Chapter Ten

"Oh, Jane." Maura gasped as Jane stepped out of the dressing room in a silk, off-the-shoulders A-line dress with a Guipure lace bodice.

"You like it?" said Jane, looking down at herself uncertainly.

"Jane, you look beautiful," Maura breathed. "I…I think this is the one."

Jane had been trying on dresses for over an hour, and Maura thought she looked good in all of them, but none had grabbed her attention quite like this one. She walked around Jane, checking her out from every angle. The dress was low enough to show her shoulder blades in the back, and it was all Maura could do not to lick them.

"Do you like it?" she asked Jane.

"Well, I…I like the way you're looking at me in it."

Maura impulsively reached for Jane's hair, sweeping it up and then holding it with one hand as she stepped back to look. "Yes, I definitely think you should wear your hair up," she murmured. She let go of Jane's hair and circled her once more, lightly trailing a finger over the olive skin of her shoulders, back, chest.

"Maura," said Jane through her teeth. "We're in a public place."

"Yes, of course," said Maura. She turned to the attendant. "We'll take it," she said.

"Great! I'll get the paperwork together while you change back into your regular clothes," said the attendant, heading for the checkout desk.

"I'll just help you get unzipped," said Maura, following Jane into the dressing room. She locked the door behind them and immediately began running her tongue across Jane's collarbones.

"Maura!" Jane hissed. "We're still kind of in public!"

"No one can see us. You just look…so…sexy…" She planted a line of kisses across Jane's chest and shoulder with each word.

"Mmm. Well I think I know what our wedding night's going to be like. Just don't carry on like this at the reception, okay? Our families are gonna be there."

"I won't. But we are going to have a lovely wedding night." She pushed Jane down into the chair.

"Aren't you going to unzip me?" asked Jane.

"We'll save that for the wedding night." She knelt before Jane.

"Okay, but I do need to get out of the dress."

"In a minute." She lifted Jane's skirt and stuck her head underneath.

"Uh, Maura…"

"I'll only be a minute." She tugged down Jane's panties.

"What happened to saving this for the wedding night?"

"This is just a preview." She dove right in with her tongue, licking and swirling while Jane struggled to control herself, her breathing picking up and then turning to quiet whimpers as Maura guided her up, up…and over the edge.

"It's a damn good thing we're buying this dress," said Jane breathlessly as Maura pushed her panties back up. "We're gonna have to get it cleaned though…"

"Oh, it's fine, just some bodily fluids on the inside. Won't be noticeable."

Jane stood and turned around so Maura could unzip her. "So where are we going to keep it?"

"The dress? It stays here so they can do alterations."

"Alterations? It fits fine."

"It's your wedding dress, Jane. It needs to fit you perfectly."

"Fine. So, we still need to find yours."

"I know, but they don't have what I'm looking for here. I need to keep looking." Maura fidgeted with her engagement ring as Jane wriggled out of her dress and back into her jeans and t-shirt. "I have some other boutiques to check out, but you don't have to come with me. It could take a while for me to find exactly what I want."

"You looked stressed about it. Maybe I should come."

"No, it's okay, I'm just worried about not finding what I want. Ever since I was twelve I've imagined getting married in a silk charmeuse dress with an empire waist and a cathedral-length train, but what if I can't find my dream dress? What if they don't make it?" Tears sprang to her eyes, and she felt silly, but all the stress was making her emotional.

"Oh, Maura." Jane hung up the dress and hugged her. "We'll find that exact dress for you somewhere, and if we don't, we'll have it custom-made. I'm gonna make sure you have everything you want."

Maura smiled. "Thank you, Jane."

Jane kissed her. "You'll look perfect. If you think you lost control looking at me in my dress, imagine how I'll feel when I see you wearing yours."

Maura chuckled. "I'll try to find something that affects you the same way."

~R&I~

The engagement changed everything, of course, and knowing Jane was staying in Boston with her made Maura happier than she could say. Still, she missed her horribly at crime scenes. Jane's new job as a victim services coordinator had her working out of a small office at BPD, so she was able to pop into Maura's office from time to time, but she was also on the go a lot. It just wasn't the same as before, but she reminded herself that at least now she could go home to Jane every night and wake up next to her every morning. That thought always made her smile, as well as the thought of Jane in her gorgeous wedding dress, and the way she was going to completely ravish her on their wedding night. Of course, they were doing plenty of that already, but it would be extra special on that night.

She was still thinking about wedding dresses and imagining their wedding night when she parked in the garage at BPD after returning from a crime scene. She got out and walked through the dim garage. She had an appointment on Saturday at a different wedding dress boutique to try on some more dresses. She'd talked to them on the phone, and they had told her they thought they had what she wanted. She sure hoped they would. She wanted to put this behind her, to move on to planning smaller details. The venue and the dresses were the most important things.

And then she saw him: Agent Davies, standing in the parking garage. She was sure it was him this time.

"Maura," he said cordially when he saw her looking at him.

"What…what are you doing here?" she asked him. She suddenly felt frightened, although she wasn't sure why. She wanted Jane.

"I'm in Boston on a case. I dropped by to see Jane, but she was busy."

"Of course, she has a new job now."

"Yes. Strange, isn't it?"

"What's strange?"

"She gave up a job she loved to make a new start in Quantico, and now she's stuck in Boston working as a victim's advocate." He said the words with distaste, as if he couldn't imagine a more boring job.

"It's very important work. She's happy with it. And she's making her new start, right here in Boston."

"Yes…tell me, how did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Convince Jane to turn away from a new relationship she was passionate about and marry…you. A woman."

"Is that what's bothering you? That she chose a woman over you?"

"I couldn't care less that you're a woman. Jane was in love with me. You must have done something. Is it your money?"

"She wasn't in love with you. She barely knew you. And you clearly don't know her if you think my money would make a difference to her. Jane loves me, and now she knows I love her. That's all. You have to just accept that."

She tried to walk past him, but her grabbed her arm. "I know she doesn't want to be with you, and I am not someone you want as your enemy," he hissed.

She narrowed her eyes. "I think Jane can decide for herself what she wants, and I am not that easily intimidated."

She maintained eye contact until he let go of her. Gripping her medical bag, she walked briskly into the building, heading straight to her office, where she sat down and put her head in her hands.

Only then did she notice how badly she was shaking.