TWENTY-ONE

"Jane!" Angela called from across the hall. Jane grabbed up her coffee mug and backed towards the door whispering, "Is it Friday yet?" Maura smiled cheekily as Jane closed the door then got back to her washing up. She had a dishwasher, that she loved for when she was running late and it cut one chore out of her routine, but when it was a lazy day where she had no more university classes and work hadn't called her in, she could afford to put on her pretty yellow washing up gloves and do some manual labour. She used to like holding a mountain of foamy suds in her hand and blowing them on her mother unsuspectingly, but she was alone here. Well, not exactly, but she couldn't very well walk over to Jane just to blow bubbles in her face.

Or could she.

She pulled off one glove and gathered up some suds in the other and made her way over to her door. She opened it and saw that Jane's was still open, surely so that she could make a speedy get-away from her mother. Angela was across the room in the kitchen, loading up their own dishwasher, and Jane was standing by the counter facing away from Maura. The sneaky blonde tip-toed up behind Jane, and when her mother nodded in Maura's direction, telling Jane that she was behind her, the brunette spun around only to cop a face full of foam.

"Maura!" she yelled, wiping at her eyes. Before she could clear them, however, the blonde was skittering back over to her apartment, just begging her for war. Jane turned back to her mother, excused herself and ran after Maura. "You obviously have no siblings," Jane stated as she opened the door.

"How so?" Maura asked as she took refuge behind the kitchen counter.

"If you had, you'd have known to lock your door to keep them out!" Jane declared. She slammed the door behind her, making Maura squeak, and ran after her; around the kitchen counter again, the table twice and then over to Maura's bed. Maura didn't know why she'd run over there though, because it hardly provided much safety. She turned around holding a pillow to use as a weapon, but it was too late; Jane barrelled into her, thrusting her backwards onto the bed. Maura tried to shove the pillow into Jane's face but suddenly her wrists were held by strong hands with long fingers and pinned down above her head. The pillow was discarded to the floor, and Jane sat panting above her, a strand of her long wild hair hanging down and tickling her nose. She turned her head to the side to rub her nose rid of the itch, but then Jane's breath was on her cheek. "I win," she hissed then sat back up, letting go of the blonde's hands.

Maura slowly glanced back up at Jane who was smirking in such an o so enticing way that she uncontrollably rolled her hips slightly. Jane raised her eyebrow and smirked some more. "Jane, stop it..." Maura whispered.

"Why? Am I driving you... crazy?" she hummed, leaning over the blonde again.

"...I... um..." Maura tried to form a sentence, but her mind had run dry of that ability. She glanced down at Jane's lips, wishing the brunette would just lean in and take her, but then there was a knock at the door. "Ugh... Is it Friday yet?" she grouched as Jane pushed herself back up and off of Maura. She strode over to the door and opened it revealing, who else, but her mother.

"Yes?" Jane asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

"We're going to be late for the movie if you keep dawdling." Jane smiled, letting her mother know that she wouldn't be too much longer, and shut the door.

"Maur, would you like to come to the movie with us?"

"What movie is it?" she asked back, standing up from her bed and straightening up the pillows.

"Some movie that will make my mother cry, I'm sure."

"You sure you're not just asking because you won't be able to survive otherwise?"

"That is exactly why I'm asking. You give me life, dear woman. See you in ten minutes?"

"Ah, yeah..." Maura managed; her mind already hung up on Jane saying that she 'gave her life'. It was odd but all Maura's mind could manage at that moment was, aw...

Ten minutes later, Jane knocked on her door and then popped her head in and Maura sashayed over in her skinny jeans and boots with an old office shirt tied around her waist, revealing a little bit of tummy. Jane gaped at her until the blonde passed her and gently raised Jane's bottom jaw back up closed.

Throughout the entirety of the movie, which was a tear-jerker, just as Jane had predicted, Angela's eyes were fixated on the screen. Maura and Jane, however, were far more intensely occupied with the big bucket of popcorn in between them. Maura had bought it for the two of them on a whim, thinking it would be fun, but she was mistaken. Each time either of them reached into the bucket for a handful of salty popcorn, their hands kept meeting. After a few times it was funny, but when it became apparent that some force in the universe wanted their hands to be touching, it got interesting. Not for them; for Jane it made her palms sweaty which wasn't really good if she wanted to eat popcorn. And for Maura, it made her heartbeat race so fast that she could hardly hear the dialogue of the movie, not that she was listening much to it anyway.

