Disclaimer: All original property is not owned by us and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Rizzoli & Isles' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

Flutter: Part Five

"So, ah Jane..." Frankie looked behind them on the couch towards the busy kitchen, happy to see that Tommy was fussing with TJ and wouldn't be joining them to watch the football game they were planted in front of the TV to watch with a few beers. He dropped his voice lower, making sure that his tone was one that only his sister would hear right beside her. "How did your talk go with Maura?" He glanced again over his shoulder to where the Doctor and his mother were working on various parts of the meal in almost perfect synchronicity. It was just one of those things to Frankie that had always signaled the exalted place that Maura had within their family. His mother didn't hesitate to reveal her deepest cooking secrets to the blonde, to correct her softly on why a certain noodle needed to be under cooked or seemingly overcooked, to add a pinch of something to a sauce that Maura was preparing. It was a place that his sister had never been able to occupy, taking the criticism too hard or getting flustered with a gentle correction but Maura had slid into the spot as if it had been reserved for her all along.

"Oh you know it was okay." Jane shrugged and took a drink from her beer, very deliberately keep everything about her response nonchalant. "We talked, sorted out that I'm really you know freaked out about the whole idea because of... just who I am." She offered a shrug. "I think we cleared things up okay."

"Come on what the hell does that mean." Frankie frowned at her annoyed by how little her answer revealed. "Are you dating? Are you just friends still? Give me something here." He turned slightly to glare at her as he tipped his bottle up for another drink.

"We're friends." Jane gave another shrug. "This is hardly the place to discuss it Frankie." She lowered her voice. "I promise to warn you in advance if we're going to announce our engagement before dessert."

"You are like trying to get secrets out of the Godfather." Frankie gave an even more annoyed huff. "And officially if you're just friends, your an idiot." He tipped his bottle up again.

"Well use those detective skills the city of Boston is paying you for and see what you come up with." Jane chuckled, ignoring her brothers jibes. "I'm happy with the outcome, that's all I'll say."

"At least you didn't screw up Sunday dinner." Frankie poked her in the leg as he got up to get another beer.

-x-

"I'm not sure Angela, I don't know how you do it, I just can't seem to master this sauce." Maura twirled the wooden spoon in sauce pan with a soft frown.

"Oh that's nonsense." Angela shook her head with a soft laugh. "I've seen and tasted some of the things you've cooked, this is nothing like that, it's so simple in comparison."

"It's not simple." Maura gave a soft laugh. "It's a complex mixture of flavours and... I want it to be perfect." She spoke the words softly to Angela looking towards the living room where Tommy had joined Frankie and Jane to watch the game bouncing TJ on his knee.

Angela followed the blonde's eyes for a moment and then smiled slightly.

"I hope it came across last night Maura but I am so proud of you, and so, so happy. I don't know how I'm going to make it through dinner without this ridiculously happy smile on my face, but it's okay because I'm allowed to be happy because I have all of my family around me..." She reached out and put her hand over the ME's and squeezed it lightly.

"I feel like I have a ridiculous happy smile too, what is going to be my excuse?" Maura smiled brightly at her. "When I told Jane... I of course hoped she might feel the same but I also know Jane." She said the words knowing that Angela would understand what she 'wasn't' saying.

"Oh I understand my Janie isn't the easiest..." Angela's voice softened. "But she's capable of so, so much love, and I know she loves you Maura."

"That is one thing I have don't doubt." Maura agreed with her softly. "I think Jane has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known, she might try to hide it away but her heart guides everything she does."

"And what about you Maura, what do you think guides you?" Angela focused for a moment on the blonde, her smile soft and kind.

"For so long it was my work, I'd learned to hide my heart away but the last few years have taught me, Jane has taught me... that being happy with my work is only a part of my overall happiness." Maura stirred the sauce softly. "Family and love are a big part being happy, and becoming a part of your family has taught me how much I've been longing for this feeling." She smiled at Angela. "My biggest road map right now includes dreams I've been afraid to even admit that I have... loving her..." She glanced back at the couch again. "Marriage, children." She grinned knowing that these two answers would make Angela especially happy.

