11

The two women climbed out of the taxi, Jane heading to the trunk to grab the bags, Maura heading to the front door so it was unlocked for easy access. Jane paid the taxi driver and grabbed as many bags as she could whilst stumbling towards the door "Jeez Maur, did you buy one of everything in the frufru la fru shops in Paris?! Hope you didn't have anything planned this afternoon, your girlfriend has pulled every muscle in her arms!"

Jane practically launched the bags across the hallway in victory of getting them to the door in one trip. The doctor smiled and wrapped her arms around the lanky Italian's neck "girlfriend huh? I can get used to that." She lent in and kissed the detective on the lips. Jane took control and pushed the doctor up against the front door, deepening the kiss, planting each of her hands either side of Maura's shoulders for support. Both women broke away for air "well i don't know about you my love but I could really use a long, hot shower..." Jane's eyes darted up to watch Maura head to towards the staircase, the honey blonde paused and turned to face the flustered Italian "...care to join me detective?"

Jane pulled her t-shirt over her head and threw it towards the sofa, abs still heaving in and out from the mild make out session. She ran passed Maura and grabbed her hand to lead her up the stairs "you don't need to ask me twice, i'm 5 steps ahead of you! Lets go before my mother works out the time and invades!"

Maura ran up the stairs behind Jane, following her lead in disrobing en-route to the bathroom "Jane did you have to mention your mother, lets just enjoy being impulsive, without worrying about..."

"Jaaaaniee, Mauraaaa - you home?"

Both women paused immediately. Jane's face filled with annoyance "Crap! Oh come on! What am I? 15 again?! I'm not old enough to fool around with my girlfriend without my mother interrupting!? Give me a break!"

Maura's startled face suddenly cracked a huge smile. She started giggling uncontrollably. The Italian was not as amused "ooooh, sure. Funny is it? Funny when it's not your mother? Well i've got news for you Maura, this will not be a one time occurrence. She's an intruder, she's intrusive, nosey and has no perception to situations! So you better hope that when I...I mean we...when we tell her about us she either hates the idea and stays away, or she falls for your 'honeymoon' period theory and acts like a normal human-being by oh, I don't know, KNOCKING BEFORE ENTERING!"

The honey blonde hair was now covering Maura's face and mascara was running down her cheeks. Not through upset, but through hysterically laughing at the situation. Both women were still at the top of the stairs and both topless other than their underwear. Jane knew she had to respond before her mother decided to explore the house and notice the bags in the hallway. She ran to Maura's room and grabbed a shirt from the closet and put it on as she ran passed the hopeless heap that was Maura and responded to her mothers calls.

"Hey ma!"

"Oh Janie! How was your trip? I want to hear all about it! Where's Maura?"

Jane went to answer "Oh Maura's just.." Angela cut her off.

"Er Jane, what is that shirt? Don't tell me you wore this outfit in first class?! I can't believe Maura would let you into a first class cabin wearing that."

The raven haired beauty looked down, immediately regretting the blind choice she had made. It was the FBI t-shirt she had got for Maura on her initial trip to DC...boob inspector.

"What? Ah no, this old thing. It was a joke t-shirt i got myself in DC, i've just thrown it on as i've got back here. Spilt coffee on the shirt I had on and Maura wanted the first shower." Nice save Rizzoli, she thought to herself.

The matriarch nodded then paused with a quizzical look on her face "but Maura has a guest bedroom with an en-suite, why would you need to wait to use Maura's shower?"

Crap! Why can't she stop with the logical questions! "Errr...well I wanted a bigger shower to relax in, so thought i'd wait - that's all. Gees ma, whats with the 20 questions?!"

"Ok, ok, it was a simple question Jane, I'll say no more."

"Actually ma, do you mind coming back a bit later, I know Maura is excited to tell you all about our trip but can we do it over dinner? And wine...lots of wine. It's just both of us need to rest up for a couple hours to get back on track. You understand right?"

Angela nodded, "Of course baby. I'll leave you two to it, but i'll be back at 7 tonight. I'll make lasagne. Bet you could use some home cooked Italian nutrition."

