A/N: The only reason this fic was written was so that I could write this authors note for my few loyal readers. Unless something happens that makes me regain my confidence in my writing abilities, this will be the last fic I post. That being said, if you think I'm a good writer please tell me why because I really don't want to stop but I currently feel it pointless to continue. Thank you.

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Maura sat on the mattress in Jane's living room, supporting her body weight with one hand while holding a glass of wine in the other. "Are you starting to like Pinot Noir more?"

"No." She laughed, laying down flat on the bare mass of fabric and springs. She reached over and set her glass down as she continued to speak. "Frost and Frankie drank all the beer."

"Too bad. Hey maybe you'll get a new neighbor and Frankie and Frost'll help you move this mattress to your bedroom."

"It would be really nice. Cause the traffic is really loud out here."

"You did good work today."

She moved her head to the side to put Maura in view but, as she did not lift her head, she could only see the woman's lower half. "Thanks." She half-whispered. "At least Anja didn't die in vain, you know. Leia gets to stay here in Boston and go to college."

"I just think that it's so disgusting that they put her in a wedding gown to auction her off."

"That's the part that disgusts you?" She asked incredulously.

"No. All of it disgusts me." She settled in on the bed next to the woman after placing her glass on the floor. She put her hand behind her head before speaking again. "So you must have had a wedding fantasy when you were little."

Jane laughed, giving a clear answer.

"Come on, every little girl has one!"

One could almost hear the eye roll in her sigh. "Okay, it wasn't really a fantasy. It was… I had this dumb idea that-" She paused to look over. When Maura returned the look, she faced her head forward again and continued. "I would say my vows at Fenway over home plate. In a Red Sox jersey." She winced, expecting a bad reaction from the doctor next to her. She wasn't too surprised to hear laughter a beat later.

"It's not dumb." Maura tried to reassure her. "It's not exactly elegant but… at least it's colorful." Laughs emanated from the pair once again.

Jane continued describing her dream wedding. "We would have the reception over the pitcher's mound. We'd serve foot-long hotdogs, frozen lemonade. And guests would throw peanuts at us instead of rice."

"Can I come?"

"Maybe." Turning to the side, she saw the other woman gazing up at the ceiling, her light brown hair in waves against the mattress.

"A Red Sox jersey?" The fashion headed woman questioned. She wasn't even sure she would wear one at a baseball game, let alone a wedding.

"Okay, you're in my fantasy, you cannot tell me what to wear!" She yelled but then laughed.

Maura laughed right along with her and then turned her body to her left. She reached out her arm and stopped just before her finger would touch the other woman's skin. Her pointer finger extended and pressed against the soft flesh of the detective's arm, immediately causing goosebumps to form on the, now shivering, skin.

The silence was tense but in no way awkward. Neither woman knew what to say in that moment but there was clearly something that hinted at intentions past friendship.

Jane gulped her nervousness away and hesitantly spoke, ruining the intimate atmosphere. "What makes you think you wouldn't be allowed to come, Maura?"

She shrugged. "You never know. Fenway would be expensive to rent out. So… maybe you would only want it to be family."

"How many times do I have to tell you that you are family. Even my Ma thinks so and, trust me, it takes a lot for her to consider someone family."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Remember Frankie's ex? She was his longest relationship and not once did she consider her family."

"Well Teresa was a bit of a bitch." Maura said without even a hint of her recently developing sarcasm ability. She remembered very well what it was like when that woman was visiting.

Jane just laughed and continued with her train of thought. "Look, the only reason why I wouldn't invite you to my wedding is if you were standing across from me at the altar."

"I'm not invited to my own wedding?"

"Maura." She sighed. "You know you're invited the minute I propose to you."

"Oh, and when will this be?" She asked with a smirk playing on her lips.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Of course."

"Fine." She sighed and sat up. After taking another sip of wine she rubbed her chin in thought, trying to create the perfect back story to their fictional wedding. "It's just after our fiftieth case together and we go out to celebrate at the Dirty Robber-"

"Of course." She interrupted, amused.

"-and order our usual meals. After you finish your first glass of whatever wine goes best with the chicken you get, I get down on one knee and ask you to marry me. You say yes, of course, and everyone in the bar cheers. The end." She smiles triumphantly at her plausible scenario.

Maura sat up and looked at the other woman. "One question."

"Yeah?"

"Why are you the one to propose?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just because you're arguably the 'butch-er' one in the relationship, doesn't mean that you need to propose. I could probably think of a dozen better scenarios then the one that you came up with."

Eyebrows up and arms crossed, Jane gave her a pointed look. "Alright then, go ahead." This should be interesting, she thought.

