A/N - Hello, readers. This story is my attempt to make a pure fluffy romance for Jane and Maura. Nothing is more romantic than buying someone... I don't want to spoil the surprise. I think this story might be a little too flufftastic but if the readers like it, I will bite my tongue. Have fun reading and always remember to review. Thanks.
Sidenote: This story takes place in the same universe as "Boston is Burning" and "Boston Waltz" but it can also be read as a stand-alone.
Disclaimer: Don't own Rizzoli or Isles or anything connected to them. I'm just playing with them for awhile and will return them when finished.
Wish Upon A Star
"Keep those eyes closed, Maura." Jane playfully instructed her girlfriend, earning a laugh from the blonde. With her hands covering her eyes, Jane knew that the request was hardly needed to insure Maura remained in the dark about her surprise birthday gift. Each stuttering step they took toward the elevator that would take them to top of BCU's observatory was made more difficult by Maura's insatiable curiosity but the blonde was playing along with the game, for the moment. Ignoring her endless complaints, Jane breathed a sigh of relief as they finally entered the elevator that would take them up to the telescopes.
After the craziness of the last couple of months, Jane wanted to do something special for her girlfriend. The brunette had spent several days coming up with a gift that would be both unique and meaningful to a woman who had everything. Every idea she came up was completely wrong. Nothing was quite good enough. Buying Maura a bouquet of tulips was conventional, safe, and devoid of any true meaning, exactly what Jane wished to avoid. Racking her brain for ideas resulted in nothing more than a blistering migraine and frustration at her own inability to be more romantic. Just as Jane was staring to lose hope, however, a conversation with Frost led her directly toward the surprise gift that she had planned for tonight.
- Flashback -
Det. Barry Frost leaned heavily back in his chair in an effort to relax while staring at the luminescent lights of the computer monitor, ignoring his partner's heated stare which had been directed at him since they had started talking about Maura's upcoming birthday. Only Frost was, as of yet, privy to the knowledge that Jane had become intimately involved with the medical examiner but even with this knowledge he couldn't help but be surprised at his partner's anxiety concerning something as trivial as a birthday gift. Jane's customary idea of a great gift was, wait for it, white socks and a generic card. During the departmental annual Secret Santa gift exchange, anyone who got assigned to Jane was just glad when she managed to get the right size socks. Jane just wasn't very sentimental. Given this lack of skill and her palpable unease, Frost felt inclined to help her pick something out for Maura but his mind was reeling at the changes he and the entire unit had begun noticing in his partner. Ever since "The Heartbreaker" serial, Det. Jane "Tough as Nails" Rizzoli had become calmer and more sensitive to others' feelings. At first, he had casually written it off as a temporary development as a result of the mandatory sensitivity training but her changes were much more than that. Chalking it up to the fact that his partner finally had something to return to every night other than an empty bed, Frost continued on with little acknowledgement to Jane of her personality shift. Regardless of whether it was Maura's doing, he could only hope that they would continue to see each other in a personal capacity in the future. It wasn't just good for his health; it was good for the entire department. But, those were thoughts for another time.
Turning his pc monitor toward his partner, he pointed at a picture of a pair of unbelievably shiny gold stilettos that screamed pain, opulence, and luxurious waste. "What about these? You know how much Maura likes fancy things." Frost looked off in a daze at nothing in particular. "Like her Aston…wow, just wow. It's a work of an art, Jane."
The sound of a light slap resounded across the unit, causing a light chuckle from the few other detectives working in the squad room. "Frost… Focus, please?" Jane leaned over with a raised eyebrow, pointing at the price. "Are you serious? Those shoes cost more than I make in a decade. I didn't even know shoes could have that big of a price-tag. What are they made out of? Gold, platinum, and children's tears?"
"Well, according to the description," he said, smiling slightly at Jane's shocked expression. "The shoes are made with the finest 22k gold, Swarovski crystal inlays, and 5k Sri Lankan ruby accents. Nothing says special like ostentatious displays of wealth, Jane. And, it's on sale for a limited time. You should get on this while the iron's hot."
Jane rolled her eyes in annoyance at Frost's sarcasm. "Yeah, okay…going down from $750,000 to $725,000 is really a sale I can take advantage of. Thanks for the heads up." Jane replied with equal sarcasm, ignoring her partner's melodramatic frown. "Come on, be serious. I'm out of ideas and I want this to be special, Frost. This is our first birthday…you know…together. I want it to be memorable. I want it to mean something other than how much disposable income I have."
Frost's eyebrow rose in confusion before lowering his voice to barely audible whisper. "Then why don't you just dress up in your Catholic school uniform and play naughty schoolgirl? Problem solved."
