**DISCLAIMER – I do not own the characters, they belong to TNT and associated bodies. **

A/N: I have a tendency to write as I publish, so I generally go chapter by chapter. I've finally got a real story in mind here (for the first time), so it will all come together eventually. I hope you enjoy it :-)

FLIGHTLESS ANGEL.

Chapter 10.

Maura walked in the door timidly, shutting it with a soft click.

Jane was silent as she went about putting the kettle on, and taking Maura's favourite tea out of a cupboard, popping a bag into a cup. Maura laid her shoes by the door, and popped her purse down next to them. Wordlessly, she watched Jane with intrigue, as she padded to the stool by Jane's kitchen-top.

Jane poured in the boiling water, turned to add a little cold from the tap, before setting the cup; uncharacteristically on a saucer, on the surface where Maura's hands rested.

"Jane . . . what is wrong?" Maura asked gently.

Jane simply bowed her head, and raised her eyebrows; taking a seat opposite Maura. She laid her hands out flat on the marble, thankful for the cool she found there. She paused for a full minute, eyes darting about, clearly thinking of what to say.

"I just believed you, when you said you would wait for me." Jane's voice was barely audible.

Maura reached across the surface slowly, simply touching Jane's index finger with her own.

"And I meant it." Confusion furrowed Maura's brow. "Jane, tonight . . ." she looked down and up again from her dress; "Jane I wasn't on a date. Don't think that, not for one moment."

"Well if it quacks like a duck . . ." Jane turned her head wearily to the door. "Is he in your bed?" Jane looked Maura in the eyes, finally. "Have you had your way with him, and now you want to come over here for pudding? Is that how your mind works?" Jane spoke with thinly-veiled venom.

Maura retracted her finger, and touched her lips quietly, looking away and battling not to cry.

Maura breathed deeply through her nose, and tilted her head up, but still to the side.

"You really, genuinely do think that's what happened tonight, don't you? That I covet people simply as objects, as a means to an end. The big, bad Queen of the Dead." Jane looked up at that remark. "What? You think I don't know that's what you call me? You think I don't see you all give me just a little too much room, watching me, laughing at me, never with me? How you snigger at my lack of social graces?"

"Maura . . ."

"NO," Maura said firmly, cutting Jane off. "You think you have me all figured out, don't you? I'll tell you something Jane. You do. You, and you alone. You are the only, only person, that I have ever allowed to get so close. That I have ever trusted. That I have ever felt trusted by. Until you do things like tonight. For your information, Matthew is married. To a man. I went to the theatre with him, Jane. I didn't behave in any manner, that could ever be misconstrued as anything beyond professional, simply enjoying the company and the new perspective of a fellow pathologist, whose career almost eclipses my own. I don't even know why I'm explaining myself to you," Maura rose from the stool, walked to the door and picked up her shoes and purse, opening the door, before pausing and turning to face the Detective.

"How dare you, Jane. How dare you." Maura paused, battling with her next words. She lowered her voice, and continued in nothing more than a whisper. "I waited outside your apartment for over an hour. I came here tonight to tell you, that I love you. And what happened in the past doesn't matter, there was no point prying into your past, because it makes you who you are now. I had intended to go out with Matthew tonight, in exchange from him telling me about the Carlson case."

Jane's features visibly hardened.

Maura bit her lip and then looked to the ceiling as she spoke.

"He didn't tell me. He said it should come from you, and I agreed. I came here to tell you, that none of it matters. Instead I came here and was accused of being nothing more than a harlot, when I came here with my heart open, and my trust completely in you. I don't know right now, exactly what I'm leaving with." Maura looked at Jane once more, before turning, and slamming the door so loudly that Jane flinched.

Jane cursed inwardly, bounding off the stool and out the door after the Doctor. She ran down the stairs, rounding in front of Maura just as the blonde was reaching the exit to the building.

Jane held her hands up.

"Just stay. Maura, just stay."

"Why?"

"I need you. And if I'm going to tell you what happened . . . I would rather it was face to face. Stay. Please." Jane's eyes begged more than her words.

Maura looked deep into the brown eyes, finding sincerity.

"My tea is probably cool enough to drink by now, it would be a shame to waste it." Maura turned and began to climb the stairs once more.