Disclaimer: I don't own Rizzoli and Isles or anything that relates to the show or book series. All of that belongs to their respective copyright holders.
AN: Hey y'all! Yes, I am back again already. Sometimes I write things for my readers for their birthdays. Well this year I decided that since I haven't had the chance to write a lot I was going to write something and post it on my birthday for myself. So, what better way than to pull up an old photo I had of a turtle/tortoise in a party hat and decide to write another little one shot to go with my Bass Daddy series. Don't worry if you haven't read the other couple of stories that are in this series, you should be able to understand 99% of everything happening. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!
She was sitting at her desk. She was just finishing off paperwork when her phone chimed. She looked down at her phone instinctively to check who it was from, even though she was already fairly confident. It was Jane.
Maura couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips and she picked up her phone to see what it was that Jane needed. She also couldn't help the slight smile that played across her face when she noticed that it was a picture; though it was more the contents of the photo that had her smiling than the fact that it came from Jane.
The photo was one of Bass Junior, still to this day she cringed about the fact that she had given into Jane and allowed her to keep calling him that rather than Cyril which she preferred, and he was wearing a small party hat. Just then a new message came up underneath. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Bass Junior wanted you to know that he didn't forget. Then another message came in right after, I'm sorry that I did.
Maura clicked the button to lock her phone and laid it down on her desk once more. Jane had apologized more already today than she could count. She wasn't even all that upset over the fact that Jane had forgotten her birthday; it was bothering her more that Jane was making such a big deal of it.
Their day hadn't started under the best circumstances anyway. Even though they weren't meant to be the ones on call today, they were woken from their sleep a couple of hours early for a homicide that had occurred during the night. The victim was found by the refuse collectors that were out making their morning pickups at businesses.
Jane had come down to the lab to check on the progress of the autopsy and saw the decorations on her desk and everything had spiraled, as Jane liked to say, from there. Jane had questioned why it was that she didn't remind her about it, but the truth was she wasn't sure that Jane would want to know the answer. So, instead of answering her she convinced Jane that everything was going to be fine and that they would discuss it that evening when she got home.
She was realizing now that she had probably just made things worse by telling Jane that. She was getting messages every hour or so that has some kind of birthday note in it that was followed by an apology for forgetting her birthday.
Maura did have to admit though that it was a bit cute that Jane was trying so hard to apologize that she had roped their baby tortoises into it. She was curious to find out how Jane had a party had to go on Bass Junior. She decided that she did need to get home to Jane as soon as she could to explain everything to her, so she turned her attention back to the paperwork she needed to get done for this case.
R&I
Jane stood around and looked at the work that she and everyone else had done. She was happy with it. Now if Maura would just get done with her paperwork and come home so that they could surprise her everything would be perfect.
She had been planning the surprise dinner party for a couple of weeks. She would have gone to greater lengths if she thought that a really fancy party was something that Maura wanted. However, Maura was the type of woman that even though she could have the fanciest things in the world she preferred the simple things instead.
So, when it came to planning the party she kept it simple, and rather small. She had asked her Ma if she would mind making a light meal that Maura would like. Of course, her mother had practically laid out a three course meal for the eight people who were invited. The fact that Korsak now owned a bar meant that the drinks were easy to take care of as well. Outside of that there was just a cake and the decorations to worry about.
She'd even gone so far as pretending to have forgotten Maura's birthday so that the surprise party would work. And since Maura hadn't brought it up yet it didn't seem like anyone had spoiled the surprise. At this point she was starting to rethink all of the apology messages she'd sent to Maura throughout the day; that was probably trying to lay it on a bit too thick.
She hadn't been able to resist that last one though. She'd come up with the crazy idea of getting party hats for the turtles when she first decided to plan the party. Of course, it hadn't been easy coming up with hats for them. It wasn't like she could just run out to the store and buy them. So, she had been sneaking off to the spare room when Maura wasn't home and getting into some of her arts and crafts supplies that she kept around. While they probably weren't the best things in the world she'd managed to fashion up a couple of hats that would do the trick and she actually got them to stay on the turtles. Well, at least long enough to get a picture of them. There were no guarantees on if they'd be on by the time that Maura got there for the party.
"Okay guys, she addressed everyone. Maura should be home pretty soon so just grab a drink and grab a place to sit. I don't think there's any reason to really worry about trying to hide. We're just going to dim the lights since she knows that I'll be here and you can just say surprise when she comes in."
Everyone nodded and scattered throughout the kitchen and living room to make themselves comfortable before Maura made it home. Jane busied herself with turning out some of the lights that they had turned on while decorating. After she felt that she'd turned out enough lights so Maura wouldn't seem people all over their house she went over to the aquarium where they had Clea and Bass Junior. Clea still had her party hat on, so at least Maura would have a chance to see that since she'd already seen Bass Junior's. "Your Mom should be home soon guys so be ready to surprise her."
"Speaking of Maura, where is she?" Jane asked herself and she pulled out her phone to check the time. She made her way over to the one person who would have had the most contact with her girlfriend.
"Kent," she said when she got close to where he was on the couch, "How did Maura seem when you left work to come here?"
"Uh, she… she seemed okay," he stuttered.
Jane raised an eyebrow at the words.
"No, really," he insisted. "She was quiet for most of the day really, but she wasn't really off or anything. That I noticed."
"Okay," Jane said. "Maybe her paperwork is just taking a bit longer than usual." She paused and listened for a moment. "Hang on that sounds like her car pulling in the drive now."
Jane moved over into the kitchen so that she could peer out one of the windows that faced the driveway. "Alright everyone, she's here." Everyone stayed where they were at and waited. It took a couple of minutes, but finally she was about ready to open the door.
