Hey Y'all, I'm honestly surprised that the last chapter was so well received. I had trouble with it and it felt kind of forced and stilted while I was writing and editing it. I'm glad you seemed to enjoy it though! This chapter was way easier for me. Once I started with it the flow just kept coming! You can all thank Scoundrel73 for the idea behind this chapter! Like I always say, ask and you shall receive!
Let me know if you like it! -JJ
"Maura!" Jane called up the stairs. Maura sighed impatiently and decided on the white blouse laid out in front of her. She was going to be in the sun all day and she wanted to draw as little heat as possible, so white simply made the most sense. She hung her other blouses back in the closet. She pulled her white blouse on and tucked it into her high-waisted shorts. She chose a belt that would match her running shoes and outfit, then brushed her hair into a ponytail before she finally made her way down the stairs. Jane gaped at her.
"You can't wear that, Maura," Jane stated and pointedly looked at Maura's shirt.
"Why not? It's light enough that the sun won't affect me as much as it will affect you and I can move comfortably in this outfit. You should wear a light hat so your hair doesn't heat up. Your clothes are all black, you'll need to stay extra hydrated with how much you'll be attracting the sun," Maura warned in an attempt to be helpful, but Jane rolled her eyes.
"Don't you remember what we did last year?" Jane asked and Maura thought back to the BPD's annual team-building, summertime exercise, 'Prizapalooza.'
"Yes. We won, Jane," Maura smirked, confident that they would once again take home the gold (which usually involved fudge clusters).
"Okay, yeah, but there were water balloons involved, and you have a white shirt on," Jane pointed out and Maura scoffed.
"Are you questioning my athletic skills again, detective Rizzoli?" Maura tested. She was slightly offended that Jane doubted her, especially because their water balloon didn't break last year.
"No!" Jane argued back. "You're the one who claims to like being prepared for everything, but whatever." Jane shrugged and checked her watch. "You know what? You don't have time to change anyway or we'll be late. Don't come crying to me when the squad is laughing because they can see your boobs," Jane warned.
"Nobody is going to see my breasts," Maura argued. "I'm quite skilled if you'll remember."
"I remember," Jane admitted and got into the passenger seat of Maura's Prius.
They pulled up to the park that had been selected for that year's games and got out of the vehicle. They were greeted with playful competitiveness and the scent of barbeque.
"You ready to get you ass handed to you?" Frankie nudged his older sister playfully and Jane scoffed at him.
"Yeah right, I've got Maura as my partner. Who're you stuck with this year?" Jane asked.
"Frost," Frankie smirked and Jane seemed shocked.
"I thought Barry would be partnering with Vince," Maura mused, "He has every other year."
"Korsak says he's too old," Frankie shrugged. "So I did what any decent person would do and stepped up," he spoke with forced casualness, but he couldn't quite hide his cocky grin.
"That was polite of you," Maura complimented and Jane smacked her in the stomach lightly.
"He's being an ass, Maura," Jane whispered.
"Oh…" Maura considered Frankie and squinted her eyes accusingly at him. "Well, I suppose Frost was looking for a partner whose skill was equal to Korsak's… I'm insinuating that you'll play like an old man," Maura explained and Jane laughed. Frankie gaped at her which made her chuckle.
"You're a bad influence on her, you know that?" Frankie accused his sister but Jane just smirked. Frankie scowled at Maura and walked away.
"We so need to win this," Jane said excitedly and Maura agreed.
"Is it even a competition?" Maura asked cockily. They'd won every year since they'd partnered up and she was confident in their statistics. Jane laughed, grabbed her hand and pulled her to where everyone was gathered around Cavanaugh.
