It's their first anniversary and Jane is nervous as hell. She's got the ring in her pocket and everything planned out with perfect precision. She's fidgeting in the driver's seat of Maura's Prius while the owner sits regally in the passenger seat, blindfolded but at ease. The questions came to a standstill about ten miles back, the doctor finally accepting the fact that Jane wanted this occasion to be a surprise.
They're bundled up because it's spring and where they're going will be cold. It's probably not the most romantic way Jane could have come up with to ask Maura, but she wants it to be special and Maura has been wanting this for ages. She spots their destination in the distance. The multicoloured fabric is easy to see in the setting sun's final rays. She takes a calming breath as she pulls into a gravel parking lot and parks the car.
Maura's bubbling with excitement behind her blindfold. It's almost time. She's felt the car stop, the light kiss Jane placed on her temple before getting out of the car. And there she is now, opening Maura's door and placing a firm hand on her elbow to help her up and out of her passenger seat. It's all very mysterious and thoughtful; Maura doesn't think she's ever been so in love with her secretly-sweet-as-honey detective. Until she's brought to a stop on what feels like grass and Jane takes her blindfold off, revealing her gift.
"Oh Jane," she sighs happily. "Are you sure about this?" she asks, gazing up at the balloon filling with hot air.
Jane shrugs, "I'm sure about you." She wraps her arm around Maura's shoulders, oblivious to the butterflies fluttering in the doctor's stomach, and leads her into the basket.
It's only a couple of minutes before the captain has them lifting off the ground and the breeze is brisk as the sun dips lower on the horizon. Jane arranged for a bottle of champagne and two plastic flutes to be up here with them even though it's only a twenty minute cruise. Her arms are wrapped around Maura, attempting to shield the doctor from the chill creeping into both their bones.
Maura tilts her head to whisper in Jane's ear, "Thank you so much for taking me here." And she pecks the detective on the cheek.
Jane's been silently freaking out ever since she felt the basket waver as they rose into the air. But Maura's words and her kiss and her touch are comforting. She forgets where she is for the moment and a hand slips into her pocket. She turns the doctor around slowly so that she's no longer taking in the golden view, but staring straight into Jane's deep brown eyes.
"While we're here, there's something I've been meaning to ask you..." she lets the sentence trail off at the questioning glance Maura's sending her, knowing that as soon as she makes her next move everything will be crystal clear. She clears the lump in her throat and takes Maura's left hand in her own before getting down on one knee. She gazes into those beautifully expressive eyes, now sparkling with moisture as the realization hits.
Maura's heart is pounding wildly in her chest. She feels like she might implode because Jane, her Jane, is several hundred feet up in the air and pulling out a ring box.
"Doctor Maura Dorothea Isles," Jane pauses to grin at the middle name usage. "I have a question for you. The most important question I could ever ask anyone. And I'm asking you. Maur, I know that I can be an idiotic ass sometimes. I know that every once in a while, I drink a few too many beers or I push you away when I should just let you hold me. But I swear to you that no one loves you as much as I do. No one wants to be with you as much as me because you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You're the best thing that could ever happen to anyone. You're passionate and beautiful and such an inherently good person that it scares me sometimes. You scare me sometimes because I've never wanted, I've never needed anyone as much as I need and want you. I want you to be mine, Maura, and I want to be yours. Only yours, forever." There are tears threatening to escape from Jane's eyes; Maura's eyes have already lost that battle. They're both smiling and Jane feels no qualms or terrible gut feelings that she's making a mistake.
"Will you marry me?"
Maura falls to her knees in front of Jane, tears glistening on her cheeks. She pulls the detective's face towards her and kisses her sweetly on the lips over and over again, murmuring "Yes" between each meeting of their mouths. Jane pulls away from the contact with the biggest Rizzoli-grin lighting up her face so that she can place the ring on Maura's finger; where it will stay for the remainder of time itself.