Saturday

Eating dinner with Jane in her own home felt strange. As though there was some expectation, some nuance Maura was missing. Jane's smile, small and pleased, greeted her every time she looked up. She'd gone for casual - no pajamas because although Jane had seen Marua in them, they weren't appropriate for dinner. Some yoga pants and a soft cotton top were sufficient, but Jane was looking at her the way Constance looked at a fine painting. She knew she'd been hard when she'd left Jane, knew she'd been protecting herself. She'd never been so open with someone, and Jane had read her like a book. It was terrifying, being that exposed with someone, and Maura had wondered again why Jane felt like someone she could expose herself to without judgement. But then, Bass had come out of his shell around Jane as well. It was confusing, after so many decades of building barricades around herself, to see them crumple under Jane's smile.

Jane was a little muted, and much better at handling her silverware, Maura noticed. The time apart felt like decades. She wondered what else she'd missed while they'd been apart. Would Jane still need her? If she got over her fear of scalpels, once her hands healed, would she still need Maura, or would she leave Maura in her dust, chasing criminals?

"So the coroner was pulling this guy out of the water and his whole arm came off. Frankie dove right in to grab it," Jane said, proud of her brother. "I don't think I woulda, but it ended up saving us his fingerprints. Wish I could recommend him for an award, but it'd only encourage him."

"He takes after you," Maura said gently, not put off by corpse talk at dinner. "He's going to have a great career, with someone like you to look up to." Jane blushed and looked away.

"We're hotheaded. All us Rizzolis are. We see something we can do, we don't even think about it, we do it. Wish he was less impulsive, but who am I to speak?"

"You both have good instincts," Maura insisted.

"My instincts led me here," Jane said. She wanted to repeat that she'd missed Maura, but she knew she'd already said it, probably too many times but also not enough. Not enough for Maura to feel it, to believe her. But Maura seemed like the type of person who could never hear it enough, could never believe it for herself. "Did they do good?"

"'Well', Jane. 'Did they do well?' would have been a better question. People mix up those terms too frequently."

"Mau," Jane said softly, and Maura kept her gaze averted. "I'm the same person I was last week. I'm the same person you met. Maybe a little better from your influence. My instincts led me here. Were they right?"

Maura looked down at the table, at her shaking hands, and still, without looking up, she nodded.

"After being alone so long it must have been overwhelming," Jane said kindly. "And I don't mind giving you space, if that's what you're used to. If that's what you need. But it's been a week. I needed to see you."

"I need you too much," Maura said finally. "It's not..."

"Anything you need from me, you can have."

"Can we... Can you hold me?" Maura asked, voice cracking, and Jane was already pushing back her own chair, scooping Maura out of hers and wrapping her arms around Maura as if it had been years instead of less than a week. Jane was just as strong as Maura remembered her, just as soft and warm. Maura found her hands rising instinctively to hold Jane in return, to cling to her.

"I shouldn't feel so strongly," Maura said. "It's only been a few weeks. It goes against everything I've studied about healthy relationships."

"There are no healthy relationships in the force," Jane countered. "You think it's Stockholm syndrome, huh?"

"That term is very misleading. The man who coined it never interviewed any of the people trapped inside, and they had more reason to trust their captors than the police. It should be debunked but it's in the common lexicon now."

"It is, huh?" Jane asked, leaning back to give Maura an arched eyebrow. "What if we remove the lexicon and keep the sentiment?"

"It was a very stressful case," Maura conceded. "But neither of us were trapped or under any threat."

"Tilt shot at me, Mau," Jane reminded her.

"Oh. I'd forgotten."

"He killed at least six kids, he must've had a good aim."

"Well, I'm glad he didn't shoot you. I'm just questioning if it's healthy for me to be so... Attached to you this early into knowing you."

"You're part of my family now. You, Frost, Korsak. It's too late to pretend you don't like me, it's too late to go back to being alone, because I'm here and the only way I'll leave is if you ask me to."

Maura opened her mouth, about to argue that she could ask Jane to leave any time she wanted to, but she felt a prickling of hives start on her chest before she could start talking. Instead she nodded.

"Unless..." Jane pulled back to eye Maura properly. It was well past 1am now, the street outside quiet, the world outside peaceful. Someone out there would be killing someone else horribly, but that was a problem for tomorrow, or at least until someone called it in. "Unless you don't want me."

Maura wasn't well versed in human emotions, but the fear and hope in Jane's eyes told her that Jane was taking a gamble, that she was still uncertain of how Maura felt.

"I couldn't help myself from wanting you," Maura said, reassured by Jane's self-doubt. Pulling Jane back in close. "Stay. Please stay." Maura asked, and Jane nodded, her hands sliding across Maura's back as though she couldn't believe how lucky she was to be able to.

