Title: It Was Inevitable
Rating: Uh… sorry, let me show you a picture of the actresses…
Summary: Honestly, everyone probably assumed it was happening before it actually did.
Disclaimer: My fingers are itching to shave all those beards…
Author's Note: This is for Femslash February! Woohoo!
Detective Jane Rizzoli was intelligent – she had to be, with her job. Being able to read people, to figure out what they were thinking and feeling and when they were lying, was practically in the job description.
And yet, she hadn't seen this coming.
Next to her, Maura slept on, her skin glowing with sweat from their previous excursions. Her honey hair spilled around her and all over the pillow, silky and running through Jane's fingers like water. There was a look of peace on the medical examiner's face that had been missing earlier that day.
"Why do you do it, Jane? Why? Why do you drop everything and settle for men who don't know you, who don't love you the way they should?"
Jane scooted a little closer, watching the play of shadow and moonlight on her best friend's face. Sleeping together didn't change that – they were still best friends, just… lovers now, as well. One didn't cancel out the other.
"What are you asking, Maur? That I just wait around for a Prince Charming that's never going to show up?"
"You deserve so much more, Jane. You are intelligent and beautiful and brave and selfless and caring and responsible and you deserve someone who knows that. You deserve someone who knows that your favorite beer is Blue Moon and that you hate salad and that you love your family more than anything and that you never miss an episode of Shark Week or a Red Sox game and–"
They'd passed out right afterwards, putting on pajamas the last thing on their minds, so Maura was still blissfully naked. Jane settled in next to her, wrapping herself around Maura and burying her nose in that soft hair to pick up the luxurious scent of her.
"Maura, calm down."
"I will not!"
"Why the hell not?"
"Because if I can't love you, then someone else should!"
Maura stirred, tilting her head and opening her eyes, blinking away the sleep. "Nightmares?" She inquired softly.
Jane shook her head. "Just admiring you."
Maura blushed, curling around Jane so that their limbs were hopelessly entangled, nosing at the underside of Jane's jaw like a slinky cat. Jane swallowed; feeling Maura's love like it was heat, radiating out from her.
"Whoever said you couldn't?"
"You… you never…"
"I never thought I had a chance."
Kissing Maura had been like kissing a star: bright, hot, clean and so pure it was beyond anything she'd ever felt before. Maura kissed like she was drowning and it was the only way to get oxygen, her fingers clinging to Jane even as the rest of her body went limp. Maura had felt so small and fragile in her arms, like a work of art or a being of glass, something that might break in Jane's clumsy, scarred hands. But oh, Maura hadn't broken. She'd transformed, fluid and solid all at once, lava in Jane's hands as they pressed and arched and rocked together.
"You are beautiful, Jane."
"Jeez, Maur, don't say stuff like that."
"Why not? It's true."
Jane had never had someone so openly and verbally appreciate her in that way. Sure, men would say things like "fucking hot" or "so sexy, baby" (and oh how she hated that nickname!) but Maura called her "beautiful". Maura said she was "superlative" and "magnificent".
"You're thinking too much, Jane," Maura admonished, her lips trailing Jane's shoulder.
"I'm thinking about you," Jane replied.
If Jane had been a genius with words the way Maura was, she would have extolled Maura's virtues for days on end. But she wasn't, so she had worshipped the woman with her hands and mouth instead. Every gasp, every cry, was greedily absorbed and hoarded in Jane's memory bank. She didn't want to forget a single moment of it.
"God, Jane, please just… Jane! Jane! Oh–"
"You have to tell me what you want, Maur."
"I want– harder, you, harder deeper Jane!"
For once, Jane hadn't felt too manly or marginalized. She'd felt like everything she'd always pushed away as too masculine, too unattractive, were welcomed and celebrated by Maura. The blonde had honest-to-God writhed under Jane's touch, gripping her until half-crescent marks were left in Jane's shoulders and hips, crying out Jane's name over and over and over again.
"That… okay, that was…"
"Amazing. Jane, you are amazing."
"Maura–"
"Shh."
Jane looked down at the beautiful woman in her arms. "This won't change anything, will it?" She asked.
Maura raised her head a fraction. "Do you want it to?"
Jane shrugged. "I've been jokingly thinking I should just sell the apartment and move in since I spend all of my time here anyway, and Ma lives here… oh God, Ma!" Jane clapped a hand over her eyes. What would her mother say?
"I am certain your mother is already in support of our relationship," Maura noted, "Especially seeing as your brothers and the rest of the precinct have had a running pool on our relationship for quite some time now and your mother placed a bet."
Jane groaned. Everyone else had seen it before she had?
Maura gently removed Jane's hand from over her eyes, smiling down at her. Framed by the moonlight, Jane thought she even looked like a star now. How had she not known? How had she ever been able to look at this woman, the one who had stood by her through everything, loved her and cared for her and fought for her, grieved over her and with her and protected and defended her, no matter what Jane had done? The solution was so simple, so inevitable, like planets in orbit.
"How did I not see it?" She asked.
"Oh, Jane," Maura whispered. "What am I going to do with you?" She leaned down and pecked Jane on the nose. "Stop worrying about what was and appreciate what is."
"Which is…"
"That I love you." Maura nuzzled back into Jane, pressing their bodies together so that not an inch of space remained between them. "And I'm never letting you go, Detective Rizzoli."
Jane held onto Maura, and considered the idea that maybe she should accept good things when they happened, instead of finding every excuse to beat herself up.
"I love you too, Maur."
Could someone explain to me how the sappy feels keep sneaking into my stories? I'm trying to write smut here!
I appreciate reviews the way Maura appreciates wine!