A/N: Hey, guys. I'm really sorry it took so long. Almost a month, right? Wow. Anyway, sorry. But I hope I at least made up for some of it with the length of this chapter. It's the longest yet, by a long way. And I think it's pretty funny.

Shout-outs to: milk3002 and moriartyhasthephonebox.

Guys, you know that they can't get drunk. It's Monday night; they have work tomorrow! But, I may be a bit lenient with that coming up...;).

Brownie points to anyone who catches the Grey's Anatomy 'line' and even more brownie points if you've seen the movie they're going to see.

So...

Chapter Six: A Night In

Jane and Maura reached the Robber, and took their seats in their usual booth. To their surprise, Frankie was there with a couple of his patrol buddies, off-duty.

As if to add to the inevitable embarrassment and humiliation that was to come for Frankie, it was Karaoke night. The one night a month where people can sing their hearts out, and Jane and Maura were going to witness the young Rizzoli do just that. How wonderful. In fact, he was already on stage when the ever-observant Doctor Isles pointed him out to his sister. The music started playing for a Queen song; "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon". And then, as if it weren't going to be bad enough already, one Detective Barold Frost joined him in front of everyone, playing the guitar and singing 'background'. Cop bar, shmop bar; he was too drunk to notice. The newfound companionship between Frost and Frankie had benefited each of them. Frankie's detective skills were being honed by someone who was not biased, and Frost learned how to loosen up a bit, something he himself hadn't done since joining Homicide.

Maura and Jane noticed all of this and more between the two men, and when the humiliating song was over, went over to confront and make fun. The making fun was mostly for Jane, but Maura usually knew how to pitch in when she was needed. It's a good thing that this time, her humor skills weren't in high order. "Hey Francesco and Barold, I didn't know you guys could sing. And emulate one of classic rock's greatest icons, too. Good on you. You're about a day late, though. Sunday was yesterday." Jane was trying hard not to double over in laughter, but just kept on teasing the boys. "But seriously, you picked that song? It's like the shortest song ever. Your guitar skills were amazing, though, Barold. Frankie wouldn't have been able to succeed without them." The sarcasm was painfully evident to anyone who wasn't Maura, who was trying to determine the accuracy of one of Jane's previous statements.

Frankie and Frost took the good-natured ribbing in stride, but as all little brothers do, Rizzoli lite had to have a comeback on hand. "Thanks, big sis. Maybe next month you can get out on stage too and stop singing "Howling for You" in the shower." Jane's smile faltered ever so slightly, but she took the teasing well regardless, and simply punched each man on the shoulder none-too-lightly to stop the laughing.

It was then that Maura decided to throw in a comment or two. "You know, Jane, actually the shortest song ever recorded was 1.316 seconds long, called You Suffer. It was mostly thought of as a song parody, but it has a title in Guinness, so it's regarded as official." Maura smiled at her own intelligence, but the highly developed mind holding all that intellect had been too busy scanning history for songs to register what Frankie had said, and now finally caught on. "Wait, you sing in the shower? How come I've never heard you before?"

"Because she doesn't want to burden you with her tone-deafness," Frankie interrupted. The doctor's comment hadn't been lost on Frost either, but he put the information to good use. Use like wondering what exactly Maura does with Jane so late at night or so early in the morning that she knows when Jane is in the shower.

"It's true, Maur," Jane took over the banter. "I really can't sing. And I don't want your ears to fall off, so I spare you the torture." She then turned and ushered her friend away from the two quite intoxicated cops, willing them to start acting a bit more like their own age. "Come on, I need a drink after that little reminder of my sweet sixteen party. God, that was a bad year," Jane chuckled. "And no, I'm not going to talk about it."

The best friends went back to their booth and ordered their usual, engaging in their own session of chaffing all the while. "So, Doctor, what game are we going to play tonight?"

"Well, I didn't engage much in social interaction during my years in high school and university as you know, but many of my peers were partial to games involving alcohol or stripping."

"Yeah, no. That's not happening tonight. It's Monday, Maura, and we have work tomorrow. I'm not going to set foot in that bullpen with anything resembling a hangover; unlike Frost over there," nodding towards the man who was stumbling slightly against the bar counter. "As for the stripping, I usually wait for the third date, thank you very much."

Maura actually caught on to the teasing nature of Jane's comment for once, and just waved a hand to dismiss it. "Well, I recall them saying they also liked Truth or Dare."

