Author's Notes: Do we have any podcast fans in the house? I was listening to "My Dad Wrote A Porno" the other day and Jane Rizzoli pops up in a VERY hilarious way at the end of season one. If you're a fan of laughing, I highly recommend listening to the podcast. You won't regret it. I warn you though, it's raunchy. Also don't listen to it in public because you'll be cracking up and people will look at you funny.

Anyway. Enough about that. Here's a chapter!

Chapter Four

The dark hotel room was quiet but for the sounds of late night traffic far below on the streets of Boston. The two women on the bed were quiet too, awake but simply absorbing each other's presence. Despite everything they'd been through, despite how close they already were, neither one of them could fail to notice the newfound depth of intimacy that accompanied the concrete knowledge that they could expect to have nights like this every night for the rest of their lives.

Maura held her left hand up in the air in front of her and looked at the ring resting snugly on her finger. She supposed Jane had taken one of her other rings to the jeweler as an example, because the fit was perfect. She still couldn't quite believe what had happened. After eleven years of knowing her, she was going to marry Jane Rizzoli. Giddy with joy, she dropped her hand back over Jane's stomach and buried her face in her neck, squeezing her lover tightly. She felt more than heard Jane's chuckle.

"What's going on in here?" that amazing, raspy voice asked, and she raised one hand to tap Maura's forehead.

"Nothing particularly interesting. I'm afraid you've managed to compromise my higher brain functions a little."

"Why, Dr. Isles, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"It's the truth. What were you thinking about?"

"Honestly, my brain's not much better than yours right now. It's basically a constant stream of Maura Maura happy yay Maura. Although to be fair, that's how it usually is."

Maura laughed and leaned in for a kiss which quickly deepened and became filled with intent. Lifting herself up, Maura luxuriated in the feeling of Jane's skin against hers as a warm, lazy arousal seeped through her. But just as she was beginning to get serious about her exploration of Jane's body, there was a loud vibration from the bedside table and both women jumped in surprise.

"Ignore it," breathed Jane, bringing Maura back in for another kiss.

"It could be important," said Maura, pulling away from Jane. "It'll just take a second to check."

"Who's phone was it?"

Leaning over both devices, Maura said, "Yours. It's a text from your mother."

Because there were no secrets between them, Jane asked, "Can you check it for me? I'm too comfy to move."

"Sure." Maura picked up the phone and read out the text exactly as it was written, even telling Jane how many question marks had been included: "Did u ask yet? ? ? Wut did she say? ? ?"

"Oh my god," groaned Jane as Maura laughed. "I swear, no one in this family has any concept of the word privacy."

"How did she know you were planning to propose?"

"Tommy probably told her. He told Frankie, so I wouldn't put it past him to tell Ma, too. Here, give me the phone." She took the device from Maura and tapped out a quick reply: "Yes, and yes." Then she tossed the phone back on the table. "There. Now get over here."

Maura happily obliged, and this time they successfully ignored it when both of their phones announced a series of celebratory texts from every member of the Rizzoli clan.

The rest of the conference floated by in a happy haze, with Jane following Maura around and listening to the unusually chipper answers to the questions she received in her interviews. Neither one could resist catching each other's eye and grinning as the day wore on. Charles, of course, noticed the ring the instant they met up with him for breakfast, and he spent most of the day wiping moisture from the corners of his eyes as he stood beside Jane watching his client work her magic.

Finally it was time to go home. As they packed up their things, Jane looked around the fancy hotel room and sighed regretfully. Maura noticed it and raised an eyebrow at her questioningly. "So many good memories in this place," Jane explained. "D'you think there's time for one last round of canoodling?"

Chuckling, Maura shook her head. "I agree that the place has a certain sentimental attachment, but we're cutting it close with checkout time already. Plus I really want to go home."

"Me too," admitted Jane. Then, after a moment: "Can we at least make out a little bit?"

For response, Maura crossed the room and granted her wish. "Compromise is the hallmark of every successful relationship," she said in a low, sultry voice as they kissed.

"Oh, is that why you agreed to kiss me? Because you wanted to maintain the health of our relationship?"

"No, I agreed because I wanted to 'canoodle.' I was trying to internally rationalize my ridiculous decision to turn you down."

"You could still take it back," murmured Jane, running her hand up Maura's body to cup a breast over her blouse.

"We can't," said Maura, and she stepped back out of Jane's reach, flustered and breathless. "Let's go home. And as soon as we get there, it's canoodle-o'clock."

Jane grinned, thinking that Maura was so adorable she could die. "Oh goodie. My favorite time of day."

