Author's note: thank you very much for all the reviews, messages and suggestions.

Chapter Eleven

Maura could hardly say what pleased her the most: the fact she was currently surrounded by turtles or the fact Jane made an effort to be as interested as she, Maura, was in the whole thing. Her friend's behavior was touching, and honest.

It was thrilling.

At least it made up for their lunch. It wasn't that things hadn't gone smoothly but Maura couldn't help feeling slightly bitter about it. She had enjoyed food and the conversation she had had with Jane but something was missing and this something started weighing too much on her shoulders.

She needed to think about something else. She needed to go with the flow and enjoy the time being. She had wasted too much time already with blurry what-ifs and incomprehensible emotional analysis.

At least the baby turtles she was now facing were the sweetest excuse one could find to put aside whatever she may have been feeling. She squatted to be at eye-level with the animals and followed their swim with her eyes.

She smiled, instinctively.

"This is why I love them so much. They look peaceful, incredibly serene. Their movements in the water are graceful..." Maura looked at Jane who had squatted next to her. "Do you understand what I mean?"

Jane nodded. She was actually positively surprised by the turtle farm. Her fears to enter a marine life Disneyland of some sort had vanished as soon as Paloma, their guide, had showed up in the large patio of the farm to start the visit.

Paloma was a marine biology student and had started volunteering at the farm when she had turned fourteen. She knew what she was talking about: she was actually passionate about it. It made a huge difference to Jane's eyes.

"We currently have 125,000 turtles at the farm, from hatchlings to adults. We release them into the Caribbean sea from July to November. The farm offers them a well-needed protection because way too many people still kill them. As you will see once we go back inside, we also introduce them to other fishes to make sure they know the environment that will be theirs once they leave us."

The group started walking towards the next pool. Maura cast a very last glance at the baby turtles then reluctantly stood back on her feet.

This visit was nice because it brought a very different dimension to their Mexican stay. It wasn't about leisure anymore but being responsible towards the environment. She liked this educational part of their trip. A lot. And she was glad to see that Jane had actually suggested it.

"Why did you get Bass in the first place?" Hands in the pockets of her jean shorts, Jane resumed her walking. Paloma had started explaining the different stages of feeding a few feet away. "Should an African spurred tortoise live in Boston?"

Maura didn't take the remark as badly as Jane feared. The question was fair, especially since she hadn't stopped agreeing with Paloma's speech about how important keeping turtles in their natural habitat was. An African tortoise had no reason to be in Massachusetts in the first place. It was supposed to live in northern Africa, in the Sahara Desert.

"It was love at first sight."

The smile that played on Jane's lips turned out to be rather timid.

For some reason, she wasn't sure that her friend was talking about Bass. There was something in Maura's tone of voice, something in her eyes, that pushed Jane to have doubts. Yet she preferred to not insist and looked at Paloma to listen to whatever the guide was now saying.

End of their conversation.

The rest of the visit went fast, too fast to Maura's taste. Before she had time to realize anything, she was standing by the door of the little shop, a bag in her hand. They barely had an hour left to go back to the small town and catch their ferry.

Her lips formed an "o" of surprise as Jane came into sight.

"Oh my god. You have bought the entire shop!" Maura burst out laughing as she saw Jane walk towards her with a dozen of bags in her hands. "You told me you simply wanted postcards. What happened?"

Jane shrugged. What could she say? At least her money had gone to something that made sense, a lot of sense. The turtle farm had honestly touched her but her stupid pride prevented her from saying it out loud.

"They have great stuff for TJ..."

Which wasn't a lie per se even if she wasn't sure that she would offer all the cuddly toy animals to her nephew once she would be back to Boston. There was one or two baby turtles she liked way too much to give them away to anyone.

"Hey, girls! Where are you going to? You can't leave without posing for the Turtle Farm Visitors Picture!"

What was that again? Jane turned around and stared with great perplexity at Paloma who had literally run after them to stop them. Jane dropped her bags on the floor and cast a glance at Maura.

Bad idea: her friend seemed to be just as clueless as she was.

"What the hell is that shit?"

Maura shrugged as discreetly as she could. Paloma was now way too close to them to not overhear whatever she could say. At least Jane had murmured her question between clenched teeth.

"I don't know. I came for the turtles...?"

Paloma finally reached them. She passed an arm around Jane's shoulders then pointed to a corner of the patio where a wooden sign with the logo of the farm had been hung on a palm tree.

