Work Text:
Maura did love to read. That's why the bookclub the BPD gun instructor, Alexandra, invited her to was perfect.
The other bookclubs she'd been part of rarely discussed books, or even read them. They'd been a thinly veiled disguise for wine and gossip. But Alexandra's was different. She and Julie had a lot of friends, and all of them were very friendly, even to Maura, an obvious outsider. And they all read the books, every month, and actually talked about them. It was delightful. Usually there was cheese. Maura had what she was aware were strange social circles. She had her society circles, a group of acquaintances with a rigid set of social cues that were easy for her to read. And then there were the Rizzoli's, most of whom were attracted to her. Outside of those two groups, Maura had very few friends. She would call Jane her only true friend. But these women were nice. They were all affectionate with each other, the way Jane was with Maura, the way Julie was with Alexandra. And while most of them had kids, they didn't seem to mind that Maura didn't.
"When are you going to bring Jane along?" Alexandra asked in the kitchen as Maura made tea.
"It's not exactly her scene," Maura said. "She usually plays baseball on the weekends. I don't know if she's finished a book since highschool."
"Well, she's invited anyway, you know that, don't you?" Alex asked. "We always invite the partners."
"Oh, Frost is her partner. I don't have one. I work alone."
Alex gave Maura an odd look, but eventually she shrugged.
"She's welcome anyway," Alex said gently, and Maura smiled and nodded, monitoring the temperature of the water.
---
Jane did show up when Maura hosted it at her home. She walked in without knocking, as usual, and an awed hush fell over the crowd.
"Mau, I couldn't find a park," Jane whined, holding a box. "And why did you get your crate delivered to my place? You know I have stairs." Jane peeked over the top of the box she was carrying and saw a crowd of women peering back at her. "What's in this anyway, ancient bricks for an antique pizza oven?"
"It's the wrought iron leg replacements for the garden furniture," Maura said, getting to her feet and opening the back door. "There is fine, thank you."
"I didn't know you had company," Jane said quietly. "I thought you asked me over to go to the Commons."
"We will head there later, with the kids." Jane looked inside again. Alex was fairly neutral, but the rest of the crowd looked decidedly more coupley. Julie and Maura were the most feminine of the bunch. "It's my bookclub. Well, it's Alex's. We read The Well of Loneliness this month."
"I bet you did," Jane mumbled. "Why are you in a lesbian bookclub?"
"Well, Alexandra and Julie are gay," Maura said, opening the crate. Jane started unpacking it for Maura out of habit, not noticing most of the crowd watching her chivalry with admiration. "And Sam and Brooke. And Samantha and Shaw. And Myka and Helena. And... well, there's only me left. So it's not a lesbian bookclub, because I'm in it."
"Do they think you're gay?"
"They do ask about you a lot," Maura admitted. She looked inside to where everyone was watching with interest, chatter about the book having stopped completely. "You're invited but I didn't think it was something you'd like to do."
"Wait, they think I'm your..." Jane looked inside again, "your partner or something?" Jane looked panicked, unpacking quickly. "Okay whatever, it doesn't matter. Get me the toolkit and I'll swap out the legs for you. I'll come down to the park when you finish up."
"Are you sure? I could give you a hand if you wait until the afternoon."
"Nah, it's fine." Jane pulled off her overshirt, stripping down to a tank top that molded to her visible musculature. There was a gasp from the women inside the house.
"I'll make some lemonade," Maura said, wetting her suddenly dry lips with her tongue.
"Sure, grab me the tools first though, huh?" Jane turned the table over. "And the WD-40. If it's sunny enough for Bass to be out he can give me a hand."
Maura shook her head, grabbing the tool kit from under the sink and handing it to Jane before heading to the fridge to put together some lemonade. The kids were out with a nanny and would be dropped off soon, at which point the meeting would wrap up. Maura already had a picnic packed for her and Jane, and Bass followed the sound of Jane to join her in the courtyard.
