Author's note: thank you very much for the reviews, the private messages and the suggestions.

Chapter eight: A Sunday Brunch With The Family

Maura brought a finger to her mouth and sucked the chocolate on it. Dark chocolate. Perfect. A moan of delight passed her lips which pushed Jane to react. The Italian gasped pretending to be shocked.

"Maura Dorthea Isles..." Remembering that Margot was in the kitchen too, she hurried to complete her sentence. "Isles-Rizzoli!" Better. "Don't touch the chocolate dough?"

Maura laughed and surprised her friend by planting a joyful kiss on her cheek. Best way to make her keep quiet.

She had woken up in a light mood in spite of Jane's incessant attempts to pull on the blanket all night long to keep it for herself. It was Sunday – none of them worked – the birds were singing in the trees and the sky was blue. A perfect day for a family brunch at her place.

She knew that Frankie and Tommy would have a blast playing around her fake marriage to Jane but Maura didn't mind. On the contrary, she was rather eager to face their challenges. She was getting good at it after two weeks of practice.

"I am done with the crepes. Do you want me to prepare the quiche? Or a vegetable pie, I don't mind. We don't have a lot of vegetable in the dishes we prepared so it could be great. What do you think?"

If Maura smiled proudly at Margot's comment, Jane widened her eyes in pure panic. Of course, she had got the healthy teenager. Among all the French students, fate had decided for her and she hadn't landed the classic adolescent who only swore by junk food.

As much as Maura had told her that this was a French thing, she had seen how the other teens enjoyed their burgers and fries. It was not entirely true. French kids liked greasy things too.

"If you start praising kale, I swear I order a maternity test for you and Maura. You two are way too much alike. It's scary."

And I feel lost among health freaks, dammit. What have I done to deserve this, exactly? What have I done to...

The door bell rang. Jane – Maura – and Margot turned around to look at it; surprised. They weren't expecting anyone. Not yet. Jane's brothers would arrive in an hour and Angela used the patio door since she lived in the guest house. It had to be someone else.

Since Maura had now both hands plunged in flour, Jane took charge and walked to the door. As she reached it, bits of the conversation Margot was having with Maura reached her but she didn't pay attention to them.

"Welcome to the Isles-Rizzoli house-... Hold...?" Her sentence died in the air before she had a real chance to keep quiet. "Constance?" Bad timing for a joke.

The artist was standing by the door a bouquet of flowers in hand; all smiles.

"Bonjour, Jane."

What was she doing here? Jane concentrated and tried to remember if Maura had told her that she was expecting a visit from her mother but – as far as she knew – the scientist hadn't. And yet, there was Constance; waiting outside politely.

"What... A surprise! I didn't know you were in Boston...?"

Constance made a step forward to enter the house but Jane prevented her from doing so by leaning against the door. The artist frowned, confused.

"It wasn't planned. I was in Chicago for an exhibition when I thought that I could stop by for a few days to say hello to my daughter. Is she there?"

You bet she is. With a wedding ring and a foreign guest who thinks we are married.

Jane cleared her voice to win some time. She didn't know what to do nor what to reply to Constance. Yet could she really lie to her and say that Maura was out on a crime scene? Her friend's mother would simply reply that she would wait for her return. At her house. No. She couldn't find the slightest relevant excuse.

Jane ran a hand through her hair and tilted her head. She squinted her eyes – opened her mouth – and took a deep breath.

"Is your mistress on the other side of the door?"

Too late. She made a face as a joyful Maura giggled at her own remark and opened the door widely only to freeze as she realized who Jane had been talking to. The medical examiner swallowed hard.

For once she allowed herself to make a joke.

"Oh."

Constance made another step forward and planted a loud kiss on her daughter's cheek. She offered her the bouquet and finally managed to come in, completely unaware of the panic on Jane's face.

Maura was livid.

"The flight from Chicago was awful... I should have known better than to take a commercial flight."

