The ME crossed her legs and frowned down at the small device in her hands for not helping. Apparently, the hospital's server prohibited access to her favorite medical journal archives, particularly the entry she passed over on "cosmetic" dentistry. Maura swallowed thinly in protest at the ninth error message window and adjusted a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear as she tried to focus on something else. Slipping her cell phone into her purse the ME gathered the small plastic pharmacy bag with Jane's belongings in it up so she could uncross one leg and cross the other.
She had already been there an hour.
Did they really need to start wrestling one another like two children? Was it really that important to get the upper hand on the other woman? Was it even worth it? What would drive her to do something so reckless?
She had asked herself these questions repeatedly, ever frustrated at whatever cognitive bias or mental fallacy she allowed herself that stopped her from getting to an answer, well, an answer that she liked anyway.
Because Maura did like it, she more than liked it, she was enjoying it immensely. In the moment it had been exhilarating, and through her inebriation she could remember feeling a strong desire for the other woman, and an even stronger desire to shut the detective's cockiness down a notch, to win. She wanted to use her body to win instead of simply wording away a situation knowing no one in the room bothered to challenge her. Jane had challenged her in a new way, and it made Maura's blood run hot, and made her laugh all at the same time, and yet…
She had hurt her best friend.
A small voice inside her suddenly asked if she were feeling this way because she felt guilty. It had spoken out several times over the course of the wee morning, and each time the medical examiner examined it with indifference before tossing it aside and returned to her worried thoughts as if sifting through recycling.
And what was so hard about putting the tooth back into its socket anyway? Or preforming a standard root canal? Why was it taking so long? Was there a complication with the anesthesia? Had Jane's original tooth been misplaced? Dental surgeons lacked critical understanding of human musculature anyway, was there a problem Doctor Newman encountered that his obnoxiously big ego couldn't handle?
"Isles?"
Maura jumped out of her chair startling several people around her in the emergency waiting area. "Yes?" She cleared her throat "Yes, I am here."
The elderly nurse who had just called her wore creases in her face so dark and permanent it almost looked like she applied them with makeup, and her hair: a nest of sorts, was fashioned together by a child hair clip and hanging limply at the sides of her face. She seemed more capable of spreading bacterial meningitis than administering fluids properly, but at this current moment Maura didn't care if Vladimir Popov himself were assisting in the procedure. The mere fact that she was left to wait without the slightest indication on Jane's current situation was causing her an anxiety she had not seen in many many years. Her palms seemed incapable of resting still on her pant and a parasympathetic response caused her to perspire more than normal…
It was all very uncomfortable, and if she didn't get some answers soon she was going to start making phone calls.
"She's out," The crow smiled as best she could from behind dentures.
Despite her own surely disheveled appearance Maura made efficient movements to gather their things and approach the woman holding the medical hall door open for her. "Thank you." She hurried out as an afterthought.
"Doctor.— Was it?"
Once Maura entered the hall the nurse hobbled beside her and asked
"Yes." She answered simply as she slowed to keep their pace and calm down a little. She had arrived feeling extremely guilty and stupid, and at some point, Jane had quieted down out of sheer annoyance before they were separated. It all happened so fast that she didn't really have time to explain to Jane how sorry she was, and now that the ME was about to see her monogamous again, she was uncertain of what mood the Italian would be in.
Getting to the emergency room alone had been an event.
Jane swearing, Maura rushing about getting dressed, more swearing, at one point they had actually lost the tooth to the duvet, and then getting a cab, and then bribing the cab driver to move at a rate that was most definitely illegal, and then more swearing…
"—I had a car down there once, back when people owned cars, nowadays Youber this and all—"
"—Was there any indication that something might have happened during the procedure? To have it last this long I mean?" Maura didn't really much care for small talk to begin with, and it was currently seven forty-three in the morning, her second morning of the day in fact. The alcohol she and Jane had consumed sucked the moisture from her face and was leaving her system to operate below their normal levels of dehydration. She wanted information she could process, not small talk about someone's car she had never known or would never know.
The nurse stopped walking and paused her story about the time she was once in Boston and looked up at Maura with a little grin. "She ain't dyin'."
Maura stopped as well. "In 2009 The Center for Decease Control and Prevention reported that the death rates for women undergoing routine surgeries maintained several integers above their male counter parts for no apparent reason."
Something then changed in the shorter woman's face and if it weren't so tired Maura would have recognized a softness there. "Down here." The nurse motioned toward the beige door to her right.
The first thing Maura noticed was a nurse attending to Jane who was sitting up and babbling away about something on the hospital bed Just the sound of her natural rasp made Maura calm immediately and stand a little taller as she entered the room.
To her right Jane's surgeon Dr. Newman was nodding at an intern who was ferociously scribbling things down on a pad the size of her palm.
"Is-h…moore…" Jane slurred.
"More, honey?" The nurse looked down at the full cup of water Jane had refused again. "You would like more?"
"Noooo." The detective sighed and rolled her head back onto her pillow dramatically. "M…ooorrr." She tried again before blinking slowly a few times and catching the light from the overhead florescent fixture with big eyes. "Sunny D." She began to laugh before reaching for the funny tasting surgical sealant in her mouth surrounding her tooth. The nurse beside her gently moved her hand away and watched as Jane hardly seemed to notice as something else caught her eyes.
Maura took two steps toward Jane before her presence was noticed by her surgeon and he crossed his arms to his chest and nodded when Maura looked to him curiously. "Oh yeah, she's stoned." Doctor Newman shooed away his intern and the crow away on his way to step in front of Maura's path and stick his hand out his hand proudly. "Tommy Newman."
Maura glanced at him. "Dr. Maura Isles, I believe we've met, Doctor."
Dr. Newman's perfect smile fell onto his angular cheeks momentarily and then he chuckled. "Maybe me too huh?" When he got no response, Newman cleared his throat professionally. "Detective Rizzoli did very well, we're optimistic."
"Was there gingiva nerve damage?"
Jane's head snapped back down to the room quickly at the sound of Maura's voice nearby. "Mor?" She mumbled to herself.
"-We were able to successfully situate the tooth so that healing should come in strongly. The only thing that became difficult was when we began the root canal procedure itself."
Maura crossed her arms as best as she could now fully engrossed in the report "I do not believe she flosses regularly."
Newman mirrored her stance. "She doesn't. We had some plaque build up initially that made it difficult for me to—"
Jane thought about herself, her being, her body, and realized, well no, she decided, that it was cool to say things because she could hear it really really loud in her own head, but it didn't seem like the world could. Maura was pretty much in arms reach but she wasn't even looking for her…
"Mora." She mumbled again as the doctors spoke before her and the nurse at her side attended to setting her up to slowly come off the strong pain medicine.
