A/N: Sorry for the delay. I ended up with a really, REALLY long chapter so I decided to split it up. Thanks so much for all of your reviews! They keep me going. Hope you guys like this one. I'll have another update soon...if I get reviews. There it is. Like crack. Addicted! Ha.

I don't own anything...yadda, yadda.

Chapter Ten

All three jumped at the sound of Angela's booming voice coming from the front of the house. "Hey! Janie? Frankie? What are you guys doing home so early from your game?" Looking at Maura's eye, Jane shook her head. Shit. The Spanish Inquisition had arrived.

"Shit! Okay!" Jane's voice cracked. "Okay. Act natural." Jane grabbed the two glasses of wine and handed one to Maura. Picking up the soggy bag of peas, her eyes darted around for a place to hide them knowing she didn't have time. Stuffing the dripping heap into Tommy's stocking a second before Angela entered the room, she turned and placed herself between her mother and the dreaded 'black eye.' Taking a large sip of wine she smiled at her mother. "Ma! How was church?" Her voice sounded much too chipper even to her own ears. Shit. Angela eyed her daughter with suspicion. "It was fine Janie. Um, how was your game?" The older woman looked between Frankie, who seemed really interested in the ornaments on the tree and her daughter who seemed to move as she moved. She's hiding something.

Narrowing her eyes, Angela moved toward Jane with a sickly sweet smile on her face. "Did you win the game as usual? I was just tellin' Frank that we should warm up some of the leftovers from last night. It's almost five and you kids have got to be hungry. I'm thinkin' the lasagna…" Reaching Jane's side, she quickly dodged to the left getting a full view of her daughter's friend. Jane braced for the explosion. Frankie flinched in expectation. Maura smiled sweetly, the best she could under the circumstances. "Angela, I…" only to be completely ignored when hands began to flail about and the bomb went off. "Gah! OH. MY. GOD! Janie! Look at her face! Her beautiful face! What did you do? I told you not to let anything happen to her. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! You kids and your rough housing and now you got Maura sucked in! What's wrong with the two of you?" She smacked Frankie on the back of the head since he made the mistake of moving in too close.

"Ow! Ma! It wasn't our fault. It was To…" It was Jane's turn to pop her brother as she finished his sentence. "Toootally his fault." Frankie glared at his sister but remained quiet, sulking. Angela watched the back and forth before throwing her hands up in defeat. "Janie, you need to get her some ice before her eye swells shut. I swear I don't know what I did to deserver you two. Mother Theresa herself, God rest her soul, couldn't put up with you…bunch of hooligans from the day you were born." Glaring a little she finally let a small smile escape and rolled her eyes before leaving the room. "I'm going to heat up some lasagna and some bread." Turning back she eyed both of her children. "What are you standing around like statues for huh? Go get her some ice!"

Watching her mother leave the room, Jane dropped her head and massaged her neck with a groan. Maura, who had remained silent for much of the exchange, nudged her side. "That went well." Peering at the doctor through dark eyelashes, she chuckled at her friend's gift of understatement. "Wow. Your powers of observation are astounding Dr. Isles." Raising an eyebrow and taking a sip of wine, Maura smiled even wider. "So I've been told. On several separate occasions actually."

Rolling her eyes with another groan, Jane smirked. "Well, it actually went a hell of a lot better than I expected. At least there was no bloodshed. Right Frankie?" Breaking his silence now that Angela was out of earshot, "Yeah but what the hell Janie? Thanks for throwing me under the bus." Both Rizzoli's jumped at the piercing yell from the kitchen. "ICE! NOW!" Jane groaned but took off for the kitchen not wanting to be told for a third time.

After getting Maura situated with her ice pack, Jane returned to the kitchen to help get dinner on the table at Angela's not so gentle request. Washing her hands and drying them, she turned to find her mother staring at her. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Taking a second, the older woman turned back to slicing bread. "No reason. Can you cut up some tomatoes and cucumbers for the salad? I don't know why we bother. They taste like plastic in the middle of winter anyway. Oh and get the feta out of the fridge." Jane easily gathered what she would need and set about preparing the vegetables, expertly running the large chef's knife back and forth over the honing steel.

