Christmas Part 1
Boston. Massachusetts
After LA, Boston felt both familiar and strange. Maura's place on Beacon Hill was as beautiful as ever, but it felt different, it was a house now, not a home. Ma was still living in the guest house, making sure the house was spotless when we arrived for Christmas, but it wasn't our home, not anymore.
Oh they tried, Maura had arranged for a tree to be delivered and everyone had pitched in to help trim it, Ma, Tommy and Frankie, Frost and Korsak, by the time they'd finished it looked lovely but the house around it felt different. So many of the important little things that made a house a home, like photos and mementoes and knick knacks were back in the place in California, that was our home now.
It was good seeing everyone though, even if Ma barely waited until we were out of the car service from Boston Logan airport and through the front door before asking about marriage and grandkids, getting a rueful smirk from Maura directed at me, I'd bet she wouldn't wait 10 minutes before starting, Maura'd bet 15 minutes. Actual elapsed time; 7 minutes.
I'd just rolled my eyes at her and laughed, telling Ma to talk to us about it another time but she'd just ignored me and piled on the whole guilt thing, how she wasn't getting any younger and needed grandbabies to spoil. Finally, realising we weren't going to take the bait, she sat down and spent the next hour and a half asking us about all that had happened in LA, wanting every little detail. Finally we pushed her off to bed and crashed, it was late and the flight and the time zones really worked against you flying east.
The following day was Saturday so after breakfast with Ma we'd spent some time out and about, enjoying the whole white Christmas thing before meeting up with Susie Chang and Riley Cooper for lunch at Susie's apartment. They were both looking good and their relationship was going fine, fortunately they'd managed to keep it a lot quieter than we had, so no one really knew they were together, either in the M.E.s office or any of the people in Homicide.
They were really happy to see us, but I could tell they were disappointed to learn that we were going to accept a permanent move to L.A. Apparently several of the detectives were likely to murder Maura's replacement, that bumbling fool Pike, sooner rather than later. He was so bad that several prosecutions were going to be lost in court when the defence went to town on the sloppy forensics work and he was driving Susie to distraction.
We'd invited them to come and visit us out in LA, we'd introduce them to some of our friends and they could be as open as they liked, far from the people at work. The smiles we got and the speed that they'd agreed to visit us bothered me a bit, until I realised that they were really missing us, not just as coworkers but as friends. They also understood we were leaving Boston probably for good.
We had a good time that afternoon, being with them was great and to see them so happy together was wonderful, but there was an underlying air of sadness that I had a feeling was going to be a big part of this Christmas.
Later that day we'd met Frost, Korsak and Frankie at the Dirty Robber for drinks and burgers; unhealthy as hell but the Robber meant a lot to us both. Maura had once said it was the site of the majority of our unsuspecting dates, back before we woke up to ourselves and got together.
Frankie had just been provisionally accepted for detective, working narcotics rather than homicide as he wanted, but he still held out hope that he could make the move to homicide soon enough, he had Frost's promise to be his partner when he finally made it into the squad. We gossiped about people we knew in Boston PD, they wanted to know about Major Crimes and LA, we spent hours there sitting and chatting, occasionally getting Christmas well wishes from people we'd met in the Robber over the years, it was kinda nice to feel that connection.
They were all sad to hear we were going to relocate to LA, it was hard seeing them trying to be upbeat about it, when it was obvious to us both that they were disappointed, but we'd explained that we'd had a great opportunity, the support we had from our bosses and the people we worked with was great and that it was a chance to start afresh in a new city.
We had too much history here, too many people with axes to grind, Boston in the last few months we were here had started to feel stifling, like we'd been caged by everyone else's expectations and demands, by contrast Los Angeles had been a breath of fresh air.
We'd got them to agree that they were going to come out and visit us soon, but I could tell it wasn't something they wanted to hear. We also asked them to keep it to themselves until after we had a chance to tell our family tomorrow at dinner.
On Sunday we'd had a big family dinner, Angela, Frankie and Tommy, a full Rizzoli-style Italian dinner. While Maura and Ma chatted in the kitchen, Frankie and Tommy had dragged me off to a back room and complained about how Ma was on their backs all the time about settling down and having kids. To be honest I'd been less than supportive, reminding them I'd had years of this shit, now it was their turn to man up and take it.
