Maura smiled at the image of TJ dragging the detective by the arm into her home. "We made it! We made it!" He wailed smiling infectiously and even jumping up and down a few times.
"Yes we made it, we're here. Let me fall now in peace." Jane grumbled as she let the basketball under her arm roll easily onto the floor before deciding that the floor was in fact closer to her relief than standing upright was. With a soft nudge on to the bottom to the toddler she let herself gently ease onto the cold wooden floor of Maura's foyer. TJ ran off and Jane sighed at where he had just been standing. "Maura, he's loose!" She called from her spot on the ground.
"Aunty Mauwa!" TJ ran over to the woman with wide eyes. "I shot a bawl!" He tried to taper his excitement by rolling his hands into the belly of his blue superhero shirt. Upon inspection it was somehow covered in what looked like mud but died in some areas. "And-and Aunty Janie said it was a good shot." He nodded.
Maura chuckled and got down at his eye level. She had just returned from hot yoga and was still in her pastel sweatpants and tank. "Really?" TJ nodded. "That is so exciting." Her brows knitted together as she reached out for a feel of his shirt. "What is this granular substance on your shirt?"
Tommy Junior looked down at it and frowned. "Aunty Janie wouldn't let me bring you a mud pie…"
Maura could hear Jane answering her phone in the hall and she smiled. Jane knew better than to bring a mud pie in this house again. From this vantage point she could make out the other woman's long legs jutting out into the foyer path. "That's quite alright." She patted his little shoulder. "Do you mind washing your hands for me? I will find you a new shirt."
TJ nodded. "Okay."
"Okay, do you remember how?"
TJ nodded quickly. "I have to hum." He started humming the Happy Birthday tune. "for twenty years."
Maura chuckled, a softness in her chest grew. She remembered when he was just a baby. Now here he was, fully functional and hygienically conscious. "Seconds, not years. One postmortem trauma, two postmortem trauma…" She exampled.
"One blueberry llama… two blueberry llama " He nodded carefully before running towards the hall bathroom. Maura made her way into the foyer as Jane ended her call. The detective sat rather comfortably leaned against the wall. The two smiled at one another as Maura bent down in the same manner in which she had just addressed TJ. "Hello." The detective was wearing a dark blue zip up and jogging pants, one sneaker was untied as if she had started to free herself but gave up halfway.
Jane waved. "Hey."
"Are you in need of assistance?" She rested her hand to her chest. "I am a doctor, I can help."
Jane chuckled. "Nah, I'm good."
Maura smiled adoringly at the response. "You'll miss dinner."
Jane weighed this piece of information. "You got anything strong enough to not remind me that I'm getting old in that medical bag of yours?"
"Friedrich Sertürner?" She reached a hand out to help her up.
Jane furrowed a brow as she took her hand. "Germany, Maura?" They stood together but Jane didn't let go of her hand just yet. It was cool and soft, a welcome sensation to the piercing ache in her knee. "How big is that bag?"
Maura shook her head. "He was a German pharmacist who first isolated morphine in 1805."
Jane nodded and then paused. "You have morphine in your medical bag?"
Maura took her hand away. "Of course not. That would be irresponsible."
Jane grew confused. "But you just said—"
"It was an attempt at humor."
Jane grinned. "…Oh."
Maura couldn't help her smile either. "It wasn't funny?" She crossed her arms to her chest.
"No no, it was hilarious, I was on the ground see?" She pointed where she had fallen.
Maura couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. It happened sometimes, she just genuinely never expected Jane to say some of the things she did. Humor was not necessarily an admirable quality instilled in her youth, a person simultaneously recognizing that a norm had been breached and that the breach was benign was deemed low brow. She understood why when she learned that laughter may have evolved as a means to enhance connectedness in societies, and if you were using terms like "low brow" you probably did not wish to connect with everyone. Still, she enjoyed the unexpected response it gave her mentally, she loved that Jane could make her laugh.
"Are you alright?" Maura asked after they pretended to not be looking at each other as happily as they had been.
"We played basketball, we made mud pies, we played basketball, we pretended to be monster trucks." Jane shook her head and pointed down the hall toward the guest bathroom where they could still hear TJ humming and the splashing of water. "I need to talk to Tommy about this, I mean doesn't he play at school?" Maura touched her shoulder to signal a need to move into the kitchen. The tea kettle she had just put on started to hiss.
"It could be Jane, that he is simply excited to be around you." There was no denying the little boy's love for his aunt.
Jane pulled her car keys out of her pocket and rested it on the kitchen island. "Yeah I know I haven't really been around." She thought of their conversation at the zoo. "How was he last night?" Jane had left after a long nap on Maura's sofa to see a hockey game with Korsak and a few of his old cop buddies from a neighboring precinct before Tommy was able to drop TJ off in her mother's care. When she and Maura talked that night, the ME mentioned them all watching movies together. She was sad to have missed it.
"Perfectly pleasant." She kept her attention on the teacup she weas slowly adding hot water to. "I finally understand all of your Nemo jokes."
Jane helped herself to a mug from the cabinet and filled it with coffee from the coffee pot set to half brew. "Maybe he just sees me as the push over." She wondered aloud. "Every time I look at him I see Tommy y'know? Before he ran the priest over." She clarified in a whisper. "It was a cuter time." Maura blew gently on the surface of her tea as she nodded in understanding. It distracted Jane from her coffee.
The blonde was about to respond when she caught the other woman looking at her lips. She raised a soft brow and Jane ignored it by going back to her coffee and walking around the island to sit on one of the stools there. She took a sip before pausing and tilting her body toward the hall. "She said twenty seconds, Bud!" The water and the humming stopped and Jane and Maura shared goofed expressions. "You gonna tell me he gets his literalness from Tommy and Lydia?"
