We all have those little things we do.

Most of the time we don't notice, but other people do. Especially those closest to us. But sometimes there are little things that we do on purpose, and other people never seem to notice. That's how it was with Maura. There was one little thing she did. It was something she did on purpose, but Jane never noticed.

She never noticed what that little thing was until today.

Maura had always been a touchy person, and Jane loved that about her. She had fallen in love with the way Maura would rub her scarred hands. The way she always placed her hand on her thigh when Jane would drive, and the way Maura leaned against her and would get really clingy when she was tired. But there was one little thing in particular that Jane seemed to be completely oblivious to.

The way Maura caressed her ear.

She doesn't do it a lot, but when she does, the detective doesn't even realize it. It's like a subconscious thing. She knows Maura does it, but she just doesn't realize it.

Now that she think's about it, it occurs to Jane that Maura uses the caressing to her advantage.

For example, she does it when she wants something

Maura walks into the living room and settles next to her girlfriend on the couch. She cuddles up to Jane, who is watching the Red Sox game with extreme intensity. The way she always does.

Maura looks at the detective and debates whether or not she should bother to ask her question. She waits a moment, then finally opens her mouth to speak.

"Jane?"

"Hmm?" The detective mumbles back.

"Can you turn to the National Geographic's channel?" Maura asks. "There's a documentary on reptiles of the Sahara Desert, and I really want to see it. They're even doing a segment on the African Spurred Tortoise."

"Yeah, sure. We can watch it when the game is over," Jane replies without looking away from the television.

"But Jane, it comes on in…" Maura checks her watch, "five minutes."

"Then go watch it in the bedroom."

"But I want to watch it with you," the doctor whines. She considers giving Jane her famous pout, but it wouldn't do any good. It only works when Jane is looking, and right now, the brunette is too focused on the game.

"Bass really wants to watch it, Jane," Maura says, looking over at motionless tortoise on the other side of the room.

"Oh really?" Jane chuckles, taking a sip of her beer. "Did he tell you that?"

"Of course he didn't tell me that. Though, I'm sure he would have if he could talk."

Jane laughs when she looks over at her girlfriend and notices that she's being completely serious. She tilts her head and places a kiss on Maura's lips. "We'll watch it as soon as the game ends. Promise."

Maura let out a sigh, slightly annoyed by the stubborn person Jane turns into when she's watching baseball.
Maura waits a minute or so, trying to determine what she should do in order to get Jane to change the channel.

She waits a more few seconds, then she reaches over and softly grabs the detective's earlobe.

"Jane," She hums in a soft voice that she only uses when she really wants something.

"What babe?" Jane replies, sounding annoyed. "I'm trying to watch the game."

Maura strokes her girlfriend's ear a little more.

"It would really make me happy if you let me watch my show."

"Maur, no," the brunette groans, "I'm sorry, but this game is too good right now."

Maura held on to Jane's ear tighter, and caressed it a little bit slower, causing something in Jane to break.

"Fine," Jane huffed, out of the blue. "We can watch your show."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Maura squealed excitedly, taking the remote and kissing the detective's cheek in between each 'thank you'.

She turned to the channel right in time, and snuggled closer into her girlfriend as the show began.

"I love you, Jane."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

...

She does it when she's sorry.

Jane walks over to the kitchen table to clear it off for dinner. Before she sets the two plates down, she rids the table of a book that Maura had been nose deep into the past few days. As she picks the book up, a small white envelope falls from the front cover. She doesn't pay any mind to the envelope until she notices who it's addressed to.

Frank Rizzoli, Sr.

Jane furrows her brow in confusion as she stares at the envelope.

"Maura?" She calls upstairs. After getting no response she calls again. "Maura!"

Shortly after the second call, she hears the sound of footsteps descending the stairs.

"Hey, sweetie. I didn't hear you come in." Maura says as she rounds the corner.

The blonde has a smile on her face when she enters the kitchen, but the smile quickly fades when she notices Jane's face.

Maura stops walking toward the detective when she see's what she's holding in her hand.

"What the hell is this, Maura?"

There is really no need for Jane to ask that question. She already knows exactly what it is.

Maura opens her mouth to speak, but has a hard time finding the words to say.

"Jane, I-"

"What were you thinking?" Jane cuts her off, barely loud enough for Maura to hear. The hurt was evident in her voice. "Why would you do this?"

"He's your father, Jane."

"I don't give a damn who he is!" Jane yells, startling Maura. "I specifically told you I don't want him at the wedding. What part of that did you not understand?!"

"I know what you said, but he's your father," the blonde repeats, putting emphasis on the word father. "Jane, this is our wedding we're talking about. Not some holiday dinner, or another birthday party. This is one of those moments that only happens once, if you're lucky. This will be the biggest day of our lives, and I didn't want you to regret not having him there."

"But that's the thing Maura. It's not up to you to make that decision for me! I told you countless times that I DO NOT want him there. Why can't you get that?"

"Well excuse me for thinking you'd want your father to walk you down the isle, or dance with you during the Father/Daughter dance," Maura snapped back.

"That man is not my father! He made it perfectly clear that he didn't want anything to do with his family anymore. He left us, Maura. He broke Ma's heart. I will NEVER forgive him for that."

Jane's voice cracked as the last few words left her mouth, making a sound that nearly broke Maura's heart.

"Jane, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, whatever." Jane replied, turning away and walking away.

It broke Maura's heart even more to hear her future wife completely brush off her apology.

The doctor followed Jane, and watched her grab a beer from the fridge.

When the detective closed the refrigerator door, Maura blocked her from moving forward. Seeing that Maura was in her way, Jane rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. The brunette turned around to go the other way, but Maura quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, closing the gap between them. She leaned closer and placed one hand on Jane's cheek.