She dropped her coat on the console table and stepped into the living-room only to stop when she noticed Margot in the kitchen. "Hello."

The French girl nodded timidly before finally holding out a hand to Constance.

"I am Margot."

"Constance, Maura's mother." She turned around and raised an eyebrow at the scientist. "You have very young friends, I see." She focused back on Margot and smiled. "French ones, I presume?"

Maura rushed to the kitchen counter to introduce both parties. So much for relaxing before the farce she and Jane were playing. It had to be karma.

"Margot is a French student who is staying here until May. She is from Bordeaux. And Constance is my mother, indeed. She..."

"You got married, honey?" Constance grabbed her daughter's hand to check the diamond wedding ring on it. She didn't look particularly surprised nor did she feel much concerned. Just curious. Maybe amused. "Who is the lucky one?"

Silence. Maura swallowed hard, feeling all the weight of Margot's eyes and her confusion on her. Talk about a very unexpected turn of events, Isles.

"To me." Jane rushed to Maura's side and passed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We got married."

"Oh." Constance seemed to have a moment of uncertainty. She soon shrugged it away though and went to sit on the couch. "I always knew that it would happen at some point, anyway."

On the verge of passing out, Maura closed her eyes. She needed to calm down, to breathe slowly. But Margot's hand on her forearm took her straight back to reality. She looked at the adolescent and waited for her to speak.

"You don't see her very often? That's why she doesn't know you were married?"

Thankfully, Margot had whispered her question and Constance didn't turn to be able to overhear it. She had grabbed a magazine and was now leafing through it, probably waiting for someone to get her a drink. At this hour of the morning, it would be a vodka on the rock.

"It might be a possibility, indeed." Maura nodded at the teenager and excused herself. She rushed to the stairs - ran to the first floor – then locked herself in the bathroom. A nightmare. It was nothing – nothing at all – but a nightmare.

Yet she didn't turn to have much time for herself as someone soon knocked on the door, making her jump in surprise.

"Maura, are you okay?"

She hissed.

"Don't let Margot with my mother, Jane! Go back downstairs! She can't know... They can't know... It is..." Her heart was beating way too fast. Her voice was shaking. She wasn't fine.

"Your mother's on the phone, it's okay. But please... Don't pass out. Not now. You know there's a lot of traffic on the road to the hospital and we'd go super slow if you happened to break into hives."

Against her very own expectations, Maura surprised herself laughing at the comment. She walked to the door and opened it to face Jane.

"Is it what happens when you lie? Is there... Some sort of invisible force that punishes you for doing what you do?"

Jane seemed to hesitate. She cast a glance upon her friend's shoulder then buried her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

"So this trip to India had a meaning. You really are into the new-age, spiritual karma thing... Hmm. Kind of odd for a scientist!"

Maura laughed. Jane's sarcasm didn't stress her out anymore. She had learnt to appreciate it since her friend had moved in with her. She had also taken some distance with their fake marriage and didn't appear to be as nervous as she had been during the past few weeks.

Or at least until this morning.

"I needed to take a shower, anyway. Do you mind preparing the lasagna for me? So you can keep an eye on Margot and my mother at the same time? Once I am done here, you can have your shower and hopefully we will be ready for a nice – relaxing although there is nothing less sure about this – Sunday brunch. Deal?"

"Sure, honey." Jane turned around and began to walk away.

"Jane! No pet name, please."

The Italian stopped – turned around – then winked.

"I bet you'll miss them once it's over."

"I am certain of the exact opposite, actually." Maura made a step towards her friend. She locked her eyes with her and shook her head as a smirk curled up her lips. "You won't win this battle, Jane Rizzoli."

"Wanna bet?"

The brunette had remained still and looked self-confident. But it was only a game of appearances. Since their evening out at the movies, Jane felt lost and confused. She had tried to ignore it all for a while but it hadn't worked. She hadn't slept well; thoughts were haunting her mind. Something was happening but she didn't know what.

Maura didn't reply. She walked back to the bathroom instead, all smiles.