Jane looked in the mirror. Her black hair was a mess of unruly curls, it was seemingly even worse than normal. What did she do last night? Jane brushed her hair, trying to put a hairband around it but she gave up after two failed attempts. Jane inspected the mirror she was looking in. It was square with a white wooden edge. She looked down and saw a sink and some toiletries. All the products were placed perfectly next to each other, two inches apart. Jane turned on the tap and held her hands under the running water. After splashing some of the water on her face and drying it off, she sat down on the bath tub. The water had refreshed her a bit, and she started looking around. At first everything had seemed neat and perfect, but now she saw the pile of clothes - dresses - in the corner and the open purse on the edge of the bath tub. She had been here before, but she didn't remember when. Suddenly she realised where she was. She knew a room that looked a lot like this one. This wasn't the guest bathroom she normally used when she stayed over. This was the normal bathroom. Maura's bathroom. But why was she here? Why wasn't she in the guest bathroom?

Maura poured in a glass of wine. Jane was late. Only six minutes, and she knew Jane was probably stuck in traffic, but she was worried anyway. She liked things to be organised and she was afraid something bad had happened. She took a sip of the wine and checked her phone, again. The second Maura placed her glass on the table, there was a knock on the door. She jumped up and had to keep herself from running to open the door. It was Jane, and she stormed in immediately.
"Maura please tell me the restaurant isn't far because I am not going through that traffic again." She sank down on the couch.
"It's not far." She had told Jane nothing about tonight, so she didn't know yet they would have dinner at her house. "Follow me."
Jane sighed and got up, and started walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Maura said.
"What? I thought we were going out for dinner."
Maura smiled. "I didn't say anything about going out for dinner." She walked to the dinner table.
Jane looked at the table and saw only now that it was beautifully decorated. Everything was white with black and there were gorgeous lilies in the center of the table.
"Wow Maura! Who's coming to visit? The President? Did you do this?"
Maura was proud of her work, and now she saw it paid off she was even happier she put all that work into the decorations.
Jane and Maura each sat down on one side of the table, and Jane started laughing, "Maura! Beer doesn't really fit with these decorations."
"I know... But making you drink wine wouldn't be the best idea."
"You're right. Besides, it doesn't look too bad."
Jane took drank from the beer and put it down again while Maura went to get the appetisers out of the kitchen. She'd made tiny roast beef pies with orange and parsley. They each ate from the pies while they talked about the case Jane was working on. Maura had done the autopsy this morning, and now Jane and Korsak were in the process of interrogations. The autopsy hadn't shown anything special. It was a male, approximately 45 years old, shot in the chest.
Soon they were talking about TJ and Jane was showing pictures on her phone that she took earlier today when she went for a walk with Tommy, TJ and Jo Friday. She had asked Maura if she wanted to come along too but she was needed in the autopsy room and had declined the invitation.
During the whole dinner, they talked and laughed. The main course consisted of an Italian risotto with cashew nuts and spring onions. Maura had bought cannoli's for dessert, which caused Jane to burst out in a cheer.
"Cannoli's! Ahhh Maura thank you, these are the best!" She said while stuffing one in her mouth. "They're delicious."
Maura was still eating her first one when she saw Jane shoving in a third cannoli. She was glad Jane liked the food, and felt a lot calmer when they cleaned the table together.
Maura made coffee and they sat on the couch watching tv when Jane said they seemed like a married couple. Newly-weds to be precise. They laughed and Maura asked if Jane thought she'd ever get married.
"One day yes. But for now it's too difficult. I need someone who can deal with my being a cop and not some stay-at-home wife. I need to be able to live my life."
It took every bit of courage Maura could find within herself to say, "I could deal with it."
Jane sat up and looked at her, frowning but not in an angry way. "What?"
Maura felt her cheeks turn red and quickly said it was nothing before turning to the tv again. She felt Jane's stare and couldn't keep herself from looking at her from the corner of her eyes. Jane took that opportunity to look back at her and ask what she meant. There was no point in denying it now, Maura thought and she decided it was time to tell how she really felt.
"I said I could deal with being married to a cop."
Jane looked at her and Maura thought she saw the corners of her mouth move up a little, the beginning of a smile.
"Would, in that case, the cop's name be similar to mine?" Jane asked.
"Not just similar," Maura whispered, and added barely audible, "it would be yours."

Jane thought about last night. They were sitting on the couch when Maura said it, giving Jane the opportunity to let her walls down. And she did. She let her walls down, threw every bit of hesitation away that she'd been dealing with for so long. Maura said it so quietly, but Jane heard it perfectly. She couldn't believe it. She was afraid of only a few things in her life, and she never thought being in love would be one of them. But the more she tried to ignore it, the more it became obvious she wouldn't get over it. It wasn't just a crush.
Maura said it and all the fears and horrible things she had imagined seemed so silly and irrelevant now. It took only a look at Jane to know she felt the same, and she had it been hiding too. The kiss was slow, calm, and perfect. Their bodies connected in a way they hadn't known was possible before, and still it was like this was what they had been waiting for all this time.

Jane smiled in the mirror, not caring anymore what her hair looked like. The door opened and Maura walked in, straight to her, taking her face in her hands and kissing her lips. Jane had never expected this would happen, and still it was everything she'd hoped for.