It was as if Maura's body knew that we'd told everyone about the pregnancy and it could stop pretending to be its old shape. She was nearing six months gone now and unmistakably pregnant. It was way past the stage where a long cardigan could stop people commenting. And the comments were coming thick and fast. Everywhere we went, people were asking her how she was feeling and what she was having. I could tell she wasn't entirely comfortable with the situation. She also wasn't entirely comfortable with her new wardrobe. She missed her signature figure-hugging dresses and she's recently had to switch from heels to flats because the heels were making her back hurt. I was secretly quite glad about that. The thought of her falling in those heels had been scaring me.
We'd been living together for nearly six weeks and, truth was, I was dreading the day when the baby was born and I had to go home. I'd sort of forgotten that this was only a temporary arrangement. Being with her all the time felt so natural I didn't ever want it to change. We'd fallen into an easy routine of cooking dinner together and spending our evenings curled up on the sofa under a blanket, talking in soft voices about anything and everything. And then there were lazy weekend mornings when we'd wake up slowly and lie together in bed, murmuring about nothing in particular.
I'd never talked quite so much with anyone before. This was a new kind of closeness. I felt like I was getting to know her on a whole different level. I knew everything about her and yet she still managed to surprise me. And I couldn't get enough of it. Detective McStoic was now being anything but. If there was ever a rare moment of silence, I would instantly fin something to fill it. Talking with her became my greatest pleasure. I realised that I loved the way she thought, the way she saw the world and I valued her opinion more than anyone's.
I had never been happier and I know she was happy too, but there were still things about her pregnancy which were making her insecure. I woke up one morning to find her already out of bed, dressed in a dressing gown and not much else with a pile of clothes strewn on the ground around her feet. She was examining herself from all angles in the full length mirror by the bed.
'Everything ok?' I asked.
She shook her head. 'I look fat.'
'Well probably to be expected under the circumstances.'
I realised as soon as I said it that it hadn't been a good thing to say. Her whole face sort of crumpled.
'Maura, no. I didn't mean that.' And then I was out of bed and standing behind her, my hands on her hips, pulling her back into me. It was the closest I could get to hugging her without pressing my hands into her belly which, for some reason, I was reluctant to do. That felt too intimate somehow, like something I shouldn't do without her permission.
'What I meant,' I said, chin on her shoulder. 'Is that you don't look fat. You look pregnant. And it makes you look even more beautiful than you usually do.'
'No it doesn't.'
'Maura, you're growing a whole new human being. That's a wonderful thing. I can guarantee that everyone who sees you is thinking how beautiful you look.'
'You really think I'm beautiful?' She turned her head and looked up at me, vulnerability in her eyes.
'You,' I said and kissed the top of her head 'are the most beautiful woman I've ever met. I've always thought that.'
There was a smile on her face now and she angled her head up to kiss me on the cheek. I shivered at the contact. 'I think you're beautiful too,' she said. Then she reached behind her and grasped my hands, bringing them forwards and fully around her body. Under our joined hands, I felt something move.
'Did you feel that?' She whispered.
I could only nod as I felt another movement and then another. 'Hello in there,' I said, looking down at her stomach.
'I think she likes you,' Maura said.
We found the Potato Peeler Bandit's latest victim in the middle of Boston's nicest mall. For once, Maura wasn't with us as there was some kind of medical examiners' conference going on at Boston College. Normally she would have sent Susie along on her behalf, but she wasn't enjoying crime scenes much these days and was using any excuse to get out of them. Instead, we were stuck with dear old Dr. Pike.
'I can't wait until Dr. Isles has that baby and we can get back to normal,' Korsak was muttering and we were forced to endure what felt like hours of Pike's sarcastic comments.
'Couldn't agree more,' I said.
Eventually the comments got to me so much that I escaped on the pretext of examining the surrounding area for signs of a struggle. As was becoming usual these days, my mind was elsewhere, specifically on Maura and how sad she had seemed this morning. It was then that my eye was caught by one of the shop fronts and an idea began to form in my mind. I pulled out my phone and sent her a text which read. 'Wear something nice. I'll see you after work.'
In my lunch break I went back to my own apartment for the first time in weeks and was struck again by how little I missed the place. The thought of having to move back here after the baby was born was becoming increasingly unappealing. I pushed that thought away and concentrated on why I was here. Opening my wardrobe, I pulled out one of the few items of clothing which was left in there; a deep blue formal dress which Maura had made me buy years ago and which I'd never actually worn. Deciding I might as well commit fully, I grabbed a pair of heels as well and, as an afterthought, a long trench coat.
