AN: It's been a very hectic couple of months for me travel wise but I'm back now and happy to continue where we left off. Happy reading!

"It's a genetic prosthesis that enables us to metabolize differently." Maura whispered. "Though the actual process is uniform for our species."

Jane made the tiniest noise of amusement. Anything louder would have disrupted the rapidly shrinking world around them. "So that explains why I can eat as much as I do?" She whispered back in the dark of the hotel room

It was Maura's time to sound amused, the noise squished her features gently and made her eyes just a bit brighter as she nudged Jane's arm with her own. "Science cannot explain how you eat as much as you do."

Jane tugged playfully at the blanket they were sharing. "Alright, now you're just being insensitive." She hushed.

Maura only smiled at her in the dark. "I am not concerned." She gently pulled the cover back as she spoke. "I don't believe it would change your eating habits. It hasn't in fact."

Jane's features softened. "I've gotten better."

The blonde smiled to herself finding the look endearing. "You have." A quiet moment passed with the two women simply looking at the other with a genuine sort of curiosity. In this light Jane's sharp features softened beautifully, and her eyes lacked their usual fierceness in exchange for something Maura found she wanted to categorize immediately. "Are you thinking of your family?" The lightness of their conversation prior replaced with a a near professional scientific inquiry. It made Jane smile.

"No." She whispered back.

A small pool of embarrassment stilled her. "Oh." She adjusted her pillow under her head and made an effort to adjust her voice back to where it had been. "What are you thinking about then?"

"Us." Jane sighed a little to play off the sudden swelling of nerves in her belly. "Just that it's different but… y'know but the same." They'd shared a bed before, but never like this. So much of their prior interactions had been so personal, so intimate, it wasn't until now that she was actually experiencing a moment like this that she was able to really compare the two.

Maura nodded. "We're familiar." She offered.

"I like it."

The ME could feel herself blush. "We're doing well then?"

Jane grinned and scooted a little closer to her. "I think so, what do you think?"

Maura chuckled quietly at the detective's sudden excitement. She could recognize her best friend in her tone. "Scientifically I don't believe much data could be gathered from these past week." She nodded.

"This case." Jane agreed.

"However, the information or…" She tried to think of the right word. "Changes have been favorable. Do you agree?"

Jane nodded. "I like that you came to see me at the hospital I mean… I know you would have come anyway but you stayed." She bit her lip. "Daily's…"

Maura smiled. "My couch?"

Jane agreed. "I wanted to say that too but didn't yknow… Want you think that that's all I think about…." For a day there it truly was all she could think about.

"So you do think about it then?" She knew it were a devious thing to ask, and she knew the pleasure she got from watching Jane blush in the dark was unfair, but Maura allowed herself few vices in this world, teasing Jane had always been one of her favorites once she figured out how to do it.

Jane shrugged. "C'mon, Maur."

"Tell me."

"Okay…" She fumbled over the right thing to say. "You're… Gorgeous and well..." It had been a while? No! Don't say that… "It feels right when we're." Maura scooted closer to her under the covers not even trying to hide her grin.

"Close?"

Jane narrowed her eyes at her. "I hate you ." Maura laughed. "You know this is actually a form of torture?"

"You're always teasing me, can't I simply—"

"No." Jane deadpanned as she tried not to smile. Maura laughing was just always one of those things she couldn't help but smile at though. "And anyway not about this okay?" she chuckled a little. "I'm already nervous as hell about doing everything right, y'know?"

Maura smiled widely at her. "Okay, not about this." Jane was giving her a skeptical look. "Scouts honor." Maura put her hand to salute her, but Jane snatched it down. "Science Scout—" She began to protest

"—That's not real, Maura. You can't do that." Jane grinned loosening her hold on the ME's wrist under the covers they shared but blushing deeply when Maura moved to lace their fingers together there and looked at her shyly.

The simple action stilled them and brought them back to their initial stance of simply regarding the other. Now, Maura thought with a thin veil of triumph, now she could categorize this look on Jane's face. It was carful, near hesitant, but adoring nonetheless. "I like that you made me dinner." Maura began softer now. "That you care enough to be nervous." If she had thought about it long enough, she could never really place having someone romantically in her life who admitted to being nervous about anything concerning her. Maura allowed herself to entertain the idea that it was Jane taking care to think of her first that made her want to get everything right, and to think of that made her feel…. Honestly very special. "I don't need everything to be right though." She whispered.

"What do you need then?" Jane could hardly control the raspiness that suddenly tickled her throat.

