I hit over 200 followers for this story! I never thought that would happen with a story of mine, so thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Y'all are amazing. Also never expected to be getting as close to 100 reviews as I have either.
Ok, so last chapter wasn't quite what some of you wanted either. Let's try this chapter. I also went a little crazy with this chapter. It's over 7,000 words not including my AN's; which officially makes it the longest chapter I've ever written (by a long shot) and it's nearly as long as my whole first ever multi-chapter fic Lost in Boston. But there was no way I was going to break it down into parts and keep y'all guessing or waiting around to find out what would happen. Anyway, back to the story. Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Good Night
Jane awoke with a start. She sat up in bed trying to figure out what was going on and why she'd suddenly awoken from the deep sleep she had been in. Then she heard it. There was a knocking at her door. She crawled out of the bed. She stepped onto the floor and stretched her body out. She heard the knocking again.
"I'll be right there!" She hollered a little louder than she'd meant. It was irritating that someone would be at her door this early in the morning. After she had left Maura's room she could hardly get to sleep. The fact that she had finally told Maura how she felt and to know that Maura really did love her in the same still felt like a dream that she was sure to wake up from at any moment.
Jane ran her fingers through her hair on her way to the door, hoping that at least a few of the wild tangles she knew were there would be tamed enough for her to be presentable for whoever was at her door. She grabbed the handle, unlocked the locks and cautiously opened the door. She squinted for a moment as her eyes tried to adjust to the brightness of the hallway. She couldn't help but smile at the sight before her.
"Hey," she whispered as she shifted to lean on the door. "What are you doing here? I thought I was supposed to come pick you up later tonight?"
"That is still the plan." Maura stated.
Jane couldn't help but graze her eyes over Maura from head to toe. For whatever reason Maura had decided to do her hair and make-up before leaving her room a few floors above, but she still had her silk pajamas and a robe on. Jane wasn't sure she'd ever seen her looking any cuter than she did at this moment.
"I... I thought…," Maura started to say; pulling Jane from her thoughts of just how cute she was in what she was wearing.
"I suppose…," she started again and then stopped.
"What?" Jane asked, starting to get a little bit worried.
Maura blushed slightly and shook her head. "It's crazy and stupid I guess. I suppose I needed to see for myself that everything that happened last night was real and not something I had dreamed up while intoxicated."
"Awe, Maur, come here," Jane said opening the door wider and holding out her arm for Maura to step in for a hug. "Of course it was real," she said as she wrapped her other arm around Maura. "And it's not crazy or stupid for you to feel that way. I took you by surprise last night in a lot of ways. It would be strange for anyone. When I woke up, before I opened that door, I was wondering myself if it had all really happened or if it was something I had dreamed up too. You're not the only one having a hard time dealing with the reality of this. It's going to be okay though, because we can work on it and through it together. Okay?"
Maura stepped out of their embrace and nodded her head at Jane. "So, what's with this look you have going on?" Jane couldn't help but ask.
Maura looked down at herself and smiled before she crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh, I am meeting mother for brunch in about an hour. I was trying to decide what to wear and my mind kept trying to tell me that I had made everything about last night up and that you weren't actually here in New York and we didn't have a date tonight. So, I decided to come down for myself and find out if what I thought had happened was real or not."
"I'm glad you did," Jane replied.
"As am I," Maura responded in turn. It seemed as though she were going to turn to leave, but she hesitated and instead asked, "Do you want to come to brunch with me?"
"Hmm," Jane mused. "Brunch with you and your mother sounds nice, but I think I should leave you two to have some time together. Plus I have a few things I need to look into and then I need to get ready for our date this evening."
"Awe," Maura said while frowning and making a pouting face. "I thought you'd want to come say hello to my mother."
The face Maura was making was the most adorable one Jane had ever seen. It almost made her give in and go to the brunch with Maura. Almost. "I saw your mother last night and we had a rather long, heartfelt conversation together the other day. I think you should go spend time with her while she's still here. I'll see her some other time."
"Alright," Maura said sighing. "I'll see you later."
"Definitely. I'm looking forward to it," Jane replied. She leaned in and kissed Maura on the forehead at her hairline. With that she watched Maura turn and walk down the hall towards the elevator that would take her back to her own floor.
