A/N: Just a drabble. Contains spoilers for 3x15.
...
"May I?"
She nods. And then it's her own flesh and blood hugging her, holding her tightly. The circumstances are different than she would've liked-she had to be sought out for a kidney to finally get this hug.
But she's getting it.
It's a maternal hug much like those she's received from Angela.
But so, so very different.
Because she could've grown up with this hug.
Felt it everyday.
After every day she had been ridiculed at school.
After every misstep that she had made.
After every holiday and birthday.
After every accomplishment and award she had received.
And simply for no reason at all, she could've had this hug.
But instead she had to wait 36 years to get it.
A life time.
And a lifetime of waiting for a seven second hug hardly seems fair.
So when Hope initially stars to pull back, Maura clings tighter if only for a second.
But she does.
And Hope lets her.
When she finally gathers herself enough to let go, there's understanding in Hope's eyes.
And maybe even love for the daughter she had lost. Maybe.
Maura doesn't even know this woman. This...her mother. Not really.
But she can feel the empty spot in her life get filled as she sees that brief look in her mother's eyes.
Filled with a real sense of...finally understanding where she had belonged for all those years in her childhood when she was outcast and alone.
Filled with knowing that this isn't going to ever be the perfect mother-daughter relationship she had hoped for, but being okay with this weird and understanding kinship they now share.
Filled with love. Maybe.
So many things she wasn't expecting to get from a single hug.
But she got them.
It might destroy her later if Hope disappears again-in fact, she knows it will.
But for now...now she has all the answer she's been looking for for so very long.
And it feels perfect.
If only for seven seconds.