Maura wasn't usually one for pillow talk. Often it seemed to be employed as an attempt to off-set what she'd thought was happy quietness but which the other person—if the relationship was new—had interpreted as awkward silence. Small talk after sex was not something she liked to feel obligated to engage in; if anything, forced conversation was far more awkward to her than silence. If a picture could say a thousand words, so, certainly, could a gesture be significant.

For example—her contentment was made clear by the way she had her arm draped over Jane's stomach, in the way she started to stroke it.

Jane's eyes were still closed. She was thoroughly exhausted after a long day at work, immediately followed by a much more pleasurable, but still ultimately draining, evening in Maura's bedroom. When Maura's fingers began tracing along her stomach, Jane couldn't manage much more than a weak chuckle—which turned into a groan when her stomach grumbled audibly.

"Oh, my!" Maura laughed. "Have you had dinner?"

"Nah," Jane admitted, opening her eyes. "I didn't want to stop to take the time at work, and then I just kinda came right over here. Don't worry about it," she said, sitting up. "I'll hit a drive-thru on my way home."

Maura sat up as well, making no comment on the fact that Jane had pulled up the blankets with her to cover herself. "Or, if you'd like to, you could eat something here. I'd hate to send you out on an empty stomach."

"Oh, that's okay," Jane said with a hint of bashfulness. "You don't have to feed me."

"I know I don't have to," Maura said, "but I'd like to at least offer you my kitchen. I'm a little hungry myself; I might join you in a late night snack."

"Then please, let me at least repay your generosity by being the one to make you something. Have you got any cheese, any bread?"

"I believe so, yes."

"Great, then I—" Jane glanced at her discarded uniform on the floor. "Uh… I don't suppose you've got some clothes I could borrow, do you? I'm not sure I know you well enough to cook nude for you, and I'm sure if I put that uniform back on—"

"—then it wouldn't be food I'd end up wanting to eat," Maura agreed. "Point taken." She stood up without an ounce of self-consciousness about her nakedness and walked to the bathroom connected to the room. She tapped the dresser by the door and said, "There should be some pajamas that'd fit you in the bottom drawer here."

Jane sat in the bed a few moments longer, having been transfixed by the sight of Maura's body and her self-assuredness. It didn't at all matter that she'd already seen (and felt) that body in its entirety more than once; she was in awe of it and figured she always would be.

She put on a t-shirt and the longest pair of pajama pants she could find, chuckling because they were still a little short in the leg. A drawstring helped keep them in place as she walked to the kitchen.

When Maura came out of the bathroom, she saw Jane's uniform still crumpled on the floor. She sighed and picked it up to at least fold it, which she'd sort of expected Jane to do without being asked—but maybe she'd been too distracted by Maura's walk to the bathroom to remember it. (She had, though, folded up the towel Maura had laid down as a precaution being towards the end of her period.) As she folded the uniform, Maura saw "Rizzoli" stamped across the back in large white letters, which she had failed to notice earlier as she'd essentially pounced on Jane the moment she saw her and shed her of the uniform rather fast. It was then that she realized she'd been so excited by Jane's appearance that she hadn't stopped to wonder where the mechanic's uniform had come from. But this seemed like an odd thing to have personalized and just lying around the house…

"Okay, I swear I'm not an idiot," Jane said when Maura entered the kitchen. "I even already assembled the sandwiches! But your pans are all so fancy and I couldn't find any cooking spray and I'm also afraid if I try to use your stove, I'm gonna start a fire."

"It's not as complicated as it looks," Maura chuckled, putting the uniform down on the island to come help Jane. "Are these—are you making grilled cheese sandwiches?" she realized. "I've never had one before."

For the way Jane was looking at her, she might've just said she'd never had the experience of breathing air. "Well the pressure's on me to make sure this is done just right, then! Which of these pans would you say is the best for grilling?" Once Maura got her set up, Jane said, "You'll have to excuse my ignorance. I got all my cooking stuff from Target, and growing up, we just used the ole George Foreman grill. Got the job done pretty well."

