“She’s doing your damn laundry and you won’t even talk to her.” Jane continued her self-inflicted vitriol, “If you were any sort of friend, you’d talk to her. Hell, if you were any sort of person you’d tell her she’s done nothing wrong.” Jane slammed the drawers closed. “But you’re not, you don’t deserve her friendship. You’re nothing!” Jane turned and froze.

Maura stood in the doorway, her hazel eyes glistening with unshed tears.
Jane fought herself, everything telling her to run away from the loving gaze that fixed her in place yet she remained, unable to move either her feet or her gaze. Those warm hazel eyes that looked into her soul knew her better in that instant than she knew herself. Maura didn’t judge, didn’t condemn or assume.

Maura had been standing in the kitchen when she heard Jane get up. She was about to start making Jane breakfast when the brunettes shouting stopped her. She knew it was rude to eavesdrop but Jane left her little choice in the matter, her words ricocheting off the walls like lost bullets. She abandoned the breakfast and padded down the hall to check on her friend.

“You’re nothing.” Jane’s words hung between them in the air, a macabre decoration in the emptiness that had opened up between them.
Now Jane stood before her, her unruly hair dancing back and forth in time with the detective’s breathing, her dark eyes betraying everything she hadn’t been able to say to her face. Maura watched as Jane foughtvaliantly to hold herself and her emotions together, all the while never losing that eye contact. As Jane’s resolve started to break, Maura crossed the room slowly, reaching out and wrapping the other woman in a hug, her fingers caressing the nape of Jane’s neck as the brunette sank into the embrace, the relief oozing from her.

“You’re not nothing.” Maura whispered, guiding the shaking detective to the bed. “You’re a complex mix of bone, flesh, cartilage and blood; comprised of nitrogen, carbon, nitrogen….” She paused as she felt Jane’s shoulders rocking. Pulling away, she brushed dark hair from darker eyes and smiled. Despite the tears that she saw there, Jane was grinning at her.
 While her walls and world crashed around her, Jane realised that everything she needed to stay grounded was right here in her arms. She sat in the midst of her emotional hurricane and laughed at the ever present and ever sobering walking Wikipedia, a vision of immaculately presented knowledge and understanding that, despite her actions, had remained at her side.