Disclaimer: Not mine. Not using for profit. Just playing with them.

A/N: Wow, I feel lucky. Thank you all so much for the reviews. I honestly appreciate them, every one of them. I tried to get this out last night but I really needed more time to edit and look it over. Plus I might have drank a half a bottle of wine last night so my editing wouldn't have been amazing anyway, so I hope this is okay!

Warning: This chapter is definitely rated M for language and sexual situations. If you are not comfortable with this or choose not to read it, you can either skip this chapter entirely or read only until the page break. Thanks!

Maura played with the keys in her hand as she made her way up the walk to her house. She paused at the purple Geraniums, running a finger along its soft, beautiful petals. Geranium cinereum. She smiled, just another thing she didn't realize she missed until she came back. When she reached the door she pushed the key in and turned before opening the door and sliding inside the house.

"Hey babe is that you?" The voice came from somewhere in the kitchen almost as soon as she stepped foot inside. Maura rolled her eyes. Who else would it be?

"It's me." She hung her coat on the hanger and put her purse down then made her way across the floor into the kitchen to see what he was doing. It was still weird, to come home and have someone there. And if Maura were honest with herself, every day she came home she expected to see Jane there, not James. In fact, Jane hadn't even been to her house since she'd gotten home.

There was a glass of wine sitting out for her on the counter and she smiled; just what she needed. He really was very thoughtful. She glanced at him and gave him a broad smile in thanks. He came around the island and stood on front of her. Maura took a sip, savoring the flavor, before putting the glass back down onto the counter.

"How was your day?" Maura asked politely, knowing it was expected.

"Long. Super busy." James smiled at her and leaned down, capturing her lips in a kiss before she could turn her head away.

After the initial shock, Maura closed her eyes, willing herself to feel what she felt when Jane kissed her. She tried to remember the days when she enjoyed kissing him. When she delighted in having him around her. When she liked having sex with him. But now, something in her felt like she was cheating on Jane. Maura pulled back, placing her hands on his chest.

"Do you like that movie about pigs?" Even she knew this was an inappropriate moment to bring it up but she couldn't help herself.

The look on his face, Maura knew, was one of confusion. "Huh?"

Maura shook her head. She knew she hadn't asked it correctly. "Nevermind." She could tell he was going to press the matter if she didn't keep talking. "Can we watch a movie?"

"About pigs?" She watched him run his hand through his hair. Something, she learned, that he did when he was nervous or confused. Maura frowned. He probably had done this since he was a child and would likely suffer from premature baldness if he didn't stop the habit.

"No." She averted her eyes and grabbed her wine glass from the counter. "How about that movie you were talking about last week?"

She could feel him following behind her as she turned and made her way to the couch.

"Which one?" He continued toward the DVD display case when she sat down.

"Pepper?" She honestly and uncharacteristically could not remember anything he said since she'd been back.

He laughed, loudly. Maura felt a blush rise in her cheeks and an anger building inside. "Do you mean Salt?"

"Whatever." She clicked her tongue. She didn't like when he made fun of her. At first it didn't bother her; everyone made fun of her, corrected her, looked at her like she was crazy. But now, it was starting to really make her angry. She had too many things, too many thoughts, too many emotions, dancing around in her head to deal with embarrassment.

She watched him put the DVD in and then sit next to her on the couch. He grabbed the remote and got the movie started before placing his hand on her thigh. Maura winced; it still hurt.

Maura climbed out of bed and glanced down at James, who was fast asleep and snoring. Before Jane, the snoring didn't bother her. Jane. Maura grabbed her phone and padded out of the room, closing the door behind her. She maneuvered her way in the dark to the spare bedroom and climbed into the bed, pulling the covers around her. She could tell the sheets hadn't been changed since the last time Jane was there. Or maybe she was just willing herself to think that she could smell Jane on the sheets. Or maybe Jane had been here since she'd been gone. Her heart stirred. Maura glanced at the clock before hitting the speed dial number associated with her best friend. She allowed herself to relax as she listened to the phone ring.

"Maura?" She could hear Jane's panic. "Are you okay?"

She smiled into the phone. "I'm fine, Jane."

"Then why are you calling at 1 a.m.?" Her panic dissipating and quickly moving to confusion.

"12:50, Jane." Maura pushed herself further down the bed, laying her head on a pillow. She could tell Jane was rolling her eyes at the correction. "And I know you weren't asleep."

"Oh yeah?" Jane's reply was husky.

"Yes." Even the seemingly mundane conversation they were having seemed exciting to Maura.

"And what was I doing if I wasn't asleep?" She could tell Jane was testing her.

"Thinking about me." Maura took the bait. She couldn't stop herself.

