Author's Note: Thank you very much for all the reviews and messages, as well as for your patience. I promise to not tease you any longer now. ;)

Chapter Fifteen

Jane's hand felt hot against Maura's. Hot and reassuring. The touch was full of self-confidence as Jane led Maura to some place that wasn't the opera house. Or at least not really.

They hadn't talked. They had barely looked at each other on the stairs outside when Maura had arrived. Then Jane had murmured an inaudible 'come with me' before dragging Maura into a labyrinth of corridors and stairs. The Opéra Garnier was big and impressive. Maura had attended a few operas there in the past but at no moment had she had the occasion to actually visit the building.

They walked past a dozen of doors – all closed – before disappearing in the heights of the opera house. They wouldn't see Cosi Fan Tutte. Maura didn't need to ask Jane about it for the bell had rung a few minutes earlier and they hadn't headed towards the main room unlike the rest of the audience.

It was all very confusing. Jane's pace, their mysterious destination. Confusing but fascinating as well, Maura had to admit it.

And then they reached it: the last door, the one that led to Jane's secret plan. It was a very small door – one that could easily pass unnoticed – and you needed a key to actually open it.

Maura stared at Jane with great perplexity as Jane showed said key. Jane had never been to Paris. She didn't know a single soul in that city. Yet she suddenly had access to a building that most of people considered as a monument, an access to a place that only a few would ever reach.

It was immensely confusing.

The wind embraced Maura's nape a second after Jane opened the door but as unpleasant as the feeling should have been, Maura barely felt anything. She was way too taken aback by what lay now before her eyes.

The roof of the opera house. Jane had led her to the roof of the Opéra Garnier; there, among the statues that overlooked the Eiffel Tower and all the other monuments of Paris. Not only was the view breathtaking but also very unique for nobody but a few employees could access it.

A few employees and Jane apparently.

"Follow me."

The self-confidence that Jane had showed was still very strong and very surprising. Maura followed her quietly, unable to say the mere thing. However she noticed the easiness with which her friend moved on top of the building. It looked like a large terrace - there was nothing dangerous - but it was clearly not the first time that Jane came there.

They walked past a statue and Maura froze. Suddenly. Unexpectedly. The bottle of Champagne and the two glasses had been set on a small wooden box on the floor next to the five steps that led to the edge of the rood where you could easily sit down in order to admire Paris.

Jane sat down by the drink. She gave Maura a timid smile in order to push her friend to join her on the improvised seats.

Maura obliged.

It wasn't as cold as she had imagined it to be. The sun was setting in the distance by the Eiffel Tower. Peacefully. Silently.

Someone had to speak. Someone had to say something at some point. Maura looked down at her feet hoping that Jane would make the first step for she didn't know herself what to say.

She wanted to apologize and burst into tears. She wanted to plead Jane to not leave, to never go to Quantico even if they had to remain friends and friends only. She wanted to forget the last twenty-four hours and the anxiety that those hours had stirred up in her brain.

She wanted a thousand things but couldn't focus on any.

"François helped me with... With all this." Jane vaguely motioned the Champagne as well as the roof of the opera house. "He probably has the best connections in town."

Jane felt like laughing but she didn't manage to do it. Her timid laugh stayed trapped in her throat, held back by the fast beating of her heart. She had spent the last hours making sure that her plan would work out and – just like the artists a few floors below – her performance had just started. It was a key-moment in her life. She knew it. Everything depended on it.

She wasn't allowed to ruin her changes.

Maura nodded.

"He is a remarkable man, indeed. He's... He's family."

Of all the things that they could tell each other after the fiasco of the day before, Maura would have never imagined that talking about François was the one that she and Jane would end up choosing. Of course their casual chat hid something a lot more meaningful and they both needed time to warm up at the idea of resuming their life together but the moment was singular nonetheless.

"I shouldn't have run away but you took me aback, Maura. You really did."