"I told him twenty seconds, not years." She defended and Jane gave her a look. "The Center for Disease Control and Prevention—"
"How far do you think the boy can count, Amelia Bedeila?"
Maura stepped into the hall. "Well surely to twenty." She waited as the little boy emerged from the bathroom holding his plastic stepping stool and grinning. The entire front half of his body was soaking wet.
"I'm gonna put this way." He shared as he ran with it toward the hall closet where he had seen his aunt retrieve it on multiple occasions.
"Oh." Maura smiled. "Thank you. That is very helpful." She opened the door for him and watched him situate it where he had seen it. It amazed her how perceptive he was. She'd need to remember to speak to Jane about her firearm.
"Can I do other things Aunty, Mauwa?" He asked after helping her close the door.
Maura smiled down at him. "Perhaps it's time for a bath." She nodded and he frowned.
"For real?"
Jane chuckled at the tiny expression of sadness as she got up from the counter to stand beside Maura with her coffee. "Yeah, for real little man." TJ's bottom lip began to tremble. "If you take a bath I'll buy you a candy bar."
"Okay!"
Maura sighed and looked at Jane disapprovingly. "Jane." TJ was already climbing the stairs.
"What?" The detective asked before taking another sip of her coffee. "What? That's parenting."
"No, parenting would have been guiding him to make his own decision, weighing the pros and cons together, providing helpful antidotes—"
Jane huffed. "You know how many candy bars my mother owes me?"
Maura shook her head with a laugh at her lips. "How agreeable did you turn out?" Jane returned to her stool at the island to nurse her caffeine and Maura went back into her kitchen for her tea.
"Pretty agreeable." The detective mumbled while sneaking a glance at the ME over her cup.
Maura seemed amused. "You'll gather his change of clothes?" She asked as she focused her new attention on the small shopping list Angela had written for her.
Jane nodded. "Yeah." She watched Maura edit the list mentally. "You going to the store?"
"Yes, tonight Angela and I wanted to try something a little different."
"Not that warm salad thing I hope." She stood and came around the island to rest her empty cup in the sink.
Maura looked up at her trying to read over her shoulder. "We decided to step away from Italian tonight and go Greek." She explained happily. "Fresh fish, lemon potato, salad."
Jane made a mental note of the little boy reaching the middle of the stairs. "Greek?" She began to head toward the staircase to watch after him. "Greek?" She asked again with a deep furrow of her brows.
Maura chuckled and shook her head as Jane began to climb the stairs. "I am leaving in ten minutes. If you two would like to join me."
"So, forty then?"
Maura sent her a look and Jane laughed to herself and made quick work of the rest of the steps to avoid it. When she got upstairs TJ had his face and both his palms glued to George Herman's tank. She smiled.
"He's not bigger." TJ pointed.
Jane came over and looked down into the tank. "That's cause he's a runt."
"Wunt."
"Yeah, he's just a little smaller than all the other ones." She opened the top of the tank and reached a hand in. George inspected it from a distance, eyed TJ's large features, and then went in his shell. Jane picked him up gingerly and brought him out on her palms for TJ to look at. "But he's a healthy little guy… well except for his poop." Maura had went on about it for a full thirty minutes last night. They were going to hold off on fruit for a while and switch back to fibrous blend of salad greens.
TJ watched the little tortoise with wonder and heavy caution. He looked up at his aunt and pointed at him. "He poops?"
Jane chuckled. "Yeah."
TJ looked back into her palms. "Can I touched it Aunty Janie?"
"Really soft." TJ brought his hand out. "One finger." She watched with a swelling sense of affection as her brother's son gently let the tip of his pointer finger run against George's shell. She could see him holding his breath too. Eventually George poked his head out and TJ smiled widely.
"I'm Tommy Wizzoli." He whispered. "Don't be fraid."
Jane put the tortoise back in the tank after the two shared in a one-sided conversation about monster trucks. She got the bath together for TJ and brought out a change of clothes for him to change into. Once she was able to wrangle him through the process without completely sinking the second floor she bribed him into a pair of overalls and socks and they made their way downstairs.
"Grandma!" TJ bolted over to where Angela and Maura were sitting at the dining room table and hugged at her legs.
"Hi, sweetheart!" She had only seen the boy a few hours ago, but what kind of grandmother would she be if she denied her only grandson another hug. Last night he had a nightmare about slime and slept pinned to her leg while she lay awake thinking about her family. "How was the park with Aunty Janie?"
"We went all ova! And we-we made pies!"
"Really? So you'll help me today in the kitchen then?" She asked while pinching his cheek softly.
"I washed my hands." He explained to emphasize how ready he was. Angela chuckled.
Maura looked over her shoulder at Jane who had yet to change out of her play gear. "You are not ready?"
Jane looked down at what she was wearing and then motioned to a freshly bathed toddler. "I don't get at least half points?" The ME stood and gathered a small note pad she and Angela were using to record their Sunday dinner recipes. "I'll go like this." Maura looked her up and down and Jane raised a brow. "We're not going to the market are we?"
"We are, I just need to make a quick stop."
"A quick stop where?"
"To pick up something." Maura moved past her.
Jane put her hands on her hips and sent her mother a questioning look. When Angela shrugged she turned to face the ME now filling her fancy water bottle in the kitchen. "To pick up what, Maura?"
Maura sighed. "A pair of shoes I've ordered."
Jane nodded slowly. "Why didn't you get it delivered like you usually do?" She entered the kitchen after her.
"La Femme Qui Danse Boston doesn't deliver."
"How do you know they have your size?"
"They must."
"What if they don't?"
"Why is this relevant?"
"Because I know you." Jane pointed at her in an accusatory manner "You." Maura gave her a look as she took a tiny step backwards. "Want to go shopping."
