15
Maura awoke to Jane stroking her hand up and down her arm with her head was on the Italian's shoulder. She glanced upwards to see Jane smiling with her eyes closed.
"Morning sweetheart" The doctor whispered, tilting her head upwards to place a kiss on Jane's jawline.
"Mmmmm morning babe. Don't know about you but i'm still worn out from last night. What do ya say we chill out here for the morning?"
"I would love to Jane but..." Maura was cut off as Jane rolled on top of her and began peppering her jaw with kisses. "No but's doctor...we" kiss "don't" kiss "like" kiss "but's this morning" kiss..."well apart from your butt - I like that very much."
Maura laughed and rolled Jane over so she was on top. Staring down at the detective smiling back at her filled her heart with love. "Jane you know I have to go to the precinct this morning...hang on, you only like my butt? How disappointing detective."
"Sorry did I say like...I meant love of course...yeah I definitely LOVE your butt; and many other of your assets for that matter. Actually, if you didn't have to go to the precinct, I could demonstrate what I mean."
"Blackmail will get you nowhere Rizzoli. Besides i've arranged meetings with Kent this morning to begin my handover so I have to go."
Jane pouted "Are you saying Kent is more important than me?"
The honey blonde rolled her eyes "I think we both know me needing to go to work does not mean Kent is more important than you." Maura rolled off of Jane and stepped out from under the covers totally naked; Jane was mesmerised, her eyes fixated on every part of the beauty before her. Maura turned to look over her shoulder back at the infatuated detective laying in her bed "I have time for a long...long shower though." She bit her bottom lip and smirked as Jane flew out from under the covers and chased her to the bathroom.
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Jane decided to accompany Maura to the station to go and meet with Ryan McBride and finalised how her new role would work. The two ladies said their goodbyes at the lift and agreed to meet for a late lunch.
The elevator opened on the homicide floor and the familiar buzz of the department was like music to her ears. She strolled into the bullpen and gave a quick glance around for Frankie but couldn't see him so headed towards McBride's office. Entering the doorway Jane gave a cursory tap on the glass of the door causing McBride to look up and smile "Ah! The famous Jane Rizzoli! Come in come in - sit." He leaned across his desk to shake her hand.
"Good morning sir! Thank you for taking the time to talk all of this through with me - I really appreciate it."
"Jane, it's no problem at all, honestly, i'm really excited to be able to coax you away from the heights of the FBI to work with us again. So, can I just give a quick run down of how I want this to work?"
The Italian nodded "Sure, that sounds like a good place to start."
McBride continued "Good. Ok, so firstly - no sir, call me Ryan please. As you'll gather pretty quickly, I work slightly differently to how Sean worked. I'm not hierarchical where I can be and want the department to fee relaxed in order to get the best out of people in stressful situations. I want people to come see me, come talk to me or come tell me when things aren't working; whether that's on a case on in their personal life. I'm very much of the mindset of happy workforce equals productive workforce and I want to retain my best staff. That is where you come in. I'm great and comfortable with the people management stuff but I have a lot on my plate and I need someone to work as my deputy when it comes to reporting on case work. I want a subject matter expert in this department to be the go to person for detectives - not just because they can't get a lead, but to improve how they work and expand the angles they look at when approaching an investigation. That person is you. I want you engaged at the beginning of every major case in this department. I want you in the weeds of the detail with the detectives. Therefore, you will come back in as Sergeant Rizzoli. How does that sound?"
Jane sat there slightly gobsmacked "Erm, honestly. That sounds amazing."
McBride stood and walked round to sit on the corner of his desk "There's a but coming here - my detective skills aren't that rusty."
Jane smiled "Yes there is a but. It's not a bad but, it's just a couple things I want to make sure of. So I know this department like the back of my hand, people know me, some people like me, some people have less of a liking. I just don't want it to look like i've walked in to put noses out of joint so you're going to have to pave this out with the guys before I start. Also, Frankie doesn't know about this yet, so i'd appreciate if I could talk to him first before anything is formally announced."
"Of course Jane, as i said, i'm a people person and the last thing i want to do is demotivate my staff by not handling this correctly. So don't worry about that side of things."
Jane nodded "Ok - that sounds great. One more thing that's kinda personal. Erm, good thing you're a people person because I find some personal discussions difficult - especially my own...so here it goes: I think you should know that i'm romantically involved with Dr Isles. Is that a problem?"
McBride laughed "Absolutely not! The only problem will be the jealousy of some of the guys that both of you women are snapped up! It's great news Jane, honestly, it is very much nothing that I am concerned about in relation to doing your job. If you tell me it doesn't effect how you work then i'll believe you. If it starts effecting it then come and tell me and we'll see what we need to do to work through it. Ok - good. Right I have another meeting in 30 minutes across town so may have to kick you out soon. Final question and most importantly to me - when can you start?"
