Author's note: Thank you very much for all the reviews and suggestions.
Story Five: Lace And Family
Focused on a bottle of Champagne she was about to uncork, Maura repressed a yawn and leaned against the counter of the kitchen. She made a face at a box nearby.
"I am not saying that milk chocolates taste badly. It is just that they aren't as good – neither are they for your health – than pure dark ones. But it is okay, Jane. Really."
No reply. She turned around only to realize that her partner was nowhere to be seen. The Italian had probably gone to change. She had worked until late and didn't want to spend New Year's Eve in her BPD outfit. If there was something Maura knew about Jane then it was how she loved hanging around the house in a pair of sweatpants and an old shirt.
Back to the bottle of Champagne.
Maura opened the drink – grabbed two glasses - and poured some sparkling wine in both.
The house was oddly quiet. As Jane had moved in, the medical examiner had learned to say goodbye to a peaceful place. Her partner was a real tornado.
From loud music to heavy steps, Jane didn't pass unnoticed and was anything but discreet. But in all honesty, even ig Maura might at times complained, she actually loved it more than anything.
"Would you like to go to the movies, tomorrow? Since we have a day off, I was thinking that maybe we could take advantage of it to..."
Jane cleared her voice, pushing Maura to turn around. Glasses of Champagne in hand, the scientist did only to freeze and gasp at the scene before her eyes.
Her partner had leaned against the wall – suggestively – and was wearing nothing but a jacket and red lingerie: a lacy bra and its matching hipsters. Garterbelts – stockings – and high heels. She had done her hair up in a loose bun; wavy strands framing her face, brushing her bold smile.
"I assumed it was time I gave into the Italian red underwear tradition. What do you think?"
Maura blinked. Jane had completely taken her by surprise. They had not really defined the kind of New Year's Eve they were about to spend together. It was the first anniversary of their couple and that surely meant a lot to the two of them but – curiously enough – they hadn't planned anything.
Or at least not until now.
As calmly as she could, Maura put the glasses down on the counter and walked to Jane; her eyes locked with the brunette's. She passed authoritative hands on her partner's waist, started playing with the lace of the garterbelts.
"I don't know for you but obviously such attention surely makes of me a very lucky person already..."
Jane's giggles melted in their kiss. A long, passionate one. Soon her jacket landed on the floor and they started walking blindly towards their bedroom, sighs echoing caresses; bold ones.
Their relationship was easy.
Since the very beginning, it all had seemed evident; logical. It was the first time the Italian felt at ease with someone. Maura had to be the one, the only one. Within a few weeks, Jane had moved to Beacon Hill and she couldn't think about a better decision she had taken in her existence so far.
The only thing missing was a matching ring on their respective fingers. Maybe.
And a child.
She landed on the mattress loudly, pushed by Maura and her lips travelling up and down her body; the tip of her tongue drawing invisible patterns on her shivering skin. She closed her eyes, smiled.
Whenever the scientist touched her, a sentiment of serenity seemed to invade her; something rare that she hadn't experienced before.
Not that the caresses provided by the blonde weren't arousing either but – all in all- Jane simply felt complete. Loved, and respected.
She opened her eyes back only to realize that her partner had got rid of her bra and was now fully working on discarding the garderbelts; her fingertips brushing sensually the hips, echoing hundred of kisses on the inner thighs.
Jane swallowed hard, repressed a moan. New Year's Eve would be memorable.
The stockings slid to her ankles, the bare touch making her shiver and arch her back in a quiet yet urging desire for more. The gesture elicited a smile on Maura's lips. Settled between Jane's legs – wearing nothing but her underwear herself – she grabbed her partner's hipsters and took them off.
They had learned about each other during this past year. A lot. Maura knew what turned Jane on and vice versa. The sensitive spot on her neck, the staccato pace of her hips when she sped up her own pelvis movement against her hot body. Everything. She knew the Italian by heart and loved seeing her like that at the mercy of her hands, of her lips.
Like now.
As she felt the tip of Maura's tongue brush her sensitive flesh, Jane bit her lower lip and plunged a hand in her partner's hair to drag her closer to her body. Yet without any strength whatsoever.
She had already lost control of everything for being too aroused.
The heat of Maura's mouth moved up slightly to her lower stomach and began to trace a path of soft – quick – kisses up her chest, preceeding the passing of a full hand on her breasts.
She felt the honey blonde's knee brush her and automatically squeezed it to prevent her partner from taking it away.
Not now. She needed her relief.
She found back with a barely repressed pleasure the taste of Maura's lips on hers and eagerly kissed her, the depth of the movement highlighting the intensity of her feelings; the whirl of warmth in her lower stomach, the one she had more and more difficulty to hold back.
She arched her back – passed a leg around the scientist's waist to tighten her grip – and succumbed to a powerful wave of feelings; a stifled gasp dying in her partner's mouth.
She closed her eyes – breathless – and smiled. Satisfied. Serene.
Long seconds passed by before she made it back to reality, before her conscience stopped floating between two worlds made of exhilirated feelings.
Her cheeks reddened by her irregular breathing – her hair a mess – she swallowed hard and rolled on a side to hold Maura tightly against her chest. She needed the contact, the heat of her partner's body against hers. Her smell.
"I want a child, with you."
Her words barely hit the air in spite of her sincerity. She had been thinking about it for a while but hadn't found a way to bring it up yet. Until now. She hadn't meant to do it that way, not like that.
But in the reminiscence of their first kiss, her statement had preceeded her reason and she hadn't been able to control it. There were no regrets, though. Absolutely none. She never had any when it came to her current relationship.
Maura's hand in her back froze right away.
Jane looked down at her and frowned. She could feel how her partner's body had tensed under her words. She had taken her aback. Maura's reaction – as silent as it was – was fair enough. She had to recognize it.
"A boy, a girl... I don't mind. I just want us to have a child."
Maura leaned up on her elbows and locked her eyes with Jane's dark ones. With a shaking hand, she put away a strand of hair from her lover's face and caressed her cheek; let her fingers brush her chin. The transition from friendship to a love story had gone smoothly. None had ever questioned. The moment Jane had kissed her on the Chinatown crime scene, Maura had understood that it was meant to be. The rest had come up with fluidity, a bare easiness.
"Really?" Her excessively short question made her blush. She hadn't meant to sound illeterate but she was at a loss for words. "I mean..."
"Adoption, artificial insemination. Anything. I don't care how we get there as long as I can go back home to my family every day. I want to raise someone with you. I want it."
A series of explosions resounded loud in the street. Maura turned around to look by the window. It was dark outside but only because they were too far from the fireworks spot. Midnight. A new year was beginning.
"You already have names in mind, don't you?" She squinted her eyes at Jane and smirked before shaking her head in disbelief.
Her partner shrugged and held back a laugh.
"Maybe...?"
Maura pouted – pondered the words – and settled back in Jane's arms. Her hand resumed the latent – slow – movement of caress on the brunette's back.
"One condition, though." She paused, cast a brief glance up at the detective. "I would like us to get married."
A grin appeared on Jane's lips, reaching her eyes to make them glimmer of delight. She rolled on her stomach – pinned Maura under her own body – and planted a soft kiss on her lips.
"Happy New Year, Maura Isles."
The medical examiner winked; her foot caressing suggestively her partner's ankle.
"Happy New Year, Jane Rizzoli."