Popcorn kernels fell from his hands. "Whoa!" TJ hollered

"That's what I'm talking about!"

As if suddenly becoming aware of her age Jane glanced over the back of the little boy's head to see if the car on the television screen flipping over four times had disturbed Maura's work. The ME sat at the dining room table clad in comfortable sweats and with her hair in a high bun. She had brought her final assignments home with her to be here…

"Awunty Janie!" TJ turned to her quickly.

"Hm?" Jane moved the bowl of popcorn between them to her lap before grabbing a handful of buttery kernels and popping them into her mouth. She glanced over TJ's head again.

"Can cawrs really do dat?" His eyes were big. "How?" He had only ever seen them right side up.

Jane chewed as she debated her answer. "Well they're not supposed to, that's why you wear a seatbelt."

He nodded quickly as if to get over the part he knew about already, it made Jane smirk. "But how'd it flip like a majllion times like dat?" He rolled his shoulders goofily and the homicide detective shook her head lovingly at him. He was Tommy, just… munchkin size. She wanted to see him grow up, wanted to see what he did with all this energy and charm.

"I don't really know bud, gravity?"

TJ glanced over his shoulder at Maura reading a distance away and sighed before looking back at his aunt. "Awunty Mauwra knows." He whispered. "We could ask her."

Jane glanced at the television still running the action movie briefly and then back at her nephew. It occurred to her then that he recognized Maura's superior intelligence against other adults. "Why don't you ask her to join us?" She said quietly. Maura had been the most popular woman in BPD headquarters today. It seemed like every time they planned to meet for coffee or something led Jane to the morgue it was overrun with other departments or Maura was quite literally elbow deep in a dead body. Some evening lab techs called out sick with adult chickenpox no less requiring Kent to fill in the PM shift essentially leaving the ME a one woman show for much of the day. So it came as no surprise to the detective when Maura asked her to be around to receive TJ, what did come as a surprise though was just as the little boy trampled through the front door the ME was behind him carrying her medical briefcase stuffed to the gills with reports that needed her signature. She smiled unevenly then at her, squeezed her forearm as she passed and asked her if she had ordered pizza yet because she was craving carbohydrates.

She was committed. To her, to her family, to her work as well, but she was attempting in her own way to honor both, and well, It made Jane feel… really special and looked out for, but not in the way she had recently become friendly with, in that overwhelming, existential kind of way. In that way that made you a little loopy. She had been stealing glances at the other woman all night thinking about the gesture, about what it said. What sitting in the loud living room and working near them meant when she could have hide in the tiny home office off the main hall. What staying up with her last night and strategizing had meant.

Maura looked up from her work when she felt someone pull the seat beside her out and sit down. Jane smiled easily at her. "TJ is done with me not knowing the answers to stuff." She leaned her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her knuckles to look at her. "C'mon, how much more do you have?"

Maura sighed but smiled at her. "Several dozen." Jane looked at what she was signing, Maura moved to show her. "It's relatively simple work when I have all the data, but—"

"—You need your office for data." Jane nodded.

Maura motioned to her tablet that was sitting beside her. "I have been using our antiquated binary system for references, just to ensure validity." She moved to put a hand through her hair but stopped and smiled when Jane took it away at the wrist.

"We don't like being ignored, Maura." She joked quietly as the movie roared in the background with explosions and gunfire.

"I'm almost done." She covered Jane's hand. "Will you microwave me a slice from my half?"

Jane nodded. "Okay, but by the next gunfight you should be over there."

Maura watched her stand. "One happens every three point seven seconds it seems, that's impossible." She exaggerated. It was really more like one every four minutes.

"Alright honey, the fifth one then." Jane chuckled and grabbed her almost empty wine glass. "And I'm pouring you more of this."

Maura was about to thank her when she was struck by something Jane had just said that made her look back at the other woman and smile. Jane understood it as well and shrugged cutely with one shoulder before biting her lip and then turning toward the kitchen. When she returned with the pizza and the full glass of wine Maura looked up at her with teasing eyes.

"We have to be cautious of you."

Jane rolled her eyes as she tried not to blush. "Shut up." She rested the plate down and crossed her arms to her chest and waited a moment before shaking her head and going back to the couch where TJ was watching another fight scene.

"Daddy says it's not good to fight." He warned his aunt when she returned. Something about watching gratuitous violence in the scene intrigued him. Maybe when he grew up he could be a ninja too! But only if it was okay if he could be a good guy.

"Oh yeah?" Jane uncrossed her arms and thought about it. "He's right, but sometimes you have to fight for the ones you love, or what you believe."

TJ seemed to consider this before looking back at her. "I don' know how to." He put his little hands up in a cute shrug.

Jane cracked a grin. "it's not your time bud." TJ seemed disappointed, it interested her. "There someone or something you wanna fight now?" She asked gently.

TJ sighed. "No."

Jane nodded once. "So, what's the rush?"

"If you can fight den dat means you can be stronged like a ninja, and den I can help daddy." He explained.

Jane furrowed a brow. "Help him with what?"

"Afflictions." He explained to his aunt.

Jane's brow creased more. "Afflictions?"

He nodded. "Uhuh."

"What's that?"

TJ played with the hem of his shirt some and shrugged again, this time appearing a little sad. "I don' know." Jane rubbed his back gently then and nodded. They could stop talking about it if he wanted to, and TJ wanted to, something was bothering him that he didn't understand. Something that was really only for adults to be bothered by. It only took her another car chase to put two and two together. Afflictions was addiction, and TJ must have heard his mother talking about it or Tommy talking about it, and it scared him. She shook her head at it. Lydia's mother was no special support, and Lydia, well let's just say Jane had met streetlamps smarter, but she and Tommy seemed to know how delicate both their sobriety was. They seemed to understand, didn't they? It was working wasn't it?

Maura eventually came over to sit beside TJ so he could snuggle down in between them with the popcorn bowl on his lap. She nodded politely as he caught her up to the logistics of Ninja Tor's mission to reunite his family.

"I see…. He does not seem particularly friendly." She commented after watching the protagonist drop kick someone.

"Dat's a bad guy." TJ pointed.

