After finishing a long case Jane headed over to Maura's place. Jane knocked a few times one the back door and then let herself in. Maura was sitting at the counter sipping a glass of red wine and flipping through a fashion magazine.

"Hey." Jane said dropping her keys on the counter top across from Maura and turning to the fridge for a cold beer.
"Hey." Maura replied not even looking up from her magazine. "How was your day?"
"Uneventful, yours?" Jane popped the top off her drink and leant against the island across from Maura.
"Rather interesting actually." Maura said, finally closing her magazine and setting it aside. "I saw some curious bone decomposition today. Bone doesn't naturally decay in the manner I saw it today. The evidence has lead me to believe that the body was disposed near or possibly preserved in some sort of chemical for an extended period of time."
" , are you guessing?" Jane teased as she took another drink from her beer.
"No, I'm simply creating a hypothesis using collected data." Mara replied a little offensively.
"You're gonna get hives." Jane remarked pointing a finger and indicating to her friend's chest. "C'mon lets watch a movie."

Jane walked over to the living room and grabbed the remote off the table before plopping herself down onto the couch. Maura followed the detective a moment later and set her glass of wine down on the table and fixed herself next to Jane. Jane put on a comedy figuring it would be something both the detective and medical examiner could enjoy. Jane kicked her boots off and draped her legs over Maura's lap while Maura grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch to cover both of their laps. Once their movie was over and they finished their drinks they decided to watch another movie since neither of them had to be anywhere anytime early the next day. Jane got up and took both their drinks to the kitchen while Maura searched for another movie to watch. On her way back to the couch the detective turned out the lights and placed herself back into the position she was before she had gotten up. The movie Maura had chosen was a classic, all about romance and the pressures of high society. Jane didn't care much for romantic films but she wasn't in any mood to fight her friend over it. They watched in quiet darkness as the movie played.

The next morning the detective woke up to sunlight hitting her face. She squinted and blinked a few times before opening her eyes and letting her sight adjust. She realized she was at Maura's and that she had probably fallen asleep while they were watching movies last night. Jane stretched trying to make the adjustment from sleeping to waking up when she noticed the weight against her side and over her legs. She looked down and noticed Maura had fallen asleep too. Maura's head was on her friend's stomach and the rest of her body curled up around Jane's side and legs. The detective smiled looking down at her friend thinking of how sweet Maura looked while she was peacefully asleep. She was glad Maura hadn't felt the need to leave the detective that night, she enjoyed waking up with her best friend at her side. Jane moved her hand to tuck a lock of Maura's hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear. The medical examiner suddenly stirred from the tickle of her hair being moved. Maura lifted herself off of her friend slightly and groggily wiped her eyes and mouth. Realizing where she was the medical examiner looked up at her friend and noticed she too was awake.

"Sorry, I think I drooled on you a little." She said giving her friend a slightly worried look.
"You left your DNA on me!?" Jane scoffed and smiled. "It's fine. A little drool never hurt anyone." The girls adjusted themselves so they were sitting upright.
"Are you hungry? I could make us some breakfast." Maura said already standing up prepared to make breakfast for the two as she often would when Jane stayed over.
"Nah, I've got to meet Frankie soon. I will take some Coffee though." Jane replied, running a hand through her hair. Maura nodded and got up to start working on making them some coffee.

While the water got hot the medical examiner stepped away to change. When she returned she was wearing her black yoga pants, a loosely fitting purple tank top, and her hair tied back. Having changed her clothes seemed to have helped perk Maura up. In the living room Jane was trying her best to stay awake. She decided to remake the couch, figuring that actual movement might help her stay up. The detective folded the blanket and laid it over the back of the couch before putting all the pillows, they had apparently thrown off to make extra room themselves, back onto the furniture.
"So what do you and Frankie have planned for today?" Maura asked returning to the living room with coffee in hand for both herself and her friend.
"I promised him we'd go to the range." Jane replied taking the other mug of coffee from the medical examiners hand. Jane took a slow sip from her coffee and made a sigh of relief. "Thank you." She said looking at her friend who was smiling back at her.
"You're welcome." Maura said before taking a drink of her own.
"You got any plans for today?" Jane asked Maura.
"Yoga, then probably tiding the place up a little, but other than that I have no plans."
Jane looked around at her friend's seemingly spotless house.
"Oh yeah, this place is a real pig sty." She said rolling her eyes and taking another drink from her mug. Maura playfully tapped her friends arm and then made a small laugh. "Well I'm not going to be busy all day either. Want to hang out again tonight?" Jane asked. "We could order a pizza, have a few drinks, Watch more movies."
"Sure." Maura said. Just text me and let me know when you're headed over."
"Aright." Jane said sounding a little more perked up now that she'd had coffee and a full day of plans ahead of her. "Well I should go. I'm already running a little late and I still need to get home and change." Jane set her mug on the table and slipped her boots back on before getting up to leave. "Thanks again for the coffee and letting me crash on your couch."
"Really, it's no inconvenience." Came the medical examiners reply. Jane walked past Maura giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze before she headed for keys on the counter.
"I'll text you when I'm on my way back." Jane said picking up her keys and with a few more strides she was out the door.

