A/N: Hi, all! Sorry for the break - I got super sick and that made it really hard to find the energy to write, and then Christmas/tons of family time on top of that made it hard to get the time. But I'm sort of back up on my feet again! Hope everyone's had a good holiday and/or good December!

Jane's favorite thing to do on her nights off was to kick back with a beer, some chips, and some kind of mindless entertainment on Netflix. It could be fun to indulge in these sorts of evenings with her roommate and co-worker, Riley, when she was also free, but Riley was out of town for a wedding and Jane was looking forward to having the evening alone: after her emotionally exhausting if enjoyable afternoon with Maura, she was more glad than ever to have a night of solitude. It would've been especially meaningful because all her nights off lately had been spent with Casey, who took any implication that she'd like some alone time as a personal affront.

But just as she was settling down to decide which iteration of a cooking show to watch, Frost texted her that he needed a drinking buddy.

This was annoying not only because Jane wanted to be alone, but because this was yet another text—after a long string of ones from various family members—that was not a message from Maura with a saucy ABC party picture attached. Jane asked Frost if they could reschedule, but he was insistent on tonight: his parents' divorce had just been finalized, and he didn't want to be alone. This was more than fair, and Jane asked if he'd be down to come over to her place instead of going out. They could Netflix and platonically chill, he could escape his apartment without having to be around a bunch of loud bros, and they wouldn't have to overpay for drinks.

He came over with a dart board (that went unused) and a six pack and got way more into The Great British Bake Off than he could have ever anticipated. Frost drank much more than Jane, who had enough to get a little buzzed but didn't want to get trashed in case that made her say something embarrassing or crude when Maura sent a picture.

Sober, Jane probably would've remembered to keep her phone on her at all times. Buzzed, she left it on the coffee table by Frost while she put the finishing touches on some "artisanal nachos." She glanced over when Frost said "Um…?" and held up her phone, causing Jane to upend a tub of sour cream as she flailed back to the couch. She snatched the phone out of Frost's hand, throwing herself against the wall with a groan. Frost vaulted the couch for a better look, but Jane kept him at bay with her foot.

"Did some random hot girl sext you by accident?" he asked.

No, not some random girl and definitely not an accident. Accompanied by a text reading "Now you know your ABC's," there was a picture of Maura in a couture tin foil bikini, with a scarf made from what appeared to be crime scene "caution" tape. It was a selfie Maura had taken in a well-lit bathroom, ensuring a quality picture much appreciated by its recipient. Jane noticed that Maura's arms looked a little more muscular than she'd have assumed from someone so delicate, but truth be told her attention was most drawn to Maura's cleavage—the purposeful focal point of the photo.

"Yo, can I see?"

Frost's voice jarred Jane out of her reverie, and she stuffed the phone into her pocket. "No, you creep. That was for me, not you."

"Dude! You got a girl sexting you?! What happened?"

Jane stepped back into the kitchen to finish the nachos. "Doesn't it need nudity to be a sext? This is just, like, um, a … picture."

"Mm-hm, I noticed some skin showing there," Frost snorted. "So you like the T, huh?"

"What?"

"You know, when guys are all, do you like T or A?" Frost laughed, tipping his bottle at Jane. "You got your answer all set. You wanna be all up in that."

She kicked him again. "C'mon, man, don't be such a sleazeball or I'll kick you out. Just because we both like women doesn't mean I'm another dudebro you can kick back and objectify women with!"

Frost held up his hands in surrender. "Fair, fair. I'm sorry. I was just curious. Thought after years of not talking about it, you'd like to get some stuff off your chest. Ha! Your chest. Sorry."

When Jane turned away from the fridge, she was wearing a guilty grin. Sober, she'd never have indulged Frost in this conversation. Buzzed, well, her lips were a little loose. "I do like them, though, I think. And! And, we're a good a match, me and this girl—because let me tell ya, she loves my ass. She told me so the other night. And we got coffee earlier today and she was totally checking it out!"

"Niiice! Wait, so who is this? It's not your CVS hottie, is it? No way. That'd be way too crazy, right? Coo-coo? Loco?"

"It was destiny, Frost. The universe wants me to be gay, or at least gay with her. We saw each other again by total chance and I left her my number."

"So…are you gonna respond to her text, or do you want some privacy?"

Swearing, Jane thrust the plate of nachos at Frost and whipped out her phone. She swore again: that picture was going to be the death of her.

J: You look amazing. Thank you for sending this, you made my night. Totally worth the wait. Hope you're having fun!

