AN: Wow, guys, I'm seriously flattered by all your reviews! You're all so kind and I'm really really glad you're liking this. I hope this chapter won't disappoint you, it took me a while to write it cause I wanted to do it right. Some dialogues and situations, as you might notice, are taken from episode 2x03, I thought it might have been fun to play around with the actual storyline.

Don't forget to review.

CHAPTER 5 – REALIZED I LOVED YOU IN THE FALL

As summer ended, Maura entered her second trimester. She was starting to show now, and she had stopped wearing tight clothes to hide the small bump. Not that she wanted to hide it, everybody knew she was pregnant by now, but she wasn't comfortable wearing her usual really tight dresses anymore. The morning sickness was finally gone; they had been a tough three months, but Maura was finally starting to feel better.

It was Sunday morning of the Fleet Week in Boston, the Rizzoli boys were out of town and Angela had decided to take Maura and Jane to brunch to celebrate the fact that Maura was finally able to hold food down for more than 10 minutes. Jane's mood wasn't one of the best, considering she was wearing a dress and high heels (it was all Maura's fault! She had tried to resist, they argued for half an hour that morning, until Jane gave up and wore the damn dress. She really couldn't say no to Maura's puppy eyes), and the traffic wasn't making it better. They had been in the damn car for what it seems like hours!
"Damn sailors!" she muttered.
"Leave them alone, they're serving our Country!" Angela lectured her. "Poor boys, they need a little fun, it's Fleet Week!"
Jane saw a sailor throwing up in a trashcan. "Yeah, poor boys need to learn how to hold their alcohol." replied disgusted. "God, I can't wait for these guys to be gone in three days!"

"Roosevelt endorsed the first Fleet Week in 1935. He was intent in expanding the navy." Maura started to go Google mouth but her attention was caught by one of the sailors. "Oh, he's cute!" she waved to the guy and he waved back.
"Yeah. Move along, move along. She's too young for you! Goodbye!" Jane made the guy go away. The last thing Maura needed was a hangover sailor.

Suddenly, smoke started to come out the front of the car and they stopped moving.
"Oh my God, the car broke down!" Angela shouted.

Jane and Maura got off the car. "Do we have to push?" asked Maura.
"You are not going to push anything, you're pregnant, so get back in the car. Ma, come on, let's push this thing out of here."
"It's ok, ma'am. We can push!" a few sailors approached the two women and Jane thanked them.
"He's cute too!" commented Maura when Jane and Angela were back in the car. Jane rolled her eyes. She had been warned about the new kind of cravings of the second trimester of pregnancy. Sexual cravings. Maura has always been a very sexual person and her hormones were all over the place now, making her even hornier than usual. Two days before, they had a fight because Maura was shamelessly flirting with a guy at the dirty robber and she looked like she was about to jump him in the middle of the bar. Jane had made a nasty remark about how she was in that situation because she couldn't keep her legs shut and Maura got really upset. Luckily, she had accepted Jane's apologies and everything ended well, but Jane didn't know how long she could keep Maura from sleeping with random guys to satisfy her cravings. She didn't even know why the idea of Maura sleeping with random men bothered her that much, much more than it used to before. But it did.

Angela asked the sailors to push the car to the Gilberti's garage. The Gilberti were old friends of the Rizzoli family, they lived in the same neighborhood and years before their sons went to school together. Jane wasn't thrilled when she saw Giovanni, Mr. Gilberti's son, greeting them. She never liked Giovanni. He was an idiot, uneducated and always trying to hit on every hot girl he saw, including Jane.
Her disgusted face didn't seem to stop Maura from making comments about Giovanni's shoulder-to-hip ratio and other things that Jane didn't really understand.

When Giovanni came to hug Jane, telling her how hot she looked, the detective used Maura as a human shield, but it wasn't a good idea, because Maura, of course, started to flirt with the mechanic. Rolling her yes, Jane out herself between her best friend and Giovanni. The last person she wanted Maura to sleep with was Giovanni Gilberti. And to make things worse, Angela had started talking about how Giovanni was a good son and usually good sons made good husbands. No wonder the detective was relieved when she and Maura got called in on a crime scene.
She was about to call a taxi when Giovanni offered Maura to drive his Giulietta. Jane didn't want to accept, but Maura went all crazy about the car and so she gave in.

