A/N: You think Tori is in too deep? Let's have a gander at Jade...
Jade sipped on her nightly tea, coming up empty on the search for Jane Doe #201. She prayed that she didn't hit a dead end, that the case was unsolvable. Her tired blue eyes wandered over to a real estate magazine she picked up from the grocery store.
The medical examiner had been seriously considering the prospect of staying in New Orleans.
It had been a splinter in her mind ever since that conversation they had a month back.
[FLASHBACK]
"Can we talk about something?"
Jade opened her eyes and rolled to face Luanne.
"Oh, no... You're gay?"
"I'm being serious!"
She blinked and straightened her posture more. Luanne was not joking around right now.
"What is it?" Jade asked. "Is something wrong?"
"Okay, maybe I oversold it a little but...when is your...um...lease up on this apartment?"
Jade scratched her head, not sure where this conversation was going.
"Why do you ask?"
"If you weren't thinking of renewing...I could help you find a nice place in town."
"Luanne, where is this coming from?"
The older woman sat up higher and sighed.
"I figured you probably you wanted a bigger space, perhaps?
It struck Jade like a brick.
"Oh."
"I know you were supposed to be here temporarily but maybe...you could change your mind?"
Jade cleared her throat, feeling the rug had been dragged out from under her.
"I... I wasn't..."
Luanne just stared at her in haunting disappointment.
"That's what I was afraid of."
Jade began to choke up, words failing her.
"I should go," Luanne suggested in a defeated tone.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Jade pleaded. "Please, don't go!"
Luanne started dressing, leaving Jade alone in the bed.
"You knew why I was here, I never lied to you!"
She looked back at Jade with sadness in her eyes.
"I know you did, and I should have...I guess I was hoping you would rethink things."
Jade stood up, stark naked but she didn't care because her emotions were running high.
"WAIT A MINUTE! Luanne...we had a wonderful night and this morning was everything. Can't I have some time to think? I mean you only just now dropped this on me. That isn't fair."
"You're right, Jade. It's not fair to you. But it isn't fair to me either."
"So, that's it? You're breaking up with me unless I give into your ultimatum?"
"That is not..." Luanne held her forehead muttering something to herself.
Jade tilted her head.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," Luanne huffed.
"No, no, no you TELL ME."
The blonde was struggling with the zipper on her jeans, the infernal fabric getting caught in the metal teeth. Her grumbling was only intensifying with Jade's questions.
"What. Did You. Say..."
"I thought women would be easier, okay?! Is that what you want?!"
A tear fell from hurt blue eyes.
"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Jade...I need something serious...some-ONE serious. I just entered my fifties, babe! I've spent half of my life with the same person. And now...I have to start...ALL OVER again!"
The younger woman exhaled, not acquainted with how that must feel.
"Luanne, wait!"
The tall blonde stopped in her tracks.
"Can I think about this? I mean if I wanted to, there's a lot involved." Jade's eyes gave her a wry formation. "To be fair, you talk about this like the work is equal."
Luanne swallowed, understanding Jade's point. What would exactly change for her, besides feeling giddy all the time? She was talking about Jade moving her entire life across the country. The medical examiner spent her whole life in the pacific northwest and to settle here for the rest of her life was a big ask.
"You're right," she sighed, retreating from the door to leave. "I'm sorry that I just threw that all at you."
"I'm sorry I blew up," Jade smiled.
She slid her jeans back down and returned to bed.
[END OF FLASHBACK]
They made up, twice, following that argument. Jade never forgot it. It was the first time they had ever fought about something, and it was this close to falling apart.
Jade picked up the cheap advertisement last week, mostly showing apartments and rowhouses. Besides college, she had only taken residence in a house. This apartment was fine for herself for months at a time, but as a permanent home she desired more space. It wasn't like she had a lot of things; Jade just appreciated having her life fairly compartmentalized. You had this room for sleeping, this one for eating, this one for watching TV, this one for work, this one for guests, etc.