Maura nodded as she stored the information away. "Right." Another dropkick. "Is he also a bad guy?"

"Yeah"

"Hm."

Jane smiled a little and returned to her thoughts only to be brought out of them by the lightest touch on her shoulder. She followed the sensation to find Maura's left hand. Her arm was gently resting against the back of the sofa behind TJ's head which allowed her fingers to graze her shoulder in such a pleasant way. The ME glanced at her when she felt her watching her and Jane rolled her shoulder back gently . It made Maura smile to herself as she let her fingers brush against a patch of warm skin Jane had exposed just over the detective's strong trapezius muscle.

Jane didn't realize the movie was over until TJ turned to her excitedly. "Awunty Janie dat was so cool!"

Jane blushed and gently brushed the ME's hand away from the spine of the couch. "Yeah huh?"

"I wan' watch it again!"

"Why not?" Jane reached for the remote and TJ nearly exploded with excitement.

"I have to pee!" The two adults laughed as he shimmied his way off the couch and ran down the hall.

"You can not mean to watch it again?" Maura asked half worried Jane fully intended to.

Jane shook her head no with a little laugh and motioned to her watch. "Tommy should be here any minute." She put the remote control down on the coffee table and bent to pick up a stray piece of popcorn under TJ's seat. "You missed the intro, mind if you keep TJ preoccupied while I talk to him?" She was a little nervous about what Tommy would say, but she didn't want TJ picking up on yet another adult thing he didn't need to worry about. Maura nodded easily and Jane said thank you.

"Do you know what you will say?"

Jane furrowed a brow and was about to say something when all at once the doorbell rang and TJ bolted back into the room and ran around the couch to squeeze between them. "No movie?" He asked up at the adults who were now standing.

Maura nodded at Jane and sat back down. "I need to catch up." She eased. Jane left to get the door.

'Awunty Janie is gonna miss it."

"You do not wish to watch with me, Thomas?" Maura asked as she reached for the remote control and looked back at TJ who was now blushing.

"It's Teeejaaaay."

Maura smiled at his dimpled response. "I beg your pardon."

TJ wobbled some in his seat the way young children often did. "Is okay." He motioned to the screen. "I have to tell you dah story first." Maura nodded patiently. "Awunty Janie told me dat ninja's are weal."

Maura nodded thoughtfully. "Following the unification of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate in the seventeenth century, the ninja faded into obscurity." TJ blinked. "Your aunt is correct." She nodded and TJ beamed.

At the door Jane smiled at her younger brother before stepping outside with him. Tommy, (now more confused than usual) wordlessly shuffled to stand beside her on the final step. Once the front door closed securely behind them Jane's smile fell.

"Hey Janie what's all this?" He chuckled albeit a little nervously. Jane was wearing a very serious expression; it wasn't as sharp as her angry face but he had been flooded before. Instinctively he put a little distance between them by stepping down a step.

Jane motioned to the third step. "Sit down."

"Yeah alright alight, jeez." He stepped down another step and sat down slowly. Jane sat beside him looking out onto the dark and windy night. "Wha…." He trailed off when she finally looked at him. The emotion in her eyes said something was wrong and she was worried and immediately his stomach turned in that all too familiar spot.

"You alright?" Jane asked quietly. They didn't break eye contact.

"…Yeah. I'm alright"

"What about the other day?"

"You asking me if I've been drinking?"

"No." They fell quiet. "Have you?"

Tommy looked at her sharply, it only lasted a single moment though. He went to looking at his shoes. "No" He confessed finally. Jane could see his wasn't saying everything though. So she waited. "I wanted to. After… Just all this stuff with Pop.." He ran a hand over his head. "I got into a bit of trouble, Janie."

Jane nodded once. "What kind of trouble, Tommy?"

Tommy looked at her before looking back at his shoes. "Work." He scratched his left ear. "Lydia just started coming around y'know?"

Jane's brows softened. "What happened at work?"

##

"He's not drinking." Jane pulled her hair through the loop of her scrunchy to complete her ponytail. "But he got a ticket rushing to a meeting after dropping my old man off and got another point on his license and he lost the limo gig." She sighed and picked up the empty pizza box on the kitchen counter. "It paid good money apparently. He's afraid Lydia is gonna up and leave."

Maura frowned as she disappeared to pluck her lightweight vacuum from the wall in her hall closet. "Didn't he pick you up in a limousine?" she called.

Jane moved into the living room with her to gather up TJ's chocolate milk box and her wine glass. "Company doesn't know about the points yet, but he has to report it to them and he's sure they're gonna can him for it." She shook her head. "Lydia doesn't know yet either."

Maura reemerged and wordlessly began to vacuum up some bits of popcorn from the ground. She couldn't even blame this on Jane, the salad bowl had only tipped over in her care. TJ had jumped to help her clean up but she was certain they had missed a few. The small chore gave her enough time and mental privacy to further her thoughts though and she were grateful for it. Jane's energy seemed off, on edge even. She didn't like it.

"Well they seem to be more committed than before, perhaps she will be understanding."

"Yeah, maybe. Understanding like how she left TJ on your doorstep? Or leaving when things got rough a year back?"

After returning the vacuum to its home amongst her winter coats she made her way into the kitchen where Jane was attempting to do dishes. Maura stopped a few feet away from her expecting the detective to acknowledge her but when she continued sopping up more soap than was nessicary she knew her mind might as well be on Mars. "Jane." She announced her presence and Jane turned to look at her over her shoulder. "It will be alright."

Jane regarded her oddly before softening some. Maura smiled and the detective sighed heavily before turning off the faucet and turning to face her with her arms crossed, "That's what I told him."

She came to lean against the counter beside her. "Do you believe it?"

Jane looked down at her socked feet and shrugged. "Can't blame him for wanting a drink."

"Yes." Maura agreed. "alcohol enhances the effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid." Jane looked at her. "Something we could all use a little bit of from time to time."

"How do I help him?"

Maura smiled softly. "I think you already are. Giving him an outlet to speak his frustrations."

"Not gonna help him pay the rent."

"No, but it is a start."

