"I… wait, what?" The confusion rushed through Jane as she tried to figure out how they had gone from awkward story about the past to her being less than something Maura needed. "Okay, you're going to have to draw me a map on this one, Maura."

Frustration crept into Maura's voice and facial expression, balled her hands into fists in her lap. "Every time I look back on my life, there are people in it that I considered friends. And now that I have you, I'm realizing that I clearly had no idea what friends actually were. I've become so spoiled by this, by having… this, that I find myself looking at all my old friendships and being so irritated with them, so unsatisfied with what I had before. Even a little angry that I had no basic understanding of what I was missing, until so recently."

"Oh." Jane put her fork down again. "Couldn't you just be happy we found each other instead of comparing what we have with things from the past? I mean, every relationship is different anyway, right?"

Maura couldn't be content right away. There was still frustration, disappointment to deal with, and she didn't want to let it go so quickly. But eventually she sighed as it drifted away from her. "You're right. I'm just upset because I can't change the past, which is a ridiculous thing to upset me. I am glad we found each other. You know what? I'm also glad that I said what I said to Gwen. She won't change her mind about anything, she's already made her choices, but maybe her daughters will think about their allegiance to the organization. If they choose to stay in it, maybe they'll change it for the better, but at least they'll know what they're involved with."

"Yeah, or they'll think the high class lady in the designer clothes that works at the Boston PD was a snob and move on." Jane smirked. "Either way, what matters is you did what you felt was right, and I won't fault you for that." She finished off the last bite her mini cake.

Maura gaped openly. "You're not exhibiting any signs of surprise at all. You knew? You knew that was Gwen today?" she demanded. "How could you possibly know that?"

"You just told me." Jane's smirked turned into a mischievous smile. "Detective work one-oh-one, Maur. Always give them enough rope to hang themselves." She laughed at her friend's shocked expression.

Maura shook her head, finally smiling, as Jane got the better of her. "Well. You know how I turned out, and you probably heard from Vince and Barry how Gwen turned out – soccer, Girl Scout, minivan, plays bridge with her husband, and I suspect she's a bit too fond of prescriptions. Shall I tell you how Shelly turned out, too?"

"Yeah, I'm curious." Jane leaned forward and ran the forefinger of her left hand quickly through the ganache Maura was slowly eating. "Please tell me she's butching it up somewhere. That'd be just about perfect." Jane began to like the creamy chocolate from her finger as she sat back to listen.

Maura's smile turned into one of her I-know-something almost-smirks as she stood up and walked into the kitchen, plucking from the phone message drawer a cocktail napkin. She brought it back to the table with her, where she mimicked Jane's action with her remaining ganache, then slid the cocktail napkin across the table to Jane. On the side that was not printed was a phone number, written in purple gel pen ink, along with the name: Shel Johnston. Maura's smile widened as she suggested, "Turn it over," before licking the creamy chocolate-caramel delight from her fingertip.

The front of the napkin read, in big, bold letters, MERCH.

"Nice." Jane handed the napkin back to the still smirking honey-blonde. "Figures one of them would join the other team." She took a few moments to lick her fork, making sure to get all of the yummy chocolate goodness from the prongs. "You know, people are funny, aren't they? I mean, one of them goes off to the husband and 2.5, and the other goes off to follow other women. Just goes to show you never know how someone is really going to turn out." Realizing all the chocolate had finally been devoured, the detective frowned as she tossed the fork in the open box where the mini cakes had been. "I mean, look at you. I bet those two would never have guessed that you'd turn out to be a smart, beautiful, successful doctor with an awesome friend like me, right?" She gave Maura one of her trademark 'I am awesome because I'm me' smiles.

"They knew I'd be smart," Maura replied easily, having never doubted this one area of her life. "But you're right, I doubt they saw me as ever having any real friends, let alone any as wonderful as you. To be fair, though, I assumed that they'd both turn out more like Gwen. Shelly surprised me, which was good to see. She seems happier now. Less likely to take the coward's way out again."

With a sigh, the detective stood, taking the box and forks to the sink for cleanup. "Hey, Maur, when did you see her at the Merch, anyway? That doesn't strike me as the kind of place you frequent in you Jimmy Choo's and Givenchy little black dresses. Did you run into her when we went undercover or something?" Jane put the clean forks in their proper place. "Oh God, Maura, was she one of my blind dates? Please tell me she wasn't one of my blind dates." Jane made a face, crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out in mock disgust.

As Jane stood, Maura prepared to do the same, but her question caught Maura up short, and she lowered herself back to her chair. "She wasn't one of your blind dates," replied the doctor after a moment's pause, "but yes, that's when I ran into her that time." The second the words left her mouth, Maura closed her eyes in a rather classic 'oh, dear' expression. Maybe Jane won't notice, she thought, clinging to a shred of hope.

"That time?" Jane turned to lean against the cabinet. "Maura, what aren't you telling me about your after hours activities when we're not together?"

Head tilted to one side, Maura viewed Jane with speculation for a moment. "Well, I didn't tell you that while you were at court today, I had soup for lunch. I also didn't tell you about the extra tip I gave my hairdresser last Monday, or the fact that I finished the book I'd been trying to read since the double homicide last month. Out of the one hundred fifty-six hours in a week, you and I are apart for approximately one hundred, even assuming we spent our entire work day together. Would you prefer to narrow the focus of your question?" Her tone was light, teasing, but her expression was serious. "I'm willing to discuss anything you want to know."