11

Maura felt Kate's warm body pressed against hers, knowing this was an apology, but finding it far better. Kate was so strong. Kate had punched someone for her, Kate would shout and fight and build walls and... Kate was powerful, she was fire... But now, tucked up beside Maura in the single bed, Maura could tell that Kate was nothing like as strong as she pretended. When her walls weren't up, Kate was just as vulnerable and soft and kind as Maura.

"I'm sorry," Kate whispered.

Maura hugged her tightly, not even knowing what the hug meant. At first it was just out of friendship, but they had kissed, and she knew Kate was still awake. She felt Kate return the hug, felt Kate's arms tighten around her... Kate could feel Maura's heart pounding in time with her own, and just as the tension began to show in her body, she felt it in Maura's too. She pressed her face to Maura's hair, breathing in the unique scent, bringing their bodies even closer together.

The shift in movement brought Maura's face almost in contact with Kate's neck. She smelled of showers; her hair was still damp, her skin would be smooth and soft...

The kiss wasn't instigated by either of them; it just happened. It was slow at first, gentle, making up, but it became more and more passionate; the comforter fell to the floor and Kate found herself straddling Maura, mostly so they didn't fall off the fairly narrow bed. Maura felt her hips push up instinctively; Kate gasped and rolled her own hips in response.

Maura didn't know if it was the right time to be experimental or not; she knew they'd said they wanted to take it slow, but sliding her hands under Kate's sleep shorts and gripping her ass was hardly a conscious decision, just like Kate's hands finding Maura's breasts wasn't exactly something she'd thought out. Kate could feel herself getting completely... ready. She groaned, and pulled away just as Maura pushed her off.

"If we go any further I don't think I'll be able to stop myself," Maura gasped. Kate got off the bed and picked up Maura's comforter for her, then went back to her own. She lay down, but she was so hot, it was impossible to sleep. She fidgeted in bed, knowing what she needed, cursing at having to share a room, especially because that was partly what was turning her on.

Maura was in much the same situation. She blushed. She could say it was scientifically proven to be healthy until she was (even more) red in the face, but that didn't make her any keener to... No, it was a stupid idea. She looked over at Kate's silhouette in the darkness and wondered if she would be able to tell when Kate fell asleep.

"Look," Kate said suddenly. "There's no, uh, ordinary way to say this, and I know we said we'd... you know what, never mind. I have to go to the bathroom."

She jumped out of bed and left the room, getting to the bathroom and closing the door. There was no one in there. She entered a toilet cubicle, wanting to have a locked door, but left it again immediately. She was not going to do this in a toilet cubicle. A shower was okay, or the main room, but... She grinned. There was a chair in the room. She shoved it against the door, putting it under the handle so the door wouldn't open, then after a bit of deliberation, lay down on the floor. It was clean.

Maura didn't know why Kate had left but she was too desperate to care. Kate might only be in the bathroom for a minute, so Maura wasted no time in doing what she needed to do. It was quick, but her activities with Kate had left her so stimulated she barely needed anything before she came. She bit her lip, forcing herself to be quiet, though her natural reaction was loud. Her breathing slowed and she settled back in bed, finally satisfied. She vaguely heard Kate come back into the room as she drifted off to sleep.

The bathroom floor had been annoyingly hard, but with Maura's taste still in her mouth, Kate had hardly noticed. Maura seemed to be sleeping when she got back to their room. Kate collapsed into bed and soon did the same.

They got up together the next morning, and found themselves in the bathroom together too. Kate sat up on the counter to brush her teeth. Maura grinned, spitting into the sink. She moved so she was between Kate's knees.

"How slow is slow?" she asked. Kate chuckled and put her toothbrush down, leaning over to spit as well. She looked back at Maura.

"Well we can hardly go backwards," she said, admiring Maura's messy bedhead.

"Good," Maura whispered, standing on tiptoe so she could reach Kate's minty mouth.

"We'll be late," Kate said after a minute, reluctantly moving away.

"I don't care," Maura said, but she wiped her mouth and went to get dressed. Kate scooted off the counter and followed her.

"Meet me for lunch?" she asked.

Maura sighed. "I have back to back classes all day. And then we have the cheer try outs."

