"Feel like doing something fun tonight?"

Maura looked up from her coffee machine and smiled warmly at the whirlwind of dark hair, black blazer, and clomping boots that had just breezed into her kitchen. "Well, that depends," she began, closing the top. "Is it something you consider fun and I consider unpleasant, terrifying and/or hazardous to my health?"

Jane sighed. "Is this about the Superman roller coaster again? You really need to let it go."

She smirked at the glare Maura shot her way. "No, this is definitely fun for both of us." She gestured to her phone. "Frankie just texted me. He and Nina are going to a Paint Night. They asked if we wanted to go."

Maura's face lit up. "Oh, I've always wanted to go to one of those!"

"Me, too!" Angela piped in as she popped up from behind the counter.

"Jesus, Ma!" Jane jumped at the sudden appearance of her mother. "What were you doing down there?!"

Angela held up her hand. "I was picking up the pictures I dropped."

"What are those?" Jane asked, reaching for the photos.

"Nothing," Angela replied, sliding them under a magazine. She smiled at Jane brightly. "So can I come, too?"

Jane pretended to think about it. "No," she answered flatly.

Angela pouted. "Oh, come on, Janie. I never get to go out with you girls."

Jane took the cup of coffee Maura offered her. "Thanks." She looked back at her mother. "Isn't tonight date night with Ron?"

Angela shrugged. "I'm sure he won't mind." She pointed at Jane, her voice raising slightly. "Is it too much to ask to spend some time with my only daughter before she moves away in less than a week?"

Jane looked pleadingly at Maura for some help but the blonde ducked her head, trying to suppress a smile.

Jane sighed heavily. "Okayy, fiiiine." She gave her mother a quick kiss on the cheek and moved to sit down. "If there's room,"she added. "Frankie said you have to register beforehand. There might not be enough spots."

"I'll check." Maura hurried over to her laptop. "What's the website?"

Jane gave her the website and she typed in the info, scrolling down to see the availability.

"There are still six open seats," she informed them, smiling. "Let's see what the painting is." She clicked in the appropriate calendar box.

Jane poured sugar into her coffee and was raising it to her mouth to take a sip, when Maura continued, "Oh, it's couples night."

Jane inhaled quickly and the hot liquid went down too fast, burning her throat. Sputtering, she grabbed a napkin, wiping her mouth. "Couples night?" she repeated as her mother clapped her hands together in excitement.

"Wonderful! I can just bring Ron!"

"I'll book it." Maura reached for her purse.

"Couples night?" Jane said again, her voice sounding a little strained.

Maura glanced at her. "Yes, but you paint on your own canvas. Then, when the two canvases are hung side-by-side, they combine to make one big painting. However, they can stand alone as individual paintings, as well."

Jane nodded slowly. "Oh." She forced her face to remain neutral.

Her phone rang. "Rizzoli," she answered, her voice still a little high. She cleared her throat. "Rizzoli."

Maura's phone rang and she answered it, smiling. "Isles."

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"Couples night?!" Jane smacked her brother in the arm.

"Ow!" Frankie winced, rubbing his bicep. "I didn't know!" He glanced around. "There are a lot of people here who don't look like they're actual couples." He gestured to a young guy and a noticeably older woman across the room. "She's here with her kid or something."

Jane watched as the guy leaned over to give the woman some paper towels, kissing her lightly on the lips as he sat back in his seat. She swiveled her head to Frankie, staring at him pointedly. "You were saying?"

He scoffed. "Ok, fine. But so what if you and Maura aren't a couple? It's not a requirement. They're not going to ask for your couples card or revoke your painting privileges."

Jane chuckled. "I guess you're right." She seemed to be the only one that was having an issue with it.

They grabbed their drinks and made their way back to Maura and Nina.

"You should be proud if people think you're a couple," he teased. "You've got the hottest date in the place," Frankie whispered, leaning close. "Besides Nina, of course,"

She rolled her eyes at Frankie's teasing but smiled as the doctor came into sight. Maura was the picture of professionalism as she aligned her brushes and straightened her canvas. Her hair was swept up into a pile on the top of her head and she wore a white shimmery shirt paired with gray skinny jeans. The doctor rarely wore jeans. As her eyes quickly skimmed Maura from head to toe, Jane internally agreed with Frankie.

