The sun was setting rapidly behind the tall trees at the edges of the park. Jane and Maura were still sitting side by side on the park bench, though neither of them had spoken in the minutes that had passed by since they'd kissed. Maura was pale but Jane was flaming, her entire body on fire. It was with almost visible effort that she kept still, clutching with both hands to the seat on either side of her, stealing little glances at Maura, who was darting occasional, wary, sideways glances back at Jane. There were a hundred things Jane wanted to say, but she didn't know where to start. And she could almost hear the thousands of cogs whirling at speed in Maura's mind. She noticed the first stars faintly appearing as she waited for Maura to regain her equilibrium.

"Jane?" the doctor's voice was low. "What was that for?" she asked. "You weren't just… I mean, do you-" she started again. "I'm not sure if-" her voice faded out.

Slowly Jane reached out and lay her hand on Maura's arm, lightly touching her skin. When the doctor didn't move, Jane slid her hand at glacial pace, up and over her slight shoulder and around the back of her neck. She gazed wonderingly into Maura's eyes, trying to read her, and when she shivered but didn't pull away, Jane leaned in and kissed her again, softly this time. With a faint whimper Maura leaned into the kiss and after a moment her hands came to rest on Jane's shoulders. Jane lost time then, only aware of the slow warm movement of Maura's lips against her own, the hitched uneven sound of their breathing, and the feeling of the doctor's fingers sliding in to link together behind her neck. Minutes passed, the kiss open mouthed and wet, but never moving past soft and slow. When she pulled back, she rested her forehead against Maura's.

"Okay?" she whispered. Maura kept her eyes squeezed tight, but she nodded. After a moment, Jane leaned back and looked around. The park was deserted and it was almost dark. "Take me home with you," she decided softly, working things out aloud. Maura seemed to stop breathing. "To eat," Jane quickly explained. "Dinner. And talk." Huh. It seemed her ability to form coherent sentences was going to be a while in returning to her.

Maura looked around as if remembering for the first time that they were in the park. "Right," she said. "Yes." It was as if she'd used up her daily allotment of words in her shouting and raging, and now she was almost silent, looking both drained and electrified as she got to her feet. They walked side by side through the park. Still no words came, and the light crunch of their sneakers on the gravel path sounded agonisingly loud to Jane. They didn't touch, except occasionally when their bare arms brushed, each time setting Jane's hair on end. They reached the car park, Maura's black Mercedes the only car left in the lot. Maura retrieved her key from her small zipped hip pocket, and then she whirled around to look at Jane.

"You don't," she started, "have to do this."

"Do…?" Jane shook her head, unsure.

"This," Maura said. Like it was clear. "We can probably…still…work out how to be friends…if that's what you want," she told her. Jane frowned.

"I don't think I've been saying this right," she said. She stepped closer, taking hold of Maura's hips and pushing her gently backwards until she was pressed against the cool metal side of the car. She followed in with her own body, making the doctor gasp. This time the kiss was heady and strong, Jane invading her mouth roughly, her hands holding Maura's face firmly, not giving an inch. She slid her mouth to Maura's ear. "I've wanted you for so long," she whispered and Maura moaned, her hands sliding straight up Jane's back under her tanktop. The detective kissed her earlobe and then before she even knew what she was doing she was pressing open mouthed kisses down her throat, making Maura arch and dig her fingernails into her skin. Jane's heart was pounding crazily in her ears, and she moved back to claim the doctor's mouth again, still pinning her firmly in place with her hips. She dragged herself back with considerable effort, to look at her erstwhile friend. Maura's lips were still gleaming from the kiss, her mouth slightly open and her chest heaving. Her eyes opened on Jane's, and Jane's breath caught at the fire they contained. "Now you get it," she husked, battling to hang onto the feeling that she was remotely in control of this…thing they'd started. Maura's eyes blazed.

