Written for LiveJournal femslash100's challenge #307: Late. Rizzoli & Isles is not mine, and no profit is made from this story. Set after Season 2, with the assumption that Doyle died.
Maura is standing at the back of the church, honey curls and skyscraper legs. Jane would know her anywhere, despite her attempts to be invisible. It's impossible for Maura Isles to be invisible. It's like asking for the sun not to shine.
And despite Jane's best attempts, all she can think about is how good Maura looks in that black dress and blazer. Given where they are, her thoughts would be a sin at the best of times, but this is the worst of times.
In the dark loneliness of her apartment, she dreams about what it would be like to have Maura beside her, skin salty and hair mussed. But it will only be a dream, because she put Maura's father in that casket up there. Things haven't been right since that day, and they never will be. There's a barrier between them, created by blood and fear and betrayal, and she knows it will never be breached.
The first time they met, Maura had been crouching in four-inch heels at a crime scene. Jane had thought she was an idiot. Then Maura had opened her mouth, and Jane had revised her estimate. The new medical examiner was a weird idiot. Who dressed and talked like that at three in the morning?
Somewhere, they had become unlikely friends, and somewhere, Jane had started hoping for something more. But now it's too late. So she will take what she can get, assigning herself as Maura's protector, silent and hidden.