Frost studied Jane. He'd seen his partner after a while lot of different things, the good ones and the bad ones. But the woman sitting at her desk in front of him was not a side of Jane he'd ever encountered before. She was calm, too calm even, and not from depression like during Maura's absence. No, this was a tranquility that he'd never experienced before that started Tuesday and has continued all week even with a gruesome triple homicide on their plates.

No, something just wasn't right. Frost just wasn't sure how he could figure it out without having his balls kicked to his throat and thus ending the tranquility that seemed to be surrounding his partner.

"Did you find the brother yet?" Jane asked, looking over some of the paperwork in front of her. They had just found out one of their victims had a brother that had been adopted away from the family when he was born.

"Yeah, he's flying in tonight," Frost answered. Jane nodded and set aside the paperwork. "So, uh... Do you want to go on home? I don't mind covering for the next hour if you want to leave early."

"Nah, Maura's still finishing one of the autopsies downstairs. I'm going to wait on her," Jane replied, leaning back to stretch and ignoring the paperwork in front of her.

"How are things with Maura?" Frost watched as Jane's face brightened and a huge grin split her face. "I take it things are that good, huh."

"Uh-huh. God, Frost, I didn't know anything could be so amazing," Jane told him. Luckily the bullpen was mostly empty, or she'd never live down being caught acting sappy. She worked hard to become a badass in the department.

"I'm glad it's all worked out."

"Yeah, me too," Jane murmured. "We haven't had drinks for a while at the Robber. Why don't we all meet up there in a few hours? I'm really in the mood for their chili cheese fries, though I'm sure Maura will fight me on it before I get them anyway."

Frost laughed. "Yeah, I'll shoot Korsak and Frankie a message to let them know. You wanna go down and ask Maura to join us?" He wasn't stupid; he knew Jane was trying to fight the urge to go downstairs. And although he knew she was sincere about getting drinks together, it was also a good excuse to at least talk to Maura.

"Yeah, I'll go see her," Jane said, grinning and getting up.

Jane slipped into the booth first, because she knew that Maura didn't really enjoy sliding all the way to the wall when she was in a dress. Frost and Frankie sat across from them.

"No Korsak?" Jane asked.

"Nope," Frankie answered. "He had a date with Ma tonight."

Jane wrinkled her nose as one of the few waitresses walked over. "Can I get you anything?" she asked, smiling at Jane, who proceeded to order beers all around. "Will that be all?"

"For now," Jane told her. "You're a new face on the staff. When did you start working here?"

"I'm Sam's daughter," the waitress explained. "I started a few weeks ago. Why, do I act green?"

"Nah, but it's been a while since I've been in here," Jane answered. "We cops come here a lot, and I hadn't heard about a new face from the guys so I was curious."

The waitress's smile turned coy. "Well, that's too bad that no one told you. I would have liked to have seen you come by earlier. Not many coming through are quite so friendly."

Jane shrugged, not quite reading the girl's body language because Maura's hand had grabbed her thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I, uh, try to be as courteous as possible before I get smashed to make up for what happens after I hit my limit."

"I'm sure there's nothing you would have to worry about, officer."

"Detective," Jane corrected, clearing her throat when Maura's hand moved away from her thigh. "I'm a detective, homicide division." She seemed to notice the waitress's interest in her and shifted uncomfortably, looking at the guys for support. She looked back at the waitress. "These two are also! And, this is the medical examiner," she added nervously, putting an arm around Maura.

The waitress met Maura's eyes and, despite her polite smile, she knew what that look meant. The waitress straightened up and smiled nervously. "Ah, let me get you those beers."

Frost watched her go. "What was up with that?"

"She was very interested in you, Jane," Frankie commented. "Damn, you get the attention of more women than I do!"

"I wasn't trying to!" Jane hissed, hand grasping Maura's as she looked at her. "Honest!"

Maura smiled at her softly. "I know. I don't doubt that you were oblivious. I'm sure you weren't paying too close attention to her." Her hand slipped from Jane's to grab her thigh again. Jane nodded and tried not to blush.

"You two aren't, like, doing anything over there, are you?" Frankie asked. "Because we're in public, and you're both like my sisters. That's all kinds of wrong."

"I, on the other hand, would not mind watching," Frost amended, grinning and shooting them a wink.

Jane glared at him. "There's no way anyone is seeing Maura naked but me," she growled at him. "So don't even think about it, don't imagine it, don't even dream about it. Got it?"

Frost's smile wavered, and he was glad when the beer arrived, because Maura whispered something in Jane's ear that had her grinning even as her cheeks pinked. And he was fighting really hard not to imagine what she might be saying, because his mind could come up with a lot of really good ideas.

Jane took a long drag of her beer and leaned back, letting Maura lean into her. "So, what're the stats for the Celtics right now? I haven't had a chance to catch up this week."

Frankie couldn't stop the laugh as he looked at the two of them. "What had you too busy to check the TV, Janie? It only takes like twenty minutes if you turn on Maura's TV. She's got all the sports channels, I'm sure one of them would have had it."

Jane coughed as she cheeks warmed. "We've been, uh, busy."

"I bet!" Frost laughed. "But, seriously, you guys are, you know, together and all that?"

"If we're not, we've been doing some pretty weird things for just friends," Jane commented. Then, she frowned. "Actually, some friends do those kinds of things. But yes, we're dating, together, whatever word you feel like using. The end result is still that Maura is my girlfriend."

"And Jane is mine," Maura added.

"I think we need some celebratory shots!" Frankie shouted, waving over the waitress and called for some tequila. Jane whispered to Maura to make sure she only has one shot and no more than four beers or she'll be lucky to be able to get out of the booth later. Maura noted that, and made concessions regarding her own intake.

"To Jane and Maura," Frost said, lifting his shot glass. The other three lifted there glasses and, after they tapped in the center of the table, everyone swallowed the shots all together.

"I love you," Jane told Maura, smiling as she watched the guys as they headed for the pool tables.

Maura studied Jane, taking in how relaxed she looked and realized that she'd never seen Jane look so happy and content while awake before. She smiled and kissed Jane's jaw.

"I love you too."

Yes, this is the end. I was struggling with how to end this story, because I'd completed everything I'd wanted to complete and endings are something I don't like to do. However, I couldn't come up with anything else I could do with this story, and all that was left was Jane coming to terms with taking that final step and call Maura her girlfriend, thus this chapter. Otherwise, I probably would have ended it with that last chapter.

Thank you for taking this journey with me. I'm glad that I had some readers who enjoyed my work, though I'm sure it wasn't as amazing as it could have been.

Hopefully, this is not the last time we cross paths. Until next time...