When they pulled into the Franklin Park Zoo parking lot, there were only about half a dozen cars there. Maura smiled at her insistence to leave early as to avoid the rush and panic of finding a parking space. They pulled into a parking space that was equally close to the entrance and equally close to the back of the lot in case they wished to have a "lunch time snack" in the car.
Jane skipped around to Maura's side of the car and opened the door for her queen before slipping her arm around the shorter woman's waist as they headed into the zoo. As soon as they'd purchased their tickets, more cars started pulling in to the lot, quickly filling the spaces nearer the entrance.
Jane pulled Maura to the side past the swarm of children that were now flocking in so that they could have a look at their map. They figured out that out of the two entrances they had come in via the Zebra Entrance meaning that they would be able to start at animal directory number 1, "Serengeti Crossing". Just as they were about to head off, Maura grabbed Jane's hand and pulled her back to her.
"You okay, Maur?"
"Yes, Jane; I'm fine. But if I promise not to go all...Googlemouth, will you promise to hold my hand all day?" Jane's face broke out in a cheesy grin as she gently shook her head.
"Maura, you can hold my hand anytime you want to; you don't have to make a bargain."
"Please, Jane?"
"Oh, I get it. You don't want to talk like Google today."
"I've forgotten what it feels like to be a kid going to the zoo for the first time, and I don't want to ruin it with Latin."
"I'll tell you what: you can hold my hand no matter what, but the second you start giving me the evolutionary history of an animal, I get to kiss the words off your lips... Sound good?"
"Very good," Maura said with a big toothy grin. She linked her fingers tighter with Jane's and swung their arms together as they made their way over to the zebras. Jane slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone, preparing to snap random photos of Maura throughout the day. She snapped the first one as Maura giggled at the zebras jiggling their backside muscles to ward off the flies that were constantly buzzing around. Maura resisted the urge to start telling Jane about why they do that and instead turn dramatically to the taller woman and posed a question. "Jane, do you think zebras are black with white stripes or white with black stripes?"
"Well, I always thought they were white with black stripes 'cause you can see their plain white tummies and then where the black stripes start," she answered in her best scientific voice, but then turned back to Maura. "Unless the great doctor thinks otherwise."
"I think that's very logical, Jane, and I am inclined to believe you." Maybe it was the way she said it, or her cheeky side smile, but Jane didn't believe her.
"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not."
"Why, Jane, whatever do you mean? Would I be sarcastic with you?"
"Shut up, you!" she chuckled, pulling Maura into a tight hug. She let her arm hang loosely around Maura's neck; the doctor reaching up to link their fingers together as they made their way past the wildebeests over to the ostriches. After one had caught Jane imitating it with its long neck and legs, the two women giggled their way to the children's zoo and over to the red panda. Maura squatted down to get a closer look at a sleeping one, pressing her hand flat against the glass as one approached her cautiously. Jane snapped another photo and quickly looked at the one of her and the ostrich that Maura had taken.
They made their way past the other animals, not getting too close to see as some children had made their way in and were hogging the glass. They exited the enclosure and Jane suddenly tugged Maura over to the "Little Critters" area.
"Jane, slow down!"
"But Maura... Look! It's Bass!" she said excitedly as she pointed at tortoises just in front of them. Maura chuckled, noting again that Jane was refraining from saying 'turtle'. They moved slowly over to the sugar gliders after Jane insisted that they take a photo of the tortoises for Bass to see. Jane darted her head around, trying to see the little sugar gliders which Maura said could fit in the palm of your hand. Maura finally spotted one and pulled Jane close so that she could point to it over her shoulder.
When Jane had seen the small mammal she moved over to a glassed enclosure and immediately spotted a rather frightening looking boa constrictor wrapped around a tree branch. Maura moved in front of her to get a closer look at the reptile giving Jane the opportunity to wrap her arms around the blonde's waist.
"Jane, what are you doing?" she asked as the detective began to squeeze.
"I'm being a boa constrictor," she whispered in the doctor's ear before pressing a chaste kiss to her neck.
"I don't think snakes kiss, Jane."
"Oh, right; they dart their tongues out," she practically hissed as she stuck her tongue out to lightly lick the blonde's blushing neck, but pulled back completely when a young family entered the enclosure.
The two professionals-turned- children giggled their way out of the enclosure again and walked peacefully through the zoo. After they had left the "Kalahari Kingdom", Jane looked down at her watch and noticed that it was long after noon, and her tummy was rumbling. As they made their way back to the centre of the zoo, Maura noticed that the carousel was operating and gave Jane a suggestive smile, hinting that she'd like a ride.
