Author's Note: Thank you very much for all the reviews and messages. It's really nice of you, I appreciate it a lot.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"To your return!"

Frost raised his pint of beer and cheered with the whole table. Jane gave her colleague a smile before pretending to be focused on her own glass. These moments always made her feel a tad embarrassed and uncomfortable. She disliked being the center of attention and it was exactly what was happening now. Besides, nobody was to blame but her for these two weeks away from the BPD. There was nothing to celebrate. Her behavior had been wrong.

"We've missed you, Jane."

Korsak gave her a wink. Jane knew that he meant what he had just said and the truth was that it was actually mutual. She had missed him too. He had talked about retiring on several occasions already and every single time such idea had broken Jane's heart. She wasn't ready to let him go. Korsak had way too much importance in her life. It had only been an idea so far but Jane knew that it would happen one day and she hated it.

"Did you kidnap her, Dr. Isles, that it took the two of you so long to join us here tonight?"

Frost's question caused Maura to laugh nervously. She would miss this kind of situations when she and Jane would make their relationship official. She found them to be funny, and rather entertaining. She made her wine twirl in her glass for long seconds before replying.

"I simply needed Jane's help for something. I'm sorry."

And that something had been the release of the sexual frustration she had been feeling since the night before when Jane had fallen asleep on her. However, this was the kind of detail Maura couldn't really talk about. However, thinking about it made her heart beat faster. Fifteen minutes only had passed since Jane had made her come against the door of her office. Maura still could feel her partner's hands on her hips and the tip of her tongue drawing fast circles on her overly sensitive flesh. The way she had pressed a hand against the door for balance.

She swallowed hard and tried to focus on the time being.

"It wasn't the same without you, Jane." Frost set his glass down on the table and cast a glance at the room. The Dirty Robber was full at this time of the day. Mostly officers though. "It wasn't the same without you either, Dr. Isles."

Maura didn't understand why Jane's colleague didn't manage to call her by her first name. She found his timidity to be cute but strange. They had known each other for years, now. They were friends. Her professional status made Frost feel intimidated.

"I was only gone for five days."

Five decisive days. If she and Jane hadn't gone to Maine then perhaps all the rest wouldn't have happened. Jane would have not told her that she wanted their relationship to be exclusive, that she was in love with her and they wouldn't have gone on their first date.

They would not be a couple now.

Maura's hazel eyes fixed upon Jane's thigh. Jane was sitting next to her, at a reasonable distance. Nothing indicated that they had got a lot closer since March. Absolutely nothing. Lucy had noticed it because she wasn't part of their daily life. She came from the outside and owned the distance one needed to realize what was going on.

Frost and Korsak couldn't guess the mere thing. They couldn't imagine that Jane had authoritatively pushed Maura against the door of her office a few minutes earlier before kneeling down in front of her and tracing a path of kisses up her legs. They couldn't assume that Maura went down on Jane as well on a frequent basis. They were clueless.

The secretive side of their relationship, even when it was just a friendship with benefits, had always boosted Maura's boldness. She liked the excitement that came within the peculiar situation. She saw it as a game. She knew that Jane felt alike.

That's why she let her hand go under the table freely. Jane was wearing her usual pants, the ones she put on for work, so Maura missed the thin fabric of her rare dresses or even of her capri pants. This detail didn't stop her though. Her fingertips brushed Jane's knee before going up her thigh little by little. Of course Maura remained focused on the conversation their table was having. She didn't want anyone to notice anything.

Anyone but Jane.

The last time it had happened, Maura and Jane were on a double-date with Finn and Mateo. Things hadn't turned very well for both men afterward. Things would be different this time.

"What did you do during these two weeks? Apart from going to Maine with Maura, that is."

Maura noticed the uncomfortable smile that played on Jane's lips. Jane hadn't spread her legs either. She wasn't in the mood for such game obviously. Not tonight. Maura held back a pout and put her hand back on top of the table. Jane had showed a lot more eagerness at her office. Maura had barely had time to let her understand that she was dying for a little something that Jane was already on her knees with her head between Maura's legs.

Nothing had happened between the moment they had left Maura's office and the moment they had walked in the Dirty Robber though. Maura didn't really understand. Perhaps Jane didn't dare to play this game with their friends around.

Maura held back a sigh of frustration.

She was craving for a touch. Even if it didn't have to be sexual. Holding hands, looking into Jane's eyes one second too long. It couldn't happen yet though.

"It went rather fast, actually. But..." Jane hesitated. She let her fingers brush the edge of her pint as she looked for the best way to say what she had to say. "I've taken some decisions regarding my life."

Korsak frowned. He looked suddenly worried.

"Like what?"

Jane gave him a shrug. She hadn't really thought about the moment it would occur. Thus she didn't know what to say, nor how to bring up the subject.

"I've met someone."

Maura froze. The lustful desires her orgasm had stirred up got swept away by Jane's statement. She couldn't care less about sex right now. Her priorities had just changed and rather drastically.

"Oh!"

Frost's surprise echoed Korsak's. Obviously neither of them had imagined that Jane was talking about her romantic life. Probably because said romantic life had been quiet and dull for a while.

"Congratulations...?"

Korsak's affirmation sounded more like a question. Jane had really taken him aback. However, she interrupted him before he had a chance to add the slightest thing.

"It's a woman."

...

As soon as Jane's eyes fixed upon Maura, Maura's lips curled up in an amused smile. She raised a hand to apologize and motioned the couch for Jane to sit down on it. Just by her side. They needed to have a talk. Jane needed comfort.

"I suck at this. How do you do it? I mean... You were subtle and all with Pamela. I was blunt and shit with Frost and Korsak."

They had headed to Jane's apartment after Jane's unexpected coming out. Just like Maura the day before, Jane hadn't mentioned any name but she still had dropped a bomb. And she had been awfully direct. Her colleagues hadn't taken it badly at all but she still felt terrible for being so direct with them. It wasn't how it was supposed to be done.

"I'm proud of you, Jane... Because you did something that is anything but easy. Perhaps it wasn't as beautiful and memorable as you wished it to be but... But it was you."

Jane scoffed. She sat down on the couch and grabbed a cushion to hold it tightly against her.

"So what you're tryin' to tell me is that I'm not beautiful and memorable?" A sarcastic laugh passed her lips. "Thank you, Maura. Really."

Maura rolled her eyes. Jane overreacting was something she had got used to face and handle. It had ceased to be an issue and a source of panic for her a long time ago. She sat closer to Jane and slid a comforting arm around her partner's shoulders before planting a kiss on her collarbone.

"You perfectly know what I mean. Now I just want to know how you feel."

"I'm mortified."

"And...?"

Jane shrugged. She perfectly knew what Maura was doing right now. It was emotional manipulation. The sweetest kind. And it was right.

"I'm glad I did."

She was. She hadn't told them that this woman was Maura but she had still made a big step forward and it made her proud. Frost and Korsak had had a very sweet reaction. They had congratulated her before wishing her the best. They hadn't even really teased her to know who this person was. They had been respectful, and polite.

"Good. Now lie down on this couch, please." Maura actually pushed her partner to lie down before she straddled her and bent over to brush her lips with a feather kiss. "Excellent. Are you tired?"

Jane shook her head but the look on her face betrayed a sweet confusion.

"No. Why?"

"Because I won't tolerate you to fall asleep on me while I'm making love to you."