Jane handed her the glass of wine and frowned. "Maura, you were supposed to wear old clothes." She glanced down to herself and her old BPD t-shirt. "What if you get paint on this?" she asked, tugging on the sleeve of Maura's very expensive looking white shirt.

"Oh, I won't." Maura reached down to the hem of her shirt and pulled it up and off in one fluid motion, revealing the white tank top underneath. Folding it neatly, she placed it inside the zip-up clear plastic bag she brought, along with her purse.

Jane swallowed hard and closed her mouth abruptly as she realized it was hanging open. "Well played, Dr. Isles," she murmured.

She literally had to tear her eyes away from Maura as the instructor started speaking. She noticed a couple of guys still staring at her friend and glared at them, gesturing to the women they were with. They looked away hurriedly.

"If I could have your attention please!" Their instructor had taken his place up on the stage. He was in his mid- thirties or so. His dark hair was longish on top, falling to the side in a trendy cut. He wore an old button-down and worn jeans. "Ooh. He's cute," Maura whispered.

"Yeah," Jane made a face. "If you like the artsy type," she muttered back.

"Thank you for coming. My name is Felix and tonight we'll be painting 'Eiffel Tower at Sundown'. Every month we choose a country to showcase and this month it's France. The national bird of France is the Gallic Rooster, which is why those little guys are incorporated into the painting."

"Oh, how cute!"

Jane closed her eyes as her mother's voice rang out from behind her.

"Aren't they adorable, Janie?"

"Yeah, Ma," she replied. "Adorable."

The instructor continued. "As you can see, when the pictures are combined, it shows the full structure of the tower and two silhouettes of the roosters in front of it. You can paint them separately, you can paint them canoodling, whatever you want."

"Canoodling," Jane mouthed to Frankie, wiggling her eyebrows, and he laughed. Maura slapped her arm good-naturedly.

He explained the process and told everyone to grab an apron as he and his assistant passed out the paints. "Remember, you can follow along exactly or you can tweak it as much as you want to. This is your painting!"

Maura tugged a paint-splattered apron over her head and turned around. "Tie me?" she asked and Jane hurried to put down her apron and oblige. Just as she was about to turn to Maura, the instructor stepped between them.

"I'd be happy to," he declared. Putting the plate of paints down, he took the strings of Maura's apron and tied them.

Jane stared at him incredulously. "I'm pretty sure she was asking me," she informed him, crossing her arms and standing to her full height.

Felix shrugged and smiled. "Well, I saw you had your hands full and thought I would assist," he replied, turning to look at Maura.

Maura smiled back. "Thank you, I appreciate it." She placed her hand on Jane's arm. "It's fine, Jane."

"How chivalrous," Angela called out, winking at the instructor.

"Mind your own business, Ma!" Jane muttered, scowling at her mother.

Angela shot her a disapproving look before retreating back behind her canvas.

Felix took his place back on the stage as Jane put her own apron on. "Where is he to tie my strings," she muttered sarcastically.

Maura chuckled. "Here. Let me."

Jane's breath caught as the M.E. took a step closer, their bodies almost flush. She took hold of the strings and then slipped her hands under Jane's arms, reaching around her back.

Jane raised her arms up a bit to give her more room. She looked down at Maura uncertainly, her heart suddenly jackhammering in her chest. God, I hope she can't hear that, she thought to herself as Maura tied the strings.

Tugging them tightly one last time, Maura stepped back, placing her hands on Jane's hips and lightly squeezing. "There you go."

Eyes wide, Jane nodded. "Thanks," she whispered.

Felix was already on the second step of the instructions so they grabbed their brushes and started painting.

Jane had to admit it was a lot of fun. Everyone was talking and laughing and making fun of each other's pictures. After a little while, Maura and Nina got up to get the second round of drinks while Frankie and Jane goofed off some more.

