Hi all! Ready to take a little road trip today? We going to go visit Angela's sister and family.

As always, I do not own any of these characters, just have a lot of fun borrowing!

Jane: Good morning Maura. I'll be picking u up at 11:00. Wear comfortable clothes. NO dress!

Maura: Good morning Jane. I will be ready at 11:00. You do know that I am very comfortable in dresses.

Jane: U might get dirty. Think about it that way when u choose what to wear.

Maura: Well, since you clarified the situation, I will take that into consideration in choosing my apparel.

Jane rolls her eyes at Maura's last text. She is starting to get nervous about bringing Maura to the extended family. Her own family was crazy enough, throw in the others and it turns to chaos. What will be will be. It will be a good life experience for Maura.

Jane pulls into Maura's driveway and knocks at her door at 10:59. Maura opens the door and gives Jane a big smile. She does a pirouette in front of Jane.

"Is this appropriate, Jane?"

Jane looks Maura over... designer jeans, knit sweater. Yup, this is Maura dressed down.

"Perfect. Are you ready to go?"

"Do I need to bring anything?"

"No, they usually have everything needed at the house. It should take us about half an hour to get there."

During the ride, Jane explains to Maura that they are going over to Aunt Mary and Uncle Sal's place. Aunt Mary is Angela's sister and she has 4 kids and 5 grandchildren.

"Yea, after today, my life, Frankie's and Tommy's are going to be a living hell. Ma's sister is already a grandmother and we're not even married. Not good!"

Maura gives a little laugh at how dramatic Jane is acting, not realizing that Jane is very serious about how her mother will act after visiting with her sister.

As they pull up the Aunt Mary and Uncle Sal's place, Frankie is helping another man unload a Christmas tree from a truck while a woman watched.

"Hey Frankie, hey Tony! Nice looking tree Gina!" Jane yells over to the three.

"The family always sends a woman with the guys to pick out a tree because the guys alone have a tendency to bring home trees that won't even fit in the house." Jane chuckles as she gives the explanation to Maura.

"Where do they get the tree Jane?"

"Well, sometimes if the weather is nice and we have time, we'll travel to a tree farm outside the city and wander around until we find the perfect one. Other times, we'll go to some tree lots and find one that has already been cut."

Maura cocks her head to the side. "Perfect tree Jane? Is there a reference to find a perfect tree?"

"Perfect is in the eye of each beholder Maur. And that is why there can be so many... discussions of which tree is the perfect one for the year."

Jane takes Maura's hand, gives it a gentle squeeze, and enters the house.

"JANIE!" "IT'S JANE!"

3 children came barreling out from the kitchen. Jane goes down on one knee with her arms open wide to catch the three and all tumble to the ground. Maura's eyes are wide as she watches Jane wrestle with the children, tickling them and hosting one up under her arm as she stands up again.

"These are my little cousins, the twins, Mike and Nick and this squirmy one is Joy. Their Mommy is my cousin, Gina." Jane tickles the little girl in her arms one last time before letting her down.

"C'mon Jane, come see what we're doing."

Maura stares in amazement at this lighthearted side of Jane playing with children. Her heart fills even more with love for the detective. She follows into the kitchen. Angela and her sister, Maria, are busy cooking.

"Hey Ma."

"Janie, you made it! And you brought Maura. How are you, my dear?"

"I'm fine Angela, and yourself?"

"Good, good. This is my sister Maria. Maria, this is Maura. She's a doctor. And she's single."

Angela gives a knowing nod to Maria.

"Pleased to meet you Maura. TONY! VINNY! Come in here and meet Janie's friend!"

Jane rolls her eyes and groans. They'd been here a whole 10 minutes and the matchmaking was beginning. Maura glances at Jane with confused eyes.

"Ma! We're trying to get the tree up!" One of the guys yell from the living room.

"That's ok, Aunt Maria. Maura and I are going to check out what the kids are doing." Jane pulls Maura into porch way which is set up as an arts and crafts area. There's another woman sitting in there with a boy and girl.

"Maura, this is my cousin, Sally, and her kids Justin and Elena."

Everyone gets up to give Jane a hug and say hi to Maura.

Jane leans over to whisper in Maura's ear, "You don't have to worry about remembering everyone's name."

Maura smiles at Jane. "I believe I'll be able to remember them Jane. I do have a superior sense or recall."

Jane rolls her eyes again. "Of course you do."

Jane looks at the table. "So, what are we doing here?"

The kids excitedly show Jane the pine cones they are spraying and ornaments they are putting glitter on.

"I'm going to paint mine pink." Little Joy proudly says.

