Author's note: thank you everyone for all the reviews!

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Chapter two

Saturday – lunchtime

"Marco and Antonio on the right, Maria and Sara on the left... Roberta and Giulia behind, always together... Oh, and Pablo with James carrying that big... Jeez, what the hell is that? Cotton candy, seriously?"

Following Jane's last instructions, Maura moved her head from left to right – repeating the names one more time to herself – as the group was approaching them.

The scientist was utterly nervous and intimidated but her determination to do it right was stronger than the rest in the end and as a first pair of arms grabbed her, she let a long – quiet – sigh pass her lips in a sign of relief.

"You're Maura, right? Look how cute you are. I knew Janie was a lesbian!"

The blonde's smile froze. Searching for her words, Maura moaned and finally opened her mouth to reply to Roberta. The comment had completely taken her aback.

"As a matter of fact, Jane isn't a..."

But the woman had already moved on and was now in full chat with Giulia and Marco over some incident that had occurred during their flight. The scientist's voice - too low, too shy - passed completely unnoticed. Dumbfounded, Maura stared at the group without saying a word and drew a line under her revision notes.

They wouldn't come in handy, now she was sure of that.

The group finally moved to the renting car service and soon enough they were all driving back to Boston in one very last whirl of loud laughter.

In a glance she hoped furtive enough, Maura looked at the rear seats. Sara and James had gladly accepted to jump into Jane's Subaru to escape from their parents for a while but as the teenagers they were, as soon as they had fasten their seatbelts, they had locked themselves out of the rest of the world listening to music on their MP3.

"It seems like this wedding isn't the surprise we had thought it would be."

Stopping at a red light, Jane looked at Maura with questioning eyes. They had arrived on time at the airport and the only thing she could think about now was how hungry she was for having skipped breakfast. Luckily enough, her mother was waiting for them in Boston Common for a picnic lunch.

Or else she would just have stopped by the nearest Starbucks to grab something.

"What do you mean?"

Elbow on the sill, Maura rose an eyebrow and smirked. She was looking straight at the skyline in front of her; the midday sun sliding on her pale skin in a golden embrace.

"Your aunt basically told me that her gaydar hadn't betrayed her the slightest bit concerning you."

As much as the blonde had whispered to make sure that the two extra passengers wouldn't hear anything, it resulted enough to make Jane choke and squeal.

"What?!"

A car honked behind theirs. Apologizing with a hand in the air, Jane focused back on the road and resumed driving.

…

She wouldn't let go of her plate. If she did, then her vulnerability would show up and the worst would come. She was certain of it. So as much as she had finished her quinoa salad, Maura stuck to the plastic fork and knife – tracing invisible paths on the white plate – as if she still had plenty to eat. She had to look busy. It was paramount right now.

Twenty members of the Rizzoli family were surrounding her, shouting at each other and laughing loud at old memories everyone remembered. Everyone but her, obviously. Though it wasn't an issue in itself. No. It was all about how she didn't share their natural exuberance and slightly overwhelmed by the situation, she had been relegated to the role of spectator. Involuntarily enough.

"You're okay?"

As if Jane had sensed Maura's slight distress, the brunette squeezed her hand and rested it on her lap. Her dark eyes were looking for her partner's hazel ones. A sweet smile lit up her face.

The scientist nodded. She always hated her inability to properly socialize in these kinds of circumstances. She suddenly turned extremely shy and preferred to remain out of the whole thing. It was reassuring.

"You're doing well, Maur'. And no worries... Nap time's coming. They're all gonna retreat to their hotel within an hour, now."

When they had announced their engagement, both women had stipulated that they didn't want anything big. A small ceremony would be perfect. Something intimate. Yet it was a nice occasion to finally reunite both of their families so they could meet and soon they had realized what it meant: from cousins to aunts, they had reached a number of guests they hadn't expected.

"Thirty people each?"

"It's a deal..."

Except thirty Rizzolis easily equaled a thousand Isles now that Maura thought about it. Her family couldn't be more different. She had always known that. But sat among Jane's relatives on a sunny afternoon, reality had a sharper light on such veracity. The reunion would be explosive.

As the detective had announced, people ended up leaving. The cousins from New York headed back to their hotel while the Bostonians returned to their suburban neighborhood. In a last hug, Angela left as well and a final wave of quietness surrounded Maura and Jane.

It was a beautiful day. The temperatures were high but a soft breeze made it bearable enough.

"So...?"

Jane rose her eyebrows to her partner and waited for an answer. They had sat back on the grass by the dark shadows of a tree. Children were running somewhere in the background; screams of delight filling the air.

"They are... Loud...?"

The brunette burst out laughing, soon followed by Maura who shook her head before lying down. Eyes fixed on the blue sky, she smiled. Brightly.

"They are nice. I hardly had a chance to share a proper conversation with each of them but they seem nice and caring. And... You know... Always this family spirit I scarcely got to know myself."

Jane lay down next to her partner and turned on a side to face her properly. Her leg slid between Maura's as her fingers softly brushed the blonde's cheek. She was happy to see her cousins again, some she hadn't got the chance to visit for years. But if she had had to be completely honest, the only moment she had eagerly been waiting for had been this one: when she found herself alone with Maura again.

"Do you ever think about the way things can so easily change? So quickly?"

The honey blonde bit her lower lip and frowned. She was taken aback by the sudden change of conversation, the way Jane's voice had lowered to echo a vulnerable seriousness.

"For the worst or the best?"

Jane laughed quietly before planting the ghost of a kiss on Maura's lips.

"How can you even ask?"

Everything had changed. And fast. Within a year, they had gone from friends to lovers and brides. It wasn't necessarily overwhelming for it sounding right but still, if they stopped and looked back at the whole thing, the direction they had taken had been completely different from what they had known so far. The exact opposite.

"I love you."

Jane blushed at Maura's murmured confession. The medical examiner might have told it to her ten times a day that her reaction would always be the same one. Reddening her cheeks, making her heart beat faster. And then the kiss. Warm and sincere.