"Just you." Maura replied simply before finally closing the distance between them so their chests were touching. "I don't want you to change because you believe you have to in order for this to work." She whispered as she could feel the pad of Jane's thumb from their joint hands gently run across her knuckle. Maura let herself get a little lost in the moment before being brought out of it's sweetness by the feeling of Jane's lips on her own. It was a tender kiss that hardly seemed to end, and before either woman really knew it they were both completely surrendered to it. The sweetness faded as slow as their lips moved against the others and was replaced with an insistent ache for the other that only grew less satiated with the longer they touched. Maura finally let go of Jane's hand to cup her jaw and was surprised to feel the other woman's arm wrap around her waist before pulling her lower torso closer without hesitation, and when their lips parted for the other allowing them to taste one another in a new way Maura moaned quietly against it causing Jane's entire body to tense momentarily before pressing against her in a way that most certainly would not be confused as friendly.

Time seemed to stand still for Jane as she was left dizzied from the sound of Maura's response pleasure. If she were ever going to be able to control herself (because Jane Rizzoli hated feeling out control) she'd need to find a method and fast, because kissing Maura like this was… Intoxicating. it was passionate and loving, yet undeniably erotic, and proving to be incredibly dangerous. Dangerous because she already knew that they weren't quite ready to take things further, but the only feeling Jane could register was wanting more.

"Mauraaa." Jane growled softly in warning when the ME's bare hand moved from her jaw to rest innocently on her abdomen where her tank top had somehow road up in their closeness leaving Jane's stomach muscles to clench eagerly at her cool palm.

Maura let her hand remain where it was briefly before adjusting Jane's tank top for her properly, her face a new impressive shade of red, but she hardly seemed embarrassed. There was a softness to the darkness of her eyes that made Jane want to kiss her again. "I must keep track of them." She whispered mainly to herself but the small chide caused Jane to chuckle warmly against her. Their eyes met in the dark and they both hesitated before pressing their lips together again in a considerably softer yet deeply personal kiss as they held on to the other and tried to calm down.

When they pulled away Maura let her right arm rub Jane's left affectionately for a moment before sighing to herself. She could barely understand what was happening to her body. Physiologically distorted between arousal and an incredibly deep fear of the impermanence of life, Maura found she couldn't focus at all, on anything, not with Jane lying so close. All she knew is that she didn't want her to go anywhere anymore, not if it meant not being where they were right now. The pathologist wanted so desperately to articulate the weight of being this close to anyone to her best friend but found herself without even the slightest clue of how to begin. So instead they stared at one another sweetly until finally Jane opened her mouth to say something but then closed it becoming suddenly very shy.

"What is it?" The ME asked, the tiniest of muscles on her face twitching upward.

"Do you understand it?" she whispered.

Maura exhaled and offered a shy smile of her own. "Hardly."

Jane smiled back and they held hands under the covers again. "I feel like I'm in a bit of trouble."

Maura's smile widened against her pillow. "Oh?"

Jane nodded. "Mhm."

A few silent moments passed.

"Jane?" The ME whispered.

Jane picked her head up slightly. "Yeah?"

"May I make a confession?"

Jane's expression hardly changed as she tried to predict where the conversation would go. "Do you want your lawyer present?"

"Do I need my lawyer present?"

"Don't think I have it in me to arrest you again so, maybe?"

Maura nodded once before offering Jane a small smile. "Your mother asked—"

Jane's features soured quickly. "Really? Right now? My mother?"

Maura laughed and allowed Jane to win the small struggle of hand ownership. "Listen to me, Jane."

Jane grinned. "No, I don't want to."

Bravely taking it as a challenge along with all the other positive reinforcers of the moment Maura leaned forward a little and surprised the detective with a small kiss. "I have something to tell you." She tailed onto the end.

Jane's features had relaxed again. "Well out with it already." She muttered already suspicious of what other things Maura's kisses could get her to do.

Maura stayed close to her, somewhat hovering over the other woman as she spoke. "Angela wanted me to… Persuade you to go out with Agent Davies."

Jane frowned. "Why are you telling me this now, Maur?"

It was a good question. The ME supposed their new sudden closeness prompted a line of guilt somewhere written in her code, but as she settled back onto her pillow Maura supposed she wanted to express to Jane how uncomfortable it made her, how, especially now, she couldn't think of promoting such a falsehood. "I suppose I wanted you to know how I felt about it." Jane nodded and the medical examiner watched her try to process every micro expression on her face.

"How do you feel about it?"

Maura weighed her words carefully, "In hindsight I wish I had been more candid with her regarding how I truly felt." Her tone remained hushed. "I do not want you to pursue a romantic relationship with him, Jane."

