2/?
"I'm going to ask Barry to be my maid of honour."
Jane almost choked on her coffee and she turned to look at Maura in disbelief. "You're going to what?"
"I understand that tradition says the maid of honour should be female, but tradition also states that it should be a bride and groom, not a bride and bride." Maura sipped her coffee, seemingly unaffected by Jane's shock. "The maid of honour is supposed to be someone that can help the bride get ready and stand beside her while she gets married. You're really the only person I'd have fulfil that obligation, and since I'm marrying you, it would be difficult for you to be both bride and maid of honour." She glanced over at Jane. "Do you think he will say yes?"
Jane saw the hopeful look in Maura's eyes, and she inwardly cursed herself for not thinking about this problem beforehand. Of course it had to be Frost – Maura didn't really have any other friends. "Of course he will." She smiled broadly. Of course he would – even if she had to torture him into acceptance.
"Good," Maura settled back in her chair. "Who will be your maid of honour?"
"I'm gonna ask Frankie to stand up with me." Although she might put it as being "best man" rather than "maid of honour".
Maura smiled. "I think that will be wonderful. I'm sure he would be honoured."
Jane put her mug down and knelt in front of Maura's chair, her lips pressing tender kisses to the inside of Maura's knee. "We're getting married."
Maura smiled and ran her fingers through Jane's unruly curls. "Yes we are."
"I love you, and I want you to be happy." Jane looked up at Maura. "You know that, right?"
"Of course," Maura replied. She frowned, realising that something else was on Jane's mind. "Jane…what is it?"
"I saw you hadn't posted your parents' wedding invitation yet."
Maura coloured, obviously not having imagined she'd been found out. "Oh. That."
"They'll come, Maur. How could they not come?" Jane realised that her words gave her a nasty sense of déjà vu. Hadn't she said that when Maura had invited her parents to meet Jane? And that had been such a resounding success, hadn't it?
"I will post it," Maura assured her. "I will. I just…"
"Just what?" Jane prompted.
Maura's fingers curled around Jane's. "This is supposed to be the happiest time of my life. I read that. That's what the books say."
Jane bit her lip. She so wanted Maura to be happy. "And you're not happy?"
"I'm happy with you," Maura murmured, smiling at Jane. "You make me so happy. I just know that if I send that letter, they're not going to come and it…you've shown me how much family means. I just wish that my family loved you as much as I do." She wound her engagement ring around her finger. "And I wish they loved me enough to accept that I am happy."
Jane watched in surprise as the tear slipped down Maura's cheek and within seconds she had the honey-blonde in her lap, and she rocked her gently.
"Shhh, it's going to be okay. I promise it's going to be okay."
The next day, Jane found Frost in front of his desk, and she sat on her desk chair, wheeling over next to him. "We need to talk."
Frost looked slightly concerned. "Uh, okay."
"It's about Maura."
The detective lifted an eyebrow. "If this is some kind of weird…"
"Just shutup and listen."
"Okay…"
"Maura is going to ask you something. It's very important to her, and you are going to say yes, no matter what, understand?"
"I…uh…"
"Maura doesn't have a lot of friends – actually, I'm not sure she has any other than people she works with – and this is a really important thing you just have to do, whether you like it or not. And if you make her upset, I'll hurt you."
"Well…could you give me a hint? So I'm not too surprised when she asks?"
Jane lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "She's going to ask you to be her maid of honour."
"What?" Frost's shout elicited looks from all around the room. He lowered his voice and began to speak. "Jane, I'm a dude. I can't be a maid of honour. I'm not a maid and…"
"Yeah well, I'm not technically a groom. Suck it up, Frost. She's asking you because she wants you to stand next to her when we get married. Be a man and do it – it will make her really happy, which makes me really happy. Understand?"
"Korsak is never going to let me hear the end of this," Frost moaned.
"You'll be fine. Just do whatever the heck it is maids of honour do and give her some support. Surely you can do that?"
Frost sighed. "I won't have to wear a dress, will I?"
"Lord, I hope not."
"I guess, for Maura, I can do it. I don't think I could see her upset."
"You don't have any idea how much I appreciate this."