"Oh Maura..." Angela enthused, but still quietly and controlled. "You deserve all of those things and to think you might be getting those as a Rizzoli." She gave a little controlled shiver of excitement.

"You're right, I don't know how we're going to not blind everyone with our smiles at dinner." Maura gave her own shiver of excitement.

-x-

"Ah does anyone know if Ma is planning something or announcing something?" Tommy looked back at the kitchen with a soft frown before returning his look to his sister and brother. "Because I'm gettin' the vibe from that kitchen that somethin' is on the go in there. She's not dating your boss again is she, 'cause honestly I don't know how you deal with that?"

"Tommy she never stopped dating him." Jane groaned shaking her head. "She just makes sure he's lying down when he takes that pill now."

"AH CHRIST JANE!" Tommy tried to shield his son's ears. "I don't want to know about that." He made a disgusted face.

"How do you think we feel?" Frankie made his own face. "But she's happy, we have to support her. Cavanaugh is a good guy, she could do a lot worse."

"Frankie's right, he's a good guy and he'll treat Ma right." Jane paused and then leaned up, turning to lean on the back of the couch as she looked into the kitchen. "Everything alright back there? Do you need a hand or anything? Tommy thinks there's something going on. Did you burn the sauce and need me to run out to the store?"

"Burn the sauce, don't be ridiculous." Angela called back with a flap of the dish towel in her hand. "Maura is a fantastic cook, way better than the three of you, you just watch your game and we'll take care of family dinner." She grinned even more at Jane and flapped the towel again. "I just feel blessed today to have my whole family here for dinner." She continued to beam at her daughter.

Jane pushed up and stepped over Frankie's leg moving to the kitchen and making a bee line for the fridge.

"I think we all feel blessed Ma." She said with a smile as she grabbed a beer and then moved to the stove standing between Maura and her mother. Reaching around the blonde she picked up the stirring spoon from the work top beside the ME and dipped it in the large pot. Dropping the spoon in the mixture the brunette surreptitiously brought her hand back and lightly placed it on Maura's ass. "Mmmm that sauce is goooood."

"Is it? I wasn't sure if it was seasoned right." Maura looked over her shoulder at Jane with a smirk as the hand that remained almost boldly on her backside, she flexed the muscle softly.

"Sure tastes good to me." Jane licked her lips and then squeezed the ME's ass before sliding her hand up to hold Maura's waist. "Are you sure you don't want me to just fly out and get something, I sure think that fresh Canolli's would go great with this."

"No, I worked on something for dessert already." Angela gently hit Jane with her towel as she moved by to get something from the fridge.

"I have no idea what it is, she's got it a her place to surprise everyone." Maura warned Jane softly, reaching to put her free hand around her body to squeeze it over Jane's. "Should we be afraid?" She whispered with a smirk.

"Maybe." Jane whispered back her smirk matching the blondes. "You doing okay?" Jane checked. "You look beautiful." She threw in.

"Thank you." Maura blossomed a little more under the compliment. "I'm doing great, how are you doing?"

"I'm winding up Frankie, enjoying TJ and getting high on the smell of great cooking." Jane gave her summary. "Oh and every now and again I take a sneak peak at my girlfriend." She added a smirk pulling at her lips.

"Would you believe I have been sneaking peaks at my girlfriend as well?" Maura squeezed the hand under hers . "After dinner... are you going to stay around for awhile?" She asked the question she had wanted an answer to almost since Jane had arrived earlier.

"If I'm invited." Jane's smirked stayed in place. "We have a couple things we could talk about, or do."

"You're invited." Maura gave a soft chuckle at the words. "And what do we have to talk about?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"Well that depends on who wins the game." Jane grinned.

"Does what we 'do' depend on who wins the game or does is kissing one of those rare things that isn't effected by sports?" Maura knew that no one was close enough to hear this comment.

