Jane entered the bullpen to the disquieting experience of several lively conversations immediately dying.
It was, unfortunately, not an unfamiliar experience for her.
Her first few weeks back after her initial confrontation with Hoyt had resulted in the same phenomenon almost every time she stepped into a room, and the subsequent encounters had always resulted in repeat performances, because there was always someone new who hadn't heard the full story yet. At least this time t wasn't about something so fucking depressing. She slowed to a stop as numerous pairs of eyes looked furtively in her direction, while two sets of furious ones bore down on her.
News certainly did travel fast. Jane tried to play it cool as she resumed walking and made her way across the room.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen." She nodded once in the direction of each of the two men staring daggers.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Frost imitated in a high pitched, sing-song voice. "Is that what you have to say for yourself?"
"Okay, hold on now." Jane held up a finger as she dropped herself into her chair, scowling over Frost's falsetto. "I absolutely deserve to get dragged, but I won't stand for such an inaccurate impression. If anything, my voice is deeper than yours."
"Accurate impressions are reserved for partners who tell each other big life-changing news before they can find out about it from fucking Diane. Back me up, Korsak." Frost leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, still glaring at Jane. She sighed and flicked a glance to her sour-faced sergeant who typically took any opportunity possible to team up on Frost.
"You too?" Jane asked.
"I'm with the kid one thousand percent," Korsak grumbled while aggressively sorting a stack of papers on his desk. Frost looked from the older man back to Jane. He clearly recognized how big of a victory it was for the two men to agree on anything, particularly in opposition to Jane, and he smugly tilted back his head.
"See? You can't just play us for fools like that," Frost said.
Jane did her best to look cowed by the pair of them but privately found herself enormously pleased that the two men had something to unite them, even if that something was her betrayal. Korsak had been a real jerk to Frost when the young detective became Jane's partner, and while they'd already come quite a ways since then, having this to bond over surely couldn't hurt. She glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping too closely and was relieved to find that her reputation was still fearsome enough to buy her a wide berth in the bullpen. She turned back towards Frost and Korsak.
"I'm really sorry, guys," Jane said, and she truly was genuinely contrite. She didn't exactly think things all the way through when she decided the best way to announce her relationship was by kissing Maura next to the metal detectors in the lobby. "It really only just happened and then we got called to the scene this morning before we had a chance to discuss when and how we'd tell people. But then…uh, things got decided, I guess, and we just wanted to blow the lid off the thing as quickly as possible. Not my first choice for how to do it but…" She shrugged.
"Well mission accomplished on that one, Jane," Korsak said with a devious look. "And I'd really be madder at you but—" and he tilted his head at the disposable coffee cup on his desk, "—I just saw Angela downstairs and I think you're in for enough as it is."
"Oh yeah," Frost confirmed enthusiastically, narrowing his eyes at Jane in satisfaction. "Mama Rizzoli was heated."
Jane groaned at the reminder of the fate awaiting her. She had suspected as much but now knew with certainty that her mother had seen the kiss. In an effort to avoid her, Jane had darted for the stairwell as soon as the elevator doors closed on Maura, certain that Angela Rizzoli was about to descend on her if she stood in that lobby one second longer. After that, her mother would need to be signed in to get to the basement or the bullpen, so Jane knew both she and Maura were safe for now.
She unclipped her phone from her belt and checked her notifications. She was now up to 26 unanswered text messages from her mother. The vibrations from her text alert had become so constant Jane was barely aware of them anymore. The absence of an incoming text would probably be more noticeable.
"Yeah, I think she might kill me. You guys want to go to the Robber after work for my last night on earth? Drinks are on me. Every last one of them." Jane offered a smile she was certain was both charming and repentant.
Korsak perked right up at the mention of free drinks. Frost smirked, leaning across his desk to point a threatening finger at Jane. "Oh, partner. You're going to have to borrow money from your girlfriend to cover this tab, because I am drinking top shelf tonight."
Jane rolled her eyes and made sure that not one ounce of the pleasure she got from hearing Maura referred to as her girlfriend appeared on her face. "Perfect. Sounds great. I'll re-mortgage my condo if I have to. Now can we get to work? We've got a weird one on our hands."
