A/N: Thank you all so much for all of your support and encouragement during this story. It means much more than I can say. Please enjoy and, even if it's far in the future, please feel free to let me know what you think.

Thank you all.

It's been a year. A blissful, beautiful, incredible year. A year since they walked out of the house and into their real lives. They've decided to mark that day as their anniversary because the rest of it is muddy and complicated and fraught. But it's been one year of being in love out in the world and it's been amazing. Maura's started working at BPD and Jane's finally transferred to Homicide to work under Korsak. They talk about forever like it's a given. Sometimes it's hard but it's always worth it.

Jane moved in about a month ago. She hadn't spent a night at her apartment since the hot tub was installed in the backyard (god bless America), so it made sense to make it official. Living together is incredible. The weight they might have gained from picking up each others' dietary habits (for Jane, three actual meals a day, for Maura, coco puffs and beer) is burned off during the best sex of their lives.

Things, honestly, couldn't be better.

Until, two weeks after their anniversary, Jane answers a knock on the door. She's in socks and sweats with her hair all over the place. It's 2pm on a Saturday and she's making her way through third breakfast while Maura's at the grocery store. She's promised to cook Maura an Italian feast tonight so, in their adorably equal division of labor, Maura offered to do the shopping herself.

This would have made sense, except for the fact that the incredibly well put together woman on the other side of the door is Maura's mother. Maura's mother Constance. Maura's mother Constance who still doesn't know about Jane. Jane recognizes her only from the pictures on the Isles Family Foundation website because Maura's never wanted to decorate the house with pictures of her own family. Jane's first thought is that Constance's superior sneer from the website's pictures is just as present, if not worse, in real life.

Jane's glad she left the bowl of coco puffs on the coffee table instead of bringing it to the door with her like she usually does. But, as Constance's eyes wash over her and her lip curls in distaste, Jane belatedly realizes that the coco puffs are the least of her concerns.

Quickly deciding to play it dumb and stall for time, Jane looks forcefully into Constance's eyes. "Uh, hi? What can I do for you?"

Constance's eyebrows knit, just the slightest bit. "I'm here to see Maura Isles. I'm afraid I might have the wrong address." She purses her lips. Jane's sure she rarely admits being wrong.

Jane considers sending her to wait at the neighbor's, but, sadly, has to the foresight to realize that will come back to bite her in the ass. "Oh, uh, no, you're in the right place. Maura's not here right now though."

Constance's gaze is steel. Jane wishes she were armed, just for the feeling it gives her. "And, who, precisely, are you?"

Pretty sure you're not supposed to start a sentence with a conjunction, lady. "I'm Jane. I'm, uh, Maura's roommate."

Constance is terrible at hiding her distaste. Or maybe she's not trying. It's hard to tell. "I see."

"And, who are you?" Jane knows she's pushing her luck with her tone, but this woman is seriously pissing her off.

"I'm her mother." Constance says it like it's obvious. Like Jane should have known. Like everything about her is public knowledge and Jane is a dolt for not knowing it. Fury laces through Jane as she imagines sweet Maura being raised by this rigid bitch.

Jane's been praying that Constance will leave and come back later. But apparently God is busy, because her prayer seems to be going unanswered. After a long moment of staring at each other, Jane finally sighs and opens the door wider. "Would you like to wait inside for her? She shouldn't be gone for too much longer."

Constance nods and steps crisply into the foyer. Her heels click sinisterly on the hardwood, like they're trying to explicitly mock how comforting Jane finds the sound of Maura's heels.

Jane, internally berating herself for convincing Maura to turn the formal living room into a workout room, leads Constance to the (only remaining) real living room. She quickly removes the bowl of (now soggy) coco puffs and the two empty beer bottles from the coffee table, dropping them into the sink with a horribly loud clatter. She returns to the living room and grabs the remote. She intends to snap off the Red Sox game, but then realizes that any sort of buffer in this situation might be good, so she just mutes it.

Constance is standing at the corner of the couch, looking at the furniture like it belongs in a crack den. Jane flops onto the couch and watches with narrowed eyes as Constance grimly lowers herself into the least comfortable chair in the room, a red monstrosity that Maura loves and gives Jane a migraine.

Finally, Jane speaks. "So, is Maura expecting you?"

Constance looks annoyed at having to converse with this peon again. Jane makes a note to never be alone with her again. "No. I simply have some business to conduct with her that cannot wait. I was expecting her to be at home." Like it's absurd that Maura might be out of the house at 2pm on a summer Saturday.

Jane says nothing, because she can't trust herself not to scream at Constance for being a heinous bitch. She just nods and overtly turns her attention to the game.

An eternity passes in the ten minutes until Jane hears a key in lock. Jane flings herself off the couch and into the foyer before Maura can call out something incriminating. All she's able to say is "Jay, can you help me with—" before Jane abruptly slides into her. "Jane, what—"

"Your mother is here."

Maura blanches, dropping the grocery bag onto the floor. "What."

"Your mother is here." Jane says it low, full of urgency. "Your mother is in the living room."

Maura immediately starts hyperventilating. "Oh my god."

"She saw my coco puffs."

Maura honestly looks like she's going to pass out.

Jane grabs her arm urgently. "She's in the living room, Maura!"

"What did you tell her?" Her whisper is harsh and ragged.

"I said I was your roommate. I didn't know what to do! But she's there right now, Maur! What are we going to do?"

Jane feels the panic rising up inside of her, threatening to swallow her whole.