Jade couldn't help it. She had always lived in an organized manner. It was how she made it through medical school, finding clever ways to retain the books of knowledge she poured through. This thoroughness bled into her work, capturing the attention of Dr. Reynolds and others. Many medical examiners would lean on statistics and their own personal biases. Jade approached a body as if it was her first, no pretenses and no prejudices. She took the physical evidence at face value and when something didn't add up, she considered the facts and figures surrounding the victim's identity.
If someone arrived with no clear markings or injuries that she could see on the outside to make a prognosis, then Jade immediately began to literally dig deeper and inspect the organs and tissue and bones. Some autopsies took longer than others to determine. In infuriated Jade when attorneys would pressure her on the results of an examination. She detested the high-power lawyer looking for a conviction, embracing circumstantial evidence if it meant for an easy and speedy trial.
And now with this whole real estate thing, Jade felt again pressured into a quick decision.
The pale woman sighed, leaning back on her sofa while the laptop sat on the coffee table.
Her and Luanne were pretty serious, not going more than a few days not seeing each other. But something was bothering her. She figured that she harbored a little resentment from the blonde pushing the issue of moving here. But it wasn't that. It drove Jade crazy what this feeling in her gut was.
(What was it?)
She always talked with her on the phone. She came over regularly. They went to the club...
(Wait a second...)
The next night, Luanne had an early day and texted Jade that she would be over. She told the real estate agent entered with her key as Jade was in the shower. Upon hearing it, the older woman closed her eyes and sighed in disappointment.
When the sounds of the running water and the exhaust fan stopped, Jade emerged from the bathroom with her hair wrapped in a smaller towel than what was around her body. Luanne wouldn't have minded if Jade had come out stark naked, but she got understandably chilly coming out of the shower.
"Phooey!"
"What?" asked Jade.
"If I had known you'd be taking a shower now, I would have rushed over."
Jade shrugged with an even expression.
"Oh, yeah. I've been in there a while...doing some thinking."
Luanne raised a brow.
"Honey, you're going to run up that water bill doing that," she warned with a wagging finger.
"Fuck it," Jade huffed. "This place is rent controlled. Water's included."
Jade freed her drenched hair from its cotton straight jacket not that it wasn't dripping wet.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Luanne sat down on the couch, making plenty of room for her girlfriend.
"I've been craving for some soul food. How about we check out that place on...Lacombe, I think? No, that's wrong. It's...I know it's by the university!"
The older woman cleared her throat, shifting in her seat.
"That's quite a way away," she said. "Why don't we Door Dash it?"
Jade shook her head and plopped down.
"No! I want to go! They're supposed to have a great view of Lake Pontchartrain! Can you imagine? How beautiful that bridge would look at night?"
Her eyes narrowed at Luanne's body language. Jade may hang out with her share of corpses, but she was just as in tune with the living. She had honestly wanted to eat at this restaurant since she had heard about it. But she was half-prepared for a reaction like this.
And Jade really wished it hadn't.
"Why you never want to go anywhere with me?"
Wide eyes stared over at Jade from the simple question.
"I... No, I don't! We go out!"
Jade rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, to the bar we met at or the movies where it's dark. Beyond that, we just crash at my place. For fuck's sake, I've never seen your house!"
Luanne fiddled with her hair, biting her lip.
"You know..." Jade scoffed. "All of this talk about finding a place, wouldn't the simplest thing to do is have me move in with you?"
"We can't," she said, shaking her head.
Jade stood up, holding onto her towel.
"The fuck do you mean we can't! Luanne, we are hella busy with our jobs, living in different places is a waste of time. If we lived together, that's more time together, right?"
"Jade..." Luanne smiled. "I thought you valued your privacy."
Whatever friendliness that remained in Jade's face had melted away, revealing a cold stare.
"Not as much as you value yours, apparently!"
"What do you mean?" Luanne asked, resenting the accusatory tone.
The medical examiner covered her face.
"Can't believe I was so stupid. How did I not put it together before?"