"I do not."
Jane nodded smugly. "Maura."
"I resent this accusation."
"Do you?"
"We have too much to do here, and I would have left already if that were the case."
"We?" Jane motioned to her mother and TJ talking about the menu for tonight's dinner at the dining table. "This is all you and Ma. When I come back I'm going to have a beer and watch baseball."
"You did that yesterday."
"Best day of my life."
They stared each other down in challenge before Maura decided to switch tactics.
"Please, Jane?" She blinked for good measure and Jane furrowed a brow at the new expression. Her friend was not asking, her monogamous was.
"What the hell?" She asked under her breath. "That's not fair."
Maura began to smile. "Won't you help me today?"
Jane looked around for an excuse not to but found she couldn't deny her. She took in a big breath and nodded. "Yeah fine." Maura reached out excitedly and touched her hand. "No no no no." Jane shook her head. "Get away from me." Maura laughed. "I'm not changing." She asserted.
"Yes, that is fine. I'll simply tell everyone you are homeless."
The detective let up an unexpected chortle as she picked up her car keys and turned to put her shoes back on. "Good one, Maura."
The ME smiled proudly as she followed her. "It was wasn't it?"
"Don't push it."
##
Jane stopped running a small towel through her wet hair and listened as the familiar sound of rain pelting the roof like a million tiny beads became more pronounced. A rumbling of the earth soon followed as thunder shot away the forecast of clear skies for the evening.
When she was little, she always imagined angels bowling somewhere in heaven, it was something her father had told her to help her not be so afraid. They'd even sit together near the window sometimes (much to her mother's dismay) and pretend to be commentators with goofy names like Frank Bologna and Janie Genie. It brought a little smile to her face to remember such a simple time before it soon settled into a light sigh.
A knock at the door came shortly after slipping into her grey sweats and a bra. "Yeah?" Jane called.
"Jane?" Maura pushed gently against the door before stepping in. "Oh." She sent her an apologetic look when she noticed she was half dressed.
Jane motioned her in while letting the small towel in her hair hang around her shoulders. "Hey."
"Hello." The ME closed the door behind her. "Frankie and Nina just arrived." She exercised the new attention practice she had been learning in yoga that morning to focus on Jane's face and not the firm abdominal muscles under velvety looking skin on her body.
Jane nodded. "Good timing, storm's starting." She sat on the edge of the bed and Maura hesitated a moment before coming to sit beside her. It was when they sat shoulder to shoulder that the detective realized she was holding her cell phone.
Maura looked past her toward the window in the corner of the room. "It seems so." She looked back over to Jane whose eyes were examining her features carefully for an explanation for her presence. "It will help circulate air in the kitchen." She motioned to herself. "I smell like charcoal." She wrinkled her nose and Jane smirked.
"The girly grill worked?"
"The girly grill worked." Maura nodded. At least Jane was not calling her countertop "grillette" an abomination anymore. "I am afraid you will have to save me some though."
Her warm eyes turned concerned. "What's up?"
"Operations just called me. I am needed at the lab; some confidential information is being requested and the Governor is asking for my oversight specifically."
"On a Sunday?"
Maura smiled a little at how put out she sounded. "Two hours tops."
Jane nodded understanding that Maura was the Chief ME and sometimes that came with unpopular responsibilities, just like her work. "Well, it's raining. Let me take you."
Maura touched her shoulder to slow her from getting up and hurrying to get dressed fully. "No, Jane that won't be necessary."
"It's not that big a deal—"
"I want you to stay." Maura found her eyes. "I cheated you of your baseball today." She added lightly. The shoe boutique had her size, but then the new spring display was in the process of being put up by Kyllie the store manager who seemed to know Maura well enough to get her into a conversation about sling backs and cross trainers. She obviously had to show her the secret summer inventory, Maura obviously had to try on two more pairs…
Jane shrugged. "Well yeah.. In the end I was right so…" She shrugged again and it made Maura smile. "You want me to save you a little of everything?" She was a grown woman, if she were determined to go alone Jane wouldn't push her on it. Besides, there had been so much togetherness recently with TJ staying over last night, she was sure the ME would welcome the quiet of an unstaffed lab.
"Yes, please, extra salad.." Jane nodded. "I cleaned some greens for George as well."
"Alright."
She nudged her softly. "Do not pile them into a mountain for him as you do. He needs more stimulation, to aide digestion."
Jane sighed. He just looked so cute disappearing into a pile of spinach. "Yeah, I got it, I got it." Maura nodded. "Anything else, Doctor?"
"No." She rested her hands on her lap. "That is all."
"Will you do something for me?"
Maura blinked. "Of course, did you leave something at BPD?"
"Drive safe, alright?" She raised a brow and motioned to the storm brewing outside then to her sweatpants. "It's going to get worse and I've officially put on my lazy pants." She warned feigning seriousness. "I'm not going outside again, Maura."
Maura let the corner of her mouth wrinkle adoringly when she caught the subtle twitch of her right brow signaling jest. She lifted her left hand and let her fingers brush away some stray waves of her damp hair before she examined the thin line left behind by the woman's busted lip and looking up into her eyes. "I will be mindful of that." Jane leaned forward and they shared a soft kiss. "Bye."
Jane nodded not able to take her eyes off her for a moment. "Okay." She watched her leave. "Bye." She forgot and shook her head at herself and the empty room.
It was unexpected how softly she could be moved distances by Maura's touch alone.
But when she touched back? On Friday night when she was finally able to run her hands along the other woman's upper thighs, or hold the soft weight of her breast in the palm of her hand?
it made her feel insignificant yet on the precipice of immortality all at the same time.
