Chapter 7
Jane and Maura fell asleep, cuddling on the couch, until they wake up the next morning startled by a scream.
"Jane Clementine Rizzoli! When were you planning to tell me about this?" Angela said in her loud voice making Maura almost fall of the couch.
Jane, who was accustomed to her mother's yelling, was only half awake when she sighed "Morning ma, what are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about? What do you think I'm talking about? Or is this going on for so long that you're already used to it?"
Jane opened her eyes so she could see what her mother was referring to. Just then she remembered that she was still lying on the couch, with Maura wrapped up in her arms. "Oh shit" she cursed earning a little nudge from Maura.
"Well..." Jane said, trying to think about an explanation to tell her mother.
"Well?" Angela put her arms together in front of her chest.
"It's not what it looks like Ma, It's... " Jane tried.
"Oh don't try that trick on me Jane! I know what I saw and I know what it looks like! You're a couple!"
"Ma! Will you please keep it down! You'll wake Sophia"
"Oh my god, Sophia! What did she say about this?"
"She doesn't know yet"
"She doesn't know?! Jane! She's your girl! You can't just do things like this behind her back anymore, you have to think about her first!"
"Ma! This isn't just a thing! And for your information, we've waited six years for this, because of Sophia! We know we have to think about her, that's why we haven't told her yet! When things don't work out she'll be too confused"
"Oh... Well that's good Jane. But does this mean you are a couple now?"
"Well, we've decided we want to give it a try, see where this will lead us. So I guess you can refer to us as a couple, yes"
Angela clapped in her hands, excited by the news. She always thought there was something more between Jane and Maura and she was happy that the girls finally acted on it. "That's great news girls! Oh I'm so happy for you!" Angela hugged them both.
"Just keep it to yourself for a while ma, we don't want Sophia or anyone else to know yet"
"Of course Janie! I'll keep my mouth zipped! Well I'm off to work, see you girls at lunchtime?"
"Sure ma, see you at lunch"
Jane sat up "Well there goes our little secret... I bet at least one other person knows about us at the end of the day"
"Have some faith in your mother Jane, she promised us to tell no one, she won't do things that could hurt us or Sophia" Maura patted her knee.
"I know she won't do it on purpose but I bet she'll just let something slip accidentally and then she has to tell the rest of the story too".
" We'll deal with it then. For now just act like nothing's changed or Sophia would sense there is something wrong and her interrogation will be a lot harder to deal with. I guess she has that instinct from you Jane" Maura smiled.
"Well, I need a coffee and a shower before I can go back to normal"
"Go ahead, take a shower while I make us some breakfast" Maura kissed Jane on the cheek.
"Good morning Mommy!" Sophia was already up and stood in the doorway to the kitchen. "Well there goes my time to get myself together" Jane muttered against Maura's cheek.
She turned around to Sophia. Seeing her little girl in her cute pajamas, two little pony tails in her hair and favorite teddy in her hand, made her forget about all her troubles at once.
"Good morning little one, did you sleep well?" she said as she picked Sophia up.
"Yes! Nonna woke me up though, why was she screaming?"
"Uhm... She saw a spider" Jane tried.
"Nonna isn't afraid of spiders mommy"
Jane looked over at Maura for some help.
"Your mother scared her" Maura couldn't lie and this was the closest she could come to the truth.
"Oh" Sophia didn't look convinced.
Before she could ask more questions Jane puts her back on the ground "you go and get dressed for school"
"I don't have school today, we have the day off remember?" Sophia frowned.
"Sh...oot!" Jane said getting a glare from Maura "I totally forgot that! Well we'll need to find someone for you to stay with then, because I really have to go to work" Jane had her phone already in her hand.
"I can stay at home today Jane, there's no case and when one comes up I'll take Sophia to your mom at the café for a while" Maura puts her hand on Jane's arm to bring her to rest.
"Really Maur? That would be great, thank you so much" Jane almost kissed Maura until she remembered her daughter standing next to her.
"Uhm... Well I'm going to get dressed then..." she said, trying to save herself from the awkward situation.