"Get in the car, Jane," the detective could hear the smile in the doctor's voice for the first time that evening. She reluctantly pulled away and did as she was told. Maura slid into the driver's seat, her breathing erratic. They shot out of the car park only to find themselves instantly stuck in rush hour traffic. The silence in the car was now bristling with electricity and Maura was frowning at the road ahead with the same level of concentration Jane had seen her focus down a microscope. Jane's foot was tapping ceaselessly on the floor, her fingers fidgeting on her lap until Maura reached over and closed her hand around them. She looked over at the doctor, whose eyes were sparkling now, with a mixture of amusement and desire that Jane found extraordinarily attractive. A horn sounded behind them and Maura quickly jerked her eyes back to the road, and her hand to the steering wheel, accelerating through the lights. A laugh bubbled from Jane's throat. She felt a little drunk.

"Ian's gay," she couldn't stop smiling. Maura shot her a brief look.

"He was sleeping with Detective Mitchell from Vice, that whole trip," she informed her. "I pretty much had to ban him from my spare room just so I could get some sleep," she made a face. Jane thought longingly of the lush king sized bed she'd glimpsed, and fleetingly wondered if she'd get to see what Maura's bedroom looked like. She flushed and stared out the passenger window.

"Don't worry Maura, they were probably just really enjoying your ceiling cornices," she advised her with a small smirk.

"Yes," Maura agreed. "From the sounds of it, I think they enjoyed every last inch of my spare room, probably twice," she scrunched up her nose and Jane laughed.

"Oh, that's- um…ew," she sympathised. Maura eyed her.

"You think so?" she asked curiously. "I find the idea of two men having sex, quite arousing," her voice was conversational. "At least, normally I do. Just not…Ian," she blanched. "I know entirely too much about that man's sex life for comfort, considering how close we are." Jane was still stuck on arousing.

"Gay sex? Really?" she asked. "I mean, the man-on-man kind…turns you on?" her voice croaked slightly, betraying her.

"Mmhmm," Maura responded, flicking on her indicator and merging right. "Though not as much as the girl-on-girl kind might," a smile ghosted across her lips as Jane's knee jerked involuntarily, causing her to kick the footwell with an audible bang. Maura's hand snuck back across the console to enclose the detective's fingers again, gently stroking, squeezing and toying with them through the next two sets of lights and Jane's eyes slid closed as she tried to breathe through the sensations it caused in her. She was still in her jogging shorts and Maura's fingers kept brushing against her bare thighs. She kept swallowing. The trip across the city seemed interminable. What was the point of owning a car this hot, if it couldn't fly?

All of a sudden they were pulling up in Maura's driveway and then Jane got nervous. The plan had felt like one thing when Maura was looking up at her with large, worried eyes, and another altogether when she was wetting her lips like that.

"Dinner," Maura reminded her softly. "And talking."

"So no gay sex then," Jane said flatly. Maura shot her a look that made her eyes widen, and she turned and slid out the passenger door. Standing closely behind the smaller woman as she unlocked her front door, Jane briefly imagined pushing it closed behind them, pinning the doctor up against it and rushing full steam ahead into this girl-on-girl thing Maura had intimated that she might like. Kissing Maura up against the car like that had blown some kind of circuit in her mind, because now it was all she wanted to do - grind her body against her, abandon all control, devour her whole - anything to make Maura moan like that again.

"I don't know about you," the doctor began, "but I need a shower. After that run," she clarified, when Jane eyed her a little too knowingly.

"Yeah," she husked, "same." And that was how she found herself in the spare room bathroom, or The Gay Sex Shower as it was formally known, soaping down her body, acutely aware that a mere two rooms away Maura was simultaneously naked and soapy. This is insane, she turned her face into the spray. If we actually do this, I'm probably going to spontaneously combust, she thought in faint terror. Her body throbbed as she relived at hyper-speed the last startling hour of her life, of Maura unexpectedly declaring impossible feelings, of the shock of getting to touch her, kiss her, taste her…if we don't do this right away, I'm probably going to spontaneously combust, she reflected woefully.

Her only spare clothes in her tote bag were a white tank top and some soft ancient trackpants - both thankfully clean - so she was relieved when she walked back out to find Maura in casual lounging yoga gear. She'd been terrified that Dr. Isles would slip into full seduction mode, and being Maura, would have the perfect outfit to match. She pictured some kind of slinky negligee type deal and she froze for a second, watching her.