"You know I don't know the answer to that." Jane shook her head with a smile. "Your sauce needs stirring." She added with a wink as she leaned and picked up her beer and moved off from Maura's side, but not before leaning briefly closer. "But if my team wins, there could be a celebration ritual." She whispered before pulling away.

-x-

"So... who won the game?" Maura had completely enjoyed dinner, but was also now glad her house was quiet and it was only the two of them. Slipping down to sit next to Jane on the couch she held out the beer she had brought over to the detective.

"Actually I didn't care who won." Jane admitted with a smirk taking the bottle with one hand and reached the other out along the back of the couch behind the blonde, not touching the ME, but along the actually couch back. "I had something better to watch most of the time."

"Oh really, and what was that?" Maura played coy as she leaned to put her wine glass on the coffee table and then leaned back so Jane's arm was again on the couch behind her. "Making sure you're brothers didn't get more of those delicious cupcakes your mother made then you did?"

Jane shook her head.

"TJ." She teased Maura.

"He is getting so big, and is such a charmer isn't he?" Maura didn't flinch as she agreed with her. "He looked so cute in the little jeans I picked up for him."

Jane suddenly dropped her hand off the back of the couch onto Maura's shoulder and literally pulled the blonde into her side, using her other arm to catch the other woman up in a hug.

"You are adorable." She laughed brighter. "Yes, TJ only looked wonderful because of the jeans you bought him." She laughed, kissing Maura impulsively on the cheek in the embrace.

"No, I didn't say only because just that they did look adorable on him." Maura laughed softly leaning into the encouraged embrace with only the tiniest of suggestion, beaming when she felt Jane's lips on her cheek. "Your mother is so happy." She added in a soft voice snuggling closer to Jane's body.

"Is she?" Jane loosened her hold slightly but kept her upper arm across the top of the couch and around her girlfriend. "Did you and her 'connect' over cooking?"

"Yes, we talked a little." Maura admitted running her hand over the material covering Jane's stomach as she remembered the conversation. "She loves you." She underlined the fact that she hadn't needed all of this to prove but that Angela had once again solidified in a way Maura found amazing.

"Well that's reassuring." Jane laughed softly. "She loves you too." The brunette grew a little more serious. "And that she's happy that we're together, that's great, really it is." Jane gave the blonde a slight squeeze. "But you need to know Maur, if she wasn't, it wouldn't change this, it wouldn't change us."

"Thank you, I needed to hear that." Maura admitted softly smoothing her hand over Jane's shirt again before she brought hazel eyes up to look into dark ones. "You are amazing Jane." She spoke the words in a loving voice.

"Thank you, you know there's a rumour out there that you're pretty incredible too." Jane's tone softened.

Maura smiled and pushed herself up the short distance pressing her lips in a soft short meeting to Jane's.

"So, what do you want to do with the rest of our evening? Talk?" Maura asked the question keeping her face only a few inches from Jane's.

"No, I want to kiss you." Jane smirked at the very 'obvious' move from the ME as she leaned in too and lightly brushed their lips together. "A few times." She kissed her again.

"Mmmmmm I think I could agree to that." Maura felt a shiver go down her spine as their lips brushed together a second time and then leaned to repeat the touch again. She shifted herself so that she was facing more easily towards Jane. "So how did I do with my puppy eyes during dinner?"

"Well the good news is, Ma was so... , everyone was pretty much convinced that Cavanaugh is..." Jane arched her eyebrows. "And so no one was really looking at you." She grinned wickedly. "Except me, and I just thought you looked..." Jane paused again. "Better without the apron."

"Didn't go with my dress did it?" Maura gave a soft laugh and then reached up slipping her hand to rest on Jane's shoulder before she leaned in slowly closer again and brought their lips together again, this time starting at one corner and pressing soft kisses towards the other side along the ridge of Jane's lower lip.

"Mmmmm." Jane moaned softly in the gentle kiss and lightly matching the gentle teasing that Maura had started, honestly enjoying the light play of lips against lips, having never experienced anything really like it before. Breaking the tender play Jane leaned in pressing their foreheads together for a moment. "Were you the kind of girl who practiced kissing?"