"You do that and we'll make you breakfast to go, right Sophia?" Maura looked over at the girl in front of her. Sophia nodded and was already off to grab the instant coffee she knew her mother liked.
"Okay, I'll be back in ten minutes".
...
"So... Why was nonna screaming again?" Sophia asked Maura while they made breakfast together. She sensed there was something more than just the scaring part and she knew Maura couldn't lie.
Maura felt trapped, they could've known the little girl wouldn't buy their explanation without asking for more details.
"Uhm... Like I said, your mommy scared her" Maura tried.
"Well... What did she do then?"
"She uh..." Maura tried hard to think about an answer that would satisfy Sophia. "She did something your Nonna wasn't expecting from her"
"Like what?"
Maura couldn't come up with a good explanation so she decided to tell the truth, hoping Sophia would stop her interrogation after that. After all, she and Jane where cuddling on the couch before, even when Sophia was around. "She was lying on the couch with me, we fell asleep there last night".
"That's all?!" Sophia knew that Maura was speaking the truth when she didn't get hives.
"Yes that's all" Maura smiled, hoping Sophia was satisfied with her answer.
"Well... No need to scream about that if you ask me. TJ always says that you two would get together one day, he said uncle Tommy, Frankie and Frost are always talking about you getting together, even putting bets on it you know" Sophia answered casually. She isn't shocked at all by the news Maura is telling her, she knew her mommy loved Maura. She just didn't understand why they couldn't be a couple, but Jane always told her that it were just grown up things she wouldn't understand.
Maura on the other hand is shocked by the thing Sophia just said. The little girl knew? Tommy, Frost and Frankie knew? Everyone knew?! She had to sit down, hands shaking. At that moment Jane came back into the kitchen, seeing Maura all flustered and sitting shakily on a chair. "Maura?! Are you okay?! What happened?!" she ran up to Maura who wasn't answering her. "Sophia?" Jane tried her daughter.
"I... I didn't do anything! I just told her that uncle Tommy, Frankie and Frost are putting bets on when you two would get together"
"They what?!" Jane asked in disbelieve. At that moment Maura was able to speak again "They knew Jane... Everyone knew! How could they know?!"
"Well... uncle Frankie said It's kind of obvious..." Sophia states "You are living together, always cuddling and teasing each other, looking at each other just like couples do. And Frost said it just didn't make sense why you weren't a couple yet".
"Everyone knew..." Maura sighed.
Jane looked up to her daughter "So... You're okay with this too?"
"Of course I am. It's not like there's anything changing is it?"
"Nothing's changing...little smarty-pants" Jane muttered.
Sophia smiled "well I'm happy for you mommy, you too Maura" she gave them both a hug and went to the living room to watch some cartoons.
"Everyone knew..." Maura was still a bit in shock.
"Well... Good thing about that is that we apparently don't have to tell anyone, or be afraid that they won't approve, clearly they were al waiting for us"
"Why haven't they said anything?" Maura asked.
"They probably didn't want to push us, which is very nice of them"
"Yes it is... I just have to process the new information I guess"
"Well take your time Maur... You think you can handle it on your own? Or should I call Frost and tell him I'll come in a bit later?"
"No, you can go, I'll be fine. Can we talk about this tonight?"
"Of course we can Maur... I'll call you later to check up okay?"
"Okay Jane, have a good day"
"Another good thing about things being told is that I can do this in public from now on" Jane said as she kissed Maura.
"Hmm... I think that's a great thing indeed" Maura smiled.
When Jane had left Sophia came back into the kitchen
"You still sad Maura?"
"No Sophia, I was just a bit shocked but I'm okay now" Maura smiled.
"Good, I didn't want to upset you"
"It's okay Sophia, what do you think about baking some cookies to get over the shock?"
"Will they be healthy?" Sophia frowned, knowing about Maura's thing for healthy cooking.
"Hmm... Well maybe we can make them a bit unhealthy, just for this occasion"
"Can we put chocolate in them?" Sophia tried her luck.
"You definitely have your moms craving for unhealthy food" Maura smiled as she ruffled Sophia's hair "Yes we'll put chocolate in them"
"Yes!" Sophia screamed as she pumps her fist in the air.