Maura was opening a bottle of red wine. Her hair was still slightly wet from the shower and Jane was pretty sure this was the first time she'd seen the other woman without make-up. She looked less like an intimidatingly glamorous chief medical examiner, and more like a younger, more vulnerable human being, one that Jane very much wanted to touch. Realising that this was suddenly a thing she was possibly allowed to do, she unfroze and padded across the kitchen toward her. Maura looked up and saw her, and a slightly startled expression crossed her face, as though she'd not expected the detective to be there at all, let alone barefoot in her kitchen.

"I still don't have any beer," she apologised, and her eyes widened further as Jane didn't stop at a safe distance, but kept coming. She slid her hands wordlessly up Maura's arms and pulled her into a soft embrace, until the doctor relaxed against her, her arms loosely around Jane's waist. She stroked aside Maura's damp fragrant hair and bent down to drop a light, tentative kiss in the curve of her neck.

"I do drink wine," she informed her, her voice slightly muffled against Maura's skin. "I'm not a caveman." She felt the doctor smile into her shoulder.

"Well that's disappointing," she hummed, causing Jane to turn pleasantly dizzy. She pulled away, content to watch this at-home version of Maura, moving around her kitchen. When she realised the doctor had stopped again and was staring into the fridge with a look of mild stage fright, Jane channelled her mother, bumping the doctor aside and assuredly selecting simple ingredients, leaving Maura to pour the wine. The doctor took her own turn lounging against the cabinets watching with interest as Jane chopped and sauteed and stirred until a passable fettucine alfredo began to take shape. As the sauce bubbled, she came back to life and quickly threw together an exotic looking salad.

They'd still not talked about what was happening, not since the park, and so nothing was resolved or even really understood, except - Jane felt - for the startling awareness she could touch Maura now. She did what she could to keep the impulse in check, but months of successfully fighting the urge to reach out to the doctor melted away with surprising ease. She lightly gripped her hips to move her aside, tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and lay her hand on the small of her back when she leaned around her. It felt so natural touching her this way, as did the utterly unveiled look of desire Maura gave her, each and every time one of her small gestures hit home.

Jane was pretty sure she wasn't going to be able to eat a bite, her body so utterly focussed elsewhere as it was, but the long day and hard run caught up with her. Both women ate ravenously, side by side on the couch. Jane was just savouring her last mouthful when Maura's voice rang out.

"Do you think you're gay, Jane?" she asked. Jane almost choked, but she managed to swallow and took a large swig of wine.

"No," she said. "Yes. Does it matter?" she asked. Maura considered.

"No," she replied after a moment. "Just curious," she picked up their empty bowls and took them over to the kitchen to rinse them in the sink. She brought back the bottle of Sangiovese with her, and topped up their glasses, sitting next to Jane without touching her. Jane knew she'd personally asked for the talking part of the evening, but her comfort level was fading by the second.

"Have you ever-" Maura started.

"No," Jane interrupted. "Never. Have you?"

"Not since college," Maura shook her head and Jane's twitched involuntarily, regretting momentarily that she'd skipped her place at BCU in favour of the police academy.

"But-"

"But I want you," Maura's voice was certain and Jane shivered. The doctor's voice seemed to come at a great distance now. "How long have-"

"Maura," Jane stopped her. "Is this a job interview?" Maura shook her head. "Then, listen," her voice came out gravelly, "we'll get there, okay?" she eyed the doctor warily, as she took a sip of wine, then put the glass aside. "Slowly," she warned her.

Maura nodded, thoughtfully. She cautiously threaded her fingers through Jane's, and the detective moved their intertwined hands into her lap, tugging the doctor closer. There was a quiet sigh beside her, and she felt Maura press a kiss against the outer tip of her shoulder. Then there was a shift as Maura sat up on her knees, turning her body towards Jane's, leaning in to softly kiss her neck. Jane's eyes fluttered closed at the sensation and she instinctively pulled the woman closer until Maura was off balance, bracing herself against the detective's shoulder, following the pull on her arm until she was sitting in Jane's lap, straddling her firmly. Jane's eyes were full of breasts for a moment, until the doctor tugged her face up to her own. "Slowly," Maura repeated in a whisper, and began to languidly kiss her upturned mouth.