"Alright!" The lieutenant addressed the group. "Partners are as follows, Frost and Rizzoli Junior, Rizzoli Senior and doctor Isles, Crowe and Picard, Mulder and Scully, and Banner with Holiday. We've got four activities. One team will be eliminated after they come in last place during each activity. The last team remaining wins. Understood?" He explained with all the seriousness he normally had during a case and a few people chuckled at the tone. After everyone nodded he continued. "Good. First up is the three-legged race. Use a jumping rope to tie a leg to your partner's and this year we're running around the track. Might as well use this as an excuse to keep you guys in shape, right?" He grinned and a few people, including Jane, groaned in complaint before they moved to tie themselves up and get in place.
"We just have to set an appropriate pace and then follow it around the track," Maura explained and Jane nodded. "You can set it, I'll keep up. I'm the better runner. Just say one and I'll step with my left foot, two and I'll step with my right foot. Then after I get your pacing we can win!" Maura finished excitedly and Jane grinned at her.
"You got it, chief," Jane teased and they waited for Cavanaugh to count off the start of the race.
"On your marks! Get set! GO!"
"One, two, one, two, one, two…" Jane followed Maura's instructions, and instead of struggling at the beginning as the other teams did, they easily fell into pace with each other as they usually did while running together. Maura focused on Jane's pace and smiled as they crossed the finish line first. They tried to turn to hug each other but the rope holding their feet together made them fall over into the grass, which caused them both to start laughing. "We won!"
"I knew we would!" Maura stated.
"You've still got three games left, ladies, don't count your chickens before they hatch," Korsak shouted from the bleachers and Maura looked at Jane for translation.
"It's a figure of speech. It means we haven't won yet, so calm down," Jane teased. Maura nodded and untied their feet before standing to help Jane up.
They watched the rest of the racers cross the finish line. Frankie and Frost came in second. Holiday and Banner were the first to be eliminated. They moved to sit on the bleachers with Korsak to cheer the rest of the players on.
"Good job, team!" Cavanaugh congratulated the remaining contestants. "Now I know last year with the water balloons we saw what team could keep tossing them back and forth for the longest, but this year, we're going to do something a little different." he smiled deviously and the remaining four teams shifted worriedly. "If you look to the left, you'll see eight buckets." he gestured to the area and Maura saw the buckets. Four were lined up in five-foot intervals and directly across from those buckets, about twenty feet away, the buckets were mirrored. "Now, the buckets on the left each have fifty water balloons in them. The ones on the right are empty. Each team has to pick a catcher and a thrower. The thrower will have to toss the balloons across to the catcher who will place the balloons in the bucket. However many balloons you have in your bucket at the end is how many points you'll get!" He finished.
"Points?" Frost asked him, "we've never used a point system before."
"I'm keeping it fresh, Frost, don't question my methods," Cavanaugh complained and a few people chuckled. "Well, get going!" The teams followed the order and all got lined up.
"You want to throw? Your aim is better than mine," Maura reasoned and Jane nodded. They separated and waited for Cavanaugh's signal to start.
"GO!"
The teams started tosing ballons across the grass at their partners and laughing as the other teams broke some of their balloons. Maura had caught most of the first few balloons that Jane threw at her and was beginning to get cocky.
"Watch out, Maura!" Frankie yelled and Maura looked up just as she was supposed to catch a balloon Jane threw at her and it caught on one of her fingernails, causing water to explode into her chest. She gasped at the ice-cold water and looked down to see that the white lace of her bra was easily seen against the tan of her skin through her wet shirt, which clung to her curves and left nothing to the imagination. She gawked down at herself for a moment, looked up to see a guilty and blushing Frankie, an appreciative Crowe checking her out shamelessly, while everyone else averted their gaze. She then looked at Jane, whose eyes were just as shocked as her own. Jane walked toward her and tugged off her black T-shirt, blushing furiously.
