Disclaimer: All recognizable Rizzoli & Isles characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners including, but not limited to Janet Tamaro, TNT or Tess Gerritsen. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fan fiction story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No financial gain is associated with the publishing of this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: I've decided to do something that I haven't done before—as series of sorts. I'm calling this series "Senses." The first part, "Scent" can be found in the list of my stories. Start there, though each of these pieces can easily stand-alone. Enjoy! –dkc

Touch

The touch of Maura's lips to her blushing cheek had been on her mind throughout the week. The touch of those lips was the stuff of fantasy. Jane had never imagined she would know the feel of them on her skin in such a sensual manner.

She became obsessed with the thought of returning the touch. Whether it was something as similar as kissing Maura's own cheek or even the simpler act of taking her hand, her mind clung to the thought.

Her mind had allowed a slight reprieve as the elevator delivered her to the morgue, a hunt for autopsy results at hand.

"Maur, tell me you've got something," Jane began speaking before even entering the doctor's semi-private office.

Standing near her desk was the medical examiner as she flipped her hair side to side scrunching it with her hand. Jane had seen her do this hundreds of times after taking her hair out of a ponytail. This time it stopped her in her tracks. She now couldn't avoid the thought of running her fingers through the blonde highlights.

"Hi, Jane," Maura caught the look on her friends face and smiled inwardly. She liked doing this to Jane or, more precisely, knowing she had the power to do so.

"Umm..." she couldn't get the words out.

"Here's the report," Maura chuckled softly, holding out the folder to the dumbfounded detective.

When Jane reached for the folder she found her hand covering that of the doctor rather than the rough surface of the folder. Neither woman moved nor could they take a deep breath. Their eyes stayed on one another, only blinking when Maura's index finger slipped around Jane's pinky.

Of course they would be interrupted. The criminalists in the department were very good at that.

"Thank you for the report, Dr. Isles," Jane smiled and turned for the door and then stopped suddenly. "Oh, Maura? Don't forget we're getting together for TJ's birthday tonight. Ma made reservations. 7 o'clock. Would you like a ride?"

The thought of sharing a car with Jane usually gave her no pause, but at this moment it made her heart flutter.

"Pick me up at my house?" she asked.

The cop nodded before leaving the office. That had been an unexpected moment.

Damn the interruptions! she thought.

The restaurant they had chosen for the big family gathering to celebrate TJ's birthday was an expansive space designed to entertain both large and small parties. They had been seated up a half flight from other diners in a large room with a beautiful view of the harbor.

Crowded around the table and around the birthday boy himself were Tommy and Lydia, Vince and Frost, Angela, Frankie, Jane and Maura. While Lydia was still becoming accustomed to the Rizzoli family dynamics, Maura had finally started to relax around them.

Laughing flowed freely as did a variety of drinks, with Tommy's blessing.

Jane and Maura were seated next to each other, casually leaning in to share an inside joke or to listen closer to what one or the other had said.

Since the Rockmond incident, Jane hadn't been shy to express her worry over the doctor. She had stayed with her friend many a night when the M.E. was still easily startled. Jane had become even more prone to panic if she didn't know where Maura was or couldn't reach her. She had also become less hesitant to display her affection for the woman.

For Maura's part, she could sense that something had changed in Jane's approach. The detective was less fidgety when Maura looked at her for too long. She noticed Jane initiating touch often, more than ever before. And after the ordeal, Jane had told her she loved her, even if she didn't elaborate on what exactly that love entailed.

Taking a sip of her Chardonnay, Maura glanced beside her at Jane and found the cop's eyes unexpectedly drawn to her own legs. Without Jane noticing her glance, she looked down to see that dark brown eyes had spotted a few inches of bare thigh where her tight, red dress that ridden up. She felt the warmth building there and spreading throughout her body at the knowledge of what Jane was admiring. She glanced back up and found they'd caught one another.

Jane's cheeks reddened at having been caught, though she hadn't immediately looked away. A not too subtle swig of her beer followed and she refocused her attention on the conversation Tommy seemed to be leading. She knew the doctor's eyes were still on her.

