This has taken me such a long time (I had a dissertation due in and started a new job!) but i got to the point where I'm still not 100% happy with it but just needed to leave it because I was just faffing! Hope y'all enjoy anyways :)

Side note: if anyone fancies being my beta i have a couple more stories on the go and would love someone to help me before I lose my mind!

LLBFFs (Because Science Doesn't Lie)

It all started on a Saturday.

And, really, that was ridiculous because Saturday's were Jane's nothing days. She didn't see anyone or do anything beyond sleeping most of the morning away and perhaps finally getting around to putting a load of laundry on (because, honestly, her six t-shirts and few pairs of underwear didn't stretch far).

But Jane Rizzoli could mark the exact moment that things had changed between her and the Chief Medical Examiner on an otherwise boring Saturday.

Maura Isles wasn't like anybody else, that was a fact Jane had noted from the moment she'd met the woman. She hadn't had many friends so often the boundaries of her friendship with Jane were non-existent- that was an understatement- which just made things confusing. They were best friends but also-

She didn't know. Maybe LLBFF's genuinely was the best way to describe them.

On that Saturday Maura had swept into Jane's apartment, interrupting the bout of nothing she was doing and somehow that thin boundary that separated their friendship from something more had been shattered.

Jane was accustomed to seeing Maura watch men with that look in her eyes; that look that said I'm picturing you naked and I like it with smouldering eyes and flirtatious compliments of their gluteus maximas or another scientific name for a part of their body she particularly admired. It would always pull a gravelly laugh from Jane's throat as she listened to her best friend express attraction to strangers in the gym (or where ever else they happened to be) and it never phased her because she was used to her friend's open expressions of sexuality (now) and so she usually just went with it.

What she was not used to, however, was Maura's directly flirtatious dimpled smile and hair flip and smouldering eyes directed at her. Maura Isles had waltzed into her apartment in a whirlwind of honey curls and Jimmy Choo heels (which were honestly too high) on an otherwise boring Saturday and things had changed.

But really, it all started on a Monday.

Monday~

It had been just over two weeks since Maura's mob-boss, ice-pick-wielding, biological father had kidnapped her (as momentarily as that was) and Jane had been attached to her hip every day since. She had all but moved into Maura's home and Maura wasn't even surprised when she would go to make her coffee in the mornings to find Jane sprawled out on the sofa, gun close at hand.

(At least she wasn't surprised after the first night- when she had let out a scream when Jane's head had popped up unexpectedly to demand coffee).

What Maura was surprised about, however, was the constant touching. In general Maura was the tactile one in their relationship. Jane, on the other hand, was not a touchy feely person ("I'm not a hugger," she had once said)but things had definitely changed since the kidnapping. Jane's hand was constantly lingering at the small of Maura's back as she ushered her from her car to the house; she would lean over her shoulder as she worked to murmur in her ear; she sat unreasonably close to her on the sofa as they drank wine (or beer) and chatted in the evenings. Her calloused and scarred palms even tucked locks of hair behind Maura's ears, before she'd turn around to continue yelling obscenities at the Red Sox on the TV.

She was just so close all the time and Maura had had enough, especially when Jane had added kissing her cheek in a familiar greeting most recently.

Not that Maura was opposed to Jane kissing her cheek (or even not her cheek). It was just hard to concentrate on being friends when Jane's lips were lingering in a silky smooth caress against her cheek for a few beats longer than purely friendly at least once a day- especially when emotions that were definitely more than friendly were bubbling up every time this happened.

She'd always known Jane Rizzoli was attractive (who wouldn't) and wasn't ashamed to admit that she'd let herself admire her friend freely on more than one occasion, but until Jane had started touching her constantly she hadn't considered the hypothesis that maybe they had something separate to friendship. As it was, though, her nerves were frayed from lingering touches and she was getting used to her heart stuttering with arrhythmia every time Jane's lips touched her cheek. She'd even caught a glimpse of her own face in the mirror hanging in her hall once after Jane had kissed her; dilated pupils, despite the bright living room lights. Contraction of her orbicularis oculi and pars orbitalis.

(and science didn't lie).

And once Maura had come to the conclusion that she harboured more than friendly feelings for her best friend she found it harder (unbelievably) to deal with the lingering fingers against her hipbone and the frequent fingers through her hair or lips against her cheek.

So Maura had decided she'd had enough. Things needed to change.

Scientific experiments were her forte; she was good at science, she understood science and so the most reasonable plan of action was to employ that to her situation and find out once and for all whether Jane's feelings mirrored her own.

It was the least scientific investigation that Maura had ever carried out.

