Jane met her eyes, her surprise written clearly over her face. “Do you trust me?” Maura asked as she threw both the pads and the fist guards onto the sofa.

Jane nodded slowly.

“Good! Come on!” she grabbed Jane’s hand and pulled her towards the door and into the hallway before Jane had a chance to register the movement. By the time Jane had regained enough of her composure, she was standing in the warm evening air.

“Maur….”

“Don’t think, just move.” Maura told her, “I want a Frappuccino.” She strode off down the street.

“But Maur…” the tremble in Jane’s voice made Maura pause and turn.

“I’ll race you!” Maura called back. “You know you can’t beat me.”

She waited, watching the detective. She knew she’d taken a risk with getting Jane out the house in this way but the adrenaline and other hormones released during their workout would compensate to this point. Now it was crunch time. Appealing to Jane’s competitive nature was her last resort.

Jane paused, her body thrummed with adrenaline both from her workout and the situation she found herself in. She heard her own voice making mild protests before Maura’s words hit home. ‘You know you can’t beat me.’

Grinning, she took off after the doctor who seemed to realise almost too late that Jane was charging her down before turning, a huge grin bursting to life over her own face as she took off down the street.

The pair ran as fast as their legs would take them towards ‘911’, the new coffeehouse that had appeared three blocks from Jane’s apartment. Jane had sprinted past Maura after less than a block, the brunette’s long hair flying out behind her as she shot past her.

‘Go Jane!’ Maura thought, her ridiculously huge grin growing even large as she watched Jane run. By the second block, Jane had slowed, at one point running backwards, the childish delight she wore stopped Maura in her tracks and she watched with unabashed joy as Jane danced, hopped and ran down the street.

With no surprise, Jane beat Maura to the coffeehouse. “Come on slow poke!” Jane teased. She felt free. Alive. For the first time in three weeks, she felt like herself.

Maura ran towards her, still grinning madly as Jane started a jog back to her. Wrapping the doctor in her arms and spinning her around, Jane screamed into the evening before setting Maura back on the ground and staring into wet, hazel eyes.

“Thank you.” She said as sincerely as her excitement would allow, before planting a warm, salty kiss on the doctors lips.