When Frankie had complained that Ma was constantly trying to set him up with nice Italian girls, 'good breeders' as she so delicately put it, I'd practically rolled on the floor with laughter, remembering all those guys she'd tried to set me up with. I'd taken great pleasure in reminding them of that rather tragic dating history and informing them that as I was officially a lesbian, breeding a new generation of Rizzoli's was now their responsibility.
Needless to say they weren't impressed.
We waited until after dinner and the washing up was done before bringing up our move to Los Angeles. As expected Ma turned on quite the performance, complete with tears and mournful claims we were abandoning her. I'd shrugged and told her that she was only a phone call away, though inwardly I'd winced as it was basically giving her open slather to ring me all the time. Maura had been more supportive, but we were quietly adamant that we were doing this, this time doing what was right for us.
Finally she'd wound down as she realised we were serious, before starting on the grandkids thing again. With glee I'd ignored the glares from Frankie and Tommy and pointed out that she not only had two sons to give her grandkids here in Boston but they could pass on the Rizzoli name. When she asked what I meant, I'd shrugged and told her that I'd probably end up Jane Isles when we got married, so it was up to the boys to carry on the name. I hadn't missed Maura's sudden head turn when she heard me, but I was too busy dealing with Ma right them to talk about it.
Ma was off and running on the whole marriage thing which had happily wound on for another half hour, the guys were smiling at getting off the hook over the kids thing, until I reminded Ma that she could happily arrange their weddings, when they got off their asses and found a girl, which set her off hounding them again, much to their annoyance; if looks could kill...
That night after we'd gone to bed Maura had asked me about me taking her name, wanting to know if I was sure. When I told her I was, she surprised me by saying she'd really wanted to take mine, to be Maura Rizzoli.
In the end, after a halfhearted argument we'd decided to compromise, that one day we'd be Maura and Jane Rizzoli-Isles. I have to confess that by the end of that discussion there had been a lot of happy tears, before we found other things to keep us occupied.
Christmas Eve saw Maura and I running round, buying a few last minute presents but mostly getting the stuff we needed for tonight's massive Christmas dinner. We'd agreed that some people like Riley, Susie and Frost would need to be with their families tomorrow so we were hosting everyone tonight for a traditional Christmas roast dinner with all the trimmings, puddings, eggnog, the whole shebang.
Dinner was wonderful, it was nice to see so many happy people around the table, though both Maura and I had to stifle a few smiles as Frankie and Frost arranged to sit each side of Riley, while Tommy ended up sitting between Maura and Susie and was charming to both. I'd exchanged a look with Maura, we both knew the boys were going to be disappointed, Susie and Riley were used to playing it straight in public but they were going home together.
I looked over at Korsak sitting next to Ma, seeing him smirking at Frost and Frankie, I was going to dismiss it until he caught me watching them and gave me a smile and wink, making me wonder if he knew a lot more than he was letting on. It could be, Korsak saw a lot more than he let on.
The food was wonderful; the company great but there was a tinge of sadness, we all knew that this was probably going to be our last Christmas here in Boston like this, maybe forever. This time next year we would be in LA and hopefully hosting Christmas for friends and family out there.
We'd handed out presents and got presents in return, but the important thing was that we were here, surrounded by the people who loved us. It was bittersweet, Maura had told me she could feel one door closing behind us as another opened ahead and I knew exactly what she meant.
After everyone had left, Maura and I banished Ma off to the guest house, leaving us to cuddle in front of the fireplace. If there was one thing I was going to really miss about this place, it was going to be that fireplace. We'd created a lot of amazing memories in front of it in the time since we'd first got together and tonight was no exception.
We made slow, unhurried love, lit by the glow of the flames, as I fell even more in love with Maura all over again. I lost myself in her eyes, reflecting the glint of the fireplace and the love she had for me, knowing she could see the same in mine, as we came together in a series of gentle rolling waves, wrapped in each other's arms.
Afterwards we just held each other as the sweat dried on us, barely talking, we didn't have to really, until the night's chill finally penetrated the warm haze we were lost in and we made our way up to bed, where we'd snuggled together until we fell asleep in each others arms.
Christmas morning saw a blanket of snow outside, leaving the world quiet and peaceful and beautiful. We'd refused to get out of bed, just cuddling under the covers, before we'd ducked downstairs to bring our presents back to each other.
I'd got Maura Grand Circle tickets to the LA Opera's 2013 production of Tosca, two sets of white doctor's coats with her name monogrammed on the breast, a cool mint garter skirt and matching bra from Victoria's Secret's Very Sexy line that I just knew would be perfect on her, plus a set of Japanese language DVDs.