Jane nodded. "Yeah." She lost herself for a moment of thought but when she came back to the kitchen Maura was beginning to straighten up beside her. "Hey no, let me get this, you had a hard day." Jane reached for the natural all purpose spray bottle she had just picked up. "Go do whatever it is you do for two hours in the bathroom before bed."

"I do not spend two hours in the bathroom before bed." She let Jane take the spray bottle away from her. The fingers grazing made her smile.

Jane chuckled and pushed her along gently by the shoulders. "You're getting good at this lying thing." After Jane was sure she was up the stairs and could hear the pipes in the wall groan slightly with the flow of hot water (something only a plumber's daughter could find peace in) She went about finishing straightening up the downstairs. She needed something to do with the unsettled worry that projected itself as energy within her. After setting everything in or around about the degree in which Maura preferred it Jane plopped down on the couch and leaned back into it and looked around the dimmed living room. She settled her thoughts and then pushed them all aside for the remote control. Before she knew it an hour passed of mindless baseball highlight consumption with her feet kicked up. She was too restless to sleep right away but now amongst the soft hum and glow of late-night television she found herself yawning into her fist.

Maura had long since passed out. Jane found her curled under the covers facing toward the center of the bed. Her brow was furrowed cutely, and her right arm was tucked snuggly under the cool side of Jane's pillow.

The homicide detective smiled then at them as she gingerly crept into the room and attempted to slide between the mattress and the duvet without waking the other woman.

"Jane," The ME breathed after Jane moved her hand carefully.

"Shh." The detective tried as she lay on her back and pull the covers around them. Maura exhaled quietly in her half state and then pouted. Jane turned to watch her fondly. "You can go back to sleep now, Maur."

Maura shifted again before slowly opening her eyes. They found each other there, once again if as a prior appointment had been made. "You're late." The ME whispered.

Jane smirked. "Sorry." She whispered back.

The two snuggled closer. "I would prefer not to be woken like this. I do not get much sleep these days." She smiled sleepily to herself as her cheek was kissed. "Do you understand?" She chided affectionately.

"Yes yes." Jane wrapped an arm around her midsection and then kissed the ME's chin next. "Ranger's honor."

Maura rested against her chest. "You were never a Ranger." She reminded as the familiar sensation of Jane's body snuggled closer to her brought about another small yawn.

Jawn yawned herself. "At this hour I'll be whatever you want me to be, darlin'." She closed her eyes.

"You tempt me."

Jane snorted and pulled her closer. "Mauraaa." She whispered drawing out her name tenderly as if wondering how all the letters independent would perform on their own, if they could somehow come to equal what she felt for the other woman. "You can't say stuff like that." She opened her eyes then to look at the other woman. "It makes me think all kinds of things."

Maura chuckled warmly against her, there was a new wakefulness in her retort. "I would not want you to strain."

Jane grinned up at the ceiling. "Oh, I'm straining."

Maura rolled her eyes but leaned over some to gently press her lips with her best friend to say goodnight properly. There such a sweetness in it, it was easy to understand how the two suddenly became lost to it. They hadn't touched like this all day.

The doctor broke the kiss and let her fingers press gently against Jane's chest in efforts to get her attention before moving them to her face. She could feel Jane's palm at her shoulder as she cupped her cheek and traced her lips with the tips of her fingers. Jane just watched her with the warmest brown eyes that so gracefully granted claim over everything she touched. Maura sighed contently after a moment and leaned in to press another small kiss on her lips. She wasn't expecting to feel Jane pull her closer as soon as they separated though. The detective sat up some to meet her lips in a firmer kiss that took Maura's breath out of her chest. When they separated again Jane quickly tried to read her response before swallowing cutely. She loosened her arms around the ME and exhaled evenly as she propped her head up with a hand to look at Maura who smiled at her in surprise.

"Love you." Jane murmured. She touched the ME's cheek with her free hand. Maura closed her eyes momentarily to enjoy the caress. Jane smiled. "Thanks for coming home early."

Maura's smile wrinkled and her eyes seemed to gloss a brilliant hazel green "Home." She repeated.

"Mhm." Jane nodded.

They leaned forward at the same time pausing briefly just before gliding their lips against the other in a kiss that seemed to bring them both to their most vulnerable as the sentiment slowly poured over them. Maura whimpered softly against it as their mouths opened and she could taste Jane, and when Jane exhaled heavily and touched her face again, she could feel an invisible string pull against her center seducing her to ask for more, feel for more. Her hands wondered and Jane pulled her close against her as the kiss hardened and lust pulsed between them. When that wasn't enough Jane pulled Maura atop her.

She found she loved how the little noises Maura made when they kissed trembled and vibrated in her chest when she lay on her like this. For a moment it was all the detective could hear as she brought her hands down the other woman's sides before setting them at her hips. A soft moan escaped her as Maura settled on her lap and let her hands rest over her own at her hips. Jane closed her eyes a moment to settle the overwhelming urge to grind her hips into the other woman's. She only realized how tense her arm muscles had become when she felt Maura's soft palms running up them. She opened her eyes and met her best friend's hooded gaze.

That's all it really took. One look, one touch.

Their next kiss was slow and uneven, sloppy almost, hungry. Their hands roamed about their bodies but it was clear where the other preferred, Maura's at Jane's breasts and her cheek bone, Jane at Maura's hips and in her hair. Neither knew when or how, but it seemed that simultaneously and without word they decided that this moment would likely not end in their getting interrupted and once that was agreed upon Jane freed the ME of her top and their breaths came in heavy waves causing sudden disorientation of the rhythm.

Desperate to find some footing in their intoxication Jane began to sit up. Only to have Maura softly yet firmly press her shoulder's back into the mattress.

"What?" Jane breathed, eyes dilated completely and chest heaving. It was hard to keep her mind focused on the ME's face when her full breasts were pressed against her like this, but she tried.

"I want to touch you." Maura all but choked out. She refused to believe it nerves and instead supposed it came from a place she hadn't been since her very first notes of intimacy in early adulthood. "I want to…" She looked down at Jane beneath her. God she was so beautiful. "I want to please you, Jane." She finished looking back into her dark eyes. She could hardly help herself. "Many many times over."