"Yeah, okay, Maur. Your high school 'peers' obviously didn't have very good judgment. I'm willing to bet the farm that just about every game they liked involved alcohol."

"You don't own a farm, Jane," Maura said, a little confused with Jane's statement.

Jane sighed. There were some things that Maura would never be able to understand herself. Bummer. "It just means that I'm very sure of what I'm saying. But no. Truth or Dare is out of the question as well. I'm not up for making a fool of myself licking chocolate chips off the floor." Jane sighed, letting go just enough to lean back and slouch against the booth cushions. "I guess I'll just have to come up with a game myself, then."

The women sat back and let the conversation come to a lull after that. Each lost in her own thoughts. Jane's consisting of 'what movie's and 'what game's. Maura's consisting of her unusual 'what if's and 'if/then's. Unusual because she had never liked using 'what if'. Not so unusual because they were regarding Jane, as many of her thoughts seemed to be doing lately.

It was just no use. She couldn't get her mind off of the dark detective sitting in front of her. But both women just sat silent, content with the other's presence, even when no one had anything of value to say. They both completely forgot that they were even in a loud bar with even louder little brothers. That is, they forgot until said little brother, who was a little drunk, came along and disrupted their quiet.

"Hey, big sister! And other big sister! What'cha two even doing over here? You're conversation is quieter than Jane's sex life."

Jane blushed, but recovered quickly. "What the hell do you even know about my sex life?" She was a little incredulous, and more than a little annoyed at her brother's inebriated antics.

"Just enough to know that you don't have one. But, you never know, Maura could maybe help you out with that little predicament."

It was Maura's turn to blush this time. She shielded her face slightly from Jane, irrationally fearing that the detective would be able to see her thoughts if she saw her eyes. Surely Frankie couldn't really know. He was just drunk. But, then again, apparently everyone who wasn't Jane (or Jane's brain) saw something between the two. It would be hard to dispute, so Maura just let it slide. This time. Because, for her part, Jane was already doing something about the thirty-something year old teenager next to them.

In the time it had taken Maura to think everything through- a split-second, really. She was quite fast- Jane had already jumped out of the booth, grabbed Frankie by one of his ears, and dragged him back to Frost and his patrol buddies at the bar. Jane was blushing as well, but it was her brother causing the problem, and so she needed to dispose of it.

Jane turned and, as friend-like as she could, came up and ushered Maura back towards the bar doors, out into the night, and into her car. "I swear, the next time baby Francesco gets drunk around me will be the last time he's alive around me," she threatened to an amused best friend.

Maura chuckled as she buckled in her seatbelt and leaned back against the chair. "Relax, Jane. He was clearly relatively intoxicated. Granted, not as bad as Barry was, but enough to, let's say, let out his subconscious thoughts. If they just happened to be about us…well, there's nothing we can do about that."

Of course, there was nothing Jane did want to do about that. Other than the act of getting those ideas out of her baby brother's head, the idea itself- in her own mind- was definitely not the worst one she'd ever had. And, truthfully, not the first idea she'd ever had about the two of them either. So…what? Well, obviously Maura was just handling this as only Maura would, so Jane just let it go for now. But when Frankie walked upstairs into the bullpen for whatever reason tomorrow, he was going to get it. Bad. Never mind the fact that he would be hung over. That's his own fault.

The drive to Jane's apartment went relatively smoothly, not counting the swerve or two she had made while her mind ran amok elsewhere.

Opening the door for her friend, Jane called out "Game or movie first, Maur? And don't ask me which ones I've decided on. It's going to be a surprise. And you can't bag on anything I choose, either." Jane shut and locked the door behind her and followed the doctor to pick out some leftover take-out for their movie. Actually, strike that. She plucked the Thai food from Maura's hand and put it back in the fridge. "Yeah, no. This particular movie requires only popcorn. Do you agree to the terms of tonight's events, Doctor?"

Maura laughed, unfazed by Jane's seemingly serious and aloof attitude. "Yes, of course, Jane. I agree. Game first, though. What did you decide on?" She plopped herself down on Jane's couch, waiting for the detective to join her from the kitchen.

"Patience is key, Maura. You know this," Jane teased. She abandoned the doctor to retreat into her bedroom for a second, and then came back a moment later with a box in her hand. She set it down on the coffee table, and Maura repaid her with amused and quizzical look.

