CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Maura's hips thrust upward to meet Jane's, wrenching another moan from her throat, the pleasure of pressure on her sex shattering her already fractured composure. As the brunette's left hand found and vigorously palmed a generous breast, the blonde thought she was going to crawl out of her own skin with arousal. Dissatisfied at the material still providing a barrier between their lower bodies, the doctor pushed at Jane's shoulder with her right palm, twisted her hips, swept her right leg over, and confidently switched their positions.

For a beat she grinned down at Jane, enjoying the reciprocated smile and brief flash of surprise in dark eyes, before kissing the detective's luscious mouth once more.

Impatience overruling her desire to savor, Maura ran her fingers down Jane's sides. They skimmed ribs and hip bones, hooked an elastic waistband and continued down as far as she could reach, dragging Jane's panties halfway down her thighs.

Patience would come later, for now it was Jane's turn to groan as Maura's hands reached up and quickly down again, taking her silk pajama bottoms with them. It was the little lift up, the removal of her body weight, the creation of a space between their bodies in order to be able to remove the clothing that gave Jane's lungs a free second to fill with air, with anticipation.

It was the resettling of Maura's body atop hers a second later, with bare legs, bare hips, and bare sex that forced that air from Jane in one quick blast. "Holy shit," she gasped, clutching at Maura's bare ass cheeks with both hands. As she pulled Maura's sex to hers, one of the blonde's hands cupped the back of her head and their foreheads came together.

As they moved against each other, gasping and breathing into each other's mouths, Jane couldn't stop the wetness that gathered in her eyes. "You feel so good, Maura," she whispered.

Maura nodded, overwhelmed at how perfect this was, even after so many years apart, at how it suddenly seemed destined or fated even to the steadfastly skeptical scientist. At the vast explosion of emotion within her, something heretofore only partially released no matter how much she might have been convinced otherwise at certain times in her life, the doctor couldn't halt the words that spilled out of her without permission, "I – I think I'm in love with you."

Their hips continued to rock as Jane moved a hand to mirror Maura's grip around the back of her head. Grasping golden locks and staring into the terrified depths of hazel eyes, the detective shifted her left leg to press more forcefully against Maura's sex.

With a sharp inhale, the smaller woman widened her legs and felt rather than saw the nod of Jane's head against her own. It was all she needed. Wanting lips claimed her again, a wet tongue pressing and sweeping into her mouth as she moaned in pleasure.

Jane flipped them over again, kneeling up to remove panties and pajama bottoms in one quick flash, "I've never wanted anyone like I want you."

As the detective covered her once more, the brunette's warm mouth made contact with the skin of Maura's breast and she gasped, tilting her head back, pushing it into the pillow. Clutching fistfuls of dark locks, she whispered, "You have me."

Few words were spoken for long minutes except for prayers of release amidst mutterings of pleasure. Oh yes, oh god, oh fuck.

Jane came first, shuddering, hips jerking erratically, her sex pressed against Maura's thigh, as the blonde breathed shakily, soaking up the sounds of wetness as the two moved together.

The brunette forced herself to keep moving through labored breaths, limbs heavy with delight, as Maura claimed her left hand and moved it between their legs. Long fingers found velvety skin and quickly explored, coating themselves in the blonde's arousal. Fascinated and craving, she flattened several fingers together and focused on the doctor's hard nub, rubbing, circling, flicking, until Maura came undone, gasping, clawing at her back with a long drawn out moan.

They made love again and again. And it was exactly that for Jane. Not sex. Love. It was life-changing, mind-blowing, and she knew nothing would ever be the same again. Maura had altered her outlook on life with the first few touches.

oOo

Their two-day trip soon became four, which then became six, partly due to Jane's unerring logic that Maura had paid for the cabin for an entire week anyway, but mainly due to Maura's admission that she'd love nothing more than to stay there wrapped up in Jane forever.

With the doctor delegating work across her team and relying on the on-call M.E. for cover, all the detective had to do was make use of her abundance of banked vacation time, and she did so gladly.

The two women spent their additional days walking, enjoying the sea air, dining out, and lying in each other's arms. It was easy, effortless. Like heaven.

But Sunday morning brought with it a message from Constance that she was needed at short notice in Paris for an art show and would be leaving first thing Monday. Disappointed, though she knew their trip would have had to come to an end soon anyway, Jane packed their small overnight bags into the car. As they left their little love cabin behind, she gripped Maura's free hand in her lap, a move reminiscent of their outbound journey, but one that had totally different meaning now.

