Author Notes: I woke up with this beautiful feeling clinging to my thoughts and I just wanted it penned down.
A faint rhythm was resonating through the room. It was well over midnight. The rhythm was gentle, soft and almost made Jane smile in her sleep. However to her dismay, when Jane turned around, her hands grasped at an empty bed beside her. Half awake because of the absence of warmth around her, her mind played back the night before. Her muscles mirrored an echo of the fatigue as she remembered how drained she had been with her work the past weeks; and after a usual movie night with Maura, she hadn't been able to find the strength to go back to her apartment. Maura wouldn't have had it any other way, but have her sleep alongside her because she knew what unclosed cases did to her sleep. With the thought of Maura's insistent requests playing back again, Jane found her lips curl in a sweet smile again. But the empty bed against her palm brought her train of thought back to the present. Maura wasn't around.
Jane managed to sit up, with her eyes looking around the room when a faint gentle light obscured by curtains caught her attention. It was a soft glimmer, almost fading back and forth with the mellow wind that was swaying the curtains. It finally registered with her that it was the gentle rain outside that had made her smile in her sleep. The very next instant, her eyes caught up with the figure sitting on the small couch, facing the rain through the windows. Her smile grew as she recognized the familiar face of her Maura, sitting across the open window, her eyes closed, taking in the breeze and the water droplets that came with it. What made her pause for a few more moments was the sight of a distinct smile on Maura's serene countenance, which grew up a notch every time drops of rain managed to sway in with the breeze and caress her face.
"Hey you…" a croaky, sleepy yet fond voice escaped Jane's lips. "What are you doing up Maur?"
Maura opened her eyes and smiled fondly when she found Jane looking at her. She glanced back at the rain and then met Jane's glimmering eyes again. "This..." Maura softly whispered; her voice laced with content. "This Jane…" Maura smiled again, "I woke up and I just couldn't resist watching it." Maura shifted on her seat and patted gently beside her, beckoning Jane. "Come here Jane… Look…"
Jane smiled at the absence of words with Maura. Sometimes, she realized, even her Google-mouth didn't need words. A chuckle escaped her lips at that thought and she found her feet leading her to Maura in a matter of seconds. She softly settled on Maura's left and took the cover of the blanket Maura instantly offered. Quietly snuggled beside her best friend, Jane needed no words for a while. She admired the rain just like Maura did and it brought a fond smile to her lips again.
"What is it about this rain… It makes me wanna smile Maur…" Jane sighed softly in Maura's ear.
"It is so many things at once Jane. It's an embrace," Maura softly whispered back, her right hand now finding its way towards the rain drops, "a cool to touch and warm to feel, blissful and never-ending embrace that ends every fraction of second and begins the next." She gently entwined her other hand in Jane's. "It's a breath of fresh air for the soul." Maura instantly looked back in Jane's eyes, her beautiful hazel orbs glimmering in the dim light of the side lamp that had caught Jane's own eyes earlier. "Have I told you how much I love rain?" Her lips curled up in a smile again but this time, Jane could see the smile reaching Maura's eyes and for a second, a part of Jane wondered if this was for an entirely different reason.
Jane beamed hearing Maura evoking that feeling in her. There was a gentleness to it that escaped her words. But it was there, within her reach, entwining with her very own soul. "It's beautiful Maur." Jane cuddled cozily in the blanket as she leaned on Maura's shoulder. "But do you know what makes it worthwhile though?"
Maura's brow decided to lift up on its own accord before her words could put forth the question. "What Jane?"
"You… beside me… ", Jane smiled back.
Maura's smile met her eyes as she nodded and she leaned in closer to Jane, her fingers still entwined in Jane's. "You beside me... certainly is."