Maura's apartment filled with laughter as Jane pathetically held the handle to the pasta maker in her hand.

"Where did you buy this thing?" Jane asked, trying fruitlessly to put the device back together.

"Detective, I'll have you know that I have a very rigorous process of selecting where to shop," she informed the other woman, pointing her index finger in the air.

"I'm well aware, Doctor," the detective quipped, holding the broken handle in front of her counterpart. Giving up on the pasta and rummaging through the blonde's fridge for an alternate food choice.

"I will have to re-evaluate my modus operandi after the collapse of this product."

"Really Maura?" Jane's voice echoed from within Maura's pantry, "Modus operandi?"

"It's Latin," she stated, "it means method of operation."

The brunette returned to the kitchen and threw a bag of rice onto the counter. "We can make rice instead."

"We can't do that," Maura replied as if Jane had just told her that they should eat in the nude.

"Yes, we can," the brunette countered, "I'm replacing carbs with carbs."

"It's not that simple, Jane," she said knowing that Jane was going to try to mess up her order. "The funghi e piselli is for the ravioli."

"And you're afraid that the ravioli will get jealous if we put the fungus and piss in rice?" A characteristically snarky Jane replied.

"It's piselli," she said with an impeccable Italian accent, "it means peas."

"I know, Maur, I'm Italian, remember?" She deadpanned.

"And as an Italian you should understand the way in which this was meant to be cooked."

"They're not going to revoke my nationality if I cook rice," her voice was raised in frustration. "Come on, Maur," she whined, "just cook it with the rice."

"Okay." Jane cheered. "On one condition…" Jane groaned. "I get to put kale in your burger next time."

She groaned again, but she was too hungry to argue. "Fine," she said, planning to remove the kale when the medical examiner was not looking.

The two moved around the blonde's kitchen seamlessly, as they had done countless times before, preparing their dinner. It always amazed Maura how involved Jane was when they cooked, especially since she would always whinge and whine about having to do the domestic chore.

Maura poured herself a glass of wine and pulled a beer out of the fridge (that was stocked in her fridge solely for her best friend) as they sat at the counter digging into their meal. She bit back a moan as the combination of the rice and sauce hit her taste buds. She certainly didn't want Jane to know how much she was enjoying this meal or the detective would no doubt find other things to mess with. She would never have thought to mix rice with a pasta sauce.

"We didn't end up having ravioli," Maura stated after swallowing a bite of their meal.

"Really?" Jane replied sarcastically, "I can see why you were valedictorian."

She rolled her eyes at her. "I mean, we didn't end up doing anything off your list," she clarified.

"Why don't we do something off your list?"

"We are," she said, picking up Jane's bucket list, "the first thing off my list was to something off your list." When Maura was writing her list, she realised how much of their time together was spent doing the things that she wanted to do, so the first thing she put down was to do something that Jane wanted to do.

She read the list. It was full of the usual adrenaline junkie staples. Things like bungee jumping in New Zealand, rock climbing in the Andes, and quad biking through the desert. Maura couldn't picture herself doing any of those things, but she was currently eating rice funghi e piselli. And Jane always did the things she enjoyed, even if the brunette complained all the way through.

"You don't have to do it with me," Jane broke the silence, "I know you're scared of heights and dirt."

"I'm not scared of dirt, Jane, that's illogical" she reasoned, "I just don't like getting it on my clothes." She resumed her perusal and landed on one that she thought she could do. "How about spelunking, I could do that with you."

"You just said that you don't want to get dirt on your clothes."

"I'm sure it will be fine, if I wear the appropriate spelunking attire," she said. "Besides, I have a genuine interest in speleology. Did you know there are entire ecological systems in caves that have their own troglonites, troglophiles and trogloxenes?"

"Sure," Jane answered mockingly, "who doesn't know that?"

Maura pressed her lips together, hiding her amusement at her friends teasing. As she read down the list again she noticed that there was something crossed out. She examined it closely, trying to decipher the words underneath the scribble. When she finally succeeded, she was hit with an idea.

"Close your eyes," she instructed.

"Why?" Jane eyed her friend sceptically, putting her fork down.

"Because we're going to do something on your list."

"Do you have a go-kart hidden in your house?" she asked throwing her hands in the air.

"Jane…," she said, giving the brunette a stern look.

"Okay, fine," she grumbled, but complied anyway. "But there's nothing on that list that we can do here with my eyes closed."

Maura studied the brunette in front of her. He eyes closed and her body relaxed, trusting her. She couldn't help, but be awed by her beauty. She examined curves of her face, the careless way her hair fell and softness of her lips. It always amazed her how someone who put so little effort into her appearance could be so gorgeous all the time.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" Jane's whining snapped her out of her reverie.

"No," she replied flatly.

She glanced at Jane's list again, as if the simple act would give her the confidence to act.

She reached up and brushed Jane's hair out of her face, framing it beautifully. Taking a deep breath, she leaned in before she could talk herself out of what she was about to do. Slowly and steadily she inched her face to other woman's until their lips met.

Jane, frozen in shock, opened her eyes, seeing the blonde beauty inches from her face, lips still attached. She hadn't moved from her spot and eventually she felt her best friend move away from her mumbling the beginnings of an apology, but before she could get more than a word out, Jane threaded her hands through her hair and pulled her back in, fusing their lips together once more.

Her lips were soft and so much more that she had ever imagined. They moved together in a rhythm that they had somehow both known all their lives. All she could think was how right this was; the two of them in Maura's kitchen, hands roaming, open mouthed, making out.

Eventually, they pulled apart, opting to breathe.

Jane rested her forehead on Maura's, sucking in heavy breaths. "I don't think that was on my list," she chuckled.

Smiling along with her, she replied, "You wrote take a chance on love and then scribbled it out." Jane burst out laughing, shocking the woman in front of her. "What?"

"Frankie wrote that," she continued laughing. "He saw me writing the bucket list and he added it to mock me. That's why it's scribbled out."

"Oh," Maura looked down, trying to figure out whether she had made a mistake or not. "Does that mean that you don't want to do it?"

"Maur," her voice softened, seeing the uncharacteristic insecurity in the genius. "I've been in love with you for years," she bore into her eyes with an intensity of sincerity and passion.

"Really?"

"Yes," she smiled. "I wouldn't lie to you," she assured, pulling in the woman for another kiss, this one soft and full of all the things she didn't know how to say. "I'll sarcastically mock you, but I won't lie to you."

She gave her a playful shove at the comment, but the grin on her face threatened to never fade.