Maura went back to sit on the other side of the island. "Not to change the subject, but where'd you get a customized mechanic's uniform?"

Jane laughed heartily. "Well, I hope it doesn't spoil the illusion too much, but it's actually a plumber's uniform. My dad's a plumber, and we all worked for him in high school."

"Family business? That's sweet."

"Eh, it was more about getting away with paying us under minimum wage," Jane said, though she was smiling. "My brothers took up other jobs as soon as they could, but I loved getting to work with my Pop. If I hadn't always wanted to be a cop, heck, who knows? Maybe it'd be Rizzoli & Daughter Plumbing Company! He'd have probably liked that, too. Anyway I haven't worn the uniform in years, but I just never got around to getting rid of it." She flipped the sandwiches and offered Maura a mischievous grin. "I'm glad to know it could go on to have a second life and bring enjoyment to somebody else."

Maura smiled back, but she couldn't help feeling a little weird about desecrating an item that held significant memories of Jane working with her father. But Jane didn't seem to be uncomfortable, so she supposed she oughtn't to either. Still, she was grateful when the conversation turned back to sandwiches.

"Now of course, the best way to enjoy a grilled cheese is with tomato soup," Jane said. "So uh, I'll be sure to bring a can of Campbells next time. I don't suppose you have any milk, do you? Drinking that with 'em would be the next best thing."

"How wholesome. I have skim, is that all right?"

Normally Jane's response would be to say that skim milk was basically white-colored water, but rather than risk offending Maura's taste, she said it would be perfect. As Maura poured the glasses, Jane asked, "So what's your dad like? Probably not a plumber, eh?" She remembered Maura had been a bit sour when it came to her mother, and hoped maybe the old man would come through.

But Maura sounded a mite tense when she said, "Oh, he's a very brilliant man. Historian, history professor. He taught me the value of hard work and study—taught by example, I mean. He's always been very invested in his work and his students." Before Jane could inquire further, Maura asked, "Are those done? They look really good."

"Hm? Oh yeah. I'd say I hope they taste as good as they look, but I know they will," she said, sliding the sandwiches onto plates and handing one to Maura. Confidence notwithstanding, it was still a tremendous relief to see Maura enjoy it. "I can't believe you've never had a grilled cheese," she said. "Like, what even was your childhood?"

"Clearly lacking if I didn't have these," Maura said. "Oh, my goodness."

"Sorry it's not the uh, healthiest choice for a late-night snack."

Maura just laughed. "Despite what your mother may have told you about my eating habits at the café, I'm not averse to indulging now and then."

Affecting her mother's voice, Jane said, "'Oh, Dr. Isles is such a lady, she eats like a bird!' What is that supposed to mean, anyway? I eat like a bird, too," she said, taking a massive bite of her sandwich and adding under her breath, "Like a friggin' cassowary."

Maura choked laughing in the middle of a sip of milk, and it got worse when some of it leaked out her nose. "Oh, it burns!" she gasped through her laughter, her voice hoarse as Jane guffawed. "Aaah, oh my God! I cannot believe that just happened. Wow."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. It was hard to imagine ending a night of intimacy with anyone else by having sandwiches and milk, but she felt that if she did, it would've been horribly embarrassing to have allowed said beverage to spill out of her nostrils. But with Jane, she didn't feel at all self-conscious. It was stupid and hilarious, not stupid and humiliating. Sure, Jane was laughing so hard she could barely breathe, but years of experience had helped Maura discern that she was laughed with, not at.

"Oh man!" Jane crowed. "I can't wait to tell TJ that I made Dr. Isles laugh so hard, milk came out of her nose."

There was a line to the hilarity, though. "Oh, please no!" Maura said, getting up for another napkin and a glass of water. "I don't need this spread around, thanks."

"Aw, c'mon! I'll swear him to secrecy. Trust me, nothing would make you cooler in the eyes of a seven-year-old boy than to know you squirted milk out your nose."

