Characters aren't mine... blah blah... you know the drill.

"I can't believe you made me pack all off this stuff," Jane groaned as she handed one suitcase after another to the Uber driver. "I can't believe youpacked so much stuff, which I never thought I'd say."

"It's not that much," Maura countered as she set the last of the luggage down. "Remember, we'll be gone for a month, and it's important that we're prepared."

"For what?" The dark haired brunette grabbed a suitcase and handed it to the clearly overwhelmed driver. "The zombie apocalypse?"

"Clearly not," the other woman shot back with a patient smile. "If we were preparing for that, I would have included water purification systems, a way to easily create fire, and toilet paper. Besides," she said offhandedly while walking to the backdoor of the car, "one should always be prepared for the zombie apocalypse." With a wink, she slid into the backseat and closed the door.

Jane grunted in a combination of frustration and amusement as the Uber driver chuckled. "Your girlfriend is pretty funny," he said as he settled the final bag.

"Yeah, she's developed a real sense of humor over the years," the brunette sighed, heading to the other side of the backseat, "and she's not my girlfriend."

"Oh," he uncomfortably replied. "I'm sorry. I just assumed since, you know, you two said you're spending the month in Paris together, and I thought I heard you say something about it being a surprise..."

"No, it's fine. We get that a lot." She shrugged. "It's no big deal. Besides, me coming along was a last minute kind of thing, which was the surprise. Neither one of us actually planned on me coming along."

"Oh yeah?" He beat her to the door and reached around her to open it. "So, where are you staying, then?"

Jane opened her mouth to answer but she stopped short. "I, uh, I hadn't really thought about that."

"She's staying with me, of course," Maura called from the backseat. "We need to go, please. We don't want to be late!"

As the driver politely nodded, Jane settled into the seat beside Maura and took in a deep breath. "Okay, so where are we staying?"

"I had actually rented out a small room with a couple who live in the outskirts of Paris. My mother knows them, and I thought it would be nice to stay with someone local to really get a taste of the culture and have a true change from my normal routine."

Jane rubbed her forehead slowly. "So, a room in someone's house and not some fancy hotel?"

"I always stay at a 'fancy hotel.' I wanted to do something different. However, I understand the room has a queen sized bed, which is unique. Most small homes from that time period are furnished with full sized beds or smaller." The older woman gave her companion a bright smile. "Don't worry, Jane, there should be plenty of room for both of us, and it's not as though we haven't shared a bed before."

The Uber driver failed to hold in his 'ah ha' grunt as Jane sank indigently down into her seat. Starring daggers at him through the reflection in the rear view mirror, she growled out a "just go already" before huffing and settling in to listen to Maura's excited chatter about their upcoming travel.