It was still early and the sky hadn't yet turned dark, but yet there was Maura, pacing back and forth in front of her door. It was Maura's first Halloween, not in the sense that she hadn't been around for the others, first as in participating in it, in a form other than a party. Usually she would join colleagues for drinks or some thematic party, but this year she had instead been convinced by Jane to pass out candy at home. Jane currently sat in front of the television, beer and candy in hand, actively yelling as the Red Sox fought for supremacy in the final game of the World Series.

"Maura, sit down you're distracting me." Jane stated briefly turning towards Maura before letting out another grunted yell at the screen.

Maura continued her frenzied pacing as she occasionally peeked out the window or adjusted her purple witch's hat. She quickly checked the watch on her wrist and finally sat down on a nearby chair in defeat. "What if they don't come Jane?" Maura placed her face in her hands as she took her hat off, letting a few strands of hair fly astray.

Jane's focus shifted towards Maura before once again regarding the television. "It isn't even dark yet Maur, don't worry they'll come." Jane made another sudden outburst, this time in happiness. The next half hour flew by quickly, Maura passing the time studying Jane's frequent outbursts and once again checking that all the candy was correctly packaged, without rips or tears.

The sky was dim when the first knock came to the door. Maura stood up excitedly subsequently spilling the contents of the candy bowl onto the floor. Another knock came as she frantically tried to scoop the contents back up.

"Mother f-ooey. Jane could you get the door please?"

Jane let out a slow grumble as she quickly ran to open the door just as Maura scooped the last of the candy back into the bowl. There stood a small family. A young woman held a baby in her arms with a plush rabbit hoodie covering his small head, while a young girl adorning a princess dress and tiara wrapped around her leg. Jane couldn't help but smile as the mom tried desperately to get the young girl to shake her shyness before letting out a small defeated chuckle.

"Trick-or-Treat. Sorry, she can be shy sometimes." The woman smiled as the child held out a small plastic pumpkin for Maura to drop candy into. Maura looked between the pumpkin, the candy, and Jane before Jane noticed the hesitation and scooped a handful of candy into the pumpkin giving the woman a polite smile. The woman turned on her heels after giving a "Thank you." and "Goodbye" leaving Maura and Jane standing at the door.

"What was that?" Jane turned towards Maura who stood blushing lightly as she shut the door and placed the candy bowl back on the nearest chair.

"I- I wasn't sure how much candy to give them."

Jane let out a small chuckle and motioned towards the table that had been stacked with numerous jumbo bags of candy. "Maur, you bought enough candy to give every kid their own individual bag!"

Maura lifted her shoulders and turned towards Jane "I didn't know how much to buy." Jane let out another small laugh before returning her attention towards the game.

As the night progressed Maura became more comfortable and at ease. She laughed as she watched the kids run up to the front door, parents carefully examining their movements. Each one with their own personalities as they politely, and sometimes not so politely, asked for candy. Each costume unique in its own way even if several were identical. A costume was all about how it was worn, the personalities of those who wore it shining through.

The costumes were the most interesting to her. She had taken time to admire one little girl's princess gown that had been hand sewn by her mother, and a cop uniform worn by a 10 year old boy that was so accurate she had to show Jane. She later discovered it was the son of an officer she regularly saw. Even the revealing costumes of the adults and teens fascinated her, the cliché naughty nurse or sexy cop that wandered to the door still had their own cute quirks to them.

Maura had kept her energy up throughout the night endlessly passing out candy, sometimes to the same person more than once, because apparently it had spread that her house 'was loaded with candy.' It was almost midnight when the last bunches came to the door and she still had two more bags to go. With the game finished Jane now sat idly flipping through channels as Maura sipped some wine.

Knock, Knock

Maura gently stood making her way to the door. She opened it to find a group of teenage boys dressed as half naked firefighters standing waiting for candy. The leader of the group let out a low whistle as he eyed Maura's figure.

"Trick-or-treat, either would be fine, as long as it's coming from you babe." The others in the group let out loud howls of laughter as Maura rolled her eyes and placed a handful of candy in the pillow case presented to her. She continued this routine with the rest of the group enduring the crude jokes that were presented, before they turned to leave laughing.