"Nothing, hm?"

"Yeah, unless you were also secretly a Transformer or something."

"An electrical device that transfers electric energy between two or more circuits through electromagnetic induction?" Maura asked, sounding confused.

"What? No. A Transformer like a robot in disguise!" she said, adopting a robotic tone. "You'd tell me if you were a robot, right?"

Maura pretended to think about it as she sat back down. "I don't think I would, no." They laughed a little over that, and Maura took another bite of the sandwich. "Mm. This must've been really nice comfort food when you were sick as a kid."

"Oh, sure. Now you've got me really curious about your childhood, though. What was it like?"

Maura shrugged as she chewed. She really didn't feel like getting into a conversation about her lonely childhood at this moment. "Different from yours," she surmised, hoping she didn't sound rude or bitter.

"Yeah, I gathered that," Jane said, grinning. "For example, given the Transformers reference that went over your head, I'm guessing you didn't get up early to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings."

"Goodness, no," Maura laughed. "Is that what you did?"

"Of course! Saturdays were the best. We'd get up at like six, eat bowls of sugary cereal, and watch hours of cartoons. And then we'd spend the day at the arcade. Ever been to an arcade?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Dang, woman. You're missing out." Jane made a show of sizing her up over a sip of milk. "Okay, let me try to guess. You were probably into a ton of extra-curriculars, yeah? And when you were a kid, I'm gonna go with… ballet."

"Not bad! I did do ballet—through high school, in fact. I've always enjoyed dancing, all kinds. What about you?"

"Eh, not really my scene."

"Oh, that's too bad."

The way Maura said it made Jane want to enroll in a class immediately—for salsa, ballroom, breakdancing, whatever. And then she got an idea.

When she picked up Maura for a date that Thursday, she insisted on keeping their destination a surprise. This was not met with the excited anticipation she had hoped for: "Please, Jane, I don't like surprises."

"What? Aw, c'mon. It's not like the surprise is that a guy in a gorilla costume is gonna jump out at you in the middle of dinner, or something, if that's what you're worried about. Not that that ever happened to me."

"I just like to be prepared, that's all. I'm dressed all right, aren't I?"

"Yeah, of course. And how much preparation could you even get in in like, the five minutes it's gonna take us to get there?"

"Just give me a hint at least, please."

Jane shot her a little teasing grin. "Hey, you said you liked dancing, right?"

"Are we going dancing?" It was too late for dinner; when Jane texted her, she thought she might want to get dessert somewhere.

"Something like that."

It threw Maura off when Jane pulled into the parking lot of a bowling alley and they walked inside. She was trying to figure out whether one could compare the desperate flailing of some bowlers to a sloppy pirouette when she realized Jane had stopped to instead face the extensive maze of arcade games inside the alley.

"You brought me to play video games?"

Jane's emerging detective skills apparently still needed some sharpening, because she was having trouble reading Maura's tone. Her expression did indeed relay surprise, but not necessarily the happy kind.

The arcade was filled with middle-school students and teenagers, a couple of whom were shooting quizzical looks at the women who'd shown up without being dragged there by children. Maura considered herself a fairly cool and collected person, one who could look back on embarrassing moments from her youth and laugh, but damned if adolescents didn't still make her feel horribly judged all over again. It was an irrational concern, she knew, but as Jane led the way through the arcade, Maura could feel herself wanting to disappear. Maybe it was because teenagers often lacked the social grace to mask their emotions, which led to no restraint on the judgment Maura could usually rise above. Or maybe it was just the reminder of a time in her life she was glad to have passed.

These kids probably just think I'm someone's mom, she thought, barely suppressing an eye roll.

Then they stopped, and Maura did a double take. "What am I—what kind of video game is this?" she asked.

"Dance Dance Revolution!" Jane said, gesturing towards the machine as if it were a pair of Jimmy Choos she had just found at a bargain price.

She was glad to at least finally see Maura laugh, even if it was one of disbelief. "A dancing game?"