Her phone buzzed about fifteen minutes later. She assumed Maura was keeping her own phone stowed in her purse, as there didn't seem to be any plausible place for it on or in her ensemble.

M: Thank you! I lined the bikini for comfort, but still I don't think I'll be wearing it again. A little too much going on for me to have a lot of fun and I'm trying not to party too hard as I've got class tomorrow Africa.

*Afternoon.

I showed you mine, will you show me yours?

Jane could feel herself burning up, and Frost asked if she'd gotten another hot pic. She ignored him, redirecting his attention to the TV ("Mary Berry you classy broad, what the dickens are you saying now?!"). With him so distracted, Jane tried to think: what were her best assets? Well, more than one guy (and her mother) had offered their unsolicited opinion that her chest wasn't her best feature, so that was out—not that Jane would've felt comfortable with that anyway. Under pretense of getting up for a glass of water, Jane returned to the kitchen, lifted the hem of her shirt, and took a picture of her abs as discreetly as possible. She bit her lip, taking a moment to contemplate the picture.

Am I really doing this? Is this happening? Me? Sending pictures of myself to this girl I barely know?

But in a weird way, Jane felt more connected to Maura than to many people she'd known for years. Well, maybe that wasn't all too strange, really; maybe it was the quality of the time, not the quantity, that mattered. She and Maura had talked about things Jane had never shared with anyone else before. That meant something. Also, Maura was sweet, sexy, and into her.

She sent the picture.

By the time she'd downed a much-needed full glass of water, Maura replied: Maybe I should have been more clear. I wanted a picture of you, not the washboard you use for laundry.

Jane's blush deepened, but she couldn't fight a grin. She was in good shape, but still knew Maura was going a little overboard with her praise, and that in itself was incredibly ego-boosting.

Maura went on: Did that make sense? It was supposed to be a component

*compliment. God, you're sexy. I can't even think right anymore.

Jane wondered at what time she could ask Frost to leave without being rude. She really, really wanted to be alone right now, in a way she hadn't quite ever wanted before. There was a pleasurable pulse throbbing between her legs much more noticeably than she'd yet experienced in her life and it was very uncomfortable to be aware of that while Frost was mere feet away, providing loud commentary on The Great British Bake Off. Maybe she could excuse herself for just a moment…

J: Wanna see the gun show?

M: ?

Jane thought Maura was being coy, when in reality Maura had no idea what the slang was for and thought she was about to be shown a firearm collection.

Jane didn't want Frost to see her posing, though, and unable to come up with an excuse for shutting herself up in the bedroom, she snuck away with hopes that she'd be back before Frost noticed. For about two seconds she considered posing in a sports bra, but lost her nerve before giving it any real consideration. Instead, she threw on a tank and spent a couple of minutes setting up a good angle for her phone to take a timed picture from her dresser. The typical flexing pose for showing off biceps would probably be fine, but unable to take herself seriously, Jane decided she might as well go all in and struck more of a body builder pose at an angle that would show off more of her back and shoulders.

She'd intended to sit on the bed and wait for a reply, but a high-pitched shriek drew her out of the bedroom.

"What'd you do?" she sighed.

"You were gone," Frost sniffed. "Why did you leave? Why did you change? Also your toilet clogged and I kinda freaked out. You're a plumber, right? Or your dad? Should we call your dad?"

Rolling her eyes, Jane stepped into the bathroom and thrust the plunger at Frost. "Here, you drunk dweeb. I'll go change again so I don't offend your delicate sensibilities."

She shut herself up in her room again and earnestly checked her phone, but to no avail. She took her time picking out a hoodie and pulling it on, and her slowness was rewarded with a blessed buzz from the nightstand.

M: Pick me up.

Jane's heart shot up into her throat.

SMASH CUT TO: Ext. Maura's Friend's House, night. Jane has Maura pressed against the side of the house because they couldn't wait to get to the car. That tin foil two-piece is not built to endure much, Jane soon learns.

M: I meant pick me up with those arms the next time I see you. I better wait till I'm sober before I say anything else or you might think my sister swiped me phone again.

"Oh, my God," Jane groaned, falling back on the bed.

