Maura looked like she'd been crying when Jane finally made it downstairs to her office. Jane had tried to come over the night before but Maura had politely refused to let Jane in. Angela had been restricted to the guest house as well. And now Jane had had to chase Maura down in her office, and the coffee she'd bought for when Maura inevitably came up to see Jane was still sitting on Jane's desk, stone cold.

Jane shut the hallway door behind her, then walked over and closed the door to the morgue as well. She closed the blinds as well. Maura just watched her limply, dabbing at her face with a tissue.

"What's wrong?" Jane asked, sitting on the edge of Maura's desk, moving Maura's laptop. Maura looked down and sniffled, and Jane took the tissue, wiped Maura's face with a fresh one, tilting Maura's chin up so Maura had to look at her. "Honey, what's wrong?" she asked again, letting her spare hand run through Maura's strawberry blonde curls.

"I found..." Maura took a deep breath, then turned her face away.

"What'd you find, huh? Some evidence on our body?"

"No, Jane," Maura was clearly trying not to cry, and Jane longed to hold her, to tell her that crying wasn't a personal flaw. "No, I found..."

Jane couldn't stand it, so she stood and pulled Maura up with her, leaning back against the desk as she pulled Maura towards her, holding her close, running her hand over Maura's cinnamon hair as she made gentle soothing noises. Maura cried in earnest then, gulping sobs with her face pressed against Jane's chest. Jane hated it when Maura did this. Her makeup always left a perfect impression of Maura's face on Jane's white business shirts, and she had to go through the rest of the day in her undershirt. Maura always did get them dry cleaned, but still. She let her hands aimlessly roam across Maura's back, feeling the muscle and sinew of a strong woman, feeling the softness of Maura beneath it. Feeling the bones, hearing Maura whisper each one Jane touched as she calmed down.

"I found a white hair," Maura said finally, composing herself. Jane let her pull back a little, aware that they were pressed together. She tried not to laugh, but a relieved chuckle came out of her anyway.

"Oh, Maura, I thought something was really wrong."

"It is! I'm old enough to have white hair, and I'm still so far behind where I wanted to be by now. I thought I'd be married, thought I'd have children, I thought..."

"It's just one white hair," Jane said calmly. "You still have plenty of time for all those things." She took another tissue and started again on the long and complicated process of wiping Maura's face without smearing what was left of her makeup too much, a process Jane was familiar with.

"You don't understand, Jane. It wasn't on my head," Maura hissed, looking downward at where her lap would be if they weren't still pressed together.

"Oh. Oh!. But I thought you'd, uh. Gone for the deforestation look. Last time, when we showered together, because of the contamination - not that I was looking, but I..."

"When I'm attracted to someone I think I probably shouldn't be, I let the..." Maura made some sort of gesture that Jane couldn't interpret. "Garden grow. So I don't make any rash decisions."

"But you carry a shaving kit "

"A girl can always change her mind, Jane," Maura huffed.

"So what's the problem."

"If there's one, there's probably more. And I can't check myself..."

"Oh, Maura, no!" Jane said, drawing back as far as she could, pressed against the desk behind her, Maura still pressed to her front. "I'm not going to search your," Jane's voice dropped even though both doors were closed and hopefully locked, "'lady garden' for 'weeds'."

"That's not a very good metaphor," Maura said. "And that's not what I was going to ask. My head, Jane. I need to know if I need to ask my stylist to colour me."

Jane looked at Maura's honey blond locks flowing over her shoulder, got distracted by how shiny and soft her hair looked looked. She touched it again - their hair was so different, Jane's thick and coarse and sable dark, and Maura's so soft and tawny and fragile.

"I don't see any," Jane said finally.

"Well, the lighting in here - I don't want Angela to know - could I come over?"

"Tonight? Sure."

"And you'll check my hair?"

"Sure," Jane said again, nudging Maura away from her with her hip, moving out from where she'd been happily sandwiched against the desk. "Your head hair, right," Jane paused for clarification as she opened the door. She turned back to look at Maura, who nodded, and Jane couldn't look away from her smile, opened the door to Susie, who had been about to knock on the door and was now knocking on Jane's chest instead.

"Oh, sorry, Detective Rizzoli," Susie blushed, looking mortified, cradling her hand to her chest. Jane followed Susie's gaze, looked down, then down again at her ruined blouse, sighing and heading back into Maura's office.

"Look at that, I picked up a stray," Jane said, unbuttoning her shirt.

"We found the strain of tobacco, but we can't tie it to a brand yet," Susie said, still beet red. Jane threw her shirt in the basket Maura kept for her personal laundry and slipped her blazer back on over her undershirt, tucking her obsidian hair up from under the collar.

"Your coffee's upstairs, and very cold," Jane said, halfway out the door, turning again in the doorway. Frankie slammed into her when she finally turned away, their foreheads banging together and they started bickering about who needed to watch where they were going. Maura's mouth simply quirked as she read over the report, isolating the important information.


"You're late," Jane growled from the couch. Maura came in, carrying take away and a large lamp. "What is that?

"So you can see, when you check my hair," Maura smiled.