"I'm sorry, hon?" She leaned in closer to try and hear what the woman was mumbling.
Jane looked back over to her quickly. "My—" She started excitedly but stopped herself and thought about it. "I don't know." She flopped her head back over to where the doctors were speaking again. "I don't know…"
The nurse chuckled softly. "That's okay. You'll know what you want soon." She had been doing this a very long time and it always amused her how all sorts of people reacted to anesthesia. Once they came to though she had a laundry list of demands, she doubted "Detective Rizzoli" would be any different. She brought her attention back at her work as her patient studied the two doctors in the room closely.
"I see." Maura nodded; her brow furrowed in a critical manner. "What are the risks associated with that? I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar."
"It could go one or two ways." Newman began again now using the back of Jane's chart to illustrate something. "If I were to draw the procedure would you find that helpful?"
Maura nodded quickly. "Very much so."
Jane began to wriggle around on the bed, apparently determined now to get out of it, but way too high to understand how. The nurse chuckled a little louder this time which brought all the attention in the room to Jane's apparent ability to sneak a bare leg off the edge of the bed.
"No no." The nurse chided with a softness only a mother could possess. "Here, maybe walking in a few hours? When you have some juice?"
Finally satiated with the exact happenings of the procedure and reminded once again of Jane's impatience Maura smiled at Dr. Newman. "Thank you, this has been very informative."
Newman nodded. "Just uh, one more thing." He flipped over the chart and scribbled something down and handed it to Maura. "My number, for her follow up."
Both Maura and the nurse frowned. "Oh." The ME nodded looking at the digits carefully before glancing over her shoulder at Jane goofing about with her IV cord now. She turned back to Dr. Newman and handed it back to him. "I'm currently seeing someone."
He nodded slowly. "Or y'know, you can just make that appointment with the agent at the front desk."
"I think I will."
"Yeah." He nodded slowly before clearing his throat and giving the nurse some order before walking out.
Maura finally turned to Jane who immediately dropped her IV and looked up at her from the bed with a huge cotton mouth bruised lipped grin. The ME chuckled softly.
She eased to her side. "Hello." She greeted warmly.
"Morah!"
Maura moved to sit beside the bed opposite the nurse and took Jane's hand in hers firmly before looking at the only other person in the room. "How long will she be in this state?"
The nurse nodded. "One more minute or so until she can clear away from the initial dosage, she will be groggy and should keep off her feet for the remainder of the day. We're starting to ween her off." Her eyes lit up with realization. "Maura." She read on the visitors sticker placed on Maura's blouse.
Maura had turned to glance at Jane who was just smiling at her from her pillow before turning back to the nurse "Yes?"
"She was asking for you as soon as she came out you know." The nurse began to gather her things. "I attempted to ask her what she wanted for breakfast but all I got was your name it seems." She shook her head finally able to draw the connection from the ME's posture and how immediately the restless woman in the bed seemed to be knocked over the head with bliss once she was able to get the other woman's attention. It could only be one thing. "Do you know if she likes prune juice or pear?"
Maura nodded. "Pear."
The nurse promised to return with the liquid meal before checking Jane's vitals one more time then leaving the room with the door slightly ajar.
Maura turned back toward the detective and watched as her big brown eyes followed her every movement sweetly. "Does this mean you are not upset?" She whispered after a moment of just staring at one another.
"Mmm." Jane tried. "This is…" She sighed and blinked a few times. "really weird, really… really weird.." She muttered. "You're…so bright, Mor."
Maura shook her head. "You are, very high right now, Jane. Can you understand that?" She laughed a little. "My goodness."
"Forever?" She wanted to frown, but the surgery she just underwent was in the way. "Cause wha 'bout Frankie?"
Maura smiled. "He'll be okay, I think he'd like to take care of you if he were here, I think everyone would." Jane seemed easily confused by this. "You take care of a lot of people, Jane. They'd leap at the—"
"You?" Maura tilted her head and tried to think of how to respond. Jane suddenly looked very sad.
"You'd like to take care of me?" She asked with a wrinkled forehead.
Jane nodded quickly. "For like… things."
Maura chuckled. "Delineations would be nice."
The detective shrugged once as a child might. "If you go outside." Maura nodded as Jane began to try and explain herself. "To look at stuff and like… forty-seven bugs come out I'd help you."
The ME laughed. "You're very sweet."
"They leave people alone."
Maura leaned her elbow out to rest her chin on her upturned palm. "How else?"
Jane's smile fell for a moment before it picked back up. "I can reach things."
Maura's smiled only grew. "High up?" She motioned with her hand high above her head before returning it to lean on.
Jane nodded proudly. "Big big way way high up." She stopped to yawn.
"That could be very useful around the house."
After more reasons why Jane was best suited to take care of her (most of which made absolutely no sense) the detective fell into a deep sleep leaving Maura both amused and touched at her antics. She didn't need anything from anyone, she never had and rather fancied the idea of being independent like that. She certainly didn't need taking care of. In fact if anyone had mentioned it while dating she found a reason sooner rather than later to end the relationship.
But what if forty-seven bugs did show up while she was out and about? That would certainly be problematic. What if there was something that got wedged behind a shoe high up on her deep closet shelves? Or she had forgotten her keys in old age?
Maura found it fascinating that Jane never mentioned money or a house or children or anything any other person had mentioned, and sure she was as high as a kite, but her thoughts and intensions were so very clear.
She wanted to be her companion in things, everyday things, boring things, seemingly forgettable things. She wanted to be her support. For a moment she sat there with that, looking down at Jane wondering how she should feel, how she felt, what Jane would say at her observation until she finally decided that it made her feel something she was not readily familiar with, love.
She'd remember that moment for as long as she lived. The week in New York would be blurred and lost to the retroactivity of the brain, but the small hum of the medical equipment, her fatigue, Jane's bruised lip, and the warmness in her chest induced by a plethora of hormones running about her system as she sat near the woman watching her sleep would never leave her. For she was admitting silently and only to her conscious, that her affection for Jane had reached a point of negative return.
##
"Are we on Earth?" Maura asked an hour later when Jane began to stir awake. She quickly glanced at Jane's vitals and nodded to herself before looking back at the woman in front of her who now looked more tired than childlike. She had hoped Jane hadn't caught her lost in her thoughts.
