A/N: You can file this under things I do when I should be studying. I don't personally think you have to have read It's Complicated to understand the things in these stories, I mean it might help but really all this is established-Rizzles fluff. This is a tag-along piece to Chapter 26 of It's Complicated. Someone requested a sort of reaction to what Frank had said type thing.

Refresher (spoiler for It's Complicated): Frank said some really mean things to Jane about her relationship with Maura. Also that story only went up to spoilers for 3x03 so none of that baby drama happened.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything involving the Rizzoli and Isles characters. (Belongs to Janet Tamaro and Tess Gerritson and lots of other people I don't know the names of.) Also don't own the two sentences from the songs I used, which belong to Foreigner and Guns 'N Roses. Not making any money either.

Maura blinked trying to liven her senses enough to figure out what that noise was. It was barely audible and coming from somewhere near. She licked her lips blinking slower a second time trying to let her mind assess the situation. Perhaps Jo Friday was injured or in need of going outside? It took her a few more blinks to realize the noise was not the dog. It was Jane. The detective had drifted in the night and was lying almost completely on her side of the bed.

Her side, Maura thought. The left side of the bed had always been her side ever since that night so long ago when Hoyt was after her for only the second time. But now that they were a couple, had been for quite some time, each other's 'side of the bed' had hardly been carved in stone. Sure they started out that way but rarely did they stay that way. They usually wound up wrapped in each other's arms somewhere in the middle.

Maura covered her mouth in a yawn as she curled in behind Jane's lithe body. She snaked one arm around her detective's lean waist, the other dipped underneath Jane's nightshirt stroking the soft skin and tense muscles she found there. She furrowed her eyebrows, Jane wasn't normally that tense when sleeping. And there was that sound again, a soft barely audible whimper of a sound. Maura continued stroking Jane's back but threw her right leg over Jane's hip and pulled her closer. She pushed Jane's hair away from her neck and pressed a small barely there kiss against the newly exposed skin. "Shh, sweetie, relax." She whispered in the quiet of their room. Their room, it was another Freudian slip of sorts and she didn't want to take it back because she did consider that space as theirs. As she spoke she felt the muscles under her hand ease ever so slightly, felt Jane roll a fraction closer to her. She'd seen Jane through many a nightmare throughout their time together. She had learned depending on how severe the nightmare was that there were different ways in dealing with them. On nights, like that one, where it seemed so small it was best to goad Jane through it, give her an anchor, rather than completely jar her from sleep.

…

The next time Maura woke up it was to an empty bed. She groaned falling back into the bed with a huff. She was seriously going to have to break Jane of that habit at some point or another. It was six AM and she didn't have to truly be awake for another hour. Just as she pulled the blankets over her head they were pulled back down and the bed sank. She felt a warm arm drape across her stomach. Maura cracked an eye open looking to her left. She smiled slightly placing her hand over the one on her stomach. "Jane?"

"Hmmm?" The detective hummed letting her hand lazily dip underneath Maura's top. It was really her top. It was a faded police academy t-shirt she couldn't remember having in her apartment in a very long time. How long had she been letting Maura steal her clothes?

Maura took the moment to survey her detective. (When did she become so possessive?) There was a tiredness lining her face even as Jane's hand wandered. Maura swallowed trying not to think about the nonsensical patterns that were being traced upon her bare skin by long, lazy fingertips. "Do you want to talk?" The movement stopped. And Maura had a flash of a moment all those weeks, months ago when a gunshot had echoed through a loading bay and she had asked that very question and Jane pushed her away. Because Jane always pushed her away like a skittish cat that was afraid of people. Would this fear of being shut out ever leave her?

Jane sighed. She rolled her body closer to Maura's tangling their bare legs together. She felt Maura's deceptively strong arms wrap around her body and let her hand resume its ministrations against Maura's incredibly soft skin. "You know my dad, he would take us camping at least once a year to teach us about the outdoors and all that." Maura let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as Jane's words filled the room. Because Jane wasn't a cat. She was a Doberman or a German Sheppard or Rottweiler. A big ferocious canine that did what needed to be done to protect the things it loved, and maybe, she thought, Jane pushing people away from her perceived brokenness was a way of protecting them from herself. She tightened her grip. "Frankie and I kind of hated it." Jane laughed. Maura began tracing a line back and forth down Jane's back smiling into raven hair. "Pop always told us if we got lost to find the North Star and we'd get back home, somewhere safe at least. Frankie and I could never find it but Tommy was a natural. He always knew how to get back." Jane raised a shoulder in a half shrug. "I always thought that was kind of funny considering."

