Author's note: brand new story - with daily updates - and, of course, reviews more than appreciated; I hope you will enjoy it.

Chapter One

Her heels resounded loud and authoritative. Determined. The pace of her steps barely let one catch a glimpse of the thin ankles that her Italian stilettos seemed to embrace with a delicate perfection. She was walking fast, too fast for people to even register her presence in the hall. They had better things to do, anyway.

She turned on her left and glanced over her shoulder to make sure that Jane was still following her in spite of her sudden acceleration.

"You don't have to accompany me to the terminal, you know."

Her sentence hit the air at the same pace as her steps. She was running late. They had got stuck in traffic on their way to Logan International and the boarding for her flight had already started. She couldn't lose any more time. Maura Isles had never missed any of her flights and she wouldn't let it happen today.

"Actually I have 'cause you've got the car keys with you!"

It took Maura a few seconds to register what her friend had just told her. By the time she looked down at her hand only to realize that she was indeed holding the aforesaid keys, she had finally reached her terminal. Yet she couldn't wait any longer.

Breathless, she turned around then held out the keys to Jane. Why she had taken them in the first place was a mystery to her but it wasn't the most appropriate moment to analyze such kind of detail.

"You think it's gonna be alright?"

Maura nodded and checked her boarding pass. Thanks to her professional status, she would have no issue whatsoever to board the plane at the last second. However, this wouldn't happen if she stayed by the terminal gate indefinitely.

"Oh, yes. Don't be worried. Thank you for the ride... You'll find a list of all the things I want you to do while I'm out of town. I left it on my desk. If you have any question then call me."

A couple of passengers in their seventies walked by Jane. She briefly cast a glance at them before focusing back on Maura.

A month. It was extremely ridiculous but she knew that she would miss her friend during this lapse of time. Maura had rarely left for so long until now. As a matter of fact and as far as Jane could remember, it was the very first time that a business trip would keep her away from Boston for more than two weeks.

Besides, she hated goodbyes.

"Alright. I think you should go, now..." Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, Jane plunged her hands in the pockets of her jeans and smiled at Maura rather timidly. "You know I'm not made for these moments so... Safe your journey."

It was 4.32pm – on a terribly hot Friday of July – when Jane bent over to take Maura in her arms for an unexpected hug in the middle of Logan International.

Neither of them happened to be very fond of such display of affection which emphasized the slightly out-of-character nuance of the move. The embrace lasted a few seconds only though and the surprising gesture could have come to an end there if Jane hadn't suddenly captured her friend's lips in a kiss afterwards.

A real kiss, deprived of any ambiguity. One that didn't leave much room to the imagination for whoever happened to witness it.

Jane's brain cells reacted rather quickly and set off a red alert in her head that immediately resulted in her letting go of Maura – making a step backwards – then succumbing to an intense panic. The kiss had come from nowhere and could absolutely not be justified.

On the verge of passing out, Jane opened her mouth to speak but found herself unable to pronounce the slightest thing. Time was running against her. Maura had to leave. She had to find something to say, anything.

They couldn't go separate ways like that, not after what she had done.

And this is how the lamest sentence in the whole history of human communication got pronounced. At 4.33pm on Friday, 31st of July by the gate of Terminal B at Logan International.

"See you in September...?"

...

She had run away. Literally. Shamefully. Perhaps Maura was still there – in shock by the gate of Terminal B – but that was something Jane ignored since she had turned on her heels just after her terribly inappropriate remark.

'Inappropriate' wasn't the right word, though. It didn't fit. Nope. What she had said was a lot worse than inappropriate. It didn't make sense at all. But then what had got in ahead of it didn't make sense either.

Jane crashed her forehead against Maura's fridge as a moan of distress passed her lips. Images of the kiss quietly kept on passing before her eyes like a movie in slow motion.

"What a fucking moron you are."

A moron who had lost the plot.

The worst of all was that she honestly had no idea why she had done that. She had no idea why she had even taken Maura in her arms in the first place. The rest – what had happened after the hug – belonged in a fourth dimension of some sort; one that would stick to her mind for the rest of the life. She was sure of that.

"You can go back to your place if you want. I'll feed Bass tonight, I've done that a couple of times in the past." Angela walked in the kitchen and went to sit on one of the stools by the large kitchen island. "Unless you're staying overnight. When do the works start at your place again?"

"Tomorrow morning..." Jane's whisper barely reached her mind. She barely heard herself speak. Yet she found the logic to turn around to look at her mother who was now sipping a glass of water. "I'm staying here tonight, they already have the key and all. I suppose I'll go check how it goes in the afternoon."

At first Maura's business trip had appeared to be a godsend for Jane. She wanted to change a few things at her place which would force her to go live somewhere else for a while. With Maura being away for a month, it meant that she had the Beacon Hill townhouse for herself. She would water the plants and feed Bass during her friend's absence and by September she would be back to her own apartment.

The perfect plan.

Yet now that she had thrown herself in one of the blurriest contexts, the notion of easiness had never sounded more foreign. She was in shock, extremely confused; certain to have destroyed something very precious.

Angela didn't insist nor did she feel the desire to go on with their conversation. It was a bit one-sided, anyway. Jane didn't seem to be in a chatty mood. She never was when Maura was away.

The matriarch stood up then left the house without adding anything. It took Jane a long minute to realize that her mother had walked out the kitchen. She checked her watch: 6.15pm.

She wasn't supposed to work until Monday but after the incomprehensible airport scene, she deeply regretted her absence of weekend shift. It would have kept her busy. Instead she was now trapped in a house which every single detail reminded her of Maura.

Ignoring Jo Friday who was happily jumping by her side, Jane absentmindedly walked to the stairs. She could take a bath. A long, relaxing bath. With candles - a bottle of wine – and some music.

Beers would have to wait as she hadn't stopped by to buy any on her way back from the airport.

Once on the first floor, she carefully avoided to look at Maura's bedroom and walked straight to the guestroom where she had previously left her bags. She didn't bother unpacking as it was something that would happen all by itself at some point. She simply took her tennis shoes off before heading towards the main bathroom.

Maura had left for a month but most of her belongings were still everywhere around: by the sink, in wicker baskets, on top of shelves. By the tub. An odd feeling seemed to emanate from the scene, one that wrapped up Jane in a surge of deep melancholy. She got undressed then slipped into her bath the moment she considered the tub to be enough filled.

She leaned her head backwards – closed her eyes – and took a deep breath.

The silence of the house resounded comfortingly. She had always loved her friend's place even if she had never explicitly admitted it. The frequency with which she found herself there probably spoke for her, anyway. She didn't spend much time at her own apartment. As a matter of fact, that was the reason why everyone had looked surprised when she had announced that she wanted to schedule paint work at her place. What for? She basically lived at Maura's in people's imagination.

She poured herself a glass of wine and let the velvet drink slide on her throat before warmly embracing her stomach.

Maura's flight to Oregon left her enough time to find a way to get herself out of the intricate situation she had fallen into. Unless there wouldn't be any phone call, any text message to let her know that her friend had made it safe to Newport. Perhaps Maura was in the same state of confusion and she wouldn't dare to reach her right away.

See you in September...?

Jane clenched her teeth then plunged her head under the water to forget about the stupidity she had dared to show at the airport. She had a month to deal with it, a month to solve the issue. To draw a line under everything.

Then the situation would be back to normal.

Hopefully.

And the odd sensation that the kiss had stirred up in her body - in places she didn't even know could actually exist - would disappear. It had to, anyway. Nothing like that was meant to be.