Jane closed the door to her room after watching Maura safely make it to the bank of elevators at the end of the hall. She turned made her way back to the bed and looked at the clock on the bedside table. She needed to get moving if she was going to get everything ready for their date tonight.
"Ah, darling, there you are," Constance said standing up from the table to greet her daughter.
"Morning mother, sorry I'm a little late," Maura apologized as she stepped into her mothers embrace. Her mother also kissed her on both cheeks, which she returned, before she took her seat.
"How are you this morning?" Constance asked as she took her seat and replaced her napkin in her lap.
Maura copied her mother's motions as she took her own seat at the table. "You're not mad at me for what has taken place?"
Maura looked past her mother for a moment at everything that was going on around them in the restaurant. She was trying to figure out just what to say to her mother about what had happened. She knew the best option was the truth. "I was upset at first, as you can imagine. I'm sure you have it figured out that I left the opening last night for that reason. However, Jane and I have since talked and worked a few things out. More than anything, I need to say thank you. I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life and without you I wouldn't have had the slightest hope of resolving it or correcting it; at least so soon. Thank you, Mom, for everything you've done." She smiled during the last sentence.
She wasn't sure she had ever used the word Mom when she's spoken to or spoken of Constance Isles. She wasn't the type you generally thought of as a "Mom," but in that moment she realized that it took a Mom to know what her child needed in a moment and make sure they got it, even if the child was stubborn and refused at first.
Maura looked over at her mother and could see tears glistening in her eyes. "I think that's the first time you've ever used the word mom. Apart from when you were very young. Once your vocabulary started expanding you always used mother," Constance explained.
Constance reached over and took Maura's hand in hers and squeezed it gently. "I always wanted what was best for you," Constance said. Her voice was filled with sadness. "What I sometimes missed was that what I thought was best, probably wasn't really the right thing for you. If I could go back and change those things I would, but I can't. Instead I decided to try and do what I thought would be right for you, and one of those things was to tell Jane where you were so she had the chance to tell you she loved you too."
"I know," Maura said, nodding her head. "I'll say it again. Thank you. It was exactly the right thing for me in this case and I wouldn't change the way it happened."
Their moment was broken when a waiter came over to their table carrying mimosas that went along with their brunch. They paused their conversation as he approached the table. They quickly glanced at the menus as more of a formality than anything. They had dined here for brunch several times before and knew what they wanted. Once they gave their order to their waiter they waited for him to leave the table before they resumed their conversation.
"So, what is going to happen now, if you don't mind my asking?" Constance questioned her.
"I'm not entirely sure." Maura offered. "We didn't go into much detail last night other than deciding to give each other a second chance and to try and move forward from here as best we can."
"Oh, we are going out on a date tonight," Maura added in, almost as an afterthought.
"That's a big step," Constance commented.
"I suppose it is, but I think that's where we're at currently. We know each other, we've known each other for years, so it seemed logical to us both that going out with each other to see what dating would be like is the next step."
"Well then it sounds like you two are already on the right track," Constance said as she gave Maura a sincere smile to let her know how happy she was for both of them.
Jane stood in front of the door for room 1528. She couldn't believe she was about to take the most beautiful woman in the world out on a date. She briefly thought that she should pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, but she decided it wasn't a dream as her knuckles tapped on the wood of the door.
A few moments later the door opened and Jane couldn't help the smile that lit up her face as she got a look at Maura for the first time that evening. Now she really was wondering if she needed to pinch herself. Maura looked stunning. She stood before Jane in a very deep burgundy pencil dress with a black lace looking print over the top. Jane didn't quite know how to describe accurately. Her eyes traveled down the dress. Though the dress stopped about mid-thigh Jane continued the path down Maura's legs and looked at the shoes on her feet. They had to be at least four inch heels, if not pushing five. She was suddenly glad that she had decided against taking them anywhere where excessive walking would be necessary. Though she did think that it could possibly cause problems for later on in their date, but she'd play it by ear in that case.
"Wow," Jane managed to get out as she looked up to see Maura smiling at her. The smile lit up Maura's eyes and she was ecstatic to see it there.
"Wow yourself," Maura returned the compliment. "You look amazing."
Jane's face flushed at the compliment. She had hoped she would look presentable for Maura this evening. She had come here with the dress she had worn the night before to the opening and a few other casual clothes. She hadn't been prepared to have to go out on a date, so this morning she went shopping to find a nice pantsuit she could wear this evening. Apparently Maura quite liked the black one she had picked out with the deep red button up she'd gotten to wear with it.
