Author's note: thank you all for the reviews!

Chapter twenty-eight: A Bostonian Story

After ten seconds of a very strange silence, Jane laughed and shook her head at her brother. Frankie had been staring at her as if she were about to change her human form.

"What's going on?"

His lips curled up in a smile. He shrugged - trying to not pay attention to the way he was now blushing rather intensely - and took a sip of his beer.

"I just realized you were sleeping with Maura."

Jane swallowed hard and began to panic. Frankie had sounded neutral, neither amused nor shocked. She wasn't sure how to interpret it. Why was he coming up with that? She had invited him over for lunch to let him know that she had got married and that was his reaction? Really?

"... And?" She moved on her seat and looked aside uncomfortably. She usually didn't talk about this with her brother. He had taken her aback. They were close but their respective sexual lives were a bit taboo.

"Well..." Frankie stretched his arms over the table. "I think you're lucky... I mean, she's good-looking. Really good-looking. It's... It's Maura!"

Jane closed her eyes. Of course. She was talking to a man. Her brother had to come up with such a typical remark about Maura's figure. Focusing hard on the idea of not letting her instinct win over the rest, she politely smiled then nodded.

"Indeed, thank you for noticing it." She squinted her eyes at him, now on the defensice. "And she's now your sister-in-law so you know what that means, okay?"

Frankie raised his hands in a gesture of abdication and giggled.

"Relax. I wasn't planning on trying anything. Gosh, even before when you were not married, it was obvious the only one she wanted was you. And ... And vice-versa. It was vain to think someone else could stand a chance."

Jane dismissed the waitress who had just approached their table with a gesture of the hand. She did not know how to react to her brother's statement.

Everything had become clear in her head only a month earlier. Barely a month. Of course Maura had always counted in her life – a lot more than many people if not just everyone – but she honestly didn't think that she had been in love for the past five years.

She would have figured it out earlier, no?

You're a detective, a good one. Of course, you'd have noticed it! Jeez, don't let your bro' fool you, Rizzoli. You're better than that.

"But hey, you can count on me. I won't say anything to ma'. The topic's kinda trendy though at work and the Division One Cafe is in the building so if I were you, I wouldn't wait for too long."

Jane nodded. It was a fair advice.

"Yeah. I just... I just want to wait for the right time, the right moment." She paused. "Do you think she's gonna be mad?"

Her brother immediately nodded.

"Oh yes. She's gonna be mad like you have no idea..." Frankie burst out laughing as his sister buried her face in her hands. "But she won't kill you and you know why?" Jane shook her head and stifled a moan of despair. "Because she needs you alive. For the grandkids you're supposed to have with Maura."

"Maura doesn't need me to get pregnant, Frankie. Where were you during your science classes?"

The young man rolled his eyes. He seemed to enjoy the situation a bit too much for Jane's taste.

"I'm not saying biologically but you know, the whole family thing... She wants the marriage, the family, the kids. The big stuff! And you need to be alive to give her that."

This time, Jane didn't try to push away the waitress. She let the woman reach their table and asked for a coffee refill.

She pouted, pondering her brother's words. He'd better be right.

...

The school was crowded. Students had gathered by groups at every corner and were now chatting together while parents meticulously followed the arrows that led to the exhibition held by Margot and her classmates.

Maura knew that her reaction was disproportionate but she felt intimidated. She wasn't at ease.

The event made memories rush back to her mind; memories of a time she would have preferred to forget. Her boarding school years hadn't been the most glorious ones of her life and - for some reason - she suddenly had the odd feeling to be back there in Switzerland. At the mercy of the cruelty of other students.

"You're not going to pass out, are you?"

Jane's question made her smile. She knew that her wife was joking but the truth was that she wasn't feeling fine either. Literally clutched to Jane's hand, she let the Italian drag her through the crowd. The heat of her partner's body against her was reassuring, comforting. She needed Jane's presence by her side more than anything right now.

"I don't understand what is happening to me. I was just fine the last time we came here. You know, for the meeting? I need to drink something." She nodded at herself. "Wine, I need wine. Do you think they have any?"

