Yup...I'm ashamed...I feel like I have neglected this for a while. Had this chapter half-written and then just hit a block. I had to go write some other stuff and take a break from this because I have been testing the waters with writing ME stuff on here. Again, I feel ashamed for not posting this much sooner after I had finished it. So, I apologize to all of you for neglecting this story for a while.

Anyway, This is the chapter about Mass Effect. I had played the Mass Effect trilogy very late...and I regret it! It's so damned good! Engaging, fun and different to what I normally play. However, if nobody has played the games before, I strongly recommend this game if you are fans of Battle Star Galactica, Fire-Fly, Star-Gate SG-1, Star Trek, and many of those other space fairing shows and movies. (SPOILER! BioWare does have characters in the games where their VAs were apart of those shows...and Family Guy; Matriarch Benezia - Marina Sirtis, Captain Anderson - Keith Mother-fucking David, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau - Seth Green)

This is heavy dialog type of chapter...so there will be spoilers. I do not own BioWare or Rizzoli & Isles or their characters.

Video Game Day at Maura's

Jane Plays: Mass Effect

It was rare for the homicide detective to get a few days of vacation as she wasn't one to usually take it. Any other time she would have chosen to work and never take a day off unless she was forced to do so by Cavanaugh or Korsak. Maura's convincing did help for a while but Jane did really like her job with the Boston Police Department.

So on her first day off, with Maura's place all to herself, Jane dug out her Xbox 360 that she had packed away in her designated closet. She had asked Charlie…or rather Chuck as she started calling the kid when she and Maura would visit the Best Buy. Chuck had said that the first Mass Effect was one of the only one apart of the trilogy that was on Xbox One. So, Jane decided to dust off her Xbox 360 and get it hooked up to the flat screen in the living room. There was no use in starting up the game on her Xbox One until all the games were backwards compatible for her Xbox One or Maura's PS4.

The homicide detective hummed Motorhead's Ace of Spades as she hooked the system up and then finally got the game out of the box and put into the Xbox 360. Jane also followed Chuck's advice in downloading every DLC for the three games after she had gotten online and did the necessary updates for the system. She then let the Xbox do its thing when downloading all the downloadable content for the three games. It turned out to be quite a bit for the third game alone but then again, four or five were for the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer.

'Jeez. The freaking DLC took up a crap ton of memory…the DLCs better be worth it. Chuck also said…to play on multiplayer for Mass Effect 3…hmm. If the games are good, I'll annoy Frankie to go get them.' She thought.

Jane proceeded to fix herself something to eat and then sat back down after most of the things downloaded. She would save the Citadel DLC, Omega DLC, the From Ashes DLC and Leviathan DLC for Mass Effect 3 later. The eldest Rizzoli hummed Hotel California as the game booted up bringing her to the start menu. She toyed with the controller for a moment before starting up a new game. Jane chuckled but marveled at the idea of creating her own Commander Shepard. She nearly pumped her fist when she noticed she didn't have to change the name.

"Sweet. Guess I don't have to type in my own name." She said to herself with a laugh before she dove into creating the perfect Commander Jane Shepard.

After twenty minutes of making the perfect Commander Jane Shepard, the detective nodded satisfied completely with her character's pre-service history, psychological profile and class. It took Jane several minutes to decide whether or not her character should be an earthborn orphan gang-banger, a Navy Brat spacer, or an orphaned colonist. The eldest Rizzoli chose for her Commander Shepard to be a Spacer with the psychological profile of being a Sole-Survivor and Infiltrator as a class.

'I've always wanted to be a sniper,' thought Jane as she gave her 'Jane' Shepard a final look over and smirked before hitting complete, ultimately finalizing her character and it launched her directly into the game.

"Moral compass, don't fail me now." The detective commented, as she watched the intro of a bunch of guys talking about her character and then a final look of her Commander Shepard on screen.

Few hours later

Jane was thoroughly hooked; completely and utterly hooked on Mass Effect and everything it had to offer. As of right now, her favorite characters were Wrex, Garrus and Tali and of course her created Commander Shepard. Her character was a mixture of both renegade and paragon because who doesn't have that renegade side to them? The homicide detective had literally spent three hours wandering around the open space station with her created Commander Shepard and her two companions, Kaidan and Ashley. Jane kind of liked Ashley for being a tough as nails, get the job done kind of soldier but her blatant racism made Jane cringe a little. It could be overlooked though because Ashley was a well-rounded companion to take into battle. She sort of liked Kaidan; if it weren't for Kaidan reminding her of Casey in a way. So she was going to avoid the awkward flirting between her created character and the biotic soldier from now on.

