DISCLAIMER: Rizzoli & Isles and its characters are the property of Tess Gerritsen, Janet Tamaro and TNT television network.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Something more serious to read in the R&I universe. Thanks to Pandora007 for her help and for being my all. And thank you, readers, for reading. Where would we, the pickers and pounders of keyboards be without you?
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Don't Pressure Me
By The Raven
Beer was in fact good. Doctor Maura Isles found herself quite surprised to discover this little fact of life.
How she had managed to get through college without finding out was a mystery that even Detective Jane Rizzoli would probably never solve. However, right now Maura was content to simply observe her friend as the woman in question sat across the table from her.
Jane smiled her shy smile at Maura and really, Maura again had the thought where she could not imagine how it was that Jane was still single. The dark haired detective was beautiful, in both conventional and unconventional ways and she was witty, intelligent and charming.
Never mind that she had heart.
"What are you thinking about?" Jane asked, seeming to take note of Maura's woolgathering.
"We need another beer." Maura commented, holding up her empty beer bottle and nodding at her friend.
Jane waved her hand at the server and in very short order two more beers appeared at their table and Maura was once more able to focus on her friend and on her thoughts.
"I know you were not thinking about beer." Jane said after Maura had taken a sip of her fresh beer.
Laughing, Maura found that she wanted to reach over and touch Jane's hand; she wanted to hold it and pull Jane closer over the tabletop and look into her friend's endless dark eyes.
Curling her other hand around her beer to quash this impulse, Maura shook her head delicately.
"You're right. I am not thinking about beer, though this beer is very good." Maura said, earning another smile from Jane for her admission.
"So, spill." Jane pressed, relaxing in the booth across from her.
"I was thinking about you." Maura said before she could stop herself.
Had she meant to say even that much?
Too late now.
"About me?" Jane asked, raising a dark eyebrow and putting her beer back down on the table.
There was a drop of the amber liquid resting just on the edge of her bottom lip and Maura found herself desperately wanting to know just exactly what that beer tasted like specifically. Actually the beer was of no consequence, it was Jane's lips that Maura wanted to taste.
Sometimes she felt like Jane had similar thoughts about her, but the whole thing was a little unclear, muddled. Maura figured that they would work it out before too long, though. They had to, all the signs were there after all and Maura was rarely, if ever wrong about this sort of thing.
"Yes, you." Maura said, finally giving in to the pressure of Jane's inquiry.
Her friend leaned forward and Maura felt herself twitch mentally as the clean lines of Jane's neck were augmented by the movement.
"Care to share?" Jane asked, sounding serious all of a sudden.
Feeling a bit put on the spot Maura considered her options. Jane was very persistent and would easily figure out a way of getting the information out of Maura in the end, so why delay?
"I was wondering why you are still single." Maura finally said, unsure of how her friend would react.
"Not you too?" Jane said, sounding exasperated.
That was not the answer that Maura had been expecting. "What?" She asked for clarification.
"My mother was just on my case about this in the morning. I wish she would stop pressuring me about it and just let me live my life." Jane elaborated as she took a sip of her beer.
"Oh. No, well. I was just wondering in a more intellectual way." Maura offered.
It was of course rubbish. While it may have been that she had an intellectual interest in Jane, her primary interest was physical, emotional, mental.
"Intellectual?" Jane ventured, sounding sceptical.
"Well, you said you never wanted kids the other day, so I was just I guess wondering about the details of you." Maura decided that she was not used to drinking beer, it seemed to be loosening her tongue in the most unacceptable ways.
"Oh." Jane replied after a moment, seeming to realise that Maura was not going to nag, rather she was just curious.
"Do you want kids?" Jane asked, switching the focus around.
"Someday." Maura said without hesitating.
Though she could not envision kids in her life right now, she could easily do so in the future. "You'd make a good mother." Jane murmured softly.
Now there was an interesting statement and somewhat unexpected as well. "So would you." Maura offered by way of reply.
Jane waved her hand to dismiss Maura's words and made as if to say something. Maura was not going to sit idle while Jane tore into herself, though.
"You would, Jane." Maura said, and this time she did give in and reach out to grab Jane's hand into her own.
The dark haired woman stopped moving for a fraction of a moment, seeming to be caught by surprise by Maura's act. It only took a moment, though and Jane was holding hands back with Maura and looking directly into her eyes.
Whoa...
Maura fought the dizziness that suddenly threatened to overwhelm her as those soulful eyes seemed to stare directly into her soul. Jane for her part seemed to be quite happy to stare unblinkingly into Maura's eyes.
There was definitely something here, but what exactly was it?
"It would have to be with the right person and at the right time for me to even consider it." Jane finally said, breaking eye contact and reaching for the beer that was sweating away on the table in front of her.
Maura blinked herself back to reality. Whoa indeed.
"Of course. That goes without saying." Maura waved her hand as she spoke and turned her attention back towards her own beer.
She definitely liked beer, but she somehow had a feeling that she would only like beer when she was sharing it with Jane. Maybe it was the company that made beer awesome, maybe.
"I don't really see myself with anyone. That's part of the problem." Jane said after a while in which a plate of nachos had been delivered.
Jane had assured Maura that it was a critical part of drinking beer, one had to eat corn chips smothered in cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. It was apparently compulsory. Maura would have to do some research to see if this was in fact the case but for now she was content to experience yet another new thing.
"I take it your mom is not really so understanding about what it takes to be a cop." Maura said after taking a bite of the nachos and deciding that Jane was right; this was critical and delicious to boot.
Her friend laughed sardonically before making her own grab at the food. "No. I mean I know she only wants what is best for me but really. The reality is that my life, our lives. As in the sort of work you and I do does not exactly leave much time for the warm and fuzzies of life." Jane said with a sigh.
It was true.
Being a cop, or in the legal profession and being female was already demanding enough, add family and then it became a real minefield of emotions, guilt, expectation and gender issues.
"You just need to find the right person." Maura said after watching Jane dissect the nachos with the precision of a surgeon as she looked for the good bits.
The dark haired detective tipped a cheese smothered chip at Maura. "Yep." She chewed out, amusing Maura with the gesture.
"You really think I'd make a good mother?" Jane asked after some more munching and drinking of beer had occurred.
"Of course." Maura said without any hesitation.
"Thanks." Jane smiled brilliantly at her when she said the words and Maura again felt light headed.
This was becoming more than simply a crush, this feeling that she had for Jane and right now the way Jane was looking at her, the intensity of the dark gaze held Maura captive in her thoughts. "We could be moms together." Jane said suddenly, her face brightening.
"What?" Maura almost spluttered.
"Yeah, you know. Our kids could grow up together." Jane said excitedly, her hands becoming animated as she spoke and Maura could not help but be swept up in her enthusiasm.
"And the fathers of the kids?" Maura asked after a few moments.
"The what? Oh, the fathers." Jane paused in her animated discussion of the perfect future where little Jane and Maura juniors played together. "Who cares about the fathers." Jane finally said, obviously not wanting to interrupt her train of thought and Maura almost laughed out loud.
Jane waggled her eyebrows at her and now Maura actually did laugh out loud and Jane looked very pleased with herself. Almost too pleased with herself, actually.
Maura wadded up her napkin and threw it at her friend who expertly caught it and threw it back. Maura fumbled with her catch and Jane just laughed some more. "You're such a girl sometimes." The brunette said with a smile and reached for more nachos.
Smiling, Maura lifted her hand and waved at the server. It seemed like they were going to be here for a while still and so they were going to need more beer.
The End