"Twister, Jane? This is the game you chose? Alright," she sighed, secretly enjoying riling Jane up. Maura pulled off her heels, thankful for once that she had been wearing fashionable slacks that day in favor of one of her dresses. It obviously served a purpose. The honey-blonde stood, removed her heels, and took the game in her hands, setting it on the couch, and prepared to push at the coffee table. At seeing the questioning look Jane was giving her, Maura returned the gaze at her friend with equal fake intensity, like she was from space. Or came back from the dead and off of her table. "Well, you obviously have to move the coffee table so that we can play in here, right?"

Jane's head cleared when she heard these magic words. "Uh, yeah, right. I'll drag it over there," she nodded absently towards an unoccupied corner of the room, "and you can set up the mat." While Jane cleared the space in front of the television, she tried to get those thoughts out of her head. The ones about Maura. The ones that Frankie had mentioned. The more-than-platonic ones. The ones that were becoming more frequent the more time she spent with the blonde haired genius.

Meanwhile, said genius was fighting the same war with her own thoughts. Her physical body was busy unfolding the Twister mat, but her mind was elsewhere while Jane couldn't see her. Maura had never actually gone THAT far with a woman before, but she didn't have any problems with it. And as if a physical attraction to her best friend wasn't enough, Maura was quite sure that although she didn't know quite to what extent her feelings went for Jane, they were more than platonic at the least.

The mat was sufficiently set up on the floor, and the spinner board sat nearby on one of the couch cushions. Apparently, since Jane had had to pick the game, it was Maura's obligation to take her turn first. She ended up with a left foot on green, and Jane's turn placed her right hand on red. Several increasingly physical and awkward spins later, Maura was spread in bridge position face up across the mat. Thank god for yoga.

Jane was on top of her. Thank god for clothes. Because Jane's legs were awkwardly spread and stradling Maura, and as it was, Maura was not completely certain that Jane couldn't feel her arousal. Thankfully, Jane's hands were both on the same side of Maura's arched body, so it wasn't as completely terrible as it would be.

And now it was Maura's turn again. She could barely move her arms without falling, but somehow she managed to topple the spinner off the couch and onto the ground, and took her turn. She wasn't really sure how she was supposed to get out of this without toppling herself, and Jane along with her. She knew at least one of them would go down. It just seemed funnier that someone would at least win the game. So she essentially sabotaged her turn, picking up her leg and whipping Jane over onto the ground.

Jane had been focused the entire game, because she was just a competitive person in nature. She wasn't going to let Maura win without a valiant war. And that meant enduring whatever potentially torturous situation came her way. Even this one, where she was practically grinding her hips on Maura's legs. It certainly wasn't helping disprove Frankie's statement from earlier, because what she was feeling right now...personally, all she wanted were two things: one, to get some freakin' relief. And two: for this not to happen again with Maura unless it was actually purposely a part of their relationship. Because she didn't think she could handle it again if it weren't.

Of what happened next, she wasn't so sure. Her head was down, facing the mat, so all she could see or feel was that Maura had, very impressively, moved the spinner and taken her turn. The next things to happen were all a blur for Jane. She could practically see the gears turning in the head of the girl under her, and then came that smirk. One that Maura used so very rarely. It was that same smile that she had worn when she had proposed the pinball game to the detectives. She was plotting something. Jane hardly had time to wonder exactly what she was plotting, though, because half a second later, Maura had made this move than she probably learned in her yoga classes; because all of a sudden the doctor's leg was in the air, and her hips turned, and Jane was flat on the ground.

"Maura!" she yelled in feigned exasperation, although muffled by her face against the floor. When she flipped her body around enough, Jane could see Maura trying extremely hard to contain her laughter. She was already up and on the couch, covering her face with a pillow in an attempt to keep her howls of amusement from reaching the outside world. It didn't work very effectively on the long run.

Maura erupted with laughter, doubling over on the couch. It wasn't something she usually did, so when it happened, Jane simply could not resist the urge to go over and prolong the enjoyment as best she could.

So the tickle war started. Jane swiftly climbed over onto the couch and pushed Maura down horizontally. She set one of her legs on top of Maura's to keep her from flailing and kicking, and took both of Maura's wrists in one of her hands, trapping them above her head. Jane's left hand proceeded to tickle Maura's side until the blonde was shrieking with laughter and joy. It always seemed cute to Jane that Maura was very ticklish, a small quirk she had had the pleasure of discovering after one stressful case. Maura didn't know that Jane was equally ticklish. Well, Jane thought that Maura didn't know. But Maura always knows things...

