Chapter 11

Six months later…

"I've been thinking..."

"Jane arched a brow, giving her that traditional Rizzoli smirk, the words, "when have you not?" on the tip of her tongue. Maura rolled her eyes as she waited patiently for the coffee maker to do its magic. Placing a cup, prepared exactly to her wife's liking, she wrapped her arms around the brunette, head resting on the shoulder of her wife's back. Jane tried to turn but the tightening of Maura's grip told her to stay. There was a momentary pause between them before Maura spoke.

"What do you think about children?"

"In general or our own?"

"Maura frowned. "We don't have any of our own."

"Yet." And it's this that makes the ME's heart flutter because it shows - indirectly - that the brunette has been having the same thoughts, or at least, thoughts along the same line. It gives her hope that she wants the same thing. Putting the cup down, Jane turned, reaching for the bar stool before settling herself on it, drawing Maura to her. The honey blonde came willingly as always, basking in her wife's affections. Taking comfort from Jane's hands as they held her at the waist, her thumbs drawing circles in the dip where her hips were, her own hands came to rest on the brunette's shoulders as she played with errant curls. Forehead on the silky red blouse that covered the upper half of her frame, Jane inhaled deeply, breathing in her wife's familiar scent.

"You."

Maura paused in her ministrations, head tilted in confusion. ""Pardon?"

"You," she repeats again before looking up. "A little girl, blonde hair, hazel eyes, face covered in chocolate as she grins a toothy grin. That's what I imagine." Maura swoons at the description, the figurative strings of her heart giving her that familiar pull. She smiles softly.

"And what if I wanted a little you?" she queries. "Someone with the same olive coloured skin, dark, out of control curls and favourite pair of brown eyes that I so love to lose myself in?" Dark brows furrowed, lighting up in a knowing smirk. It was Jane's typical triumphant gaze and one that sent shivers down Maura's back.

"But then they'd no longer be you're favourite," she teased, pouting slightly as she gave her wife's waist a squeeze. Maura rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. Her index finger traced the curvature of the detective's face. In her mind's eye, she saw a mini-Jane; one whose fingers were in all the pies; literally. Angela had shown her Jane's baby photos a while back and together they had ohhhd and ahhhd over the tiny brunette. She had been an adorable baby with the cutest pair of dimples and the most amount of mischief shinning in those dark, expressive eyes. Frankie and Tommy had never seen it coming when she'd smeared cannoli cream all over their faces, Angela reminisced. Maura just laughed. It was so Jane. And it had made her want it all the more.

"Do you remember that time when Tommy was interested in me?" Jane looked away, her forehead creased. It wasn't a time she was particularly fond of though it had kicked her ass into gear in a good way. Watching Tommy inch his way slowly into the ME's life, first with his games of chess. It had been a good move on his part; to impress. After all, Maura was never one to back down from a challenge, always strived to learn, better herself. He'd had her stumped and thoroughly trounced. It had certainly captured her attention. Made her all the more determined. Then he started turning up at the ME's home on a constant basis doing odd jobs around the house pretending to be a regular handyman, turning up with food dishes that he'd offered to bring over for his mother, laying on the Rizzoli charm. And then he'd tried to kiss her and Jane had gone berserk. Yes. It had certainly been her tipping point.

Placing a hand on her chin, Maura guided Jane back at her. "No, don't turn away from me. This is important. I want you to know this." The merest nod of acknowledgement let Maura know she had her wife's full attention. She continued. "When he told me he wanted me, I froze. He was a nice guy, decent despite his past but I'd never thought of him in that way because I was so fixated on you. For years, it was you I wanted but I could never bring myself to take that next step. To possibly ruin what we already had because to lose you in my life was unthinkable. To go back to the life I had before I met you? I couldn't do it. And then the universe presented me with another option; keep you and still have a part of what I wanted." She took hold of Jane's hands, intertwining their fingers as she brought them up to her chest. "You but not you. Someone who bore the same features, has the same chiseled jaw, high cheekbones but as he leaned towards me, something struck me as I looked into his eyes. Tommy may look the most like you but his eyes are different."

