There's a knock on the door behind her.

Jane softly answers with, "Come on in."

"Would the bride like a cup of coffee?"

Jane turns right around, and she has never beamed brighter.

Maura smiles in return, as she thinks to herself: She looks so happy.

"What are you doing here Maura?"

"I just wanted to make sure that the bride got her coffee," Maura smiles.

"Thank you!" Jane grins as she takes the cup of java from Maura. She takes a sip before she asks the question she doesn't want an answer to: "You really can't stay Maura?"

"I can't Jane, I've got to be at my mother's art exhibition," Maura holds the smile she has on, and fights the urge to tug at the scarf she had wrapped right around her neck - preventive measures, she had thought.

Jane takes in her best friend - her composure, her scarf to hide the peeking hives, that smile she has forcibly on. She keeps her own smile in place, as she swallows her sigh along with another coffee sip. "I'll see you back at work Maura?"

"I'll see you too Jane," Maura sends another smile and a pat to Jane's arm. Her fingers wish to linger, as they once could, as they used to; but not all wishes come true.

Jane catches hold of Maura's hand, and she runs her thumb across the back of Maura's hand, before letting go. Her own arm falls then limp to her side; she has to let her go.

But the words come out anyway.

"Stay Maura? It's not Fenway Park but - you can still come?"

Maura has a flashback, a memory, find its way back from its long since burial somewhere in her hippocampus - a moment once that would have allowed her to say yes, with no hesitation; a moment when she was the one lying next to her on a mattress.

But that time has since passed; it has come and gone, and her best friend looks happy, her best friend looks so happy.

"I'm not in the right clothes Jane," Maura lets out a laugh as she answers, because she can't choose either to stay or to go.

"You always look like you're ready for a photo shoot Maura," Jane wins the fight with herself as she steps forward with a smile, eager to reach out, "You'll be beautiful there, and I'd really like my best friend waiting for me down the aisle, and to stand by me at the altar as I -" she stops. She knows better, she has to know better, and she struggles with herself - she can only now force her feet to stay, and for her hands to cradle the cup of coffee she so requires. She smiles; because today's her wedding day. "I'm getting married Maura." She smiles; because her mother had made her put on mascara.

"I know Jane," Maura says as she brings her arms around Jane; she caught the micro expressions, the little tells Jane gives off when tears threaten to fall - Jane smiles that overly wide smile, and her fingers pick at either each other or the scars at the back of her hands, and she's doing them both, whilst compressing the coffee cup. "I know you are Jane, I know you are," she closes her eyes and fights back her own tears, and she tries to not allow her deluded mind to think that Jane's tearing because she's not with her; Jane doesn't love me the way I love her, a statement she keeps on replay after that night when she had said I love you to Jane and had gotten nothing back.

"I know you are Jane, and it's normal for brides to experience a surge of dopamine on their wedding day. You are allowed to get emotional Jane," she rubs her hand along Jane's back; a similar motion that Jane had used on her whenever she needed comfort.

"A bride can have happy tears on her wedding day Jane," she holds Jane closer to her and reminds herself how happy Jane had looked, "Even you can Jane, and I'm here," she promises, as she holds onto the memory of holding Jane, as she wills her hippocampus to capture the moment, "I'll stay," she decides, "I'll stay, because I'm never leaving you, and my best friend wants to get married with me by her." She forces herself to say; Jane's happiness always, and Jane looks so happy today.

Jane apologizes in her mind. Over and over, she repeats the words: I'm sorry Maura, but I need you to stay. Over and over, she apologizes to her best friend, as her arms refuse to stop hugging Maura, as her arms grow heavier and heavier along with the heaviness in her chest; she apologizes, and she knows she has to, but she holds onto Maura, she holds and keeps Maura close to her, instead of letting Maura go. I can hold her, I can hold my best friend, and I can get married today. She tells herself as she looks at the coffee cup Maura had handed her. You make me so happy, with or without coffee. You make me happy, with a cup of coffee. You keep me happy, just by being you, just by being here. Maura I love you too. She thinks it all silently to herself, as she takes in the many blessed and cherished moments of Maura hugging her. She smiles; because Maura said that she's here.

"I'll see you out there then?" Jane asks as she pulls herself away.

"I'll be right there Jane, I'll be right there down the aisle," Maura answers the best she can, her arms feeling empty without her best friend, without Jane wrapped around by them. "I'll tell Angela that you'll have your maid-of-honour present again," she smiles and focuses on the smile Jane has on.

She's happy, she's happy, she's so happy. Jane's happy. Maura tells repeatedly to herself; and she smiles, because when Jane's happy, she's happy.

"Thank you Maura, and would you want me to tell your mother that you can't make it to her art exhibit?" Jane resists the urge to grab onto the hand hovering close to her hand.

Maura smiles, and wonders for a moment if her scarf had shifted too much away from her neck area to provide ample cover. "I'll go tomorrow to her art exhibition," she allows herself to hold onto the hand so close to hers, "I'm here, for you Jane, and your wedding," she gives the hand she holds onto, one last firm and gentle squeeze. She holds onto it, for a second more, before she lets go; before she really has to let Jane go.

"It's almost time Jane," she smiles and starts to back away; her hand already starting to feel as if it's empty all over again, "And you look as gorgeous as always, my friend," her hand rests on the door knob, "You look happy Jane," she flashes her brightest and best smile before hurrying out the room; to put some solid distance between her and her best friend, the bride-to-be, Jane Rizzoli - soon Jane Jones.

Jane smiles; because Maura said that she's here, and that she's never leaving her.


A/N: Hi there, thank you, for the time~
Started out for self purposes (will touch on this in the last chapter), amended and now fuller of a story thanks to an idea by user saoulbete and, chapter two happened because of a post by the aforementioned user on Tumblr; and...if you've read till here, it's got to be clear (if I'm in any way good or coherent) that when genre denotes - hurt/comfort - I do mean, hurt and, in some ways, comfort.