Here is the final chapter, I hope you found it entertaining. I hope the contextual experimentation didn't lead to readability issues. Your reviews are both welcomed and appreciated.

Maura stepped out of the shower to the sound of a text alert on her cell phone. The message from Jane, "You are on my mind to" was in response to Maura's message to Jane "You are on my mind".

Not many people have ever seen Constance Isles standing in a kitchen, wearing an apron and chopping tomatoes. "I'm so sorry that my visit is disrupting your life so drastically Angela." she said as she placed another ripe Roma on her cutting board.

"You aren't disrupting anything Constance," replied Angela, "having you here is a treat for me. In fact if you were here more, I'll bet we could really be partners in crime."

"We would cause Jane and Maura to develop ulcers wouldn't we." laughed Constance.

"Oh I drive Jane crazy already," said Angela, "but I hardly get a rise out of Maura."

"I so want our girls to be happy, Angela"

"So do I Constance, and I think what we are doing will go a long way toward them figuring out what makes them happy." replied Angela.

"What if we have ruined everything, rather than fixing it." countered Constance.

"It's a good plan and its going to work, by the way, how long will Samantha be away." said Angela.

"She is meeting with the tenants of the shops, telling them about the improvements we're making. She will be there all day." said Constance.

When Maura finished dressing she tossed an open suitcase onto her bed and threw in several items. She noticed the scent of Angela's home made spaghetti sauce wafting upstairs from the kitchen. She straightened up the comforter and looked around the room to make sure it was properly appointed and neat for her guest before heading downstairs.

"Mmmm something smells delicious." said Maura as she entered the kitchen.

"Darling, you're wearing sweatpants!" exclaimed Constance.

"Yes mom, very observant." said Maura, "and I want to apologize to both of you, I feel like I am putting you out."

"Yes dear, and you aren't putting us out at all." said Constance, "I would rather spend time with my friend Angela than anyone else except my daughter. Now, you go to Jane and the two of you do what you need to."

"Maura, your mother and I have something in common." began Angela, "we want you and Jane to be happy, and we both believe you'll both be happiest when you're together. Now go, we'll bring your dinner over this evening, but we won't be staying"

"And if you aren't happy with the way things are by tonight, you should both skip work tomorrow." added Constance.

Constance recognized a change in her daughter. She was no longer in need of her mothers approval, instead she had become her own woman. When she last visited, Maura would have spent ever minute attending to all the needs or wants of her mother. That was then, this is now.

Less than two hours ago Maura and Jane were sitting beside a running trail at their wits end. Their relationship in disarray, they decided together that they must do something drastic. They must either be together or apart but they couldn't continue treating their relationship the way they had for the past two years.

Jane ran to the door, as the doorbell chimed, still toweling her hair dry.

"How the hell, can we leave the park at the same exact second, but you get home shower, dress and be here before I dry my hair! You did shower didn't you." said Jane

"I did shower and Maybe I'm just a faster runner than you are." replied Maura

"Yeah, sure your faster, in your dreams."

"Now this is nice, our banter, we can do this." said Maura

Jane stepped to the sofa and sat down cross legged on one end. Maura slipped off her shoes and sat on the other end, her legs stretched out toward her friend. As she often did, Jane pulled Maura's feet into her lap and began massaging them. She looked down at her friend's neatly painted pedicure and in a calm soft voice said "I know why seeing you with Samantha bothered me so badly."

"Why?" asked Maura.

"Because I suddenly saw someone with you that once had what I want. Seeing you with Jack didn't bother me, even seeing you with Ian didn't bother me. Seeing Samantha on her knees in front of you, it was like she was begging you to let her be your lover again. It freaked me out because I wanted to do the same thing, but I was afraid to."

"What you have to understand is that I made a mistake with Samantha," began Maura, "and I made exactly the same mistake with you. I broke a lesbian cardinal rule, I fell in love with a straight girl. With Samantha, we kind of glossed over that mistake with kinky sex, but the relationship was doomed because she was still a straight girl playing at being gay because the woman she happened to be having fun with was a lesbian."

"So you don't want to be with Samantha after all." said Jane.

