Author's Note: Thank you very much for all the reviews and messages. There should be a maximum of 30 chapters to this story so we're coming to an end soon. Also, I haven't thought about publishing all my fics but who knows... They would need a good editing though.

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Hurry up!" Maura's laugh sounded clear and bright in the rain. She cast a very fast glance at Jane before speeding up the pace of her steps on the damp asphalt. "Come on!"

They had walked out the Picasso Museum five minutes earlier just as very dark clouds had invaded the sky and it had begun to rain. The cold weather had swept away the quietness that had wrapped them up during their visit and they were now running towards one of the most famous squares of Paris: the Place des Vosges. The oldest one of the city as well.

If Maura hadn't been short of breath then she would have told Jane that the square – inaugurated in 1612 – was the prototype of all the residential squares of European cities that were to come, that the novelty of the Place des Vosges was that the housefronts were all built to the same design of red bricks with strips of stone quoins over vaulted arcades that stood on square pillars.

Of course, Jane saw it by herself as soon as they reached it. She saw the beautiful buildings and the public garden in the center of the square as well as the arcades all around her. The unique architecture. Maura took her there, under one of the arcades.

"You're going to be soaked wet."

It was neither a reproach nor a warning. The lightness of Maura's comment highlighted a deep and sincere amusement instead. She felt free, all of a sudden. In the rain. Free and immensely happy.

She pulled on Jane's hand with more authority in order to make her turn around before pushing her against one of the square pillars. She swallowed hard and tried to catch her breath. Her cheeks were red because of the rain and because of the wind. Her hair was a mess.

Her eyes were glimmering.

Without any warning, Maura leaned over and captured Jane's lips in a deep kiss. She felt Jane's chest against hers, and her heart that was beating fast because they had just run.

The streets of Paris were empty but the potential presence of passers-by wouldn't have had the slightest influence on Maura's move anyway. She wanted that kiss. As a matter of fact, she had dreamed about that kiss for too long to miss her chance to make it come true now.

Jane responded to it immediately.

They weren't standing in the rain but the anonymity of the arcades brought a softer shade to the moment. It was a lot better than in Maura's fantasies. Besides, she still could feel the rain drops on Jane's lips, on her tongue. Those drops kept on sliding down their respectives faces and they came to die at the corner of their lips.

A kiss in the rain. Her kiss.

Maura had just slid a hand along Jane's nape and her fingers had begun to go up through her hair when a car honked on the street causing them to break apart. Maura looked at the car and realized that the driver hadn't seen them, that he hadn't honked because of them but because of a truck that was blocking his way a bit further down the street.

"Are you cold?"

Jane shook her head immediately. She didn't feel like talking. She didn't have anything to say, anyway. The grin that lit up till her eyes spoke for her. It echoed the intense feelings of her heart and nothing else mattered at that exact moment.

They were building memories the way we build a wall, adding one brick after the other with a lot of care and consciousness. They were in the moment, in the time being. They were being themselves.

Just as it had to be.

"We can't stay here..." Maura looked on her right and then on her left. She felt like kissing Jane anew but with an eagerness that didn't fit for they were not in their hotel room. The lustful desire that had passed underneath her skin didn't fit right now. She had to accept it. "Ahem..."

"There's a cafe out there." Jane motioned a few chairs. "Maybe we can sit there for a while. Or take a taxi."

Except there wasn't a single taxi around. The Place des Vosges was quiet anew as the driver who had honked had just left for an unknown destination.

"Okay. Let's go have some tea."

Being in Paris during the fall meant that you had to deal with fast and drastic changes in the weather. It happened without any warning. All of a sudden the blue sky could disappear and a torrential rain ended up falling over the city. It made your visit a lot more complicated and you had no choice but to find relief in the imposed breaks that the weather could bring all along the day.

Going to a cafe was one of them.

Jane gave the waitress a smile as the young woman brought her a hot chocolate. She murmured an inaudible thank you then focused on her hot drink. The cafe was empty. She and Maura were the only customers. As a matter of fact, the whole city looked oddly empty.