The aliens in the game were interesting and made Jane scratch her head once or twice but the scene of Wrex shooting the gang leader, Fist in his office at Chora's Den was the shining moment that made the homicide detective like Wrex. She also basically chose the dialog that the gang leader deserved to die anyway. Hell, she was a police officer who worked in vice before working homicide. She knows some of the ins and outs of gangs. Her partner's biological father was the head of an Irish Mob syndicate in Boston that she did shoot actually. Plus, Wrex's stories were hella interesting, Jane surmised.

The planet exploration was a bit of a pain in the ass but driving the fucking Mako tank. That was the only bonus about it. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to drive the damn thing but Jane figured it out. Now, the homicide detective was using her super awesome Mako tank driving skills to navigate through a road that is surrounded by lava on a planet called Therum. She was on a mission to rescue some chick named Doctor Liara T'Soni. She had Ashley and Garrus with her this time seeing as she had used Wrex and Tali on her previous excursion on a different planet in helping some alliance Admiral find his missing crew that was eaten by some acid spitting sharped toothed worm called a Thresher Maw that reminded her vaguely of the worm from the movie Dune. Jane was so focused on the game she didn't hear Maura come in through the front door, announcing that she was home.

Maura carefully toed off her shoes and found her significant other sitting on the couch fully engrossed in the recent game Jane had bought. The honey blonde wrapped her arms gently around Jane's neck and nuzzled the brunette's neck. "How was your day off?" Maura asked.

"Hooked on this game. It's like Star-Trek meets Battle Star Galactica meets the first Starship Troopers movie meets Firefly and Star Wars and a bunch of other space sci-fi movies in between like the Fifth Element and the Chronicles of Riddick. Check out my space Marine, Maur. Meet Commander Jane Shepard." Jane said, as she pressed a button to leave the Tank with her two companions. She pressed the start button and went down to crew and showed the honey blonde an up-close shot of her created character.

Maura laughed softly, "Commander Jane Shepard. She kind of looks like you, Jane." The medical examiner said.

"Kinda the whole point. OH! Check this out! This is one of the alien species in the game. His name is Garrus Vakarian. He's a turian. They look like the cross between a bird and a velociraptor. Wait…ignore that comparison. Anyway, I'll let you read all the codex pages while I start on dinner. You'd probably nerd out and find all the alien species fascinating. Ones that I like the most so far are the Krogan. Well, you'll probably meet Wrex when I head back to the Normandy after I find Doctor T'Soni." The detective said grinning.

Maura furrowed her brow as she inspected the strange alien creature on the screen in the game. She would have to do the reading Jane offered while the brunette made dinner. "Whatever you say Jane. Just do not expect me to play it. I do not know if this game will interest me." Maura said.

The Italian shrugged carefully, "Same here but I started playing it and I was hooked. Frustrating but I'm managing…decently. Probably because I have it on the lowest difficulty. I'm still learning the controls and whatnot. I might bump up the difficultly once I get the hang of the controls better or something like that. I kind of regret my class I chose because I can't look down the sights on the assault rifle but a pistol, shotgun and sniper rifle are fine with me. I've always wondered what it would be like to be a SWAT sniper so I'm going to live vicariously through my created Commander Shepard." Jane said with a chuckle.

"That is understandable." Maura said also chuckling.

"Also learned the hard way to save my game because the auto-save is bullshit. It takes you right to the beginning of the mission. I was so far on one mission I had to start all the way back at the beginning. I was not a happy camper." The detective said with a grimace. Maura laughed softly. "Here, Take the controller, and I'll let you read through the codex pages I got so far while I go cook dinner. I'm thinking…chicken stir-fry?" Jane asked patting Maura's hands.

The honey blonde nodded, "Just give me a moment to go upstairs and change then I'm all yours." Maura said.

"Hmm. I like the sound of that." Jane said with a smirk as she un-paused her game briefly but then paused it once more to get to the journal menu.

