I don't own these characters. TNT does, probably anyway. I do own Ariela and Alistair, though.

Epilogue: Lovers and friends

"Hey, Ma, what's this thing at Maura's place tomorrow? Do I have to bring something?" Frankie asked as he walked into the Division One café. Ariela was already there, sitting at the counter and eating lunch.

"I don't know," Angela replied, shrugging.

Ariela scoffed. "Don't make me have to call bullshit, Angela. Frankie, tu madre …" She sucked her teeth. "Your mother is teasing."

"I know she is because she's practically a spy. So, why's Maura having this thing? Is it a her and Jane thing or is just doing this because we haven't all hung out in a while? What's going on and do I need to bring anything?" Frankie pressed.

"She didn't say bring anything," Ariela pointed out.

"She's right and you know Maura gets upset if you do bring something after she goes out her way to tell you not to. Just make sure you show up. I think this is really a Jane and Maura thing, but they didn't want to say that," Angela answered.

"Why are they being all secretive about it? It's not like we're going to be upset. In fact, I'm more upset that they're not telling us," Frankie huffed, folding his arms over his chest.

"I'm sure they have their reasons. Besides, it's not like they're not really telling us. Jane is a lot more touchy with Maura in the open now," Ariela pointed out.

"Jane kind of lives at Maura's house, too … which isn't too different from how they used to be. Actually, I think we could have considered them in a relationship a long time ago," Angela realized with a chuckle.

Frankie only nodded while Ariela stayed silent because that was before her time. Frankie decided to get back to work since he had been assured that he did not have to bring anything. He also felt a bit better with Ariela pointing out that Jane and Maura had not really not told them anything. They had not denied anything and no asked them about things, so it was not really not saying thing. He just hoped that they said something soon just to put it all out there, so everyone, as in those closest to them, could be openly happy for them.

-8-8-8-8-

Jane was cuddled on the sofa with Maura in her arms. Maura was squirming, trying to get up, but the stronger detective held her tightly. After a while, the doctor settled against Jane, which got a smile out of the brunette. Jane caressed Maura's bare arms and the medical examiner purred from the attention.

Jane sighed and inhaled Maura's calming scent. She kissed Maura's neck and nuzzled the area. The doctor smiled and moved her hand to touch Jane's powerful forearm. The taller woman kissed Maura's neck again and settled them both against the back of the couch.

"Eventually, you'll have to let me up, darling," Maura pointed out in a low voice. She did not sound in favor of that idea, but it was certainly true.

"Nope, don't wanna." Jane placed gentle, wet kisses to Maura's neck.

"You have to. I have to check on the food. We can't have everyone showing up and not have dinner ready."

"We don't have to let anyone in. We'll go in the back and pretend not to be here."

Maura looked into Jane's eyes. "You don't want to tell everyone we're dating?" They were having a family gathering, along with Frost, Korsak, and Ariela, to tell everyone that they were dating, even though everyone already suspected.

"They already know, so we don't need to." She had not felt like telling anyone when they started dating because she thought that might somehow jinx it. Of course, Maura thought that was ridiculous, but Jane was insistent. She knew that the second she said it out loud to people, then the meddling would begin and she would get upset with everyone interfering. She did not want o chance her temper getting the better of her, especially since she had the bad habit of taking things out on Maura.

"Do they know we've officially been together for almost three months or that you plan to move in?" Maura pointed out.

Jane groaned. "Fine, we'll have the stupid dinner, but you have to kick everyone out."

The honey-blond laughed because they both knew that was not going to happen. Jane let the doctor up and Maura finished preparing dinner. Jane hoped that the dinner went well and she did not have to put up with a bunch of advice that she did not need from anyone. She figured that she had proven she knew what she was doing by having a smooth three months with Maura and being allowed to move in.

The Rizzoli clan was the first to arrive. Angela had a cake in her hand and Tommy had a bottle of wine. Jane made a face at Maura as Tommy handed over the wine, hoping that Maura understood that they should not use Tommy's wine with dinner … or ever really.

"I told you that you didn't have to bring anything," Maura complained with a kind smile and sparkle in her eyes as she took the cake from Angela.

