Korsak called Jane not long after dispatch did, insisting that her time off request superseded the call and that he and Frost could cover it themselves, but Jane outright refused to miss a body, especially one that Maura had been called to.
Both women had taken their cars to the hotel the night before, so Maura and Jane drove separately to the scene. For the first few blocks, their cars had remained in relatively close proximity, but at the first yellow light, Jane's tenuous relationship with traffic laws resulted in her leaving Maura behind. The doctor nervously drummed her fingers against the steering wheel as she watched the Crown Victoria hurtle through the intersection and disappear.
Maura had truly never met worse drivers than cops.
Alone in her car, and feeling increasingly disconnected with Jane's cruiser entirely out of sight, Maura found herself growing nervous.
The body they were on their way to see had been found at the Forest Hills Cemetery, which was an almost thirty minute drive from the hotel. Maura found herself unexpectedly anxious about separating from Jane for that long, so much so that she didn't spend much time reflecting on the synchronism of their dead body being discovered at a cemetery.
Jane's final question was tumbling around her mind and catching itself against everything. What would happen next? The setting of the previous evening and their night together had, impermanently but not insignificantly, set the whole thing aside from their ordinary lives: the bar an unfamiliar backdrop and the suite a temporary home. From the moment she had spotted Jane in the bar, Maura hadn't thought of anything else but her. Not work, not their friends or colleagues, not her family or Jane's.
But now Maura was starting to think about those things.
There was no rule forbidding a romantic relationship between someone in the medical examiner's office and someone on the police force, and yet Maura couldn't help but consider the optics. She wasn't someone in the medical examiner's office, she was the medical examiner's office. She wasn't an employee, she was a highly vetted public servant appointed by the governor. And Jane wasn't just someone on the police force, she was one of BPD's most prolific and most highly decorated detectives. They'd both been in the news countless times, Jane especially, but most recently it was over the shattering revelation that Maura was the biological daughter of one of Boston's most notorious mob entities. Maura had managed to survive that media circus and remain in her position, a fact she liked to credit to her unimpeachable credentials, her hard-won reputation for professionalism and her sparkling track record of results, but she knew that the Isles name had a lot to do with it, too.
Alone in her car, Maura found herself worrying that dating a detective would again threaten the public perception of her objectivity. She was a little ashamed to admit it, but the idea of living this truth out loud was a little exhausting. Of course, the notion of keeping it secret, while offering a seductive sort of thrill, wasn't an option—a clandestine relationship with a detective certainly would be career-threatening. No, their involvement would have to be disclosed expediently. Presumably, there was paperwork they would have to file. How romantic.
She would have to tell Constance, too, of course. Their relationship had improved over the past year, thanks to Jane's interventions, but they had taken a huge step back after the hit-and-run and the revelation that her mother had known that Paddy Doyle was her biological father. Constance had then chosen to convalesce outside of Boston, and their relationship had returned to the occasional strained phone call.
Maura didn't fear her mother's judgment about her sexuality. Her parents were academics and her mother was an artist, their circle of friends had always been intellectual, liberal, and very bohemian. Maura did worry that her incessant need for truth-telling would reveal that this was something Maura had known about herself since her teenage years, which she surmised might hurt Constance (and if it didn't, it might hurt Maura). She also worried that Jane, suitable enough as her daughter's best friend, would not quite thrill Constance Isles as her daughter's partner. This fact didn't change how Maura felt about Jane, far from it. But she worried for another wedge driven between herself and her mother.
It had begun to rain. Maura turned on her windshield wipers.
Angela already knew how Maura felt, which was a bit of a relief. Presumably, she suspected Jane felt the same way. Frankie and Jane didn't get their knack for detective work from their father, that was for certain. Surely Frost and Korsak had suspected something as well, as Jane had said that everyone had asked about Maura when Jane had come out. So yes, they suspected. They knew. Nonetheless, the move from theory to reality would still be a momentous shift. Although the excitement their relationship would cause did warm Maura's heart, she was overwhelmed at the idea of telling everyone, and wary of the expectations that would be heaped on her and Jane. Typically the start of a relationship is for getting to know one another privately and for copious amounts of sex. While Maura had a pretty good feeling about the latter, they'd certainly already done the former, and now they were inevitably going to rush into the part where overbearing mothers ask about grandchildren and other serious considerations had to be discussed.
