
It's what made her the amazing cop that she was and she had learned to accept it as a part of the whole.
Jane turned down her street with one hand on the steering wheel and shrugged. "Just a late one. I'm gonna crash for a bit, shower, eat, and come back in around ten."
"Will you come see me when you arrive? I got some test results from the Hanover autopsy I think you would be interested in." She paused. "Oh, I could just give them to Vince when I get in."
Jane pulled into her usual spot and yawned into the back of her head before slipping the car into park and leaning back in her seat. She smiled suddenly as Maura continued the ways around not really needing to see her today. "I'll stop by when I get in before my tour; maybe you can make me one of your fancy coffees."
Jane considered anything with steamed milk in it fancy.
"Oh well the quality on the press in my office is only rival by the level of the roast you all purchase for the break room."
Jane began to get out of her car. "Give it a month; we'll be back to that cheap stuff you hate soon enough. We don't make enough to maintain that coffee machine."
"Sad but true, Nina is saving me a matacha cube."
"Matcha? Why? Don't you grow that stuff in the back?"
Maura made a face briefly and then chuckled. "That's marjoram, I'm surprised you paid attention." She had held Jane hostage one afternoon last year after one of her fencing matches and brought her to a garden supply store and nursery. She had gone through all the herbs and vegetables she wanted to grow (by specie name of course). Jane had nodded but seemed less than pleased to be missing a Red Sox game. The ME never thought she'd actually commit any of it to memory.
Jane shrugged. "Well y'know, most times I do."
"After coffee?"
"I can't be liable for the rest, Maura."
"One day I will say something incredibly important." She joked.
Jane keyed into her apartment. "C'mon."
The blonde put her mug down and smiled. "Are you home?"
Jane shrugged out of her blazer and tossed her keys aside. "Yeah." She rubbed her face.
"Drink some water. You're not nearly as hydrated as you should be given your line of work."
Jane grabbed a cup from the cupboard and turned on the sink to fill it up. "Anything else?"
"A wide range of studies on napping times have been conducted to determine the most optimal amount of sleep."
Jane headed down the hall toward her bedroom with a glass of water in one hand and her phone in the other. "Mm?"
"Results for best restfulness actually say twenty minutes is best,-" Jane put the woman on speaker phone as she rested her cup on her cluttered nightstand to peel off her shirt and slip out of her heavier woolen pants. "—grogginess and the replacement of neurotransmitter. Although I suppose if this is the only time you have to sleep you could get away with an hour or so out of necessity."
Jane lay above the covers clad in only a black sports bra and boy shorts and tried to sip her water while lying down. Maura's voice filled the room with her concerns and findings on sleep. The detective had to smile a little at the whole thing. It was actually a little comforting. "Maur." She interrupted.
"Jane?"
"I hope you have a good morning at work."
Maura smiled and shook her head at herself. "I'm talking too much aren't I?"
"No I…I like it." Jane yawned. "It's just I've been up for a full twenty four hours and I'm pretty sure I'm starting to hallucinate." She joked before resting her water aside on her nightstand and yawning again. "You okay? You only go this deep into Google when something's wrong."
Maura turned her second kettle on. "I can't really hide much from you can I?"
"Gold badge and all."
"I'm fine, I just had trouble sleeping again last night."
Jane frowned. "Again?"
"Yes, I'm not quite sure what is bothering me. This whole week I slept fine."
"Well… we gotta go to the doctor now right? You hit your head in France or something and didn't tell me?"
Maura readied a new sachet to put into her mug when the hot water was ready. "No, nothing like that, Jane." She chuckled. "I don't think I would tell you if I did. You'd worry too much and I really think I am over the hump as they say."
Jane exhaled loudly. "Maura."
"Try and get some rest."
"I'm worrying, you hear me worrying?"
"It's quite loud."
Jane feigned annoyance. "You want me to call Hope or Connie about this?" She got a breathy laugh at that.