"You look stunning," She finally managed in return. If it was possible for her to do so Maura smiled even wider at her with the compliment.
"Come in for just a second," Maura requested after a few more moments of them appraising each other with their eyes. "I still need to put my earrings in."
Jane followed Maura into the hotel suite. She took a seat in the chair she had stood beside the night before when they had been talking, she knew that it would take Maura a few minutes to pick out which ones would work perfectly with the dress she had on. She wasn't worried though, as of right now they still had plenty of time to make their dinner reservations.
A few moments later Maura returned from her room ready to go. Jane noticed that she now had small black diamond earrings and held on to a black clutch she would take out for the evening. Jane was still having a hard time believing this was all actually real.
They left the suite and walked straight down the hall to the elevator. Jane pushed the button to call the car so they could make their way out of the hotel. Suddenly when in the elevator neither one of them knew what to say to the other so they rode down the elevator in somewhat of an awkward silence.
They reached the lobby and Jane offered her arm for Maura to slide her arm into as they crossed through it and out the front doors to the street. Jane knew that Maura would have gladly gotten into a dirty New York cab if she had requested it, but she wanted this to be an amazing evening for the both of them. So to surprise Maura she had called Constance earlier in the day to ask for a recommendation about getting a town car for the evening.
Constance told her that she would do one better and offered to let them have the use of Fredrick and the town car for the evening. After the opening last night she had decided that she just wanted to spend a quiet evening in her hotel suite, so she wouldn't be needing it. Jane thanked her profusely for everything she had done for both herself and Maura.
Maura halted when she realized that Fredrick was waiting at the curb to pick them up. "Jane, you didn't have to…"
"No, I supposed it didn't," Jane cut her off midsentence. "However, I spoke to your mother and she insisted that we take the car this evening so I agreed."
"And here I was hoping to find out where we were going this evening when we got into the back of a cab and you had to tell the driver," Maura said as Jane helped her into the car.
"Sorry to disappoint," Jane said as she got in next to Maura, "I guess you'll just have to watch the scenery or wait until we get there to find out.
Fredrick pulled away from the curb and Jane realized that it suddenly felt so real. She and Maura were out on a date together, and she couldn't be happier about it. A couple of minutes into their ride Jane realized Maura seemed to have taken it as a personal challenge to try and figure out where they were going.
Maura was looking out at the windows as the city passed by, calculating the possibilities of where they could be going based on the streets they passed. Jane didn't necessarily mind if Maura knew where they were going, but she found it rather fun to keep Maura in the dark. So, to try and distract her Jane started talking about the opening from the night before, hoping it would pull her mind away from their trip and on to what the show had been about.
Maura got into talking about the show and how some of the pieces were inspired by other famous artists. Jane listened to everything she had to say. She wasn't sure that she would remember all of it, but she listened trying to soak up as much of the information as possible. Her planned seemed to work until they were just a couple of minutes from their destination.
"We're going to the pier?" Maura asked suddenly; cutting off the last description she'd been giving on one of the pieces of art.
"Uh huh," Jane replied grinning at Maura. "That is our destination for now."
Maura looked slightly taken aback that they were out here so she thought it best to explain. "It's not often that I have the chance to come to New York. I know you've been here many times and I wasn't sure what all you had done and seen, but I thought it might be nice to take in a few of the sites. So I decided we could do that and have dinner all at the same time."
Fredrick pulled up to the pier and stopped the car so they could get out. Jane opened the door and got out of the car before he could come back and help. She offered Maura a helping hand out of the car and then closed the door as well.
"I thought the best way to take in the sites and have dinner all at the same time would be a dinner cruise," Jane continued to explain and she and Maura made their way down the pier. "We are going to board that yacht right over there with some other people, watch the sun set, see many of the top New York landmarks, listen to a live band that will be performing on deck this evening, all while dining on a four course dinner."
"You planned all this for us?" Maura asked her amazed by the effort Jane had gone to.
"I wouldn't say I planned it. I just researched fun things to do in New York at night and found this option and then bought the tickets," Jane said a bit sheepishly.
"No, Jane, it's perfect," Maura insisted, "and very sweet. It's romantic too."
"Well, I wanted for us to do something unique for our first date and I thought that this might fit that category."