"Yeah, well…I'll find some way to make you pay, Rizzoli. And you better keep Korsak off my back."
Jane smiled. "Done."
Maura stared at the invitation she was about to send to her parents'. She had brought it to work and it was placed with all her other correspondence. In a few moments, her assistant would come in and request any mail she had and it would be gone, making its way to her parents' home.
She was slightly embarrassed about her small breakdown with Jane the previous night. Part of her wasn't sure why her parents' ignorance bothered her so much. She had Jane and Angela and Frank and Frankie, as well as Frost and Korsak. She was so very lucky to find someone who loved her as much as Jane did.
But all the literature she had studied stressed the importance of the mother of the bride and Maura couldn't help but feel an empty space in her heart that her mother was not going to be part of this celebration.
Maura wasn't sure whether her parents' objection lied with the fact Jane was a woman, or that Jane was of a different social class to the Isles'. Maura didn't care. She loved Jane deeply, and was determined that this wedding would go ahead. She just wished that she had her parents' support – and her mother's love.
"Dr Isles?"
Maura looked up at her assistant. "Yes?"
"Any mail?"
Maura nodded and handed over the mail, including the invitation. "Thank you." She watched the assistant leave. It was out of her hands now.
Jane stood in front of her house. Her and Maura's house. It still seemed strange and new to her. They'd been living in it for four months but it was home. A real home. Four bedrooms and a yard.
Joe loved the yard. Jane would sit on the porch swing with Maura and watch Joe play. Occasionally Maura would bring out Bass and Watson. Jane thought this was a bit odd, but Maura said they were having fun.
As for the four bedrooms – they hadn't discussed kids. Not really. But somehow, implicitly, they had chosen the house with four bedrooms.
It also had a library, with Jane's map in pride of place and chairs big enough for them to curl up together in. There were fireplaces, an office and a rambling kitchen where Maura liked to cook and Jane liked to…help.
Maura opened the front door, her head tilted to the side as she stared at her fiancé. "Jane?"
Jane looked up and smiled. "Hey."
"Are you alright?"
Jane walked up the front steps and onto the front porch. She slipped her arms around Maura's waist, pulling the honey-blonde tight against her. "Yeah. I was just thinking how much I love this house."
Maura wrapped her arms around Jane's neck, her fingers caressing the dark curls. "I'm glad."
Jane walked them into the house, her arms still around her fiancé. She pushed the door shut with her foot and then spun them around, pressing Maura's body against the door. "Not as much as I love you, though."
Maura closed her eyes as she felt Jane press kisses against her neck. "Jane…"
"Mhm?" Jane's fingers caressed the bare skin at Maura's hip, and kissed along her shoulder. "You know, I realised something today."
Maura's fingers held onto Jane's shoulders. "What?"
"I realised," she paused to press a kiss to Maura's neck again, "that when we christened every room of our house, we missed one." She found Maura's pulse point and sucked softly at it.
"We…we….did?" Maura couldn't imagine them missing a room. Her mind ran back to that first weekend in their new house, and Jane deciding she had to take her in each and every room. The first day back at work that Monday, Maura had winced as she walked. "I'm sure we covered everything."
"Mmm, but we didn't." Jane's fingers ran down the front of Maura's body, and cupped her heat. "We didn't do it here in the fancy foyer."
Maura whimpered as she arched her hips forward, connecting her more firmly with Jane's hand. "We…we didn't?"
"We didn't." Jane slid her knee between Maura's legs and watched the honey-blonde shudder with anticipation. "So I think I'm going to take you here, right now."
Maura's hands went to Jane's shoulders, pulling the brunette into her body so that their lips met in a long, hot kiss. Jane's fingers went straight to Maura's blouse, unbuttoning it and finally sliding her hands onto the warm skin of the honey-blonde's abdomen. Maura moaned and her lips broke the kiss, pressing soft kisses to Jane's neck and trying to get Jane's shirt off.
She growled with frustration. "Jane…off…now."
