A/N: I mean this in the best way possible but y'all are crazy. I just can't really believe that 52 of y'all have this dumb little story that wasn't even supposed to be a story alerted. Which is my way of saying everyone reading this is awesome and thank you! Also, I tried my best to make it equal parts of Jane and Maura.

Disclaimer: Don't own. No money. ETC.


Jane shoved the vacuum into the hall closet. She had no idea why she was so nervous. It was just movie night. Movie night as always. She had popcorn ready to be popped, organic chocolate chip cookies, a bottle of Maura's reasonably priced wine, plenty of beer, and Top Gun waiting in the wings after they watched the DVR'd Patriots game. It was just movie night. But that thought didn't quell her nerves.

All week, since that stupid massage, all she could think about was Maura. It was a good thing she wasn't on rotation and that nearly the whole squad was back from the flu so she didn't have to work overtime or have any open cases as she worked through this difficult time.

She'd been on the verge of telling Maura her feelings at least half a dozen times. Half a dozen times she was struck in awe of Maura's dimples and her scent and the lab coat, especially the lab coat. Their eyes would lock and she could feel the confession just at the tip of her tongue right behind her teeth, one breath away from being out there but then her mother would pop up (at breakfast) or Frankie would butt in (at lunch) or Frost would tell some joke (mid-afternoon) or Korsak would complain about vending machine food choices (just before closing time) or a car would honk or a lab tech would barge in asking for help.

It was obviously not in the cards for Maura to know about any of her secret thoughts. But nevertheless she was worried that she would slip. And would slipping really be that bad? Would it be worse than watching Maura date some loser who wasn't good enough? (But then wasn't she some loser who wasn't good enough?) Would it be worse than listening to her faun over that guy? Or, heaven forbid, standing next to Maura at a wedding? She could already feel the resentment growing in the pit of her stomach at the thought. And that, that shitty feeling more than unreciprocated feelings was what would ruin their friendship from the ground up.

So maybe she would tell Maura tonight, maybe she wouldn't, maybe she'd tell her tomorrow or the next day or maybe they would just continue as they've always been: Jane and Maura solving crimes, and watching movies, obviously there was more than that but she felt it a good descriptor.

She didn't know. She couldn't read the future. She didn't have some mystical crystal ball or a magical deck of cards. The best she could do was hope for the best and let the dice fall, and pray it didn't knock the whole house down and tear up the foundation upon impact.

Maura smoothed her hands nervously over her dress. She had no reason to be nervous. She was just going to Jane's apartment on a Thursday. There was no need for the tension between her shoulder blades. There just wasn't. It was just Jane. Only no matter how many times she told herself that it was just Jane her heart would leap (metaphorically) in her chest and the rhythm would speed up. Saying it was 'just Jane' was like saying the M.D. she'd worked so hard for was just some degree, that being the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was just a job. Because Jane was, she felt herself smiling before she could even finish the sentence. Get a hold of yourself, Maura. She chastised herself internally, you are acting like an uneducated, lovesick schoolgirl.

She sighed. Every instance she saw Jane at work or at dinner for the past week she couldn't keep her eyes from roaming. There was one horrifying moment when Jane had dropped a coin on the floor in front of the vending machines and bent to pick it up and her eyes were glued to the detective's derrière. The horrifying part was when Sergeant Korsak had walked towards them and asked Jane if there were any Cheetos left.

To make matters worse, throughout the entire week she'd caught Jane staring at her with a certain indiscernible look in her chocolate eyes. Jane had very expressive eyes and she usually had a knack for understanding what Jane was trying to convey, but during these instances there were so many emotions floating across the woman's face all one after the other that Maura couldn't help but not understand. The way Jane had been treating her this past week was just strange in general. It was nice, but different. Jane would touch her arm gently, leaned more into her, sat closer to her than normal. At this new contact from Jane she felt that same old childhood insecurity envelope her like a suffocating blanket. What did it all mean?

She looked around her house. Her eyes landed on Bass who was eating his cactus pads slowly. She smiled and took a deep breath. It was just Jane. It was just movie night.

