Notes: Hi guys! Thanks for reading and reviewing keep it up! I had to rewrite this chapter a few times because I felt I wasn't completely happy with it. Doing that has let this chapter kinda grow and change on its own and it isn't exactly what I had planned but I think it is better this way. Enjoy!

*Knock Knock Knock*

With her arm crossed in front of her head, Jane rested against the door frame. She sighed heavily as she waited and checked her watch.

She had already tried once before at a reasonable hour, but no one was there so she went straight home.

She had taken care of Jo, she had take-out from Happy Panda (for the record….not so happy today), looked over her case notes one last time, and headed for bed.

The only problem was she couldn't make her brain shut the hell up.

She tossed and turned. Flipped the covers down and pulled them back up. She had turned her pillow countless times. Nothing.

So her she was, standing outside at 2:30 in the friggin' morning, duffle bag in-hand, going on her 22nd hour awake (not counting the little drool secession at her desk).

Just as Jane was ready to call it quits, she heard the light padding of feet on hardwood on the other side of the elegant door. A few seconds later, the locks were turned and the door was slowly opened.

"Jane?…What are you doing here?"

Jane was pretty positive she looked almost exactly like that bulging-eyed, drooling, wolf that whistled at a pretty woman in some cartoon she had seen years ago but couldn't name.

Just on the other side of the threshold stood a frazzled Maura, one hand on the door, and one arm attempting to shield her unadjusted eyes from the bright beams of the streetlights.

But that wasn't what made Jane lose her shit.

All that separated the frigid night air from Maura's delicate, unblemished skin was one revealing gold silk robe that didn't even reach mid-thigh. The well toned legs of the former dancer never looked better. The lose knot that sat perfectly on her hips barely held in all of Maura. The sides of the robe draped carelessly on her chest just enough to cover the most sensitive of areas.

The difference in temperature that came with leaving the comfort of her king size bed was not lost on her body. The chill had left her nipples pert and poking painfully obvious through expensive silk unrestricted by a bra.

"Jane?" she asked this time with a raised brow and arm dropping from the door to her side.

All Jane could do was stare at all the gorgeous in front of her…and make some rather incoherent noises.

"I…umm…you…" Giving up, Jane let her mouth fall fully open. "Gaahhh…"

"Jane!" Had it not been some god-awful hour of the morning and her own lack of sleep, Maura would have most certainly used a gentler, more concerned tone.

"Sorry…I wanted to…" Jane started but Maura cut her off.

Pulling her robe around herself she said, "Come in, Jane."

Jane mouthed 'okay' and quickly did as she was told. She took her shoes off, and set her bag on the floor while she waited for Maura to lock the door again. When they met up again in the hallway, Maura half-heartedly motioned for them to both sit on the couch.

Both of the women nestled in their usual spots, but sat in silence for a few moments as the awkwardness of lunch settled over them.

An exhausted Maura sighed and made the first move repeating herself again.

"What do you want, Jane? And what time is it?"

Jane cleared her throat and tried to not focus on Maura's legs tucked beneath her just a short distance away.

"It's a little past 2:30. I tried to stop over right after work and talk, but you weren't here. I went home and tried to wait and just talk to you tomorrow…well today, but I couldn't sleep and I couldn't let things go where we left them."

Less annoyed now and more sympathetic, Maura said, "You really couldn't wait until a more reasonable hour? If I'm correct, we both have today off."

Shaking her head no slowly, Jane replied, "No, I really couldn't. It was just eating at me, Maur. You didn't deserve any of that. I just kept replaying the things I said over and over in my head while I just lied there staring at the ceiling."

Stopping to rub a hand on the back of her neck, she looked at the scarred hand in her lap.

"Especially on cases like this, I…Ya never know when something crazy is gonna to happen and you may never see someone you really care about again. Maura, with this kind of a job I can't afford to ever walk away angry. I couldn't let that shit I said be the last thing I ever said to you."

Both of their thoughts went to Hannah and how she would never see her father again. No child should ever have to go through something like this.

"I know, Jane. But what you said wasn't completely unwarranted. I should have told you long ago. There were plenty of opportunities that arose in which…"

"No." Jane wasn't about to let Maura do this. "You are not taking the blame for my dick move, Maur. Every time I do or say something stupid and we have a fight, you take the blame. It's either me being an ass or just getting annoyed at you because I don't understand what you're saying or why you do what you do."

Maura stuck out a hand and opened her mouth to protest but Jane wasn't having it and kept right on her tracks. She was getting worked up and it was in her, Maura's, and the rest of the planet's interests to let Jane get this off her chest.