A glare from the brunette answered his question causing the young detective to quickly resume typing earnestly at the keyboard. "Sorry, shouldn't have even have said that out loud. Well, what else can you give the woman who has everything? I guess you could make a scrapbook? Women like that sort of thing. It shows your sensitivity or something like that."
"Okay…" she said, emphasizing each syllable of the word. "The only problem with that idea is that we don't really have a lot of sentimental pictures I can put in a scrapbook. I don't know that much about romance but I don't think placing a picture of the two of us mini-golfing next to a picture of me in the hospital recovering from a bullet wound in my stomach equals romance. Good try." Jane frowned, sighing exhaustively as the fuzzy memories of shooting herself during the siege of BPD blurred into the various images of the resulting repercussions of her actions. Maura declaring her love for her, MacFarlane, admitting her own love for Maura…all of these seemingly benign isolated incidents created a ripple effect through their entire lives, especially Jane's carefully constructed existence as the lone female homicide detective who could keep up with the boys. That day when she had become a "hero" had unwittingly changed her life forever but that was just the foundation.
Soon after their revelation to each other concerning their feelings for one another, a serial killer that the press had affectionately nicknamed "The Heartbreaker" because of his penchant of removing his victims' hearts and writing odd messages on the walls to play with the police left Jane increasingly more and more obsessed with finding the killer before he could strike again. With this unhealthy obsession came an increasing lack of awareness of her actions effect on her girlfriend, leaving them both hurting. That one case had brought several underlying tensions concerning their own individual personalities to the surface and instead of causing a rift between the two of them; it brought them closer than they ever would have been otherwise.
Each passing day brought better communication between the two women regarding their emotional needs and desires. They had even tentatively decided on a moving-in date for Jane to move her stuff into Maura's home but the blonde kept pushing the date back because of their mutual desire to tell their parents about their relationship first. In all actuality, Jane had no problem waiting. Besides the thought of sitting down with Maura's sophisticated mother and father giving the brunette the heebie-jeebies, her own mother's constant presence and endless nagging at every opportune moment was getting to be a hassle in of itself. Jane had no wish to throw her mom out but it was getting on her last nerve to have her mother underfoot, asking questions she just wasn't ready to answer. The "we're having a sleep-over" excuse could only work so many times before she started asking things like, "Well…why do I hear moaning and groaning? Are you two playing Twister?" Yeah, that's what we're doing, ma', playing Twister. We get so into the game that we take our clothes off, move it to the bed, and make our own rules up. It's so much fun, that we play every chance we can get. The moaning and groaning you hear is just a victory call when one of us finally decides to show mercy on the other. Regardless of how her mother perceived their actions, Jane knew that something had to give. Either I tell her straight up or she walks in on me and Maura while playing Twister with a plate of cannoli one day.
Frost snapped his fingers, bringing Jane's attention back to the present. He pointed enthusiastically at the moving images on his computer screen. "What about this?"
Leaning toward the monitor of the computer, Jane's mood perked up in response to the flashing brilliance of the flash animations on the webpage. The purple and white themed background framed around a single image of an animated galaxy twirling endlessly, waiting for the mouse to move the cursor over the animated swirling mass of gas and planets.
Nodding at Frost, he clicked the icon, opening a new webpage in the window along with an annoying video of a man dressed as a stereotypical cowboy, complete with a phony Texan accent. Jane rolled her eyes as his voice barreled out of the speakers, ignoring the man's over-the-top delivery to focus on the message.
"Do you want to give your special someone a gift that will last forever? Well, don't go lookin' at those darn Tiffany blue boxes! Buy that special guy or gal something that will cement your love in the galaxies, buy a star! A diamond ring is nice to look at but nothing says long-lasting love like a burning ball of gas! We regularly rustle up the best stars for our customers because we respect that you want nothing but quality for your sweetheart. All of our stars have been rigorously maintained for millions, sometimes billions of years and are waiting for you to purchase them, giving them a permanent home in the heart of your loved one.
"Don't know what star to buy? Well, we've made it as easy as cutting into a cherry pie. Each star is clearly labeled by color, price, description, and approximate age. It's so easy even my cow-dog Hank could do it! Once you buy your chosen star, we will send you an email confirmation that has three key things: a printable certificate of authenticity, a star chart that will help you locate your star during optimum times, and a link which will take you to the naming center for your freshly bought star. But enough of my chatter! It's time for you to choose your very own star! Either click on the stars available button to see which stars are available for purchase right now or click on the galaxy icon to see how many people have already gotten their special someone a gift that truly lasts forever! Don't hesitate to click the help button if you have more questions, partner. To the stars and beyond!"
