Chapter 12


"What happened to your hands?"

Maura and Jane were cuddle in the dancer's bed in a haze of post coital bliss. The honey blonde had been using her girlfriend's bicep as a pillow as she used one of her hands to massage both of hers. She immediately felt Jane's body stiffen at the question.

"It's ok, you don't have to answer if you don't want to." She attempted to turn over to face Jane but the detective held her in place.

"No, no, no, it's ok. I know your demons so it's only fair that you know mine. I am kinda surprised that this hasn't come up already. I am also surprised that I let you touch my hands the way you were doing just now. I usually don't let anyone do that but I didn't even notice it, it just felt nice. This just goes to show how relaxed I am with you."

Maura wanted to respond but she was afraid that Jane would clam up.

"We were working this case…" Jane began to retell the tale of Charles Hoyt and the terror that he inflicted on his victims, on her. Tears welled up in her eyes but her voice remained strong and steady. She did everything she could to tell the story with calm confidence – it was over, he's behind bars, he couldn't control her anymore.

"Then my partner found me in the basement, pinned by my hands. He saved my life."

Maura pressed a kiss to the palm of the hand that she still held in hers. She then fought Jane's grip so that she could turn over and kiss her lips. She propped herself up on her elbow so that she was hovering over the detective as she pulled away.

"You're one of the most amazing people that I have ever met." Maura told her.

"I just told you about how I let a kill get the drop on me and then he held me captive in a basement by pinning me to the floor with scalpels and you think I'm amazing?" Jane asked. That was not the reaction that she was expecting Maura to have to her story.

"You're the strongest woman I know. You're amazing because even after all that you have been through you still do what you do everyday. You didn't quit. You went back to work and continued on with your life when you could've just as easily moved on to something else, but you keep putting your life on the line for other people everyday. I have run from so many situations in my life and hearing this story, hearing what you have been through yet you're still here – makes me think that you more amazing then I already do. I have thought that since you saved me in the alleyway. I don't like to think about the times that I didn't have you in my life – or what would happen if for some reason you weren't anymore - because it's been so much better since I met you."

A tear finally slipped from Jane's eye, not because of reliving what Hoyt put her through but because of Maura's words. She slipped her scarred hands into honey blonde tresses and brought their lips together. They only parted long enough for Jane to reassure her, "Well you don't have to worry about that because I am right where I want to be."


Short, fluffy, does absolutely nothing to move the plot along chapter. Hope you liked it.