Maura nodded her agreement of Jane's statement.
Shortly before sunset the yacht took off from the pier and started out and they viewed the surrounding scenery from their private table by the window. Their server brought them their beverages and they were informed it would be about thirty minutes before dinner would be served to them. They decided to head up to the top deck so they could see the sunset from there.
"It's beautiful," Maura said as they stepped over to the railing of the yacht to look out over the skyline. "In all the time I've spent here in the past one thing I haven't done is to take a boat tour of the city and this goes well beyond a simple boat tour down the Hudson."
"I think it's even better than the reviews I read online told," Jane replied. She slid her hand in her pocket and reached to pull out a small rectangular object she'd brought with her. "The reviews also said that you shouldn't come without one of these, and I happened to have mine with me so I brought it along," she held it up showing Maura. "So, you wanna get some pics of the sunset and a few selfies in before we head back down for dinner?"
Maura smiled and nodded her head. They each took turns getting pictures of the sunset and of the other woman standing at the railing in front of the skyline with the sun going down.
"Come 'mere," Jane said after they'd taken several photos, "I want to get a couple of selfies of us and then we can head back to the table.
Jane and Maura stepped in close to each other and Jane stuck her arm out so she could capture both of them in the shot. She had snapped a couple of frames when a man approached them. "Would you like me to get a picture of you?" he asked.
"That would be great, thanks," Jane replied as she handed over her camera to him.
"Smile," he said a few seconds before he hit the shutter button and snapped the picture. "Ok, how about one more just for good measure." This time Jane stepped in closer to Maura and slid her arm around Maura's back. She wanted one photo that they might look back on in a few years and have it look like they were out together instead of just two friends enjoying dinner out.
The man once again called for them to smile and snapped a picture. He stepped closer to them to return Jane's camera to her and asked them, "How long have you been together?"
They were both a little taken aback with his question. They knew they wanted to be together, but they hadn't really thought about what it would mean as to telling others about being together. Maura not being able to lie, didn't help matters much when she replied, "This is our first date."
"Really," the man questioned. "It just seems like you've been together for years with how comfortable you are around one another."
They both grinned a little sheepishly and turned a little pink at the compliment. They thanked him for taking their picture for them and decided it was time to head back to the table for dinner.
Their four course meal was amazing. They kept up a light conversation while they ate, but mainly they listened to the live band performing softly during dinner as they also watched the landmarks of New York go past their window. Every so often Maura would have to tell her an interesting fact she knew about some of the buildings they were passing.
They continued to sit at their table once everything had been cleared. Shortly after dinner most of the parties around them had left to go listen to the band play on the upper deck and see New York lit up at night. They continued to sit and enjoy the others company in silence.
After mulling it over in her thoughts for some time Jane asked, "Where are we going to go from here?"
"I do believe that we are about to head towards the Brooklyn Bridge," Maura responded.
"No," Jane said quietly. "I don't mean where the boat is going to go. I do already know that since I planned dinner. I mean you and me as a couple. Where are we going to go from here?"
"I'm not sure Jane," Maura returned so quietly Jane had a hard time hearing the words. "I know I love you and I want to be with you, but I'm just trying to enjoy the present and let it sink it that we are here together and not think about what's to come."
"Right," Jane said and cleared her throat before speaking again. "Well, I think we are about to head under the Brooklyn Bridge and soon we'll be heading back out and around by The Statue of Liberty. Everyone says it's something to see lit up at night, so why don't we get up there to watch."
Jane stood from her chair and waited on Maura to do the same before they made their way to the upper deck once again to marvel in the city and landmarks lit up at night. While she continued to enjoy her time with Maura that evening the things Maura had just said weighed heavily on her mind. She couldn't help but think about the future.
Just because they had been honest and said they loved each other and were trying didn't necessarily mean that Maura was going to come back to Boston. She didn't even know if Maura still even had a job there or not. She feared that if Maura had completely resigned from her position that there would really be no reason for Maura to return to Boston any time soon, which would mean that they would still end up apart for at least some amount of time.
"Thank you for an amazing dinner and evening," Maura said as they made their way up the pier to where Fredrick had the car waiting for them.