"They are both currently in other countries."
"I could still call."
"Goodbye, Jane."
"Bye." She hung up the phone and grabbed a pillow to tuck under her arm. "What does she mean she wouldn't tell me?" Jane grumbled something more before closing her eyes and exhaling.
##
"Hey Jane, let me ask you a question hm?" Kent began walking alongside her, his lab coat sweeping behind him like a superhero's cape.
"How about hmm no?" Jane looked over at him teasingly. She liked Kent, she'd never tell him that but she liked him.
He continued to walk beside her down the hall towards Maura's office. "I'm gonna ask anyway." He nodded and Jane just sighed amusedly. "If you were a hot dog, and you were dying of starvation—"
Jane put a hand up to stop him. "I'm gonna stop you right there, Clark."
"It's Kent." He nodded in correction.
Jane eyed him wearily. He had been working here for more than two years now and he still hadn't caught on to the joke. What was wrong with him? "Right, Kent." She motioned to herself. "I am not a hotdog. But I do love them, so any questions involving their suffering are going to make me deeply emotional."
Kent leaned away from her a little. "Oh… I had no idea."
Jane nodded seriously. "Deeply."
"Right yeah I understand." He scratched the back of his head. "How could I be so insensitive?"
Jane popped him on the arm gently with a loose fist. "It's okay, you had no way of knowing." She motioned to Maura's closed office door. The ME was just visible through the tilted shades at her desk reading something at her laptop. "She busy?"
Kent shook his head. "No, don't think so."
"Great." Jane nodded and unceremoniously barged into the Chief Medical Examiner's office leaving Kent in the hall contemplating his misstep.
Maura looked up startled but then merely shook her head. "You should really knock." She went back to her email.
Jane smiled as she came up to Maura's desk and picked up a skull paperweight to examine it. "'Cause everyone else does?"
"Yes." Maura finished reading the email and smiled a little at Jane. She was in a good mood, Maura could just tell by the way she carried herself, that well rested playfulness that borderlines mischief was a welcome sight, and for once Maura had scheduled this coffee break in her schedule to indulge it some. After all, hadn't Jane been indulging her? Hugging her goodnight? Letting her say all the things that she thought without consequence, she could tolerate Jane rearranging the small artifacts on her desk if it suited her, and only if she remembered to put them back. Maura crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. "You made an appointment this time, so I'm willing to overlook the jab at my professionalism with your familiarity."
Jane grinned. "Gee, thanks."
"You look rested."
Jane put the skull down back where she found it knowing Maura wouldn't quite be able to focus if she didn't. "Yeah I got some shut eye in, showered…" She moved away to sit on the seafoam green loveseat creating a distance between them that caused the pathologist to stand from her desk and walk over to the right of the office where a small coffee grind and press was stationed. "It's amazing what a shower could do…what's the science on that?"
Maura chuckled softly as she prepared a small brew. "Showers?"
"Yeah."
"Well a dopamine high, relaxed state and distracted mind can be some of the more obvious culprits. It is the only time of day most people have the ability to turn thoughts inwardly." She focused her attention on creating the right ratio of bloom as she started to pour some hot water over the pungent coffee grounds for the expresso. She would press another set purely for the crema, a wasteful method, but why not right?
"Hm… So you okay?"
Maura exhaled greatly as if to show example. "Yes, I was able to sneak in a yoga class which did just the trick." She continued to remain focused on the coffee but stole a glance at Jane sitting with her elbows on her knees trying to decide if she believed her or not.
"Korsak filled me in on that report you brought him. What do you think our vic was doing near the docks to get that dirt under her nails. She lived near you almost."
"Well right now I am actually emailing a colleague regarding the sample we found. My hypothesis is that whoever had something to do with her death has something to do with the docks."
Jane gasped. "Maura… are you….gumshoeing?"