Angela scoffed. "You know I can't show up to a meal without having prepared something."

That point could not be argued. Angela also moved around the kitchen, probably trying to keep busy, but Maura had everything in hand. Angela even tried to set the table, but Jane had handled that already. Jane banished her mother to the living room when Angela tried to "correct" her settings.

"Go, sit down and watch TV with Tommy and Frankie, Ma," Jane ordered, pointing to her two brothers, who were arguing over the remote like they were ten again. Angel pouted, but did so and snatched the remote up. The Rizzoli brothers groaned.

Frost came with Ariela and Korsak in tow. Frost also showed up with wine while Ariela had beer. Now that everyone was there, the group sat down for dinner at Maura's table, conversing about pretty much everything. Jane and Maura had long decided that their announcement would wait until dinner was done. Jane could hardly contain herself, though, openly holding Maura's hand through the meal and whispered in her ear every now and then.

"Dios, Jane, do you need the rest of us to leave, so you can just have your way with Maura on the table?" Ariela said, earning laughs and coughs from the unfortunate souls that were drinking.

Jane growled. "Dammit, Ariela, do you have spoil every moment of my life?"

"Jane, be nice," Angela scolded her eldest. She had taken to sticking up for Ariela when Jane got on the ADA's case.

"What about her?" Jane demanded, pointing to the smiling attorney. Jane suspected her mother just liked seeing Ariela annoy her.

"It's all right. As blunt as Ariela has a tendency to be, she has somewhat opened the floor as to why Jane and I asked you here," Maura said.

Jane gave Maura a look. "We agreed, after dinner."

"But, she has left us with a very good opportunity to discuss the matter," Maura argued.

"You owe Jane a toaster oven," Ariela remarked, which got her kicked in the shin by Jane. The detective smiled when the lawyer grimaced, leaning down to rub her sore shin.

"Look, we know you all probably already figured it out, but we wanted to tell you because it's getting pretty serious. I'm going to move in with Maura," Jane declared with small, but extremely happy smile.

"Congratulations, partner!" Frost leaned over to shake Jane's hand. He glanced at Maura and smiled, one his happy, elfish smiles that showed he was truly pleased. "You couldn't do better, Jane."

"Believe me, I know," Jane laughed and took all the congratulations from everyone.

No one was surprised by the announcement that Maura and Jane were a couple or that Jane was going to move in with Maura. Jane had always practically lived at Maura's house anyway. Since they had been dating, Jane rarely went home. In fact, Jo Friday had been moved in less than a month after Jane and Maura had become official. All of the dog's belongings were there. Hell, half of Jane's belongings were there, too.

"I thought you lived here already," Frankie remarked with a teasing smile.

"How would you know?" Jane snorted. She had not seen much of her brother lately because she had been focusing her energy on Maura and doing right by the medical examiner.

"Ma is always talking about how you're here. Hell, she practically volunteered your apartment for Tommy to live in," Frankie stated.

"Ma!" Jane barked.

"What? You're not using it," Angela pointed out.

"Still, it's my apartment. Don't try to give my apartment away," Jane huffed in her usual manner. She wished that her mother did not live in Maura's guesthouse, especially since she was moving in, but she knew that was one of the reasons why they really did not have to tell anybody. Her mother had been spending rumors about their relationship for over two months now.

"I thought Jane would blow it with you. Glad to see you didn't let her," Ariela said to Maura.

Maura laughed. "I won't let her."

"I can see who wears the pants in this relationship," the attorney joked.

"Like hell. I don't even think Maura owns pants," Jane commented, earning a couple of chuckles from the corny remark.

The night was full of smiles and laughter. There was a moment of seriousness in the kitchen between Maura and Frankie, though. Maura had expected as much as Frankie was the more responsible brother and the least critical of Jane as far as the Rizzoli clan went.

"Hey, Maura, can we talk for a second?" Frankie requested.

"Of course," Maura answered as she loaded the dishwasher.

"Look, it's agreed that Jane is lucky to have you, but you need to know you're lucky to have her. And we both know that even though she acts like bullets can bounce off her chest under that hard shell is a soft gooey center, especially when it comes to you. She'd do anything for you, all you have to do is ask, like when you asked her to run that marathon. She'd do anything for you, remember that. Don't break her heart, Maura. Take care of her and cherish her," Frankie ordered with a hard look in his eyes.