The Irish woman took a long breath of air in and formulated her thoughts. After a couple of seconds, she was ready. "Well, first of all I would make it as much of a surprise as I could. And, considering your background I would assume that a small scale, family and friends only type affair would be best. So, I would recruit your brothers, mother, and a few of our coworkers to make it as special as possible. We would come up with something together, perhaps shut down the power to the homicide unit during a slow day, and have you come, unknowingly, to a place that was already set up. Then I'd let you wonder for a little bit, maybe lead you onto thinking it was a surprise for something else. And then I'd get down on one knee and propose. Of course, knowing our luck, I'd probably wind up proposing when you're in the hospital after a particularly bad case." She laughed, then, noticing the look on the other woman's face, quirked an eyebrow up in slight confusion. "What's that frown for?"

"I like it." She sighed. "Your version is better and I'm not happy about it."

Joe Friday looked up, startled, as a loud and sudden laugh came from the shorter woman. She decided it was best to go into another room for the time being and slowly inched her way into the bedroom. Before crossing the threshold, however, she shot a sympathetic glance at Watson's cage, knowing the poor little guy couldn't escape.

"You're just jealous I'm a better storyteller than you."

The frown deepened and she resisted the urge to bare her fangs. "Maybe on the spot. But give me time and I'll blow you out of the water."

"Okay… go ahead."

"Now? I said give me time! Why don't we talk more about the wedding?" Jane had to stop there and think about what she said. Never in her life did she think she would be having this conversation. Especially given the fact that she vowed she would never get married.

"I have a better idea," Maura grinned mischievously. "How about we act it out?" She was more excited than she should be but wasn't ashamed about that.

"Act it out?" She thought she knew what she meant but was a little afraid of where she was going with this.

"Act out our wedding fantasies with each other! It could be fun!"

"Act out our fantasies? Maura, I'm sorry but that sounds a little… gay."

"Not… I didn't mean we would be fully committed to the roles just… just a little thing. Come on, Jane, you know I didn't have a best friend to do this with when I was younger!"

"Why don't I just buy you a copy of The Sims and you can make all the weddings you want?" She joked but the look on her face made her realize Maura didn't see it as such. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry." She sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

"I'll be the bride and you be the groom!"

"I don't have to wear a tux, do I?"

"Well…" She mulled it over for a moment. "It would make things more realistic."

"You want realistic? Why don't I just grow a penis? We can recreate the wedding night!" She blushed as that image came to mind the instant the words came out of her mouth and she had to shake her head to eradicate it. It didn't work, however, and she was stuck with a rather X-rated scene starring herself and the woman standing across from her.

"Jane!" Maura laughed. "I didn't mean… I…" She paused, unable to even think of what she was trying to say, as a very similar scene was playing in her own mind's eye. "I never said that I was sure I would marry a man."

That definitely caught the Italian's attention. Once she was done picking her jaw off the floor, she spoke. "Are you trying to tell me something?" She spoke slowly, not entirely sure she heard what she thought she heard.

"I'm not gay, Jane. I just prescribe to the notion that women's sexualities are much more fluid than male's. It is within the realm of possibility that I fall in love with another female."

"Huh." She took in a deep breath as she was suddenly overcome with this emotion that she couldn't identify. The last time she felt something like this was in high school when Steve asked her to go see a movie with him. But this was completely different, right? Right? She was starting to really doubt that.

"Jane?"

"I, uh… sure. It could be fun. As long as I don't have to wear a dress."

It was as if that was the secret code phrase of the day, making Maura jump up and squeal in happiness. She dragged Jane up and off the mattress. "Okay, we need to set this place up."

"To role-play?" The incredulous tone from the detective was met with a sharp glare. She shut her lips immediately and let her do whatever it was she wanted.

When all was said and done fifteen minutes later, there were bed sheets on Maura, pinned in a way to mimic dresses complete with a train, though it was nowhere near the twenty feet she had in her own fantasy, while Jane simply donned one of her Red Sox jerseys. Joe was dressed up in her Darth Vader costume from last Halloween since it was the closest thing they had to the black robes of a preacher. Last but not least, Watson had a small pillow secured to his back with two twist ties fashioned into rings atop it.

Jane was placed next to Joe at the end of her very small hallway. Once the verbal cue was given, she pressed the play button on her phone where she had already cued up the wedding march. She shook her head at the absurdity of what they were doing and then froze. When Maura walked towards her she couldn't think properly. Sure she wasn't even in a proper dress but the sight still gave her butterflies

As soon as Maura stopped beside the other woman her face gave an indication that she had forgotten something.

"What's wrong?"

"Joe can't talk…"

"Sure she can!" She turned to the canine and smiled. "Joe, speak." A high pitched park erupted from the small animal.

"That's not what I meant." She responded wryly.

Jane just laughed.

"What?"

"Did you really expect her to say anything?"

She shook her head. "Of course not. But I guess this was a pretty stupid idea. We should have found someone else. I'm sure your mother would be willing to-"

"Or we can skip to the vows?" The darker haired woman suggested, cutting her off. She definitely didn't want to bring anyone else in right now. Especially not her mother.

"Okay, sounds good to me." She nodded to the other woman. "You can go first."

