Disclaimer: I don't own, I rent.

A/N: Over 100 reviews?! Y'all are crazy amazing and I adore each and every one of you!

Chapter Thirteen
"One Step At a Time"

Maura continued to stay with Jane over the next few days. She knew her aunt and uncle weren't in town yet anyway, so it seemed silly to stay in their house alone when she would much rather just stay with Jane.

Neither had brought up their conversation from Saturday night. Jane hadn't acted any different toward her though, so Maura assumed that meant Jane was perfectly fine with it.

On Wednesday, however, Jane finally brought it up again. "Hey, Maur?"

"Yes, Jane?"

"About our conversation the other night. Um. There was a reason I wanted to know."

This definitely caught Maura's attention. Could it be that Jane might actually feel the same way about her? Could that be why she wanted to know?

Maura simply waited for Jane to continue. She could tell Jane was uncomfortable and hesitant about whatever she was going to say, though Maura couldn't have been more anxious.

"Well, you see, Sam kind of wanted to ask you out."

"Sam?"

Okay, not exactly what Maura had been hoping for. She instantly felt like an idiot for getting her hopes up. Of course Jane wouldn't have wanted to know for herself.

"Yeah, that's what she wanted to talk to me about after lunch the other day."

"Oh. Well that's rather unexpected."

"Don't feel like you have to go or anything. If you're not interested, I can just tell her to move on."

Maura sat silent for a few moments, contemplating her options. On one hand, she knew she was in love with Jane and didn't see that changing any time soon.

On the other hand, she knew she couldn't continue to spend her life being hopelessly in love with Jane. Maybe she should try to move on.

Move on. Yes. That's what I should do.

"Okay. I'll go out with her."

"Really?"

Is it just my imagination or does she look a bit disappointed?

"Sure."

"Okay, I'll let her know."

Jane sent Sam a text and Sam replied almost instantly, "She says she will pick you up at six."

- R & I -

As soon as Sam and Maura pulled away a few minutes after six, Jane collapsed onto the couch and let out a huge sigh.

Angela, who had been sitting on the chair next to her, looked up from her book to ask, "Something wrong, baby?"

"No."

"Could've fooled me."

Jane didn't answer; she simply closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the couch.

"Why don't you just tell her?"

Jane's eyes snapped open and she sat up, looking confused. "Tell who what?"

"Maura." Angela replied as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "Why don't you just tell her you like her?"

"Ma, seriously, what are you talking about?"

"You're lying here depressed because your best friend is on a date. You nearly took Tommy's head off for looking at her. I've seen you with her; you've never acted like that with any of your other friends, not even Jess and Sam. You touch her all the time."

"That doesn't mean I want to date her!"

Angela made a small "hmm" sound and returned to her book, signaling that she didn't believe her.

"Whatever, Ma. You know what? I'm leaving."

With that, Jane got up and headed toward the front door, quickly throwing on her coat and gloves.

"Make sure you're back before Maura, you don't want to miss the goodnight kiss!"

Jane let out a groan and slammed the door behind her, stomping down the front steps.

How dare she say that? I don't like Maura! And I'm not jealous! She can do whatever she wants. I'm not-

"Jane! That you?"

Her inner monologue was interrupted by a deep voice coming from the porch of her next-door neighbor.

"Yeah, it's me," she replied, stepping toward the man, joining him on his porch swing.

"I thought I saw you come home the other day. How's the doctor thing?"

"It's good. Hard, but good. How are things at BPD?"

"Oh, you know, people kill people. We arrest them."

Suddenly, Jane had an idea. "Hey Korsak? There were these murders a while back. Fourteen years ago. Hope and Patrick Isles. You know anything about them?"

"The Isles case? Of course. That was one of the first cases I worked in homicide. Married couple was found stabbed leaving a restaurant one night."

"But the case was never solved."

"Nope. We all had our suspicions, but we could never find any hard evidence to use to convict them."

"What do you think happened?"

"Well, a lot of people believed Patrick Isles was really mob boss Paddy Doyle. Of course, we could never prove it. We didn't have Paddy's DNA to compare with, but we were pretty sure it was him."

Jane had not expected that. Maura's dad was in the mob?

"He didn't really work, really. He just went out sometimes at night. I'm really not sure what he did when he wasn't watching me, to be honest."

