"Maura, please!" begged Jane an the blonde turned her back on her and walked to the window.

Maura remained silent.

"Maura" Jane said then noticed the blonde's shoulders shaking in silent sobs.

Maura sniffed loudly but made no other sound.

Hesitant, Jane stepped toward Maura and reached a tentative hand out to touch Maura's shoulder.

Sensing what Jane was doing and not wanting or liking to be touched when upset, Maura said "No, Jane!"

Jane stopped and pulled her hand back like she had just received an electrical shock and said "No to what?"

Silence.

"No to forgiveness? No to touching you? No to us? Please Maura, tell me."

"Do! Not! Touch! Me!" was all Maura said.

"Ok. Ok. I won't touch you but can we at least sit down and talk about this?"

"I...suppose." said Maura, venom in her normally gentle voice.

"Thank you." said Jane in an unusually timid voice.

Jane's heart sunk even lower than it was when the blonde turned to face her. Her beautiful hazel eyes were

red-rimmed, puffy, and tears continued to stream down her face.

"Oh Maur." said Jane and reached out to take Maura's hand.

"No touching!"

The brunette snatched her hand back. It was more out of surprise at Maura's tone of voice than anything else.

"No touching." said the brunette and offered the blonde her choice of chairs.

Maura opted for an uncomfortable-looking, red plastic chair that Jane avoided sitting in whenever she could

while Jane, cognizant of Maura's opposition to touching at this moment, chose to sit at the far end of the couch.

As Jane leaned forward to close some of the gap between her and Maura, Maura's spine stiffened and she

leaned further back in her chair as if to get further away from Jane. A look of pure venom shone from Maura's eyes.

"Oh no." thought Jane. "I'm in for it in 3-2-1..."

BOOM

"Casey?!" screeched Maura. "You cheated on me with Casey?! How could you Jane!"

"Maura, I'm sor..."

"Sorry." snapped Maura. "Yes. I know you're sorry. You've told me more than once how sorry you are."

"Then why won't you believe me?" asked Jane, a note of desparation in her voice.

"Because I can't believe you. First - because you cheated on me, and second - because you cheated on me

with Casey, of all people! You know I can't stand him."

Jane said nothing. Her face burned scarlett and she lowered her head.

Silence passed loudly between them.

Maura finally said, "Well, don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

Jane slowly lifted her head and Maura's eyes widened in shock and disbelief when she saw tears streaming

down Jane's face.

"Maura." Jane said in a soft, croaking voice. "I made a mistake. A big mistake. I can't tell you enough how

sorry I am and that I wish I could turn back the clock so it would have never happened."

Maura, still taken aback by Jane's tears, said in a much softer voice than before, "Why don't you tell me how

it happened."

Jane, sniffing loudly and back-handing the tears from her cheeks, nodded her head in agreement.

"It started back when we were in high school." Jane began, voice still thick with tears.

"You started fornicating with him in high school?" Maura asked, eyes huge.

"No." Jane said with a weak chuckle. "My infatuation with him started back in high school."

"Oh." said Maura. "My error. Please continue."

"He didn't start going to school with us until high school, when his family moved to the US from South Africa.

His parents were missionaries or something like that. All the girls fell in love with his accent and the mystery of a guy

who lived on a different continent all of his life, including me."

The blonde smiled at the brunette then said "I suppose I can see how that would happen."

"Didn't you have any new, cool guys come to your school?" asked Jane, incredulously.

"I attended a private, all girls school." said Maura.

"Oh." was all Jane could respond with, then cleared her throat and continued with her story as if there were

no interruptions. "I found myself day dreaming about him and wondering what it would be like to kiss him. You know,

kiss a guy with a really cool accent."

"Jane." reprimanded Maura. "You know that having an accent would have no bearing on the kissing ability

of an individual."

"Maura...it was high school!" Jane said, exasperated.

"Oh. Umm. Yes." said the blonde now blushing scarlett. "I'm sorry. I interrupted again."

Jane, smiling for the first time in what seemed like years, said "It's ok. I wasn't very smart back then."

"Jane!" was all Maura said because the brunette held up a hand to stop her.

"When I finally did get to kiss him..." Jane stopped.

"Yes?" inquired Maura.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." said Jane.

"I'm confused." said Maura. "What do you mean by nothing?"

Grinning, Jane said, "I was expecting bells, whistles, fireworks at the least but...nothing. Just a regular

old kiss."

"You must have been very disappointed." said the blonde sympathetically.

"I was and had all but given up on anything else to do with him until..."

Maura slid to the edge of her seat, leaned closer to Jane, and said "Until what?"

"Until the day I saw him without a shirt. Wow! Was he ever built, especially for a high school guy."

Jane sat back on the couch and allowed her thoughts to drift back, twenty years and remember that day.

A cough from Maura brought Jane out of that particular day dream and back to the reality of what she was

facing and whom she was facing it with.

"Aaah, yah." Jane stammered. "That's when I decided I wanted...umm, I wanted to sleep with him."

"Did you?" asked Maura. "I mean, did you fornicate with him before the other night?"

The hurt in the blonde's voice at that last statement stabbed the brunette right through the heart.

"No." said Jane. "We didn't, umm, fornicate. We came close a couple times but never did (Jane's voice

trailed off and she mumbled) until the other night."

Maura sat up a little straighter and asked "Was it everything you expedted it to be? Was it worth risking our

relationship over?"

Jane gave her a blank look.

"The fornication, I mean. Was it everything you thought it would be? After all, you've had twenty years and

several rolls in bed with me to fanticize about being with him."

The hurt and anger in Maura's voice was almost more than Jane could bear and it brought her out of the

trance she had slipped into.

"Well?" asked Maura, impatiently tapping her toe.

"I don't know." said Jane, earnestly.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" asked Maura.

"I can't remember anything about being with him."