Maura gathered up all the cut flowers and her gardening tools and went back inside. She felt vindicated. She also felt a little guilty for the smarmy way she'd treated Amy. Maura didn't particularly like accessing that part of herself, the part that was forged in the passive aggressive battlefields of high society. For a while, that had been all she had. Before Jane, she didn't particularly have any friends. As a child, her social world was nil. Her intelligence and interests caused other children to resent her, and her lack of fluency in social norms made them ostracize her. It wasn't until she was in the latter years of college where her accomplishments (not to mention wealth) started to matter and command respect from others even if she didn't quite fit in. For a long time, her social world was nothing more than charity banquets and dinner parties and intermission at the opera. Maura learned how to hide herself behind a veneer of studied manners and scripted hospitality.

Maura grimaced disdainfully at the memories.

She turned her thoughts instead to Jane, and trying to hold on to what she thought she saw in her friend's eyes. With Jane no longer right in front of her, Maura social insecurities had reared their heads and she found herself doubting that she'd read the detective correctly. She was unsure whether she'd correctly categorized the tumult in her dark eyes, the reason for her intense focus on Maura. She shivered slightly at the memory. One way or another, it was becoming clear that things would have to come to light soon.

Maura placed the large flower bundle on her counter, and calculated how many vases she would need for them. It was, perhaps, an excessive amount of flowers she had cut to develop her hypothesis.

"Maura!"

Maura screamed in surprise and whirled around to face the Rizzoli matriarch. Angela stood in the foyer with a look of deep annoyance on her face. Had Angela seen them? Maura briefly considered the possibility she was about to be chastised for being rude to Jane's date.

"Angela, dear God." Maura placed a hand against her heart. "You scared me. That's the first time you haven't knocked since…" Maura cleared her throat, and started over. "Angela. Is everything all right?"

"It will be when you join us for dinner," Angela huffed. "You think you and Jane can make up and you don't come to Sunday dinner?" The older woman looked at Maura reproachfully, albeit with love. Maura felt herself warm up. She'd missed Jane desperately, but she'd also missed receiving the full brunt of Angela's meddling maternal affection too, and she could see it was back in her life without warning.

"I will come back, Angela," Maura said gently. "Perhaps next week? I'd love to host it. This week just doesn't make sense, with Jane bringing a date…" Maura gestured vaguely, and looked down, back to her flowers.

"Exactly," Angela said pointedly. Maura jerked her head up.

"What?"

"With Jane bringing a date."

"I'm…not sure what you…I don't—" Maura snapped her mouth shut, cutting herself off. She could already feel how red she'd gotten, and the itch at her neck was nearly immediate. It was abundantly clear she wasn't going to be able to lie about this.

"I'm not so clueless, Maura." Angela sounded a little self-satisfied, her suspicions now confirmed. She straightened her back and stared Maura dead in the eyes. "You have feelings for my daughter?"

Maura sucked in a breath.

"Yes."

"Does she know yet?"

"No."

The two women stared at each other for a long moment. Angela could have berated Maura for not telling Jane yet. It would have been expected. That's probably what made the silence that much more effective. Without a word spoken, Maura felt thoroughly chastised.

"I'll put these flowers in water and you go upstairs and change," Angela stated with finality.

Maura wanted to protest, but Angela was already edging her out of the way and taking over sorting the flowers into piles. Wordlessly, Maura backed off, taking a few steps backwards as she watched Angela. Watched her new co-conspirator, apparently. Maura shook her head in disbelief and turned to leave the kitchen, hurrying up to her bedroom.

In her closet, Maura inspected her clothes while her mind churned. She had really, truly not wanted to go to Sunday dinner yet. As much as she missed the Rizziolis, after so much time along for six months, she wasn't quite ready to dive back in. But thinking about Jane, and the way Amy had pressed her body against her, flaunting her access to Jane, was stoking a fire inside Maura. She didn't know this woman. Amy was probably perfectly nice. But that was her detective.

