Author's note: thank you very much for all your reviews - private messages - and suggestion.

Chapter ten: In The Motherhood

Jane adjusted her shirt a very last time - pulling on it to create a rather impressive lowcut thanks to the push-up bra she was wearing - then stepped out of the car. A gust of wind raised her mini-skirt just as she waited for Maura to join her a bit further on the sidewalk. She laughed.

"I can't believe we're about to do that."

Maura cast a glance at her very own attire and held back a chuckle. It wasn't how she had imagined her first Halloween party to go. Not at all.

"Perhaps we should renounce. Don't you think we're going too far, this time? I know that I often complain about the lack of time my parents spent with me but the truth is..." She looked at Jane's outfit then shrugged. "I would have been very embarrassed if what we are about to do had happened to me."

Gasp.

"Oh please, don't tell me that now we're dressed up and all! You're supposed to support me, Maura." Uncertain look at her outfit. "What am I gonna do with this stethoscope, besides?" Pause. "Nah. Never mind. Don't go kinky now."

"You want my cat ears headband instead?" Silence. "I knew it." Maura crossed the street. She had spent the last hour listening to Jane complain about her outfit and now was on the verge of throwing a huge fit if her wife kept on making grumpy remarks. She stopped by the door. "The music is loud... We are going to get into trouble. And what about the decibels? Don't they know how dangerous it is?"

Jane snorted. She was more concerned by the possibility of someone walking in on them than by a police car stopping by because they would have got a called from neighbors; neighbors who did know that a Halloween party was held at their house anyway. The whole street knew about it.

When Margot had asked them whether she could organize a little party at their place, they had said yes immediately. They trusted her, anyway. Then – very soon – Maura had seen in the event a great occasion to fulfill their desire of a little vendetta.

It had been a while since the last time they had put their 'mother plan' into action. They could not do something every time they saw Margot as it wouldn't be realistic. Besides, they had been working a lot lately and hadn't had a chance to really focus on it.

There was no winner in the end, anyway. It was just an attempt to spice up a situation they hadn't asked for in the first place. And it worked.

"You know..." Jane's fingertip slid along Maura's hip. Sexy voice: on. "You're a very good-looking Catwoman. This suit looks good on you."

A shy smile lit up Maura's face. If it weren't for the headband, she had to recognize that she liked the costume herself. Her smile melted into a smirk.

"I didn't know that you had a thing for leather."

"I didn't know it either." Jane caught her reflection in a window. She had gone a bit heavy on the fake blood; her chest was literally covered with it. "Do you like my costume too?"

"It is a very random one."

Jane froze. Maura had answered in a heartbeat. She hadn't hesitated a second.

You can always count on your wife to compliment you, Rizzoli. She's a joy of every moment.

"Hide your enthusiasm...?" Feeling a surge of sarcasm run through her veins, Jane pursed her lips and nervously pulled on her skirt. It was way too short for her own taste. "Your honesty will kill you one day, Maura Dorthea Isles."

"Aw... This isn't what I meant. Of course, you are sexy. But then you are sexy wearing anything. It is... It is just that – as a medical doctor – I am used to seeing nurses and I can hardly dissociate it from a professional angle. I am sorry."

The expression on Jane's face made it clear that Maura's attempt to comfort her had miserably failed.

"So... In a word... I'm turning you off, right now." Sarcastic nod. "Awesome. Really." Maura tried to touch her but Jane pushed her hand away. "No, no. That's fine. I got the message. Thanks." Jane's susceptibility: at its highest level. "And what are you..."

Maura passed a hand under her wife's skirt and squeezed her buttocks with authority. Without any warning. Right in the middle of the street. She added a mischievous wink to the whole.

"I promise you that once we are done dancing among Margot's friends, I will show you how much I like seeing you dressed as a nurse."

The comment - whispered in a sultry voice - got the expected effect. Jane got tense - swallowed hard - but immediately stopped complaining. Maura bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a smile. The seduction game was almost too easy, at times.