All her life she'd craved family but the threat of this much of it was putting Maura on edge. Or perhaps it was the threat of losing it, again, but more permanently, if things didn't work out.
Maura exhaled slowly, and looked up at the street sign as she passed through an intersection. She'd been so lost in thought she'd barely noticed that she was already most of the way to the cemetery. She was never happy to get the call that signaled that another existence had been snuffed out, but it was a reality of life, and it was her job and she enjoyed it, morbid as that might seem to others. Today more than ever she found herself pleased to be heading towards a dead body. Every death they were called to was unique, but each was the same in one very crucial way: a crime scene was as much hers as it was Jane's. Everything else in their lives belonged to one of the two women more than the other: Maura's house, Jane's apartment, Maura's office, Jane's bullpen, Maura's morgue, Jane's cop bar. It was unsettling, perhaps, that every single person in their lives was more Jane's than they were hers. But every single crime scene was the one place in their lives that was equally theirs. Maura supposed it was only fitting it would be where they would end up first.
When she reached the cemetery, Maura saw the bustle of uniformed officers and crime scene techs, cruisers and vans. Off to the side was Jane standing next to an empty parking spot, umbrella in hand, clearly waiting for her. A heat spread through Maura's chest and for the moment, her mind settled and she became calm. She parked her car and watched through the window as Jane extended the umbrella over the driver's side of the car, ensuring not one drop of rain would fall on Maura. She opened the door and stepped out of the car.
"Jane." She flicked a glance over to the smattering of personnel and noted a few of them had eyes pointed in their direction. Their falling out had been a topic of conversation for months at BPD, and word of their détente had been making the rounds more recently. Maura wondered, briefly, if this was what being popular in high school would have been like. She gave Jane a professional smile, but allowed a teasing tone in her voice, since she could be sure that it would be something that was only for Jane. "Miss me already?"
"I wasn't sure if you'd have an umbrella," Jane offered, though she looked a little bashful. She followed Maura as she made her way around to the trunk of her car. Maura offered Jane a dubious tilt of her head.
"You know I have more than one umbrella in my car, because you often don't have one," Maura said. "You wanted to wait for me, and that's sweet." She grabbed her medical bag from the trunk but hesitated as she reached for her own umbrella, instead looking up at Jane with a smile. "But I'm happy to pretend I forgot one if you'd like to walk together."
"Isn't that like lying?" Jane chided playfully. Maura quirked her brow.
"If it's too dishonest for you, detective, I can—"
"No," Jane interrupted, and made a show of inspecting the inside of Maura's trunk. She spoke again while staring directly at two umbrellas lying side by side. "I don't see one in here," she said, louder than necessary. "Good thing I brought mine."
"Well, now you're just besmirching my good name," Maura groused as she shut the trunk of her car, turning to Jane with the slightest of pouts. She watched as Jane's eyes were immediately drawn to her lips, and Maura licked them slowly, for good measure.
"I see how it is," Jane muttered darkly, and placed her hand on the small of Maura's back. "Let's go, we've got a body to look at." She gave Maura a little shove forward, one that promised an undoubtedly disproportionate response to the tiny bit of teasing Maura had just directed Jane's way.
Maura allowed herself to be directed by Jane, even though she could clearly see in the distance the CSRU tent that had been assembled to protect the body from the rain. Part of her felt like the two of them were broadcasting the new, carnal component of their relationship to the entire world, but the absolute familiarity of Jane's hand against her lower back made it clear that this was most certainly not uncharted territory. This had been there for years: Jane holding the door open and guiding her through, Jane offering a steadying arm as Maura teetered over rocky terrain in impractical heels, Jane touching her hand while leaning forward to give both their coffee orders. Jane had been touching Maura for years, and Maura had been doing the same.
