After another unsuccessful hunt for the animal Jane dropped huffing onto the bed next to the blonde. She had literally checked every inch of the room and glanced at the doc.

Maura smiled gratefully and offered to buy her a drink at the bar to thank her. Jane scratched her head giving it a thought. Why not? she concluded as she told the doc to give her 15 minutes to call home. The doc nodded and Jane left the room to phone her husband.

R&I

Upon entering the bar of the hotel almost half an hour later, she found Maura already sitting at the counter, studying the cocktail card. "Hey. Sorry to be late. My daughter refused to go to bed without me singing her favorite song."

The blonde looked a bit surprised but nodded. "What's her name?" she asked while pushing the card towards Jane.

"Marcella. She's only 1." Jane sighed at the thought of the ongoing screaming earlier which was still filling her head.

"I bet she misses her mother." Maura said in a strange tone. Probably silently convicting Jane to be a bad mother to leave her alone at this age. She didn't know that Jane was in an undercover operation so the obvious deduction would be that Jane had gone on a three weeks' vacation leaving her one-year old daughter behind. Which normal mother would do that?

The brunette thought that it wouldn't help to say, that Marcella should be used to her not being home as her daddy took care of her while she constantly worked at all hours of the day.

"It's not that I'm a bad mother or so." She mumbled. "My mother…"

"It's okay, Jane. You don't have to explain." The blonde said and laid her hand onto the brunettes. Jane couldn't help but notice the lightning bolt shooting through her body making her shiver. It made her blush so she turned her head towards the bartender who was standing on the far end of the counter.

Maura retrieved her hand immediately with an apology misinterpreting Janes look. "Sorry, I didn't mean to cross a line or so." She mumbled and blushed too. The brunette rubbed the cold spot on the back of her hand, strangely missing the soft and warm touch of Maura.

"It's okay." She mumbled, wanting the hand to come back as she missed the warmth and the comfort. "I'm awfully bad and socializing with other people." Maura admitted looking Jane in the eyes and Jane suddenly felt sorry for being so short spoken to her over the first day.

She thought about the google mouthing and the following around on the first night. It was easy to understand why people probably made a bow around the blonde. On the other hand, it could have led to Maura's behavior in the first place.

"People think that I'm weird. And I am." Another apologetic smile from the blonde made Janes heart melt.

"Nonsense. I think that you are a very intriguing person." She said with a reassuring smile. "And if it helps: people think that I'm weird too." Maura's eyebrows shot to the roof with a doubtful look. "I mean hey, I'm wandering off on my own in the middle of nowhere in some wild animals living room." Jane chuckled while trying to make a point.

Maura gave a small laughter. "That wasn't clever indeed." She blushed. "I'm sorry. See I keep saying things which offend people. I didn't mean…"

"No, it wasn't clever. It's okay." Jane said with a smile. There was a moment of silence in which they eyed each other. "Are you ready to order ladies?" the bartender interrupted their staring.

Jane who hadn't had time to study the card ordered a mojito. Maura ordered the same "I never tried this one before." The blonde confessed five minutes later while stirring the ice cubes in her glass.

"Really? What do you usually drink?"

"I usually have sex on the beach." The blonde said and blushed. "I mean a sex on the beach." She quickly corrected herself and Jane chuckled amused. "I never had sex on the beach. Always thought that the sand… and well… you know…" Jane blushed once she had spoken the words, grabbing her glass to take a sip. Talking about sex had always made her feel uncomfortable. The good doc on the other side didn't have the same problem.

"Well, It's not so bad with the sand. Actually, it's very nice to have sex on the beach." Maura said, without noticing the brunettes discomfort about the subject. Jane had already noticed that the blonde was taking things rather serious and didn't quite catch the jokes or clues very often. She almost choked on her drink when imagining the blonde making out with a man on a beach.

When her alcohol clouded mind replaced the man by herself she quickly brushed the thought off. Instead she glanced at her glass suspiciously.

"Uh oh, so I might try one day." She said with a shy grin noticing how different they were. Maura was reading tons of books, literally inhaling the wisdom while she barely touched a book. And if she did, it was some thriller or so.

The blonde appeared to be a fashionista while her clothes had just to be comfortable. Just to state a few of the things she had noticed so far.

"It's really a shame that we couldn't find that spider." She suddenly said with a small smile.

