A/N: Spring has sprung! We have one chapter more after this. I will actually take suggestions for the epilogue activity (a joint Maura/Jane decision) so send me some shoutouts. Also, I figured they needed one "dud" activity so the Patriots game was it. Not knocking football, but plenty of people prefer watching it at home in their warm homes as opposed to the all-day affair that is a stadium game, so I figured that could be a Jane vibe. Hope you all enjoy this. This has been a fun little jaunt. I am definitely going BtVS for my next couple bc I am jonesing for some Jenny Calendar rewrites, but then I'm probably going back to Growth Chart for a one-shot sequel centered on the birth (which terrified me a bit as a writer tbh. I have no kids and I'm both terrified of and fascinated by childbirth so guhhh this feels triggering). Anyway, read on and enjoy!

Spring

And then it was spring. Winter in Boston was, well, winter in Boston. Insanely cold, undoubtedly snowy, and bone-chillingly intense in such a way that its inhabitants couldn't help but wonder if it would ever really end. And somehow it always did. The frigid air gave way to slightly more pleasant temperatures before exploding into sunny afternoons and light evenings and clear skies. Sunshine days.

This winter hadn't seemed too bad to Jane. She still found herself reflecting on her losses, particularly on poignant days, but that was no different than the rest of the year if she was being honest with herself. Frost's birthday. What would have been her due date. Their first case-closed drinks at the Dirty Robber with Nina. Korsak's subtle admission that he was inching closer to retirement. Any one of those things might have been enough, a year ago, to push Jane further into herself, away from reality, away from family, friends, colleagues, anything really that she held dear. And away from Maura. She'd already begun to venture down that path when that unexpected day had arrived last summer and she'd found herself baring her soul on the hard ground of Maura's courtyard. But even her days of most solemn reflection and occasional waves of grief and melancholy seemed easier to carry when she had Maura to keep her warm.

She'd mentioned as much to Maura in early January after the rush and distraction of the holidays were over and the harsh bleakness of winter started to really set in. And even though Jane had meant it as a compliment and a thank you, not as an overdramatic, clingy "you saved me" sort of statement that she'd always rolled her eyes at in relationships, Maura had been quick to set her straight.

"I didn't do anything," Maura had said firmly. Her tone had been undercut slightly by her lack of any serious clothing, since this conversation had sort of blossomed out of one of those intimate kind of moments that the two of them were having with more and more regularity these days. "I don't want you to think about it like that."

"I didn't mean anything by it," Jane insisted, although she was satiated enough from their pre-conversation activities to not be able to muster much in the way of actual protestation. "I was just saying...I was in a shitty place and you helped me out of it. That's all."

"You helped yourself out of it. That's the difference."

"Okay, sure. But honestly, Maura, I don't see why it matters. I helped myself, you helped me. No matter who did what or how much, the end result is the same. I feel better, I didn't end up further fucking up my life, and it led to some things that actually made my life even better than I ever thought it could be. Which is pretty good if you ask me."

"It is." Maura sighed contemplatively and was quiet for a moment before resuming her thoughts. "What I mean is...I knew you weren't in good shape last year. We both did. And, trust me, I had all sorts of things that I would have loved for you to try and use to help you feel better. But it wouldn't have done you any good."

"You sell yourself short," Jane replied, a little stung. "How do you know I wouldn't have tried them if you didn't even ask me?"

"Because I know you. And I know that even though I personally might have benefited from, I don't know, going to therapy or a support group or meditating every morning or taking an art class or a creative writing class or making sure to get extra sleep every night, I didn't think suggesting them to you would get either of us too far. Honestly, Jane, would you have done any of the things I just said?"

"No," Jane said slowly. "I guess not. I mean, maybe if you really pushed me to, I would have."

"But that would have defeated the purpose," Maura explained. "It isn't about me. And it wouldn't have worked if I pushed you into stuff. Or even if I just tried to distract you by dragging you along to anything that I did, even if it was as basic as a hot yoga class or a facial. You had to be the one to...I don't know what the phrase is. Guide your own healing? Make the shots?"

"Call the shots might be what you're going for." Jane ran her fingers through Maura's hair. "So you're saying that even though you knew I needed help and you really wanted to have done it for me, I had to do it on my own?"

