*Spoilers for Season 4 Episode 1: We Are Family*

Marmite: A Love Story.

I guess being a detective didn't help me when it came to putting the clues together when it came to realising my own feelings about Maura. Last night I had just been jogging with her, my best friend, the person always there for me, to my apartment and there he was. Casey. The man I had crushed on in high school, the man that had come back in my life to attempt to capture my heart but instead assassinated it when he left, and he did leave, numerous times. Why was he there? After 3 months of ignoring me? When I first saw him there last night the hurt set in and then this warm fuzzy sense with me thinking 'Yay, he's back!' That wasn't me, being weak and pining over a man who keeps leaving?

It took the Marmite to make me realise it wasn't him who I wanted to spend my life with. After a night of love-making which wasn't what I thought it would be at all, he had decided to raid my cupboards. It felt invasive and unwanted and there it was, in his hands. A jar of Marmite.

"You don't leave a chef an awful lot to work with. A jar of pickles and Marmite that expired 5 years ago?"

As soon as he mentioned the Marmite I scowled at Casey, the annoyance that he was going through my things coming out. And Maura gave her that, he wasn't allowed to touch it. Maura, the socially awkward woman that Jane had let get close to her, knowing every intimate detail about her.

"Hey, put that back! Maura gave that to me, I might use it to kill her some day."

It was with those words I realised she was what I needed. Not him. I mean, who keeps a jar of expired Marmite for 5 years just because your friend gave it to them? And who gets annoyed when the person you just slept with tries to get rid of it? Someone in love. Someone utterly and hopelessly in love.

Now I stood at Maura's front door trying to muster up the courage to knock on her door and try to repeat the words I was rehearsing in the car. I finally knocked, jar of Marmite in hand. My stomach kept tensing but I had to do this after all these years. Maura answered the door with a smile on that adorable face of hers.

"Jane, hey come in." Maura said giving me those butterflies in my stomach. Okay, it was time to do this. To finally come clean and just do it. I was trying to psych myself up for what was to come.

"Hey, can I talk to you? I asked, my feet doing this weird shuffle on the ground.

"Yes, of course you can." Maura's brow furrowed a little and she put her arm around my shoulders, leading me to the couch. "Are you okay Jane?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm uh fine. I've just realised a few things." I sat down on the couch, well more like plonked myself on it and watched the ever graceful Maura sit down right next to me smoothly.

"Go on?" Maura put her hands on top of my right one.

Okay, Jane... You can do this... I lifted my left hand showing her the Marmite. "Do you know what this is?" I swallowed a little hoping I wouldn't mess this up. My head told me to run away but my heart begged me to stay and for once, I listened to my heart.

"It appears to be a jar of Marmite. A yeast spread commonly used on toast. There are commonly two variations. The original British version and a modified Australasia version. Why are you showing me this?" Maura looked so confused and I couldn't help but smile at the way she was able to sprout out these facts like a walking Encylopedia.

"It's not what it is, it's what it means. It's special." There was an uneasy smile plastered on my face.

"How? What makes it special?" Maura looked even more confused.

"It's the one you gave me 5 years ago." I confessed setting it down so I could put my hand on top of Maura's.

"You still have that?" A grin appeared on Maura's face. "I gave that to you as a house warming present."

"Yeah, I still have it. Casey tried to throw it away before and it annoyed me. He went through my cupboards." Maura was looking right at me, her eyes burning passionately into mine. "He tried to say he'd replace it, he'd buy me one but I didn't want that. It was like he was trying to say he wanted to replace you and no one could ever do that, Maur. No one can replace you. Ever."

"Jane? What are you trying to say?" Maura edged closer to me, our thighs touching and the contact started the next wave of butterflies flying around in my stomach.

"This is the first thing you ever gave me, Maur. And today Casey told me he was going back to Afghanistan and I was... I was relieved. I know that sounds awful but this jar of Marmite made me realise something." I avoided eye contact as I looked down.

"What did you realise Jane?"

"I realised... That... I thought Casey was what I wanted, but he isn't what I need, Maura. You're... You. You are who I want and who I need. You are the one that takes care of me and vice-versa. I guess what I'm trying to, uh, say is... I love you." Slowly my eyes rose up onto Maura's face and thankfully it wasn't a frown I was greeted with but a huge grin.

"I've been waiting 5 years to hear you say that, Jane." Maura said in a whisper, moving impossibly closer to me. I returned the grin as my face neared her, our lips crashing together for our first kiss but definitely not our last.

End

I couldn't help it after watching the new episode of Rizzoli & Isles... So, there you go. Some fluff for you all, which is rare to read from me!

Thanks to you all for reading,

Crystal. (SleaterKinney)