...

Jane and Maura walked into the house as discreetly as they could only to realize that the party was in full swing.

The living-room had been transformed in a haunted house for the occasion. Some students were dancing around; others were chatting in corners, a drink in hand. Classic scene of a Halloween party. Nothing to worry about.

Nobody noticed them at first so they walked hand in hand to the middle of the improvised dancefloor to catch the guests' attention. Some suggestive moves should do the trick. It wasn't very complicated. It is Maura who spotted Margot by the kitchen counter. She was dressed up as Cleopatra; in full talk with a couple of guys.

Maura made eye-contact with her and waved a hand, the other one suggestively caressing Jane's thigh as they both moved to the pace of a song she had never heard before. She bent over and whispered to her wife's ear.

"She saw us."

Jane took it as a code to capture Maura's lips in a long – deep – kiss. One that certainly didn't pass unnoticed. A round of applause rose above the electro music and made them smile. Nobody knew who they were. Nobody but Ava.

"Jeez, get a room!" The student froze as she realized whom she was talking to. "Oh my god, I'm sorry... Maura? Jane?" Dressed as a cowgirl, she stared at Jane and Maura in disbelief. She was mortified "What... I mean... You're here? Oh."

"Yeah we came back early from the BPD party so we thought... Hey, why not makin' it last a bit?" Jane winked at Ava and checked out her attire. "Nice costume! You parked your horse on the street?"

Where's your cell phone when you need it, Rizzoli? Ava's face is priceless. That deserves a pic, dammit.

"Well, well, well... I see we have some visit." Margot grabbed Jane and Maura by the arm to make them turn around. Vain attempt to have intimacy in the middle of the party. She smirked. "Alright. You definitely win, tonight."

The three of them laughed. Maybe that was the reason why none of them had given up yet on the whole lie vs vendetta thing. They didn't take it badly. On the contrary. They all found it rather entertaining. Harmless. They knew that none of them would cross implicit limits and Margot was old enough to face the consequences of her acts.

Jane and Maura had been cleared on it.

"Thank you..." Maura took off her headband and made a bow. She cast a glance at the room. "Isn't Leo here?"

"We were running out of..." Margot frowned and looked for her words. "That fake blood thing... So he went to buy some more with a few friends." Someone called her name a bit further. She nodded at the girl but focused back on Maura and Jane. "You can stay, if you want. I mean, of course you can. It's your house!" She laughed. "You're free to do everything you want. I don't mind if you want to dance and all. It's okay. You're cool."

"Thanks. I'll just grab one of these alcohol free beers I see on the table out there – they are alcohol free, right? - and complain how tasteless it is and how glad I am to be old enough to legally drink."

Jane's comment made Margot laugh. As the girl by the patio door called her name for a second time, she finally excused herself and left Jane and Maura alone.

"Do you really want to stay here?"

Jane shook her head - grabbed her wife by the waist - and motioned her the stairs.

"Not really. Give me five minutes and I'll be up there in our room with a bottle of wine. I'm more in the mood for a long bath than a night of dancing among people who don't know there was a real life before the invention of the Internet."

Maura smiled at her – nodded – then began to walk towards the stairs. She had just made it to the lobby when the Addams Family door bell set up for the occasion rang. She stopped, hesitated.

Margot was on the opposite side of the floor and hadn't heard it.

It must be Leo and his friends. They are probably back from the store and don't have the key to come in, Isles. Go open. It is your house, isn't it?

She dropped the cat ears headband on the console table – gave a bit of volume to her hair – then opened the door.

And froze. For too long.

"Bonsoir...?" Before Maura's lack of reaction, Constance lightly laughed and checked her daughter from head to toe. A veil of confusion deepened her features. "Am I interrupting a libertinage evening? I didn't know this was your thing. You must have got that from your aunt Leonie."

Maura blinked.

Now that was unexpected.