"If you're going to the stylist anyway, why don't you ask her to check?"

"It's too embarrassing. I want to know before she does."

Jane shrugged; Maura did a lot of things that didn't make sense to Jane but they seemed to make her happy. Or less anxious, anyway. "Dinner first?" Jane asked, and Maura pouted but brought the food over with her.


Jane spent nearly an hour propped up behind Maura on the back of the couch, running her fingers through the auburn locks of her best friend, unable to find anything amiss.

"Are you sure it was white?" Jane asked finally. "I'm not seeing anything, and I'm not checking anywhere else."

"It's nothing you haven't seen before," Maura said, a little offended at Jane's adamancy. "And yes, it was white. Not grey, not copper. White."

Jane's fingers were still combing through Maura's russet curls even though she'd stopped checking, and Maura leaned her head against the inside of one of Jane's thighs where they sat either side of her head, Jane's fingers digging in to her scalp as she hummed contentedly.

"It must have been a one-off. Did you check again?"

"Meticulously," Maura said stiffly. She'd removed and checked every single hair under a microscope.

"Okay, so you're not going grey, or white, or anything. You still have plenty of time to get married and have kids."

"I don't; not really," Maura said sadly. "My social circle is very small, and I tend to date people who like murder."

"I like murder," Jane shrugged. "Wait, I like solving murders, not doing murders."

"I understood, but you do make a good point." Maura tilted her head back against Jane's firm thigh to look up at her. "If we're forty, and neither of us are married yet..."

"Nuh, nuh-uh," Jane said. "You're not settling for me."

"I wouldn't be settling for you, Jane," Maura said softly, scared she'd offended Jane and disturbed whatever qualms Jane had about talking about their relationship. "You're strong, brave, intelligent and funny, with an exquisite bone structure - all things I look for in a potential partner."

"I really am the full package, aren't I?" Jane mused, sliding down to sit next to Maura on the couch. "But no, I'm not getting into some awkward rom-com marriage pact with you, okay?"

"Okay," Maura said meekly, looking down at her hands. Jane reached over and took them both, sitting cross-legged facing Maura.

"When you get married - when, not if - you won't be settling, okay?" Jane said gently, in the soft voice she sometimes used when Maura didn't understand something. "You deserve better."

"It wouldn't be settling, not for me. You'd be a - an upgrade." Maura ducked her head, ashamed of the ready tears that came at this rejection. "I love you more than I ever thought I could possibly love someone. I love your family. I love the way you walk into a room and own it, the way you explain things to me. I love that you understand how I need things explained to me. I love your smile and your loud boots and your courage. I love your big heart and the way you do your best every day for people who can't thank you for finding their killer. I love the way you've made everyone in my family love me the way I needed to be loved by them. I love you. It wouldn't be settling." Maura broke off to choke back a sob, hearing Jane's sigh as she pulled Maura into her, leaning back against the arm of the couch, pulling Maura on top of her so she could hold her.

"That's the best offer I'll ever get," Jane chuckled, stroking the titian hair of her best friend as she held her close. "It's very flattering, but I still have a rule against age-based marriage pacts."

Maura sobbed harder, and Jane's hands moved slower, reminding Maura to breathe as she named all the bones and muscle groups Jane was brushing over with her strong hands. At some point Jane managed to get them both to their feet, leading Maura to the bedroom where she continued to sob on Jane's chest as Jane's fingers combed through her caramel hair. Maura had been rejected, but she hadn't been abandoned, and that thought made her cry all the harder. But Jane didn't let her go, didn't pull away. Even at Maura's worst, Jane had never left her. Jane would never leave her. Even if Jane never married Maura, Jane would never leave her. Maura fell asleep curled into Jane, too tired out from crying to wake when Jane got up to make a few phone calls.


Jane was acting suspiciously. They were on their way to a crime scene but she kept taking the wrong turns, kept stopping for amber lights, and she'd barely broken thirty miles an hour. Maura was feeling the impatience she imagined Jane always felt when she drove. Finally, when Maura was about to snap at her, still hurt over the rejection of the night before, still prickly from having cried herself to sleep, Jane pulled over.

"It's here, right?" Jane asked. "You go ahead, I have to grab something from the trunk."

Maura strode off, agitated, not hearing Jane chuckle behind her.

There was a body under a sheet, but Angela and Tommy were there, and so was Hope and Cailin, and... Constance? Why was she... and there was Tasha and Erica, and half the precinct lined the street, even though it was a Saturday. Maura eyed the body suspiciously; it could be another one of Jane's pranks. Lydia and TJ were here too, Maura could see them with Tommy now, Angela swinging TJ up into her arms to point at Maura... no, behind Maura. Maura turned, and Jane was on one knee in a full tuxedo somehow, and a sea of phones were being held up behind her to commemorate the moment.

"Doctor Maura Dorothea Isles, will you marry me?" Jane asked, holding out a ring box which she opened. It was Hope's Cladaugh ring, which Maura had only ever seen once, and Maura gasped, clutching her chest. She pulled Jane to her feet, brushing down the suit, watching as Jane's smiled froze and finally slipped. "Well, will you?" Jane asked, looking anxious now.