"You know Janie, you really should be more careful with Maura. She didn't grow up like you did, rough housing and playing with the boys." What the hell? Turning around, knife in mid swipe, Jane found her mother's back was still to her but the older woman kept on talking while animatedly shaking her head and occasionally waving her own knife. "She probably isn't used to playing so hard. You know, the way she grew up, I bet she never even broke a sweat." Staring as if her mother were speaking a foreign language AND had grown two additional heads, Jane's patience was running low. "Ma! It's not like she's some helpless little…wilting flower. Maura wanted to play today and you know what? She was damn good!" Turning back to her cutting board, she started slicing cucumber with professional rapid-fire swipes. "AND she played sports in college. She did ballet and fencing." Cringing, she mentally slapped herself…hard…twice… at the lameness of that statement. Yeah. Even though she was trying to use them in her defense she still couldn't call them real sports. Searching for anything, something. "She's actually really strong… And she runs like the wind." Runs like the wind? What the fuck? The chop-chop-chop-chop-scrape of the chef's knife doing its work was the only sound for a few seconds until Angela continued with a sigh. "Janie. I'm just saying you need to take better care of her. She would do anything for you if she thought it would make you happy…like playing hockey with a bunch of hooligans."

Rolling her eyes and her neck to try and relieve the stress settling in the muscles all through her shoulders, Jane tried to figure out where in the hell this conversation was coming from and what they were actually talking about. Chopping furiously, she groaned when Angela continued. "Janie. I'm just saying that she's a good girl, she's really good for you and she loves you…" Jane's body jumped at the "L" word, and she caught her right index finger with the knife. "OW! SHIT!" Grabbing a paper towel and squeezing the finger with her left hand, she glared at her mother. "What the hell are you even talking about? Maura's a grown woman who can take care of herself…She doesn't need me to…" Reading the look on her mother's face, everything clicked into place. Eyes growing wide, she pointed an accusing, towel wrapped finger then continued applying pressure while lowering her voice. "No. Noooo-ho-ho-no. Just… No." Glaring for emphasis, she continued, gesturing with her hands locked together to keep the blood from flowing but just as effective in getting her point across. "You…you're not…I…we…no…no way…No." Shaking her head again, "I'm not…we're not having this conversation. God! We didn't when I was going through puberty and I'm sure as hell not doing it now." Closing the distance between them, she leaned in. "And Ma, please. Really. PLEASE. Don't even think about saying anything to Maura."

"Say what to Maura?" Both women jumped and turned to face the doctor standing in the kitchen doorway. Smirking at Jane, Angela turned and smiled. "Oh Maura, honey. Janie cut her finger and didn't want to worry you. Isn't that right Jane?" Death glare. Burst into flames and die, Ma. "Can you be a dear and help her take care of it?" Maura's concern was immediate as she crossed the room to take Jane's hand in hers; her left hand gently curled around her friend's wrist while her right unrolled the paper towel to get a look at the cut. "Jane? How did you cut yourself? Your knife skills this morning proved you to be very capable." Throwing her mother another glare over Maura's bowed head, Burn, baby, burn! "Well, I just got a little distracted." Trying to pull her hand back, no matter how much she was enjoying the doctor's attention, "It's fine. It's not bad. Just a scratch. Another scar for my collection. Yaaaaay."

When her eyes met Maura's and she saw the pain, she closed hers for a second, wishing she could take back those careless last words. Reaching up, her left hand cupped her friend's cheek, thumb swiping softly back and forth in a comforting rhythm against smooth skin, careful to avoid the bruise. Her dark eyes never leaving hazel green, she leaned forward to prove the sincerity of her words. "I'm really sorry, Maur. I didn't mean it like that. I swear." Their gaze held a bit longer before Maura slipped back into doctor mode, aware that Angela was watching them. "Well, it doesn't appear to be a very deep wound and the bleeding has almost stopped. We should clean it and apply an antibiotic cream. The proper sized band-aid will probably be sufficient for a bandage." Still under Maura's spell, Jane barely heard her mother speak. "Everything you need is in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom upstairs. Jane. JANE!" Startled, "What Ma! Do you always have to yell?" Smirking at her daughter, "I was just saying that you could show Maura where the supplies are." With Maura leading her from the room, her hand still around her wrist, Jane turned and gave her mother her best withering glare. Ashes. You should be ashes by now, woman.

