A.N: Sorry I haven't updated in a long time! Hopefully I'll be getting back into this story now so I won't leave as long in the future. Thanks for waiting!
Maura paced confidently around the supermarket scanning the shelves for something new for Jane. She had finally been able to move on from soup and yoghurts which must have been a relief, seeing as it was all she had eaten for several weeks. Maura hadn't been able to get her to eat anything else, until two days ago when she had picked up a packet of pasta from the cupboard and placed it on the counter. Three weeks of solid hard work had Jane able to regain full function of her hands, the ability to walk by herself (albeit very slowly), but she had still not said one single word. Occasionally she would wake in the night kicking and thrashing, but Maura was always there to sooth her back to sleep. She had at hand many herbal candles and remedies that were used in some parts of Peru to help distressed soldiers sleep. No matter what Jane would say about them, if she could, Maura was convinced they genuinely worked.
"Maura!" a voice called out and detracted her attention from the line of dragon fruits she was staring at. She turned around to see Frost walking towards her, pushing a shopping cart too large for the three items it was holding. It's always strange, she thought, to see people out of the environments you're so used to them being in. He almost looked like a completely different man wearing jeans and an Incredible Hulk t-shirt instead of his usual suit. Kind of like Jane; how she was barely recognisable without her sarcastic exterior and quick wit. "How are you both?" his voice pulled her out of a trance for a second time.
"Fine, thank you. Jane's actually been improving. She's eating better, walking better, and I'm trying to find some way for her to communicate."
"She's still not talking?"
"No. But she'll get there, I know she will." They shared an awkward silence before politely departing from one another's company. Maura had taken the past two weeks away from work after persuasion and reassurance from Cavanaugh and Korsak that it would be okay, which left her and Frost nothing to talk about. She didn't know any of the cases he was working on, and she wasn't doing any autopsies he needed any information from. With the factor of work stripped away they were left with the reality that the only other thing they had in common was Jane. She was like that – excelling at bringing and holding people together in new friendships, new relationships. That was the irony of the situation: she was so fantastic at holding other people together, but in herself she was still like an incomplete puzzle unable to put all the pieces together again.
The clip of her heels on the floor as she walked through the different aisles were the only thing reminding Maura that this was in fact real, and not some twisted dream. Determined to keep her mind on track and in the present she looked down at her shopping list and brought her thoughts back into their usual focused, strategic combination. Things were hard enough with Jane's mind still being trapped somewhere else; it wouldn't do either of them any favours to have Maura unfocused as well. The final item on her list was champagne – something that always put her in a good mood, and not the inebriated kind. The taste on her tongue felt so sweet and light; it always had the ability to remind Maura of the nicer little things in life.
As she reached the till she loaded all of her shopping onto the conveyor belt and watched as the incredibly bored-looking teenager scanned her items. He reached the champagne and swiped it through without a second glance before placing it in the recyclable bag Maura had brought with her. She pulled out her credit card and decided to strike up conversation in hopes of providing some momentary relief in the teenager's dreary, monotonous job. "You know, champagne was invented by a monk named Dom Pérignon." He looked up and stared for a few seconds before saying flatly, "Fascinating." Unable to pick up on his obvious lack of enthusiasm Maura continued, "When he finally mastered the recipe, he called out to his fellow monks and said, 'Come quickly: I am tasting the stars.' Don't you think that's such a beautiful metaphor?"
The cashier nodded nonchalantly as he printed off the receipt and stuffed it in the shopping bag, wordlessly sending Maura on her way. She walked out of the store distracted by her thoughts of Jane's dinner that needed cooking, and Jane's clothes that needed washing, and Jane's bed that needed making. She loaded the shopping into her car, started the engine, and by the time she reached home she had the entire evening planned out. First she would load the laundry into the washing machine, and then put the water on the heat to boil whilst she made the bed. Once they had finished dinner she would wash the dishes as Jane showered, and then sit and talk with her for a while before bed in the hopes of provoking some conversation. It was routine; like a well-choreographed dance that they had been performing every night for the past few weeks.
Before she knew it dinner was out of the way and she was sitting on the sofa watching Jane's empty eyes stare back at her. "The first blood transfusion was actually between dogs. But the reason why people are given O Neg. blood when there is no time to find out their blood type is because O Neg. doesn't contain any antigens." Maura was about to launch into an explanation of rhesus and a further history of blood transfusions when suddenly, Jane's lips parted. It looked as though she was about to say something and Maura felt her own heart rate increase. After all this time Jane was finally going to speak. Maybe there was something about blood transfusions that had triggered her memory, or maybe she was just going to tell Maura to shut up (after all she had been speaking about them for twenty minutes now).
A small breath escaped Jane's mouth whilst Maura held hers, anxious to hear what words the brunette was about to utter. She sat there for several minutes before finally giving up. Who was she even kidding? It was far too early to expect Jane to talk – the progress she had made so far was a miracle, and she should be grateful for that. Yet Maura couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment that had made her stomach sink when she accepted that Jane was merely opening her mouth to breathe. "Maybe next time," she sighed, standing up and walking over to the kitchen.
With one hand rubbing across her forehead she pulled out a glass from the cabinet and filled it up at the sink. With her back still turned to the sofa she took a few sips and waited for her headache to quell before taking three steady breaths. Satisfied that she could go on for the rest of the night, she tipped the rest of the water into the sink and placed the glass on the drainer. She had no idea how she had managed it so silently, but as she turned around Jane was waiting by the kitchen counter, staring intently at Maura.
"Do you… want some water?" she asked curiously. Jane didn't even nod. She looked upset; not in a distressed way but with more of a sense of longing. She took a few steps forwards and for once Maura was lost for words. Jane had been capable of walking on her own for a while now, but she had never looked at Maura like this. There was just something about the look in her eyes that was so sad and yet so fulfilling, like a devastating storm that you couldn't help but admire the beauty of. Her feet silently padded across the floor until she was directly opposite Maura and a minute or so passed before she finally moved again.
Wordlessly she reached across the empty space between them and moved a stray blonde curl behind Maura's ear. Her nimble fingers lingered for a few moments before drawing back again as if she had been burned, but she never broke eye contact. Maura could feel her heart palpitating in her chest with every second that passed and her feet were rooted to the spot. She didn't want to move in case it frightened Jane or broke this electric connection that had suddenly formed between them.
Slowly but smoothly Jane's head moved forwards until Maura's senses were flooded with nothing else, and then her lips ghosted over Maura's cheek, leaving a burning imprint. She pulled away just as slowly and looked into Maura's eyes for a few seconds before turning and heading into the bedroom. The world had frozen in place and nothing could move Maura from those few seconds. Eventually she raised her hand to her cheek as if to check for some physical proof that she wasn't imagining everything – Jane's lips had barely skimmed her skin and yet they had left a fire in its place, clinging onto every cell for the rest of the night.