When Jane woke, it was the middle of the night.
She sat up and shook her head to clear it, but it was the view of her nakedness that brought her back to the present. Melancholy eyes drifted to the figure beside her. A full moon was out and its angle cast a silvery glow over the sleeping doctor. Jane was transfixed by the beauty and moved she believed at an almost subatomic level.
Her chest constricted. Fists tangled into the bedsheets. How could she let this happen?
For a few seconds, she is back in Dr. Truitt's office.
Stop trying to read her.
This was the friend she had shared more secrets with than her own family. This was the person who knew about her weaknesses, her fears. The woman who had shared some of the darkest lows and the brightest highs. But it seemed they were caught in a rut. Making assumptions, misreading body language, guessing how the other felt. And that was what led them over a cliff every single time.
Sex was certainly about communication. And once again Jane had fallen back to action. But action was not enough. Showing your feelings was not enough.
Broad, thin shoulders shrugged and then sagged with the outpouring of breath. This was not going to be their story.
The slim body slid back down into the bed and rolled toward the porcelain spans of the back forming a wall between them. A shaking hand reached up to a slim shoulder and gently stroked down the upper arm and across shoulder blades. Gaining in boldness, the palm moved to caress a soft hip and upper thigh.
Eyelids fluttered as the doctor emerged from sleep. She rolled onto her back and sucked in a breath when the motion brought Jane's hand to the cleft of her hip. But brows soon furrowed and defeated eyes found their focus. With a resigned shake of the head, a tight jaw gave way to issue a refusal.
"Maura…"
Preempting the rebuke, Jane began to talk. Uncensored from her heart. The fear of their failure outweighing the fear of expressing her innermost thoughts.
"I want to never know a day without you," she began. "I want to grow old and gray and haggard looking into your smile. Because the light from your magically hazel eyes actually makes me drunk. You're my best friend. You are so much a part of me that losing you is like a… an amputation. You make me who I am. And without you, I'm…I'm lost."
Maura's tear-streaked face fuzzed in front of her as she strained to look through the tears now breaching the brims of her own eyes. With a nervous, but hopeful, smile, Jane swiped them clear and continued.
"I know you always take the people closest to you, you know…your family, for granted. But I don't ever want to do that to you. Because you are a gift. A precious gift. A…" Jane was suddenly distracted when her eyes glanced down to notice the bare skin beneath her. "A damn sexy gift."
Jane could feel her face flushing. Her breath came in shallow pants as she watched her own hand glide along a silky soft belly then up to palm a luxurious breast. She shuddered at the feel of a nipple hardening in response to her touch. This was the connection they were missing.
"God, I love you, Maura." She squeezed the supple flesh. "So much."
The blonde arched her head back, her lips parting in a sigh of pleasure. But when she closed her eyes, Jane saw the remnant tears drip down her temples. The memory of just a few hours ago gave her pause. She could not repeat that defeat.
With a burst of energy, Jane sprang to her knees shocking the bed with a bounce.
"Hang on…I know just what we need." And with that, she darted from the room like a midnight streaker.
Not quite sure what to make of the interruption, Maura reached down for the bedsheet and pulled it up over her bare chest. Butterflies rippled through her in nervous anticipation. She listened to the drumbeat of feet down the stairs, some nondescript rummaging and then the pounding of feet on their ascent.
Jane, fully naked and out of breath came to a stop at the base of the bed. In her hands was a well-worn Red Sox hat. She presented it to Maura then donned it brim backward as she spread her feet and put her hands to her hips in a full superhero pose.
Despite herself, Maura bubbled with laughter at the antic.
"I figured we needed some extra power. I wear this every time I want to…" She popped an eyebrow and leered, "…satisfy my woman."
"Every time?"
"Well, will have to play that by ear. You may not always be able to handle its power."
"I see."
Jane crawled up the bed on her hands and knees until she was hovering above the blonde. She sat back to straddle the doctor's hips and looked down at the sheet between them. Her eyes squinted and lips pursed at the puzzle before her.
"Hmmm. Now, how do I approach this?"
With a comically furrowed brow, the detective reached up to grab the edge of the sheet. As if diffusing a bomb, her hands slowly folded it back and eased it down inch by agonizing inch. The friction of the fine cotton brought nipples to full alert. When they were finally revealed, Jane released the sheet and sat back with a gasp.
"Oh no! This is terrible," her eyes twinkled with humor. "Have the mighty Sox met their match? These are, in fact, the most perfect boobies ever to grace the earth. Ted, Cy, Yaz, we've got our work cut out for us!"
And with that, the brunette dove in.
And it was a bit of a moving target as Maura's chest jiggled with laughter.
Maura arched up when a warm, wet mouth captured its prize. Her hands tangled into wavy hair, pulling her in, but careful not to displace the talisman that gave Jane her fabled strength. Jane had, indeed, diffused the situation. She'd rediscovered the fun-loving, sarcastic, playful relationship that had been the foundation of their friendship from the start. The connection that allowed them to be imperfect in each other's presence.
So they did make love. Each awkward move was met with giggles and laughter. Each fumble with patience. Each caress with love. Mouths tasted. Fingers explored. And all the while Jane reassured with words of desire, comfort and surety. When the vibrating crescendo of ecstasy rolled through her body, tensing each muscle down to her fingertips then receded to be replaced by a heavy, sated release of tension, Maura was left with a feeling that superseded even love.
She felt safe.
"You're not serious?"
The cranky brunette grumbled from her comfortable spot on the sofa. Despite the acerbic tone to Maura's latest suggestion, it was the most glorious Saturday afternoon that Jane could remember. She was stretched out with her head in Maura's lap watching the soundless Sox game on her lover's enormous TV.
They'd had sex this morning. After they had had sex last night. In fact, they were getting quite good at it. While she would recall a dread to the morning-after proclivities with men, waking to the naked body of her decidedly female lover made her a believer in breakfast in bed. Over the last couple of months, they had come to learn that their compatibility - even though it stemmed from their continued desire for the opposite of each other - translated into a deep, fulfilling love life. Gay-gay or Maura-gay, there was no turning back.
But the latest suggestion would put that to the test.
"I found one that leaves from Boston Harbor. Seven days. Up to Bar Harbor then Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Ooo - then on to Quebec City! I can practice my French," Maura bubbled as she scrolled through the laptop balancing on the sofa arm.
"Sweetheart," the endearment Jane had settled on. "As much as I love the idea of close quarters with my favorite gal, don't you think that might be tempting fate?"
"Darling," Maura's more sophisticated term. "We have overcome so much. This is our - what do you call it? - full circle moment."
Jane sat up and twisted at the waist to face the blonde. "I can think of some other full circles I am more interested in…" A vision of mouths, nipples, wedding rings swept through her mind. But the look on Maura's face cast them all aside. She wanted this. She needed this. And Jane would deny her nothing.
The doctor, confident in her place as the detective's top priority, simply waited for the inevitable.
In short order, Jane released her textbook sigh of resignation but ticked off her list of demands.
"No cruise ship shows. No umbrella drinks. No island tours." She huffed. "And if I meet a guy named Dennis, I'm going to deck him as a preventative measure."
"Fine." Maura agreed and leaned forward to capture petulant lips.
Jane released another sigh. This one distinctly more content.
Glorious, indeed.
C'est tout.