Jane exhaled heavily after wincing and sucking on her tooth some. "Mars."
"Ah"
Jane felt both a migraine collapsing her ability to really smell, and her tooth and entire mouth throbbing against her skin. It was a world of pain, a world of pain that hardly made sense for what she had felt coming in. "Why…" She took a moment to center her thoughts. "Why does everything hurt?" She slowly slid her head to the side to look at her best friend with red eyes. "Tell me the truth."
"They gave you a thorough cleaning." Maura leaned over some to look at her better from her seat on a small stool near the hospital bed. "And a root canal—"
"Another one!?" Jane winced at her exclamation.
"How many have you had, Jane?" Maura asked a little amazed at how little she knew of Jane's dental history.
"Two?" The detective watched Maura's face carefully. "One." She decided.
Maura shook her head in true disbelief. "How?"
"Remember two years ago—"
"You hid a root canal from me?" Who did that?
Jane wanted to laugh but decided maybe that would hurt too. "No, you were just… Out of town."
Maura looked at her incredulously. "Jane, you are incredible." She shook her head. "I don't appreciate being misled."
"I don't appreciate being punched in the face." She mumbled as she turned onto her back. "Yet here we are." The room fell quiet for a beat before Jane turned to look back at the blonde. She raised a brow when she noticed a subtle splash of mirth in her hazel eyes. "You-oh you think it's funny right?"
Maura began to try and fight her smile. "No, absolutely not."
Jane was grinning as best as she could now too, she could hardly help it. "Did you do this so I'd do that stupid juice cleanse with you?"
The ME's face changed. "Jane, I did not do this so you could juice cleanse with me, that is absolutely absurd—"
The detective crossed her arms and looked away while still smiling a little. "That's messed up, Maura."
Maura reached out for Jane's right hand and was able to pry it away from her arm softly. Jane still didn't look at her. "I would never hurt you for a juice cleanse." Jane looked over at her when she could hear that all jest had left the ME's voice. "I feel… incredibly foolish and juvenile." She nodded. "I am sorry, Jane."
Jane smiled as best as she could with silicon-gauze hardened around her tooth and gum. "We can just say I got mugged." She offered quietly.
Maura exhaled loudly with a tired sort of amusement. Their fingers laced together. "We cannot say that."
Jane looked over at her fondly. She could see the worry in the other woman's eyes and even though she herself was little embarrassed at the whole thing she mainly wanted Maura to know that it truly was going to be fine. "I'm okay." Jane whispered.
Maura leaned forward a little to detect any micro expression that would go against her claim. "Are you certain?"
Jane nodded. "Yes, Doctor I'm certain." They shared a soft moment. "Don't make this big deal." She warned already knowing the hell Maura had to have raised while waiting.
"Perhaps you'll think otherwise when the corticosteroids wear off."
"When they wear off? Maura this already sucks."
"You're in pain? What does it feel like?"
Jane huffed softly. "Like a third root canal."
Maura decided to ignore the number. "They can give you something for that Jane We just have to contact your primar—"
Jane shook her head quickly. "No."
Maura sat back some and let their hands naturally separate as she examined the other woman. "What can I do?"
Jane plopped back down against the doughy thin hospital bed mattress. "Just don't tell anyone back home you kicked my ass." Maura chuckled and the detective tossed her a little look. "Can we leave now?"
"We are not leaving until they clear you."
"What could happen now?" Jane shrugged. "They put the thing back in—" She reached to poke at the tooth in her mouth but frowned when Maura gently pulled her hand away. "—Maura." She groaned.
"What could happen is that you can risk getting a gingivitic infection."
"You made that word up."
Maura sighed. "I did not."
"Well what am I supposed to do here?" She was already moving about on the bed as if she were going to get out of it. "I'm fine—"
Maura stood to block her from tossing her legs over the side and running off, because suddenly that's exactly the look her best friend got. "Allow yourself time to rest." Jane frowned but did as she was asked. It made Maura chuckled softly as she brought the hospital blanket back up around her mid-section and began tucking her in. "Would you like an iced coffee?" She asked as she worked.
Maura's perfume filled Jane's senses and it was then that Jane fully remembered how they got here in the first place. Seconds before Maura's accidental blow the detective was contemplating what would happen if she leaned down and kissed her. The thought alone dulled the raw ache at her cheek and made her blush a little That she could be thinking of such things while Maura was being nice and tucking her in and offering to get her iced coffee... "We had a bit to drink last night huh?" She decided to say. Maura was meticulously in the process of tucking quarter inch patches of sheet just under Jane's leg when she looked up.
"Too much."
Jane didn't know why the truth bummed her out, but it did. "Yeah." She stretched a little. "Maybe next time we skip the movie."
Maura hadn't yet caught the implications of Jane's words and hummed thoughtfully. "I think in the end you rather enjoyed it."
"No homicide detective can afford to drive the car she had, it was inaccurate as all hell, Maura." She was adjusting her own pillow behind her back. "Besides by that point I was already pretty drunk…" She watched her best friend finish up about her feet and smile a little at Maura holding onto her left foot above the sheet as she examined her work. Jane wiggled her toes and the blonde smiled a little and found her face. "You paying attention to me or what?"
Maura let her hand run from her foot to her leg as she made her way back around the bed. "I have not stopped." She said honestly looking down at Jane's big brown eyes. "Have I missed something still?"
"Yeah." Jane craned her neck back some to see her whole face.
"What would that be?"
"The part where I say thank you for always looking out for me," A little smile cracked onto the examiners face and Jane couldn't help but feel her usually at the ready sarcastic quip fail her in exchange for a genuine half smile back. Maura leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth and Jane blushed before they both laughed cutely at how nice this new part was. "Alright enough." Jane ended her chuckle waving the ME away. "Get outta here."
##
Maura's hotel suite remained just as they had left it: in remarkable disarray. The bedspread was turned over in the craze of loosing Jane's tooth in it, there was a small droplet of blood dried from where it had settled on the white sheets. The empty bottle of Bordeaux sat on one of the nightstands beside a tall glass of water and two stained wine glasses.
Without saying a thing to one another Jane followed Maura right out into the hall and a few feet to her room entrance. The ME took a moment to rifle through her large bag until she located Jane's wallet and handed it to her. When the detective swiped into her room and held the door open for Maura she was able to sigh a breath of relief when she realized her suite had been serviced. The two stepped out of their shoes and Maura took a second to recalibrate herself to the inverse floor plan before sitting on the edge of Jane's bed and reaching for the phone to call about her room.
