The first day she didn't do anything but take her order and smile. And maybe stare a little. She had seen her before, but never in her police uniform. And Maura had to admit she had never seen anyone look as good in a uniform as this detective did. Not even the partner came close, despite the fact that he was a really good looking man, as in man. Maura eavesdropped on their conversation and found out they were on their way to a ceremony to honor one of their own. She remembered reading about it in the papers a couple of days ago; a detective in the drug unit was being awarded for his bravery.

Maura called out their orders and smiled until the two detectives came to pick up their coffees. Both of them smiled and politely said 'thank you' before turning around to leave. Maura stood watching until they disappeared out of her sight.

The second day they were back in their usual outfits and Maura actually felt a little bit disappointed when they walked through the door. She had spent the previous night wondering why she had suddenly been so captivated by this detective, but still hadn't found any answer, which is why she had been keeping an eye on the door all morning, and all afternoon. And when the brunette finally showed up, Maura surprised herself by taking an involuntarily deep breath. She immediately realized it was a good call, as she wanted to keep her smile at a reasonable and sane size. They ordered their coffee, Maura stole glances as she worked and they all smiled at the end like the times before. That night Maura, somewhat frustrated, knew it wasn't just the uniform.

The fifth day, detective Frost showed up alone, and Maura spent a few extra seconds looking behind him, hoping the door would open. But it didn't and she forced herself to act normal as she took his order.

"Nothing for your partner today?" she asked, after taking a deep breath to gather strength.

"Nah, she's in court today. But probably wishing she was here instead right now…" he smiled.

Maura felt like screaming. She felt like grabbing fistful of his shirt and shaking him while ordering him to explain what he meant, if she was crazy to think it was because of her. Instead she somehow managed to keep calm. "Oh? Why?"

"The coffee there sucks! It shouldn't even be called coffee."

The sound of a loud crash rang in her ears as she mentally made a note to hit herself later for seeing glimmer of hope in every little thing. Nothing was worse than the feeling of hopes and dreams crashing to the ground. "Oh… of course."

She was so concentrated on shifting her focus that she didn't see the look on Frost's face. Maura didn't get the chance to steal glances, but she smiled nonetheless at the end.

By the tenth day Maura had surrendered. It might have been the uniform that caused her self-control to crumble. But the detective was the reason for her stupid smile and uncontrolled outbursts of groaning while home alone. For each day, Maura turned the volume up just a little bit more on her stereo and lay flat on her back and let the powerful music consume her thoughts.

The 12th day might've been Friday the 13th for all Maura knew. It certainly felt like it. Not only was she late for work because she accidentally turned off her alarm the night before, but she also started the day by screwing up the first two orders. Unfortunately, the two detectives walked in just as the second screw up was discovered by a very cranky and impatient customer. Maura felt small as she tried to apologize and promised to make him a new and free coffee right away. She didn't see the detectives until Jane stepped in front of the cranky man who didn't want to stop complaining.

"Hey, hey! Relax, it's just a coffee! She's apologized and will make you a new one. Come on! No need to harass her."

Maura looked desperately for that black hole to show up and swallow her.

"Yeah, it's just a coffee! How hard could it be?" the man snapped back.

By now the whole store was paying attention to them, and Maura didn't know what to do. She stood there, staring at the counter until Jane let out a sweet laugh. She casually placed one hand on her hip, pulling back the jacket at the same time to reveal the badge on her hip.

"You want some time alone to figure that out?" she asked while grinning.

Maura couldn't control her smile as the man saw the badge and took a small step back. He turned his attention on something else and Maura breathed out.

"You okay?" the detective asked as she turned to Maura.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you."

Maura had to really focus while she prepared the new coffee for the cranky customer, and didn't allow herself to steal any glances at all. It was too risky. She sent him off with a new coffee before starting the more important orders. The two detectives talked and laughed while they waited patiently, and Maura couldn't keep her eyes from sneaking a peek at the tall brunette. She talked with her partner, joking and laughing, and Maura spaced out for a few seconds while watching. She was so easily captivated by the smile and the eyes. In fact, the whole face. Maura thought she was subtle in her staring, but the detective suddenly turned and caught her staring. Maura could feel her cheeks turning red and looked away. She tried to finish their orders as quickly as possible, without staring at the detective. As she was about to pick up the cups, her eyes caught the black marker on the counter. She eyed the detectives, making sure they didn't see her, and picked up the marker and Jane's cup. She wrote "thank you, again", followed by a smiley. Maura smiled, both pleased with herself and slightly terrified. This wasn't like her at all. But without thinking too much about it, she placed the cups on the counter, with a smile.