The medical examiner chuckled before she kissed her lover on the cheek and then headed upstairs.

"That wasn't a proper kiss, woman!" The detective shouted up at her lover only to hear Maura's melodic laughter filter down the stairs.

Jane just shook her head chuckling before she continued on her mission to rescue Doctor T'Soni while Maura was up changing out of her fancy clothes.

Ten minutes later

After fighting through throngs of geth in the Mako tank, saving before and after Jane finally found Doctor T'Soni.

"Holy shit! That's Doctor T'Soni? I was totally expecting a human. Not an asari." Jane said aloud before she went through dialog to the asari asking Liara about her mother, Benezia, the Geth, and the Rogue ex-Spectre Saren.

"What's that Jane?" Maura asked as she come down the stairs drying her hair, changed into comfortable clothes.

"Nothin. Just…not what I was expecting." Jane said as she chose dialog basically telling the Gunnery Chief to shut up because Jane already trusted Liara after the alien said she hadn't heard or seen her mother in years.

Maura furrowed her brows confused as she stared at the blue alien that was suspended in midair behind some force field. "What species of alien is...that, Jane?" The medical examiner asked as she sat down on the couch beside the brunette. Maura watched as the brunette finished speaking to the suspended alien and then ran down to some sort of console after fighting off these robots.

"Well, Liara's an asari I believe. Well that's what the subtitles said when I would speak to the idiot council. One of the members of the council is an asari. I'll let you read the codex in a moment. Gotta do some thi…What the fuck! How the hell am I supposed to know what the hell the code is?" Jane asked scowling at the TV.

"Maybe it is a pattern. Perhaps press a combination of buttons and maybe you will get the code?" Maura offered.

The detective narrowed her eyes once more at the TV after she got the code wrong. "Damn thing. That's…well, I don't know. I'll try it I suppose." Jane said before she started pressing different buttons.

Jane whooped in victory after she finally got the right combination that set off a giant laser that cut through the rocks and she found a way to rescue the archaeologist.

"Huh, Liara reminds me of someone. I just can't quite put my finger on it." Jane said as she stared directly at Maura when she said it.

Maura cast a confused look at Jane, "I am a little lost. What does that have to do with me?" Maura asked.

The detective only cracked a half smirk before she finished up the dialog with Liara. She and Maura watched as Jane's created Commander Shepard, Garrus, Ashley and Liara escaped up an elevator only to be stopped by a krogan and a bunch of geth.

"Jane? What are those and what is that?" Maura asked pointing at the screen.

"The funny looking robots with flashlights on their heads are called Geth and that weird looking lizard alien is called a krogan. You'll read about them in the codex." Jane said as she listened to the Krogan battle-master say something about handing over Liara.

"Yeah right…Dust the bitch!" She half shouted at the TV, flicking her left analog stick to the renegade option of just straight up killing the geth and the krogan battle-master.

A shootout ensued before an epic escape followed it of an entire collapse of the Prothean ruins; Jane pumped her fist in victory. She had to go through two more scenes of part of her crew being wary of Liara because she was the traitor asari matriarch's daughter and the other half being all for bringing Liara aboard the Normandy. Jane had chosen the nice options of bringing the asari aboard and also chose renegade options when dealing with the council.

"That wasn't very nice, Jane." Maura chastised lightly with a chuckle at her lover.

"Psh…politicians piss me off. Even if they are of a different species, they still piss me off. Only good politician is a dead one…that is if they are a corrupt dick-bag." Jane said with a chuckle before she paused the game and then handed the controller over to Maura.

Maura went to the journal option which had the codex pages where she started reading through the pages so far while Jane went and got started on dinner.

Three Days later

It wasn't until the third day into the game, Maura figured out what Jane had told her about Liara reminding her of someone. Maura found the brunette in the living room playing Mass Effect again. Jane's created Commander Shepard had been in the middle of a conversation with the said asari character.

"Hey Maur, guess what? I think aliens like me." Jane said with a laugh.

Maura promptly shut her mouth because she had no idea what to say to that. "I'm going to be like Jay from Jay and Silent Bob when he says something about aliens. 'I'm going to be the first human to find an alien life form and then fuck it. People are going to be like, there he goes. Home boy fucked a martian once'. That movie cracks me up all the time." Jane continued laughing once more.

