When she woke, she already heard noises from the kitchen. God, she would have never risen early at this age. Angela always had to kick her out of bed. Yawning she reached for the phone to check the time. Astonished she stared at the digits saying 10:30 am. Maybe it wasn't so early after all.

Amy was most likely hungry. It had taken Jane ages to fall asleep after going to bed. She had wondered if she should have written more with Maura who had obviously felt alone. The fact that Amy had a present from Maura ready once Jane had walked into the kitchen only deepened her doubts.

She could see that it was a book but couldn't see what it was about. She unwrapped the gift, while Amy made some delicious smelling pancakes. It was a book that read 'how burgers and fries contribute to a healthy diet.'

It made Jane laugh. When she opened it, she found a message on the front page.

To Jane.

I know you always told me that burgers and fries were not bad. Now I have scientific proof.

Guess I must apologize for chiding you for your 'bad diet'

Please consider this as a humble apology.

Maura

She felt Amy curiously glancing over her shoulder to see what had made her laugh.

"Wow!" the girl said and whistled. "Now I know why she stopped chiding me for eating burger and fries."

As it turned out, it was both favorite meal and so Jane decided to skip the plan for making lasagna to make burger and fries instead. Her apartment had a garden with a deck. Sometimes family dinners took place at her home where Frankie and she would discuss who was the better grillmaster.

It didn't take long for Jane to find a book that she could give Maura in return. The title was 'Life explained by numbers'. Amy was enjoying her pool to freshn up as it was still hot. Jane couldn't wait to receive the ordered book to put her own apology into the signing.

Then she quickly typed a message to Maura: Everythings fine here. Hope over there too. Thank you for the book. I would say told you so, but I won't be mean ;)

You'd better not. Although you're right. Everythings fine here too. Lazy Sunday. I try to catch up with a cold case.

Apology accepted. Huh? Working on a Sunday. Bored?

NO, well maybe. But I know the family of the victim and they asked me to take a look at their sons case.

How cold is it?

It was one of my first cases hire in NY. Never got to solve it. Never left my head.

Jane was all too familiar with these cases. Some detectives took this type of case to their grave.

Need help? She typed after giving it some thought.

A fresh pair of eyes might do the trick….

She waited for Mauras reply. It took almost 30 minutes in which the blonde had probably weighed the pros and cons until she received the answer.

You wouldn't mind, would you?

I wouldn't have offered otherwise. Mail me everything you've got.

Okay. Thank you. What's your mailadress?

I haven't changed it. It's still

What are you girls doing?

Amy is in the pool. It's pretty hot here. I'll surprise her with tickets to a game this afternoon.

Jane realized that being with Amy opened the door wide for Maura to get a peek at her life. The podcast, the pool… Keeping Maura out of her life turned out to be harder than Frankie had painted it. Amy would doubtlessly tell Maura about what they did together.

Pool? You have a pool? Wow! I'm happy for you

Yeah, bought a nice apartment with garden.

Maura sounded honestly happy for Jane. Maybe there was a chance to get out of the loop of the hard feelings after all. But Jane still didn't know what to do with all the stuff that was going on. Amy appeared and dropped onto the long chair next to Jane.

"When do you want to record the podcast?" she asked, and Jane told her that they could start as soon as she was ready. Amy immediately stood again with the promise to shower and change.

I mailed you the files and pictures. Have fun you two. ;) was Mauras reply to Janes text that she had to go. Jane convinced herself that she had just texted with Maura because she must feel lonely without Amy. Not because she had enjoyed their conversation.

R&I

"Hi, I'm Jari and this is Coffee and crime. Today I have a very special guest with me. My daughter Amy has decided to join us for todays episode…."

Jane spoke the intro into the microphone and glanced at Amy when it was her turn to greet the listeners. They had marked their parts the previous night and began to tell the story of a gruesome murder in the Hollywood hills. Jane liked to choose cases she was familiar with – most which she had solved herself. But she knew that listeners from around the country or even the world wouldn't appreciate it. Hence, she went for all sorts of cases although it was sometimes painful to see the mistakes investigators had made. On the other hand, she cheered for the ones who excelled at their work.