"Put this on!" She commanded and Maura nodded, taking the shirt and pulling it over her head. "Seriously? Lace?" Maura heard Jane mutter under her breath. Jane was now wearing a black sports bra and although everyone else had gone back to playing, Maura was more distracted than ever. She'd seen Jane in less, in fact, she'd seen Jane in a rather skimpy bikini top a couple of days before, but then Jane had looked feminine and sexy, but this Jane seemed like a whole other person. This Jane, who had been exerting herself physically, had her muscles powerfully displayed, and the yoga shorts and sports bra did little to hide her strength. Maura took a moment to simply stare at Jane and appreciate her ability to seemingly shapeshift from androgyny to masculinity or femininity depending or what she wore or what she did. She let her eyes roam over Jane's back as she walked to her spot and then she had to stifle a whimper at the sight of Jane's abs. She felt ridiculous.
"You ready?" Jane called. Maura could only nod. Maura, in her distracted state, dropped more balloons than she would have otherwise, but they still ended up with the most points at thirty-seven. Crowe and Picard came in second with thirty-two, Frankie and Frost in third with twenty-eight, and Mulder and Scully were eliminated. Maura took the time between games to remove her white shirt from underneath Jane's black one.
"Thank you for giving me your shirt," She sheepishly approached Jane and hung her wet shirt up on the back of a chair to dry in the sun. "...Even though you said you wouldn't help if everyone saw my boobs," Maura tried to lighten the mood with a joke and Jane chuckled.
"I called it. I know we didn't bet on it or anything, but I feel like you owe me," Jane teased and Maura tilted her head to the side.
"Name your price," she smiled flirtatiously at Jane who grinned back and glanced slowly down the length of Maura's body.
"Rizzoli! Stop flirting with your girlfriend and come play the game!" Picard shouted and Jane rolled her eyes before giving him the finger over her shoulder.
"Rizzoli and Isles!" Cavanough called and Jane's eyes widened before they both looked guiltily over at the lieutenant. "Asses over here now or you'll be disqualified!" He threatened. The other competitors laughed, and Maura scowled at Frankie, who discreetly stuck his tongue out at her. "Okay, for the next challenge, you'll be making sandwiches! No, don't look at me like that, it's not as easy as you think! One person can only use their right hand, and one person can only use their left hand!" Cavanaugh explained.
"That's not fair, Janie's left-handed!" Frankie complained.
"Yeah, but have you seen her writing? It's not an advantage," Cavanaugh responded.
"What the hell? Is this 'make fun of Rizzoli' day?" Jane snarked.
"Every day is 'make fun of Rizzoli' day," Picard muttered.
"And you guys have an advantage because you're both women," Crowe teased.
"Keep talking like that and you won't be able to use either of your hands ever again, you sexist piece of-"
"Rizzoli!" Cavanaugh cut off her rage and eyed the other two detectives accusingly, which shut them up. "Get to your stations!" He ordered and the three teams each stood beside a table, upon which were two slices of bread, a knife and mayo, lettuce, cheese, meat, and tomato slices. "Now, you're all building the same sandwich and all of the ingredients must be included in the sandwich. Whoever has the best looking sandwich gets ten points, second place gets five points, the people with the least amount of points are eliminated. The time limit is two minutes, starting… NOW!"
"I'll hold the jar, you twist off the lid," Jane said to Maura, who nodded and did as Jane suggested.
"Jane, pick up a bread slice," Maura ordered and Jane did as asked, picking up a bread slice with her left hand. Maura used her right hand and used the knife to gently smear some mayo on the slice of bread before Jane put it gently down onto the table. They took turns carefully adding the layers to the sandwich and had thirty seconds remaining by the time their masterpiece was complete. If the meat and cheese hadn't been sitting out in the sun all day, Maura might have even eaten it. She glanced at the other tables and saw that Crowe and Picard had shredded their bread slices somehow. She turned to grin mischievously and Jane who chuckled at her.
"Frost and Frankie are too far… I can't see how well they did," Jane told her and Maura leaned to try to see but also couldn't get a view.
"Time! Drop your stuff!" Cavanaugh yelled. He walked over to Frost and Frankie's table, nodded, seemingly impressed before he moved to the middle table where Crowe and Picard's monstrosity lay. He looked down at the pile of food that looked already chewed and laughed. He moved to Maura and Jane's and declared them the winners.
