Chapter Seven – Sleep Over

The smirk that spread across Jane's pink lips as she leaned back to an upright position seemed to drag Maura's body magnetically up with her.

An instant later, the doctor's eyebrows lifted and she scoffed, side-stepping the detective's lanky frame. A balled fist thudded against her firm thigh as she spun around, "I'm happy to see after all this time it still amuses you to mock me."

With her body still facing the dresser, Jane's smirk vanished as she turned her head to regard the blonde, all the while breathing deeply through her nose.

Maura gestured with both hands, irritated. "It doesn't matter what I say, does it? Ever. If I want to discuss emotions you don't want to engage and if I talk about things only in scientific terms you poke fun at me."

Jane tried to interject but the younger woman still appeared unreasonably affronted, "Maura, I wasn't -"

"I knew this would happen. I asked you not to push but you just can't turn the badge off, can you? Instead now everything's strange between us and you think I'm weirder than I already was."

Hands held in surrender, Jane's body turned stiffly back toward the blonde. "Woah, hold up. Let's backtrack just a little, huh. I did not call you weird… well, not today, but you have been acting a little off." Counting each point on her fingers and staring firmly at the tight set of Maura's jaw, Jane recapped, "Three times tonight you've zoned out on me. You stared at me funny in the restaurant bathroom earlier, I thought it was just to do with the dress but then you did it again when I came downstairs after getting changed, and just now on the couch you…" Three fingers became an entire hand, which she waved in a circle before pointing towards the door, "I don't even know what that was.

Hazel eyes were fixed on the carpet as Maura strained to remain calm and rational. Still feeling tender, but now somewhat ashamed too, she forced out meekly, "I'm sorry."

The doctor's regret washed over Jane without effect. It wouldn't do to accept her weak apology and allow Maura the means to run away from this. Instead the older woman swallowed, feeling a burn low in her belly that she hoped wasn't her body's way of telling her she ate a cannoli too many. "I mean… I think I know."

Maura peered up to meet dark eyes that burned through her.

"I had a theory… coming up here… and I thought at one point you'd confirmed it for me, but you've done such a great job of talking around the point, of making it all sound so clinical and trivial and -" Jane pointed an accusing index finger at her friend. "I'm not the only one that avoids discussing emotions by the way…" and she saw Maura's lips twitch up at the edges as she fought a smile herself. "… and now I'm gonna have to go out on a limb to clear all this up."

Uncertainty washed over Maura like an ice cold shower, leaving prickled flesh and watery eyes in its wake. To apologise again might seem too desperate. What would Jane think of her if she begged to start over, to take back everything she had said? Would either of them ever forget the night and the ridiculous events that fought to turn their seamless friendship upside-down?

A heavy silence hung between them, the room permeated only by the sounds of rain still beating down on the windows, never-ending, until Jane moved and then Maura wanted to speak, to beg, to cry, to reach out and hold on. It was nothing more than a muffled squeak as she forced it down and softly cleared her throat for cover.

Jane wanted to close the distance between the two of them, but Maura's reaction on the couch and again here in her bedroom were proof enough that the brunette would only force her friend further away. So she moved to leave, taking several long strides across the room before stopping and turning just inside the doorway. Here was the limb, a weakling of a bough that absolutely would not hold her weight. She was counting on Maura to catch her when she fell.

Pushing the door closed with a quiet snick, the detective was glad of the dim light afforded by only a single lit bedside lamp. She began speaking at the exact same time as she started to slowly unbutton her shirt from top to bottom.

"I hate the rain," she said simply at the first button. "I hate every moment it pours down, but not for the reason you might think." Another button and a deep breath followed. "I watched too much TV when I was young, too many old films. By the time I was old enough to put romance into practice I was idealistic and much too naïve." Thanks for that, Ma.

All of Jane's cleavage was on display. Good lord, there's another freckle. Maura looked on, riveted, confused, and aroused.

The third button revealed a swath of tanned skin across Jane's midriff. "I thought everyone got chased through a storm by their true love." She scoffed and snickered at her own little joke, "What good is being swept off your feet if you're not dripping wet?!"

Almost as soon as the smile appeared it vanished again. If it were possible, Maura thought, Jane was even more beautiful when she was serious. Dark and brooding did wonders for her strong features, and of course the lighting didn't hurt.

Button four uncovered Jane from neck to bellybutton and Maura couldn't help the up-down sweep of her appreciative gaze.

"Lovers were always in the rain, y'know, or snuggled up under the covers listening to the sounds of it, the thunderstorms, it was perfect."

Jane seemed wistful, Maura thought, as if she were replaying dreams long since abandoned, exorcising something from deep within, something never admitted to another living soul. It wouldn't surprise the doctor given the detective's cynical nature. This insight into her best friend, as provoked as it was unexpected, was like pure oxygen and Maura sucked it up with deep breaths. Keep going, keep going played on a loop inside her head. She wanted to see and hear so much more.

Jane's attention was fixed on her shirt, on the movement of her fingers, and her long, curly hair fluttered around the sides of her downturned face as she shook her head. "But life isn't like the movies, so it's not Prince Charming chasing you, it's some… sick psychopath, and the rain isn't romantic, it's cold and it's running down your neck, under your collar and you're shivering and you just want someone to care enough to wrap you up in a warm, fluffy robe but you're too proud or stubborn to ask and so it never comes…"

Maura was emotional; feeling a little vulnerable and a whole lot off-kilter. But the soul-baring that Jane was working through, some of it without stopping for breath and with eyes still turned down in what looked like embarrassment caused Maura to hiccup a little sob in sympathy. "Jane -"

This stopped Jane in her tracks and her eyes lifted from where her fingers still held the last and only button still fastened on her shirt, where the tails disappeared, still tucked beneath the waistband of her trousers.