There was a small unarticulated moment of silence between them before Jane nodded once and noted the small squeeze it earned her at their hands. "What does that mean?" She asked seriously.

Maura looked away and thought for a moment before looking back at her best friend. "I had supposed that we would be… Able to have a conversation regarding monogamy in some time. When it was applicable."

Jane nodded slowly. Something was telling her that that particular conversation was already happening. The homicide detective took a moment to herself in the dark hotel room before glancing back over at Maura. "Is that what you would want?"

Maura was slow to nod as well. "Eventually."

"Ok."

"Okay?"

"Well that's what I would want too." Jane explained simply.

"What does that mean then for our current… Relationship parameters?"

Jane ran her free hand through her hair. "Maura, I don't even know what those are." The ME chuckled. "… If Doctor Bowtie asks you out then… Say that you're working on something else, with someone else."

"Well I would have before we had this conversation."

"Hm?"

"I would be fearful of sending the wrong message to you, about my intentions."

"Oh."

The two simultaneously turned onto their backs with their hands still joint and the length of their arms from their wrists to their shoulders touching. They laid there in silence for a moment simply breathing in this new space and wondering about the other.

"I'll handle, Ma." Jane finally spoke. They turned to look at one another. "Okay?" She raised her brow softly and pulled their joint hands a little closer to her side. Jane suddenly felt the need to make sure she specifically addressed Maura's discomfort with her mother's request and set a precedent of how she'd be able to do that with other things too if the ME brought it to her like she had tonight. That was how it worked right? Relationships?

"It isn't a priority." Maura warned knowing very well how Jane liked to pile her responsibilities sky high. "I just wanted you to know that it was an idea I wasn't very fond of."

"Well, definitely now, yeah I agree." Jane nodded quickly and fought a large smile as the beautiful woman across from her relaxed further into her pillow shaking her head and smiling at her with darting hazel eyes. "You know I'm kidding." Jane whispered now.

Maura let go of their hands and touched Jane's chin softly with the tips of her fingers. "I know." She let her fingers expand a moment before letting her palm sheet Jane's jawline. Maura watched with a new curiosity as Jane exhaled softly and closed her eyes as if distracted by the touch on a cellular level. Maura removed her hand and smiled when Jane opened her eyes. "Shall we sleep?"

Try as she might Jane couldn't turn off her brain if she wanted to.

On one end she felt this goofy happiness in her chest dance about, because her feelings for her best friend had not ceased to overwhelm her in the slightest, and it was nice, more than nice, to know Maura was thinking about her too, wanting her too. She wondered how or where they had drawn the strength from to separate in order to have such an important conversation as they did, but Jane realized she were glad for it, because the thought of anyone getting to be in Maura's bed like this now set her into a place of estranged aggression and she'd rather focus her energies elsewhere, like for instance learning how to make more of those noises come from the blonde when they kissed.

So there was that general uncontained excitement and anxiety coupled with their thing progressing in ways she hadn't really been prepared for, and then there was the rest of her life, and her mother and father, and her brothers, and her old job, and her new job, and just like that the prospect of sleep seemed less and less obtainable until about another hour passed and like a sickness sweeping in her body dulled her senses and pulled her into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Maura making the bed around her woke her with a chuckle hours later, and just like that the worries from the night before barely seemed conscionable as she tossed pillows over the edge in protest.

##

Nina adjusted the blanket about her shoulders and waited with her arms crossed as Frankie mirrored her stance for a moment before letting his shoulders fall.

"Why can't we just… Have sex instead?" He asked seriously.

When she was able to recognize the softness in his dark brown eyes that she had fallen for she smiled. "Because I have a lot of things to work out myself and we don't have that time."

Frankie's cheeks pinked but his grin only widened. "There's always eloping."

"Top me off?" She motioned to her mug that he was still holding. "I'll be in the living room."

Frankie watched her walk off and sighed to himself. It sounded so cliché but she really and truly brought out this side of himself he wasn't sure would ever get a chance to see the light of day without her. He felt safe with Nina, which was something growing up the way he did seemed like something he was always supposed to supply but never receive. He also never held anything from her either, he never felt he had to.

As Frankie brought their coffees into their small but cozy living room of their apartment and sat beside her on the leather sofa he wondered why this particular topic was causing him to close up so much around a woman who had always made him feel comfortable with being open.

"Start from the beginning." Nina motioned with her chin to a photo of Frankie, Jane, and Tommy as small children his mother had framed for him as a moving out of the house gift years back.

