A/N: Sorry about the delay, but writer's block got the best of me. :(

Jane looked at her wife sitting on the bedroom floor with their kitten. Chrissy was full of energy that night, so Maura had looked through their room for anything that could be used as a toy for their kitten. She found a small, rubber ball and, although she was worried about Chrissy biting off pieces of the ball, she knew there was nothing else she could use as a toy unless she gave Chrissy her Christmas present early.

"Jane, what if she bites off a piece of rubber?" Maura asked worriedly.

"She's fine, Maur," Jane responded, her voice slightly raised. When Chrissy heard Jane's voice, she jumped onto the bed and made herself comfortable on Jane's chest.

Maura scooted closer to the bed and grabbed their kitten. "Stay off of Mommy Jane," she said in a sweet voice. "She doesn't want us touching her right now."

Maura had hoped for some type of response from Jane, but there was only silence until Jane got out of bed to turn on the radio. There was nothing but commercials and songs that annoyed her, so she angrily shut it off and went back to bed.

"There's mix tapes," Maura pointed out. "Let's listen to the Christmas tape I made for you right before we were married. It's Christmas Eve and we should be—"

"I hate that tape," Jane interrupted.

Maura averted her eyes. "Oh." She wasn't sure what had come over her wife, but her mood had changed drastically since the day before when they had celebrated her promotion. Maura wanted to comfort her, but after that outburst about the tape, Maura felt as if she should keep her distance.

Jane's heart nearly broke when she looked at her crying wife. Her mood had nothing to do with Maura and the moment Maura's tears began to fall, Jane felt as if she had already broken one of their vows. Until that moment, she could never fathom making Maura cry but there she was crying into her sleeve as Chrissy batted the rubber ball back and forth in front of her, just waiting for Maura to play with her again.

Instead of hugging Maura, Jane made her way over to the stereo and popped in the Christmas mix tape Maura had made for her. The first song to play was "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Jane didn't particularly care for that song, but she knew that Maura loved that song for more than just the lyrics and the melody. It was played on the radio nearly every hour for the past month and during the short amount of time between Thanksgiving and the start of winter break, Maura and Roxie had managed to learn every word of the song. They'd sing it to each other, they'd dance to it on Roxie's bed, and they even dedicated it to Jane and Stash on the radio.

Hearing the song did little to change Maura's disposition, so Jane decided to do something drastic. She remembered less than half of the lyrics, but what she didn't know she improvised as she sang to Maura. When it was time for the chorus, Jane wrapped her arms around Maura and became even more playful with her singing.

"Jane, stop," Maura commanded.

"All I want for Christmas is you," Jane continued to sing.

"Stop it, Jane!" Maura said as she gently pushed her away. "Singing to me isn't going to make it better."

"Maybe not," Jane smiled. "But I know what will."

Jane grabbed a small envelope from on top of the dresser and handed it to Maura. In the midst of celebrating Jane's promotion, the two of them had forgotten about the mail that Angela had placed in their bedroom.

"It's from Markie!" Maura said as she excitedly tore open the envelope. Two weeks had passed since she had heard from her friends and, although Maura missed them, she knew their families missed them even more and she hoped they were all enjoying the holiday season as much as she was.

The front of the card displayed a decapitated snowman and Jane could hardly contain her laughter. "Mark is starting to rub off on her."

"Should I be afraid?" Maura asked. "Jane, you could read it with me if you'd like."

The card served as a peace offering for the two of them and Jane was grateful that her wife was smiling again even if she wasn't the one putting a smile on her face. Maura had said she could read the card with her, so Jane took it as an invitation to hold her. As Maura sat on the floor, Jane wedged herself between the bed and Maura and wrapped her arms around her wife's waist. She wasn't too concerned with what the card said so her focus shifted to delicately placing kisses on the back of Maura's neck.

"Dort,"Maura read. "The girls and I might be returning to Boston sooner than expected because we miss you. Oh, and Merry Christmas."

"You're smiling," Jane said before nibbling on her earlobe. She knew Markie was hiding something from her, but Jane felt as if she was in no position to tell Maura about the possibility of her best friend being pregnant. Mark wasn't supposed to tell Jane, so by telling Maura she would be causing a rift in the already rocky relationship or almost relationship that Mark and Markie were in.

"I love you," Maura began, her words bringing Jane out of a daze. "I know you love me, too, but sometimes I feel like I'm a burden on you."

"You're not a burden and you never will be," Jane reassured her. "Maura, you're my life and, I've said this dozens of times, but I'd do anything for you. I know I was upset earlier, but it wasn't because of you and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I love the Christmas tape. I love it even more so because you made it the week we were married. I'm going through a difficult time right now. I'm trying to be your wife and my mom's daughter all at the same time and I feel like I'm being torn apart. I'm losing Jane in the process."

Maura turned around to face her wife. She had planned on looking her directly in the eyes during their conversation, but Jane pulled her in so Maura could rest her head on her shoulder. "What does Jane want?" Maura asked.

"Jane—I mean, I want you," Jane said as she stroked Maura's back. "I want to tell everyone that I'm a married woman and my wife is now my priority, but every time I try I feel as if nobody takes me seriously. Mark and my brothers take me seriously—as seriously as the three of them could get, which probably isn't saying much. Jerry takes me seriously, too, but sometimes I feel as if my parents think this marriage is a phase and that you and I are just kids who don't know what we're doing."

"We don't know what we're doing," Maura smiled.

"I know we don't," Jane agreed. "But they should let us figure it out for ourselves and respect the fact that, yes, I'm still a member of the Rizzoli family, but I'm also married and you and I are branching out into our own little family. If I don't want to go to my grandparents' house for Christmas dinner, I shouldn't have to."

"Is that what this is about?" Maura asked. Once she felt how tense her wife was becoming, she knew there was more to this than wanting to branch out. "Jane, you can talk to me."

"I'll be okay," Jane insisted, but when she remembered how important communication was in a marriage, she decided to confide in her wife. "The whole family is going to visit my grandparents tomorrow and I told my parents that I'm not going. It's our first Christmas together and I don't want to remember it as the day I came out to them and was ridiculed for an entire evening. They're not going to accept us, Maur, and I don't want to put you through that. You don't deserve to hear their name-calling. I'll tell them eventually, but not on Christmas. I want to make tomorrow a perfect day for you. You told me that Christmases with your parents were never memorable and you'd spend most of the day in your room. I want to change that and I want you to have a Christmas full of surprises. You might spend some of it in the bedroom but that's only when we—"

"Jane!"

"What?" Jane smirked. "Since it's Christmas and we'll be home alone, you can pose seductively under the Christmas tree while wearing nothing but a—"

"No," Maura interrupted, although she wasn't exactly against what Jane had suggested. "How many times have we been caught? When we make love tomorrow, it'll be in our room."

Jane pretended to be disappointed, but she was already looking forward to making love to Maura regardless of what room they'd be in.

Later that night, Maura woke up to find an empty space next to her in bed. She waited impatiently for Jane to return but, after ten minutes had passed and she was still alone, Maura quietly crept downstairs to the living room. Standing next to the fireplace was her wife with a couple of small, wrapped gifts in her hand. Maura didn't want to peek and risk ruining her surprise, but she couldn't turn away from the sight of her wife filling her stocking with gifts. Their first Christmas had barely begun and Jane was already making it special for her.