"That sounds perfect, thanks ma. We'll see you later."

And with that Jane ushered her mother out of the door and locked it behind her. She turned to find a more gathered and composed Maura standing midway down the stairs...still topless. The Italian grinned and made her way towards the stairs "Now doctor, where were we..."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After a long, and some what tiring shower, both women were ready to relax for a couple of hours. They had decided to watch a movie in bed, sleep would do them no good as they would ruin their chance of a regular nights sleep later. Jane decided it was her turn to choose, Beauty and the Beast. She couldn't believe Maura hadn't seen these Disney classics so decided now was the time to start educating her.

The were around half way through the film when Maura sat up "Wait. Is this film inferring that a human woman is falling in love with a beast...so basically an animal?"

Jane rolled her eyes "yes Maur, it is. It's a love story."

"Well in that case don't you think its teaching children the wrong messages. I mean, this could be inferring that it's ok to fall in love romantically with an animal Jane. That's known as beastiality."

Jane chocked on her soda "Maura! Why does everything have to be literal, this film came out like 20 years ago and I don't recall reading about a beastiality epidemic in the younger generations! It's teaching that love comes in all forms and it's whats below the surface. It's a good message. It's teaching kids not to judge on appearances."

Maura tilted her head slightly "Oh. Well yes, I suppose it is. What a great message."

Jane laughed, "So now it's a great message?" She leaned over and pulled Maura closer into her side. "It is a great message though. Love is love right? I'm glad you see beyond my surface. You're probably the only one I allow to see the vulnerabilities - but i'm glad you know that side of me."

Maura leaned in and kissed the Italian softly, "I see and love all of you."

Jane smiled "I see and love all of you too...but I gota say, your surface is pretty darn hard not to fall in love with - i mean, look at that rack." She winked and laughed, bracing herself for the slap on the arm she knew she was about to receive. "No seriously Maur, I really do...love you rack"

Jane jumped off the couch and ran to the kitchen to avoid being hit again. The doctor quickly chased her around the kitchen island. Both women were laughing, totally content in their bubble. Jane finally waved a white napkin in surrender and slid down the fridge so she was sitting on the floor with her back against it. Maura came and joined her.

"This is great you know Maur, I know nothing has really been sorted out with how this is going to work logistically, but this works - I mean we work. This is everything I could want. Thank you."

The doctor cupped the detectives cheeks and pulled her in for a deep passionate kiss. Janes hands crept under the hem on Maura's shirt and travelled upwards, looping around to her back. Maura took the hint and discarded her top in a matter of seconds, Jane reciprocated. Maura climbed on top of Jane's lap, straddling her legs and pinning her to the fridge door. Jane was in awe of this woman, how had she spent so long at a distance? She was absolutely mesmerising, no matter what she was doing, but being topless and straddling Jane sent the detective wild with want.

Jane took control and planted an arm behind Maura's back, gently forcing her back of the fridge so that she could use her weight to make Maura lay on the floor. The Italian put an arm either side of the doctor's head and began kissing her neck. Receiving appreciative moans she knew she was hitting the right spot. "You are so beautiful Maura, and i'm so thankful for you...i'm going to show you just how thankful I am...again...and again..."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The two women lay side by side on the kitchen floor, both heavy for breath.

"That was...amazing Jane."

"I know right - wow." The detective started to move, she rolled over and draped an arm over the doctors waist. Tilting her head slightly she noticed the time illuminated on the microwave - 6.45pm. "SHIT" Jane jumped to her feet. "Maur you've got to get up! Ma is always early and she's due round for 7pm! Crap crap crap! I'll shower first - come on!"

And with that the raven haired Italian shot up the stairs like she was racing Usain Bolt. Maura propped herself up on her elbows and blew he hair from her face "heaven forbid I get 2 minutes to relax!" She climbed to her feet, collected the clothes that had been littered across the kitchen and made her way towards the staircase.

As she perused her wardrobe to pick an ensemble for the evening, Jane exited the bathroom wrapped in a blue towel. Maura stepped out of the wardrobe "thank you Jane for that romantic end to what was a pleasurable afternoon."