It carried her far away from the insecurity that she had never touched another woman like this, and made her truly aware of just how deep the depth of her feelings for her lie.
It was the complete complement and missing link to the well-worn attention Jane had whenever the other woman was present. it explained how she could tell how far apart they were in any given physical space, how she noticed her perfume or the click of her heel against all others.
It made her miss her when she wasn't there, like right now, even though Maura had just walked out the door…
Jane inhaled and then exhaled deeply. She had to play it cool right? The absolute last thing she ever wanted to do was mess this up. Jane wanted to take care of it, water it, get it one of those heating lamp things that George had for it, make sure it was never hungry, never cold. Whatever it took.
She worried that her experience in relationships had done her a disservice after all. Jane hardly had to put much effort into things, the romance and the pursuit, that was always taken care of by the guy. Once she surprised Casey with his favorite bowl of cereal that was discontinued from back when they were kids, but that was only with Maura's help scouring the internet with her for a whole day.
Maura was such a girl though. Jane thought with a small roll of the eyes as she slipped on her shirt. Even if she would swear and deny it, Jane knew she loved romance. it made her wonder greatly about her ability in a department she never really put much stock in.
And why was that exactly?
Maybe they could talk about it later…. Romantic things.
Jane trotted downstairs to a noisy living room. Rizzoli Sunday dinner was in full swing it seemed and though the familiar sounds of laughter and greetings warmed her heart she instantly felt the absence of Maura among the scene before her.
"It's fish, Frankie."
"Fish?"
Angela chuckled. "Yes, look, we even grilled it." She opened the lid of the mini countertop grill.
Frankie's face screwed up as he pointed. "You're putting that in the lasagna?"
"There's no lasagna!" How many times did she have to say it?
Frankie bit the inside of his mouth as if considering the words his mother just told him. "I don't understand."
Nina came over with TJ piggy backed on her back and giggling at nothing in particular aside from seeing the familiar setting at a new height. "I think it's cool, something different."
Frankie pointed to the grill. "How could you say that?"
Angela smiled as Jane entered the kitchen before looking back over at her first son. "Stop being so close minded, Frankie. It doesn't look good on you." Nina and Jane laughed. "Maura and I thought it would be nice to try something different. Took us forever to get this thing going. Wait till you try the potatoes."
Frankie turned to Jane. "You okay this?"
Jane put her hands up before going into the fridge and grabbing a beer. "I don't get involved anymore." She came over to TJ who was at her eyes level. "I've only been gone a few hours, how'd you get so tall?"
He shrugged. "I drank water."
Jane nodded quickly. "Ah yeah, water." She reached into a nearby drawer to bring out a bottle opener. "I heard about that stuff."
"Aunty Janie you don't drink water!?"
Nina chuckled and readjusted him on her back. "Aunty Janie drinks coffee."
"I wan drink coffee too!"
Angela was busy silently bossing Frankie around to help her platter everything up with hand signals only a mother could communicate and only her child could understand. "Aunty Janie shouldn't have a beer before dinner." She chastised before looking at her daughter. It was really a skill how well she could multitask. "Maura opened up a really fancy looking bottle of wine." She motioned to the bottle on the counter and Jane recognized it immediately as one she had brought back from New York.
"Grilling equals beer." She tried to reason before picking the bottle up. "Plus I've had this already."
Frankie was in the middle of balancing a large bowl of Greek salad and a small basket of rolls. "My sister, the wine snob."
Jane shrugged. "Yeah well maybe if you weren't so close minded you might find you like it too."
Frankie laughed. "I'll show you close minded." He pretended to throw the basket of rolls in her direction.
"Ma, Frankie is threatening me." Jane poked her mother's side. "Do something."
Angela sighed loudly. "Has anyone heard from your brother?"
Frankie came back into the kitchen to grab another platter. "I knew he was her favorite."
Tommy and Lydia showed up ten minutes later with a cake Angela had ordered in surprise for Nina's upcoming birthday that week. They put the finishing touches on dinner before all sitting down to eat.
Lydia, unbeknownst to her had sat beside Jane in Maura's seat.
It annoyed her only because it was Lydia (she hadn't quite gotten over her leaving TJ as a baby even though it was clear she was growing on her) and because she realized that she had spent the better part of dinner looking for the ME beside her. At one point she excused herself to head to the bathroom only to pull her cell out in the hall and dial the other woman.
"Dr. Isles." She sounded distracted.
Jane leaned against the banister of the staircase. "Can't believe you actually managed to get us to eat like rabbits and you're not here to see it."
The ME chuckled warmly. "We've been delayed. I should be leaving in an hour."
Jane nodded. "I'll save you cake."
"Hm. Perhaps I'll have that for dinner."
Jane rubbed at her cheek, her smile was actually starting to hurt where her tooth was still healing. "That bad?"
"….eight out of ten. I cannot say more."
Jane realized she was probably in a setting where other people were around, it made her feel a little silly for calling. "The storm was looking pretty bad so I just called to make sure you, y'know, were alright and everything."
Maura quirked a brow gently at the ramble before smiling. "I am not unconscious somewhere, no."
"Good." Jane picked herself up from the banister. "Don't sound like it's never happened." She asserted the reason for her call.
Maura smiled even wider. "Your concerns are valid. I did not mean to invalidate them." They said their goodbyes and Jane returned to the dining table and sat down. She was three pieces of lemon potato in before Tommy asked her to pass the rolls.
"So what ever happened to that FBI thing?" He asked.
Frankie sat back in his seat and mirrored the question. "Yeah, when's all that going down? I could use an actual desk y'know?" He joked.
Jane took her time chewing and shrugged gently. "I have orientation coming up. Three days at Quantico."
Angela beamed at her. "I'm so proud of you, honey."