Dessert had been finished, the family louder with the consumption of alcohol, when Jane finally felt she could glance again at Maura's legs without being spotted.

Dr. Isles had stunning legs. While she knew many of her male colleagues made lewd comments about the doctor when they thought Jane was far out of earshot and she understood those comments to be focusing on Maura's breasts, she personally found these spectacular legs her friend's best asset.

They were perpetually smooth, gleaming with a touch of lotion. The toned muscles were shaped with perfection. From hip to toe they were a long highway of beauty and illicit femininity. Oft complimented by heels that made calf muscles exquisite and her backside firm, Maura's legs were a true masterpiece.

Where the red dress had ridden up was several tantalizing inches of thighs, the place where the two met not much higher. She couldn't tear her eyes away.

She had to touch. She could no longer wait and wonder.

Her eyes followed her right hand as she first allowed the back of her hand to graze the outer thigh nearest her. She felt Maura's body react to the touch and listened carefully to hear the doctor's breathing. Even in the loud space she was tuned in to Maura.

It was when she turned her hand to allow her palm to touch the top of that thigh and from knee to the edge of red fabric that she got a true indication of how Maura felt about this unexpected development.

Her thighs parted. It was subtle. At first only releasing the tension she held between them at the startling touch and then far less so when an inch of space began at her knees and rose to meet red.

It was then that Jane looked up to meet hazel eyes. She saw consent and captivated curiosity.

The tips of her fingers dipped into the space between thighs, finding there warmth that immediately made her heart race. Her thumb grazed along one thigh as her fingertips ran the inner length from dress seam to knee.

She found warmth meeting each touch, the usual scents that were uniquely Maura—perfume, shampoo, fabric softener—and tantalizing to the detective, the sound of her own heart thrumming in her ears and the taste of beer on her tongue

Jane's attention returned to the conversation around the table, her fingers trailing across goose-bumped skin and back to her cold beer. She joined an argument Tommy and Frankie were having, gesticulating with the very hand that had essentially groped her best friend. The thought was terrifying and strangely gratifying.

Her brief glances at Maura didn't betray the surge of feelings within her. When the doctor smiled at her as she told the story of how Tommy had first asked a girl out, she did everything in her power to not lose her train of thought or become a stammering fool.

As the night wound down, she worried about the moment rapidly approaching when she and Maura would inevitably be alone. It was this thought that clouded her mind when they all stood to leave the restaurant.

She had been the last to leave the table and found herself almost dizzy. Pausing on the half flight of stairs down to the main dining area, she took a seat on the steps for a private moment that might allow her to get her mind around why she had felt so compelled to reach out and touch Maura's bare skin.

Who was this Jane? She had never been the one to initiate physical contact of any kind until Dr. Isles had walked into her life. And here she had not only initiated the touch, she had chosen something intimate, sensual and emotionally startling.

"Jane?" she heard that familiar voice that made her heart beat faster. She looked up to see Maura had fallen behind the group and stepped up two stairs to find out why her friend had stopped following.

Looking up, she couldn't prevent herself from taking in every last breathtaking curve of the doctor's body in that mind-blowing dress.

Maura watched Jane's eyes as they wandered her body. Those dark eyes roaming her head to toe caused an undeniable heat.

"Come on," she held out a hand for Jane to take.

Standing and finding her inner balance, she reached for that gentle hand. Maura had the ability to ground Jane unlike any other person, place or thing.

Making their way through a small obstacle course of tables and half walls to the restaurant's exit, Jane had not let go of the M.E.'s hand.

There were few things that felt as right to Jane as holding Maura's hand.

"Janie, there you are," came Angela's voice when they hit fresh air and the sounds of the city. "Make sure you get a cab if you need one."

When Maura's hand attempted to pull away as Angela approached, Jane held tighter. This earned her a raised eyebrow from the doctor.

"I haven't had too much to drink, Ma," she shook her head.

"Well, if you think so. You are a bit flushed," her mom replied. "Maura, honey, do you want to ride back to your house with me? I know your car is at home."

When Maura began to respond Jane cut her off.

"Nah, Ma, she's going to ride back to my apartment with me," Jane said to yet another intrigued look for Maura.

