Disclaimer: I own nothing R&I related, yada yada, this is just for fun, please don't sue and all that good stuff.
AN: Ok, so I've decided to repost this story. I have added a few little details that I think will help to explain a few things here in this chapter that were a bit confusing before. If you are still confused at the end of this one all I can say is just stick with me. It will take a couple of chapters, but things will be explained as we get further and further into this story. Thank you, all of you, who read my stories. You all are awesome! Enjoy!
They walked along the beach hand in hand. It had been a perfect late spring day. They'd gotten to spend the whole day together, just the three of them. It had started by sleeping in late, well as late as a four year old William would let them. After breakfast they had headed off for a morning spent at MFA where they had arts and crafts projects for kids that were right up William's alley. They were finding out that William was taking after his grandma Constance in the arts.
"So did you have fun today, buddy?" Jane asked the little boy who was walking between his mothers, holding on to their hands.
"Mmhmm," he replied nodding his head while continuing to just look down at the sand.
Jane and Maura both chuckled at the boys antics. It was a tradition that they had started years ago together. The spring came during Maura's pregnancy and to get out a little bit they would go walk on the beach. On one of the walks they had discovered some shells that had washed up on the shore where they were walking. They picked up a few and kept them in a jar to remember that time. After William was born they had continued to look for shells and pick them up when they found them on their walks. From the time William had been old enough to get the hang of what they were doing he would search as much of the beach as possible to find the "coolest" shells he could.
"Ma, can I go over there and look for shells?" he asked pleadingly.
Jane looked up at Maura. She nodded her head in approval of the idea as well. "Yeah, sure, go on. But stay close by, okay?"
"Okay," he said in way of promise and then took off running.
"Ah, I get my hand back for a while," Jane said jokingly.
"Not quite," Maura said as she reached over and took Jane's hand in hers.
"Mm, I think I can handle this though." She held onto Maura's hand and halted their movement. She pulled Maura in and wrapped her up in her arms for a moment. Jane leaned in and placed a kiss on Maura's head at her hairline. "I can't believe he's going to be starting school in a few short months."
"I know," Maura said as stood on her tiptoes for a moment to give Jane a short, chaste kiss on the lips. Seems like just yesterday when he was born."
"Yeah," Jane agreed. "Seems like just yesterday we were decorating your house for Christmas and you showed me that ornament. I think deep down I'd known I loved you since you offered me money at the café because you thought I was a hooker." They both smiled at the memory and chuckled lightly at the thought of how they met. "I wouldn't change any of what happened though because it led me to you."
Maura loved hearing Jane's side of how they met and things that had happened between them over the years. It seemed as though it had gone by in a whirlwind. "Will," she called out to the little boy, "not so close to the water."
Jane chuckled as she looked up to see what he was up to. "Guess we'd better catch up to him before he does something I might have."
Maura chuckled at the statement. "Surely he wouldn't do something like that," Maura said sounding amused. They started to walk again a little bit so they could be closer to William and could keep a better eye on him.
"Ugh, how is it he manages to have so much energy?" Jane asked as she stepped up behind Maura when they decided they were once again at a good distance from the little boy. "I would have thought we would have worn him out hours ago. He did all that stuff at the museum and then he played in the back yard for a couple of hours before we came here."
"Well…" Maura started and then paused.
"What?"
"Never mind, it wasn't important," Maura said looking back at Jane.
"Oh, come on. It was something." Just then a smirk crossed Jane's face. "You were going to say something that was googlemouth weren't you?"
"I suppose there's a possibility of that," Maura let on.
"Maura Rizzoli-Isles, you don't want to end up with hives now do you?" Jane questioned as her hands found purchase on Maura's hips.
"Well you know how much I just love to itch. I love it when you can scratch those hard to reach places," she murmured seductively as she turned around in Jane's arms.
"Hmm," Jane sounded as she leaned in and captured Maura's supple lips with her own. Seconds later she deepened the kiss. She felt Maura moan into her mouth just before pulling back. A groan left her mouth at the loss of contact. "I love you, always," Jane whispered.
"I love you too," Maura whispered back. They stood there a moment just drinking in the sight of the other. "It's starting to get dark. We'd better be getting home with Will," Maura said quietly.
"Right," Jane whispered back.
"Will," Maura called out to their son as she turned to look for him. "Come on, it's time to go home."
