Please see Ch 1, 5 & 9 for disclaimers… enough disclaimers that they almost need their own chapter…

Part 2 of 2

The length of Maura on top of her was the most comforting sensation Jane could recall. When she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could feel her gentle breathing against her as she ran her fingers up and down her back. She brought Maura's hand up to her lips to kiss the bend in her fingers, feeling the contented sigh and the delicate brush of lips to her shoulder.

Jane shifted slightly and looked at the way their bodies were melded together, reveling in the simple relief that there were no barriers between them. The sensation gave her the assurance she needed to finally ask. "Maura, earlier tonight you said you already knew that I loved you. How did you know that?"

Maura moved down a bit and turned her head so she could look up at Jane. She delicately traced a fingertip over Jane's eyebrows and down the side of her face to her neck, tracing the faint scares. Bracing up on her elbow she traced her own scar, the line almost indiscernible. "We match. That's how. One night in Uganda I was just sitting on this rock, trying not to think of home and I couldn't stop rubbing the scar on my neck. All I could think about was that moment in the infirmary when you saved me. "Hugging Jane tightly Maura breathed in her scent. "You fought when I was attacked by Hoyt. Not when he was attacking you. I was more important to you than your own fear. " Maura kissed the faint, thin scar. "It meant that I mattered more to you than your own life. You protected me like you did Frankie on the day you got this. I was family to you." Maura's hand traced the indented texture and thin, thickened lines of her bullet wound.

Maura slid up to kiss Jane on her forehead and cheek. She slid her lips along Jane's, feeling the ready response in return, luxuriating in the ability to finally communicate fully through touch. "I think your mother was right about so much that day in the café, but not everything. The day you shot yourself at the precinct was worst day of my entire life and I think that was the start of everything. I didn't know how to handle it." Maura kissed the space between Jane's breasts and put her ear against her heart, listening carefully until she could hear its steady rhythm.

Biting her lip against her body's responsiveness to Maura's touch, Jane exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry Maura. I should have said that back then. I should have asked if you needed to talk about it and I didn't. It just wasn't something I felt I could do, but that wasn't fair to you." Jane's hand stopped its path on Maura's back for a moment." I just couldn't change anything, so why bother? But it wasn't the right thing to do."

Outlining Jane's lips with her finger, Maura shook her head."No, it's okay now. It's just after that day I realized that if you had died I would have been utterly alone. That was even before my mother started to reach out. You were my world Jane. Any friends I had at the precinct were tied to you. Your family welcomed me, but they were your family. It just hit me all at once that you were all I had." She kissed the space under her cheek before putting her face back down and rubbing it against the soft skin. "And you were enough, but I didn't know how to cope with the thought you might not be there someday."

Jane shook her head. "That isn't true. You never would have been alone. Everyone loves you."

Maura reached up to slowly kiss her quiet, pulling away only after the body under her was breathing rapidly. "I love that you see me like that. Maybe it is a little different now, but on that day you were the substance and the connection. It made me think long and hard about my life. I realized that if you had died, I wouldn't have had anybody to go see a movie with, or call when something exciting happened, or even to just go grab a cup of coffee with." Maura ducked her head into Jane's shoulder. "When you were discharged and wouldn't let anybody visit, I actually got to experience what it was like to live that nightmare. It was so horribly lonely after having had you as my best friend. Byron was never marriage potential but he was a distraction and your mother was right. He saved you and for that he will always have my gratitude."

She turned her head to the side and kissed along Jane's neck, tasting the salt of her skin slowly. "Then on the night of the banquet, I saw you with Casey and I realized that you might have survived the shooting but I was still going to lose you someday."

Shivering at the onslaught, Jane wrapped her arms around Maura. "Hmmm… I felt the same way about Ian." Jane was surprised to feel tears threaten. She ran her hands rapidly along Maura, feeling the texture of her skin, running a thumb along the swell of her backside, caressing where it met her thigh. The intimate press of Maura's hips as she pushed against her was reassuring and empowering. "Ian showed me what it would feel like to be your best friend after you met someone that you loved and wanted to spend time with beyond dinner and sex. I couldn't do it Maura. I couldn't take standing there in front of you and not having you see me. It was like he walked in and took my place. He wasn't a Giovanni."

Maura shook her head against Jane's shoulder. "It wouldn't have been like that, not with us. You still would have been my best friend."

