DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles nor any of the characters from the show. I am writing this purely for entertainment, not profit. Rizzoli and Isles are property of Tess Gerritsen and TNT.

Please find the full disclaimers in the beginning of Chapter 1.


Chapter 19

Jane heard the soft knock on her classroom door, and raised her eyes distractedly from where she had been storing her things by the podium, after the last cadet had left for the day.

"Can I come in?" Maura asked, in a shy but bright smile.

"Hey! Of course, Maura, come on in. I was not expecting to see you, is everything alright? I thought by now you would have been home for hours…" Jane asked, concerned.

It was Friday, and Maura had interviews most of the days of the week, the last one being today, in the same campus of the Agency Jane worked at. But it was supposed to have happened immediately after lunch, so Jane was surprised.

"I also expected to have gone home for hours by now too…" Maura admitted softly, leaving Jane puzzled.

Having finished packing her things, and knowing it would not be adequate to kiss or hug Maura in her workplace, Jane offered Maura her arm to walk them out of there as quickly as she could, so they could talk freely.

"May I invite you for dinner?" Maura asked, as they walked through the parking lot towards Jane's car.

"Always." Jane smiled gently. "But you are getting me worried… What got you stuck here for so long? Did something happen?"

"Yes, you could say so…"

Jane rolled her eyes impatiently. "Later, that same day…"

Maura laughed. "It is so easy to rile you…"

Jane squinted her eyes at Maura. "Easy, you say?"

Maura hugged Jane tightly, and Jane returned the hug.

"Will you please tell me what is going on? Did your interview get delayed or something?" Jane asked, her voice closer to Maura's ear.

"I will." Maura chuckled. "My interview happened exactly on time."

Jane knotted her eyebrows. "But what happened, then?"

"Well, there was a follow up interview with two different people, and they made me an offer…" Maura finally gave in, as Jane opened the door of the car for her.

Jane stopped mid-move.

"An offer?" she asked, eyes going wide.

"And a very good one at that… Better benefits and money than I make as the Chief Medical Examiner. Leading an internal lab, no field work, expected to be more stable hours."

Jane was grinning proudly. "Sounds fantastic, Maura. What did you say?"

"That was the reason why I was here this long. I was negotiating the details and signing up the offer."

"Did you accept it, then?" Jane's grin was now splitting her face in half.

"I did." Maura's grin mirrored Jane's. "I start here the first Monday after my term as Chief Medical Examiner ends in Boston."

Jane hugged Maura tightly, lifting her from the floor.

"Jane!" Maura squeaked, but delighted. She knew Jane was happy. Maura herself was bursting on her seams with happiness.

"These are the best news ever!" Jane squeaked by Maura's ear as she placed her gently back on the floor. "And it does beg for a celebratory dinner…"

"That is why I invited you out. Shall we go?" Maura offered, kissing Jane chastely on the lips, before sitting on the passenger side.

Jane closed the door carefully, and walked to her driver side.

"Of course. Where to?"

In the few minutes Maura had waited for Jane, she had time to check out their options and make a reservation. So she provided Jane directions for them to go.

Jane was asking excited questions about the job, who Maura had talked to, and in no time they found themselves in front of the restaurant Maura had chosen.

Jane walked around the car to open the door and offering a hand for Maura to stand, before they walked together in the restaurant, being conducted to a table away from the crowd.

It was a French restaurant, so Jane trusted Maura to make the choices of food and drink for them both.

"To the smartest and most brilliant woman I have ever met!" Jane raised her glass in a toast to Maura, before clinking glasses with her.

"You forgot to mention the happiest one, too!" Maura smiled gently.

The food was delicious, and they enjoyed a relaxed celebratory meal.

The waiter brought in their desert, and Jane noticed Maura was restless in her seat.

"What is it, Maura?" Jane asked, concerned.

Maura blushed furiously, and Jane immediately raised a hand to take Maura's into hers.

"Maura?"

She watched Maura swallow hard, and then point discreetly with her chin to Jane's plate.

Jane knotted her eyebrows before looking at her plate, and then her eyes went wide.

Written in chocolate ganache on top of her flourless chocolate cake, were the words: "Would you move in with me?"

Jane grinned, a touched smile on her face.

"Shouldn't this question be the other way around? I am the one who lives in DC… And in my mind it goes without even asking… If you move to DC, we move in together…" Jane admitted softly.

Maura grinned, more relaxed.

"Well, nothing against your rental apartment, but we can't fit all my things there… So my proposal is to find a place where we both can move in together… Would you still agree to that?" Maura asked, sheepishly.

"Wherever you go, I'll go, Maura." Jane raised Maura's hands to her lips, kissing the back of Maura's hand gently before squeezing it reassuringly.

They finished their dinner, that Maura insisted to pay for since she had invited, and drove back to Jane's apartment.

They changed in comfortable clothes, and moved to the sofa, and after Maura found her place cuddling against Jane, she opened her iPad for them to check on properties online.

They agreed on an apartment, for security and practicality reasons, and the fact they both would be working from the same campus made the choice of neighborhoods easy to narrow down.

After they selected a few options to visit, Maura sent the information to her realtor, asking for a recommendation of a local broker in DC to help show the properties to her.

"I need to go back to Boston."

Jane pouted.

"To pack my things to be sent here. To put the Beacon Hill house up for sale." Maura explained, quickly. "You should come with me. Visit with Frankie and Nina and TJ?" Maura tried.

Jane hesitated for a moment.

"Yeah… We need to tell them the news… about us…"