Her wife wrinkled her nose. "They are? They're brown just like Frankie's though. Last time I looked, all three of us have the same colour eyes."

Maura smiled softly. "Yes," she agreed, "but they don't have that same depth, the same degree of feeling, emotion. Don't get me wrong. Tommy's a nice guy. He's fun-loving, warm, cheeky in that boyish way of his but there's no tumultuous extent of emotion behind those eyes of his. Maybe it's because of the things you've seen that makes you different. That makes you somehow feel more. Just like it could be Tommy's own experiences that prevent him from feeling too much; that keep him detached and make him enjoy each day as it comes."

"Are you guessing, Doctor Isles?" Jane teased, giving her gentle curves an affectionate squeeze. She always utilized these moments when Maura made her so-called 'hypotheses' to the utmost and as always, got her signature eye roll and playful slap when she did so.

"Of course not. And it's Doctor Rizzoli. It has been since we got married," she answered primly.

Jane chuckled. "You were a Rizzoli long before we even said 'I do'," she said affectionately, drawing the ME towards her once again.

The honey blonde beamed at the reiteration she'd heard time and time again over the years. When she had first come back to Boston and started working as Chief ME at the BPD, she'd acquired the title of 'Queen of the Dead' which, given her line of work, had been rather unimaginative when thought about later, but it had been enough for her to keep herself safely ensconced within the walls of the morgue she'd built around herself like a fortress. It had only been when she'd met Jane that it had stopped. The teasing, the horrid nicknames, the leering looks. One look from the brunette was enough to make people scarper with their tails between their legs.

And that had simply been one Rizzoli. To have encountered them all and for each of them to have her back when she'd been accepted with open arms into the Rizzoli fold had been a force to be reckoned with for anyone who stood in their way. Steeped in the knowledge that she was one of them regardless of blood or DNA never failed to warm her heart. She drew her hands through her wife's thick locks, reveling in being the source of comfort Jane often sought from her.

She breathed in deeply. "God, you smell good," she said.

"That would be the Bergamot and Orange body wash from Molton Brown that Mother sent over."

Jane hummed her approval as she placed light kisses up the honey blonde's sternum, between the valley of her breasts towards her neck. Her thumbs drew gentle circles on the underside of each breast through her top. Maura's eyes fluttered as her wife's lips traveled up the length of her throat, nuzzling it lightly, the ghost touch of lips pressed on her pulse point before nipping and then soothing. She vaguely wondered putting a stop to her wife's ministrations given the hour of the day as they were supposed to leave for work but could care less about the possible implications of their morning tryst with regards to making it to work on time; it was by far, the furthest thing from her mind right then, especially when Jane was doing that delightful little thing with her tongue.

She sighed as the thrill of anticipation traversed throughout her, her body shuddered as she felt warm hands slip under her blouse. Sometime, in the course of things, Jane had managed to ease the red silk out from where it had tucked in under her skirt and replace its caresses with that of her palms. She closed her eyes, head tilted to the side to give the brunette more access and then whimpered when she withdrew, the cold air hitting her skin.

Hands tightening through thick, dark locks to keep her in her grasp and draw her back to her, it was on the tip of her tongue to tell her wife not to start something she couldn't finish, especially in under half and hour because she knew that when issued with a challenge, Jane would not withdraw. The thought alone had her feeling ever so slightly victorious. But then she looked down into coal black eyes full of promise and she shuddered at the almost feral look given as Jane flashed her a devilish smile, knowing she had the ME just where she wanted and Maura knew she had in fact lost; she'd never had it in the bag in the first place.

"You know, we could always get a head start on this baby thing..'

Yes, she thought as she drew her towards her, lips meeting lips in a scorching kiss. There was certainly no harm in trying...