"Not anymore. This was my fault and I'm owning up to my mistakes in our relationship from now on. I shouldn't have freaked out on you. Your sexuality is you own business. If you didn't want to tell me, you didn't have to. I was a huge raging asshole...And I'm so sorry."

The silence filled the room again as they let Jane's rant settle in.

After a few moments, Maura asked, "Better?"

Jane took a deep breath, and started to exhale when she started to shake her head yes slightly. The movements grew more full and she let out a choked "Yes!" followed by a breathy laugh.

Soon Maura joined in. As the laughter died out Maura got up from the couch, returning with two glasses of water.

As Maura settled again and took a few large sips of her refreshment, she started to speak softly.

"I was so scared you were never going to talk to me again Jane." She looked to Jane to make some eye contact and continued. "At first I was numb. I wasn't certain how to feel about the situation, so I went about my day on auto-pilot, just going through the motions."

The more she spoke, the surer she became of herself and more animated.

"Then sometime during the afternoon…I became very distressed. I had been worried nearly all of the day that I had been the one who had done something wrong. Then suddenly, I was mad at you, Jane."

Jane made some kind of a face that was the perfect combination of surprised and confused.

This was relatively new territory.

When was the last time Maura was legitimately pissed at her?

Never?

But how many times had Jane been absolutely pissed at Maura for something stupid?

Oh boy.

"I thought to myself that you were being completely selfish over something as trivial as my sexuality. Not just that, but every time I talk about sex or anything remotely sex related…you chastise me! If that's true, why would I bring up the topic of my sexuality for you to be disgusted and scold me? I was not going to subject myself to that."

She finally set the cup she had been fidgeting with down on the glass coffee table in front of the sofa.

"Jane…all my life I've been on the outside looking in. When I'm with you, things are so much easier to communicate. But lately, I feel as if you have been hyper-sensitive to my faults and misunderstandings and for the past few months I have been trying so hard not to put you on edge for fear of a confrontation."

Maura readjusted her position to fully face Jane now and pulled her legs beneath her. She reached out and gently took the glass from Jane and took both of her hands in her own.

"Is there something that has been putting you on edge?" The deep concern in Maura's eyes nearly melted Jane's heart on the spot.

Jane wanted nothing more than to yell immediately back "Yes! God, Yes! I'm in love with you and I get jealous of everyone within 10 feet of you! It is giving my homicidal thoughts! Okay…well more than normal."

"No. Not anything I can think of." Now Jane wanted nothing more than to punch herself in the face… repeatedly.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. I just want to help the old Jane resurface. The old Jane that was sarcastic but funny. The old Jane that was grumpy but found remedy in a cup off coffee. The old Jane that would get agitated by her family but always came running whenever they needed her. Not…" Maura stopped to find the right word to accurately describe Jane's demeanor of late.

But Jane pulled her hands gently free and was more than willing to fill in the blanks.

"A bitch?"

Maura made a face that she was about to protest but at Jane's raised eye-brow she giggled and agreed, "Yes. That would be more accurate I presume."

Jane grumbled and rubbed her hands on her face. She wasn't ready yet.

"I know what you're saying and I can see it in myself. I mean I've pretty much always been this way…just not to you. I really didn't realize how much I was hurting you though. Damn. I'm sorry, Maur. I know I have a lot of shit I need to take care of in my life and make things right. The first thing I want to make right is us."

Jane hadn't even recognized what she had said but Maura did.

Us.

She loved hearing that single word in Jane's perfectly husky tone and it took all she had to not let her internal smile beam through.

"No more bitchy, Jane. Well…at least to you. But I can't make any promises about my behavior before my morning coffee though."

They both joined in a fit of laughter as the last of the tension had finally gone.

Jane began to talk again as she reached for her glass of water. "For the record," she took a healthy gulp and said, "I have no problem with you dating, seeing, or whatever the hell you do with chicks that frankly…I really don't want to hear details about. You just caught me off guard with this whole Jack thing."

Maura could feel her body tense up at the mention of Jack and she was scared Jane might notice.

"Next time this Jack character is back in town, let me know. If it's okay with you, I'd like to meet her."

Maura wasn't sure if she was ready to test if the old Jane was back just yet.

"To be honest that opportunity could be much, much sooner than you anticipate." At Jane's confused expression, Maura thought it best to elaborate. "Jack hasn't left town yet."

Jane nearly had a spit take in Maura's lap.

"Oh. Well then…if she's still in Boston tonight and you both are free, I'd love to meet her then."

Was it sad that Jane mentally congratulated herself for saying something mature?

An equally shocked Maura took to taking both of their empty glasses to the sink to make her reaction less noticeable.

"I'll ask her the first chance I get, Jane."

