A/N: Well, I did that thing again where this is a continuation from the previous chapter. More of these are two-shots than I ever expected, lol.

Angela still couldn't believe someone would let their ten-year-old child fly alone. Sure the trip from D.C. to Boston was only an hour and a half by flight, but Angela couldn't imagine putting any of her children on an airplane by themselves.

Because of Maura's minor status, the Rizzoli's were permitted to meet her at the gate. Their group consisted of Angela, Jane, and Frankie, who'd wanted to come along to go for a ride. Tommy had wanted to as well, but with Maura, there wouldn't be enough room for all the kids in the backseat of their old Honda, so he'd stayed home with Frank.

As soon as people began deplaning, Jane leapt to her feet and tried climbing on top of a seat to see better.

"Jane, get down!" Angela hissed, tugging Jane's sleeve.

"But Ma, how'll I see her?"

"We'll see her, don't worry."

"Do you think maybe she'll get off last? Do you think she'll be in the middle someplace? I told you what she said she looked like, right? Sort of brown-blonde hair, and light brown eyes, and she said she'd be wearing a pink headband and, um—and a pink jacket and jeans."

Angela couldn't help smiling at Jane's behavior. She never would have imagined that Jane would get so invested in St. Dominic Elementary's mandatory pen pal program; she had rolled her eyes at the project at first, but soon became enamored with her pen pal. Angela didn't see it as a crush, per se, but she thought it was cute that whenever she handed a letter to Jane, Jane whooped like she'd just scored a winning basket.

"Ma, look at this picture from National Geographic Maura sent me!" "Ma, look how good her cursive is!" "Ma, did you know people used to think there were nine planets?!" "Ma, look at this drawing she did!" "OH MY GOSH, MA, DID YOU KNOW FLAMINGOS AREN'T ACTUALLY PINK?!"

On reading Maura's letter about her sad Thanksgiving, Jane had begged Angela to let the girl spend Christmas with them. Angela had to admit that it sounded like the invitation could be at least appreciated, and she used the number Maura had given to get in touch with Mrs. Isles, who had agreed to the idea quicker than Angela had expected.

"Now Mrs. Isles, this was just an idea my daughter had. I don't want to take your little girl away from you at this time of year—"

"We aren't practicing Christians, Mrs. Rizzoli. December 25th does not hold any particular interest to us. I'm sure Maura would be thrilled for the chance to spend some time with Jane, but I don't want to put you out."

"Nonsense! At Christmas, it's more the merrier. We would love to have her here."

"Ma. MA! Look, there she is!"

Maura had just appeared in the throngs of people, and Angela raised her eyebrows: this child was dressed in clothes that had probably cost more than what each of the Rizzoli's were wearing combined. She seemed unusually stylish for a ten-year-old as well, and unusually serious. No, not serious. Just… nervous? Uncomfortable? Poor thing was probably shaken after flying alone. (What Angela failed to know, of course, was that Maura had been flying solo for the last three years, usually on significantly longer flights.)

But when Jane ran forward yelling her name, Maura's eyes went to her at once, and her face broke out into a beautiful smile that warmed Angela's heart.

She could hardly believe what she was seeing when her daughter who hated hugs threw her arms around a person she was just meeting for the first time.

"You made it!" Jane shouted. "Your plane didn't crash!"

"Of course not!" Maura laughed. She'd looked startled by this overt expression of affection, but had returned it fairly quickly. "Statistically speaking, planes are the safest way to travel."

With one more squeeze, Jane pulled back to look at her, taking in every detail. "Wow," she breathed, brushing a loose strand of hair away from Maura's face. "You didn't say you were so pretty!"

"Oh, I…" Maura was blushing at the compliment, not sure how to respond to it. "Thank you?"

"You're welcome!" Jane said happily.

Taking Maura's arm, Jane introduced her mom and brother, and didn't unlink her arm until they'd gotten into the car with Maura's suitcase. Once she was buckled in, Maura took something out of her pocket and leaned towards the front seat.

"Here, Mrs. Rizzoli," she said, waving a fifty-dollar bill. "This is from my parents, to help pay for any gasoline you use to drive me to and from the airport."

"What?! No, honey, you hold onto that."

"What? But… you should… no. It's gas money. I have money to pay for food, too, if we ever went out."

"Well I'm sorry, young lady, but you're not going to get the chance to spend any of it," Angela said, pulling out of the airport garage. "Your parents sent you here, and that's the only gift we need, okay? I don't want to hear another word about you trying to pay us, okay?"

Maura slunk down in her seat a little at Angela's stern tone. "Okay," she said meekly.

"Look at all the snow!" Jane said excitedly, gesturing out the window. "It just came in last night! We were afraid your plane might not be able to make it, but I guess they cleaned it up okay."

Maura shivered. "I don't like the snow."

Jane and Frankie's jaws both dropped. "You don't like snow?!" Jane gasped. "Is that even allowed?!"

"When there's snow, there's ice, and I don't like ice."

"But you can go ice-skating when there's ice!" Jane said. "And sometimes people slip, and it's so funny! Ma, remember that time last year when we were carrying groceries to the house, and you slipped and all the apples came rolling out of the bag, down the driveway?"

All the Rizzoli's were laughing at the memory, but Maura stayed somber. "What's the matter, honey?" Angela asked. "Did you have a bad fall on the ice, once? Those can be scary sometimes, I know."

"We almost got in a car accident once because of some ice," Maura explained. "It scares me."

"Yeah but don't you like playing in the snow, though?" Jane asked. Maura shook her head. "What the heck? Why not?"

Maura shrugged, nervous that she was making a bad impression on Jane. "It's no fun playing by yourself after a while. You just get all cold."

