Author's note: thank you very much for all the reviews, it is a pleasure to read and reply to them.

December, 18th:

5pm

Jane stopped the car but Maura didn't move. She kept on staring right in front of her – in silence – as if at the mercy of something she could hardly control. They hadn't talked much since her awful behavior the day before on the crime scene apart from sharing a few professional remarks.

Not that they had not wanted to but – one more time – their respective jobs had not given them enough time to do so. And yet there was a lot to say. More and more, to be exact.

"They know."

Busy looking for a chocolate bar in her sport bag, Jane barely looked up.

"What do you mean?"

Maura unfastened her seatbelt then rested her hands on her lap as quietly as she could. She had to be serene. She couldn't afford to lose her nerves one way or another, now. As much as they were into a car, they weren't cut from the rest of the world either. Passers-by and other drivers could see them.

"The girls of the orphanage..." She cast a glance at the door of the building on her right and rolled her eyes. "They know for... For us...?"

Her statement got welcome by a long silence. Jane had stopped rummaging around and now looked very focused on the steering-wheel. Her face impassive. Before such reaction, Maura moved on her seat and leaned against the car window. She ran her tongue over her lips, obviously embarrassed. Uncomfortable.

"They guessed the last time we came to visit."

"You told them?" Jane blinked, barely paying attention to the way her voice was shaking. Baffled to say the least, she shook her head and pursed her lips. "What on Earth? Are you planning on telling it all to everybody like that?"

Maura turned her head around and shot a death glare at the brunette. She could feel her patience run away second by the second; how a wave of anger was beginning to boil in her stomach. She clentched her fists.

"I didn't say anything at all. However – if I am ever asked – I will certainly not hide behind a couple of lies." Unlike others. She kept the remark for herself, though.

But Jane didn't miss the point. Rolling her eyes, she swept away her impatience with a gesture of the hand only to find herself at a loss for words. She knew that the answer she had given the day before about her relationship status hadn't been fair but she hadn't had a choice. Not really.

"Oh, come on! Are you making a scene, really? Frost was there. How could I explain to him that..." She sighed and looked down at the bag opened on her knees. "I don't even know what we are, if we are supposed to be... Something. Birdman took me aback and since some stuff remain unanswered then I said what I said. What were you expecting? I was not going to sum up what's been going on between us like that..."

Maura's anger was melting into embarrassment but a stupid pride prevented her from admitting it as she should have. Jane's point was fair; to an extent. What were they, in the end?

"What..." Playing nervously with the hem of her sweater, the honey blonde shrugged. "What would you like to be? With me?" Her hazel eyes stopped briefly on her interlocutor before settling back on the piece of clothing. "How do you see us?"

The scene was surreaslitic. As if trapped in the Subaru – fragile symbol of their very own bubble – both women were trying to put words on a blurry situation; surrounded by strangers and buildings. A not so familiar environment; not so friendly. For long seconds, Jane remained quiet and observed life going on outside. The words were there – burning her lips – but she lacked the courage to make them come true.

"I want..." Her voice broke. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "... You?" She swallowed hard. Her heart was beating fast, too fast. The world was spinning around. She vaguely nodded. "I want you."

Maura's lips began to tremble. Not of uncertainty nor pain but of happiness.

One that she could not really understand for it feeling like belonging to a dream but that she wanted to embrace nonethless because she knew that it would not happen again. Not twice. Not in this life.

The person she was in love with wanted her as she was. It went beyond any kind of fantasies she might have had.

...

8pm

"You look happy."

Maura blushed before Angela's remark and looked down at the kitchen counter; not really knowing what to say. She had been feeling light – incredibly light – since the conversation she had had in the car with Jane. Like walking on a cloud.

She giggled and shrugged away the comment.

"I had a nice day..."

Her curiosity piqued, the Italian settled on a stool and raised an amused eyebrow.

"Glad to see that things are doing better than they were at the beginning of the week!" Bending over the counter, the matriarch squinted her eyes at Maura's neck and cleared her voice. "Maybe it has to do with the hickey you have... There." She pointed her index finger at the spot, repressing a laugh.

Maura turned red like a brick and immediately covered her neck with her hair. She grabbed a couple of bowls – for absolutely no reason but to escape from the inquisitive remark – and pretended to go for some recipe. After all, she hadn't prepared dinner yet.

"Hematoma of tissue in which capillaries and sometimes venules are damaged by trauma, allowing blood to seep, hemorrhage or extravasate into the surrouding interstitial tissues. That... That is a bruise for you."

Angela grinned and raised her hands in the air as if to abdicate. She knew Maura way too well to go and insist. When the scientist lost herself in medical explanations then it meant that she simply felt a bit uncomfortable.

And there was no reason for the matriarch to insist, here.

"Sure... Anyway, what have you planned on doing with Jane for the holidays?"

Still at the mercy of an obvious panic, Maura looked up and blinked; remained quiet for quite a long time as if Angela had addressed her in Chinese. She paused – pondered the words – then pouted.

"What... What do you mean, exactly? We aren't glued!"

Perhaps her reply had been a tad too much on the defensive but the thing was that – as much as they seemed to know what they really wanted – neither she nor Jane had talked about making it official.

Not just yet.

They wanted time for themselves – to properly enjoy this new stage of their relationship – or at least Maura thought so. It wasn't as if they had listed every single point of their new status.

"Oh, this isn't what I meant but you usually do... Things... Together. Skiing, drag Jane to Christmas carols, a chocolate fondue... This kind of things that any couple does!"

As her last sentence hit the air, Angela giggled nervously. She hadn't thought twice before speaking. It was clear. She made a vague gesture with the hand and bit the inside of her cheek as she realized that her comment had made Maura turn livid.

"And by couple, I mean... A couple of friends. Don't you have anything planned for the two of you?"

Extremely embarrassed, Maura looked aside and shrugged. Somehow, she was rather glad that Jane was stuck at work or it would have been even more awkward. She ran a hand through her hair only to realize that her gesture had exposed again the hickey. Panicked, she rushed to the living-room to grab a scarf abandoned on the couch and put it on.

"I don't know. I err... I actually just landed a big case. The FBI is on it now but they asked me to be around and help them regarding a few things. And there is the volunteering too... You know that we went to the opera already so I cannot force Jane to now attend Christmas carols. We both know that she would kill me if I did. Hahahaha!"

Maura's laugh fell flat. She rushed back to the kitchen and opened the fridge in the only hope to turn her back at Angela in order to win some time then – maybe – find back some of that self-confidence that she seemed to have lost on the way.

"Actually I was asking you because I have these invitations for this weekend... Two days in a cabin with an afternoon on a sledge driven by mushers and I was thinking that you might be interested."

"Oh." Maura's lips froze as her surprise hit the air. Truth to be told, it was a fantastic idea. She knew that she and Jane wouldn't have a matching schedule before the upcoming weekend when both had two days off in a row.

It was perfect.

Angela swept away invisible dust from the kitchen counter and smiled brightly at her host; barely repressing a laugh.

"Now all you have to do is to convince your partner." Index on her mouth to apologize, she shook her head before adding. "Partner in crime, that is. Consider this as a pre-Christmas present. You've looked stressed, lately. I am sure you need it."

The medical examiner nodded and smiled a bit too brightly. Perhaps that was what she and Jane needed, Angela was right. A couple of days out of Boston with nobody to interrupt them. Realizing that her reaction was too enthusiastic, she made a step backwards and avoided the matriarch's gaze by looking down at the sink. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes.

"Thank you very much. It is an excellent idea. Very... Very sweet of you. Really."