AN: Hey Y'all! I am so sorry about the long wait between this chapter and the last one. Life has just been a bit crazy. I'm also sorry that I did not respond to your reviews this time, but I figured that you would rather have a new chapter over hearing back from me. Anyway, I'll leave you alone now to just read this chapter. Enjoy!

Jane let out a heavy sigh and rubbed her arms up and down Maura's back to try and soothe her. "It's complicated, but I know that you need to hear it." Jane started to move backwards slowly to take Maura with her. She felt the back of her legs finally connect with the bed and slowly moved to sit on the edge of the bed, pulling Maura down beside her.

She turned slightly so she was facing Maura better. She looked at the tears still welled in the hazel eyes that she loved so much. She couldn't help but look away. She knew that if she didn't though she would be crying too. "I became everything to you; your best friend, family, everything," she whispered. "And it would only take one instant for you to lose all of it."

Jane's eyes flicked back to Maura's momentarily and she could see the pain swirling in them and knew Maura was thinking about what it would be like to lose her. "I couldn't do that to you. I couldn't let you lose everything if something happened and we were involved."

"You could let her though?" Maura immediately questioned.

Jane shook her head. "It's not the same, Maura. She has family; a big family. If something ever happened to me she would eventually be able to move on. It's not the same for you; not when I am everything for you. I thought that if I let you go so you could be married and have a family that if something ever happened to me you'd be more protected. You'd have more people to help get you through. You being okay is the most important thing to me."

Maura slid away from Jane on the bed. She shook her head. "You just don't get it do you?" she asked as she stood and started away from Jane.

"Hey," Jane said as she reached out and grabbed Maura's arm to keep her from leaving again. "You claim that I'm the one running here and yet that's the second time that you've tried to leave me tonight. I can't understand what's going on if you're going to leave and not talk to me."

Jane could see a tear streak down Maura's cheek. She stood up and took Maura into her arms again. "Whether or not we're together I'll lose everything if something happens to you, Jane," Maura mumbled into her shoulder. "It's going to be just as devastating whether it's the two of us or whether I had a family of a hundred to support me."

Tears now streaked down Jane's cheeks. "That's what I wanted to avoid," Jane said as she placed a soft kiss on Maura's forehead at her hairline. "I don't want you to be unhappy."

"But I am unhappy."

"I know," Jane replied as she rested her chin on Maura's head. "I have been too. I had hoped for a while that Jenny could take some of it away, but she was really more of a distraction from not being able to have you. I cared about her, a lot actually, but I'll always love you. Guess I could have saved us a lot of time if I'd have just run off with you on your wedding day instead." Jane cracked a slight smile at her attempt at humor and lightening the mood around them.

Maura cracked a smile as well. It was almost impossible not to smile when Jane was trying to be funny. She turned serious again rather quickly though. "We can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" Jane asked softly.

"Not communicating; ignoring things between us. All it's managed to do so far is get us both hurt and I don't want that to keep happening."

"I don't either." Jane leaned back slightly so that she could look down at Maura. She could see for the first time just how tired her best friend looked. She'd been so caught up in her own things the past few days that she'd missed that Maura wasn't taking good care of herself and she felt guilty. "You know, it's been a long couple of weeks for the both of us. What do you say that we try to get some sleep and we can work on the communication thing later on?"

Maura smiled hesitantly up at her. "You're going to stay aren't you?"

Jane shrugged. "I figured you'd be pretty sick of me by now and want me to go home. However, if you want me to stay, I can do that too."

Maura nodded quickly. "I want you to stay."

"Okay," Jane replied. "I'll go get ready in the guest room and meet you back here in bed."

R&I

Jane reentered the master bedroom to find Maura sitting up in bed leaning against the headboard. The lower half of her body was already under the covers, but Jane knew that Maura was waiting on her before she completely got into bed. She made her way around the end of the bed and over to her side. She slid back the covers and climbed in.

Maura slid down under the covers as Jane climbed into the bed. There was still a few inches of separation between them as they lay their staring at the ceiling as the silence between them started to build.

Jane turned her head to look at the woman that she loved. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"I was just thinking about how much I would have liked to have been a mother."

Jane's eyebrows raised in curiosity as she continued to look at Maura. Of all the things she thought Maura would be thinking about that was one of the last things on her mind. "You'd have made a great mother, Maur," she said as she turned on her side to face Maura.

"Thank you," Maura said as her voice cracked on the last word.

"I'm sorry things happened like they did," Jane replied as she scooted closer to Maura. "I know how excited you were to be a mom." She could see tears welling up in Maura's eyes as she listened to her words. "To tell you the truth I was excited too."

"You were?" Maura questioned as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Yeah," Jane said as she swiped her finger at the tear. "It was strange. For the first time I was seeing myself as a parent and I wasn't even going to be a parent." More tears started to make their way down Maura's cheeks now. "Aww, Maur," Jane said as the wrapped an arm around Maura and pulled her close.

Jane continued to hold on to Maura as she let out her built up emotions. Finally a few minutes later Maura pulled back slightly so she could look at Jane. "I really would have liked you to have been a parent with me Jane," she confessed. "Knowing Nate was leaving scared me so much at first, but then I remembered I had you in my life and I knew that you'd be there to help. The only way that I knew that would have made it better would have been if it we were together and it had been our baby."

"Yeah," Jane replied almost wistfully; though at the moment that was the only thing that she could think of to say since that was something she had wanted so desperately as well.

"Will you promise not to make too much fun of me if I tell you something that I day dreamed about while pregnant?"

Jane looked at Maura and quirked an eyebrow, "I wouldn't make fun you."

"Mmm, you say that now…"

Jane rolled her eyes slightly, "Okay, just tell me. Please?"

"Alright," Maura agreed. "So, one day I was imagining what it would be like in my last trimester of pregnancy. My stomach was all rounded out and I would probably feel miserable, but you were there. You would come in and start rubbing my stomach and kissing it while talking to the baby and it would make me feel better."

"I know it's crazy," Maura said quietly after a couple of moments of silence passed between them.

"No, no, Maur. It's not crazy at all," Jane said as she leaned her head back slightly into the pillow. "Honestly, I had wanted it to be our baby too. And finding you that night…" She paused momentarily as she thought about what to say. "Finding you wasn't just devastating because I was so afraid that I could lose you, but also because I realized how much I loved you and that I wanted to be with you and no one else. But it was like I was almost too late, and I think that scared me some too: it's why I it's taken me a little bit to say anything since then."

Things went silent, but Jane thought she heard something of a gasp slip from between Maura's lips. She shifted in the bed so that she could see Maura better. There were tears welled in Maura's eyes once again, threatening to spill over. "Hey," Jane said in her most soothing manner, "what's wrong?"

"You really want us to be together?"

Jane nodded silently. "Yes," she confessed. "I really want us to be together."

"Jane," Maura said breathily as a tear streaked down her cheek.

Jane now felt Maura's arms wrap around her and pull her in closer. She wasn't entirely sure of what was happening between them, but it had to be something good.

"I love you, Jane."

"I love you too, Maur."

So? I'm thinking that this might be the last chapter and the next one will be an epilogue, but I haven't completely made up my mind yet: which means that we're all in for a surprise with the next chapter I guess. Anyway, you know i want to know what you thought about this chapter, so don't forget to leave me a review!