A/N: I'm not sure if someone has been recommending this story somehow, but the number of follows and favorites for it have jumped considerably over the last several days, to the point where it's beginning to compare with when the first few chapters of the story were published. If anybody out there is recommending this story, thank you so very much! I also want to thank the people who follow, favorite and leave reviews. I always look forward to reading your thoughts on the story. Those of you reading and not reviewing, I know you're out there too. I see the page views and know that you're invested in this story, and that means a lot to me. Thank you to everyone that's still here and reading this.

And last, but not least, thank you to CharlietheCAG for her beta skills. I've been working her really hard lately, and she's always been up to the task. Thank you, Charlie!

I woke up late the following morning to hazel eyes watching me intently. We were facing each other, forehead to forehead, arms wrapped around each other's torsos, and legs tangled together. I lifted one hand from Maura's torso and cupped her cheek before leaning in to kiss her.

"Good morning," I mumbled against her lips.

I wanted to wake up like that every morning. I never wanted to let go of Maura. I never wanted to lose that feeling of calm. That complete, and utter contentment that I felt in that moment. I never wanted to get out of that bed. I never wanted to go back to rehab.

Maura gave a small sigh and kissed me back tenderly, pulling me closer to her. "Good morning."

"Been awake long?" I asked between kisses that were starting to gradually heat up.

"Long enough to know that I'm going to miss waking up like this together until you come home again," she murmured.

"I'm going to miss this too."

I kissed her again, and slipped my hand from her cheek to the hem of her shirt. "I think we need to make this morning special. It's the last one we're going to share like this for a while." I kissed down Maura's neck and started lifting her shirt to take it off, but she stopped me.

"No," she said firmly.

"No?" I asked, stopping everything I was doing and looking at her completely puzzled.

"Are you ready for me to make love to you?" she asked tenderly.

I shook my head no and frowned.

"Okay then," Maura said, pushing her shirt back down, and kissing me lightly. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"You."

"Jane," Maura's tone was still light, but carried with it a warning.

"Really, Maura, you don't want me to… you know?"

"No. Not today. Not again until you're ready. I don't want to do anything until you're ready." She squeezed my hand to let me know she wasn't being vindictive. She was simply being fair.

"But-"

"But what, Jane?" Maura asked lightly. She hadn't let go of my hand, and I knew that deep down what she was doing was for the best for me, but it still hurt in a way. Just because I wasn't ready didn't mean I couldn't please her. I wanted to please her, over and over and over again. I wanted to carry the memory of making love to her back to rehab with me, to give me something to think about in anticipation of being ready for her whenever I next came home. I was crushed by her refusal but would definitely respect her wishes. That didn't keep me from whining about it though.

"But I'm going back to rehab tonight!" I cried. I did not want to leave there.

"I know, Sweetheart. I know." She curled up against me, hugging me to her tightly. "I'm going to miss having you here so much."

"I just thought that we could make this special," I said forlornly.

"It is special, Jane. This entire weekend was wonderful, and we're going to have a wonderful day today, too. Everyone is going to be here, and we're going to celebrate Frankie's gold badge."

"Okay," I said, put off at Maura's refusal.

"You're angry again," Maura accused.

"No, I'm not. I'm not angry. Frustrated, perhaps, but that has more to do with myself than with you," I tried to reassure her.

"I think we had a great weekend, Jane. You've got nothing to be frustrated about. We talked about so much, and I really feel like we accomplished a lot too," Maura encouraged.

"I'm sorry, Maura. I'm sorry that my moods are so weird and that I'm not acting like myself. I think coming home has really showed me just how far I still have to go in my recovery. I did have a great time with you this weekend though, and I'm glad we talked about as much as we did."

"And we told your mother about us, which is also a really big thing. And today we'll tell your brothers, Frost and Korsak too."

"Yes, we will."

I still had mixed feelings about that. Although Ma seemed to have gotten over her shock about Maura and I, her initial reaction to our announcement had left me wary of everyone else's reactions.

"I don't like to guess, but I'm willing to hypothesize that Vince and Barry have money riding on us," Maura informed me.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because they've been asking all sorts of questions since they saw you at the rehab on the day Wilma died."