Jane jumped into the air with a small yelp of excitement and remarkably all of her beer stayed in the bottle in her hand. The Patriots were going for a touchdown, a touchdown that would win the freaking game. And if they won the game they were only one more away from going to the playoffs. The detective watched with baited breath, even if she already knew the ending. That was the trouble with working with a bunch of guys during football season, or any season really. They all knew the scores exactly when they happened even if they were in the middle of work. She was usually a part of that but last Sunday she'd gone shopping with Maura and then had dinner with her mother and Maura and ended up asleep on Maura's couch. But she, like any die-hard football fan who worked stupid crazy hours, already had her DVR set to tape the game. And it was a very good thing. Because the game was awesome.

Maura watched Jane watch the television. It was just Jane and movie night. She felt silly now for ever thinking otherwise as she watched the detective cheer, eyes wide staring at the TV. There was this almost childlike wonder about the detective when she watched sports. Anytime Jane watched a game it was like her entire world was centered on that court, or field, or rink. The cases, the job, the hurt, the pain – none of it mattered. Jane had the most spectacular tunnel vision she'd ever been witness to. She could add that to the ever growing list of all of the things she'd fallen for. It was also one of the many reasons SportsCenter and other various sporting events almost always made it to her DVR.

Jane watched as her team scored the winning touchdown. She indulged in one more tiny jump and a shout of excitement before grabbing the remote and turning off the TV. She took a satisfied drink of her beer, scratched Jo Friday behind her ears and turned to Maura full, face-cracking grin in place. Their eyes met. Jane felt that flip in her stomach she'd been feeling all week.

Maybe it would happen, maybe it wouldn't. There would be other Ray's. There would be men. Women like Maura didn't stay single long. Make your move or you'll regret it. Resentment would ruin their friendship. Take a chance. Be a big kid. Go for it. Maybe…maybe Maura felt the same way. It was her personal pep talk from each day of the entire week previous all smashed together. Except for that last one. She'd never thought of that last one until right at that precise moment. She'd been too busy worrying about the other side, too caught up in what could go wrong but Maura was looking at her with a loving smile on her lips, like she was the best thing she'd ever seen and she couldn't contain it anymore.

Jane had turned around so suddenly Maura didn't have the time to change her facial expression or say something about the anthropology of sports or the evolution of American football. But Jane was staring at her in awe and wonder and…love. But it couldn't be love, could it? It had to be something else because Jane, Jane just couldn't possibly be in love with her. Jane couldn't possibly feel anything more than platonic things for her. Jane was everything she wasn't and Jane couldn't possibly love her the way Maura hoped there was just no way.

Three strides later Jane found herself standing in front of Maura toe to toe, mere inches apart. Maura looked delightfully confused and Jane wanted to say something big and life changing and poetic. She wanted to take the time to memorize Maura's face, to trace her fingertips over her lightly freckled cheeks. But those hazel eyes were boring into hers and she couldn't pull away. Instead she stepped closer. Their fingers intertwined and when lips met Jane felt more than heard Maura emit a small gasp of surprise.

There was the tiniest glimpse of panic edging into her veins in the briefest moment between that gasp and Maura's fingers grabbing at Jane's shirt as she kissed her back. Jane's eyes closed instantly as she pulled Maura impossibly closer. She tasted like the wine she'd been drinking, and chocolate. And the smell of her perfume was just as incredible even as close as they were. She could feel Maura's small fingers wrapping themselves in the fabric of her shirt holding tight as if she might disappear and never return. She wanted to ease her worries, wanted to say 'I've got you. I'm not going anywhere. I love you.' Which was quite a leap from saying she didn't want anyone to get into Maura's pants because she wanted to get into Maura's pants. Quite a leap and quite poetic if she thought about it. But every time she tried to pull away to tell Maura this, the doctor only kissed her harder, pulled her tighter as if Jane might actually disappear. Jane felt her heart expand, felt her heart ache at the thought. Her only response was to kiss Maura back just as hard, just as hungry. And then Maura moaned into her mouth as their tongues met and Jane all but stopped thinking about everything to focus solely on the woman in her arms.