Doing the podcast with Amy was fun and the girl was quite talented. It was very likely that listeners would ask for more episodes with Amy and Jane hoped that Amy would really move here so that they could do more fun stuff like this together. Judging by Amy's gleaming face it wouldn't be hard to convince her to do more episodes with her.

After finishing, Jane showed Amy how to edit the podcast. They ate some sandwiches for lunch and Jane surprised her with the tickets to the game. It wasn't a surprise when Amy stated later that this was the best holiday she had ever had though.

Jane almost felt guilty for getting to do all the fun stuff with her while Maura had to play parent. The chiming of her phone announced a new message from Maura. Jane had never changed this special ringtone she had given her while being married and so she knew exactly who was texting her.

Now I'm officially pathetic. I even miss fighting with her.

Jane chuckled.

No luck with the case?

My head hurts. I should try with a new book. Or a podcast? Amy recommended me a podcast yesterday. I had to google what a podcast is! And someone recommended me a Thriller.

Jane chuckled, despite having a creepy feeling that Amy had recommended Maura her podcast. And that this someone was her mother who had recommended her one of her thrillers. It seemed like the universe was having fun to link them in impossible ways.

Let me guess: coffee and crime? And the book is a thriller from JARI?

The communication went silent for a long time and Jane wondered if Maura had had to go out to a crime scene.

What are you? A psych? How do you know?

Jane chuckled.

Listen to the podcast and find out, why Amy recommended you this special one. The book… I'll tell you another time. Have fun! ;)

It was pure pleasure to watch Amy enjoy the game. Yet Jane felt slightly nervous. Would Maura know that it was from her? Of course, she would, the voice was pretty unique.

Or maybe Maura hadn't recognized her voice because Jane hadn't heard from her by midnight. She shouldn't write her. This was bad. Yet, she strangely longed to hear from Maura and to continue their conversation. She couldn't leave Maura alone in her loneliness, could she?

Hey, are you asleep? She typed quickly before she could think otherwise.

Yes, still listening to the podcast. I'm at episode 7. Good choice of cases, well presented as only a detective can. It's strange though, that it's from the same person the thriller is off. This person must have a lot of time…

Jane bit her lip. Did Maura know that it was her podcast or not? Should she ask? And who would have known that the doc was a binge listener to true crime podcasts? Jane chuckled. The door to her room creaked open and Amy made her way to Janes bed.

What is so funny? And who are you texting to all the time? Do you have a girlfriend?"

Jane cringed for a second. She hadn't realized that Amy could hear her laughter in the guest room. Amy's tone was curious and not judgmental at all.

"No, I haven't had a girlfriend since… well at least not a serious one." Jane decided to reply, this question, hoping that the girl wouldn't press further because she didn't like to lie to Amy. Nor did she want Amy to know that she was texting with Maura not now at least.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Jane asked and saw her daughter scrunching up her nose.

"Girlfriend then?"

"Would you be shocked if I was gay?"

Jane shook her head. "No, why should I, I'm gay, your mum is gay."

"I'm gay too. But I have no girlfriend. Although there is one girl that usually comes to watch me practice." Amy put on a thoughtful expression.

"Have you asked her out?" Jane asked with a soft chuckle. It was very comfortable to lay next to each other and talk in the dim light of the night light.

"I don't know. I mean she's cute. But what if I'm only imagining things? Or what if she just wants to be with me because I'm the teamleader?"

Jane gave the whole thing a thought. "Guess you'll only find out if you give her a chance." She said. Amy clearly didn't like this idea. And it was probably futile anyways as the schoolyear was over and they would be separated. Amy would move on to university, being a wizz kid as well as being great at sports.

