It is the second day of summer when Constance arrives to stay.

Maura is wishing a very pleasant and rehearsed good bye to someone on the other end of the phone line when Jane steps into Maura's office and demands that they get moving so that they can grab a bite to eat before making their way to the airport. After Angela brought TJ into the café at lunch time and the kid decided to press his tomato sauced lips to the shoulder of Maura's Prada dress, Maura's been insistent that they stop home to change on the way to the airport. Jane's biggest concern is not tomato sauce on white satin, nor is it whether or not Constance has to wait an extra five minutes at arrivals; Jane knows that if something has to be sacrificed, it's going to be her next meal.

"C'mon, if we don't leave now I'm going to have to stop at the McDonald's by the airport for dinner, and I swear, I won't even be sorry for it." Maura grips the edge of her desk and releases a shaky breath. "Was that Constance?" Jane realises as she watches Maura's face pale.

Maura looks up at her. "How did you know?"

"Maura," Jane states to get her best friend's logical attention. "You look like you're about to pass out. For one, she's your mom, so calm down. And two, we still have an hour before her flight arrives from New York. Jeez, she obviously hasn't even left there yet, so keep your panties on!"

Maura huffs and shakes her head in her hands. When she looks up at Jane, there is a hint of a smile on her lips. "Jane, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask a favour of you."

Jane shifts from one foot to the other. "Yeah? Can you ask in the car? If I don't get fed before we pick her up, you sure as hell won't let me go through drive thru with fancy pants in the backseat—

"I need to stay back and finish some paperwork, could you pick up Constance from the airport?" Maura asks seriously.

Jane's eyes widen in dreaded alarm. "Alone? I thought you wanted to do this together?"

Slowly, Maura's lips tighten into a mischievous grin.

"Funny, Maura. Very funny. Let's go."

They stand around at the arrival gate at Logan for twenty five minutes, Maura in a new dress, and Jane's stomach full. After thirteen minutes, Jane reaches into Maura's pocket for the blonde's shaky hand.

"I'm not going to let you down, okay?"

"I know that, Jane."

"She doesn't judge you half as much as you think she does. She loves you."

"I'm just tired." Maura sighs and intertwines her fingers more intimately with Jane's. "Thank you for coming with me."

"Where else would I be?"

Staring straight ahead at the double doors they're waiting for Constance to walk through, Maura grins. Jane can feel the tension slipping away.

Constance is one of the first off the plane with her luggage, and Maura hears Jane mumble something about the price of first class airline tickets. Jane watches as Constance's poised expression of acknowledgment of her daughter and Jane brings genuine happiness to the doctor's features as they share practiced kisses. Jane can't help but think that, had it been Angela who emerged from those double doors after six months of being apart, it would have been with a holy show of affection.

"Really, Maura, you didn't have to do this," Constance claims as Jane loads her bag into the small trunk of Maura's car.

"This is what family does," Jane hears Maura affirm. "I never get the opportunity. I want to, Mother."

When Constance answers a call while getting into the backseat, Maura walks around to Jane. "I think she's uncomfortable with this. I shouldn't have suggested this," she whispers regretfully.

"Hey, she's fine with it. They may not show it, but family love it when you pick them up spontaneously." Jane pauses. "Even from prison." Maura scoffs, but laughs, and Jane winks at her playfully. "Who could not want Maura Isles standing at the gate waiting for them?"

"Hope Martin?" Maura suggests. When she says it, her voice wavers in a way that makes Jane's blood boil.

"Hope isn't here, but your other mother is. So just make the most of this, okay?"

The drive home isn't all that awkward, and if Jane thought Maura was relaxed in the airport with their fingers linked, she's even calmer now. Jane navigates her way across Boston while Maura sits in the front next to her, swivelling in her seat one minute intervals to make small talk with her mother.

"Jane and I went to Paris last month, Mother."

"Oh, how lovely! Did you enjoy Paris, Jane?"

"Yeah, it was great," Jane smiles at Constance in the rear vision mirror as she flicks her left blinker into Maura's street. "Maura surprised me for my birthday. It was real nice of her."

"Well, that is nice. I certainly never had your father take me to Paris, Maura, let alone a colleague, or a friend."

Jane feels Maura's eyes glance over to her as silence consumes them, but the brunette remains overly focused on parking Maura's tiny car in the almost empty street.

"I hope you didn't ask Angela to leave the guest house for the duration of my stay in Boston," Constance says from the backseat.

Jane dares to meet Maura's eye. The doctor is biting her lip, and her cheeks are just as flushed as the night last week when Jane had pressed her up against the basin and kissed her for the first time, softly, slowly, sweetly.