She turned to return to the house before she heard the laughter die and another crude comment being uttered a bit down the walkway "Oh look a nurse, why don't you come check me out."

"She's a doctor you dip-shit, now get lost."

Maura heard more grumbles as the group trotted away and two teenage girls approached the door. One dressed as doctor, blue scrubs covered by a white lab coat, everything pristine and accurate, even down to the sensible shoes. The other carried three large pillowcases and was dressed in what looked to be plain everyday clothes. Jane had now approached the door wondering what had taken Maura so long. She gently wrapped her arm around the Medical Examiner's waist and drew her closer as the young girls walked towards them.

The pretend doctor addressed the other girl as they approached "I really wish you wouldn't use such crude language." The other readjusted the bags in her arms and let out a small groan. Before she could reply she was interrupted by the sound of "Trick-or-treat" and the least full pillow case being pulled from her arms.

Maura smiled at the young doctor with short brown hair as she placed a large handful of candy in the bag. "I love your costume!" The teen's face light up with a bright smile before smoothing out the non-existent wrinkles on her lab coat.

"Thank you I figured if I was going to dress up as anything it should be the thing I want to actually be."

"You want to be a doctor! I'm a doctor, well, I don't exactly work with people… well I do… but they aren't…" Maura began stumbling on her words and the teen lifted an eyebrow in confusion. Jane quickly interjected.

"She works with dead people." Jane produced a small smile drawing Maura closer to her.

The young teen nodded in recognition before stepping aside to let her friend approach. She had longer black hair and had simple everyday jeans and a flannel top on, no costume. She lifted her head and let out an exhausted "Trick-or-treat" her words mumbling to the end of the sentence.

Jane cocked an eyebrow and adjusted her stance "Aren't you supposed to dress up to get candy?"

"I'm a plain clothes cop." She moved the bags to show a plastic badge hanging from her necklace. "See?" Jane let out a genuine laugh and she watched Maura place a large handful of candy in one of the bags.

"Besides the only reason I'm doing this is because she hasn't gone trick-or-treating before." She jerked her head towards the doctor who started to blush.

Maura replied with a small smile "That was very nice of you."

"Yes it was. Thank you again officer." The young doctor smiled and moved towards the young cop before planting a small kiss on her check, it was now her turn to blush as she nervously glanced at the two women still in front of her. She cleared her throat before glancing back at her friend.

"I think we should go now, it's getting late." The other nodded and they turned to leave after giving a polite "Thank you." Maura was about to step inside before she halted giving a hurried "Wait" to the two teens walking away.

She stepped inside hurrying towards the table and grabbing the remaining two jumbo bags of candy. The teens were waiting at the door and Jane watched them nervously wait for whatever Maura had gone to retrieve. They stood wide eyed as Maura held out the full jumbo bags towards them. The young cop tried to retrieve the bags but was stopped as her girlfriend gripped them instead.

"You can at least let me grab these ones."

The officer grunted, "Fine but only because I'm tired."

The two gave another appreciative "Thank you" before wandering back down the path they came. Their voice could be heard as they left and Jane and Maura waited to hear the rest of the conversation.

"Why do you insist on carrying them anyways?"

"Because that's what a good girlfriend does."

"So you're saying I'm not a good girlfriend?"

"No you are, but I would be considered the 'man' in this relationship."

"Well that's a cliché, why would you be the man?"

The voices faded leaving Maura and Jane standing in the doorway eyeing each other shocked. Maura was the first to break the silence with a small laugh, Jane soon followed with her own as they ventured back into the warmth of the house. Maura flipped off the outside light switch and sat next to Jane, wine in hand. Jane let out another small laugh before sipping her warmed beer.

"Was that an exact replica of us, but in teenage form?"

Maura smiled, "It is highly unlikely that they were an exact match to us, but the similarities were uncanny."

"So how was that for your first year of handing out candy?" Jane sat her beer down and placed her hand on Maura's.

"I enjoyed it, I can't wait until next year!" Maura's face brightened, and Jane let out a sarcastic grunt before returning the smile. Even she had to admit it had been a good evening.


Thanks for reading! :D