"Jane!" Maura shrieked when enough air had finally entered her lungs to do anything but gasp and laugh. "Jane! Stop!" She valiantly fought off her attacker with another one of her 'moves'. This particular one had been taught to her by Jane herself. The detective wouldn't know what hit her.

Maura lay as limp as she possibly could while Jane was still tickling at her sides incessantly. She was still gasping for air, but managed to focus the detective's attention to her torso for just enough time to wrench her dominant hand from Jane's grasp and push her off. It was time for revenge.

She climbed out from under the brunette and tackled her back. Claiming the same position Jane had just employed on her, Maura aimed her hand's trajectory to a different zone than Jane's torso and side, though. Maura was going straight to the best place she could. Lower than the torso. What? No, lower than that. Maura had accidentally discovered one night, without Jane's knowing, that her feet were the most ticklish zones on her body. It was worth another shot, at the very least.

Maura trapped Jane's wrists in front of her, though, so her hands wouldn't be too spread apart. The doctor reached behind her back and found one of the extraordinarily long legs she was sitting on. Jane had already figured out what was going on, but she was powerless to move. Maura had much more upper body strength than she let on. That was definitely worth exploring further, should Maura permit it. But back to the point. Maura had reached Jane's feet and scraped her nails ever-so-fleetingly across their bottoms, much to both Jane's enjoyment and torture. It was quite amusing, in reality. Jane let out a short yelp and thrust her hips up involuntarily, her body trying to escape its grasp. Jane tried to wriggle her hands free from Maura's clutches, but Maura had been smarter in her strategy. She used her dominant hand to subdue Jane, and the other to do the easier work of tickling Jane's super sensitive feet.

And she was enjoying every second of it.

Jane's raven-colored hair was sprawled about in all directions across the couch, some lucky strands still somewhere on the couch and not hanging off the arm or the cushion's edge or wherever else. Her chest was heaving, trying mostly in vain to get some oxygen into her systems. She was gasping and laughing and wailing as Maura finally left her feet alone. But Maura was not so lenient in her conquers. "Payback is a bitch, Detective," she chuckled, moving back up those long legs and over to her sculpted abdomen. Jane was in no way sensitive to pain, but the sensations of the fingernails Maura trailed over her side were not painful at all. There were only agonizingly pleasing - or pleasingly agonizing – it really didn't matter to her as long as the two were together in some way.

After another few minutes of this, Maura actually seemed to notice that two things were happening. The first one had to do with her. Blondie had only just realized this, but she was essentially straddling Jane's waist. Okay, so it was her legs, but she was leaning over just a 'little bit' in order to tickle her friend's side. And she was turned on. It was a good thing that Jane couldn't see this. Oh, Jane. That was the second thing. Her head was tipped back high and her throat was arched. Her mouth was open, and it legitimately looked like she was having some trouble breathing.

Maura immediately stopped her hand's ministrations and got off of the couch to see if Jane was okay. While the air flow returned to Jane's system and she was reacquainted with the world around her, Maura was busy apologizing. She had apparently been overly occupied with what her hands were doing to pick up her head and see Jane's heaving chest. But no worries. Because as soon as Jane was breathing a little more normally, she pounced once more, knocking the pair of women onto the floor. "Jane!" Maura yelped again.

The doctor quickly swiveled her body and knocked Jane off of her and onto the floor. Maura stood and gathered herself, righting her shirt and slacks and striding over to the kitchen for some desperately needed ice water; because the freezing ice itself was needed just as much as the water was. She returned to the living room with another glass for Jane, who just now was picking herself up off the floor and catching her breath.

"Here, sit up and drink this." Maura handed Jane the glass and Jane, very characteristically, drowned the liquid with a few very unladylike gulps. It usually helped her regain control of her heartbeat after a workout, she claimed.

"Thanks," Jane said once the glass was empty and all that remained were a couple of ice cubes. "That was enough heavy exercise for one night, don't you think? What do you say we settle down for that movie about now?" Maura nodded, and Jane reached over to the couch for leverage in pulling herself up off the floor. The brunette stalked over to the bookcase by her television, ironically holding mostly movies and video games for her brothers. She pulled one out and tossed it to Maura, who caught it without a second thought. Good to know her reflexes were intact. "How do you feel about horror, Maur?"

She took a look at the old movie case and chuckled a little. "Poltergeist, Jane? It sounds a little forced."

"Yeah, I thought we'd watch one of the classics. Besides, you didn't answer my question."

