Chapter 1: On the Defensive - Takes place during 9.10, "Authority Figures," just before the bar scene near the end of the episode.

Eddie and Maya are pouring coffee in the breakroom at the 29 when Maya rounds back to the conversation she'd tried to start on their tour that morning.

"You're still going to try to tell me you and Reagan aren't screwing around?"

Eddie's head snaps back, taken by surprise.

"We are not 'screwing around.'" She tells Maya, a harsh edge coming into her voice.

"Please. I saw the way you looked at him when we arrived on scene earlier. That wasn't the way you look at your sergeant. And don't try to tell me it's the way you look at your old partner, cuz that wasn't it, either. That's why you're always sticking up for him, cuz you and he are foolin' around. I don't blame you. Sometimes a girl's gotta use what she's got just to keep the odds even."

Eddie's face has grown stormier and harder with every word out of Maya's mouth and when she stops speaking Eddie has drawn herself up to look suddenly larger than her diminutive height.

Pointing a finger at Maya and advancing on her, she purses her lips and speaks low and forcefully.

"Don't. Don't you dare."

Maya looks belligerent, but Eddie is not done and her voice raises with every word she speaks and every step she takes toward Maya.

"Jamie Reagan," she says, pointing a finger toward his desk before aiming it back a Maya's chest, "is my best friend and the love of my life, and in a few months I am going to be his wife. Don't you dare try make that into something dirty by telling me we're 'screwing around' or implying that this is somehow about rank or advancement."

By this time, she is up in Maya's face and though she still has to look up to meet Maya's eyes, Maya somehow feels as though Eddie is managing to tower over her.

"I don't stick up for him because I feel guilty about anything. I fell in love with Jamie Reagan because he's the best cop I know and the best person I know, and if all of you would get your heads out of your—"

"Everything okay in here?" The subject of their conversation suddenly appears in the doorway, eyebrow raised, interrupting Eddie's tirade.

Eddie backs down to her normal height and some of the tension wilts out of her. "Jamie."

At the same time, Maya snaps upright and tries to look neutral. "Sergeant!"

Jamie offers them both a small smile, their opposite reactions not lost on him. Eddie has softened and calmed, Maya gone stiff and tense.

"I heard 'Jamie Reagan is the love of my life' and I figured I'd better come make sure it was you talking before I found myself in trouble I wasn't even aware of."

Eddie automatically sparks to life again at his joke and her eyes flash merrily at him as she scoffs, "Please. Like anyone else would put up with you for the rest of her life."

"Hey, I caught you, didn't I?"

"You had me trapped in a car for hours on end. I'm pretty sure there was brainwashing involved."

"Or it's just because I'm handsome and charming and you couldn't resist."

"It's true," she jokes, "I only love you for your body."

"Seems like I heard you say, very recently in fact, that you fell in love with me because I am the best cop you know."

With that rejoinder, he reaches out to take her hand and lace his fingers with hers. It's not something they usually allow themselves to do at the precinct. It's not something they usually do within a dozen blocks of the precinct, but tonight he needs her to know how much it means to him to hear that from her, and how much he appreciates her voicing it to her partner—whether that had been in their plans yet or not.

Jamie turns his attention to Maya as their hands fall linked between them, though his words are still addressed to Eddie.

"I assume your partner has been… enlightened?"

Eddie looks almost sheepish. "I guess you could say that."

Maya looks back and forth between them, absorbing the little smiles, the linked hands, and the flirty banter they've been batting back and forth.

"I think I liked it better when you two were on the down low."

Eddie appears to blush at that, which amuses both Maya and Jamie to no end.

"You should know," he tells Maya, "Eddie has never felt good about keeping this from you. I also want to be clear that Eddie is not here just because I like looking at her face every day. She's here because she's a great cop, and I wanted the best cops I could get with me."

"And also because you like looking at my face every day," Eddie quips.

Jamie smirks, but Maya is shocked to see what looks like a hint of a blush on her buttoned-up sergeant's sharp cheekbones this time as he glances at the floor, shakes his head, and responds, "That was a perk, not a deciding factor."

Maya looks them over for a moment, taking in the quiet gleam in her partner's eyes that she's never seen before. Looking at them now, she wonders how it's possible that today was the first time she imagined that there might be more between them then just being former partners. The way Reagan is looking at Eddie makes Maya suddenly aware that there is much more to him than just the by-the-book sergeant they've all see him as, and if Eddie isn't looking at him like a woman dying to kiss her man, Maya's ready to turn her badge in then and there. She may be skeptical and hard to win over in some ways, but she's still secretly a romantic at heart and the tenderness and respect that's visible in their every exchange melts away at the edges of the betrayal she'd begun to feel at having been kept in the dark about such a major part of her partner's life.

She nods to herself and makes the decision that this is a time to have her partner's back.

"You don't need to worry about me. I'll keep quiet."

Sergeant Reagan—when he's standing there blushing and holding her partner's hand, she's almost able to think of him as Jamie rather than Sergeant Reagan—shakes his head.

"You don't need to do that. Eddie and I would never ask you to keep this a secret for us. The people who have a right to an opinion about it know. The rest of it, we're prepared to deal with."

"A little backup, on the other hand," Eddie butts in, "when the others start to talk, that's not something we would object to."

"Definitely not," Jamie agrees. "C'mon," he nods to the door as he reluctantly lets his hand slip from Eddie's. "After today, I think we could all use a drink. First round's on Eddie."

To Maya's amusement, Eddie manages one swift elbow to his ribs before exiting the breakroom, looking like nothing out of the ordinary has just occurred, as Maya and Jamie follow, biting back smiles.

AN: I'm pretty sure Eddie and Jamie's relationship isn't going to become public knowledge at the 29 any time real soon, but Maya is picking up on some definite vibes that I had some fun addressing.

I've watched Blue Bloods here and there over the years, but it's only in the last couple of months that I fell in love with it and went back and binged the entire series from the beginning and, in the process, fell in love with Jamie and Eddie. My intention is for this to become a collection of the one-shots and episode tag ideas that have been bombarding me as I watch through the series. I didn't take time to stop and write them while I was getting caught up, but now that I am, my brain is exploding with ideas that want to be written. I expect this is just the first of many. I'm pretty new to this fandom, so I'd love to hear your feedback—what works, what doesn't ring true, what you like or don't like— let me know in the reviews!