For a moment, all the doctor could do was stare as she took in his words and processed the underlying meaning as well as the stiff body language. She offered him a soft smile and did her best not to cry. She hugged him before responding and he thankfully returned the desperate embrace.

"Frankie, I will. Thank you for standing up for Jane because you're right about all of that and I'll do my best to remember it. I'll do everything in my power to take care of Jane. She means the world to me and I especially came to understand that after we had some time apart. I'll do my best to keep her safe and happy. I'll do anything for her in return. I don't want her to ever doubt how I feel about her," Maura assured him.

Frankie smiled and patted her on the back before they broke apart. "I know you'll be good to her, Maura. I just needed to say that."

She smiled back and sniffled a bit, tears still threatening to come. "I'm happy you're looking out for her."

The officer did not say anything and went to rejoin everyone else in the living room. Maura had to take a deep breath to make sure she did not cry and then finished loading in the dishes before she joined them, too. Korsak moved from the sofa to give Maura space by Jane, which she was certain he would have done even before she and Jane were dating. This feeling was always here and in some ways we all acknowledged it, but we never truly understood it. Maybe it did take fresh eyes to see what was always there.

Maura dismissed those thoughts as Jane put her arm around Maura. The doctor silently reveled in how right and familiar it felt. She cuddled into Jane, which was also something that she might have done with Jane before they started dating, even with people around. She then turned her attention to the game they were about to play. She had never heard of Taboo before, but by the end of the night thought it might have to be banned to prevent fistfights and shootouts at the house, which was a shame because she thought it was fun and stimulating game. Too simulating for the Rizzoli siblings.

"Really, Tommy? Really? I say 'secretary of state' and you don't know who that is? You're 32 for fuck's sake!" Jane huffed, throwing her arms up in disbelief.

"I don't keep up with politics!" Tommy argued, also throwing his arms up.

"And you let us all know that saying Bush! Are you fucking kidding me? Bush? You know what, get the hell out of our house and don't come back until you read a newspaper!" She pointed to the door.

Maura was not sure if the fight was serious or not, as she still had some trouble gauging Jane and Tommy's relationship. It looked like Jane might actually escort Tommy out of the door, but she was not moving to do, so maybe things were not serious. She did smile at the fact that Jane referred to the house as "our." She was looking forward to really sharing her home with Jane.

Surprisingly, there was no bloodshed during the game, but the Rizzoli siblings had to be separated a number of times. Angela had to scold the siblings, too. Ariela and Frost were almost as bad as the siblings with each other and with Jane and Frankie. Maura doubted she had ever heard someone curse so much in "Spanglish," as Detective Frost had coined it.

Over time Maura had come to better understand Jane's relationship with the ADA and she actually thought it was cute. Ariela was not a threat her. Ariela was not interested in Jane beyond having something that resembled family. Ariela had left her family on the opposite end of the country and Jane helped her find people to be close with to ease her pain. Jane had such a big heart and Maura knew Jane cared about Ariela despite all of her protests.

"Oh, hey, I wanted to know, even though this is early and the season hasn't started, but anybody want to go to some Celtic games with me? I can't go to a game by myself," Ariela said when the game hit a pause because everybody needed to calm down.

"We'll see a few games with you, but after that you need to bounce back from the cheating wench that broke your heart and start dating again," Jane declared.

"I can help you get a date," Angela volunteered.

"No, Ma!" all three Rizzoli children objected.

There were laughs, more fighting over the game. The game ended without a clear winner after Tommy tore the score up before they tallied the latest round and actually ate the paper to spite Frankie. At that point, Jane began people the door. A smile settled on Jane's face as she practically slammed the door. Maura decided not to reprimand her for it.

"So, now what?" Jane asked with mischief in her voice as her eyes held a devilish sparkle.

"I have to clean up. You know I could never go to bed with the living room looking like this," Maura pointed out.