Frankie chuckled. "Well… Ma was two weeks early, and it was this rainy night…"

Nina grew a crooked grin. "Not that far back."

"Oh." He smiled at her.

"Why does any mention of your father send you into this macho-silent-man-type-hibernation?"

"Macho wha?"

"I know your sad because he's sick again, but that's not the issue is it?"

Frankie leaned forward with his elbow touching his knees and watched the contents of his own coffee cup carefully. "I don't know." He replied before looking at her. "People get sick, it's a part of life." He scratched at her stubble next. "I guess I don't know how to feel, babe." He shrugged. "I'm supposed to feel something right?"

Nina scooted closer to him on the sofa and slid her right hand along his shoulders. "Maybe." She offered. "Maybe not."

"I feel like I have to, for everyone…"

"Now you're sounding like Jane."

Frankie shook his head. "Janie…"

"Have you told her?"

"Tell her she was right?" Frankie took a sip from his mug. "She called it at the airport when I dropped her off, she said it would only make sense... I just wish she'd stop looking at everything like a damn case."

Nina blinked. "What's going on with you and Jane?" Arguably one of the most important relationships to her fiancé she never got the indication that something might be wrong with them. A broader brushstroke would complete the image though. Jane and Frankie operated on a multitude of levels, siblings, friends, co-workers, senior to junior… it made sense that maybe one of those things could be causing Frankie some stress.

Frankie looked away wondering if maybe he had said too much. "She's going through something."

"What?"

"I don't know."

Nina nodded slowly. "Ah."

Frankie looked back at her. "Maura mention anything?"

"About Jane? No, we don't talk about her." She raised a brow at him pointedly and Frankie waved her off.

"C'mon not with that."

"No, not with that, but so what if Jane is going through something and is not telling you?"

Frankie nodded. "She's not like that. I mean we don't talk about everything, but ever since Pop showed up and ever since, I don't know she's been looking into leaving Boston with the Feds it's like she's been working hard especially around me not to say something about how she really feels."

Nina thought a moment before motioning her mug in her left hand at him. "Maybe she doesn't want to disappoint you with what she's thinking."

"I get why she would want to do something else, I'd miss her but I'm her brother too."

"Babe, I am so sure she knows that. Sometimes though, when you're the way Jane is—"

"What way is that?"

Nina chuckled at his defensives and he offered her a small smile in apology. "The same way you are loyal, stubborn…."

"Alright alright."

"Sometimes you get to a place where you maybe feel a little under pressure, like you're feeling now, to commit to something you haven't made your mind up about."

Frankie sat with that and thought of all the times he and his brother looked to Jane for direction when it came to situations with their parents. "Yeah, like Pop."

"Right."

##

"…Jane?"

It was the second time she had called her name.

"Huh?" Jane snapped out of her thoughts when Maura motioning to the painting in front of them.

"What do you see?"

It was a fair question. She had forgotten the name of the museum they were in, but if the cold and impersonal marble columns and wide sweeping halls littered with men in even worse wear than that of a federal agent gave her any indication, she would say that they had to be uptown.

Jane was having a hard time concentrating on things today.

"Well uhm, yeah it's obviously a representation of uh…" Jane squinted. "Birth?"

Maura tilted her head and furrowed her brows at the work. "…Birth."

The detective nodded. "Yes, definitely, a long and unexpected,…. Seahorse birth."

Maura nodded at the painting's light blue and greens. "I suppose…"

"Maura if you're going to examine art you have to do it from an experts' perspective..."

"Ah yes and you are suddenly an expert on seventeenth century works?" She crossed her arms and looked at her.

"Eighteenth and nineteenth too."

Maura chuckled softly as they wordlessly agreed to move on to the next piece of art. For a moment Jane's sneakers and her heels clicking and squeaking across the nearly empty space was the only thing they could hear. Unbeknownst to Jane in the short transit time Maura had been compiling a silent list of possible reasons for her odd behavior today.

"Mind telling me what's on your mind?" She finally asked when the sheer number of possibilities overwhelmed her.

"When we're gonna get to the good stuff, where's all the eleventh century stuff?" Jane motioned around them.

Maura smiled at her attempt. "Jane the eleventh century was from the year 1001 to 1100. If any works were possibly restored from that era they would not be in a museum dedicated to fourteenth century pieces." The detective looked at her as if to ask if she were sure. "I assure you."

"Alright." Jane nodded. "You caught me."