Older brother Nick scoffs at her idea. "Dummy, we're spraying them GOLD!"

Jane sees tears start to pool in Joy's eyes. "Don't worry sweatheart, you can color your pine cone whatever color you want. Nick, you can do yours gold."

Maura was watching Sally work with some sort of wooden contraption. "May I ask what you are doing Sally?"

"Of course, Maura. This is called a bowmaker and it makes bow making so much easier!"

Maura sits down to watch. "What do you do with all the bows?"

"Well, I'm making red ones to decorate the tree with. See how I'm leaving the ends long so that they will trail down the tree. You can make them to put on Christmas wreaths, or presents. Anything you want. Want to try one?"

"May I?" Maura's eyes light up with excitement of learning something new.

Look at her. Look how happy she is being accepted into normal, family activities.

"Jane! Come outside and spray pine cones with me!"

Jane looks at Maura one last time and sees her making another bow. "Let's go!"

Pine cones were sprayed, bows were made, and glitter was put on plain glass ornaments to make them sparkle like jewels. Maura had glitter all over her designer jeans and remembered Angela saying how glitter got all over the place and smiled at herself.

Angela brings in a giant bowl of popcorn that had been strung earlier in the morning. "Don't forget to decorate the outside trees!"

Maura watches the children get very excited. "Why do you decorate the outside trees with these strings of popcorn?"

Jane looks at the children. "Who wants to explain to Maura why you're going to do this?"

Little hands shoot up like they are in school.

Jane points to Justin. "To feed the birds, Maura!"

"Why of course, why didn't I think of that! Thank you, Justin."

Maria calls for everyone to wash up and grab some food. She makes sure that Maura is seated between Tony and Vinny. Both men start to flirt with Maura and the table gets loud with them trying to out boast the other.

Jane is watching Maura laugh at her two cousins and for some reason, she started to fume. She is distracted by her Aunt Maria.

"So, Janie, are you dating anyone right now? Gonna make your mother a grandmother any time soon?"

"No Aunt Maria. I'm not dating anyone right now. My job keeps me a little busy trying to solve murders and such."

"Maybe if you had a more ladylike job, you could meet a nice man to marry."

Here comes the interrogation I've been waiting for. Meanwhile, she see's Maura as fresh meat for her sons. Oh, boy! Even though her daughters didn't get a doctor in the family, maybe one of the boys can! Not quite the doctor they expect.:::chuckle::: Look at those two idiots. Nothing intelligent is really coming from their mouths. They sound like friggin cave men. Ug.

Maura looks over and smiles at Jane. She can see Jane getting tense with the questions being thrown at her.

"Maria, did you know Jane is one of the top detectives of the Boston Police Department? She has been decorated on numerous occasions, saved many lives - including my own, and has the respect of all her colleagues."

Angela pipes up. "My Janie is good at her job. I worry about her, I won't lie. She'll find a man that will appreciate her for herself, she shouldn't settle for anyone less."

Jane looks to her mother with surprise. It seems Angela is the only one that is allowed to pressure her into marrying, not anyone else.

They clean up the dishes and move into the living room to decorate the tree. The guys had put the lights on it after they had set it in the stand earlier in the day.

Maura moves closer to Jane, not knowing what she should do. Jane smiles at Maura.

"Maur, all you have to do, is take one of these little hooks, place this end through here, like this and now go hang it on the tree."

"Hang it where Jane."

"Any where you want Maura."

"Really?"

"Really is that simple Maur."

Sally and Gina drape the large red bows on the branches. Everyone is grabbing their favorite old ornaments for boxes and are hanging them in favorite spots. Maura uses all the bodies around the tree to brush against Jane, to touch Jane's arm to get her attention and to lean into her to ask questions.

Everyone stepped back when they were done decorating. "Is the tree finished, Jane?"

"Not quite yet, Maur. One last thing."

Uncle Sal came in the a little step stool. In her hands, was a very old tree topper. He climbed on the stool and very carefully placed the angel on top of the tree.

"Now it's finished, Maura."

The tree was totally different from hers, she looked at Jane. "It's beautiful, Jane."

Jane smiled down at Maura, put her arm around Maura's shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze.

"Jane?"

"Ya, Maura?"

"Could you help me redecorate my tree?"

"Anything that makes you happy Maur."

Maura smiles up into Jane's chocolate eyes.

Thank you everyone for the reviews and PMs! They really do make my day and make me want to update quicker! Yes, I'm getting addicted to reviews, I will admit that! How do you like Maura getting a taste of Jane's extended family? A couple more days until the next episode!