Newspaper Clippings: Waiting for the Panic
A Rizzoli & Isles drabble by Gigi
A/N: And the date ends!
For the first twenty minutes of dinner, the interactions with their waitress were the highlight of their conversation. Every so often, it was stolen glances and fiddling with their napkins, and one of them would open her mouth as if to say something and then think twice and close her mouth once more. For a dreadful period, they both thought that they'd made a terrible mistake, that they possibly threw away their friendship and what if there was nothing there?
But then the food came, and Maura picked up a piece of shrimp from her pasta and spouted an interesting fact about shrimp catching before popping it into her mouth. Jane couldn't stop the small fond sigh that escaped her mouth in response. Then for the rest of the meal, they talked just as they usually would, only this time it was punctuated with shy, unsure glances and light "accidental" brushings of hands or feet. It seemed all they needed to break the ice was to be...normal.
They were still laughing when they walked up to Jane's door, but as the laughter died down...a silence so thick descended that neither doctor nor detective could breathe normally. They locked eyes and they both saw the confusion swimming in each other's eyes.
Maura stepped a little closer and dropped her gaze. "I'm glad we did this, Jane," she admitted softly.
"Me, too," the breathy words were past Jane's lips before she even registered the truth behind them. She kept waiting for the freakout to come, and she felt like she'd been constantly on the verge of one all night. But it never came. Jane felt...light, and a little bit brave. Brave enough to not make Maura have to do all the work. Brave enough to close the gap a little more and to slowly reach for Maura's hand. But with the way her fingers were shaking even as they wrapped around Maura's, Jane knew she wouldn't be brave enough to start anything else.
Maura looked up when she felt the warmth of the detective's fingers intertwining with hers. "This is still a little scary," she confessed as she let out a giant breath. Jane voiced her agreement, but not without a small squeeze of her hand.
They both took another step in. They didn't drop their gazes from each other, nor did they let go of the other's hand. Maura mirrored the deep breath Jane took, and soon their bodies were less than a hair's breadth apart. Maura bit her lower lip as her eyes dropped down to Jane's own slightly parted lips. Deep breath.
This kiss was nothing like the chaste brushing of the lips Maura had used to tell Jane her feelings. The simple touching of two pairs of lips, with the owners of those lips too shocked really to do anything else. This one was...a kiss.
This time, when Maura pushed a little upwards to gain some height, Jane leaned forward slightly, and instead of the shocked stiffness, shy lips moved against her own. The butterflies from earlier were back tenfold and Maura closed that hair's breadth between their bodies, the warmth of the detective's body against hers a delightful addition to the nervous excitement the kiss was giving her.
The second Jane felt Maura's body against hers, she felt a second dose of bravery take hold of her. Her hands found their way to Maura's hips, and she applied just a bit more pressure on her lips, tilting her head to the side. Maura's lips were...so soft.
When they parted, they looked at each other through their lashes, neither feeling much like moving from their current position. Both chests rose and fell more than normally, and their breaths mingled when Jane leaned her forehead on Maura's. "I'm still waiting for the freakout to hit me," she whispered. "This is just so surreal."
Maura smiled, complete understanding shining in her eyes. "Yeah, I'm having trouble believing it myself." She shrugged. "I think I like where this is going though."
Once again, the words left Jane's mouth without hesitation, "Me, too."
A/N: AHHHHHHHHHH this took me so long to write you have no idea. I started this at 10 p.m. It is now 12:31 a.m. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to write a first kiss for a newly realized lesbian couple? VERY. So please, PLEASE have mercy on me and REVIEW!