4th December
Barging in like she owned the place, Jane strode into Maura's house with a cold six pack and a hot pizza in hand. "Maura?!"
"I'm in the kitchen."
Joining her friend, Jane deposited all but one of her beers into the fridge, then grabbed a bottle of Syrah from the wine rack.
Smilling at the choice of wine, Maura quickly finished up what she was doing. Jane had clearly been paying attention to her drinking habits while she had been indulging in Jane's food choices. Drying her hands, she pulled some napkins from a draw.
Leaning against the counter, Jane flipped open the pizza box, inhaling the heavenly scent. "Even your mushrooms can't ruin this smell."
Rolling her eyes, Maura joined Jane at the counter. Picking up a slice, she daintily bit into it, testing the temperature. "Mmmm. Delicious."
Jane's eyes lost focus for a moment, as she watched Maura's tongue flick out over her lips. Then realising she was staring, grabbed up her own slice of pizza, shoving half of it into her mouth.
Realising this was an epic mistake, she swallowed the hot cheese hastily, then downed nearly half her beer.
Maura shook her head, a large smile on her face, reaching over to rub Jane's back. "It helps if you masticate." Jane almost chocked on her tongue, stepping away from Maura's soothing touch. "WHAT?"
"Chew... Your food."
Eyes big and round, Jane slowly processed Maura's words. "Why can't you just say that to start with!"
Casting around for a change of subject, Jane noticed Maura's house was devoid of decorations. "So when are you putting your tree up?"
Maura looked back at Jane. Letting the subject change go. "Which tree would that be?"
"Uh, the Christmas variety?"
Maura seemed surprised at the question. "Oh, I'm surprised you noticed."
"Of course I noticed. Your house is the only one on your street without lights."
"I hav-" Jane jumped in before Maura could explain that every room in her house had adequate lighting. "Christmas lights, Maur."
"Oh. Well I haven't had time to go pick out a tree, and without a tree it just didn't seem worth it. I thought I might just leave it this year."
Jane could hardly believe her ears. "Uh uh. That's not happening."
Maura gave Jane a look. "They're just decorations, Jane."
"I can't believe it. The woman who likes to make every place she's in pretty, can't be bothered to put a few lights and ornaments up."
Maura frowned at that description of herself. "Just because I like my home and workspace to be aesthetically pleasing, does not mean I have to-"
Promptly butting in, Jane thought it best to cut her best friend off now before she worked herself up. "Yeah, yeah. I know. I was just teasing, Maur."
Maura slapped at Jane's arm. "You're terrible."
Jane grinned. "It's part of my charm.
"Seriously though, Ma will not let you get away with not decorating. Really. She will make your life hell."
"I think hell is a little overboard, Jane."
Snapping up another slice of pizza, Jane just smiled knowingly. "If you don't decorate, you will come home one day from work, your house decorated by the ghosts of Rizzoli Christmases past.
"Picture it now. Mismatched light sets - blues, greens, reds and yellows blinking at you, the odd bulb here and there not working. A giant inflatable snowman on your front lawn, coupled with a three legged nodding reindeer with one eye missing. Lovely gold and silver cut out decorations hanging from your ceiling, a-"
"Okay. Okay. Stop. That's enough. Angela would never do that to my home." It came off as more of a question than a statement, and Maura's eyes, large with terror bore frantically into Jane. "She would…" The 'not' got stuck in her throat. "…She would."
Rubbing Maura's arm in sympathy, while chuckling to herself, Jane did her best to ease the tension in her friend. "Tell you what. Instead of going for that early morning run tomorrow, how about we head down to a lot I know and pick you up a tree? They have decorations there too. We can find some that you'll find statically pleasing."
"Aesthetically."
Jane winked at her calming friend.
Despite the early start, Jane was feeling pretty pleased with herself. All because she'd offered that little bit of help, Maura had been all smiles and laughter and soft touches all day. Yep, she was as pleased as punch.
They'd worked hard (because Jane knew the owner he allowed them to saw the tree down themselves), then wandered about the makeshift store full of shiny Christmas baubles and snowy ornaments. Maura had settled quickly on a theme. Silver with hints of a deep purple.
It was noon now, and having finally finished decorating, Jane had to admit the theme worked incredibly well. Maura just had that magic touch. Everything around her was stunning.
Stretching with a yawn, Jane smiled sleepily up from the couch at her beautiful best friend. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to crawl back into bed."
Pulling a cover from the back of the couch, Maura joined Jane, throwing it over the both of them. "Set the alarm on your phone for 20 minutes. I'm a little tired myself. A quick powernap, then we'll have some lunch."
Reclining on opposite ends of the couch, legs entangled, Jane pulled out her phone. "20 minutes. You got it." Making sure not to grin. Jane set the alarm for much much later.