"I'm so glad you two still make time for talking about cases when you're down there," Frost sniped playfully. "Lay it on us."
Jane would have taken more offense to her professionalism being insulted except truth be told, she really had wasted a fair bit of company time flirting. She cleared her throat. "Alright, so, final determination on COD is of course pending the autopsy, but I got Maura to admit that she thinks he bled out. The weird part is that the only wound he has is the injection site for a blood donation, and she thinks he might be missing as much as half his blood…"
Jane continued with all the information Maura had given her. How long it would take, how it couldn't happen by accident, that there was no evidence of the victim being restrained, the fact it most certainly was done by a medical professional. As she spoke, she watched Frost's face screw up in disgust as he processed the implications of what Jane was telling him. As usual, it all ended with Frost looking sick.
"So it definitely didn't happen by accident?" Korsak asked. Jane couldn't help but notice he was giving the younger detective a pass on looking so nauseated.
"That was my first question, too. Maura said no chance. Waiting on results from AFIS, hopefully he's in the system, but until then all I can think of is checking to see if any blood donation equipment has been reported stolen from anywhere."
Frost nodded along with Jane. "Yeah, not much else we can do now. I spoke with the groundskeeper at the cemetery, he'd never seen this guy before in his life. I've got some boots running his picture around to some funeral homes to see if he's an employee or something, but there weren't any recent burials so I doubt that's going to produce a lead."
"Yeah," Jane sighed. "Not a lot to go on right now." She chewed on her bottom lip as something occurred to her and she glanced at her watch. "You think you're okay without me for the afternoon? Not much to do until after the autopsy and I gotta take care of something. Technically I was supposed to take a half day today."
Korsak gave his permission by way of a disinterested shrug. Jane had literal dozens of unused days and it probably made his life easier if she actually took one once in a while. Frost raised an eyebrow curiously but didn't pry.
"Sure, partner. What should we say if the missus comes by?"
Jane rolled her eyes.
"I'll handle that."
"Okay, we have some scores to settle." Frost pulled several sheets of folded paper from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and started unfolding them on the tabletop of their usual booth at the Dirty Robber.
The group had just finished discussing the results of Maura's autopsy, which had provided no additional information beyond what had been initially suspected: death by exsanguination. They still didn't have an ID, no hits in AFIS, DNA and toxicology results pending. It meant an usually relaxed first evening after catching a body and Frost had come prepared.
"What the hell are you—are those spreadsheets?" Jane's eyes quickly scanned the pages and even upside down she saw enough words to provide context. The names of every person she knew at work and a lot of people she didn't were all over them. "Everyone was betting on if we'd get together?"
Jane looked up at the men across from her, then over to Maura. Maura's eyes went wide and she pulled one of the sheets over to herself to take a closer look. Frost scoffed loudly.
"No one was betting on if you'd get together. There was no one in the precinct stupid enough to bet that you wouldn't. All of this," and Frost waved theatrically at the printed out sheets, "is about how and when you'd get together."
Jane was getting ready to go apoplectic but before she could let Frost know exactly what she thought of this whole godless endeavor, Maura was cutting in.
"Can you explain this one to me, Barry?" Maura did not seem offended by the betting, only confused by the exact mechanics of it. Jane's mouth, already open to protest, snapped shut. Maura looked inquisitively at Frost, her forehead creased in thought, and in that moment Jane wasn't sure if she should soften her stance about the gambling or be doubly offended to account for the both of them.
Maura tapped one slender finger on the sheet in front of her. "Days of the week on one axis and months of the year on the other, and everyone's name is filled in on the intersecting graph points? How exactly does it relate to Jane and me becoming involved?"
"Oh my god," Jane groaned and pulled the spreadsheet over to her for a closer look. She'd been to enough Super Bowl parties to understand how a grid like this worked. She glared across the table at Frost, who bit his lower lip and tried to restrain his grin. "It's them betting on what calendar day we'd get together. You buy a square and then it's winner takes all. That's why everyone else's names are on it, those are their bets."
"Oh!" Maura sounded delighted, as she always did when she learned something new. Jane waited impatiently for the larger implications of all of this to resonate with Maura but it didn't seem to be happening. The doctor took a sip from her wine glass and placed her finger against one of the squares on the grid, looking to either axis. "So if you buy this one you get every Saturday in July?" She looked up at Frost, who confirmed with a nod. "That's a clever little game."