"Do you think his wife knew?"

"Couldn't say. She seemed like a nice woman though. A doctor. They had a daughter too. I remember she was a beautiful little girl."

"Maura."

"Yeah, how'd you know that? Wait, why'd you want to know about that case anyway?"

"She's my best friend."

"And I take it she doesn't know anything about what I just told you?"

Jane shook her head.

"Aw, shit, Jane. You aren't going to tell her, are you?"

"I don't know."

"You can't tell her that her dad was the head of the mob."

"She deserves to know the truth, Korsak."

"I disagree, Jane. Ignorance is bliss. Let her remember her dad as a good guy, not a murderer."

"He killed people?"

"His specialty was an ice pick to the heart."

Jane felt her heart break for her friend. Maybe Korsak was right. Maura believed her dad was the perfect guy, it would crush her to know he was actually a killer.

"You're sure it was him?"

"I'd bet my life savings on it," he replied, and the two sat in silence for a few moments, both thinking about the case.

"Who do you think killed them?"

"All signs pointed toward Tommy O'Rourke. He was the head of a rival mob. We all assumed Paddy killed the wrong person so O'Rourke went after him."

"That's a lot to take in."

"Maybe I shouldn't have told you."

"No, I'm glad you did. I just wish I had a concrete answer to give her. I wish I knew how to solve this for her. Give her some piece of mind."

"It was a long time ago, Jane. I doubt there is any way to solve it now."

The two sat in silence for a while longer, neither really knowing what else to say. After probably an hour, Jane spotted Sam's car pull up in her driveway.

"That's Maura. I should get home."

"If I can think of anything else, I'll let you know, Jane."

"Thanks, Korsak. Thanks for telling me."

Maura spotted Jane walking toward her as she exited the car and she waited for her as she waved to Sam, and then watched her drive away. When Jane reached her, the two walked toward the house. Jane stopped at the front steps and sat down on the top one, grabbing Maura's hand and pulling her down to sit next to her.

"So how was your date?"

"It was nice." Maura smiled at her, and then rested her head on Jane's shoulder.

She and Sam had a nice time together. She was interesting to talk to and though Maura had never really been on an actual date, it seemed like it was a pretty good one.

She knew she wasn't fooling anyone, though. Anyone but Jane, maybe. Even Sam had seen it. She wasn't getting over Jane anytime soon.

"You think you'll go out again?"

"No, I don't see that happening."

"Oh." Jane couldn't help but smile a bit before adding, "why not?"

"It just wouldn't work out."

Jane gave her a knowing nod and the two continued to sit on the porch well into the night, talking about everything under the sun. It wasn't until they sky started to lighten and turn slightly pink that Jane glanced at her watch and realized it was after 6AM.

She didn't even feel tired. She felt like she could sit here and talk to Maura forever and not get sick of it. Unfortunately, however, they couldn't.

"I guess I should get you to your aunt and uncle's house. I'm sure they will be looking forward to seeing you."

"Oh," Maura replied. "I guess I forgot to tell you. My aunt sent me a message while I was out with Sam. They won't be coming after all."

Jane could sense the sadness in her voice and it made her even angrier. How on earth could two people disappoint this amazing woman so many times? They didn't even seem to care that they were doing it either. It wasn't right.

"I'm sorry, Maur."

"It's okay. I was kind of expecting it, you know? They always do that kind of thing."

"Well, you're more than welcome to stay here. Ma would love it." Jane smiled at her and wrapped her arm around the smaller woman, pulling her into a side hug. "I would love it."

"Thanks, Jane. That means a lot to me."

"C'mon, let's get you upstairs. I know how long you take to get ready for these things."

Jane simply rolled her eyes as the blonde began to protest and the two headed up to Jane's room to shower and get changed before dinner.

Jane couldn't help but be a little happy that her friend's family stood her up; she wasn't exactly looking forward to spending the day away from Maura.

I definitely know what I'm thankful for this year.

- R & I -

A/N: I really didn't plan for the trip to Boston to be this drawn out, but I just feel like a lot needs to happen while they are home to really drive the story where I want it to go when they return to New York. There will probably be two more chapters, then it's back to school for the girls. Anyway, I hope you liked this one, I couldn't resist a little meddling-Angela, please let me know what you think!