Maura placed Jane's drink down in front of her. She burst out laughing as Jane swiveled around. "Merci, Mademoiselle." She had painted two slashes of black on her upper lip to resemble a long pencil-thin mustache.

"That mustache is actually reminiscent of Salvador Dali, who was born in Figueres, Spain in 1904."

Jane nodded and raised her glass. "In that case…Gracias, Senorita."

A mini paint war that erupted between Jane and Frankie ended only when their mother threatened to take their paintbrushes away.

"You're no fun," Jane mumbled, taking her seat.

Angela turned around. "Act your age!"

Jane smirked and then just sat in silence for a bit, enjoying the happy atmosphere around them. "We needed this, huh?" she asked Maura.

The last few weeks had been hard and more difficult times were looming ahead. This little slice of normalcy was what they all needed.

Maura smiled softly, understanding. "Yes," she responded. "We did."

They were starting to paint the roosters now and it was a little harder than Jane thought it'd be. "My rooster looks more like a rubber duck,"she grumbled.

Maura glanced over, studying the picture. "If you just add a bit more paint to that side to resemble feathers, you can even it out."

"What, here?"

"No, to the left." Maura got off her stool and moved to stand next to Jane. "Here, let me see it," she said, taking the brush out of Jane's hand. She mixed a little white to the color and made it lighter. "The shading will help."

Leaning over Jane's shoulder, she added a few strokes to the left side of the bird.

"It was the Greek philosopher Plato who discovered that you can mix two different colors together to produce a third color."

A pleasant tingle traveled down Jane's spine as she enjoyed the closeness and the warm tones of Maura's voice right near her ear.

"Really? I'm pretty sure it was first discovered by some kid that was finger-painting." She scoffed. "Plato stole the credit from a 2 year old."

Maura chuckled. "I don't believe that children finger-painted back then. Paint wasn't like it is now."

Jane just smiled in response. She loved goading Maura.

Maura was gently bumping into her side as she moved and Jane found herself leaning into the touches. All too soon, Maura stood up tall again. "How's that?"

Jane nodded. "It's perfect. But it needs to match yours!"

"It will, I'll do the same." Maura sat back down and sighed wistfully.

Jane glanced over. "What was that for?"

Maura met her gaze. "I haven't been to Paris in years." She suddenly chuckled. "You look ridiculous." She reached over with a wet paper towel and wiped the mustache off of Jane's upper lip. "I'd love to go back."

"You will."

"Someday." She grinned broadly at Jane. "Maybe you'll come with me."

"Maybe." Jane shrugged. "Buuuut, probably not," she added, and Maura laughed and pretended to poke her with her paintbrush.

"Maaa!" Jane called out in a tattletale voice. "Maura's threatening to get paint on me!"

"Shhh, Jane!" Maura hissed, turning back toward Angela to see if she heard. Jane hid a grin at Maura's panicked expression.

"Don't be a tattletale, Jane." Angela called out.

Jane gasped indignantly. "Hey! Why is it ok if she does it?!"

"Get her, Maura. She deserves it!" her mother continued and Maura looked back at Jane, a smug smile in place.

"Oh, really? Fine, I see how it is." Jane turned back to her painting, pouting. "Now I'm definitely not going anywhere with you." She gestured with her thumb towards her mother. "You can take her instead."

Maura just chuckled, shaking her head.

Finally, they finished and Jane admired their paintings. "These look really good," she admitted. She held hers up by itself, then joined it to Maura's.

She smiled at Maura. "Kind of like a 'best-friend' painting. You know, like the necklaces that were popular when we were kids?"

Maura shook her head and Jane's heart clenched at yet another thing Maura missed out on in childhood. "It's a heart charm that splits down the middle so one friend gets the half that says 'best' and the other gets the one that says 'friends'."

Maura nodded. "Oh, I know what they are. I just meant that I've never actually had one as a child."

Jane paused thoughtfully. "My cousin Danielle gave me one when we were like 6 but that was just because we didn't have any other friends at the time." She nudged Maura's shoulder gently. "So I've never had one either."