"Jane." Maura's voice was quiet. She didn't know what to say. What does one tell their best friend when the person they looked up to for most of their life practically disowned them? And then add into the fact that it was her fault. Where was the hallmark card for that?

"I was supposed to grow up and marry a nice Italian boy. But then I joined the police force and I met you." Jane felt her lips curl upwards slightly. She ran her foot halfway up Maura's calf and down again, still reveling in the fact that Maura was hers and hers alone, that she could do things like have her hand up her shirt and it be okay. She felt Maura shiver against her and grinned wickedly for a split second before her mind wandered back to the conversation they were having. "I wasn't looking for his approval you know…I wasn't even thinking about us. I was preoccupied with wanting an apology. I was kind of blindsided and it…It just kind of hurts, you know?" Jane sighed against Maura's shoulder before rolling sideways and onto her back.

Maura raised up on her elbow looking down at Jane. There was a melancholy type of sadness embracing her that Maura wanted to go away. "Are you happy with me?" It was a simple question, albeit a loaded one. And the more Maura thought about it the more she needed the answer.

Both of Jane's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "Of course I am!"

Maura smiled at Jane her chest filling with satisfaction and early morning air. "You had a nightmare last night."

Jane narrowed her eyes a blush going across her cheeks and nose. "People have nightmares." She shrugged.

Maura raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend pointedly. "You have them when you're stressed." Maura hoped the rest of the sentiment was implied.

Jane rose quickly and in seconds had Maura pinned to the bed beneath her. She had no idea where this sudden need to be physical had manifested but the need was there ever-pressing against her heart. It was like all of that time fighting with herself over their new status had just boiled over and now she had free range to do all of the things she'd only ever thought about it. And if she thought kissing Maura was an amazing thing, the other things were doubly so. Even then in the middle of a serious conversation she could feel half of her mind turn off and switch direction. Because Maura was underneath her, nearly panting, pupils dilated and her eyes – god her eyes – were that crazy shade of dark green and brown. And Jane just wanted to ravish her wholly, completely for that reason alone. She leaned closer to Maura letting their bodies lie flush against each other separated only by thin worn cotton shirts and underwear. "I don't want to talk anymore." She growled into Maura's ear rolling her hips for added emphasis.

Maura swallowed hard trying desperately to make her body remain still and not succumb to Jane's movements who was now kissing down her jaw and neck. "You can't keep using sex to avo…id –" Maura gasped as Jane's left hand dove under her t-shirt and cupped her breast her back arching pushing her body into the woman above her.

Jane stopped moving pulling her mouth away from Maura's neck an eyebrow raised. "I'm not avoiding!" She pouted. "I just don't want to talk anymore, right now." She sat up so she was straddling Maura's hips and crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean really, how are people supposed to talk about things anyway? You don't talk about things either, missy so there." Jane nodded pointedly.

Maura found herself once again swallowing hard trying to ease her breathing. She rolled her eyes at Jane childish behavior. She sat up still underneath Jane and rolled sideways successfully knocking Jane off balance and onto her back leaving her on top. "So we won't talk, right now." Maura said leaning down letting her lips just hover a few centimeters from Jane's. Jane leaned up to try and meet her but Maura pulled away teasingly. "But if you do want to talk…"

"I'll come to you." Jane said breathlessly eyes slightly unfocused and dark.

Maura grinned at Jane's unintentional innuendo before capturing her lips in a heated kiss. "Good." She sighed as Jane pushed her shirt up an over her head.

…

Maura pounded repeatedly on Jane's apartment door. Jane had been avoiding her mother throughout the day only to then have it escalate to also avoiding her. At least that's what she thought because Jane was not answering her phone. Or her door. She groaned in frustration. She stamped her foot. And then, then she realized she did have a key to Jane's place. She unlocked the door only to be stopped halfway from the chain. She rolled her eyes as another aggravated huff escaped her. Blindly she slipped her hand inside fumbling with the little chain before it finally came loose and she was able to open the door. She walked in and found exactly why Jane couldn't hear her knocking.

