One Second

Chapter 29

Hey guys, I'm so so so so so sorry about the delay, but with Uni, Christmas and some personal struggles, I really haven't had time to write the last few chapters. I know it's been faaaaaaaarrrrrr too long but I hope y'all can forgive me

Enjoy the chapter :)

It had been nearly 6 months since Maura and Jane went to the carnival and life was good, Jane had moved into Maura's house, Maura was at the top of her class and would soon be graduating a year early with honors and had already secured her placed in medical school. Jane had finished head and shoulders above the rest in the police academy and had graduated with Frost and they were now partnered together as the instructors had seen how well they worked together and how loyal they were with each other. Jesse was doing so much better and rarely had nightmares or panic attacks anymore, and life for them was almost back to normal. Sofia had been promoted to Vice-Principal and she used Jane as an example to demonstrate that no matter how hard life was, it could always get better.

It was a cold February morning when Jane and Frost were on patrol, laughing and joking as they walked around the streets of Boston. They walked past an elderly couple holding hands and Frost made a joke about how Jane and Maura would end up like that.

"Yeah, I hope so." Jane replied truthfully. "Hey Frost, I've got something important to ask you." He nodded and just as Jane was about to continue, he saw the seriousness on her face and knew what she was going to ask.

"Jane, stop. You don't have to ask. Of course I will." Frost said knowingly.

"You don't even know what you're agreeing too." Jane joked. They stopped at a coffee cart and ordered.

"Of course I do Jane. You're going to ask me to be your best man, and of course I will." He snickered. Jane stood partially dumbfounded but quickly regained her composure as the man in the cart gave them their coffee. They retrieved their coffees and Frost paid as they walked to the local park.

"What makes you think that is what I was going to ask?" She questioned. How did he know that is what I was going to ask?

"Because, I know how you feel about Maura, and I've seen you spending that extra second outside jewelers and I just know you." Frost stated smugly.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" They both laughed and continued to drink their coffee until Frost spoke up.

"So when are you going to ask her?"

"I was thinking at her graduation party next week. I've already asked her father and he practically hung up the phone, which didn't surprise me too much, but then I used my charm and managed to convince him how much I love his daughter and I even convinced him to come to Maura's party. We got talking for a little while and he seemed kinda cool. I've spoken to a few locations, but my favorite is Castle Island, mostly because it's beautiful but because I think Maura will love it due to all it's history. I've spoken secretly to Maura's personal shopper who has been covertly looking for wedding dresses and has apparently found a couple that Maura will absolutely love." Jane stated nonchalantly.

"Wow, that's a lot Jane. Clearly you're not anticipating a 'no'." He joked. "So when do you want to get married?"

"As soon as possible, I was thinking maybe in the summer, but that doesn't leave us long, I want to be married before she goes back to school, but I don't know if she'll want it to be that soon, and I've still got a few more people to talk to before I ask her." She was interrupted by the ringing of her phone and as she took it out she grinned, put her finger up to Frost to indicate she'll be a minute, walked away and took the call. Frost shifted on the bench he had taken so he could hear who it was, he didn't care, he was just being nosy.

"Hey, I was just thinking about you. How are you?" Jane spoke. There was a pause whilst the other person spoke and then Jane continued. "Yeah, of course I will. You want Frost to come too?" Frost's ears pricked when he heard his name mentioned but knew that Jane would tell him if he was invited, he was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't notice Jane standing right in front of him.

"What?" He asked, trying to feign innocence.

"I know you were listening, you're not exactly subtle buddy. However, I will tell you what is going on. That was Sofia, she's just asked me to go in and do a speech or something and wants you to come. We'll have to run it past Korsak but it all should be fine. I'll give Korsak a call now." She states as she pulls her phone out again, she comes back a couple of minutes later and informs Frost that he said it was fine.

They didn't have long left on their shift and were walking round downtown Boston when Frost spoke again.

"Have you got the ring yet?"

Jane sighs and shakes her head. "No not yet, I can't find the perfect one and I don't want to settle, you know what I mean? She deserves the perfect ring, I just can't find it." Frost nodded apologetically.

The next morning Jane met up with Frost and made their way to their old school. As she pulled into the parking lot old memories came flooding back. She remembered that this is where she had her first proper conversation with Maura, this is where everything had started for her. She smiled at the thought.