The detective groaned and moved to clean up. She worked quickly, which did not surprise Maura. Jane was not as messy as people always assumed she was. She just could stand to let a mess sit for a night, but Maura could not do even that. As soon as they were done, Jane wrapped her arms around Maura from behind and nuzzled her neck.

"Now, how about we both go get clean and then make a mess in your bed?" Jane suggested in a whisper before placing a gentle kiss behind Maura's ear.

The doctor shuddered and whimpered. "Our bed," she managed to say.

"No, I think 'our' bed is more the guest bed." She nipped Maura's earlobe and earned a cute yelp.

"You're right." Maura's bed had seen many lovers over the years, but her guest bed was only familiar with her and Jane. "Let's sleep there tonight. Tomorrow, we can arrange for your bed to brought here."

Jane's bed was practically new and had only known she and Jane in its short life. Besides, it would give Jane more of a claim to the house considering she would only be bringing small items over in the move. She did not need any of her furniture really or kitchen supplies or anything, so Maura was happy to give Jane a chance to bring whatever she could into the house to make it seem more like theirs.

"I like the way you think, Doctor Isles!" Jane declared with some humor in her voice. "Now, let's go take a shower." That suggestion earned a grin from the good doctor.

-8-8-8-8-

"Oh, Jane!" Maura called from the bathroom across the hall. Jane was already in bed because she did not have a million and one nightly rituals – yet. Maura had already started getting on her case about a skin care routine. She would try her best to hold out for another week before lotions and creams were introduced to her body on a daily basis.

Maybe if I can get Maura to apply the lotion, it won't be so bad. "Yeah, Maura?" Jane answered, twisting on her side to face the door with the hope of appearing as sexy as she could in a black tank-top. Of course, she did not plan to be wearing the tank-top for long.

"I meant to tell you on Friday, I'm going to the Phantom of the Opera," Maura said.

Jane groaned. "We just went a month ago. To prove my love, I even stayed awake for the whole thing and didn't go hide in the bathroom." She had very nearly faked cramps to get out of it, but one of the horrible things about dating a woman, a doctor at that, was that Maura would subtly call her on bullshit menstrual things without fear.

"No, I'm going with Alistair. He hasn't seen it and really wants to," Maura informed her.

Jane growled and almost bit her tongue off to prevent herself from asking why he had to take her girlfriend. She knew he and Maura remained friends after he claimed to have gotten over Maura and he was the one that pushed Maura into acknowledging her emotions for Jane, but Jane still did not like the guy much. She tolerated him because he was Maura's friend and while she did not entirely trust him, she trusted Maura.

She had met him on a couple of occasions and he did not seem horrible. He was cordial to her, but not very friendly. He seemed to tolerate her as much as she did him and she guessed it was because she got the girl. Of course, it was partially thanks to him that she did get the girl, so she would try her best around him if necessary, but he did not seem to like being around her much. Maura thought it was because she had talked about Jane so much when she was dating Alistair that she sort of left him feeling inadequate compared to Jane and he needed time to get over that.

"I'll find someway to keep busy then," Jane replied. She could always do something with Ariela and Frost. They were good for short notice.

Maura came to the door and smiled at her lover. "Thank you."

Jane barely heard the words, eyes focused on the silk pink teddy that barely covered Maura. She put her hands out for Maura, who practically fell on her – with her mouth. Jane moaned into the passionate kiss as her arms wrapped around Maura's waist, pulling the doctor closer to her. One hand slipped under the pink covering and caressed a soft, creamy thigh.

"You feel so good, Maura. You're perfect. Why'd it take us so long to admit?" Jane wondered aloud as her hands wandered wonderful flesh.

Maura smiled and her eyes sparkled. Jane could actually see love in her eyes and she realized if was always there, even when then did not know the full extent of it. Jane hoped her eyes reflected the same emotion.

"Don't think about the past like that, Jane. Think about the future and how we have the rest of our lives to enjoy this,"

Jane smiled. "One of the reasons I love you is because you're so smart and I do love you, Maura."

"I know. I love you, too, Jane." The declaration was sealed with a kiss, which was followed by many more.

-8-8-8-8-

The end.

I hope you guys enjoyed my little Rizzles tale. I'm returning to my padded cell now. Take care everybody.