Jane rested her plastic pharmacy bag down in the kitchenette and leaned against it with a sigh. She hadn't been this exhausted for a while and that was really saying something considering the four sleepless days she spent searching for a murdering nanny seven months ago. Jane watched as Maura idly straightened her wrinkled pant with one hand and held the phone with the other. Her hair was up in a messy bun and spilling strands onto her shoulders. At least Jane had gotten to sleep, Maura had been up all night worrying and it showed.
"—Yes I have returned to find it unserviced…" Her tone wavered in politeness. She was really starting to feel her body slowly disobey her will of the mind and grow fragile in its fatigue. As someone gave her some excuse about block schedules and needing a facilities manager to survey whatever damage was done to the room before cleaning, Maura watched Jane move about out of the corner of her eye. "—Yes, I will hold." Fives minutes later and she was finally able to hang up. "Unbelievable." Maura sighed. She looked up and smiled softly at Jane balancing a cup of tea with both hands as she made careful steps toward her.
"It's a little full." she warned as she eased it down in front of the ME.
The strong richness of a rooibos chai filled the immediate air, and though the blonde could smell it's slightly off earthy character she could not have been happier in her life to see something other than thirty year old hospital tea bags without a label or place of origin.
She took the mug with both hands out of Jane's. "Thank you."
Jane put her hands on her hips and nodded at her work as if she herself had grown the tea.. "What'd they say?"
After an appreciative sip Maura relaxed her shoulders and shook her head slowly. Her mother always used to say there was never a problem a cup of tea couldn't fix, and in this moment she couldn't agree more. "They want to survey the room for damages."
"Damages? What damages?"
"You bled a little, I suppose they want to be sure to charge the right thing before someone services it."
"Well it's not like we left five minutes ago, we've been gone all night."
Maura took another sip. "They assured me I was next."
Jane nodded and motioned to her suite. "Well you'll stay here." It didn't leave much room for negotiation and when Maura simply nodded while enjoying her tea Jane felt proud to at least somewhat have solved the issue for her.
"Do you mind if I shower?"
Jane shook her head quickly. "No, go ahead." She bit her bottom lip when she realized Maura had no clothes here. It only crossed her mind that her room was literally next door and less than five feet away after she was already presenting Maura the laundered sweatpants and baseball tee she had gotten out of her suitcase.
Maura smiled at the articles of clothing and then looked at Jane. "I could retrieve something from next door—"
"— Yeah I was just thinking of that." She scratched the back of her head. "This stuff is pretty comfortable though; I've had that shirt for… A while." Stop talking, just stop talking. Jane cleared her throat. "It's comfier than anything you own that's for sure." She nodded after crossing her arms and watching Maura finger the shirt material thoughtfully.
"I beg your pardon?"
"It is." Jane nodded.
Maura found this highly unlikely, but then again, she mostly slept in the nude. "Have you ever slept in Bamboo Lyocell?"
"That's not what we ate last night at sushi?"
Maura let out a small breath of laughter. "No."
"Well no, I haven't. I had this shirt since I entered The Academy, it's been worn in to be softer than any bamboo thing."
Maura decided to give in. "Well I suppose I am so tired that the quality of sleep I retain in lesser fabric won't matter at this point." She tried to read the tag but found it worn blank over the years.
Jane chuckled. "Snob." She reached for Maura's cup of tea so she didn't have to place it down anywhere as she stood. "I could go next door if you want." She added softer now hoping she wasn't making things weird.
"Unnecessary." Maura gathered up the sweats and t-shirt and left for the bathroom. A moment later the shower was being turned on. They had switched work tops before, whole outfits once, but never comfort clothing. Jane had a random drawer in the guest bedroom of a few odd ends, most she had no recollection of purchasing, and Maura had left her citron colored raincoat and a random pair of woolen slacks at her place a year ago. The baseball fan supposed she could read into that, but again, the action seemed so insignificant that she wasn't even sure Maura had noticed it either.
When Maura exited the bathroom about twenty minutes later Jane was trying to busy herself with untying a knot in one of her sneaker laces that had never bothered her until fifteen minutes ago when Maura hadn't come out of the shower yet.
"How do I look?" The ME turned around once for effect.
"Like you're wearing my clothes." Jane answered a little amused at how the other woman walked about as if testing the clothing's range of motion.
"I don't suppose you can fully complete a lakshmanadesikendra routine in these." The ME frowned at the baggy sweatpants. "However they do a magnificent job of regulating body temperature." She nodded to herself and then looked over at Jane.
Jane stood "So I'm right?"
"I never said that." Maura nodded. The material was clearly inexpensive and in some areas she felt it thinning. "But I appreciate you offering me something to change into." Even though they were freshly laundered they smelt faintly of Jane, and that was something Maura supposed she never thought of as a preference for her, but now, surrounded in it, she agreed she liked. "They are going to call this room when next door has been serviced." She added as she walked over to the side of the bed to sit down and begin reaching for the hotel room phone connection cable.
Jane walked over to the side of the bed and watched curiously as Maura threaded the light cord with the phone cord until she was able to signal the one out for the telephone and unplugged it. She laughed. "Don't we need that?"
"I can't imagine it would take longer than a few hours." She rested the cord aside and then proceeded to get under the covers and close her eyes. "I do not want to be wakened when it occurs. To regain homeostasis I need to enter a second round of REM sleep over the next two hours…"
Jane laughed again. "I like the way you think."
The ME yawned quietly into her hand. "Thank you."
"When is Tasha going to cal—"
"Shh."
"This is my room!"
"Jane please." Her voice was much further away now.
Shaking her head to herself Jane decided she'd take a quick shower as well before quietly climbing into bed beside an already passed out Maura. They slept separately for a few hours before something loud in the hall stirred them both awake. Maura was laying on her stomach with the majority of the duvet surrounding her when she sleepily picked up her head and reached out for Jane. The detective smiled at the seemingly automated action and scooted closer to her so they could better share covers.
##
"Why are you whispering?"
Jane looked about the lavish in suite bathroom and it's imperfect marble. "I'm not whispering." She whispered back.
Frankie furrowed his brow. "You are."
Jane cleared her throat a little to try and bring it to just above a whisper. Maura was out for the count and showed no signs of movement at all. Jane knew that the ME was having a lot of trouble sleeping these days, the last thing she wanted to do was wake her up. "I'm not."
"Alright, whatever you say." Frankie laughed.
"We got an update?"
"Another murder."
"You're shitting me."
