I'm sorry for saying those things to you. I'm sorry too for running away like this. We promised each other that from now on, if something happened, we would talk things through calmly. But in the end, I'm always the one who acts like this. Let's just say we each lost one point. We're even now, okay?
ENEMIES WITH BENEFITS (2026) | EP 10
+ BONUS Slight suggestion from Lal for the future, but it's where Lal first confessed her feelings to Wine 🤭
The first time it was in Jane's work vehicle. Maura was sitting in the passenger seat and Jane was driving and gesturing to the traffic build up.
"It's so annoying. A car stops on the side of the road and everyone slows down to look at it. And people steer where they're looking, so a situation that wasn't fatal now has a bunch of dead people all squished up in metal for no good reason other than people can't mind their damn business. Ugh--"
Jane's arm shot out across the car, across Maura's chest as Jane slammed on the brakes; the car in front of them had veered off the road, corrected, then slammed to a stop.
Maura was jolted forward, Jane's arm acting as a safety brace for her so she didn't hit her head on the windshield; the stop was that sudden and she'd had no warning.
"Christ," Jane swore, and thumped the wheel. "Even if I turn the lights and siren on, we're not getting anywhere in this."
Maura looked down. Jane's forearm was still across her chest, compressing Maura's breast tissue and wrinkling her blouse. She coughed politely.
Jane turned her head. She looked down at her arm, then across to Maura's chest, and her entire face turned red.
"Shit, sorry." Jane withdrew her arm and placed her right hand back on the wheel. "I got two brothers and a mother that drives like a maniac."
It was sweet, really. Jane always had been protective of Maura. It was instinctual, like the way Jane's hand grazed Maura's back when they were in proximity to alert Maura of her presence without interrupting her.
"It saved me from facial contusion, which I always appreciate."
Jane gave her a grin, and Maura straightened her blouse. Jane's eyes caught the movement and she blushed again.
"We're moving," Maura said, nodding her head at the windshield. Jane didn't look away until the car behind them honked, then she gave them the finger even though she was in her work vehicle.
The next time was after the Dirty Robber. Jane was chipper despite the morbid day they'd shared. No conviction, even though they knew he'd done it.
"You did the best you could with what you have," Jane said, stumbling as she unlocked the door to her apartment. "No one would have gotten that conviction on that evidence. You did everything you could." She closed the door behind Maura and rubbed her back. Maura pulled off her coat; Jane's apartment complex wasn't well-heated but her heavy winter coat was too heavy to wear inside.
Jane helped with the buttons of Maura's smaller jacket, but she'd had a few beers and her hands were unsteady and wandered across the expanse of Maura's chest like an orienteer with a prank compass.
"I'm drunk," Jane said, and she laughed. "Sorry." She stopped trying to help until Maura had unbuttoned herself, then helped Maura pull it from her shoulders and hung it on the rack. Then Jane turned to her own overcoat, her hands slipping, her fingers unsteady.
"When it's cold, my hands remember what he did to me," Jane whispered. Maura had come closer, tugging the thick toggles from the pulls of Jane's coat; an option that made them easier for Jane's hands but not easy enough; not tonight. Jane's breath was warm against Maura's bare, cold ear, and she shivered; not from the cold. Jane stood and passively waited for Maura to undress her--no, for Maura to take her coat and hang it on the rack alongside her own. Jane wore a hoodie underneath and made no attempt to remove it.
Jane's unsteady hand touched Maura's cheek, then brushed some hair behind her ear. Jane's hands were warm from her gloves, and her touch was surprisingly steady and tender.
"It's not your fault. You're perfect."
Maura's heart thumped hard in her chest for some reason; she wasn't perfect. Jane was lying to her again.
But Jane was looking at Maura like she was perfect so she ducked her head, letting Jane's hand drop from her face, and she tucked her lower lip between her teeth before looking back up at Jane again.
Jane glowed in the dim lights she left on when she went out. Her dark hair was loose and unruly, and her eyes were soft, her lips slightly open.
Maura released her lip and laughed.
"I'm not, I promise," she said, feeling flattered. Jane's grinned at her and Maura laughed again.
"I promised you dinner but it just now occurs to me that I have only condiments in the fridge. How do you feel about pizza?"
"It originated in Naples, Italy, in the eighteenth century, so it's a traditional Italian meal." Jane groaned and rolled her eyes, but she didn't stop smiling.
"Yes or no," Jane said, and Maura nodded. Jane stepped away and called a number that was clearly on speed dial on her phone; there was only one beep from Jane's touchpad, then the ringtone.
Maura felt Jane's retreat; she'd been radiating warmth, and Maura shivered and followed Jane to the kitchen.
---
The next time they were at Maura's.
"That bra you were wearing is pretty fancy for work," Jane said, dishing out the Chinese she'd picked up on the way home. They'd gotten covered in grease in the workshop and had to wash down in the precinct gym showers. Even now, Jane still had an endearing smudge on her cheek, and another up by her temple. "Isn't it uncomfortable? All that lace?"
"Fashion is uncomfortable, Jane, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." She looked Jane over; she was in leggings that clung to her hips and highlighted an ass Maura hadn't quite expected her to have, even though she'd seen it before. She wore a hoodie over a tank top, half-unzipped. Her bra had been plain black but Maura had found it hard to tear her gaze away. Jane looked comfortable, and that was sexy.
Maura shook her head. She'd been having the thought a lot lately.
"I find lace so itchy, though." Jane's nose scrunched adorably. "And I know you have some sensory issues."
It was sweet that Jane remembered anything Maura brought up in conversation.
"It's fine. I like how it looks."
Jane mumbled something to herself, then blushed so deep it went up to her hairline and down to the neckline of her tank top. Maura watched her inquisitively.
