A/N: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you've all had a wonderful day and enjoy this chapter. It will probably be about a week before I can get the next one out so I hope this will be able to hold you over til then.
Jane nearly tripped over Bass as she entered the medical examiner's house close to eleven o'clock at night. Maura had left for New York early that morning, and given Jane the task of feeding Bass. Jane reached for the light switch, carefully stepping over the large lump on the floor that Maura called a pet. With the light on, Jane walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door to see a clear container labeled Bass. Jane added the many Tupperware containers of leftovers from her mother to the fridge before she placed the green leaves into Bass's bowl and sighed as the moving rock made his way over to the food.
"I still think you're a stupid turtle," Jane said as she took a strawberry from the refrigerator and added it to the bowl. Jane could practically hear Maura correcting her. "He's a tortoise," Jane said mockingly with air quotes. Jane groaned as she made her way to the couch, her stomach filled beyond capacity multiple times that evening. Just as the heels of Jane's boots hit the coffee table, she heard the front door open. "Maura?"
"Jane?" Maura said as she strode into the room, her arms loaded with large shopping bags. Jane spotted labels such as Gucci, Prada, and Louie Vuitton, and a handful she couldn't identify. "What are you doing here?" Maura asked as she stepped into the kitchen.
"Feeding your turtle," Jane smirked.
"Tortoise Jane, he's a tortoise," Maura corrected as she put the shopping bags down on the kitchen counter.
"Whatever," Jane shook her head and leaned over the couch, "So how was your day?"
"It was great," Maura smiled as she sat on the couch with Jane. Maura curled up against Jane's body as Jane's arm reached around her shoulders. "We sat on the Macy's balcony and watched the parade, then we ate lunch and went to the opera, it was a beautiful Italian piece, you would have loved it. We had time before my mother's event, so we went shopping. I've never spent so much time with my mother before, continuously that is. I had a wonderful time." Maura took a deep breath and pulled herself closer to Jane. "How was your Thanksgiving?"
"Well lets see, Ma and all the women disappeared into the kitchen and finished off a couple bottles of wine. The guys watched football and drank beer, the little cousins ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. Same old same old," Jane sighed as she realized that she had neglected to take a beer out of the fridge. "I'm just glad that the aunts kept the nagging to a minimum this time."
"Nagging?" Maura looked up at Jane. Jane rolled her eyes as she sat up and moved Maura to lean on the couch. Jane cleared her throat as she began waving her hands around dramatically, and in a voice that sounded creepily like her mother's, Jane began a summary of the tirade she'd endured that day.
"Ugh Janie why are you so skinny? You should eat more. You look tired, are you getting enough sleep? You don't look like you're getting enough sleep. Are you still a cop, why don't you have a job that doesn't worry your mother so much? You're so pretty, when you're not in your uniform. You shouldn't work so hard, its aging you. Where is this girlfriend of yours? Will she be stopping by today?" Jane leaned back onto the couch and placed her hands over her eyes. She could feel a headache coming on.
"Oh," Maura cringed. "That sounds…dreadful. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it, I've been dealing with them for years. They're not as bad as they sound, annoying yeah, but I know they mean well. But Thanksgiving is just a warm up for Christmas." Jane paused for a moment as she pulled Maura close and allowed the blond to slip her arm around the detective's waist. "Christmas is the event of the year for us, and it is pure chaos." She took a deep breath as a smile tugged at her lips. "We all pile into Nonna's house, that's Ma's mom. It'll be over thirty of us this year, with Ma, Frankie, Tommy, and us, all the aunts and uncles, my cousins, and now their kids. It's the most wonderful and miserable day of the year. But hey, that's family." Maura silently nodded into Jane's shoulder, holding onto Jane just a little bit tighter as she calculated how many hours she had left to prepare.
"Hey," Jane caught a glimpse at Maura's face from the corner of her eye. "What's with that face? I know that face, that's your I'm hiding what I'm thinking face." Jane turned around so that she was able to completely face Maura. "What are you thinking?"
Maura opened her mouth, but the dismissive statement sitting on her tongue refused to form on her lips. They both knew she could not lie, even with the supply of Benadryl and smelling salts in the medicine cabinet. But more than that, Maura felt that she could not longer contain her feelings any longer. "I must admit that I am experiencing a bit of anxiety about meeting your family on Christmas." The words rapidly flew from Maura's lips, but afterwards she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and her mind.
"Really?" Jane asked with a fraction less cynicism than usual. "That's what you're worried about? Ma already says you're her other daughter, and Frankie and Tommy think you're the best thing to happen to this family in a long time," Jane placed her hands on Maura's and squeezed them gently. "They're going to love you, each and every one of them is going to love you."
"What information do you have to support that? If you-" Maura was about to launch into a speech about unsupported accusations when she felt Jane's finger press itself into her lips.
"My big, crazy, loud, nosy, family is going to fall head over heels in love with you, just like Ma and my brothers did. Just like I did. So don't waste any more time worrying about this," Jane moved her finger from Maura's lips and quickly leaned in to kiss Maura. Their lips parted not a second later, "because there is nothing to worry about." Jane smirked as she leaned in to kiss Maura again, this time the doctor's lips were also turned up into a smile as well.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading this far. The next chapter will bring us to Christmas and I hope that I can fit in all I have planned. The next chapter will be up closer to Christmas but until then Review Please.