Jane turned her face to kiss the top of Maura's head. "My Ma's been best friends with Maria Vitale for over 50 years. They grew up a block away from each other. They talk on the phone at least once a day, usually more."Jan snorted. "Why am I telling you this? She lives with you. You probably know because after they hang up Ma likes to rehash their entire conversation with someone. "

Jane sighed "Maria moved to Westford 30 years ago when she got married. Ma and Maria are lucky if they get together a few times a year." She paused as she ran both hands up Maura's ribs and ran her thumbs along the underside of her breasts "I would be miserable if I never saw you, even if I could talk to you every day. One of the hardest things I have ever done was when I offered to drive you to the airport the day Ian left."

Maura kissed Jane slowly, deliberately, feeling the glide of their tongues pound between her thighs and she pressed hard into Jane. Pulling back she whispered in Jane's ear. "I chose to stay in Boston with you on that day Jane. I won't lie, I will always love him, we have our history together, but you and I? Our bond? Even fractured, it was strong enough to call me back. You're my home Jane." She caressed the ear under her lips, feeling Jane's hands flexing against her ribs, sliding down over her hips to pull her tighter. "I love you Jane. I'm just sorry I didn't say it sooner."

Jane rolled, reversing their positions. "You did say it Maura. The night with the wine from Tommy, I know you tried to say it. Maybe we both didn't fully understand it, but we knew and you were brave enough to say it." Jane sucked lightly against the scar on Maura's neck, breathing in her scent. "You were right about this scar, even Hoyt could see it."

She moved her nose against Maura's temple, pressing her lips there. "I didn't know what to say when you said you loved me. I didn't understand why, but I knew I was hearing something other than simple friendship. I knew at least you were saying you loved me enough that my happiness was more important than your own."

Maura's hands were lightly running along her sides and over her back. Shivering Jane kissed her forehead before capturing her lips, taking her time. She let her touch express what words could not and felt the reassuring answer in the body shifting under her.

Jane pulled away slightly and stared into Maura's eyes, letting herself absorb the moment, feeling the rapid breathing against her lips. "Then the reunion came up and Casey was supposed to come back. You were so supportive whenever we talked about him."She smoothed a palm up and over Maura's hip before pressing it down the front of her leg, returning upward by drawing a line with her index finger along the inside of her thigh.

Feeling the pressure building, Maura trembled as Jane's finger continued its assault, reaching the apex of her thigh, rubbing the tip along the crease. She slid her leg up, capturing Jane's thigh between hers, seeking the increased contact.

Jane nipped along Maura's jaw, feeling her move her chin up to expose her neck in supplication, murmuring approval as Jane replied by drawing her open mouth along the length, nipping as she moved down one side and switched sides to taste her way up the other. Reaching Maura's ear she traced the delicate folds, feeling Maura's legs moving along hers at the sensation. Whispering she confessed "The night at the hospital, if you hadn't told me to go, I wouldn't have been able to leave. I was holding you and you needed me and nothing else mattered. For the first time I couldn't put my job first until you asked."

Jane shivered, remembering her complete confusion and the struggle while trying to work. "I didn't make sense to myself anymore. Then Dean showed up. Everyone had been telling me I had to make an effort if I expected anything more in my life. So I trusted him with the most important thing to me, you." Jane reached down and grabbed Maura's hand, entwining their fingers tightly. "He was supposed to put everything back in order, but he didn't. Waking up next to him didn't change anything." She buried her face into Maura's shoulder. "I woke up and I still just wanted forget the case and be with you."

Maura brought a hand up to tangle through dark curls so she could pull Jane's lips to hers, murmuring against them, "I know Jane. Maybe I couldn't figure out what the right thing was to do before, but I'm claiming you now. No more questions or uncertainty from either of us." She brought her calf over Jane's leg and pressed her closer, closing her eyes against the increase in weight as she shifted. Maura kissed the corner of Jane's mouth. "I just need you to love me." She enveloped Jane's mouth with her own, pouring herself into the kiss.

Breathing heavily Jane pulled back, staring intently, memorizing the sight. Maura was under her unguarded, with her eyes half lidded, lips parted wetly and body open. Jane could feel her arms locked together loosely against her back. It was explicit permission to possess.

