"Is this weird?" Jane digs a toothbrush out of her backpack.
Maura looks up from her own tote, swallowing audibly. It was her idea, after all, to get a hotel room together at the Marriott next to the airport. Jane had been more than content (well, in a grumbly, vocal sort of way) to curl up on the airport floor, using her backpack as a makeshift pillow.
"It doesn't have to be," Maura meekly offers. But there is a brief moment of tension, a small nagging in the back of her mind that reminds her that they hardly know each other. The connection between the two has been nothing short of sincere, though they're crossing lines at an alarmingly rapid rate.
"Yeah, you're right," Jane concedes. She pulls a t-shirt out of her bag. "I just want to make sure I'm not putting you out."
"There are two beds," Maura reminds her, a feature that both had noted rather quickly.
"Thank you. I really wasn't looking forward to a night spent on the floor." Her smile settles Maura's stomach. Jane steps into the bathroom. "I'll be right back."
Maura has packed nothing remotely useful. Her checked bag is stowed somewhere at the airport, with promises that it will be safely delivered to her final destination. She adjusts her skirt now, a slim salmon colored pencil skirt, paired with a button up blouse, and feels properly anxious about their sleeping arrangements for the first time. She kicks off her heels, in the very least, letting her toes rest against the carpet.
Jane emerges from the bathroom shortly, clad in a pair of shorts and an off-white tank, her phone tucked between her neck and her should as she stuffs her clothes into her backpack. "Yeah, Ma, I'll let you know when we're boarding. Nine tomorrow is the earliest flight to Boston - I already checked." A pause. "Yeah, um, I got a hotel room actually." She glances up at Maura. "It was cheap, okay, I promise? I gotta go…give Lex a kiss for me."
She sighs, plopping down on the bed on the far side of the room. "Sorry about that. Bathroom's all yours."
"I, well…I actually don't have anything to change into. I even packed my toothbrush in my checked bag. I didn't expect to be held up for the night – a lesson well learned, I suppose." She sits down on the other bed.
"I just got lucky – since I was only gone for the weekend, I just shoved all my stuff into here. No great disaster preparation skills here." She digs around in her bag for a moment. "I have an extra t-shirt if you want. That outfit - while very stylish - looks like it'd be miserable to sleep in."
Maura catches the shirt as Jane tosses it. She holds it in her lap, the fabric soft and worn. "Thank you."
"No problem." Jane brings her hand up to her hair, running it through the tangled mess. "Damn, I'm stuck." She tries futilely to extract a stray curl from a piece of penne.
"Here, I can help." Maura rises from the bed, watching Jane wrestle with the macaroni necklace. She sits beside her, asking tentatively. "May I?"
Jane nods her consent, and Maura's fingers work gently, trying not to tug too roughly at Jane's hair.
"I know, wearing this necklace is completely ridiculous," Jane chuckles feebly, as Maura's fingers dance across the skin of her neck. They're close enough to hear the rapid fluttering of their erratic hearts.
"I think it's sweet." Her breath bounces off of Jane's cheek and back to her own. For a moment, her fingers feel useless. "There." She pries it away, letting it coil into Jane's hand, her finger tips touching Jane's palm momentarily. Briefly, she considers asking her about the scars, but Jane quickly closes her fingers around the necklace.
"Thanks." They're unbearably close, though neither moves right away. But then, it's mutual, deliberate, as they incline toward one another, an altogether fluid movement.
Jane's lips are soft, but they unravel every last one of Maura's nerve endings.
"Wait," Maura mumbles, her lips knocking against Jane's chin as she turns away. "I noticed you're not wearing a wedding band."
Another kiss. "You noticed correctly."
"But I didn't want to assume anything." This time, her words are muffled against Jane's mouth.
"Assuming can be very dangerous," Jane agrees. She brings a hand up behind Maura's back, pressing against the curvature of Maura's spine. Maura falls clumsily against the headboard.
"Jane," she manages through a mouthful of tongue. A bit louder then, "Jane!"
"What?" Jane laughs. She is straddling Maura's lap now, small black shorts riding up a pair of impossibly gorgeous thighs. She has very quickly and sneakily assumed this position, shifting her body in the slightest of ways so that it has all quite naturally happened. "Oh," her face softens a bit, processing Maura's concern. "I promise that Lexi's father is very far out of the picture. There is no one even remotely close to the picture," she adds for deliberate reassurance. "Can I kiss you now?" She is so unintentionally charming.
Maura exhales heavily, finding Jane's lips again. She is able to concentrate much better on Jane's hands now, which have wandered rather close to her thighs. There is very little room for thought or breath wasted on words, a mess of tangled limbs, wandering fingers, and eager lips propelling the moment forward with a surprising amount of urgency. Jane reaches for the zipper of her skirt, deftly undoing it, before bunching it down below Maura's knees. But as she reaches to slide her panties away, she pauses abruptly, her eyes searching until they find Maura's. Maura nods, granting her permission. Jane's hands leave her feeling immediately dizzy, and she clamps her eyes shut, gripping the headboard for unexpected support.
Jane suddenly laughs, her lips vibrating against the inside of Maura's knee.
"What's so funny?" Maura loosens her grip on the headboard, letting some of the tension out of her knuckles. Her words bubble out soft and blurry; she's hardly in a state to properly speak.
Jane's nose tickles her skin, kissing Maura all the way up her thigh until she whimpers helplessly. "I was just thinking about that other bed."
XXX
Jane's hair has tiny strands of silver mixed in with her dark curls. Maura notices each one, as she touches her hair, letting it sift slowly through her fingers. She cradles Jane's hips between her thighs, savoring the heat of Jane's breath against her shoulder.
"I guess you didn't need to worry about clothes to sleep in after all," Jane murmurs against her skin. She chuckles lightly, and immediately they're both laughing, because this evening is equal parts absurd and unexpectedly perfect. Their laughter lulls them out of their postcoital daze, and there's a fair amount of kissing once again before they settle back under the sheets, with Maura fit snugly into the curve of Jane's body.
"I could have hardly imagined we'd end up here tonight," Maura mutters, playing with Jane's fingers as they rest against her own stomach.
Jane smiles into her neck. "No. Not exactly what I had in mind, either. But wonderful all the same."
XXX
She wakes to sunlight and warm sheets, though achingly alone. Blearily, she sits up and notices a note propped against the lamp, right next to Lexi's macaroni necklace.
Hi,
Just out for a run. I didn't want to wake you. I'll be back soon.
The next part is scratched out rather badly, though she is just able to make out the words.
I just didn't want you to worry. I'm writing this as though we are an old married couple or something. Of course you have no reason to worry.
She has signed it simply Jane.
She leaves it propped up against the lamp and smiles rather fondly at it, before she notices a small scrap of paper next to it. It's the fortune, from Jane's cookie last night. On the back, she has scribbled her phone number.