"Here you are, detectives. I apologize for the wait."

They both turned around and went to pick up their cups. "No problem" Frost smiled.

Maura made sure to give him a nice smile before she turned away to help the next customers. She barely glanced at Jane, too embarrassed. Luckily, both detectives walked out of the coffee shop without noticing the writing on one of the cups.

Day 13 was just like any other day without the detective. Maura immediately looked up every time the door opened, equally disappointed each time when her favorite customer didn't show up. She was in the final minutes of her shift when detective Frost walked through the door and headed towards her right away. She smiled. After all, he was her second favorite customer. "Hello detective. Coffee?"

"Oh… no, not today. I actually came to see you."

Maura, confused by the statement, furrowed her brows and stared at him. He understood her look and smiled sheepishly.

"Well, not like that. Not that you're not attractive or anything! You certainly are!"

Maura started to smile again when she saw how hard Frost tried to back paddle to save himself.

"It's just…" He shook his head and smiled. "Never mind. I just came to tell you something. But you can never tell Jane this, cause she will kill me. For sure."

Maura found herself more and more intrigued by his words and had to fight once again not to grab his shirt and yell at him to explain."Okay, I won't tell her" she replied and was surprised how calm she sounded.

"Good. Alright, she saw the writing on her cup yesterday, and it made her smile. But the interesting thing is that she didn't throw it away."

Frost smiled like he had just delivered the best news possible, but Maura was cautious. Inside she wanted to scream, and to be honest, she felt like a teenager again. But outside she kept her cool, at least she thought she did. "So… why are you telling me this?" she asked.

"Cause I see the way you look at her. But you might not see the way she looks at you."

Maura wasn't sure what to react to; that her subtle staring hadn't been so subtle after all, or the fact that Jane was obviously better at subtle staring than her. Maura decided not to jeopardize any hives and sighed. "Is it that obvious?"

"Only to me" Frost assured her. "So she might need a little nudge along the way" he added and winked.

Before Maura had sorted out her thoughts, Frost turned around and left.

The 16th day was a Monday, and one of the best days of the week for Maura. Because she knew the detective would stop by on her way to the station in the morning. So Maura made sure to be the one by the counter around 8, keeping one eye on the door at all times. And a few minutes after 8, the detective walked in. With newfound confidence after Frost's words, Maura almost beamed when Jane stood in front her. "Good morning, detective. The usual?"

"Yeah, thanks!" Jane nodded and smiled.

Maura held back a giggle at the sight of a very sleepy detective who yawned. She had heard enough of Frost's teasing to know that Jane hated early mornings. Or mornings at all. "Did you know that Ethiopian shepherds were the first ones to discover the effect of caffeine?" Maura blurted out.

Jane looked at Maura like she had spoken Russian. "What?"

"Yes. They would notice the change in the goats' behavior after eating coffee berries. They became much more energized." Maura didn't see the funny smile on Jane's face.

"Really? So goats like coffee too, huh?"

"Well, the coffee berries, I don't think they would actually drink it" Maura continued while she picked up the same black marker. She scribbled down some words, 'have a nice day', followed by a smiley again. Jane kept smiling when Maura looked up and handed Jane the cup. "I'm sorry, I just tend to tell people facts they really don't care about" Maura smiled when she realized she had been rambling.

"Oh, don't worry. I didn't mind at all. Thanks" Jane smiled and left the store before she looked at the writings.

Day 17.

Despite the early morning, Jane seemed to be in a good mood when she and Frost entered the coffee shop. Maura took their orders, a bit surprised as Jane used the word 'please' instead of just spitting out her order. Maura glanced quickly at Frost who smiled before she started on their orders. The two detectives chatted while waiting, and Maura was back to stealing glances. She picked up the marker without thinking. But after she put the tip of the marker on the cup, she froze. She didn't know what to write. So instead she drew a sun and some stars, hitting herself mentally for her lack of creativity. It had almost become a routine to personally hand over the coffees to the detectives, so none of them even noticed it.

"Thank you" Frost smiled and took his.

Because she tried to hide the drawings, Maura's hand was covering almost the whole cup. And Jane had no chance of accepting it without touching Maura's hand. It shocked Maura, in a good way, and she barely remembered to retract her hand.

"Thanks… Have a nice day" Jane said.

And then the smile. Maura stood there mesmerized, staring as the detectives walked away. As soon as they were out of sight, the teenager in Maura came out.

Day 18.