Jane made a face. Since when did Maura look for alcohol to overcome a bad moment? Where had she learned to do such thing?

For real, Rizzoli? You can't see who her model is? Ever heard of Constance Isles? Your goddamn mother-in-law, as a matter of fact. Cognac at 11am – wine for the meal – and a whiskey at 5pm.

Even if Constance indulged in a milkshake from time to time.

"Jane! Maura!"

A high-pitched voice made them stop and turn around. Katherine Arnolds – a woman in her forties who had welcomed another French teenager at her place – walked straight towards them. She looked thrilled if not just over-enthusiastic.

"I think she knows where the booze is..." Jane winced in pain as her partner kicked her in the side to make her turn quiet.

"Katherine... What a pleasure to see you again." As if nothing had happened, Maura politely shook the woman's hand and brightly smiled.

Her reaction took Jane aback.

Two seconds earlier, Maura had been terrified. How could she go and pretend so well that she was fine when she wasn't? How many times had she fooled Jane in the past regarding her deepest feelings? She was good at wearing a mask when required; too good at it. Jane frowned, suddenly worried. Katherine completely missed her reaction, though.

"I have just seen Margot's work. You are going to be so touched. This girl is an angel. Agnès is also very nice. We will miss her when she is gone. Will the two of you be at the airport tomorrow?"

Jane nodded but had a hard time to smile.

Within twenty-four hours, Margot would leave Boston and would go back to France. Within twenty-four hours, Jane would have the sentiment to have lost a member of her family. The mere thought made her feel like crying.

"Yes... Of course." The emotion rose in her shaking voice.

She tightened her grip on Maura's hand as if to find more courage to face what appeared now as irreversible. Katherine nodded and waved the room with her hand. She made a step backwards to excuse herself before going towards another group of parents.

"See you tomorrow, then. And enjoy tonight's exhibition."

Jane and Maura nodded politely and resumed their walking towards the auditorium.

My Bostonian Story – two months in Massachusetts

Maura thanked the teenager who held out the programme to them and stepped into the room, reading out loud what now clearly appeared as the theme of the night.

The auditorium was just as packed as the corridors. She immediately spotted Margot on her right. The girl was talking – enthusiastically, as usual – to a teacher.

"Area 51 is number 7. C'mon, Maura. I wanna see it first. I've been dying to know what Frenchie's stuff is about."

Maura didn't have time to react. Jane dragged her to the right stand – making their way through the crowd – only to stop right in her tracks as she faced Margot's very own Bostonian story.

"Why are you..." Maura's question never came out. As her hazel eyes stopped on Margot's stand, she succumbed to the same surprise as Jane.

A whole series of black and white photographies, probably fifty of them. Some shots the medical examiner knew, others she was discovering at the same time as her wife.

My Bostonian Story: Jane and Maura

Jane opened her mouth to speak but found herself speechless.

Margot had taken pictures of them for the past two months. On most of them, they weren't even aware of the fact that someone was taking a shot of them. The result was even better, embraced by a perfect spontaneity that brought grace and natural beauty to every single scenery.

They recognized Salem – Beacon Hill – the BPD. All these familiar places they barely saw in the end for them belonging to their daily routine. They were suddenly observing their own life from an external perspective. For the very first time.

It was bewitching.

Walking hand in hand – laughing – sharing a morning coffee in the kitchen. Every-day scenes that seemed to highlight even more the intensity of these little precious moments that made life so sweet.

And then the first pictures, some they had given Margot when the teenager had asked for them; old ones from the first days of their friendship to the week prior to the student's arrival. Maura squinted her eyes at them and swallowed hard as she focused on every single one of them. The looks they exchanged, the intensity of their respective gazes.

It was hitting her now. Only now. How could she have missed it? They had been in love all along but had never realized it.

"Do you like them?"

Margot's voice made them jump in surprise. They turned around to face the teenager. Margot was grinning; hands in her back. She winked at Jane.

"See? No UFO in Massachusetts... Only real things. True love is the real story."