"You said I shouldn't settle," Maura pointed out. "And you said that me wanting to marry you was settling." Maura's eyes prickled; it had been a prank, a cruel one at her expense. She could hear people muttering behind her and she moved to brush past Jane. Jane reached out and took Maura's shoulders, stopping her in her tracks, lifting her hand to brush Maura's chestnut hair out of her face.

"I meant you shouldn't make a pact," Jane said gently. "We shouldn't make a pact just because we're getting older. That would be settling. Not that we'd be settling if we got married. I love you with everything I have. That's not settling. What you said last night - I've been waiting years for someone to say that about me, and I can't believe I'm lucky enough that it was you. So I guess it's my turn. Maura. I love you, okay." Jane paused and slipped her hand under Maura's chin to tilt her head up, making eye contact with her, checking in with her, the sunlight and unshed tears making Maura's hazel eyes shine gold. Maura examined Jane's mahogany eyes, looking for a lie she couldn't find. Jane sighed with relief as Maura's face softened, as she visibly relaxed. "I do, I love you. So much. You saved my brother's life, and mine. You've got the biggest heart of anyone I know, and it's only rivalled in size by your brain. I love the way you get excited over science, and I love the way you love my family. You're everything I could possibly want in a partner in life, and you're a doctor so you'll get Ma off my back. Maura, would you do me the incredible honour of marrying me?"

Maura looked up again; when they'd talked about weddings, Jane had said she'd hate a public proposal, but Maura had said she'd thought they were cute. Maura looked around; everyone looked anxious, Frost and Korsak putting their phones away, Angela biting her lip, Tommy shaking his head in disappointment. Constance and Hope were whispering together, and they both looked heartbroken. Jane also knew Maura liked a little warning before a surprise event, and of all events, this one was a surprise. She looked up at Jane again; Jane her safest place. Jane wouldn't do this for a joke. Jane was clumsy and impulsive but she loved as fiercely as she fought. And Jane would fight anyone with the audacity to publicly humiliate her like this, in front of everyone they knew. Gathering everyone here like this wouldn't have been easy - Constance and TJ in particular looked exhausted, like they'd just come from the airport.

"You're not settling?" Maura asked quietly, daring to meet Jane's eyes again.

"I'm not," Jane said gently. "I just hate that it took me so long."

"Why did it, if this is what you wanted?" Maura had thought about asking Jane to date her before, but Jane had always seemed so resistant to the very idea. The marriage pact was the tiniest toe pushed over that boundary Jane had built.

"I didn't know if you wanted..." Jane looked ashamed of herself. "No, I'd convinced myself that you didn't want..."

"But straight to marriage? We haven't even been on a date."

Jane huffed in frustration. "Maura," she whined. "We've been dating for well over five years. And you proposed last night. I don't want to waste any more time."

"And you're not settling?" Maura asked again, scrutinising Jane's face again for any tell-tale signs of lying. Jane shook her head, smiling a little bit.

"I'm asking you to marry me because I want to marry you. Do you not want to marry me?" Jane's smile slipped again, and Maura reached for Jane this time.

"I can't think of anyone else I'd rather marry, now or ever," Maura said firmly.

"So?" Jane asked expectantly, holding out the ring again.

"Oh! Yes! Yes, please."

The crowd broke into a relieved cheer and Jane pulled Maura into a hug. Frost pumped his fist and Frankie set off a confetti gun, and a banner unfurled over the Dirty Robber with their names on it in a big heart. 'It's all been done' by the Barenaked Ladies played out over a stereo and the generic lab gremlins had started an impromptu dance party in the cordoned off street. When they broke apart, Jane's hands slid into Maura's auricomous hair and Jane's eyes slipped to Maura's mouth right before she kissed Maura for the first time, on the street with everyone they loved watching them. There was another, louder and more enthusiastic cheer, and Jane pulled away slowly, an awed look on her face.

"You don't know how long I've waited for that," Jane said, voice hushed and reverent.

"At least as long as me," Maura said, her fingers fiddling with Jane's pant loops. Jane looked over Maura's shoulder and slipped an arm around Maura's waist to turn her and introduce her to all their mutual friends and family as her fiancé.

"I'm still not checking your you-know-what for white hair," Jane whispered into Maura's ear between congratulations.

"Good, because the area in question has been clear-cut," Maura said smugly, feeling Jane's chuckle jostle her as they shook hands with yet more of the crowd.

"Were you hoping to get lucky?" Jane teased, pressing a kiss against Maura's bronze hair. Maura looked up at her with tears pooling in her hazel eyes.

"I think I already did," she said, taking Jane's hand, bringing it to her mouth for a kiss, then pulling herself in against Jane's chest, where she'd always felt the most loved. "I don't know how I could possibly get luckier than this."


Notes:

Lady Riot pointed out that 'honey blonde' is often used to refer to Doctor Maura Isles. I already had the white hair idea. Things escalated.

It took everything I had not to use 'moist, glittering amber orbs' for the proposal scene