"Jane, it's about time you came over."

Jane rolled her eyes as she leaned over to kiss her mother on the cheek. "It's nice to see you, too, Ma."

"So? You've been too busy to call your mother?" Angela walked toward the kitchen. "Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm not hungry. I just came by the say hi." Jane followed her mother into the kitchen. "I know how you get when Frankie and I don't call or see you for a couple of days."

"How I get? Janie, you make it sound like I'm sort of crazy." Angela started making coffee. "Well, are you going to tell me where you've been that you've been too busy to talk to me?"

"We've been working a case for the past four days." Jane could feel the weariness settling on her. She didn't really like to talk about her work with her mother. She worried that she'd give details that were too gruesome for a civilian to deal with.

"Did you catch them?" Angela leaned against the counter as she waited for the coffee to brew.

"We have somebody in custody. Maura's pretty certain it's our guy based on DNA samples." Jane moved around the kitchen to get down some coffee mugs and pull out the sugar and creamer.

"Pretty certain? That doesn't sound like Dr. Isles."

Jane chuckled, "You know Maura. She's never absolutely anything." Jane rolled her eyes and handed her mother a mug. "'Jane,' she says, 'There's no way to be 100% certain of anything. There's always a very small probability of error. Therefore, I cannot give you an absolute answer.' She's always saying things like that. Drives me crazy." Jane was smiling broadly. She was slowly coming to the realization that Maura's need for accuracy was endearing.

"How is Dr. Isles? I haven't seen her in a few weeks." Angela poured the coffee. "You should bring her over for dinner on Sunday. You know," the older woman moved to the table and settled down, "She's always welcome. She's always so nice and polite."

Jane sat down across from her mother and ran her hand across the back of her neck as she tried to figure out how to talk to Angela about Maura. "Yeah, she's good," she took a sip of her coffee. "Oh man, how did I forget to put sugar in this?" She made a face as she fetched the sugar from the counter.

"The sugar's on the left. The salt is on the right, Janie." Her mother was laughing.

Jane shot her an annoyed look as she sat back down with a spoon and the sugar. "Maura told you about that?"

"She might have mentioned it at some point." Angela's eyes twinkled with mischief as she watched her daughter over the rim of her mug. "You know, you could bring that story up tomorrow as an icebreaker."

"Why? What's so special about tomorrow?"

"Cal Tidsdale is in town, and…"

"Ma, no." Jane pointed at her mother and gave an adamant shake of her head.

"Janie, he's a good man. He's got a great job working for that medical company."

"He's a salesman, Ma, and he gives me the creeps. He's got weird, greasy used car salesman vibes." Jane gave a shudder.

"But, he's so nice! And, you can't tell me you don't think he's handsome. Come on, Jane, just come to dinner and talk to him."

Jane didn't bother to hide her exasperation. "Ma," she sighed heavily, "Look, I'm not going to date him. I'm not going to date any guy, okay?"

"Jane, just because you haven't found the right man yet doesn't mean that you won't. But, you've got to put yourself out there. I mean, it's not like the perfect guy is just going to fall into your lap." Angela frowned at her daughter. "You've got to be open to at least meeting people, sweetie."

Jane bit down. She felt it. This was a now or never thing. "Maura and I are dating." Angela sat back heavily in her chair. Jane waited for her mother to react. After a few moments of silence, Jane decided she should probably just push forward. "We've been dating for a few weeks now. I… I'm not really sure where it's going, but," Jane looked up at her mother. Angela was still blankly staring at her daughter. "Ma?"

The older woman shook her head. She slowly took a sip of coffee and sat the mug down on the table carefully. "This doesn't get you out of giving me grandchildren."

Jane laughed. Of all the things her mother could have said, this was the response that actually surprised her the least. "So, you're okay with this?"

Angela considered for a moment. "Does she make you happy?" Jane smiled. "I think that answers that." Angela reached across the table and laid her hand over her daughter's. "You know your father and I will support you no matter what, Jane. How serious is this?"

Jane shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I mean, I've never done this kind of thing before, and, I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty nervous and scared about it." She gave her mother a guarded look. "I don't want to mess this up. But, Maura, she's been really understanding. She hasn't pushed me or tried to force me into doing anything I wasn't comfortable with, you know?"