"I wish you'd get her to paint her place, Maura. It's so bland," Angela was digging through her purse for her keys, apparently uninterested in her two girls holding hands and going home with one another.

Was it such an unbelievable idea that there might be something more to it than two best friends going home on a Friday night?

"Ma..." Jane whined, rolling her eyes.

"Goodnight, Angela," Maura smiled.

"Goodnight, girls!"

They stood watching until the matriarch had reached her car and was safely inside. Once she started to pull out of her parking space they walked toward Jane's car.

"Thank you," Maura nodded as she climbed in through the door Jane had opened for her.

Once both women were inside the car and buckled in, Jane paused before starting the car, her hand holding the keys in the ignition was trembling while she stared ahead through the windshield.

"Do you want to talk about it? What happened in there, I mean," Jane's voice was low and timid.

Maura's finger unconsciously began tracing the hem of her dress, the hem that was closer to her knees now than it had been while they were in the restaurant.

"That it took my breath away?" Maura looked over at Jane. "And yet that in some inexplicable way it felt as if you had touched me like that a million times before?"

Jane didn't speak.

When the dark-eyed woman had still not made eye contact, Maura reached out and touched light-olive skin. She loved how Jane's skin darkened in the summertime to this perfect tone. The touch brought with it the closing of Jane's eyes. Maura grazed that cheek with the back of her hand. She received a response by way of Jane's hand covering her own, tangling their fingers and holding tight as her breath released.

"Let's go, Jane," Maura whispered, hardly wanting the moment to end yet not wanting to sit in the car all night.

…

Walking into Jane's kitchen, Maura went straight to the fridge where she pulled out a beer for each of them.

Returning to where Jane was removing her uncharacteristic heels, the doctor handed over a bottle before twisting off the cap of her own, taking a drink and reaching down to gently pull of her heels one foot at a time. Jane stopped mid-drink and stared. Her eyes took in every bit of a perfect body accentuated by a figure-hugging red dress.

"What?" Maura asked as she caught Jane's wide eyes.

"You have no idea, do you?" Jane said with wonder.

"Jane..." she shook her head.

The detective smiled, her beer back to her mouth for a moment.

"You once called me gorgeous, remember? And yet you know how men look at you without truly believing how gorgeous you yourself are. You have no idea how beautiful you are."

She said nothing else. While Maura was still getting her mind around Jane's words, the woman had retreated to her bedroom. Once Maura had recovered, she placed her beer on the island and went after her.

"Jane," she said as she walked around the corner into the woman's bedroom. "Oh."

She found Jane facing her, the black button down shirt completely open as she was undoing the cuffs to remove it. No undershirt beneath. The only thing but skin to be seen was the black satin of her bra.

"I..." Jane paused, but did nothing to cover herself.

Taking a few steps toward her, Maura held to those dark brown eyes. Her hands rose from her own sides as she reached out to touch the bare skin of Jane's sides, lightly brushing the black shirt against the backs of her hands. Jane sucked in air at the touch, her eyes closing briefly.

When Jane's eyes opened she was met with loving hazel. The light coming in from the hallway made the darkness of Jane's eyes pop. She reached down, taking Maura's hands and wrapping them behind the small of her back. They were now standing nearly nose-to-nose, their hearts thumping and the pattern of the intake of breath revealing how this was affecting them both.

"This feels awfully natural," Maura whispered.

"Yeah, it does."

…

When Friday night arrived, both Jane and Maura needed the relaxation that came with pizza, alcohol and a movie on Maura's couch. The pleasure of being in one another's company prevented Jane from even complaining about the documentary the doctor had chosen.

They had spent countless hours on Maura's couch and yet this time it felt a bit like the ground had shifted under their feet. The way Jane had touched Maura at TJ's birthday celebration remained at the forefront of both their minds.

Jane was reminded of the rush of it all when Maura decided to lie down on the couch, her head resting on Jane's thigh. In prior situations like this one, it would have gone unnoticed as a platonic action. Or at least both women would have tried to explain it away as a strictly platonic action if it had caught their attention at all. Not tonight.