Jane was punching the dummy in her apartment repeatedly. She had ear buds in her ears, her iPod hooked to the top of her shorts. And Maura was grown up enough to admit she was kind of blown away by the whole scene. She licked her lips as she watched sweat roll from Jane's nose down her chin and neck, the way each of the muscles in her lean arms flexed as she moved and hit the target. The heavy grunts Jane was making every time her fists hit the dummy were also doing nothing to calm her sudden arousal.

Jane wiped her forearm across her sweaty forehead in a moment of pause. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her dog jet off towards the door. Jane turned half curious only to be surprised by Maura standing there. She pulled the headphones out of her ears. "Hey." She said casually before grabbing the water bottle behind her to drink.

Maura blinked. "Your mother!" She blurted.

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Uh..."

Maura swallowed shaking her head. "You've been avoiding your mother and then that turned into avoiding me and you said you would talk to me when you were ready but here you are," She pointed at Jane and the dummy. "Punching that…that thing instead."

"I wasn't avoiding anyone. I was working all day. And I was punching this thing," Jane pointed to the dummy. "Because I like to work out." Jane said confused. She grabbed the small towel off of the bar and wiped her face off. "You're more worked up about my dad than I am, Maura." She said softly. "So why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"

There was a moment of pause, a rare moment of silence between them. Maura looked from the ceiling to the ground to Jane's face where she met worry and affection and soft brown eyes and she felt like crying. She felt like crying because Frank Senior had the same shade of dark eyes as Frankie and Jane. He had the same hardheaded, strong characteristics his children had and she could remember Frank as he paced in a hospital waiting room waiting to see if his children would make it through the night. And it was because of her that Jane didn't have that person in her life. Never mind his divorce from Angela, never mind the annulment fiasco, she had been the breaking point.

Jane stepped closer as she watched Maura's facial expressions change. "Maura what's wrong?"

Maura shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's my fault."

"What's your fault?"

"Your father!"

Jane blinked. Her hand stopped moving against Maura's arm. "What?"

"He said those things because you're with me, because we're…" Before she could finish her thought Jane's strong arms wrapped around her pulling her in for a hug.

"It's been a long time coming, Maura. It's not your fault." She kissed the top of Maura's head. "It's definitely not your fault and I don't ever want you to think that way. I don't ever want you to think that you bring anything less than happiness and maybe a pinch of frustration into my life, okay?" Maura couldn't help the small breath of laughter at Jane's words as she nodded into her shoulder. "I love you." Maura gave her a very muffled 'I love you' in return. They stood for a few more minutes before a sudden idea struck Jane. She pulled away from Maura and grabbed two beers from the fridge. "We are going to drink."

Maura looked skeptically at the beer Jane placed in her hand. "Drinking is considered a negative coping mechanism."

Jane rolled her eyes throwing her head back. "Maura." She popped the cap from both of the drinks. "You and your 'coping mechanisms.' We are two grown ass women, alright. We can do whatever we want. And this is how we do it in law enforcement." She took a long drink before walking to her stereo system. She hooked her iPod to the machine and fiddled with the buttons.

"Alcoholism among police officers is –" The sound of a loud electric guitar and a drum beat cut through her speech. She glared. "Not funny!"

Jane laughed. "What's that Maur, can't hear you?" Jane shouted.

"You're going to wake your neighbors." Maura tried to reason. She set her beer on the coffee table and took her place on the couch. Jane shrugged tipping her head back to drink more. Maura watched enthralled a few minutes later as Jane danced around to the music playing. And she used the term 'danced' loosely as it was really just Jane jumping up and down a ridiculous expression on her face with one arm stuck up in the air while that horrible music played in the background.

Jane laughed finishing off her beer. "You don't like this one?" She turned back to the stereo changing songs. "Ah-ha perfect." She laughed to herself as she clicked a new song.

The beats of a piano droned through the speakers. You're as cold as ice, you're willing to sacrifice our love. Maura looked at Jane who was nearly doubled over in laughter by this point as the lyrics filled the apartment. "Ha ha." Maura said dryly.