At 6:00pm I was waiting outside her office, the trench coat hiding the dress from any of my colleagues who cared to walk past. I was already feeling self-conscious about the fact that I was wearing make-up and had pulled my hair into something approximating a messy bun. And about the heels which I'd squeezed my feet into.
Maura had clearly got my text because she emerged wearing a dark pink dress with a sky blue wrap around her shoulders. Her hair was up too, but she'd left a few tendrils free to frame her delicate features. There was a kind of glow about her skin and I didn't think I'd ever see her looking more beautiful. The breath caught in my throat and the butterflies in my stomach were back in full force.
She looked my trench coat up and down. 'What's underneath?' she asked.
The question caught me off-guard and I felt a flush creeping across my face. Instead of trusting my voice to reply, I opened the coat quickly to show her the dress.
'Why, detective,' she said teasingly. 'You do scrub up well.'
'Don't tell anyone,' I muttered. 'You'll ruin my image.' I hastily did the coat back up and turned my attention back to her. 'You look incredible, Maura. I mean that.'
She smiled and said a demure thank you. We began walking towards the exit and, without thinking, my hand found its way to the small of her back. Her smile was shy now and she began to walk closer to me, her hip bumping against mine every now and then.
'Where are we going?' she asked.
'You'll see,' I steered her outside and into my car, walking round and opening the door for her. When had I become so chivalrous? These days, all I wanted to do was look after her.
We turned in the direction of one of Boston's more upmarket suburbs and, as we drove, her face began to light up even more. 'You didn't get a table at Maison did you?'
'Maybe…'
'But how?! It has a Michelin starred chef. Everyone's been raving about it, but they're booked up solid for months.'
'Well you've been raving about it so much that I may have used the power of the badge.'
'You didn't!'
I shrugged. I didn't like using the badge for things like that, but I'd do pretty much anything to make her happy.
'Thank you!' She'd almost squealed in her excitement.
'I hope it's ok coming with me,' I said, a little awkwardly. 'I know it's more of a date restaurant.'
I felt a hand on my knee then. 'Well, there's no one I'd rather go on a date with.'
I took one of my hands off the steering wheel and covered hers with it.
Even I had to admit that Maison was everything it claimed to be; the food was sublime, the atmosphere wonderful, but none of that could compare to the simple pleasure of spending time with Maura with no danger of interruptions from anyone else. We were still talking by the time the restaurant closed. We never seemed to run out of things to say to each other and Maura's mood had improved exponentially. She was laughing and smiling, her confidence in herself slowly returning.
Once we were home, she moved over the sofa and sat, kicking off her shoes. 'Jane, that was incredible, thank you.'
'I had a wonderful time too.' I hesitated, feeling embarrassed. I'd never been any good at stuff that bordered on touchy feely. 'I…er…I got you something from the crime scene this morning.'
'You got me something from the crime scene?' She was trying not to smile. 'Like a piece of wood with ambiguous reddish brown stains on it? Or perhaps a severed finger?'
I was laughing now. 'No, not the crime scene exactly. The mall that the crime scene was in.'
'The shops were still open.'
'This is America, baby. Capitalism rules.'
She giggled as I scrabbled around in a bag by the side of the sofa and pulled out a jewellery box. 'It was pretty. It just seemed like something you should have.'
She took the box from me and opened it, gasping as she saw the amethyst necklace inside. 'Jane, it's beautiful.' She picked it up, turning it over and examining it from every angle. 'Is it real?'
'As real as they come.'
'I can't accept this. It's too much.'
'Of course you can.' I took it from her and lifted up her hair so I could fasten it around her neck. 'Think of all the hundreds of gifts you've bought me over the years. Now it's your turn.'
'Are you sure?'
'Absolutely sure.'
She smiled up at me then, a proper grin which split her face in half. 'I love it. Thank you.'
And that was when I became aware of just how close we were sitting, how her knee was pressing against mine, how I could feel the warmth of her body. Our eyes locked and I never wanted to look away. Slowly, she brought one hand up and ran her fingers across my face, tracing the line of my jaw. When her index finger brushed my lips, I shivered. I had an overwhelming desire to kiss her, stronger than anything I had ever felt before.
Behind us, the back door opened and Ma's voice rang out across the kitchen. With it, all the complications and all the reasons why I shouldn't kiss her came crashing back and the two of us sprang apart.