Frankie got up from his desk and walked over to the case board now littered with mugshots, bank records, phone records, surveillance footage stills, and receipts. "I'm drowning Janie." He scratched at the thick stubble. "Korsak is saying we're gonna pass it off to the Feds."
"The Feds!?" Jane caught herself and whisper yelled the same thing. "The Feds?"
"That's coming from Cavanagh, he's on the phone with their local field office now. They've been crawling around here for an hour."
Jane sucked her teeth. "How? Why? It's our jurisdiction, Frankie."
"Victim we found was an applicant for their IT division here in Boston, her acting enrollment CO called us to see if there was something to it."
What were the odds? Jane put a hand to her forehead and pinched the skin there. "What are the odds?"
Frankie nodded. He took down the latest photo and looked at it carefully. "She was young, full ride to Duke, from Boston originally, she came back for one last party with old friends guess where."
"Those docks."
"Yup. Same MO, Janie down to the same park." He shook his head. "Thing is, Khury is still in custody."
"We're looking at an organized crime now." Jane shook her head quickly at something. "Wait a minute the same park? The last scene?"
"Yeah."
"You didn't have uniforms on that whole damn block twenty-four seven?"
"The department was stretched way too thin, we don't have enough manpower, Korsak and I got a lead which had us way across town."
Jane pushed herself off against the sink counter where she was leaning. "So what? Now they get to swoop in and close our case? We were close."
"We weren't though Janie, all we had was some agreement gone wrong and way too many victims to justify even leading into it. This is way way bigger than we thought."
"So if Sal and Khury aren't the shot callers then who is?"
"Don't know, lucky for us your boyfriend got the call and is here, he's working with us instead of steam rolling the whole thing." Frankie glanced toward Cavanagh glass office wall where the federal agent sat waiting for the Chief to end his phone call.
Jane furrowed a brow. "Who?"
"Agent Davies, he got in just now, that tech recruit? Our latest victim? She was going to end up in his camp."
Jane tried to put all this together. "He's in Boston?" She had just seen him a day ago.
"Yeah, he's keeping us in the loop."
"What's Korsak saying?"
"Not much, never seen him this pissed."
Jane nodded to herself, at least she wasn't the only one. "I'll call him later."
"Yea, I think that's a good idea."
"You sound relived."
There was a long pause on the phone that confirmed that something maybe was off between them. "…They got the resources y'know?"
"Yeah, I know." They talked more about the case then Frankie had to go, he promised though to call her back and for that Jane was optimistic. Whatever she had done or not done she wanted to know, he was her brother, and as a family they'd need to all be on the same page very soon especially with their father being sick like he was. Jane took a moment to herself in the restroom to splash some water on her face and poke at the patchwork of dried dental gel surrounding her tooth.
Maura was exactly where she had left her, curled on her side facing the side of the bed where Jane had been laying. As quietly and as slowly as possible she lowered herself back into place beside her and sighed.
A large amount of time had passed because it came as a complete shock to the detective when she felt the bed dip gently beside her and turned to see Maura simply watching her from her spot at her side, wide awake. She let herself be amused and let Maura see it, she was not easy to sneak up on, and Maura had done it without even moving an inch. Their eyes settled on one another and the ME lifted her chin so it rested against Jane's shoulder in an intimate way.
"Your Self laughs at your mind, and its bold leaps." Maura's voice was thick with sleep, but there was a warmth to it that made Jane feel it as clearly as if she were standing in the sun.
"Shakespeare?"
"Nietzsche."
"Hm."
Maura examined her face in the dark. "Are you still numb?"
Jane moved her jaw about dramatically and found she had more sensation that when she had last checked. "A little."
"Is there pain?"
"A little." They looked at each other a long moment before Jane spoke. ""Imagine if they couldn't put it back?"
"I rather not." They both laughed quietly. "… At the hospital I had to write a statement." Jane raised a brow. "To put in writing what occurred."
"It was clearly an accident; we came in together."
"It's standard procedure. In case you decide to press charges."
Jane huffed. "Maura please don't tell me you were concerned about that."
"Of course I was not, but I was in a state of uncertainly and I wanted to do my best to cooperate."
"So what? Somewhere in that hospital is a domestic abuse file on us now?" She didn't like it.
"An occurrence report." She looked at Jane's face wondering what the slightly vexed expression meant, but then decided it would be better for them to simply move on from the whole ordeal entirely. "In it, I wrote that you struck me first."
Jane's brows raised. "You did not." She asked seriously. Maura's smile made her begin to smile. "That's not funny, Maura."
"It was a simple statement, Jane."
"I know…" She was going to shrug but decided she rather liked Maura's chin perched on her shoulder. "Sorry you had to go through all of that."
"The waiting area was festering with inadequacies. It took several minutes for me to sign in at all."
Jane made a face. "Sign in? Maura you're the Chief Medical—"
"—Of Massachusetts, Jane. We have our jurisdictions too."
"What so you're telling me you didn't save babies in Africa with the attending?" She shook her head no. "Where was Mr. Bowtie?"
"Dr. Hillnore is a dear friend—"
"Yeah sure, who's single now and has got a thing for Tasha, someone at least twenty years younger than him."
"He does not have a thing for Tasha—"
Jane pointed to herself. "Jane Detective."
"Jane Delusional."
Jane grinned at their banter. Maura had since picked up her head and now rested a hand where her chin had been. "So you didn't badge or use anything, you just sat there?" She asked after a moment of mentally debating to lay out the overwhelming evidence against Hillnore's intentions and deciding against it.
Maura paused to reflect on the pure energy this morning had taken away from her. "I felt—" She began. "—very foolish, and inept in my ability to make things better."
Jane frowned. "It was just an accident, Maura."
"I know that." She nodded. "I hurt you though, in a physical way and that for a moment was difficult to reconcile." The ME dipped her chin against her hand and looked at Jane's face. "It was an experience I am glad to be rid of."
There was a question of forgiveness in the blonde's hazel eyes and Jane was surprised to see it. It made her want to hug the other woman, but she instead settled for placing her left hand on the ME's shoulder. "I'm okay, Maur." She reassured softly. "Soon I'll be able to eat hot wings again and this would all be forgotten." Maura chuckled softly.
"Actually, it is unlikely that the tissue will heal exactly the same way at which it came in."
"Not helping your case at all."
Maura let out an amused breath. "Yes, I am back tracking now."
"Good."
"How are you feeling otherwise?" Maura asked carefully. A lot had been revealed yesterday and Maura wanted to make sure Jane was metabolizing her father's illness in a healthy manner.