"It was not difficult." In front of this particular piece sat a bench just large enough for the two of them to sit down and admire it. The work consumed the entire wall behind it, tall and grand yet of simple tools and farm folk, it said way more than it probably should have for its time. They two sat and admired it for a moment before turning toward one another. "Are you reconsidering our conversation last night?"

Jane's face changed quickly. "What? No Maura I—" She motioned to herself. "I'm glad we talked." It was the first time any mention of the night before happened. After a quick disagreement about the need to make up a bed when you were in a hotel Maura asked if she had slept well and Jane had confirmed she had. They agreed to give Tasha a call to see if she would want to meet them for dinner later and that was it.

Maura nodded once. "So you're thinking about your family then."

She had worn her hair in a ponytail today, so she had to fight the urge of running her hand through it as she shied. "Yeah Maur, I'm sorry." She motioned to the painting in front of them. "This is cool and everything—"

"You hate it."

Jane laughed. "I do, I really do, I can't even understand what we're looking at and I get distracted."

Maura's smile grew. "Well…" She smoothed out her pants formally and then motioned toward the exit. "What shall we do next? We have some time before we need to head back and meet Tasha for dinner."

Jane looked confused. "You're not going to make me talk about this?"

Maura shrugged effortlessly. "Is that what you want to do?"

She let out a breathy laugh. "No."

"So then?"

Jane thought for a moment. "How close are we to Chelsea Pier?"

##

Tasha took a small breath as she climbed the final set of stairs and leaned against the small half wall near a line of excited grade schoolers finishing up a day of activities. Her knees felt a little loose in their muscles and her heart leapt out of her chest as she closed her eyes a moment in order to focus on her breathing.

So she didn't like elevators.

You wouldn't either if you were left in one bleeding to death while a hitman bent on your absolute and undebatable demise fought to shoot you in the head.

"Hi… Can I help you?" He seemed confused at his own question when he took into account the young woman's actual appearance.

Tasha stood up straighter and nodded politely. "Yes actually, I'm supposed to be meeting my uh…" She blinked. "A few friends here."

The middle-aged man clad in a washed out golfers polo and hat complete with visor nodded and moved over at his desk to look at the schedule. "Do you have a name for the reservation?"

Tasha nodded and leaned her arms on the counter. "Maura Isles, or it may be under Jane Rizzoli."

"…Hmm." He clicked his tongue against his teeth annoyingly as he searched. "Rizzoli, yes, here it is… Four more stories up."

Tasha began to glare at him but then caught herself. "How?"

He chuckled. "Last minute drop ins get set up there when it's more than one person in the party." Tasha picked herself up and nodded firmly. "There's an elevator right over there ma'am. Basket forty A when you get up there, should be on your right."

Tasha nodded and made her way over to the elevators. The small lobby was empty as all the small yelps and laughter's of terror called children had all piled into a larger elevator across from her with their teacher.

"It's no big deal." She nodded to herself before hitting the call button. "This is not a freight elevator one, and two I am not being hunted…" She mumbled carefully. "You're fine." The elevator opened in front of her and the young adult bit her lip at the ominous looking fire department phone system on the right wall. "It's four flights." She took a large enough step in and closed her eyes. "Not so bad."

The Driving Range at Chelsea Pier was set up along four westerly facing stories with small basket like enclosers lined with a thick mesh that separated into small and smaller "baskets" for private parties or coaching areas. As Tasha stepped onto the outdoor style fairway a rush of cold air swept passed her and caused her to clutch her jacket some. Along the western wall in single player stall a few old white men lobbed golf ball after golf ball into the invisible nets over the water. As she approached Basket Forty A she could already hear familiar laughter and just make out the silhouette of the two women standing opposite one another at the range.

"—It's a matter of form Maura that's all." Jane could be heard laughing.

"I have form, physically speaking I have better form than you."

"Bull."

"You're not even able to calculate the basic formula of acceleration."

"Why would I ever have to do that if I have you and your big brain?" Another set of laughter escaped them. The shorter shadow adjusted their stance several times. "Just hit the damn thing Maura!"

A moment of silence passed and then a loud thwacking sound was heard and then Maura's hum of self-approval. "See? Are you watching?"

Jane whistled. "I'm watching I'm watching."

Tasha pushed at the mesh entrance to the secluded pod that was currently supporting a breathtaking view of the Hudson River as the sky crawled into evening dusty pinks and purples. She smiled at the big smiles on the two's faces when they turned to see her.

"Hey!" Jane beamed. "There you are."

