Wow, not much love from reviewers for this one, but Thank You to all of you who followed and favorited this story. I am glad that you have enjoyed it so and I hope you enjoy the conclusion as well.
Jane flipped off the light in their bathroom and made her way over to the bed. She arranged her pillows how she wanted them and then slid back the covers so she could slip underneath. She grabbed the file she'd brought home with her and started to go over the report she had started earlier in the day. Maura was sitting up beside her except with a copy of the Journal of Medicine instead of a work file. Jane didn't like to bring home files to read that much, but when she realized she was late leaving this afternoon she had been right in the middle of the report and she needed to finish it by the morning so she could follow up on it.
"So, are you going to tell me what happened today? And don't try to tell me nothing. You were a little quieter than usual. Normally when Abby squeals like that you are all over her spinning her around making her giggle like crazy, even if we are in a restaurant. And it's not often that you don't pick Josh up and hold him, even if it means taking him out of the high chair."
Crap. She had been hoping to avoid this, but Maura knew her so well. She always had. That was one of the things she fell in love with when she knew she loved Maura. No one really knew her quite like Maura did. She didn't really want to tell Maura that she had seen Casey today. Not that she was trying to hide it from her; she just didn't feel like discussing what all it meant. While she had gotten better at discussing her feelings, especially with Maura, it was still hard at times.
She quietly reflected for a few more moments and Maura had begun to give up hope of getting an answer when Jane suddenly blurted out, "I saw Casey today. I was on my way in to the restaurant and all of a sudden I heard his laugh. It just surprised me. It's been all these years since I last saw him and to have him just randomly show up outside of a restaurant when I'm headed in to meet you was a little shocking."
"Statistically speaking it not that much of a surprise. Given the fact that he is either on leave right now and came home, or the possibility that he decided to leave the Army and give up his goal of making General you now both reside in the same city. Although this is a large city the statistics wouldn't be too hard to calculate the probability of you two eventually seeing each other if you continued to reside in the same place for a certain period of time," Maura started to ramble off.
"Whoa, just calm down a minute," Jane stopped her. "I don't need you to calculate any statistics for me. I was just trying to tell you what happened and how I felt about it."
"Right. Sorry," Maura apologized for her outburst.
Jane laid down the folder and reached out her hand to take Maura's. When Maura complied she gently brought her hand to her and kissed her knuckles. "You don't have to apologize for being you. I think it's cute when you ramble like that," she said smiling at Maura.
"Just when I saw him, it made me think about a few things," Jane continued. "He looked so happy standing there and he had a little girl with him."
"What kind of things?" Maura couldn't help but ask. She knew Jane loved her, but at times she would still let in this small voice that hid in the back of her mind that Jane would wake up one day and realize she had made a mistake all those years ago when she turned Casey down and sent his ring back to him.
"I saw it all clearly. Maybe not for the first time, but I definitely saw all of it clearly today. I am so thankful that I didn't get what I thought I deserved. As bad as it was to go through the constant on off relationship I had with Casey I don't regret it or how it turned out. I see the reason why sometimes there's good in goodbye. I ended up right where I belong. I ended up with the most amazing woman on this planet. Together we have the best kids. I can't wait to see what else there is in store for us and I am so happy to have you Maura."
Maura couldn't help herself. Tears welled in her eyes as she listened to Jane finish her speech. That was by far one of the sweetest things she'd heard from her wife in all the years she'd known her. Before she could even try to form a response Jane's lips found hers.
Jane poured everything she felt into that kiss, but most of all her love. She wanted Maura to know just how much she meant to her and how thankful she was that Maura stuck by her all those years ago. That because of it, they ended up together now with a wonderful life she would have never imagined. Yes goodbyes could be hard, but for her there was one goodbye in particular that had a lot of good in it and for that she would always be thankful.
Well, that concludes this story for now. Thank you for reading and I'd love to hear from you on what you thought of this story!