**DISCLAIMER – I do not own the characters, they belong to TNT and associated bodies. **

(However I have a wonderful imagination and that belongs all to me, just sometimes Jane and Maura wind up naked in it, and there's not a thing I can do to stop it. Gutted.)

Be Mine – belongs to David Gray.

How to solve a problem like a wedding ring.

Chapter Eight – Be Mine.

Jane had let her, rarely acted upon, instinct of waiting and assessing the situation; to take over for a few days. She took some time off work, finally unpacked her things properly; explored the city she loved so much. The city she had missed so much. So much of Boston was in her veins yet she couldn't bring herself to feel truly at home until Maura had said those words outside the courtroom. For the first time in four years, she felt something. She felt alive. She felt grounded. She felt a steady heartbeat inside of her chest. She felt like going away was but a dream, a dream that had hurt her but helped her in the end. A dream that was over and as her eyes blinked to the bright new morning sun, she knew today was the day.

A few hours later, they paced silently; side by side along one of the beautiful strips of beach out on Spectacle Island. Jane had chosen the spot, she used to come regularly during her academy training to clear her head. During the snap of winter it was perfect, she liked nothing more than to wander the sands until she could no longer feel her feet.

Maura stopped, with the adorable squint on her eyes, her jaw clenched as she thought. Jane came up beside her, though not too close. She had lost the right to stand side by side with the Doctor the night she signed her Iraq papers. Maura thought for a long few minutes before speaking softly.

"I don't need to know why you left," she looked gently at Jane before resuming her gaze to the wilderness it was fixed on. "I don't need to know why . . . what happened in Iraq, happened. But I do need to know one thing, and I need the truth." She fixed her gaze completely on Jane now. "That night . . . if we had . . . if we had crossed that line – would we be standing here now? Would you still have taken the assignment?"

Jane sighed and her eyes left the Doctors for a few seconds before returning.

"Honestly . . . Yes. I probably would have." She sighed and kicked the sand. "One night wouldn't have been enough to know . . . to know what I would miss by leaving. It was meant to be for six months . . . it would've taken me years, maybe even a decade to work up to Sergeant . . . Iraq helped me do it in four. I love my job Maur, you know that."

Maura processed the answer. It certainly wasn't what she expected, but it wasn't something she couldn't comprehend as being entirely reasonable.

"I don't know how we're ever going to get through this," Maura looked sadly at the Detective. She shook her head slowly.

"You said you were ready to talk . . . there is only one answer I need," Jane spoke slowly. "Did you ever stop loving me?" She couldn't look at the smaller woman, terrified of the implications of the answer.

"As mad as you make me at times," Maura turned fully this time, facing Jane eye to eye, "you already know the answer to that. No, Jane; I have never stopped loving you. That doesn't mend things as they stand though."

Jane let out a huge breath through pursed lips and rubbed her face.

"Can I make this right . . . will you give me a chance to make this right?"

"Can you . . . I don't know Jane, I really don't. As for giving you a chance . . . Jane you might have taken your ring off, but you are still very much married. And until the day you aren't . . . Jane I don't want you to even contemplate making things right by me until you don't belong to someone else. I won't be a part of adultery. Look I'm sorry but I have to go, my cell has been buzzing in my pocket the whole time we've been here." She touched Jane gently on the arms she walked to go past her. "Jane . . . when you're free, really free . . . then I am open to trying to get through this, but I need to know . . . are you still mine?"

"I've never been anyone else's. Contrary to a wedding ring."

With that Maura walked away, not able to conceal the huge grin spreading across her face, Jane caught it slightly as she turned around to catch a glimpse at the Doctor, before turning back to the water and mouthing a 'YES!', raising her arms.