"Ten points to Rizzoli and Isles, five points to Frost and Frankie! Crowe and Picard are eliminated!" He declared.
"Come on, that's crap!" Picard complained loudly.
"Can't argue with the math, boys. I was going to disqualify you both for poor sportsmanship anyway, but I wanted to be fair and prove a point. You both need to work on your teamwork. I'm not blind and I'm aware of all the shit you've both been causing in my precinct. Get your acts together or you'll both be on desk duty until I retire," he threatened and Maura looked up to see Jane smirk. The eliminated team clamored over to the bleachers to pout. "Alright, next up is a little two on two basketball, it's as simple as that."
"What?" Jane asked loudly, "well they'll obviously win!" She complained and Frost grinned.
"Because I'm black?" He teased Jane who rolled her eyes.
"No, I've seen how you handle a basketball. Frankie kicks my ass every Sunday!" She complained. Cavanaugh knew this from the time he spent dating her mother and she glared at him while Frost and Frankie laughed.
"Hey, you've won so often, I figured I should even the odds. You're fourteen points ahead. What's to worry about?" Cavanaugh grinned at Jane's rage.
"We can do it, Jane!" Maura brightly tried to encourage Jane who took a deep breath and rolled her eyes.
"Well, we can try," Jane muttered and they all walked onto the court where they were cheered on by the people on the bleachers.
"Same as usual, one basket is two points, no double dribbling, no traveling, you all know the rules?" He asked the players and they all nodded. Maura had researched the game after she had set Jane's nose and had even played on several occasions. When Tommy was on her team, they sometimes won against Jane and Frankie, but Jane and Maura were never able to win against Frankie and Tommy. It wasn't Tommy who was partnered with Frankie though, it was Frost, who was apparently not very good. She had hope. She didn't know what they were playing for, but she knew she wanted it. "Alright, Rizzoli's, center court! The game will be thirty minutes after I toss the ball, got it? GO!"
Jane won the toss and threw the ball to Maura who dribbled it down the court and immediately got a basket. Maura did her best with the game. She kept up with the ball and blocked Frost and all of his shots as best she could, but Jane couldn't quite keep up with Frankie's skill. Frankie got five baskets before Jane was able to win the ball back from him.
"Forty-nine to forty-three for Isles!" Cavanaugh called from the sidelines and Maura smiled at the use of her last name. She knew it was just because using Jane's last name would cause confusion but she liked the feeling of inclusion. She looked over to the corner where Jane and Frankie were in the midst of a standoff and she became distracted by the rippling muscles of Jane's legs. She slowly looked up and her breath caught in her throat as she watched droplets of sweat cascade down Jane's abs. She bit her bottom lip at the flush of Jane's heaving chest and did not notice that Jane had won the ball and tried to pass it to her until it was too late.
"Maura, look out!" She heard Jane call, but Maura put her hands up too late and the ball hit her directly in the face.
"Mother fffff-phooey," Maura cried out as she reached up to feel her nose. She brought her hand away from her face and saw blood on her hand.
"Oh God, Maura, I'm so sorry!" Jane approached and grimaced as she looked at Maura's face.
"Is it bad?" Maura asked though she had some indication by the pain and blood. Frost and Frankie approached too.
"Ew," Frankie stated and Jane turned to punch him in the shoulder. "That looks exactly like yours did when I broke your nose, Jane," Frankie amended his assessment and Jane looked concernedly at Maura's nose.
"A hairline fracture?" Maura asked and Frankie shrugged.
"I'll go get you the ice pack and a mirror," Frost said and then ran off toward the coolers near the barbeque.
"Jane, does it look that bad?" Maura turned to her friend.
"I've seen worse…" Jane shrugged.
"Not including cadavers?" Maura reiterated and Jane grimaced.
