Hankering: Extended Version

There was some interest from readers in seeing a continuation my story Hankering. I really like leaving the original as a one-shot but I did have some thoughts on continuing. So this is the continuation which I decided to make a separate story. There will be at least a few more chapters. You can read the original chapter here: Add /s/7401594/1/Hankering onto fanfiction net

Disclaimer: Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles do not belong to me. No infringement intended and no profit will be made from their use.

Jane parked her car outside of Maura's house. Before leaving work she had tried to get in touch with Maura and see if she wanted to do something this evening. Maura hadn't responded to a voice message and several text messages, which was unusual, and Maura hadn't mentioned any plans for the evening. So instead of going home after work, Jane decided to swing by Maura's house and make sure everything was okay.

As Jane was parking in a space on the street she noticed a woman leaving the area around Maura's house. Jane didn't recognize her and thought maybe she was wrong and the woman wasn't leaving Maura's but a neighbor's house.

Jane knocked on Maura's front door. As Maura opened the door, Jane heard her saying, "Did you forget something?" And then upon seeing Jane, Maura said, "Oh my god, Jane, what are you doing here?" Maura quickly tried to cover herself. She was still wearing only her bra and underwear.

Jane stepped quickly inside the house and closed the door. "Jesus, Maur, why are you answering your door almost naked?"

Maura had moved to the couch where her shirt was still laying on the couch. She picked it up and put it on. "I thought you were going to be someone else?"

"Who did you think it was going to be?"

Maura busied herself her blouse. "Is there some reason you're here?" Maura tried to ignore Jane's question because she knew there was no way she was going to be able to answer it nor was she going to be able to lie. She realized her own question probably sounded harsh to Jane. But that was nothing compared to how Jane would feel if she found out who her visitor really was.

"Was it the woman I saw leaving?" Jane asked.

Maura's head snapped up. "What? You saw her leaving?"

"Yeah. Who was she? Why didn't you have any clothes on when she was here?"

This was an unmitigated disaster. Jane was never going to let this go unless Maura could come with a good explanation, which was going to be impossible. Maura couldn't even come up with a half-truth that would explain it without including crucial pieces of information, but she couldn't think of anything.

Jane saw Maura sway and her eyes flutter and she realized that Maura was going to pass out. In a flash Jane was by Maura's side and awkwardly catching her by the shoulders before she hit the ground. Maura was still out so Jane scooped her up in her arms, which was also awkward given that Maura still wasn't wearing pants. Jane laid Maura on the couch, propping her head up with two pillows.

Jane then went into Maura's bedroom to find something to cover Maura up with. She found a throw blanket and returned to the living room and draped it over Maura's legs. Jane went to the kitchen and filled a glass with water. When she returned with the water, Maura's eyes were open.

"What happened?" Maura asked slightly confused.

"You fainted. Here's some water."

Maura looked at the blanket across her bare legs. "How long was I out?"

"Only a minute. I just thought you might want to be more covered," Jane said following Maura's line of sight. "I caught you before you hit the ground and moved you to the couch. I don't think you should have hurt anything."

"Thank you."

Jane sat down in the chair next to the couch. "Look, you obviously don't want to talk about whatever was going on tonight because you passed out, I'm guessing because you were trying to think of a lie to tell me. So I won't press you about it. Although you're my best friend and I hope you know you can tell me anything. I'll leave and give you some space, although I want to make sure you are okay before I go."

"I'm fine now, really."

Jane waited silently to see if Maura would choose to elaborate on her evening any further. When she didn't say anything more Jane stood up and said, "Okay, I guess I'll go and I'll see you tomorrow at work."

"Jane?" Maura said when Jane was heading to the door.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you come over here tonight?"

"Oh, I uh, just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out a little bit, and you didn't respond to my messages so I started to get a little worried about you. But I guess I shouldn't have come over unannounced. Sorry."

Jane left. Maura had no response to give her. The evening had gone from somewhat successful, offering Maura at least a temporary reprieve in her longing for Jane, to a complete disaster from she didn't know if they could recover. Maura knew their friendship was going to be tested by this. Maura's inability to tell Jane what she was doing tonight would bother Jane, even if she pretended it didn't. If Maura didn't tell her the truth, or at least enough approximation of the truth that she didn't faint, it might disrupt their friendship forever. But if she did tell Jane the truth, that she had paid for sex with someone who looked like Jane, Jane would probably never talk to her again.

In her own apartment, Jane couldn't help but analyze what had happened at Maura's house. Jane ran through the scenario she had encountered. A woman had left Maura's house and presumably Maura had been naked or nearly naked when the woman was there because she answered the door wearing only her underwear. But Maura didn't want to tell Jane what was happening, going so far as to try to lie and passing out.

Was Maura embarrassed? Or did she think Jane was going to judge her over whatever was going on?

Jane ran through the reasons Maura would have been naked with another woman, ignoring for a moment the obvious. Massage? Some sort of weird yoga? Nude model for an artist? Jane couldn't think of any reason Maura could possibly be embarrassed about or want to hide from Jane.

Which left the most obvious reason. Maura was having a sexual relationship with that woman. But why did she feel the need to hide it? Did she think Jane wouldn't approve or that it would change how Jane interacted with her? Maura was never embarrassed or bashful or secretive about sex.

Jane tried to go to sleep but only managed to toss and turn all night. She couldn't let what happened at Maura's go. The mystery of the unidentified woman was driving her crazy. And underneath it all was something nagging at Jane that she couldn't quite put her finger on.