Jane flipped the songs again finally landing on one she thought Maura might appreciate more. She walked over to the couch and pulled at Maura's crossed arms until she was standing. "Dance with me, babe please?" Maura raised her eyebrows at the term of endearment. They'd used sweetie and honey but babe was new. She wasn't going to lie, she kind of liked it. Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. Jane looked at Maura pointedly a wide grin on her face.

Maura dropped her shoulders in defeat and grabbed the beer Jane had given her. She took a drink and watched Jane bob her head to the beat and mouth the words of the song. It wasn't long until both she and Jane were dancing around the apartment to 80's rock. Jo Friday had taken refuge long ago in Jane's bedroom.

…

Angela Rizzoli unlocked her daughter's apartment door. Her ex-husband called her ranting about wanting to 'save' their daughter from 'eternal damnation.' Eternal damnation, she scoffed, said the man who asked for a divorce and ran out on his family for no good reason. Over thirty years she had spent with that man and he had the nerve…She sighed. Jo Friday came running from further inside the apartment. She barked and Angela could distinctly hear a thud and a groan come from somewhere inside. She bent down scratching behind the little dog's ear before walking fully into the apartment. There were empty beer bottles splayed out everywhere, the coffee table was crooked and a pillow from the couch lay haphazardly in the middle of the floor. "What on earth." She looked around. It was then she spotted her child and rolled her eyes.

Jane was sitting up on the floor a hand to her forehead looking very dazed and confused. Jane looked at her mother through a half opened eye and groaned. It was far too early, and she had too much of a hangover to be dealing with any of this. She looked at the couch where Maura was still soundly asleep then back at her mother. Angela tut-ted and walked into the kitchen giving Jane a look that clearly told her to follow her.

Jane stood trying not to groan as her back popped uncomfortably. She rubbed her eyes as her mother moved about the kitchen. "Your father –"

"Don't apologize for him, Ma." Jane yawned. She'd been hoping to avoid this whole conversation, one day she would learn nothing was avoidable where her mother was concerned.

"He's an ass." Angela said ignoring Jane's remark.

"Why'd you tell him about me and Maura anyway?"

"He called asking if I still had this one box of tools and I told him it was in the storage unit and it just slipped! You are so happy and I thought he'd be happy." Angela answered as she cracked an egg into the frying pan. Jane nodded her head. That sounded about right. She crossed her arms and rested her head against them. "But, Janie?"

"Yeah, Ma?" Jane sighed peaking at her mother from the counter.

Angela paused trying to figure out the best way to say what she wanted. "You've been through so much, Jane. I know you try to keep things from me but I hear things and I want you to know I am so, so proud of you." Jane felt a lump forming in her throat. "I know after," Angela nodded towards Jane's hands. "A lot of people didn't think you'd be able to make it back, but I knew. Sometimes I wish you hadn't," She laughed dryly as she continued to cook. "I don't know why, but you love your job, so I would pray that you'd be okay enough to be a cop again." Jane sat up in the chair curious at her mother's words. "I remember your face when you were able to write your name again. I came to pick you up from therapy one day and you were waiting outside staring at this little notecard in your hand. You looked up at me with the biggest smile on your face and showed me. I knew then that you would be okay." She sighed. "And then you shot yourself and I had to watch my baby, both of my babies, go through that again. I would always ask myself why. Why do you keep going back? It wasn't until I started working in the café that I really realized." She looked Jane in the eye. They were both on the verge of tears. "The most remarkable thing about you, Janie, is that you still care. After all of these years you still care. You still love. You are very good at what you do and I know you love it even when it's hard, and I know it's hard, baby." She nodded as small tears fell down both their faces. "And I am so, so proud of you. You're who I raised you to be." She reached out patting Jane on the head and brushed away the tears across her cheeks. She turned back to the oven. "So screw Frank."

Jane laughed wiping at her face. She walked around the counter and hugged her mom. "Thanks, Ma."

Angela wrapped her arms around her daughter and patted her back. "Anytime kiddo." She wrinkled her nose as Jane pulled away. "Now go shower, you stink." She swatted. "And, wake Maura up before she gets a crick in her neck!"

"Yeah, yeah." Jane laughed.

A/N: So this is the beginning of the series of one-shots based in the It's Complicated universe. They may or may not be interlinked or whatever and I'll try to put them in an order so it could be more like an actual story but just with no end where I can delve into this whenever I want. I have nine planned right now.