Seated on the toilet in the tiny hall bathroom, Jane watched as Maura gathered supplies from the medicine cabinet. Standing, a little frustrated, "It's just a cut. Not a big deal. Just hand me a band-aid and I'll be good to go." Placing a hand on her friend's shoulder and guiding her back into a seated position, the doctor gave her a pointed look. "Jane, if you realized the statistical probability for infection from a wound acquired in a kitchen environment not to mention the numerous strains of bacteria that could enter your bloodstream due to the breach in your epidermis…" She was cut off by her friend's waving hands. Nose scrunched up and a look of disgust on her face, "Eeewww. I get it, Maur. Lots of germs. Please don't tell me the flesh eating bacteria story again. Just do what you need to do to fix the gaping hole in my…pachydermis." Warm chocolate eyes danced with mirth and a smile threatened to break free.

Gracing Jane with a smile of her own, Maura set about methodically cleaning the wound and applying Neosporin ointment before carefully wrapping a waterproof band-aid around it. "There, all done." Pulling her friend to her feet, she placed a light kiss to the injured finger. When she looked up into dark eyes, she realized just how close they were standing in the cramped space. She watched as Jane's gaze left hers for a moment before coming back and settling on her own. Her words were lower and huskier than usual. "Your eye looks a little better." Maura felt warm fingertips ghost over the bruised skin and she leaned into the touch, her eyes drifting closed of their own accord. Warm breath on her ear sent a shiver down her spine and her heart thumping in her chest. "Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?" She felt like her knees might buckle but Jane's firm hand on her hip steadied her. Opening her eyes, she found coal black ones waiting on her answer, her permission. "Yes." Her whisper was so low, she wasn't even sure she had voiced it at all.

Without dropping her gaze, Jane slowly lifted her right hand and traced her fingers around to the back of Maura's neck, her thumb drawing lazy patterns and settling over a racing pulse. Leaning forward, she watched the deep green disappear again behind heavy lids. Her own heart was beating a mosh pit rhythm as her lips hovered and she could feel the doctor's warm breath on her skin. Closing the minute distance, she placed feather light kisses on her friend's forehead, forging a slow trail to her temple before lingering on the soft skin under her left eye, the tip of her tongue taking the slightest of tastes. Drawing back, she waited until Maura's eyes found hers. The intensity in those swirling green and gold depths left her feeling like her ability to think clearly had been compromised, singed into disrepair by the heat in that gaze. She would have gladly asked the doctor if that were medically possible but apparently she had also lost the art of stringing random words together to form a coherent sentence.

Never breaking eye contact, Maura could still feel the tingle in every inch of skin the detective's lips had touched. If it weren't for the fact that Jane's kisses had left her completely unable to access the enormous storehouse of her knowledge, she was certain she could recite the exact chemical and neurological responses that attributed to the sensation. Yeah. Right now, all she could think about was one of the five basic senses; taste. She needed to taste. Reaching up, she brushed her thumb across that moist, bottom lip, pleased by her friend's sharp intake of breath

Bang! Bang! Bang! You've got to be kidding me! "Hey, Janie! Ma says to hurry it up Dinner's on the table. Come on. I'm starvin' and she won't let us eat until you guys are down there. Everybody's waiting." Groaning in frustration, Jane shut her eyes and shook her head, trying to calm the beat of her heart which was somehow miraculously returning to normal. Smiling at her friend, "You know…I could kill him and hide the body where no one can find it." Seeming to ponder the idea, Maura tilted her head slightly and grinned. "Given the current circumstances, if it were any other day, I would gladly accept your offer and even assist you in the disposal of the remains. But it's Christmas, Jane. You can't kill your brother on Christmas. That's just too cliché." Laughing and rolling her eyes, Jane took Maura's hand and opened the door. "Well I wouldn't want to be cliché now would I? I'll have to settle for kicking his ass later. For now. But I'm not making any promises." The doctor giggled, following Jane down the hall, still feeling a little light headed and grateful that she was tethered to the strong detective.

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