Even the flirting wasn't unfamiliar. Not even close. In fact, the only thing different was the idea that at the end of the day they might actually do something about all the touches and glances and words. Maura looked over at Jane, who already had her work place scowl on and was either oblivious or uncaring that her outside shoulder was being rained on as they walked, having positioned the umbrella such that Maura was ensured of an entirely dry journey.
Maura so enjoyed Jane's particular brand of disgruntled chivalry.
When they reached the tent, Maura offered Jane a pair of purple nitrile gloves before putting on her own. As usual, Frost had busied himself with every aspect of the crime scene that wasn't the dead body, and he waved to the women from where some techs were taking tire track impressions on the winding cemetery road. Maura looked down at the body, immediately noting the decedent's unusual pallor.
"It appears as though the body may have been exsanguinated."
"So COD is he bled out? There's absolutely no blood on the scene, must be a body dump." Jane furrowed her brow as Maura kneeled down to begin her examination.
"No one said cause of death, Jane," Maura said with an annoyed glance up at the detective, slipping into that familiar, gentle irritation like a warm bath. As always, Jane rolled her eyes. "Though it doesn't look like natural causes. Without an autopsy, I can only say for certain that this body has a lot less blood in it than it ought to. Quite a lot less. It's very odd, as there are no visible injuries. The blood loss also makes lividity significantly less pronounced but combined with rigor, it would really seem to suggest the body hasn't been moved since death. The position of the body is consistent with collapsing and the ground around him is hardly disturbed as well." Maura spoke while watching the thermometer she had inserted into the liver. "I think he's been dead about eight hours."
"So there's massive blood loss without a major injury or a big ass puddle of blood, and you think he died here," Jane said skeptically. "So what, Count Dracula got him? Sucked all his blood and laid him gently on the ground?"
Maura shrugged. "It is almost October." She made a show of leaning in to examine the deceased's carotid artery. "But no evidence to suggest traditional vampiric activity." Maura looked up at Jane with a bland expression, and watched the wheels turn in the detective's head. She had a lot of different ways of responding to Jane's sarcastic gallows humour, but her favourite was taking it dead seriously. Jane stared for a moment, then grunted irritably, but Maura knew her well enough to catch the undercurrent of pleasure at the return of their old dynamic.
"You're fucking with me," Jane said, not unhappily.
"Of course. Do you have to swear about it?" Maura offered a withering glance.
"Oh, so you get to say fu—" Jane swallowed the rest of the word as Maura stood up swiftly and looked her dead in the eye.
"That was a very context-specific use of the word. Everything has a time and place," Maura said as she looked around to see if anyone was within earshot. "And don't think I'm unaware of what you're trying to do. You're not going to rattle me at work."
Jane's eyes narrowed just slightly, and Maura realized she'd made the mistake of issuing a challenge. "Jane," she warned. "We cannot flirt over a dead body."
Jane suddenly looked exactly as she did during softball batting practice, when she saw just the pitch she wanted. She grinned. "When else are we going to do it?"
Maura pressed her lips into a thin line in an effort to look stern and to keep from smiling. "Jobs. We're doing them. Now." She lowered herself back down to the body to continue her preliminary examination.
"Okay, okay," Jane conceded, hands up in defeat as she took a quick glance around. "I just wanted to say I think we should spend tonight at my place." Jane leaned down, ostensibly to take a closer look at something on the victim. Maura was about to protest the location proposal. She didn't hate Jane's apartment, per se, but she did like the assurances that her own house offered: the guarantee of clean sheets, food in the refrigerator, a decent bottle of red, those sorts of things. Jane cut her off before she could object, her voice suddenly low and right by Maura's ear as she continued. "Because here's something there I'd like to show you." She paused for a beat. "In my nightstand."