They smiled at each other. It never ceased to amaze Jane how quickly she could get lost in Maura's eyes. She couldn't fathom not seeing them every day. Was she really making the right decision?

She picked up her brush suddenly. "Here, look," she said as she dipped the tip in the paint used for the rooster silhouette.

She drew a thin line down from the beak and then looped it slightly so it resembled a chain. At the end she drew a small half heart with a jagged edge for the middle line. Picking up her smallest brush, she dipped it in the white paint and then paused. "How do you say best in French?"

"Meilleure," Maura answered.

"Riiight." Jane made a face. "I'm going to need you to spell that."

As Maura spelled it, she painted tiny but discernible letters.

"Oh, come on! Nine letters?!" She painstakingly made it fit. She grinned at Maura. "Now you put 'friends' in yours."

"Oh, Jane." Maura laughed softly, looking at her friend in adoration. "I love it." She copied Jane, but wrote 'Amies' in her half heart.

"Figures you get the short word."

Everyone had started packing up their things. Felix came up behind Maura, staring at her picture. "This is fantastic," he gushed. "You've captured it perfectly."

Maura shook her head, smiling. "Mine looks just like everyone else's," she said, waving away the compliment.

"Oh no, there's talent here." He pointed to a section. "I love your use of shading. I also see what you did there to reflect the last of the sun's rays."

Maura shrugged a little sheepishly. "Thank you. My mother is an artist. I've picked up some tips from her over the years."

"I would love to get together and discuss your technique. Maybe over dinner sometime?"

Jane made a face. "You believe this guy?" She asked Frankie, her voice low.

"I know, right? The nerve of him to ask your date out right in front of you." He smirked. "You gonna let him get away with it?"

A slow grin appeared on Jane's face. "No." She stood. "I don't believe I will."

Nina sighed. "Don't start anything, you two."

Jane shook her head innocently. "Just going to teach him a lesson."

She turned back to Maura and Felix, frowning at how close the instructor was standing next to the doctor.

Jane felt her temper start to rise. She and Maura weren't a couple but this idiot didn't know that.

She reached them in two strides. "Hey. Are you seriously hitting on my date right in front of me?"

"Oh, wait, are you, you're-," he stammered, looking from Maura to Jane. "Together?"

"Um, hello, it's couples night!" She walked up to Maura and put an arm around her waist, pulling her close.

Maura leaned into her. "Jane," she began.

"No, Maur. How rude is that?"

She was reaching a fine line where this was no longer a joke or about teaching him a lesson and she could feel herself starting to cross it.

"Oh, I thought…" Felix looked taken aback and he gestured behind him.

"That woman told me that you-" he looked from Jane back at Maura. "And you. Were single." He held his hands up. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't let such an opportunity pass." He smiled appreciatively at Maura. "You're beautiful and you know your art."

"Don't get me wrong," He hurriedly looked back at Jane.

"You're gorgeous, too, but," he shrank back a bit. "You're a little intimidating."

"Wait," Jane stepped closer to the instructor, still holding on to Maura. "What woman?" She had a pretty damn good hunch what woman but wanted validation.

He searched the area and then pointed. "Her."

Jane followed his finger and her eyes narrowed as they fell on her mother.

Jane forced herself to breathe. It's fine. Relax. Don't make a complete fool out of yourself. You were just proving a point. She released Maura and took a step to the side. She. Is. Not. Yours.

Her phone vibrated. She glanced down at it and almost groaned in relief at the perfect timing. Answering it, she held it up to her ear. "Agent Davies. One minute, please."

Jane covered the phone. She glared once again at the instructor and then she smirked. "Nah, I'm kidding. We're just friends."

He sighed, obviously relieved, and she pointed her finger at him. "But let that teach you to never assume." She glanced at her mother. "Or listen to strange older women trying to set you up with random people." She tsk'd. "On couples night."

She winked at Maura, trying to convey that it was all one big act. Turning back to the phone, she smiled. "Cameron, hi."

She walked away to continue her conversation not noticing the crest-fallen look on Maura's face.