Maura had decided that she wanted to visit Japan late next year or early the following and wanted to learn Japanese first. The reaction I'd got had pretty much made my day, she'd loved it all and promised that she'd wear the lingerie for me tonight, leaving me smiling happily in anticipation.
My presents were so Maura, they were thoughtful and surprising and things I'd not have thought to have got myself, but just perfect.
She'd got me a DVD set of the Patriots successful 2004 Superbowl campaign and the Red Sox 2004 World Series win (the first time a single city had ever had both the World Series and the Superbowl in the same year), a new Glock cleaning and service kit and a set of black lingerie from Agent Provocateur, a corset, garter belt, thong and stockings, all in black silk that she told me she couldn't wait to see me in tonight.
The final present was the one that broke my heart though; a platinum ankle chain with a tiny heart inscribed 'Yours forever, M'.
I don't know why, but that did it for me, the tears just ran down my face, I cried tears of happiness and joy and sadness and loss, as we sat in a beautiful house that wasn't really our home anymore, my home was with Maura, wherever we may be.
Cheyenne. Wyoming
Ana always enjoys the trip to our parent's place, we fly in on Frontier airlines to Denver and she loves the ads they have with the animals on the tails. Flying on the same aircraft that she's seen on the ads is a real kick for her; sometimes I think she's just a big kid under that kick-ass FBI agent exterior.
We've previously flown with Larry the Lynx, Griswold the Grizzly and Flip the Dolphin, this time it was the barber shop quartet penguins, Ana was so happy I had to laugh and tease her, getting a tongue poked out at me in return; yep, a big kid.
Dad picked us up from Denver airport where we were quite thoroughly kissed and hugged, before we piled into the Jeep and headed north for the Wyoming border and the farm. The drive passed quickly as we caught up on what was going on and dad asked us about life in Los Angeles. Ana had the front seat while I sat in the middle of the back seat, leaning forward as our words tumbled over one another, laughing like idiots in the sheer joy of being home.
As we turned off Interstate 25 onto Chalk Bluff Road and made our way towards the farm, I noticed that the west ridge was sporting a new crop of wind turbines. When people asked what my folks farmed I'd once told them wheat and cattle, it was still kinda true, but more and more it was wind energy. Wyoming was a windy place at the best of times and our farm was full of ridges and valleys, perfect for wind turbine farms.
Mom and dad had agreed to lease the first piece of land to the clean energy people three years ago with the first turbines going up not long afterwards. Now our cattle grazed between the towers while the turbines converted wind into electricity, feeding the power grid. The towers on the west ridge were new though, obviously mom and dad had decided there was money to be made in working with the wind people.
We pulled up in front of the house, mom and Lauren walking out onto the porch as we stopped, Ana and I piled out of the car to run up the steps, burying ourselves in welcoming hugs from them both as dad joined us. Peter and Christie were in their late 50s but still fit and healthy, originally of German descent, both had the tall, slim build, blonde hair and blue eyes that Lauren and I had inherited.
I swrapped to a hug with Lauren as Ana enthusiastically wrapped mom in a huge bear hug, one she happily returned, I could see the hint of tears in mom's eyes and I knew there'd be some in Ana's as well, sure as hell there was in mine. It'd been too long since we'd seen them; damn it was good to be home.
Lauren was if anything even prettier than I remembered, she'd let her hair grow out, now it was as long as mine and even thicker. I'd always felt a little jealous, I thought she was the prettier but she just laughed whenever I'd complained, telling me she thought I was the pretty one.
Ana had solved the debate one drunken night when we'd put her on the spot, demanding to know which of us was prettier. She'd tried to wriggle out of it by saying I was a sunrise and Lauren was a sunset, both very different but both beautiful. When we'd demanded a choice she'd shrugged and said that as far as she was concerned we were equally beautiful and if she'd met us together for the first time, she'd want to do us both. That had led to a wild tickle fight that had left us all sore and sorry from laughing so hard. We'd never felt the need to ask again.
Two years younger, Lauren and I had been called 'double trouble' when we'd been in our late teens and early twenties, mostly by the boys but also by some of the girls who'd been jealous of the attention we'd got as we'd grown out of the awkward teenager stage and started to fill out.
