Light seeped in through the gaps of the curtains in Maura's room. It was a bright and unsympathetic light which drove Maura's eyes to flutter open as she could no longer sleep privately with the light intruding. Glancing over at her clock with blurry eyes she could just make out that it was just past eleven.

"Oh mother…fooey" she grumbled stopping herself from cursing, swearing was unpleasant and she tried to catch herself as often as she could. But realising the time and the fact she was several hours late for work she thought maybe correcting herself hadn't been necessary. As Maura sat up from the comfort of her pillows and loving bed, her head began to pound so aggressively she almost had to lay back down again. Rubbing her temples soothingly in a desperate attempt to help her thumping head, she caught glimpse of a familiar grey t-shirt she was wearing. No, it can't be… she thought a sudden cluster of thoughts clouding her already foggy brain. She couldn't possibly be wearing Jane's favourite BPD shirt, that would almost be as crazy as Jane wearing Maura's favourite pair of heels. But sure enough when Maura pulled the shirt out to get a better look at it she saw the unmistakable black lettering Property of Boston Police Dept. Maura let out a small gasp as a vague memory of her puking into her ceramic fruit bowl filled her mind. Oh no, no, no. Maura tossed back the covers of her bed and swung her legs out almost landing directly in her large red washing bucket.

"What is that doing there?" She mumbled, everything was so strangely disordered. She took a moment to catch her balance, swaying slightly at the sharp pain that was insistently hammering away at the inside of her head, causing her vision to blur. She felt heavy and groggy as she slowly and languidly made her way out of her room and down the stairs. Halfway down she was startled out of her sleepy daze by a loud clattering and banging of cupboards coming from her kitchen. She cautiously took another step, trying to peer around the corner even though she knew it would be no use. Then all of a sudden she remembered Jane. Jane had been here last night. Her eyes widened and she plastered her back against the wall of the stairs as she frantically scrambled to put into order the events that happened last night. She remembered calling Jane, then pulling the detective into her house when she had amazingly shown up, she remembered consuming most of the wine in her fridge, and Jane hassling her to tell her what was wrong. What was wrong? She had an unfortunate memory of puking into her fruit bowl which she was hoping was a dream, and then being in the bathroom upstairs with Jane, but there had been something else…something she had felt, something that had made her ventricle impulse rapidly increase.

"No…" Maura whispered clamping her hand firmly over her mouth in terror as she suddenly recalled the soft taste of Jane's lips against hers, and the dark bittersweet scent of her skin as they had embraced.

She immediately turned and began to make her way back up the stairs, after taking two steps she stopped herself glancing back over her shoulder at the doorway into the kitchen. She was a grown well respected woman, yet here she was acting like a child trying to run away from something she didn't want to do, it was a stupid childish idea for her to hide in her room. If Jane was still here then she would eventually come up, Maura sighed. Maybe she could just pretend like she couldn't remember the pivotal moments the two of them had shared, technically she wouldn't be lying, would she?

Taking a deep breath she quickly tried to smooth down her tousled bed hair before descending down the rest of the stairs. Her heart thumped as loudly as her head did as she approached the kitchen, eager to get some painkillers in her system before she passed out from the terrible pain that was maliciously attacking her head.

"Well would ya look at that" Jane looked amazed as soon as she saw Maura step foot into the room "she's up, and moving" she raised both her hands up into the air like she was thanking God.

"It's a miracle" she grinned and came around to the other side of the counter pulling out a stool for Maura to sit at. The doctor silently sat down and instantly slid her head into her hands. Jane chuckled to herself watching the clearly hungover medical examiner wallow in her seat, her mascara was still smudged under her eyes and her honey blonde hair was disheveled, but still she looked beautiful as ever. Stop it, Jane mentally growled catching herself quickly before she had anymore sappy thoughts about the doctor. She grabbed Maura's favourite mug that she had just filled and slid it across the counter so it was right under Maura's nose.

"Drink" she instructed and followed up by sliding a packet of painkillers beside it.

Maura lifted her head a fraction and smiled.

"Thank you" she mumbled quietly, strangely amazed that Jane was actually still here. She picked up her mug and sniffed the substance inside it.

"Is this instant?" she asked and Jane rolled her eyes.

"No, Maura it's not I've learnt my lesson about having instant coffee in your house" Jane smirked and took a sip from her own coffee.

"You used my espresso machine?"