If only the sound of Frost plunging the toilet wasn't quite so present. It didn't do much to help with any kind of sexy ambience when he started narrating the job. Part of Jane was sorely tempted to ask where Maura's party was so she could crash, but before she could come up with a polite way to ditch Frost, another text came through:

M: Hello, officer (that's how you're listed in Maura's phone)—this is Maura's friend/designated driver. She's asked that I commandeer her phone to keep her from sending you any embarrassing texts she might regret tomorrow. I don't know if you kept your face hidden in this pictures on purpose or not, but I can conclusively make this a peer-reviewed study and second Maura's assertion that you are indeed a hottie with a body and I hope you're having a nice night. Warmest regards, Susie Chang

There followed a selfie of (presumably) Susie, looking somewhat exasperated as Maura busted a move in the background. Jane sighed, and after a moment's deliberation sent a thumbs up emoji in reply. Maybe this was just as well. She almost didn't recognize herself: a week ago she'd been dating a guy with the intent of never voicing her attraction to women ever again. And now here she was, exchanging kinda sensual pictures with a hot party girl. At least, she seemed like a party girl given the majority of their interactions thus far.

The next morning, Maura texted Jane as if Jane had sent her a message with this very concern:

M: I feel like you aren't getting a fairly accurate picture of me at the outset, here. I don't drink in excess often. Obviously my friend's bachelorette party was an exception. Last night was a little more uncharacteristic of me on a weeknight – but I didn't want to insult my friend by not showing up. It was invite-only or else I might've been tempted to ask you along, and maybe it's just as well that I didn't. I'm looking over our texts now and hoping I didn't overstep. I'm not intending to make you run before you can walk when it comes to LGBTQIA things.

There were a couple of letters in there Jane knew nothing about, but she was eager to reply in swiftness all the same: Hey, you're young, don't apologize for having fun :) And hey, I asked you to send me a picture in the first place so you were just following through. I think you're a great teacher for all this gay stuff so no worries :) You're not pushing me, I shared everything I wanted to. Thanks for making me do things I never thought I would.

They batted around potential times for their dinner date, and Maura was bummed to learn Jane had overnight shifts for the whole week. They tried to set up another coffee date for during the week, but between Maura's class schedule and Jane's promises to go on errands with Angela (which she would be eternally grilled about for breaking), no afternoons seemed to work. But a week seemed like such a long time to wait to see each other…

To this end, Jane sent a text before leaving for work: What do you do for exercise? Any morning routines? I like to work out in my apartment or go for runs around town, usually at eight. Any chance you'd like to join? She hoped this didn't sound too clingy.

Maura's response was immediate: Oh, that sounds wonderful! Tomorrow?

She asked if they could meet on campus, but Jane already had some ideas from her experience about particular routes where she had encountered the least amount of cat-calling. She also recommended doing any serious stretching at home beforehand to avoid more of this.

M: Let's hope it doesn't rain. I'd hate for that shining armor to get rusty :)

Jane didn't usually put much thought into what she wore for working out, so long as it was comfortable. But she couldn't help feeling the pressure when their meet-up day came. Something told her Maura was going to show up in an exclusive line of luxury retail gear, looking like she'd just walked off a set for one of their commercials. When Jane arrived at their agreed-upon street corner, she saw that her guess was not far off, except perhaps for Maura's eccentric taste in footwear.

They exchanged greetings and though both were enthusiastic, they were unsure of how much excitement was proper to display and how it should be manifested. When she sensed that Maura was wondering if it would be appropriate to hug, Jane preemptively started doing some arm stretches.

"Am I not dressed appropriately?" she asked, nodding at Maura's feet. "I didn't think we'd agreed to come as mallard ducks."

Maura wiggled her feet, which were housed in toe shoes. "I haven't built up my foot muscles to the point where I could run barefoot. Early humans ran very comfortably without shoes, and research has proven that the barefoot strike pattern is much less stressful."

"That so?" Jane chuckled. "We'll see! Are you more of a runner or a jogger?"

"Depends on what my goal is for the day," Maura answered. "Today's goal is less about burning calories than trying to keep a pace that will allow me to engage in at least some sporadic conversation with you, so… maybe some jogging?"

Jane grinned. "As you wish."

They started off at a light pace, allowing Jane the opportunity to ask about Greek culture as an undergrad and Maura's friend who'd thrown the party together. Maura wanted to give herself a pat on the back for only almost tripping once for stealing a glance at Jane. The only reason Jane hadn't noticed this was because she was concentrating so hard on not doing the same: she kept her eyes on the sidewalk ahead, safe from ogling Maura's calves or biceps or hm, maybe I really am an A person, too—

She shook her head. "Um. So! Med school. What's your favorite class?"

"Well, I'm very interested in anatomy." They had reached an intersection and stopped for the moment, and Maura couldn't resist winking.

"Oh, God," Jane laughed. "Um, was that a joke?"

"Yes and no. I do really like my anatomy class, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also very interested in yours. Your anatomy. How…" She tentatively reached out and lightly patted Jane's arm. "You have remarkable triceps."