They finished packing, loaded their things into the car, bid goodbye to Charles in the lobby, and headed out. Since it was a Sunday evening there was far less traffic and they made good time. The whole ride Maura stared at the ring on her finger and tried to contain the excitement that bubbled within her. It felt as though she was carrying around a bright torch in her chest and she could barely contain its light. All this energy had to go somewhere, and it was effectively translating itself into arousal. She really, really wanted Jane right now.

When they got to the house, she bounced on her heels as she waited for Jane to dig her keys out and unlock the door. As soon as it was unlocked, she pounced. Jane stumbled back into the closed door as Maura launched herself at her, kissing her with obvious intent. "You weren't kidding," gasped Jane, her arms automatically encircling Maura. "You really meant 'as soon as we get there.'"

"Of course I wasn't kidding. Open the door, Jane. I need to touch you and I don't think your mother would approve of me doing that on the front porch."

"Nope, she wouldn't," said Jane, and she hastily opened the door before kissing Maura again. Still attached at the lips, they stumbled into the house.

And then they froze as a wave of sound greeted them as many voices simultaneously yelled: "Surprise!" Then there was raucous laughter as Jane and Maura broke apart and stared at all the people in the house.

"Damn," said Nina, who was as doubled over as it was possible for her to be in her mirth. "We need to stop doing that to poor Jane."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Frankie.

"Never mind," interjected Jane quickly. "What the hell are you all doing in our house?"

Overcome with emotion, Angela ran over and threw her arms around her daughter. "I can't believe my little girl is getting married!" she sobbed into Jane's shoulder.

"Little?" said Tommy. "She's six feet tall, Ma."

"She'll always be little to me." She turned to Maura and drew her into a hug as well. "And you! You're like an angel sent from heaven just to bless the Rizzoli family. What did we ever do to deserve you, Maura Isles?"

"How long do you have?" replied Maura, hugging Angela back tightly. As much as she'd been on fire with wanting Jane, she'd happily settle for a Sunday dinner with the Rizzoli family instead. After all, there'd be plenty of time to make love to Jane later. Every night from now on, in fact, if she wanted.

Nina walked over and held her hand out to Maura. "Let's see the ring," she demanded.

The evening proceeded as every Sunday dinner did, and Jane and Maura filled the rest of the family in on the proposal and all the other events of the weekend. "It was very traditional and tasteful," Maura told them. "She just got down on one knee and asked."

"Where were you?" asked Angela, listening raptly with tears in her eyes.

"On the balcony of our hotel room. It was nighttime and the whole city was lit up. It was perfect."

"Except I forgot the ring," added Jane, annoyed.

"She did forget the ring," agreed Maura cheerfully. "But she remembered it right after."

Frankie looked surprised. "It's very unlike you to forget something that important, Jane," he observed.

"Yeah, well, I was nervous, damn it," she grumbled. "Shut up."

"It doesn't matter," said Maura. "It was perfect anyway."

"I'll tell you what was perfect. Maura's acceptance speech," said Jane in an attempt to steer the conversation away from this personal topic. "You all got a shout out, by the way."

"We did? I wanna see!" said Tommy from the kitchen. Ever since Maura had taught him how to cook he had become their primary chef, a job he accepted with relish. He was even wearing the FBI apron that Jane had given him when she'd first come back from Virginia.

"I'm sure it will be posted online," Maura assured him. "I'll let you know when I have it."

As he munched on some potato chips, Frankie asked, "So how's it feel now that the whole world knows you're lesbians?"

"We're not lesbians," said Jane. "We're just in a lesbian relationship."

"Personally, I don't really see the difference," Frankie said. "You're two women who are together. That kinda makes you lesbians, doesn't it?"

Both Maura and Jane opened their mouths to reply, but Nina got there first. "A relationship doesn't define someone's sexuality, Frankie," she said. "Do you think bisexuals aren't still bisexual once they have a partner? It's not that simple."

"Yes," said Jane, pointing at Nina.

"Precisely," said Maura at the same time. "Frankie, you know that both Jane and I have had male partners. Just because we're together now, it doesn't change the fact that there have also been important men in our lives."

"Okay, fine. So you're bisexual, then?" said Frankie.

Again, Maura and Jane were saved from answering when Tommy chimed in: "First of all, that's none of your damn business. Second of all, who gives a shit? Isn't it enough that they're happy?"

"Yes," said Angela, reaching over to put her hand on Jane's arm. "That's enough. Isn't it, Frankie?" she added pointedly at her oldest son.

Looking unsatisfied, Frankie muttered, "Yeah."

But later on, once the group had separated into different conversations, Jane asked Frankie in a low voice, "So what's your point, anyway? Why do you care so much what label we put on ourselves?"

"Janie, I don't care about the label," he said. "I'm just trying to understand. Are you really telling me that Maura is the only girl you ever thought about that way before? I've never heard of anything like that happening."

