Hmm, seems the majority have spoken. This will be the final chapter for this story.

Thank you so much for all the amazing feedback! For a story that I honestly did not like at first to receive such an overwhelming response... I can't even begin to express my gratitude. Thank you! You are all amazing! xo

Oh, I also received some criticism (some constructive, some not) on the last chapter that made me go back and have a look at it... I've now updated it and hopefully improved it a lot. Feel free to go back and have a squiz... I added about 500 words just to fill in the background a bit and to make it feel a little less rushed. Thank you and as always, I welcome your opinion. Please do not feel the need to hide behind anonymity though... I am a very reasonable person and always endeavour to be polite.

To the reviewers who expressed dismay that their first real meeting will be in the Dirty Robber... do not despair! Have some faith in your author. ;-)

I have decided to keep this one rated T, so while I imply that fun times were had, I do not venture there with this story. Some readers may be disappointed, but I felt it didn't fit here. Please check out 'The Story of... well, sex' for smut chapters. :-D

Onwards to the chapter, dear readers! :-)

R&IR&IR&I

CHAP FOUR

"So, were there any interesting characters at this year's conference, Maura?" Frankie asked, grabbing the chair he had so recently vacated and straddling it again.

Maura, who was standing so close to Jane that their arms touched, bit her lip. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know... Dr Pike, Popov, the cowboy doctor..."

"He is actually a fine forensic scientist! Without him, we almost certainly could not have retrieved the partial prints from the bullet casing for that case where..." Maura trailed off, looking up at Jane.

"For that case where I got kidnapped, yeah."

"Sorry, I didn't..."

"It's all right, Maura. These guys saved me, and they couldn't have done it without your help... I'm fine."

Maura smiled, leaning into Jane a fraction more. "I'm glad."

Jane's smile widened and the two women stared at each other until Korsak cleared his throat. "Uh, ladies?"

Jane jumped. "Uh... yeah. What?"

"Uh..." he looked a bit awkward, "were there? Any interesting characters at the convention, I mean."

Jane laughed. "Oh yeah. Maura found the female version of Dr Popov."

"To be fair," Maura reasoned, "we have no proof that she is actually an alcoholic. Though she was certainly..." she gestured with her hands, her facial expression conveying discomfort as she tried to phrase herself delicately, "... enthusiastic... about alcoholic beverages this past weekend, I have no evidence that proves that that is her usual behaviour."

"How anyone solves a murder outside of Boston is beyond me," Jane added, his hand coming up and rubbing Maura's arm. "God knows we have the best medical examiner ever with us."

Maura's face softened and she looked down at the floor self consciously. "Thank you Jane. You are certainly the best detective I have ever had the pleasure of working with."

"Oh God..." Frankie groaned, just as Korsak sat up and pointed at Jane, his face twisted in a confused frown.

"Wait, how did you know that Maura found the female Popov?"

Jane shrugged, letting her hand drop from Maura's arm (and instantly, she missed the contact). "I Skyped her."

"Hmm, I'm not sure if that's the correct way to say it..." Maura mused. Jane raised an eyebrow, her lips curving fondly. "It might be more grammatically correct to say that you called me via Skype."

"Maura, it..." Jane started, but when Maura looked up, she shook her head. "You know what, never mind. Doesn't matter."

"On the contrary Jane, correct grammatical structuring of sentences is very important!"

"Wait, you Skyped her?" Korsak broke in at this point, looking between the two of them. Maura raised a hand and opened her mouth to interrupt but Jane shook her head discreetly. Maura remained silent. "She was only gone for three days!"

"Yeah, so?" Jane replied defensively. "I missed her."

Maura smiled hugely. "I missed you too Jane. I was very grateful when you called me. It saved me from calling you."

Jane turned to Maura fully, reaching out to take her hand. "You missed me too?"

"You know I did..." she murmured. Frankie groaned.

"Oh God, you two are going to turn into one of those cutesy couples, aren't you?"

Korsak's mouth dropped open. "Huh?"

"No!" Jane retorted. "I don't do cutesy."

"Ohhhh, yes you do. You do with Maura." Frankie rolled his eyes and stood up, swinging the chair around so he could sit on it properly, then leaning back and rubbing his eyes wearily. "God help me, Jane, if you make me watch your cutesy displays, I will show Maura some of your diary entries from when you were a kid."

"No, I..." Jane paused. "Wait, what diary entries?"

Frankie grinned.

"Goddamnit, you are the most annoying person I..."

"You're a couple finally?" Korsak suddenly blurted out, the power of speech apparently returned.

Jane blinked. "Finally?"

"Yeah, we've been waiting for you two to get together..." he quailed under Jane's furious glare, blurting out the rest in a quiet voice, "for years."

"I...!" Jane started, but stopped when Korsak smiled sadly and looked over to Frost's vacant desk.

