A/N: The usual disclaimer applies. I own nothing.

Chapter 4

Jane woke first, surprised by the feeling of Maura's hair tickling her nose. She inhaled deeply, Maura's scent making her feel dizzy. Slowly, reluctantly, she slid away from the still-sleeping doctor.

It was one thing to comfort a friend in the middle of the night, another to snuggle with her while the sun was up.

Jane pushed thoughts of how good Maura's body had felt next to hers to the back of her mind, and went back to the guestroom for a shower.

Two hours later, Maura was still sleeping and Jane was bored. She peeked into the master bedroom and found Maura sprawled out in the middle of the bed. Jane walked over and tapped her shoulder.

"Maura, you should probably wake up now. It's 10:30." She sat cross-legged on the bed.

Maura stretched and let out a long breath. "Ooh, Jane, I slept!"

"Feel better?"

"So much better. Thank you." She reached out and laid her hand across Jane's knee. "Did you say it's 10:30? I can't believe I slept that long."

"Yep." Jane stretched out so that the two women lay side by side, face to face.

"Mmm, you smell good," murmured Maura sleepily, "Did you shower already?"

"Yeah, and I had some cereal and coffee too. I hope that's okay."

"Of course." Maura suddenly opened her eyes wide as she awakened more fully, and she put her hand over her mouth. "Oh, I must look terrible, and I haven't brushed my teeth—"

"You look fine, and you smell fine," protested Jane. "You always do." She reached out and ran her fingers through Maura's hair, once, twice, three times. "You do have a little bed-head though," she smirked.

Maura swatted her hand away and laughed.

"So what do you want to do today, Dr. Isles?"

"Don't you have anything you have to do? Something with your family?"

"Nope. I took Jo over to ma and pop's yesterday and told them I would be spending the weekend with you. My apartment's a mess and I haven't been grocery shopping in about a month, but what's new?" Jane shrugged her shoulders. "I don't want to do anything that even remotely resembles work today."

"That sounds like a great plan. Nothing responsible or productive or—adult."

"Really?" Jane's tone was playful. "You don't want to read your latest issue of Autopsy Today, or clean anything, or do yoga?"

"There is no such publication as Autopsy Today, Jane. That would be a rather inappropriate title." Maura narrowed her eyes at the chuckling detective.

"We should have a bubble day," Maura suddenly exclaimed, with a note of finality in her voice.

"And what's that, some sort of spa treatment? Because you're on your own with that," said Jane, rolling her eyes.

Now it was Maura's turn to chuckle. "No, a bubble day was something my mother made up. Sometimes when I was home from boarding school, we would spend the day together doing whatever we wanted. She said we were pretending that we could float above the world, ignoring everyone and everything. Just for a day."

"Sounds perfect," murmured Jane. Maura rarely talked about her childhood, and Jane was surprised to hear such a sweet memory about the Isles family.

"So, if we are doing whatever we want, what are we going to do?"

"Well," said Maura with a twinkle in her eye and a lilt in her voice, "I did have a thought."

"Of course you did. I don't know if I want to hear this."

Maura ignored her. "You did say, yesterday, that you would let me paint your toenails . . ."

"Really, Maura? That's what you want to do on your day off? Play around with my nasty old feet?"

Maura reached out and grabbed for Jane's foot, but the detective kicked her away, giggling.

"No," said the doctor, "I don't really want to paint your toenails myself. But what if we went to get mani-pedis? I know a great place that can probably squeeze us in."

Jane sighed, resigned to her fate. "I guess I can handle that. But can we go for a late lunch after? And I get to pick the place?"

"That seems fair. But I get to veto any place that looks—unsanitary."

Jane laughed. "Okay. I promise the place I have in mind will be up to your ever-exacting standards, doctor."

Maura smiled, and then her eyes turned serious.

"But Jane, there's one more thing I should tell you about bubble day."

Somehow, the two women had inched close together again, close enough so that their legs were touching. Maura reached out and began stroking Jane's hair, and let her thumb graze against the shell of her ear and the smooth skin of her cheek.

Jane felt like she had lost her voice—she could only give a weak, "hmm?" in reply.

"Your skin is so soft, Jane, what kind of moisturizer do you use?"

Jane swallowed. Maura was so baffling sometimes. "I don't know—something from the store."

Maura smiled and cupped Jane's cheek, running the pad of her thumb along Jane's chin.