Maura looked up at Jane a bit warily. "It sounds cruel when you say it like that. That wasn't how I meant it."

"Maura," Jane said, cupping her face. "I'm saying thank you." She watched Maura's face relax a bit before continuing. "You made yourself sit back and let me solve my own shit, because you knew that it was probably going to be the best way to fix this, even though it must have driven you crazy to not be able to just pick me up and try to run me over to the "I Feel Better" finish line."

"Your methods of explanation need some work," Maura managed, caught between what looked like raw emotion in her eyes and amusement that that flickered across her lips. "But that sounds right. And it did drive me crazy, not because I wanted to rush it for my sake or make you do things my way, but because you were hurting and I just wanted you to feel better. It hurts me when you're hurting." At that, Maura's eyes did fill, surprising the both of them, and they lay quietly for a minute curled up together as the emotions that had made their way into the air around them hung above their bed heavily.

"Did I ever tell you how Casey tried cleaning out my kitchen," Jane said suddenly, causing Maura to shift in surprise. She followed Maura's lead and sat up, the two of them now side by side against the headboard. Jane reached for Maura's hand in some attempt to show that despite the change to a not-so-pleasant topic, it was still okay. They were still okay.

"Maybe," Maura said hesitantly. "But just in passing, if I'm remembering correctly."

"Well, he did. He stayed over here like, I don't know, not all that many times in that whole mess and the one time he made it his mission to clean out my kitchen. Almost threw out the Marmite you brought me home from the UK. And even though I tried to brush it off and tell myself it was sweet and out of care, it just felt overbearing. I wanted a partner, not someone to organize my life or tell me what needed to be thrown away in my own kitchen."

"So it sounds like my instincts about handling you were right," Maura concluded, choosing to gloss over the Casey aspect of the story in favor of the scientific analysis.

"They're always right. That's what I guess I'm saying here. You know what I need when I don't even always know myself. And you put your own stuff aside and...let me run the show. And it worked. It really did. I feel more like myself than I have in ages. I can get to these...anniversaries and reminders and changes without feeling like I'm going to tumble over the edge. And I…" Jane made sure to look Maura fully in her eyes, brown on hazel, as she tugged Maura pointedly enough so that Maura eased close to her. "I had enough space and time and...I don't know...clarity to realize that I love you. And how I love you. And how much I love you. And you...you love me back. You always loved me back."

"I do," Maura confessed easily. "And I did, and I thought you did, too. Or at least I hoped so. And that wasn't entirely why I hoped you'd get through this and heal properly. But, Jane, I really hoped for it. Like, really, really hoped for it. That if you came out the other side and took a good look around, you'd see me here. But not just as your best friend, but as something else. Something we both could be, together."

Jane laid down again, pulling Maura gently along with her so that they were entwined together, bare arms locked over equally bare skin. She kissed the side of Maura's head tenderly before Maura bent her head upward to capture her lips in hers. "Who would have thought," Jane mumbled, the last comment of their serious conversation before other non-verbal expressions of love and emotion took over, "That all of this would come tumbling out at a Patriots game of all places."

Maura's voice was breathless as she rolled on her back, grabbing gently at Jane's hips as Jane straddled her easily. "I don't care how or where. Just that it did." And Jane would have offered her agreement if she hadn't had other things to attend to at the moment.

So they'd progressed through the rest of the winter in a sort of bliss - a frozen, icy sort of bliss, but bliss nonetheless. They'd face the hurdles of tough cases and family strife and the deep, existential questions that started to come when one worked at the same job for many years, but came to the same conclusion. This was their life - together, their life - in their city, with their families. They'd get through it together like they always had.

And now Spring had arrived - warm, light, soft Spring.

"I really don't know what to pick to do," Jane had whined a bit in March when Maura asked her, again, about her plans. "You should pick something. I swear I won't complain."

"In the summer, I will," Maura reassured her. "Or we'll both pick something. It has been nice to have things outside of our usual patterns to look forward to and I think we should keep at it. But you should still pick one last one."

Jane had thought through what seemed like a million options. Staying overnight in the White Mountains in New Hampshire and hiking Mount Washington. Going to the Sam Adams Brewery even though she'd been with Frankie before. Trying for Opening Day tickets at Fenway. But in the end, she'd stumbled on something that was just so perfect. A blend of past and present, new and old, friendship and love.

