Short update. Some necessary stuff for plot advancement. Holla at ya girl with comments and questions! -JJ


Maura eventually decided that they ought to get out of bed and start their day. Jane got laced up in her runners while Maura, having gone for a jog the day before, elected to stay home. Maura made several calls to find the most renowned therapists in the country so that Jane had nothing short of the very best. With modern technology and the connections Maura had, it was likely Jane would be able to work with anyone in the US through skype or similar. It helped that an Isles was requesting contact as their name was well known for donating to the mental health community. Maura had organized a fair few successful fundraisers herself, so all the calls she made were well received. Before she knew it, she had a handful of people Jane could choose from.

"Hey!" Jane called as she walked through the door and Maura turned to see that she wasn't alone. "I found another stray."

"Hey, Maura." Cailin shot a playful sneer at Jane's comment and then waved to her sister.

"What a surprise!" Maura stood up from the couch and approached the two other women but fell short. She'd intended to hug Cailin. She'd never done that in greeting before. It was odd and she was unsure if it was acceptable. Was it customary to hug estranged siblings one met a couple of years ago? She couldn't be sure so she stood there feeling awkward, looking from Cailin to Jane, who watched her with poorly hidden entertainment. "A surprise… that's not to say it's not nice to see you, Cailin, I always enjoy your company. Hope said you'd be visiting but I assumed you'd have called or texted first. Though you are welcome here at any time-"

"It's nice to see you, too," Cailin cut off Maura's rambling with the hug Maura had been too afraid to give, and Maura took only a half-second to return the gesture, smiling at Jane over Cailin's shoulder. "I was in the neighborhood. There's a cute little coffee house I like to study at near here so I figured I'd stop by. It's got sofas and a fireplace and stuff and none of the kids at school know about it. It's mostly old people that go there, I think."

"Hey!" Jane chastised and then moved to cover up Maura's ears. "We go there!" Jane whispered violently and Maura chuckled at Jane's antics while Cailin failed to hide a smirk.

"Sorry," she said, but Maura got the impression that she wasn't sorry at all.

"I'm gonna go get Jo from my apartment, kay, Maur?" Jane said as she moved to the closet to grab her other shoes. Maura nodded and noticed Cailin's eyebrows draw together.

"What, is that code for something? You know I'm an adult, right?" Cailin sassed as she moved further into the house to make herself comfortable in Maura's kitchen.

"Code? I'm not sure what you mean," Maura admitted as she followed Cailin with a curious Jane on her heels.

"Jane doesn't have an apartment," Cailin explained as if they were both stupid.

"Uhh, yeah I do. All my stuff is there and everything. Shoes, dishes… dog," Jane listed in confusion.

"Oh…" Cailin seemed to get more confused by the second.

"Oh?" Maura prompted.

"I thought all of Jane's stuff was here. I mean, you've got shoes and dishes here. Usually, Jo is here too."

"You thought I lived here?" Jane seemed genuinely surprised.

"I mean, yeah." Cailin gave Jane a pointed look. "You're here every time I'm here, you were here when I was staying for a week even when Maura wasn't here, half the coats in the front closet are too big to be Maura's… plus you've been dating since I've known you so I kinda just assumed you lived here." Cailin looked over at Maura with that knowing look and it set Maura off in a frustrated rage.

"Did everyone know but me?" Maura threw her hands up. She could finally place the look. No wonder she'd received it so frequently. All of her research was so obvious that she didn't even need to do it. The answer had been there the entire time in the eyes of her friends and family, screaming 'she loves you. She loves you! SHE LOVES YOU!' And Maura had simply been too blind or too ignorant to notice it and it enraged her beyond belief. "I am a scientist! I am a genius! How did I not notice?" Maura continued to yell and accentuate her words with hand gestures (she would later attribute the movements to being surrounded by so many Italians and learning their behaviour) and the other two women stared at her in shock until Jane approached and gently shook her shoulders.

"Okay, she's lost it. Anyone with Martin genes, on the couch!" Jane ordered and pointed to the sofa. "Come on, genius, go sit down. You too, kid," Jane addressed Cailin and the three of them moved to the living room. Jane paced back and forth on one side of the coffee table, while Maura and Cailin exchanged confused looks while they sat across from her.