"No." Maura shook her head softly in the position. "I didn't have my first kiss until I was 15." She admitted shyly. "And it was awkward and sloppy." She gave a soft eye roll at the memory. "I believe he might have practiced and was under the belief you needed to do a lot more with your tongue then is really always necessary, especially from moment one. What about you?"

"Actually my first kiss was where I took you yesterday." Jane blushed slightly. "Well no maybe not my first ever, but the first one that counted. It was awkward, but pretty good actually." She smiled more. "It brought to close a really good day, he actually knew that all I wanted was a soft, long moment of tenderness."

"I don't know if I can arrange for us to get into the Desmond's back rose garden with you." Maura felt a warmth engulf her as the fact that Jane had taken her to the arch the night before took on an even more meaningful hue. It just went to prove to her what she already knew, which was that even if Jane mostly appeared to not be sentimental and romantic, the detective was in fact both things and so much more than her carefully gruff exterior gave away. "But if I could, I would." She underlined massaging her fingers into Jane's shoulder. "Thank you for sharing the Arch with me." She added in a soft whisper wanting Jane to know how much she understood the gesture. "Though your claims your not my Romeo are getting harder to believe."

Jane laughed softly and moved her hand to lightly smooth over Maura's hair.

"You know I'm just me Maur." She said softly. "We should make plans for next weekend, do something for you, how about a museum? Or the gallery?"

"There is a new exhibit of the Magna Carta at the museum I wanted to see while it was in town." Maura enthused immediately.

"Then we should do it." Jane nodded. "Then we'll have dinner somewhere 'swanky'." She grinned.

"Do you want to plan this for Friday night?" Maura filled in their itinerary. "We can visit the museum after work and have dinner to motivate me not to keep you staring at an old piece of parchment for too long." She grinned back.

"No, Saturday is good, gives you lots of time to peer at some wrinkled old dead papyrus, and take in the rest of the museum, or are you sick of the museum?" Jane smirked.

"You know I could never be sick of the museum." Maura gave a bright laugh and then her look dimmed a little to a soft smile. "So... tomorrow is work." She pointed out gently. "I think it's easy to know how we should deal with work, wouldn't you agree?"

"Work is work." Jane arched her eyebrow and gave a soft sigh. "I apologize if I withdraw."

"No, that's what I want you to understand, it is work and I know that we both have expectations to meet and that any personal relationship we have, not just with each other now but with others in the past, have never been able to interfere with our jobs." Maura underlined for her. "I'm not going to start 'guessing' just because we're dating, and I don't expect you to be Detective Romeo either. I still expect you to be impatient, brusque and demanding, just while you can expect me to still be thorough, methodical and scientific." She smiled softly. "But I also hope that we don't have to change the things we'd normally do, like you coming down to visit me in the morgue or me going up to the Brick, meeting for coffee at the Cafe, going out for lunch when we have time."

"Sounds like we're coming from the same place." Jane nodded and smiled. "You think you could order drapes or something for your office? Then maybe I could drop down to the morgue for other kinds of trips." She smirked.

"I think that I could most certainly do that." Maura grinned at the suggestion. "Maybe we should also work out a text code that says I'm having a bad day and need to meet in my office for a kiss."

"That's a good idea, no, that's a great idea." Jane's smirk grew into a bright smile. "So you want to watch a movie? I believe I have a movie watching pose pre-booked."

"I want to enjoy the movie watching pose." Maura agreed with her moving from where she was only to get the remote and deposit it into Jane's hand before twisting her body so she was leaned in against Jane with her head on the detective's shoulder. "I'm ready."

Jane chuckled at the blonde's instant agreement and shift.

"You make me happy, do you know that?" Jane pointed the remote at the TV and began to surf the channel guide.

"Mmmm that's my goal." Maura admitted. "To make you as happy as you make me." She snuggled a little closer, her mind remembering the rare times they'd watch a movie this close and how she'd wished at the time that she was living this moment right now. With a soft smile to herself she vowed to enjoy every moment of the movie, no matter what Jane picked.

-x-