Maintaining eye contact, she continued, "Then - surprise – you reach forty and you're too cynical and jaded to realise the person you're truly willing to run through the rain for isn't the leading man your mother told you about every Sunday afternoon while she braided your hair…"

With the final button released and her shirt gaping freely, the brunette swiftly moved to free the button on her trousers. A quick movement of her wrist left the zipper partially lowered.

Maura's breath was shallow and stilted as she took in the delicate black panties that matched the lacy bra showcasing the glorious dark tone of Jane's skin. The fact that this particular ensemble was once hidden beneath that scandalous black dress wouldn't have surprised the blonde in the least, but seeing it covered by such unassuming work attire did something to her pulse. And that was without words. But then there had been words, too, such beautiful words; words that inspired a glowing spiral of hope inside Maura.

Unwilling to make any assumptions, lest it make a fool of her – and, if she was honest, lest the additional disappointment destroy what was left of her fragile confidence if she was wrong - she had to be sure. "What are you – I mean, what -"

Jane took a single step forward and held out her left hand. "I guess I'm taking a leaf out of your book, Doctor. I'm testing my theory. For science." The invitation was blatant and unmistakeable. Her sultry smile enough to set the bed sheets alight. If you want me, come and get me.

"This isn't funny, Jane."

"I'm not trying to be funny." She gestured with both hands at her partially dressed body. "You really think I'm teasing you?"

Maura twisted from side-to-side, one hand on her hip, the other pressing her palm to her scrunched forehead. "I – I don't know. I'm not sure what to think. It's all so… confusing."

"If you think about it, it's not that confusing. It makes more sense to me than your Freudian explanation, that's for sure."

"And what if I'm right? It's entirely possible this is a passing feeling that will right itself."

"You could be right, Maura. You usually are. But that only explains your feelings… it doesn't explain mine."

"Your - you have feelings for me?"

Jane nodded. "And you have feelings for me, too. It's okay to say it. You don't need to dissect it, or make apologies for it. I think it kinda crept up on us."

Maura breathed a sigh of relief. Jane wasn't going to freak out. She wasn't going to lose her best friend, even if she was still trying to analyse everything to the nth degree.

"So, what do we do now?"

"Well," said Jane, quickly removing her shirt and trousers without further preamble. "We can talk about it some more, if you want." She slipped under the covers, propped up slightly by Maura's fluffy pillows, the duvet covering everything up to her arm pits. "Or not."

Removing her own dress and slipping into the bed beside the detective, Maura felt a strange sense of calm settle deep inside. They'd been here before, side-by-side, only on a handful of occasions and usually by accident after one of them fell asleep before moving to the guest bed, but never had they both only been in their underwear.

Jane turned onto her side to face Maura, propped up by an elbow, and the younger woman followed suit.

"How do we… do this?" At Jane's raised, amused eyebrow Maura stumbled through trying to be more specific. "I don't mean how, I mean -"

"I don't think I can answer that, not in a way that will quiet all the questions I'm sure are still swirling around that enormous brain of yours."

Maura giggled quietly. "Okay."

"Let's just carry on…" Jane shrugged, "… being us. The two of us together. No more bakers or nurses or yoga instructors, no more artists or soldiers or professors. I don't need any of them." You don't need any of them.

"I think I can do that, Detective."

"Good, 'cos I think... somewhere along the way... a while ago actually... I think I fell for you, Dr. Isles."

Maura moved in for a tentative kiss on the lips but was stopped by Jane's hand gently pushing against her chest.

"Wait -"

To say the doctor felt off her game was an understatement. How could she, once so perceptible and quick to read facial signals, think she'd be wrong in taking that next step?

Jane saw the blonde's face drop and was quick to reassure with a soft palm cupping an even softer cheek, "Hey, no, just… first you have to promise me three things."

Maura blinked and pursed her lips.

"One," the brunette jerked a pointed index finger into the air. "… the first rule of girls' night, which I know you have in private with my mother, is don't talk about the cannolis. The existence of that late night cafe and its award-winning desserts is a secret. If she finds out I'm eating anything other than her homemade ones she'll never forgive me."

Maura smirked and nodded.

"Two, I'm bound to get some grief from her about how I treated Nick tonight. It wouldn't surprise me if that fact reached her before sunrise; the speed at which gossip travels through Italian families is enough to make TMZ jealous. And when it does, I'm gonna need some backup…" She pointed a finger at Maura's chest then at her own in turn, "… that means you... sticking up for me, at least a little bit. There'll be no tag-teaming me anymore about how I don't make an effort on dates and how it's my fault it didn't work out, blah, blah, blah."

This caused Maura's jaw to drop but she didn't try to deny it.

"And C…" She grinned at Maura's sharp inhale and still parted lips, an almost objection to her switching nomenclature that lasted only a second as the blonde quickly realised Jane's deliberate attempt to get a reaction. "You promise me, right now, that the only face I ever need to see across the dinner table… is yours."

Maura's upper body lurched forwards, her wanting lips finding a home with those that had made demands, whispered moving declarations, and curled around arousing compliments in Italian.

The two women didn't part when breath was needed, still clinging, skin to pink, wet skin, and Maura breathed into Jane with pleasure, "I promise."