Chapter 9

They drove for almost half an hour and Maura was wondering where their trip would end until she saw thousands of little lights looming up in front of them. She was smiling when they got near their destination "You're taking me to a fair Jane?".

Jane looked over at Maura "You like that idea? It's on a beach so I thought that if you didn't like it we could always go for a walk there" she said, sounding nervous.

Maura took Jane's hand in hers, kissing her knuckles "I love the idea Jane, anything with you is perfect"

They parked the car and Jane walked around to open Maura's door and help her out. She put her arm around Maura's back as they walked to the entrance of the fair. It wasn't very busy so they walked around at first, just happy to be there in each others company.

"Anything you'd like to do Maur?" Jane asked as she pulled Maura closer.

"What about the Ferris Wheel?" Maura opted. Jane nodded and they went off to get in line. They had to wait a few minutes which Jane used to kiss Maura "You look so beautiful tonight" she said into Maura's hair.

Maura ran her hands over Jane's back "You too, and I already love this date, it's the best first date I ever had".

Jane smiled at her "It just started Maura, wait till the end before you says things like that, maybe it'll bring bad luck or something and we'll get stuck at the top of the Ferris Wheel"

Maura giggled "I would love that".

They were at the front of the line and had to wait till an empty cart came down. When Maura looked away Jane secretly said something to the man who worked at the Ferris Wheel. The man nodded and opened the gate so Jane and Maura could get in. The Ferris Wheel started to move and they both enjoyed the view over the fair and the beach. Maura sat closer to Jane and wrapped her arms around Jane's torso. Snuggled up like that they reached the top when suddenly the wheel stopped moving. Maura looked up at Jane who said "You see? I told you Maura, bad luck".

Maura looked down "I don't think so Jane, they just stopped so people could get out". But the wheel didn't move for a few minutes and Maura started to worry "What if we're really stuck up here?!"

Jane grinned and wrapped her arms around Maura "It will move baby, I just asked the workers to stop the wheel when we were on top so we could enjoy it for a while".

"Jane! You also did it to scare me didn't you?" Maura said as Jane grinned

"Maybe a little". Jane leaned over to Maura and kissed her softly "I'm sorry, I promise I'll make it up to you"

They got down and stepped out of the Ferris Wheel.
"Would you like something to drink Maura? I have dinner planned somewhere else so you wouldn't have to eat the unhealthy food they sell here" Jane said as she led Maura to the food and drinks area.

"Oh that's sweet of you Jane, what about a milkshake?" Jane nodded and walked off to buy their drinks.

She came back with a milkshake for Maura and a slushy for herself "Do you want to take a walk at the beach Maur?" she asked, linking their arms. Maura nodded and they took off to the beach.

They walked across the gaming area where people were trying to win one of the stuffed animals that hung above the little tents. "Oh look! That one's Olaf! He's from Sophia's favorite movie" Jane said as she pointed to a stuffed snowman "Sophia's gonna hate me for not bringing her"

"Maybe you can take her this weekend Jane" Maura said.

"Yeah, when no case comes up I think I will" Jane smiled "Let's go to the beach"

"Maybe..." Maura said when they walked to the beach " When you take Sophia to the fair this weekend, you can talk to her about marriage and babies".

Jane spat out her drink "What?!"

Maura grinned "Well she asked me about it today but I think it's your job to talk to her about the birds and the bees you know..."

Jane looked at her, shock written over her face "She did not!"

"Oh yes she did Jane... She has our wedding already planned in her head and she said that we could ask Casey for another baby" Maura said, trying to hide her laughter while Jane's eyes got wider and wider.

"Noooo!" Jane covered her eyes with her hands.

"And then your mother walked in..."

"That's even worse! What did she say? Did she push you into anything?"

"Well she got all excited of course, but I said to her that we need to talk about it first and she agreed"

"She'll never let us live this..." Jane sighed.

"No I don't think she would, but don't let this ruin our evening Jane we can talk about it later"

"Yeah you're right, would you wait here for a few minutes? I have something planned but I need some time to set it up" Maura nodded and while Jane went away she sat down in the sand.