"You are quite welcome," Jane returned to her before letting on that there was more to this evening. "But, there is one more stop I had in mind for tonight. That is if you're up for it, it's going to require some time on those heels. "
"If it means more time out with you, I think I can handle it," Maura commented coyly. It was the first time either had really flirted or teased the other all night. They decided they liked it and were going to have to flirt with each other a little more.
"Well then, our chariot awaits," Jane said as they reached the car and she opened the door for Maura to get in.
Jane climbed in behind Maura and Fredrick began heading to their next stop once he knew they were settled.
"Do I get to hear where we are going this time?"
"Now why would I divulge a secret like that when I can just sit over here and wait for you to come up with a guess and see you get all flustered over the fact that you're guessing?" Jane replied flirting with Maura.
Jane's comment earned her a glare from Maura; one that she couldn't help but chuckle at. She had seen that look before when she'd teased Maura at crime scenes about making guesses. She loved that Maura still pulled it out on a date with her. "I will say that our ride from here will be a short one. That may help you narrow down the list of possible places."
"Not as much as you might think," Maura deadpanned. "Distance is relative, as well as time. The idea of a short ride is different for everyone. What may be short by my terms could in fact be much longer by yours. Therefore, I still can't narrow down with any certainty our end destination."
Jane rolled her eyes in the darkness of the car, but she couldn't help but smile at the little Maura rant. "Ah, when I say short I mean short. In fact it looks as though our stop is right ahead."
"Rockefeller Center," Maura stated.
"Yes."
The exited the car and made their way over to their entrance of the building. A man greeted them just inside the door. "Welcome ladies, to the Top of the Rock observation deck experience."
"Thank you," Jane said as she removed their tickets from her pocket and showed them to him.
"Well right this way then," he said he led them passed a small line of people directly to a bank of elevators where they joined a small group of people who were apparently waiting to get in an elevator to go to the observation decks.
"Why did he lead us here instead of to the line of other people waiting?"
"It's the tickets I purchased. They allow us to skip the line down here and get directly on an elevator to go to the decks," Jane explained.
"Oh."
"I take it then that this is something you've never done before on your visits to the city?"
"No," Maura replied. "But it has been on my list to do for quite some time, so after tonight I get to cross it off my list."
Jane raised her eyebrows curiously at Maura. "You have a list?"
"Oh, yes, quite a long one actually. Some might refer to it as a bucket list. I prefer to think of it as a to-do list. There are things ranging on it from simple things that I need to get done around the house to places I'd like to visit and things I'd like to do one day. This happens to be one of the things on my list."
"Hmm," Jane responded.
"What?" Maura queried, wondering what Jane was now thinking of her.
"Here I thought I knew just about everything there is to know about you, but you, Maura Isles, still have a few secrets up your sleeve." Jane leaned in close so that mouth was now right next to Maura's ear. She dropped her voice so it was a little huskier than normal and whispered, "I think I'm going to have to try and get a few more secrets out of you in the time to come."
Maura sucked in a small breath. If she knew it were at all possible she would have thought her heart had just skipped a beat. It did however start to beat a little faster and she could feel her face flush.
Jane stepped back. She had heard the breath Maura had sucked in with her words and she caught the light blush that had made it way to her cheeks as well. She smiled a little deviously, she liked that she could say something that would cause that kind of reaction.
"Right this way ladies and gentlemen," a worker said as a set of elevator doors opened that would now take them to the observation decks.
The ride up to the observation deck didn't take too long. What took the most amount of time was the point where they had to switch elevators at some point and were given the option during the switch to have their photo taken by the staff. At last, the final elevator door opened and they were able to step out.
They stepped out onto the floor and made way over to the outside deck. The view was amazing. "I hope you don't mind but I didn't book the tour. And it may be a good thing I didn't," Jane said looking down at Maura's shoes. "It's a 75 minute tour and you in those heels might not have been a good combination. I thought it would be more fun for us to simply walk around at our leisure and look at all the lights."
"Yes, I'd have to agree. I would rather walk around with just you," Maura replied linking her arm through Jane's so they could continue to stroll around the deck.
It was a clear night so they could see everything so clearly. Though it was dark they had a clear view of central park. Though most of it was dark they could see the lit areas of the park. It was stunning to see next to all of the surrounding buildings that were lit.
"It's beautiful up here. I think this is one of the best sights I've ever had of the city."
"Oh yeah, and what sight of the city would top this?" Jane wondered.