"I owe Frost $20," he said quietly, and Jane froze, her eyes going over to the action figure that stood a silent vigil. She felt Maura grip her arm. "He always had faith that you two would figure it out sooner rather than later." Korsak let out a short bark of laughter, "I thought it would be another five years yet."

"Yeah, well..." Jane shrugged, her eyes feeling hot and prickly. "He always was a lot smarter than you, old man."

"Yeah," Korsak nodded easily, his eyes slightly red rimmed, "he really was." He stood up and approached Jane, clapping her on the shoulder with a hand so heavy that Jane's knees almost buckled. "Go home, Jane."

Jane frowned. "But... this case, it..."

"No. Go home. We can handle the paperwork." He glanced at Maura, who smiled weakly, her own eyes watery. "Go be with Maura. We'll see you at the Dirty Robber tonight."

Jane felt her heart leap, but she had to be sure. "Are you..."

"Life is short, Jane," Frankie interrupted, and once more, all eyes were drawn to the lonely figure standing vigil on an abandoned desk. "Go make memories."

"Okay. Okay, I... okay." Jane grabbed Maura's hand gladly, looking down at the beaming woman. "Let's go, Maura." Maura headed towards the door, Jane following behind, but suddenly Jane hesitated and looked back at Frankie. "You do realize that you essentially just told me to go have sex with my girlfriend, right?"

Frankie's face instantly screwed up in disgust. "Jane!"

Jane turned and continued walking out. "Payback for the diary thing. Ha!"

R&IR&IR&I

The walk down to Jane's car was quiet, the two women occasionally stealing glances at the other but not speaking. They were still at work, of course, even if not strictly 'on the clock', and the need to be professional was still there. Finally, the silence got too much for Jane. "Maura, I..."

"Yes?" Maura replied instantly, as though she had been waiting for Jane to speak for a long time.

Jane, however, could think of nothing to say. "Nothing." After a brief period of silence, she asked awkwardly, "Where's your luggage?"

"I asked my driver to deliver it to my house."

"Right. Of course." They fell silent again, the quiet only broken by the loud beep as Jane unlocked her car. Maura quickly climbed in the passenger side, and Jane hopped in the driver's side. She glanced at Maura out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes, Jane?"

"Nothing." Jane instantly turned her eyes forward again, took a huge breath and put the key in the ignition, turning the car on. She reversed out of her parking space and began driving towards Maura's house. Suddenly, she felt awkward. Should she be going to Maura's house? Maybe that was presumptuous. Maybe she should go to her own place. Oh, but then... maybe Maura didn't want to spend the afternoon together. She really shouldn't assume that she would. So maybe she'd pull up outside Maura's house, wait for her to get out, then see if anything was said about whether Jane should stay or not. Or whether she could stay. What was the usual dating ritual when dating a woman? Did you have to wait for them to make the first move? What about the first date? Was tonight the first date? Would Jane have to pay? She was the more masculine of the two, after all. Or was that an outdated concept? What if Maura was offended if Jane tried to pay? What if she was offended if Jane didn't? And then, because tonight probably should be considered the first date, did that mean that Jane should wait until the end of the night to try to kiss Maura? And why the hell wasn't Maura talking?

I knew it. I KNEW it. It's going to be weird. It is going to be weird, and we're not going to have anything to say to each other, and our friendship is going to break up and it's all because you just HAD to Skype her, you just HAD to... God, I'll miss her so much, fuck, how could I be so STUPID as to think this could work? How can I fix this? Should I pretend it never happened or...

"Jane. We're here." Maura's voice cut into Jane's internal bitter diatribe and Jane stared out the window, blinking up at the familiar house that she seemed to spend so much time in... more time than her own place, she sometimes thought. "Jane."

"Hmm?" Jane undid her seatbelt and turned in her seat, seeing an exasperated, yet fond look on Maura's face. Vaguely, she wondered how many times Maura had called her name before she finally heard it. "Yeah? Sorry, I was just..."

"Overthinking. You were just overthinking."

"No, I wasn't," Jane lied instantly, then cringed when she saw Maura's raised eyebrow. "Okay. Maybe I was. But you weren't saying anything."

"And?"

"And... I thought we'd already run out of stuff to say?" Jane said, and her voice rose at the end, turning what was supposed to be a statement into a question. She winced almost straight away when she heard how weak and pathetic it sounded.

"Jane, we don't have to speak all the time. It doesn't mean we've run out of things to talk about."

Jane smiled down at her lap. "No... I guess you'll never run out of things to talk about, for one thing."

"And for another..." Maura's hand touched Jane's face, gently lifting it until Jane was looking directly at her, "I don't foresee me ever getting sick of talking to you. Or getting sick of hearing you talk."

"You're my best friend, Maura."

"And you're mine."

"But that's what I mean!" Jane exclaimed, "I just... you're my best friend. And now you're my... my girlfriend, I guess, and..."

"I like the sound of that," Maura broke in, smiling softly.

"Yeah, me too, but... I mean, what if we break up? What if that happens, Maura?"