"God no" Jane said "I went for a run this morning and picked these up on the way back"

Maura frowned. There were so many puzzling things about the situation that she couldn't understand. It was only then she noticed that Jane was in fact in running gear, aside from wearing the same Boston Red Sox shirt that Maura remembered she had on last night, Jane was in black running shorts and her sneakers. She went for a run and bought me coffee? Maura pondered running her finger thoughtfully around the edge of her mug. And why is she acting so…calm? Then a sudden thought struck Maura so hard she almost wobbled off the stool, what if kissing Jane had never happened at all? Maybe she had been hallucinating, although usually alcohol didn't cause hallucinations, it just weakened senses.

Maura watched Jane closely as she opened up the newspaper, spreading it out over the counter and beginning to read it, her brow furrowing with concentration. Maura took a long sip of her coffee, enjoying the warmth of the liquid travel down her throat with the strength of the caffeine making her feel more awake immediately. Her stomach rumbled as the coffee hit it, realising it had been over 15 hours since she had last eaten.

"Hungry?" Jane asked without looking up and Maura flushed pink embarrassed that her stomach had been so intrusively loud.

"Just a little" she replied and Jane looked up.

"Well it's a good thing I got breakfast too" she said turning around and grabbing a brown paper bag off the kitchen counter and presenting it in front of Maura, letting her investigate the bag herself she eventually pulled out the toasted organic breakfast bagel.

"You brought me a breakfast bagel?" Maura's approval was apparent as she smiled lovingly at the bagel like it was the first time she had seen one in years. Jane watched her, an eyebrow lifted and a goofy smile plastered to her face, however she was quick to wipe the look off her face as Maura looked up.

"Thank you, Jane" she said.

"It's all good…I mean you have no food in your fridge, literally" Jane replied "And I figured we can't have you moping around with a hangover for the next 24 hours so"

Suddenly Maura remembered she was meant to go grocery shopping last night, but instead she had come home and wept over several bottles of wine. It was at that moment she was also reminded of the mess her island counter had been, but now it was spotless in fact it was so clean she swore she could see it sparkle in the sunlight. The wine bottles were gone, her mail was in a tidy pile and her purse had it contents back in it and was hanging neatly off the back of one her dining chairs. Maura swivelled around in her seat with a mouthful of bagel, her eyes scanned her living room, that was spotless too and her ceramic bowl was in place on the table with all the fruit placed inside it. Turning back to Jane slowly she asked herself if she was going crazy.

"You feeling any better yet?" Jane asked hopefully, wanting her efforts to perk Maura up to have worked. Maura nodded and quickly swallowed two painkillers with a mouthful of coffee, desperately wanting to avoid the subject of whatever happened or didn't happen last night.

"We really should get to work" she said relieved when she remembered they had other common ground to talk about. She got up off the stool and Jane stopped her.

"Ah no we really shouldn't" She said taking Maura by the shoulders and sitting her back down gently. Maura looked deeply confused, in fact Jane thought she almost looked like she had woken up in an alternate universe and had no clue what was going on at all.

"I called us in sick" she explained "you are in no state to be at work, and I…well I have so many hours owing to me I could take a year off"

Maura's mouth formed a perfect O. She wasn't entirely happy about Jane calling her in sick, she was the Chief Medical Examiner of Massachusetts she very rarely took sick days, in fact she couldn't remember the last time she had. She would show up to work no matter how bad she felt, Jane was usually the one to send her home after lunch even though she would always persist at admitting she was fine. She was dedicated to her work, that wasn't a crime, and today she was a little hungover it was nothing she couldn't have handled herself.

"You really didn't have to do that" she said trying not to sound upset with Jane, she had only been trying to do what she thought was best for Maura.

Jane lifted an eyebrow picking up on Maura's tone. "Are you saying that you could have stood on your feet all day doing autopsy's with what's going on up there and not chopped off someones arm accidentally?" she gestured at Maura's head and Maura knew she had no place argue, Jane did have a point. She wasn't sure any amount of painkillers were going to stop this hangover.

"Well, I just…" Maura buried her nose into her coffee cup so she didn't have to finish a sentence she didn't have an end to.

