Author's Note: Thank you very much for all the reviews and messages, I'm glad to see you're still enjoying it while we're about to reach 25 chapters (which means it's quite a long story).

Chapter Twenty-Two

Boston looked a bit quieter in the shadows of the trees. Jane lay down in the grass and stared at the blue sky in silence. She had picked Maura up for a lunch in the park. The weather was perfect for an hour outside and as far from the BPD and the morgue as they could be.

Earlier in the morning, Jane had hesitated for long minutes before sending Maura a text message in order to ask her whether she wanted them to have lunch together. Jane didn't want to sound clingy. She knew how Maura needed her independence to feel fine. As a matter of fact, Jane was alike.

Their respective tempers hadn't changed. Nothing had changed. They had come back from Maine the day before and the world hadn't stopped turning in spite of the decision they had taken together. Life was going on, more or less peacefully. Just as it had to be.

"Are you going to the BPD this afternoon to talk with Barry?"

Jane shook her head but she didn't look at Maura who had laid down in the grass a few minutes before her to do the same. She was dying to catch back on the Marguerite Duras case but Cavanaugh had made clear that she didn't have to come to work during her suspension time. She had to respect her boss' decision. The incident with O'Donell had seriously damaged her reputation. Keeping a low profile was paramount if she didn't want to face any more trouble.

"Nah. Have you seen him?" Jane glanced at Maura. Her friend shook her head. "I think I'll go see ma' instead. She hasn't seen me in almost a week. It's a lot for her."

Maura got tense as Jane mentioned her mother. She pursed her lips but tried to remain as cool and casual as she could. It wasn't easy though. Not after the conversation she had had with Angela the day before.

"Hmm."

Angela had been very direct in her question. She had taken Maura aback. However, Maura had quickly noticed that Jane's mother was fine with the idea of a relationship. She simply felt betrayed by her daughter which upset her quite a bit. Guilt had invaded Maura almost immediately, because of Angela's feelings and because she had had no choice but to confirm something that she and Jane wanted to keep private in the first place. It wasn't her fault though. She couldn't lie.

However, she didn't dare to say anything to Jane now. She felt bad, too bad.

"Did she like the vase you've bought her?" Jane was completely unaware of Maura's sudden discomfort. She was focused on a small cloud instead and kept on wondering what it looked like. It was a game she loved playing as a child and all she could think about right now was whether Maura had played it too. "You didn't have to buy her anything, you know."

"Jane..."

Maura rolled on her side to face her friend. The words were brushing her lips. All she had to do was to let them come out. Jane turned her head to look at her. She flashed her a bright smile. A sweet one.

"Yeah?"

The ringing tone of Maura's cell phone put an abrupt end to the semblance of confession Maura was about to make. She reluctantly grabbed the device and checked the message. What she wanted to say to Jane was hard enough like that. The last thing she needed was life to put more obstacles between her and her friend.

Her partner, as a matter of fact. It was now more appropriate even if they hadn't defined anything yet. Or at least not really. All Maura knew was that they now were in an exclusive relationship.

"Oh... My 2pm appointment is apparently ahead of time." Maura gave Jane an apologetic smile. "I can't stay for very long, I'm sorry."

"That's okay. I understand, don't be worried."

Jane grabbed Maura's hand to squeeze it tightly. They had spent forty minutes together already. It was a lot more than what they could hope for when Jane happened to work. Forty minutes in the heart of a park, in the shadows of old trees. Jane couldn't have asked for a better lunch break.

Maura leaned over and planted a timid kiss at the corner of her lips. The unexpected gesture caused Jane to blush slightly. They had never kissed in public, or at least certainly not at 1.20pm in a park. Jane assumed that it was the reason why Maura had opted for a chaste kiss instead, a subtle one.

Their bond looked different now. If nothing else had changed, Jane could feel how the pace of their relationship wasn't the same anymore. It was sweeter and more peaceful. Though Jane didn't know what to do of it. It was a detail that hadn't crossed her mind when she had asked Maura whether she wanted to be in an exclusive relationship. She had genuinely thought that it wouldn't have an impact on their dynamic. But within twenty-four hours, everything Jane had got used to since March had disappeared.