Fifteen minutes went by before Jane came back. "Okay all done, you can come with me now please" she said as she helped Maura back to her feet. They walked up the beach until they reached a small fire place. The fire was burning and there was a blanket on the ground with a picnic basket on top of it. "I thought we could have dinner here, just the two of us underneath the stars" Jane whispered in Maura's ear.

Maura turned around and put her arms around Jane's waist "What a lovely idea Jane, I didn't know you were the romantic type" she gave Jane a small kiss. "Anything for my beautiful lady" Jane said.

They sat down on the blanket and Jane started to unpack the picnic basket. She had put a lot of work into filling the basket, searching for all the things she knew Maura liked. "Oh Jane, this is lovely!" Maura looked at all the things Jane had put out on the blanket. She grabbed two small glasses and opened the bottle of wine Jane gave her. While she filled the glasses, Jane put the food out on two plates. They ate in silence for a few minutes, both looking out over the sea. "This really is the best first date I ever had Jane" Maura happily sighed after she finished her dinner and she laid her head on Jane's shoulder.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it Maura, I did my best to make this a special evening to remember so we can tell our kids about this when we're old".

Maura looked up at Jane "our kids?"

"Yeah... Maybe I'm thinking ahead too soon, but someday I would love to marry you Maur and maybe have some more kids too. I love Sophia so much, I want more of that and I want you to feel the happy feeling of being a mum too, if you want that of course" Jane looked shyly at the ground.

Maura felt like her heart was about to explode with all the love she felt for Jane at that moment. She pushed Jane's shoulder until she was lying on her back and then rolled on top of her. She kissed Jane passionately until they were both breathing hard. Then she put her hands around Jane's face so she had to look up at her. "I love you Jane Rizzoli, and even if it's too soon I would love to marry you some day. I want to be the best mommy for Sophia and I would love to raise more kids together with you. Teaching them funny stuff and watching them grow up into beautiful people, because the kids we'll raise will turn out as beautiful creatures. I want to be with you, growing old together, be there whenever you need me, kiss you before you go to sleep and after you wake up..." She couldn't continue her speech because Jane rolled them over and kissed her hard.

After a little make out session Jane rolled off of Maura and they both lay on their back, silently looking at the stars for a while.

"Are we doing this right Maur?" Jane whispered after a few minutes of silence.

"What do you mean Jane?" Maura turned her head so she could look at Jane and she saw a few tears running down her face.

"I don't know... We decided we wanted to take things slow but I'm already thinking about marriage and having kids with you. I don't want to blow this up because we went too fast too soon" Jane said.

"I understand that Jane and I still think it would be best if we take things slow. But that doesn't mean we can't dream about what we want, we'll just have to wait for a while before we can make it happen. And I know, right now everything is just a big bubble full of happiness because we had to hold in all of these feelings for so many years. But that will fade away Jane and then things will become normal again. That's the moment when we will know how we want our life to be and then we can take a next step into a future together".

"You're so smart" Jane said as she turned over so she could look at Maura "I don't know if being with you will ever turn into normal, even after eight years of friendship you still amaze me with your beauty and your big beautiful brains. I think I don't even want this to become normal, I want to stay in our big bubble of happiness"

Maura smiled at her "Well research proved that every relationship reaches a point where things become normal, even boring for some people"

Jane got up on one arm " Well I think we're an exception to that rule"

Maura giggled "You definitely are an exception to many proven rules Jane"

Jane started tickling Maura "You think so huh?!"

When the tickling stopped and Maura caught her breath again she said "Let's just keep doing the things the way we did Jane, I think we did perfectly well the last few days. And we can talk about our dreams and the steps that we want to make to get closer to our destination"

Jane kissed her "I think that's perfect Maur... As long as I'm with you and Sophia everything is perfect"

It got late and cold so they packed up their stuff and went back to the car.
"Jane?"

"Yes Maur?" "I was thinking... Would you like to end this date perfectly and take the next step?"

"What's our next step?"

"Well I thought that maybe you could sleep in my bed?"

"Where would you sleep then?" Jane said playfully.

Maura gave Jane a little slap on her butt "Maybe I was wrong, you should sleep on the couch"

Jane grinned "Just teasing you Maur, I would love to share your bed"

They packed the car and drove back home, a new step was about to be taken.