Author's Note: Thank you very much for all your reviews, it's a pleasure to read them every day and I hope that you'll enjoy this story till the end.

Chapter Seven

Jane crossed the street. She murmured a timid bonjour to the doorman before rushing into the lobby of the hotel. The place was very peaceful in spite of a dozen clients in the large room. Jane smiled: the place was always peaceful anyway. Nobody talked loudly, nobody waved at someone who would be standing a few feet away. People who stayed at palaces were extremely discreet and polite.

"Good morning, Miss Jane. How are you, today? You're venturing outside all by yourself like a real Parisian already? The city's yours: embrace it!"

Jane really liked François. He was nice and attentive to whatever she may say or want. The sense of humor he used with her brought her a comfort that reminded her of home. Paris still looked foreign to her but François made sure that she would feel at ease nonetheless and she appreciated the attention. Besides, she had noticed a difference: he didn't talk to her the way he talked to others. Perhaps it had to do with Maura whom he considered as family. If he cared for Maura then maybe he cared for Jane too.

"Yeah well... I just... You know..." A vague gesture of the hand showed the doors that led outside. "I went for a walk in the neighborhood."

She had mostly spent time in the small public garden located right opposite the Lutétia. That was the blatant truth. Jane didn't have the courage to lose herself in these narrow streets that she didn't know yet. She wasn't scared of people – Parisians were probably indifferent to her anyway – but of the lack of references she had in the city. Everything looked different here. It had nothing to do with America.

"Excellent! Have you stopped by The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal?"

Whatever chapel it was, it oddly sounded like a cult. Jane politely shook her head. She didn't want to upset François. He was nice enough to chat with her for a while, she couldn't be rude.

"No... But I've seen Notre-Dame in the distance yesterday." She had also watched the Disney movie with TJ a little while ago - The Hunchback - but it was the kind of details that Jane didn't feel like sharing with a French. She hadn't read Victor Hugo's novel. Notre-Dame-de-Paris was an animated movie to her. It was a bit shameful. "I think I'll go there one of these days and also to..."

"The Sacré Coeur?"

"That one. I'm sorry, I always forget the name of the basilica." The fact she actually remembered that it was a basilica and not a church or a cathedral was a miracle. "There are many churches in Paris."

The remark was pointless but she didn't know what to add. Maura was working on her novel, Jane still had some time for hersef. They were supposed to meet in their suite at noon and it was barely 11am.

"Hard to say the French are religious people but they like their churches nonetheless. They see them as monuments... As museums somehow. Churches symbolize the cultural wealth of the country."

Jane gave François a nod. She cast a glance at the lobby in order to make sure that the employee didn't have to help anyone else then she cleared her voice to speak slowly.

"You know... I was thinking that maybe you could help me. You know Maura quite well and... Yeah, I think you're the person I need right now. I need... I need recommendations. Would you mind helping me?"

François' face lit up as a genuine happiness wrapped him up. Just as Jane had done it herself a minute earlier, he cast a glance at the lobby before giving her a wink.

"Come on, follow me to the reception desk and I'll see what I can do for you. It's a surprise, isn't it?"

As a matter of fact, Jane had no idea what she really wanted. The nature of her gesture was probably close to a surprise. François was right. She didn't say a word until they reached the reception desk by the fireplace. The flames were crackling and the delicious smell of wood burning went to Jane's head bewitchingly. This also reminded her of home, of the house of her childhood.

Except her house had never been as quiet as the Lutétia. The Rizzolis were loud and they had a tendency to see drama in absolutely everything.

"Hmm I suppose so. You see..." She had to find the proper words in order to describe a whole situation that she didn't want to talk about. It was a challenge, a tough one. Jane had always hated talking about her private life and the reason why she was in Paris with Maura was private matters. Besides, she barely knew François. "Is there a place in Paris that Maura likes a lot? Like... A restaurant or something?"

Jane wanted to thank Maura. For everything. For being part of her life for the past seven years, for being who she was. For having drifted off to sleep in her arms. For having smiled when she had learned that Jane was coming to Paris with her.

For a thousand reasons.

Jane had woken up to an empty bed but the shadow of her friend had answered her quiet question. Maura was sitting by the window, typing slowly on her laptop. They hadn't alluded to the conversation they had shared the night before. They had had breakfast instead while casually chatting about Paris and their next plans in the city before coming to an agreement over a meeting at noon.