"Oh come on Maur, you can't be mad at me for that. How would you have felt if we had laid there totally relaxed only to be interrupted by a key in the lock and my mother battling her way through the door with a lasagne to see us laying naked on the kitchen floor? You cannot tell me you would have preferred that? How romantic would that ending have been? I'll tell you - it would have been the total opposite of romantic...to the point of horrifying. So yes, I am SOOOOO sorry I thought to save you from that. Silly me." Jane lent in a pecked the sulking doctors porcelain cheek.

The honey blonde stood there pouting "well...Ok, you can make it up to me later, after we finish beauty and the beast." Maura shut the bathroom door leaving Jane to dry off and get dressed, ready to greet her mother and think of the best moment to break the news of the elephant that will well and truly be in the middle of the room - their relationship.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dead on 7pm Angela burst through the door with bags of groceries and a huge lasagne tray. "Hey girls! I'm here!"

Jane descended down the stairs and rushed over to grab some of the bags from her mothers hands. "Ma you know it's just the three of us right? There's enough here for a full on dinner party."

"Oh well, I hope you don't mind but I invited Frankie and Nina too."

"Well technically ma it's not up to me to mind, it's Maura's home but knowing Maura I think you're safe with those invites. Anyway, where's Ron?"

The matriarch paused and kept her head down "oh we're just taking a little break. It's been so full on recently I wanted to take some time for me."

"That's great ma, I think it's important to keep some time to yourself, you know, remember who you are and what you want." Jane leaned in and kissed her mothers cheek. "So, what can I do to help?"

"You can start sautéing the beef with the onions. Oh Janie, when are you going to DC? I mean don't get me wrong I love having you here but i'm guessing we wont have you around too much longer?"

Jane stood very still and wracked her brain on how to answer this question without lying but without revealing the real reason. She wanted Maura by her side before anything was formally announced. Not because she needed someone else to support her in what she was saying but because she wanted to be proudly in the presence of the one person that was making her so happy. "Errrm, I still have a few things I need to iron out with them so i'll be around here for a little while longer."

Her mother walked up behind her and hugged her from behind "oh baby, that's great news. Maura will be pleased!"

"Maura will be pleased about what?" The doctor entered the room, wearing dark blue skinny jeans, brown leather sandals and a cream sheer shirt that was cut just right to accentuate her cleavage. Jane struggled to pull her eyes back up to Maura's face to respond to her question, so her mother jumped in answer.

"Oh honey! So great to see you! We were just talking about how Janie will be around for a while longer while she irons out some logistics in DC."

Maura smiled and embraced the head of the Rizzoli clan, "oh, yes, i'm very pleased Jane is staying in Boston a bit longer, it meant I could come home from Paris sooner so that I could spend more time with her...and you of course Angela. Has Jane offered you a drink? Would you like some wine?"

"Oh yes please dear - red would be perfect."

Jane sprung into to action "no worries babe i'll get it."

Angela's head shot up and Maura's eyes darted wide open, both women directed their gaze at Jane, Angela began to talk "babe? Since when do you call your friend babe?"

Again Jane had to think about this answer, this was not the way she wanted to tell her mother, from a pet name slip up. "Ha! What am I saying! It's being in Paris, they are overly emotive with friends and acquaintances, it must have rubbed off on me. Anyway, red you say." Jane turned her back to grab the wine glasses and to take a calm breath.

Maura walked over and put a discreet hand on the small of the Italian's back to show comfort and support, it worked. Jane turned to Maura and smiled weakly "oh Maur, ma has invited Frankie and Nina too, I hope that's ok?"

Maura smiled "of course that's ok, i'm excited to see them. Will be good to share the news of our trip with everyone at once."

Angela's head shot up once more "News?"

"Ma she means stories from the trip, saves us having to tell stories multiple times."

The matriarch looked slightly quizzical but seemed to accept her daughters explanation. Jane and Maura both looked at each other across the room with half smiles and half concerned looks on their faces. Maybe tonight wasn't going to be as straight forward as they thought.