Jane had been snappy all day. Even to Maura, which was unusual enough that Maura took note. Maura wondered what was going on; she hadn't seen Jane this upset since Hoyt had died. Since she'd had to decide to accept Casey's proposal, since she'd had to tell Casey - twice - about the baby. Eventually Jane showed up at Maura's house with an apologetic expression after work, and Maura tried to make it look like she hadn't been waiting for her.

"Hey, Mau. I'm sorry I've been - can I come in?" Maura stepped aside and Jane came in, fidgeting with her hands, rubbing the scars. Maura watched her; Jane was nervous, she realised finally. Jane was uncertain about something, and she needed Maura's help. Maura put the kettle on. Tea always helped her when someone came to her for advice.

"I, uh. I been meaning to." Jane rubbed her hands again, slid one into her pocket and then back out. There was a bulk there that Maura could see, a bulge, like she had something in there. Something that made her nervous.

"Hmm?" Maura asked, turning away to check the kettle. No steam yet. She went to the cupboard to fetch the tea. When she turned back there was a small jewelry box on the counter.

"I been meaning to give you this all day," Jane said. "But it's stupid, you won't like it." Jane grabbed at it, but Maura was quicker. It was from Tiffany's, Maura could tell by the box.

"I always like Tiffany's, Jane," Maura said, and Jane dropped her face into her hands and groaned.

"You're gonna hate it, and think it's stupid, and you're gonna think I'm stupid too," Jane whined. "Just give it back, I'll get something else."

Maura cracked the box open. It was a necklace; no, two necklaces. Two little love heart shapes that fit together. One engraved with a little African Spurred tortoise, the other with a Yorkshire terrier.

"You said growing up you didn't have a best friend. So I figured..." Jane trailed off helplessly. "You hate it," Jane said flatly as Maura's hand covered her mouth.

"I love it," Maura said quickly, fingers tracing over the engravings. "But why?"

"Well, it's six years since we met. So I figured I should," Jane shrugged.

"Oh, I didn't realise. I didn't get you anything."

"You didn't need to, Maura. I feel bad still about that, so I do something little every year to make up for it. Like the first year I got that neighbour of yours to fix his sprinkler system so it didn't come over the wall any more. You were upset about the statue getting wet. And then the next year I took you out to dinner - we were friends by then, and you didn't notice. And the next year I got maintenance to put that lock on the lab overflow room like you'd been asking for. Year after that I got Constance to whisk you away to Egypt for a week. And then last year I got you an invite to that show you wanted that was sold out - arrested a scalper, too, so that one was for me as well."

"And you came with me," Maura remembered. "And complained the entire time."

"Well, I didn't want you to get suspicious," Jane said, her smile returning. "I just, I know I'm a lot to deal with, and you got half my family all in and out of your life and causing mayhem, and I like to just... take a day to make your life a little better if I can. But you didn't have any complaints this year, so I got you..." Jane gestured to the box, and Maura gently pulled both necklaces out. "I know best friend necklaces are for kids, but they don't have stuff for women like us, so I figured..."

"They're perfect. Which one's mine?"

"The one with Jo," Jane said, and when Maura turned it around it had Jane's name on the back. The other half had Maura's. "I didn't want to... I thought you'd think I was being sentimental and sappy, but I'm not good at saying how much I appreciate everything about you. And I wanted something to show - that you're always with me, and I'm always with you. Even when we're not together in person."

"It is sentimental. And it's sappy. And I love it." Maura turned held out the necklace, and Jane brushed Maura's hair away from her neck, fingers soft on Maura's skin, breath brushing over the nape of Maura's neck as she fastened the necklace around Maura's throat. "And I love you," Maura said, turning back to Jane. "This is the most precious thing I own."

"Maura, you own a house in Beacon Hill," Jane scoffed, her eyes wide.

"And the house merely has monetary value. This is priceless." Jane flushed and looked away as Maura fastened the second necklace around Jane's neck, doing it from the front and turning it, adjusting it between Jane's clavicles, her index finger gently tracing the three little scars on the left side of Jane's throat - one for each time Hoyt had nearly ended her. Jane didn't flinch, despite Maura's proximity, despite the bad memories the scars must have held. "Is that it? Is there some ritual that goes with this?" Maura asked.

"Well, they fit together," Jane said, flushing again. "We could..." Maura ran various scenarios through her mind in which positions they would need to stand to fit the two halves together. She rotated the angles and planes of both of their bodies and calculated that the optimum position would be... their heads would have to be very close, their faces touching, their mouths close together - there was no other way -

"Oh," Maura said, looking at Jane's mouth.

"Um, yeah, I said it was stupid..." Jane said, backing away. Maura chuckled and closed in on her like a shark when there was blood in the water.

"How did you get Horace to fix his sprinkler, by the way?" Maura asked a few hours later.

"Oh, I jumped the fence and made a few adjustments. You said he didn't listen to reason, and I'm a plumbers daughter."

"You're very handy to have around," Maura chuckled, fingering the necklaces at each of their throats, the only things either of them were wearing.

"You going to keep me around?" Jane asked, uncertain again, unsure of herself even after everything they'd just done to each other, everything they'd explored and enjoyed together.

Maura's fingers trailed across Jane's clavicle, tracing a burn long healed.

"You keep an anniversary I didn't even know we had," Maura said finally, distracted momentarily by Jane's body again. "I'm bad with dates. I need someone around to remind me, and you seem capable."

"I'll show you capable," Jane growled, and Maura chuckled as Jane's mouth caught hers again.

Notes:

So Tiffany's do not make best friends necklaces but let's pretend they do also: /products/lux-accessories-rainbow-partners-in-crime-gun-handcuff-friendship-necklace?variant=37224936079515 this is vibes

Title From Names and Dates and Times by Ani diFranco:
You know the more you talk
You know the more i get
The sense of something
That hasn't happened yet