"Uh…" Her mind blanked as she never really paid attention to anything wedding related so she wasn't really sure what to say. She tried to think back to her time in Catholic school where they were learning about the tradition of a catholic wedding and just decided to do the best she could about remembering. "I, Jane, take you, Maura, to be my wife. To half and to hold, rich or poor, better or worse, until death do us part." She slipped one of the makeshift rings onto the other woman's finger, happy that her turn was over.

Maura, however, decided to be a bit more creative with her vows. She spoke "Jane, since the day I first saw you I knew you were the one, though it took me awhile to realize this. You have been amazing to me, even when I didn't deserve it." Tears started to prickle her eyes and she tried her best to hold them back. "I've never had a family like yours. I didn't know what it felt like to really have people you can go to, who you can count on, until I met you and all the wonderful people you've introduced me to. Jane, the only reason why I drag you to yoga and pester you about eating better is because I want you to live as long as possible so that I can be with you as long as possible. I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else but you and, with that, I gladly take you to be my wife." She punctuated her statement by putting the second twist-tie onto Jane's ring finger.

This caused her to frown. "That was… that wasn't fair." She wiped away a tear. "If I knew you were going to say something like that I – I… I want a do-over!"

The M.E. laughed, teasingly. "Too late."

"No… I… I need to say this."

The seriousness in her tone made Maura stop and give the other woman her full attention.

"I love you… I don't know when it happened or even just how deep I am but I love you and I honestly hope that one day this won't be pretend." She broke the fantasy but neither female cared.

The words made her tear ducts weaken which allowed for a steady stream to fall down her face and land on the floor. "Me too." The emotions from the day and, especially, the last few minutes, finally caught up with her and she allowed herself to be enveloped by Jane's strong and comforting embrace.

It didn't take too long for that action to not be enough for them and their years of pent up sexual tension. Jane made a move first, sliding over and covering Maura's body with her own. "So what do you think about not worrying where the mattress is for tonight and just have a little bit of fun on it?"

Maura smiled at the suggestive tone of voice and was about to lean up to kick start the evening's activities herself but then frowned.

"O-or not. We can always watch a movie or something." She backtracked.

"No. You're fine I just… I need to pee."

With that, Jane shifted to allow Maura free. She waited rather impatiently for a few seconds before getting an idea and grabbing her phone. After a quick Google search she found what she was after and threw her phone on the couch as soon as she heard the flush that signaled Maura was just about finished.

As soon as the other woman sat back down, Jane smiled and spoke. "Volley ten."

Sculpted eyebrows quirked upwards. "What?"

Jane's nose scrunched up as she realized she wasn't pronouncing it right. Since she tried another phrase instead. "Nugget to volume?"

Maura smiled, finally understanding what she was trying to do. "If you're trying to speak Serbian, you're failing miserably."

Chocolate eyes rolled as a sigh came from the pouted mouth inches below them. "Google wasn't much help with pronouncing. It all sounded weird."

"I'll help you." She laughed. "The first one… I'm assuming you're trying to say 'I love you'?" A nod from the other woman told her to continue. "Volim te."

Jane tried herself, slowly. "Volim te."

"Good!" She clapped. "Okay, the next one is mnogo te volim."

"Nugget te volim."

The multi-lingual woman winced at the poor pronunciation.

"Close enough?" She hoped.

"Not really."

"Ugh, Maura! Just… never mind. I'll say it in plain ol' English. I love you." The words were simple yet extremely powerful and it never failed to amaze her at just how life changing such a simple phrase could change a life. Now, after seeing it affect everyone around her, she got to experience it for herself and she couldn't stop smiling at all the possibilities those three words held.

"I love you too." She was tempted to keep up with the foreign language theme and respond in another language she knew - perhaps French - but decided to be easy on her new love. After all she had all the time in the world for that. For now all she wished was to stay here and just forget about everything in the world. She didn't want anything to matter except the two of them right here, right now.

Jane smiled and leaned over, planting a powerful kiss on delicate lips. She reached up and cupped Maura's cheek and jaw ever so lightly with her hand, using it, and her other hand on the back of her neck, to push the woman beneath her into the kiss even more.

Maura's hands wandered as well. One found its way beneath the white tank-top and rubbed the taut skin of her abdomen before venturing anteriorly and disappearing even further from sigh under a sports bra.

As things started to heat up on the mattress in the middle of the living room, Joe Friday knew it was time to turn tail and head into the bedroom. She acknowledged that her owner needed some alone time with her new mate. She just wished she had someone here with her but, sadly, the only other living creature in the apartment was behind glass. But, anyway, if she was going to cuddle with a tortoise she'd rather it be Bass. She hadn't seen him in a while and was starting to miss him, even if he was a bit grumpy most of the time. The terrier curled up and put her snout on her paw. The last thoughts before she dozed off was wishing she had one of those special boxes the humans use to hear each other's voices so she could talk to her scaly friend a half a city away.