"Have they been now?" I narrowed my eyes. I'd seen the way Frost and Korsak had watched Maura and I interact, but I wasn't sure I liked the idea of them betting money on us getting together. It seemed a bit odd, bordering almost on rude.

"I think your brothers might be in on it too. Well, Frankie might be in on it. I haven't seen Tommy at all in about two weeks."

"I'll kick their asses if they're betting on us." I decided I definitely didn't like it.

"Jane, as happy as I would be to see you acting like your old self, I'd rather you didn't strain yourself before you go back to the rehab center tonight. Besides, it's endearing, isn't it? They're interested in us."

"Interested? More like nosy," I scoffed.

"It's all a matter of semantics. Look at it this way, if they are actually betting on us getting together, at least we know they'll be supportive of it."

"That's true," I acknowledged begrudgingly.

Maura sat up and got out of bed. "Let's go have breakfast. Your mother will be over soon to start cooking, and I'd like to do some cleaning before everyone gets here later."

"Okay. I'll help."

"Now I know you're not yourself. Did you just volunteer to help clean?" Maura laughed.

I swatted Maura's backside as I walked behind her. "Did you honestly think I was going to come live here and not help with the daily chores?"

"Yes," Maura said bluntly.

"Maura!"

"What? You know I can't lie, Jane."

"Well you can keep things like that to yourself!" I laughed, and we started making our way downstairs.

Maura and I made pancakes and bacon together, and I called my mother over to come eat with us.

"I didn't see you all weekend." I faux-pouted when she came in.

"I wanted to give you and Maura a chance to settle in," Ma replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "How's it going?"

Maura looked over to me and I smiled at her. "Wonderful."

"Wonderfully," Maura corrected.

"See? Completely normal," I joked.

Maura and I knew that wasn't entirely true, but we were as close to normal as we could be, and the weekend had been a good one overall.

"Hey, did I get a package here this week? I ordered a gift for Frankie and they were supposed to send it express."

"Yes, it's over by the front door. I meant to ask you what that was." Maura replied as she got up to go get it.

"It's a leather badge holder. I promised him I'd get him one when he became a detective. I ordered it online from the tablet computer you gave me. It's very handy, having that. Thank you."

"You're very welcome, Jane. And that's sweet of you to get him such a meaningful gift. I have some wrapping paper if you'd like to wrap it up," Maura offered.

"That would be great, thanks."

Maura came back with the package, some scissors, tape and some generic wrapping paper. She and Ma cleaned up breakfast while I wrapped up Frankie's gift.

"You should go up and bathe and get dressed while your mother and I get started on the cleaning and cooking. By the time you're done upstairs, I'll be ready to shower and dress and then you can help your mother."

"I can help a little bit first too, if you want," I offered.

"It's okay. We have everything under control," Maura said quickly.

I got the distinct feeling I was being dismissed. "I know I'm a little slower moving than the two of you, but I can still help out and then bathe in time for everyone to get here later," I pointed out. "It's still early yet."

"Jane, please go get started. Maura and I have a schedule set up, and you're delaying us!" Ma chastised.

"A schedule for what, exactly? I mean, aren't we just having Sunday dinner with a little thing for Frankie? How much preparation do we need to do here exactly, for Korsak and Frost?"

"JANE, GO UP AND GET IN THE DAMN SHOWER ALREADY!" Ma yelled.

I flinched. "Ma! Language! What's going on here? What is it?" My hackles were definitely raised. I did not like where this was going.

"Nothing. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so excited about our first Sunday dinner in almost a year that I'm all nervous. I'm sorry, Janie." Ma rushed out her apology, and Maura shifted uncomfortably. Ma continued trying to shoo me out of the kitchen.

I sighed. "Fine." I got up and headed toward the stairs. "Maura, could I see you upstairs, please?"

"Um, uh, I have to help your mother. Is there something you need?" she asked.

I looked over at Maura and she was bright red. Ma kept looking at her watch.

"Yeah, Maura. I need to talk to you, and I need to talk to you upstairs. And I could use your help getting up the stairs," I swung my arm toward the stairs and pointed to them.