A few minutes went by and neither of them had reached in, so Jane slowly began moving her hand, and then went for it. She started digging her fingers in so that she could get a handful and a half that would last her a while, but then there was a hand on top of hers. Neither removed their hands; they simply turned their heads and looked at each other's faces glowing in the blue hue of the movie. "Um..." Jane muttered, dipping her fingers in further. Maura slid her hand down Jane's further still, until her fingers were swimming in saltiness.

"I'm too hungry," she explained and grabbed a fistful of popcorn. She brought them up to her mouth and began munching, looking back at the screen with wide eyes. Jane watched her for a few moments, trying to recall what had just happened in a way other than awkward, but alas, it was very odd awkward moment. As if under a trance, she removed her hand from the bucket, reached over and grabbed Maura's popcorn filled hand and brought it up to her own mouth and munched on a few pieces of squeaky popcorn. Their eyes met but nothing else happened. Maura didn't pull her hand back or ask Jane what she was doing. It was as if it was a completely natural thing to do; something that society would look at and go 'meh'. Jane let Maura's hand go and watched as it moved back up to her own mouth.

"Jane, there's a whole bucket in front of you. Stop stealing Maura's." Jane whipped her head around to her mother, whom she had temporarily forgotten was there, frowning a little. She then tuned back to Maura, and rested on the armrest.

"Is it Friday yet?" she whispered.

Two days later, Angela was hopping back on the bus to Jane's childhood home; Jane and Maura waving her off. As soon as the bus was out of sight, Jane turned and threw her arms around Maura's neck. She laughed a happy, almost psychotic laugh, rocking her body from side to side with Maura still in her arms. "What is it?" Maura laughed back.

Jane pulled back, holding Maura by the shoulders, her eyes wide. "I love Fridays!"

The two went for lunch at the diner and spent the rest of the day popping in and out of baby stores going up to little prams and discussing how practical all the pockets will be, and then crossing the store to all the baby clothes and screwing their faces up as they made unidentifiable squeaky noises. Maura put a pair of little baby booties on her fingers and walked across the edge of a crib to Jane. The brunette then held up the little booties and used them as earrings, which made Maura throw her head back with laughter. As they weren't buying anything just yet, the owner of the store asked them to either keep it down or leave, and because they began laughing at that, they had to leave. They linked arms and wobbled up the street still laughing, acting almost as if they were drunk.

"Can you please keep it down, ladies?" Jane said in a snooty voice, imitating the sales person from the store.

"Or if you're not buying anything, perhaps you should leave," Maura finished. If they were any younger they could have been giggly teenagers. Jane had thought that shopping for baby supplies and taking care of this would be scary and nerve-wracking, but having Maura beside her made it enjoyable and fun. It didn't scare her one bit, and she would be forever thankful for that.

"Today was fun," Jane said as they crossed the street to their apartment.

"Yeah."

"Do you wanna do it again next week?"

"Oh, Jane; I'd love to, but classes finished this week and we have a week break, so I've grabbed up all the extra shifts at work that I could," Maura explained, opening the front door.

"Oh, okay... All week?" Jane said with a melancholy look on her face.

"I have Thursday afternoon off," Maura said, hoping that would make Jane happier.

"Thursday? Really?" Jane asked, far happier than Maura expected. Maura frowned a little, surprised by that.

"Yeah, why?"

"I have my next doctor's appointment at half past four on Thursday. Would you like to come?"

"To your doctor's appointment? Where you will be naked on a bed with your feet in stirrups?"

"Yeah... wait... Is that okay?"

"Well, are you getting a sonogram done?"

"Yeah, I am."

"I'd love to come," Maura said, covering her face due to the giant smile on it.

"Really?" Jane asked, with a smile just a big. She reached out and ran her arms down Maura's, then held her hands. Maura nodded. "Yay!" Jane squealed, and wrapped her arms around the other woman.

"Nice," Barry said as he passed them at the bottom of the stairwell on his way out. Jane shoved him in the shoulder as he left, and then began walking up stairs, holding Maura's hand again.