"Oh my god, Jane." Balanced rather precariously on the balls of her feet, Maura shot out a hand to steady herself against the detective. Entirely against her will, an image of the two of them rocking together with both of Jane's hands available to touch her anywhere and everywhere flashed in her mind. Yes, Jane's apartment would be just fine. Maura swallowed hard as she composed herself and shot Jane a wrathful look, who smiled sweetly in return.
"Did I rattle you at work?"
"Yes," Maura sighed, accepting defeat.
"Fantastic. Back to business then." Jane winked and stood up to her full height, looking over at the parking lot to find her sergeant just arriving and Frost on his way over to him. "Hey, Korsak!" Her voice boomed as she strode off towards him. "Took you long enough."
The scene was processed fairly quickly. The body had left for the morgue some time ago, and Maura, Jane, Korsak and Frost all parted ways in the parking lot shortly after. Jane had given away nothing when the four of them milled about before getting into their respective cars.
Naturally, that was the first thing that Maura over-analyzed on her drive back to the precinct. It had been Jane's first opportunity to reveal the change in their status to someone, and she'd let it pass by entirely, behaving exactly as she would have prior to Doyle's shooting. Maura had no idea what it meant. Did Jane want to keep it a secret? Had she been waiting for Maura to say something? Was she disappointed that Maura didn't say something? Fortunately, Maura didn't dwell on it for too long. Unfortunately, it was only because she'd realized she'd yet to panic about when (definitely not 'if') the drastic disparity in her and Jane's finances would first rear its head in their relationship.
That thought and a dozen others occupied her mind up until the moment she pulled into her reserved spot in the Division One parking garage. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest, inhaling and exhaling slowly. This was ridiculous. All of it was ridiculous. None of these thoughts invaded her mind when she was with Jane, but as soon as they were separated, all she could suddenly think about were all the ways in which it felt like a doomed enterprise.
Maura was startled out of her thoughts by a rap on the glass of her window and she turned her head to find a curious but smiling detective pointing down at the lock of Maura's door. Maura unlocked it, and Jane opened the door.
"Hey! I thought I'd wait for you so we could—"
"Jane, you asked me what happens next and I'm not sure why I didn't say anything to Vince and Barry and I don't think I want children and Angela's going to hate me and I have no idea how to tell Constance and I really don't want to apologize again for my family's wealth and I'm so, so sorry but I really need you to own at least two more sets of bed linens."
As Maura spoke, Jane's eyes went wide and darted around the parking garage like there could be more to this ambush than just Maura's words. Maura took another deep breath, ready to unleash another barrage of anxiety, but Jane grabbed her by her shoulder and gave her a little shake.
"Whoa, hey, hold on. Slow down. What the fuck, Maur."
It was a testament to Maura's level of anxiety that she didn't say anything about the swearing and just allowed Jane to direct her up and out of the car. Perhaps it was how unusually tender the expletive sounded when delivered with Jane's softest voice. Jane grabbed Maura by each shoulder and lowered her head, trying to capture Maura's gaze, which diverted in every direction but Jane's.
"Maura, what's going on?" She finally caught Maura's eyes and resolutely locked her in. Maura stared back helplessly, but found herself relieved at the opportunity to confess her worries.
"What if it doesn't work out, Jane? We're so different. I know we're friends but it's not like you just add sex and nothing else changes. There are so many other things."
"Wow, I don't know if even I would've bet on you being the first one to freak out. That seems like a real Jane Rizzoli move."
"Jane, I'm serious."
"I am too. It's genuinely a relief that it isn't me." Jane grinned, and Maura couldn't decide whether Jane's confidence was comforting or infuriating. She frowned and looked away. Jane clicked her tongue softly and used a finger to direct Maura's face back to hers. "Those were a lot of things you just said, Maura. So, one at a time, yeah? What are you most worried about right now? And if you say it's talking to my mother about grandchildren, so help me God."
Maura laughed despite herself, and took a deep breath. "I guess telling everyone."
