Maura was stunned to see her mother standing at her door. "Mother, what are you doing here?" She asked, "I mean how did you know that I was back from Rome?"

"I have my ways." Constance told her.

"Would you like to come in?" Maura asked her opening the door wider.

"No, I can't stay. I just came back to settle a few things before I return to my home in Paris." Constance told her.

"Paris? You moved to Paris?" Maura asked with hurt in her voice.

"Yes I couldn't stay in this town after…" She began to say.

Maura cut her off, "After I embarrassed you."

"I didn't say that." Constance said to her.

"You didn't have to." Maura said as she folded her arms across her chest.

"I didn't come here to fight with you, Maura." Constance said to her.

"Why did you come here then?" Maura asked as she stood in the doorway.

Constance reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope, "I wanted to give you my contact information."

She handed the envelope to Maura then turned and headed down the front steps. Maura wanted to call out to her, to just stop her from leaving. She had so much she wanted to talk to her mother about. But she didn't say anything.

Constance stopped and turned around and looked back at Maura, "Are you truly happy now, Maura?"

Maura was stunned. It was an odd question coming from her mother. Not once in all her life had her mother ever asked her if she was happy. She had always done what her mother wanted her to do, anything to please her mother regardless if it made her happy or not. Now after almost 3 months of not speaking to each other she was standing in front of Maura asking her if she was happy.

"Yes Mother, I am." Maura told her with a small sad smile.

Constance gave a small nod of her head but didn't say anything more. She just turned around and walked back to her car, got in and drove away.

Maura stood on her porch in disbelief. Was the door to repairing her relationship with her mother opened a crack now? She hoped that's what it meant. She hoped that her mother would at least try. Maura thought it would have been just as easy for her mother to send the contact information through the mail or have Pamela give it to her but the fact that she had brought it by herself had to mean something. She didn't want to put too much more thought into it or she'd talk herself out of what she was hoping it could mean so she just went back inside her house and shut the door behind her.

Jane was at A Little Taste of Italy checking on her staff and kitchen. "Oh it's so good to be back in my kitchen." Jane said to Angela as she watched her staff hurry around to get the dinner menu prepped.

"Hey boss, glad to have you back!" Marco yelled to her as he moved through the kitchen.

"Nice to be back!" Jane yelled back at him before he disappeared into the walk-in refrigerator.

Jane went through the kitchen and stopped and talked to her staff as they worked. They seemed to be just as happy for her return as she was.

Jane and Angela headed back to Jane's office so they could go over the menu, the changes Angela made and the final numbers for the last 2 months.

Two hours later Jane turned off her computer, "You did really good Ma." Jane said to her.

"Was there any doubt?" Angela asked her.

"A little." Jane said to her with a little chuckle, "But I think I'm going to keep a few of the menu changes. People really seem to like it."

Jane got up from her desk and hugged her, "Thanks for everything you did, Ma."

Angela squeezed Jane tight then let her go, "Anytime Janie."

"No, I really mean it." Jane said as she sat back down in this chair, "You know Ma, this trip was really good for me and Maura. We needed this and I just want to thank you for taking over here so we could go and be together." Jane told her, "I mean it helped us figure out a few things."

"Like how in love you are with each other?" Angela asked smiling.

"Yes Ma, like how much we love each other." Jane said returning the smiling. "In fact," Jane said as she stood up, "We love each other so much, I asked her to move in with me and she said yes."

Angela slapped Jane on the arm, "About time!"

"OW!" Jane yelled as she rubbed her arm, "What do you mean about time?"

"Oh Janie, you drive me so crazy sometimes." Angela said getting up from her chair and heading for the door, "So crazy." She growled then went out the door and started down the hall.

"What does that mean?!" Jane called after her but Angela ignored her and kept walking.

Later that evening Maura came to the restaurant and they sat to have dinner.

"What's wrong?" Jane asked Maura as they sat waiting for their food.

"Hmm?" Maura said.

"You're quiet. What's wrong?" Jane asked her again.

"My mother came by the house to see me." Maura told her.

"And how did that go?" Jane asked cautiously.

"It was a short visit so it went well." Maura told Jane then took a sip of wine.