"Then..." Maura shrugged, "we muddle our way through the awkward patches and come out the other side."

"But what if the other side means that... we're not friends?"

"It won't. We will always be friends, Jane."

"How can you know that?" Jane whispered, hating herself for the neediness she could hear in her voice.

"Because..." Maura murmured, and took Jane's hand, "I would be miserable without you." She smiled at Jane. "I will fight for you Jane. I will always fight to have you in my life. You're my best friend, first and foremost. Everything else..." she shrugged, "is just... bonus."

Jane surprised herself by suddenly bursting into laughter.

"What? What? Jane, did I... what are you laughing at?" Maura asked, giggles eventually overtaking her as well.

"Nothing, I just..." Jane shook her head. "I just realized that I'm sitting in the car outside your house and... I really just want to kiss you right now."

"So? Why is that funny?"

"I just..." Jane laughed again. "We already destroyed your girlhood notions of romance by confessing our love for each other over Skype, I can't destroy our first kiss too by having it be in the car outside your house like some... some teenage couple, hiding from her dad!"

Maura smiled fondly. "Sometimes, Jane, growing up means letting go of childhood dreams."

"Yeah, but..." Jane shrugged awkwardly. "I don't know. I just think that you should have all of your childhood dreams come true."

"You didn't let me finish."

"I... right. Sorry."

"I was going to say..." Maura glanced down, then up again, both hands gripping Jane's now. "That sometimes... just sometimes... fantasies pale in comparison to real life. Sometimes, real life is better."

Jane winked. "Is that an invitation, Dr Isles?"

"What do you think, Detective?"

With that, Jane leaned forward, and Maura leaned forward too. Their lips met and Jane felt like an explosion had taken place inside of her belly. She found herself smiling into the kiss.

"I think, Dr Isles," she murmured, "that we should get inside and see what other fantasies we can kick in the ass."

"Sounds like a plan, Detective."

R&IR&IR&I

"You look happy. Wait, don't tell me."

Jane grinned. Frankie groaned.

"I said don't tell me!"

"I didn't!"

"You smiled that smile," he groused. "That's as good as giving me a play by play."

"Well, if you really want to know..." Jane started, then laughed as Frankie instantly put his fingers in his ears, singing loudly. Maura started laughing.

"You are evil."

"You love it," Jane whispered.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Ooh! Susie's here!" Jane waved as Susie pushed her way through the door before gesturing emphatically towards the bar.

"Why are you excited because Susie's here?"

"Just because," Jane answered evasively, still gesturing as she looked at the bewildered Susie. Maura stood up slightly to look in the direction Jane was pointing in.

"You stole one of Susie's dioramas!"

"I didn't steal it," Jane replied defensively, finally lowering her arms with a satisfied smile as Susie headed towards the diorama, "I borrowed it. And you know what, one of the figurines is of me, so I kind of own, like... a third of it."

"Uh huh," Maura replied, unconvinced and she watched Susie bend over to look into the mini morgue. Susie straightened suddenly, looking very excitedly towards the two of them. "Uh, what did you do to it?"

"Nothing. Just... put the two figures together in a way that let Susie know we are together now."

Maura raised an eyebrow but was unable to say anything more as Susie had just arrived at their table. "I just... I just wanted to say how happy I am for you two. You're my hero Doctor Isles, and... oh, you are too, Detective," she added, making Jane smile in amusement, "I'm just so happy that you're happy."

"Thanks Susie," Maura smiled, and watched as she walked away. Then, with a glance at Jane, Maura darted out of the booth.

"Hey!" Jane yelled, chasing her through the crowds, finally stopping when she saw what Maura was looking at.

"Really? You have us kissing. On the morgue table. Really, Jane? And... the cadaver is on the floor."

"What? We needed the space. He didn't mind." Jane leaned forward too, looking into the mini room.

"There is another table!"

"Oh." Jane blinked. "Didn't notice that at the time."

Maura shook her head. "Well, at least I'm to scale."

Jane snorted. "You are so not to scale. Look at those things on your chest! Mini Jane is quite the lucky one..."

"Those 'things' are perfect in form and balance. And what do you mean, mini Jane is lucky? Is full size Jane not lucky?"

Jane stood up straight and grinned. It was really too easy sometimes to get a rise out of Maura. "Hmm, maybe."

"Maybe." Maura straightened up too and approached Jane slowly.

"Okay, fine. A little bit."

Maura poked her in the side.

"Ow! Fine, you nasty individual. I'm very lucky. Happy now?"

Maura grinned. "I'm always happy with you, Jane." She stepped closer and Jane willingly spread her legs, drawing Maura in close. "You're my best friend."

"Uh-uh. L-Biff, remember?"

"L-Biff. For life."

Jane smiled.

END.

Again, thank you so much for the support and the love. This will be the end of this story, but keep an eye out for more stories from yours truly! Though I am going to try writing some originals to get published in fiction magazines sometime soon... wish me luck!

Love to all xo