Maura nervously wiped the side of her glass, making a path through the condensation. She once again bit her lip, trying to be patient. "That's very sweet of you, but I can't accept that."

"Why not? It's just a drink" the tall blonde man argued with a smile. "And if you're not waiting for someone, I don't see the harm." He pushed the tall and fragile cocktail glass towards her, urging her to please his self-esteem.

It had only been a minute since he sat down next to her at the bar, but she was seriously running out of polite rejections. And how could this man not take no for an answer at all? Maura was about to make a rather rude comment when an arm suddenly slipped around her waist.

"Hi honey" a dark voice murmured near her ear before a pair of soft lips kissed her cheek. "Sorry I'm late, I had to interrogate a suspect before I could leave."

She quickly turned her head to the right and saw a tall brunette smiling down at her. Maura felt the hand on her back and was suddenly unsure about who deserved her rude comment.

"Who's your friend?" the brunette asked and looked over at the (not so) gentleman.

Maura was rendered silent, still in shock. She turned her head to the man on her left side, and back to the brunette on her right.

"You're not trying to steal my girl, are you?" the brunette continued, half-warning, half joking. "Cause I will arrest you if I have to. Yeah, I'm a cop."

The man laughed softly before he stood up. "I'm sorry. She said she wasn't waiting for someone, so I thought it was okay."

The brunette ran her hand gently over Maura's hair. "That's right, she doesn't have to wait for anyone" she said sweetly while looking at Maura. "She's already got all of me."

Maura sighed, she was almost convinced herself by this brunette.

"My apologies. Enjoy your evening, ladies." The courting man surrendered and walked away with his beer.

"Thank you" the brunette said victoriously and waved as he left.

Maura finally laughed softly and looked at the brunette. "No, thank you… That was quite the performance."

"Oh… no worries. I saw everything and you seemed like you were about to slap him. Figured I'd save you the job." The brunette smiled and finally removed her hand from Maura's shoulder.

"You certainly did" Maura smiled back. "Thank you, again."

"Don't worry about it. I'd do it again. Enjoy the free drink" the brunette winked and pointed to the cocktail before she turned around and left.

Maura had barely time to laugh for herself and take a deep breath before someone called her name. She quickly turned around and saw a familiar face. "Hi mother" she smiled and stood up to hug her mother.

"Honey, who was that? Do you have a girlfriend I don't know about?" her mother asked with a teasing smile.

Maura choked. Had her mother seen the whole show? "I… no. I-" she stuttered.

Her mother squeezed Maura's arm. "Why didn't you tell me? Were you afraid I wouldn't approve?"

Maura felt her legs go weak and sat back down. "No, that's not it. Mother…"

"Because I don't care if you date a man or a woman, as long as my darling is happy. That is all that matters to me, Maura."

Her heart was racing. How in the world did this happen? "Mother…" she tried again but was cut off by her mother's suddenly gleaming face.

"Oh, this is wonderful, Maura! You have to bring her to the dinner Saturday night. The Donovan's have a daughter that also prefers the ladies. This will absolutely secure their donation!"

Maura's face fell while her mother kept talking. How was she supposed to tell her mother the truth now? Her mother was raising money for a cause that was close to Maura's heart as well.

"Darling, will you bring your date?"

Maura swallowed and replied with the only truth she could come up with. "I will try."


"Hey, Rizzoli!"

Jane stopped in the middle of the lobby and turned to the officer by the service desk.

"A woman stopped by earlier, looking for you."

"Oh? Who?" Jane walked up to Officer Franklin.

"Didn't say. Only told me to give you this." He handed her a card that looked very professional. "She was hot though…"

Jane smirked and read the name on the card. It didn't sound familiar at all. "What did she look like?"

"Like she was about to walk down the runway…"

Jane raised an eyebrow at the description.

"Fancy lady, high heels, skirt, some designer purse and shit. Blonde, dimples, looking real nice from all sides… She didn't even know your name, but she said she had to talk to you about your acting career…" He looked seriously confused.