Maura rolled her eyes. "Hypothesizing." She moved to the end near her desk with the spent coffee ground filter and discarded it in the water basket before returning to her time sensitive work of foaming milk. A tight smile crept onto her features after steaming some. "I am going to attempt a heart on your cappuccino, is that okay?" She asked over her shoulder.
Jane wore a small grin. She unclasped her hands in a small shrug. "What the hell, have at it." Maura looked excited as she turned her back to focus her attention again and Jane shook her head. "You better tell me if you hit your head, Maura." She added sternly.
"I want to take TJ to see the Panthera Pardus, do you think he'd enjoy that?" She knocked the bottom of the newly frothed milk container against the counter twice before reaching for a small spoon to lean against the lip of it to strain the warm milk into their espresso.
Jane raised her brows. "What? A panther Maura? He's a baby I don't even think he's allowed in that area yet."
"I'm sure the zoo can make an exception for one of their biggest private supporters." She began with her cup first to practice the heart. "Besides the areas are completely safe, I wouldn't suggest it if I hadn't looked into it myself." She stepped back and looked down at the heart and made the necessary spatial adjustments mentally before starting Jane's. "I always loved the Big Cat exhibits in Asia, the quality of life for the animals were different then. The Boston zoo has an excellent team of zoologists who ensure the animals get the proper care they need. It isn't Asia, but it's still something."
Jane watched her work carefully. She had always secretly liked that Maura inserted herself as an aunt to TJ. She truly did take the responsibility and it was nice to think about her still being in the little guy's life when he grew older. Who else was going to teach him about the finer things in life? "Sounds expensive Maura." Jane warned. "Remember when we took him to the aquarium?"
Maura smiled at her work and looked over at Jane as she put the extra steamed milk aside. "How else is he supposed to have a grasp on just how deep the ocean is without a wall diagram?"
"It's taking up his whole room Maura."
She thought on its practicality and then shrugged. "Well Tommy says he likes it. What else would have worked?"
Jane chuckled. "I dunno, a book? Just buy him a book." Maura shook her head as if that was the stupidest idea in the world and it only made Jane laugh a little more. "Alright well just don't buy him a panther alright? I don't think that would fly." She stood when Maura moved to bring both cappuccino over to her.
"For you." Maura handed Jane the better looking heart and Jane smirked
"Aw."
"The beans are Ethiopian." They sat down across from one another slowly in efforts not to spill the hot beverages. Maura waited for Jane to take a sip. "What do you think?"
"It's good, Maura. Thanks." She took another sip. "Really rich."
Maura took a sip of her own. "It's the breast milk." but if she knew Jane was going to spew cappuccino all over herself and the chair she wouldn't have attempted at the joke.
She didn't know that though.
Maura was still trying to figure out the complexities of a well-rounded sense of humor.
"The what!?" Jane was miraculously still holding the small (albeit now stained) cup and wiping her mouth with her free arm. After the shock wore off Maura erupted into a fit of laughter and the taller of the two narrowed her eyes in a mixture of distrust and disbelief. "Maura! Someone… lactated in this?" She stood.
Maura got up, slightly red in the face and continued to laugh as she went around her desk to open a drawer and bring out some wet beauty napkins she used to remove her makeup. "I'm only kidding you." She tried.
Jane scowled at her pink cheeks before assessing the damage by looking down at the white button down shirt she was wearing today. "It's not funny. Gimmie." She snatched the wet napkins from the grinning doctor's hands.
"I punk'd you, admit it."
Jane dabbed at her shirt some and then sighed, a grin starting to tug at her lips. "Yeah you did, what the hell is wrong with you?" She laughed too now. Maura put her cappuccino cup down and pulled a few more wet napkins out and took a formal step into Jane's personal space to help the detective get the light brown speckles off her shirt before they set in.
"I've been watching a great deal of Ellen DeGeneres with your mother." She brushed Jane's hands away gently as she took over getting at the stains. They'd come right out if she were quick. Jane would only make it worse with her clumsy blotting.