"Hey Guys, wow, killer view." She walked over and received small hugs from both women. Tasha shook her head in disbelief and then motioned out to the view of the river and well-lit driving range again. "Not that I am at all complain but this does not seem at all like the Museum of Modern Art." It was where the two were supposedly ending their borough wide museum tour today. Jane hurried to get Tasha the right size club while Maura stepped away from the range, it was then that Tasha realized the ME was wearing Jane's larger wind breaker jacket over her own. "How are you wearing heels and playing golf?" She motioned to the pathologist's shoe choice instead of the more interesting article.

Maura looked down at her feet and laughed a little at herself. "We started out and hit half of the museums I wanted to go to—"

Jane came over with a smaller club for Tasha. "But then I woke up."

Tasha chuckled and weighed the golf club in her hand. "So you two have just been up here hitting golf balls off the side of a building for what, hours?"

Jane and Maura glanced at one another with adorable looks of amusement on their faces.

"Yeah." "It appears so."

They looked back to Tasha expectantly and the college student nodded slowly. "Alright so someone show me how to hit this thing."

Before they knew it, the Pier was closing, and they had to leave.

"We have clearly missed our dinner reservation." Maura frowned when she herself noticed the time. "Andres Manocini's new restaurant in Murray Hill, it was impossible to change the reservation."

Jane shrugged as she gave back her golf ball card to the front desk agent who was ringing her up. "Let's just walk in somewhere." She turned to Tasha. "What do you feel like having?"

"Korean barbecue? I know a spot right there in K-Town that's open late and has an all you can eat special."

Jane's eyes glazed over. "I'm starving, that sounds good." She turned to Maura for the final say. " Ah c'mon Maur, we can go to Andres Macaroni's restaurant tomorrow."

"The waiting list is a month long."

Jane pouted some. "So we'll come back in a month, you and me."

With a grand sigh and a small nod Maura agreed and the trio were off. Though it wasn't at all what she had expected for the day, once they got settled in their tiny booth surrounded by paper thin dividers but not quite escaped from the hustle and noise of the hopping dinner spot the doctor leaned back and smiled.

Today had been a good day.

Tasha and Jane were laughing about something she hadn't caught and probably wouldn't really understand anyway, and the waitress was putting down a dozen or so small plates filled with various fermented or pickled items before turning on the small circular griddle style unit beside her in preparation for beef and duck they had ordered.

Tasha noticed the griddle being prepared and patted her stomach. "I am so ready for this. My first week here I ate here almost every night."

Jane opened the small paper pouch her chopsticks came in. "That good huh?"

Maura was already expertly reaching for a small amount of kimchi. "Everything looks amazing." She popped the cabbage into her mouth and sighed happily at the burst of interesting flavors before motioning with her chopsticks for the others to try. "Fermentation is such a fun thing to think about."

Jane paused and looked at her slightly bewildered. "Baseball is a fun thing to think about."

Maura waved her off. "The complexity in chemical reactions and biproducts and how a desired style or taste of a product depends on science is endlessly fascinating, and completely accidental."

Tasha motioned her chopsticks at Maura. "Not Kimchi though."

The medical examiner smiled. "Yes, that is correct. Ancient Koreans sought out a way to have fresh and nutritious vegetables year-round, it was quite an intentional discovery. The origin itself dates back at least to the early period of the Three Kingdoms."

Jane hummed loudly with approval. "Yeah, Three Kingdoms."

Maura chuckled. "That's approximately thirty-seven years before Christ to seven anno domini."

"How exactly do you feel about before common era being used now?" Tasha asked.

"That's an interesting question." Maura nodded. "I suppose when it comes to forensics, we have yet to make a transition simply because we like consistency in our records. Most of the time we emit any designation of time era and simply use the date." She reached for her water glass. "I suppose it's a matter of being politically correct don't you think?"

"I had an Ancient History professor who spent the whole semester lecturing on how it was total bullshit—"

Jane raised a brow. "Whoa, hey."

Tasha rolled her eyes but smiled. "Sorry." She turned to Maura. "How has lecturing been going?"

Maura was laughing at the look Jane was giving her. She could just hear the detective's voice in her head asking her where in the hell Tasha was learning this stuff. "It's going very well. I am working very closely with an adjunct there, Doctor Erinn Dooley, have you crossed paths while in BCU?"

Tasha was picking at the marinated radish in a bowl beside her. "She sounds familiar."

"We're working on a course of forensic pathology and police work with the criminal justice department."

Jane perked up. "You never mentioned that. That's awesome."

Maura nodded. "Well it's still in it's infancy, we are still working on the curriculum, and with you and the team on this case I thought I might ask your professional option on some of our topics when things got a little lighter."

