Putting this up now - I know it's a weird day - because Andromeda is coming out tomorrow night and I'm going to disappear off the face of the earth for about a week. So, you guys get two oneshots to make up for my absence!
Partially inspired by Coolbyrne's 'A Fine Proposal' over on AO3, the other part by my rambling brain the other night. You guys should check it out, it's a fine piece of work ;)
Maura walked through the door to the bedroom and immediately ducked beneath a carelessly thrown shirt. She hesitantly stood up and surveyed the apparent fabric explosion that had taken place in the walk-in closet, clothes strewn across the floor and bed and even, somehow, over the dresser on the far side of the room. "Jane?" She asked quietly. "What's going on?"
She heard a muffled groan from within the closet and walked over to it, biting back a grin when she saw her girlfriend sitting amongst discarded shirts and blazers in only her bra and underwear, pouting pitifully up at the honey blonde. "Maur," she whined, "I can't find anything to wear."
Maura allowed a giggle to pass her lips before she crouched gracefully before the brunette, pushing back a wayward curl as she cupped Jane's cheek. "It's unlike you to behave this way. What has you so out of sorts?"
"Ugh, nothing."
Jane petulantly pulled a purple shirt over her lap and Maura angled her head up toward her. "It isn't nothing," she coaxed gently. "Your concerns are always important to me." She stood and wiggled her fingers down at Jane, smiling when she took them and let herself be pulled to her feet. Maura wrapped her in a hug, nuzzling closer when she felt a head drop to her shoulder and lean arms wrap around her waist. "You can tell me anything," she said into the comfortable atmosphere.
She felt more than heard Jane sigh heavily, chest expanding against her before she leaned more heavily into her. "It's stupid." Maura gently scraped her nails up the expanse of Jane's back, pausing to knead at her shoulders briefly. "I just…I wanted to look good tonight."
Maura hid a smile against Jane's shoulder, kissing the fragrant skin soothingly. "Why would you be concerned about that? We're only going to your mother's apartment."
"I knooow, but – I just…"
Jane sighed again and backed out of the embrace, wrapping her arms around herself with a pensive expression. Maura's eyebrows creased in concern. "Jay? What's wrong?"
Jane's deep brown eyes met hers and traipsed across her features for a moment before dipping lower. Maura felt herself warm as the appreciative gaze lingered on her breasts and ignored the urge to make sure her skirt was still settled on her hips when it felt like it was slipping. She swallowed, shifted on her bare feet, and reached out for Jane's hand.
"You're worrying me."
Jane's gaze jerked back up to her face and she winced apologetically. She pulled her into her arms and kissed her lips chastely. "Sorry, I'm being a spaz tonight. I'm just – anxious. I'm being as crazy as you that time when we had that reservation at that frou-frou French restaurant, Dukes Blah," she said with a prissy expression and fake accent.
Maura giggled from within the circle of her arms and gently corrected, "Deuxave. And you loved that place when we got there."
"I loved what came after even more," Jane retorted with a smirk. Her hand crept suggestively up Maura's thigh, slowly dragging her skirt up as she went. Maura shivered when a calloused finger slipped beneath the edge of her stay-ups, reluctantly removing the wandering hand to replace it on her hip.
"You're deflecting. Tell me."
Jane sighed in a put upon manner and took Maura's hand, leading her out of the closet and sitting her on the edge of the bed. She paced for a moment before walking over to her dresser and beginning to root through it. "I wanted to…I dunno, I just thought it'd be better at ma's, but hey, since when have we ever done things the normal way?" Jane turned to her with an unreadable expression on her face, rubbing the back of her closed fist with her other hand as she walked over and crouched in front of Maura.
"I just…remember when Casey asked me to marry him and I wore the ring for, like, a week, and you got super jealous?" Maura arched a brow silently and cocked her head to the side. "Okay, maybe not the best example, but bear with me. So, things were nuts then and I was trying to figure out if I even wanted to marry him, and there you were, acting jealous and a little crazy. And I thought well, he's never here when shit hits the fan, and then things got really nuts and you were there." Jane made small circles with her thumb on Maura's knees, eyes wide and entreating and a little nervous. "And I realized that I couldn't do it without him knowing what he was getting into and gave the ring back, and I never regretted it."
"Jane? Where are you going with this?"
"I'm getting there, babe." Jane dragged on a shaky breath, shifting her weight slightly so she dipped closer, and Maura automatically widened her stance so the brunette was cradled between her legs. "And then we got together…and stuff kept happening, like it always does, and – yeah, I know we had our fights," she said, smiling at some of the blowouts they had over the years, "but we always worked it out. You got me to stop bringing work home, and helped me deal with my crazy, while still balancing work and your family and our life, and I like to think that I helped you somewhere along the way, too."
"You did," Maura said quietly.
Jane smiled up at her. "Yeah. So. Somewhere along the way, we fell in love and you managed to convince me to move in, and we finally got ma out of the guest house, and we're still dealing with our crazy lives and jobs, but we're doing it together." Maura felt her heart climb into her throat as Jane chewed on her lip for a moment and held out her closed fist. "And I know this probably isn't what you imagined happening, but I figure that you already know how spazzy I am, you've dealt with it forever, so…"
She uncurled her fingers and showed Maura the elegant ring resting on her palm. The small stones laid into the metal glinted under the lamplight, twinkling merrily as Jane's hand trembled. "Would you marry me? You'd get to deal with my crazy for the rest of our lives, and I realize that really doesn't sound like a great selling point, but-"
Maura cut her off as she dipped her head and kissed Jane fervently, whimpering when her lip was gently caught between teeth and nibbled on. Jane surged up to deepen the kiss, free hand curling around the back of Maura's head to twist in the small hairs at the nape of her neck. "Yes," Maura whispered. Jane pulled back and Maura smiled widely. "Yes."
"Yeah?"
Jane sounded amazed and Maura offered her left hand for her to slide the ring on, staring at it as the stones caught the light. "I would marry you a thousand times, Jane Rizzoli. You want to know why?"
"Why?"
"Because you're the same kind of crazy as me."