"How come I didn't know you had a thing for old cars?" asked Jane while Maura was driving them to the crime scene.
"Guess it never came out. Don't you think that Giovanni has been so kind to let me drive it? I wouldn't let a stranger drive a car like this. He's cute. And hot."
"No!" Jane snapped. "Stay away from Giovanni!"
"No?" asked Maura and laughed. "Oh…this is a dibs thing!"
"A dibs thing? Really? Ok tell me what you have in common with him. All right, he's a blue-collar, Boston-Italian auto mechanic." Jane tried to reason with Maura. Seriously, she and Giovanni had nothing in common, how could it work? Besides, the thought of Giovanni's greasy hands on her best friends made Jane sick.
"Well, so are you." replied Maura. "Well, except for being an auto mechanic, and we're best friends."

Did Maura really compare her to Giovanni? Oh god! "Yes, but I'm interesting. And, you don't want to sleep with me."
Maura didn't reply. She tilted her head to the right and raised her eyebrow.
For a moment, Jane forgot to breathe. Why wasn't Maura confirming that she didn't want to sleep with her? And what was that face? Did Maura really want to sleep with her? Jane felt something in her stomach, something fluttering. "Do you?" she asked in disbelief.

"No!" Maura finally replied. "No, but that's my point. That's all I want to do with Giovanni."
Jane felt lost for a couple of seconds. So Maura didn't want to sleep with her. But what about the look on the ME's face just a few seconds ago? That wasn't a "no" look. "Why do I care?" Jane asked herself. "Of course she doesn't want to sleep with me. And I don't want to sleep with her. We're friends, and friends don't sleep together. Well, they don't have sex. Maura and I sleep together every night. Ok, Jane, focus. Maura doesn't want to sleep with you and you don't want to sleep with her so stop thinking about it!"
The two women went on arguing about that even on the crime scene and while they were going inside the Dirty Robber to ask some questions.

"If I want to go out with Giovanni, I will go out with him!" said Maura to put an end to the discussion.
"Over my dead body!" thought Jane and she headed inside the bar.

-o-

As Jane predicted, Maura's interest for Giovanni quickly disappeared, after he tried to lick her face. Unfortunately, Giovanni's interest for Maura didn't seem to go away. He kept texting her and leaving her messages and he even put a picture of her on his Facebook page. Maura wanted to get rid of him, and Jane suggested to tell him the truth, that she was slightly disgusted by the idea of him licking her face, but Maura didn't want to hurt his feelings.

The following day, Maura showed up in the cafeteria with a huge, pink bear with a big golden horn around its neck. She was desperate. Giovanni seemed to think that he and Maura were in a relationship and the ME didn't know what to do to make him leave her alone.
"Well, tell him that you were only interested in sleeping with him and then you became uninterested when he tried to be a person and have a conversation." suggested Jane. A part of her couldn't help but being happy that Maura didn't want to sleep with Giovanni anymore.
"He says he's waiting on special parts for your mother's car. What if he means MY parts?" whined Maura.
Jane wanted to laugh a little, seeing her friend like that. She was hilarious. "The next time I tell you don't, DON'T! Ok?" Then she decided to help Maura get rid of Giovanni. "Go do the second autopsy. I have an idea!"

Maura nodded and was about to leave, carrying the giant bear with her, but she turned around, thanked Jane and kissed Jane with the bear.

An hour later, Maura was performing the autopsy when Jane entered the room with Giovanni.

"Isn't it interesting what Dr. Isles does for a living? She dissects dead bodies!" Maura immediately understood what was Jane's plan. She wanted to gross Giovanni out, so she took the saw, ready to cut the body open.

But Giovanni wasn't disgusted. "Oh man, this is wicked!" he exclaimed. Jane rolled her eyes and dragged Giovanni out. "Hey!" he said to Maura before leaving. "You look great with a saw! Seriously!"

Jane decided to try a different approach. "Uh Giovanni…did Maura tell you that she's pregnant?"
"Really?" asked Giovanni. "Man, I love pregnant women! They're so hot!"
"Ok, I give up! The man's impossible!" thought Jane frustrated.