Maura nodded though she remained focused on her stilettos. She was glad to see that Jane didn't want to wait any longer in order to talk about the kiss Maura had given her. It was scaring though. Too scaring. She wasn't sure what Jane had in mind and that lack of control over the situation scared Maura.

She was at the mercy of fate and she hated the vulnerability that rose from it.

"You... Don't wanna talk to me?" Jane cleared her voice as a wave of discomfort rushed through her. "Are you mad at me? I'm not saying you don't have a reason to be mad at me but... I just... I just want to know...?"

A quiet sigh escaped from Maura's mouth. She rolled her eyes then shook her head with a bitterness that echoed the one of her soul.

"How could I be mad at you?"

The words had hit the air in a whisper but the quietness of the roof had caused them to sound almost loud.

She and Jane couldn't even hear the traffic below in spite of the opera house being at the crossroad of boulevards. If Maura looked up, time seemed to have got suspended. All she could see was a ribbon of blue-gray roofs, the old statues of the opera house and the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Paris looked unique from there, unique and breathtaking.

Romantic at its best.

"Good... Because I'm not mad at you either." Jane grabbed the bottle of Champagne with a shaking hand. If she had prepared everything with the help of François and Anaïs – the employee of the Opéra Garnier – she hadn't really thought about what she would tell Maura once they would be together on the roof. On top of the Parisian world. "Here's for you."

Maura gladly accepted the drink.

"You shouldn't have done all this, you know."

Jane put the bottle back on the wooden box. She looked at her own glass of Champagne and brushed Maura's with it.

"I had to. I really had to." She took a sip of Champagne before setting her glass down next to the bottle. "I had to because... Because I need to apologize and because... Because it's not what I wanted to do, Maura."

We are in the most romantic city in the world, Jane. Alone, on this roof. With this unique view that even movies can't offer. You are sitting next to me and you are apologizing for something I did. Why does my life have to be so upside down? Why can't I simply tell you the way I feel? The words won't come out. They stay trapped in my throat and they dance a confusing ballet of some sort in my head. I dislike my inner soliloquies. They make me feel lonely.

"I don't understand what you mean."

Fine. Jane counted until three in her head. She then turned around in order to look into Maura's eyes with an intense sweetness. She wasn't scared. She simply felt disarmed because – as much as she knew what she wanted now – she had no idea what tomorrow was made of. What if all this disappeared? What if it slipped through her fingers the moment she would dare to brush it?

"I didn't want to run away from you. I wanted to kiss you." Jane swallowed hard. Her voice was shaking and she spoke very low. Her emotions echoed loudly through her words, and through her glimmering eyes though. "I want to kiss you. Do you want it too?"

If we were in a movie then you wouldn't ask me, Jane. You would simply lean over and you would kiss me. It would be simple and it would look natural as if it was meant to be. But reality isn't a movie. It's clumsy, and strange. Nothing is written in advance and you don't know what is going to happen next. You stutter, you look for your words. You focus to find the courage to speak up. The result is unbalanced but unique and that's why we all fall for it.

"I do."

It was the first time Maura was asked to be kissed. The moment was strange but so delicate and important that she didn't mind about her past experiences and about the way things usually go. The moment didn't belong to anyone but to her and Jane.

I don't know if I've waited for you to lean over or if I've leaned over. Perhaps it's the two of us, at the same time. I honestly don't know because it's blurry in my mind. Does it even matter anyway? I don't think so. Because the world stops turning as soon as I feel the heat of your lips on mine.

You're kissing me. I'm kissing you.

Nobody's running away. Nobody's looking for excuses. Nobody's trying to analyze what's happening. We're just in the moment and we're living it. Together. Because it's meant to be.

If we broke the kiss then we would realize that the sunset is gorgeous tonight. The sky is made of blue and pink. The Eiffel Tower glimmers over the buildings and Paris looks after us lovingly. The day is over but it's only the beginning.

The beginning to something better, to something warm and unique.