A/N: So I wasn't expecting the response this story got. It's incredible. I'm so thankful to everyone for letting me know I should continue. Thanks to that, here's one of my quickest updates EVER.
In other news, onto Chapter Two.
Jane felt like every nerve ending in her body was on fire, and her brain decided to short circuit. Maura's lips against hers were warm, and soft, and perfect. The kiss was not necessarily chaste, but not overly intimate. Jane could tell Maura was holding back, making sure Jane was alright with everything, and that made Jane's heart beat even faster. After a few moments she pulled away, breathless.
Maura was looking up at her, hazel eyes oh-so-knowing, sparkling like Jane had never seen.
Jane was frozen for a moment, her hands clutching Maura's hips, their bodies pressed tightly against one another.
"Oh my god," Jane breathed, her heart still pounding out its staccato rhythm, her body torn between singing from the rooftops and falling in a heap. What just happened? She kissed Maura. She kissed Maura. She kissed Maura. She kissed Maura. Her best friend.
Jane had never really thought of herself as attracted to girls before. Sure, she could appreciate them, like anyone else, saying "oh wow her body looks great" or "oh my god; isn't so-and-so gorgeous", but attracted to them? Never. But Maura was different. Sure, her body was flawless and she was the most breathtaking being on this planet, but Jane had never really considered what those thoughts meant. Kissing Maura however, was a whole different can of worms. It felt incredible. Like flying on the clouds. Like she was invincible. But it was also terrifying. What now? Did this change anything? Well, surely it changed something. But what, exactly? What did that make Jane? Make Maura? Make the two of them?
"What are you thinking about?" Maura's fingers caught hold of one of Jane's curls, twirling it around in her fingertips.
Jane breathed out heavily. "Us," she said honestly. She could see herself reflected in Maura's eyes, her own pair of brown ones equally smitten and terrified.
"You don't have to pursue this, if you don't want," Maura's voice wavered a little, unsure. "Sexuality is actually quite fluid. A sliding scale, people say. You don't have to follow this course if you find that it doesn't suit your preference."
Jane's lips tugged up in a lopsided smile at Maura's clinical approach. "Funny thing is, I think you might be my preference," Jane didn't know what she was saying, the words seemed to be slipping out. Like they were pressing at the back of her lips, desperate to get out after being confined for so long. Too long. Even then, they seemed shaky. Scared. Worried. Unsure.
"You're scared," Maura stepped back, her hands slipping into Jane's. "That's okay."
Jane shrugged, missing the doctor's warmth already. "It's just… I've never done this," she gestured between the two of them, "before."
"Been with a woman?"
Jane paused slightly. "Yes."
They were both quiet for a moment, each wrapped up in their own tangled web of thoughts. One of Jane's thoughts snagged in her brain and she felt the sudden desire to voice it.
"Have you?" she stumbled over the words as they broke free from her mouth. "Been with a woman, I mean."
Maura hesitated briefly, a light blush creeping up her neck and settling on her cheeks.
"Don't lie, Doctor. Hives."
"Yes," Maura said after a long time. "Once. In college."
Jane nodded, processing this new information.
"We don't have to go very fast," Maura interrupted Jane's thoughts, "if you're scared."
Jane met Maura's eyes. "You're already my best friend, Maur. All that's changed now is that I can kiss you." The unspoken Right? hung in the air between them.
"Right," Maura answered, smiling widely.
Jane bent down to kiss her doctor again, a barely-there brushing of lips.
"Why do I find this so natural?" Jane mused quietly against Maura's mouth. So quietly she thought Maura didn't listen.
But the medical examiner had heard. "Who knows," she said, her eyes flicking to Jane's lips and back to her own brown gaze.
Jane chuckled deeply, putting some more space between them. "Finally, something that has the great Maura Isles stumped."
"You are deceptively complex," Maura blinked inquisitively at Jane. "You always manage to 'stump' me, whatever that means."
"It means," Jane wrapped Maura in her arms again, pressing their bodies against one another, "that something confuses you, leaves you with no ideas and no words."
"Just like you do," Maura whispered, standing on her tip-toes to press her lips to Jane's once more.
"You don't think we're rushing?" Jane murmured.
Maura pulled away slightly, capturing Jane's gaze. "I've had much more rushed relationships than this, Jane."
"But, like, with your best friend?"
"I've never had a best friend before," Maura's voice switched from seemingly confident to small and insecure, as it always did when she talked about her childhood.
Jane smiled, that small, sad smile reserved especially for moments like these. "I'm here," was all she said.
"I know," was Maura's reply.
The next hour and a half was spent in near-silence, Jane watching the remainder of the baseball game, and Maura watching Jane. Somehow, they managed to finish the tub of ice-cream between them, with Maura shyly kissing away the smudges of chocolate left on the very corner of Jane's mouth, and Jane still processing it all, and so acting like an awkward teenager on her first date.