-o-

That same night, Jane and Maura were in bed watching a movie after dinner.
"Jane, what do I do? There must be something to make him go away!" Maura complained. She had tried everything. She even tried telling him that she wasn't interested, but the man didn't seem to hear that part.
"Can we agree that I'm always right and that you should listen to me more often?" Jane teased her. It was nice being the one who was right for once. It didn't happen often with the ME.
"Yes, you were right, I am sorry I didn't listen to you. But now you have to help me! What do I do?"
Jane shrugged. "I don't know. I thought the autopsy and the pregnancy would have scared him away but he found both really hot. I really don't know what to do next."
Maura sighed. She always scared her dates away, why she couldn't do that to Giovanni?
"Jane, I have an idea!" said Maura after a while. "Do you remember Jorge?"
"Eww, yes, I do. How can I forget him? Thanks again, by the way!" replied Jane disgusted.

"He was a slightly less creepy version of Giovanni, right? He didn't want to leave you alone, even if you clearly showed him that you weren't interested. But then I let him assume that you were gay and he left you alone."

"You want to make Giovanni assume that you're gay?" asked Jane.

The doctor nodded. "Yes, but I need your help. You have to tell him, because you know I can't lie."
"That didn't seem a problem with Jorge."

"Jane, we were working undercover in a lesbian bar. I invited him there, I showed him that you were on a date with a woman and told him that you're not like most of the other girls. Which is true, because you're not. And he assumed you were gay. But now we're not undercover in a lesbian bar and Giovanni is too thick to understand my way of bending the truth. I need you to tell him that we are together." said Maura convinced. She knew it was going to work.
"You want me to tell him that we're a couple?" yelled Jane. "Maura, seriously?"
"Come on Jane, please. It's the only way to get rid of him. You are a detective, you carry a gun, he wouldn't want to mess with your woman. Please…"

Jane sighed. "Fine. Tomorrow when we get the car I will tell him. But you owe me. Big times!"
"Oh Jane, thank you, thank you!" exclaimed Maura, hugging her best friend.
"The things I do for you, woman…" muttered Jane.

-o-

The following day, when the case was finally closed, Jane and Maura went to the Gilberti's garage to get Angela's car.

They weren't prepared to find that Giovanni has pimped Angela's car, adding red racing stripes on the body, spinners and a leopard printed fur on the wheel. It was terrible. Jane and Maura looked at each other. Angela was going to lose it!

"So…" Giovanni said to Maura. "You said you wanted to help me under the wood, uh?"
Maura faked a smile and looked at Jane. It was time. "I think that…I think that we should…we should just tell him. Don't you…babe?"

"Yes." nodded Jane, getting closer to Maura and putting her arms around her friend's waist. "Yes, I do…babe."
Giovanni looked confused. "Tell me what?"

"I really, truly enjoyed your company, but Jane and I…we're…uhm…" started Maura before starting to feel her breath shortened. She really couldn't lie. She squeezed Jane's hand, silently asking her to step in.

"Best friends. Like, more than BFFs." said Jane. She didn't want to say out loud that they were together, she only wanted Giovanni to assume that, so she could always deny if he had the brilliant idea to talk to Angela about that. "We're…LLBFFs." What the fuck? she thought. LLBFF? Really?

"Exactly" nodded Maura. "We're el-biffs."
Jane rolled her eyes. Maura didn't really get it. And neither did Giovanni, apparently, considering the confused look on his face.

"Yes…we are…life-long best friends forever. Get it?"
Giovanni shook his head. Jane tightened her grip on Maura and smiled.

"Oh…you two batting for the other team?" asked the mechanic.
"We are." confirmed Jane.

"Shoot!" Giovanni was really disappointed and he started to say how much the bear, the flowers and the chocolate cost him. Then he arched his eyebrows. "But…didn't you say she was pregnant? Are you…?"
"Yes." said Jane. "It's my baby. We're having a baby together. We live together, sleep in the same bed…so…"
Well, it wasn't really a lie, was it? They really did live together and they were sleeping in the same bed every night. And Jane offered to help Maura with the baby, so it was like they were having a baby together. Then why did Jane stomach knot when she was saying that? Maybe because since she heard the heartbeat a few weeks before she had dreamed of what would have been like if that baby was really hers. Or maybe because having Maura in her arms like that, saying out loud that they were a couple, had given Jane a weird feeling. It wasn't the first time she had Maura's body pressed against her…damn, the two of them slept in each other's arms every single night. But it was the first time Jane realized how well Maura's body fitted hers and how warm it made her feel, having her best friend, her LLBFF so close.

Giovanni's voice snapped Jane out of her thoughts. He said that he wouldn't charge for the car, rambled something about having thought that Maura was his soul mate and suggested they could have a threesome.