"As a genre, I don't care for it much. It's never relatable, and science, if there ever is any involved, is often miscalculated in some way or another."

"Well, buckle in, Maur, because I chose this movie, and that's what I said we were going with earlier at the precinct. You can occupy yourself massaging my hands if you get bored or annoyed or whatever you geniuses get whenever something in an entertainment film isn't really correct. You said you wanted to."

"I'll just watch with you, then. But I warn you, your hands may become very interesting to me at some point during the movie, so don't be scared if something freaky happens on the T.V. and I've done something to your hand. You've brought this upon yourself."

Jane just chuckled and got up to put in the old movie, turn off the lights for effect, and retrieve the popcorn they had set on the counter earlier. From the kitchen, she called "You know, they say this series is cursed or something. Frankie and Tommy told me that something like four people died during the time the movies were made."

"While that's highly unfortunate, I don't think there are such things as curses."

After Twister was folded and put away and the coffee table was moved back in place, Jane started the movie and both women paid rapt attention. After a little while, Maura took Jane's hands in her own and started kneading away at the tensed flesh, as promised. It was more of a way to keep the growing fear at bay than anything else, though. But Jane didn't know that. She was still engrossed in the movie. It didn't look like any of the horrors were affecting her much. She must have seen it before.

Maura was trying very hard not to jump at every unexpected turn the movie took, so she started reciting all the scientific problems with the movie in her head. In addition, she paid more careful attention to relieving the stress in Jane's hands. They had been working very hard all week, especially with today's paperwork and impromptu tickle war.

But Maura had a problem. And it was a very real problem. To keep her fear from the movie - however illogically placed it was - at bay, she needed to focus on the hand she was currently massaging. But if the doctor thought about Jane's hand for an extended period of time, she would start to wonder what those hands would feel like on her body. It didn't even have to be anything completely intimate at first. Just a hug or a caress that was purposely outside the realms of friendship. And then she ventured into the kingdom of the more physical thoughts she shouldn't be having about Jane. Especially when Jane was sitting six inches away from her. And that was her problem. She couldn't find anything to focus on that didn't either scare her or stimulate her.

Once the dead people started popping up from their graves, Maura found her distraction. She just hoped that Jane would allow it for a little bit. So Maura snatched the remote off the coffee table and paused the gory scene. "Jane, if nothing else, this whole 'dead people rising from a cemetery' thing is not only cliché, but very very impossible." At Jane's arguing look, Maura continued her rant. "That isn't to say that the rest of this is in any way feasible, but I knew you'd just want me to watch and not comment on anything."

"That's very true, Maura. So how about we watch the last ten minutes of this and then get ready for bed. It's pretty late as it is." Maura nodded quickly, and looked down for her hands to resume the work they'd been doing.

Jane was no idiot. Far from it. She could tell Maura was a little scared. It was a horror movie, after all. Tommy had nearly wet himself the first time he saw it, and he was no little kid when that happened. But Jane decided to keep the theme of the night going: games. She was playing with Maura just a little bit. It wasn't often she (or anyone, for that matter) got to see Maura squirm, and it was so far not a terrible experience. And she was getting a free massage as well.

The movie ended, and Jane offered to clean up while Maura got ready to go to sleep. It was nearing midnight, and Maura was clearly tired.

Jane was in the kitchen and Maura was in the bathroom, and the detective decided to push her luck once more with her best friend. She quickly and quietly gathered all the chairs from around the counter and stacked them one on top of the other on the table, like they had in the movie. After doing that, she sneaked into the bag Maura left on the bed in Jane's room and pulled out one of the things she knew Maura would need tonight before she went to sleep. Jane left it in the living room so Maura would have to go get it and see her little prank.

As Maura finished up in the bathroom, Jane got herself ready to sleep as well. A long t-shirt and some shorts; that was all she really needed. Why Maura bothered with the whole silk ensemble, she didn't know. When Maura finished her whole routine, she walked into Jane's bedroom to see her staring up at the ceiling in thought. She bypassed it for a moment, though, because she couldn't find her cell phone and it needed to be charged.

"Jane, have you seen my phone? It's not in my bag."

Jane tore her gaze away from the ceiling and concealed a smirk. "Maybe it's in the living room. Check there."

Maura turned and walked out of the room to the couch and the coffee table to look for her phone. Upon seeing the stools stacked on the kitchen counter the way they were, Maura nearly yelped. "Jane…come here a second."