Maura had hardly stepped into the room, barely announced her presence, before she was smothered by male Rizzolis. First a big hug from Frankie, unreserved in its intensity, and then a slightly more cautious one from Tommy. It wasn't that long ago that Maura had halted an attempted kiss from Tommy, and as he stepped into the hug, she could still see the flirtatious glimmer in his eyes. Maura gave him a disapproving but affectionate look. She had been attracted to him, certainly, though she realized now that it was almost surely just as a proxy for what she really wanted. She looked over at Jane, standing frozen next to Amy. Maura could see irritation on her face, and she wasn't sure if it was at her presence, or at Tommy's proximity to her.

"Now we can eat." Angela looked at the set table approvingly.

Maura smiled charitably at Amy. "Hello again, Amy." And then her voice softened just slightly. "Hello, Jane."

Jane grunted a hello, and took her seat at the table, and Amy sat down slowly beside her.

Maura suddenly wondered if she'd completely misread the situation. She was about to take the seat furthest from them when the remainder of the Rizzoli clan swooped into their seats, leaving only the chair at the head of the table, on the other side of Jane. Her usual seat. Maura sank into the chair with some trepidation.

The light chatter of the family's particular brand of Italian manners filled in the sudden silence, as dishes got passed from person to person and everyone loaded up their plates from an arrangement of platters. Jane studiously avoided Maura's gaze, even when tasked with passing her a dish. Maura was now fairly sure she'd made a mistake. Jane wanted to be here with Amy. She didn't want Maura there.

No, wait. She just invited me to this dinner. Maura studied Jane and Amy carefully. Amy's body language and demeanour had numerous indicators of annoyance, and Jane was being unusually quiet. She was snapped out of her thoughts as Angela patted her on the arm.

"It's so nice to have you back, Maura. It has been too long."

"Yeah, Maura," Tommy agreed. "We've missed you at dinner. And not just 'cause the Pats are undefeated when we watch 'em on your TV." He added a wink.

"Tommy," Jane hissed. The youngest Rizzoli lifted his arms in immediate surrender.

"Alright, alright. Jeez."

Angela looked at her daughter quizzically, then turned her attention to Amy.

"So Amy! Jane tells me you're a farmer? All by yourself? Sounds like a lot of work."

Amy looked up from her plate, and gave Angela a nervous smile. "Yes, sort of. I do some urban gardening and have some produce that I sell on Saturdays. But mostly I grow flowers, I rent a couple vacant lots in Saugus and I grow them there."

Angela gasped lightly in pleasure. "Flowers! That's so nice. And you sell them to local florists?"

"I used to." Amy was looking a bit more comfortable, and Maura was unfortunately finding herself warming to her. She could tell that Angela was as well. Amy continued, "But I wanted to figure out a way to make retail prices on the flowers without increasing my overhead. So I made a website and sold flower subscriptions, which I deliver on Fridays. Guaranteed weekly arrangements for my customers, and steady income for me."

"That's very smart," Maura said with genuine admiration, before she could think to do otherwise. To her surprise, Amy looked over at her and gave her a warm smile. In concert, they both glanced over at Jane, who avoided them both. Amy frowned, but was smiling again by the time she looked back to Maura and Angela.

"Thank you. I'm hoping that next year I can rent a few more lots, expand the delivery days, maybe even hire someone."

Maura abruptly found herself mad at Jane. Jane, who seemed to be ignoring the conversation, shovelling lasagna into her mouth between long drafts from her bottle of Peroni, steadfastly ignoring the fact that Amy kept looking at her. Jane was hanging this woman out to dry.

"What happens if you don't have enough flowers?" Angela inquired.

"Hmm?" Amy dragged her eyes away from Jane.

"Well, if it's a subscription model, you guaranteed the flowers right?" Angela continued. "Do you ever worry you won't be able to produce all the bouquets?"