Jane gave him a dirty look. "I don't think so. See, Maura is MY soul mate and I don't like sharing. So, nice seeing you again. Bye bye!" she waved, getting in the car and driving away.

"How could he have thought that we were soul mates? That we had a deep natural connection? The only words he ever said to me were 'you're hot'…" Maura wondered.

"I told you he was an idiot. Thank god he believed us."

"Yes, but still…soul mates? It's more likely that you really are my soul mate, rather than him."
Jane stomach knotted again. Man, this couldn't be good. She decided to play it cool, she couldn't show Maura that her words had affected her. "Well, at least I don't want to lick your face!"

The doctor laughed. "Thank you, I appreciate that."
They drove to the Rizzoli's household, but Jane stopped the car around the corner.
"Everything ok?" asked Maura.
Jane shook her head. "How do I tell Ma about this?" she asked pointing to the racing stripes and the fur. "She's gonna freak out!"

-o-

The following Sunday, the Rizzoli were having lunch at Jane and Maura's. The women were in the kitchen, Maura helping Angela with the cooking and Jane sipping a root beer (she really kept the promise not to drink alcohol until Maura couldn't). Angela had been giving them weird looks the whole time and Jane was starting to get annoyed.
"Ok, Ma, what is it? Is there something you want to say?" asked Jane when she couldn't take it anymore.
"I went to the Gilberti's garage to bring Giovanni some cookies and he told me some interesting things." started Angela. Jane and Maura looked at each other, knowing what was going to come next. "Jane, why did you tell me that you and Maura were just best friends living together because you want to help her with the pregnancy, when you're a couple? Don't you think I deserved to know? And that baby, is it yours too? Am I becoming a grandma?"
"Woah, Ma, slow down!" Jane stopped her mother. "We told Giovanni that we were together because he didn't want to leave Maura alone. He was getting really insistent and nothing else worked, so we imagined he would have stopped trying to get in Maura's pants if he thought she was my girl. And it worked. So don't freak out and don't start planning the wedding, ok? Now, why don't you finish here while I go feeding Jo Friday? M, are you coming, I think she's in the garden."
Jane grabbed Maura's wrist and dragged her out. She really didn't want to hear her mother talking about her fake love life.

The two women stepped out into the garden to look for Jo Friday. Maura let out a laugh. "You know, it was pretty predictable that Giovanni would have talked to your mother. I don't know why we didn't think about it before. We could have told her before. Thank god she believed us."
Jane nodded, then a thought came into her mind and she started laughing. "Man, I really would have wanted to see the look on Ma's face when Giovanni told her you and I were having a baby together!"

And then something happened. Maura turned around, laughing. The wind was blowing lightly, the leaves were falling and Maura's eyes were sparkling and in that moment Jane knew. She knew the reason why she had wanted to consider Maura's baby hers, the reason why her stomach had knotted when she though Maura wanted to sleep with her or when Maura had said that thing about them being soul mates. She knew the reason why she had enjoyed having Maura in her arms so much and why the thought of them being a couple had felt so good to her.

She was in love with Maura. She was in love with that laugh and those eyes, she was in love with that big brain and the talking Google and all of Maura's quirks.

She was in love with Maura and probably she had always been. That explained why she was so jealous of the idea of Maura sleeping with other people and why she had been so eager to be Maura's surrogate girlfriend. It was because deep inside her, she wanted to be Maura's REAL girlfriend. She wanted Maura to sleep with her and no one else. She wanted to be with Maura and have a family with her.

She didn't know how she could have been so clueless about her before. The signs had always been there: the way Jane was softer and warmer around Maura, all the pet names she used to call her, the way Maura could make her do anything she wanted just by looking her in the eyes and smiling, with those adorable dimples showing. The fact that she never really considered dating a guy since Maura entered her life, and the way she had opened up to Maura like she had never done before.
That was it, it all made sense. She was in love with her best friend like she never loved anyone else before. Being aware of that scared the hell out of her. Being in love with her best friend complicated things. They were living together, sleeping in the same bed, in each other arms every night. Maura was having a baby and surely didn't return Jane's feelings. So Jane knew that confessing her love was out of question. But Jane also knew that she couldn't hide anything from Maura. The doctor seemed to be able to read Jane's mind. And once she knew, Maura would have never wanted to sleep in the same bed as Jane anymore and probably even living together would become complicated.

So the problem now was: how could she deal with those feelings, without losing the best thing that had ever happened to her?