"So…" Jane finally started to speak as Maura followed her pacing. "Since you've known us, you believed we were dating, correct?"

"Correct," Cailin responded and Jane nodded smartly.

"And your mother also thought we were together?" Jane continued her interrogation.

"Yeah… are you guys not 'out' or whatever?" Cailin asked.

"I'm asking the questions here." Jane pointed to Cailin and Maura tried not to smirk at the interrogation technique. Maura thought it rather interesting that Cailin thought it more likely that they weren't 'out,' instead of the actual truth; they were not a couple. "The whole time you thought we were a couple?"

"A couple, as in two people who are married, engaged, or otherwise closely associated romantically or sexually?" Maura continued Jane's question.

"Thank you, Merriam-Webster," Jane sassed.

"I mean, look at your mantel and tell me what I was supposed to think," Cailin pointed to the shelf above the fireplace. Maura followed her hand and, although slightly embarrassed, smiled sweetly at the picture frames and items there.

There were framed photographs of Maura and the Rizzolis' during Christmases and family gatherings, but most of the images were photos of her and Jane. There was a picture of the two of them sitting in their booth at the dirty robber pretty early on in their friendship. Jane and Maura had switched beverages and Jane had insisted they get photographic evidence of Maura drinking beer. They both smiled at the camera and Jane gave her 'bunny ears.' There was a photo of Bass tolerating Jo Friday snuggled with him because of her body heat. There were photos of Maura and Jane together at several events, such as baseball at Fenway or an art gallery or museum, dressed up. The newest addition was the photograph Angela had taken at the beach of the two of them with TJ wearing Maura's hat. Objectively speaking, if she were to walk into her house as a stranger and look at the photos, she would surmise that she and Jane were a couple. Those photos had been there for years. It annoyed Maura to no end that she'd been so oblivious to Jane's feelings for her and her feelings for Jane.

"Okay, fair enough." Jane shrugged and then sat in the armchair calmly.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Maura asked her sister.

"Would I have had to if Jane was a man? No," Cailin answered herself before she continued. "If you guys don't want people to know you should hide it better. People don't care about this anymore so you shouldn't have to feel like hiding, but you could do a better job of it. I mean, you stock Jane's beer in your fridge and I've seen you staring at her ass like a hundred times." Cailin shrugged and Maura glanced at Jane in a panic. To her utter astonishment, Jane was smirking.

"Well, I do have an amazing glutenous maximum or whatever." Jane shrugged with forced casualness as she failed to hide her amusement.

"Gluteus maximus," Maura corrected the phrasing but could not deny that she often appreciated Jane's, nor that Jane did indeed have an amazing one.

"Anyway, I do have an apartment, but… thanks for, I don't know, not being homophobic or whatever," Jane stated to a confused Cailin.

"She's not the only one who thinks we're together. Nor is she the only one who thought we've been together since we met. Susie, your mother, Frost and Frankie, Hope… Korsak," Maura started to list the people who gave her 'the look.'

"Korsak?" Jane looked at Maura in surprised confusion. "Nobody ever said anything…" Jane mused quietly.

"I suppose they thought we'd simply figure it out ourselves," Maura shrugged.

"That does not sound like my mother," Jane snarked and Maura chuckled. "So everyone we know thought we were together or hoped that we would end up together?"

"It would certainly seem so," Maura admitted and Cailin nodded. Jane seemed think something over in her head before she stood.

"Well, okay then. I'm off to get Jo," Jane seemed unbothered by the information she'd just learned.

"Oh, I made a few calls for you, there's a folder on the desk in my office with names of suitable people," Maura spoke discreetly and Jane nodded to let Maura know that she understood. "Perhaps you can research them while you're out?"

"Yeah." Jane smiled and moved to Maura's office to grab the folder.

"You guys are so married," Cailin muttered and Maura laughed.

"I assure you, we are not," Maura denied with a smirk.