"The view from a helicopter," Maura responded. "It's a long story. I'll share it with you one day."
Jane was stunned for a moment. A view of the city from a helicopter would most definitely have to top this experience. Before she could say anything Maura started to walk them over to some of the displays that gave some information about the construction of the building. They sat through the short movies about the building as well. After that they strolled over to have a look at the Empire State Building.
"Now this was my main reason for coming here," Jane explained at they made their way to the glass at the edge of the deck to look.
"It does look magnificent lit up like that," Maura commented.
They both just stood there, taking in the building in front of them lit up in different colors. "The view from your room gave me idea of doing something like this," Jane said after a couple of silent minutes just taking in the view. "I thought that view was great, but I knew doing something like this would be something to remember for a lifetime. I wanted to have something from our time here that we could take away for a lifetime."
Is that all you wanted to take away for a lifetime?" Maura wanted to know.
"No. I had hoped there would be more, but earlier this evening you couldn't tell me what you wanted out of the future so I don't know what else to expect to take home," Jane responded. Her voice laced with pain as she spoke.
"We'll figure it out Jane," Maura responded. Her voice had hope in it, but Jane didn't know how much she had left.
Jane just nodded her head to Maura's statement as she continued to keep her gaze set along the skyline lit up with all of the buildings surrounding the one they were currently on. "Well, I think we should start making our way back, they'll be closing soon anyway."
The ride back to the hotel was mostly silent. Neither one really knew what to say to the other. Maura knew all Jane wanted to hear was that they were together and a couple and would be heading back to Boston that way. While Maura knew that was what she wanted deep down, she didn't know what to make of all this. It had happened in a whirlwind and she just needed some time to let everything slow down.
The car pulled up in front of the hotel a little after midnight. This time Jane allowed Fredrick to come around and open the door for them. Jane stepped out first and, as she had done all night, she helped Maura out of the car one last time.
"Thank you for driving us around this evening Fredrick," Maura thanked him as they started to step away from the car.
"My pleasure Miss Isles, I do hope you had an excellent evening," He returned as she shut the door of the car.
"Yes," Jane said to him stepping over and extending her hand, "Thank you for your help this evening. I appreciate you agreeing to do this since I know you should have had the night off."
"Not a problem Miss Rizzoli, I'm always happy to help out the Isles family," he said shaking her hand.
Maura was shocked that Jane had just shaken hands with Fredrick. She knew how much Jane hated to have other people touch her hands after Hoyt. But in that moment she was also proud that Jane had taken this small step towards conquering what bothered her.
Maura grabbed Jane's hand as they made their way into the lobby. Jane couldn't help smiling while thinking about all the times she'd wished for this moment to happen, but right now she found it hard to have Maura holding her hand. She wanted so much to know that having this date tonight would be the start of a lot of date nights ahead in their future. But if Maura had become unsure of their future together, she didn't know what she should think about it either.
The doors for the elevator slid open and they entered the car. Jane hit the button for Maura's floor. For the second time that evening their ride was filled with an uncomfortable, slightly awkward silence. It was at least a fairly short ride to Maura's floor because they didn't have to make any other stops.
They exited the elevator on the correct floor and made the short trip down the hall to Maura's door. Maura slid her key card into the lock. She turned the handle when the light went green and proceeded into her room. Jane halted at the doorway, deciding not to enter the room. After the things Maura had said tonight she had started to second guess herself with what she was doing here. She had thought it would be as easy as her coming here and telling Maura she felt the same way and then things would just fall into place. This evening reminded her that there was more to it than just loving each other.
"Jane?" Maura questioned when she realized that Jane wasn't following her into her room.
"Good night Maura," Jane said. "Thank you for an amazing evening."
"Why don't you come in for a night cap," Maura offered.
"No, I think I'll head back to my room. I'll call you in the morning and we can grab lunch or something."
"Sounds good," Maura said while nodding her head at Jane's statement. "I should be the one thanking you for such a wonderful evening, though. I had a marvelous time."
"Good night," Jane said once again as she leaned down and placed a kiss on Maura's cheek. She lingered there for a moment wanting to move her mouth to the left and place a kiss on Maura's lips, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so.
"Good night," Maura repeated the sentiment. Jane could hear the hurt and disappointment in the spoken words.
Jane turned to make her way back down the hallway towards the elevator. Maura slowly closed the door of her room.
