Full disclaimers on Chapter 1.

Stop NOW if DRAMA/TRAGEDY is NOT something you are interested into reading, or if it is a bad trigger for you.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles nor any of the characters from the show. I am writing this purely for entertainment, not profit. Rizzoli and Isles are property of Tess Gerritsen and TNT.

I am not a native English speaker, and I don't have a beta. So all mistakes are 100% mine.

Enough of disclaimers and warnings – read at your own risk. Reviews are always welcome!

Chapter 95

Constance woke up, and packed her last things before even leaving the bedroom. She knew they need to go to the airport early, since they both had bags to check-in, a longer stay ahead.

Maura's bedroom door was open, and the bed made.

Constance went downstairs, in time to see Maura leaving the guest bedroom, still in Jane's clothes.

"Good morning, mother."

"Good morning, darling. Did you sleep well?"

Maura nodded. She was surprised herself to having slept well. The clothes now held no more scent from Jane. Neither did the pillows, or the bed. But Maura thought that maybe it was just the fact she was in that room, where for the past twenty months she had spent so much time with Jane, going through so many difficult moments and loaded emotions, that gave her comfort.

Maura consciously knew Jane had needed to rest, that there was no more fight to be fought after those twenty months. But it was hard to let go, simply because it was hard to even begin to fathom her day-to-day life without Jane in it. It was hard not to think how unfair it was that so many bad guys were still around, and Jane wasn't.

Maura knew she had the Rizzoli's, and the Isles, and the Martins, and the so many friends they shared over the years. But it was not the same. It was never going to be the same. And Maura knew that living through her grief also meant re-building her life around this new context, this new arrangement, and that she would need to learn to take one day at a time, sometimes even one hour at a time, until she felt she could function again. Maura was not going to fool herself – it was going to be a process, a long and difficult one, but one there was no escape from. So she braced herself to live through it, to embrace the pain needed to go through that process. That was why she had accepted going with her mother. Changing the scenery, changing her pace, changing her context, being on purpose out of her routine to a routine that also would not last, hopefully would help her get moving through her stages of grief.

"Why don't you shower and get ready? We could grab brunch on our way to the airport."

Constance thought that in the next three weeks, she would make sure Maura was busy. She would do like Angela's bid, making sure that she was leaving the house to spend time on the beach, exploring each one of the beautiful hikes around Laguna Beach, maybe even doing a few side trips if she felt like after the first few days. She would make sure to have breakfast together every morning, and dinner together every evening – even if it was dining in house. And for the weekends, Constance would make sure that her programming included Maura – she had a few museum visits she wanted to go to, and that she knew would please Maura. Maybe she could even convince Maura to go with her to do some shopping.

Maura was back in less than twenty minutes, dressed to leave. She brought down her bag, and separated her purse with the things from the office she was taking with her.

She put things on the laundry room, and locked the house, while the driver placed her bags and her mother's in the trunk.

"Mother, would you mind if we stopped by the cemetery for a moment?"

"That will not be a problem, Maura." Constance instructed the driver to make a stop prior to them going to brunch.

Constance was tense thinking that this could be a setback on all that Angela had managed to achieve since after they came from the cemetery, but she didn't have the heart to deny anything Maura could ask from her today of all days.

When they arrived there, Constance was surprised when Maura asked her:

"I would like you to come with me."

"Of course."

Constance walked with Maura. Again, she didn't know what to anticipate. She thought Maura wanted some time alone in Jane's grave. She thought Maura needed a moment to grieve on her own, without witnesses. Or that she was at that point where she needed to make sure, to see with her own eyes, that everything that have happened was real and there was no turning back in time. But Constance accepted she would soon find out.

Maura stopped by Jane's grave. It had not rained overnight, so things were mostly like they had been when they left the previous day. Maura tilted her head, examining it for a few moments, in silence, before nodding her head as if for herself, satisfied.

She then turned to Constance.

"Mother… I want you to know something… This…" and Maura pointed out to the plot besides the one full of flowers for Jane. "This is where I will be interred when my time comes…" Maura turned to look intendedly into Constance's eyes.

Decision. Certainty. That was what Constance saw in her daughter's eyes.

So that was what this little side trip was about. Constance felt relieved. She never pictured Maura desiring to fly back to Europe to be laid to rest there in her family's estate. Maura had always loved Boston and felt at home in Boston – and everything Constance had learned over the years only reinforced the underlying reasons for that.

And Constance was not surprised. The Rizzoli's might think that Maura had made a huge contribution to them by living her life around Jane these past twenty months – and she probably had – but they were not accounting, because they were likely not even aware – of the huge contribution them all, beginning with Jane, had made to making Maura in who she was now.

Maura was who she was today because a lot of different things, one of the biggest and most important in the past ten years being Jane's growing and intertwining presence in her life.

Constance smiled gently at her. "I couldn't have imagined it any other way, darling." Constance squeezed Maura's hand, understanding. "But until it is your time, I wish you may LIVE every day of your life, Maura…"