Maura watched greedily as Jane pulled off her pants, stripping down to her underwear and a singlet. Maura had clean sleepwear she could offer, but she selfishly wanted to keep Jane in said underwear, wanted to know what it felt like under her fingers. Everything about Jane was so foreign to Maura - the ease with which she lived her life, not caring what anyone thought of her, her soft cottons and practical boots, her casual affection.

Maura watched as Jane slid under the covers, and just as much as Jane's instincts had led Jane to Maura, Maura found hers forcing her to reach out and pull Jane tight against her. Jane reached over to turn off the lamp, then wrapped her arms around Maura. It was the softest bed she'd ever been in, but nothing in comparison to the softness of Maura in Jane's arms, of the bare skin on Maura's arms that Jane's hands had missed.

"I missed you," Maura admitted quietly. "I'm not used to that. I'm used to enjoying my own company, so to find out I enjoy yours was a shock. I'm still recalibrating."

Jane chuckled. "I'm not going anywhere," Jane reassured Maura. "I said you're family, and you are. You need picking up from the airport, you need a double for tennis, I'm there."

"What about a date to a gallery?" Maura asked, and Jane sighed.

"I guess, but it's not really my speed. Just as well you love explaining."

"You'd come with me?" Maura asked, surprised.

"Well, yeah. You've watched a football game and a baseball game with me. They're not things you're interested in."

"And you're not interested in art," Maura said flatly.

"No, but I'm interested in you, and you're interested in art, so I could stand to join you." Maura could feel Jane's easy shrug against her. "Especially if you called it a date." Maura was used to holding Jane's hands in hers, but tonight it was Jane's fingers uncurling Maura's, Jane's fingers wrapping themselves around Maura's hands.

Jane's phone rang, as she cursed, still half-asleep, as she reached for it.

"I'm at your apartment. Where are you this week?" Angela said over the phone, sounding annoyed.

"Maura came in late last night so I picked her up at the airport. Ended up staying over."

There was a long pause, as though Angela was trying to think of how to word something. Jane looked over; she'd woken Maura, who had slipped her hands under her head to watch Jane, blinking slowly, like a sleepy cat. Like a contented cat. Jane reached out and let her hand rest on Maura's shoulder.

"Is she coming for dinner tomorrow?"

Jane relayed the question and Maura nodded.

"Yeah, is that ok?"

"Of course, Jane, I've been trying to get you to bring the people in your life to Sunday dinner for years." Still, there was something in Angela's voice, something that suggested that she knew Maura wasn't just a colleague, wasn't just a friend. "Do you still want me to clean up? It doesn't look like you've even been here."

"If her morning is free, we could meet her for brunch?" Maura suggested quietly, and Jane nodded.

"D'ya hear that? Maura says brunch. We'll text through where to meet us. I love you too, Ma." Jane rolled over to put her phone back down, rubbing her face. "Hey," she said quietly, looking over at Maura, suddenly aware, somehow, that the whole situation was strange. That Jane had never spent the night at someone else's house since she stopped having sleepovers. That Maura hadn't made her feel like she had to leave, or that she had to stay. That there'd been nothing but loneliness behind Maura asking Jane to stay. She rolled onto her side to look at Maura a little longer, the little freckles on her face usually obscured with foundation, the softness in her eyes.

"I meant it, when I said you were gorgeous," Jane whispered, brushing some hair out of Maura's face. "And I meant to say I was sorry for being off my face when I said it."

"I didn't mind," Maura said. "Is that why you like me? Because I'm physically attractive?"

"It doesn't hurt," Jane said seriously. "But I like who you are more than how you look."

"And who do you think I am?" Maura asked, feeling Jane's fingers working their way through her hair, her eyes closing a little in deference to how good it felt.

"I think you're a smart, dedicated, professional woman with a soft heart for victims of crime."

"That describes you as well," Maura pointed out. "And so does 'gorgeous'."

"But I'm also a baseball fan and a hockey fan and a daughter and a sister, and you're... you're mostly your job, and other intellectual pursuits, and charities and fundraisers and I don't know how much you enjoy them but I don't see any room in your schedule for fun."

"I'm going to brunch with your mother today," Maura pointed out. "And dinner with you tomorrow."

"But before me, what would you have been doing?"

"Catching up on some journals," Maura said finally. "I have a piece for publishing that I need to edit as well. I enjoy that kind of work. It's very satisfying."

"You're so serious," Jane teased. "And I like that about you. But most of all I like the way you take care of me without making me feel like you're taking care of me."

"That doesn't make sense, Jane," Maura pointed out, and Jane rolled onto her front, resting on Maura's chest, Maura's hands coming up to run down Jane's back.

