Jane was glad, that Dusty had joined their shopping trip. They had a lot of fun talking and shared the bags with Maura's purchases.
"You should try this one on." Maura said, when returning after a few minutes of circling the shop. Jane and Dusty had settled into a pair of chairs close to the changing stalls, waiting for Maura to get changed. As they had already been there for almost an hour one of the clerks had brought them coffee.
Now Jane glanced up at a white linen suit held out by her wonderful fiancé. She checked it thoroughly and then decided to give it a try as it was looking nice. Maura sat down while she went into the stall that had been previously used by the doc, finding an incredible amount of clothes that Maura had already tried on. Mesmerized by how the doc could bring up so much patience and find it even entertaining she slid her t-shirt over her head to start with the top.
Maura had even found the perfect size she noticed as she glanced at her reflection in the mirror when being finished with changing. It looked good and was comfortable to wear she thought when hearing the docs voice. "Are you ready Jane? Can we see it?"
Jane smiled. She stepped out of the stall to show herself and Maura and Dusty gasped. "I hate to say it Jay but looks like you found your wedding outfit." Dusty stated with a teasing grin. The pilot took one more glance into the mirror, admitting silently that Dusty had a point there. Had it been Maura's intention she wondered and searched for hazel eyes which were beaming.
There was one thing Jane hated. And that was being pushed or manipulated. It came from her childhood, when her mother constantly forced her to do or wear things she hated. She reluctantly agreed to take the suit but insisted on paying for it herself. She hated to think that Maura would do such thing and decided to ask her when they were alone in their cabin on the ship later. She wanted to make it clear that she didn't like that.
As it was time to go back to the busses anyways, the group of three rushed through the street without much talking. Back on the bus, Jane closed her eyes for the short ride back to the cruise ship. This is how our parents damage us for live, she thought bitterly, when following Maura to their cabin, all bags on her arms, because Dusty's room was on another story of this huge boat.
The doc began to unpack and hang up her purchases immediately and Jane watched her while spread on the duvet of the bed. The sky was darkening, and a thunderstorm was threatening, mirroring Janes mood.
"You really look great in the suit." Maura said with a wide smile, crawling onto the bed when being finished.
"Hmmm. Thank you." Jane replied, seeing that Maura realized for the first time that something was off. "We don't have to get married next week." The doc stated after guessing what had Jane's mood spoiled. "We don't?" Jane asked, immediately regretting the biting tone. Although thinking how good it felt at the same time. Maura flinched and pulled back a little.
"No, of course not!" she said determined.
"Why the linen suit then?" Jane asked, holding eye contact. She saw confusion clouding Maura's face. "I just thought that it would look good on you. And it does. There was no…" Maura hesitated and sucked in some air as realization about what Jane was implying hit her. "You think I'd try it through the backdoor? After us talking about everything openly?" she was offended now, Jane could see anger in the hazel eyes. The blonde slipped off the bed and walking towards the door.
Please don't go! She thought but remained silent. "I don't know Maur. Maybe…" she didn't get to finish the sentence when the doc gave her a deadly cold glare. "You of all people Jane should know that I wouldn't do such thing!" then she left, throwing the door shut behind herself.
Jane lay in silence and bit her lips. Her fingers were playing nervously with the hem of her shirt as she tried to figure out if she had made a serious mistake. She couldn't tell, if she was honest. They hadn't known each other for that long. But she considered the possibility of overreacting because of what her mum had done to her all her live.
She sighed when there was a knock to the door. She assumed that it was Maura who had left her keycard on the nightstand and got up to open. But there was no Maura. Instead, a grinning Dusty who held up a guitar.
"I wrote a song for you guys. Hope I'm not interrupting some uhm.. you know…. Sex." Dusty chuckled nervously and shrugged. Then the woman turned serious. "Is everything all right?"
Now it was Janes turn to shrug helplessly. "We had a fight." She sighed after checking if someone could hear them. "Oh." Dusty looked worried now. "Its not bad, is it?" she followed Jane's invitation to come into the room. "I don't know." Jane admitted with another heavy sigh. "I might have made a mistake, or maybe not."
Dusty shook her head. "How do you mean, you don't know?"
Jane told her what had happened and Dusty kept nodding thoughtfully. "That's not good." She mumbled in sympathy. "Not good at all."
"You should go and look for her. Who knows, maybe she's already hanging drunk somewhere, flirting with some other girl."
Jane could imagine Maura being drunk, but definitely not flirting with someone else. And if she did, there would be no wedding anyways. But she kept her thoughts to herself. "Shall I help you to find her?" Dusty asked but Jane shook her head.
"I honestly don't think that this was Maura's intention." The woman said, glancing at Jane who suddenly felt ridiculous for flipping out.
"Guess I owe her a big apology huh?" she mumbled and Dusty nodded. They left the room to look for Maura. Dusty dragging her guitar all along and Jane's heart hurting a bit when passing the corners where they had kissed. And man, these were more than she had thought.
They found Maura on deck by the Music bar. A band was playing on the stage and the doc was enjoying the same cocktail Jane had chosen for her the night after the casino. Jane's heart broke, when she saw Maura hanging her head and sniffing into her cocktail. Oh god, this really needed more than an apology she thought and glanced at the guitar in Dusty's hand.
"Can I borrow this?" she asked pointing to the instrument and Dusty looked puzzled. "Sure." She handed the guitar over to Jane who walked over to the stage. The band was obviously getting ready for a break which meant that she had the perfect timing.
A few minutes later she was climbing the stage with a very insecure glance at the people whose attention immediately went out to her. Hoping that all the stupid karaoke nights and boring guitar lessons would finally pay off she adjusted the micro to her height.
Maura looked surprised and she gave her an apologetical smile, hoping that Maura could feel how sorry she was. If not, she would probably know after Jane had made a complete fool of herself by singing a self-composed love song to her.
The song had been born after their first night out and she explained that to the crowd. There was a lot of cheering and Jane saw Maura blush. "I never planned to perform it in public. But Maur, I love you so much that I just have to let the world know how much you mean to me."
Now people were giving sweet ohs and ahs to express how sweet they thought this gesture was. Jane tried not to roll her eyes as she hit the first strings. Didn't sound so bad, she decided and played the first tunes before beginning to sing. Jane knew that Maura knew how she hated to sing in public. So, this should really be enough to let her know she thought one last time.