With horribly edited exiting music, the video mercifully ended, leaving the two detectives with equal looks of horrified amazement. Laughable as the entire video was, Jane had to admit that the idea of buying Maura a star was appealing. The connotation of a star was exactly what she wanted to say to her girlfriend. A star was forever and Jane wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her life with Maura. The topic of the future had been broached on several occasions but extenuating circumstances always managed to lead to interruptions. No longer would she allow herself to wait. It was time for Jane to take the initiative, just like all of those months ago when she was forced to have to decide whether to tell Maura how she felt or watch her ride off into the sunset with MacFarlane. This was the perfect time to tell her girlfriend how much she meant to her. More importantly, she could finally give Maura something instead of just being put in a situation to take, take, take. Only a star could properly convey the message she so desperately needed to say.
Stars are forever, just like I hope our relationship will be, Maura. I love you, forever and always.
- End Flashback -
Jane shook her head from the mental cobwebs that had been plaguing her since coming up with the brilliant idea of buying Maura a star. The elevator continued to ding slowly with each rising floor, causing a wave of anxiety and doubt to enter her throat. What if this was all a mistake? What if Maura laughed at her? Romance was so utterly new and unbelievably scary to the detective and it was further compounded by the nearly-debilitating anxiety threatening to bring tears to her eyes, shattering her shaky resolve beyond repair.
There was nothing she could turn to for guidance to assure her, not even their friendship. They had always been extremely close, even before becoming involved, but Jane was quickly learning that a friendship was totally different than being in an intimate relationship, in every conceivable way. Despite the concept being difficult to grasp, she was trying with all of her energy to better understand the woman Maura needed her to be, just as she knew Maura was trying to do the same for her.
There was no need to overthink this, Jane thought. Buying Maura a special gift for her birthday was the primary objective and she had certainly achieved that. Everything else was just extraneous. Then how come I feel like "everything else" is anything but extraneous? How come I feel like I'm going to die if she doesn't reciprocate my feelings?
Unexpectedly, a giggle of excitement came from the blonde's lips, her hands coming up in a lame effort to peel away Jane's strong fingers. "Jane, we're in an elevator."
"Yeah," she whispered, leaning forward to capture the soft skin of Maura's neck, her girlfriend's heart-rate rising in response. "Since you're such a smarty, tell me what I'm doing right now."
Maura moved her head to the side, allowing Jane more contact to a particularly sensitive spot on her neck. "Well, you're obviously trying to make me lose focus."
The elevator continued to slowly ding as it travelled upward to the stars. Before she knew what she was doing, Jane's hands moved toward the blonde's neck, searching for something that she knew to be there. "Maura..." Jane lifted her head from her girlfriend's neck with a frown, looking more earnestly on Maura's neck. "I thought we talked about this? You don't cover up my love-bites with makeup and I wear those frilly things you consider underwear. It's not fair that I have to be itchy while you get to cover up."
A sound of disbelief came from Maura's mouth before turning to meet Jane's pitiful looking face, both women hardly noticing that she has now opened her hazel eyes. "Jane…"
"Are you serious? Is this the same woman that said she liked it when everyone looked at her? Last week you didn't seem too shy about our arrangement when I had you up against your desk at work. As I recall, I had you screaming in record time. Compared to that, I think not covering my love-bites is fairly tame." Jane lifted her eyebrows, knowing she had got the medical examiner in a tough spot to get out of. There was nothing Maura could do to win this discussion. The great Maura Isles had been outplayed, earning a slight narrowing of the eyes from the blonde before turning away from the detective.
Congratulating herself on a well-earned mental victory, Jane barely recognized that she had lost in more important ways, her mind finally processing her girlfriend's open eyes. "You opened your eyes."
"Humans tend to do that so they can see threats and interpret their environment in order to illicit the appropriate response, Jane," the blonde quipped dismissively.
"Hey," Jane said apologetically before grabbing Maura's arm lightly, eyes lowered to the ground in submission. "Come on, don't be mad. I have a big surprise for you, and I don't want a bad mood between us ruining it. Punish me later, okay? Please? Pretty please with icing on top?"
A final ding sounded as the elevator doors opened toward the observatory satellite. Before exiting, Maura looked back toward her girlfriend's puppy dog eyes with a small smile. "I'm not mad, Jane. I'm just annoyed that you always find some way to squirrel out of everything. Now, are you going to show me what this gift is or am I going to have to find it myself?"
