This chapter is more fluff but i promise in the chapters to come the difficult discussions about their lives back in Boston/DC will start to commence...enjoy!

5

Once they arrived back from their coffee, the two women thought it would be best to go their separate ways and go to their own rooms. As much as they wanted to be in each others company, they would have all day tomorrow to spend with and did not want to rush this new relationship.

It was 2am and Jane's eyes were still glued to her laptop. "What an idiot" Jane thought to herself, "why on earth would I suggest this, I know nothing about Paris!" She looked down at the notepad next to her and read the list. "Breakfast, lunch, dinner" Jane laughed to herself, this was the worse itinerary ever constructed. Then it hit her. She realised this was ridiculous. The whole point of the day should be to spend quality time with each other doing things that they both enjoy in one way or another, there was no pressure on this, the only pressure Jane was feeling was from herself. She knew exactly what to do, and with that, she closed her laptop and turned off the lamp. Smiling as she closed her eyes, tomorrow would be a great day.

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Maura woke with a stretch and smile. The sun was attempting to burst through the curtains, the Parisian rush hour traffic was in full flow and full volume and today was the first day that Maura woke up feeling totally content with where her life was heading. She pulled the sheets back and stepped into the en-suite to get herself ready for the day ahead.

Once showered, Maura considered what to wear. Knowing Jane, it would be a jeans and sneakers day so she decided to pull on some deep blue skinny jeans which hugged her figure perfectly and a cream cashmere v-neck sweater. Luckily she had purchased some Converse sneakers before leaving for Paris incase they would be required - today she knew they would.

Walking out of the bedroom she was greeted by the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Upon getting to the kitchen she found the coffee but there was no Jane. The doctor frowned wondering where she could be, her bedroom door was wide open so she knew she wasn't in there. She turned back to the coffee, grabbed a mug from the cupboard and began to pour. Suddenly a loud noise came from the stairwell and the door flew open, Jane stood there with a grocery bag under each arm and one in her mouth. Hurrying over to the kitchen island and dropping the bag from mouth, she began to speak "morning Maur, so sorry I wasn't here when you woke up, I went to buy breakfast and clearly my french is not up to the calibre that is understood by small Parisian bakeries...needless to say, a lot of hand gesturing occurred and I may have got frustrated. BUT, in the end I succeeded, I have the food and your mystery day will begin just as soon as I get breakfast pulled together!"

The Italian then dropped the two bags that were under her arms onto the counter and began to unpack the contents. She paused and looked back up at Maura who was standing there watching her and smiling. "Oh and Maur, you look really pretty today" she said as she walked over and planted a soft kiss on the honey blondes lips. "Oh I managed to find somewhere that sold english newspapers so got some for you to read whilst I prepare breakfast. So go sit, read, relax. I'll be 30 minutes tops."

"Thank you Jane, that's very thoughtful. You're very sweet."

Jane winked at the honey blonde "yeah yeah, only to you and you can keep that information to yourself as well! Now go sit."

After around 30 minutes, Jane had it all prepared. The small table by the french windows looking out onto the city was all set for breakfast. Coffee, pastries, fruit, yoghurt, juice, she had all the bases covered...she hoped! She approached Maura and held out her hand to help pull her up off of the sofa "Breakfast awaits, I hope you're hungry", leading Maura to the table and pulling her chair out for her, Jane wanted to do everything properly and right today.

"Jane this looks wonderful, thank you. I'm impressed you felt the need to buy fresh fruit, maybe you do listen to me regarding a nutritious start to the day."

"Nah" the Italian responded, "that's for you, I'm more than happy with baked goods filled with buttery or chocolate goodness in the form of pastries!" And with that Jane took a bite of a pan au chocolate with a smile.

Breakfast was a leisurely affair of general conversation, laughter and Maura constantly trying to find different ways to ask what Jane had planned for the day. By the time they cleaned up and got ready to leave the apartment it was approaching 10.30am. Perfect, Jane thought, they would be at the first destination for the planned time of 11am.

