Chapter 22 - Blocking

It was already Christmas morning in Austria and the girls woke up early. Jane had been waiting in agony to give Maura her present. She was really proud with herself and really hoped Maura would enjoy it.

She had built a gorgeous photo frame and decorated it with pictures of them together. But she hadn't filled out all the frames because some pictures they had yet to take. There was one big frame in the middle and then a lot of smaller ones stood out and they were all painted and covered with glass. There were exactly 13 frames and seven of them already had pictures in them. The empty ones had notes that indicated what they should be doing on those pictures. Jane wasn't usually so romantic or corny, but Maura was just the best thing that had ever happened to her. Without her, she'd never have gone to Austria or never learnt how to ski. Which, was by the way the most exciting thing Jane had ever tried. They'd only been skiing three days so Jane still wasn't as good as she wanted to be, but she went all the way to the top of the mountain and was able to ski down and only fall down twice. She couldn't wait to go back to the mountain.

"I got you something." Jane said as she looked through her suitcase.

"I got you something too." Maura said.

"Wait? Wasn't the trip to Austria enough?" Jane said suspicious.

"That wasn't really from me, that was my parents gift to you, and also to me."

"Oh Maura, you shouldn't have. "

"Don't worry. It wasn't expensive."

"Thank god. Because mine wasn't expensive either."

"Here you go. Merry Christmas." Maura said and handed over her gift.

She was nervous but she ripped the paper off and got out the most beautiful pencil case she'd ever seen. It was red and had the Red Sox logo printed on, and something was written on it.

To Jane, from David Ortiz.

"WHAT?" Jane yelled and stood up. "No way this is signed by David Ortiz, how Maura how?"

"There was some kind of competition online that I won. You could get a signed jersey from David Ortiz, but since I already gave you a jersey and you asked for a pencil case, I asked if I could get that instead. It didn't cost me a thing, because I got lucky. But I'm so happy you like it."

"I love it! But I'm afraid I can never use it Maura, it's so cool!"

"Then you have to use it."

"What if I lose it or it got stolen or something? Seriously. This is now my most precious possession."

"I'm glad Jane."

"Okay. Here's your present." Jane said awkwardly as she handed Maura her present that was wrapped beautifully by her mother. "I actually made this, so I hope you like it."

"Don't worry." Maura unwrapped the paper and held her present up high while she admired the photo frame. "Did you actually make this?"

"Yes?"

"Wow! This is the most amazing gift ever Jane. If I was at home I'd hang it up right now!" Maura was so happy that happy tears actually started running from her eyes.

"I think there's one missing picture that we can take right now." Maura said with a suspicious look on her face as she pulled up her phone and crawled towards Jane.

Jane sat still, holding her pencil case as Maura crawled towards her. Maura then grabbed her head and pressed it against hers and started kissing her. At first it was just a regular kiss but after Maura had taken some pictures it got more intense and Maura put her tongue inside Jane's mouth. They were making out passionately and Maura pressed Jane onto the floor and went on top of her. Jane was so excited that she grabbed Maura's breast.

They both froze. They had never touched each other like that. All they did was hug, kiss and hold hands. They were still to young they both thought so Jane got super awkward when she realized what she'd done.

"Oh my." Maura said.

"I am so sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Grabbing your… I mean, touching you, there."

"Why are you sorry about that?"

"We never really discussed that."

"We shouldn't have to discuss everything Jane, we are together, and when we feel ready we should explore each other. It actually just felt rather nice."

"Really?"

"Yes." Maura said and smiled at Jane.

Jane felt like an idiot. She was no baby, she was a teenager. She'd turn fifteen in April and Maura would turn fifteen in January. Jane knew that some girls in her class had already had sex. Jane wasn't exactly ready for that, but she just felt so weird touching Maura's boob. It was nice though and Jane definitely wanted to do it again.

"Maura?"

"Yes."

"Are you ready to have sex?"

Maura smirked. "I don't know Jane, I don't think so but, when the time comes, we'll both know."

"Good. Cause me neither."

"One step at a time my dear." Maura said and kissed Jane, she also put her hands on Jane's chest which made Jane burst out laughing. "What?"

"I'm sorry, it tickled and it felt weird. I didn't mean to laugh, but it was just funny."

"Oh yeah?" Maura said and rolled off Jane onto the floor.

"It's just funny Maura." Jane said and was about to kiss Maura when there was a knock on the door and they sat up in a rush.

"May we come in?" Mrs. Isles asked through the door.

"Yes mother." Maura said politely, and slightly awkward. She didn't look at Jane, but stood up to open the door for her mother.

"Merry Christmas Maura." Her mother hugged her.

"Merry Christmas mother."

"And merry Christmas to you too Jane."

"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Isles."

"Mother? Where's father?"

"He's on a meeting my dear. Would you girls like some Christmas breakfast?"

"Sure. Thank you." Jane said and stood up.

They went out of Jane and Maura's hotel room and down to the dining hall. Jane had tried a lot of different food while staying in Austria. She was glad that she wasn't picky, because some of this food had tasted really weirdly, but Jane had liked most of it.