"Let's get some lunch first, okay?" Maura nodded and skipped over to the nearest spot to grab some food and lined up to order some hotdogs. They were larger than she'd thought they'd be so she decided on one each and bought a juice as well. She found Jane lying down on a patch of grass, the sunlight bouncing off her skin making her glow like an angel; a very badass sexy angel. If there weren't hundreds of people, including children, around, she'd have happily made love with Jane at that very moment. She settled for a quick kiss on her cheek telling Jane that lunch was ready.
"We should bring our kids here one day," Jane said in between bites of her hotdog.
"Oh, yeah; and how many kids are we having?"
"I don't know, babe. How many do you want?"
"I'd like at least two, because even though you're brothers annoy you, you always seemed more whole because you had them growing up; someone to turn to that wasn't an adult. I never had that." Jane licked off a droplet of sauce from her hand and wiped it on her jeans before reaching over to stroke Maura's thigh.
"I know, so we'll have at least two, but we don't want to have a whole army either."
"Jane, we're lesbians. It's not like we'd have one by accident. The children we have, we get to choose when we have them and we know that they will be loved and cherished because we want them." Jane smiled back at her, the image of a family of her own with Maura exploding in her mind like fireworks. She swore she felt tears creeping into her eyes so she instinctively rubbed her eyes and leaned over to kiss the blonde.
"I love you," she whispered before leaning back.
"And I love you." Maura returned the smile that Jane gave her and finished the last of the juice before standing excitedly, preparing herself for the carousel. She had a drink of water and insisted Jane have a drink too as the acid from the juice could damage their teeth. Jane hopped on the carousel as well, sitting on a horse diagonally across from Maura so they could hand her phone to each other, taking shots of them acting like love sick teenagers.
The rest of the day got quieter as the sun started setting and families with young children started heading home. By 3pm they'd circled the zoo twice, able to see some animals that they couldn't see the first time around. Maura had stopped skipping everywhere, slowly becoming tired herself, but she wasn't going to give up on their day yet. As the staff walked around the zoo telling any remaining people that they were closing at 4pm, Maura and Jane made their way to the gift shop intending to buy something to help remember the day. They settled on a small stuffed hippo with 'Franklin Park Zoo' stitched on his side. Jane picked up a key ring on her way to the counter for Korsak. She figured she'd give it to him about the same time she'd tell him about her and Maura.
When they had purchased their gifts, they walked arm in arm back to the car and got in ready to head home. "I don't feel like going home just yet."
"Me neither," Jane agreed. She leaned against the steering wheel as she thought about what to do. "Do you wanna go back to the park?"
"Yeah, I'd love that."
They pulled out onto the busier than normal streets of Boston due to peak hour traffic and slowly made their way to the park from yesterday. When they got there, the sun was going down behind the tree tops casting a magical glow throughout the park. All the families from the day had gone home so the playground was free. Jane sat down on one of the swings and lolled her head back when she swung through, her long hair almost touching the dirt had it not been pulled up into a ponytail. Maura took a photo of Tarzan-like Jane, then sat down in the swing beside her.
"What do you want to do, Jane?"
"Nothing; I just wanna swing with my girlfriend." Maura was happy with that so she began kicking her legs to make her swing higher. Soon enough, Jane turned it into a competition, but slowed down to jump off when Maura was still flying through the air. She snapped one last photo on her phone before helping Maura slow down. She pushed her for a little while until they could no longer see the other side of the park. Hearing the silence creep up on them, and knowing how dangerous the dark would soon become, Jane took Maura's hand and made a b-line for the car.
They drove around Boston for a while longer before pulling up at the Dirty Robber for some dinner. Jane was somewhat relieved to notice that it was rather empty of the usual cops, that way her relationship with Maura would stay a secret a little bit longer. They could have easily just been 'Jane and Maura: Friends' going for dinner, but Jane recently found that her hand would slip into Maura's of its own accord and that she'd stay extra close to the doctor, and she really didn't want to stop that.
They sat in their usual booth and both had a greasy burger with fries washed down with a beer. Jane smiled as Maura took a swig of her own beer, growing quite accustomed to its taste. Dinner wasn't rushed, and the conversation wasn't always constant. Sometimes the two women were quite happy to just sit and stare at each other or play footsies under the table. But when Jane looked at her watch again and saw that it was just after 9pm and that they both had work tomorrow, they decided to head home.
Jane drove with Maura's hand resting on her thigh as she flicked through the photos of the day, smiling and giggling at the faces they pulled. When Jane glanced over at the blonde as they sat at a red light, the doctor's smile became infectious and it would take all of her strength to keep her eyes on the road the rest of the way home and into Maura's driveway.
"Okay, we're home."
"Yes, we are," Maura whispered as they made their way into the house.