A/N: Wowzers, y'all! I'm blown away by the response to my first two chapters. Seriously, I am. I'm so glad everyone likes it this much. I hope you'll still like it when I'm done. ;) I have a few more chapters already written... given that I'm kinda stuck where I am right now, I'm going to space them out rather than give them to you in one big lump and then not update for ages. Again, reviews make me H-A-P-P-Y! Thanks for the one I've gotten already. You know who you are and I LOOOOVE YOOOOU!
As Jane left, Maura had two thoughts running around her mind.
First, Frankie. Maura had had a mild crush on him for some time. She'd never acted on it - she valued her friendship with Jane far too much - but it was a lovely opportunity to spend some time with him.
Second, and far more interesting, was that Maura was dead certain that Barry Frost had a crush on Jane. She knew it was founded in the deep respect, trust, and admiration he had for the woman who, over the course of their partnership, had taught him much of what he knew about homicides and criminal investigation as a whole. Their very lives had depended on each other on many occasions. But the way Barry looked at Jane when they were out in the field and he thought no one else was watching - a look of caring protectiveness - made Maura believe there was more to his feelings than just friendship with his partner.
She knew that saying anything would probably ruin any chance Barry had with her best friend, so she decided that she'd watch and see how it played out. That decided, Maura pulled out her laptop for a marathon session of online shopping.
The week between the invitations and the Thanksgiving dinner could not pass quickly enough for Maura and Barry. Nor could it drag by at a pace the Rizzoli siblings considered manageable, who spoke of it only when there was no one else around to hear them.
During that week, Maura occupied herself with choosing and then discarding at least seventeen different outfits. She even managed to drag Jane along on a clothes shopping trip (ostensibly for the detective's benefit, but really so Maura could subtly get her opinion on what Frankie would like best). Barry, however, had no such diversion (he had exactly one set of clothes - a white shirt and black pants - that he considered suitable for the occasion). So he threw himself into their case, hoping to further build up Jane's goodwill towards him.
Eventually the day came. The four had all gotten Thanksgiving Day off - Jane and Frankie so they could help their mother and Lt. Cavanaugh (as they still thought of him) prepare the meal, and Barry and Maura to get themselves ready.
At four, Angela sent the two of them home to get ready and meet up with their 'dates.' Little did she - or any of them - know...