"Oh yeah, I thought about that. I started small this year. I capped the number of subscribers low, to make sure I could fulfill. But it's definitely the big thing I have to account for going forward." Amy looked as though she was tiring of the topic, or perhaps the whole dinner.

"Jesus, Ma. Is this a business seminar or Sunday dinner?" Jane finally spoke, looking up from her plate to give her mother a withering look.

Angela looked affronted. "That's a lot of sass from someone who isn't contributing to the dinner conversation at all."

"Yeah, Janie." Frankie chimed in. "Lay off of Ma. She's trying to get to know your guest."

Jane glared at her brother, and was clearly fixing her mouth to say something biting. Before Maura could even think to do it she was placing her hand gently atop Jane's in a silent command to not fight at the table, and the detective was almost immediately mollified.

"Sorry, Ma."

Maura heard someone click their tongue, and she looked up in time to see Amy looking vindicated. She let herself take in the rest of the table, and found the non-Jane Rizzolis exchanging knowing glances. Jane herself was looking at Maura sheepishly, and the only silver lining was that she hadn't seemed to notice anyone else.

Oh no.

Maura withdrew her hand quickly, nervously clenching it into a fist before laying it flat against the table. She wasn't sure why she was panicking. This had been what she wanted, hadn't it? She had come over here to plant her flag on Jane's heart, and she'd done it without a word. A single gesture had announced the effect she had on Jane. But in that moment of quiet triumph, Maura was realizing she didn't want it this way. She wanted to have this conversation with Jane first, in private. She didn't want everyone to know before Jane. And she definitely didn't want to embarrass another woman while doing it. Maura felt her mouth go dry, but she forced herself to speak.

"Speaking of the Patriots…" She watched Jane do a double-take. "Did Jane mention we had to go to Foxboro for a case? To their ballpark, I mean."

"Stadium," Jane corrected reflexively.

"Sure, that," Maura nodded.

Tommy perked up. "No way, that's wicked."

Maura was so relieved to get a bite on her line that she briefly wondered if she should have let Tommy kiss her. Maybe he deserved one. She smiled enthusiastically, and a quick glance around the table seemed to indicate that they were all past the tense moment before. Even Amy seemed interested. People really did love shop talk when it came to murder. And the local American football team. "Yes, a member of the training staff had been found in the harbour, and it wasn't an accidental drowning. Or a drowning at all, to be accurate. No water in the lungs. Anyway, we travelled to Foxboro to see if that's where our crime scene was."

"Did ya get to see the locker rooms? The Lombardis?" Tommy leaned in.

Maura tilted her head in confusion. "I don't think I know the Lombardis, so I can't tell you if they were present. If they're employees, then very likely." She looked at Jane for confirmation, and the detective was biting back a laugh. Maura shrugged in confusion and looked back to the rest of the table. "I think Jane and Barry interviewed almost everyone who works there. But yes, we saw the locker rooms. Quite luxurious, and they would not let us walk on the team logo on the carpet. Some kind of superstition, I was told. But we could see there were trace amounts of dirt on it, which meant that someone had walked on it. Long story short, we analyzed the soil content and that was what helped break the case."

"Great solve," Jane murmured.

"A great solve," Maura agreed.

After that, the conversation started to flow organically. Jane was more relaxed, although to Maura's immense chagrin, she also draped her arm along the back of Amy's chair as she got into the grittier details of the case. Not to be outdone, Frankie contributed some hair-raising stories from his beat, and brought up his detective's exam grade for the umpteenth time. Tommy, meanwhile, let everyone know he had several strong job leads and was picking up occasional construction work.

Maura, as she often did, sat back and watched the Rizzoli clan go at each other, chiming in occasionally, but mostly relishing in the warmth of the evening. She had been wrong. She had been ready for this, and it was filling her up.

Over lively conversation and slices of Angela's orange cake, it was almost enough to make a woman forget that she'd come here to steal her best friend away from another woman.

And that's when Maura looked up.