That afternoon all Maura could think about was the night before. Jane stayed at her place from time to time and they had even shared a bed on more than one occasion, but every morning after it left her with a little sadness. Maura was aware of her feelings for Jane and that her feelings for her friend always had a tendency to manifest themselves whenever Jane stayed the night. Over the years medical examiner realized, as cliché as it may seem, that even though she loved Jane as more than a friend she loved her as a best friend more and couldn't process the thought of possibly losing her. Besides Maura know that Jane loves Casey and she would never want to get in the way of that. The medical examiner knew how to handle her feelings about Jane though. She usually just push Jane towards attractive men they would meet. Maura would even set up double dates so that Jane would never suspect the medical examiners feelings for her. Not that Maura wasn't attracted to the men she would meet. She enjoyed meeting men who were cultured or even just extremely attractive. Sex is a physiological need that most people have and she would get her fix when it was needed but really finding a male she cared for was easier said than done. All the men she met usually wound up trying to kill her for one reason or another. Jane was always the one to rescue her and for that she was grateful, her best friend always proved to be her hero. The detective was intuitive, compassionate, and charismatic, Maura was not at all surprised when she realized what her feelings for Jane really were. She had dreams where Jane would come to her rescue and hold her closely and tell Maura that she loved her before catching her lips in a fiery kiss.

Maura shook her head to clear her thoughts. She couldn't let herself fixate on the idea of what COULD be, knowing that her chances were very small. Jane was her friend and that would have to be good enough for her. Maura couldn't picture her life without Jane in it. Even when they fought at times Maura was usually the first to want to cave because her friend was too important to her to and she knew how short life could be so she never saw a point to staying mad at a person for too long. Maura mentally prepared herself for the evening, she would make sure to ask Jane about Casey and hope that the bitter sting of jealousy wouldn't be too bad. The medical examiner finished yoga and cleaning around her home just before noon. After building up a sweat from both activities she decided to take a shower and afterwards maybe do some light reading or do some browsing on the internet. She figured the rest of her day would fall into place while she waited for her evening plans.

Jane had rushed home, peeling out of her clothes from the day before on her way to her bathroom to take a shower. She was running late and knew Frankie would be there any minute. She finished in the shower and grabbed the first few items of clothing she saw. Jane jumped into a pair of her favorite jeans and struggled getting into her bra. Her back was still wet from the shower causing the straps from her bra to get tangled. A few knocks on her door got the detectives attention as she realized her brother must already be there. "Be there in a minute!" Jane called from her bed room. She managed to untangle the back of her bra and accidently snapped her back. "Ouch! Shit!" She hissed to herself. The detective grabbed her grey B.P.D. t-shirt and started walking towards the door, managing to get her shirt completely on before swinging her door wide open.

"You're not ready to go?" Frankie asked judging by his sisters sopping wet hair and her lack of sock, shoes, and usual range gear.
"Uh, No. Didn't have a whole lot of time this morning." She said heading back to her room to grab socks and a pair of shoes. Frankie walked in and took a seat on the couch while he waited. "Have a 'long' night." The younger detective tried to tease. Jane came back in and whacked her brother on the side of the head with her balled up socks.
"Would you really want to know if I did have a 'long' night?" Jane said plopping herself down on the chair across from him and continuing to get dressed. Frankie shifted uncomfortably. "On second thought let's forget I said anything." He said. Jane laughed at her brother's obvious discomfort and finished with her shoes before standing up and grabbing the rest of her belongings. "So why are you so late this morning?" Her brother asked again.
"Fell asleep at Maura's last night, didn't set an alarm, got here as fast as I could." She said tucking her belongings into her pockets and quickly tied her hair back and out of her face.
"You ready?" Frankie asked heading towards the door.
"Yup!" Jane replied holstering her gun and shutting the door behind them.