"Put WHAT together?"
Jade folded her arms and started off to her room.
"Jade..."
"Don't follow me!" she shot back. "I just need to get into some clothes!"
Luanne had never been refused access to Jade's bedroom. She was truly pissed. Less than two minutes later, Jade returned in dark blue sweats, her hair still wet and stringy from the shower.
"Luanne..." she sighed, hands on her hips. "Why haven't I met any of your friends?"
"What are you talking about?" she chuckled.
Jade bit her lips, tired of the runaround.
"To review, we've only gone to Le Pomme or the movies. Or here. AND I haven't met any of your friends or anything!"
"We're adults!" Luanne smirked. "What, was I supposed to introduce you to my parents?"
She crossed her arms.
"This isn't a joke, Luanne. I need you to be honest with me."
Luanne breathed in long and measured, sitting straighter in her seat.
"Are you trying to keep me a secret?" Jade asked, pointing at herself.
"What? No!"
Jade brushed back her slowly drying hair, which got much darker in the water.
"Does anyone know about us? About me?"
Luanne was about to say something but just shook her head no.
"Is anybody aware you're currently in a relationship?"
Another head shake.
"Are you even out to anyone in your life?!"
The other woman just broke eye contact altogether.
"Oh, my god..." Jade breathed.
"Look, Jade, listen to me!" Luanne stood up on the defensive. "The reason I hadn't had you at home was that my son had been staying there while he commutes to college so he could save his money. And... sometimes I hold meetings with other agents in the area..."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait! You have a SON?"
Luanne's doe eyes popped out.
"Jesus Christ!" Jade huffed, tugging at her hair. "You never told me!"
"I'm so sorry, I was going to but then you'd want to probably meet him and... he wouldn't understand..." Luanne gestured between them. "...THIS."
Jade was visibly shaking, holding up her hand to ward off Luanne when she attempts to advance one step toward her.
"You've been lying from the start!" she said, her voice breaking. "Three months! You just forgot to mention your adult son in three months? We talked about everything! FUCK, you knew everything about ME!"
Luanne just stood there, on the edge of tears.
"I mentioned you to the closest people in my life back home," Jade spat. "And you know what? There were HAPPY for me!"
"Now, hold on, Jade!" she pointed back. "I'm sure you're all progressive back home, but here it's... different."
Jade's eyes widened.
"Don't give me that! This town has a whole ass gay scene. We didn't exactly fall out of the fucking sky!"
"My family comes from old money, Jade!" Luanne explained. "They already gave me shit for being a damn divorcee. What do you think they would say if I was..."
"What?" scoffed Jade. "A lesbian? You're at least bisexual!"
She wandered over to the counter separating the living room from the kitchen. Jade needed to lean on something and the person who was supposed to be the one to lean on had basically betrayed her.
"And to think you gave me a hard time with this moving to town bullshit, guilt tripping me about commitment when you wouldn't commit to your fucking self!" Jade slammed her fist on the counter, clearly hurting herself but she soldiered through the pain. "I am not going to uproot my entire life so that I could be your plaything in a glass cage! Just take me out when you want a fun ride, like I'm a goddamn boat!"
Jade shuddered, caught between the warring nations of anger and sorrow.
"I have felt like shit for weeks, thinking I wasn't giving it my all and this whole time I've been separate from your whole life. WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?"
Luanne released a single tear, clamping down on her mouth. She didn't say anything and just grabbed her purse and coat. She paused at the front door.
"Jade, I..."
The medical examiner looked away from the blonde.
She sighed and left her copy of the apartment key on the small table and left, closing the door behind her.
Jade finally let her rage go like the air in a balloon and succumbed to her sadness. She gripped the counter, holding on until her strength depleted and she sunk to the cold kitchen floor. Jade remained there for the rest of the evening in the fetal position, sobbing until exhaustion gave way to sleep.
A/N: Jade thought she had something real, but it wasn't what it seemed.
Can't say Tori is faring any better in the romance department.