The sunrays that were beaming through the window woke up the medical examiner. With a slight groan, she covered her eyes in protection of the light. Maybe if she waited long enough, the sun would disappear and let her sleep. To her dismay, she had no such luck. She glanced over at the sleeping form next to her and the even breaths indicated that the person was still asleep. She turned over to her side and faced the window, studying it. She knew that the sapphire blue curtains did not match the dark green painted wall at all, but Jane had liked them so much that she just couldn't say 'no'.

Maura turned back around and watched Jane. Her chest was still rising and falling in even breaths. Not even the honk of a car could wake her up when she was fast asleep. Maura pushed herself up so that she was sitting on her pillow and leaned her head against the wall. Last night, Ian had left to go back to Africa and Jane had stopped by to see how she was doing. The detective had stayed for a movie on the bedroom TV and they had ended up falling asleep in the middle of it.

"How can you love someone and not be able to be with them?"

Little did Jane know that Maura wasn't talking about Ian. She may not be able to lie, but if it concerns protecting her own feelings, she's a master at it. She couldn't let anyone know who the love of her life truly was. More importantly, she didn't want anyone to know that the love of her life was Jane Rizzoli. It wasn't love at first sight though. No, she had only started loving Jane a couple months ago. Since then, it just kept growing stronger and it scared her to death.

The sound of a door closing downstairs startled her out of her thoughts. Then she remembered it was Sunday. Angela always baked her pankcakes on Sunday morning, since Maura had loved the zoo-shaped animals she had baked them at work. Reluctantly, the medical examiner lifted herself out of bed, Jane still not moving a muscle. She opened her closet door and tilted her head a little, raising an eyebrow. It might be useful to have labels everywhere, but she liked it better when her closet was organized the way she had organized it herself. Shaking her head, she pulled out a nice, black dress and threw it on the bed.

Then she disappeared into the bathroom to take off her pajamas, hanging them neatly on the side of the bath. She took her time to apply makeup and to brush her teeth before she walked back to her closet to take a bra. Then she slipped into her dress. The fabric felt soft against her skin as she smoothed it with her hands. She let them rest on her hips as she watched Jane, who twitched her nose in her sleep. Chuckling at the adorable action, she did the only thing that would be able to wake Jane up if she didn't have to go to work. She took a hold of the sheets and ripped them off her body.

"Hey!" came the instant complaint of the detective, who shot up in the bed. "Whoa." Jane put a hand toward the window to shield her eyes from the sunlight. "Wha..?"

"We fell asleep last night during the movie, Jane," Maura informed her, finally turning off the TV. "Well, I think you even fell asleep not even half an hour into the movie."

"But the half hour was… educational…" Jane replied, still half asleep as she hid a yawn behind her hand. "As far as a documentary on turtles can be."

"Tortoises," Maura corrected her for the millionth time before throwing the sheets in her face. "And you are the one who suggested it."

Not expecting Maura's action at all, Jane fell back on the bed, burrowed in brown and white sheets. "Because I wanted to make you feel better, so technically, it is your fault," Jane mumbled from under the pile of sheets, poking her arm out to point a finger at the doctor.

"Come on, get up, your mother is probably already making pancakes," Maura smiled, hitting Jane's foot with her right hand. "I expect you downstairs in five minutes."

"Five minutes? What do you think I am?" Jane asked, pushing the sheets aside so that she could look at Maura. "A cheetah? Can't you give me some more minutes?"

"For you?" Maura pretended to think about it as she brought a finger up to her chin. "No." With that, she left the room, leaving Jane staring at the closed door.

Four minutes later

Arriving downstairs, Jane noticed that her mother had already set the table to eat breakfast. Quietly, she sat opposite of Maura while Angela turned around and set their plates in front of them. The detective looked down, right in the eyes of a pancake-cat. "Jee, Ma,…" Jane started, but she swallowed the rest of her sentence as a foot met her shin. Groaning, she continued, "Thanks."

Maura looked at her watch. "Four minutes, you have a new record," she grinned before cutting off the ears of her bunny-pancake.

"So next time, you'll only give me four minutes?" Jane joked, sipping from her glass of water. She was about to pick up her knife as her phone rang. "Rizzoli… But it's my day off! … Really?... No, no, I'll be right there… Yeah, I'll bring her with me, see you soon."

"Frost?"

"Korsak," Jane said, glancing at her mother before turning back to Maura. "There's been a murder and they want me on the case. They said it was important that I brought you too."

"It's not dangerous, is it?" Angela's concern reflected in her voice, momentarily forgetting the pancake she was baking.

"I'm a homicide detective, Ma, everything is dangerous. Pancake," Jane pointed out before standing up and grabbing her keys. She handed Maura her jacket. "Let's go."

"What?" Angela questioned as Maura accepted her jacket.

"Pancake!" Jane repeated, motioning to the burning pancake.

"Oh, no!" Angela quickly took the pancake from the stove. She sighed and leaned her hands on the cooking range. Close to tears, she mumbled: "The dog.. It's ruined."

"Maybe you can arrange him a funeral," Jane said, taking Maura's hand and leading her to the door. "Let's go."

Maura's breath hitched. Sure, Jane had taken her hand before, but the warmth completely filled her body. Normally, she'd make a remark to Jane about not being rude to your parents, but she couldn't get her words out. She allowed the detective to lead her to her car. Being polite, Jane opened the passenger's door for Maura and as she stepped in and sat down on the seat, one single thought crossed her mind : This is getting harder and harder.