"I said I was sorry, Jane." The blonde took her other hand and used it to grab Jane's ear, caressing it softly and slowly.

"I went behind your back, and I will never do that again. You have every right to be upset with me, but please believe me when I say I am truly sorry."

Moments passed as the two stood there in silence.

"Do you forgive me?" Maura asked softly, her fingers remaining on the detective's ear.

As Jane stared into her lover's eyes, she began to feel guilty for the way she had just reacted. Instead of answering, she simply leaned down and placed a loving kiss on her fiancé's lips.

"I forgive you."

Jane wrapped her arms around the the blonde's waist and pulled her in tight.

"I know you were just trying to be thoughtful, but you have to understand that he is not a part of my life anymore. I don't want him to be, and I most definitely don't want him walking me down the isle. There's plenty of other men in my life who would gladly take his place. Like Korsak, or even Frankie. Hell, I'd rather have Rondo or Bass walk me down the isle than that man. As long as it's you standing with me at the alter, nothing else matters."

Maura gave Jane a soft smile and leaned in for another kiss.

"And I'm sorry for getting so upset and yelling at you. I overreacted."

"Don't be sorry." Maura whispered, bringing her arms around Jane's neck and resting her head on her chest.

"I love you, beautiful," Jane whispered, leaving a feather light kiss on the doctor's nose.

"I love you too, Jane."

...

She does it when she's 'in the mood'.

Maura sat in bed reading a book. It was a quarter til midnight and Jane still wasn't home. Ever since the two had gotten married, Maura found it nearly impossible to go to bed when Jane wasn't home.

This was the second night in a row that they had to cancel their date night. The Boston Police Department was getting close to solving a huge case, but in order to do that, Cavanaugh needed all hands on deck, which is why Jane had been coming home late these past few nights. Unfortunately for Maura, her job was finished. Being a medical examiner, there was nothing else she could do to help solve the case. It was all up to the detectives now.

About an hour later, Maura heard the familiar sound of the front door opening and heavy boots tiptoeing up the steps. The doorknob turned, and Jane slowly opened the door. She figured Maura would be sleep, but when she creeped inside the room and noticed the bedside lamp was on, a hint of happiness flowed through her.

"Hey," Maura smiled happily, closing her book.

"Hey," Jane smiled back. She sleepily dragged her feet over to the dresser and began stripping down to her underwear and a tank top "I told you not to wait up for me."

"I know, but I wanted to see you before I went to bed. I haven't seen much of you these past few days."

Jane walked toward the bed feeling guilty that she hadn't been home much lately.

"I know baby, I'm sorry." When she reached the bed, she crawled over to her wife's side and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "And I'm sorry we had to cancel again tonight. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Jane rolled over and sprawled out on her side of the bed, too tired to even pull the cover over herself. Maura placed her book on the nightstand and turned the lamp off. She slid down in the bed and cuddled close to her detective.

Maura couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about Jane after a hard day of work that was extremely arousing to her. The doctor swept curl from Jane's face and left a slow trail of kisses from her collarbone to her lips.

"How about you make it up to me tonight," Maura purred seductively, sliding her hand underneath the brunette's tank top.

Jane grabbed Maura's hand, preventing it from moving any higher. "Not tonight sweetie, I'm way to tired."

"Jaaane," Maura whined, taking her hand from the brunette's hold and placing it on her chest.

"Babe, I'm exhausted. Cavanaugh is giving me the entire weekend off. I'll make it up you then, okay?" Jane tilted her head and placed a kiss on the blonde's pouted lips, ending the conversation.

After a few seconds, Maura's fingers made their way from the detective's chest to the top of her ear.

"I've really missed you, Jane," she said softly, slowly moving her fingers up and down on that spot that only she knew to touch. Jane licked her lips as she stared into Maura's beautiful hazel eyes, wondering where this sudden rush of arousal was coming from.

Finally she couldn't take it anymore. The detective quickly rolled over on top of her wife, causing a light squeal to escape the doctor's mouth.

"I thought you were tired," Maura said playfully as she felt a hand slip below the waistband of her underwear.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

...

It wasn't until today that she had become aware of that little thing Maura did, and how much it affected her.

Now, here she sat, in a quiet hospital room. It had been almost a week since Maura was in a life-threatening car accident, and she still hadn't woken up.

The chair that sat next to her wife's hospital bed had become her new home. The only time she ever left was to get something to eat or use the bathroom. She wouldn't even go home to grab a change of clothes. Angela kept trying to convince her to go home and get proper rest, but Jane refused to leave her side. She wasn't going to leave her.

The day before, when she was having doubts about her wife's recovery, Maura's doctor assured Jane that she wasn't getting worse, but she also hadn't shown any signs of improvement.

If anything, that made Jane feel even worse. She had spent all week trying to stay strong, because she knew that's what would want, but she could only be strong for so long. As Jane scooted her chair as close to the bed as possible, she laid her head down on the bed and sobbed, letting out everything she had been holding in.

As she continued to sob and cry out for her wife, she felt two warm fingers tug on her ear. At first she thought she was imagining this, but when she lifted her head she saw two hazel eyes just hardly open.

"Jane." Maura smiled groggily, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Maura," Jane smiled back through tear-filled eyes.

When Jane stood up to move closer, Maura started to loosen her grip on her wife's ear, but Jane stopped her.

That's when it hit her. We all have those little things we do, and Maura's little thing was her favorite.

"Please, don't ever let go."

A/N: I hope you liked this. It took me forever to finish, because I wanted to get it right. I'm still not 100% pleased with it, but I'll let you lovely readers be the judge of that. Please let me know what you thought. Thanks!

P.s. Follow me on tumblr for-rizzles-my-nizzle for more :)