She was headed back to town, proud and unapologetic, with her girlfriend, and they were going to say farewell to Maura's mother properly, together.

oOo

When they'd agreed on the way home to head straight for Jane's apartment they were expecting to find it empty.

The plan was for Jane to switch out her overnight bag with clean work clothes, dump the dirty laundry, and join Maura for Constance's farewell. But their entire plan teetered precariously upon the cliff edge that appeared in the form of Angela Rizzoli in tears on Jane's couch.

The second Jane approached her front door she knew something was wrong, the sound of the television forced her heartbeat to double-time and her palms to sweat. Believing it to be Casey, she quietly asked Maura to wait in the hallway as she ducked quickly inside.

As the occupant was revealed to be her mother, the detective, still gripping the door handle with one hand, looked back over her shoulder and jerked her head, silently inviting the blonde inside.

Tentatively, Jane set her bag down on the floor and tiptoed towards the couch, "Ma?"

Angela turned to look at both women, her eyes puffy and red, her cheeks stained with tears and her bottom lip trembling.

Something told the detective this wasn't about her sapphic revelation anymore. A glance around the living room indicated her mother had been staying there; several packed duffel bags were piled against one wall, as well as other signs that this wasn't a fleeting visit. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"

"Where's Casey?" Angela sniffed angrily, no longer looking at her daughter.

Well, maybe her detective skills were on the blink after all. "He, er… he left."

"Thought so," snapped the older woman. "As I was tidying up the place I noticed his stuff was gone."

Jane's eyes swept the room again, everything that had been broken, scattered and abandoned across the floor and surfaces had vanished. "You didn't have to do that," Jane offered timidly, "But thank you."

Angela sniffed again and dabbed at her nose with a kleenex. "I came looking for him after I found out -"

Stepping around the arm of the couch, Jane interrupted, "I would have told you, Ma, I just needed some time -"

Expecting another ear-bashing about her sinful ways, about what a disgrace she was to the family, about how she'd always let down her mother and here she was doing it again in the worst possible way, Jane was shocked into silence when Angela next spoke.

"Good riddance."

With wide eyes, the brunette turned to Maura, who had been silently observing from behind, her expression saying everything her voice couldn't. What the hell?

"I don't -" Jane stuttered. "I don't understand what's going on, Ma. Why were you here looking for Casey?"

"He knew, apparently," Angela sneered, "… about your father."

"What about pop?"

"I caught him… the lying, cheating bastard… with Carla Talucci! He made excuses, said he was servicing her plumbing, well… he was servicing her alright."

Jane's eyes were bulging out of her head and she held a hand over her gaping mouth as her mother continued to spew.

"And she wasn't the only one. He's been porking some blonde tart half his age, too…" Angela blew her nose, crying fully once more, then gestured towards the pile of bags by the wall, "It's all over. I tried kicking him out but he wouldn't leave. So I packed some stuff…"

Tears and ragged breaths overcame her mother as Jane sat down beside her on the couch and wrapped her up in a tight hug. She cooed and shushed into the older woman's hair as anger and tears welled in her own eyes. "It'll be okay, ma. I promise. It'll be okay."

Deciding to make herself useful, Maura moved towards the kitchen and called softly, "I'll make some tea."

As Angela pulled herself away, drying her tears, and Jane reached for a box of tissues, the older woman sighed, "It's probably a good thing Casey wasn't here when I arrived, you might have had another homicide to deal with."

Jane snorted, thanking god for her badly-timed joke genes, clearly inherited from her mother, "Not funny, ma." Though it was mildly funny, in truth, and helped lighten the mood.

"Well…" Angela drawled, looking like she might have been only half joking.

Turning serious, Jane leaned in and placed a hand on her mother's arm, "I'm sorry he did that to you. I swear I didn't know."

Patting her daughter's hand, Angela sighed, "I know, baby. It's not your fault." Turning more fully to Jane, she added, "I'm sorry I was so mean to you. You're a good person and now I know you're better off without him."

"I am, ma." Jane turned her head to watch Maura re-enter the room carrying a tray of cups and a teapot Jane only vaguely recognized, her eyes following the blonde until she set the tray down on the coffee table.