"Okay." Jane nodded. "Why?" "It seems so big. You said they've all been waiting for this. Last night it was just the two of us and suddenly it feels like it's the two of us and everyone else, and it's so much pressure."
"So you don't want them to know?"
"No, we have to tell them. Because of my position we have to tell Cavanaugh and file paperwork. And He can't be the first to know, that's absurd. I want them to know. I just…" Maura sighed. "I can't explain it."
"You wish they knew and it was all over with," Jane offered. Maura blinked up at her.
"Yes, exactly."
"Yeah, I can relate," Jane said dryly, and Maura realized with a fair degree of embarrassment that Jane had just gone through all this with coming out. Jane looked at her sympathetically. "I can't tell you that people aren't going to make a big deal out of it, but I can tell you it's not going to be as bad as you think it's going to be. Think about how long it took you to find out about me."
Maura had somehow not considered that. "That's a really good point."
"I know. I'm very smart. But you do want people to know, yeah?"
Maura nodded, first a bit trepidatiously, but eventually she looked up at Jane with a resolute expression. "Yes, I do."
"Okay. Well, we'll figure that out later. Right now let's get you a tea and then go do our jobs." Jane leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to Maura's forehead, and Maura nodded again, finally calm.
"Yes. Okay."
Maura allowed herself to be led into the precinct, following Jane in a bit of a daze. She wasn't quite able to believe she'd unleashed her anxiety on Jane one literal day into their relationship, but then again, what part of any of it had followed any typical timeline. She was dimly aware of Jane exchanging some pleasantries with a uniformed officer they met along their way, and before she knew it, Angela was smiling kindly and a bit suspiciously as Jane took a coffee for herself and handed Maura her green tea.
"Bye, girls. Have a good day."
"Bye, Ma."
"Goodbye, Angela."
Maura could hear how stilted her voice was. She tried to make up for it by offering what she hoped was her most normal smile, but one glance over to Jane indicated that she was not successful. Angela's suspicious expression only grew.
"What's going with you t—"
"Gotta go, Ma," Jane said quickly and herded Maura out of the cafe, and dropped her voice so only Maura could hear. "One more time: you definitely want everyone to know, right?" Maura nodded, and Jane's voice took on a determined quality. "Okay, then."
She led them out into the foyer and gently took hold of Maura's arm, turning her around so they were facing each other.
"I'm going to go check in with Cavanaugh, and then I'll be down in thirty for the autopsy, okay?"
Maura was about to respond but before she could, Jane was gently but firmly pulling her in towards her body. Maura realized it was for a kiss only a moment before it happened, and her breath caught and her blood roared as Jane pressed her lips to hers. The kiss was soft and chaste, but Jane made sure to linger long enough for Maura to recover from her shock and kiss her back, which was also long enough to ensure that everyone in the vicinity saw it happening.
As Maura came back to herself, she heard several gasps, one low whistle, and the clatter of something crashing to the ground inside the cafe, but when she opened her eyes, all she saw was Jane. Jane, with her beautiful, slightly anxious brown eyes, searching for confirmation that she hadn't just made a colossal mistake. Maura waited for the fear and the anxiety to come rushing in, but they didn't. None of her concerns were resolved but with Jane looking at her like that, every one of them seemed surmountable. It wasn't going to be easy, but it was going to be worth it. She broke out into an enormous smile and Jane offered one back.
Jane was dating a woman and it was finally the right one.
AN: That's it folks. I could keep writing about these two dorks figuring out their relationship, but the fact of the matter is that the murder investigation the fic is named after ended like six chapters ago, so it's time put this baby to bed.
If you've let a review, I really appreciate it! If you want to leave one right now, I also really appreciate it! If you're mad that it's over, I'm definitely going to write a sequel. I just will probably do it much more slowly (I wrote this in just over two months!) and I will probably write some shorter one or two shots first. I've got a lot of ideas tumbling around. Thanks for coming on this journey with me. :)