Jane trudged slowly down the hallway. She knew she was being idiotic about all this. She should have taken Maura in her arms and kissed her, showing her that no matter what things would be alright with them. No matter where either of them had to go in the near future they would somehow work it all out. She was afraid though. She was afraid Maura had changed her mind about something and that was why she didn't want to talk about the future earlier. It was almost devastating to think that after all she had gone through to get to this point so she could tell Maura she loved her that Maura wouldn't want to be with her.
Jane finally made it to the elevator bank where she hit the down button and waited for the car arrived to take her to her floor. She stood there at the end of the hall pondering everything that had happened the last few days while she waited. The car finally arrived and she stepped inside and hit the button for her floor. All of a sudden the elevator seemed to want to take it's time with closing the doors and going anywhere. That was fine with her though. She thought again about how she should have grabbed Maura and kissed her, shown her that she had come all this way to be with her and wasn't going to give up, even if Maura was having doubts about this being together; that she wasn't scared about them. At that moment the elevator door started to slide closed. At the last second she stuck her arm out.
Maura had closed the door to her room slowly. She had watched Jane walk away from her door through the peephole. Though she knew Jane was gone she just couldn't tear herself away from the door. Everything was supposed to fall into place tonight. They were supposed to go out and have a wonderful time and then come back here where Jane would kiss her. She would push her up against the wall and kiss her like there was no one else in the world. Instead, the woman she loved more than anyone else was walking away from her. Why did she have to say the things she did about the future when Jane asked? Maybe she had thought about it too much and been too caught up in thinking that there would be too much for them to figure out instead of just trusting that they would make it work no matter what. She had messed up the greatest thing to happen to her before it even had a chance to really begin.
She looked through the peephole once more; as she did she heard footsteps coming down the hall. Running down the hall would be a more accurate description. A few seconds later she caught sight of Jane running towards her door. She felt elated at the sight of Jane coming after her. She flung the door open so they met right in the doorway of her room. Jane practically crashed into her, but she managed to stop herself just in time. As she stopped herself Jane brought her lips crashing down onto Maura's. She poured everything she felt into that kiss. She wanted Maura to feel what she was feeling about them being together.
Maura was taken by surprise for a moment, but soon her brain caught her up with what was happening and she kissed Jane back. She had never had anyone kiss her with such intensity as Jane was right now. She could feel how much Jane loved and cared for her. She could feel that even though Jane might be nervous about their future together that there was a confidence there too that they would work things out. In that instant when Jane kissed her she knew everything would work out no matter what.
They broke apart when the need for oxygen became too great for their lungs to bear any longer. But they only inhaled a couple of quick breaths before their lips met once again. Jane decided to take some control here. She tangled one hand in Maura's blonde locks at the back of her neck and the other slid around Maura's waist. She started to slowly move them into Maura's room so they weren't standing in the doorway for people in the hall to see if they left their rooms.
Before Maura could realize what was happening Jane had her pushed up against the wall and their bodies were pressed into each other. She gasped at the sensation. Jane took advantage, deciding to deepen the kiss and slid her tongue into Maura's mouth. Maura let out a moan, which Jane swallowed, and then battled her for control of the kiss.
They kept up the battle until they both had to relinquish or face blacking out from lack of oxygen. They stood with their bodies still pressed together and their chests heaving trying to get enough oxygen back into their lungs.
"Now that is a good night kiss," Maura expressed as she have recovered a tad bit faster than Jane.
"I knew I should have kissed you," Jane replied.
"I'd say that was the right call on your part."
"Yeah, now I can say that it really is a good night."
They both looked into the others eyes and smiled at all the love and affection they saw radiating back. Yes they still had a few things to work out, but they would make it.
Ok, was that it? Is that what y'all have been waiting for since the moment Jane discovered her name on the front of that envelope in Maura's kitchen? I have to confess, the real title of this chapter should have been (Kissed You) Goodnight Night. Some of y'all might recognize it as a Gloriana song, but I didn't want to give away the ending in the title. I think this could be an ending for this story, but I don't quite feel it's over yet. I still feel like I should get them back to Boston together. So I do have more in mind for this story, but I'm going to have to find the inspiration to get it written and I don't know when an update might come to try and get us on the way there. I am trying to work diligently at getting it written though. Thank you all so much for reading! And as always I'd love to know what you think!