Now she was a rehabilitation therapist, working with people who'd been injured, helping get their lives back together again. She did a lot of work at Walter Reed with soldiers who'd been injured in Afghanistan and Iraq, helping them reintegrate back into society. She was a much better person than me; no way could I do her job, dealing with what she did day in, day out. I was sure that for many of those broken soldiers, having someone as pretty as Lauren working with them was as important for healing their spirits as her work was for mending their bodies.
We'd ended up sitting around the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate, Lauren and I had dad sandwiched on one lounge, snuggled up close, while Ana was curled up on the other lounge with mom, since her dad had died we really were her family and I'd heard mom and dad talking about her to other people as proudly and possessively as they did Lauren and me, she was their third daughter.
We chatted for hours, about our life in LA, Lauren's in Maryland, just outside Washington DC, what people we grew up with in Cheyenne had been doing, just glad to be home. Finally we'd had a delicious home-cooked dinner and fallen asleep in the big double bed in our room, exhausted from the travel and the emotion but just so happy to be home.
The following day we'd all gone into Cheyenne, shopping for provisions for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas lunch, it was our tradition that we'd cook the Christmas meals, that mom and dad would get to sit back and relax and just enjoy having the house full of life and sounds, helping to make up for the fact that we'd moved away following our careers.
We'd met up with some friends from school and college while shopping, getting the usual invitations to parties and such, we normally only accepted one or maybe two each year if we had time, preferring to spend the time at home with our parents.
We ended up joining Lauren at an old school friend's place for a cook out on Saturday night; we'd had a good time, catching up with people around a raging bonfire, enjoying the chance to relax.
Most people we grew up with were ok about me being with Ana, but one year some idiot decided to make a scene, calling us 'filthy, unnatural dykes'. Before any of the guys could do anything, Ana had vaulted a table and had him flat on his face, arm twisted up his back.
She'd forced him to apologise to me, before dragging him outside and telling him to take a swing if he was man enough. He'd proved how stupid he was by taking up her invitation and getting his ass kicked severely before two guys at the party who were off-duty Deputy Sheriffs ran him off after she'd finished with him; we hadn't had any problems since.
On Christmas Eve we stayed at home, just enjoying being home with mom and dad, they were having a long running argument about where they should go for a holiday, they'd been discussing it for months, both researching and trying to convince the other of which holiday they should choose.
Dad wanted to visit Europe; to experience the culture, the history and the scenery of places like London, Paris, Rome, Vienna and Moscow, while mom was equally set on a safari through Africa; visiting places she'd seen on TV, such as the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya, Victoria Falls, Mount Kilimanjaro and the gorillas in the mist. Both of them tried to enlist all three of us into convincing the other, but we'd happily left them to work it out, though we did occasionally add a supporting word to both sides of the argument, much to their annoyance.
We'd worked through the afternoon, making a traditional roast dinner with apple pie for dessert, well Ana and Lauren had, they were the cook's. I'd been relegated to manual labour and some of the simple stuff like potato peeling and rolling out the pastry for tonight's pie and tomorrow's savoury mince tarts. I didn't mind though, I knew the meals tonight and tomorrow were going to be something else, it always was when Ana set her mind to it.
It was like it was Ana's annual personal thank you gift to our parents for so totally accepting her into the family and for loving us being together.
Dinner was lovely, we'd had a great meal, full of great food and laughter and jokes, before we'd all turned to into the kitchen to wash up. Neither Peter nor Christie believed in having a dishwasher, both were of the 'hard work never killed anyone' school of thought, so we'd washed up and dried everything by hand just like we had growing up, while they stood by and chatted, the kitchen crowded and happy.
Afterwards we'd ended up back in front of the fire, just talking, before I'd brought up the extra wind turbines on the west ridge. It'd turned into a long talk about the future of the farm, with mom and dad telling us that they understood that none of their three girls was going to become a farmer, which is why they had agreed to lease the farmland out for the wind farms.
It had already been agreed that most of the farm would eventually end up being wind farms; they were setting it up so that the place would provide an income stream even after they were gone. We'd been left stunned, partly at what they'd said, but mostly at the thought of them being gone, they were both fit and healthy, to even contemplate them being dead…
I'd felt the tears in my eyes, seeing them in Lauren and Ana's too as mom and dad explained that they were getting older and they wouldn't feel right if they didn't do everything they could to look after the three of us after they were gone. We'd all ended up bawling our eyes out, wrapped in a huddle around them, three grown women behaving like children, contemplating a future none of us wanted to imagine, especially not on Christmas Eve.
