It happened on an ordinary Saturday night. Maura and Jane had just settled down with movie and food when it came, out of the blue.

"AAA-CHOO"

"Jane, are you coming down with something?" Maura was unable to mask the concern she felt for her best friend.

"What, no Maura that was one sneeze."

"That was a pretty emphatic sneeze for someone who's not coming down with something." Maura moved down the couch closer to Jane, moved her hand to her friend's forehead. "You don't feel warm."

"That's because I'm not coming down… achoo achoo achoo"

Maura raised an eyebrow, even as worry flooded her face. "Sounds like allergies."

"To what, this Moo Shoo pork I've been eating all my life?"

"Let me have a bite, maybe they added something new?" Maura slid closer, a hand on Jane's arm to steady herself as she grabbed a piece of pork off her friend's chopsticks.

"ACHOO"

Maura's eyes widened. "Jane, wait. You're not allergic to the pork, you're allergic to me!"

Jane doubled over in a combined fit of sneezing and laughing.

"But we should probably experiment. Hold on, let me see what happens when I move to the other side of the couch."

The sneezing stopped but the snortling didn't. "Maura..." a pause to breathe in between the attacks of raucous laughter. "Maur, this is ridiculous I can't be allergic to my best friend."

"It is scientifically impossible to be allergic to other humans, Jane. You're probably just allergic to the fabric I'm wearing or the perfume I have on or something."

"Wait, come closer again?" Maura inched forward hesistantly.

"ACHOO ACHOO, nevermind," Jane managed to get out between the giggle fits that had resumed.

Maura put her plate down on the coffee table and got up.

"Maur, wait, I was just kidding, where are you going? Come back."

"I'm going to go take a shower and change so that you're not sneezing when I'm near you. Easy solution."

"No, no, you don't have to do that. We'll just stay on opposite sides of the couch. Come back!"

"Nonsense. It'll take me fifteen minutes. And I'm done with my food anyway."

Maura walked into her bedroom and pulled out a well-worn nightdress and robe set, walked into her bathroom and scrubbed her body and washed her hair. The extra effort would be worth it if would mean snuggling could accompany their movie tonight. Just last week Jane had yelped at some scary scene and ended up with her face in Maura's shoulder and arm around Maura's waist. The face had eventually succumbed to curiosity, but the arm had stayed put throughout the movie.

The entire operation took all of 18 minutes, although that didn't stop Jane from whining when she returned.

"That took forever. I missed you."

Tingles. That was how Maura would describe what those words made her feel. It wasn't the first time Jane had made her feel this way, and she found herself… addicted. Wanting it more and more, the tiny reassurances, the caresses, the comfort. A tiny smile played on her lips. But her next words ended up being little more pointed that she meant.

"You're welcome."

"Yeah, yeah." Jane patted the cushion next to her. "Come sit so we can start the movie!"

Maura hesitated for a second, forgetting what would be considered a normal distance. Six inches? A cushion away? She perched herself on the other side of the couch just in case.

"You can come closer you know. Now that I'm not allergic to you anymore."

She couldn't see Jane's face, but the eye roll was evident in the words. Maura took a deep breath, negated the space between herself and the object of her affections. (The object of her affections? Is that really what Jane had become?)

"I asked you to come closer, not sit in my lap."

"That was hardly sitting in your lap, Jane, this would be sitting in your lap." She didn't know where this sudden courage had come from – perhaps from the realization that if Jane had in fact become the object of her affections, Maura would have to be the one to muster up courage, would have to find some way to communicate this to her. And so, with a confidence she didn't know she possessed, she climbed astride a stunned Jane. "Better?"

A knock.

A more insistent knock.

Angela's voice booming into the living room. "Maura? Jane? Are you two in there?"

That was what pushed them out of their reverie, sent them scrambling for as much distance between their as possible. Maura ended up near the kitchen counter, blushing furiously. Jane, still shell-shocked, was at the TV when her mother walked into the room.

Angela paused for a moment, looked back and between the two women. "Did I interrupt something?"

Jane was the first to regain composure and answer. "No, Maura was just getting us more wine."

"Oh. Ok. Janie, my car died."

"Again?"

"Yeah. And you know I promised Aunt Gina that I'd help cook for Lindsey's birthday."

"Ma, that's in Conneticut!"

"Honey, will you lend me your car?"

"Ma! I have things to do this weekend!"

Maura used this time to steady her breathing, whisper calming things to herself.

"Maura, honey, do you mind giving the ungrateful daughter I carried for 9 months rides this weekend?"

"Of course, Angela. Not a problem."

"Any other problems Janie? I can drop you off right now, I'm leaving early in the morning tomorrow."

"Ma! It's movie night and we haven't even started the movie yet!"

"It's almost midnight and you're both too flushed to be sober. I'm guessing that movie is not going to happen."

"MA!"

"Come on, let's go. Wouldn't you rather sleep in your own bed tonight?"

Jane groaned and flashed a look at Maura – a mixture of pleading and i'msorry and helpme and iampowerlessinherwake – before following her mother out of the door. She was barely in the car when her phone pinged with a text from Maura. Two words: come back. A one-word reply: tomorrow.

A/N: there's a chance this might be the last chapter. depends on how inspired i'm feeling. stay tuned, folks! (reviews would be much appreciated. i feel like i don't pace dialogue well and have a hard time writing the in-between bits. let me know what i'm doing right/wrong?)