Jane pushed to sit up some and swallowed hard. Her voice thick with arousal as she stroked the ME's cheek and Maura met her eyes. "I want that too." She wore only serious lines, her lips albeit somewhat swollen were pressed in certainty.

They kissed again and Maura helped her out of her shirt and bra before their lips met again and they held one another close. Maura eventually brushed some of Jane's long curls out of the way and moved her kisses to her bare shoulder, and then to the slightly bruised skin of where she was shot, she lingered here, feeling the scorched nature of Jane's skin under her fingertips as she traced the area before kissing it softly.

Jane exhaled slowly her eyes suddenly stinging. "Maur." She breathed.

Maura leveled her gaze with her. "Not there?" She asked quietly Jane shook her head no and the ME nodded. "Is there discomfort?" The doctor in her had to ask.

Jane took her hand in hers. "Only when you touch it like that." She shared.

Maura nodded in understanding as their fingers laced together in her left hand and her right pressed it's fingertips lovingly against her cheekbone. "I will resist." She offered Jane a small smile before shifting and moving to get off her lap.

Jane grew confused by this but let Maura guide her to sit at the edge of the bed with their joint hands. Maura let go of her hand and stood in between her legs with her hands on Jane's bare shoulders, she couldn't resist a soft toss of dark curls to tug gently on one of Jane's ears when the homicide detective looked up at her with such curiosity and goodness. Her arousal was clear but there was something so… young about the expression, it made her blush and Jane smile a little wider. They were doing this.

" What distressed cotton blend are these constructed of?" She let her left-hand fall to Jane's leg and pinched at the baggy material of her sweatpants before looking back at her. "Wil you take them off for me?"

Jane stood then with a little blush of her own but mostly chuckling. "Distressed cotton blend…" she shimmed out of her sweats revealing simple black women's briefs. Her smirk grew when Maura lopped a finger into them as she examined them. "These too?"

"Yes, please."

Jane nodded and covered Maura's hand at her waist and found her eyes a smoldering hazel. "Help me." She mouthed. Maura hesitated only a moment before taking full control of the object and sliding it down to Jane's ankles before stepping back to allow her to kick out of it.

Jane was now completely naked, and Maura made no move to hide her noticing every inch of her in the dark. She let her hands run against her taunt stomach before reverting to a gentle knuckled graze of the neat curls beneath it. Her mouth watered insatiably and her mind, for all its power and function lay completely disabled at the sight of her lover in her purest.

"Oh Jane." She looked up into her face. "You are so… " Words escaped her. "Beautiful." She settled knowing full well it barely touched what she meant to say, what she truly felt.

Jane's smile was lopsided. Her heart had been thudding so hard in her chest she was sure Maura could hear it. Instead, she was calling her beautiful and looking at her as if she were art that wasn't allowed to be touched. "C'mere." She mumbled pulling her closer to her. They pressed the softest of kisses against the other as Maura wrapped protective arms around Jane's bare form. Jane liked it, liked the feeling of being held like this, seen like this. Their kisses soon flourished into a heated exchange and their hands wondered the other helplessly longing for purchase. It was Jane who eventually had had enough, she pulled away from the kiss and exhaled evenly in the cutest display of sexual frustration.

The ME backed them up into the bed. "I won't Inconvenience you any longer, mon amour." She purred.

Jane's entire body hummed at her promise. "Better not." She pulled her along and smiled into the kiss Maura leaned her backwards into.

##

Maura woke first, but only by a moment or two. In that quietness before Jane opened her eyes and smiled at her she relished in the new wholeness she felt between them, how their naked form's warmth eased the rippling tensions of wakefulness and the day ahead. If she were any less of herself she would flush with awareness, she had made love to her best friend as she had promised and though she was waiting for verbal confirmation Jane did not seem very shy about enjoying her either. It was heavenly, at this thought Maura began to smile to herself. All the self-consciousness she carried before their declarations of love seemed so silly now in the sweet haze of their morning after. They were essentially glued together lying there, simply existing. Maura in a sort of delirium and Jane on far off plane, one that evened her breath and made her chin heavy on the ME's collar.

Quantum physics and the idea of time crept to the pathologist's focus as she broke her gaze off of her sleeping lover in place of her bedroom door. If at all possible she'd like to freeze time and relive this moment and another from childhood. How funny it was to put the two experiences together like this. Receiving her first telescope and laying naked with a woman she loved were so close in meaning, so intrinsically intertwined in her being…. Of course Jane would likely laugh at the thought of her thinking of such things. She'd falsely equant the value of the expensive instrument with her dependability or her affections. A scene of sorts would ensue. The thought alone let a quiet and tired chuckle ruffle Maura back into awareness.

She wanted to spend all her days suspended in this state of happiness and curiosity. Yes she now knew Jane's body like she knew the night's stars, nothing on earth could really stop her from searching for more or wondering what else lay ahead though. It was an effortless task she hoped to pursue for many nights to come.

Jane woke then and lifted her head to look at her. The detective's face was stained with sleep but the wrinkle of her brow and way she cleared her throat told the ME that she was here, present, and studying as much as she could of the moment. She couldn't help the soft chortle of amusement that escaped her witnessing it. Jane raised a brow.

"You're very serious right now." Maura whispered.

Jane cleared her throat again. "Tryin' to figure out if I'm dreaming or not." She whispered back.

Maura hummed lightly as if considering it herself for the first time. "What have you decided?"

She shrugged cutely as best as she could entwined in the other woman. "Don't think so." She murmured as they both snuggle closer. Their noses were almost touching now which they both decided was better than their last position. They shared a little kiss to make sure though. "Hey."

"Hi."

"I'm Jane." The detective whispered. "Jane Rizzoli."

Maura's cheeks swelled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jane Rizzoli."

"You come here often?"

The ME took a soft breath in. "I have never enjoyed staying for this long. Until now that is."

"Mm." Jane smiled.

"Have you…" Maura was still rather new at play. "Enjoyed your stay?"

Jane nodded once, her mouth crinkled and opened then closed again and crinkled some more. "I don't wanna leave." Maura blushed deeply but nodded. "Is that okay? I mean I don't know who makes the rules around here."

Maura smiled at her goofiness. "It's quite alright." She touched the other woman's face to break their lightness if only for a moment of reality. "Are you satisfied?"