"Maura," Jane said wearily. "Please. You're basically giving tacit approval. They were gambling about our private business!"
In response to that Maura scrunched up her nose, as if to finally acknowledge that it was all perhaps a bit distasteful, and went back to examining the spreadsheets. Jane took a long swig of beer and looked at her partner with naked annoyance.
"Frost, how much was a square?"
The young detective was having the time of his life. Frost was completely unaffected by Jane's sour expression—if anything, it encouraged him.
"A mere twenty bucks."
"Jesus Christ," Jane said, looking back down at the sheet, trying in vain to do some quick and dirty math. "That's got to be hundreds of dollars for the winner."
Frost's delight only grew. "Actually, it's—"
"1680 dollars," Maura interrupted and Jane gaped at the amount. "Minus their initial wager, of course. I see some people have purchased multiple squares. Vince, why did you buy so many Mondays in the summer?"
Korsak shrugged. "Well I saw the board a little late and all the good days were taken." He shot an accusatory look at Frost, who rolled his eyes. "But the Sox are usually off on Mondays and I figured it's as good a guess as any. She'd be looking for something to do."
"Looking for something to do?" Jane bellowed. It was too much. Jane was nearly incandescent at the implication of the statement. "Korsak. Holy Christ. Are you honestly suggesting my thought process would be something like 'oh damn no Sox game tonight, I guess I'll confess my love to Maura'?"
At that last comment, everyone went still and Jane realized one second too late what she'd just revealed. Jane watched as both men looked to Maura to see if this was how the doctor was finding out but her face revealed nothing. Korsak was the first to break the silence.
"Uh, love, Janie?" His voice was gruff but there was the slightest warble to the sergeant's voice. He cleared his throat, trying to clear the emotion with it. Jane groaned loudly, folding her arms on the table before she buried her head into them. Somehow this was ten times worse than when she told everyone she was gay. Maura rubbed her back sympathetically and then clarified on Jane's behalf.
"Well, of course it is. But don't worry, gentlemen, I already knew. That was established last night."
"Please stop," Jane moaned helplessly, her voice muffled with her face still pressed against the table. Maura squeezed her shoulder and Jane turned her head to the side. She kept her head pressed against her arms, but she could now see Maura, just Maura, who gave her the softest, most beautiful smile. Suddenly Jane was having one of those moments that had happened to her so frequently lately, the ones where she couldn't figure out how it took so long, how she'd seen Maura nearly every day for years and hadn't tripped over herself at the very sight of her. Basking in the warmth of that smile, Jane couldn't care less who knew or what bets had been made or how many minor fortunes had been won or lost over the facts of their relationship. She'd shout about it from the roof of the precinct if it meant being looked at like that every day. She raised her head and looked back at Frost and Korsak.
"Yeah, it's love," Jane said as nonchalantly as she could muster and sat back up. Maura's hand dropped from Jane's shoulder to the bench they were seated on and Jane reached for it, entwining their fingers under the table.
"Gross." Frost smiled happily. "But there's a lot of money at stake here so while I'm super thrilled for you, what I actually need is some clarity. Did this officially start last night?"
Jane opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated. She instead turned to Maura again, who tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Well, that wasn't when we first kissed. But I'd say it's when it became real," Maura said and Jane blushed at the memories. Frost made a retching noise and reached over to pull the grid back over to his side of the table. "Okay, so it was a Thursday in September. And the lucky winner is…" Frost scanned the sheet quickly. "Judith!"
Jane perked up. "The cleaning lady? Okay, that's fine then. At least the money is going to a good home."
Korsak leaned over Frost's shoulder, inspecting the grid. He let out a barking laugh. "Impeccable timing, ladies. Detective Crowe had Wednesdays and Stanley had Fridays."
Jane felt a squeeze of her hand and looked to Maura who was trying to hold back a grin. Jane was certain Maura was thinking the same thing she was—Jane had lost her nerve on Wednesday night and while it had certainly upset Maura at the time, at least now it had a silver lining.
Frost cleared his throat to get their attention back. "A few more things to settle up here, I'm afraid."
"Oh dear god," Jane groused.