"I think I have it," Jane finally told Maura one night as they'd curled up on Maura's sofa to watch a movie. "Next weekend, you and me, the Public Gardens. I'll explain when we get there." And Maura seemed so pleased about the whole thing that she didn't even ask any questions.

-R-I-

"I've been restraining myself all week," Maura confessed as they strolled through the Gardens hand in hand. One benefit to this particular outing was its proximity to Beacon Hill. "I'm not complaining, but we run here all of the time. What made you pick this?"

"We might run here," Jane agreed easily, confident that her final reveal would be worth it. "But I don't think we've ever just walked through here on a weekend. Especially not like this." She swung their joined hands between them.

"So we're living in the moment? Nowhere to be, nothing pressing to do. Just you and me among the flowers?" Maura's voice was teasing but Jane could hear the truth beneath it. There wasn't anywhere else that she or Maura wanted to be.

"Sort of. We can, uh, leisurely stroll to a point but we do have somewhere to be."

"Where?"

"Just up ahead. The Lagoon." Jane pointed with her free hand as they came up on the docks, the famous Swan Boats loading passengers for their adventures.

"We're going on a Swan Boat?" Maura tugged Jane close to her to wrap her arm around her waist. "All my years in Boston and I've never gone. This is perfect."

Jane wrapped her arm around Maura's shoulder so that they could continue forward together. "I never have either," she confessed. "And there's a bit of a story behind it."

"Oh?"

Jane spotted a bench close to the dock and steered them toward it. "I'll tell you about it before we buy tickets and go," she explained. "It's a better story when there's not people breathing down my neck."

Maura giggled. "Okay then. Shoot." She knocked her knee against Jane's on the bench.

"When I was in middle school, somehow it got to be this thing that if a boy liked a girl, he'd ask her to meet in the park and go on the Swan Boats."

"Ahhh. Okay. This is starting to make sense." Maura stroked Jane's wrist lightly. "Did you ever get asked here?"

"Well," Jane chewed her lip before meeting Maura's eyes. "No. And I was thinking about every single little thing I'd ever wanted to do, to try to come up with this last thing, and I remembered the Swan Boats and how I'd always wanted to go. And how disappointed I felt when I was a kid and no one ever asked me."

"I'm sorry that you weren't," Maura said gently. "Middle school is rough."

"Well, naturally, Ma got wind of it, I think Frankie let it slip, and she actually tried to take me one weekend over the summer. Like a mother/daughter thing, although she wasn't subtle about it at all."

"She's a good mom."

"She is," Jane agreed, a bit wistfully. Why was it always that it took some years and some perspective to realize the things most important to you? "But I talked her out of it. Nicely, I promise, but we didn't go."

"Why?" Maura looked at Jane curiously.

"It wasn't about not wanting to go with my mom," Jane explained. "I just wanted what everyone else had...to go do this thing with someone who liked you. I don't know looking back if it was as serious as I thought it was, but it just seemed like the kids who came here to go on these boats with boys that liked them...I wanted that. And coming with my mom would have been fun, maybe, but I would have spent it wishing I was with someone who...loved me back. Or liked me back, back then."

"So now we're here," Maura concluded. "You finally get to go on the Swan Boat with the person you like."

Jane grinned. "Person, yes. Boy, no. And like I don't think covers it enough. I get to go on the Swan Boats, many, many years overdue, with the woman I love."

Maura leaned over to sweetly kiss Jane's cheek, sighing a little as Jane's arms came around her in a soft embrace. "And so do I."

They stood after a moment or two and rejoined hands before heading to the booth to buy their tickets. "Any final thoughts," Jane asked Maura quietly as they waited in line. "Four seasons, four activities, and a whole lot of water under the bridge later...you still think it all wasn't so bad?"

Maura touched the crown of her head to Jane's chin, sighing as Jane's hands came to hold her waist. "Not so bad is an understatement," she murmured, closing her eyes a little. Jane squeezed her waist lightly in response. "Really, Jane, it couldn't be better." And with that, Jane felt the final pieces of herself finally drifting back into place. She was herself again, and she and Maura were...she and Maura, only enhanced now. They'd sprung anew despite all her misgivings. And like Maura had sense, it hadn't been so bad. Not at all.