So, tell me about your daughter." I said with a smile while holding on to my coffee mug.

Maura gave me a long, thoughtful look and I had the feeling that she was reluctant to tell me. It made me wonder about why. She had opened up plenty for sure, but it appeared that she was still holding back. Wasn't I as well?

"She's pretty smart for her age." Maura finally said while I broke the muffin in two halfs, pushing one into her direction.

"Like her mother." I mumbled before taking a bite from my half of the muffin. I moaned at its taste and caught the interested look Maura gave me.

"She's actually not my kid…. Technically I mean… We adopted her." She reluctantly said and continued: "We thought that it wouldn't be fair if one of us got the privilege to experience the process of setting a child into the world."

I stopped munching on my muffin and studied her. "At least that's how Belinda felt." She confirmed my suspicion that her ex had dictated a lot in their lifes. Maura shrugged. Belinda, her ex-girlfriend seemed to have a lot of interesting rules, to which Maura had seemingly agreed to follow. Why? Had she been afraid to crash the relationship by once saying no?

"You must think that this is stupid." Maura said as if she had read my thoughts. I shook my head. Who was I to judge when I had done the same thing in my previous relationships? This being a reason why I never wanted to have another one again. At least not until I had met Maura, who as usually was unreadable when it came to the question how she was viewing our interactions. Was she interested in more like me or just looking for friendship?

I wished that I knew because it would make the decisions about my further actions easier. Hell, I had told her that I liked her. I had tried some flirting. But maybe I was just sending mixed signals like her which made her insecure.

"I don't think that it's my place to judge." I said in all honesty, catching a shadow of doubt crossing her face.

"Anyways, she wants to be an astronaut and explore the universe." Maura continued with a soft chuckle. "Her wish of profession changes seemingly with every documentation we watch though." She chuckled some more.

I smiled. "Yeah, the world is still open to her and I'm sure that whatever she will end up doing that she'll be great at it."

Maura nodded gratefully.

"Tell me about your coming out." She changed the subject, turning the table on me, making me wonder why she had chosen this question. No one had ever asked me about it before.

"You're out, right?" she asked with a curious look, and I swallowed the last bite of my part of the muffin. Her half was still sitting on the table, but she was already reaching for it while I thought about my reply.

"Yes, I'm out with my family but not at work. Although I think that Frost and Korsak have their suspicions. My coming out was sort of a cathalyst to many things and I felt bad for it for a very long time." I began, still looking for how to put the feeling of guilt into words for the day when ma had found out that I was gay.

"My best friend was over at my place, and we were sitting in my room, talking and playing stupid games while listening to music. I had a feeling that I was gay but still wasn't sure about it.

Andrea and I began wrestling at one point and then she ended up laying on top of me. Our faces were close and suddenly I was only aware of the warmth of her body and how close her mouth was to mine.

So, I lifted my head and slowly approached her lips, giving her time to pull away if she didn't want me to kiss her. But she stayed put. The moment my lips touched hers, my mother entered the room like she always did. There was never much of a warning, and still never is.

Anyways she saw it. I don't have to tell you about the drama that ensued. The talk with my parents, who told me that I wasn't gay, that I couldn't be and that it was soooo wrong. But ma finally came to accept it while my dad never did. They filed for divorce soon after and I always thought that it had been my fault. Hell, I was only 15. It was only later when I realized that their marriage had been crumbling away for years before. But my coming out had created one more gap between them so I have felt guilty up to my late 20's"

My chuckle was sad, and I watched my fingers hold on to the cup. Maura gave me a sympathetic smile, one of her hands closing around one of mine on the cup.

"You don't have to feel guilty, Jane. Like you said, it might have been a cathalyst that had sped up the unstoppable. But at the end their break-up still has got nothing to do with you. Im really sorry that it was such a bad experience for you." She said in a soft tone. It felt surprisingly good to tell the story that had bothered me for so long.

"So, how was your coming out." I asked in a light and slightly joking tone.

"I haven't come out." She mumbled before quickly taking a bite. The moan she gave made my libido somehow catch fire.

A waitress came to ask if we wanted a refill, and we waited in silence until she had filled up the cups. Although I was dying to ask.

"Excuse me, I just understood that you said that you didn't come out?" I asked with a chuckle after the waitress had gone.

"I did." Maura replied, her eyes meeting mine.

"But how? I mean you have a kid, and you had a relationship…." I wondered out loud.

"Well, my parents and I aren't really close as I told you. We meet maybe twice a year. It's easy to hide my private life from them and believe me its only for the best. My parents wouldn't take it in a good way if I told them. And there is really no necessity to cause drama." She elegantly put the last bite into her mouth, and I studied her in silence while her words resonated in my head.

"Yeah, I can't hide my private life from my family." I replied with a grin, thinking of ma who had the habit to barge into my life unannounced and rdepeatedly.

We both chuckled before averting out eyes. We left soon after only to find out that neither the police chief nor the chief ME had much information to contribute to our case.

R&I

"I hope that no one has been killed while we were away." I joked on our ride back to the hotel.

Maura who had the habit of taking my words literally took a while to catch up with my joke and laughed.

"Let's hope not." She chuckled, seemingly in a good mood. It was late afternoon, and I was looking forward to a shower before dinner. I would also call Frost later to see if he had any news for us.

Besides, me taking a shower would give Maura some privacy to talk to her daughter.

"What's your daughters' name?" I asked when realizing that Maura had never told me.

"Her name is Sophie – it means wisdom." She proudly said and I told her that it was a beautiful name.

She told me about how difficult the name finding process had been and how they had adopted her as a baby. That meant that she and Belinda had been together for at least five years, which was longer than my longest relationship.

Not knowing one single couple that had made it – no matter how long they had been together – made me think that maybe such thing, like a functioning relationship didn't exist.

"What are you thinking about?" Maura asked and I blinked, feeling stupid for even thinking about a relationship when I wasn't even sure how she felt about me.

"Nothing special." I lied. She didn't believe me but knew better than to push. She stirred the car into the parking garage and we stayed silent until we reached the elevator. It made me wonder what she was thinking. But I didn't ask.

Soon we would be in our room – like together in a small space and I was wondering if I could handle this. I really needed to get a grip, especially after I was too much of a coward to ask her directly how she felt.

I bit my lips when following her to the room and excused myself when her phone rang. It usually did at the same time of day. She took kicked off her heels and picked up, while I went to my dufflebag to gather my stuff.

Part of my question of how someone could have 3 suitcases for a weekend getaway was answered when I saw the number of beauty products that were aligned to the edge of the bathtub.

I perked my ears to hear her soft voice coming muffled through the door and gingerly reached for the first bottle to read its name. It said showercream and smelt heavenly like lavender. No doubt a very expensive product like the others. But that didn't really come as a surprise as I had somehow assumed that she was wealthy by her clothes and handbags.

Taking my time I went through the beauty products, feeling intoxicated by all the heavenly smells that mixed with her own scent. A comforting – even sexy smell – that I had had the pleasure to enjoy while sitting next to her in the conference room.

All the while I was going through her stuff I felt like a thief and my heart was pounding fast in excitement. It all just contributed to the huge crush that I had developed for the good doc over the past days.