"Fire away," Maura said good-naturedly, at the exact same time.
Jane marvelled a little that the same woman who had freaked out on her in the parking garage that morning was now taking the giant, lucrative office pool about their inevitable coupling in stride. Jane gave up on fighting it and leaned back in the booth, gesturing grandly for Frost to continue.
"Who made the first move?" Frost asked.
"Okay, well that was me. I kissed her," Jane answered confidently, perhaps a little proudly.
Maura made a dissenting noise. Jane shot her a look.
"What? I did! I kissed you first."
Maura sighed and somehow this was the most annoyed she'd looked all evening.
"Jane, I quite literally begged you to do it."
That intimate little detail was mentioned so matter-of-factly that everyone at the table except for Maura turned red. Frost cleared his throat aggressively and took a long drink of beer. Jane, meanwhile, couldn't help the thoughts that immediately filled her head at the mention of begging.
"I'm going to get another round," Korsak jumped up from the booth like it was on fire while Frost stared down unwaveringly at the spreadsheet in front of him. Maura merely shrugged.
"Well, I did. And it certainly wouldn't have happened if I hadn't." She gave Jane a long look, her eyes darkening. She then wet her lips and smiled mischievously. "So I want the credit."
Jane was now desperate to get Maura back to her apartment, to put her hands on her and this whirlwind day behind them. She pulled in a very slow breath and spoke to her partner in a low voice.
"She's right, Frost. Check Maura off for the first move. And if you tell anyone about this conversation, the next murder we're going to be investigating is yours."
Frost had managed to shame them into one more drink and several more mild to moderately humiliating answers by once again bringing up the indignity of finding out about Jane and Maura's relationship from Diane. During the course of the questioning, Jane found out that Frankie had bet Frost that Jane would almost screw it up before it even started, and Maura very reluctantly confirmed that to be the case. Jane was mad at Frankie for betting against her and Frost was mad that he'd made the mistake of believing in Jane.
When Jane finally got them out of the bar, she tried to rush them back to her apartment as quickly as she could. This involved fending off several advances from a just slightly inebriated Maura, but Jane eventually got her to agree to keep her hands to herself in the interest of avoiding a public indecency charge. Maura saw the sense in that and they were soon outside Jane's apartment door, where Jane found herself hesitating.
She wasn't having second thoughts, things were way beyond that. It was only that something about coming back to her apartment with Maura solidified the whole thing as very, very real and Jane simply needed a moment.
"Jane." Maura's voice was both suggestive and laced with mild warning. She was standing behind Jane and she snaked her arms around Jane's waist to give her belt buckle an impatient tug, her lips pressing against the back of Jane's neck as she spoke. "You really need to open that door."
Powerless against such a compelling argument, Jane took a deep breath and did just that. Maura released her hold on her and they both stepped through the threshold, with Jane taking a step to the side to let Maura move further into the apartment first. Jane flicked on the lights and Maura stopped in her tracks.
"Oh wow," Maura said. "It's so…clean."
There was barely disguised wonder in Maura's voice and Jane tried not to take offense to the fact that her apartment being tidy was worthy of so much shock that a very persistent Maura had been so swiftly sidetracked from her seduction-in-progress. Granted, it had been a long time since it was quite this clean in Jane's home. After Jane had cut out of the precinct for the afternoon, she stopped at a couple stores before rushing home to clean as fast as she ever had and in contrast to her tendency to shove unfolded laundry into her credenza or sweep everything on the counter into a drawer, she'd actually tried to do a good job.
"Yeah, uh…I stopped here for a bit before the Robber." Jane watched as Maura moved further into the apartment, making no effort to hide her inspection as she ran a fingertip along a very recently dusted surface. She rubbed her index finger against her thumb and offered a hum of approval. When Maura got to the kitchen, she picked up the bottle of wine that was on the counter and inspected the label before throwing a surprised glance over her shoulder.
"So that was why you told me to meet you at the Robber instead of coming upstairs?"
Jane merely shrugged, trying to appear cool and casual but her heart was racing. She'd been a hell of a lot calmer the night before, which didn't make any sense. That had been the big move. She'd gone out with confidence and claimed both Maura's heart and her body, but something about having Maura in her mediocre little one bedroom apartment instead of a swanky hotel suite hammered home that this was a woman she'd have to prove she deserved.
