Author's Note: Thank you very much for all the reviews and messages, I don't know how long this story is going to be yet (though it won't come to an end within the next three chapters obviously).

Chapter Thirteen

Maura looked at her reflection in the large mirror of her bedroom. Her lips curled up in a smile but the smile didn't reach her eyes. The nervousness she felt prevented her from enjoying the moment, from cheering herself up. As a matter of fact, she was even nauseous. She had barely managed to eat her quinoa salad for lunch and she wasn't hungry in spite of it being almost 7pm now.

She wouldn't be sick. She perfectly knew that it was stress that caused her to feel dizzy and that the stress she felt would vanish as soon as she, Jane, Mateo and Finn would reach the restaurant where she had booked a table for four.

A double date. Under other circumstances, Maura would have probably loved the idea. There was something sweet in these dinners, something sweet and relaxing. Maura winced.

It was sweet and relaxing unless you happened to sleep with two of the three guests, of course.

"Why are you so nervous?" Lucy's laugh rose in the master bedroom as she walked in and headed towards the large mirror. "You're just as pale as a ghost. Relax! It's just a dinner..."

"Jane is picky. She may not like Finn."

Maura ran her tongue over her lips. Her remark wasn't a lie. She honestly felt concerned about Jane getting along with Finn. However, it wasn't the real nature of her anxiety. She swept away some invisible dust from her dress with the back of her hand before taking a deep breath. She was too hot and regretted to not have turned on the AC for once. Five more minutes of these uncomfortable sensations and she would begin to think that she actually had hot flashes.

"I didn't know it was indispensable for you to sleep with her."

The sweetness of Lucy's tone sharply contrasted with her comment. Maura immediately bowed her head and shamefully stared at her feet. Lucy had guessed for her and Jane but she had remained very quiet over the whole thing until now. She hadn't expressed her opinion and Maura hadn't asked for any advice either. Both women had simply pretended that there was nothing to talk about.

"It's not..." Maura swallowed hard. "It's not what you think."

It was the poorest excuse Maura could come up with. Lucy politely smiled. She had crossed her arms against her chest and had leaned against the wall to observe her friend carefully.

"Does Finn know?"

"Of course not!" Maura turned around to look into Lucy's eyes. Lucy wasn't being judgemental. Her question was even fair; somehow. "He doesn't have to know. He..."

Besides, Maura didn't see how she could have talked to him about it since she could barely define what was really going on. Everything was blurry and very delicate to handle.

"But you sleep with him... Don't you think he should..."

"Once. I've slept with him once. Only once." Maura adjusted her dress with a lot of nervousness. She agreed with Lucy but she couldn't admit it openly. "I... He's not..."

Lucy gave Maura a nod full of seriousness and care. She wasn't joking anymore. She was being honest, and sensitive. She looked Maura in the eyes before smiling warmly.

"He's not Jane. I know."

...

The restaurant was perfect for a date, a double one or not. It was quiet, and romantic enough. The food was excellent although Maura had a hard time focusing on whatever was in her plate. Her stress had reached such level that she felt drunk and oddly daring. She had only had a glass of wine though. Her reaction was unexpected.

Jane surprisingly seemed to handle the situation a lot better than her. She casually joked with everyone and was in a good mood in spite of the Marguerite Duras case.

"Are there a lot of women in your work field?"

Maura had to admit that Mateo was nice. As a matter of fact, the double date was going very well. Everyone was joyfully chatting. There wasn't any uncomfortable silence. Even Jane had hit it off with Finn.

Jane, who was sitting right in front of Maura.

Maura glanced at Jane before drawing her attention on Mateo. She gave him a smile, a polite one.

"It is still highly dominated by men but my colleagues have learned to accept my presence in the office. I am not a very submissive person myself."

Double-entendre were the only escape Maura had found to her stress. She saw her verbal subterfuges as a game, a kinky and amusing game. It didn't seem to bother Jane much and both men were too polite to offer a honest reaction to her suggestive remarks.

Maura cast a glance at Jane anew. A smirk had curled up her lips, an invisible one. Maura bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a laugh.

"I've only heard good things about the chief medical examiner of the Commonwealth, indeed."

Maura discreetly took off one of her heels. Her tiptoes went straight for Jane's leg, under the table. Of course, she didn't look at her friend and remained focused on Mateo instead. Her foot began to travel up Jane's leg. Slowly. Suggestively.

"I need to be in good terms with the media so it's all about diplomacy." Her foot reached Jane's inner thigh. "But I can be firm at times too."

Jane didn't offer any resistance. Against all expectations but much to Maura's happiness, she slightly spread her legs to make sure that Maura's foot could resume its quiet exploration on her body.

It was wrong and yet terribly exciting. The novelty aroused Maura. This was something that she and Jane had never done before. She was surprised to see Jane accept to play along so easily but it warmed up her heart so much that she didn't try to overthink it.

Carpe diem.

Mateo was good-looking, smart and quite funny. He was probably the best date Jane had had in a while. Maura would have simply liked him better under other circumstances.

She couldn't stand the idea of him being intimate with Jane. She assumed that it had happened already, though. She and Jane had simply not talked about it. The strength of her jealousy pushed her to position her foot right against Jane's core. The gesture was sudden, a bit abrupt even.

The temperatures of the day being high, Maura hadn't put on pantyhoses and what had seemed to be a reasonable decision by then had just turned into a blessing because Jane, who was wearing a dress, hadn't put on any either.

Thus Maura's foot could come and go very freely against the thin fabric of her friend's underwear. Jane was wet. Already.

"Are you... Are you here for a while, Finn?"

The discreet hesitation that showed in Jane's voice caused Maura to smile. It was the ultimate proof of the effects that her foot caused to Jane. The question was quite fair though. After all, Finn didn't live in Boston.

It was a detail that hadn't even hit Maura until now, because she sadly couldn't care less about him. Finn was just an ephemeral entertainment. It was wrong but Maura couldn't help it. He had never had the proper importance to her eyes. Chances were that she would never sleep with him again. Their fling was over even before it got to start properly.

Maura didn't hear Finn's reply. She focused on the circular movements her foot described against Jane's core instead, on the roughness of her friend's breathing. Jane was very discreet but Maura could easily notice those tiny changes in her friend's attitude.

It was immensely arousing.

Her brain shut down until the four of them found themselves outside on the sidewalk long after Jane came against Maura's foot in the most perfect silence.

The relative coolness of the evening woke up Maura just enough for her to tell Finn that she was heading back home because she was tired. She watched how Jane used a more or less equivalent excuse before walking peacefully to her car in the breeze of the summer.

Finn sent her a text message but she didn't read it. She couldn't. Her heart was beating too fast as the streets of Boston were speeding past all around her. She drove to Back Bay, quietly parked on the street then rushed to the floor of a building she considered as her second home.

Jane barely had the time to open the door that Maura rushed into her arms. She dropped her purse on the floor and captured her friend's lips in this deep kiss she had been thinking about all along the evening.

She took her stilettos off.

She didn't think about Finn nor about Mateo. She only cared about the heat of Jane's body under her fingertips, and the taste of her friend's skin under her tongue as she undressed her in a complete frenzy.

They didn't have time to reach the bedroom in spite of the apartment being so small. They dropped to the floor and let the night embrace the paroxysm of their desires.