"Oh, that's okay," Jane speaks up. "My ma doesn't live in the guesthouse anymore."

Jane dares to be the one to reach for Maura's hand, and link their fingers on the console, right before Constance's eyes.

"Mother…Jane and I live together now."

Jane wakes in the middle of the night with her best friend wrapped around her, suffocating her in the heat. Maura sleeps on peacefully, but Jane can't. Slowly, she peels Maura's arm away from her mildly sweaty torso, and places it on the mattress in the little space between them. Maura doesn't seem to feel the heat. Jane has always felt it.

The hall is dark when Jane makes her way towards the kitchen towards that gentle clink and whistle of Maura's espresso machine. The clock on the oven lights up the minute of 2:36 am, and Jane is surprised to find that they haven't been asleep long at all.

"Jane," Constance remarks as she brings a hand to her chest. "Did I wake you?"

Braless in her white tank top, Jane takes in a fully dressed Constance Isles as she crosses her arms over her breasts and the tips of black curls. "Oh, no. I was just really hot, so I woke, and then I heard noise, so I thought I'd come and see if there was anything you needed."

"No, thank you, Jane." Constance's eyes narrow as she watches Jane's confused gaze sweep over her immaculately presented form. "Maura knows that I have an important business meeting via video call at 3 am," she explains. "She told me to help myself to the espresso machine as the guest house doesn't have one."

"Oh, how awful," Jane mocks playfully, and waits for the grin of understanding to curl the corners of Constance's lips. Jane thinks that the register of the joke on the older woman's face is almost as funny as seeing it cross Maura's expression. Almost.

"You're a very beautiful woman, Jane."

Jane tries not to cringe. "Thanks." She throws the fridge open in search of that expensive bottled water Maura insists on keeping chilled and stocked, and Jane threatens to drink and refill with tap water to test if Maura really knows the difference.

"You could be a model..." Constance states genuinely as she waits for her coffee to drip.

Jane pulls out a bottle of water and nudges the fridge door closed with her foot. "Wasn't really my line of interest," she chuckles.

Constance takes pause and does not comment. Jane can feel Maura's mother's eyes on her. Sip it slowly, Jane reminds herself as she takes a gulp of water from the springs of Switzerland.

"I know that you may think me to be naïve," Constance starts, "but I do understand the love that you have for Maura. And I understand that this is the life that Maura wants. This is the life Maura has always wanted."

Jane doesn't censor her words. "You mean…you thought Maura was gay before this?"

Constance purses her lips. "I am not referring to the fact that you are in a lesbian relationship. I was acknowledging Maura's desire for a simple life…something real that we could never give her."

A surge of guilt rushes through Jane at the word 'real'. No, she tells it, and the major limbs of the guilt are cut away so that they can't reach inside of Jane and turn Constance's kindness into Jane's regret. What you have with Maura is real in its own way.

"I do see the differences between her humble life and my…my life," Constance confesses, and Jane stops peeling the label of the water bottle to look up. Constance meets Jane's stare. "I am not pompous or stupid enough to believe that the life of luxury I lead is better than this, Jane."

Jane laughs Constance's seriousness away in fear of saying too much and making the woman feel even more remorseful for all of the time she's missed with Maura. "Our lives are anything but simple," Jane assures her, and the simple message of the comment is 'Maura didn't set out to be the opposite of you when she decided to be with me.'

Constance sighs and nods in knowing agreement.

"I didn't mean to imply that you are not busy women, that you are not important women. What I mean is that, I was never very loving towards my daughter, and I know that she distanced herself in order to become what my idea of successful is."

"You don't have to be so hard on yourself…" Jane tries, and leans across the counter island.

"You are good for Maura," Constance presses on, and Jane knows what is coming. "I don't believe you are afraid of being affectionate with my daughter, Jane, and she needs that, as I'm sure you are aware." Jane struggles not to clear her throat in discomfort. "I do believe that Maura is afraid of affection…that she views emotion as a form of weakness," Constance adds.

"She did," Jane starts. "I mean, she was like that…but she's changed. She's really happy." I'm going to try to make her even happier. "This is it for the both of us," Jane finishes confidently.

Constance raises a sharply pointed eyebrow. "You've wanted this for a long time."

"She was my best friend," Jane shrugs. "Somewhere along the line, I guess I just forgot what it was like to not have her around. What can I say? I like having her to myself," Jane grins.

"Are you going to marry her?" Constance asks in all seriousness.

Jane feels the blood rush to her cheeks in the cool kitchen. "We're, umm, we haven't really talked about that…"

"I see. What does your mother think of the two of you?"