Jane heard Maura call her and chuckled quietly to herself. She sounded a little freaked out; her little prank had worked. The detective pulled herself out of bed and prepared herself for the role she was about to take.

"Is something wrong, Maura? Did you find your- Oh my god!" Jane gasped. She stumbled back just enough to make it look convincing to the blonde who stood in front of her. "What the hell?"

"Jane…" Maura started. She was clearly in some level of distress. "Jane, please tell me you had something to do with this. Because if you somehow didn't do it, then I'm not going to be able to fall asleep tonight." Maura sounded genuinely afraid of something, and Jane quickly abandoned her role. She had gone a little too far, and it was showing.

"Hey," Jane rounded her friend and looked into her eyes. "Hey, relax. It was me, alright? I was just messing around with you. There's nothing to be scared of. Look, I'll go take them down, okay? I'll put them back." Jane made her way across the kitchen and to the counter, and started taking each stool down off the counter. Once she was done, she turned back to Maura, who had been staring intently, as if trying to determine what exactly was happening. "Maura, relax, you're okay."

Jane made a move to take Maura in her arms for an embrace, but the blonde's open palm up the back of her head snapped those plans in half. "OW. Thank you very much, Maura." Seeing her troubled friend's indignant look, Jane nodded and rephrased. "Yeah, I deserved that. I'm sorry, Maura. I was just messing with you. You looked a little freaked out during the movie, but I didn't think you were this scared. I'm sorry."

Maura let Jane lead her back to bed after turning out the lights in all the rooms, yet leaving the bedside lamp on. The detective resumed reassuring Maura, even though she didn't really need it. "It's alright, Maura. Here, come lay against me." The doctor did, and Jane continued. "It's just a movie. And besides, if any supernatural being, poltergeist or zombie or whatever, suddenly decides they want to reckon with you, they'll have a hell of a time trying to get through me, okay? Nothing's coming for you."

This made Maura laugh softly, at least. It was a welcome change from her quiet. "Jane?" she looked up at the face of the person whose chest she was laying.

"Mm, yeah?" Her eyes were back on the ceiling.

"Close your eyes, okay?"

"Uh, why?"

"Please, Jane."

Of course Jane did, because Maura asked her to. Maura checked that her eyes were indeed still closed when she shifted into a different position on Jane. After confirming that they indeed were, Maura placed a soft tentative kiss on the corner of Jane's lips. It wasn't long, only a second or two, but Jane knew exactly what Maura was doing. She opened her eyes back up after Maura had settled back into her original position. "What was that for?" Jane was more curious and confused than anything else, and it showed.

Maura sighed. "I don't know, Jane. I'm not familiar with what goes on in my 'gut'. But you're just so nice to me. Always. You're my best friend, and you know how to make me feel better if I'm not well. And just now, when you pulled that joke, I know you weren't trying to be mean. You were just having fun, because that's who you are. But you know me too, and you're here for me, protecting me from all the things that won't even come. And I know that I shouldn't be scared of a movie, and that it's even odder because it's me, but you were still here. Consoling me. Making me feel better in your own way, protecting me with a joke. It's so you. And…and I think you deserved it, if nothing else."

After a brief moment of silence, Maura spoke again. Her tone was still soft, but she turned to face the woman beside her and laced her own humor into her words. "And, maybe, I guess, it's for the next time we play Never Have I Ever. Because now you can never say that you haven't been kissed by a girl."

This little tidbit earned a chuckle from the detective under Maura. "Thank you very much, then, Maura. I feel honored that you chose to be the one to pop my girl-kissing cherry." Maura blushed. "And for the record, I wouldn't mind if you would do it again a few more times after tonight. Because, even as awkward as you made it sound, I know what you meant when you were talking. Granted, it's not exactly the same thing, but…you're beautiful, Maura. And you're funny. And you're brilliant. And you have the best smile. And…I like you too. Like that way, yes."

Jane leaned into Maura for her own kiss, and Maura reciprocated. It was short, sweet, tender. Like all things a proper first – or second – kiss should be.

The detective reached an arm out from around Maura for one second to turn off the bedside table lamp. The arm returned, reassuring Maura once again where she belonged.

"Goodnight, Maura."

"Goodnight, Jane."

XXXXX

Like I said, it was pretty long. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks a bunch if you guys stuck it all the way through. Love you all! Review!

Also, I recommend you guys check out the shortest song ever recorded. ;) For laughs, you know?

ATD