"Thinking about Maura?" Frost smirked.

"How'd you know?"

"Only Maura gets that smile from you." He grinned knowingly. She punched him in the shoulder and they both left the vehicle and entered the building, heading straight for Sofia's office.

"Excuse me ma'am, there seems to be a problem-" Jane's joke was interrupted when Sofia realized who it was standing in her doorway.

"Jane, Frost, thank you for coming on such short notice." Sofia stood, walked around her desk and embraced Jane in a hug. Jane was happy to oblige.

"Sure, what can we do for you?" Jane spoke, getting straight down to business. She knew that the school wasn't a good place to have a personal conversation.

"We were supposed to be having a talker in but he cancelled at the last minute and I thought of you two. It's for the juniors so they shouldn't know you from when you were here, and if you could just talk about what it's like to be on the police force and things like hoax calls as I've heard that we've been getting some students making hoax calls, so maybe you could warn them about the dangers of it." Jane looked to Frost who seemed to understand what was needed of them.

"You want us to scare them a little?" Jane asked, in a half joking half serious manner.

"Not too badly." Sofia laughed.

About half way through their talk, a student spoke out, Jane immediately surmised that he was the jock, he had probably 5 guys sitting near him, all snickering with what he asked. Jane had heard him, but wanted to embarrass him a little.

"I'm sorry, I got distracted by the crazy amount of hair gel you are wearing, could you please repeat the question?" Jane spoke calmly. There were a few laughs from the rest of the year which made the boy a little embarrassed, but that didn't stop him.

"I said, why should I have to listen to anything a chick cop has to say?" Once again, his group of friends gave a laugh. But they stopped when her face hardened.

"Because, this chick cop, is going to be the one that scoops you up off the sidewalk when you make a smart ass comment like that to the wrong person." Jane smiled sickly to make her point.

"You can't talk to me like that, I'm still a minor." He replied, slightly out of his depth. "My dad is a lawyer, I know my rights." He continued to dig himself a hole.

"That may be the case, but I don't think you are fully aware of the dangers out there, you'd be surprised how little hardened criminals care about your age." Jane spoke again, this time addressing the whole year. "Don't think that just because you are young that you can't get mixed up in the wrong things, that you can't fall into the wrong crowd. Just use your best judgment and do your best to avoid ever meeting me-" Jane was once again interrupted by the boy.

"What would you know about hardened criminals, you can't have been out of training for long, you barely look older than some of the kids here." He could see that Jane's patience was wearing thin but he just kept pushing her.

"Kid, your worst nightmare is just a walk in the park to me. A day at the office. You may think you know the justice system just because your daddy is a lawyer, but when you've had the air sucked from your lungs, the blood pulled from your veins and your best memories drawn from your mind, see if you want to ask me what I know about hardened criminals then." Sofia could see the strain on Jane's emotions and decided to step in.

"Once again, a big thank you to Officers Rizzoli and Frost. If any of you have appropriate questions, they have agreed to stay around at the end for a little while."

After the hustle and bustle of the students leaving, Jane told Frost she'd meet him at the car, she just wanted to have a chat with Sofia. He agreed and took the keys, leaving the school.

"Fancy hitting the courts for 5?" Jane asked as a joke, surprised when Sofia agreed.

Half an hour later a crowd had gathered watching the cop and the students vice-principal play basketball, a few of the older students knew Jane when she was a student and knew how good she was at basketball. A few minutes later an annoyed Frost walked onto the middle of the courts and stole the ball.

"A minute, eh?"

"Sorry Frosty, got a bit carried away." He just nodded in understanding, gave the ball back to Jane and joined the crowd. A few minutes later the school bell rang and the crowd began dispersing. Jane approached Sofia.

"I need your help Sof." Jane said simply.

"Certainly not with basketball. What's up?" Sofia asked seriously when she saw Jane's face.

"I'm going to ask Maura to marry me." Jane got interrupted with a giant hug and a small squeal. "But I need you to help me pick the ring, I've got no clue and I just can't find the right one. Can you help me?" Jane asked sincerely.

"You didn't even have to ask, of course I will. We can go tomorrow after school, sound good?" Jane nodded her approval.

"Thanks Sof." Sofia nodded, gave Jane another hug and walked back towards the school.