Jane reached for the beer she had ordered. "I won't have to go speak, will I?"

Maura's smile was teasing. "Would you be against it?"

"Maura every single time I have to speak publicly someone ends up dead."

The ME laughed. "That was one blood cottage."

"The recruiting ceremony?"

Tasha was already laughing having heard this story already as Maura tried to explain. "That woman was eighty-five years old and unfortunately was experiencing a myocardial infarction long before you got up to speak."

"Car bomb after BDP awards ceremony."

Maura frowned, it was funny, she hardly remembered the explosion from that night. It was though, the night when Casey returned into Jane's life for the first time. "That was also very unfortunate." Her smile picked up. "I do not think it is healthy to draw a correlation between the two, especially now that I need you." She added at the end with a little laugh of her own.

"We'll see." Jane shook her head and drank her beer, a small blush brushing the tips of her ears and nose.

"So hold on." Tasha started as she waved a piece of cabbage dripping red junks of chili powder. "How exactly are you gonna handle teaching classes full of FBI trainees then?"

Jane opened her mouth but then closed it. She glanced at Maura to which the ME shook her head and responded for the detective.

"I do not believe she's thought it through."

They all laughed.

"It's only on contractual bases so before you ask no I won't be getting crazy high security clearances or anything." Tasha looked disappointed. "So I have that psychological evaluation this week and then I have to head up in a week or so to get an orientation and then so far it's looking like every three weeks I'll be up there for a week of classes." She glanced at Maura. "I got an email while I was at the airport from my new boss." She found the sentence weird. "Wonder if he's nicer than Korsak."

"You would only be so lucky." Maura nodded thinking fondly of the older man.

"What's going to happen with being a detective?" Tasha asked.

"Nothing, initially they offered me a full-time role there but I um, didn't want that. There are things I care about more than a title in Boston."

"So you'll still be a cop."

Jane nodded proudly. "It's the priority."

"What if you get a case?"

"I have some flexibility on that and apparently there are other instructors who can fill in if something were going on that I was primary on."

Just then the waitress brought over a few platters of thin raw meat and began placing them onto the table's skillet. The three ate and ate and ate until they couldn't eat anymore. On the street a small misty rain covered the city in a cold fog and when they finally exited the restaurant it was nearly midnight.

Tasha turned away from Jane who was busy hailing a cab down for her. "So does anyone know?"

Maura smiled politely at her, somewhat distracted with Jane standing in the middle of the street the way she was. "Does anyone know what?"

"About you and Jane."

Maura's attention snapped to the shorter woman quickly. "I'm sorry?"

"Well, I mean." Tasha hesitated to wonder briefly if she crossed a line. "You clearly care for each other." She motioned to Jane who had successfully gotten a cab's attention. "It would be hypercritical and extremely homophobic of me not to wonder the same thing anyone else would if they met you guys and you were a man and a woman instead of two women."

Jane stepped up to them curiously. "Hey, I got one." She looked between the two, Maura blushing and Tasha suddenly looking very smug. "What I miss?"

"Nothing, thanks for dinner!" Tasha jogged toward the cab and sent them a final wave before hopping in.

Jane waved back and then stuffed her hands into her pocket before turning to face Maura who was seemingly confused, embarrassed, and amused all at once. Jane laughed. "What's up? What'd she say?" She smiled.

Maura looked over at Jane. "She asked if anyone else knew."

It was Jane's turn to be confused. "If anyone else knew about what?"

"You and I."

The detective nodded once and then nodded again when realization hit. "Oh…."

"Yes."

Jane glanced behind her as the cab transporting Tasha turned onto a main avenue out of sight. "Kid is too damn smart…" She looked back at Maura with a little grin. "Or we're too obvious?"

Maura laughed a little. "You aren't bothered by her curiosity?"

Jane thought about how she was feeling and shook her head. "It's Tasha. What did you end up saying?"

"I hardly got a moment to process."

"So you didn't confirm it?"

"I did not deny it either."

Jane chuckled. "Shit."

Maura touched her arm. "Perhaps we need to be less affectionate."

Jane smiled at her hand. "Stop touching me then."

The blonde looked at her hand and yanked it away with a small noise of surprise. "Well please do not stand near me."

"Fine."

"Excellent."

With a small nod in the general direction of their hotel the two wordlessly agreed to start walking back. The walk from Herald Square to Rockefeller Center was not a long one by any means, and the coolness of the mist made it sort of refreshing against the forty-degree night air. There was supposed to be a big snow storm coming but the city hardly seemed to care.