"Yeah! It was all the rage when it came out a few years back, but I guess the novelty's kinda worn off at this point. Wii kinda took its place, too."

"You and who else? And…how?"

"What?"

"'We' took its place?"

"No, like the Nintendo Wii," Jane said. "A gaming console? It's … never mind. Wanna give it a go?"

She was clearly excited by the prospect, but Maura remained reserved. "I don't know," she said, drawing out each syllable. It didn't seem all that dignified, but even if she'd been willing to overlook that, there was the fact that she'd very likely end up humiliating herself in public.

Guessing the reason for Maura's hesitancy, Jane said, "You're not worried it's gonna be too hard for you, are ya? How many degrees are hanging in your office?"

"Don't conflate medical and educational intelligence with the kind of hand-eye coordination required for video games," Maura said, not cracking a smile.

"Eh, more like foot-eye coordination in this case," Jane said. "C'mon, just one go? Or we could play a shoot-em-up game instead."

Maura glanced at some of the other consoles in the arcade, where kids were waving brightly-colored plastic guns. "Are we even allowed in here without accompanying a child?"

"It's attached to the bowling alley, so no, they don't care," Jane said with a shrug. "Besides, the workers here know me and they trust me, therefore they trust anyone I'd bring with me. It's all good." When Maura still looked hestitant, Jane said, "What do I gotta do to get ya to at least try it? Name your price."

She leaned closer for the sake of propriety, having made the offer with the expectation that Maura would ask for some kind of sexual favor.

Instead, Maura whispered in a seductive tone, "I want to take you clothes shopping."

She assumed gnashing of teeth or a groan at the very least, but instead Jane just shook her hand with a firm grip and said, "You drive a hard bargain, Dr. Isles, but you've got yourself a deal." She gave Maura a peck on the nose before the woman could process quite what had happened, and went to get some tokens. On her return, Jane saw that Maura was still eying the machine with some trepidation. "Would it make you feel better if you saw some people play it first, to give you an idea of how it's done?"

Maura laughed weakly. "I'm sure if we do that, I'm going to end up not wanting to play at all."

"All right, then!" Jane said brightly, hopping onto the platform and extending her hand towards Maura. "May I have this dance, milady?"

Maura stepped up and Jane gave her a brief explanation of the rules. "Do we have to oppose each other, or can we play together?" Maura asked.

"We can play as a team, yeah," Jane said. "Not that you'd have to worry about me kicking your butt or anything—I'm no expert."

But it quickly seemed that, compared to Maura, that's exactly what she was. After causing two game-overs in a row, Maura noticed some people had gathered to watch them. "Um, Jane? Really, I feel foolish. Can we just—"

"Naw, come on!" Jane said, scrolling through their options to pick another song. "Just one more!" She leaned in to whisper, "One more, and we can add lingerie to that shopping trip, whaddya say?"

At best she'd hoped for a 180 in enthusiasm; she expected at least a grudgingly excited eyeroll. What she got instead was a very morose look before Maura stepped off the platform and walked out of the arcade, back towards the bowling area. Dumbfounded, Jane followed her. "Hey, what's up? Are you okay?"

"I—I won't be if you keep pushing me like that!"

"Pushing you? What, you mean with the DDR? We were just having fun!"

"No, you were having fun. And that's fine, I don't want to begrudge you that, but bring TJ or one of your brothers here for that. I don't like making a spectacle of myself doing something silly like that when I don't even know what it is I'm doing, and that's on top of the smell and all the flashing lights and the obnoxious noises each of these damn games makes so loud—and furthermore, I really don't appreciate how you brushed away my concerns as if they were trivial!"

Jane was completely caught off guard by the emotion behind the small tirade, but tried to mask it. "I—wow, I'm sorry, Maura. I didn't realize I was making you that uncomfortable. I got carried away."