She knew research dealing with unquantifiable data such as feelings and emotions was harder to effectively gather and compare but in all honesty she
wasn't being objective enough to implement protocols to combat this (science made sense to her but this- whatever it was between her and Jane- made her brain swim and suddenly even the science between them was hard to understand). Jane was her best friend after all. So she decided it would be effective in this situation to purely replicate situations that Jane had instigated over the past week and categorise whether Jane's reactions were similar to Maura's own reactions or if she was indifferent.

And so the investigation began.

It went something like this:

One morning (the day after Maura had made her decision- and finally realised her feelings) they both stood in Maura's kitchen, Jane cursing over the apparently ineptitude of the French coffee machine and Maura lecturing Jane on the value of well made coffee. Maura laughed openly at Jane's scowling face and, in a movement that wasn't entirely planned, reached over the breakfast counter as Jane made coffee to sweep a wild curl behind her ear, just as Jane had done just days prior. She pinched the lock between her thumb and forefinger and let her fingers gently sweep across Jane's cheek on the journey up to her ear, curling the strand into place neatly. Jane said nothing but flushed, before starting a rant about the need for instant coffee because she couldn't wait for the fancy coffee every morning.

(Maura smiled at Jane's obvious fluster, trying not to linger on how soft Jane's cheek was and how she could touch Jane's hair forever).

Another evening Maura wasn't surprised to hear Jane let herself into her house late at night (because, really, every night since the kidnapping wasn't a hard pattern to crack) but she raised her eyebrows anyway as she entered the kitchen to see the lanky detective trying to quietly take her shoes off and sneak into the house. Jane didn't notice her until she was lingering barely a metre away saying, "I didn't know you were coming over tonight" and closing the short distance between them. She reached Jane quickly and without missing a beat she reached up to lay a hand on one of Jane's cheeks as she leaned in to kiss the other one- just as Jane had done several times already that week. She lingered momentarily (purposely) against Jane's soft skin for several beats more than could be considered a 'friendly greeting' before pulling away with a trailing hand down Jane's arm. She fought back a smile at the goosebumps she felt arise in her wake.

And left a flushed Jane gawking at her with open, dilated eyes and escaped words. "Uh, I…." Jane began awkwardly, shaking her head to clear her thoughts as her eyes flickered across Maura's face before running a hand over her hair and moving to throw her jacket on the couch. "... Well, yeah, I said I was coming over. The games on."

(Maura hid a smile at Jane's noticeable stuttering and pink cheeks).

Jane, of course, ended up staying the night again (she argued it was because she was tired and had had too much beer but Maura knew she had only had half of her bottle) and Maura found herself disappointed that Jane was intending on staying in the spare room for once. She wasn't one to miss an opportunity though and so she found herself crossing the short distance between them to reach up to lay a hand on Jane's cheek, smoothing her thumb once over the skin there before reaching up to place a lingering kiss on Jane's cheek. She let herself breathe in once, savouring the smell of shampoo (which she loved despite originally criticising the brand) along with something that was just so innately Jane. "Goodnight, Jane." she breathed, murmuring against Jane's skin before pulling away and moving towards the door.

(If she had looked back she would have seen a flush that spread across Jane's chest and face, and an undeniable contraction of her orbicularis oculi and pars orbitalis.

She also missed the quiet "goodnight," that Jane spoke in her wake).

One evening Jane went to her own home, but as expected when Maura got up in the middle of the night for a drink of water Jane was sprawled on the couch, long legs twisted between pillows and her gun close to hand. She shot up at the sound of Maura fixing herself a glass of water with a surprisingly alert "What's wrong, Maura?" as she scanned the room for danger (or an ice-pick wielding kidnapper.) Maura assured her she was fine before persuading Jane to come and sleep with her in her room ("You've slept in my bed hundreds of times, Jane, and that couch really isn't the optimum sleeping condition.") That night wasn't part of Maura's plan at all but when she woke up the next morning the detectives legs were tangled with hers and her face was pressed into the crook of her neck, breath tickling the delicate skin there.

(Maura forgot how to breath momentarily upon realising their predicament, before settling back into Jane's arms and falling back asleep).

Maura was a patient person; she was meticulous in her work and wouldn't rush to judgement until she had all the facts and science before her.

Which is why it was out of character for Maura to feel frustrated at the slow pace her plan was working at. Over the course of the week Maura stepped up her game; she got in three lingering kisses pressed against Jane's cheeks (the last lingering dangerously at the corner of her mouth), multiple fleeting caresses of her cheeks and several sweeps of her curls behind her ear. She pressed herself into Jane's side in half hugs frequently and even grabbed Jane's hand in hers to drag her around the basement.

All in all she just felt more frustrated. Jane, apparently, wasn't great at picking up subtle cues and the result was Maura lingering on her growing more than friendly feelings for her best friend with no rewards.

It was time for a more direct approach.