Shrugging in acceptance, Jane grabbed Maura's hand with a childish smile of exuberance, moving toward the large open space flooded with moonlight. The oval interior seemed to have no other job but to serve as a home for the technological marvel of the telescope placed directly in the middle of the room, pointing upward toward a vast hole in the ceiling. High-definition television screens were displayed on the far wall, along with several expensive looking printers and machines used for what Jane presumed to display new images of planets to other astronomers and visitors to the observatory. A mutual exclamation of amazement travelled through the empty observatory, both women equally shocked at the beauty and natural wonder on display. A warm breeze from the opened windows placed strategically around the observatory for visitors combed through the two women's hair, eyes closing in pure relaxation. Nothing could ruin this night of perfection, nothing.
The heavens seemingly blessing her endeavor, Jane beamed in delight, extending a hand invitingly toward the telescope. "And here's your gift."
Maura's head tilted slightly in confusion. "Jane…you can't buy a telescope, especially this one. It costs over ten million dollars, not to mention the five million you would need to build an observatory to house it… My father would have a life threatening arrhythmia if he knew you had bought the telescope he helped fund for BCU."
"What?" Jane exclaimed, shaking her head with a smile. "No, no, I didn't buy you the telescope. I bought you what's inside the telescope." She grabbed Maura by the shoulders, pointing at the images displayed on the high-definition television screens. A pulsating red orb of gas gazed down at the two women with blazing, all-encompassing light, enrapturing Jane almost as much as it did Maura. Seeing the star she had bought in such marvelous quality was nothing short but magnificent. All of Jane's hopes were swirling before her very eyes and all she could hope for was that Maura would find it acceptable.
The image updated every five minutes - presumably from the data and pictures being received from the telescope - giving them a fantastic view of an object that was orbiting light-years away from Earth, completely unaware of its significance. When Jane had reserved the observatory for the two of them, she had expected nothing more than a set of childish telescopes laid out for them to use but this had exceeded her expectations. Judging from the look of absolute marvel on Maura's face, Jane was doing everything perfectly. Hopefully, she could finish as strongly.
"With some help from Frost, I found something you most definitely don't have. Do you like it? It's your very own star. I named it after you, Maura IV. Apparently there are three other Maura stars in the heavens so I had to put a four at the end. So…do you like it?" Jane rambled, excitement brimming from her in palpable waves. Never had Jane wanted, no, needed another person's approval. If Maura didn't like her gift, she felt like she would seriously keel over in utter misery, depression taking hold of her heart like all of those poets she had read about in high school. Please like it. Please like it. I swear to all that's holy, I'll start going to confession again if Maura likes it.
The burning magnificence of Maura IV beckoned Maura forward. Mesmerized, she stepped elegantly from her heels, walking toward the swirling crimson and orange star presented on the screen, everything ceasing to exist except the vision in front of her. Never had Jane seen Maura so enraptured even when the blonde was in the middle of dissecting a new body to learn more about the cause of death. The only situation that could moderately attempt to come close to garnering such an illicit response was on their first night together, all of those months ago.
"Maura…" Jane whispered, moving toward her. "You okay?"
She turned to face the brunette, hazel eyes swirling with flecks of reflected fire, sudden passion threatening to envelop Jane in a similar fury but it was far too late to resist. Jane felt her heart race, senses tingle, sweat beginning to bubble up from her heated skin. She was absolutely, utterly, completely at Maura's mercy as each rising surge of passion seeped through the brunette's slim frame, shocking her with its intensity. An animalistic growl came from Jane's throat and the blonde's half-lidded, unfocused eyes fluttering slightly in response.
But, just as the mood had suddenly come over the couple, it dissipated just as quickly, allowing Maura to regain some control over her emotions. "You…you bought me a star? Although the legal definition of property doesn't expand to rotating masses of gas millions of miles away, I'm amazed that you'd buy me something like this. I've been given a lot of things in my life but never a star. I…I don't know what to say."
"You could start with 'thank you.' You don't have to sound so surprised, Maubie." Jane mused, Maura's pet-name coming out naturally. "I love you. Truly, absolutely, completely. Buying a star for my very own star is the smartest thing I think I've ever done. Maybe one of the only smart things I've done with you since you told me about how you felt about me." Jane reached up to push a piece of hair back from the medical examiner's face, bringing even more focus on those marvelous simmering orbs of hot, hot, heat. "I've treated you like a dog in the last couple of months and for that I'm truly sorry. Believe me, I know I can be an insensitive brute at times, and I can understand if you don't want to deal with me anymore for that alone. But I hope you can take this star as a representation of the love I'll always have for you. No matter what happens…I'll love you till the day I die. I just…wanted you to know that. I feel like I never really get to say it enough. God knows you deserve to hear it every-day for putting up with me."