Jane watched Maura's eyes, watched them run over her own features, watched the smile at the corner of her lips, and wondered what the hell was happening.

Suddenly Maura seemed to return to herself. She moved her hand back into Jane's hair.

"The thing about bubble day—it can't last. It's just one day. Is that okay with you?" Maura's voice was quiet, serious. She stilled her fingers, but Jane was acutely aware of the pressure of her hand on the back of her neck.

Confused, Jane snorted, and then searched Maura's face for a clue as to how she was supposed to respond. She found none, and just blurted out whatever came to her. "Well, I figured that. We can't afford to take every day off. At least, I can't."

Maura gave her a sad smile. Jane didn't know what it meant, and she had a feeling she didn't want to find out. Then, before she could ask anything else, Maura slipped out of the bed and began getting ready for the day.

Several hours later, Jane was admiring her fingers as she and Maura walked across the gravel driveway of a restaurant forty minutes outside the city.

"I kinda like my nails like this, you know?" She held her hand out in front of her, examining her new French tips.

Maura gave a little squeal. "Ooh, good. Now we can go to the salon together every month!"

"Well, I don't know about that. But we'll see." Jane felt so happy she wasn't sure if she could deny her friend anything at that point. Her goals for the weekend—to help Maura overcome her insomnia, and to distract her from her morose thoughts about her birth father—seemed to have been achieved. She was confident that Maura had thoroughly enjoyed her girly day at the nail salon, and it made Jane happy that Maura was happy.

Then, there was the fact that they couldn't keep their hands off each other. They had always had a sort of touchy-feely relationship, but this was . . . something else. Never before had Maura's touch made her . . . feel things.

Things that made her blush.

Things that made her . . .

She couldn't say it. She couldn't even think it.

Jane had no idea what was going on, but she decided to just go with it.

"What is this place, Jane?" Maura looked dubiously at the rustic décor on the outside of the building.

"I told you, it's a place we used to come to on our way to Vermont for summer camping trips. It doesn't look like much, but the food is really good, Maura, trust me." She casually slung her arm around the doctor's shoulders. "The best rolls you ever had in your life."

"Rolls? We drove all the way out here for rolls?"

"Yep. And cornbread."

Maura still looked dubious.

When they walked into the restaurant, they were met at the door by an older woman in a flowered apron.

"Just the two of you?"

Jane nodded. "Yeah. Can we get a table by the window?"

"Of course, at this hour you can practically have the place to yourselves." The hostess gave a friendly smile and began leading them toward the back of the restaurant. Sure enough, only a few other tables were occupied.

As the two women slid into a booth with a beautiful view of the distant mountains, the hostess suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! You're Angela Rizzoli's daughter, aren't you?"

Jane smiled, and nodded. "Yeah, we used to come here every summer when I was a kid."

"Yes, you and your adorable little brothers."

"Adorable—that's one word for them," said Jane sarcastically.

"I recognized you by your hair—and you were always so tall, for a girl." Jane gave Maura a look, and the doctor had to stifle a laugh.

"Yeah, that's me," said Jane, lamely.

"Well, it's good to see you again. Now, what can I bring you and your girlfriend to drink?"

Both women froze. Jane recovered first.

"Uh, we'll both just have diet cokes. Hers with a lime, mine just plain."

"Coming right up. And your food will be out shortly." The hostess bustled away, leaving Jane and Maura in an awkward silence.

"Jane, did she just—"

"Yeah, I think she did." Jane let out a long breath, and ran her fingers through her hair. Then she grinned, and looked Maura in the eye. Reaching out across the table, she took the doctor's hand.

"You know what? It's bubble day. Who cares?"

Maura visibly relaxed, and smiled back.

Then she tensed up again. "Wait, did she just say the food will be out shortly? We didn't order anything—and where are the menus?"

Jane laughed. "This is a type of dining you probably haven't experienced before. They just bring everyone the same food—barbecue chicken, ribs, beans, coleslaw, rolls, and cornbread. All you can eat."

Maura's eyes went wide. "Seriously?"

"Yup. You got me to go for a mani-pedi, Maura. Did you think I was going to take you to the Ritz?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Oh, and there's one more thing." Jane was enjoying herself immensely. "The food comes in buckets."

Maura sighed. "I am never letting you take me anywhere again, Jane Rizzoli."

"I think you'll be thinking differently after you taste the rolls, Maura Isles."