Chapter 11: Hollywood Studios and Home (Sunday)

Schedule
8am Kona Café
11:45am Woody's Lunch Box
7pm Flight from Orlando to Boston

"Our flight is at 7pm," Maura called to Jane from the bathroom. "We should be back at the hotel to get our bags by 4pm. That will give us enough time to find a cab or shuttle to the airport."

"That sounds good," Jane said as she walked into the bathroom and stepped up behind Maura, wrapping her arms around her waist. Maura leaned back into Jane's embrace, placing her hands on top of Jane's resting on her stomach. "I can't believe we fly home today."

"I know. When we were planning this, I thought ten days sounded like a long time – in a good way of course – but the trip flew by."

Jane nodded and placed a soft kiss on Maura's cheek. "I finished packing and called the bellhop," she told Maura. "Are you almost ready?"

"Yes, let me just put my bathroom bag in my suitcase," Maura replied, reluctantly extracting herself from Jane's embrace.

Once the bellhop had tagged and taken their luggage, Maura and Jane headed to the Great Ceremonial House to check out and have breakfast. When they got to the front of the check-out line, Maura stood off to the side to allow Jane to pay the bill. She wanted to respect that Jane wanted to handle this part, but she couldn't help but be nervous about how much they had spent. She chewed on her bottom lip as she looked around the lobby area in an attempt to distract herself.

Maura watched a family with three young kids walk into the lobby through the front doors. She could tell by the kids' reactions that they were most likely just arriving for their trip, maybe even the kids first trip to Disney. She couldn't wait to bring her own kids here one day with Jane. She pictured the little blonde boy and dark curly-haired girl from her dream, imaging the looks of awe and excitement on their faces.

She was so lost in her daydream that she jumped when Jane appeared by her side. "What are you staring at?" Jane asked.

Maura smiled at her. "I was watching that family arrive," Maura answered honestly, "and I was picturing bringing our own children here one day."

"I'd like that," Jane said. "Shall we get breakfast before we head to the park?"

Maura nodded and they walked towards the stairs that led to the second floor of the Great Ceremonial House. They wanted to try Kona Café, which was the last restaurant or snack location in the hotel that they hadn't eaten at yet, with the exception of the Luau. Of the hotel restaurants and eateries, Maura's favorite thus far had been 'Ohana and Jane had preferred Trader Sam's Grog Grotto and Tiki Terrace.

Jane loved the Tonga Toast, which consisted of banana-stuffed French Toast in cinnamon sugar, while Maura enjoyed steel-cut oatmeal and fruit.

After breakfast, they waited for the bus to take them to Hollywood Studios. Maura took Jane's hand in hers and leaned into Jane slightly, pressing their shoulders together. Jane released Maura's hand and wrapped her arm around Maura's shoulder, pulling her even closer.

"Can we do Star Wars World first?" Jane asked.

Maura giggled at Jane's childlike enthusiasm. "Yes, we can," she said. "Do we have any FastPasses for today?"

"Yes, we have one for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at 10am, Toy Story Mania at noon, and Star Tours at 2pm. I was thinking we could head straight to Rise of the Resistance when we get there. By the time we're done with that, we should be able to ride Smugglers Run. Then, we can do the rest of Galaxy's Edge and then Toy Story Land, which includes Toy Story Mania."

"That sounds like a good plan," Maura told her.

A little under an hour and a half later, Maura was glaring at Jane. "Two in a row!" she said. "You convinced me to do two intense attractions in a row!"

Jane tried to stifle her laughter behind her hand. Maura was clearly very annoyed at her, but she was having a hard time actually feeling bad about it. "Oh, come on, Maur. Those rides were so cool!" she tried. In fact, they had easily taken over as Jane's two favorite rides in the park.

Maura huffed in annoyance with her arms crossed across her chest, "I don't like motion simulators." To be honest, she was more embarrassed than annoyed, but she didn't want Jane to know that. She had to admit that what she had seen of the rides was very good, but since she had spent most of them clinging to Jane with her eyes squeezed shut, something that multiple people around them had noticed, she refused to admit that any part of either ride was good.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry," Jane said, opening her arms to offer Maura a hug. Maura hesitated for a second before stepping into Jane's embrace, wrapping her own arms around Jane. "I really thought you would like the rides. I had read ahead of time that they were considered some of the best. I wasn't trying to trick you."

"I know," Maura finally admitted.

"And you've done fine on roller coasters, so I didn't think the motion simulators would be any different."

"I suppose that is a reasonable assumption," Maura conceded.

Jane gave Maura a soft kiss before releasing her. "Can I make it up to you with some shopping?" she asked.

Maura laughed lightly. "I suppose so," she said with a smile.

"Okay, come on then," Jane said, linking her arm with Maura's and pulling her into the nearest store. Maura wasn't very interested in either of the Star Wars themed shops and they decided to skip the build your own lightsaber and build your own droid stores since they both had long lines. In Toy Story Land, Maura found The Toy Story Store a lot more fun, even if it was geared towards kids. She couldn't help herself and purchased a few more items for TJ's Christmas gift – the kid was going to be spoiled this year.

They decided to have lunch at Woody's Lunch Box before their using their FastPass to ride Toy Story Mania. They both rode Toy Story Mania and Slinky Dog Dash, but Maura steadfastly refused to ride the Alien Swirling Saucers. Jane tried only halfheartedly to convince her, and while Maura said it was okay if Jane wanted to ride them alone, she decided to skip the ride, too, not wanting to ride it alone.

"Oh, can we do The Edna Mode Experience?" Maura asked excitedly after they finished Toy Story Land.

"Sure, but what is it?" Jane asked.

"View some of the famous designer's greatest creations," Maura read off the map description.