"Must you be so crass, Jane? I finally realized what you had meant that Liara reminds you of someone. The character reminds you of me." Maura said.

Jane chuckled, "Yup! And my Commander Shepard is romancing said alien. Not because I'm against dating a guy on the game. It's just…the only dude I can romance right now besides Liara in the game is Kaidan and he reminds me of Casey. I had gotten into a confrontation earlier with Kaidan and Liara asking me to choose. It's like Casey asking me to choose between him and you. I'd choose you all the time by the way." Jane said seriously.

"And I highly doubt that a futuristic military would allow a commanding officer to fraternize with one of his or her subordinates under his or her command. It would be considered unprofessional and the commanding officer maybe accused of favoritism." Maura said smiling as she sat down beside Jane.

"Exactly. No offence to those who choose the Female Shepard and Kaidan romance option. I just can't with that kind of thing especially when Kaidan reminds me of my ex; my clingy-ultimatum giving ex. I mean fraternization happens in all the work forces but come on, seriously. Not really comfortable of it being on the same ship or something. Eh…no thanks. I'm attracted to nerdy, rambling doctors anyway. Considering my Commander Shepard sort of resembles me, it'd only be real that my Commander Shepard is attracted to the alien version of you; Prothean Archaeologist Doctor Liara T'Soni." The detective said with a grin.

The honey blonde rolled her eyes before she kissed Jane on the cheek. "Hey! That's not a prop…" The brunette started to say before she was cut off with a kiss to the lips.

"Just play your game, Jane. I'll order take-out tonight." Maura said.

The detective grinned, "Here, play for me for a moment. I gotta go grab my cell phone. I left it charging upstairs this afternoon and I forgot to go up and get it." Jane said before she handed the controller off to Maura.

The medical examiner looked at Jane, "Jane, I don't know how to play this game!" Maura called out to Jane but Jane was already halfway up the stairs.

Jane's eyes went wide when she watched the scene play out with her Commander Shepard and Liara just shortly after they got to Ilos. Maura had made her do side missions and planet scanning. She had gone back and forth so much in the game that she had her paragon bar filled and her renegade bar half filled. The detective nearly had burst into tears at the thought of Liara losing her mother on Noveria, was grossed out by this hideous bug creature on Feros and wished Shiala had a bigger part than just being a bargaining chip.

She had managed to talk Wrex down and kept him alive on Virmire. She chose to save Alenko even if he did have a crush on her Commander Shepard. She was a little emotional after choosing to leave Ashley behind but she did shoot that asari Rana Thanopolis whatever the fuck her name was shortly before talking shit to Saren's reaper ship. So here she was, watching her commander Shepard get busy with her created character's in game girlfriend.

It so happened to be right when Maura walked in just as the sex scene played out on screen.

"Well…This is—huh. I got nothing." Jane said when she noticed Maura eyeing her strangely.

The medical examiner raised an eyebrow before she shook her head, "Do I even want to know?" Maura asked.

"Only that my Commander Shepard is getting down with her beautiful blue babe…and I may have shot an asari scientist and spoke to Saren's ship. We are going to some place called Ilos to find the Conduit. I got the cipher from this asari on Feros named Shiala. She was Liara's mother's head commando captain or something that Saren gave to some creature called the Thorian. Fuckin ugly lookin' thing. I killed it by the way…along with a lot of geth and some scientist that almost shot me and my squad." Jane said before she turned her attention back to the TV after the sex scene, choosing the Renegade option for her Commander Shepard.

She had to snort in amusement at the response, "Could have sworn that you said, 'Wow, that was amazing Jane' right after our first time together." The detective teased.

"I am also remembering quite vividly that you had fallen asleep right after." Maura countered.

"Ow…Ow way to kick me right in the pride, Maur." Jane said with a pout.

The honey blonde chuckled softly before she gently tugged Jane's pony-tail back so she could kiss her partner on the lips and then go make dinner for the two of them. She would probably listen to Jane swearing at her game like she has done ever since she bought an Xbox.

"Go be a space marine Jane and save the galaxy." Maura said.

"Aye, Aye, Doctor Isles." The detective said with a grin and a sloppy salute before she dove right back into the game.