"It happens, apparently," said Jane. "We met someone this weekend who said she only dated women until she met this guy, and now she's dating a guy all of a sudden. Look, I get why you're confused. If you think you're having a hard time getting it, imagine how I felt when I realized what was happening. I'm telling you, I've never been so confused in my life."

"Okay, well what about Maura, then? She seems like she… I mean, she's more open about her sexuality. She's never been with a girl before either?"

"No," replied Jane. "She hasn't."

"You sure about that?"

Glaring at him, Jane said sharply, "Frankie, it's Maura. I would know, alright?"

Raising his hands in surrender, Frankie said, "Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it."

"I know you didn't." Jane thought about the book she'd bought at the convention, and about how Marisol had said that the LGBT community would be accepting of them despite the fact that they'd always been with men before now. "There's more to it, too, Frankie. All of a sudden we're getting lumped in to a group that we never ran with before. All these gay people want to talk to us now where before we wouldn't have been interesting to them at all. It's weird, man. It's just a weird feeling."

Frankie was quiet for a moment, looking over at his very pregnant wife. Then he said: "You know I'm the first white guy Nina's ever been with?"

"Yeah?" said Jane, sipping from her beer.

"Yeah. I know it's not the same thing, but I do get the culture shock part. But I love her family, and they're definitely not all that different from ours. She's got a big family, and they're loud, loving, sometimes a little harsh - just like us, right? And you know what, I'm glad my kid's gonna get to experience that diversity. I think it's good. It's changed me a lot, that's for sure. It's changed the way I look at race, and about the world in general. It's even changed the way I do my police work. And I think the same thing could happen for you if you really embrace this gay thing."

Jane snorted. "Alright, sure. I'll be marching at the head of the Pride parade next year," she said sarcastically.

"Maybe you should," countered Frankie. "Even if you don't wanna label yourself a lesbian, that's what people are gonna see in you for as long as you're with Maura. And since you're gonna marry her, at some point you're gonna have to make your peace with that."

Rather than answer right away, Jane took another long pull from her bottle. Across the room, Maura had her hand on Nina's stomach, laughing with delight when she felt the baby kicking against her palm. Sighing, Jane said, "We don't belong there, Frankie. If people wanna call me a lesbian, that's fine. I can handle that. But I don't think it makes a lot of sense for us to steep ourselves in the gay world. There's no place for us there. We don't fit in."

Rolling his eyes, Frankie said, "Jane, you're ridiculous." Then he stood and walked away, joining Angela and TJ on the couch to watch the baseball game on TV.

Just as he sat down, however, his cell phone vibrated. A second later, so did Maura's. "Rizzoli," said Frankie when he answered his phone.

"Isles," said Maura when she answered hers. They both rose and shot apologetic looks at their family as they listened to the details. Once they had hung up, Maura walked over to Jane and sighed sadly. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," Jane assured her. "Go on. I'll keep the bed warm for you." She winked suggestively.

"Please do." She raised up on her toes and kissed her goodbye before she and Frankie left the house together. As they both got into his car, she reflected on how much her attitude towards her job had changed since Jane had left. Working with Frankie and Nina was nice, but things were so different now. For the first time in her career, she found herself resenting the interruptions that could come at any moment. And she knew exactly why she felt that way: It was because she had a life outside of work now. She had something to miss out on while she was away working.

The crime scene was gruesome and bloody and quite obviously a homicide. She went through the motions of her job with methodical efficiency, unloading a huge amount of information on to the detectives in a short amount of time. Then she expertly coordinated the retrieval of the body and all the other evidence at the scene. No one could have done the work any quicker than she did, and it still took her several hours.

It was so late when she got home that Jane had already gone to bed. Disappointed, she went about her nightly routines and joined her. The motion of Maura climbing into bed woke Jane despite her best efforts not to do so. "Murder?" Jane asked sleepily.

"Yes," said Maura. "But easily solvable, I think. The killer was too sloppy to have not left something behind."

"Crime of passion, maybe," said Jane as she rolled over and pulled Maura into her arms.

"Could be." Maura burrowed into Jane's warmth, exhausted and glad to be home. "Go back to sleep, Jane. We can talk about it in the morning."

"Okay," sighed Jane, and within seconds she had drifted off again.

But the next morning Maura got yet another call that woke them both from slumber. Maura was beyond frustrated. All she wanted to do was spend time with Jane, but the city of Boston seemed dead set against it. "Let's go on a date tonight," she suggested impulsively as she dressed to head out to the crime scene.

"A date? Maura, I think we're a little past that part, don't you?"

"Dating never stops, Jane, and if we're going to get married then I think it's important for you to understand that. I am a high class woman and I expect to be treated as such. So tonight you're going to take me out somewhere whether you like it or not." Maura slung her purse over her shoulder and scowled at Jane, who was still in bed watching her.