"I do?" Jane asked, glancing down at and twisting the arm Maura had just sent a brief exciting shock through.

"Yes, I spent—well, I won't tell you how quite how long studying that second picture you sent me last night," Maura said unblushingly. "You'll have to tell me what exercises you do to work them."

Maura was saying this all with a very casual air, which Jane appreciated because it meant any pedestrians passing by would read it as one friend just asking another for workout advice. For her part, Jane was much less smooth.

"Yeah, um, you've got really nice…um, everything," she said, trying not to be too obvious by letting her gaze linger on anything(s) in particular. She wanted to reciprocate by touching one of Maura's biceps but lost her nerve at the last second, instead swinging her hand up to tuck some nonexistent hair behind her own ear. "Um, like damn, your biceps are really nice. Good job with that. With those."

"Oh, you think so?" Maura asked, flexing one. "Hey, how's this gun show?" (Susie had explained the term to her last night.)

Jane folded her arms. "I'll take two tickets."

"No tickets necessary. You're a VIP."

They could've crossed the intersection twice now. Jane cleared her throat and glanced around, again struck by being very excited by Maura's attention but wary of passersby noticing it. Maura picked up on this and wondered if it would be safer to work their way up to a run, which would make talking (and therefore flirting) much more difficult to maintain. When she suggested this, Jane arched an eyebrow and smiled in such a way that made Maura feel as if she had all of a sudden been possessed by Sappho and wanted to nothing more than feed Jane grapes and write poems about her.

"You challenging me to a race, doc?"

"That hadn't been my intent, but I'm game. Where to?"

"Did you leave your clothes at home or the BCU gym?"

"The gym."

Jane confirmed the nearest intersection to that part of campus, and they got set for the next light. At the signal change, Jane shot off like a bullet and Maura was not far behind. Again part of Maura's issue as a student of anatomy but also a very smitten woman was in admiring Jane's perfect stride. Being ahead and being more conscious of public demonstrations of interest and being incredibly competitive, Jane didn't share this problem and that was when something occurred to her. They reached another inevitable intersection which Jane figured she could've made if she'd gone for a rather unsafe few bounds; instead, she started to slow up and signaled a time-out. Maura rose her hand in agreement and caught up.

"I just realized something," Jane said, not sounding at all winded. "We didn't decide what I get when I win."

"When you win? Well someone's confident," Maura said, trying not to wheeze or double over. She couldn't feeling a tad embarrassed that she must seem so out of shape; the problem was that she hadn't had time to work herself up to a proper run. "What if I win?"

Out of politeness, Jane decided not to tease her. "Okay, what do you want if you win?"

Maura took a moment to consider it, knowing she really had a snowball's chance in hell of winning. This made her feel like she could afford to be outlandish in her request, so long as she made sure nobody was around to overhear it. She waited for a nearby woman to amble a little farther away, then she leaned closer to Jane to whisper, "I want that lap dance I didn't get at the bachelorette party."

Jane was the one feeling breathless now. Her mouth had dropped open when Maura pulled back; she glanced at the intersection and figured she still had a few seconds left. "I think I need a second to come up with what I want when I kiss your ass. KICK…your ass."

Maura bit her lip. "Oh, you're so cute," she chuckled under her breath.

SMASH CUT TO: Ext. A slightly forested area on the other side of the street, day. As per Maura's request Jane is picking her up and holding her against a tree, with Maura's legs wrapped around her waist and kissing her everywhere.

"I want to kiss you," Jane murmured, and Maura's eyebrows rose with a hopeful smile. "I mean—if I win, I'd like to kiss you. Oh God, I mean, only if you'd be into that, though," she hastily added, realizing how creepy and dominating that could have sounded.

"Jane, you could win, lose, or tie and I'd want you to kiss me."

Jane's grin felt too wide for her face and the sensation of a balloon inflating inside her chest made her wonder if she would, in fact, be able to run aptly in a moment. It was hard to explain that she wanted to set this goal for herself as much as for Maura. Putting the desire out there in such an explicit manner tied her to it; voicing it to another person—in particular the person she wanted to kiss—would make it harder for her to talk herself out of it. This was a commitment as much as a challenge.

They shook hands, the light changed again, and Jane ran with renewed purpose. She won easily.

Maura flopped onto the grass as Jane did a couple more light stretches. "How are those toed shoes workin' out for ya, then?"

"Shut up," Maura laughed.

Jane held out her hand and helped Maura up. "You put up a good fight there, doc. Till Monday night, then—enjoy your anatomy class, and enjoy my anatomy as I walk away."