From her spot lying on her back Jane let out a small breath and smiled with her eyes at the other woman. "This?" She motioned between them before putting her hand back onto Maura's shoulder. "Our thing? Feels more and more solid every day, I can't wait to get good at it." She blushed a little at the admission, but in the room where it was just them Jane suddenly felt brave. "I want to." She added without sound and Maura's hazel eyes twinkled as she covered Jane's hand on her shoulder with her own in agreement. Jane picked herself up enough to place a chivalrous kiss on Maura's flushed cheek before laying back down in her previous spot. Maura's expression was of pure unadulterated fondness, and to be looked at like that made Jane feel unbelievably special. She wasn't used to such an attention and she was certain Maura knew that.
"And everything else?" The blonde asked slowly.
"It seems like everything else though is… Losing shape." She admitted quietly.
"That is a very strong analogy." Maura nodded and Jane nodded back at her. "Everything?"
"Maura, I don't even know where to start." She frowned at how helpless she sounded, but damn did it feel good to finally say it aloud to someone. She took a steadied breath and smiled a little at the ME who was hovered over her, studying her with a creased brow and a tender face. "Mm." She hummed to herself. "That felt good."
"The science is overwhelming." She lifted the corner of her mouth in a half smile, to show Jane she understood. "What is on your mind?"
Feeling as comfortable as she did in her own head Jane decided to open up fully. "I need to get Tommy and Frankie on board with Ma, even though I'm not."
"Angela seems to have a plan."
"That's what I'm worried about."
"Why do you believe Frankie and Tommy won't be on board?"
Jane just had a feeling their dynamic was changing. How could she say that though to a woman who had never had a sibling…? Well, one she grew up with at least. "Frankie was weird on the phone yesterday, and he was weird today…"
"He knows you very well." Maura nodded.
"Yeah…" Jane let that settle.
"When we get home, I think it would be best if you were honest with them about how everything is making you feel."
"I am honest with them."
"About their lives." Maura waited a beat for emphasis when she saw Jane's brow furrow in the processing of a different perspective. "You don't make it a habit of sharing what you feel with them, I've witnessed it."
"That's just how we were raised, Maura. I'm the big sister."
"So you are perpetually responsible for everyone's feelings?"
"No, but.." She sighed. "If I tell them what I told you, they…they won't really get it."
"A lot has changed; you might want to give them the opportunity to try, Jane."
The detective looked elsewhere. These were one of the moments where she felt their difference in upbringing caused direct friction with their realities. It rarely came about, but the detective felt uncomfortable talking about emotions, it was hard, and it never was expected of her, so she understood what Maura was saying but the reality was she rather liked the emotional privacy from everyone else. It was utter shit when you had to get something done like this, but most times, Jane felt comfortable in their dynamic. She looked aver at the ME again. "Frankie, Tommy, and I, sittin' at The Robber talking about our feelings?"
Maura smiled; she could see the message was sinking in. "Well, it doesn't have to be at The Dirty Robber, no."
"The only Rizzoli family counseling we ever did was during our flag football huddles."
Maura chuckled. "Jane."
"Alright, I'll try." She sighed loudly. "Y'know they're gonna think I've gone mad."
Maura smiled at her and rubbed her shoulder. "I think they'll be proud."
Jane glanced at her. "We gotta figure everything out anyway… For Ma." Maura nodded and Jane lay with that for a long moment. "Ma said she's pretty sure he's likely." She looked at Maura. "So… There is that."
"Mm." Maura simply tilted her chin in a nonverbal cue for the detective to continue.
"So I gotta talk to him, I'd want to, but he… Crossed a line with you and I don't know, Maura."
"I feel no offense."
"Yeah, but I do."
"Is it a large enough experience for you to not speak to him ever again?" Jane didn't answer and so Maura decided to at least leave that in a place where they could pick it up again. "We don't have all the information yet." She reminded.
Jane nodded. "Yeah, I know." The room fell silent, and Jane looked back over to the other woman when she settled her chin against her shoulder again. "Frankie called while you were sleeping, we had to turn the park murder case over to the Feds."
"Hm." Maura nodded; she had begun to reach for Jane's right hand as she listened. Her subconscious had recalled a medical study on the microchemical relaxing properties of human touch. "Now how does that make you feel?"
"Bad… and mad… and confused."
"Because you are used to closing cases on your own, and now it's more likely that you will be left out of that part of the process."
"Damn right."
"Don't we all need a little help sometimes?"
"I'm not used to being benched, Maura." Jane looked elsewhere for a moment.
"Is that what being here feels like, when you get those calls?"
She didn't look at her. "Yeah." It was hard to admit, especially because spending time with Maura while here was her number one priority, still she was sure the other woman understood it had absolutely nothing to do with her.
"How will you handle them when you are in Virginia?"
"I realize I need to get better at stepping away." She sighed.
"Ah, growth."
Jane wasn't sure why but it made her laugh. "Past due." Beside her there was motion as Maura settled herself against her side fully. Jane turned to look at her. "I'm tired all over again, Maura."
"I'm glad you shared all of that with me."
"Y'know, I just don't want to let anyone down." Jane decided that's what it all came down to.
Maura sighed. "Yes, I share similar feelings of anxiety at times. it is a universal condition, take comfort in that."
"What do you do?"
"I try and be kind to myself." She answered simply. "… and be intentional in where I place my energy."
The room grew silent again, and Jane would admit to feeling ten times lighter than when the conversation started. She wondered then if Nina and Frankie had talks like this, if her mother and her father had ever stayed up late, huddled close together, wondering about life and its uncertainties. Something told her that Vince and Kiki did, they just seemed the type, extraordinary in a sense, not the norm, but was this normal? Were she and Maura different, or was it as simple as finding someone who you trusted with all your worries and all your happiness all in one? Jane glanced at the ME beside her who was currently lost in her own thoughts. "How you doin'?" Their eye met and Jane smiled at Maura's dimples making a slight impression as the remainder of her features remained calm.
"Currently, I am very well, Jane."
She was glad to hear it. "You slept like a log."
Confusion wrinkled her nose. "A subpart of a felled tree trunk?" Jane's brows knitted humorously when she looked at her and it made the ME chuckle lightly. "That is not what you mean."
"No like.. Heavily."
"Not all logs are heavy."
"Yeah well you would have been a heavy one." They laughed. "You were snoring so loud—"
"—I was not snoring, Jane please."
"You totally were."
"Was not."
"How do you know?" Maura looked like she was going to answer her but Jane shook her head quickly. "No, don't tell me, it's probably weird."
