Author's Note: Thank you very much for all your reviews and messages, I'm glad to be back too.

Chapter Ten

They had chosen a restaurant because it was safer than Maura's house or even Jane's apartment. A public area meant that nothing would happen even if they tried to flirt. It hadn't always been like that though. They had already had sex in the bathroom of a restaurant on more than one occasion. Public spaces were arousing. But things had now changed, or at least that was what they wanted to believe.

"Have you ever been to one of these parties before?"

Jane looked into Maura's hazel eyes with an intensity that took her friend aback. There was something bold in Jane's gesture, something very arousing too. Maura swallowed hard and waited for an answer to her question even if she knew what her friend would say. Of course, Jane had never attended such kind of party.

"Have you?"

The tone was soft. It embraced the hoarse voice with a sensuality Maura could hardly resist. It was anything but innocent. Jane knew what she was doing. Perhaps she simply couldn't help it. The question caused Maura to laugh lightly. She folded her napkin then set it down on the table next to her empty plate.

"It's a possibility..."

Maura had decided to accept Jane's game. Just like her friend, she wouldn't be direct in her answers. An ounce of mystery would wrap up the sentences that would slide on her lips as she would try to read Jane's mind. Easy.

They hadn't had any encounter for three days. It was an absolute nothing yet Maura saw it as the symbolical failure of their friendship with benefits. They hadn't got tired of it. They were simply scared of their feelings.

Life had gone on as it always did. They had talked to each other, they had worked together and their interactions had been friendly. Very few people would have guessed that they had just put an end to something a lot more complex.

"What is it like?"

"A giant refine orgy." A peaceful smile played on Maura's lips. She meant what she had just said even if she was mostly trying to provoke Jane. It was part of her plan. It had always been. "As refine as an orgy can be, that is."

Jane laughed nervously. As much as Maura had never told her about any gender bender party until now, she wasn't surprised to learn that her friend had already taken part in one of these. She simply found the current irony to be delicate to handle.

It was the only lead they had though. They had found out earlier in the morning that the victim of the Marguerite Duras case was supposed to attend the singular party for she belonged to the swinger community of Boston. It was Korsak who had thought about Maura. She and Jane would attend the party in the hope to grasp information that may lead them to the murderer who had quoted The Lover on that wall.

"I didn't know it was your thing."

As much as Maura's sexual life had very few limits, Jane had a hard time picturing her friend in the middle of a swinger party. It didn't fit. It was arousing but it didn't fit.

"The fact I have already been a guest doesn't make of me an expert, Jane." The conversation was entertaining. Maura felt amused but it didn't change anything to the fact that she wanted to know more about Mateo. Had Jane seen him again? Had she slept with him yet? Talking about supposedly refine orgies was a lame subterfuge. "Wearing a mask brings a relieving anonymity to... To the whole thing."

Jane didn't miss the embarrassment that showed in Maura's voice nor in the way she moved on her seat. Maura was nervous. She felt uncomfortable.

Gender bender was the theme of the party and as much as Jane had done some research about it, the only images she had in mind were the ones of a party that oddly looked like Eyes Wide Shut. Reality was probably different, a lot rougher. Going there with Maura was reassuring even if it didn't happen at the right time. They needed to respect a certain distance between each other in order to avoid what they would face once at the party.

Jane hadn't complained though. She couldn't. Nobody at the BPD knew what she and Maura used to do at night. Nobody had an idea of the nature of their friendship.

"Good point."

Settling a plan for the party had been a pitiful excuse to have dinner together. Neither of them had been fooled. They knew what they would have to do on the very next day. They didn't have to plan anything. But lying in order to steal a few hours from their so-called determination to put an end to their sexual encounters was appealing.

Maura opened her mouth to speak but the words didn't come out. She had been busy at work for the past few days but in spite of this sudden surge of activity, her mind had focused on Jane and Jane only. She missed her. She missed feeling the warmth of her skin against her lips and the shivering sensation of her friend's nipples getting hard under her feather touch.

Jane was her drug and Maura needed a fix.

"How's your date? Sorry, I forgot his name."

Jane turned out to be the first one who abdicated to the powerful desire that had risen in her lower stomach. She had tried to sound casual but she was convinced that she had failed.

"Finn, his name is Finn." Maura had slept with him but she had thought about Jane all the time which had led her to succumb to a bottomless despair. She felt stuck in a dead-end alley. Stuck and lonely. "We're doing fine, thank you."

Maura had found him to be interesting but she wasn't attracted to him. He was a so-called rebound except she didn't want to move on. Everything had been mechanic with him, atrociously mechanic. Her pride prevented her from seeing him as a mistake yet it was exactly what it was.

"How about Mateo?"

Jane should have known better than to ask Maura about her date if she didn't want to talk about Mateo herself. She hadn't called him back yet. She didn't want to. She didn't miss him the slightest bit.

But a stupid pride kept on telling her to do it nonetheless if she didn't want to find herself alone and sad for the rest of her life. Mateo was more than decent. He was a miracle in her pitiful love life.

"He's... I've been busy. Frost and I have been working hard on the case and I haven't had a chance to... To call him back yet."

Jane frowned as she noticed how her friend's traits suddenly lightened up. The reaction was spontaneous but unexpected. Maura looked happy and relieved. Her words didn't match her reaction though.

"You shouldn't put your private life on pause, Jane. Your colleagues don't do it. You need a time off too if you want to be able to face..." Maura stopped talking as the waitress approached. She didn't want to be overheard. "You know what I mean."

Their sexual encounters had brought Jane the relief she needed on a daily basis. Or at least until feelings had risen from their sighs and caresses. The lack of implication was exactly what Jane needed. Having sex swept away the frustration of a day of work while orgasms made her feel calm, quiet.

Now she had none of this.

"How am I supposed to dress for tomorrow's party?" Jane glanced at the waitress who had just left again after filling her glass with some more wine. "Am I supposed to dress up as a man?"

Gender bender.

Jane had never attended a swinger party but the theme was clear. It had even made a few of her colleagues laugh. She didn't find it to be funny, even more since their only lead seemed to be awfully thin.

"A feminine masculinity." Maura ran her tongue over her lips. The gesture was subconscious but very telling. "A bit like Greta Garbo. Do you see what I mean?"

Jane gave her friend a nod. She was losing control of her life. She could feel it. From the peculiar friendship she had developed with Maura to the swinger party she was about to attend, nothing made sense. She would go there in the hope to find something that would help her solve a blurry case but all she could think about was the way Maura's back arched whenever an orgasm hit her.

Or what Maura would look like in a Greta Garbo outfit.

"I see." Jane had a bad feeling about it though. She wouldn't fit and people would see it. Her friendship with Maura had made her become bolder than she used to be but she wasn't ready to take part in a swinger party, even if just as an undercover. "For once nobody will force me to wear a dress..."

The victim of the Marguerite Duras case was the loneliest woman Jane had ever known. She didn't have family nor friends. Her colleagues barely knew her name. Her life was dull and awfully quiet.

Except for her swinger tendencies.

It seemed cliché. The vengeance of a sexual partner. Yet Jane had no other leads and time was running against her and Frost. They had to do something. The gender bender party was their only opportunity.

"They will barely notice you anyway."

Jane gave Maura a smile, a shy one. She didn't like the apprehension she felt because Maura seemed to be at ease. The balance was off.

"Lucky me."