"She's warming up to it. Not because of Maura."

"Because she's a woman?"

"Yeah," Jane breathes softly.

"Your mother should be proud of your loyalty and honesty. I assume those qualities are a testament to her?"

Jane scoffs. "Well, I suppose I had to get it from somewhere, might as well be Ma, because it sure wasn't my pop!"

Constance pauses. "He left you mother, is that right?"

"Yeah."

Constance offers an empathetic smile. "We all have our faults and downfalls. We're certainly not our parents, but sometimes I find that those who try not to be, turn out to be exactly like them." Jane nods in agreement as she tops up the half empty bottle with tap water. "Maura's not like me." Jane turns to look at Constance, and she swears that she can see Maura in those crystal blue eyes. "Is she like Hope?" the older woman asks.

"Yeah," Jane replies honestly as she replaces the water bottle on the shelf in the fridge. "She is."

"Do you like Hope?" Constance asks.

"No. Hope…Hope destroyed Maura, in a way. When Hope showed up…it wasn't a good time."

"The miscarriage?"

Jane shifts uncomfortably from bare foot to bare foot. "Maura doesn't really talk about it."

"She still wants to have children?"

"Yeah, she does."

"You'll make wonderful mothers."

Being a mother to Maura's child, or Maura being a mother to her child, sends a shiver of excitement throughout Jane. It's veiled by fierce protectiveness, and it makes Jane feel like the alpha. It makes her feel like who she is. Like this is who she is meant to be. Jane stands taller and straightens her posture. "That would really mean a lot to Maura. You should tell her that…one day."

Head bowed and eyes focused on her espresso, Constance smiles softly. Jane is proud; she's said the right thing.

"I have a meeting in seven minutes, Jane, but thank you for sharing with me."

"I'm going to head back to bed, too. See you tomorrow."

"Good night, Detective."

When Jane hears the back door click behind Constance, and rounds the corner into the hall, Maura is standing there in that white satin nightgown that bares chest freckles over the curves of full breasts and kisses far too high on Maura thigh. Jane hates that it makes her mouth go dry. She hates it. Mostly, she hates that looking at 3am Maura in a skimpy nightie, hands behind her back, and lip between her teeth fucking confuses her.

"Are you going to marry me?" Maura asks impishly she shifts on her feet and rests back against the wall again with a grin. A troubled grin. Immediately Jane realises that, if Maura heard Constance ask about marriage, she also heard Constance ask about the miscarriage. Maura tries to smile more playfully, to mask her sadness and emptiness with a joke because, hey, that's what Jane has taught her, but Jane won't let her. Jane is not smiling. She feels like she is on fire. She feels like she is going to cry. She feels aroused and irritated and desperate all at once. Jane reaches out and slips her arms around Maura's narrow waist to envelope the smaller woman in a tight embrace. They are so closely pressed together that Jane thinks this is the closest they've ever been.

It takes Maura a moment to adjust to the surprise of being held. As she winds her arms around Jane's neck and moulds her form more comfortably to Jane's, she is also surprised to find Jane's hands so hungry, roaming up and down her satin clad back. Maura encourages it because she knows, has known for a long time, what Jane does not. She knows what Jane is in denial of wanting. And Maura wants to give it to Jane, too. She'd do anything for Jane, and she'd do anything to be closer to Jane.

Holding each other has always felt safe. Jane relishes this brand of safety as she scarred palms smooth over Maura's waist and hips, and feels Maura rest her head against Jane's shoulder. But it is when Jane's hands skim too far south over the curve of Maura's ass and Maura presses herself closer that Jane realises, oh god, she's crossed a line, and pulls back. She mechanically places her hands in a safe hold on Maura's waist and berates herself for being so caught up in the moment. She never needed this kind of comfort before, so why does groping her best friend in a darkened hallway seem like such a lifeline now?

"Hey…" Maura tilts Jane's chin up to meet her gaze. "It's okay." Maura swipes her thumb over Jane's bottom lip. "You can touch me." Jane scoffs and looks down to her feet, humiliated. Maura drags Jane's hands to link around her waist but Jane goes to draw back. "I'm not teasing you," Maura asserts, and grasps Jane's wrists more tightly. "I promise, Jane. I know how you feel about me. We're just close. I know how you love me."

"Do you?" Jane asks, her voice raspy. How can you know how I love you, when I'm not even sure how I love you? Jane pulls back. "Maura, I just want to go back to bed and hold you like I always do."

Maura leads Jane into their bedroom, and they shift together closely on the bed as they always do, Jane pressed up behind Maura, Maura's right leg between Jane's. Jane doesn't even mind the heat.