Maura had taught Jane how to say merry Christmas in German, so Jane greeted all the staff by saying Frohe Weihnachten as she got herself some Christmas breakfast.

"I presume you girls would like to go skiing today? Unfortunately, me and your father won't be able to join you today. We might even be away until morning.

Maura looked sad in her eyes, but she smiled anyway. This must be tough Jane thought. And she couldn't imagine how awful it would be for Maura to be here alone. Jane grabbed Maura's hand from under the table and held it to comfort her.

"It's alright mother, I think me and Jane should be fine."

"I know darling. I don't have to worry about you."

It looked like Maura was fighting her tears from flying out her eyes. Jane just felt awful when Constance said those words. She didn't have to worry about her? Of course she should worry about her. Constance didn't notice how all of this made Maura feel. Jane was certain that she'd never asked Maura about how she felt about things, or if she did, she hadn't wanted an honest answer.

"Enjoy your day my darlings, and I will see you in the morning."

"You too mother."

When Constance left Jane waited for Maura to start crying and Jane was ready to comfort her.

"Come on Jane, let's go skiing."

"What?"

"What, what?"

"I thought you were sad?"

"So? I just want to get away, start doing something fun. Maybe I'll even get a laugh when you fall."

"Hey! I'm not gonna fall today."

"I'm sure you won't."

"Wanna bet?"

"Maybe."

The girls put on their warm skiing clothes and grabbed their skis, shoes and poles. They took some sort of a ski lift that stopped right by the hotel and carried them up the hill to the lodge.

"You'll just wait and see my dear. When we leave Austria, I'll be a better skier then you." Jane said proudly.

"We'll see about that. Do you really think I'm not better than I have been showing? I've been going slowly so you won't get lost."

"Huh. The last day, we'll have a race. Okay?"

"Okay Jane, just to warn you. I've been skiing since I was two years old."

"Well, I've been doing all kinds of sports, and I have to say, if I like them, I can master them."

"Well. Up to the top then."

The girls took many ski lifts to get all the way to the top. They started off slowly though and Jane tried to be very careful not to fall, and as she got more confident she started going faster. She had learned how to turn and she was able to stop quickly. When they were skiing down, they suddenly heard a lot of yelling and cheering.

"Hey, what's that?"

"Oh that's a course, I think they're competing in slalom. That's my favorite."

"Maybe you can sign up? I would like to see you compete."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're always there when I'm competing. Come on Maura, it doesn't hurt to try."

The girls skied towards the course and saw the competition. They went towards some kind of a booth were two people were sitting.

"Can my friend here sign up?"

The two people just stared at them and looked confused.

"I don't think they speak English Jane."

"Oh."

Maura then started speaking German like a pro. Jane had no idea how beautiful German sounded, especially when it came out of Maura's mouth.

"Danke schön." She then said and grabbed a numbered vest.

"I had no idea you spoke German fluently."

"Well, maybe not fluently."

"What else can you speak?"

"I speak Serbian, German and French. I can understand a little Spanish and Italian but I don't really speak it.

"Well, that's a lot more than I can say for myself. I was taught to speak Italian as a kid, and pop tried to raise me up with both languages but it didn't really work. He gave up with Frankie and never tried with Tommy. I understand most of it and I'm pretty sure I'd do alright in Italy, but I don't have that much vocabulary."

"You should definitely learn more Italian, it's such a beautiful language. And maybe we could go to Italy together next time. Then it would really help if you could speak it."

"Oh Maura."

"Well. Anyways. Do you think you can ski down there by yourself?"

"Of course."

"Well, then just wish me good luck and I'll see you down there."

Jane skied down the hill beautifully and she was pissed that Maura didn't see that. But now it was time for Jane to watch Maura."

She pulled up her phone from her pocket and had it ready to record a video. She watch Maura ski down gracefully but also really fast, and Jane thought it was amazing how she smashed the poles down to the ground as she turned. Jane was in love with this sport. She wished she could ski all the time. She also was determined to be just as good as Maura.

When Maura finally came down there was a lot of cheering.

"Wow Maura, that was amazing."

"Thank you Jane. I don't suppose I won though."

"Winning isn't everything."

"Oh really? That's something I've never heard you say. You're the most competitive person I know."

"Yeah well. You did a great job anyway. And at least you won the title the most gorgeous skier."

"I did?"

"Of course you did. And when we get back to the hotel you'll have a special surprise."

"Alright."

"Well, let's not waste the bright daylight and ski some more."

"Hells yeah! But hey, why did you hit the poles to the ground?"

"Oh, that's called blocking. See my poles, they've got these covers that allow me to hit the poles and therefor I can turn quicker because the poles aren't in my way."

"That was so cool."

"I know. I did that especially for you."

"Really? Why?"

"Because actually I shouldn't have done it, because my helmet does not have a guard to protect my face in case the pole shoots back."

"Wow, this is all just so pro Maura. Forget the bet, you are and always will be the skiing champion."