A/N: Sorry for the long wait everyone, I had some finals to take care of. But now that that's over I am happy to present you with this next chapter.
Jane glanced at Maura out of the corner of her eye before looking back to the slush covered streets of Boston. Christmas day, Jane drove to her grandmother's house as she did every year, only this time with one extra passenger. The Maura sat in the passenger's seat, Angela, Tommy, and Frankie in the back. Angela brushed Tommy's shoulder as he and Frankie bickered about football. At a red light Jane looked over to Maura. The M.E. was dressed in a sleek, form fitting, white dress with a floral print around the skirt and a steel grey coat. Jane herself had dressed up, somewhat, black slacks and a yellowish blouse with her long black coat over it. Maura had barely spoken a word since they got in the car, and the look on the blonde's face as she stared out the window worried Jane.
"Hey Maura?" Jane moved her hand from the gear shift onto Maura's leg. "Do you wanna run through the plan again?" Maura nodded quickly in response. For the past week Maura had been gathering as much information on Jane's extended family as she could. Researching had always been Maura's default method when encountering a new situation. "We're going to Nonna's house," Jane started, though Maura's voice swiftly took over.
"Isabella Bonatelli, Angela's mother," Maura glanced up at the rearview mirror and caught Angela's eye for just a moment. "She immigrated into the country at age 17, married your grandfather at age 18, and gave birth to four children, Tony, Angela, Nick, and Sophie, respectively."
"Right," Jane nodded proudly before she felt Frankie lean forward onto her seat.
"Don't forget to speak to her in Italian, her English ain't so good anymore." Frankie interrupted. Jane quickly gave her girlfriend's leg a squeeze before Maura had a chance to speak.
"I'll introduce you. Don't worry about anything else, the four of us have gotten pretty good at translating." Jane did her best to reassure the worries she knew were popping up in Maura's head.
"Jane I didn't know you spoke Italian," Maura tilted her head to the side, feeling as though she had been deceived in some way.
"I don't, not really. I just know enough to get through Christmas every year," Jane smiled at her girlfriend before continuing. "Once you meet Nonna, you can go around and meet the rest of the family, but Nonna has to be first."
"I understand this concept. By gaining the approval of the family matriarch my integration into the family unit will proceed with minimal conflict. This is a pattern followed by a number of matriarchal societies." Maura nodded.
"While I'm sure that's all really interesting, we don't have time for a history lesson here," Jane smirked as stifled laughs and snickers sounded from the back seat. "How about we just review the guest list?" Jane motioned to Maura, the nervous genius quickly running through the members of Jane's family, aunts and uncles, and cousins, and their children, with minimal interruptions from the peanut gallery in the back.
"You have to eat Nonna's baked ziti, it's amazing," Tommy interjected. "And if you don't eat she'll think you're sick and force feed you her home remedies." A unanimous shiver went through each Rizzoli at the thought.
"Avoid Aunt Stephanie, she sticks her nose in everyone's business. Last year she tried to play matchmaker," Frankie sighed as Jane tried not to smile.
"Hey that was very nice of her to give you that young woman's number," Angela pointed a finger at Frankie.
"Too bad she looked like Jane back when she was in vice," Frankie held up his hands defensively as Angela smacked his arm and Jane glared at him in the rear view mirror. Chaos continued in the backseat, only ending when Frankie apologized as they pulled up to the curb. They parked on the street as the driveway was already full.
"I guess we're the last ones here," Tommy said as he opened his door. As the Rizzoli's climbed out of the car, Jane leaned over and kissed Maura's cheek.
"Are you gonna be ok?" Jane asked, looking at Maura's eyes.
"Yes," Maura nodded confidently, though suddenly she realized that the last time she was around this many people, she was giving a lecture at a medical conference. She'd had slides and notecards, and she wasn't expected to interact with people socially, as she was now.
"Thank you, for doing this. You don't have to, we both know that," Jane smiled. "Last chance to back out."
"I'll stay, thank you for the offer though," Maura nodded as she climbed out of the car. Once she walked around the car she took Jane's hand and they walked towards the house together.
A/N: Thank you all for your kind reviews, they are what keeps me coming back to write more and more. The next chapter should be up shortly as I want to get all of Christmas up before Christmas. As always, Review Please.