A/N: Did this one a while ago to fulfill the one-word prompt! Angst ahead for this oneshot, just fyi.

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Clue number one that told Maura she wasn't in her own bed: she always kept her blinds and curtains closed on her days off so that the sunlight wouldn't wake her before her alarm. Not so today.

Clue number two: as her bare skin rustled against the sheets, she realized there was a low thread count. These weren't her silk sheets; they were a little scratchy, or perhaps starchy; uncomfortable. Like hotel sheets, or like—

These were like Jane's sheets.

Maura shifted onto her elbows, heart seeming to fly up in her throat when she looked to her left and saw Jane lying on her side, the sheets and comforter exposing bare shoulders and part of a bare back to Maura's hungry eyes. The memories of last night flooded back to her. With her own sudden movement, she had caused Jane to stir; a long sigh issued out of her which seemed to indicate she had just woken up.

With a tentative smile, Maura reached over and rested her fingers on Jane's arm. Her grin widened as Jane blindly brushed her own fingers along Maura's, but then Jane stiffened and she sat up to turn around, keeping the blanket in place to cover herself.

Her face told Maura that all her ideas of what last night might have become were a mere fantasy.

"Welcome to my bachelor…ette pad," Jane said, grandly swinging open her door to allow Maura inside. "Notice any difference from how it looked before?" She paused for dramatic effect, though Maura wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical, and her glance skirted the apartment as she tried to see if she could pick up any differences. "That's right," Jane said. "S'all the same. Only it's just mine now."

The divorce from Casey was, at last, final.

"You're different," Maura offered.

"I suppose that's true," Jane sighed, flopping down on the couch. "Jane Rizzoli to Jane Jones to Jane Rizzoli again. Sounds a lot better, don't you think?"

"Well, I didn't think it was polite to mention before, but yes," Maura agreed, sitting next to Jane. "I think you're much better suited to a multi-syllabic last name. If I'd married you, I don't think I would've asked you to change your name." (Jane laughed and made a face, although at what, Maura wasn't precisely sure.) She decided to quickly move on, "I'm still kind of surprised you let him call you that."

Jane had never gotten around to officially changing her last name; it seemed like more trouble than it was worth, and what's more, she didn't really like the thought of changing it. But all of Casey's friends and fellow soldiers referred to her as Mrs. Jones, and though she had never cottoned on to the sound of it, he made it very clear that he liked hearing it so she'd tried not to care.

She just shrugged with a rueful smile - and that attitude seemed to pretty well wrap up how she'd been feeling lately.

There was relief, but also a wistfulness. Restrained gladness. As satisfied as she was with her work (and as married to it as she often was), Jane had never struck Maura as being a particularly happy person. Good times seemed fleeting, and she genuinely hoped for Jane that getting out of this relationship would free her up a little.

"You know…when I was like twelve, I remember I told my mother I didn't think I'd ever get married," Jane said quietly. "She kinda freaked out. My friends were all starting to talk about boys like …I don't know; one day, you're convinced they're gross and they have cooties, and then suddenly they're dreamy. Guess I was kind of a late bloomer."

She found herself wishing she had some beer - just to give her hands something to do, something to hold on to. Just so she could take a swig to break up the silence for a natural reason. She stood up and asked Maura if she'd like some, but Maura declined and instead excused herself to use the bathroom.

When she came out, she'd been surprised to see Jane sitting on the bed with a bottle of beer. "I had something to ask you," Jane murmured. "And it couldn't seem to wait. Now I don't remember what it was."

Maura steadied her nerves and sat next to Jane on the bed, a little closer than she might have normally. "Then can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Do you see yourself…I don't know, maybe not being married again, necessarily, but… you don't intend to be alone forever, do you?"

"Of course not," Jane laughed, before taking a long sip of beer. "I've got you, haven't I?"

There was a short but weighty silence before Maura, carefully maintaining eye contact, took the bottle out of Jane's hands and set it on the nightstand. Somewhere in the back of her mind Jane knew Maura was obviously very focused, because she hadn't bothered to ask for a coaster. One of her hands was now closed around one of Jane's, the other resting on her shoulder.

"Uh…Maura?"

"Jane. You'll always have me. And have me any way you want."

"I…"

Maura leaned forward, closing the distance between them with a kiss. She didn't allow herself the luxury of concern when Jane didn't kiss her back right away, instead just inactively receiving the kiss. Maura couldn't hold herself back anymore, and she didn't stop to think whether for the first time in her life, her own desires were clouding her ability to read people or situations. It seemed so certain that Jane returned her feelings, or at the very least that she needed to feel loved …and Maura was more than willing to be that person for her in any capacity she could.

Jane's hands rose to Maura's face, and Maura breathlessly pulled back just for a moment to whisper, "put your hands on me."

This time they met in a kiss, and Jane did not resist when Maura guided her down onto her back. It had been a long while since Maura had felt this blazing level of heat; that added pulse that went beyond a mere interest in physical release. When she broke off the kiss with her knees on either side of Jane's hips, she felt a surge just at the small gasp it had pulled from Jane's throat. Jane subconsciously remembered Maura's order, her hands shifting restlessly on Maura's legs. With their gazes locked, Maura pulled her shirt up over her head, pleased when Jane's eyes roved down her body.

"Maura…I'm…are you sure?" Her legs were already trembling, her entire body feeling buzzed and desperate for the intimacy she had sorely missed for several months.

"I don't think I've ever been so sure of anything," Maura replied, leaning down once more.

"Is this—a good idea?" Jane asked, her hand wavering before resting on Maura's bare waist. "I mean what if we… we're… what do you want?"

"I just want to make you feel good."

Jane groaned at the huskiness in Maura's voice before the doctor left a long kiss on her neck, and she found herself tugging at the waistband of Maura's pants - not to try and remove them, but to try and bring Maura into even closer contact. There were so many reasons why this ought to be stopped, why she should try to clarify, why this probably shouldn't go any farther -

but hands on her body. lips on her skin. hot breath on her neck.

She allowed herself to do the one thing she hadn't in a longer time than she could recall: she indulged.

:::

"This was my own fault, Maura. I shouldn't have let you—I shouldn't have gone along with it."

"Why did you?"

"I…I wanted to feel all those things again," Jane said softly. "I missed feeling close to someone. And I mean," she continued in a guilty tone, "you said that's all you wanted to do. Make me feel good."

Maura sat up as well, making sure to pull the sheet up to cover herself. Technically, that wasn't ALL she'd wanted to do, although she could see how their stunted conversation last night might've led to that impression. Truth be told, Maura had always believed that Jane was so thoroughly moralistic about sex that Maura couldn't imagine she'd ever do it just for a physical release. Last night had to have meant something…

"I don't know what I was thinking," Jane murmured. "I mean, I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry, Maura. I am."

"No reason you should be," Maura said bracingly. "It was my mistake."

"Mistake?"

"I thought… never mind what I thought."

Jane turned her back to Maura once again, bending over to pick up her discarded shirt and sweats from last night, stuffing them on so she wouldn't have to walk to the bathroom nude. Maura put her face in her hands, a loud sigh issuing from her once Jane had closed the door. In the past, Jane never would have let her get away with a "never mind." She always prodded, always pressed, always made sure Maura knew that her feelings and thoughts not only were valid but valued.

She hadn't pushed this time. Maybe she hadn't wanted to know.

They'd have to talk about this eventually. It was all just going to be a matter of Maura getting enough time to put a truthful enough spin on her perspective.