Jane glared at her mother for a brief moment but quickly changed her mind about telling the woman off. "How do you know?" Jane asked with a sigh stepping up to the sink to help her mother wash the dishes.
"Anyone with eye's can see that you're in love with each other."Angela laughed a little. "If you're asking how I know you're finally together I saw you kiss her last night."
"We've only been officially together for a week." Jane said softly. She knew that Maura was standing at the kitchen island listening to her talk. "Last night was our first date. I would've waited until we got inside to kiss her but…" Jane blushed uncomfortable with the idea of telling her mother that she wasn't sure about having sex yet and that she knew that coming in the previous night would've inevitably led them to the bedroom. "You were waiting all day for us to tell you weren't you?" she asked changing the subject to what really needed to be talked about.
"You're good together. You and Maura have always had a special relationship. I can't say I'm surprised at all. And I don't think anyone else will be either." She paused as if she were considering it. "Well Tommy might be."
"I don't think Tommy will be surprised" Maura said thoughtfully. "Maybe hurt but I believe he might've thought we were in this sort of relationship before now."
"Oh?" Angela questioned.
"Well… when we were fighting still, he said it was a good thing we weren't talking anymore because that meant he and I could talk." Maura frowned. "I didn't think too much about it then because I was so distraught about the fact that we weren't talking. It never even occurred to me that he used the same terminology to describe the nature of our previous relationship to also describe the type of relationship he wished to pursue with me."
"He said that to you." Jane growled spinning around so quickly Angela was momentarily afraid Jane might drop the dish in her hands.
"Jane, we were fighting. And besides it was never Tommy that I wanted. Haven't you figured that out yet?" Maura gave the detective a disarming smile. "Had I pursued anything more than friendship with Tommy it would've only been because he was a substitute for the Rizzoli I really wanted to be with."
Jane tried to control her blush when it registered that her mother was hearing this conversation. "I still don't like it." Jane said before turning back to the sink.
"Janie, go easy on your brother. Can you really blame him for his interest in Maura?"
"No." Jane said softly. "But she's made it clear several times now that she doesn't want that from him and he keeps trying."
"Would you have given up on having her so easily if she'd told you no?" Angela asked already knowing the answer.
Jane was beginning to resent that her mother was so reasonable in that moment. "No." she grumbled. Maura heard her and beamed brightly. "So you're really okay with this Ma? Maura and I being together doesn't bother you? Even though we're Catholic?"
"Ha!" Angela looked at her daughter with all the compassion and love one expected from a mother. "Jane, I'm a divorcee with an ex husband that tried to tell the church that we didn't want you and your brothers. I think that the church has more to say about that then they do about my daughter, who hasn't been to church in years I might add, being in love with a woman." Angela pulled Jane into a tight hug. "I love you Jane. You too Maura. I couldn't have asked for a better match for my daughter."
Maura looked at Jane. The detective was smiling widely flashing both her dimples. Her mother's approval means a lot, I can tell. You may have everyone else fooled but you can't fool me detective. I know that it means a lot to you. That's why you were scared to tell her. And here she is not only accepting you a loving you but approving of your choice. It hit Maura rather suddenly that Angela approved of her. She was shocked by how much the sentiment meant to her as well. "Oh." She said softly to herself.
"You do realize that I still expect grandbabies right?" Angela said bringing both Jane and Maura out of their happy reverie.
"Ma, we only just started dating. We haven't even…" Jane turned a bright shade of red. "Ya know…" She frowned. "Can we please have at least a couple of months together before you start asking about grandbabies. And besides you have Jo and Bass."
"Well what about a wedding? It's legal here. Are you going to have a big white wedding, Oh Janie please tell me you'll wear a dress."
"Ma!" Jane snapped though not harshly. "We aren't at that point yet. I promise you will be the first to know when we are."
"I just want you to be happy Jane." Angela said as if that excused her badgering.
Maura chuckled. I suppose those are things we'll have to talk about. With Angela around we'll probably need to talk about it sooner rather than later.
"I'm happy." Jane looked over her shoulder and smiled at the blonde who was obviously lost in her own world. "Really happy, let us enjoy the newness of it all for awhile please."
Angela nodded. "I'm going to head back over to the guest house you two enjoy your evening."
"Thanks ma. Oh! You're not gonna tell anyone are you? About me and Maura"
"Maura and I," Maura corrected out of habit.