The detective felt herself flush at having Maura so close dapping at her chest. "Please don't tell me that."
"We have, it's quite entertaining." She frowned. "Here." She grabbed Jane's hand and extended it so that she could get a stain near her ribcage. How did she manage to get it in her jacket? "Her timing is so precise."
Jane looked down at what Maura's hands were doing now and felt her cheeks continue to betray her command to stay cool. Maura was unbeknownst dabbing at a particularly sensitive area on her chest that began to peek with the contestant friction. She closed her eyes briefly trying to focus on anything else but couldn't. It felt….automatic, and somewhere within her an insistent heat began. Jane exhaled slowly which caught Maura's initial confused attention. She worked on though until Jane made the noise again, a bit of a hiss added to it alerted Maura to look up into Jane's eyes and their new darkness which was when Maura realized that the particularly large stain on her chest was just where Jane's left nipple ought to be.
Out of some crazed bout of cerebral motor miscommunication Maura dabbed the area twice more and watched as Jane's nostrils flared slightly in response.
The ME froze when she realized what she had accidentally started. Her hands darted away quickly from Jane's left breast and she began to flush while taking two large steps backward. "Oh Jane… I…"
Jane had snapped out of it at the same time. "It's alright it's um, these new bras…" What? New bras? What the hell was she even saying? Jane groaned as all the blood in her body rushed to her face.
Maura looked horrified. "I just, I didn't…know that your…." Had she just taken advantage of a situation without even knowing it?
Jane tried to laugh it off, but really it just made the whole room seem more filled. "Y'know they look small but …" She scratched the back of her head. "They're not really….that small…"
Maura nodded quickly. "You have lovely breasts." She darkened. "I—What I mean is that for a woman of your height and stature they are of an adequate size— I wouldn't change—" She sighed. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Jane." Maura looked down at the white wet napkin in her hand and tossed it onto the short coffee table between them then looked up at Jane with wide eyes. "I just wanted to help."
They remained quiet a moment before Jane chuckled and cursed under her breath. Maura seemed relived at the sound but still maintained her distance. "It's… just my boob Maura. How many times have you touched it?" They had been friends for so long; this had to have happened before right? A graze here, an adjustment there…
"Six."
"Exactly, it's noth—wait six? Really?"
Maura attempted to shake her head. "I suppose. To keep record would be ridiculous." She nodded. "Quite pointless actually…irrelevant…"
Jane's brows knitted in worry. "Well it's okay…Right?"
Maura continued to nod, slower this time though. "Right…We are two adult women—"
Jane began the slow nod as well. "Yeah, who both have em… I mean between us there are four of them so that's… that's a lot really." She tried to read the look on Maura's face but couldn't. Panic continued to set in. "We're bound to y'know… get a little…" She didn't finish.
Maura agreed with a step forward. "It's only natural that at some point the subject of physical attraction comes up and... it's probably a good sign that you had a… satisfying reaction to my presence—"
Jane was still nodding, in fact they both were. "Yeah, yeah y'know they touch when we hug and that's like, really the best part about a hug with a woman right?" Maura was still talking. "Except if it's Ma…"
"—homosexual attraction could lead to the argument of the law of attraction which hasn't been as clearly defined as some might have initially thought. Many species survive with it regardless—"
"—It's um, just y'know… maybe a little different when it's the woman you y'know… have….emotions…with."
They both stopped talking.
Jane tossed a thumb over her shoulder. "I'm gonna go back to work now."
Maura nodded quickly. "Yes. Work." She clapped her hands in front of her and then let them go.
"Have fun."
"Um, I will." Jane turned to hurry out of the office tripping slightly over nothing on her way.
Maura watched on with an alarming blush and an amazing amount of fondness welling in her chest as Jane played the stumble off and left as quickly as possible. When the door closed the medical examiner groaned loudly into her hands but soon found she couldn't quite stand still or stop smiling.
Yes, exactly like teenagers.