Maura chuckled. "I slept well, yes." They'd leave it at that.
"You're not gonna get in trouble for missing that conference stuff today?"
"No, certainly not when it was an emergency."
"What'd you tell them?"
Maura cracked a small grin. "Well I most certainly did not lie."
Jane rolled back against the bed grinning with their hands to her chest. "Dear Sir or Madame" She began in an old wealthy British man's voice. "I, Sir Dr. Maura Isles will be unable to attend the medical whatitcalled conference hence forth. I am afraid I have knocked a tooth receptacle out of my darlings mouth, ta ta then." Maura's sudden laughter brought a warm feeling to her chest. "That's not how you send an email?" She asked peeking over at the other woman.
Maura was so amused her eyes threatened to water and her breath leapt out of her in waves. "I do not even know where to begin." She managed.
Jane laughed in return. "If that's not damn close to what you sent then I just don't know who you are anymore."
"That could not be farther from what I sent, Jane."
"Wow." Jane looked to the ceiling. "You think you know someone."
"I do not understand why you use that voice. That is hardly how I sound."
Jane let their joint hands fall between them. "Well Maura that's how I figure you sound in your head."
"As if I were an elderly English man?" Jane nodded. "You know I haven't given much thought to what your internal voice would sound like." They looked at each other and laughed.
"Don't you dare." The detective warned.
"I understand that you already have a rather fragile ego, so I won—"
"—What about my veneer?" Jane sat up to defend.
"Ego!" Maura was laughing.
"I'm not about to lie here with you talking all this crap you know."
Maura was grinning.. "You won't do anything." She shrugged.
Jane smirked. She was right. "Only cause I'd like to keep my other…" She paused and looked down to Maura. "How many teeth do I have? They tell you?"
"Have you had your wisdom teeth removed?" Jane nodded. "Twenty eight."
"Well, I'm gonna be pretty protective of my twenty seven others."
Maura laugh and sat up as well. "Jane."
"I know I know." She'd quit ragging on her. Maura had already been put through it enough this morning. Just then a loud buzzing came from Maura's side of the bed and the ME immediately recognized the custom heartbeat pattern as coming from her device. "That you?"
"Yes." She leaned over to retrieve it but frowned down at the little screen when she recognized the caller. "It's Hope."
Jane had to pee, so she was already getting out of bed. "Ma mentioned she called the house phone, answer it."
"Should I?"
Jane nodded as she padded toward the bathroom. "It might be a confession!" She called.
Maura rolled her eyes. "Jane!" She could just make out the other woman mumbling something under her breath before closing the bathroom door behind her. Maura looked back down to the device and took a half second more before answering it. "Dr. Isles."
"Maura, it's Hope Martin, how are you?" Came Hope's pleasant, yet overly formal greeting.
Maura glanced at the time on the refurbished to liken a modern grandfather clock dusplay in the corner in the room. It was already four o'clock in the afternoon. "I am well."
"Angela tells me you are in New York; I didn't know the trip was so soon."
"Yes." She nodded. "Jane and I have been here now for a few days."
"Jane went with you? How lovely. Is this a good time to speak?"
"Well actually, we had a bit of a late start so I'm afraid I'll I have to call you back."
"Yes, I understand." Hope paused. "Listen I wanted to apologize to you about our last dinner, I think I may have upset you."
Maura nodded to herself. "I think I may have been a little reactive."
"Shall we get tea when you return?"
"Yes, I would like that." They made tentative plans for the next week when Maura would be back in town before hanging up. Jane was walking back over to the bed rubbing her went hands off in her shirt.
"What'd Bio Mom want?" She asked opting to sit on the edge of the bed as opposed to getting back into it. She was suddenly filled with some energy and was starting to get hungry.
"She wanted to apologize."
"For assuming you only liked men?"
Maura chuckled; she had forgotten that she told Jane that. "No, I believe it is about MEND."
"That's good right?"
Maura rested her phone on the bed and shrugged. "I think so."
"You goinna do it? What was it? Chief of Medical Practices?"
"I intend to continue to volunteer." Then Maura shook her head no. "Do you know, I think I may enroll in that writers retreat in the Adirondacks instead. With the free time I have I would like to do something more creative."
"Oh yeah?" Maura hadn't spoken much about her writing recently and Jane was cautious about pointing it out. "The only thing scarier than going into the woods with a bunch of vegans, is going into the woods with a bunch of vegans to write murder mysteries."
"The fresh air will do wonders for my new skin regime, and some fasting from cholesterol dense food groups will be good. It's just that…"
Jane raised a brow. "You'd be the new kid?"
Maura nodded. "Precisely."
"Ah c'mon Maura, you've been talking about it since we went to that mystery writer's thing, with those creeps."
Maura got out of bed. "In my meditations for leaning into things that make me uncomfortable I think it will evoke some of my past insecurities with unknown social environments."
Jane stood and walked over to her. "Yeah, but that's the point, right? Too lean into that kind of stuff."
"It is." Maura nodded. "It doesn't make it any less unnerving." She smiled.
"You're the most popular person at work."
"I was arrested for murder and brought through the lobby."
Jane paused. "Yeah, yeah that happened… You also shut the building down when you thought your special coffee was a bomb… Alright so maybe you don't want to be that popular." She dependent and they both laughed. "Go, have fun, get away from our crazy for a little bit. I'll watch George and make sure no one puts silver in the dishwasher."
Maura smiled and touched her arm. "I may take you up on that. In the interim, shall we call Tasha? Are you feeling up for a show tonight?"
Jane nodded slowly. "What are we gonna tell her?" She whispered as if the young woman were in the room behind them.
Maura didn't seem to understand. "The truth of course." Jane looked skeptical. "That it was an accident and that your doctors are optimistic." Now the detective was shaking her head. "What is wrong with that?"
"Maura you punched me in the face while playing around… in bed."
Maura nodded quickly. "Yes that—"
"—is a bit too truthful—"
"—I don't want to say you got robbed Jane."
"Well what are we going to say then?" She put her hands on her hips. "You got us into this."
##
Tasha looked between the two suspiciously. "Come again?"
Jane and Maura glanced at each other. "Can you believe it?" Jane asked a little less rhetorically than she'd like.
Tasha shook her head and placed her hands on her jean clad hips. "No, the strike pattern is not consistent with a remote control." She looked over to Maura who was dressed nicely in a pencil thin skirt and a new looking turtleneck but avoiding all real eye contact. "I also don't think Maura is large enough to be able to make such a strike from across the room soo… what's up?"