Jane and Frankie spent a few hours down at the firing range and afterwards decided to grab some lunch. They headed to one of their favorite spots nearby. A little food truck that served things like burgers, hot dogs, and nachos. The Rizzoli siblings ordered up some hot dogs and cokes and decided to split a large container of fries. They sat down with their food at the closets table they could find and made themselves comfortable before digging in.

"So what did you and Maura do last night?" Frankie asked before taking a bite of his food. Jane had already dove into her food and was in the middle of chewing a large bite when her brother asked her. Once the detective had finished her bite she shrugged and replied.
"I just came over after work. There was nothing better to do at my place. We fell asleep on the couch watching movies though." Jane added with a small laugh. She quickly dismissed her wandering thoughts of her friend sleeping on her and started to ask her brother about work but was stopped before she could get more than two words out.
"Wait." Frankie said cocking his head to the side slightly, wearing a sly smile. "You BOTH fell asleep on the couch?" he asked. Frankie knew Maura and his sister were close, they were best friends, best friends are supposed to be close. The younger detective also knew the difference between being gay WITH your friends and being gay FOR your friends. He loved his sister and he loved Maura and he'd seen the way they stared at each other and the way their touches linger just a little longer than most do. Frankie was sure there was something more going on between the two women, but he wasn't sure that either of them realized it.

"Well..yeah." Jane replied looking a little confused.
"Hmmm." Frankie smiled and took a drink of his coke trying to suppress his amusement.
"What?" Jane asked, sounding slightly irritated, putting her meal down.
"Hmmm?" Was her brothers only reply as he was still sipping his drink trying to avoid his sisters question.
"You've got a stupid smug smile on your face, what for?" Jane demanded.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Frankie said setting his drink down and still smiling.
"Yeah I'm sure you 'don't know' anything" The detective mocked her younger sibling and tossed a fry at him.
"Hey!" Frankie barked. "If you're gonna throw fries at least let me try to catch them with my mouth."

The two finished their meal and reminisced about when they were kids for a while. Afterwards Frankie drove Jane back to her condo. They conversed about work and other things like 'If you could only have one super power, what would it be?' on the way back. Frankie decided he'd want super strength, both for practical use and to impress the ladies. Jane chose the ability to make people tell the truth, saying that it would save her a whole lot of trouble if she could just make suspects give themselves up instead of having to dig to figure it out. Frankie parked in front of Jane's place and turned to his older sister.
"Hey Jane. Do you love Maura?" He asked gently unsure of how his sister would take it.
"Of course." Jane replied giving her brother the same look of confusion she wore earlier.
"Nah, I don't mean that way." He said. "I know you love her, we all love her. Do you LOVE her, love her."

Jane sat quietly staring at her brother letting what he had just asked really sink in. She knew she loved her friend as a friend but there was something about the young detective's question that really hit Jane. Maybe she did love Maura as more than a friend. She quickly thought back to all the times she'd been there for Maura when her friend really needed her and how protective she felt over the medical examiner.
"Jane!" Frankie said almost shouting. Jane blinked and looked at her brother rather irritated that he was raising his voice when she was sitting right next to him.
"What?" Jane replied with an annoyed tone.
"Sorry, you've just been staring into space for about two minutes. I was waiting for an answer." He said apologetically. Jane looked away from her brother trying to avoid his gaze then looked back a moment later. "Oh course not." Came her reply. "She's my best friend. I'd do anything to protect her but no. I love Casey, you know that. Besides I'm not a lesbian."
"No, I know. It's just…It's just I know how important she is to you."
Jane nodded but didn't have anything else to say.

"Ok well, here's your stop. Now get out of my car." Frankie said with a playful shove. Jane laughed and shoved her brother back before getting out of the car and closing the door. Frankie rolled down his passenger window and leaned over.
"Love ya, see ya tomorrow." He said trying fix any pain he may have caused his sister.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Love you too." Jane said with a light laugh, turning to walk away.
"Oh, Jane!" Frankie said grabbing his sister's attention one last time. The detective turned back and stared at her brother. "You know, there's no law that says two straight women couldn't fall for each other." With a wave and a chuckle the younger detective sped off down the road. Jane turned and headed inside replaying her brothers final words in her head as she made her way upstairs.