Jane cocked a brow and blushed heavily. "Jesus, Maura."

Maura laughed a little as she searched her lover's eyes for answers. "Answer?"

Jane rolled her eyes but nodded. "Yeah, I mean yes, how could I not be, you're... You." They smiled at each other for a long moment before Jane bit her lip. "You've definitely done that before."

Maura nodded. "Often enough."

Jane raised a brow sharply to this. "Often enough?" Maura chuckled and hugged her close. "How much is often enough, Maura?"

"It is an expression."

Jane let the other woman hug her close. She jokingly refused to participate though and let her limbs hang limp. "Since when do you use expressions?"

"Oh Jane." She released her from the hug and smiled when Jane hugged her close exactly after. She of course held her back. "Not as of recently, obviously. Before."

"With who?

"With whom."

"I play basketball with Frankie sometimes, is often more than that or less than that?"

Maura chuckled and pulled her into a soft kiss. "You have had my undivided attention for some time, you know that."

Jane did. So Jane Rizzoli tucked "often" away for later examination and focused on the woman before her. "Yeah well, it felt that way—it feels that way." Maura only smiled, a special kind of admiration and fondness in her hazel eyes this morning. Jane couldn't name it, but she imagined she could really get used to seeing it. She sat up on her elbows to get a better look. "You know you've always had my undivided attention."

Maura wrapped her arms around her bare shoulders. "I do not believe that is true." Jane grinned softly at this.

"Oh yeah?" Jane let one of her hands slide down the ME's bare side and paused when she was not met with the expected silken material at her waist. She looked up at the ME and rattled her brain for when she had removed it but could not recall.

A small blush dusted Maura's cheeks. "You are incredibly warm to sleep beside afterwards…" She had honestly woken twice in a mild sweat but hadn't a speck of desire to remove herself from Jane's arms. So she removed her underwear instead. It was a logical decision. Between her own internal temperature and conduction alone she was sure she was overheated by thirty percent as it was.

Jane's grin grew as she let her hand tickle the other woman's side lightly before resting it on her stomach. "Oh." They looked at each other. "Sorry." She genuinely was but it was getting hard to focus on why exactly with Maura's hand covering her own now. "Next time wake me up, roll me over or something."

"I could have." She nudged Jane softly with her left knee and Jane easily understood the motion and shifted so she was now over her in a somewhat seated position, a small smile escaped her then at their new shorthand. It often took lovers weeks to understand what she wanted and when. A thickness reached her tone as she tried to keep focus on their conversation and not Jane lazily wrapping her arms around her thighs. "…I did not want to wake you." There was a calm possessiveness to it all that made her hot in ways she'd need to later examine.

Jane nodded to herself as she let her hands massage the other woman's thighs under the cover between them before pulling them a little closer to her waist. "I'm awake now." She offered. The blonde smiled and lifted her chin ever so slightly inviting her forward. Jane leaned in and they shared a slow kiss.

"Are you?" Maura purred as she played with a black curl that had snuck out of Jane's loose ponytail. "Awake now?"

Jane nodded and leaned forward to kiss her. "Very awake." They kissed again. "Ultra awake." They laughed into a third.

"Good." Maura breathed.

##

Her mother always told her that there wasn't any problem a hot meal couldn't fix.

The art of it she believed lay miles away from any five-star restaurant she had ever been to (three in total) it lay beyond the recognition of status and prestige, even far enough away from politics though arguably it was directly affected by its ghoulishness. No, cooking for Angela Rizzoli lay settled between the tenderest part of humanity and the dire necessity of breath. It moved people, cured people…

She woke that morning stiffened by the truth crumbling after decades of holding the heaviest loads in their lives. There was no meal she could prepare to heal her ex-husband now was there? No soup creamy enough to settle them all into a place of routine…

Angela got out of bed slowly and wrapped her robe snug against her form and moved in her tiny kitchen to gather all the ingredients she knew Maura refused to stock, the ingredients that hugged you maybe a little too tightly, the butter, and the syrup, the brown sugar… The older woman had a second thought to ring her daughter to ensure she and her brothers would stop by but decided against it when she entered the main house and checked the dishwasher, two wine glasses. There was a peperoni-stained pizza box in the recycling too. To be sure her assumptions were correct Angela reminded herself to check the hall landing dresser, in the top right drawer she found Jane's badge surrounded by heavy leather with a thin paper clipped to its underside and Jane's car keys. The absence of the detective's firearm lockbox would only surface later in the day. For now, Angela was quite satisfied with her detective skills and decided just to text Tommy and Frankie as she padded back into the kitchen and began to assemble the meal that would move them forward through this uncertain time.

Like a conditioned athlete her body moved at a pace her mind followed slowly. It was all second nature. Crack the eggs, add the sugar, just enough, one extra pinch of ginger for Janie, two extra pinches of black pepper for Frankie, bananas for Tommy. Angela paused then and regarded the long-standing favorite with new eyes. She moved to go to the refrigerator, she would make a bun for Maura, no, a danish, it would be pearled with a silky (nondairy) butternut squash puree, studded with cloves and pecans…

Except there was no pecans

No nuts at all actually.

Was Maura allergic? Angela paused. It had never come up before but it was a possibility. She sucked her teeth gently and looked at her new recipe. Surely, she wasn't allergic…

Upstairs Jane continued her interrogation of Maura's breasts while the pathologist writhed underneath her. The loud creek of the second step was what snapped her focus away from Jane's mouth and onto the world around them. She pressed against Jane's shoulder to get her attention.

"You want me to stop?" She breathed. The look Maura was giving her made her chuckle. "Then leave me alon—" The door across the hall being knocked on softly stilled her immediately.

"Janie, honey…" Came her mother's quiet voice.

Jane and Maura quickly looked at each other as panic flushed the arousal out of their systems so quickly it hurt.

"Shit." Jane silently scrambled to grab her pajama bottoms and jump into them as Maura followed suit and quickly slid into her robe and began to fix her hair. Angela knocked softly on the guestroom door again.

The ME began to pace anxiously "What do we do?" She whispered but all concern left her for their current situation when she realized Jane was opening her bedroom window. "Jane!" She hissed and went over to grab her arm.