Angela's eyes never left Jane. She watched her daughter, saw a feint blush emerge on her cheeks, caught the sparkle in her eye, the smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

Catching herself, Jane blinked and looked back to Angela with a smile, "I really am."

"How long have you been here, Angela?" asked Maura, pouring tea before sitting by the elder Rizzoli at the other end of the couch.

"Three days." At the sight of Jane's eyebrows rising in surprise, she continued, "I know, I'll have to go home and deal with Frank at some point but… I was just too angry to stay there, y'know?"

Jane relaxed, she really couldn't gripe at Angela's obvious use of her emergency-only key, and certainly she was relieved there wasn't still a mountain of tidying to get through. What else could she say? "Stay here as long as you need, okay?"

Handing steaming cups to the other two women, Maura inquired, "What will happen after you go home?"

"I dunno," Angela sighed. "Frank said he wanted to sell the house, said he's moving to Florida with that… floozy." Waving her free hand about for emphasis, she barked, "I told him over my dead body is he selling our family home."

Jane winced, "But you don't have the money to keep it by yourself, Ma."

Waving a dismissal, the matriarch seemed to be taking everything in stride, "Oh, I'll think of something. Maybe Mr. Stanley can give me extra hours in the café."

Jane looked to Maura over Angela's head, her expression full of sorrow and doubt. There would come a day where Angela needed to hear the cold, hard truth of her situation; but today was not that day.

The doctor rubbed a hand over Angela's shoulder, reading the worry in Jane's dark brown eyes. If they stuck together they would find a way, but clearly this was going to be a long, hard road.

"We'll think of something," murmured the doctor, trying to comfort mother and daughter alike.

Exasperated, Angela blurted, "I just don't understand why people can't be honest."

The look on Jane's face and the way she bit the inside of her cheek told the blonde she was warring with herself; feelings of guilt about her own behavior no doubt sparring with her anger over Casey and Frank. Maura reasoned, "It can be hard sometimes just admitting things to yourself and if that's the case then it's much more difficult to admit them to other people."

"I see what you mean." Angela paused, placing her tea down on the table. "My eyes have been opened to many things this week." She chuckled sadly, "I never thought I'd be switching to a non-denominational church at my age either."

Jane's head snapped round, stunned, "What – what do you mean? You love going to St. Evilia's."

"You haven't heard?"

The detective shook her head, "Heard what, ma?"

Angela pulled out a newspaper from beneath a pile of magazines under the coffee table and handed it to her daughter. The front page featured a large color photo of Father Crowley dressed in bondage leathers and assless chaps, exiting what looked like the graffiti-covered steel door of a warehouse downtown. He looked startled, as if the photographer had taken him by surprise, and Jane's expression was not dissimilar.

She held out the newspaper and Maura took it from her before reading out the headline, "Anti-gay water scandal priest discovered running underground gay brothel." Hazel eyes were wide as she breathed, "Oh my."

Angela stood, moving around the coffee table to face the pair, pacing slightly and gesturing animatedly, "It's like my reality has shifted. I used to think I was standing on solid ground but all the things I counted on aren't real. It was all lies." Not wanting her daughter to jump to conclusions, she raised flattened palms out in front of her, "Don't get me wrong, I'll always have my beliefs, but… my faith has taken a beating." She stopped and planted her hands on her hips, her head hung low, ashamed, "I can't sit in a church next to the woman who slept with my husband and I certainly won't be listening to anymore judgemental sermons designed to make me feel bad about my life or – or… the people I love."

When she looked up at Jane there were tears in her eyes again, but the tiny smile that creased the lines around her eyes filled her daughter with warmth.

There, Jane saw regret. Love. Acceptance.

oOo

At the Dirty Robber that evening, as Jane ordered drinks at the bar, Angela sat in quiet conversation with Maura and Constance.

The older Isles woman patted her daughter's thigh under the booth table, "I appreciate you cutting your vacation short to see me off, darling."

"It's the least I could do, mom," Maura replied. "It's been so wonderful having you here and I'm sorry you have to go."

Seeing the shadow of uncertainty and nervousness in her daughter's eyes, Constance reached for Maura's hand, "I've enjoyed spending all this time with you but you'll be fine without me, I'm sure."

With a chuckle, Angela commented, "I have to say, Constance, having a daughter that genuinely enjoys you staying with her kinda makes me jealous."

Both Isles women chuckled as Maura reached across the table to cover Angela's hand, "When Jane said you could stay with her I think she really meant it."