For brief seconds, Jane wondered where the other tourists had gone to. It was a touristic area, she knew it. Yet tourists were nowhere to be seen.

"Are you alright?" Concern rose in Maura's voice. She forced a smile to make sure that she wouldn't sound too clingy but a little voice told her that her attempt was vain. She shrugged apologetically. "I mean... You look a bit off."

"Oh no, I'm here." Jane grabbed Maura's hand and squeezed it tightly. "I'm here with you. I was just wondering... I don't know."

Maura laughed lightly. She didn't want the lightness of her mood to vanish. She didn't want to deal with what-ifs. Not today. Today she wanted to have fun. She wanted to enjoy being with Jane and not think about what may happen. She tilted her head.

"What? Tell me! Come on, Jane! A penny for your thoughts."

"How did you..." Jane was showing signs of nervousness. It didn't match Maura's light mood at all. "How did you tell your parents that you... Ahem... That you weren't necessarily interested in dated men and men only?"

"Oh."

That.

Maura couldn't guess it but the topic had been weighing on Jane's shoulders since the last Skype call to her mother. Jane had tried to handle it on her own at first but she had to admit that it didn't work out at all. And perhaps she needed help, Maura's help.

"Well..." Maura ran her tongue over her lips. She had kept her hands around her mug just to make sure that the heat of her tea would warm her up. "They guessed it. They simply asked me to confirm it, more or less." Maura swallowed hard. "Because I was dating someone at the time. I must have been... Transparent in my actions."

And I didn't want to hide anymore.

Is this what you're trying to tell me, Jane? That you don't want to hide? That you're ready to say it out loud? Ready to assume it? To assume us, to assume what we are? In front of everyone?

"And what did they say?"

Nothing. They had said nothing or at least nothing worth being mentioned but then Maura's parents were a bit singular.

Her saying yes had simply confirmed her parents' doubts. Then everyone had turned the page and they hadn't really mentioned it anymore. They had simply accepted it as a fact, a very random fact. Her parents were open-minded and atheist. Same-sex relationships had never been an issue for them.

Jane's background was different, very different.

"They were supportive. They are supportive. I mean.. They don't really care."

Maura felt stupid because of the shortness of her answer. Jane expected something else from her than a nearly monosyllabic statement. But it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy to let her heart speak because then Maura would simply express her fears way too directly.

Jane nodded. She didn't look convinced but she nonetheless took Maura's words for what thy were.

"Do you think it's going too fast? I mean... I was talking to ma' yesterday and I wanted to tell her that... I wanted to tell her. Then if I do – if I do tell her – it settles things down, right?"

And if it settles things down then it means that Quantico doesn't make sense anymore. It means that you shouldn't go there, Jane. That you shouldn't accept this job. That's what it means. And you know it, just as I do. The question is: are you really ready to assume it?

"There are a thousand different options, you know. We haven't neccesarily studied each of them." Maura wanted to sound reassuring but it didn't seem to work. "I think that you should give a chance to Quantico. We can make this work."

The worst of all was that she wasn't lying. She honestly wanted Jane to have her chance at a different career. Even if it meant that they wouldn't see each other every day.

"You mean like... Me coming back on weekends or you visiting me?"

"And if it doesn't work out then we'll find another way." A heavy sigh passed Maura's lips. It was a compromise that she was ready to accept. "We could give it a try."

Jane hadn't needed to ask Maura why she had immediately alluded to Quantico because behind the possibility of her coming out lay that situation she didn't know what to do with. Maura had been right to talk about it. Her being direct meant that they didn't waste time with implicit allusions.

"You're happy to have got this job, aren't you? If Quantico is your dream then you shouldn't give up, Jane. It's your dream, isn't it?""

The question hit Jane harshly in spite of its genuine sweetness. She tried to take a sip of her hot chocolate but she didn't manage to do it. A lump had formed in her throat and she couldn't breathe anymore.

And then the words came out.

"I don't know anymore."