Wednesday, 9:10 P.M.

Frost and Korsak saw Jane's exit from the interrogation room and quickly made themselves scarce; Frost presumably needed to get ready for his shift in interrogation and Korsak made some lame half-assed excuse concerning getting coffee, even though his cup was clearly still full. Normally, she would have been annoyed at their obvious avoidance of her, but Jane was glad that they had picked up on her mood tonight. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about the case and she really didn't want to talk about her physical approach in handling Yuri Grigorvich either. She needed a distraction, something to take her focus away from everything involving this case. I guess I can go downstairs and start a couple of rounds with the punching bag in the gym like always. Just as she managed to reach her desk, sitting down exhaustively, her phone began vibrating a millisecond before the sound of Chopin's "Funeral March" reached her ears.

"Rizzoli," the tired brunette huffed out, dropping her heavy head to her desk, garnering a loud bang from her cluttered desk.

"Jane…um, could you come down to my office for a minute? It's kinda important, unless you're busy then-"

Jane lifted her head reluctantly, pushing her curls out of her face. "Why?"

"Um…uhh," she rolled her eyes as Maura's efforts to lie were plainly obvious, even over the crackling interference of the cell-phone line. "I…think I saw a rat in the autopsy room. It was…uh…really big and scary. Could you come by and look for it? No one else is here, I don't know who else to call, and I don't like rats. Please, Jeddy?"

Jane sighed, getting up with the same urgency as an old man. "Fine, but I'm only doing this because I love you. If I get down there and there's no rat, Maura, there's going to be a problem, a big problem."

"Ohh…uh, yeah…it's uh…something alright. Love you too." The blonde hung up quickly, leaving Jane with a confused look on her face.

"Wait…what?" Jane exclaimed passionately to the elevator, groaning in frustration, not noticing the concerned look on the patrol officer's face next to her going on the up elevator. "Fuck me…I don't know what this woman is planning, but I have a feeling it involves me watching her recite the periodic table by atomic mass, discovery date, and alphabetical order, just because she can. Why did I have to fall in love with a woman who's probably a member of Mensa? I swear… If there's no rat down there, I'm going to shoot something."

*!*!*!*!*!*!*

There was no rat in the autopsy room, but Jane had no inclination to shoot something upon seeing the scene Maura had set up for the two of them in her office. The seats near her desk and the couch had been pushed near the wall; a large tartan green blanket had been set out in the remaining open space; lighted candles had been placed around the room strategically to provide both light and atmosphere; and, most importantly, the techies were sent home early. They were alone without the worry of being killed for the first time since the week started. Jane couldn't believe the amount of effort that had been put into this one special moment for the two of them, pride for her girlfriend welled up inside as tears came to the brunette's eyes. Maura…you're such a treasure. You always know exactly what I need, even before I do sometimes.

As Jane stood in awe of the rearranged office space, Maura closed the door behind them, looking expectantly at her girlfriend's face. "Well, what do you think? I know it's not a rat but it was the only way I could get you down here without ruining the surprise."

Maura walked around Jane's still figure nervously, grabbing a small picnic basket from behind the desk and a bottle of wine from the refrigerator. Turning around, her goofy smile was infectious as she held the items up for the brunette to see them clearly. "Frost came down to tell me you caught the serial when you returned to BPD. I knew that your plans to take me to dinner tonight were going to forgotten, again, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and plan this little attempt at a picnic for the two of us. I asked Angela to make some food for us and she said no problem. And, don't worry, honey, I told her that it was because we hadn't eaten all day; I put it in a picnic basket myself. The wine, I got from my own personal stash. It's a 1996 Barolo, a very nice and heavy red that works perfectly for the pasta your mom made. So…do you like?"

Jane smiled, unable to respond and put her happiness into words. All of the various emotions from today were threatening to overwhelm her battered defenses and, oddly enough, she had no will in her to keep it within her anymore. Normally, she would have perceived crying as a weakness to hide away in a corner of her mind but not now. I can't be scared to give Maura what she wants, access to my most intimate thoughts and desires. She won't judge me.

"Maura," she muttered weakly, the tears finally bypassing her defenses. It had been so long since she had had a proper cry; Jane wasn't sure how to react to the sensation of salty wetness entering her mouth. Her head lowered in an attempt to hide her pain, the exhausted brunette's legs nearly gave way under her before Maura managed to hold the taller woman up against her. As the blonde cradled her silently, whispering relaxing words into her ear, Jane tucked her head within the crook of Maura's neck. The tears continued to fall down her cheeks even as Maura began to slowly trace circular patterns on the brunette's heaving back.

"It's okay; let it all out, honey." Maura whispered as a muffled groan rose up from the general direction of her girlfriend's mouth. "It's just you and me. No one is going to judge you here. Take all the time you need."

Seconds upon minutes passed endlessly, the two women giving each other comfort. Finally, the tears dried up, leaving Jane feeling utterly spent, hungry for the first time in days, and at ease. Her head lifted from Maura's neck and she looked around her in confusion. "I'm sorry for…all of that. It's just been-"

Maura lifted her finger up to silence the brunette after wiping the remaining tears away. "Stop, just stop. I don't know why it is so hard for you to get through the big stubborn cranium of yours that I want you to feel comfortable enough to be whoever you need to be around me. The only way we're going to grow as a couple is to be open with each other about everything, the good and the bad."