"You made calls for her? Married," Cailin chuckled. Instead of responding, Maura simply shrugged and recalled Jane's words from earlier that morning, when she had said she wanted everything with Maura, marriage included. Jane returned smiling and kissed the top of Maura's head from behind the couch before she headed toward the door.

"See you later, Maur, bye Cailin," Jane called. The sisters responded in kind.

"Married," Cailin muttered.

"Would you like lunch?" Maura stood from the couch and moved to her kitchen and Cailin chuckled, presumably at the obvious change of topic.

"Sure. I was hoping you might be willing to help me with some of my work," Cailin admitted. Maura opened the fridge door and hid her face behind it to hide the wide grin that appeared at the prospect of helping her little sister with her homework. She used to fantasize about the activity when she was younger.

"I'd love to," Maura admitted, taking out food Angela had left in the fridge at some point.


After a couple of hours spent with her sister, Cailin went home and left Maura to muse over the assumptions the younger woman had made. Maura chuckled at herself, though she was frustrated and confused that she had been so blind to her own emotions for so long. In general, she was above average at self-reflection, but Jane had always been an enigma so it followed that Maura might be ignorant of anything that had to do with Jane, including her own feelings toward her. Maura moved to her office, intending to add a new entry to the 'Jane Journal.' She paused in the doorway in a slight panic. There, upon her desk, the very journal in question was in plain sight. It was the only item left out and Maura was certain that Jane would have seen it. She approached slowly and let out a breath of relief as she noticed that it was at least upside down so the title was hidden. She hoped Jane had ignored the book and instead only grabbed the names of available therapists, but she also knew that Jane's curiosity was not easily assuaged. She knew she wanted to show Jane her findings, but due to the sections that depicted Jane's sexual response, she worried that it might be insensitive to show her so soon. She elected to wait to show Jane and write about more emotional aspects of their connection and possibly any progress Jane shared with her.

Data and Analysis: Of what? I'm not sure.

I have considered every fact up until this point. I've researched and theorized and attained so much evidence within these pages that the answer is screaming at me. What I failed to consider, though, was that I didn't need to think about anything at all. For all my years of compartmentalization, I failed to consider the notion that perhaps I could 'compartmentalize' my scientific mind and simply allow myself to feel.

An interesting observation is that these entries started as factual. These entries had been scientific in the pursuit of the truth. As time wore on and I began to understand my feelings for Jane, the entries became more and more personal without me even realizing the steady climb that took me further from science and closer to how I feel for her.

In the end, it didn't matter how long I spent researching emotional and physical attraction. It didn't matter how I'd chronicled every one of Jane's glances, every touch of our hands, every moment shared between us that might be anything more than friendship. In the end, what I learned is that I don't need to understand the yearnings of my heart, I just had to offer it to the right person.

P.s. Jane is my person.

She drew a picture of Bass wearing one of Korsak's favourite ties around his neck with a little speech-bubble saying 'She loves you.'

She snapped the book shut at the sound of the front door opening. Maura smiled as she heard Jo's nails click against the floor in search of her or Bass. She slid the book into her top drawer and left her office. She found Jane on the floor in the living room, chuckling as Jo ran around Bass, who was so used to the dog's antics by now that he didn't even try to hide. Jo quickly got tired and simply laid next to the tortoise and Bass stayed there, likely appreciating the heat radiating off of the small dog. Jane patted both animals and Maura chuckled, causing Jane to jump.

"You can deny liking Bass all you like, detective, but the evidence doesn't lie," Maura teased and Jane rolled her eyes before standing. That's when Maura noticed that Jane had changed into a pair of dark jeans and a dressy red blouse. Curious, Maura decided to try her hand at a joke. "Do you have a date that I'm not aware of?"

"Yep." Jane nodded and Maura tried her best not to look offended or confused. They hadn't talked about the status of their relationship after all. Jane seemed to read her anyway, as she always did, and hastily continued. "With you! If you want to go… I just… I figured that since everyone thinks we're dating anyway, we might as well actually go on a date?" Jane stated and then nervously started to pick at one of her fingernails.

"Okay," Maura agreed happily.