"You don't make a big deal out of it. You just ask if I need anything, but if I do you don't act like it's a big deal. And me asking for help isa big deal."

Maura barked out a laugh.

"You're so very... different... to anyone else I know," Maura said finally.

"Am I bringing you around on people?" Jane asked, and Maura chuckled.

"If more were like you, I think I'd be a lot more comfortable a lot more often." Maura sighed and stretched a little. "Would you like coffee? It's quite late, you'll need to pick somewhere to meet your mother."

Jane was fascinated by the coffee machine, but she rolled her eyes at Maura's description of the process.

"I just want coffee, not a Roman orgy," Jane complained, but when it was finally ready Jane's eyebrows shot up when she tasted it.

"I see why you don't like the division coffee, if this is what you're used to. Wow."

"Worth the wait?" Maura asked, sitting at the counter, sipping her own coffee. Jane looked over at her and smiled.

"Yeah," she said finally. "Yeah, you were."

Jane had thrown on her clothes from the day before, and Maura was thrown again by how tall she was, how well-proportioned. When Maura came back from getting dressed she found Jane and Bass on the rug in front of the tv, watching a replay, Jane's fingers trailing across Bass' shell as though Jane really couldn't get through the day without some form of physical contact. No wonder Bass trailed after her around like a puppy; Maura wasn't good at physical affection. No wonder Maura followed Jane, the same spell woven over her as well.

"He really does seem to like you," Maura said, and Jane's head whipped up and around.

"He likes you too, I'm sure," Jane said politely, her eyes raking Maura's body in her brunch clothes; an outfit Maura had never had occasion to wear before.

"I'm my mother's daughter," Maura said wistfully. "I love him, but emotionally I never know what he needs."

"He's a tortoise, Mau. You just give him some vegetables and a scratch on the shell and he's as happy as a tortoise can be. I think he thought I was you, the first night, when he came to me. I think he was just as lonely without you."

Maura smiled; Bass had always greeted her, the way he'd greeted them both last night, but there was something about Jane...

Angela was surprised at the place Jane had chosen; it was very upmarket, and she felt out of place in her jeans and tee-shirt, flannel over the top. She'd been expecting to clean Jane's place, not have brunch somewhere fancy. But Jane was in jeans too, Angela noticed as Jane parked up, stepping up next to an Alfa Romeo and opening the door politely for Doctor Isles, who was dressed to the nines, and suddenly Angela saw. She'd been putting Jane in Maura's place, wanting her to have doors opened for her, wanting her to be taken care of, but here Jane was doing that for Maura. If Jane had been one of Angela's sons she couldn't have been prouder; but she wasn't, and Angela had wanted a daughter, had wanted a little girl that grew up to be like Maura, all fashion and class with someone who clearly adored her. She hadn't thought about a daughter-in-law; not from Jane at least, but Maura was - there was something about her that even Angela could see. She'd have preferred Maura to have dated Frankie, or even Tommy, but Maura looked up, laughing at something Jane said as she closed the door, saw the smile on Jane's face, and she nodded to herself. They were lapsed Catholic anyway, and she'd never seen Jane smile like that. Sure, it wasn't the role Angela had thought Jane would have in a relationship, but she wore it so well that Angela could hardly begrudge her. They giggled together for a moment, leaning in to each other, and Jane looked up, looked a little panicked when she saw Angela watching them.

"Ma? What's wrong?" Jane asked, stepping away from Maura to hold Angela by her shoulders. It wasn't until then that Angela realised she was crying.

"I missed you, my beautiful girls," Angela said, and Jane ducked her head to kiss Angela's cheek, brushing away the tears and hugging her. Maura kissed both cheeks, and Angela felt so cosmopolitan, so chique, wrapping Maura into a hug, not feeling the usual stiffness in Maura's body. "Seeing you together makes my heart happy," she added.

"This place better have pancakes," Jane growled at Maura, soft edge to her lips letting Maura know she wasn't upset.

"They do. Quinoa." Maura said smugly, laughing at Jane's groan. Angela slid her arm through Maura's and Jane rolled her eyes and followed them into the cafe.

Notes:

Late today because I got the Pride comic Humble Bundle and have been doing a hecking consume.

Spectacle, Camp Spirit, Mamo, Renegade Rule, Specter Inspectors and CosmoKnights were the gems.

I guess this is an AU? In which Jane is actually nice sometimes? Very out of character, otherwise. But it would have to be AU since it takes place before the show, even if it is based on a canon universe? One in which people are less bigoted?

So many question.

Anyway. I need to commission a picture of Jane and Bass and Maura in their Red Sox baseball caps.