TITLE: Looking In

AUTHOR: coolbyrne

RATING: K

SUMMARY: After the debacle of The Dinner, Cavanaugh feels the need to apologize to Maura. By doing so, they find they have something in common. (Nothing like THAT! Lol!)

A/N: I like Cavanaugh. A lot. And I think it would make sense for him to approach Maura and apologize. I also like the idea that out of everyone who was at dinner, both he and Maura would share something that the others could not- they are both not family. So situations are often different when you're the outsider looking in. I like the idea of them bonding over that commonality, even if only briefly. Kudos to happycamper5 for the idea, the thoughts and the beta.

...

A light rapping on her door made Maura look up from her paper work. She was surprised at the visitor's identity.

"Lieutenant Cavanaugh," she greeted with a smile.

"Dr. Isles," he said in return, shifting slightly from one foot to the other. "I was wonderin' if I could talk to you for a minute. If you've got time."

His nervousness was apparent, and for a moment, her heart dropped.

The change on in her expression must have been obvious, because he quickly held up a hand. "She's fine," he said, not needing to elaborate. "Though this kinda has somethin' to do with her."

She pressed the palm of her hand against her chest and took a deep breath. "Of course," she replied, standing and gesturing to a nearby chair.

He stepped forward and looked at the piece of furniture, debating whether or not it would be better to simply stand. A concession of sorts was agreed upon, and he sat on the edge of the cushion, feet apart, hands hanging loosely between his knees.

"First of all," he began, straight to the point, "I just wanted to say 'thank you' for dinner the other night. It was real nice of you to open your home like that."

Maura sat down behind her desk and pulled her chair forward. "Please, there's no need to thank me," she said. "It was my pleasure. You and Angela are welcome any time."

"Yeah, well," he shrugged, "I still wanted to say 'thanks'. And I wanted to apologize, too."

Maura frowned. "I don't understand."

"For my behaviour," he explained. "It's just... some of the things Frank was sayin'... anyway, I was outta line and I'm sorry I made a bad situation worse."

"I don't think you were out of line, Lieutenant."

"Please, all things considered, you can call me 'Sean'."

"I don't think you were out of line, Sean," she repeated. "In fact, I should probably thank you."

His eyebrows rose. "What for?"

She straighted the papers on her desk as she struggled to know where to begin. "It will probably come as no surprise that my experience with that kind of dynamic is limited. The loudest noise at my family outings was the sound of the cutlery against the china." She looked up and saw him smiling at the image. Encouraged by his reaction, she continued. "I never really knew what a family dinner could be until I had one with the Rizzolis. It's fascinating and frightening all at once. But even I knew Frank had crossed a line. I just didn't know how to react."

"He shouldnt've given you a reason to react," Cavanaugh said gruffly.

She nodded. "Still, I froze. As an outsider, I didn't know if it was my place to say anything, or even what to say."

"Okay," he said leaning forward, "First, I don't wanna hear you say that. It was your house, you say or react any way you damn well please. Second, you're not an outsider. Angela loves you, so you never gotta worry about that."

Maura was warmed by his words. "That's a lovely thing to say, Sean. But I'm going to thank you anyway," she said with a smile. "You said exactly what I was thinking, and it put my mind at ease to know I wasn't alone in my thoughts."

"Those are three good kids," he said, "with a damn good mother. No one needed to hear the bullsh-...stuff that was comin' outta his mouth. And you've been real good to Angela, so if you took some comfort from what I did, I'm okay with that."

"You're a good man, Sean. The family is lucky to have you."

He looked down at his hands, avoiding her praise. "You've been good to me, too, Dr. Isles."

"All things considered," she said, repeating his earlier refrain, "you can call me 'Maura'."

He glanced up and smiled. "Maura. I never got a chance to thank you for... the thing with your old man." When he saw her confusion, he elaborated, "Not reportin' me. Makin' sure I was incapacitated long enough not to get into more trouble. Though you were sneaky about it," he smirked in admiration.

"Not sneaky enough to stop you from getting into trouble later," she recalled.

"Yeah, about that..." his gaze returned to his hands. "I guess I'm doin' a lot of apologizin' today. I owe you my career for what you did in that bathroom."

Shaking her head, Maura replied, "I had no idea if my words were going to be enough. You ended up saving yourself."

"Will you take credit for anything?" he asked with a sigh and a look.

She tilted her head to the side as if in thought. "Hmmm. I'll take credit for the venue, how does that sound?"

He shook his head and stood up. "You're a great woman, Dr. Isles." he remembered her words. "Maura. They're all lucky to have you in their lives."

She stood and made her way around her desk. With a touch on his arm, she said, "We're all lucky to have each other." The words settled gently between them. "Why don't we have dinner this weekend? Just the six of us?"

"That'd be great," he answered. "I look forward to it." As he turned to leave, the familiar face of his best detective appeared in the doorway. "Rizzoli," he greeted as he exited.

"Sir," Jane replied. When he was out of earshot, she whipped around to Maura. "What was that about?"

Unable to lie, but wanting to keep his confidence, Maura shrugged. "We were making dinner plans."

Raising an eyebrow, Jane repeated, "Dinner plans?"

"Yes. A family dinner this weekend."

"And that's all you were talking about?"

"Well, maybe we were talking about your mother."

Jane held up a hand. "Stop right there. I don't wanna know what my boss and my best friend were doing talking about my mother. God." She ended her diatribe with a shudder.

Maura laughed. "Then let's talk about dinner. You and me, if you're not busy."

"No," Jane replied, "once I get some brain bleach and scrub the image of Cavanaugh and Ma out of my head, my night's free. In fact, I came down to rescue you from this place. It's five o'clock. Get changed or whatever it is you do. Go." She shooed Maura away. "And make it quick - I'm not sitting in that chair."

...