"Oh, joy," Kate groaned. Maura shrugged.

"If you start off thinking about it as negative, it almost certainly will be. But it might be fun."

"Right. If you say so. I guess it might be good to have a day of space..." She sighed. Maura smiled.

"You're right. It will be. It'll make seeing each other later more fun. And it might even get you to look forward to the try outs."

"You're a wicked person," Kate said, rolling her eyes.

The day actually moved quite quickly. Maura forced herself to be much more alert in her classes, and while her mind did wander to last night and Kate several times, she managed to return it to biology and forensics. Kate was fairly successful in paying attention to her classes too.

They met in the locker rooms at the gym again, this time far more friendly with each other. Most of the girls there for cheer practice seemed... Nothing like them. Some of them also seemed to know the red haired girl from the day before, and unlike at softball, several of the cheerleaders seemed... Not exactly in agreement with her, but definitely against Kate and Maura for giving their friend a black eye.

It wasn't much of an issue, though. Neither of them made it onto the squad. This might well have been to do with Maura saying she needed music and Kate bursting into song halfway through practice... Or maybe when they were shown to the trampolines and found the whole thing far too entertaining to actually do what they were told to. Maura didn't think she had ever been so silly in her life. But she was loving this new person.

Kate was more accustomed to not doing as she was told, but it had never been like this. It had never been with someone like Maura, or because of someone like Maura. She just felt... free. Full of energy, full of life, full of desire to experiment and go crazy and do everything because nothing was impossible.

They went to dinner in the canteen, feeling they ought to use it, since it was paid for. They were fairly late so they had no trouble finding an empty table.

"Do you want to talk about yesterday?" Kate asked slowly. Maura chuckled.

"What part of yesterday?"

Kate grinned, looking down at her plate. "All of it? I don't know, I mean... I feel... I feel something I've never felt before. And I don't think it's a big deal that it's towards a girl..."

"But in a way it's kind of a big deal that it's towards a girl."

"I... Is that weird?"

"No. I mean, we're always wary of things we're not used to. It's a survival mechanism. But..." Maura waited until Kate looked up and their eyes met. "If it makes you feel better, I feel weird about it too. Happy, fantastic, when I'm with you, but... I don't have any experience in this area, and it's not something I really expected."

Kate laughed nervously. "You just seem... more relaxed about it than I am."

Maura grinned. "I could have said exactly the same about you. With regards to other parts of yesterday... You were right, I do like softball."

Kate laughed more happily. "How's your stomach?"

"Fine. I'm tough, didn't you know?"

Kate looked at Maura's perfectly made up face and her pretty elegant body, and couldn't quite hold in a giggle. Maura stuck her tongue out.

"I could totally take you."

Kate grinned. "If you say so."

"I... I do have something we should maybe talk about."

Kate was pretty sure Maura was about to voice what was on her mind too.

"Yeah?" she asked, taking a bite of her pasta.

"What is this? What we're doing? Is it... I don't know, friends who make out? Are we together? I mean, it's complicated by the fact that we sleep in the same room, but still, I don't think coping with that should be too much of a problem once we decide what exactly this is."

Kate nodded. "I know what you mean. I... I suppose it's... Well, we're together? Right? I mean, only if that's what you-"

"That's what I want," Maura said, smiling. Kate smiled too.

"Okay then... And with regards to taking things slowly... Maura, we haven't known each other long – and that's a huge understatement. I've never met someone I like as much as you, and while... While that makes me want to take things further with you even more, it also makes me want to be cautious. I don't want to lose a friend."

"I know what you mean," Maura said, biting her lip. She had never been in a take things slow relationship before. She hadn't really ever been in much of a relationship; not one that lasted more than a few weeks at most. "But I..."

She wished she'd been able to hold it in; she could tell from the look in Kate's eyes that Kate kind of wished it too, mostly because Kate had exactly the same but, and it didn't matter that Maura had stopped herself now because they were both thinking about it and acting just as if she had said it. And now they had to go back to the room they shared and go to bed and spend a whole night tossing and turning, only able to think of those three words that they had both wanted to say and not really managed not to bring up.

I want you.


A/N: Because I love you. Hello again Serena. Since I know this makes you feel special. Thanks for reading, please review! Xxx