"I know." Jane muttered, lost in the subtle green tones of her girlfriend's eyes. "But, it's hard to just…open myself up overnight. Even when I was a kid, I always kept things to myself. Being the only girl and the eldest tends to do that to you."

"Don't you dare use that as an excuse, Jane. You think I wasn't alone? I was adopted, an only child, and had to raise myself because my parents were so wrapped up in each other to notice that I existed in any other capacity besides being included in their Christmas card photos, year after year." Maura said earnestly. "Honey, I could care less why you and me are the way we are. I just need to know if you can be the woman I know that you already have within you. The woman that holds me tight when we're alone at night, makes me laugh with her dead-on impressions, takes me higher than any man I've ever been with, and always watches "Planet Earth" with me when it's on marathon. That's the woman I want, Jane. I love it when you're all serious and masculine in public, but there's no need to be that way with your lover all the time. I need you to feel comfortable enough with me to let me lead sometimes, and that means opening up to me, letting me know what's bothering you."

She nodded, genuinely agreeing with her girlfriend's plea. Maura didn't want her to change or be something drastically different, just with different priorities placed on certain aspects of her personality when they were alone. I can do that. "Okay, I'll try to be more girly when I'm with you and let you take care of me sometimes. But if that means I have to wear dresses and start giggling with you about the differences between banana and canary yellow, we're going to have to talk."

"No, you don't have to wear dresses, Jeddy. Your suits, baggy tees, and jeans are a part of your identity, Jane. It would be unfair of me to take that away from you," she said with a smile, a blush tinting her cheeks. "And you know how much I love stripping your suits off of you. Each time I rip your collared shirt from your body and see those lacy frills of the various bras we've bought together…it's so exhilarating and euphoric. It makes up for all of the bad Christmases I've had."

Jane rolled her eyes, tapping the blonde playfully, moving toward the wine and picnic basket on the desk. "So, let me get this straight. You get off on ripping my clothes off…huh, and I thought I was butch."

"Shut-up," Maura said with mock annoyance, taking her heels off, placing them near the door. "Besides, being butch and femme are just stereotypes portrayed to the heterosexual community in order to better assimilate lesbians into an image that is easily understood by those in the 'normal', aka those that identify as heterosexual. Did you know, according to a survey published in a sociological journal that most women range in between the extremes with their sexuality, like how most Republicans aren't all far right and Democrats aren't all far left? It was a very interesting read if you want me to email you a copy? But you won't read it, so why bother?"

Jane allowed the medical examiner to ramble on as her interest floated toward the basket of food and wine. Looks like my mom outdid herself, again. I swear, the woman needs to find a hobby that doesn't include being up in my business. Maybe I could hook her up with Korsak…eugh, no; just the idea leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Placing the items in her hands, Jane set them on the blanket covered floor before grabbing some wine-glasses from inside one of Maura's cupboards. "This is really nice. I really appreciate it, Maura. Really, I do."

"Thanks, we never spend any time together so I figured this was the only way to do it. Surprise you." She smiled, sitting down next to the basket, taking the plates and food out while arranging them out in the space in front of her. "May I ask you a question, Jane?"

The detective sat down in front of Maura, opening the bottle of wine, pouring the fragrant red liquid into each glass. "Of course."

"I've been thinking about us, lately. We hardly ever see each other and I really don't want an incident like what almost happened earlier today to happen again. It's not good for a professional working environment."

Jane's brown eyebrows rose in response, lifting the glass up to her nose before swirling it slightly to help it breathe like Maura taught her. "And your point is?"

Maura gathered a brief breath as Jane took a casual sip of the robust red wine. "I think we should move into together. I mean, you already spend all your time either here or at my place and your clothes are already starting to accumulate their own area in my closet. You have a drawer, Jane. I don't give a drawer to just anybody. Jo Friday loves the backyard and the pet tortoise I gave you is going to need a proper habitat to promote healthy growth in the future-"

"Honey, I love you, dearly but you're rambling. Moving in with you is a big step for us. It represents a lot of commitment from the both of us. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd love to have you available to cuddle with every night but…you need to give me more than just a second to make a decision that's based on common sense and not emotional impulse. I'm not running away like I used too, I just need some time." Jane said authoritatively, her hand extending to comfort her girlfriend. "Let's just eat, enjoy the moment, and get this case solved and then we can start talking about renting a U-Haul. We'll talk about it later, okay?"

Maura nodded as Jane began to pick excitedly at her mother's pasta. Her mind savored the food but she couldn't help feeling the beginning of unease rising again at the idea of moving in with her girlfriend. The blonde reached her hand out to hold Jane's hand lightly and, as suddenly as it arrived, the feeling of unease dissipated, replaced with an awe-inspiring sense of love. With issues resolved, Jane relaxed and gave in to the happiness of being with the woman she loved and loved her equally in return. Her job could wait for a while.