For a few blocks they walked separately with a small amount of space between them. While waiting for a light at thirty eight street though Maura slid her arm in between the space created by Jane's hand in her right pocket and the two looked at each other with small smiles.

"It's not that I don't want people to know…" Jane began quietly a few blocks later.

Maura looked up at her. "About you and I, exploring romantic feelings?"

The Boston native made a face. "Ew gross, don't call it that."

Maura laughed. "Is that not what is happening?"

"Right, but it sounds so… Gushy."

"Gushy?"

"Yeah."

"Textured?"

"No like… Like overly sentimental."

"Ah." The doctor grew thoughtful. "That is though how you seem to respond."

Jane looked horrified and even stopped their pace to look at her. "I do not get overly sentimental, Maura."

"On my couch you said—"

"I know what I said!"

Maura began to grin. "I see this is a point of contention for you, we can move on."

Jane exhaled loudly as they resumed their stroll. "Please."

"So, you were saying that you didn't mind if people knew?"

"Right, I mean, but we're still… Figuring things out and I don't really know how to explain that or… Me."

Maura nodded slowly. "I only care that we are honest with each other, Jane."

"I just wanted you to know that."

Maura leaned into her right side a little. "It isn't a simple conversation to have given everything that is happening in our lives. I am content with crossing that bridge when we both feel comfortable."

"So what do we tell Tasha?"

Maura huffed with amusement. "I don't think it matters."

Jane chuckled. "This is all your fault, touching my arm at dinner."

"Excuse me, you insisted on holding my things for me before we left." It was all very sweet, maybe Tasha had come back from the restroom earlier than they realized.

"Maura I'm confused, because we did all this stuff before, what are we going to stop being friends now? Stop being nice to each other?"

Maura patted her right arm affectionately. "Let me do some research."

##

"Hi!"

Jane winced at the light from the well-lit hotel hallway when she opened the door at five thirty the next morning to a smiley blonde dressed in professional attired and holding a parcel in one hand and her briefcase in the another.

"If this building is not about to collapse than I swear to God I'm gonna—" Maura pushed the parcel in her hands. "Maura what is this?" Her eyes caught the doctor's colorful blouse behind her black suit and winced even further. "And why are you wearing so much yellow on a Monday?"

"It's uplifting."

"It's upsetting."

"Our first panel discussion is a half hour." She seemed way too cheery, it made Jane smile a little. "I wanted to wear something that made the candidate feel welcome. Recent studies have shown that young animals cry less for their mothers in yellow rooms."

Jane nodded slowly. "Well I hope no one cries for their mommy today in the presence of your… Shirt thing."

Maura took it as a means to wish her luck. "Thank you."

Jane shook the parcel again. "What's in this?"

"Well I was considering what you said last night—"

"You mean five hours ago, that last night?"

"— So I compiled an extensive list of media depicting same sex couples—"

Jane looked around quickly and then raised a brow. "You're bringing me porn at five thirty in the morning, Maura?"

"What!?" Maura shook her head. "No, not pornography, Jane. Are you listening?"

Jane shook her head at the hilariousness of the situation. "I don't know." She admitted before rubbing her face. "So what, I'm supposed to watch this?"

"The concierge said that—"

"—You asked the concierge of this hotel for porn?"

Maura threw her hands up. "I'm going to be late. Wait until I get back." She pointed.

Jane was grinning. "To watch?"

"And don't forget to call your mother." Maura had already started down the hall.

The detective's grin fell. "Why does it still feel like a Monday even on vacation?" She muttered to herself as she closed her hotel room door and tossed the parcel aside in favor of collapsing onto the warm bed she had just gotten out of. A few minutes later her cell phone began to buzz. Jane blindly reached a hand out to the nightstand and brought it to her ear.

"What, Maura?"

A male voice chuckled. "Wow, hate to be her right now."

Jane sat up in bed. "Oh, Davies." She glanced at the time again. What was wrong with people? It wasn't even six. "Hi."

"So listen I just touched down at LaGuardia, you wanna grab lunch in a few hours?"

She was going to have to have this conversation sooner or later and Maura was working for most of the day…

"Why not?"

"Great! I know a place near Rock Center, that's where you are right? Best Pastrami on the island."

He sounded genuinely happy to make plans, and for that Jane felt a little guilty, but despite Maura's all-around weirdness and obsession with disturbing her sleep she wanted to show the ME that she meant what she said and was taking her request seriously. That she was taking them seriously, she couldn't have that conversation over the phone though right? She still had to work with Davies on some level as some of his recruits were slated to take her class.

What would one lunch hurt?