Author's Note: Thank you very much for all the reviews and messages, I really appreciate them. I don't know how many chapters are left but it should be over by next week.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jane glanced at her mother as she felt a pair of eyes staring at her but she didn't say anything and focused back on her computer immediately. Her mother obviously had something in mind or else she wouldn't be looking at her this way. But Jane wasn't in the mood for any kind of bickering. Perhaps her mother wouldn't talk if she, Jane, didn't make any remark.

Clever.

"Jane?"

Alright.

Jane took a deep breath and tried to ignore the failure of her last wishes. She looked up from her computer and gave her mother a nod. Yet she tried to remain impassive.

"Hmm?"

They were at Maura's. The house was quiet because Maura was still at the morgue. She would be back home in a couple of hours. Jane had decided to come to Beacon Hill because of the AC. The temperatures had reached a new peak and she could barely breathe in her small apartment of Back Bay. She had hoped for quietness and loneliness but her mother was on a day off and also wanted to enjoy the relative coolness of Maura's townhouse. Thus they were now together in the living-room.

"What is it like? What is it like to sleep with a woman?"

Jane's dark eyes widened in fear. She hadn't expected this at all. Her cheeks began to burn as she blushed. A gasp passed her lips.

"Ma'!"

Of course, Jane should have felt happy to see that her mother was open-minded and full of acceptance before the latest events but her openmindedness went too far right now. There were some things Jane would never talk about with her mother and sex was one of them. Or at least her very own personal experience.

Angela raised both hands to apologize but the smile that played on her lips let Jane understand that her mother found her mortified reaction funny.

"I'm just curious..."

"Well, be curious with someone else. Please." Jane swallowed hard. She had rarely felt so embarrassed. "Just... Not with me. That's so wrong."

"There's nothing wrong about sex, Jane."

Jane growled. Obviously Maura had had a lot of influence on her mother because this was not the kind of thing Angela Rizzoli used to say when she lived in her old neighborhood.

"Whatever..."

Jane and her mother were close. They had a very tight bond. However, Jane had a hard time talking about certain things with her mother. Or with anyone, as a matter of fact. Maura was the exception that confirmed the rule.

"Is Maura the first woman you've been with? Have you... Have you ever dated another woman?"

Jane's fingers froze just a few inches above the laptop keyboard. She looked at the screen for long seconds and pounded the question. She didn't feel at ease but she had to admit that the question was fair nonetheless. Her mother needed to understand and she didn't have all the facts in hand to do it.

Besides, it was a bit less difficult to talk about this.

"No... Not really." Jane shrugged. There had been girls, and women. But nothing had happened. She had never slept with any of them. "There wasn't any before Maura."

Angela nodded slowly. With her eyes squinted, she seemed to be analyzing Jane's answer. Obviously she wasn't done yet. She had other questions that still remained unanswered.

"But have you... Have you always been attracted to women?" Angela's tone of voice was low. Almost timid, now. "I know you were a tomboy but that doesn't necessarily mean... You know. You were very intrepid as a child but I don't remember you to ever show signs of interest in any other little girl."

The timidity of her mother unexpectedly reassured Jane. Thus she began to relax, if only a little bit. Perhaps she and her mother needed to have this conversation. Perhaps it was a lot more important than what Jane had imagined. It would make things clear and reassure the two of them.

"Not when I was a child. Nope." Jane bit her lower lip as she looked for her words. She wanted to be as precise as she could in order to reassure her mother. "Maybe when I was at the Academy but nothing happened and... And maybe it was just envy... You know, this type of things. Just... Just a sentiment of inferiority."

Even now that she was in a relationship with Maura, Jane couldn't say whether she was attracted to women because she barely noticed anyone else. The only person who caught her attention was Maura.

Maura.

Jane grabbed her glass of water and took a sip of it. As much as her mother knew for the two of them, she and Maura hadn't talked about the next step they would make. Maura had reassured Jane earlier on, after she had sent her a text message to let her know that she had told her administrative assistant that she was dating a woman.

Maura hadn't given out any name. Out of respect, and because it was nobody else's business.

But Jane knew better. She knew that her mother would be unable to keep such a secret for a long time. Thus she and Maura would have to take a decision. Sooner than later. And because they couldn't keep it for themselves for the next twenty years.

"Well... All I can say is that you chose the most beautiful one, Jane. From the inside and from the outside. Maura is a very humble person. And caring too." Angela smiled but only briefly. Her traits suddenly deepened as she became very serious. "But don't you dare to hurt her or you'll hear from me. Capisce?"

...

The evening was perfect. Jane and Maura had openly invited Angela over for dinner and the three of them had spent a nice time together. Then Angela had left them both alone, with a lot of respect. She had wished them good night before going back to the guesthouse across the patio.

Jane couldn't help thinking that she and Maura already had a very domesticated life. The only difference was that what had scared her for so long now brought her a lot of joy. Perhaps because Maura was the right one.

Commitment had always been an issue for Jane. She had always feared all these stages in a relationship: the exclusivity, sharing apartment keys, making vacation plans. But with Maura it all looked easy and serene as if it were meant to be.

"It just felt right on the moment. Do you see what I mean?" Maura walked out of her closet and headed straight to bed. She settled on her side of the bed and looked in front of her, at an invisible point on the wall. "I had to made it clear. Yes. That's why I told Pamela that I was seeing a woman. And you know what? It felt liberating."

Maura assumed her sexual orientation but it was something that she had never alluded to at work. Probably because she hadn't had any reason to. But now things were different, very different.

"How did she react?"

Jane yawned. She was tired and felt a bit melancholic because she was going back to the BPD the day after. It was strange to think that she saw the end of her suspension as a burden since she had had a hard time with it at first. But then so many things had changed since she had hit O'Donnel in the face.

Her life was completely different now.

"I think I took her by surprise but she smiled at me nonetheless, and she wished me happiness." Maura squinted her eyes in an effort of concentration as she tried to remember her administrative assistant's reaction earlier in the morning. "She looked honest."

Maura's decision didn't change anything to the fact that they wouldn't break the news to anyone yet. They had discussed it once Angela had gone back to the guesthouse. They needed time for themselves.

Besides, Maura was still deeply sunk in the analysis of her very own feelings towards Jane. They couldn't make it official if Maura didn't manage to put words on what she felt.

Of course, this was something that she had kept for herself. She couldn't say that to Jane. It wouldn't be fair. They had gone through enough awkwardness until now to not add any source of potential stress.

"You never told me Marino had tried to hit on you."

Maura laughed lightly. An ounce of jealousy showed in Jane's remark and she found it to be quite amusing.

"There was no point because he never stood a chance, Jane. He entered my life for professional reasons and left just as quickly. He's not the one whom I think about most of the time..." A delicate and timid smile played on Maura's lips. It reached her hazel eyes and embraced them lovingly. Her confession in disguise was sweet. "He's never been you. He was a mere detail in my life. From a medical doctor to a professor."

Still focused on the contemplation of the wall in front of her, Maura let her words wrap her up. Her smile grew bigger as she realized how right her confession felt right now.

The silence that followed her comment only hit her long seconds after she stopped talking. Confused by Jane's silence, she turned her head and looked at her partner. Jane had fallen asleep. She was breathing peacefully next to Maura.

Maura pouted. She had hoped for something more than a casual conversation to wrap the night.