Maura bit back her initial reaction, which was to balk. How could anyone, especially an aspiring detective, have missed the clear signs of her discomfort? But Jane's apologetic tone threw her off. Judging by a couple of interactions she'd observed between Jane and her mother or Stanley, Maura had noticed Jane had a tendency to get over-defensive when she perceived she was being unfairly called out for something. Maura had thus expected caginess, but instead Jane sounded sincere in her penitence. At the very least, Maura had anticipated some sarcasm—not just because that was an attitude Jane seemed to favor, but because that was the tone which often accompanied her dates' remarks when she called them out for disregarding her comfort.

(Dennis taunting her for not wanting to go tagging.)

(Eliza snidely asking what objections she could possibly have to attending an ABC party.)

(Garrett insisting that she dance with his brothers at a family wedding to get to know them better, even when Adam's hands wandered.)

"I didn't mean to put you on the spot," Jane said, feeling embarrassed to have brought her here now. "I mean, I know it's kind of a silly thing, but that's part of the fun of it. I dunno, maybe I'm too used to making an ass of myself in public."

Maura sighed, all traces of righteous indignation diffused by Jane's softness. "Well," she said, "it is a very nice ass, after all."

Jane snorted, pleasantly surprised. A joke would indicate Maura was lightening up a bit. Maybe she could press her luck…

She stepped a little closer, taking gentle hold of Maura's fingers and then interlocking them with her own. "Hey, um. I talked to Korsak about Crowe."

"You did?"

"Yeah. I figured you were right about his attitude. I guess I don't like people to think I'm too sensitive, like whatever, he can't get to me. But then you were saying how this wasn't just about me, it was bigger than me. And you hear all the time about cops who are quick to make assumptions, or even quick to shoot because of these deep-seated prejudices they have, and …if Crowe thinks he can call me a dyke around the precinct, yeah, that means he's probably not gonna be super sympathetic to any lesbians—"

"—or bisexuals."

"—or bisexuals," Jane conceded, "or other queer women who come to him for help. I mean, I'm not sure what real good a sensitivity training course can do, but if my speaking up can potentially help someone else, then it'd be selfish and stupid not to."

Maura stood on her toes and gave Jane a short kiss. "I'm glad, and I'm proud of you."

She moved to pull away, but Jane used her hold on Maura's hand to keep her close. "Now I know they aren't totally comparable, and you can punch me any time and that'll be the end of it, I promise—but. See, I would've been too nervous and too self-conscious to report Crowe if you hadn't encouraged me to. And now I'm really glad I did. And I realize you're nervous and self-conscious about doing a dancing game in an arcade—but if you really commit to letting yourself go, and embrace looking like a weirdo and knowing I'll be being a fool right next to you, you might have fun." Maura was beginning to look agitated again, hastening Jane to add, "if not, we can totally just leave," with her friendly smile in place to let Maura know all really would be well.

"All right," Maura finally said. "I'll do one more dance—or game, or whatever—with you."

But now that Maura had had the time to relax, one round was not sufficient; she found herself having fun. It occurred to her that she usually didn't laugh this much in public unless she was at least a little buzzed, but Jane was too funny. While Maura initially focused on just hitting the squares where and when she needed to, Jane exaggerated each move with gusto, and Maura soon followed her lead.

The main reason they stopped was because some other people had started hovering nearby to use the machine. Both exhilarated and a little sweaty, they meandered by some of the other arcade games.

"You were right, that was entertaining in a strange way," Maura laughed. "I mean, I felt like a complete idiot and would rather try some version I could play at home, but that was fun."

"I'm glad!" Jane said. She gave Maura a teasing nudge. "And I'm proud of you. Hey, you know what else I bet you never did in high school? Take down squads of zombies with a plastic blue rifle."

"I've never taken down any zombies at any time of my life with any sort of weapon."

"What would you use?"

"A bulldozer, of course. Zombies can't move very fast."

"Clever! But don't you have to shoot them in the head to make sure they're really dead?"

Maura shrugged. "I would bulldoze them off a tall enough precipice to ensure that they sustained the brain damage required to take them out of commission."