Maura came to work early, picked up a cup and the marker and sat down. She pulled out a piece of paper with one sentence and started writing. Except she placed the letters all over the place, not in the right place, some upside down, but the end result was the same number of letters as on her piece of paper. She checked, and double checked, and checked again for good measures. She finished her work with the mandatory smiley.

The look on Jane's face was priceless when Maura handed her the special cup of coffee. Her mouth was open and she was staring at the cup and the letters like it was an alien. Then she locked eyes with Maura. But Maura just smiled. "Have fun… detective."

Jane looked confused until she studied the cup again. And then Maura could almost see the light bulb over her head. "Thank you" Jane laughed softly.

She smiled before she slowly turned around. Maura exhaled deeply to calm her nerves. She found the piece of paper in her pocket again, and looked at it.

When are you going to buy me a cup of coffee?

Detective Frost surprised Maura by stopping by right after lunch the same day. "Okay, you have to tell me what you wrote on Jane's coffee this morning…" he demanded as he marched up to her like they were old friends.

"Why? Hasn't she told you yet?" Maura asked surprised.

"She hasn't figured it out herself! And I love watching her going crazy over this, so much that I was hoping you would tell me. So I could tease her some more…"

The grin on his face made Maura laugh. "I wrote 'When are you going to buy me a cup of coffee?'"

Frost nodded slowly and laughed. "Nice! I can't wait to see her reaction. And I'm thinking you'll have your coffee soon. Well, as soon as Jane connects the dots" he winked.

Maura smiled cautiously as he left, praying he was right.

Day 19.

Maura thought she was a very patient woman. But when none of the detectives showed up the next morning, she started to reconsider. And at the same time she started to regret her bold move. What if Frost was wrong and she had made a huge fool of herself? Jane always stopped by for a coffee on her way to work. Even during and after work some days. Maybe she had solved the riddle and freaked out. Maybe she had no interest in Maura at all, and was on a mission to find another coffee shop because she wouldn't go back to the freaky lady who came on to her through some stupid riddles? The thoughts haunted Maura all morning as she watched people come and go. She eventually gave up her door watching and tried to focus on work instead.

The detective's well-known swagger didn't look too confident when she entered a little after four. And in just a couple of seconds, Maura had noticed several details about Jane; she was biting her lip, her hands were clenched, and her eyes darted from one end of the café to the other. Maura had to fight to keep her feelings (and smile) in check while she served the customers already in line, but she kept one eye on the detective who seemed a bit restless. When Jane finally stood in front of her, Maura lost the fight against the huge smile on her face.

"Hey…" Jane said shyly and barely looked at Maura before her eyes started roaming.

"Hello detective. The usual?" Maura asked.

"Oh… no, I'm not here for coffee actually…"

"Really?"

Jane laughed softly and nodded. "Yeah, believe it or not."

"Oh, alright."

"I'm here because…" She looked around at all the people in the room and sighed. She seemed uncomfortable and Maura could feel her hopes rising again by the obvious nervous detective. "Uhm, we…we're…looking for someone. And I was hoping you'd seen him. Cause, you know, you see a lot of people…"

The detective started out fumbling but then the words came rushing out. Maura had trouble holding back a giggle. It had been a very long time since someone had been so obviously nervous in her presence.

"Yes, I do see a lot of people every day. Who are you looking for?"

"Oh, it's a kid. He didn't come home from school so his parents called us."

"How does he look like? Do you have a picture? Maybe I've seen him passing by."

Jane froze and stared at Maura before her head dropped. "Damn I'm a lousy detective. I probably should have a photo with me…"

Maura smiled, as sweetly as she could. All her doubts from earlier had simply vanished. "You're not lousy, detective. How old is he?"

Jane looked back up and took a deep breath. "He's four…teen. And he has a green backpack, with a Boston Celtics sticker on it. And a blue jacket. You know what…." The words poured out of the detective while she pulled out a card from her pocket along with a pen. "Before I embarrass myself even more…."

She scribbled something on the back of the card and handed it to Maura. "Give me a call if you see him, okay? He's probably just gone to some friends or something… but just in case."

Maura accepted the card but didn't look on the back. "Of course. I'll keep my eyes open."

They exchanged smiles, and Jane nodded shortly before she turned around and left. Maura watched her walk out of the shop and turn right. She almost burst out laughing when Jane frantically shook her head before she ran her fingers through her hair, apparently not knowing she was still in Maura's view. Maura turned the card over and a huge smile spread across her face.

Call me. But not about "the kid"…