Jane took Maura's lips again in a deep kiss, her hands fiddling with her belt, badge and other items that fell with clunks to the floor. She toed off her boots and socks, her hands going to Maura's waist and pulling her closer. The kisses continued until Jane found Maura's neck and started to suck on the soft skin. Maura was getting impatient and tugged Jane's shirt out of her pants and finally pulled it open. She pushed Jane's bra out of the way and sighed in satisfaction as her hands cupped her fiance's breasts.
Jane moaned and unsnapped Maura's bra with the ease of practice, and pushed it away, before pulling Maura tightly against her.
Maura gasped when their breasts touched and she ran her hands down Jane's back, holding the brunette tight to her. The other hand tangled in Jane's curls, moving forward and claiming her lips in another kiss.
"Jane," Maura finally whispered, her fingers slipping beneath the waistband of Jane's pants. She closed her eyes in pleasure when she realised how wet her lover was. "Jane please…I want you."
Jane arched her hips forward at Maura's touch and she took Maura's lips again, fingers reaching down to unclasp Maura's pants and push them down. One hand went around the honey-blonde's waist and the other cupped her through her panties.
"Oh yes," Maura whispered, closing her eyes. She bent forward, kissing Jane's collar bone. "You too. Now."
Jane's pace picked up quickly and she quickly took off her own pants and underwear, followed by Maura's lace panties. She picked Maura up, kissing her fiercely as the other woman wound her legs around Jane's waist.
Jane groaned as she felt Maura's heat against her body and she looked around, finally deciding that the foyer wall was good enough and she pushed Maura up against it. Maura's fingers returned to Jane's breasts, kneading and caressing the soft skin, before bending forward and taking one erect nipple into her mouth.
"Maura…" Jane's voice was hoarser than normal, her arousal and need for her fiancé deepening by the second. She easily found Maura's heat with one hand and she ran her fingers through the slick wetness.
Maura whimpered, her lips pulling back from Jane's skin and her fingers tightening on Jane's shoulders. "Now Jane…now."
Jane's lips moved to Maura's neck, sucking and biting gently on the soft skin there, before sliding two fingers deep into her lover. She swallowed Maura's moan with a deep kiss, thrusting deeply as she rubbed her thumb against Maura's clit.
The honey-blonde shivered, gasping into the kiss and tightening her hold on Jane. She moved her hips in time to Jane's thrusts, moaning and pressing her face into the crook of Jane's neck. She could feel the pleasure drawing closer – no one but Jane was able to bring her this close this quickly.
"Jane…" she moaned into her fiance's shoulder. "Jane, please…"
Jane grinned, her lips moving to Maura's ear. "Come, baby. Come hard."
Maura's head fell back, nails digging into Jane's shoulders as she cried out her pleasure, shuddering in Jane's arms. One of Jane's hands found the back of Maura's neck, tugging the woman into a long kiss.
"Jane," Maura whispered as the kiss ended, her legs sliding down Jane's body.
"I think I did it. I took you in every room in the house." Jane's smile was wide. "Damn, I'm…oh fuck…"
Jane had been so busy basking in her ability to make Maura come in every room of their house, she hadn't noticed Maura slipping to her knees in front of her. The first inkling that something was going on was Maura's tongue probing gently at her centre.
Maura giggled at Jane's shock, and the brunette lifted an eyebrow, tangling her fingers in honey-blonde locks.
"Enjoying yourself down there?"
Maura flicked her tongue against Jane's clit, smirking when she felt her shiver. "Extremely."
"G…good…" Jane's snarkiness turned into another moan as Maura ran her nails down Jane's inner thighs. Jane reached a hand out to brace herself against the door as Maura pleasured her. She had already been so close after watching and feeling Maura come, and god, what that woman could do to her.
Maura looked up at Jane, squeezing one of her thighs until the brunette looked down at her. Jane was so in control in the rest of her life, but here, here she loved to watch Jane lose control. No one saw this but her, and as she watched Jane's eyes slip closed she moved faster, wanting nothing more than to hear that hoarse voice cry out her name.
A few moments later and she was rewarded, and she felt Jane's fingers tighten in her hair as she came with a cry of Maura's name. The honey-blonde opened her arms to accept Jane into them, and they kissed softly.
"Wow," Jane murmured.
Maura grinned and snuggled closer. "Now we have done every room in the house."
TBC