"...I've seen better," Jane admitted and Maura smacked her shoulder at the untimely teasing. "Oh, come one, it's not that bad, I promise. You look... cool." Jane complimented and nudged Frankie who nodded smartly.
"Yeah, totally badass," he agreed with his sister.
"Can't you do something safe, life yoga?" Jane continued to tease and Maura laughed and then groaned at the pain.
"Jane, stop making me laugh," she complained as Frost returned with an icepack and the rearview mirror from his car. Maura and Jane both eyed it.
"What? It was all I had and only she can diagnose herself!" He defended himself and Jane chuckled at him.
"Can you hold the mirror steady?" Maura requested and Frost handed the icepack to Frankie so that he could hold the mirror still. Maura adjusted the mirror until she could see the large bump on the side of her nose.
"Oh shoot," she complained.
"What? Is it bad?" Jane asked, chewing the side of her thumb nervously and she shifted from foot to foot. "I'm sorry, Maura, I didn't mean to hit you with the ball."
"It's not your fault, Jane, I should have been paying attention to the game," Maura reasoned as she poked and prodded her nose.
"You were looking right at them, what else were you thinking about?" Frost questioned and Maura furiously blushed and glanced at Jane guiltily before turning back to her nose in the mirror.
"I was just… thinking about thermoregulation and voluntary muscle action in combination with it…" Maura hoped her explanation of being distracted by Jane's sweaty muscles would be adequate and scientific enough to bore her friends into leaving her alone about it.
"How do you expect to win when your teammate is that busy thinking about science?" Frankie teased his sister and Maura looked up to see that Jane had become quite red. It was likely from more than just exertion but she had no way to verify until Jane scoffed.
"Yeah, that's what she meant," Jane muttered and Maura cleared her throat.
"You were right, Frankie," she forcefully changed the subject. "Hairline fracture... above the nasal bone to the lateral nasal cartilage… Rizzoli's seem to have a tendency to cause this injury during basketball…" Maura mused out loud.
"It was an accident, I'm so sorry," Jane apologized again and Maura shrugged.
"It's okay, I just need Frost to hold the mirror steady while I pop it back in place," Maura waved off her concern and Frost dropped the mirror.
"You want me to do what now?" He gaped at Maura.
"I'm the only one qualified," she reasoned and Frost bent to pick up the mirror before he handed it to Jane.
"Nope. Can't do it. Not today." Frost held up his hands in surrender and the Rizzoli siblings chuckled at him. Jane held the mirror up for Maura dutifully.
"I'm sorry I fractured your nose," Jane murmured as Maura put her hands in the proper place.
"It's my own fault," Maura reminded Jane and then popped her nose back in place before Jane could comment on Maura's distractedness during the game. "Oof, that's... that's more than a little painful," Maura finally admitted and Jane chuckled.
"I told you. Badass," Jane grinned and Maura smiled despite the pain. Frankie handed her the ice pack and they all walked over to the bleachers.
"Jane broke Maura's nose. Do we win?" Frankie asked Cavanaugh and Jane smacked her brother in the back of the head, "Ow!"
"You don't win! We're ahead!" Jane gestured between herself and Maura.
"There are five minutes left for the match. You can one on one it if you want," Cavanaugh shrugged and Jane scowled at Frankie who grinned cockily.
"I'll let you start with the ball," Frankie picked the basketball up and tossed it to Jane.
"Your nose is fine? We don't need a hospital?" Jane turned to verify with Maura before she agreed and Maura smiled, even though Jane couldn't see it due to the ice pack.
"I'm fine, Jane. Go get us a prize!" Maura ordered playfully. Jane grinned and leaned down to kiss Maura's cheek before running back onto the court.
"Come on, doc, sit with me," Frost led Maura to the bleachers and they sat together, watching the siblings head off.