"Okay?" Jane smiled nervously and Maura laughed.

"Of course, it only makes sense. What did you have in mind?" Maura asked, curious to know what Jane had planned in the few hours since they had been separated.

"Okay, well I know you don't exactly love the movies, but I figured you could make an exception for this one. It's 'Planet of the Apes.' I thought we could watch it and I would like it, then afterward you can tell me all of the scientific inaccuracies." Jane paused to wiggle her eyebrows and Maura laughed.

"That sounds delightful." Maura smiled and Jane grinned. "You look nice."

"Well, go get ready so you can look nice too!" Jane teased to hide the blush on her cheeks and Maura left to do just that. She stood in her closet and looked at her many, many dresses, debating which of her options best suited the events of the evening. Maura decided to wear one of her deep blue sundresses and use red accent pieces so that she would match Jane's outfit discreetly.

"I didn't mean that nice," Jane said as Maura re-entered the living room, causing both women to blush slightly.

"These are my casual clothes," Maura defended her choice of outfit, not for the first time. Jane rolled her eyes but smiled.

"I don't know why I expected anything other than couture." Jane chuckled.

"I look nice," Maura declared as she walked to the closet by the front entrance and transferred her important items from her regular purse to the red one that matched her outfit the best.

"You always look nice," Jane said, and although the words sounded like a complaint, Maura appreciated them nonetheless. Jane guided Maura out of the front door and then held the passenger car door open exaggeratedly. Maura smiled at her appreciatively. Instead of heading right to the theatre, Jane stopped by a store. Upon her return, Maura noticed several snacks in the bag. Once they got to the theatre, Jane started stuffing some of the snacks into her pockets and up her sleeves.

"Jane, you can't bring those in, it's against the rules!" Maura complained, shocked that Jane would behave in such a way.

"So? I'm not paying sixty dollars for two drinks and a popcorn. That should be against the rules," Jane argued just as strongly. "Here, put these in one of the smaller pouches in your purse."

"No!" Maura denied, "I will not help you break the law."

"It's not a law, Maur, it's just some dumb theatre rule to sucker people into buying their overpriced garbage. It's unamerican," Jane explained and although Maura knew Jane was right, she still felt slightly uneasy about smuggling in contraband. "C'mon, Maur! Remember that time Frankie caught you spray painting? What did you tell me?" Jane asked.

"...That I liked it!" Maura admitted and momentarily hid her face behind her hands. "That it reminded me of who I used to be. Someone fun! Someone who took chances! I feel so… routine and boring sometimes." Maura chuckled at herself.

"Are you insane?" Jane guffawed. "You're the most interesting person I know. Maura, you know how to pick locks… You got me to do emergency surgery on your leg in the middle of the woods for Christ's sake! Boring? Really? You amaze me every single day with something! Maybe you don't ride horses across campus naked to fight budget cuts, and maybe your life has become a little more routine... but that's because we're adults, Maura, it's supposed to be like that. Just because the fun, amazing things you do every day aren't illegal, doesn't mean they don't take courage. You're the bravest person I know. You don't need to spray paint the side of the Ritz to be interesting, Maur, you're already enough. Now, help me smuggle this candy into the movie theatre please?"

"When did you become reasonable?" Maura muttered through the thickness in her throat and they laughed together as Jane reached across the console to hug her. Jane's words struck a chord in Maura's heart that she had assumed was no longer functional. "Why did this just convince me to smuggle snacks into the theatre?" Maura chuckled out.

"We don't cross the line, Maur, but it's okay to dip a toe over it now and again," Jane smirked.

"Fine, give me the drinks and chocolate," Maura beckoned with her hands and Jane smiled winningly. They got out of the car and Jane seemed too amused at Maura trying to behave naturally.

"Be cool, Maura," Jane sassed.

"I have never in my life, not once, been described as 'cool,' Jane. You know this," Maura whispered harshly as they walked up to the kiosk to buy their tickets.

"No, I meant… nevermind. Just stop acting like you just ran over someone in the parking lot, alright?" Jane nudged her with her elbow and Maura rolled her eyes but began some calming breaths. "Two tickets to 'Planet of the Apes,' please," Jane spoke to the attendant.