"I mean, you have so much more than me," Jane mumbled. "So it must be uncomfortable."
It was true; Jane's breasts were smaller, but Maura thought they were lovely and fit Jane's more athletic form.
"And heavy," Jane added, washing her hands at the sink and handing over the special chopsticks Maura preferred even though the set was technically identical; Maura preferred the one with the slight groove from her finger wearing down the patina.
"They're not. Or I don't notice."
"Doesn't your back hurt, lugging those things around?" Jane joked. She rounded the counter, and then her hands were on Maura's breasts, assessing them, feeling the heft and weight of them.
Maura stopped breathing.
Jane met her eyes a moment later. She'd blushed even more somehow.
"Just--just checking," Jane said. "It's something girls do, isn't it?"
Maura didn't know what girls did, but no girls had ever done this before. Jane's hands still cupped her; Maura was back in a plain skin tone cotton bra beneath her blouse, but the fabric felt so thin with the warmth of Jane's hands touching her.
"I suppose so."
Jane retreated, then dropped her hands slowly. Almost reluctantly.
"Dinner's ready," Jane said, turning away, but Maura noticed she didn't pick up her chopsticks until her hands had stopped shaking.
--
The next time was in Jane's bed. Maura had cried herself to sleep in Jane's arm. The place she'd always felt safest.
Jane's arm was over her, rubbing her back.
"Can you--can you hold me?" Maura's voice broke. She rolled over and Jane pulled Maura against her front.
Her hand didn't stop rubbing.
It was comforting. Too comforting for Maura, sleepy now, worn out by her long day and crying spree, to ask her to stop.
She didn't want Jane to stop.
But Jane did. She noticed when Maura's nipple hardened under her touch, then realised what she'd been doing. She froze, completely stiff against Maura's back.
"It's what girls do, isn't it?" Maura said, her voice low. Maura had seen what girls did to each other in Merch, and she'd been very interested, but Jane kept insisting that she wasn't that kind of girl. Jane relaxed, but she moved her hand down over the soft cotton of the tee Maura had stolen from Jane the first time she'd stayed over. It was in a drawer of its own--not its own, it shared the drawer with the other clothes Jane had set aside for her, the clothes Maura left here.
Jane exhaled, and Maura realised she'd been holding her breath. Jane's hand rubbed over Maura's stomach instead, and that was somehow worse, it made Maura clench in anticipation for something Jane would never, never do.
---
The next time, Maura had been cornered by a doctor at an event. Jane came up from behind her, then slid an arm around her, resting it on her hip.
"Sweetheart, they need you at the front desk. Some problem with the guest list." Maura could feel Jane's disdain for the man she spoke to seeping out of her. "If you'll excuse us." Jane pulled Maura closer still, the form of her body pressing against Maura deliciously, the way it always did when Jane pretended to be her girlfriend. Maura wasn't ashamed to admit it was often, or that it made her feel like a princess. She sank back into Jane, enjoying the embrace.
"I'll follow you," Jane said, her lips brushing Maura's ear. "Unless you were enjoying yourself?"
Maura snorted in an unladylike way, then shook her head. She wove her way through the crowd with years of practice allowing her passage even through the most crowded events.
"I, uh," Jane blushed when they got to the hallway. "I got you a corsage."
It wasn't a corsage event, but Maura let Jane carefully slide it onto the breast of her dress. She let Jane claim her in public because for all intents and purposes, Maura was Jane's.
---
"Would it be okay if we kissed?"
Maura turned, her hands covered in flour. She looked at Jane.
"I've been thinking," Jane said, desperately trying to fill the silence she'd created. "And I mean, I like you more than any guy I've ever met. We practically live together. You're my plus one to everything, and even though we spend the whole day together my heart gets a little lift when I think about when I get to see you again. I guess I'm saying I'm a little obsessed with you. And I'm sorry if that makes this weird or you don't feel the same way. But I spent most of my life thinking there was something wrong with being gay until Robin set me straight--well, not straight. You know what I mean. And now that I'm not all judgemental, now that I've had time to think about things, I think maybe I'm not that straight either."
"You're certainly fascinated by my breasts," Maura mused. She should have seen this coming. She washed her hands and dried them on a hand towel. She walked over to Jane and stopped in front of where she slumped on her usual stool at Maura's counter. "Well?"
"Well what?"
"Are you going to kiss me?"
Maura held her breath. For all Jane had said, she looked torn for a moment, then she looked at Maura and her entire countenance softened, the way it always did when she looked at Maura. Jane reached out slowly and touched Maura's cheeks, then cupped them, then she leaned in slowly enough that it was obvious that she was waiting for one of them to change their mind.
Maura waited; she didn't want to scare Jane off.
It paid off; Jane's lips met hers so tentatively, with such uncertainty that Maura pressed forward, opening her mouth and her heart to Jane, who was shaking. Jane's hands slid down to her waist and Maura pressed herself against Jane as she stood; the whole lanky length of her pressed against Maura. Maura let out a low moan that made Jane smile against her lips, that made Jane move her hands to Maura's hips and the swell of her ass.
"I always took you for more of a breast girl," Maura said when she pulled away. Jane's hands squeezed her ass.
"I'm a Doctor Maura Isles girl, end of," Jane said, breathless and flushed.
Maura chuckled and unbuttoned her shirt, and she was immediately quantified by Jane's eyes sliding down, Jane's mouth dripping open, Jane's hands cupping her.
"I'm always right," Maura told Jane, when Jane's eyes slid back up to hers.
"I love that about you," Jane said. "I love you."
And Jane spent the rest of that night--and the rest of her life--proving that, along with proving Maura right.
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