The waiter brought over their meals and placed them on the table for them, smiled then retreated back to the kitchen.

"Okay I'm just going to ask." Jane said putting down her beer bottle. "What did she want?"

"She wanted to drop off her contact information because she moved to Paris." Maura told her, "But Jane, she asked me if I was happy. Mother has never cared about that before. I told her I was and then she left."

"And what does that mean?" Jane asked her.

"It means she's trying." Maura told her with a smile.

Jane wanted to be as optimistic as Maura but as an outsider who has seen the kind of damage Constance has done she didn't want Maura to get hurt again. She didn't really need Constance to accept her because she couldn't care less what Constance thought of her but she would at least need to accept the fact that they were together and Jane wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

"That's good Maura." Jane told her, "I really hope that's what she's doing."

For the following week Jane took time off from the restaurant to help Maura move her things from her house to Jane's.

"Man you have a lot of stuff." Jane said as she followed Maura into their house carrying two boxes.

"Are you regretting asking me to move in now?" Maura asked her.

Jane tilted her head as if she was thinking about it and Maura swatted her on the arm.

Jane put down the boxes and grabbed Maura around the waist and pulled her close, "No, I don't regret it one bit." She kissed Maura on the lips and Maura's hands started to wander up Jane's back.

Jane broke the kiss and let go of Maura's waist, "You keep those hands to yourself till we get your things in the house then you can let them wander wherever you want."

"Well hurry it up then." Maura said and slapped Jane on the ass on their way out the door.

Within the week Jane was back in her kitchen cooking. A friend of Constance's who had been at one of the events that Jane had catered for her had remembered Jane's restaurant. He wanted to have a special dinner for his wife's birthday. He had planned on inviting her family to surprise her.

Jane was at the restaurant early making sure everything was getting prepped and ready. It was her first big event since getting back from Italy so it had to be perfect.

The night of the birthday party Maura went to the restaurant just before the dinner. She pushed in the double doors and went into the kitchen. And there Jane was, just like the first time she saw her. The kitchen staff was in some sort of chaotic type dance.

But the only thing Maura could focus on was Jane. There she was in her white chef jacket yelling in Italian at one of her sous-chefs. Maura smiled at the sight.

She thought about the first time they met, how nervous she was and how sexy she thought Jane was speaking Italian to her. She remembered the night that Jane gave her the bottle of wine from the family vineyard.

She thought of the first time Jane kissed her, how her heart literally skipped a beat and how scared that feeling was.

A big smile stretched across her lips as she remembered Jane's attempt at giving Maura a cooking lesson that lead to them making love for the first time.

She remembered their first argument and the picnic at Spectacle Island when they made up. She smiled again as she thought about how she'd never be allowed into the movie theater downtown again.

She thought about the heartache she caused and felt when she broke up with Jane. How hard it was to regain Jane's heart and trust but how thankful she was when Jane forgave her and gave them a second chance.

Maura knew that this is what life with Jane would be like. Their life would be about the good and bad moments and everything else that filled in the time between. She loved Jane with all her heart and she knew that Jane loved her just the same.

In the midst of all the chaos Jane stopped, looked up and spotted Maura. Jane smiled at her and it brought back the memory of their first meeting.

Jane didn't hear half of what her sous chef was telling her because her focus was on the beautiful woman that was standing in her kitchen trying to stay out of the way of the food servers as they moved past her.

She couldn't help but smile at how nervous the woman was, how flustered she was getting. All Jane wanted to do was find out who this woman was, where she came from and why she was standing in her kitchen saying she needed Jane.

Jane knew Maura was trouble, knew it from the moment she laid eyes on her that her life wouldn't be the same ever again. Jane didn't know if that was a good thing or not but she was willing to risk it all to find out.

The noise of the kitchen brought Jane out of her memory. She smiled again then rounded the counter she was standing behind. She took Maura lightly by the arm and moved her out of the way.

"I know I know, I'm not supposed to be in here." Maura said as Jane backed them into their little alcove.

"No, you're exactly where you're supposed to be." She said and Maura knew it in her heart as Jane kissed her deeply.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who gave this story a chance. Thank you for all the reviews and follows.