"You just need to accept you're having the day off Maur" Jane said with her cheeky smile she always wore when she knew she had won and gotten her way. She looked down and went back to reading the paper, not that she was reading it exactly, she couldn't bring herself to focus with Maura sitting so close to her. She didn't know what had gotten into her, just because Maura had kissed her didn't mean she suddenly liked the medical examiner, feelings don't just grow overnight or had these feelings been there all along and Jane just hadn't known it. Whatever the case, she couldn't stop thinking about the kiss, Maura straddling her lap, the feeling of her in Jane's arms. Jane bit down hard on her bottom lip, it had been stupid of her to ask the medical examiner to kiss her again, she was so drunk she probably didn't even remember it. What if she bought it up and Maura didn't know what she was talking about, or worse what if Maura regretted what she had done, but her words rang clearly in Jane's mind "Do you get it now? You could have had me." You could have had me. No one had forced Maura to say those words, she had said them all of her own accord, and maybe she hadn't been aware that it was out loud but she had still meant it.

"What happened last night?" Maura's voice cut through Jane's thoughts and she looked up at the blonde meeting her hazel eyes immediately.

"Did I… vomit in my fruit bowl?" Maura couldn't help herself any longer, she had spent the entire time she was eating possibly the best bagel she had ever tasted arguing with herself whether or not to bring last night up with Jane. She desperately didn't want to because it still had the potential to ruin everything, but at the same time she was sick of cowering away from her feelings towards Jane. Yes, she felt something stronger than friendship towards the detective and she had been suppressing those emotions for months in fear of ruining their relationship, and losing the one person she cared the most about. But keeping those feelings locked inside her weren't doing any good, they would wake her during the night and fill the empty air after Jane left the room, she couldn't hide from them forever. And if she remembered correctly Jane had asked her to kiss her again last night, which was something all on its own. So she had given in.

"You don't remember?" Jane asked narrowing her eyes trying to hide the anxiety that was creeping up on her.

"Hives, Doctor Isles" she added pointing at Maura's chest, as a prompt for Maura to tell the truth.

"I…well…yes" Maura stumbled over her words, knowing she couldn't lie to Jane.

"It's just, my fruit bowl" Maura said looking over her shoulder at her favourite blue ceramic bowl.

"You did puke in the fruit bowl Maura" Jane admitted to her with a smile toying at the corners of her mouth at how concerned Maura was at least pretending to be about the bowl.

"But I cleaned it, multiple times and put everything back where it was, including the disaster that was all over here" she gestured at the counter in front of them and Maura looked at Jane with wide eyes.

"You tidied my house?"

"Everything smelt like puke or alcohol…I had to do something" Jane laughed softly at the shocked expression displayed across Maura's face.

"T-thank you" Maura said seeming slightly on edge.

"Is that…" Jane's voice trailed off, but she cleared her throat quickly, deciding to continue before it was too late and the subject passed. "Is that all you wanted to bring up from last night?" she asked hoping she wasn't pressing Maura too much.

Maura looked at her studying Jane's chocolate brown eyes, they needed to do this, they needed to talk about this as it wasn't going to go away on its own.

"Sometimes" Maura said after ruminating over Jane's question for several insufferable seconds "All you need it twenty seconds of insane courage"

Jane lifted an eyebrow curiously at Maura's choice of words.

"Is that scientifically proven?" she asked, unsure of how else to respond.

"No" Maura said nonchalantly "It's a quote, from We Bought a Zoo, it is really a very touching movie, you should see it"

A smile broke out on Jane's face at and a laugh escaped her lips, Maura was the smartest and most adorable dork she had ever had the pleasure of knowing. She couldn't help but smile.

"Duly noted" the sound of Jane's laughter made Maura smile, she was never sure what she had said that would make Jane burst into laughter, or look at her with those big chocolate brown eyes with a look of some kind of adoration or affection, but she wasn't complaining. She loved to make Jane smile. It made her smile.


Again, I would just like to say how much I appreciate you guys reading this and all of the lovely comments you've been leaving for me. It really does make my day seeing you enjoy this story. I feel like I've been spoiling you with the daily updates but at the same time with the support you've been giving me you totally deserve it :)

Please please please continue letting me know your thoughts and feelings about it, I'm always open to any criticism too. Anything you're feeling after reading this I want to know!

The next update might take a little longer, I've decided to try and turn this into a full fic instead of a oneshot as it has sort of already exceeded that limit. I need a bit of time to plan what's going to happen, and unfortunately I do have some uni work that needs to be done. So thank you again for being so wonderful and bare with me...MORE IS COMING! Much love xxxxx