Angela nodded. "Yeah, that's a good thing with you."

"Thanks, Ma," Jane mumbled as she looked down into her mug of coffee. "We haven't told anyone yet. I'm just not ready to deal with that right now. You're the first one to know." She looked up, giving her mother a pleading expression. "Ma, can we keep this quiet for a little while? I really need to see where all of this is going first before I have everyone in the family cracking jokes about tool belts and mullets."

Her mother gave her hand a pat and pulled away to take another sip of coffee. She sighed, "Jane, are you afraid of how we'll react? We're your family. We love you, no matter who you date."

Jane ran a finger and thumb across the bridge of her nose. "No, it's not that. I mean, I know you guys love me." She shook her head. "It's that… Ma, I need to be comfortable with me first. Does that make sense?"

"Jane, how long have you had feelings like this for other women?"

Jane looked around the kitchen, trying to gather her thoughts. "I don't know… always? I just didn't want to admit it to myself." She put her head in her hand as she leaned her elbow against the table. "When I was a teenager, I knew I never really felt the same way about guys as other girls, but I always figured that was because I was more of a tomboy, you know? Most of my friends were guys, and they were all like my brothers. You don't date your brothers, that's just weird… and gross." She glanced up and smirked. Her mother chuckled and nodded. Jane inhaled, "I had a crush on a teacher in high school."

"Who?"

"Looking back? Mrs. Carter."

"Your 10th grade English teacher?" Angela gave Jane a hard look. "She was way too old for you."

"Ma, not a good time."

Angela flushed for a moment. "Sorry, sweetie."

Jane made a dismissive gesture with her hand. "I figured it was a fluke. You're always hearing how girls sometimes like other girls when they're young but get married and settle down later. So, I just figured Mrs. Carter was my one girl crush, and I'd move on."

"But you didn't?"

"No."

"But, you dated in high school."

"Yeah, to make you happy. You're always on me to find a nice boy, and I just wasn't ready to admit to myself, or anyone else, that I didn't want a nice boy."

Angela frowned. Jane could tell she was going over something in her head. "Janie, is Maura your first girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? Yes."

"So, you've been with other women?"

Jane swallowed hard. "I've fooled around with a few women, but nothing big."

"Did you sleep with them?"

"Ma!"

"It's okay, Jane. I'm your mother, you can tell me anything. I won't judge you, sweetie." Angela gave Jane her best reassuring smile.

"God, I can't believe you just asked me that." She leaned back in her chair and ran the palms of her hands over her eyes. "No. Okay? I've never slept with another woman."

"But, you've slept with a man?"

"Ma, I'm not going there."

"I'll take that a yes." Angela nodded to herself. "Sweetie, if you've never been with a woman, then how can you know? Maybe you're just curious?"

Jane shook her head. "No, I'm not just curious. I'm just not attracted to men. I never have been. Never… not once in my entire life, have I ever looked at any man anywhere and thought that I wanted to be with him in any way."

"But, you do with women."

"All the time."

Angela's eyebrows shot up. "I see," she shrugged, "Okay, Jane. I can keep this between the two of us for right now. But, I don't know how you're going to keep that secret for long."

"I know. It's probably not going to happen. But, I just need to ease myself out…"

"Of the closet?"

"Ma, really?"

"That's the phrase isn't it?" She smirked as she finished the coffee in her mug. "You know, I'm going to have go do some research on all of this. I have to be ready when you propose…"

"No, Ma." Jane rolled her eyes. "Are you really going to start in on me, right now?"

"I just want to be prepared." Angela stood up and took both empty mugs to the sink. "So, is Dr. Isles coming to family dinner Sunday as family or a guest?"

"What makes you think she's coming?"

"Because I want you to bring her, and you wouldn't want to disappoint your mother, would you? So, friend or family?"

Jane sighed as she stood to leave. "Let me think about it, okay?" Angela gave her doubtful look. "I have a couple of days. I promise I'll let you know before Sunday."

"Okay, Jane, but don't forget." Angela reached out and pulled her daughter in for a hug. "You know I love you, sweetie."

"I love you, too, Ma," Jane bent down and kissed her mother on the cheek. "I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Be safe," Angela yelled to her daughter's retreating form.

"Always," Jane returned as she walked out the door.

I think I'm in love with this story.