"Fair enough," Jane chuckled. "Whaddya say, wanna give the guns a go anyway?"

Maura thoughtfully considered the console Jane had stopped by (thinking it looked far too gory and frightening to belong in an establishment which catered to children). "I have a counter-offer."

"Shoot," Jane joked, clicking the plastic trigger.

Noting some teenage boys lurking nearby, Maura lowered her voice. "I'm happy to help you annihilate zombies if you'd prefer. But after the high given to me by several rounds of fake dancing, I'd like to capitalize on it by doing something which television tells me a lot of teenagers do, but I never got the opportunity for."

Jane's head was reeling with the options. "What's that?"

Maura lowered her voice even more, stepping closer. "Did you ever have sex in a car when you were in high school?"

Jane could feel her face burning. "You're that worked up, huh?" she asked. Maura bit her lip and nodded. "And if I said I'd prefer to just shoot zombies, you could just like, shut it down and be fine?"

Maura hadn't expected that response, but she didn't want to push Jane. "To be entirely honest—which you know I always am—I would ask to be excused to take care of it myself. Probably in the security of your car."

Jane cleared her throat. "Ok, I've got a counter-counter offer."

"Let's hear it."

If she'd wanted to, Jane could've gotten into details: she'd tried sex in a car with her first serious girlfriend when she was nineteen, and it had been horribly awkward. She'd felt too tall, and everything—the doors, the steering wheel, the emergency brake—had been way too close. She'd felt too cramped to really let herself get aroused. It was kind of funny now, but at the time, it had been a major turn-off and low-key humiliating. She didn't want to risk anything like that when she was still getting to know Maura.

"Can I just watch?"

Maura's eyebrows rose, and by way of response, she took Jane's hand and led her back to the car.

"What're you doing?" Maura asked when Jane started to drive.

"There's a street just a couple blocks down that doesn't have any lights on it."

"What's it matter? It's dark outside and your windows are tinted."

"I know, but not the windshield! It's just a peace of mind thing. Can you hold off for like thirty seconds?"

Apparently not. Jane had sped through a yellow light, made a quick turn onto a dark street, and parked and shut off the car in record time to see that Maura had already started. She'd have thought Maura might've wanted to at least recline the seat a bit, but nope. There she was, eyes closed, lips parted, one hand clenching the seat while the other set a frantic pace beneath her jeans.

Jane was stunned, in part because she herself usually needed some kind of stimulation, mental or physical, to really get herself going.

"How d'you do that?" she murmured in awe, her voice rasping with the whisper. "What gets you off so fast?"

A small moan slipped out before Maura gasped, "That."

"What?"

"That. Your voice, telling me you want to watch me." She shifted and her last word slid into another soft gasp. "Mm—oh, God. There's never been a voice that could get me off like that."

Jane undid her seatbelt with such rapidity that the buckle almost clocked her in the face. "Holy hell," she groaned, unbuckling her jeans next. "I think this must be some kinda personal best for me. Shit."

It really had been her intention to just watch and listen, but she hadn't anticipated how it would feel to hear Maura touching herself while also moaning over something as simple as Jane's voice.

"Jane, I'm so close—please, don't stop talking."

Jane didn't waste time wishing she could come up with something unique or seductive; she could tell by the desperation in Maura's voice that any words would do. "Dammit, you are so hot," she grunted. "You're so hot, Maura, and this is so hot." She groaned and lifted herself up slightly from the seat to give herself a better angle, and that sent Maura over the edge—somewhat loudly. "Jesus, Maura!" she laughed. "The windows are tinted, but the car's not sound proof!"

"I know, I'm sorry," Maura gasped. "Mmph, but I could go again. You better make sure to keep me quiet—"

Jane reached over the console and curled one hand around Maura's neck to bring her in for a kiss. Her other hand nudged Maura's out of her pants to help. Maura broke off the kiss, fully intending to tease Jane about just wanting to watch—but when Jane began sucking on her neck, the only sound that came from Maura's parted lips was a long gasp.

