When Jane awoke, she found herself on Maura's couch, a fuzzy blanket draped lightly over her legs. She arched her back and let out a groan as she tried to wake her mind up. She could remember her eyes stinging from tears as Maura helped her stand up from the wall on which they had fallen asleep against the night before, and she could remember being guided to the couch and then flopping down onto her back before Maura untied her shoes and removed them.
It did annoy the doctor so that the detective sometimes kept her shoes on while she slept.
Jane remembered other things as well, but wasn't entirely sure if they were real or her imagination. She rubbed her eyes of their sleep as she sat up and looked around the empty living room.
It was still mainly dark outside, the sun only just beginning to shine over the rooftops of Boston. Loose strands of hair were tucked behind her ears as she swung her legs off the side of the couch. She wriggled her toes inside of her socks, and bent them down against the carpet to crack them. She didn't know what to do; she wanted to wander around the house in her socks, but she knew Maura wouldn't be up yet, and waking her up early on her day off would be quite inconsiderate.
But she also had to pee... badly. She pushed off of the couch and shuffled her way to the downstairs toilet.
Maura was awake. She'd been awake for most of the night after she helped Jane to the couch. She could've easily turned her mind back off, but somehow she knew that would be unfair because Angela probably wasn't sleeping.
So she called her. She apologised for the fight, reassured her (multiple times) that she and Jane were still friends... and told her about the kiss. She wanted Angela to hear the whole story from her, rather than finding out about it sometime down the line, ending up being hurt by it. They had talked about it for hours, finally hanging up around 4am.
From that point onward, Maura had not stopped thinking, and every time she allowed herself to relax, her mind wandered back to kissing Jane. She was getting a little sick and tired of not even being able to trust her own mind to help her move past it.
She heard Jane get up and move to the toilet, so she decided to come down stairs. She'd only gotten half way before she heard the toilet flush and Jane come back into the living room. She continued down the stairs slowly, and quietly, and stopped at the bottom few steps. She sat so she could still hear Jane, but didn't have to see her, and thought some more.
She was jump-started out of her thoughts, however, when Jane passed by the bottom of the stairs in a bit of a daze. Just wandering, Maura decided. "Morning, Jane."
"Jesus! Maura!" Jane shrieked as she threw herself up against the wall opposite Maura.
"I'm sorry, Jane," she apologised through her chuckles. Jane joined her in a well-needed laugh. "How did you sleep?"
Jane shrugged, "ok, I guess. What about you?"
"I didn't get much. I was talking to your mother." Jane sighed, as Maura looked back at her feet.
"Oh," Jane whispered as she made her way to sit next to Maura on the step below her. "How did it go?"
Maura tilted her head and raised her eyebrows as she thought back on it. "Alright; I told her I'd kissed you."
Jane screwed her face up in expectation. "And?"
"She was ok," Maura answered as she stared blankly at the wall. Something told Jane that it wasn't just 'ok'. It may be ok now, but at first it was probably very... odd to hear, especially over the phone at 3 in the morning. Jane leant back and rested her head on Maura's shoulder, joining Maura in her blank-wall staring.
Maura took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, and Jane followed. She then turned her head inwards, so her forehead was pressed against Maura's neck. Suddenly, something occurred to her. "Did I do this last night?"
"Yes," Maura answered simply.
"When?"
"Last night." Jane pinched Maura in the side, wiping the slight smirk off her face. "Ow! When you were on the couch." Jane stayed silent waiting for Maura to continue. "I'd just taken your shoes off-"
"Thanks for that."
"You're welcome. And I moved up to sit on my knees near your head while I pulled the blanket over your shoulders, and you rolled over, and did this." She motioned with her hand.
"What did you do?"
"I let you," Maura stated after a slight pause. "When you'd fallen asleep, I kissed your forehead and went to bed."
"Thank you, Maura."
The doctor smiled gently to herself before she realised something. "You're quite an affectionate person when you're sleepy." Jane chuckled to herself. "Are you sleepy now?"
"No. Just sorry." Maura rested her cheek on Jane's wild hair and closed her eyes, letting Jane know that it was ok. Jane stifled a yawn as she tucked her knees up and pressed harder into Maura. "Maybe I'm a little tired."
"Do you want to go back to sleep?" Maura asked as Jane sat up. She just nodded as she covered another yawn. Maura agreed that going to bed sounded nice. "Do you want to go back to the couch or the guest room?"
Jane shook her head and looked up slowly at the blonde. "Can I lie beside you?" Maura was surprised by the question, but that didn't mean she wasn't happy. She smiled and nodded, before turning to make her way back upstairs. The sound of Jane's footsteps behind her was very calming and comforting.
She pushed her door open to her dark bedroom and waited for Jane to walk through before following and closing it behind her. She quietly slipped back into her side of the bed and waited for the bed to dip when Jane got in. She waited a while before opening her eyes and looking up to Jane's dark figure. "Jane?"
"Do you promise, Maura?" Maura got up onto her elbow and pulled back the covers for Jane. She knew what Jane was asking.
"I promise, Jane." She tapped Jane's side of the bed and waited for her to get in before lying back down. She pushed her pillow under her head so she could still see the figure of her friend beside her. "Not unless you kiss me first." She enjoyed the little chuckle from Jane's direction, but in all honesty, she hoped Jane would.
The light began to peek through Maura's curtains a few hours later. Maura was still in a deep and peaceful slumber, but it woke Jane fairly quickly. She'd already had her fair share of naps and sleeps, so the early morning rays of sunlight told her that she'd slept enough.
The warm glow caught Maura's hair and gave her morning mess an angelic touch. Gah, Jane thought, more poetic thoughts! She rolled onto her right side so that she didn't have to crane her neck to stare at Maura. She studied her breathing, the way her lip twitched when there was an itch, the way her brow furrowed when she dreamt.
"What must it be like to be you?" she whispered. "Pretty awesome if you've got me." She smiled despite herself, knowing that that was hardly the reason why Maura was so wonderful. Of course, Maura had learnt a lot from Jane and how to act more "normal", but the doctor's always unpredictable, always quirky personality was the real reason that Jane loved her so much.
Maura made the sly detective want to be better, stronger and yes, kinder. It didn't always seem like it, but she did try to do Maura proud.
Jane watched silently as her best friend slept, calmly and beautifully. How can someone sleep beautifully? Jane wondered. It didn't matter how much she wondered, it just was. Maura just brought grace and elegance and a sense of life to everything she did... even if it was just sleep.
As the sun seeped into the room more, Maura's skin began to absorb the same glow her hair had. It made her skin look as soft as a feather and as golden as a beach in summer. Jane was curious as to how her cheek felt under her fingertips, knowing that the last time she stroked them they were sticky from dried tears.
She supported herself with her right arm tucked under her chest, and carefully reached over to Maura. Her fingers tingled with anticipation; why, she did not know, but it made her destination all the more intriguing. Her fingertips were mere millimetres away from stroking Maura's cheek when someone knocked at the front door downstairs.
Jane jerked her hand away and sat up. Maura grumbled something under her breath... probably cursing whoever it was that disturbed her sleep, so Jane slipped out of the bed and the room and opened the door herself.