"Hey she can break a guy's neck—" Jane offered.
"—Jane." Maura gave her a displeased look. Jane went back to looking at the ground. "We were in the emergency room all morning." Not a lie. "The doctors had to preform a root canal." Also not a lie.
Tasha looked between the two of them even more perplexed than before. She was excited to finally hear from them to make plans for the evening, but not excited to share the news that she was too far in the line to get the free Broadway tickets. So instead of Wicked, they were currently standing in the crowded lobby at The Grace Theatre for Preforming Arts in Chelsea waiting for the line to open at the box office. She noticed Jane's face immediately upon arrival and was being force fed a story about her accidentally getting hit in the face last night with the hotel room television remote and having an entire tooth pop out.
First of all it just didn't make sense. Jane was a hockey and baseball player and apparently a crack shot. The idea that Maura, who hardly participated in any throwing kind of sport could produce enough ballistic force that it would not only surprise Jane, but also hit her in the lip AND THEN also knock out her front tooth was just bullshit in a dress. But why would they lie? Maura was saying things that sounded factual, if her tooth came out they absolutely would need to go to an emergency room for a root canal, and judging by Jane's speech being ever so slightly slurred she imaged the woman was going through a moderate amount of discomfort, but… something wasn't right.
"So you guys were just watching tv...?"
Jane nodded. "Yeah, some movie."
"What was the name of the movie?"
Jane looked at Maura quickly. "Uh it was um, called eh Disobedience? Or something?" She looked at Maura again who was offering her an empathetic look.
Tasha raised a brow. "Disobedience?"
Jane nodded. "Sure," She couldn't remember what the hell the movie was called! Surely something provocative like that.
The young woman nodded slowly. "That's uh, interesting. A couple of friends and I just saw that…." She looked at Maura. "What did you think of the religious overtones juxtaposed to the lead's desire?"
Maura opened her mouth. "Yes it… Was fascinating." She touched Jane's arm and the detective shrugged her off and gave her a look that Tasha couldn't help but find a little comical. This was not going well for them. Maura, without offense took her hand away and held it at her side. "I am going to see what the holdup is, excuse me." She dipped her head and hurried off toward the box office.
Tasha watched Jane glare at the shorter woman's back before clearing her throat and crossing her arms. "What really happened?"
Surprised at that challenge Jane mirrored her stance. She may have been left out to dry but she was not going down that easy. "What Maura said happened."
Tasha nodded slowly. "You do know Disobedience is pretty racy, didn't take you two enjoy it much, though I guess if that's what you guys watch together it makes a lot of sense… "
"You're getting really close to that line, Tash."
She put her hands up. "I don't believe you guys, at all."
"You don't have to."
"You can't tell me what happened because it's still going on right?" She suddenly looked upset. "It's an open investigation and you think I can't handle it?"
Jane's features softened immediately. "Wha no.., no. " She shook her head. "You thought someone did this to me on purpose?" She pointed to her cut lip.
Tasha shrugged and fought the emotion off her face. "Why else would you guys make up a story like that? Or make it such a big deal?"
Jane let her arms drop. "Cause kid, it's. it's kind of embarrassing okay? I'm alright though, there is no open investigation or anything like that." She smiled softly. "Just two idiot adults." Seeing her features become relived one micro expression at a time reminded Jane of when they first met, and how hardened the teen had been. Then almost simultaneously it reminded her of the conversation they had right after Korsak's wedding. Jane had broken plans with her that very next day and explained that she couldn't tell her anything and she had better listen to what she said for her own safety. They hadn't talked for months after, and when they finally did Jane realized that in her own fear of what could happen to Tasha because of Alice Sans, she ended pushing her away. She forgot once again just how much truth the young woman before her could take. "I'm here on vacation, to spend time with you. Not running from anything back home alright?"
"So then… What happened?" Tasha had yet to uncross her arms, but she seemed less upset as a more matured part of her brain kicked in. "This have anything to do with… yknow. You and Maura?" Now she seemed concerned.
Jane stuffed her hands in her pockets. "Yeah.. It was an accident though."
She didn't take Maura to be abusive on any spectrum, but then that only left the story they were giving her which she still wasn't buying. "Were you guys fighting?"
Jane frowned. "No, no we weren't. We were…" She sighed heavily. "Sparing?"
"Sparing?" Tasha's brow quirked. "That's.. Kinky."
"Tasha." Jane growled. She was three shades red and not having any of it. "Officially over the line. Where do you learn this stuff?" It was harsh, which only made the young woman laugh a little and blush herself. "What are you going to college for?"
"My bad." She dismissed with a grand expression. It was just that she had spent all her time knowing Jane and Maura wondering what their deal was. It was about time they could talk like adults here. "So, I was right?" Jane nodded once. They both began to grin at the same time. "Who else knows?"
"No one." Tasha opened her mouth to say something and Jane cut her off. "Tasha, no one."
"Yeah alright I get it, big secrets—You do know though that it's pretty obvious, right? I mean no one is going to believe your remote-control story." She shook her head. "I'm actually a little disappointed in you guys."
Jane could hardly help the laugh caught in her throat as rubbed her cheek. "I don't wanna hear you talking like that okay?"
Tasha was full on smiling now. "Yeah, sure sure…. Congratulations."
Jane smiled at her and capped a sisterly arm on her shoulder. "Thanks.."
"So, when are you proposing?" Jane gripped her shoulder roughly enough to startle her, but nowhere near real pain. "Ay! Alright alright!"
The detective released her. "We're not talking about this."
"You can't tell me what to do, I'm an adult!"
Maura suddenly joined the group again and smiled at the two goofed expression on their faces as they separated from what she assumed was an embrace. "Aw, what did I miss?"
Jane tossed an arm around Tasha's shoulders in silent threat to the younger woman and began to lead her away. "Nothing, Traitor."
Maura laughed to herself and kept a few paces behind them feeling very pleased with herself when the doorman stopped both women and asked for their tickets. They turned expectantly toward her and the ME quickened her stride to meet them.
"I left because I knew you could handle it." She whispered to Jane as Tasha ventured ahead to find their seats as they entered the large sunken auditorium. Maura Isles wrapped her arm in Jane's as she took the steep steps down in her heels slowly.
"I don't trust you as far as I can throw you." She mumbled jokingly so no one else could hear.
Maura patted her arm affectionately. "I'll owe you." She promised with a sweetness that Jane couldn't help but chuckle at.
"Less talking, more walking."
Maura smiled to herself as Jane made no move to quicken their pace down the steps. "Yes, Ma'am."