"Thanks Ma."
"So does this mean that you'll be a secret agent now?" Lydia asked, voice filled with a wonderment one could only describe as childlike. "Because you've already told everyone here. I don't think that's how that works."
Tommy nodded seriously. "Your cover's blown, sis."
"Uh, no." Jane nodded. "I'm gonna be teaching their recruits about interrogation techniques we use here in Boston."
"Only part-time though right? I think Maura said something about that." Nina nodded.
"A week here, two weeks there." The detective looked over at Nina curiously. So she and Maura talked about it? "Cavanaugh approved it so I just won't be primary on cases."
"BPD can't afford to lose a good cop right now." Frankie agreed. "You think you'll like it?"
Jane opened her mouth to say something but her mother cut in. "Of course she will, it's a big step up, you never know where things could go from here, Janie. One day you could be sitting in the White House."
Jane snorted. "Yeah, okay, Ma."
Frankie laughed. "I think Janie would rather become a garbage truck driver before that.'
"Well a mother can hope can't she?"
Jane agreed. "I'm trying it out, it's something different. Last time I was there Davies mentioned—"
Lydia perked up. "This is the hunk right?" She looked over at Tommy who nodded with a stupid grin on his face.
Jane rolled her eyes. "This table is too wide for me to lean over there, but I'll try." She warned. His goofy grin fell immediately.
"Wha? I'm just going by what Ma told me."
"You uninvited him to dinner." Angela reminded Jane in a way that suggested she was still sore about it even though it had nothing to do with her.
Jane shook her head. "Yeah Ma because he never should been invited in the first place. Besides, you were just trying to get out of talking about Pop."
Angela shook her head. "He seems nice."
"You have never had a conversation with him." She reminded.
"He actually smells wonderful." Nina nodded while forking up some greens. Everyone looked at her. "What? He does."
"You like that smell?" Frankie asked sounding horrified. Jane actually couldn't help but laugh at the look on her younger brother's face and Tommy tugged at his collar jokingly.
"Listen all I'm saying is that if you had to move around sharing a desk from sweaty agent to sweaty agent, you'd welcome a little consideration too." She paused to chew. "The only other person in the office who smells better is Maura." The table erupted into laughter again. "I don't know what she puts on her skin but I'm into it."
Jane caught her breath. "The pine thing? That smells like a flower shop, but in a good way?"
Nina nodded rapidly and pointed at her with fork. "Yes. It's like a flower shop right next door to a spice shop… but on the beach that's actually a magical lagoon or something."
"Yeah, it's five hundred dollars every three ounces. It better smell that good."
Tommy whistled and Nina laughed. "Shut up."
Jane nodded. "I'm serious."
"One day when I have a husband, he's going to buy me all sorts of expensive things." Nina joked.
Frankie was grinning. "Yeah? Me too. Guess you and I got a lot in common."
"Did you guys pick a date yet?" Jane asked. Her schedule was about to become even more complicated than usual and there was no way she was missing their wedding.
Angela perked up at the sudden shift in conversation as Frankie and Nina exchanged looks.
"Well we were thinking at the end of the summer." Nina announced. "In August."
The conversation was soon consumed by wedding talk until Frankie brought out the cake for dessert and they all sang a poorly executed version of Happy Birthday to the tech whiz before digging in. Jane started gathering up everyone's plates soon after as her mother made coffees for them and packed up to-go containers of the leftovers.
"It's not the same without her here." Angela said as she came into the kitchen and watched with a smile as her daughter fought with the dishwasher. "Maura. What did she say she had to do again?"
Jane looked up as she forcibly shoved the top rack into place with a loud clanking. "Something at BPD."
Angela brought out a cake knife to divvy up the remaining portions of cake. "You girls work too hard." She shook her head.
Jane closed the dishwasher door and sighed in relief when the familiar humming and beeping began to signal the wash cycle. "I forget how much work she has to do all the time." She admitted as she reached for a small stack of Tupperware for her mother to slip the cake into. "Here, use these." Maura got them last week for the very purpose.
"Thank you, honey." Angela began to cut the cake as she noticed out of the corner of her eye Jane starting to wash the more delicate serving platters by hand. "I got that, Jane. Go relax."
Jane shook her head as she continued her task. "You hear from Pop?"
"We spoke yesterday."
"About him getting treatment?"
"About his appointment on Tuesday."
"Right…" Jane bit the inside of her mouth as she worked to get a particularly stubborn piece of potato skin off the bottom of the tray. "Frankie's taking you…." Jane brought the clean platter over and rested it on the counter beside her mother. "He mention… making a decision?" Angela did that thing where she clearly had heard her daughter but was unsure of how to respond so she said nothing at all. "Ma."
"I don't know, sweetheart. He only tells me what he wants to." She handed Jane a container of cake with extra frosting. "Maura likes the buttercream from this place."
Jane took the container in her wet hands and put the lid on it as she thought about what she had just said. "Kinda find it hard to believe that he wouldn't say something."
"Put it into the freezer."
Jane nodded and did as she was told before going back to silently doing the dishes. They hardly spoke after that. Once the major parts of cleaning were finished, Angela sat with her sons and their ladies for a bit before kissing a passed out TJ goodnight before calling it a night herself. Tommy, Lydia, and TJ left first. By that time Jane joined her brother and Nina and began talking about the case they had just wrapped and the mountain of paperwork they were sure to return to tomorrow morning. Soon after she joined them the front door could be heard jingling open and the loud splatter of rain and wind entered the home briefly before the storm sucked the door shut.
"Hello?" Maura called.
"We're in here!" Jane called as she put her glass of water down and stood to greet her with a kiss. Her brother's voice calling out their location as well paused her and made her reconsider the greeting.