Her focus came in and out, her attention occasionally drawn away by Maura's closeness, but Jane would never complain. She would miss the most fascinating of movies if it meant having her best friend use her body like this.

However, any focus she had remaining was ripped away when Maura reached to the coffee table for her glass of wine and the back of her shirt rode up revealing an intoxicating sliver of skin.

Jane's hand that had been resting on the back of the couch twitched. She was glad Maura was on her side with her back to her so she couldn't see the battle being waged. Jane's self-control was losing.

When she could no longer think of anything but touching the strip of skin between Maura's sweats and t-shirt, she allowed herself the small indulgence of putting her hand on Maura's hip.

She was met with no complaint, which she used as a confidence builder.

After a few deep breaths, she slipped her fingers on to bare skin that she then brushed with delicate strokes. It wasn't long before those strokes were testing the very boundaries created by the shirt. She ran her hand higher, slipping beneath the fabric and eventually all the way up between shoulder blades and back down again. No obstructions existed due to undergarments and this seemed to only increase her need to feel every inch of skin.

At the running of a finger down the column of her spine, Maura's back arched. She had been trying desperately to control her body's response to Jane's touch. She had failed.

Noting the arching of Maura's back, the shallow nature of her breathing and the way she had moved toward Jane rather than away from her, the detective saw this as an opening. Maura's upturned side was grazed with a touch of provocation. Carefully tracing the area from hip to the spot just beneath the doctor's underarm, Jane's brave fingers came back down in a path closer to the side of Maura's breast.

Maura sighed. It was a heavy sigh, bordering on a moan. It wasn't a displeased sigh, which settled Jane's worry of whether she'd gone too far. It all made the cop's heart rate erratic, regardless. And then she was nearly unable to catch her breath.

Maura turned over onto her back.

Jane's hand, previously on an exposed hip, rolled with her friend and was now gently resting on Maura's lower abdomen. A patch of skin was revealed there as well.

Jane's eyes darted between where her hand rest and the doctor's dark eyes. Rather than capitulate to her fears, she began tracing a path back and forth from hip to hip where the skin was uncovered. She attempted to tear her eyes away and at least look at the TV, but it was futile.

Her futile attempt was ended completely by one single movement. Maura grasped Jane's wrist and pressed it under the bottom of the t-shirt before dropping her own hand back to the couch. She nodded with her eyes.

Jane didn't hesitate.

The exploration that had begun on Maura's back continued on her stomach. She traced patterns all over firm abs. She hadn't really thought about Maura's core strength until now. Her abdomen was proof of the M.E.'s devotion to yoga.

Lithe fingers began tracing the space just beneath the swell of perfect breasts. Dipping slightly into the space between the obstructions.

She could feel Maura's heart race beneath her fingertips.

"Oh..." hummed the woman whose right breast was now being kneaded.

Jane couldn't stop herself. She was now in deep with no way out but through. At least that's how she saw it. It was far too enjoyable to stop here.

It was what she did after giving equal attention to the left breast that sent things further off the rails and to a screeching halt.

With the very tip of her fingernail, her moderately sculpted nail doing the real work, Jane traced first the areole and then the hardened nipple. One then the other.

Maura's eyes were now closed and she was doing everything she could to not moan or writhe at Jane's touch. However, she lost the ability to control her reaction when Jane grasped the already sensitive nipple between thumb and index finger and pinched.

Maura's hips lifted off the couch and the sound that came from her mouth was enough to pull Jane from the trance she seemed to be under.

The woman who had instigated this was now very much aware of how far she had gone. She retracted her hand and nearly dumped Maura off the couch as she stood up.

"We don't... God, I shouldn't have..." Jane had risen from their entanglement and was throwing her shoes on as best she could in her rattled state.

It seemed as if everything, all of the touching of late, had set in and she was in a full-blown panic. After quickly gathering her things, Jane was out the front door before Maura could do anything but wonder what had happened.

She had let Jane lead the way for fear of this very thing. She knew Jane well enough to know that her friend had to be in control.

Once her breathing had calmed and her libido had cooled, Maura stood from the couch, retrieved a glass of water and sat at the kitchen island replaying tonight's events moment for moment.

Fuck.

-finis-