Jane groaned but agreed. It definitely sounded like Maura's kind of thing and Maura, even with her complaints, had mostly been a good sport about doing everything in Star Wars World this morning.

They had to wait in a short line before entering the attraction. When they saw what it was, Jane burst out laughing.

"This is not what I expected," Maura said. Jane thought the disappointed pout on Maura's face might be the most adorable thing ever. She turned to look at Jane. "Did you know that it was plastic animated superhero outfits?"

"No," Jane said through her laughter. "I didn't, but I suppose had I thought about it I might have figured it out. Now that we're here, I am remembering that Edna Mode is a character in the Incredibles. I honestly did not know, though. Also, please don't call superhero costumes outfits."

Maura tried to keep the pout on her face, but the ridiculousness of the situation was quite funny. Finally, the smile that had been tugging at the corners of her mouth won out and she started laughing with Jane as they made their way out of the "museum."

They spent some time just walking around the park, seeing if they had missed anything in Animation Courtyard and exploring Commissary Lane and Grand Avenue. They didn't ride any of the attractions in those areas, but they did enjoy the atmosphere, stopping for a few PhotoPass photos along the way.

They made their way to Echo Lake in time for their 2pm FastPass for Star Tours. When Maura realized it was another motion simulator, she decided not to ride, but she successfully convinced Jane to ride it without her. While she waited for Jane, Maura spent some time flipping through her pictures from the week. Between the two of them, they had taken hundreds of pictures. Maura decided she'd make a photobook of their trip for Jane for Christmas. She also wanted to get a few of her favorite pictures of the two of them framed for her house and office. In what seemed like no time at all, Jane was done with the ride.

"How was it?" Maura asked.

Jane shrugged. "It was fine. I probably would have liked it better if I rode it before the other Star Wars rides," she said.

"We don't have much time left before we have to leave for the hotel," Maura said. "What would you like to do before we leave?"

"Why don't we just go to some of the shops? The last thing I want is to get you all stressed out because we get stuck in an attraction and don't get back in time," Jane said. "And I don't think there's anything major left that I wanted to make sure we didn't miss."

Maura smiled and stood up, taking Jane's hand in her own. They spent the rest of their time in the park shopping along Hollywood Boulevard, each of them making a few additional small purchases (that Jane wasn't sure how they would get home). They were both quiet on the bus ride back to their hotel, a little sadness permeating their joy from the vacation as they realized that it really was over.

They made good time returning to the hotel, picking up their bags, and getting to the airport. They had checked in for their flight and checked their bags by 5:30pm, so they decided to get dinner in the airport before their flight home.

After ordering, Maura returned to one of their conversations from earlier in the week. "I was thinking a little more about our next trip," she told Jane. "I know it's early to plan, and we won't be able to go anywhere any time soon, but I think our next big trip should be to Paris. What do you think?"

"I think that's a great idea," Jane said.

"When we were in Epcot, I decided I wanted to kiss you in front of the real Eiffel Tower," Maura said with a smile.

Jane felt warmth spread through her body at Maura's comments. For some reason, their relationship felt more real at that moment than it had so far. Maybe it was because they had been living in a bubble. Now they were about to head back to their real lives, and Maura was talking about the future.

"I would like to kiss you in front of the Eiffel Tower and on top of the Eiffel Tower," Jane said with a smirk of her own.

Maura laughed openly.

"I think we should take a long-weekend trip to Cape Cod in the spring or summer, though," Jane added.

"That would be nice," Maura agreed.

They continued talking about their future as they finished their dinner and boarded their flight. The exhaustion from the week finally started to take over and both Maura and Jane fell asleep on the flight back to Boston. As they got off the plane, Maura was able to push her exhaustion aside, but Jane was dragging, causing Maura to laugh at her.

Once they had their bags, they exited the airport to find Angela standing next to her car waving frantically at them. Maura and Jane exchanged a glance and a smile before heading toward the hurricane known as Angela Rizzoli.

"Hi, Ma!" Jane greeted her mother, setting down the bags she was carrying so that she could give her mom a hug.

"Hi, sweetie," Angela squealed into Jane's hair as she returned the hug.

Jane quickly loaded the bags in the car while Maura and Angela greeted each other. Jane climbed in the backseat (with the bags that didn't fit in the trunk), allowing Maura and Angela to sit in front. She listened silently as Maura started telling Angela all about their trip.

"Jane, do you want me to drop you off at your apartment first?" Angela asked.

"We can just go home," Maura answered for her, making Jane smile from the backseat because Maura was right, home is wherever they're together. "A lot of our things are mixed together in various bags," Maura continued. "So, I think it makes sense if Jane stays at my place tonight. Then, we can figure out where everything goes after work tomorrow."

"Okay," Angela answered without questioning it. To be honest, if she had thought about it, she would have expected Jane to stay at Maura's tonight – and probably every night for the foreseeable future. "I know I said it on the phone, but I'm really happy for you girls," Angela told them. "You make a perfect couple."

"Thank you," Maura replied, somewhat self-consciously.

"Thanks, Ma," Jane called from the backseat.

A few hours later, Maura and Jane crawled into Maura's bed, tired but happy.

"I love you, Maur," Jane whispered as she pulled Maura into her arms.

"I love you, too," Maura returned, settling into her favorite position snuggled up to Jane.

A/N: FYI, I took some liberties with the timeline when considering when this story takes place, when the Galaxy's Edge rides (and a few other rides) opened, and COVID closures.

Also, I know this chapter was a bit less exciting, but I wanted them to have a very normal last day of their vacation. I hope it wasn't disappointing and that you all enjoyed it! I'm posting the epilogue tonight as well.