"Shoes?"
"On my feet."
"You only brought one pair?" Maura asked, aghast.
Jane shrugged, smiling at the smaller woman. "Well, I left in a bit of a rush if you remember!"
"Okay, fine. Do you have everything?"
Looking around the now bare-looking hotel room, Jane nodded.
"I think so. It all fit in that bag on the way here, so as long as it still fits I'm good to go."
Maura picked up the holdall and passed it to Jane.
"Well, checkout time is 11 and we need to be at the airport by 1 so I guess we'd better get moving."
"I can't believe we're finally leaving. I feel like we've been here forever." Jane ran a hand down Maura's arm until their fingers intertwined. "I just hope everything stays the same when we get back home."
Smiling, Maura reached up to press a delicate kiss to Jane's cheek. "It will. We're made of strong stuff."
/
As they pushed Maura's bags into the taxi outside the hotel, Harriet approached, laughing.
"I take it you did a bit of shopping on your last day?"
"Well, I needed to get some souvenirs. Plus some gifts for the guys over at the station."
"I… I hope souvenirs doesn't mean you're going to leave it this long before we see each other again?" Harriet asked, shuffling from one foot to the other. Maura smiled and shook her head. "We'll be back. Jane wants to come and see the sights. She's got it in her mind that she'll be the first person in history to make a palace guard laugh."
"She… she's good for you. You work well together. I… I hope our little dalliance didn't cause any problems. I really do wish you both well."
Maura's expression softened. "Thank you." Pulling Harriet in for a firm hug, she spoke again.
"Now, please stay out of trouble. Don't go out to dinner with any strange men without letting at least four people know where you are. And make sure to keep going back to Bletchley. Their Mercurius exhibit should be open in the new year- Rachel would be really proud."
Harriet nodded, clearly fighting back tears.
"Jane!" she called over. Jane moved closer before pulling Harriet into a cautious hug. Checking that Maura wasn't watching, she leaned closely and whispered one final message of warning to the young historian.
"I'm glad you're okay. I really am. But I will never forgive you for what happened here. For what could have happened to her. And I never will. Now, I will be civil to you in front of her because I love her. But if you ever put her life in danger again, I will have you killed. I have eyes everywhere. Capiche?"
Harriet nodded, her complexion suddenly pale.
"Jane? Time to go."
With one final glance towards Harriet, Jane climbed into the back of the city taxi.
"Jane…" Maura said in an accusing tone, "what did you say to her?"
Jane turned to Maura and smiled. "I know we said we weren't going to hide anything from one another but, believe me, you don't want to know… Anyway, we still have one thing left to decide before we get back to Boston and deal with my mother. What are we going to do?"
"We're going to get on a plane and…"
"No. After that. What are we going to do, Maur? I don't want to say goodbye again. I can't."
"Let's take a couple of weeks to think about it. O'Neill told the FBI to give you extra leave, and the ME's office seems to have been running just fine without me."
"I guess that's the thing. The world doesn't fall apart when we're not around. I… I think that's a lesson we both need to learn."
"So what do we do?"
"I think I'll speak to the FBI when we get back. And you should think about what it is you want to do next. We'll take a couple of weeks and, well, maybe we'll both end up on a new adventure."
"Together?"
"Together."
AN: I just want to take this opportunity to thank you all for the feedback on this story. I've really enjoyed my first foray into the R and I fandom, and I don't think it will be my last. This story has been burning in my mind for a long time; it feels bittersweet closing this final page. Please be kind with your reviews; I am a sensitive soul and this story- the people, the history, the plot- means a lot to me.