"You didn't have to do this, Jane," Maura said, as if reading her thoughts. She continued further into the kitchen and opened the door to the fridge. A hand fluttered to her collarbone at the sight of fresh groceries and she looked back at Jane in what appeared to be total astonishment. Jane felt unbearably exposed by how obvious it was that she'd put a lot of effort into preparing and also very awkward about standing so far away from each other. It took her just a few long strides to meet up with Maura in the kitchen and pull her into her arms.
"I did, though. But I gotta say it makes me feel some type of way that you're so moved by me cleaning up after myself and having unexpired food," Jane said roughly. Maura laughed as she wound her arms around Jane's neck.
"It's not quite like that," Maura murmured as she pressed a kiss against Jane's cheek before drawing back to look at her curiously. "I'm just surprised you managed all this today."
Jane tightened her arms around Maura in response. Something gnawed at the pit of her stomach. She didn't like that any of this was a surprise, concerned that it meant Maura had low expectations for her.
"I'm not planning on taking anything for granted, Maura," she said seriously, then hesitated a moment before continuing. "This might be the most important thing I ever do."
Maura's eyes flashed with some sort of wildness as she made a noise deep in her throat and pulled Jane down for a heated kiss. Jane had wondered for a moment if she was being too earnest but Maura's reaction assured her otherwise. They kissed long and deep and Maura tangled her hands in Jane's hair to keep her close.
"God, was that ever the exact right thing to say," Maura sighed when they came up for air, her voice a little desperate. Jane pressed her mouth to Maura's throat and Maura threw her head back, breaths coming raggedly as Jane's lips and teeth carved a path through the dips and valleys created by the muscles and tendons of her neck. Maura dropped her hands to Jane's chest and grabbed fistfuls of Jane's shirt, pulling her up for another urgent kiss.
"Were you worried?" Jane asked raspily when they broke apart again. "I didn't think I was exactly hiding how I'm feeling."
"I don't think worried is quite right. There are just moments where I've felt…unmoored." Maura rested her forehead against Jane's. Jane gripped her securely, nearly as if to prevent her from drifting away. She felt silly responding so literally to Maura's words, but her embarrassment melted away when she felt Maura squeeze her back before continuing. "So much has changed, especially just the last day. It doesn't feel possible that it could be this easy. To have you. To love you. Three weeks ago we weren't even speaking to each other. Just last weekend we were at Sunday dinner and you were there with someone you were dating and now…" Maura shook her head and pulled back just enough to look at Jane.
"Now what?"
"Now you're doing everything right," Maura said softly. Jane frowned. Doing everything right sounded pretty good to her and she searched Maura's face carefully, trying to figure out exactly why that had her on tilt.
"And that's scary?"
"It's terrifying, Jane. How are you not afraid?"
"How am I not—Maura." Jane looked at her incredulously. "Of course I'm afraid. You think I ran around doing errands and buying new sheets and getting groceries because I think this is a sure thing? I've been looking at you all night and wondering how it's possible that this is real. I'm the one that should be worried, not you."
"You got new sheets?" Maura peered behind her to the door of the bedroom.
"Oh my god," Jane grumbled and took firm hold of Maura's chin to direct her face back towards her own. "Tell me that's not the only part you heard."
Maura looked appropriately guilty. "Sorry. Wow, you're right. I just…I've never seen you change for anyone."
"This is different," Jane said simply, almost helplessly, and then Maura's lips were on hers again, hungry and possessive.
"Show me, Jane," Maura said breathlessly and nipped at Jane's jaw as her hands slipped down to take firm hold of her belt. She pulled their bodies flush and rocked her hips against Jane. "Show me how it's different. I believe you, but convince me anyway. Take me to bed and press me down into those new sheets and show me."
Maura was painting a hell of a picture but somehow Jane found herself frozen in place, mouth open and head empty. For her part, Maura was flushed and hazy-eyed and looking deeply pleased at the effect she was having on Jane. Her hand found Jane's and she threaded their fingers together, taking a few steps backwards towards the bedroom, tugging Jane along until she finally put one foot in front of the other.
"Come with me," Maura said softly. "You'll see why you have nothing to worry about."