"I'm sorry." She whispered and her daughter snuggled closer to her. "Thanks for not saying that there are more fish in the sea." She mumbled which made both chuckle. Is this what Maura said Jane wondered but didn't ask.

"So, tell me. Who makes you laugh so hard?" Amy asked and nudged Jane.

"Your mum." Jane said as she saw no chance on denying. Amy looked surprised.

"Does she know that I'm the host of coffee and crime?" Jane asked, thinking that they had made an early release of the new episode because Amy hadn't wanted to wait. It now depended on wether Maura jumped to the newest episode or listened through all old ones at first.

The answer came almost one episode later.

It's your podcast?

Yeah, we had a busy day recording and stuff….

Its great Jane! I like it! So, you also wrote the books?

I did. I had no idea that it would be so successful though.

Jane bit her lips. She didn't want to say why she had started writing in the first place. It could have brought some not so good memories. Amy was leaning on her shoulder reading their conversation. The phone suddenly rang, and Jane saw that it was Maura who was calling.

"Hey there." She said and Amy said her own greeting.

"Hey. You two are having a lot of fun don't you?" Mauras voice was cheerful and not the least bit jealous which kept surprising Jane.

"Yes!" Amy began to recount the events of the day and oh boy there was a lot to tell. Maura chuckled. Her eyes on the screen darted between Jane and Amy. Jane relaxed and let her daughter do all the talking while studying Maura. She too was laying in bed, a wide smile of happiness on her face.

Then Amy left for her bedroom and said good night to both of them and Jane had the feeling that she wanted them some space to talk in private. They waited until Janes bedroom door was closed.

"Thanks for the book." Jane said the first thing that came to mind which made sense.

"You're very welcome." Maura said, her voice sounding gentle. "I meant what I wrote."

"I know." Jane replied with a smile.

"You did a great job raising her." Jane added while they were already on that mushy trip. Maura averted her eyes.

"Thank you. But she also has great genes from you, you know. Using your egg was the best idea ever" She said. It went unsaid, that it must have been hard on her own, nor that at the end it had been her own decision. There was no use in fighting unless the whole not fighting pile grew to an extent that they couldn't fight in when time came, and they had too.

There were so many mindfields though, that jane came to realize that any try to rekindle their friendship would be hard. This whole thing was fun now, but it might become exhausting over time.

So, she decided to roll up her sleeves and dig into the topic.

"Are we okay with this?" she asked and heard a long sigh on the other end of the line.

"I think so yes. I came to the conclusion that we shouldn't get into too much contact when we left the Sanderfords party. But I'm not sure if we can or want to stay away from each other. We have Amy who links us together somehow. It's not that Amy doesn't text me what you're doing and what your home looks like and stuff like that. And I guess she tells you a lot about my side. So, somehow our lifes will entangle again. And I really missed talking to you Jane."

Maura paused and Jane swallowed hard. "I know. You're right. I missed talking to you too, Maura."

"So we should probably harbor no bad feelings for each other and not discuss any faults. I think that we both made enough of them, don't you think so? And I apologize for not being adult enough back then to do things differently. I know that you tried hard."

"There must have been a reason for you acting this way. And I want to understand it. Please tell me." Janes voice was low and pleading. Maura sighed.

"I'd rather tell you in person, Jane. Would you mind if I came to Boston by the end of next week? There are things we need to clear up with BCU. Amy wants to see the university before deciding if she would go there. So if we do it next week, we can do it together if you like. And then we can talk."

"Sounds like a plan. You should probably head off to sleep anyways. I assume that you must work in five hours?"

"Actually four. The shift starts earlier here. But I don't think that I will be able to sleep anyways." Maura giggled nervously. "You do that to me you know? You always turn my world upside down – in a good way though. I don't think that we should aim for a relationship – we already proofed that it doesn't work. But maybe we could just be Jane and Maura again?" this time it was Maura who was pleading.

"I'd like that, Maura." Jane whispered, aware that she didn't call her Maur like she used to. Maybe one day she would though.