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The couple left the apartment and caught the metro to Centre Georges Pompidou. Maura's eyes lit up as they approached "Jane, this is very thoughtful of you thank you so much...but I have a feeling you're going to screw your nose up and eye roll at everything I get excited about."

Jane put her arm around the doctors shoulder "well, I can't promise that wont happen - in some instances...or most instances come to think about it...but i'm coming into this with an open mind, you love it so i'll try and like it. This is how this relationship thing is meant to work right?" Jane smiled and pulled on Maura's arm, dragging her towards the entrance.

"Hmmmm relationship" Maura thought, a label she could get used to, they were in a relationship, a commitment, one she had wanted Jane to take steps to cement for a very long time. She smiled to herself and picked up the pace to keep up with Jane, hopeful that in the next couple of hours she could convince Jane that art was interesting!

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The next two hours passed quickly...for Maura that was. Jane on the other hand considered it to be one of the longest two hours of her adult life. She tried her best to be interested and there were some pieces that she could understand and acknowledge as interesting, but that was probably about 15 minutes of the entire two hours. However, the detective really didn't care. She got to surprise Maura with something that she would enjoy and she got to see Maura excited, happy, content and that made her boredom worth it. Besides, she had something planned later that may have been inspired by her own interests rather than Maura's, so the last thing she was going to do was to show any sort of complaint about part one of 'mystery card' day.

Upon exiting the gallery Maura beamed "that was excellent! See I knew you could enjoy art. It's inspiring isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm feeling totally inspired! Grab me a paint brush immediately!" Jane responded. Maura punched her on the arm, "owww, ok, you got me! I was joking. I can appreciate how people enjoy it and I can appreciate the skill involved in some instances. But to be honest I mainly enjoyed watching you looking so content. I love to watch you in your element. Its fascinating. And you look super cute, which certainly helps stop any boredom."

"Good...I think. I'm glad you took some enjoyment from it, even if the art can't take all the credit for that." The honey blonde then stepped forward onto her tip toes and planted a soft kiss on Jane's lips. Jane smiled responded, "I'm glad you feel that way, in fact it's great you feel that way as I am taking you to something I regard as 'art' next. So i'm hoping you can be as open minded as me."

Maura scoffed, "As open minded as you?! Jane Rizzoli I really do not see how you would ever consider me more closed minded than you! So, I can safely say I am positive that anything you have planned I will endeavour to enjoy."

"Well, we best get going then if you're that keen. Pre-game build up is always worth watching, you know, to build up the atmosphere." Jane said with a cheeky grin on her face.

The doctor looked confused "Pre-game build up?"

"Yes Maura, pre-game build up. I wanted today to be about merging both of our interests, so we can both look back on our first date with fond memories. Oh on that note, not only is this 'mystery day' I am also classifying it as a very elongated first date - ok? Good. Sooooo today Maura Isles, you get to watch your first live soccer game with yours truly!" And with that, Jane pulled two Paris Saint Germain jerseys from her backpack and handed one to the doctor who just stood still staring straight at her.

After a couple of vacant blinks Maura began to speak "I know this is not the reaction you were probably expecting but this is a fabulous idea Jane! Merging both our interests for our first 'official date' is actually perfect, and really thoughtful. Who would have imagined I would be so excited to attend a soccer game."

"Errrm, no, you are correct,that was not the reaction I thought I was going to have to field but it makes my life easier so i'm not going to complain. And don't worry, the day doesn't end with the football. As it's an afternoon kick off it gave me the evening to plan a more Maura friendly event to finish the mystery day."

Maura smiled and tilted her her to look at the raven haired beauty standing before her, "you didn't have to do that, but I must say i'm glad this day goes on past the afternoon. I want to enjoy every minute..." She pulled the jersey over her head and over her sweater "...including this soccer game! ALLEZ PARIS!"

Jane laughed and pulled her jersey on too "Well come on then doctor" Jane said with a wiggle of the eyebrows, "we have some fun to be had!" And with that, hand in hand, the women headed towards the metro to make their way to part 2 of mystery day - the Parc des Princes.