Author's note: thank you for the reviews, and the ones I can't reply too in a PM. I had absolutely not planned the webcam thing. It just came up by itself...!

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Chapter twenty-one: In The Intimacy

Confidence: noun. Trust or faith in a person or a thing; a trusting relationship; that which is confided, a secret; a feeling of assurance that a confidant will keep the secret.

Her palm slid on Maura's – warmly – and she lifted them both in the air; their fingers against each other as if glued for the eternity. It made the honey blonde giggle, her laugh resounded low in her chest; close to Jane's ear who had rested her head against the scientist's bare shoulder.

Legs intertwined, she was enjoying Maura's body against hers. The contact of their flesh, the delicate sensation of being in the medical examiner's arms. She had rarely showed such a sweet side of herself but for once, Jane didn't want to pretend. What for? There was nobody around, anyway. Just Maura, the center of her attention and desires.

"I like your hands... They're thin, strong. Your fingers are long... The hands of a doctor."

The brunette was now caressing Maura's hand – still up in the air – as if to memorize the slightest vein and curve that would then make her able to recognize it even in the deepest darkness. The blonde didn't say a word. She was smiling serenely. Relaxed as she was after a long, sensual love-making session.

She stretched her leg out before putting it back against Jane's thigh. The movement slightly drew the blanket down but she didn't mind. They weren't cold; feeding themselves of each other's body heat. As for their nudity, it would obviously had been a bit late to care about it.

As she planted a kiss on top of Jane's head, the brunette echoed hers with a brush of her lips against her shoulder blade. None of them had bothered to have lunch, even less go out of bed. The afternoon was already on but it was one of these days lovers spent intertwined under a blanket; making love while the snow was falling quietly over the city, sharing their secrets in the intimacy of a bedroom.

"Tell me about the others."

Confused before Jane's question, Maura frowned and looked down at her. The brunette settled at the same eye-level then shrugged.

"The women you dated. I know about the men... But not them. You never told me about them. Do they look like me?"

Maura bit her lower lip. She had never understood this latent curiosity from her partners towards her very own past. Not that everything had to remain a complete mystery but she was afraid that it would always lead to arguments and jealousy fits.

"They weren't material that you never introduced them to me? You said that you were comfortable with all of this. Then how come I've never got to know?"

Jane seemed relaxed, and honest. There was not an ounce of fear or anxiety in her voice. She was in her rights, and Maura knew it. The medical examiner looked down and focused on the way her leg was lost among Jane's long ones.

"I don't know... I wouldn't introduce my partners to anyone unless I have the feeling that the relation is fine, and strong enough. But truth to be told, I've never tried to hide anything either. My private life is not supposed to make the headlines. That's all. Unless it's worth it, which was not necessarily. Imagine the titles... "The chief medical examiner of Massachusetts has a thing for homicide detectives"... Which isn't true, by the way. They didn't look like you, or at least not really. I haven't gone to bed with all the BPD... Not yet."

Her sarcasm made Jane laugh lightly. So many questions about Maura's life were dancing in her head; all these details she didn't know, these people the blonde had met, shared intimate moments with. For some reason, this unknown part appealed her. Her curiosity was peaked.

"Now if you'll excuse me... I'm in much need of a shower."

A furtive glance at both bedside tables and Maura frowned.

"Where's my phone?"

Not really in the mood to make it to the bathroom, the detective held the blonde a bit more tightly and began to trace a path of kisses down her shoulder. A twenty-minute break or so had been enough, she needed to feel Maura's body react again under her ministrations.

"Downstairs by the door. Along with mine, our bags... Our shoes... There's a dress in the hallway, and another one on the first steps of the stairs... Looks like you were not in a tidy mood, last night."

Nonetheless a tad reluctantly, Maura stepped out of her bed and disappeared down the room towards a well needed shower. Completely naked. Not bothering to cover herself to her way there. Alone in bed, Jane rolled on her side – observed the weather outside – and got up to prepare sandwiches. Obviously, it wouldn't turn out to be a very productive day unless she included the in-bed activities. But she could not care less. She had never been so happy.

She was on her stomach – reading one of the honey blonde's magazines, a plate of sandwiches waiting for them on the bedside table – when Maura came back in the room wearing nothing but a towel that barely covered her body. Innocently, the medical examiner passed in front of her computer and went to check the street by the window before jumping on the bed.

She straddled Jane – leaned over – and planted a soft kiss on her back.

"If it goes on, I'm going to get you a subscription to Vanity Fair. I didn't know that you liked it so much..."

Jane rolled on her back and looked up at Maura. She could smell the soap on her skin – the steam of the hot water that had embraced her body a few minutes earlier. Her hair was up in a loose bun. A playful smile lighting up her lips.

No, they would definitely not be very productive.

"No yoga, today?"

Her own boldness surprised her. The detective had never been like that before, with nobody. As much as she appeared as a strong woman in public, her sentimental life behavior couldn't be more different. All of a sudden, a veil of timidity embraced her and she didn't dare all these things.

For some reason, she saw things from another perspective right now.

"I'm still getting exercises... I was supposed to call back Susie Chang but it will have to wait. I have a two-day break, after all. For once, work isn't my top priority. And if she leaves a message... Then I will just tell her that I had my hands on something else."

As she pronounced her last sentence, Maura took her towel off to reveal her naked body – she bent over to capture Jane's lips in a deep kiss – while her hand got lost between the brunette's legs. What could she say? She had always been a very literal person in the end.

If the medical examiner had taken her time to go downstairs and grab her cell phone, she would have noticed that, indeed, Susie Chang had tried to call her. Several times. Even on her landline but she had always landed on the answering machine right away.

Before her boss' absence of reply, the employee had abandoned; uncomfortable, slightly embarrassed. She had just wanted to tell her about the cam, which required an immediate dialogue and not a message that Maura would have noticed too late, on Sunday evening for instance.

Yes, Susie Chang had tried. While the rest of the BPD was simply having a blast.