---
Jane could overhear the conversation through the open door. A lot of it was around gender and sexuality and Jane wished she'd brought her earbuds with her. But since she hadn't, she could hear Maura chime in with a lot of scientific studies around binary terms and gender identity and expressions of sexuality, and she found it just as endearing as when Maura gave the same sort of scientific information around dead bodies. She smiled to herself, a thin layer of sweat coating her in the thin sunlight. She stabilised the table and set it upright, turning over a chair next, pausing for a moment to scratch Bass on his shell the way he liked. He blinked in pleasure, enjoying his bask in the sun. Maura came out then, and Jane straightened up, taking the lemonade Maura handed her thankfully. She tipped it straight down in a single gulp.
"You can wash up, we're going to head to the park soon," Maura said.
"I'm not finished," Jane complained. She hated leaving a job half done. "I can finish up here if you want to go with your friends," Jane said, sounding insecure.
"It's too nice a day to spend without you," Maura said simply, topping up Jane's glass. Jane stretched her hands. She could use a break. Maura's tools had the soft handles, so they didn't hurt as much, but Jane's hands still hurt. Jane tipped back most of the second glass of lemonade, handing it back to Maura before she turned on the tap, washing her hands, wiping the back of her neck and her brow as well. Maura watched as the drops of water caught the light, as Jane turned to smile up at her, and she drained the glass quickly with a dry mouth. "I laundered some of your clothes with mine last week. They're in your drawer. You could shower, if you'd like."
"Don't want to embarrass you in front of your new friends," Jane grinned, her white tank top damp and vaguely translucent. She patted Maura on the way past, and Maura held out a strawberry to entice Bass back inside.
---
"We should come down to the commons more often," Jane said, rubbing her hand on the blanket she was sharing with Maura. The kids of the other couples were running around with a frisbee and a kite, and Jane had played more than a few games of catch. Maura nodded and shifted, leaning back against Jane's chest. Jane propped herself up on one arm, letting the other hold Maura.
"I didn't realise they were all lesbians except me until you pointed it out," Maura said quietly. "And they probably do think we're dating. I do talk about you a lot."
"So do I," Jane said. "I'm pretty sure everyone thinks we're dating. And this probably doesn't help," Jane squeezed Maura's thigh where her hand rested. "But I refuse to stop enjoying you just because other people might judge the way we treat each other."
"You enjoy me?" Maura asked coyly, snuggling deeper into Jane.
"Of course I do," Jane said softly, letting her fingers trail over the fabric of Maura's dress, watching the kids play. "I wish we had time for kids," Jane mused. She could feel Maura stiffen against her, could feel Maura process the words.
"We?" Maura asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
"Well yeah, with my looks and your brains any kids we had would be unstoppable," Jane said, sounding comfortable and relaxed, as though she'd already thought about this before.
"What if they get my looks and your brains?" Maura teased.
"Then it's a good thing they'll be too pretty to need to worry about anything," Jane joked. "Just one thing, if we do... if I do ask you out, do I have to join the bookclub? You know books aren't really my thing."
"Oh, I think you'll like the next book. It's by Tess Gerritsen, a murder mystery."
"I do like those," Jane conceded. Her hand wandered along Maura's thigh to find her hand to hold it. She pressed a kiss against Maura's hair.
"I'm glad you joined us," Alex said to Jane, packing up her blanket and sport equipment. "They boys loved meeting you. And everyone was so curious about you."
"I'm not much of a reader, but I'm happy to play ball any day," Jane said. "You do know we aren't dating though, don't you?" Jane asked, and Alex looked down at where Maura was leaned against Jane, one of her hands in Jane's, giving Jane a dubious look. "I hadn't got around to asking her out yet," Jane mumbled, shamefaced.
Alex just smiled and shook her head.
"I guess it is a lesbian bookclub, after all," Maura mused. "Strongly sapphic leaning, at least."
"What's the next book about?"
"It's part of this series - the books are pretty dark, but they made this tv show about it, and the show has these two women that are probably going to end up dating. One of them is an ME, and the other is a Detective."
"Sounds relatable," Jane said approvingly. She stretched and stood reluctantly. "I still need to finish your patio set," Jane said, starting to pack up.
"That can wait," Maura said, smiling up at Jane. "You still haven't gotten around to asking me out yet," Maura pointed out. Jane looked around; they were surrounded by lady couples, and she nodded quickly.
"Go out with me," Jane said quickly, and Maura's brow furrowed. "Maura. Would you please... go out with me?" Jane asked, and Maura nodded, and they kissed there on the Boston Commons in the company of their lesbian bookclub.