"Would you like any drinks or snacks?" The young man behind the counter offered and Maura felt the rush of adrenaline surge through her body before Jane shook her head in the negative.

"Nah, we're good, thanks." Jane took the tickets and they moved into the theatre, finding their seats easily in the mostly empty room. "You're not going to faint on me, are you?"

"No, I didn't lie, nor did I do anything illegal," Maura reasoned out loud. At Jane's knowing smirk, Maura had to laugh at herself for panicking about smuggling a chocolate bar into the theatre and at the excitement she felt. "Quite the way to live on the wild side," she teased herself and Jane and they laughed as the pre-movie commercials started to play. As the movie played and they finished their contraband snacks, Jane reached over the armrest to lace her fingers with Maura's and Maura let her head fall onto Jane's shoulder for the remainder of the movie.


"I can't believe you liked it," Jane said as they exited the theatre still hand in hand.

"Well, aside from the glaringly obvious scientific inaccuracies you warned me about, the storyline was quite imaginative and heartwarming. Though I do prefer the original," Maura stated.

"Of course you do," Jane commented in amusement. "I thought we were going to have a repeat from when I got you to watch 'Jurassic Park' with me."

"It was early in our friendship and I was unprepared for the inexactness of that movie, though I can now admit that it was quite impressive for its time. I researched it after we watched it and they used up to date science of the time, and considering the limitations in place, it is admittedly, impressive." Maura assessed.

"Are you saying you were wrong and that you like that movie now, too?" Jane raised an eyebrow.

"I'm saying that I'm passionate about dinosaurs and that with more knowledge and upon further reflection, that my opinion has changed," Maura admitted and then smiled at Jane's laugh.

"Okay, we can go with that," Jane chuckled as they walked toward the car. Maura spotted a couple of other detectives that hung around with Crowe and Maura stiffened at the sight of them, unsure of how Jane would react. She discreetly indicated toward the men so Jane would be aware of them and moved to let go of Jane's hand, but Jane held her tighter.

"Damn, Rizzoli," one of the detectives, Picard, called out, "I didn't know you were actually dating Mrs. Frankenstein," he joked and the other detective laughed.

"You wanna be next on her slab, Picard?" Jane questioned menacingly and the man scoffed.

"Can't believe she settled for you," he continued to harass Jane.

"I'm twice the detective you are and twice the woman you'll ever get. And Doctor Isles gets whatever the hell she wants, and if that's me, you can shut the fuck up about it or I'll haul you to the station myself and get you charged for harassing her," Jane continued in her confident tone and the men rolled their eyes before continuing on their way.

"Jane!" Maura hissed, "I can't believe you just threatened him!"

"We've been over this, Maur. It wasn't a threat, it was a defense tactic… like when you didn't threaten Kitty Vansen," Jane smirked and Maura scowled at her. Her body was reacting to Jane's defense and although she knew her arousal was due to a leftover primitive response telling her that Jane was a suitable mate, the reasoning didn't make her any less aroused. She would have to come up with a plan to mitigate her sexual response to Jane before it became a problem.

When they got back to Maura's after their date, Maura elected to take a shower and used the removable showerhead's various settings for more than simply cleaning herself. Relaxed and temporarily satiated, she returned to the living room dressed in her silk pajamas and watched Jeopardy with Jane.

"You didn't panic today," Maura broke the silence after some time. Jane looked at her in confusion so she elaborated. "When Picard caught us on a date and harassed you. You didn't panic. What was different?"

"Oh," Jane responded in understanding and became pensive before she continued. "I don't know, I guess what we were doing was something I could classify as innocent enough. I mean, it helped me to learn that everyone who knows us already supports us and I guess if Boston already thinks we're together then I shouldn't be upset that people notice us together. It's just hand-holding. People do that all the time."