Jane grabbed her arm back. "She's gonna open the door and realize I'm not there." she hissed back.

"So your solution is to jump out of a window!?" Maura whisper yelled.

Jane huffed. "Yeah okay you're right I'll just stroll out there and explain it to her – Sorry Ma I'm here in Maura's room having multiple orgasms, I haven't slept over there in weeks!" She opened the window further and looked out it again. She could land in Maura's backyard no problem she just had to avoid the flowerbed…

"Well surely there—" Maura paused. "Multiple?"

Jane shot her an incredulous look. "Seriously?"

Muara refocused. "Jane there is an easier—"

"I'll just say I couldn't sleep, went for a walk—" Maura grabbed her arm again as Jane began to pull herself closer to the window. Jane huffed again and was going to rebuttal the message Maura was sending her until she caught the look of worry behind Maura's eyes. "Fine." She grumbled before pulling her hand away and motioning to the hall door. "So what do we do?" She whispered back while her mother called out to her again in the hall.

Maura put a hand to her mouth and was about to say something when the sound of Angela outside caught both their attention again, she was sighing to herself now. They stood perfectly still as they listened to the other woman take a step towards Maura's door before hearing her feet on the stairs.

Maura motioned to the door. "Go." She muttered.

Jane nodded, they had caught her mother in a particularly respectful mood, they were lucky. Still, it felt odd to view it that way. Jane nodded again at the ME's advice and came over to give Maura little hug she wasn't expecting. It took the heaviness out of the air between them. "Yes." Maura smiled into it. "Now go."

##

By the time Maura made it downstairs ready for the day with her handbag and heels in one hand and her cell phone in the other she was surprised to find all three Rizzoli sibling seated at her kitchen island talking amongst themselves while Angela stood patiently over a hot flatiron skillet.

"Hey Maura!" Tommy greeted stopping all other conversation and beginning the course of greetings. "Long time no see." He grinned as he got out of his seat to offer the ME a place to sit in between Frankie and Jane. "Here, take mine."

"Hey Maura." Frankie lifted his coffee mug in greeting. "Thanks for having us over."

"I had Frankie bring the gluten free pancake mix I was telling you about," Angela greeted as she motioned to the skillet in front of her.

Maura smiled at Tommy moving his plate over and then at Frankie as he scooted to give her room. She looked at his plate (because Jane's remnants were unrecognizable at this point) and pointed. "Whatever this is smells lovely. I wish you hadn't gone through the trouble." She rested her medical bag and shoes down before taking the seat between Jane and Frankie. Jane glanced at her.

"Good morning." She greeted her best friend.

Jane took a sip from her coffee cup coolly and nodded. "Hey Maura."

The ME nodded to herself as she tried to hide her amusement. Jane narrowed her eyes playfully at her then before returning to her breakfast. They were in the real world now weren't they? Last night she had lost herself deep within her and that kind of thinking could not exist here… still Jane looked very cute today in her new baby blue button-down shirt and grey slacks. She contemplated leaning over and saying as much but then decided against it.

"Banana chocolate chip it is, Doc!" Angela rejoiced. She really really did not want to make the other ones. It defeated the purpose of the morning; plus the pan she was working with to refill her children's plates was finally at the right temperature and the batter at her hip had reached a consistency of her liking. She looked to her daughter to see if she wanted another bunny pancake but paused and smiled when she caught Jane smiling into her coffee mug. She wondered the last time she had seen her smile like that.

"Do you want another flapjack, Sweetheart?"

Jane nodded easily at her mother "Yeah Ma, thanks."

The matriarch nodded slowly, and Jane raised a brow. She was studying her and Jane rather she didn't. Truth be told she was certain with enough time she'd be able to see right through her and Jane was sure not ready for that today. Despite almost getting busted Maura was sitting right beside her and it was making her stomach do this fluttery thing that was… inconvenient.

Was sex with Maura what made things this different? Was she just on a high from getting off? Was it both? She wanted to talk to Maura about it, well, she wanted to do less talking and more of what she was interrupted doing earlier... Was it that anticipation that made the detective painfully aware of Maura's perfume, or her elbow touching hers when she moved to speak? Last night the ME made it clear she wanted her all to herself, was it that? No one had ever paid so much careful attention to her, she had never really given anyone the time anyway. Even her most intimate of moments with Casey paled to last night, was that okay to think? He wasn't a bad guy, he was one of the best really, and she had been sexually satisfied with him… With Maura everything just felt… better, softer, harder, sweeter, sexier…

Jane glanced at Maura speaking with Frankie and then back to her plate. Her mother was just slipping a single bunny pancake onto it. "Thanks Ma." She picked up her fork.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Angela asked just under her normal speaking tone. Around them the conversation had changed to motorcycles. A topic neither Rizzoli woman cared much for.

Jane exhaled a little and then shrugged. "I dunno." She replied honestly. "That's a lot of pennies."

The older woman nodded. "We still haven't had breakfast together yet." She reminded her eldest of her promise made the night she got back from the airport.

Jane was already chewing on a chocolate chip bunny ear. "Yeah." She managed before reaching for her coffee to wash the sugary goodness down. "Maybe this weekend?" Angela started Maura's pancakes in the skillet. Jane watched her technique a moment before turning back to her own food.

There was no way she could talk to her mother about this.

The very first thing Maura had asked her was if she were satisfied. Jane shifted in her seat as she recalled the smaller woman's surprisingly strong hands on her upper thighs. The words she whispered when her mouth hovered over her ear…

"What do you think, Janie?"

Jane was snapped out of her thoughts a second time when Frankie asked her a question over Maura's hands.

Frankie was smiling that dumb smile of his, it always made Jane smile. "Huh?"

"Aye earth to Janie huh?" Tommy chuckled from her left where he had moved to stand at the island. "You haven't said one thing all morning about the plan."

Jane blinked. Were they constructing a plan? For what? She cleared her throat. "I'm just thinking about this case." She lied. "What'd you say?" Maura looked at her curiously.

"I said it's gonna be a good night at the Robber, Korsak has no clue."

