Please see Ch 1, 5 & 9 for disclaimers… enough disclaimers that they almost need their own chapter…

Posting the last two together 39 & 40 – hope you have a chance to read both :)

Final A/N at the end – Happy season three everyone!

Leaning on his elbows at Maura's kitchen island and staring at the television, Vince Korsak winced as the batter struck out for the second time. The Red Sox had the bases loaded at the bottom of the seventh inning. The New York Yankees were up by one run. He started twisting the dishrag he had in his hands.

Frankie was on one end of the couch, elbows on his knees, face partially covered. "I don't know if I can watch this."

Tommy was slumped back, hand on head. "Why do they bother allowing that guy near a bat?"

The batter at home plate brought his bat up and against his shoulder. Frost was sitting on the edge of his chair. "Forget the pitcher, why can't they have a designated hitter for this guy?"

Sitting curled up next to Jane, Maura waited but nobody else answered "Well according to Rule 6.10…" She glared at Jane over the hand suddenly covering her mouth.

Jane shook her head. "Not a real question Maura. I knew I should have never bought you that book on the MLB." The hazel eyes narrowed. Cringing a little, Jane took her hand away from Maura's mouth and grabbed her hand instead.

The baseball flashed white on the screen for a moment and the bat slashed through the air. The connecting crack vibrated over Maura's sound system and all eyes watched the ball fly through the air and into the outfield. It was headed right for the Yankee's mitt, when it seemed to glance of the top and bounce behind him.

Frankie slapped the coffee table in front of him. Frost and Tommy were up, knocking their knuckles together and cheering. Jane flushed bright red when Maura kissed her cheek before she hugged her.

Angela smiled, noticing Jane's embarrassed flush and half grin as she hugged Maura back tightly. "Alright, commercials are on you guys. Who would like dessert?"

Making it over to the table first, Frankie grabbed a slice of ricotta pie. "Oh cool, my favorite, where did you buy it Ma?"

Smiling, Angela looked at Korsak. "Vince remembered how much I enjoyed it when you bought it for me on Mother's Day and he went all the way to Tripoli's to get it for me."

Frankie pursed his lips and knitted his eyebrows, carefully looking Korsak up and down. "You don't say Ma."

Frost glanced quickly at Jane, but she was too busy talking with Maura to notice the exchange. He rolled his eyes at Korsak, who just shrugged merrily. For a moment he wanted to hit Korsak over the head, but that would just alert Jane. Helping himself to dessert, Frost figured out how to save Korsak's ass. The man might not know it, but lunch was on him tomorrow. Frost elbowed Frankie and pointed up at the screen. "Look, the game is back on, check out that replay of the triple. Damn."

Tommy walked over from the kitchen with Jo Friday like a football under his arm and a cup of coffee with his dessert plate precariously balanced on top in the other.

Cringing, Angela watched Tommy's plate wobble and instantly stalked over, grabbing his pie "Oh no you don't young man, put the dog down and use two hands to carry it carefully into living room. Maura's furniture and floor doesn't need you loose with a dog and a cup of coffee."

"Janie is doing the exact same thing and you're not yelling at her." Tommy pointed over to where Jane was doing almost the same balancing act while she gave Frost and Frankie a fist bump over the replay.

Angela groaned. "Sometimes I feel like I failed as a mother." She yelled over to Jane. "Jane Rizzoli put your hands on that plate. Just because you're dating Maura, doesn't mean you can wreck her place and break her dishes."

Jane just rolled her eyes at her mother.

Turning around to point out the up close footage of the ball glancing off the outfielder's mitt, Frankie hit Frost's elbow with his coffee cup and yelped as the contents splashed all over his shirt and the floor.

Running over with a roll of paper towels, Angela caught Maura's eye, shaking her head. "At least he missed the couch. I swear I did attempt to give them manners."

Maura just gave a little shrug and a half smile. "I don't mind Angela. It is just furniture and even if they had ruined it, I can always buy another one. Personally, I think you did an amazing job raising them. I'm rather fond of all three of them."