"This is our souvenir photo corner. Don't worry, it is free. We just take the picture then send it to your email... And upon your agreement, we put it on her website. It's important as it shows our farm is a key-spot on the island. Come with me!"

Maura locked her eyes with her friend's then shrugged. They couldn't turn down Paloma, it wouldn't be nice and even less polite as the turtle farm was a friendly place and they had really enjoyed the visit.

They quietly followed the guide to the appropriate spot then dropped their bags on the floor to strike the pose more or less convincingly. Paloma turned her cam on and winked.

"Awesome, girls! Now kiss."

Jane swallowed hard. Paloma had a thick accent and her English was a tad broken at times but sadly Jane was certain to have heard the guide's last remark right. She opened her mouth to ask Paloma to repeat her sentence but Maura turned out to be faster.

"What?"

Maura took her sunglasses off and squinted her eyes at Paloma. If she had enjoyed the young girl's laugh until now, she was quite close to ultimately change her mind. Kisses were not part of the visit, she hadn't signed for that.

"Tanita and Jamie told me you were a couple too. All our couples kiss on the picture. C'mon, girls! You'll be happy to get the picture when I send it to you."

Jane held back a growl. Happy? There was nothing less sure, actually. In a perfect mimetism with Maura, she began to vehemently shake her head at Paloma.

Of course, some vacationers from Hidden Beach had joined their farm tour as the island was small and it was okay if everyone thought that she and Maura were a couple. But there was no way she would go as far as kissing her friend.

"At least on the cheek! Gosh, Americans are so prude...!"

Paloma burst out laughing anew. This was slightly embarrassing, especially since a small group of tourists was now looking at them rather amused.

On the cheek? Alright. This was a compromise Jane and Maura could accept. What was a kiss on the cheek anyway, apart from something friendly? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Without warning each other, they both turned around and leaned over. Regreful synchronisation: by turning around at the same time, their lips didn't aim at each other's cheek but at their mouths.

"Perfect!" Paloma took advantage of Jane and Maura's confusion to take the picture. The unplanned lip lock kiss had made them freeze. Literally. "What a cute couple you are."

Maura turned out to be the first one to react. She put her sunglasses on anew and rushed to her bag without looking at Jane. She then hurried towards the exit; without a word.

…

It was just a lip lock kiss. An innocent, accidental lip lock kiss.

They hadn't roughly made out. Many people shared such tiny, insignificant kisses on a daily basis and it didn't mean anything special either. Maura wasn't a touchy feely person but her latent panic over the lip lock surprised her a lot because she wasn't prude. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

It was just a kiss. Just a kiss.

"Do you want to... To have a shower first?" She took her shoes off and barely dared to look up at Jane. They had just arrived at their villa after a very quiet boat ride. "I can wait if you want to."

Jane shook her head then walked out on the terrace. She seemed to be just as embarrassed as her friend.

"Nah, that's fine. You go first."

Good. Maura didn't insist and rushed to the top floor of their little house. She locked the bathroom door then leaned against it. Her shaking fingers brushed her lips.

Their respective embarrassed reaction was ridiculous. They hadn't done it on purpose and there was nothing harmful about it either. Then why did Maura suddenly feel the urge to burst into tears?

As her eyes began to burn, she closed the distance that separated her from the tub and let the water run. She needed more than just a shower. She needed time for herself, time to calm down and start behaving as the adult she was.

Except her lips were hot and the sensation that the kiss had stirred up in her lower stomach was still extremely vivid.

This was the actual problem: not the kiss in itself but the storm of feelings it had risen within her body.

They hadn't exchanged a word on their way to the small harbor of Isla Mujeres. Something had got broken the moment they had left the turtle farm, something that they didn't want to name. Something that had been there for quite a while but their cowardice was such that they had pretended the exact opposite.

And now they paid the price: they hadn't fooled anyone.

Maura let the hot water of her bath wrap her up. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the serene sensation she was now feeling. Her meditation got interrupted by the ringing of her phone. She grabbed the device and opened the mail she had just got.

Paloma had sent her the picture. Already.

She stared at it for a long while, taking the time to observe its details with great fascination as if she were hypnotized by it. It was just a lip lock kiss, an accidental one.

Yet she had to admit that, as Paloma said in her message, she and Jane looked lovely. It seemed so right.