Jane burst out laughing. "Really? Shit… Okay, thanks." She just smiled and waved the card at him before she left, knowing it would confuse him even more. She looked down at the card again while she waited for the elevator, clearly remembering the woman from the day before, and wondered what she wanted.


Someone whistled at her as Maura entered The Dirty Robber and looked around. She saw the brunette in one of the booths and headed towards her. The brunette noticed her right away and excused herself to her friends and got up. "Hey, you found me" she smiled before holding out her hand. "I never introduced myself properly, I'm Jane.

Maura smiled and shook the outreached hand. "Hi Jane. I'm Maura."

"Shall we?" Jane asked as she retracted her hand and pointed to a booth further away from everyone.

Maura nodded and walked towards the booth, feeling curious sets of eyes following her.

"Can I get you anything?"

"No thank you, I'm good" Maura smiled and sat down. She placed her purse between herself and the wall, not feeling too secure about the place. Jane slid in across her and looked at her.

"So, what can I do for you?"

Maura swallowed and took a deep breath. She still didn't understand why she was doing this, but she had argued with herself the whole night before and she was tired of it. "This is going to sound really weird" she started and placed her hands on the table. "But I was wondering if you could help me with something. Another performance so to say."

Jane leaned forward smiling, clearly wondering what this woman wanted. "Okay…?"

"I was actually wondering if I could hire you to be my girlfriend tomorrow night."

"What?" Jane laughed.

Maura sighed and looked down at the table. She was mortified. "I know it sounds very creepy…"

Jane continued to laugh. "No, not creepy. Just weird…"

"It's complicated, but my mother saw us yesterday and she truly believes you are my girlfriend and she wanted me to bring you to this dinner tomorrow, and…" Maura stopped herself to breathe and carefully looked up at Jane.

"Why didn't you just tell her the truth?"

"I tried, but she didn't really listen to me, and I… it's… it's complicated. We don't really have a normal relationship and I try so hard to be a good daughter. She was so happy about this because it could help raising a lot of money and I just couldn't-"

"Whoa!" Jane stopped her. "Hold on. How is me being your girlfriend gonna raise money?"

"It's a charity for a children's hospital in Africa, my mother is very passionate about it, and so am I. We're having dinner with someone important tomorrow and his daughter is apparently… gay, and my mother seems to believe that it would help us if I was too." Maura had to take a deep breath once again. Jane looked at her with disbelief written all over her face.

"I'm sorry" Maura mumbled and reached for her purse. "This is totally inappropriate, you probably have a boyfriend or husband… and I can't believe I did this. I had no right asking you-"

"I'll do it."

The words stopped Maura from getting up. Instead she looked at Jane who was smiling slightly. "What?"

"I said I'll do it." Jane leaned back, like it was no big deal.

"You will?"

"Yeah. Why not? It sounds like it's for a good cause."

Maura just sat there and stared at Jane.

"And I get a free dinner, right?"

"Yes! Yes, of course." Maura laughed at the smirk on Jane's face. "Drinks are on me…"

"Then count me in!" Jane laughed as well.

A phone ringing interrupted them, and Maura realized it was her phone. "I'm sorry…" She found her phone in the purse and looked at it. "Oh god… it's my mother" she sighed.

Jane grinned at her. "Answer it. Tell her that your girlfriend is coming to the dinner tomorrow night."

Maura shook her head, more shocked than frustrated. "This is turning out to be the strangest conversation in my life" she mumbled before she answered the call. "Hi mother. Yes I have. Yes, she will. Her name is Jane." Maura had to look away to keep herself composed. Jane was watching her intently, smirking and giving her a thumb's up, and it made Maura laugh silently. "Yes, I'm aware, but you can ask her tomorrow. I'm sorry, but I have to go, mother. I'm in the middle of something. Yes. Okay, we'll see you then. Bye."

Maura quickly ended the call and placed her phone safely back in her purse. Then she looked back up at Jane with horror in her eyes. "Oh god, this will never work! She's never going to believe us! We are strangers, we know nothing about each other. How are we supposed to convince other people?"