"So it's okay for me to hold your hand?" Maura asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Yeah," Jane nodded. "I want to hold your hand… I guess if I think about it as intimacy instead of something that might lead to… you know, sex, then it's okay if people see me doing it. I don't know. It doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"I think it does," Maura reassured her. "An innocent intimacy is acceptable because, in your experience, people have historically been accepting of it. It wasn't until your… friendship with Clara took a more physical turn, that people reacted negatively. That makes sense." Maura gave Jane's thought process the credit it deserved and Jane nodded.

"I called doctor Evans, the shrink from work, and he says he just has to do a cursory meet-up with me to make sure whatever is triggering me won't affect my job, which it won't, and that if I'm going to do therapy outside of work, I can still do my job," Jane updated and Maura smiled.

"That's great. Did you call any of the people I found for you?" Maura asked.

"No, not yet. I researched them though. One of them is here in Boston and she seems like the best choice for me." Jane shrugged and played with her hands.

"Doctor Peddar? Yes, she's incredibly good at her job. She helped me greatly," Maura admitted, both to show Jane that going to therapy was okay and to make Jane more comfortable in her decision.

"You've met her?" Jane seemed surprised.

"Yes. She was the doctor that suggested the immersion therapy that helped overcome my social anxiety," Maura explained, unashamed at her own need for help.

"Oh. That makes me feel better… I'll call her tomorrow," Jane admitted. "I can't believe everyone knew I had feelings for you but never said anything."

"If it makes you feel better, I didn't know until very recently, and even then I wasn't entirely sure." Maura smiled at Jane who chuckled. "I'm going to go visit Susie tomorrow. It'll give you privacy for your phone call and I can ask her why she never said anything about our obvious attraction to each other." Maura planned.

"Careful, or she might become afraid of both of us," Jane teased and Maura grinned.


After a relaxing evening in with Jane, the two women slept easily in the same bed as they often did, but this time, Jane held Maura tenderly from behind for the duration of the night, and Maura woke to feel blissfully complete. She left Jane a note to remind her of her plans to go see Susie Chang. It was a little after eight by the time Maura had arrived at the criminalist's house and she felt only slightly bad for ignoring the social mores that her mother had taught her. She was beyond them at the moment, and try though she might, she often ignored them accidentally anyway. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door, waiting for a few seconds until a pajama-clad criminalist opened the door.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Maura started and sighed at herself for being impolite, and then got even more frustrated at herself for her intense need to always be proper.

"Uhh, hi doctor Isles." Susie rubbed one of her eyes and then stared at Maura in confusion.

"I'm knocking on your door at eight-fifteen on our day off, Susie, I think I've lost the right to ask you to use my title," Maura waved off.

"O-kay… well then, doc- Maura, why didn't I tell you what?" Susie asked and finally stepped to the side to allow Maura into her home. Maura walked into the open floorplan space and immediately thought it was perfect for Susie. It was clean and beachy, which likely suited Susie's nudist tendencies well, and there was a display of a scapanorhynchus skeleton in the corner of the room next to a shelf filled with other fossils. Maura loved the space immediately.

"Your home is amazing!" Maura declared, momentarily distracted by her excitement. She'd only ever been on the outside of Susie's house to drop off baseball things, and that had been years ago.

"Thanks. I like dinosaurs," Susie shrugged and Maura beamed.

"Me too! Did you know that- wait, this is not why I barged in on you. I'm quite mad, actually," Maura admitted.

"Mad? At me? What did I do?" Susie asked in the most argumentative tone Maura had heard her use.

"Nothing! That's the point! You knew the whole time and you never said!" Maura spoke loudly but not loud enough to be shouting. She still respected and liked Susie, even in her frustration with her colleague.

"Doc- Maura, it's eight in the morning. Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what on Earth are you talking about?" Susie asked as she ambled tiredly over to the kitchen.

"Jane!" Maura exclaimed and Susie looked up at her guiltily.

"Oh…" Susie took a deep breath and looked at Maura with a leveled expression. "Coffee?"

"I… Okay, yes. What kind?" Maura asked as she sat at the table by the counter.

"I just got it shipped in from Nicaragua. It's organic and fair trade. And it also tastes amazing," Susie gushed slightly as she pulled out a french press and started boiling water. Maura looked at the coffee can, noted that it was her absolute favourite brand, looked at the french press, turned back to view the fossils and skeleton once more before her eyes finally settled on the criminalist.