For the next week Maura and Jane saw each other when they could; a late night snack, and early morning coffee; ten minutes together at best before one had to go to work or one fell asleep. Maura nodded off late Tuesday night resting on Jane's shoulder as they sat up on the couch with the late night news on, hoping that it would keep them awake long enough to actually have a conversation. It did not, obviously, so Jane was sitting there with a slight twinge in her back as Maura's body twitched showing that she was dreaming. She looked so cute, Jane admired, so she simply slid her own body down until her head was resting on the armrest and Maura was huddled into her side. They giggled about it the next morning, avoiding eye contact before Jane had to head off to the diner. When Thursday rolled around, Maura met Jane at the diner and they walked to the doctors.

It was a little chilly inside due to the air conditioning that always seemed to make it only a few degrees above freezing, so Maura kept her jacket on. She'd worn her leather jacket as it was pretty windy outside that day, but it just as well keeps the body warmth in. Jane checked in and followed Maura over to some seats in the corner. "Ugh, I shouldn't have worn these in," Maura grumbled motioning to her rather tight pants.

"Are they your new ones?"

"Yeah... they're cutting the circulation off!" she stage whispered as she tugged at her crotch, as delicately as possible. It still made Jane giggle. She couldn't cross her legs like she usually did when sitting so she would have to wait there with her legs partly spread and in her leather jacket. A few moments later, Jane was called in so Maura got up and followed.

"Hi, Dr. Martin; this is Maura." Maura held out her hand to shake the kind doctor's and then followed them both into the doctor's room.

"Well, Jane; you know what to do. I'll leave you for a moment and then I'll be in." Jane nodded, and when the doctor had left the room, Jane kicked off her shoes and socks and began undressing. Maura was about to say something, but asked herself why. She'd seen Jane naked; she could control herself around naked Jane for half a minute. She took Jane's clothes when she offered them to her, so she folded them neatly and placed them on the chair. She then tied up the back of Jane's gown and helped her up into the chair. After a moment or two, when Dr. Martin hadn't returned, Maura busied herself with braiding Jane's hair over her shoulder, then using the stiff ends to tickle inside the brunette's ear. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and it swung open, so Maura dropped her hands to her side, giggling like a mischievous child. Jane giggled along, then jabbed Maura in the side, holding her arm.

The doctor smiled to herself, but carried on with setting up the sonogram machine. "So, Maura; are you Jane's girlfriend?" Both Maura and Jane stopped giggling and looked at the doctor, who was still fiddling with the machine.

"No... no, I'm just her friend." Maura smiled over at Jane who smiled sadly back at her, but brightened her smile when she looked back at Dr. Martin. Jane let go of Maura's arm and looked down, licking her lips, begging herself not to cry. She knew that she and Maura weren't girlfriends, but the way Maura denied it made all their flirting and close moments seem like they were only one sided. Soon, without her paying much attention to what was going on, there was a small fuzzy image of her baby up on the screen. She looked up and smiled a little, but when Maura grabbed her hand and sniffled away a tear, her smile vanished again. Why had this made her so suddenly depressed? Why had this ripped out her heart? Why was she so miserable when there was an image of her baby up on that screen and it was so clearly the most perfect thing Maura had ever seen, so much so that she was on the verge of tears? Why?

Everything was fine and dandy, or at least that's how Dr. Martin put it, so soon they were on their way home, a new picture of Jane's baby tucked into her purse. She stayed quiet and let Maura latch onto her as the otherwise windy Chicago streets turned into the beginnings of a storm with leaves flying through the air, blocks away from the trees they blew off of. They shuffled into the building just as the first drops of rain were falling and trudged up the stairs to Maura's apartment. Maura shook off her leather jacket, smiling wistfully at it, realising that yes that did make her look a little gay. She began running the whole appointment through her head, trying to figure out what else stood out as stereotypically 'gay'. And then she saw it. She saw that look in Jane's eyes. She turned around to Jane who was still standing by the door, slowly removing her coat. She walked over and waited until Jane looked up at her. "Jane, why did you look so upset when I said that we were just friends?"

Jane looked at the floor, as she draped her coat over the couch's armrest. She looked up with a determined look in her eye, even though her lip quivered a bit. "Because I love you."

"You... you love me?" She'd meant to sound surprised but happy, oh so happy, but Jane had just heard it as surprised. Every cell in her body buzzed and by her muscles own OCD accord, she took a giant step towards Maura and pressed their lips together.

A/N I hope you guys really enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you enjoy the next one even more... if you know what I mean ;) As it is almost Christmas, I am wishing every single one of you the merriest of days filled with love and joy... or just a lot of holiday movies! xo