Not breaking eye contact Jane brought Maura's hand up and kissed her fingertips gently. Moving down she pressed her lips to the inside of her palm, feeling the softness. Hazel eyes drifted closed as she slid her lips down to kiss the inside of Maura's wrist, lazily kissing up the trail of pale blue veins. Hazel eyes flew open on a gasp as Jane ran her tongue around and over the softness of Maura's inner elbow.

Feeling the breathing increasing under her, Jane replaced her mouth with the scarcest touch of her fingertips, traveling up and down the silk of Maura's upper arm. She moved up to nuzzle against Maura's temple, combing her fingers gently through her hair. She kissed her forehead and the slope of her nose, the corner of one side of her mouth and then the other. Pausing she ran the back of her finger along the ridge of Maura's cheekbone as she stared deep into Maura's eyes, feeling their connection run through her.

Jane's eyes consumed her and Maura could feel her pulse pounding along her body, centering against the pressure of Jane's thigh between her legs. She lifted her hips and squeezed her legs together to increase the friction, murmuring approval at the unexpected sensation of Jane lightly sucking at the junction of her shoulder. Jane's mouth was hot and wet against her collarbone as she traveled across her body. She could feel her nipples scraping along between them and the tingle ran down her arms and over her thighs driving her to press her hips harder.

Drawing her other leg to bend at the knee, Jane rose up slightly increasing the pressure on Maura's core, feeling the body under her stiffen at the increased contact. Bracing her weight on one elbow, she took her time worshiping the parted lips below her, letting their tongues dual and dance. Whispered entreaties broke against her lips as Maura's back arched in offering. Jane ran her hand upward, over Maura's ribs, to envelope her breast, letting the nipple run slowly through her index and middle fingers.

Maura tore her mouth away when Jane closed her fingers tightly together and her nails bit at her waist.

Watching the flash of Maura's teeth grabbing her bottom lip as the air hissed out of her, Jane replaced the hand with her mouth, tasting the delicate skin along the underside of her breast before moving up to suck the tip against the back of her teeth, feeling the impression of each touch echoed in the rising body beneath her, as she moved from right to left.

Maura pulled desperately at Jane, her hips rolling of their own accord, feeling each tug of her nipple spark against the pressure at the apex of her thighs. The wet heat of determined lips slowly left her breast to travel along her ribs, mapping the slight ridges first on one side, then on the other, before trailing to the top of her abdomen.

Feeling Jane's thigh slowly moving away as she tasted her way down her torso Maura whimpered, letting her nails bite into the skin under her fingers in protest. She couldn't stop the deep groan as the flat of Jane's tongue left a slow, moist, wake as she wound down and around to just above her navel. Teeth closed softly against the sensitive spot and she cried out.

Moving her hands to lie against the points of Maura's hips, Jane felt the seeking thrust of Maura's body slide against the pressure of her palms as she continued to stroke her mouth downward. Skirting to the side, she nipped her way over a muscled thigh, stroking along the outer edge before sliding a thumb along the underside. Raising her hand she drew Maura's leg up and touched her lips to the inside of her knee. She could feel a faint trembling against her cheek as she slowly kissed her way up the smooth skin of Maura's inner thigh. Reaching the top, Jane placed a lingering kiss and looked up, absorbing the knowledge that she was one of the only ones to see this side of Maura, defenseless, arching, seeking and craving her touch. She lowered her mouth to claim her, reveling in the power of the intimate moment.

Maura was vaguely aware that words and cries slipped from her mouth in a breathless staccato as she felt Jane's mouth repeatedly over her clit, the flat of her tongue pressing down and sweeping up. There was a seeking pressure and she felt her body convulse as Jane slipped into her. Maura arched upward at the invasion, opening herself more as the friction swept inwards before pulling out. Helpless against the onslaught, her hips moved to drive the pressure inside with each delicious slide. She could feel Jane invade and fill every corner hidden in the heart of her and she brought a leg up and over Jane's back to drive her deeper.

Jane felt the pulsing strength wrapping her fingers and the bundle of nerves harden under her tongue. The thigh against her cheek started to vibrate uncontrollably and Jane twisted her fingers around until movement was almost impossible. Tenderly, she pressed her fingers up against the frantic motion and gently closed her teeth around Maura, hearing and feeling her cry of release at her touch.

A/N - I suppose at 2am it is technically a day late... :) This was one of my favorite chapters to write.