V🦘

The first couple of times? She'd sputtered, choked, almost spit out her coffee in surprise and the goddamn audacity. Then… then it kept happening. Every month or two someone would mention it, would ask, would wonder aloud, and it would become Jane's problem. What started out as something easy to ignore became something that haunted her in the quiet moments before she tried in vain to sleep. It became the thing that pounced upon her when she woke up in the middle of the night and refused to allow her to try to sink back down into slumber.

So Jane was answering the annoying call of the universe. Because, yes, Maura seemed to enjoy spending as much time as possible with Jane. And yes, they shared many meals and much of their downtime, and they enjoyed going on weekend excursions exploring the city or digging into the culture of Boston and the surrounding area.

Did she know if Maura liked women? No. If she had to guess, though, she'd think it was likely. Did she know if Maura liked her? Also no. And the words from Maura early on in their friendship would've been enough to nip this whole thing in the bud: You're not my type. Except it had been years since then and everyone insisted it was clear as day that Maura was in love with her.

Pfft, as if Maura could be so easily read. She didn't lie, sure, but she had her ways of playing things close to the vest. Jane wasn't one to ignore dozens of unsolicited assurances, but most importantly, if even her mother was telling her Maura was into her and that she better lock down that doctor before some other pretty boy came along… well, that was pretty damning evidence, in her opinion.

So that was how Jane wound up here. Staring at her computer screen, her brightness turned way down so even she could barely see it, and contemplating just how stupid this whole endeavour was.

Maura was a romantic—maybe Jane should just grab some sparkling wine and some chocolate and a decent bouquet and ask her out in a traditional fashion.

Except. It was Maura. She'd had plenty of people try that before, and sure, it often worked, but it wasn't memorable. If this was going to be the last time Maura got asked out on a first date—and Jane was hoping beyond hope that this was the case—then she wanted to make it a story that Maura revelled in retelling.

Probably at their wedding.

Not that Jane was thinking that far ahead or anything.

So, Jane needed a way to ask Maura out that was personal to her, memorable, and rooted in the facts. Because Maura thrived on facts. It was very endearing, even if the refusal to call blood stains what they were could be a little aggravating. No one but Maura could get away with it, at least as far as Jane was concerned.

Hence the slide deck presentation Jane had spent the better part of two weeks working on in secret when she was actually supposed to be filling out reports. The slide deck that, by her eye, was finally done. Was it ready? Hard to say, but it was finished and it would have to do.

Jane hit save, copied it to her thumb drive, and then deleted it twice from her computer. No way was she leaving any possible evidence for someone like Korsak to find. She'd never hear the end of it, if he ever stopped chuckling long enough to comment about it.

With the drive burning a hole in her pocket, Jane hurried out of the precinct and sped a beeline to Maura's. They were going to have dinner, Jane would make her pitch as to why Maura should date her, and then the rest of Jane's life would come into focus. Hopefully, it'd look a lot like how her life is now, but with more Maura. Maybe even living together, but she didn't want to get ahead of herself.

She sat in her car for a few minutes, trying to psych herself up before catching hold of a wave of bravery and flinging herself out of it. She knocked quickly on Maura's door before testing it, pressing her lips together in frustration to find that Maura had left the door unlocked. Again. How many times had they discussed that even if she was expecting someone, she shouldn't just leave her home open to whatever random strangers were passing by?

It wasn't safe. Maura needed to be safe.

Jane locked the door behind her and stalked into the kitchen to find Maura, puttering around the kitchen like she hadn't just put her life in danger.

"You gotta lock the door," Jane said in lieu of a greeting, arms crossed sternly and hip cocked.

Maura didn't turn, just continued rifling through her cabinet. "Relax, Jane, I only unlocked it when I saw you pull up." She let out a small noise of triumph and pulled out a jar of San Marzano tomatoes. When she turned to notice Jane observing her with disgruntlement, Maura's back straightened. "I'm a grown woman and I can take care of myself," she said, in that tone that was part warning and part reasurrance.