"Oh, I know, honey. It's just been a long time. I think she was only two days out of the academy when she got her own place."

Jane appeared at Angela's side, placing a tray of drinks on the table, "It was three days and you still managed to delay my moving out by a month."

"Well," Angela drawled, embarrassed, "I didn't like seeing my baby girl all grown up and leaving the nest." She reached up to stroke Jane's cheek, pushing an unruly lock of hair from the detective's face, "I worried."

Jane squirmed and rose a hand to swat her mother away, "Ma – Come on. Stop."

Maura had taken three glasses of wine and one bottle of beer from the tray and placed them out in front of each woman on the table. Raising her own glass, she offered some words of thanks, "Well here's to mothers and daughters. To time spent together and hopefully more time to come."

Claiming her beer, Jane clinked it against Maura's glass with a wide smile, "Hear, hear."

Angela cleared her throat, looking from Jane to Maura and back again, "I appreciate you girls letting me tag along."

In an uncharacteristic move that had Maura taken aback, Jane threw her arms around Angela and wrapped her in a tight hug. With her face hidden from view and her mouth buried in her mother's dark hair, Jane whispered, "I would never abandon you, Ma."

Exhaling sharply, Angela fought down the lump forming in her throat. The pain that shot across her chest was of her own making, it was shame and regret and she deserved it. There would be many more times, she was sure, that she would be faced with the evidence of just how good her daughter was, how loving, how forgiving, and she would find a way to feel worthy of her. Somehow. "Thank you, Jane."

Releasing her mother, Jane blinked away the moisture in her eyes and took a long look at the older woman. With her eyebrows scrunched, she analysed the clothes, the posture, the expression; something already seemed different about her, better, improved. "You look good, Ma. Did you change something?"

The matriarch sighed, shrugged her shoulders and sipped her wine, "No, I just – I already feel lighter, y'know? Like I could get used to this; not having your father around. Like I'm free again."

Maura smiled, tipping her glass towards the woman, "Well you look great, Angela. Is that a new blouse, too?"

Peering downwards and pinching the fabric, Angela replied, "Oh this? Frank didn't like it, told me to take it back to the store. It was hanging on the bedroom door when I left and I just grabbed it on the way out."

Constance added to the compliments, "It is a very flattering outfit, Angela."

Angela smiled, raising her glass towards the artist, "Thank you, Constance."

"It's fancier than the outfits you normally wear…" added Jane. Then after a pause in which she sipped her beer, trying not to smirk, "Though it's not quite as fancy as Father Crowley's."

Angela gasped and slapped Jane's arm as Maura snorted, cupping a hand over her mouth, unable to find the entire situation nothing but hilarious.

All four women fell into easy laughter. Everything was going to be okay.

"Sooo…" Jane drawled, picking at the label on her beer bottle before looking up to her mother. "You know there was never anything in the water, right?"

Indignant, Angela scoffed and drained her wine, "Of course I knew there was nothing in the water. Don't be ridiculous."

Jane smirked knowingly, allowing her mother the opportunity to save face, just as Maura piped up.

"Strictly speaking that's not true. There are many things in our drinking water depending on the source; chlorine, fluoride, bacteria, pesticides, microbes like the Cryptosporidium parasite, methane from fracking processes, some heavy metals like aluminium sulphate which is used in water treatment…"

Constance listened to her daughter with pride but her eyes were drawn to the detective. Stealthily, she watched as Jane's cheeks blushed, as her eyes gazed dreamily at the blonde, as her lips turned up into an amused little smile. She was certain there was a small amount of teasing there, that the brunette was still somewhat unaccustomed to her daughter's penchant for informative, spur-of-the-moment lectures, but she was also sure she'd never seen anyone look at her daughter with quite so much love.

Coincidentally, Angela had caught it too, that look. It had taken her breath away at first glance. Nothing between Jane and Casey had ever been quite so obvious, so tangible, and so strong. If the beautiful blonde remained a part of this unconventional family then she'd be okay with that. She'd be better than okay, in fact, and she'd take immense pleasure in bragging to all those shallow and bitchy former friends of hers at St. Evilia's that her gorgeous daughter was dating a brilliant and stunning medical doctor.

A/N: The movie would have ended at this chapter with some aspects still unresolved so we've deviated a little bit from that plot but hopefully in a good way. You can consider the next two chapters an epilogue of sorts.