When Maura returned she held out a piece of thick paper that had been on the island in the kitchen for Jane.

"Angela asked if I would ask you to scratch off this lottery ticket for her the next time you came over. I informed her on the unlikelihood that this ticket would reap any winnings but she insisted I had you do it anyway." Maura could feel her lack of sleep getting to her as she plopped back down on the sofa in her same spot.

Jane held the ticket with both hands between her legs as she leaned with her elbows on her knees laughing.

"I'm sure you did. Thanks. I never told you about these, did I?" Jane flapped the ticket against one of her hands as she looked up and over at Maura.

At the shaking, mussed curls on Maura's bounced in reply she said, "Every day since before I was born, Ma and Pop would always go to this crummy gas station a few blocks down from the house and buy a ticket. When I was old enough, they started letting me scratch the damn things off. The first time I did it they won 50 bucks. Ever since then I've scratched the tickets off for them every weekend."

Jane sighed as she lifted herself up to rest against her back of the couch again.

"Said I'd win them a million one of these days and we'd live the American dream." She ran a hand through her hair and said, "Instead they got the American tragedy and a divorced."

She couldn't help but laugh when she said, "One day I asked Ma why she kept buying them after Pop left. She said that I'd still win her a million…just now…she can rub it in Pop's sorry face."

Jane reached in her jean's pockets to find a coin but instead found a neatly folded piece of paper.

"What the hell is this?" she said as she unfolded it revealing a name, number, and a set of lip marks in bright red lipstick.

She held the slip of paper out for Maura to see. Seeing the name, Maura made an 'oh' face and said, "You don't remember who this is?"

Almost in a panic Jane said, "No. Who?"

Snickering openly, Maura slyly said, "Kate Connelly was Dr. Gordon's replacement as Hannah's doctor this morning."

"Oh. My. God." Jane nearly jumped off the couch and began to pace around the living room, "This has to be some kind of mistake. How did I get this?"

Laughing more openly now, Maura said, "Oh, it was no mistake Jane."

Jane stopped dead in her tracks and snapped her head towards the sofa. "How do you know?"

"Jane," Maura said as if it was painfully obvious (which it was…just not to Jane), "I'll spare you the scientific facts of her body language and vocal intonation, but yes. Dr. Connelly made no mistake."

"Shit," was all Jane could say frozen in embarrassment.

Jane could almost see the light bulb go off over Maura's head.

"Oh! Why don't you call Dr. Connelly and invite her out to dinner with the two of and Jack?"

Was she serious?

"Like…like on a date?"

Maura shook her head. "Like a double date? Yes." Maura was hoping by entice Jane to invite the doctor, she could somehow resolve her jealousy issues that she was experiencing when others were with Jane.

This was probably the dumbest thing Jane had ever agreed too or at the very least top 5.

Jane deadpanned, "Sure. Why the hell not?"

I mean how much more fucking awkward could this entire thing get?

"Good!"

Jane picked up her bag at the door and let that queue Maura that it was time to get some shut eye. Maura led the way to the guest room but didn't open the door.

"Don't you want to scratch the lottery ticket off for your mother?"

Jane said, "Nah. I'll wait til we're both here. I love to see here face when she wins something."

"That's sweet of you, Jane. Goodnight."

Maura made a move to head down the hall but Jane caught her by the wrist gently, dropped her bag, and pulled Maura back in front of her.

Looking down into hazel eyes, Jane asked, "Are we good?"

Maura just shook her head yes softly as Jane pulled her into an all encompassing embrace.

"Good." Jane kissed the crown of head and added, "becuase I hate when we have to hate each other."

Maura snickered into the crock of Jane's neck.

It wasn't meant to be a sensual embrace but Jane couldn't help but feel Maura's nearly bare breast pressed tightly just below her own. And Maura couldn't help but feel the rippling, flexed muscles of Jane's shoulders, toned biceps, and triceps wrap around her.

Safety. Warmth. Peace.

It was words that Maura was sure didn't even exist.

After what felt like an eternity, the hug ended.

Unexpectedly, Maura moved in what seemed like slow motion on her tip-toes. She slid her hands from tone shoulders to a flexed jaw and kissed Jane sweetly on the cheek.

Jane wasn't sure when Maura had left her, but she stood in the door way for what felt like hours playing that moment over and over in her head.

YAY! Thanks for reading and I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. We are definitely going to meet Jack next chapter and see more of Dr. Connelly…BUT I'm not sure how I want things to go yet so give me some input. What do you think Jack should/would look like (what do you think Maura's type is…OTHER than Jane)? How much angst do you want? There will be some no matter what though! Let me know! :)