"Damn, woman," said Jane with a grin. "You're terrifying. Fine. I wouldn't want to get on my fiancée's bad side, now would I?"

It was the first time Jane had called her that, and Maura felt her heart flutter at the title. "No, you wouldn't. So I'll see you tonight, okay?"

"Bye." Jane watched her leave, wishing she could fast forward the day to get to her promised quality time with the love of her life.

Despite Maura's claims of being a high class woman, Jane didn't plan anything fancy or elaborate for their date. Instead she brought Maura to restaurant with outdoor seating so they could enjoy the fine spring weather. It seemed like winter was finally over, and the streets were filled with people enjoying the first warm evening in months. As they ate their meal they watched people passing by, overhearing snippets of their conversations even as they carried their own. Jane filled Maura in on what Frankie had said to her the day before about how he was having a hard time understanding their relationship.

"It's been over a year already," said Maura, surprised. "He's still having difficulty with it?"

"Not with accepting it, but I think he's grasping to figure out our place in the world. Which, you know, is not even remotely his job, but he's a guy and that's what guys do. Everything has to fit into these neat little boxes, I guess."

"It's not only guys who do that, Jane. My mind is rife with boxes. It helps with memory function. If you imagine your mind as a house, you can put different tidbits of information in different rooms so that you always know where to find what you're looking for."

"I tried that," said Jane, "but then my mind-house got infested with mind-mice and chewed open a bunch of mind-boxes and I had to throw them out. Now I completely forget algebra."

"That's too bad," laughed Maura. "Should have got a mind-house cat."

Jane laughed too, and then the waitress interrupted them to bring her a second beer. She picked it up and sipped it, studying Maura thoughtfully over the rim of the pint glass. "Frankie wanted to know if you'd been with other women before me," she said.

"I haven't. You know that."

"I do, and I told him so. But I'm wondering something about you, and I want you to be completely honest, okay?"

"Okay."

Jane set her glass down and leaned across the table to peer at her intently. "Am I really the only woman you've ever been interested in?"

"I find lots of people interesting, Jane," said Maura informatively.

"Maura," Jane said, frustrated. "That's not what I meant."

"You mean romantically interested?"

"Yeah. Like, there's really never been any other woman you wanted to… You know."

"Sleep with?"

"Yes. That."

Shrugging, Maura said, "No."

"Really?"

"Really."

"You sure about that? You checked your mind-attic and your mind-basement?"

"I would think that information would be stored in the mind-closet, don't you?"

Grinning appreciatively, Jane said, "Nice, Maur."

"Thank you. But I'm quite certain that there's never been anyone else. I was waiting for you, I suppose."

Jane reached across the table and tapped the tip of Maura's nose. "Cutie." They smiled at each other for a moment before Jane cleared her throat and forced herself to re-focus on the topic at hand. "Well, for the record, you're my first, too. Which makes me have a better understanding of why Frankie is so confused. It is pretty unusual when you think about it."

"It is," Maura agreed. "But maybe now that we know how good it can be with a woman, we might suddenly find ourselves attracted to other women, as well."

"What, like we unleashed some lesbian beast?" said Jane skeptically, and Maura laughed.

"Maybe. Let's try it. Take a look at our waitress. She's attractive, don't you think?"

They both turned to watch their waitress as she stood at a nearby table taking other diners' orders. "I guess she's pretty, yeah," said Jane reluctantly.

"Would you sleep with her?"

Jane stared at Maura as though she'd grown another head. "Seriously?"

"Yes! I want to know if you think she's sexy."

"Do you?"

Maura considered the waitress for another moment, then answered: "No, not particularly."

"Me either."

Now directing her attention to the throngs of people out on the streets, Maura said, "Maybe she's just not our type. Do you see the woman across the street talking on her cell phone?"

Spotting the woman in question, Jane looked at her and made a conscious effort to imagine what she might look like naked. Instead of arousal, Jane felt only embarrassment and a little guilt over doing so. It felt like a betrayal of Maura to think about anyone else that way, even though Maura was specifically asking her to do it. She picked up her beer and took a large swallow. "This is officially the weirdest date I've ever been on," she said.

"I'm not attracted to her either," Maura said. She knew Jane so well that she could practically hear exactly what she was thinking. Under the table, she placed her hand on Jane's knee and squeezed. "Ultimately I must conclude that I don't want to be with anyone but you - male or female."

"Right there with ya," replied Jane, laying her hand over top of Maura's.

They finished their meal and headed home. In the car Jane remembered the rest of her conversation with Frankie at Sunday dinner about being a member of the gay community. Even though they had mutually determined that they were not generally same-sex oriented, the fact remained that Jane was wildly and unreasonably attracted to Maura, and vice versa. And because of that, they were forever going to be in a same-sex relationship.

So, in the grand scheme of things, where did that leave them?