"Have I missed it?" Maura appeared completely soaked to the bone in one of her fashionable raincoats with a see-through umbrella at her side.
Nina laughed. "Yeah girl it's over. There is still some pizza though."
Maura shot Jane a look. "You ordered pizza?"
Jane laughed as she came over to her. "She's messing with you." She grabbed the wet umbrella out of her hands. "Is it that bad out there?" Maura looked like a wet cat with her hair sticking to her face the way it was and her pouted cheeks. It was cute.
Now with an arm free the pathologist began to peel her coat off herself. "This was just to my car and to the door. I left my keys in my office and had to go back which was simply the most horrific experience with mother nature I have ever encountered." She nodded seriously. "Oh, thank you, Jane, thank you." She added quietly as the taller woman took her dripping coat away from her too.
Frankie laughed. "Damn, I don't want to drive."
"I can drive." Nina offered.
"You two are more than welcome to stay the night." Maura came into the living room and glanced over her shoulder toward the hall where Jane could be heard opening the closet door. "It's the brown—" Jane emerged before she could finish her thought holding a brown utility towel out towards her. "Thank you."
"Mhm."
Maura turned back to Nina and Frankie. "How was dinner?"
Frankie patted his stomach. "I'm not gonna lie Maura I was real worried about this whole fish thing."
Jane came to sit on the arm of the armchair as Maura put the towel down on the seat of it to sit after drying herself off some. "The fish had you worried? You should have seen them trying to put the grill together. I am certain if I didn't step in they'd have brunt the place down." Jane interjected.
"You make fun but I am pleased at how everything looked." Maura said up at Jane before looking over to her friends. "Jane and I went to a restaurant in New York that made the most exquisite lemon potatoes. I had to try and replicate it."
"These were pretty amazing." Nina agreed. "Oh, and I knew answering all those cake questions you asked yesterday had to mean something, thank you, the cake was amazing too."
"Of course." Maura smiled and reached a hand out to touch her arm. "Happy Birthday."
They chatted for a few more minutes before Frankie glanced at his watch and nodded at Nina. "Ready?"
"Are you sure you won't stay?" Maura looked concerned.
Frankie shook his head. "Nah it's okay."
##
Maura curled the warm material of her robe over her naked frame and sighed contently before stopping to realize herself. With another soft sigh, this time accompanied by a smile the ME left her bathroom to find something to change into. She wasn't one to sleep clothed, long term studies indicated it wasn't the best for skin health, but she feared Jane would have an angiorrhexis episode if she were to slide into bed in the nude, so she adorned a silken mauve pajama set and some comfy house slippers before making her way downstairs to find the other woman. It wasn't too late, but she had had a long day mentally and was ready to cozy up somewhere. It would be nice to have company.
The woman in question was downstairs with her feet up lazily channel surfing on the couch. Maura came into the room and finally truly looked around. The kitchen and dining area were immaculate, the overhead lights were turned off in exchange for the softer standing lamps she used when it began to get dark out, and a small mountain of her delicate serving platters were turned upside down on the kitchen counter air drying.
"You cleaned?" She didn't mean to sound as surprised as she was, but let's face it… she absolutely was surprised. Jane always offered to help on Sundays, she took out the trash, loaded the dishwasher, even wiped down the counter, but it was always to her level of cleanliness which wasn't dirty by any means, it just wasn't… how Maura preferred it exactly. This however was something else Maura realized as she walked into the kitchen and noted the tiny candle lit on the counter that she usually lit after cleaning to mask whatever order stained the air while they cooked.
Jane got up from the couch feeling proud of herself. "I knew you wouldn't be able to relax when you got back if things weren't put together so…" She shrugged. Maura turned from running a hand along the stove top and looked at her. "You hungry?"
Maura smiled. "No, perhaps some tea?"
Jane nodded and moved past her to set the kettle up. "Tea and cake sound good." She motioned to the island. "Sit down, I'll get it."
Maura slowly made her way around the island to sit on one of the stools and watched with great fondness as Jane brought out a frozen piece of cake and began to make her a pot of herbal tea. "I believe I am more fond of you today than I was yesterday." Jane looked up at her with a little smile. Maura leaned against her elbow and let her chin rest in her palm as she smiled at the other woman. "I wasn't aware that could happen."
"That supposed to be a compliment?" Jane teased.
Maura nodded against her hand cutely. "Yes."
"Alright well my turn huh?" She went back to focusing on her work. If she were looking at Maura looking at her the way she was she was sure she'd lose her words. "It's not Sunday dinner without you." She glanced up at her. "I missed you sitting next to me."
Maura's cheeks flushed, and for a moment they just smiled at one another. "Who sat next to you tonight?"
Jane turned briefly to put the Tupperware container that had held the slice of cake in the sink as she snorted. "Lydia."
Maura let out a little laugh. "Oh my."
"She was telling me that if wasn't carful I'd blow my secret agent title with the FBI." Jane came around the island and placed the saucer with the piece of cake and mountain of butter cream down in front of Maura while fretting over where to put the fork. The ME pointed to the left place setting and Jane rested it down with a square of a paper towel as if it were made of gold, the whole thing made Maura laugh a little
"Were you telling them about Virginia, did you get any news?"
Jane went back around to get a tea pot ready for when the water came to a boil. "Yeah, I got an email while we were not-shopping shoe shopping." She leaned against the counter. "This weekend Tash comes in right?"
"Yes, Friday evening at four."
"I leave for Quantico the next day for orientation. Three days."
Maura processed the information as she picked up her fork. "This seems sudden."
"I may have missed an email about it…"
The ME let the weight of her tongue exist for a moment before raking the fork's teeth against a soft hill of icing. "Is there a reason why you haven't brought it up since your exam in New York?" She tasted the butter cream and looked up at Jane.