"Honey, relax! It'll be fine." Jane smiled when she saw the confusion in Maura's eyes. "What? I'm rehearsing for the role" she explained and winked. It took a few seconds, but Maura finally giggled. "Okay" Jane continued. "So we have to get to know each other. What are you doing the rest of the day?"

Maura rolled her eyes. "Having a nervous breakdown I suppose."

"No you're not" Jane laughed. She stretched out her arm and gently placed her hand on Maura's arm. "How about we go home… to your place or my place or whatever, and come up with a story about how we met?" Her thumb brushed over Maura's skin and Jane saw how Maura's eyes trailed down to her hand. "Yeah, you have to get used to it. I'm your girlfriend now and I will touch you during the night." A small pause and Jane heard the words repeated in her head. "And please just ignore how that sounded" she added.

Laughter escaped from Maura's lips and she looked back up at Jane. "Let's go home to my place. I think I need a few glasses of wine tonight."

Jane nodded and they got up and started walking towards the door. "But if you only have wine at home, then we need to make a stop on the way, because your new girlfriend prefers beer over wine."

Maura laughed again. "Good to know."


"So, how do we do this? Are we just gonna list our interests and stuff?" Jane asked when they were safely settled on Maura's coach, with their wine and beer. After they had arrived at Maura's home, Jane had to ask for a guided tour of the house, completely shocked of the size and how perfect it was.

"How about we write down some facts about ourselves, I'd feel safer if I could go through it from time to time."

"This really is like rehearsing for a play" Jane laughed. "But okay, that sounds like a good idea."

Maura found pen and paper for them both and they started writing. They agreed on what type of facts they should know about each other, and after they were done, they switched papers. As Maura's eyes went over Jane's writing, she grew more and more insecure. This woman was so different from herself, it was like day and night. Where Maura appreciated the stillness of the house and a night of reading, Jane preferred a baseball game, hockey game, basketball game, any sports actually. Maura liked her wine, Jane wanted her beer. Fashion and science were changed with poker and junk food. She was about to say something when Jane's hand landed on the couch with a loud thud.

"You can't lie!?"

So Jane had come to the end of Maura's list. She bit her lip and slowly turned to Jane. "Not really."

Jane laughed and her head fell to the back of the couch. "Holy shit!"

And Maura noticed another bump, Jane's cursing.

"So how are you supposed to convince your mother that I'm your girlfriend if you can't lie?"

"I don't know" Maura confessed. She was relieved that Jane didn't seem angry about it, instead she laughed and seemed to find it funny.

"Wow, this should be fun. Maybe I should do most of the story telling tomorrow" Jane grinned. "Since I'm good at lying."

"I'm sorry Jane, I feel awful for dragging you into this. I won't be offended if you change your mind."

"What? No, don't worry. I'll still do it. Besides, you've already told your mother I'll be there tomorrow. So we kinda have to do this…" Jane switched the paper in her hand for her beer instead and faced her body towards Maura. "We can make it through one dinner, right?"

"I hope so" Maura mumbled and took a sip of her wine. Unfortunately she wasn't entirely focused on her glass, and a few drops of wine fell down to her shirt as she removed the glass from her lips. "Oh no!" she sighed and quickly placed her glass on the table. She looked down to see two red stains spreading on her blue shirt. "I'll be right back!" She started undoing the buttons while she ran out of the living room and towards the stairs.

Jane carefully pushed the glass further away from the edge of the table and suddenly found herself alone. She looked around in the stylish home before she picked up Maura's list and went over it again. Almost at the end, she took a sip of her beer when the doorbell rang, almost scaring her.

"Jane? Could you please get that for me?" Maura called from upstairs.

"Sure!" Jane called back and got up. She opened the door to find a woman on the other side, clearly surprised to see Jane.

"Oh hi… I…" The woman paused and took a second look at Jane. "You're Jane?" she halfway asked and smiled.

"Uhm, yes, I am. And you are…?"

The elderly woman held out her hand and smiled. "Constance. Maura's mother."