Author's note: thank you very much for all your reviews and private messages.

Chapter twenty-three: The Past Is Far Behind

"Ah no!" Hands on the steering-wheel, Jane rolled her eyes at Maura and wrinkled her nose. "Jeez... It happens every time. Every time we hit the road. You know I hate the smell of nail varnish in the car so that won't happen, not today. No – no – and no." She motioned the street in front of her. "We haven't even left Boston yet... There's no way my car smells of nail varnish until Salem."

"My car." Maura raised an eyebrow but didn't insist. She put the small bottle of nail varnish back in her bag and turned her head around to speak to Margot. "I am afraid that we won't be able to have a decent manicure before reaching our destination. I am sorry."

Margot shrugged and grabbed a notebook instead.

"It's okay. I'm going to work on this final project instead." Pencil in hand, she focused on the sheet of paper and started writing with an obvious frenzy.

Maura settled back on her seat. Margot had been talking about this project for a while but she had refused to let them know what it was about.

It would be presented during the farewell party at school, along with the other French students' own projects. Maura did not like secrets much but she didn't have the choice and had to wait for six days to find out about the project.

"Take advantage of the ride to catch back on your sleep, Maura. You've been working all night." In the most natural way, Jane squeezed her partner's thigh sweetly before smiling at her.

She was right. The medical examiner had been on call all night long and had had to leave home at 2am for a car crash scene. She had come back to Beacon Hill thirty minutes before they left for the weekend. Just as planned.

"But then you will be alone and I don't like that. I am your copilot. It is my role to talk to you and help you with the roads or anything you need."

Jane held back a chuckle.

If she had won the first part of the game and was now the official driver, she still had chances to spend the next hour listening to Wikipedia Maura who had this tendency – every time they left on a roadtrip – to share her knowledge about Massachusetts with the rest of the class. And truth to be told, Jane wasn't in the mood for that right now.

"C'mon, it's only a forty-five minutes drive. I'll survive. You slept for two hours last night. I don't want you to be grumpy all day long because you'd be sleep deprived."

"I am not grumpy when I am sleep deprived! This isn't true." Maura pouted – offended – but finally settled on her seat and closed her eyes. "Wake me up when we are there."

Jane smiled. Second victory of the morning.

"And no Led Zepellin."

Smile: gone. She cast a resentful glance at Maura and shook her head. The next forty-five minutes would be the longest ones of her life.

...

"Why did you stop playing piano?"

All of a sudden, Jane lost focus and the harbor turned blurry; all the boats she had been observing in silence for the last ten minutes disappeared in a fog of some sort.

She hadn't expected such question, not now. Their day in Salem had been perfect and they were now about to have dinner on the waterfront. Lobster, probably. Like all the tourists around.

"It's... I don't know if I should let you know about it. It's not... It's delicate." Jane cast a quick glance on her right but Maura was nowhere to be seen. She was still in the bathroom of the restaurant.

"I ask you because you play well. I enjoyed playing with you the other day and I know you enjoyed it too. So why did you stop if you like it? It doesn't make sense." Margot took a sip of water and let a comforting smile play on her lips. "I'm sixteen, you know. Not ten. You can tell me everything."

Jane nodded. She wasn't as sure as the adolescent but the request was fair enough. All she had to do was to find the right words – the proper description – without giving away details nobody really needed in the end.

"I stopped when I got these." She waved her hands and pointed out her scars. "It happened at work. I mean... On a scene. I..." She ran a hand through her hair and frowned. "I screwed it and someone did this to me. He wanted more from me, though. A lot more."

"He wanted to kill you?"

The question went straight to her heart and abruptly squeezed it until it hurt. She nodded, looking at the table to avoid Margot's eyes on her. She still felt guilty. In spite of what Korsak said, what had happened with Hoyt was her fault. She knew it.

"Yes." She swallowed hard. What was the point of lying? Margot had guessed, anyway. "But what... What he liked was to take his time. He enjoyed it a lot. I don't know how long it really lasted but all I remember is how - during all this time - he didn't stop talking to me about my piano; how he loved listening to me when I played."

Jane's voice broke. She was going too far. Margot didn't need to know all this.

Her question hadn't remained unanswered and it was all what mattered in the end. End of the conversation.

"I'm glad he failed."

After a long moment of hesitation, Jane finally looked up at Margot. The girl had never seemed so serious and determined. In a sweet way that made Jane smile.

"Me too."

"There is a lobster singing in the bathroom. A plastic one, of course. Real lobsters don't sing. Yet if studies were run, perhaps we would come to a different conclusion as they do interact with each..." Maura stopped as she felt Jane's hand on hers. She turned her head and looked at her partner. "Are you alright?" She seemed worried.

Jane nodded and forced a smile. She was probably a bit pale but now that Maura was back next to her, life could start again and bad memories be forgotten. Somehow.

"A singing lobster, you say? I'm surprised it's not a witch. This place is turning in a real Disneyland. It was very different when I was a kid. It's losing its authenticity."

"But the museum was great and Salem is a nice town!" Margot closed her menu and crossed her hands on the table. "Thank you very much for taking the time to bring me here."

Jane and Maura shook their head in a perfect synchronization and laughed at it.

"It's normal. Actually, I wish we'd have had enough time to take you to other places too. It kind of sucks we had to stick to only a few of them. Massachusetts has a great History."

Caressing absentmindedly her lover's nape – playing with the dark curls there - Maura nodded at Jane's remark and took a sip of her white wine. She was tired but happy. She felt complete. It was the very first time that she and Jane left on a roadtrip as a couple and she loved every single second of it.

Her life suddenly made so much sense that she was almost afraid it wouldn't last.

The wind always ends up turning, Isles. You should know that by now. Haven't you learned from the past? I thought you had.

She didn't want to listen to this inner voice and fought against it as much as she could. It wasn't always easy but her efforts were rewarded. She had to learn to live in the time being instead of focusing way too much on the future and complaining about the past.

She was with Jane. They were happy together. End of the story.

"You took many pictures, today. May I check them?"

Margot wrinkled her nose and shook her head at the scientist. She seemed embarrassed to turn the request down but didn't have much of a choice.

"I'm going to use some for my final project so I can't show them to you now. Sorry..."

"Ha!" Jane blushed as she realized that she had spoken a bit too loudly. She smiled at the few faces who had turned around to stare at her and cleared her voice. "This project is turning in the Area 51 of school. Seriously, what are you working on? I'm freaking curious and I know Maura is too."

Maura went to protest but finally nodded. It was true. Her curiosity was piqued and she had a hard time accepting the fact that she would have to wait for a whole week.

"The area what?"

A smile of delight grew on Jane's lips. She sat up on her seat and raised an eyebrow at the teenager. Now here came her chance to avoid a history lecture about Salem from Maura. She had had enough so-called fun facts for the day and needed to talk about something else, now.

"You've never heard of the Area 51?"

Margot frowned – seemed to really ponder the question – then shook her head.

"No... What is it?"

As Jane clapped her hands in delight, Maura stopped caressing her nape and preferred to focus on her wine instead. They had already talked about the Area 51 and completely disagreed on the matter. If she wanted to take the most of the romantic bedroom they had at the hotel after dinner, it was clear that she needed to remain quiet now.

"You don't look enthusiastic, Maura." Margot giggled. She hadn't missed the scientist's sudden change of mood.

Jane swept the remark away with a gesture of the hand and winked at Margot.

"Don't pay attention to her. She just loooooves doing her Scully at times."