Jane forced her hackles to lower. She uncrossed her arms. "I just want you to be safe and it's an unecessary risk."

"Only when you sit in your car for—" Maura glanced at the clock on the oven, "—seven minutes."

Heat licked up Jane's cheeks.

"And since you were out there, I highly doubt you would've let a stranger approach my house, let alone walk right in," Maura continued, one eyebrow raised like she was inviting Jane to argue.

Wisely, Jane opted not to. She cleared her throat instead, a not-too-subtle segue from the topic at hand. "Can I help with dinner?" she asked, uncrossing her arms to shed her blazer onto the nearest chairback.

Maura smiled at her then, that soft, genuine smile that relaxed her whole face. "No, I'm all good. There's beer in the fridge," Maura answered, opening the jar and pouring the tomatoes into the pot on the stove.

Jane rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh, that's alright, I'll have one later."

Maura paused where she was, mid-stir of whatever sauce was coming together. "You don't want one now?" she asked, sounding utterly perplexed.

Fighting a flush, Jane shook her head. While the liquid courage might be helpful, she wanted to do this sober. "Nah, there's something I wanna talk to you about later. I'll have one after that."

"Sounds serious," Maura commented, not moving an inch from where she stood hovering by the stove. "We could talk about it now, instead?"

"Uh, we don't have to do that," Jane said quickly.

Maura's lips pursed. She reached out and shut the burner off. "I admit you've got me a little worried now, Jane, and I'd love to find out what's going on sooner rather than later."

Jane barely managed not to wince. She knew Maura had a thing about knowing what was going on. She didn't like secrets, didn't like being kept out of the loop after so many years in the dark. "Sure, yeah," Jane said. "We can do it now." Even though it might change what their evening afterward looked like, even though it might change their dynamic forever—and not necessarily for the best.

She knew it was a gamble. There was no such thing as a sure thing, despite all the evidence to back her up. Still, she swallowed and set her resolve. "Can I borrow your computer?"

If anything, Maura looked more confused, but she nodded and gestured over to the table where her laptop sat.

Maura looked even more bewildered when Jane hooked up the HDMI cord to the TV, asked Maura to sit on the couch, and jabbed in the USB drive from the depths of her slacks' pocket.

Jane did her best to ignore the sharp inhale when the title slide came into focus on screen.

The Case for Maura Isles to Date Jane Rizzoli.

It was too long, she knew, but it got the point across.

Jane licked her lips, rubbed her suddenly sweaty hand off on her pants, and started the presentation.

She went through it all, how much they enjoy each other's company, how well they work together, how Maura was the only person who didn't seem to count as people when Jane couldn't stand to be around people anymore. She listed out the things they'd done for each other that they'd never done for anyone else, not limited to attending high school reunions and running marathons with P.U.K.E. across their chests.

Maura was silent through it all, even when Jane read out only a small selection (twelve items since that fit nicely on the slide) of things she loved about her.

By the time Jane got to the penultimate slide, she wasn't sure if her sweat was wearing her clothes or if her clothes were wearing her sweat. She felt nothing but anxiety as she clicked to the last slide.

"So, Maura Dorothea Isles," Jane intoned. "Will you go out with me?"

When asked about it later, Jane will repeat that she never saw Maura move. One moment, Maura was on the couch, staring glassy-eyed and dumbfounded at the screen while Jane shuffled nervously to the side. And the next, Maura had thrown herself into Jane's arms, holding onto her so tightly it felt like Jane could barely breathe, murmuring yes, yes, yes, into the shell of her ear.

While not official, the dinner they shared that night felt a lot like a first date without all the awkwardness. It was happy and affectionate and they held onto their banter even as their hands found each other on the top of the table. Their actual first date a couple of days later was punctuated by Maura getting called away for a body, but Jane didn't let that get to her. She knew what dating Maura would involve. Besides, she got to join her for tea later that night and they picked up right where they left off.

R&I R&I R&I

Jane was absolutely right. It was an excellent story for their wedding.