And she now felt awkward.

She didn't regret the decision they had taken. On the contrary. She simply didn't know how to handle it on a daily basis.

A boldness pushed her to kiss Maura fully on the lips. They were still lying down in the grass, the leaves of the trees above their heads dancing in the soft summer breeze. Maura responded to the kiss immediately with an eagerness that reassured Jane. This was how she saw and knew their relationship: something blunt, sweet but bare.

She simply hoped that she would get used to the changes.

In the meantime, Maura's fingers playing with the hem of her shirt was exactly what she needed. They matched the pace of their kiss, of their tongues brushing each other respectively.

"I should go now."

Jane nodded. Breathless and already feeling her arousal rise in her lower stomach, she didn't sit up immediately. She let Maura retrieve her belongings and only once she was ready to leave did Jane finally stand up.

"So... Dinner at my place tonight... 7pm? Lucy... I think she likes you. I mean... In a platonic way, of course." Maura blushed. Of course, she had to be awkward now. "She's nice and... I don't know. I'm glad when I can share an evening with the two of you."

...

What was supposed to be a friendly dinner was slowly turning into an atrocious torture, an immense source of stress for Jane and Maura.

Maura had barely had time to let Lucy know about the evolution of her relationship with Jane. She hadn't mentioned anything about Angela knowing about it too because Lucy knew. She was the one who had had to deal with Angela when they were in Maine. She had tried to comfort her. In vain.

Thankfully, Jane's mother wouldn't be around yet Jane had probably met her in the afternoon. Maura hadn't got any text message from Jane. She didn't know how this meeting had gone. It was stressing.

Angela understood that Jane and Maura wanted privacy but she nonetheless felt quite bitter about it. She had hoped and honestly thought that her daughter would confide in her any time. Yet it wasn't how it had worked and it weighed a lot on her heart.

She was fine with same-sex relationships. She even thought that Maura was the perfect match for Jane. She just felt sorry that her daughter wanted to hide it from her.

Jane, on her side, had been too coward to go and say hi to her mother. A few minutes after Maura had left the park, Jane had realized that she didn't have the courage it took to go and see her mother pretending that nothing had happened. She didn't want to lie to her mother. She didn't want to hurt her. Yet Jane had the feeling that it was exactly how she would feel the moment she would face her mother.

A friendship with benefits was very different from a romantic relationship. Of course, she would have never let her mother know that she and Maura had bare sexual encounters on a frequent basis. It wasn't appropriate. As much as Angela said she was open-minded, Jane didn't think that her mother would approve this kind of relationships.

Yet reality was proving Jane that letting her mother know that she was in a romantic relationship wasn't easier at all.

It would happen one day, though. She and Maura couldn't hide for the rest of their lives. The novelty wouldn't last. They probably had a couple of weeks ahead of them. A month, maybe. But not an entire decade.

The fact Jane hadn't dared to go see her mother made her feel bad towards Maura. She didn't really know why though. She simply had the feeling to be awfully coward, as if she didn't want to assume this relationship she had asked for in the first place.

While a delicate sweetness had wrapped the two of them up, life had suddenly become very complex.

"Hey..."

Jane walked in and waved at Lucy and Maura who were in the kitchen preparing dinner. She closed the door behind her and headed straight to the kitchen counter. Her attempt at looking casual probably didn't fool anyone but she couldn't do without it right now. Her heart was beating loud. She looked at Maura and timidly smiled.

"You can kiss her. I'm fine with it."

Lucy's remark made Jane freeze. At least it got the credits to sweep away the thousand unanswered questions that were currently dancing in her head. She looked at Lucy and squinted her eyes at her.

"What..."

Lucy rolled her eyes. She was in a good mood, as usual. Jane's reaction amused her a lot.

"I've always known for the two of you. Maura didn't have to spill the beans. I'm just a good observer... And you two are easy to read." She grabbed a bottle of wine and showed it to Jane. "Do you want a drink?"