Author's note: Thank you very much for all your reviews, I appreciate them a lot.

December, 2nd

Maura held her breath as Jane finally dared to make a step out of the dressing room. She knew that it wasn't easy for her friend. Jane despised going out for shopping especially when she was supposed to buy a dress. It emphasized a vulnerability she didn't know what to do of, something she still had a hard time to handle; something that went within herself and pressed on her shoulders an invisible weight.

The sweet warmth of pride wrapped up Maura the moment she landed her eyes on a timid Jane who barely cast a glance at her reflection in the large mirror that hung on the opposite wall. The dress owned a delicate, simple elegance that suited Jane's graceful features.

"You are stunning."

Maura locked her eyes with her friend's dark ones in the mirror. She smiled with her typical bare honesty that always troubled Jane to the point she often started stuttering afterwards.

Jane chose to hide the whirl of emotions that had risen within her soul behind a shrug and a loud sigh. The ankle-length black dress was indeed beautiful but she couldn't help thinking that it didn't suit her at all.

"Dunno... I don't even have a matchin' coat." Her sudden thick – Bostonian – accent betrayed her nervousness. She swept away an invisible speck of dust on the piece of clothing. "And it's a lotta money for one evening only."

"Who said the occasion won't repeat itself?" Maura had approached her friend to stand behind her. She had whispered her question into Jane's ear as a mischievous smirk played on her lips. She raised an eyebrow; delighted. "It is a first, Jane. Nuance."

Jane swallowed hard as Maura's hot breath brushed her ear. She had got used to the bittersweet torture that came within her friend's innocent moves but it didn't prevent her body from reacting to them nonetheless. She had no hold over this; no hold whatsoever.

"Really? I can't believe you're that desperate." Jane shook her head and rushed back into the fitting room as she spotted a customer on her left.

She still didn't understand why Maura had insisted so much on her presence at the gala for she didn't belong to any important Bostonian family. The guests would notice the novice she was within a few seconds.

"I am actually honored. I mean I will if you ever leave this fitting room at some point. Jane?" Maura politely smiled at the customer who was patiently waiting for her turn. "We are taking this one and I can promise you that you will have many more occasions to wear it."

Maura stopped herself before mentioning the BPD Christmas party. Jane would never show up there in a cocktail dress. She feared way too much her colleagues' potential remarks. She always attended the event in her work clothes or in a pair of worn-out jeans if she didn't happen to work on that day.

They walked out of the boutique in a religious silence. The night had fallen an hour earlier already and the air was now slightly chilly. Maura huddled up against herself before observing the golden Christmas lights that the city hall had set in the trees all along the sidewalk. She knew that Jane didn't particularly like this time of the year but she, Maura, still wanted to believe in the magic of the holidays no matter how silly it may sound.

"Your mother thinks it is either someone from the BPD or one of my employees."

Jane turned her head then squinted her eyes at Maura. She had no idea what her friend was talking about. They walked by a group of Christmas carolers but didn't stop. They had a reservation for two at a restaurant five blocks away and they were already running late.

"My secret admirer... You know, the person who sent me the bouquet of lilies of the Nile. That's what she told me this morning when I stopped by the Division One Cafe."

Jane forced a smile. It had taken her a lot of efforts to overcome the failure of her plan, or at least its beginning. She had gone to bed feeling defeated and the night had been hard on her but the morning light had swept away her disappointment: it was okay, she was old enough to handle the situation. Nobody knew she was behind the bouquet of flowers besides so it wasn't as humiliating as it could have been.

"It'd make sense, I guess." Her incapacity to make more than one sentence wouldn't pass unnoticed. She had to find something a bit more relevant to add. "Though you actually get to meet many people every day. I mean you don't necessarily talk to them but they know who you are."

Maura's smile vanished as a veil of confusion spread on her face and deepened her features. She pursed her lips. It was probably stupid but she couldn't help feeling anxious before the mysterious bouquet. The fact it had been sent anonymously bothered her. Of course it could pass for timidity but it could also betray something somber.