"I didn't want to think about being away with everything happening down here. This case, my old man being sick and stuff with us."
"It isn't like you to avoid responsibilities."
Jane nodded. "Yeah I… I know."
"You know I support you no matter what you decide, Jane."
"I know Maur, it's just that." She shrugged. "It's a great opportunity, and I want to try, but not at the cost of missing so much."
Maura nodded again. She understood her apprehension. "I believe you will enjoy it immensely. Trust yourself to make the right decisions when you need to."
"Yeah…" She thought about her words for a moment and then nodded again. "You'll drive me to the airport?"
"Of course I will." Maura answered easily before returning to her cake.
"Let's get dinner with Tasha on Friday night, before I leave." Jane stood upright before catching the kettle on the stovetop beside her right before it began to hiss. "I'm done playing good cop on this whole boyfriend thing."
Maura rested her fork down. "Were you playing good cop? I wasn't aware. I've been playing good cop." She pointed to herself.
Jane gave her a worried look. "What do you mean you've been playing good cop?"
"I thought we agree—"
"Maura I've been totally neutral to her about this. You're the one she talks to about school and boys and whatever else. You're supposed to be the bad cop."
"I was not aware." She protested.
Jane huffed. "So we've both been playing the good cop?"
"I thought you would have spoken to her about continuing school as we discussed."
"No, that conversation was you saying she should go and I was saying give her some time to figure things out. You were supposed to be bad cop." She brought the teapot over and then went back around the island to get her cup. "Unbelievable."
Maura tried not to laugh. "We have time."
"I'm firing you again."
Now she couldn't help it as a chuckle danced at her lips. "No. Don't." She watched as Jane brought over the matching teacup and put it down beside her. "How will I take care of my tortoise?"
Jane shrugged. "Should have thought about that before you let the two of us be manipulated." She came to sit beside her at the adjacent stool and watched as Maura poured the hot tea from the pot to her cup. "I did okay? Two minutes like you said."
Maura took a moment to let the fresh aromas of the skullcap tea waft toward her. "Yes." She smiled. "Thank you again." Jane nodded and watched her take a sip before reaching for her fork and stealing a piece of cake for herself. Maura didn't seem to mind as she continued to blow small puffs of cool air against her tea before taking a few sips. "It is lovely." She commented again while resting the teacup down. Jane handed her the fork back.
"There's also some food in there for you." She motioned to the fridge before leaning against the island in a very languid manner. "Ma packed a bunch of potatoes… the vegetables."
Maura nodded and turned her chair toward her. "Will you encourage her to continue school?"
"You want me to?"
"I understand her wishes to travel and take some time for herself, but a colleague of mine wrote to me before we left for New York about an once in a lifetime internship opportunity for college seniors upon graduating in Tasha's year. I would like to recommend her for it, but she needs to be enrolled."
"Why can't we just tell her about this internship, Maura?"
"She would like to apply with her own merit." She shook her head.
"What's wrong with that? Tash is a smart girl."
"When you begin to apply to medical school that no longer applies, everyone is smart. The edge is who you know. She cannot be naïve to that or she will not get anywhere with the funding to keep up with her brilliance." Jane sighed. "I worry that she won't be challenged."
"She listens to you too y'know?" Maura was the voice, the lifeline.
Maura nodded. "She will always trust you more." Jane was the one who had actually saved her life though.
Jane sat with that for a moment before nodding. "I'll talk to her."
Maura tilted her head. "Thank you." She leaned forward some and held onto Jane's leg to balance herself as they shared a small kiss. Jane smiled into it when she could taste the faint sweetness of buttercream on her lips.
##
As they got into bed together that night Jane relaxed on her back and Maura rolled over at her side and wrapped an arm around her torso before resting her head against the inside of her shoulder. Instinctively the detective let her right arm fall around her shoulders as they sighed into each other's warmth.
"So… Do we have an anniversary?"
Of all the things Jane could ask her this time of night Maura never expected this to be one. "An anniversary?" She tilted her head back some to get a better look at her. "For?"
"For like.. us… this." Jane motioned to their snuggled position. She had decided that if she was going to try and figure this whole romance thing out, she'd need to first understand if there was a specific date it needed to be executed on.
"Wouldn't we need to be a couple?"
The room fell quiet.
"…. Do you want to be a couple?" Jane furrowed a brow as she asked it. Weren't they?
"With you?"
She looked down at her and sucked her teeth. "Maura who else would I be asking for?" Maura smiled as she rolled over to her stomach, so they were properly looking at each other. There was evidence of playfulness in her features, but also evidence of something else. Jane bit the inside of her mouth as it slowly dried. "No?"
"Nothing would make me happier."
Jane studied her features. "But…?"
"We would need to tell your family; I would need to tell mine."
Jane nodded slowly seeing where she was going with this. "That'd be lying if we didn't." Right now they were figuring things out. In Maura's mind it was grey. Being a couple would mean something else entirely. She wasn't sure why she didn't consider it in the first place.
Maura nodded and pressed her palm against Jane's arm in a comforting manner. "I do not want to start something so beautiful that way." She said softly. "It would be difficult for me to not share that. Can you understand?"
Jane nodded. "Yeah, I can understand, Maur." She sighed. "I don't think I'm… ready to tell my family yet." She admitted to herself out loud. Since they had returned from New York everything had been so busy, it wasn't like she hadn't thought about it at all, but it was hard to envision leaning over to her mother while they waited for her father's cancer results to come in as the perfect time to tell her that she really really enjoyed kissing her best friend, or better yet, that she had very big feelings for her.
"You seem disappointed." The ME read.
"No just…I never want you to feel like you have to lie because of us."
"I want you to feel safe."