"Aww, I bet you are right. She is probably off to bother some other guests." Maura chuckled. Jane made a joke about the spider now stirring around in someone else's underwear and Maura gave her a horrified look.

"Just joking." She said with an apologetical smile. Maura suddenly looked thoughtful.

"You are joking a lot, are you?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah. I guess it's some sort of self-protection or so." Jane replied taking another sip.

"Books." Maura stated with a sad smile. "I hide behind books." She elaborated at Janes puzzled look. "Self-protection."

Jane recalled the blonde reading on the bus. "Oh." She mumbled while storing away the information. At the same time, she asked herself why she did that. Maura was just a stranger right? Being on this travel was joke enough. If she now found a travel acquaintance…

"You are different than most of the people I met." Maura's words made her glance up from the glass which was almost empty by now. "I mean that in a good way." Another sad smile from the blonde who fidgeted with her glass. "You made it through one entire cocktail with me."

"Yeah, and I hope you will make it through a second with me. This time it's my turn to pay. Choose one." Jane said with a smile.

Ten minutes later they were sitting in front of a sex on a beach. Janes turn to try Maura's favorite cocktail, which turned out to be enjoyable. They began to talk about their jobs when Janes phone buzzed in the pocket of her jeans.

After quickly glancing onto the display she excused herself. "Sorry, I have to take this."

Maura nodded. "Sure."

"What's up?" she asked Gabriel rather briskly, hearing Marcella squealing in the background. She knew that this wasn't fair to him, and immediately felt guilty. It was just that this was her first night out without work being the reason and she enjoyed it. Jane rubbed her head. "She needs to hear your voice." Came the breathless reply over the line.

Jane felt a bit stupid when singing itsy bitsy spider into her phone while standing on the terrace of the hotel. She glanced inside to see Maura sip gingerly on her sex on the beach. Even from here she could see how uncomfortable the blonde felt and cringed for leaving her alone.

Marcellas cries subsided quickly and changed into some giggles which made Janes heart jump in joy. She continued singing until she could Gabriel's voice again. "She's asleep now." He whispered and she could hear him walk up the stairs. She pictured his tall and lean figure taking one step after the other to put their girl into her bed and smiled.

"Hey, what are you up to?" Gabriel asked chattily. "I'm having some drinks at the bar." Jane replied the question still smiling. But she could feel how the air tensed between them.

"What? You told me to have fun and make the best out of it." Her voice sounded angry. At the beginning of their relationship he had given her all the freedom she had wanted. But things had changed after the wedding. The nagging about her going out with the guys to the dirty robber after the solving of a case began and Jane had finally given in and declined invitation after invitation.

Gabriel was a very jealous man who tried to imprison her at their home. Being with Gabriel hadn't been her choice kind of anyways. After him repeatedly asking her out, she had finally agreed. The wedding had been to pleasure her mother. If she had to settle to have peace, Gabriel seemed to be a good choice.

"Is he good looking at least?" he snapped. Jane sighed and lifted one hand to rub her temple.

Subconsciously she glanced back at Maura who still sat the bar, now reading the card. Hell. The poor woman was feeling lost and she was standing here to conduct some useless conversation. "Yes." She replied and hung up.

Dr. Isles was beautiful, but Jane just wanted friendship. Right? Tilting her head at her stupid thoughts she walked back into the bar.

"Hey, stop hiding." She nudged the blonde playfully to catch a surprised look. "I tried to cut it short, seeing as there is possibly not so much to read on this card." She winked while sitting down not fully able to cover up her discomfort after her talk with Gabriel. Maura blushed. "I hope you found us another one." Jane added with a smirk.

With that Maura relaxed into the situation. "Actually, I found a few more. We might have to come back." The wiggling eyebrows made Jane unsure if the woman was flirting with her or just being literally.

"I'm definitely in. Maybe we should call it a night anyways. Tomorrow will be another long day with the tour through the city and its monuments." The brunette said with a crooked smile. Somehow, she didn't want this evening to end. But on the other side she didn't want to fall asleep on the job the next day either.

Maura agreed. "The first to be on the bus, saves a place for the other?" Jane asked nudging her gently. The ME chuckled. "Okay. That would probably be me."

"Why? I was the first today."

"Yes, that was because I was held up by a phone call." Maura stated and Jane tilted her head laughing. "All right. In this case, chose a good one. Preferably at the back of the bus."