Angela smiled and put a hand on Maura's shoulder. "Well the older one is now your responsibility. I have two others that need some extra attention from me. I don't think either one has dated a decent woman in ages."

Tentatively, Maura reached out and gave her a quick hug. "I absolutely will try to take care of her, but I still need you for backup. I am positive that Jane is not a one woman job."

"Deal honey. Now go eat dessert. I'm going to go make Frankie let me put his shirt in the wash before the stain sets." Angela watched Maura walk over to the couch and hand her dessert and coffee to Jane. Jane scooted over and leaned a bit to the side, and put the dishes on the end table before holding a hand out to Maura. Happily, Angela watched Jane help her onto the couch so Maura could curl into Jane, using Jane's hip like a table to hold her plate, while they debated something with Tommy.

Angela walked over and held her hand out to her other son. "Don't argue, just do it." Frankie glared, but he handed his shirt to her. He always was her easiest.

Returning from the laundry room, Angela noticed Vince had cleaned up after dessert. The ricotta pie was on the island, ready for second helpings and she heard the second pot of coffee brewing behind her. He was such a sweet man. She cut a slice of pie for herself and put another generous wedge next to it.

"Here Vince, give me your plate quickly while Maura's back is turned." Angela slid a piece from her plate onto it. "Thank you for helping me."

He nodded. "Not a problem. A smart man knows that you have to keep a good cook happy."

She laughed around a bite of pie as they both stood at the island enjoying dessert together. Angela pointed with her fork to where Maura was curled into Jane. "Well I have one down and two left to go."

Korsak shook his head and chuckled. "After those two, anything else will be child's play."

"Tell me about it. I feel like I just made it up the Boston Marathon's Heartbreak Hill at a flat out run." Angela took a sip of her coffee. "Worth it though, seeing them both so content. You need a home and a family in life."

Korsak looked at Jane for a long time, enjoying the sight of her relaxed posture. He paused a bit, his tone soft. "I'm just happy Janie learned it earlier in life than I did. She isn't one to make the same mistake twice." He shrugged. "I finally learned that truth the hard way. For me it was just a little too late."

Angela put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Well, you are always welcome here. You know what they say, friends are our chosen family and taking a good look around, I think we have a perfect family."

=The End=

A/N – Many thanks to the amazing support of everyone who reviewed and supported me along the way.

A very special nod to those who have been here since the beginning and didn't hit me too hard over the head;)

Of course a big thank you to anybody who took the time to read.

Hopefully if you've never commented, but enjoyed the story you'll take a moment and drop a quick review. I'm always curious when I see all the visitors to the story and I do wonder now, at the end, if people liked Run. Please do take a second and let me know.

A little thought, if you liked Run but don't want to review/comment here, maybe you could go review another story you enjoyed. I was surprised in the end how much all the notes meant, especially when I was in editing h*ll :) So go share the love.

Now that we've reached the end I hope I accomplished what I set out to do. My goal was to try to bring our two leads together, but do it while trying to answer the questions/confusion I had from Season 2 across the episodes. For me, whole "love of my life" line was so off from the general rhythm of the series that it was the catalyst to "Run" and ended up with the bulk of my focus. Because the show uses sex quite a bit to pull the characters apart, I wanted to use it to put them back together. That was why chapter 36 was my favorite to write. I got to put my own spin on the why of S2 and weave it into intimacy as a way to bring them back together.

Considering it is just a television series, I likely over thought the entire thing, but I had… WAY TOO MUCH FUN doing it :)

Now I'm going to see what Season 3 holds, cross my fingers that it has a Season 1 tone (because that was just plain fun) and put my attention to Synergy & Symbiosis. I figure the pure fluffiness of writing that will be my antidote during the angst riddled start to Season 3.

PS… I want to share that I'm in awe of Tess Gerritsen. It takes a heck of a person to allow her creative efforts to go through a television metamorphosis. But even more impressive, she seems to have a good sense of humor about when someone like me plays with them during amateur hour.