A/N: This is a one-shot scene, set in the TV show world of straight (?) Jane and Maura, but pushing in the possibility of Rizzles. Written just because I love writing their bantering, and creating episodes not sure I'll get to see, while I wrap up "Unexpected".

Hope you have fun reading it!

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One of 2,500 thoughts

The movie was so bad that Jane forgot what happened in a scene right after it was over but, after two weeks without almost any time off, she didn't have the energy to do anything else.

She shifted slightly on the couch, tucking herself further under the blanket she was sharing with Maura. With the slight movement Maura entered her line of vision.

"What?" She turned her head slightly, just enough so she could confirm that Maura was staring at her.

Maura shook her head, her expression indecipherable.

"What! You are staring at me. What's up?" Jane took a swig of her beer.

"I was wondering what it would be like to kiss you." Maura's voice came out as if she were contemplating buying or not a new pair of shoes.

Jane choked on her beer and started coughing, air struggling to get into her lungs.

Maura took the beer from Jane, left it on the table and forced her to sit upright. After a minute or so, Jane still felt out of breath but at least she had stopped coughing and could fill her lungs.

When she got her voice back, she turned to Maura, frowning.

"What the hell, Maura? You just sat there letting me choke!"

Maura looked surprised and hurt.

"I did what I had to do; keep you upright to allow your chest to expand."

Maura rubbed Jane's back gently, a concerned look in her eyes. Jane stiffened.

"Do you feel better now? Would you like me to bring you something?"

Jane stared at Maura with both her eyes and mouth wide open. "No, Maura, I want you to tell me what the hell was that."

"A very normal occurrence. The coughing is nothing more than a gag reflex to expulse the liquid out of the trachea and into the esopha-"

"Oh god… No, Maura, I mean the kiss thing!"

Maura arched her eyebrows as if she had forgotten, and shrugged.

"Just a thought..." She tilted her head, shrugging slightly. "One of the roughly 2,500 thoughts a human brain is believed to process in one hour. And that is just taking into account the conscious mind, because-"

"Maura, I don't care about the other 2,499 thoughts. I'm freaking out about that one thought.

"Why?" Maura looked genuinely puzzled. "Actually, now that I come to think of it, I am not aware of any particular sequence of thoughts that could have led me to that specific question. I believe I was just…" Her brow creased slightly, her lips pressed into a thoughtful pout. "I think I was enjoying seeing you so relaxed. You looked so peaceful and beautiful."

Jane sat back, her eyebrows shooting up high, creasing her forehead.

"You've seen me relaxed before… God, you've even seen me snore after a yoga session."

"You do not snore, Jane."

Jane waved her hands, exasperation getting the best of her.

"Maura!"

"Why are you reacting like that? I did not kiss you. I just had a thought. You asked me and, since I can't lie, I told you. What's wrong with that?"

"It's not wrong telling me, it's wrong thinking about it!"

"Why? We think about many odd things, and that doesn't mean we'll actually do it. I think about what it'd be like to be on top of Mount Everest, or what does it feel to kill someone, or how nice it'd be to have a machine that can do pathology analysis while I'm doing an autopsy."

"What- I… Oh god, you are…."

"I am the owner of a complex mind, yes. I just don't understand why you are so upset? You should take it as a compliment."

"Maura, a compliment is when you say: 'Wow, that haircut suits you'. When you tell your best friend you want to kiss her… that is a completely different thing."

"I didn't say I wanted to kiss you. I said I was thinking what it would be like."

"Tomah-to, tomato, same thing." Jane frowned, narrowing her eyes, her head tilted. "So you thought about it, but don't want to kiss me? How the hell does that work?"

Maura shrugged.

"I still do not have an answer to what it would be like to kiss you. Have you never wondered what it would be like?"

"What? No!" The answer came out too rushed, making Jane very uncomfortable without understanding why. She shook her head. "Maura, you're family, you're my best friend."

"Technically we are not related, although it is of great comfort to feel part of your family."

Jane shook her head. "You are still my best friend. And we are not gay."

"You are correct on both counts, but I don't see how any of those observations serve as a real deterrent. A proper deterrer would have been "The thought of kissing you displeases me,"

Jane frowned; Maura was right. Why didn't I just say that?

Maura narrowed her eyes, amused. "Given that you did not give any indications that the thought displeases you, I'm inclined to believe that you do not find the idea disgusting. Do you? "

"Not fair! How would I know if I never thought about it?"

"Well then, think about it and then tell me."

"I don't have to. I don't want to. This is ridiculous. Can we please talk about something else?"

"You are acting like a child throwing a tantrum. Look at my lips and think about kissing me, and then tell me."

Not knowing how, or why, Jane found herself looking at Maura's lips. She felt nothing. Well, almost nothing, but she shrugged it off instantly. This entire conversation was preposterous and she had to end it.

"Why should I even do that? We are not going to kiss anyway. Never."

Before she could even realize what was going on, Maura's face was less than an inch from hers, stopping at the last second to let her lips press gently against Jane's.

Jane froze, and the lack of rejection allowed the lips to extend their uninvited visit.

It wasn't a long kiss. It wasn't passionate. It was shy at first, and then it was just a simple but proper kiss.

All that Jane felt was warmth, softness, and a very pleasant feeling of familiarity.

Right after all that, Jane felt panic.

Maura withdrew, and they both sat back avoiding each other's eyes.

Jane's felt her heart clearly beating somewhere in her chest – or was her neck? She knew she should have pushed Maura off. She should be annoyed, disgusted or something, but she just felt frozen, the slightly accelerated cadence of the heartbeat the only sign of life in her body.

Maura was smiling; she had satisfied her curiosity, and the answer was 'Hm. Nice. Very nice', but her smile faded under the heavy silence hanging between. Worse even, she had also managed to accumulate a large number of new questions.

"Sorry, Jane." The words came out blurred in a whisper.

"'Tis okay." Jane whispered back, her wringing hands betraying the verbal statement.

"Should we call it a night?" Maura ventured, still not looking at Jane.

"Hm. Yeah." Jane answered, wondering how on hell she was going to deal with 2,500 thoughts per hour about that kiss.