"Dr. Isles," Maura heard called from somewhere. She turned looking around, though she didn't see anyone as she did. "Dr. Isles," she heard called again. She started to turn again, still not finding anyone. She suddenly realized that she wasn't seeing anyone else on the beach. Jane had disappeared and so had Will.
"Where did they go?" She asked herself. She was alone on the beach now and everything around her was dead quiet. She should be able to hear cars and birds, but there was nothing.
"Dr. Isles," Maura heard harshly. Her body jolted and she was instantly awake, though her mind felt fuzzy. "What?" she asked the voice, as she sat back in her chair and started to recall her surroundings.
"Are you alright?" the younger woman asked her.
"Uh, yeah, I think so," Maura answered as she rubbed her temple with one hand. The other lightly slid over her abdomen. It was an automatic action now, one that had started during the pregnancy and kept up when the dreams started. That had been one of the more detailed dreams she'd had like that. "How long was I out, Jen?"
"Maybe thirty minutes at the most," her assistant answered. "Having the dreams again?"
Maura nodded slightly, before saying, "Yes. They're a little bit different this time though."
Silence lingered between them for a moment. By now Jen knew better than to ask her if she wanted to talk about it. Maura had always answered no when Jen asked her, so eventually she had just stopped asking. But, she would always wait around for a couple of minutes after Maura had admitted to having the dreams again just in case she ever did want to talk about it. This time was no different than the times before.
"What time is it?" Maura asked breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"Almost two," Jen replied to her.
"What?" Maura asked suddenly panicky and leaning forward in her chair. "We need to get started on those autopsies that came in this morning. I've got an early dinner tonight and I'll be late if we don't get started.
"Awe, big date tonight with your honey?" the assistant asked quirking an eyebrow at her.
"Is that John Doe ready that came in this morning?" Maura asked as a way of answering the question. Jen knew she wasn't going to talk about it. She never had spoken much about her personal life; that was the way she preferred to have things. Jen knew enough about her, but there was still a lot she didn't know. For now, that was how things were going to remain.
R&I
Maura looked up from the notations she had been working on. She felt her heart start to race when she looked at the clock. She was late getting out of the office. She needed to leave right now if she was going to have time to get ready for her evening out.
"Jen," Maura called to her assistant. A moment later the woman appeared in the doorway. "I need to get out of here now. Do you think you could handle the rest of this and then lock up for the day?"
"Of course," the bubbly woman replied. "Have fun tonight."
"Thank you," Maura replied hastily as she grabbed her purse and made her way out. Only on her way out did she wonder what Jen had meant by have fun. Though she still had problems with social cues she had learned over the past decade or so to pick up on them better. It seemed as though Jen knew something that she didn't about this night. Though there wasn't anything she could think of that her assistant would be referring to. It was just out of ordinary for Jen to say something like that to her.
Her thoughts on that subject halted as she exited the elevator and made her way across the parking garage to her car. It was mild outside. The sun was on its way to setting and everything had started to cool off slightly. She knew as the night wore on there was bound to be a cool breeze. It was something she had kept in mind when she chose her dress for this evening. Now she just needed to get home as soon as possible and get dressed.
R&I
Maura had just slid into her dress when the doorbell rang. It was a little bit early yet. She was glad she was in her dress though, that just left her with getting her jewelry and purse. The bell chimed a second time just before she made it to the door.
She swiftly unlocked it, surprised by who she found standing there. "Nathan?" Maura said as a way of a question for what he was doing there.
"She sent me," the man said giving her a big smile. "Her meeting is running a little bit longer than she had planned and she sent me to get you first and together we will pick her up from the meeting and continue on to the party."
"Alright then, I have a couple more things to do and then I'll be out."
"Yes Ma'am, I'll be here," the man said as he started to retreat to the big black limo that now sat by the curb in front of her house.
Maura knew that Nathan had been a little bit early in picking her up from the time that they had agreed on, but it seemed like it was taking forever to get to the place where the meeting was being held. This was also a strange location. They had to be at least a couple of miles from the office, but she hadn't paid close attention as Nathan drove.