"Really?" Jane breathed into the phone. "What was I thinking about?"

Maura blushed. She knew what she wanted to say but also knew that she didn't say such things. Her thoughts swam with possible alternatives, synonyms. None. "Fucking me."

The growl in response clearly came from somewhere deep in Jane. "Shit, Maur."

Maura let her embarrassment at her crassness fade. She could tell it was having an effect on Jane. After a moment of silence she allowed herself to speak again. "Well?"

Jane was breathing heavily into the phone and Maura could tell she was having a hard time remembering her words. "Maybe I was."

"Maybe?" Maura knew the answer already.

"I was." Whether it was true or not was not the point right now. Maura's brain was working double-time, trying to figure out what to say next. She'd never done this before.

"Touch yourself." Heat rose to Maura's cheeks at the suggestion, the implication. "Please."

"God, Maur, where is this coming from?" Maura could tell by Jane's voice that the question was simply rhetorical so she stayed silent, listening for sounds of compliance on the other end.

She heard Jane gasp and smiled to herself. She shifted in the bed, more turned on than she'd ever been before. "How were you doing it?"

"From behind." The reply was instant and caused a pang of pleasure down deep in Maura.

The groan escaped her throat without warning. Maura shifted again, the heat and arousal almost too much. "Hard?" The question was barely a whisper. Her chest was flushed and it seemed as though she was having trouble breathing.

She could hear Jane moan. "And rough."

Maura closed her eyes, picturing the moment. She trailed a hand down her flat stomach to the waistband of her silk pajama bottoms. It was too much and she needed a release. Jane's sighs and groans of pleasure on the other end seemed to set her whole body on fire.

"Maura?" Her eyes snapped open. That was not Jane's voice. Maura scrambled into a sitting position.

"Jane. I have to go. I'm so sorry." She whispered, hurriedly, into the phone.

Jane whimpered. "Fuck."

"I'm sorry." Maura whispered back, feeling horrible.

"We're finishing this tomorrow." Jane's voice growled before the line went dead.

That simple sentence nearly caused Maura to unravel. She bit her lip to stifle the moan that came at the mere implication of Jane's words.

"Where are you?" His voice sounded again. She could tell he was in the hallway.

Maura ran her hand through her hair and smoothed her pajamas back into placed before pulling the covers back up around her and sliding down to place her head on the pillow. As long as he kept the light off everything would be okay. He wouldn't be able to tell that her pupils had dilated or that her skin had a faint, pink rash from her chest to her cheeks. She could hear him run into the table against the wall and curse.

"In here." Though she really didn't want him to know where she was. She wanted to be left alone, to be back on the phone with Jane, past the point of no return. She wanted to be satisfied right now, half asleep and happy. Maura heard the door click and saw him enter the room, the light from the moon bouncing off his white sleep shirt.

"What are you doing?" His voice confused, still laden with sleep.

"I uh," Maura's brain tried to find the right answer, the answer that was less of a lie. "I couldn't sleep." There, that wasn't a lie.

He let her answer hang in the air for a minute, still standing by the door, before replying. "Was it my snoring?"

"Yes." Her voice cracked. It wasn't the whole truth. But she couldn't explain the whole truth. She couldn't explain that she'd been up, thinking about her "best-friend-and-nothing-more" Jane. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she was something more, something Maura always wanted her to be, but never was, until now, until Maura was engaged and shouldn't be having these feelings or thinking this way. It was hard enough explaining to herself that she was, in fact, technically, at least according to most people, cheating on James, her fiancé, the man who moved across the entire country to stay with her. She still couldn't come to terms with the fact that even though James was her fiancé, it felt like she was cheating on Jane, every time she came home to him instead. When did your life become so confusing and convoluted?

"I'm sorry." She could tell he genuinely was. "I'll figure something out so you can sleep in our bed."

Our bed. "It's okay." Maura wanted to cry.

"Goodnight." He went to close the door. "Love you."

She didn't respond and he closed the door behind him, shutting it softly.

Maura turned on her side, letting a tear slip and fall onto the pillow below. She wished that she wasn't so smart, wasn't able to analyze so completely, wasn't able to understand the implications of her coming back. She didn't want to be able to use logical reasoning to deduce where this whole thing was heading. She didn't want to know that there were two possible outcomes, neither of which could offer comfort, or solace, or complete happiness to everyone involved. She wanted to be ignorant, to the whole thing. She wanted to go back to not being able to comprehend the social implications and complications of situations. She wanted to turn back time and reassure herself that ignorance is bliss, it happens in nature all of the time. But she couldn't, she never would be able to again.

Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway. – Mary Kay Ash