"Alright, the current score is still forty-nine to forty-three for Isles. Five minutes on the clock, starting NOW!" Cavanaugh yelled and Jane skillfully twisted her body around her brother in an unexpectedly graceful way that Maura recognized immediately as a ballet maneuver. Jane ran up the court dribbling the ball and aimed her shot, only for the ball to be stolen in mid-air. Frankie made quick work of making a basket on the other end of the court and tossed the ball back to his sister.
"Let's go, twinkle toes," Frankie teased and Jane scowled at him. Jane made it look like she was going to move one way with the ball but quickly changed her footing and maneuvered around her brother once more. She took aim on the net and once again, it looked perfectly aligned but Frankie swiped the ball from the air just as it was about to go into the net.
"Forty-nine to forty-seven, thirty-five seconds on the clock!" Cavanaugh yelled out and the cheering from the bleachers got louder and louder. Maura watched with bated breath as Jane and Frankie jumped for the ball. Frankie got it first, but Jane stole it from him and ran a few paces toward Frankie's net but he caught up with her and blocked her shot.
"Move, Frankie!" Jane yelled and Frankie grinned at her.
"Or what? Are you gonna break my nose too?" He sassed.
"If I have to!" Jane sassed right back but Frankie did not move. Jane tossed the ball in a high arch over her brother's head to try to win a final basket but she missed by a foot. Frankie got the ball and easily made a basket for his team.
"Time!" Cavanaugh called and the Rizzoli siblings walked back toward the bleachers, sweating profusely and huffing for air.
"What? We tie?" Frankie asked and tossed Cavanaugh the ball before the lieutenant shrugged.
"It just so happens that I have two prizes this year. I had a feeling this might happen," Cavanaugh explained and Maura had to work to not roll her eyes and the use of people's intestinal instincts.
"You knew I'd break Maura's nose and tie with my brother at basketball?" Jane sassed her boss and a few people chuckled.
"Do you want a damn prize or not, Rizzoli?" He snarked and Jane glanced at Maura before she pouted slightly and nodded. "Good, now shut up and go sit down." Jane and Frankie made their way to the bleachers and Jane sat next to Maura, placing one hand on her thigh. Maura pressed her lips into a hard line to keep from smiling like an idiot. "Great, so I wasn't sure who was going to win this year, so I got two tickets to Fenway and two tickets to that new winery that opened up on the Eastside. There's dinner and then a tour of the vineyard and wine tasting," Cavanough shrugged and pouted distastefully at the winery tickets.
"Dibs on the wine!" Jane called and Maura looked at her in surprise.
"But Jane, you love Fenway!" Maura argued but Jane shrugged.
"Yeah, but the Sox aren't playing there for a while and I broke your nose, so…" Jane shrugged.
"You did not break my nose, you fractured it! And you didn't do it on purpose, so it doesn't count," Maura argued again.
"If I run over someone with my car on accident, and they die, it's my fault," Jane unreasonably reasoned and Maura sighed in frustration.
"You are impossible," Maura commented.
"Listen, I love you both but I don't exactly want to go on a date your brother just so you can watch baseball," Frost leaned forward to address Maura and Jane.
"Hey, I'm a catch," Frankie defended himself and Jane laughed.
"You want to go on a date with Frost?" Jane sassed and Frankie leaned behind the group to smack Jane in the back of the head. "Ow!"
"No! I'm just saying that if we were gay, he would be lucky to have me," Frankie argued and Frost laughed.
"Yeah I would, but I still don't want to go out on a date with you," Frost reasoned.
"There you go. Boys get baseball, we get a date night," Jane shrugged and grinned at Maura.
"Well, if that's what you think is fair." Maura shrugged.
"Now that that's settled," Cavanaugh stated exaggeratedly and the group chuckled before he handed them their respective tickets. "Everyone give a round of applause to the winners and then we can all go queue up for some burgers!" The group on the bleachers clapped and hollered to the two winning teams before they all moved to the barbeque, leaving Maura and Jane behind on the bleachers.
"Maura…" Jane began but shook her head and looked down at her feet where she kicked at the dirt.