"Right. You're not are you? Because this is kind of a big thing for me and I'm not sure I'm ready for the entire world to know."
"Of course I won't tell. It's nobody's business but yours and you can tell people whenever you feel ready." Angela opened the door to leave but she stopped. "Though you might not want to wait too long to tell your brothers." With that final statement she closed the door behind her.
Maura wrapped her arms around Jane's waist and nuzzled into her back, "You told your mother." Maura smiled even though Jane couldn't see it. "Thank you."
"She knew anyway." Jane said trying to make light of her actions. "So really I didn't tell her so much as confirm what she already knew."
"Which is more than you needed to do considering you said you're not exactly ready for people to know." She told her mother. I'm so glad she told her mother. This is a huge step forward.
"I can't hug you back like this" Jane said softly.
Maura loosened her grip on the taller woman so that they could face each other. "Will you stay with me tonight? I would really like to sleep in your arms tonight."
Jane thought about it. "I don't know if that's such a good idea Maura." She admitted.
"Why not?" Maura asked with a bit of a pout. "It's not like we've never shared a bed before."
"You're right we have shared a bed before. But it was different then." Jane kissed Maura slowly to emphasize her upcoming point. "I knew I wasn't allowed to touch you then. Now I can hardly resist. And I don't think we're quite ready for that yet." Jane husked.
"What if I promise to behave? I really want you here tonight." Am I asking too much? Maybe one big step tonight is enough. Of course we've slept together before and it was perfectly fine. I think we could keep things chaste if we chose to.
Jane gnawed on her bottom lip. She knew she had a hard time telling Maura no. "You promise?" Jane asked softly.
"I promise." Maura couldn't contain her glee when she realized that Jane was going to stay with her.
"We'll need to swing by my apartment in the morning though." Jane said when she realized that she hadn't brought anything with her. "And I'll need to borrow something to sleep in."
"That won't be a problem." Maura led the way to her bedroom. "I've got something you could wear,"
Maura looked through her drawers but not for long. She pulled out a pair of silk pajama's the blonde blushed when she realized that she was asking Jane to wear. The shorts were rather short and the top was sleeveless. Am I going to be able keep my promise, she's drop dead gorgeous. How the hell am I going to keep my hands off of her? "Here," She handed Jane the pajamas trying to shake the image from her head. "You can sleep in this tonight. I figured shorts would be better since you're taller than me."
"Thanks." Jane kissed Maura gently. "I'll go change. Then we can go to sleep."
"Maybe we could cuddle up and read a book together? Just for a little while." Maura asked hopeful.
Jane chuckled. "Sure, we can do that."
Jane was quick to change when she walked out she stopped and just stared at her girlfriend for a moment. Maura was already lying in bed in her own silky pajamas though hers were much more modest. She had a book in her hands flipped open.
"You make reading look like a mixture of sexy and adorable." Jane said crawling in beside the medical examiner. "What are we reading anyway?"
Maura blushed at the compliment. "Pride and Prejudice, it's always been one of my favorite books."
"It's an excellent book. I've read it a few times. Are you going to read it out loud? Are we going to start from the beginning?" Jane pulled Maura into her so that she was holding on to the smaller woman. "Read." Jane said kissing Maura on her head.
Maura began to read from the beginning softly. I like this. This is cozy and nice. I'm glad that I decided on wearing long pajamas I don't think I could handle skin to skin contact. Maura made it half way through the second chapter when she felt Jane's grip on her loosen. Her breathing has evened out. She fell asleep. Maura put a bookmark to mark their place. She turned the bedside lamp off and she snuggled close to Jane. "I love you." Maura said softly.
I want this to always be. I want to always be able to go to sleep with her like this at night. She knew she was nodding off. This isn't a dream. If I go to sleep she'll still be here in the morning. She'll be here in the morning. With that final thought she nodded off.
So this chapter is a little bit shorter than the others and for that I apologize. But I feel like I got everything I wanted into this chapter. Well there you have it. Angela once again caught them kissing and that is how she knew. I just can't ever picture Angela ever being upset about Jane being in a relationship with Maura. Now I'm going to have to deal with Tommy and Frankie. I feel like I didn't give Tommy enough "screen time" in Maura's dream so I'll probably spend a little more time on him this round. But I'm rambling. Thanks for Reading. Please keep reviewing. I really like knowing what my readers think. Love and Hugs. R. W.