Tears softened the fire present in the blonde's eyes before she shook her head, moving Jane's hand away from her face, lacing their shaking hands together as the moonlight continued to stream down toward the couple. "Jeddy-Bear, after everything we've been through, you really think I'm going to just up and leave? We work well together, in both a professional and personal capacity. Now, I'm not going to lie to you, things between us can get really difficult at times but…a woman who buys me a piece of the Milky Way and names it after me is a woman worth keeping. Even if that same woman drives me utterly mad at times." Maura said, smiling. "And you know how much I love you, how much you mean to me. I need you in my life. Promise me…promise me you won't leave me?"
"I promise you, I'll try my best never to leave you."
Jane returned Maura's smile as they subconsciously moved toward each other, closing the distance between their bodies. For the second time that evening, everything ceased to be as their bodies reconnected through the soft embrace of their romantically slow yet passionately restrained kiss. They both knew that making love in an observatory, no matter how much instinct told them otherwise, was hardly ideal and tried their best to control a level of passion that had been slowly burning since their brief lover's quarrel in the elevator. Reluctantly, they broke away from each other, staring awkwardly at the still pulsating red mass of the star.
Maura spoke up first, breaking the silence. "Umm…Jane?"
"Yeah," she muttered, her voice scratchy and heavy from the passion still running in her veins.
"You do realize that this star is going to die and soon?" Maura studied the image of the star displayed on the screens studiously, all of her focus now on the red ball of gas. "My astronomy skills could be better but given the clear red visible light output and its obvious size, I'd say this star is a red giant nearing the white dwarf stage of its life cycle. At that point, the star is pretty much in the coffin. I'll have to check with my father to make sure. He's much more accomplished in astronomy than I ever was. Can you believe my professor gave me an A- in his Astro Physics class? That elective lowered my GPA to a 3.98. Luckily, I had taken extra classes during the summer, allowing me to still graduate with summa cum laude honors but still…what a jerk. I was the only senior in the class. He could have cut me a brick. Or…wait, its break, isn't it? He could have cut me a break. Why did you buy a star that's going to die, anyway?"
With a gaping mouth, Jane turned quickly back to Maura, feeling a slight twinge of whiplash in her neck. "Well, I didn't know that when I bought it. Are you serious? Come on… It was such a pretty color and it was on sale. I didn't know it was on an end-of-life sale. If I knew that I would have bought another one! You know what… I'm calling those swindlers and getting my money back. That fact was misrepresented when I bought it thus making this transaction null and void." Jane's voice dropped into a facsimile exaggerated Texan accent, similar to the one used by the man on the website. "Damn cowboys and their rustlin' stars bullshit… Who the hell rustles a star? What does that even mean?"
Maura placed an assuring hand on the brunette's shoulder. "Jane, honey, it's not going to die tomorrow. Betelgeuse, the eight brightest star in our galaxy, has been around for over ten million years. It's currently also in its red giant stage but it's not expected to reach supernova until another one million years. And besides," she said suggestively, caressing the exposed skin of Jane's lean toned arms, "I like knowing you bought me a big red giant star. When I look up at night, waiting for you to come back after a hard day, I'll always know just where to look to be reminded of my one and only Jeddy-Bear. Now, as much as I love staring up at the stars with you, do you think we could go back home? I'm getting kind of cold up here and I really want to see if you're wearing the lacy underwear I picked out for you this morning since you made such a big fuss about me not showing off your hickeys. You better hope you're wearing them, honey."
"Or what?" Jane pushed despite already knowing the answer. This was hardly the first time Maura had threatened her nor would it be the last.
"I'm not sure yet but I'm sure I'll figure out something. I always do."
Jane smiled wickedly, knowing Maura would find no such thing underneath her dress. Fantasies of her potential punishment ran rampant as the blonde slipped back into her heels before sauntering confidently toward the elevator doors. Upon reaching the stainless steel doors, she turned back with a raised eyebrow in confusion, noticing that Jane had yet to join her.
There was just one more thing the brunette needed to get.
Jane rushed toward the printer near the television screen and grabbed the courtesy images printed out for them of their star by the staff downstairs. Suddenly, Maura's love beaconed out to her, eclipsing all of the fears that had plagued her previously, pure euphoria taking its place. She would never forget this night, but it never hurt to have memories, especially if Maura IV decided to turn into a white dwarf sooner than expected.
A/N 2 - Did you like it? I told you it was all fluff. Don't forget to tell me how much you hated/loved the fluffy romance. Also, did anyone get the cowdog reference? If you did, you have earned ten respect points and a gold star. :)