"Do I want to be with her now, no." began Maura, "Will I ever want to be with her, I don't know. I'm getting a little tired of being alone, Ian and Jack were kind like placeholders, I admired them both but I didn't love them. If you ever told me that you would never want me as a lover then I would probably be interested in Sam."

"I'm afraid," said Jane, "and can you imagine how hard it is for me to admit that I'm afraid of anything. Jane Rizzoli doesn't get to be afraid, but I am, I'm scared to death of going to bed with you, because I know that it will change everything, but sometimes I want to do exactly what Samantha did and kneel in front of you and tell you to do with me what you will."

"I don't know what I can do to keep you from being afraid," said Maura, "because it seems that you are afraid of being with me and I'm afraid of being without you. I care more about you than I have ever cared for anyone, you are simply the love of my life.

"If I slept with you, and the sex was disappointing, I don't know what I would do." responded Jane.

"Jane, you're rubbing my feet and it's turning both you and me on, why would you think the sex would be disappointing." said Maura.

Jane looked at her in amazement, "this turns you on?"

"Yes, it does, and since your nipples are erect, it would seem that you derive pleasure from it as well." explained Maura.

"I didn't even realize... you're right though, I am turned on and didn't realize it." said Jane.

"Maybe you don't have as much to be afraid of as you think." remarked Maura.

Jane sat silently, head down, staring at Maura's toes for what seemed to be an eternity. "Why am I afraid?" she finally asked.

"I can't answer that." said Maura.

Jane smiled as she said, "There isn't really anything to be afraid of, because you get aroused if I just rub your feet."

"Oh yea, yep, very much aroused, whenever you touch me." said Maura.

"When I rub your shoulders while you're working?"

"Oh yeah, really turned on then." said Maura.

"Oh wow." said Jane.

"And whenever you lean over my shoulder, sometimes you breath falls on my neck, oh my, I quiver simply thinking about it, Jane." said Maura.

Looking into Maura's eyes everything just clicked for Jane. She understood Maura's apprehension and more importantly she understood that her own fears were unfounded. She slid Maura's feet from her lap and uncrossed her legs. She sat up then leaned over Maura and for the first time kissed Maura.

Jane sat back, still holding Maura's hand, still looking into her eyes. Maura smiled, saying "That was nice."

"Yeah," replied Jane, "I could get used to it."

"Me to" said Maura.

"I understand now." said Jane, "When you told me you loved me you were talking about love like this and when I said it I was saying I loved you like a friend."

"That's been what bothered me I think. I love being your best friend, and I want to stay your best friend. But I want the other to." explained Maura.

"I love you." said Jane

"I love you to"

"No," said Jane pulling Maura to her, "I love you."

"I love you to," said Maura as the lovers kissed.

For most of the afternoon, Maura and Jane discussed the logistics of their fledgling relationship. They had gotten to the bottom of their relationship woes. Jane understood Maura better now than she had a day earlier, and while there were things to iron out, the women were confident that working together they could accomplish whatever was needed to cement their love.

When Angela and Constance brought their daughters dinner in the early evening, Jane was able to return Angela's cell phone, which she left there earlier in the day. Jane and Maura were both rather curious to get an explanation of the hundred or so calls between the two women over the last year as well as more than a thousand texts they had sent to each other.

The girls hadn't been able to decipher them all, but there seemed to be some sort of move afoot by the women to "make them realize they belong together".

Jane and Maura spent the night in Jane's Apartment. Jane's fears were alleviated and Maura discovered that she wasn't in love with a straight girl after all. They went to work together the following morning and occasionally throughout the day, Jane would visit the lab while Maura was working so that she could lean over the doctor's shoulder and breathe on her neck.

Angela and Constance were thoroughly admonished by their daughters for their reprehensible behavior and their interference. They happily took the tongue lashing administered by their girls and then snickered all the way back to Maura's house because the plan worked.

Samantha was probably happier than anyone that the plan worked, because in her case, Maura was right about falling in love with a straight girl. Sam really was gay til graduation and if for some reason the plan had gone haywire and Maura had decided she wanted to be with Sam, there would be a great deal of explaining to do to Tom, Samantha's fiance'.