A/N:Just a little head canon sent to me anonymously via Tumblr ( ), here's the exact message: "my headcanon is something like.. now that casey is with jane maura needs someone (she needs jane but she cant have her) but she needs distraction so she starts dating someone and jane gets really jealous and that helps her realize that she loves maura too. idk?:/"

I hope I did it justice!

Straightening her back, Maura tries to smile genuinely when she see's Casey hold the door open for Jane, ever the gentleman. She stood as they approached the table, along with her date, Maleah. As soon as Jane's eyes landed on Maleah, her Rizzoli swagger stuttered, and her brows furrowed together.

Reaching the table, Jane hugged Maura, kissing her on the cheek in greeting.

"Hey Maur, I'm glad you agreed to our double date finally! I was wondering if I was ever going to see you again!"

Maura's smile faltered. She hadn't planned on accepting this earlier after Jane and Casey's engagement, especially since it physically gave her a headache seeing Jane and her fiancé interact. Remembering her duties as friend and date, Maura began introductions.

"Jane, Casey, this is Maleah. Maleah, Jane and Casey. Jane is a former Homicide Detective at BPD, and Casey is a recently promoted Army General currently based in Boston, until he resumes his active duty after the wedding. Maleah is an Anthropology professor at BCU, we were classmates."

After the pleasantries, and our appetizers, Maura could tell there was something off with Jane. She was nice enough to Maleah, but any answers about her former position at BPD were clipped, and she looked older. Granted, Maura hadn't seen her in nearly 45 days, but she looked exhausted. Her nasaljugal folds were darker, she looked skinner than normal, unhealthy. She held herself slightly to the right, as though she was trying to avoid triggering something. Maura frowned and looked down at Jane's half-eaten plate, and the amount of beer she had drank already. two bottles and we haven't even received our main course yet.

"I need to go the restroom. Jane, would you care to join me?" Maura threw a polite smile her way, but her eyes were saying something else, 'now'. Not waiting for a response, Maura strode towards the bathrooms.

"Maur? Maura? Are you okay? Why did you pull me away? I thought you had to pee? You don't need my help… do you?" Jane's eyes were round at the prospect, and Maura waved her questions away.

"I should be asking you that; Are you okay?" Frowning, Jane scanned Maura's face for something.

"What are you talking about? I'm fine." Threatening Jane with a look that screamed 'Don't you lie to me', Maura poked Jane in her abdominal scar tissue. Jane gasped in pain, hunching over and glaring at Maura through her hair. "Why would you do that?!"

"You obviously haven't been around me enough to remember that, A) I can read micro-expressions, B) I am a doctor, I can see the way you're holding yourself, and C) You're my best friend, Jane. I'll always need you." Jane returned to her full height, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot.

"It hasn't seemed like you've needed me these last few weeks. Where were you, Maur? I've been trying to call you for ages! You never answer or return my calls, and I haven't seen you since I… Since… the engagement. Are you not talking to me because I'm marrying Casey?!"

Caught off guard, Maura stares at Jane, contemplating how to answer her question. "I haven't been talking to you because I'm trying to decrease my dependance on you and your family. I can't be reliant on you, and that is what I've become. Since I've started dating Maleah, - "

"Oh, and that's another thing! Since when do you date women?!" Jane threw her hands up in the air.

"What does it matter to you? Why do you care now, Jane? Sexuality is fluid, and shouldn't be kept in a single compartment. I've always liked women. I've always liked men. You're a little late for your interrogation, Detective. I want to go home." As soon as she said it, she knew she said the wrong thing. Jane was no longer a Homicide Detective, and hadn't been as of 3 weeks ago, resigning to become an army wife.

"How dare you, Maura? You finally say yes to a double date, that I've been asking you to for a month now, and then I get… Why are you acting like this? I don't even know who you are anymore." Maura's eyes flash at the last statement.

"Maybe you don't know who I am anymore due to your inability to accept yourself." Whispered. Jane's face becomes blank in response. She's staring at Maura, who has tears shimmering, awaiting that single tear to release the floodgates. "I don't know who you are, Jane. I thought I did. I knew the fierce Detective Rizzoli, the woman who wouldn't let anything, including aman, get between her and bringing in murders. I knew the woman who made me laugh at her childlike qualities, who was loyal, and kind to most who deserved it. I knew the woman that I fell in love with; full, beautiful. Healthy.What have you turned yourself into, Jay? You're skin and bones, and you look exhausted. Miserable." Running her fingers underneath her eyes quickly, Maura tried making herself presentable. "I can't… I just can't, Jane. Maleah and I are leaving." Making eye contact, she saw Jane's pale face, her expression of shock, and the tears brimming in her eyes.