"Susie," Maura drew her attention momentarily from the coffee-making, "would you like to be friends with me?" Maura asked, and for the first time in a long time, she wasn't worried about rejection. Susie smiled widely over her shoulder.

"I'd like that," she admitted.

"Good. Me too," Maura smiled and waited until Susie had brought over the coffees, having made Maura's perfectly (she'd gone to the café for Maura several times over the years), before she continued their conversation. "Why did you never say anything?"

"Well, at first I thought you guys were already dating, and honestly, I was kind of terrified of Jane and freaking out about working with you because you're so cool," Susie laughed at herself and then at the look of disbelief on Maura's face. "Okay, well, you're cool to me. Anyway, so I just kept quiet, but then Jane started to see that army guy and I was shocked, but I didn't want to ask because Jane's kind of…"

"Prickly?" Maura offered with a smirk and Susie nodded gratefully.

"Yes. Jane can be prickly, so I didn't say anything. Plus, although our work relationship has always been positive, you're still my boss, and it wasn't my place to question you about it. Then you guys both spent years casually dating men, even though it was so obvious you guys were attracted to each other, so I figured one of you was too afraid to date the other, or something. It didn't occur to me that you didn't know until you asked me to help you with your research."

"So why didn't you tell me when I asked?" Maura prompted.

"I did, Maura," Susie chuckled and Maura's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "I listed everything Jane did for you and in the end, I even brought up her name. I told you in every way that I could given our workplace relationship," Susie finished smartly and Maura realized that the criminalist, that her new friend, was right.

"How have I been so blind?" She asked, desperate for an answer.

"Sometimes the timing isn't right. Maybe you subconsciously avoided it until now. Do you think Jane would have been open to dating you if you'd asked her out at the beginning of your friendship?" Susie asked and Maura snorted, and then felt embarrassed about the snorting.

"No, absolutely not," she admitted.

"Well, then perhaps it's for the best that you came out in the interview with Kitty," Susie shrugged.

"I did not come out in the interview, I said 'no comment,'" Maura tried to defend herself and Susie grinned at her.

"Do you want to get hives?" Susie chuckled and Maura scowled at her.

"Fine," Maura conceded, "I did not mean to come out during the interview, but that was the result."

"So are you and Jane together now?"

"I think so," Maura smiled and Susie clapped her hands together in excitement, and Maura was reminded of Angela for some reason.

"Finally!" Susie exclaimed and Maura laughed, equally as excited as the criminalist, if not, more so.


In the few days following, Jane got the all-clear to continue to work and had her first session with doctor Peddar. Maura knew nothing about it beyond the fact that it had gone well but she was happy to know that Jane was so open to receiving the help she needed. Their relationship continued the way it had been, albeit with increasing hand-holding, more body contact, and more kisses to each other's faces and heads. It was an odd sort of intimacy but Maura had so far been able to satiate her own sexual needs while she enjoyed the more innocent aspects of a relationship with Jane.

As much as it was slow torture to have Jane so close, but so unobtainable, it was also magical for Maura to experience. There were no kisses, there was no grabbing, controlling hands, no sultry words uttered erotic promises into her ear, but there was so much love that Maura hardly knew what to do with herself. There were gentle caresses to her face, and the look that filled Jane's eyes when she looked at Maura made her feel more adored and cherished than she had in her entire life. This limbo she was in, the precipice of more but not the promise of it, was everything she should have had; everything she'd missed during boarding school while she had been too afraid to talk to people. Now she got to experience it for the first time with Jane, the one person she loved to share new experiences with.


A/N: So, the importance for Jane here is learning that everyone she values is already supportive. That's why she had that weird conversation with Cailin and Maura. Character growth and shit.

Maura is also learning what she truly needs in a long-term relationship for the first time in her life.

The focus of this story isn't sex at all, though I am likely to include smut because, well, I love it. I really wanted to focus on how same-sex couples often have some sort of purity in their love that is not often depicted in my experience.

We gone get more fluff soon. -JJ