Jane stood up so that she was at eye level with the tall, dark haired lieutenant "I'd like the rest of the week to work a few personal things out as obviously I had planned not to be living here, but i'm happy to start next Monday if that works?"
McBride put his hand out for Jane to shake and placed his hand on her shoulder "That works perfectly - i'll see you next Monday." Jane went to walk out of the office door when McBride grabbed her attention again "oh and Sergeant Rizzoli - welcome back."
"It's great to be back sir...sorry...Ryan. I'll see you next week." With that Jane strolled towards the elevator like she was floating. This all felt too good to be true but she didn't want to start questioning it before it began. As the doors closed for the elevator to make its way down to the basement she smiled; maybe good things were finally coming her way, starting with the woman she was about to take to lunch.
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Jane sauntered into Maura's office with a definitive swagger. The doctor looked up form the paperwork and smiled "Well hello beautiful, form the look on your face and the confidence in that walk i'm assuming your meeting went well?"
Jane leaned against the door frame and looped her thumb into her belt "Well as a matter of fact it went very well doctor. But i'll tell you about it over lunch; how does it feel to be back in the seat of the chief medical examiner….doctor?"
"It feels good Jane, but it feels even better having you here as well. I love that we are still going to be working together and you get to drop by like this at any point of the day…i'll miss you if you didn't."
"Well what can i say babe, i'm a missable character. So what d'ya say we head on out of this joint so we can stop missing each other and spend some quality time eating some lunch - burgers good with you?"
Maura frowned "You know burgers for lunch are not good with me Jane, no. But I agree lets get out of here, i've done all i need to do today and Kent is busy so it's probably best I come back tomorrow at some point to finish up."
"Well that's settled then, you have something you are 'ok with' and i'll have burgers. Now come on me lady, the Dirty Robber's finest awaits!"
Jane grabbed hold of Maura's hand and the two women made their way towards the elevator. Kent came around the corner and bumped into them both. The quirky scotsman froze on the spot and looked down at the two women's joined hands "Oh, pardon me. I need to start paying more attention….to everything it seems! Have you two finally realised what the farewell video showed us all?"
Jane answered quickly "What exactly were you shown?"
Kent pointed at their joined hands "The fact that you two are in love with each other. The fact that you belong with each other. See Jane, i knew that sock would work! I want credits in the wedding speeches for stimulating this relationship."
The Italian frowned "Er, Kent - number one, the sock had nothing to do with this, number two - you most certainly will not be getting credit for stimulating anything, especially stimulating anything between Maura and I. Oh, and number three - never use the word stimulating in any capacity around me again."
Kent smiled "Noted detective. You two have a nice day."
"Thanks Kent and you." The two women walked towards the elevator but Jane paused and turned her head "Oh and Kent; it's Sergeant, not detective." She smiled, turning back towards Maura who was standing there wide eyed looking confused. Jane pecked her lips "That's right babe, you're dating a Sergeant now."
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Jane explained her conversation with McBride over lunch. Maura took in every word with immense pride and adoration. The one specific piece of information Maura was proud of was Jane telling McBride about them. Jane was always a private person and knowing Jane as she did, Maura wasn't sure how Jane wanted to define their relationship at work - they had never discussed it, however, she was over the moon that they didn't need to hide anything, they could be who they were and be comfortable.
Once Jane had finished Maura took her hands over the table "Oh darling this is amazing news. I'm so happy for you and for us. When do you think you should talk to Frankie?"
The Italian took a bite of a french fry "Well, I was thinking we could have a BBQ tonight. Buy some steaks, some wine and beer and have the family round. That way I can talk to Frankie and we can make an evening out of it to celebrate how things are finally going right for us. I just hope he takes it ok. I mean it's not like I haven't been his senior before so he should be ok. I guess i'm just hoping that he didn't get too used to the idea of having me gone."
"Jane, Frankie loves having you around, i'm sure he will jump at the chance to work with you again and if he doesn't take it that well, he's a rational guy, i'm sure you can talk it over. What you need to remember is that you are a golden child at BPD, you breezed through the academy and have always been the best. Frankie is a great cop and he has earned everything he has, but he has always been in your shadow Jane, you know that."
"Yeah I know that, well let me rephrase; I know that he feels that way. Any shadow that is there is because he believes there to be one. Yes I was good at my job, but I made sacrifices to be that person. Any shadow he feels there is should spur him on, prove to everyone he stands by himself on his own two feet like he proves to me everyday."
Maura kissed Jane's hand "See my love….this is why you are so endearing. You'll know exactly what to say."
Jane raised and eyebrow "Let's hope so - plus good steaks are expensive, need him to stay for after the job talk to not waste good money!"
The doctor smiled and slapped her lover across the arm "Well you best get inviting people and to the store if you expect to be hosting any sort of event this evening. Come on, let's go."
"Roger that!" Jane threw the cash down to pay the cheque and pushed herself out of the booth.
Hand in hand they left to prepare for the night ahead.