"Jane I…" Maura wasn't sure what she wanted to say. Should she apologize for getting distracted? She couldn't. She wasn't exactly sorry for checking Jane out.
"Can I see your nose?" Jane turned to face Maura and Maura mirrored the movement before she removed the icepack. "It looks better," Jane offered.
"It still hurts a bit," Maura admitted and Jane smiled coyly.
"Would you like me to kiss it better, doctor Isles?" Jane smirked and Maura felt herself blush. Maura was not the type of woman one could easily make blush, but Jane seemed to have a knack for it.
"If you'd like," Maura murmured and Jane was suddenly leaning in, though she was not aiming for Maura's nose. Maura stayed still, letting Jane have complete freedom and control over the kiss that might not happen, giving Jane every opportunity to pull away, but Jane leaned slowly forward still, glancing into Maura's eyes before she closed the small distance between them.
The kiss was soft and innocent. Jane had pressed her lips gently to Maura's as if she was afraid that Maura might break, and Maura felt as if everything she'd been missing in her life was suddenly coming into place. She felt Jane gently cup the side of her face and she felt like life itself was breathing love into her.
Maura had been kissed before, but never so sweetly. There was awe and reverence in Jane's kiss that brought peace to Maura. Maura was nineteen when she had her first kiss from Garrett, and he hadn't been shy. She'd learned to expect the callous, almost forceful kisses that he'd given her, and then kissing was used as a lead up to sex. Every kiss she'd experienced after that was a means to an end. A cause and effect relationship. A necessary action to achieve a result.
This kiss though, the sweet, tentative motions of Jane's caring lips… Maura thought her first kiss should have been this. It wasn't a means to an end; it was the promise of so much more. It was the promise of everything else. It was courteous and loving, and so Jane that she felt herself smiling, and in awe as Jane pulled away. It might not have been Maura's first kiss, but it was her last first kiss, she was sure of it, and it was perfect. It was her first kiss where she felt loved. Maura blushed as if she'd never been kissed at all before and she chuckled at the notion. One thing was for certain, she'd never been kissed like that.
This kiss was the butterflies she'd never felt. This kiss is being nervous about what dress she should have worn to a junior prom she never went to. It was holding someone's sweaty hand in a dark movie theatre for the first time. This kiss was the experience of inexperience that she'd been too busy at the time to worry about, and she loved it. It filled her entire chest with more love than she could have hoped to receive in a lifetime and it made her want to smile and cry at the same time and she didn't care at all what science had to say about it.
The kiss was everything they both missed out on. Maura grabbed Jane's hand on the side of her face and held it there. Jane leaned in so that their foreheads were pressed together. It was a simple kiss and yet it was the most intimate Maura had ever felt.
Jane leaned back and kissed Maura's nose gently before pulling away completely and Maura finally opened her eyes. Jane was blushing too and seemed both nervous and pleased with herself at the same time. Maura thought it had to be the most adorable thing she'd ever seen in her life and she was rendered utterly speechless as feelings overwhelmed her.
"F-feel better?" Jane asked hopefully and Maura nodded slowly as she stared at Jane's eyes. Jane smiled and let go of Maura's face to lift the icepack back up to Maura's nose for her. The cold pulled Maura from her haze. "Me too." Jane smiled softly, held her hand out for Maura's free one and they slowly walked together toward the barbeque to enjoy the rest of their day together.
If anyone had seen them kissing, nobody mentioned it and for that Maura was grateful. She was so happy Jane had kissed her but she was nervous because she wasn't sure how Jane would react to people commenting on it. Everyone was simply acting as if everything was normal though; likely because everything was.
:)
a/n: Maybe you might feel it odd that Jane would kiss Maura for the first time in the wide open and in front of people, but the thing is that she had to. Hiding and kissing women didn't exactly work out for her so she had to rewire her brain to know that kissing Maura, innocently and out in the open, was a totally fine and normal thing to do.