As if nothing had happened. As if neither of them had expressed a fear that echoed in the other's heart loudly.

Jane wasn't sure whether they had missed an opportunity. She wanted to believe that it wasn't too late and that it wouldn't change anything to their life, to their stay in Paris.

"Some romantic place, I presume?"

Jane froze. The world stopped turning, or at least her world. She stared at François in disbelief before her disbelief to melt into sheer panic. Her heart began to pound loudly against her chest, so loudly that she couldn't hear anything anymore.

Of course she had got the innuendo.

And of course it was the last thing that she wanted to face right now.

"What?! Ahem... I... Ahem... I mean... Well... Ahem... I... Dunno... Not... Ahem... Not necessarily... It's ahem..."

It hadn't crossed her mind. At no moment had she imagined that the employee assumed that she and Maura were a couple. Jane swallowed hard. If François had come to that singular conclusion, chances were that other staff members thought just like him. She shared a suite with Maura, after all. A suite that only had one bed.

They slept in the same bed.

The same bed.

"Isn't Paris the most romantic city in the world anyway? Every corner of every street is romantic in the City of Lights."

Jane's laugh fell flat. She had tried to sound casual but had miserably failed. A litte voice nonetheless told her to keep on smiling if only to look happy and entertained by François' remark.

"Of course, of course." The taping of her fingertips on top of the reception desk echoed a nervousness that she had more and more difficulty to hide. Perhaps it was nothing but a mistake. Perhaps she shouldn't have asked François anything in the first place. Perhaps she shouldn't even try to surprise Maura because if all of this was fair then why did she feel so awkward right now? "I'd like something that's not touristic like, I don't know... A small square? A garden that very few people know about?"

Jane was about to add something when someone hit her forearm with their elbow. The unexpected contact caused her to freeze.

"Oh, je suis désolée. Veuillez m'excuser.*"

Jane's dark eyes barely looked at the woman who had just talked to her in French. She focused back on François until an alarm set off in her head. Confusion invaded her. She frowned then slowly turned her head anew in order to look at the stranger who was standing at the reception desk next to her.

The woman looked a lot like Constance Isles. It wasn't Maura's mother as the woman's voice was different but her face was exactly the same. Jane blinked.

The woman gave François' colleague a polite smile. She had taken her leather gloves off and was now playing with them in all discretion.

"Oh, Mademoiselle Léopoldine!" François stood up and went to shake the woman's hand warmly. He looked truely glad to see her at the hotel. "Quelle surprise de vous voir ici !*"

"Mon cher François... Décidément, le temps n'a pas d'emprise sur vous. Vous ne changez pas !*" The woman laughed lightly but with an elegance that pushed Jane to understand who was standing by her side immediately. "Je viens voir Maura. Est-elle là ?*"

Maura.

Jane's blood turned icy. Her French skills was reduced to an absolute nothing but she didn't need to be bilingual to understand what was going on. She cleared her voice in order to catch Léopoldine's attention.

"Are you Maura's aunt?" Hopefully Jane speaking English wouldn't be seen as too impolite. Léopoldine had to speak English anyway. Maura's relatives spoke several languages. It was the base of their education. They were international. "Because I'm travelling with her. I'm Jane. Jane Rizzoli."

Jane held out a shaking hand realizing that Léopoldine had probably never heard of her. Since Maura didn't seem to be in touch with her aunt, there was no reason for the artist to know who Jane happened to be. Yet logic had pushed Jane to introduce herself. Léopoldine would have recognized her the moment she would have seen Maura otherwise and Jane would have felt ridiculous.

"Oh... What a coincidence!" Léopoldine burst out laughing. "Jane..." She said the name the way we allude to blurry memories, to delicate reminiscences of something we have never got to really know. Yet it was clear that Jane wasn't a complete stranger to her. "What a pleasure to meet you... Finally!"

...

Oh, je suis désolée. Veuillez m'excuser. - Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me.

Quelle surprise de vous voir ici ! - What a surprise to see you here!

Mon cher François... Décidément, le temps n'a pas d'emprise sur vous. Vous ne changez pas ! - My dear François... Time really has no hold over you. You don't change!

Je viens voir Maura. Est-elle là ? - I've come to see Maura. Is she here?