Jane couldn't believe it was over. She had saved the Council and ten thousand civilians on the huge ass dreadnought called the Destiny Ascension. Even though it was a video game, she didn't want ten thousand civilians' deaths on her conscience. It was a big gamble saving the council because she hated them throughout the entire game. She chose Anderson to be humanity's councilor over Udina only because she hated Udina the moment she met him.

"After all that, I am beat. I feel…I don't know how I feel Maura. I don't think I've ever played a game where I had to choose the outcomes of certain things." Jane said with a frown.

"I do agree. Some of the choices you had to make were difficult. I was beginning to like Gunnery Chief Williams though. She was an interesting character if you really think about it." The honey blonde said.

Jane shrugged, "Yeah she was cool but I—I don't know. I had to restart the mission; like the whole landing and fighting all the way inland because Ashley shot Wrex because I was the dumbass and didn't choose the right choices. I was pissed. I got him to stand down but then Ashley shot him outta nowhere. When I restarted it, I said all the right things to him and Ashley didn't shoot him the second time. I like Wrex more than I do Ashley and Kaidan put together. I suppose each character has their quirks. I kind of can't wait until I play Mass Effect 2. I wonder how that is going to be. I have all the DLC packs including Kasumi and the Cerberus Network because Chuck told me that it was essential I download it. Supposedly, I could get free things if I do and a new squad mate, Zaeed." The homicide detective said with a smile.

Maura hummed, "It will have to be another time. I am picking up Rise of the Tomb Raider very soon. I want to play it." The medical examiner stated.

"You got it, Maura. You know what'd be really badass? If they made Mass Effect into a TV show like on HBO. It'd be like Game of Thrones in Space." The brunette said with a snicker.

"The budget for Mass Effect would be through the roof with CGI, numerous make-up artists for the different aliens, and so on. They would also have to choose which Commander Shepard to use; the Male Commander Shepard or the Female Commander Shepard." Maura said.

The Italian raised an eyebrow before she got up to put the game back in its case, "They could have two Commander Shepard's instead of one satisfy both male and female fans of the game. One wrong turn and Mass Effect could turn into Mass Erect in seconds. Space porno…Yeesh." Jane said with a faux dry-heave.

Maura snorted in laughter, "Oh? And how would they do that?" She asked.

"Commander Shepard could fuck half of his or her crew, Liara, Ashley, Kaidan, Shiala, Councilor Tevos, That Hanar Preacher, Sha'ira the Consort, and a whole mess of whatever else is out there, go find Saren, shoot him in the face, blow up Sovereign, Fuck Matriarch Benezia and not give one single fuck. That's what it could turn into. It would ruin the credibility of the game if that happened." Jane said.

The medical examiner shook her head, "That would sound more like an adult video than an HBO TV show. Really? A Hanar? Those giant pink jelly fish looking aliens? The visual of having intercourse with a hanar is…I am sickened…but curious." Maura said with a shudder.

"Yeesh…now I got the image in my head. Ugh god. Where's the bleach?" Jane asked shuddering as well before she flopped down on the couch beside her partner.

Maura leaned up against the brunette sighing, "Was the game worth it?" She asked.

"Oh hell yeah. We will be starting Mass Effect 2 sometime over the weekend." The detective said with a smirk.

"Not unless I get Rise of the Tomb Raider." Maura said with a sing-song tone.

Jane whined, "Fine…you can play adventurer I suppose." The detective said with a pout.

Maura kissed the Italian on the cheek, "Only fair that it is my turn to be an adventurer. You were off gallivanting across the galaxy." She said.

"I wasn't gallivanting...I was saving it…one blue beauty at a time." Jane countered.

Maura laughed, "I am suddenly fearful if the asari were a real mono-gendered alien race. I would feel slighted you would be attracted to them and not me." The honey blonde said.

"No…I only love one beauty and she certainly isn't blue but does wear a lab coat and scrubs." Jane said with a suave smirk.

"I love you Jane." Maura said hugging her lover.

"Ah love yah too, babe." The detective responded with a chuckle as she pulled Maura in closer.

Questions? Thoughts? Concerns?

Again, I am wicked sorry for neglecting this story. I just hit a block and I had to take a step back with it so I could write other stuff but hopefully with the new...and final (DAMN IT) Season of Rizzoli & Isles coming very soon. I might step back into this story and continue it. Hopefully...if Life doesn't get in the way I suppose.