Jane quickly pulled everything she could on her partner and this time of year to the forefront of her brain. "His work anniversary?"

Angela nodded easily. "I will say everyone called out, I already called Kiki."

"Boston Fire said they could bring a truck, put it outside and everything so it blocks the entrance."

"Jesus what are we trying to give him a heart attack?"

Maura shook her head surely after taking a sip from the coffee Angela just placed in front of her. "That is unlikely, Sergeant Korsak has an incredibly strong cardiovascular system for a man his age."

Jane furrowed a brow. "Sure, it's all those powdered doughnuts."

Jane's mother waved. "Oh it'll be fun, I already called Kiki and she's in."

"You just said that Ma."

Angela shrugged. "Good to see you're back with us and not wherever it is you've been all morning honey."

Jane rolled her eyes and looked everywhere but at her best friend. "Alright so when is this?"

Maura was going to say something and then stilled when she recalled. "You may be out of town." She noted.

Jane looked at her then for clarity before it really sunk in. "Oh yeah." She was set to return to Virginia in two weeks' time.

"Can't you just go the next week?" Frankie asked.

"Yeah, Janie we're getting a fire truck." Tommy added.

"I don't know, I have to look at the dates." Jane wanted to change the subject. "Hey since when is Boston Fire doing us a favor huh?" She made a point to look at Frankie when she 't she make herself clear on that whole thing?

He shrugged. "They're not so bad, Jane c'mon."

"It's a cop bar. They're not cops."

"Yeah, but it's a fire truck, imagine how it will look outside all lit up. Korsak will lose his mind."

Tommy nodded. "Yeah, lighten up a little."

Jane put her hands up. "Alright alright."

The conversation turned to Frankie and Nina's wedding. Angela made more pancakes as she insisted on making the groom's cake while Frankie tried to back pedal even wanting one in the first place. Jane helped herself to more coffee and clocked Tommy anxiously checking his cell phone. She walked past him on her way to grab Maura's empty mug to refill it.

"You good?" She asked so no one else could hear.

Tommy looked up at her and offered her a smile. "Yeah." He laughed a little. "Just uh…" They looked at one another for a moment before glancing at their mother. "Just waitin' for a call."

"What kind of call?" Jane asked while she refilled Maura's mug.

Tommy shrugged. He leaned in a little closer to her. "Talked to Lydia last night."

Jane raised a brow. "You dd?" That was fast.

"Yeah, I mean I didn't tell her everything…not everything y'know?" Jane nodded slowly. "Not yet… Just told her I'd losing some rides so she's talking to her manager at The Big Box to see if he has a few shifts…" He paused. "I mean I don't want to be lifting boxes all day in some warehouse, Janie."

"You got any other option right now?"

"No… Should I tell her? About all of it?"

Jane looked down at her two mugs as she thought. "What's your gut say?"

"Tell her." He looked at his cell phone. He hated keeping things from her, he never could.

"So tell her." She was going to move to bring Maura the coffee when Tommy stepped in front of her some to stop her.

"Janie, Pop wasn't looking too good."

"Just stay away from him for a little bit yeah? I know you wanna be there and do the right thing but you gotta think about TJ right now."

Tommy frowned. "I know that."

Jane frowned then too, she took a small breath and sent him an apologetic look. "Sorry." Clearly her father was still a sore subject for her, but it had nothing to do with Tommy wanting to confide in her his worry. She was worried too.

Tommy shrugged. "I'm a good dad, Janie."

"Hey I know you are, I never meant it like that." She paused wondering how much she should say. "This whole thing has just been stressful right? That's all I mean. Kids soak up all that."

"Yeah okay." Tommy crossed his arms and looked away a moment. "Just cause things are stressful doesn't mean you don't talk about 'em."

Jane bit the inside of her mouth as she considered the possibility that Tommy had tried to explain all his meetings to TJ. "You're right."

"So?" He uncrossed his arms and was about to say something more when his cell phone began buzzing in his hand. "It's work." Tommy hovered his finger over the screen unsure of what to do.

"Pick it up." Jane eased. "It'll be alright. We're all here for you."

Tommy exhaled quickly and nodded. "Yeah, better go outside with it."

Jane watched him slip out the backdoor and then glanced at her mother to see if she noticed. Angela was now showing Frankie pictures on her cell phone.

"Ma Nina already knows what color she wants—"

"—but look how pretty this is? Wouldn't it be nice for the rehearsal dinner?"

"We're having it at The Robber."

"What? Why?"

Armed with the two coffees Jane found Maura had moved to the living room to lay out all the paperwork she had brought home so she could pack it neatly. Jane put the refreshed coffee mug down on the coffee table beside her.

"Thank you." She tried not to smile.

Jane shrugged one shoulder. "No problem."

"Would you like to sit?" Maura motioned to the seat beside her. Jane hesitating made Maura smile more. "Or perhaps not."

Jane chuckled. "Yeah, maybe not." She took a sip of her coffee. "So um—"

"—Janie c'mon, please tell her she doesn't need to worry about all this stuff!" Frankie called.

"I don't see what's so wrong in being interested in my son's wedding planning! You can't leave everything for poor Nina to plan."

"She does have a point." Jane nodded as she made her way back to the kitchen. "I mean all you picked out was the bullet proof rings."

Frankie rolled his eyes at her. When she saw them she'd change her mind. "Ah c'mon. We want something low key."

"Right but who's planning the bachelor party?"

Frankie made a face as if the question was the most absurd thing he heard all morning. "My best man."

Jane made a face back. "Uh no, no way, I can't afford strippers on a detective's salary."

"Strippers! Mother of mercy." Angela shook her head at them. "Frankie doesn't want strippers Jane."

Jane shrugged and Frankie chuckled. "She's right, please don't."

Jane snorted. "Don't worry I wasn't gonna." She paused to think about it as she sat at the stool beside him. "Let's go fishing."

He beamed. "Alright see Ma, we got it figured out, no planning needed."

Angela was drying off her pancake skillet when she pointed it at him. "You can't have the rehearsal dinner at The Dirty Robber, Nina is a nice girl, Francesco."

Frankie sunk into his seat. "Again, with the Francesco, I know Ma."