She shook her head to mentally sweep away such idea. She didn't want to turn into a paranoiac person. The gesture, as much as unexpected and blurry, was sweet; even adorable. She didn't have to worry.

"How did you manage to get a table at The Hungry? It is always full at this time of the year." Maura had been delighted when Jane had told her that they would have dinner at the French restaurant but her curiosity had also been piqued. It was the perfect way to change of topic. "It is probably one of the most romantic restaurants in town."

Maura felt how her cheeks started burning in spite of the cold weather. Why had she just said that? Jane was probably going to make fun of her now and, truth to be told, it was completely deserved. Yet against all expectations, her friend chose to pass the remark under silence.

"I went to school with one of the guys who works in their kitchen." She plunged one of her hands, the one that wasn't holding her last purchase, in the pockets of her winter coat and focused on a point straight in front of her. "I can be persuasive when I want to."

Maura burst out laughing. Jane certainly didn't need to add this argument to her explanation. They had known each other for five years now and the uniqueness of their bond was such that there was very little they still ignored about each other.

Sometimes Maura thought that she and Jane were a lot closer than any couple she had had the chance to meet but it was an opinion that she preferred to keep for herself. She was afraid that Jane could take it badly, that she could feel uncomfortable before it. They weren't in a romantic relationship so the comparison may have sounded a bit delicate to handle.

"Is it some sort of pre-Christmas present for me? I know that the French cuisine isn't your favorite one so you are obviously doing this for me."

Maura's flirty tone didn't pass unnoticed. She felt bad because she knew that it would put Jane in a delicate situation but the words had passed her lips before her to realize what was happening. She didn't even know why she was being flirty; innocently flirty. She was simply happy to be spending the evening with her friend far from the boiling life of the BPD.

"You still didn't tell me what you want for Christmas." The question implicitly betrayed Jane's cowardice, her incapacity to reply to Maura's playful mood. She opened the door of The Hungry to her friend as they reached the restaurant then resumed her speaking. "I know you're all about surprises but I suck at it. I really need a list."

A list that would match the secret one she had written down in her notebook. If Jane had given a purpose to every single day until Christmas, she still had no clue about the kind of present she would offer Maura. She had lacked time to think about it.

A young woman in her twenties led them to their table. The restaurant was crowded but intimate enough. Jane politely thanked the employee then sat on her seat.

"I don't need anything. Consider this dinner as my present. It's..." Maura cast a glance at the room. "It's perfect, actually."

It really was. The Hungry was one of her favorite spots in Boston, she liked everything about it from the food to the atmosphere. The fact Jane had managed to get them a table touched her a lot more than words would ever express.

"You're not helping." Jane opened the menu but didn't check it. She looked up at Maura instead and shook her head at her. The tone of their conversation was light, innocent; almost childish. She enjoyed it a lot. There was no pressure, no fear whatsoever. "You already have a zillion things."

"Christmas doesn't have to be materialistic, Jane."

There they were again. Every single time they began to talk about the holidays, Maura ended up opposing Jane a more spiritual version of Christmas. There was something genuine in the idea she fought for, she knew it, but she didn't want to abdicate before what most of people saw as normality.

Dreaming a bit was harmless, wasn't it?

Jane scoffed to prove how unconvinced she was by the statement but, too eager to not ruin their evening, she preferred to not insist. She wouldn't be able to handle two failures in two days.

"It's not really Christmas yet anyway. It's not even snowing."

An ounce of regret rose in her voice as she let the words slide on her lips. She looked by the window then raised an eyebrow in defeat. The temperatures were low but it wasn't a white winter. Boston wasn't the same in the snow. The city turned quieter by then and revealed a beauty that it didn't own the rest of the year. Jane loved it.

"It's only December, 2nd. The snow still can show up, don't be too impatient."

Amount of days left: twenty-four.