"You've lost weight," Jane whispers in the darkness as her hand finds Maura's hip beneath the covers.

"I've been working out."

"Your hips…they're thinner."

Maura arches more fully into Jane, and Jane fights the urge to move back, to give Maura more space. "I'm surprised you noticed."

"I notice everything,"

"That's why you're such a wonderful detective."

"Mhmm."

On Constance's last night in Boston, Jane suggests an upscale Italian restaurant in the North End for dinner. Jane even wears a skirt and straightens her hair, much to Maura and Angela's delight.

"I'm going to make you eat something green," Maura declares as Jane pulls down on the hemline of her skirt.

"Okay," Jane says with a wink at Constance. "I'll get spinach pasta."

"I was thinking more along the lines of Pasta Primavera…" Maura clarifies.

"Maura, if you want vegetables in your meal, then how about you order it?"

"Jane, you should listen to Maura. She's a doctor," Angela insists as she scans the menu, and

Jane rolls her eyes. "She's not my doctor."

Jane looks up in time to catch the trace of Maura's suppressed smirk.

After their main course, Jane excuses herself to go to the bathroom. She stands for a long moment before the mirror in the fancy powder room next to the bathroom, just taking in how she looks. She likes her hair straightened. It had taken a while, but Jane thinks she looks good. And she does look good. She wonders how much it means to Maura when she puts effort into her appearance.

When the click of the door sounds, Jane leans closer to the mirror and swipes below her eye under the pretence of adjusting her makeup. She'd rather be caught dead than caught vain.

When Maura gracefully swings the powder room door open, Jane smiles. She turns, and leans against the vanity.

"I'm not your doctor, hey?" Maura plays with a raised eyebrow as she steps closer.

Jane smirks. "You know that you're my doctor."

Maura's gaze penetrates Jane's stare. There. With that fucking lip biting again.

The heels of Maura's high stilettos tap loudly against the tiles as she comes to stand next to Jane.

"Can I ask you a question, Jane?" Maura whispers.

"Yeah. Sure." Jane is anything but sure.

"Would it be alright if I kissed you again?"

Jane swallows. She should have known. "Why would you want to do that?" she asks dumbly.

"I like kissing you. It makes me feel loved and wanted. And it feels right, like with kissing we've finally reached where we need to be for the rest of our lives, and now we can just enjoy it." Maura pauses. "Is it okay to say that?"

No.

"I like kissing you, too," Jane rasps. "I'm not gay," she kicks at the edge of a slightly upraised tile with the pointed toe of her heel. "But I like kissing you."

Jane turns to look at Maura, and sees a glossy lightness in her eyes. Hope. Want. Understanding. She just wants to feel less alone, Jane convinces herself.

It is quick when Maura leans up to softly peck at Jane's lips with her own. She pulls away too quickly, and Jane looks down at her curiously. This was nothing like their heated first kiss. This was almost…friendly.

"This isn't…sexual for you, is it?" Jane asks, wanting to make sure that this isn't going to get them into waters they can't swim their way out of.

"What?"

"The kissing when it's not…practise? It's just…comfort and because it feels good, right?"

Before Maura answers, she presses her lips to Jane's again, and lingers longer this time. "It's not sexual," Maura whispers against Jane's lips, and Jane feels the shape of each word move over her lips. "It's romantic."

"Romantic," Jane repeats, parting her lips as she says it. Maura's full bottom lip slides between Jane's at the movement. "Yeah. Good."

As Maura reaches out to run her fingers along the waistline of Jane's black skirt, the click of the door sounds and swings open before they can separate.

Constance.

"I'm sorry."

"No, no," Jane reassures her as Maura reaches for Jane's hand. "You're fine, we were just heading back to the table."

"Mother, would you like for us to order you desert?" Maura asks, composed.

"We've actually ordered for the two of you. Excuse me, I won't be a moment," Constance says as she pushes open the other door to the bathroom.

Maura swivels on the spot to look at Jane. "We should go back to your mother."

"Wait," Jane demands, and reaches for Maura's hand to pull her closer to whisper. "What we were just doing…tell me that's enough for you."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want us to ruin what we have just because it suddenly feels right to kiss. We," Jane gestures between them, "are more important than kissing." Jane considers her next question for a moment. She dares to ask, "You don't want us to be like…friends with benefits, do you?"

Maura's eyes widen. "No."

Jane raises an eyebrow.

"No!" Maura emphasises. "Kissing is more than enough. It's all that I need to be happy with you."

AN: Your reviews really do mean the world! Thank you so much!