"You… why didn't you tell me, Maur? You're… you love me?" Confused, Maura frowns, nodding.

"Of course I love you, I told it to you all of the time."

"No! You're in love with me?" Maura gapes.

"Excuse me?"

"Maura, you said that you fell in love with me. Why didn't you tell me?" Flustered, her response comes in a rush.

"I couldn't control it! I can't control it, and that scares me. I don't want to be… that, with my best friend. I couldn't lose you, and you have Casey, and I can't handle seeing you wi-with him and know that I never had a ch-chance! I can't do it, Jane. I don't want to talk about this."

"Well, it's a little late for that. You and I? We are going to talk, but not here, in a bathroom. We're leaving early. You need to come with me. I'm giving Casey my keys. You, Maleah, and me will ride in your car home, and we'll drop her off at her house."

~~~~~1 Hour Later~~~~~

On the drive home, Jane silently ran through all of the information Maura had just spewed at her in a restaurant bathroom. Did she really love her? Did Maura love Jane in that sense? Glancing over at the driver, Jane chewed on her thumbnail, scanning Maura's profile. The tension in the car was nearly cloying, it was so thick. Jane was handling this better than she herself would've guessed.

"Maura, I'm getting married." Maura looked at Jane before returning her eyes to the road.

"Thank you, for the reminder."

"Was that sarcasm?" Maura shrugged noncommittally. Silence descended again in the car.

"What I meant… Was… Why would you tell me that now? Why didn't you tell me when you realized?" Another shrug, followed by a tiny voice that Jane didn't think could belong to woman sitting next to her.

"I was scared. I didn't want to lose you. But I already have." Staring at her profile, Jane tried to read the emotions flitting across the ME's face, and failed. At this point, they were in Maura's driveway, exiting the car.

"I'm sorry you didn't feel as though you could tell me something like that. I wish I had known." Maura's expression morphed into sudden anger.

"What would you have done had you known?! You're 'not gay', Jane. You've said so yourself. The only thing you could've done is ignore it, and shy away from me any time I did anything remotely sexual, or something normal that could be passed off as such. I didn't want us to tiptoe around each other, and that's what happened. I can't try to fight for something I never had to begin with. I can't act happy around someone that I've lost before I've ever even had a grip on her! What would you have done, Jane? Nothi -"

"I would have loved you back!" Shocked, Jane covers her mouth after she blurted something she didn't even know she had to hide. Maura is staring at her in astonished silence, her anger forgotten. Removing her hand from over her mouth slowly, Jane repeats herself. "I would have loved you back, Maura. I've always loved you. I can't put it into nice words, but I tried to show you. I thought I wasn't enough for the likes of you, I'm not! But I stopped caring. Of what people thought, the rumors, the looks. I am not gay. I'm not. I'm a person. I don't like labels. And I hate not doing the job I was meant to do!"

"Are you saying that, if I had just told you the truth… All of that time… And Casey… and Maleah? We could be together right now? You would still be at BPD?" Maura looks pointedly at Jane's engagement ring, and she twists it uncomfortably.

"I… I guess… Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Or trying to say, anyways. I love Casey… But I love my job too. And the woman I met there." Frowning at her engagement ring, she yanked it off, depositing it to her pocket to return to Casey. "I'm done pretending to be in love with him. I haven't been able to sleep well, or eat. Not since you stopped talking to me. I can't do it anymore." Maura's brain has slowed down to comprehend what exactly her ears are picking up. Is she hearing correctly?

"Jane, I… Please tell me you're serious? I couldn't handle otherwise."

"I'm serious. Completely." Her eyes meet hazel, and she smiles sadly, at all their lost time, at the heartache they've put themselves through.

"Oh, Jane." Maura breathed, closing the gap between them and pulling the woman she fell in love with all those years ago into a fierce hug.

"I love you."

"I love you, too!" Said between sobs of excitement, happiness.