"Has anyone's voice ever had that kind of effect on you?"

Jane was driving Maura home, silently thanking every deity she could think of for giving her the voice this woman found so irresistible. "What kind of effect, exactly?" she joked.

"Far-reaching, I suppose. It's a voice that can get you to do things you normally wouldn't—like a dancing video game in a public place—and can also flood your panties in seconds."

"Geez, doc!" Jane laughed. "You have got to be the most blunt person I know. Not that I'm complaining."

"You're evading. Does that mean I need to be jealous?"

"Nah, nah," Jane said, glancing over and seeing Maura's smile. "I mean, I guess that's never really been a thing for me."

"It's usually not for me, either. You're very unique. You could probably get me off just by reading a phone book."

Jane's grip tightened on the steering wheel, as if that would somehow help relieve the throbbing between her legs. Distract yourself. "Oh, wait. I gotta couple voices in mind."

"Who?"

"James Coburn and Lee Marvin."

"What?" Maura snickered. "Are you kidding?"

"I'm totally serious! Those guys have the sexiest voices, I swear to God."

"But they're so macho," Maura said, her tone indicating that was the most odious thing a person could aspire to be. "And don't they look like squinty old pieces of leather someone left out in the sun?"

"I wouldn't have expected such a shallow comment from you!" Jane laughed. "And besides, you said voices, not appearances. Although for the record, I definitely think they were ruggedly handsome. At least, that's what I told my parents before I was out. My dad loved watching those old westerns and war movies with us, and I have this really distinct memory of being like twelve and watching The Dirty Dozen and seeing all these awesome legit tough guys, like Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson and oh, Jim Brown, and …I thought they were all total studs, y'know? But in this weird way, it wasn't like I was attracted to them, but like I wanted to be them. Not be a man, but like have their energy. I thought that was so sexy."

Maura's only real recollection of any of these men came from a paper she'd written for an elective film class in college ("A Not-So-Secret Death Wish: Reinforcing the Heroism of White Male Vigilante Justice").

"Yeah, I'd go straight for them," Jane added jokingly. "Is that weird, though? Is it like …bad, or anti-feminist or something that those are the kind of guys I'd find sexy?"

"I wouldn't put too much stock in celebrity fantasies," Maura said. "Although I do find it interesting that what attracts you to them is what turns me off about them. And yet some of those qualities are what I find so attractive in you."

"It's because I'm safe."

"What?"

"That's how my first girlfriend put it," Jane explained, turning onto Maura's street. "She said that sometimes I had like a masculine energy that she was really attracted to, but that it didn't come with the risk of what a guy with an attitude like that might do if you ever pissed him off. Which isn't to say women can't get scary or abusive," Jane was quick to add, "but do you know what I mean?"

They were now stopped outside of Maura's house. "Yes, I get what you mean."

"Do you feel safe with me?"

Maura considered Jane's face, where all lines pointed to seriousness. Her impulse, then, was to give an affirmative answer, but after another moment's thought she wondered whether that was only her reaction because Jane—albeit with no malicious intent—wanted to hear it. Feeling safe required trust, and although Maura trusted Jane quite a lot for having only known her a short time …it was an answer she didn't want to give lightly.

She took Jane's face in her hand, as if appraising her. "You don't frighten me in the least," she said. "You make me feel happy when I'm around you." She leaned in for a short kiss. "And sometimes you make me happy even when I'm not around you." When Jane groaned, Maura chuckled and said, "I didn't mean that in a dirty way."

"Oh. Well that's sweet, then."

"Of course, that isn't to say it wouldn't also be true in a dirty way…"

Jane kissed her again and pulled back, wearing a smile that was anything but innocent. "Tell you what. When I get home, I'm gonna call and leave you a real nice voicemail to listen to. So don't pick up, okay?"

When Maura checked her messages before going to bed, it was to hear a very long one Jane had left her—reading the first page of the phone book her apartment manager gave all the new tenants, which she'd never bothered to open until tonight.