"Well," Maura said, from where she was tucked against Jane on the couch. It was a position they'd been in many times before, however it was usually reserved for comfort. Scary movies, break-ups, bad days. Not just because they could. Maura could still feel the tension in Jane's body, never truly relaxing. Simply because of the newness of it all, Maura assumed.
"Well," she said, dragging out the word. She pushed herself up to a more upright position so she could look Jane in the eye. "It's getting late," her words trailed off in suggestion, leaving Jane to make the next move.
The detective was momentarily stunned. Her move? What was she supposed to do now? She could make a comment in such a way that Maura would leave, go back to her own house, her own bed, and maybe they'd both be having second thoughts in the morning. Or, she could make a comment in such a way that Maura would stay here, as she often did. But wouldn't that be kind of a big step in any normal relationship? Would Maura even want that?
"Well, I guess you could stay here," she said slowly, weighing her words against the reaction of the woman in front of her. Maura's face lit up like a Christmas tree, causing Jane to smile as well.
"Okay," Maura nodded, rising up off the couch. She reached down a hand to help Jane up, and the brunette took it. "We both have work in the morning."
"Yeah," Jane said, observing the way Maura waited for her to lead the way to the bedroom. Almost as if she was scared Jane would back out at any moment. Make some excuse. Tell Maura that she was just grabbing some sheets for the couch. But Jane, for whatever reason, found nothing wrong in sharing the bed with Maura. She'd done it before. It was nothing new. Just like curling up on the couch. Same old Maura and Jane. Same old friendship. Right?
Maura hesitated at the door to the bedroom.
"Here," Jane rifled through her drawers for a pair of pyjamas that would fit Maura's curvy frame. "You can wear these."
Maura smiled gratefully, catching the pair of old sweatpants and BPD shirt Jane threw at her.
They both changed into their sleepwear, brushing their teeth and climbing into bed. Jane tried not to overthink the situation, tried to become as calm and composed, as the woman beside her. Jane flicked off the bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness, save for the beam of light falling from the curtains, courtesy of the streetlight outside. Jane was tense, every muscle tight, her heart pounding against her ribcage like it was trying to escape. She didn't know how Maura was handling the situation, and she didn't dare turn her way to check.
"G'night Maur," Jane mumbled into the darkness of the room, rolling onto her side, facing away from the bed's other occupant.
There was dead silence for what seemed to be an eternity. Jane could almost feel the tension in the room, the anticipation, pressing down onto her like a thick winter's blanket. Warm and comforting, but also slightly oppressive, with the fear of the unknown ever-present. She couldn't even hear Maura's breathing. Couldn't hear her own breathing. Stumbling upon this thought, she let out the breath she'd unconsciously been holding in a long, slow stream.
The mattress shifted beneath and behind her, and she could tell Maura was moving around in the bed. Rolling over, Jane assumed. There was a silence as Jane contemplated which side Maura had rolled to. Was she facing the opposite wall? Or facing Jane's back? Would she move closer? Further away?
Jane got her answer when she felt a warm presence by her back; and a tentative hand slipped around her waist. She tensed on instinct, and felt Maura begin to pull away.
"No," she said, as quietly as she could, though the word was still too loud in the deadness of the room. Her hand wrapped itself around Maura's smaller, more delicate one. Their fingers intertwined like they'd been doing it for years. "Stay."
She could feel the body behind her relax, as the tightness flowed from Maura's body, and her own, out of them and into the mattress. She felt the blonde place her lips against Jane's shoulder, made bare by the tank top she was wearing.
"Maura," even Jane could hear how odd her voice sounded, the fear and trepidation striking an odd chord and resounding around the room, "does this make us… girlfriends?"
"We don't need a label," she heard the medical examiner say from behind her, then kiss her mass of disheveled curls. "Unless you want one."
"No," Jane replied quickly, maybe a little too quickly. "I'm good."
Maura exhaled, and Jane felt the warmth against her skin. It sent a pleasant chill scurrying down her arms, leaving goosebumps in its wake. "Okay," she said.
When Maura thought Jane was asleep, she snuggled closer to her detective, tucking her knees behind Jane's skinny ones, tugging her arm tighter around Jane's slim waist.
"I'm sorry you lost Casey," she mumbled, her face pressed against Jane's warm skin.
"I'm sorry I pushed you away," came Jane's murmured reply a few moments later.
And the detective could feel Maura's gentle smile against her back.
A/N: For a story that wasn't supposed to continue, this got out of hand awfully fast. They might be OOC, so I'm sorry. I feel like I'm rushing things with these two, but let me know. Also, I'd love to have ideas of what y'all wanna see in the upcoming chapters. I have a few ideas...