Thanks for your continued support - you form a readership from across 50 countries; a fact that I find hugely humbling. This chapter is a short burst, but provides some of the context you have been asking for.

Jane's body was locked in momentary paralysis, her back arched, soft flesh pointing upwards, with long limbs stretched to the limit from the top to the toe of the bed. Her eyes were shut tight in direct contrast to her mouth which was wide open. Hands gripped at the loose linen sheet. Black hair flared freely across a pillow. Her naked pose synonymous with the 19th century nudes sculpted by Rodin, captured the near ecstasy of the moment. A final pull of soft flesh between her legs, initiated an incendiary like effect deep inside her, a massive pulse of energy radiating outwards from her core to the extremities of flesh and bone. Held breath escaped from her mouth unchecked shaped in the form of a scream. Words were not possible right now. Breathing and feeling waves of pleasure roll over and through her were the priority.

With eyes readjusting to the light in the room and thoughts falling in a more coherent manner, Jane looked down the length of her body at the head that remained still between her legs. Pulling at the hand that rested on her stomach, she managed to mutter her first words.

"Get up here, lady."

Slipping toned legs off her shoulders, Kate snaked slowly upwards, making sure to lay open mouthed kisses on the exposed flesh as she moved.

With hands woven through mussed up honey blonde locks, Jane pulled her lover's face to her own, taking in lips still moist and fragrant of her own making. Kate's fingers followed into her mouth and Jane sucked on them reverently. Dark eyes met blue. Kate was first to break the increasingly charged moment.

"No more Jane. We need to be able to walk tomorrow."

"Well, I cannot help that you've been blessed with that mouth and those hands of yours."

"I feel like the luckiest girl alive to be where I am right now, but we need to sleep. Big day tomorrow, we get to submit our District choice; A-7 here we come!"

"I know, after 30 weeks of training I'm ready for the real thing. Ok, let's get some shut eye. Night Kate." With a final kiss planted on flush lips, Jane turned onto her side so that Kate could wrap her her arms around her. She just loved to fall asleep like that, with gentle breathing caressing her neck and ear, legs tangled with her own. To Jane, that was heaven on a plate.

Jane didn't know how long she had dozed off for. Caught in the middle between sleep and being fully conscious, she laid still so not to disturb Kate. Thinking that the woman behind her was asleep, she didn't expect to hear words drift past her ear. Three words in particular.

"I love you."

Jane's eyes shot open, but again she chose to lie still thinking Kate was sleep talking. She was however convinced otherwise.

"You are my everything. You are loved beyond words." Kate pressed a gentle kiss to the curls where she nestled her head and then drifted off to sleep.

Jane however remained awake, very awake. Instead of feeling joy in hearing the declaration of love, she felt a panic rise within her. Those words meant commitment, those words were used between people such as her parents and grandparents before that. She hadn't imagined being on the receiving end of them at the age of 21. That surely was too soon in her mind.

Moreover, it was clear that Kate wanted more, something more established, visible. How could Jane offer that when she was so deep inside the closet. Her parents would flip at the thought of her being with a woman. Their Janie was going to be a fine wife and mother one day, just like all the other Rizzoli women before her. To them, there was only one option available to her, and they hoped that by becoming a police officer she would meet a lovely young man at work.

In all the time that she had known Kate, having first met at a hockey summer camp, she knew that she was a romantic at heart, but Jane had never thought that she would set her course for her. Jane's naivety hit her square in the face. They had been drawn to each from the outset, admiring the other for their stick handling skills and competitive nature. They became inseparable during those summer camps, picking up where they had left off from one year to the next. Their relationship had started off with an innocent enough kiss Kate had planted on Jane's cheek, after having had her sketch book praised by the lanky teenager. She had called it a special collection of memories and those few words had filled her heart.

Kate desperately wanted to go to Art College, but her parents couldn't see how she could make a living from drawing. In between practice and matches, Kate would draw Jane at every opportunity, filling sketchbooks. One evening as they sat on one bed in their shared dorm room, Kate passed a completed book to Jane and told her to keep it. Overwhelmed at the gesture, Jane leant over and reciprocated the kiss that Kate had given a week previously. When eyes connected, there was no questioning, lips found lips, and step by step over time they gave themselves fully to the other. Their unconventional, summer time relationship grew into something more substantial, and whilst they never put a name to what they had started, they knew it was something they couldn't be open about.

It had come as a surprise to Kate's parents that their daughter wanted to become a police officer. Little did they know that she was following her love. They knew the girls were close but had never imagined an ulterior motive. Moving into an apartment funded by Kate's parents, the two enjoyed a freedom they never had before and everything they felt deepened. Jane should have seen it coming, but she too was wrapped up in the world they created. Her teenage lankiness had morphed into well-structured musculature and coupled with her raven locks and natural beauty, the world was none the wiser. Stereotypes of gay women ironically protected her from inquiry.

That was how she wanted to keep her world, private. Those words however suggested a different path and that path wasn't one she was prepared to take. She acknowledged that what she felt for Kate was most likely love, but that was a word, a feeling she just wasn't prepared to solidify out loud, even after 5 years.

Jane felt a deep shame build inside of her, that she wasn't strong enough to be the person Kate wanted her to be. The reality of what the outside world would think of her, disappointed parents, the jibes from her colleagues provided a convincing counter balance to what her heart suggested and in reality felt. Lying next to the woman she knew who loved her, and who thought in her own way loved her back, Jane felt wholly unworthy of the sentiment that had been breathed between them.

- / -

Jane's detached demeanour hadn't gone unnoticed by Kate the next day. Instead of pressing, she put it to a lack of sleep, four hours was just not enough in anyone's book and perhaps a hint of nervousness of the decision they were about to make. Jane had taken the responsibility in becoming a police officer very seriously throughout their training and she posited that the nearing actuality to serve and protect had become a tangible reality.

"Peterson." Kate rose from the chair she was seated in and made her way down the corridor to the Chief Instructor's office. A quick glance in Jane's direction was all that was needed to say here we go. Jane managed a small smile in return.

A quarter of an hour later as others had filed in and out of the office in alphabetical order before her, Jane's moment had arrived.

"Rizzoli."

Smoothing down her uniform shirt and adjusting the belt on her pants she made the short walk towards the office where she would shape her future. Standing at the threshold of the door to attention, she waited to be called in. A wave of the hand from the Chief, gave her permission to enter.

"So Rizzoli, what's it going to be? A-7?" It was more of a statement than a question. It was to Jane in that moment that even the Chief thought she would be signing up to the same District as Kate. Just how obvious was their connection to each other?

Her resolve grew. In time she wondered whether that resolve would have been so strong, had she known the sound of anguish in Kate's voice or the utter look of heartbreak when she found out that her choice hadn't been the same district. The betrayal of not being part of that decision making process caused irreparable damage between them. Jane had racked up her first run from emotional commitment, a trait that would repeat itself again and again over the years.

"No Sir. C-6. South Boston for me please." Her fate had been sealed and in doing so, she lost the best thing that existed in her life.