In the span of a second it seemed the kiss grew and backs were pushed against walls as moans filled the apartment, shirts were tugged out of pants, shoes were kicked off until they were both down to their underwear on Jane's bed panting and wanting.

"Jane." Maura rasped pushing at Jane's shoulders until they were eye to eye. Some part of her knew they were past the point of no return. After all she was lying on Jane's bed in her underwear, her dress resting somewhere on the floor between the couch and the bed. And Jane was on top of her in the same level of undress. Maura wanted nothing more than to take Jane all the way to the tip of bliss and push her over the edge. She had wanted this, been waiting for this exact moment for a very long time and she just…she needed to know, needed Jane to understand. "Jane." She tried again closing her eyes because if she looked into those dark, lust filled eyes any longer she was sure she'd fall apart right there. "I – I can't do this if it's just one night." She rushed, eyes still screwed tight as she put in all of her effort to not let her body get out of her control. Because god, everything about what they were doing felt so heavenly. Jane's weight on top of hers, Jane body heat radiating on top of her, her breasts pushed into her own, the just-barely rough hands gliding over her hips teasing and taunting – it was an overload to her senses and she wanted more, needed more. She couldn't remember the last time she wanted someone so much in her life. She swallowed.

"It won't be." Jane said quietly. She couldn't believe any of this was happening. She couldn't believe Maura actually felt the same way. She began kissing Maura down her jaw and to her neck. She couldn't get enough. She let her hands dance across smooth, toned, pale skin, and let her mind get lost in all of it.

Maura mustered up as much control as she could and pushed at Jane's shoulders one last time. "I mean it, Jane." She said simply. "I can't wake up in the morning and pretend this didn't happen." Somewhere inside of her chest actually hurt at the thought. She couldn't be this intimate, this open and vulnerable with the woman she loved only for it to be a one night mistake. She could with others, other people she liked even, but not Jane. Never Jane.

Jane bit her lip. She couldn't control her eyes as they moved up and down Maura's scantily clad form. She swallowed thickly before moving off of Maura and standing. She didn't want to push her. She should probably take her out on a date first or something anyway before they jumped into bed together. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, even though the image of Maura in her underwear on her bed was already burned onto her eyelids and their heavy breathing was still ringing through the room. "I don't want that either." She finally said. "I-I want to take you out and…" She was going to say more, meant to say more but Maura, apparently, had other plans.

Maura's expression changed from confusion to adoration as the shaky words fell from Jane's lips. She climbed to her knees on the bed and faced Jane. She held Jane's gaze as her hands moved over taught abdominal muscles and smooth, olive skin. As she watched the detective's eyes flutter, witnessed her breathing escalate, heard the tiny almost inaudible moan come from her parted lips she had that scary thought again. She could come home to Jane for the rest of her life and be happy. She could do this with Jane for the rest of her days and be happy. She smiled.

Jane swallowed hard as she let Maura continue stroking her skin. She couldn't remember ever feeling this way. She couldn't think past Maura's touch anyway. It just felt so amazing and good and right. It wasn't full of too rough touches, too hurried moves, too gross words. It was just how it was supposed to be. Because it wasn't just Maura, it wasn't just about getting laid, it wasn't just anything. It was her best friend, it was love, it was kindness and understanding and trust and the promise of Maura's smooth, perfect body writhing underneath hers over and over, day after day. It was forever and more and so many other things.

Their eyes locked and Jane felt fire and ice and heat and passion. Just with that look. There were so many things to say, on both sides. And maybe they would talk and become a pair – a them – and maybe there was no dark side to the coin or maybe there was. Maybe they would wake up and talk about some of those things, talk of worries and issues and the like. But now, now all Jane wanted was to show Maura all of the things she couldn't find the words for, things she didn't think she'd ever find the words for.

"Then come to bed, Jane."


A/N: Thanks for reading/reviewing!