"Wouldn't your parents play with you?" Jane asked, as if this would have been the most natural thing in the world.

For the life of her, Maura could not picture either of her parents frolicking in the snow. "No!" she laughed.

Angela said, "I know you haven't got any siblings, Maura, but what about the neighborhood kids? Your friends?"

"I don't like playing with other kids," Maura admitted quietly, and she was blushing again. "They're not very nice."

"Well we are very nice," Jane said, pointing to herself and Frankie. "And you're going to have a lot of fun in the snow with us."

"What about frostbite?"

"You won't get frostbite."

"What about … I'm not dressed for it."

"You can borrow my brother Tommy's snowpants. They'd probably fit you, and we've got tons of gloves and scarves and stuff you could borrow."

When they pulled up to the Rizzoli home a short while later, it was to see that Frank was partially finished with a snow fort. He waved as the car pulled into the driveway, and went around to the trunk for Maura's things as the kids piled out of the car. "What's all this?" Angela asked, gesturing to the yard.

"Well Tommy's not feeling too good, as you know," Frank said, nodding at the bay window where Tommy was waving. "And he thought it'd be pretty fun to watch a snowball fight. So I thought the kids could build another fort and kinda get a war going." He crouched a bit so he was at Maura's level, and with a smile, extended his hand to her. "Hi there! Welcome to our humble home, Maura."

"Thank you, Mr. Rizzoli."

"So polite!" Angela sighed. "Isn't she adorable, Frank?"

"Hey, I'm polite, too!" Jane argued, before promptly tripping Frankie so he faceplanted the snow in the yard.

Before their shenanigans could go on too much longer, Angela herded everyone into the garage for some proper winter gear. She couldn't help thinking how cute it was that Jane seemed unable to shut up, beaming as she talked to Maura. At first, Maura was a little overwhelmed - she wasn't accustomed to other kids talking to her this much. She warmed to it pretty fast, though. She liked that Jane was taking such an interest in her, in getting to know her even more and telling her funny stories.

She didn't feel cold at all as they constructed their own snow fort while Frank helped his son finish the other. As Jane showed her the proper way to support their foundation, Maura talked about her mother's art shows and her father's work. Jane listened with rapt attention, and that was another thing Maura wasn't used to. Kids tended to zone out when she spoke. Their eyes wandered, their minds clearly left, and they would take any excuse possible to leave the conversation.

"You ever make a snowball before?" Jane asked.

"No."

"Geez, that's a shame! Well, let me show you." Jane took a fistful of snow and Maura quickly copied her. "Okay, you wanna make sure you get about this much, okay? Then you pack it like this," she said, twisting her wrists as she rounded the snow into a shape. "If you really wanna get intense, you could put like ice or rocks in the middle, but my Ma doesn't let us do that. Anyway, you just want to get it tight enough so that it won't crumble when you throw it, okay?"

"Like this?" Maura asked anxiously, handing her snowball over for approval.

"Yeah! It's perfect!" Jane said, already starting another.

"How many do we make?"

"Enough so we have a pile." Jane glanced over the edge of their semi-circle fort, trying to see if she could get an idea of how many weapons her father and Frankie were preparing. "That's the trick—as soon as the fight starts, you gotta try and not get hit and you also gotta keep making ammo!"

Maura, who had been taking time to carefully craft her second snowball into a perfect spherical shape, looked taken aback. "But if you have to move so fast, how can you make sure they look good?"

Jane shrugged. "They don't have to look good! You just have to be able to throw it."

"I… I'm not very good at throwing things, like in sports," Maura said with a frown. "You might not want me on your side."

"Of course I want you on my side, Maura! And I always wanna be on your side."

"You said in one of your letters that you're very competitive, though."

That was true, and Jane could've lied and said it was just a game and winning didn't matter, but she'd have been exposed as soon as the snowball fight began. She bit her lip, then straightened up and yelled across the yard, "Maura's never been in a snowball fight before, so go easy! And we're gonna do a few practice throws!"

Before Maura could stop her, Jane got up and jogged over to the other side of the yard. Grinning, she gestured for Maura to toss a snowball, and Maura nervously took aim and fired. The ball landed several feet short, and Frankie burst out laughing. Jane could see Maura's face redden, and Jane retaliated by quickly packing a snowball and throwing it hard at her brother, who quickly shut up.

"That was a good first try!" Jane said. "Just wind your arm back and throw as hard as you can, okay?"

Jane's form and speed had both been impressive, and Maura did her best to mimic it as she bit her lip and took aim again. Frank yelled for her to keep both eyes open, and as she did, the next snowball she threw almost hit Jane's foot.

"Nice shot! Try one more!"

This one hit Jane on the shoulder, and was considered a commendable victory. She hurried back to the fort as her brother and father clapped, and Maura looked flushed with her success.

"See? I knew you could do it!" Jane said, making some more snowballs to make up for the ones Maura had used.

"All right, and we're starting in fifteen!…fourteen!" Frank shouted, starting a countdown and Frankie joining in.

"Are there any rules?" Maura asked.

With her back to the fort wall, Jane shimmied so she was hidden from view, and Maura followed suit. "Yep. No leaving the proximity of your fort, hits to the face don't count, and like I said, no ice or rocks."

"That's it?"

"That's it! Oh, except one more thing. C'mere." She waved her hand a little, and Maura leaned closer. "Good luck kiss." Maura barely had the time to process what Jane had stammered before she felt Jane's lips touch her cheek.

"…zero! OnyourmarkgetsetGO!"

Jane turned around and reared onto her knees, launching her first snowball. Maura stayed slumped against the fort for a moment, not feeling quite so cold anymore.

a/n: And then afterwards they huddled under a blanket in front of the fire with hot cocoa and held hands. The end.