Suddenly though, the car started to slow down and Nathan pulled over to the side of the road near the curb and parked the car. He slid the partition down that separated the front from the back. "The meeting must really be going longer than she planned. She told me that if she wasn't waiting out here when we pulled up to take you inside. She said something about she was looking at investing in new property or something. I couldn't quite make it all out the phone kept cutting out when we had our discussion. She just said it was important that I show you inside."
"Alright," Maura replied. Something inside of her seemed to be telling her that she wasn't getting the whole truth out of him. She was fairly certain that she had just heard more words out of Nathan with that explanation than she had heard out of him in the last almost year that she had known him. She started to think that she should listen to her gut. No, she wasn't going to go there. Listening to her gut wasn't even something she had believed in, at least not until she had met Ja… "No," she thought, stopping herself from those thoughts. She hadn't been there in a long time and she wasn't about to go back now.
She stepped out of the car as Nathan opened the door for her. He led her over to a black metal door that seemed to just sit in between two businesses. It must be a door that led upstairs or the back door of a place or a back entrance and exit to another store somewhere. Nathan easily opened the door and led her down a short hallway where they then turned the corner. Just as Maura turned the corner she saw her. She looked so beautiful, and not at all like she had been in a meeting.
Her face lit up when she saw how Maura was dressed. "You look beautiful," she said to Maura.
"So do you darling, but what's going on? Nathan said you were held up in a meeting."
"I was, and unfortunately I'm still a little held up, but I think that you may be able to help me with that." Maura gave her a strange look as the headed through another door and into what appeared to be a large open room. "You see, I'm having a hard time deciding on just one. So, I thought why not let you decide on what you like the best."
At that moment lights started to go on around the room. There were lights going on over head, as well as lights that were lighting up showcases. Maura suddenly realized that they were inside of a jewelry store. She turned around for a moment taking in the whole store. They were in an area that only contained rings. She turned back to see her girlfriend, Grace, standing by another woman.
"When I couldn't choose one, Liz," she said indicating the woman standing beside her, "said that I should just bring you in to choose one. I just couldn't bring myself to do this without a ring though, so I asked if I could just combine it and that way everything could be done at one time."
Maura let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Was this really happening to her right now, like this? "What?" she finally managed to say, almost breathless, as she still tried to take everything in.
"Maura," Grace said as she walked over to her. "Hmm, I didn't plan this out well when I picked the dress," she said as she tried to shift the flowing dress enough that she could get down on one knee without ending up on the dress or ripping anything in the process.
"No," Maura said taking her hand and stopping her. "It's okay; you don't have to go that far. Just say it."
Grace smiled at her; it went all the way to her eyes and lit the sky blue orbs up. Maura had always liked eyes, they were one of the first things she noticed the first time she met Grace. It was almost as though those eyes were an ocean that she could fall into and never come out of again.
"Maura," Grace said, pulling her from her thoughts. Maura smiled in return and waited to hear the words she knew had to be coming.
"Maura," Grace started again. "I know that we haven't been together that long and I know that we agreed that we would take things slow, but sometimes when you know, you just know. I know that I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know all of the little, and big, things about you. You are one of the most amazing people I've ever met. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
It wasn't quite what she had expected, but Maura still remained breathless. She looked at Grace and could see tears welling in her eyes as well as feel them in her own, but Maura still remained silent. "A…ar…are you sure about this?" Maura stuttered out before she finally found the words she needed to say. "We've only been together nine months. I mean overall that's not really all that long to get to know someone…" she finally trailed off.
Grace chuckled a little and smiled at her. She knew that Maura had a tendency to ramble when nervous, but up until this moment she had never actually seen Maura this nervous. "Yes. Even if it feels like it may be a little bit faster than we agreed to move things I'm sure… So, will you marry me?"
Maura started nodding. She was still to breathless and overwhelmed at the proposal to be able to say anything. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, but words never came.
"Is that a yes?" Grace finally asked her.
"Yes," Maura managed to get out. "Yes, I'll marry you."
"Really?" Grace asked like she was afraid she would be turned down for a second time that evening.
Maura nodded once again and smiled. They both leaned in to capture lips for a lingering kiss. "I love you," Grace whispered to her as she pulled back from the kiss and rested her forehead on Maura's for a moment.
"And I you," Maura replied.
So, I am still crazy busy and will stay that way for the next year. I can't promise regular updates with an certainty, but I promise I won't keep you waiting in suspense forever. With that said, what did y'all think? Please leave me a review because I'd love to know!