"I know." They looked at one another almost sadly before Maura looked away while playing with the material of Jane's tank top. "May I share something else?" Jane nodded. "I'm unsure of how your family will respond." She looked at her. "It won't at all change my invention, but it is there…" She nodded. "Not acknowledging it would be a false representation of… my apprehension."
Jane's features softened. "They love you." She soothed while rubbing her arm.
"Do they believe I can take care of you?"
Jane smiled adoringly at her most unvocalized concern. "Maura."
"Angela values that." She said it all the time. She wanted someone who could take care of her daughter. She also wanted an ungodly amount of grandchildren, the specifics on whether they had to be biological or not was still up for debate. She needed more data…
"Well you're loaded so if anything I can quit my job, she'd love that." Jane tried to cheer her up. Maura let up a little laugh.
"I hadn't considered that."
Jane smiled. "Yeah see, you're already in."
Maura shook her head and then looked at the other woman seriously. There lay a new kind of vulnerability in her hazel eyes, one Jane hadn't seen for years now. "I… Do not want to feel rejected." It wouldn't just be by Jane's family; it would be by the people she considered her own family as well.
"They won't have that option." Jane said softly. "I promise." She sat up a little more to press a kiss onto her cheek. "Alright?"
Maura nodded before smiling at her, whatever place the worry had come from it had returned as she leaned against Jane some as she spoke. "Can we revisit this conversation in a month's time?" They agreed that they would before settling down into the same snuggled position as before. A long time passed with them huddled together as if the central heating were not working, their minds activity keeping them awake and making them aware of the other's wakefulness as well. Jane forgot when, but at some point Maura's hand around her torso began running itself along the expanse of her ribcage. Counting most likely, it felt nice. Soothing, but in the way that kept you awake and sent a small vibration down your spine. Jane became interested by the sensation, and soon it was all she could focus on.
She took a small breath and rubbed at her face. "You counting them?" She rasped; it had been at least an hour since she had said anything.
The movement had stopped suddenly but started up again seconds later.
"No."
Jane nodded and let her continue without further explanation. The arm that was around Maura's shoulder slipped to her back as she found herself wanting to see if she could be just as gentle with her touch. Jane began rubbing small circles on the surface of her back between her shoulders first, and then up and down the expanse of her entire back, taking care to do it just as slowly and delicately as Maura grazed her ribs. She could feel Maura taking a large relaxed breath against her and she smiled to herself for being able to help.
It seemed only the natural progression to have Maura's hand glide to her hip before sliding her warm fingers under the material of Jane's tank to continue the soft caress, but this time with more detail. Jane sighed at the new sensation of her whole palm against her bare side, and without thinking she let her right hand do the same, slipping under the ME's silky pajama top from its tail and letting her fingers follow her spine before washing away the sensation with her whole palm. Maura made a small noise of approval, something soft, appreciative. Jane liked how it sounded so she continued.
When they looked at one another several moments later their lips met in a slow and tender kiss that deflated both woman's resolve and had the fronts of their bodies glued together. Jane could feel Maura's right hand still at her bare hips as she kissed her, and before she knew how, her fingers had come to the base of Maura's neck ever so gently pinching the stress away.
Their kiss deepened as their mouths opened to one another, they both moaned quietly at the sensation of the other pressing into it eagerly.
It was a kiss that moved things and created energy, maybe too much.
Jane having been laid on her back turned into Maura and gently pushed her so that she was now lying on top of her. It seemed to make the most sense at the time, it was what she wanted, but Maura slipped her arms around her shoulders as they kissed and before Jane could act she was on her back again with the ME's thighs at either side of her hips.
Their kiss broke and both women panted heavily while finally fully noticing the position their gentle acts of comfort had landed them. Jane could feel the blood in her body rush to the area where Maura had straddled her just as she could make out the heavy blush on the ME's collar above her. Maura's eyes were dark but calculating, her nostrils flaring slightly to control her own breath. Her hips not quite sitting on Jane's. She took a moment then, leaned down and pressed a kiss onto Jane face before looking at her and settling on her hips. The detective exhaled loudly and closed her eyes a moment to appreciate the new position and the heat from Maura's center on her lap. She opened her eyes and let her hands settle on Maura's hips.
Their eyes met and Jane bit her bottom lip as she gave in to the temptation gnawing at her to let her hips rise while she pulled Maura down against her. Maura let up a shaky breath and sat up some to pull hair that had fallen in her face out of the way, she was surprised to feel Jane take the opportunity to sit up as well and repeat the erotic motion causing them both to whimper a little at just how divine and slick it made them feel. Maura brought her hands naturally around Jane's shoulders and let their foreheads rest gently against each others as it was repeated again, and then again, this last time with her assisting the friction.
Time stood still.
"Wait." Maura breathed after Jane was getting a little too good at their current motion and it was leaving her severely overheated in her pajama set. Jane nodded as she tried to control her own breathing as well. Maura eventually smiled softly into Jane's temple as she could feel the detective's strong arms leave her hips and envelope her in a sweet hug once she caught her breath. It stung her in a way she wasn't expecting and try as she might she could not break the emotion from her voice. "Jane." She pulled herself away from her enough to look at her. "I'm getting emotional." She apologized.
Jane tilted her head upward to look at her. Maura found her eyes surprisingly gentle, surprisingly familiar. "It's okay." She whispered back. "That's okay."
It would not stay down no matter how hard she fought it. Jane's soft expression only making matters worse. "I… May... I—" Maura exhaled at herself, a fresh panic surfacing now. "I'm in... I—"
Jane pulled her a little closer as she struggled. "I love you too." She interrupted.
Maura stilled and looked down at her.
"You do?'
Jane's smile was small and shy, she had never been surer though. "Mhm."