"Oh, right. Okay," Maura said, jumping up to follow me.

Maura helped me up the stairs and into her bedroom, but not before throwing an apologetic glance at my mother over her shoulder.

"What's happening, Maura?" I asked when we got upstairs.

"Your mother and I are just getting ready for Sunday dinner, Jane."

"And?" I demanded.

Maura's eyes widened. She knew I had her cornered. "And a little get together."

"For Frankie?"

"Yes…"

"And?" I demanded again. I'd heard her hesitate at the end of her response. This was Maura's way of omitting necessary information but not quite lying. I had to question her the same way I would question a suspect who thought he could survive an interrogation with me by simply using one word answers.

"And what, Jane?" Maura was definitely getting nervous. It was starting to show.

"I know something is going on, Maura. And I know you can't lie. What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing else is going on? You and Ma don't have something up your sleeves?"

"N-n-no, Jane. I don't have anything up my sleeves." Maura was now so nervous, it was makingme sick. I bet she even hoped I wouldn't notice that she said she didn't have anything up her sleeve. She completely left out my mother. Something was definitely going on.

"I'd really hate for you to have to sit there all night tonight with a case of hives, Maura."

"Okay, fine! Fine! She's having a party for Frankie… and for you," Maura blurted.

"For me? WHY? Why would she be having a party for me? HAS SHE SEEN ME?" I growled.

"Jane, please, it's just a small gathering of people that care about you. That's all. Please, Jane she'll be so angry with me if she knows that I told you. She is so excited about surprising you, and that she was able to pull this off on such short notice. Please," Maura begged, "She's so happy about this. Do it for her, please."

"Maura, how could you let her do this? How could you let her invite people here to see me, like this? I have almost no hair! I'm still having a hard time walking!" I covered my face with my hands, wishing I could just make myself disappear.

"Most of the people that are coming tonight have already seen you, Jane." Maura put her hand on my arm, but it did little to ease the panic I was starting to feel.

"And that's supposed to comfort me? I don't even want the people who have seen me to see me like this!"

"Jane, I'm sorry. I did try to dissuade her." Maura looked as upset as I felt.

"But?" I asked sarcastically.

"But you know how she gets once she gets an idea into her head," Maura said, resignation evident in her voice.

I rolled my shoulders and sighed. "I can't believe this is how we're spending my last afternoon home," I said bitterly.

"Jane, I'm sure you'll enjoy it once the party starts. I'm sure that eating your mother's cooking and seeing the people that love you will really make all this worry seem frivolous."

"Oh sure, I'm sure I'll love having everyone stare at me. It'll be twice as exciting when we come out to everyone," I said sarcastically. And had she really just called my worry frivolous?

Maura tried for a different tack. "Don't forget, they'll be staring at Frankie also. It's his party too."

"You're not helping, Maura!"

"MAURA, I NEED YOU!" Ma bellowed from downstairs.

"Jane, I'm sorry. Are you angry with me? I'm sorry. I was only trying to help your mother do a nice thing for you."

I grunted. I was incredibly pissed off.

Maura leaned in and kissed me sweetly, trying to soften the shock of the party and diffuse my anger. She wrapped her arms around me and held me to her tightly as she asked, "Are you mad?"

"How can I be mad at you when you kiss me like that?" I said, to try and make her feel better. I really didn't want to argue with her before going back to rehab. I didn't want to argue with her at all, but why hadn't she tried harder to put a stop to this? Everyone who knew me knew I hated surprises.

She looked at me, and I could tell that she didn't quite believe me. "Thank you," she said as she turned around to leave.

"I'll just be… mad at you later," I muttered, but Maura heard me. Her pout was so endearing.

"MAURA!" Ma yelled again.

"Jane, I have to go. I'm sorry. For all of this." She kissed me once more, and then left me in the bedroom.

I sat down on the bed with a sigh, wishing I had somewhere I could run away to. I had no idea that in a few hours, I'd really be wishing I could disappear.

A/N: Uh oh. The calm before the storm! The next couple of chapters are going to be a bit on the rocky side. Are you ready for them? I'm not even sure if I am! ;)