That weekend was Maura's party, to say Jane was nervous would be an understatement. This was the most nerve-wracking thing she'd ever done. She'd faced a psychotic serial killer and this still scared her more. Everything was set up, the ring was in her pocket, the people who needed to know knew, and the people who didn't would be happily surprised.

A few hours later, the party was in full swing. Maura kept asking if Jane was ok, but Jane kept dismissing it. Maura seemed to be having a great time so when the doorbell rang, she seemed to take a head count of everyone that was here, she thought no-one else was coming but she went to the door anyway, with Jane firmly in tow. Maura almost passed out when she opened the door.

"Father?"

"Hello darling, I was invited to your party by your girlfriend, I'm assuming this is her. Jane I presume?" He extended his hand to her, which she gladly accepted.

"Yes, that's me, thank you for coming, sir." Maura finally regained her composure and turned to face Jane.

"You did this?" Maura was nearly crying with joy.

"I did, we had a nice chat, talked some things out and we established that we both love you very much and wanted to celebrate this with you." She gave Richard a nod and left them alone.

"I can't believe she called you." Maura spoke, emotion becoming almost overwhelming.

"I was quite surprised when I first got the call, but she said to me how much she loved you and how much happier it would make you if I was here. And when I thought about it, I couldn't have my baby girl graduating without knowing how proud of her I am. I am so sorry for everything that has happened between us. Your mother and I are currently not on speaking terms because of my presence here." Richard said glumly.

"Oh father, I'm sorry to have caused problems between you and mother, but I am very glad you are here."

"You have not caused any problems, her opinions caused problems and my inability to argue with her caused problems. But I couldn't miss this." He said, tears almost filling his eyes. He pulled her into a hug, which she gladly accepted.

Upon seeing this, Jane realized it was now or never. She stood upon a chair, grabbed a glass and a forked and attempted to gain everybody's attention by clinking the two together. When that didn't work she just shouted.

"Oi, shut up, I wanna say something." She gave a shy smile when everyone turned in her direction. "These things always work in the movies." She said, placing the glass and fork back on the table. "Ok, so now I have everyone's attention, first of all, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has come tonight, and especially to those who helped us organize this. But we're all here for one reason, and one reason alone. For Maura." She turned to face Maura who was standing with her father to her side, with his arm around her shoulder. "Maura, I am so happy that I found you, I am so proud of everything you've done, but we all knew you could do it." There was a small chuckle from the crowd. She stepped off the chair and began walking towards Maura. "Maura, you have been so many things to me, my friend, my best friend, my confidant, my savior, but most importantly, you are the love of my life and I don't know what I would do without you." She was almost face to face with Maura now and could see the glisten of tears in her eyes. "Maura, I wouldn't be where I am had it not been for you, I certainly would've had a few less holes." Which gained a confused look from Richard but a very loud laugh from the crowd and a small chuckle from Maura. "But I would not have it any other way, I love you with every fiber of my being. My heart, my soul and everything in between. I cannot imagine my life without you, so Maura Dorthea Isles…" Jane got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. "Would you make me the happiest person in the world by doing me the honor of marrying me?"

The crowd was silent, apart from the distant sniffles of Angela who'd almost fainted when she saw what was coming. Maura on the other hand, was frozen in place, she didn't know how to react. Jane was getting nervous.

"You know I asked in front of all these people so you'd feel worse about saying no." Jane joked, everyone knew it was her defense mechanism. "But I understand-"

"Yes." Maura's voice was so quiet Jane couldn't hear it and she was right in front of her, so no-one else would've heard it.

"What?" Jane queried.

"Yes, yes Jane, I will marry you. I love you so much. I just didn't expect it, you took me off guard." Jane wrapped her arms around Maura's waist and spun her around whilst giving her a kiss. When she settled Maura back on the ground, Maura turned to face her father with Jane behind her. Jane extended her hand to Richard and he gladly accepted it wishing her a congratulations.

"Father, I'm sorry, I didn't know she was going to propose, I know you don't approve but she makes me happy and if you can't accept that-"

"Darling stop! You may not have known, but I sure did. Jane called me, asking for my blessing, I originally didn't want to give it, but then after all the things she said about you, how you'd changed, how happy you made her, I had no other choice, I had to. And now I've met her, I can see why. You've built a wonderful family here for yourself darling, I'm just sorry that I didn't see it sooner."