To calm us down they told us they just wanted to be prepared, but they planned on being round for many years to come. Besides, they had too many things to look forward to, like seeing their daughters married off and grandkids in due course. That had led to some teasing about when we were going to stop living in sin as they jokingly put it and when Lauren was going to find someone to settle down with. After much joking around they'd filled us with hot chocolate and marshmallows, before they shooed us off to bed, telling us that we'd open our presents in the morning.
That night, in a recent tradition, Lauren climbed into her pyjamas before snuggling into bed with us. She'd started it two years ago, after complaining how Ana and I'd kept her up all Christmas Eve the previous year making love for hours. Lauren had been on the other side of the wall and heard it all, now she claimed sleeping with us was the only way to make us behave and for her to get a good night's sleep.
I didn't mind really, it reminded me of when we'd slept together as kids, the two of us huddling under the blankets with a torch, keeping the monsters under the bed at bay as seven and five year olds. We'd slept together regularly until I'd moved out. I even agreed to wearing pyjamas and foregoing making love to Ana to have her with us.
Ana had just smiled, telling me that if cuddling up to one Dearing was wonderful, having two was pure bliss. We chatted sleepily for a while, before we spooned together and dropped off to sleep, a feeling of peace wrapped around me. The last thing I remember was the door opening quietly as mom and dad peered in to watch over us for a moment, before they too made their way to bed.
Christmas Day dawned cold and clear, with a chill wind whistling round the windows, it made us slow to get out of bed and ensured we'd stay close to the fireplace today. I woke up first to find that we'd nearly smothered Ana, Lauren and I were sprawled all over the top of her, my head on her shoulder, Lauren's buried in her neck as we snuggled in tight.
Mom and dad finally dragged us out of bed round eight and we trooped down to the living room in pyjamas to open presents. The fireplace was already roaring and together with more of mom's hot chocolate we'd felt warm inside and out as we spent the next hour each opening a present in turn, just happy to be together. We'd agreed that we would each buy the others no more than one major present, so Ana got a white, red and yellow gold necklace, expensive but so beautiful I just had to see her wearing it the moment I saw it, while Ana had got me the latest iPad, with some of my favourite software already installed.
Lauren got a matching set of opal earrings and necklace from us both, dad got the nine disc complete Star Wars Blu-Ray boxed set signed by Harrison Ford and George Lucas, where Lauren got that I had no idea and we'd got mom a new iPod full of every 80s track we could find. Ana had spent a couple of weeks downloading songs for her, but the look on her face was worth it all.
There were lots and lots of other small presents but the best present was just being home, wrapped up in family, god I'd missed this. As we got dressed before going to church for the Christmas service, Ana and I agreed that we'd swap our personal presents tonight, we'd bought each other lingerie and we'd have a private showing after dinner.
After we got back from church, we turned to making lunch, leaving us pleasantly full, before I pulled out my iPad and Skyped Maura and Jane in Boston, catching them just before dinner there. We chatted for a while and I introduced them to Lauren and mom and dad, before we ended up in a three-way Skype chat with Alex and Olivia up at Alex's family's place.
Afterwards everyone had a pile of questions about them, which we explained over a lazy afternoon, before mom and dad headed off for a nap, leaving Lauren and us to talk.
She wanted to know how everything was going for us in LA, were we happy, was it good and was it better than Seattle. We'd happily told her things couldn't be better and asked her about her love life, it turned out she was seeing a guy but it wasn't serious, he was fun but not happily ever after material. Lauren had no end of interested suitors, but no one that had been the one she was waiting for. I felt so sorry for her, she wanted what I had; an amazing person who made me complete, it made me realise all over again just how lucky I'd been to find Ana.
We finally drew the curtain down on Christmas Day with a relatively early night, it had been a long but happy day filled with family. Mom and dad had wrapped us in their big blanket of love, they'd taken the time to sit down separately with each of us at different times since we arrived, telling us how they enjoyed having us home for Christmas, how proud they were of us and most of all how much they loved us.
As we fell asleep, hot and sweaty and very satisfied after rocking ourselves to a series of slow, gentle climaxes in each others arms, trying to be quiet in deference to Lauren in the next room, I had to smile.
No matter whatever the next year might bring, in Ana's arms everything was going to all right.