R&I
"Surprise!" she heard some people shout as she opened the door. She took a step back startled for a moment. When she looked around she realized that all of the friends and colleagues from work were in the house.
Maura began to set her things down and prepared herself for what was going on around her. It appeared as though Jane had planned a last minute surprise party to try and make up for the fact that she had forgotten her birthday. Or Jane had planned the party in advance and tried to cover for the party by pretending to forget. She plastered one of her polite smiles on her face as she prepared for what was to come.
"Hey babe," Jane said as she wrapped one arm around Maura and held out a glass of red wine in the other. "Surprise."
"Thank you," Maura mumbled as they started to head towards the others.
"Happy Birthday!" Everyone started to say as they got close.
"Thank you," Maura seemed to keep repeating.
Jane turned to her. "So, this is somewhat of a surprise dinner party. Ma made dinner and then there's cake and presents."
"If you all will give me a few minutes I would like to speak to Jane alone."
Everyone in the room looked at each other, but all nodded your head in agreement.
"Maura what's going on?" Jane asked as Maura took her by the hand and lead her down the hall to the room that she used as an office.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Maura replied in a hushed whisper as she closed the door to the office.
"What do you mean?"
Maura sighed. "Jane what has been going on? I mean this whole day you've been acting like you forgot my birthday, something that didn't really bother me, and yet I come home to find what appears to be a well-planned surprise party for me in our house."
"Okay, so maybe the best way to throw suspicion off about the party wasn't to pretend like I forgot your birthday." Jane paused as a light seemed to go off in her head. "Hang on, what do you mean that it didn't really bother you that I had forgotten your birthday?"
Maura clasped her hands together as she paced a few steps away from Jane. By the time she was the few steps away her hands were worrying the rings that she wore. "That's what I was going to talk to you about tonight when I came home."
"It didn't bother you at all that I forgot your birthday?" Jane questioned as she folded her arms across her chest. Maura could tell this wasn't the reaction that she had been expecting.
Maura's eyes fluttered down to the carpeting on the floor momentarily before settling on Jane. "It's not that it didn't bother me at all. It did," she admitted. "But only slightly. I was rather confused as to why you kept apologizing today."
"I knew I had overdone it," Jane commented. She was silenced by the look on Maura's face.
"Jane you have to understand something though. I know that when you grew up your birthday was a big thing celebrated by your whole family, but like so many things in our lives mine was the complete opposite." Maura paced a few more steps before turning back to Jane. "Typically my parents were gone and everyone else in my life was just polite about it being my birthday. It wasn't something that came along with a big celebration or cake and presents. To me it was just another day in the year."
"Yeah, I know," Jane said as her thumb came up to her mouth and she chewed slightly on the edge of her nail. "That's why I kind of want to make them special though, ya know?"
Maura nodded. "I know, Jane. And you have. Honestly though, I am fine with having a birthday that is just the two of us. Whether we were to spend it by going out to dinner, or even just here ordering takeout and watching a movie I would love it. I would love it because I am getting to spend time with the person that is the most important to me in the world."
"Aww, Maur," Jane said as she closed the distance between them and pulled her girlfriend in for a hug. "It's your birthday; I'm supposed to be the one saying sweet things that are all sappy."
She knew that Jane had said that to add a moment of levity, and it had worked. They both laughed and Maura leaned in and placed a soft, chaste kiss on Jane's lips.
"I think we should probably be getting back out there. Otherwise Ma kind head this way to make sure that we're not having a party of our own." Jane waggled her eyebrows suggestively as she once again laughed.
"Oh there will be plenty of time for that," Maura replied suggestively as her voice dropped quite a bit lower. "Of course there would be even more time for it if we didn't have half a dozen people out there waiting for us."
Jane narrowed her eyes at Maura. "You are so mean sometimes."
"You're the one who decided to plan a surprise party."
"Yeah, yeah," Jane replied as she started to open the office door. "But they are here now and the food is ready so we might as well eat. We'll make the rest of the evening quick so that we can get back to other things."
"Sounds good to me," Maura replied as she stepped past Jane and out of the office.
A short trip back down the hallway ad they found everyone else waiting in the living room having a chatting about different subjects with each other. "There you two are," Angela said as they joined the rest of the group. We were starting to wonder if you'd snuck off and were going to leave us here to fend for ourselves."
"Really, Ma?" Jane said sounding somewhat exasperated with her mother. "Like we would run off and leave all of you to finish off the amazing food that you prepared. Not a chance."
"That sounds like my Janie," Angela replied, rolling her eyes. "What do you say we not waste any more time and back to the birthday party we are supposed to be having?"
Everyone verbally added their agreement to Angela's and they all got up from their places to make their way to the dining room. Jane and Maura trailed the rest of the group. "Oh, I almost forgot. I wanted to show you something before we eat."
Maura felt Jane take her hand and they made their way over to the aquarium where they kept the tortoises. She couldn't help but chuckle when she looked down in the aquarium and saw that Clea was also wearing a party had that looked similar to the one that Bass Junior had been wearing in the photo Jane had sent her earlier. "What is with putting party hats on our tortoises?"
Jane shrugged her shoulders. "It just seemed like they should get to join in on the festivities too, so I made them some party hats."
Maura laughed again and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. "And you say that I'm the strange one."
"Hey," Jane said somewhat broken up by her own laughter.
"I think we better get into the dining room before your mother sends out a search party."
Jane leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "That sounds good to me. Happy Birthday, Maur."
And that's all she wrote folks! Thanks for reading! As always I would love to hear anything that you have to say about the story so click in that little review box right down there and let me know what you thought.