Saturday

Jane was in the middle of her Saturday routine- doing absolutely nothing- when Maura knocked on the door before entering without waiting for an answer. "Jane!" she called as she shut the door with a definite click and glided into the kitchen with purpose. Jane looked up from where she was sprawled on the sofa…

…. and what she saw made her stomach flip uneasily and her breath hitch awkwardly in her lungs as she forgot how to breath. Maura Isles was stood in her apartment in a dress that settled snugly against her subtle curves with two thin straps travelling over her shoulders and two fashionable cut outs at her waist. Her feet were strapped into the highest heels Jane had ever seen (seriously, Jane wasn't sure how Maura even walked half the time) and honestly? Jane couldn't breath because - shit- she had known her friend was gorgeous and had admired her on more than one occasion but that dress coupled with the smouldering I'm-picturing-you-naked and also I-know-you're picturing me naked too gaze was making her light headed and stupid.

(It didn't help the situation that the past week had been weird between them- Jane had found herself picturing the Medical Examiner in- ahem- more than friendly circumstances an excessive amount of times since the first time she felt soft lips against her cheek).

"Maura!" she said quickly, sitting up straight and (irrationally) covering the underwear she was folding with a clean t-shirt. "What are you doing here?"

And Maura moved closer so that she was standing directly in front of Jane, passing her a bottle of wine- Cabernet Sauvignon- and flashing a killer dimpled smile, flipping her hair behind her ear in a way Jane had seen her do a thousand times when she was interested in someone.

(She hadn't realised how much it would steal her breath and hold her lungs hostage to have it directed at her, though.)

"You," Maura began confidently. "are taking me on a date." she spoke in the same way she had used to tell Jane to go to yoga with her, to join her at the art gallery opening, to put on her uniform to attend her award ceremony. Her voice didn't waver and her eyes were direct and non-negotiable as she reached to offer a hand to help Jane stand.

"Oh, I am am I?" Jane let out a nervous laugh as she stood.

"You are." Maura said with authority, shoulders back.

They stood like that for what seemed like so long, holding eye contact (Maura firm and confident and Jane questioning and nervous) before Maura took a deliberate step forwards.

"Jane, we have been friends for a long time now but I'm just going to say it. Since my biological father," she took a breath and broke eye contact briefly before her eyes flickered back up to Jane's, her stomach fluttering at the enraptured focus she found in those dark pools. "-kidnapped me, you have been… unusually tactile with me and it had made me rethink the boundaries of our friendship."

(She's always been terrible at romance; Maura. She rambles and doesn't pick up on social cues and she hides everything behind science but she had never felt so afraid that she's got it wrong. That she was mistaken all along and this confession of sorts would ruin what she already had with Jane/

She pushes on anyway).

"In the sense that I have noticed certain biological reactions of mine which indicate a more-than-friendly interest in you, and from my recent research you have also shown those same signs."

Jane was uncharacteristically quiet and if Maura wasn't so nervous she would have laughed; Jane's face was flushed and she spoke in a low voice, "research?"

"I replicated situations that you have initially initiated over the last few weeks and categorised your reactions, specifically looking for contractions of facial muscles and changes in your sympathetic nervous system." Maura said, concentrating on the facts and science to distract herself from the fact that Jane looked shocked (and from the fact that there are always anomalies in data and she could have read the signs wrong).

Jane blinked before breaking out into a grin and snorting. "You're such a nerd." laughed and reached to link a hand with Maura's. "And I… I guess you're not wrong." she added gruffly.

"Well, science doesn't lie." Maura smiled, reassured, and then suddenly Jane was slowly reaching to cup Maura's cheeks, swallowing before sighing in bone-melting relief as she touched her lips to Maura's chastely in a barely there brushing of lips. Their eyes slipped closed and Maura let out a low murmur against Jane's lips as Jane pulled her bottom lip between hers before releasing it and pulling back to rest her forehead against Maura's. They stayed like that for a few beats before Jane pulled away completely, turning to move towards the door.

"Let's go, Maur." She said, deciding that they should go for dinner after all, before Maura grabbed her arm against and span her before pulling her down for a frantic kiss, her hand winding into Jane's long curls and the other hand fleeting from the back of her neck to her cheek to her slim waist. Jane let out a surprised gasp (that she would definitely deny had ever happened) before responding and kissing Maura back, her own hands tucking hair behind Maura's ear and settling against Maura's hip.

Jane's head span uselessly, tumbling breaths spilling out between kisses and skin flushed pink. Maura slowed her kisses before pulling away completely, looking slightly sheepish (she definitely hadn't planned this when she'd marched into Jane's apartment earlier this evening).

"We should definitely do that again." Jane smirked, amused at the turn of events as they disentangled from each other.

Maura flashed a smile and straightened her dress before moving backwards with purpose. "Let's go." she said with authority, before glancing down at Jane's BPD shirt and loose jogging bottoms. "You need to change first."

Jane was sure she hadn't changed quicker in her lifetime.

Thank you for reading!