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"I can't believe you're going to Paris." The detective had brought it up three times so far while they ate.

Maura had just dropped the bombshell back at the station to Jane that she was going to Paris for a month.

Maura shrugged. "I don't know what's so hard to believe. I thought about what you said and I took your advice." She repeated the same thing she'd responded the other two times, as well.

"Yeah, but it's just, I don't know, such a sudden decision."

"Oh, sudden? A bit like someone announcing that they're quitting their job, leaving their family and friends, and moving to DC to join the FBI? Sudden like that?"

"Ooh, touché," Jane raised her eyebrows and smirked. "Yeah, smart ass," she murmured affectionately. "Sudden like that." She shook her head. "Why for a month?"

Maura shrugged. "Why not?"

She was secretly amused at Jane's flustered state. It wasn't often that she could ruffle the detective's feathers and this time, she knew she had really thrown her for a loop. Maura Isles was aware that she was many things, but impulsive wasn't one of them. Except for when it came to the new arrival section on the Louboutin website.

She and Jane had been talking about Paris before Agent Davies had shown up to tell Jane he was leaving. Maura was relieved that he was gone. She couldn't get rid of the bitter, almost painful feeling in the pit of her stomach that she'd had since seeing the agent at Jane's house earlier.

There was nothing worse than walking into Jane's house and seeing men in various stages of undress. Not that it happened often, but it had happened three times too many.

She was tired of pretending to gush over how cute they were, like a good friend would, when all she wanted to was scream at the unfairness of it all. Thankfully they were truly good looking men or she'd go vasovagal every time.

Most of all, she was tired of seeing Jane get hurt. The detective had been hurt horrifically over the years, both physically and mentally, by psychopaths, stalkers, and criminals. Also, to a lesser degree, by ex-boyfriends. Watching Jane get hurt by people she cared about infuriated Maura. Did they think because Jane was a cop, conditioned to contain and repress her emotions, that things wouldn't bother her? Jane just hid it well under that tough exterior.

She knew Jane was disappointed that Davies had to cancel dinner plans to rush back to whatever it was he had to do. Understandably, it would happen sometimes, but it seemed to Maura that it happened too much. It happened too much with Casey, and too much with others.

Casey.

Jane had actually contemplated marrying him which meant changing the entire course of her life for him. She showed him that level of commitment and he still couldn't make Jane a priority. All those promises Casey broke. Jane was crushed every time.

"When are you leaving?" Jane asked, lifting her burger to take a bite.

"Same day as you. I have an early morning flight."

"Really? Ok, then I'll take you to the airport."

"No."

Jane looked up, mid-bite. "What do you mean, no?"

"I'm going to be an emotional wreck, Jane. I cannot say the final goodbye to my best friend in an airport."

"God, you make it sound like I'm going on a one way mission to Mars, never to be seen again."

"You might as well be," she replied somewhat petulantly, frowning down at her salad.

Jane barked out a laugh. "Maura! You're going further away than I am."

"Not permanently."

"True," Jane conceded. She glanced at Maura. "So, when do you think you'll fit in a visit?" she asked nonchalantly, popping a French fry in her mouth.

"Where, to DC?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "No, Mars," she deadpanned.

"Is that what this is about?" Maura tilted her head and smiled at Jane. "When I return from Paris, my first order of business is going to be to visit you."

"Ok, good." Jane nodded. "I want you to, you know, see my place and everything."

Maura's heart swelled as she recognized Jane's attempt to verbalize that she had been hoping to see Maura immediately after she moved. "You'll need some time to get settled in and into a routine."

Jane took a sip of her beer. "I know. I'm just not going to see you for a while now."

Maura reached over and stole one of Jane's fries. "Well, we still have four days with each other." Five hours and 28 minutes, she added silently, discreetly looking at her watch.

"Before our emotional departure," Jane sighed dramatically.

Maura chuckled. "I'm glad you find my distress at your leaving so amusing."

"No, I'm distressed now, too. You're going to Paris. We will be distressed together." Jane smirked and pointed towards Maura with her bottle. "And then I'm taking you to the airport."