Jane was glad that her workweek had ended. The next two days, she wouldn't be on call, and she was planning on thinking about anything but work. Actually, there was one non-work-related thing that was occupying Jane's entire mind. This was going to be the night she had been looking forward to and had feared at the same time.
She took a few deep breaths and mumbled to herself "Just act like you always do".
"What was that?", Maura asked from the kitchen.
"Ah, nothing, I was just talking to myself", Jane answered.
Maura emerged from the kitchen and joined Jane at the window, where she was staring at stars.
"I didn't know you were into stargazing"
"It grounds me. It makes me feel connected to something larger than me."
"Did you know that the universe has grown since you started looking a minute ago? The universe has been expanding ever since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago."
"No wonder it makes me feel part of something bigger. The longer I look, the bigger it gets.", Jane replied with a smirk.
"You could say that", Maura answered, amused by her friend's reasoning. "Are you ready to watch Survivor?".
Jane nodded. They sat down on the couch and Maura switched on the television. She found the right channel and made herself comfortable. Jane, on the other hand, was looking tense. Maura noticed that she was nervously fiddling with the string of her hoodie.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You don't look very relaxed."
"Well, actually, there is something I'd like to talk to you about.", Jane answered. "This is the moment", she thought, "It's now or never".
Maura muted the television and turned to face Jane with a worried look on her face.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm fine. I'm not sick. No one is dying." Jane laughed nervously.
"Then what makes you so nervous? You know you can tell me everything, right?"
"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I came to a conclusion. At first I was not quite sure, but the longer I thought about it, the more convinced I became."
She took a deep breath and continued: "You know how we are always a little bit flirty with each other? How we always sit close to each other at the Dirty Robber? How we always make eye contact for a second too long? Or at least longer than other people do?"
"Eh, yes", Maura said, unsure where this was going.
"I really enjoy doing that. I like opening doors for you. I like placing my hand on the small of your back while guiding you to the elevator. I like looking into your beautiful eyes. And I finally know why."
During her little speech, Jane's eyes had moved from looking at Maura to looking at the hands in her lap. She was feeling more vulnerable by the second. However, she also knew she wanted to tell Maura. She knew this could mess up their friendship, but she could no longer deny herself the ecstasy she knew she would feel if Maura would return her feelings. It was time to take the leap. She looked into Maura's eyes and said: "I'm in love with you."
Maura was dumbfounded. She knew she had been flirting with Jane, and she enjoyed it. But she'd never dared to dream it would lead to this. A very wide smile appeared on her face.
"Wow. I didn't expect that. Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited. But I didn't expect you to feel that way. I know I've been flirting but you, but I never thought it could lead to anything. It was easy to flirt with you. It felt safe, because it could never lead to anything serious. I didn't even know you liked women."
"Well, neither did I", Jane replied with a smile on her face, "But now I'm pretty sure I do."
"It's a lot to take in. I know I like you, Jane. I really like you. But it feels like something that was never going to be a real possibility suddenly became very real. I need some time to process this, okay?"
Looking at Jane's anxious face, she continued: "I'm not rejecting you. Quite the opposite. Like I said, I really like you. I'd love to explore with you where this is going. I just need some time."
"Of course", Jane replied, happy with the way things had turned out. The beautiful Maura Isles had told her she wants to explore their feelings!
Jane nodded at the TV where the opening credits of Survivor were shown. "Let's watch this, and talk later." Maura hit the unmute button and shifted closer to Jane. The brunette put an arm around Maura and sighed contently. They both watched the screen, but their minds were somewhere else, fantasizing about what the future would bring.