"We're going to plan it, to surprise her."

Frankie glanced at Jane who conveniently was taking a large sip from her coffee mug. "Nice." He muttered to her before turning to their mother. "Who is we?"

"You and your mother." She pointed at herself and Frankie. "It will be fun!"

Frankie sighed loudly into his coffee and Jane snickered.

"What are you laughin' at huh?" He nudged her.

Jane nudged him back. "This is a new shirt."

"Oh yeah?" He nudged her again. "Who you trying to impress?"

"No one. You have motorcycle gunk under your nails though."

"No I don't" He nudged her again.

Angela rolled her eyes. "One of you is going to spill something. Cut it out."

Maura walked by just then and Frankie watched his sister try and adjust her collar.

He saw it more every time he looked now. It was cute.

##

Vince nodded slowly. "Would explain why she was working alone that shift." He looked back to the tablet Nina insisted her take with him into the field that morning. On the smudged screen Fiona Murphy's employee portal was finally available to them. "She was up for a promotion. Kind of trial shift. Says here she needed two more solo closes to end the review process."

Jane nodded as she buckled her seatbelt with one hand and held her second coffee cup with the other. They were going on a short trip across town to where Fiona attended sobriety meetings to question the group leader about their unsub. "Maybe we're looking at it all wrong."

Korsak waited for her to get settled in before starting the engine. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe her job was just where she died, yknow?"

He nodded quickly. "Okay so what'd she do the last couple days?"

"Well her bank records state—" Jane paused at the buzzing at her hip and Vince nodded indicating he wasn't really in any important train of thought quite yet and answering wouldn't be rude. Jane took another sip of her coffee as she reached for her cell phone and smiled a little. "Hey, what's up?"

Tasha flopped back onto her dorm room bed. "Nothing much."

"Ah." She rolled her eyes. "Good, I'm trying to solve a murder."

"Sounds intense."

"You have no idea." Jane chuckled. "What's up?"

"I want to work at the bar. The Dirty Robber."

Jane sucked her teeth gently. "No." She decided.

"No?"

"Yeah, No." There was a long pause. "Maura's getting something together for you to work at MEND, isn't that more up your alley?"

"I'm going to spend the next ten years of my life in school. I don't drink really and bartending can teach me better people skills, how to read people better…"

"You don't drink really? How much is really?"

Tasha ignored her question. "I want to spend the time that I'm in Boston learning something valuable."

"How to change a keg is what you want to learn?"

"No, how to read people. I can't do that at MEND, everyone there will be… afraid they can't afford the bills, afraid it won't matter."

"This has nothing to do with your own fears… yknow?""

"….No. That's why I go to therapy."

Jane sighed heavily. "Call Maura."

"She's just going to say that I'd be more attractive a candidate with MEND experience, but I know for me what I need. That's bar people skills."

"Bar people skills." Jane's phone beeped signaling she was getting another call. "Call Maura." She hung up and switched the line. "Rizzoli."

"Jane we were able to find viable fetal tissue and are running a trace DNA sweep through the database upstairs. Frankie. Frankie is running a trace DNA sweep through the database upstairs." Maura held her phone to her ear while she flipped open a new medical chart. "It will be ready in an hour along with my final report."

"Tasha doesn't want to work at MEND, she wants bar people skills."

"I beg your pardon?"

"She just called me, I told her to call you."

"Why?"

"Why?" Jane asked incredulously. "Because I am busy trying to solve a murder." Another beep on the line and the detective motioned to her partner. "I gotta go." She hung up on Maura to switch to the other caller. "Rizzoli… Detective Rizzoli." She corrected. Korsak was chuckling as he drove.

"Are you sleeping okay, honey?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "Ma, I'm at work."

"I was just checking in. You seemed different this morning."

Jane rubbed at her cheek. "Yeah, I didn't sleep well, alright? Can I call you back?"

"Okay sweetie, did I tell you that I was looking forward to our mother daughter breakfast this weekend?"

Jane smiled a little. "Yeah Ma. About a million times."

"You better not stand me up again."

"I won't."

"Okay I'll let you go—"

"Hey hey hold on." Jane thought about something. "When is Pop due for another scan or whatever?" Her mother had a tendency to over cook when she was stressed. No one at the precinct was complaining, but the several dozen leftover bunny pancakes that she brought into work that morning had definitely caught she and Frankie's attention.

Angela took a moment to respond. "In a week, why?"

"I'm gonna give you a ride." Jane didn't want her mother to try and talk her out of it. "I gotta go alright? Love you."

"I love you too, Janie."

She hung up then phone and the two partners looked at each other.

"You're one popular woman." Korsak joked to try and bring the lightness back.

Jane huffed and returned to her coffee. "You are more than welcome to any of them if you want."

He chuckled. "You don't mean that."

Jane sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know I don't." She shook her head. "Lot going on that's all."

He nodded. "How's Tasha doing?"

Jane smiled a little. "She's the least of my worries."

"Oh yeah?"

"I think she wants to be close to home for a while longer. She's too cool to say it but…"

"Where is she going?"

"Some internship for part of the summer Maura got her involved with. " She shook her head amusedly. "She wants to work at The Robber in the meantime. Can't decide if she's running a con or not."

He laughed. " You know I could use a responsible—"

"No no no, c'mon Korsak she's a kid."

"She's old enough to sell alcohol in the state of Massachusetts, she's responsible, smart, why can't she do some bookkeeping and work a shift with me a night or two?"

Jane shook her head slowly. "I trust you, Ma and those old timers who play poker on Tuesday's in the corner, that's it."

"Have her come 'round when she gets into town. I'll take care of it."

"She should work at MEND."

"Probably." Vince agreed. "But she'll keep coming to you with big decisions if you give her an inch."

Jane thought about this for a moment and then nodded. "That's what I keep trying to tell Maura." She commented to herself. Vince wanted to ask about Maura then but he thought it a good idea to get back into the case they were working first. They would be at the Our Lady of Mercy Church and Community Center any minute now.

"You still owe me a beer you know." He reminded.

"Celtics are on against Miami tonight." She offered.

"I'll save you a seat at the bar."

AN: Happy Holidays Everyone!

KathleenDee