But then, in a totally unexpected move, Maura reaches out and grabs Jane's face. "Hey," she says softly but firmly. "I love you."

The panic ebbs out of Jane. "I—I love you too, Maur."

Maura nods to herself and pulls away.

"What are you going to do?"

Maura focuses her eyes on the entrance to the living room. She speaks at full volume for the first time. "Be a dear and get the rest of the groceries out of the car, would you?"

Jane grabs her arm and whispers again. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to tell her."

Jane looks down at herself, horrified. "Should I shower? Or, like, put on real pants? Or, oh god, I'm not even wearing a bra."

Maura just smiles at her. "Whatever you want, Jay. I don't care what she thinks anymore."

Jane can see in her eyes that, somehow, she means it. With a quick kiss to her nose, Jane runs out to the car. She opens the backseat and grabs her emergency change of clothes from her go bag. It's luckily a casual outfit in there today, because last week she got called in on her day off, forcing her to replace the usual suit with her second best pair of jeans and a clean purple shirt. She quickly changes her clothes behind the car, giving the people on the other side of the street a nice eyeful, and spends 30 infuriating seconds attempting to wrangle her hair before giving up on it and letting it fly free. Grabbing the groceries, she heads back into the house. She goes straight to kitchen and puts away the cold and frozen foods while she shamelessly eavesdrops on Maura and her mother.

It seems like they're still in the small talk phase. Maura is politely inquiring about Constance's work in Europe, and Constance seems to be just listing cities and complicated sounding names.

Just as she's finishing with the cold food, Jane's ears perk up. "When did you get a roommate, darling? I simply cannot imagine what circumstances would force someone in your position to take in…someone like that."

Ugh. What a BITCH. "Jane?" Maura's voice is calm and steady. "Will you join us, please?"

Jane wipes her hands on a dishtowel and walks into the living room. Constance is once again perched on the red chair and Maura is on the couch. Jane stands for a second, trying to decide where is the least awkward place to sit, until Maura gently pats the cushion next to her. Jane sits, gingerly, folding her hands in her lap.

Constance raises her eyebrows at Jane's change in outfit. Jane realizes she's barefoot and, for some reason, that seems like a big disadvantage.

But all thoughts of how she really should have let Maura paint her toenails last week like she wanted to fly out of her head when Maura reaches over and gently takes her hand.

"Mother, Jane isn't just my roommate. She's my girlfriend."

This statement is met with a wall of silence. Maura waits for a few seconds before filling it with any words she can think of. "Jane and I have been together for a while now, Mother. I know you might not approve of this kind of relationship, but we're very happy together. Jane just moved in recently. We work together, Jane's in law enforcement, and I sent you the announcement of my new position, so we work in the same building." Maura trails off. Her mother's face is completely unreadable.

Jane clears her throat to jump in—she has no idea what she wants to say, but she feels a duty to do something to help this along. But Constance holds up a hand to stop her. "Maura, you're telling me that you and this woman are in a romantic relationship?"

"Yes, Mother."

"For how long, exactly, has this been the case?"

"One year, two weeks, and one day."

Constance stands abruptly. Maura does too, and Jane warily follows suit, keeping a firm hold on Maura's hand.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Maura. This is not behavior fitting an Isles."

And with that, she turns and walks out of the house.

Maura cries for the rest of the day and most of the next. The next night is Rizzoli family dinner – Jane tries to cancel it but Maura stubbornly insists on having it. In a surprising move, Maura asks Jane to have Angela come over early and, as soon as she arrives, Maura locks herself and Angela in her study for 45 minutes. When they finally emerge to help a frantic Jane with her lonely chopping, both have red eyes but Maura seems more at ease than Jane can believe.

At the end of the night, Jane is washing the dishes while Maura and Angela clear the table. Maura comes up behind her and wraps her arms around Jane, resting her cheek on Jane's back. "I love you, Jay."

Jane settles back into the embrace. "I love you so much, Maur."

"I asked your mother if she'd give me away at our wedding."

Jane's throat closes up. "I assume she said yes?"

Maura nods against her back. "Thank you for bringing me into such a wonderful family."

Jane turns and slings her arms around Maura, holding her as closely as she can. Both close their eyes, but neither is surprised when Angela comes up and wraps her arms around both of them. Maura drops her head onto Angela's shoulder and Angela kisses it softly. "I love you, my baby girls."

Each week Jane and Maura watch The Bachelor, usually joined by Frost and Frankie and sometimes even Maura's assistant. They started watching the season filmed directly after theirs, featuring a douche named Brady, to see how Chloe, Kelly, and Mel fared. They were both surprised to see that Chloe had declined to sign up. Jane prodded, and finally Maura reached out to her. Chloe told Maura that she'd been really inspired by Maura's skills – she decided she wanted to be a nurse and wasn't going to waste anymore time on The Bachelor. Maura became an unofficial mentor and came to have a genuine appreciation for Chloe's sunny outlook and dedication to her new goal.

Now, Chloe has just accepted a job at Tufts Medical Center as a pediatric nurse. She was lucky to get the job fresh out of nursing school – Jane suspects Maura had something to do with it, but Maura is remarkably closed mouthed whenever she brings it up.

Chloe comes over to join them for Bachelor night her first Thursday in town. She's adorably intimidated by Jane, but she warms up after a few beers. To everyone's surprise, she and Frankie end up hitting it off so well that he drives her home at the end of the night.

Chloe becomes a regular staple in their lives. One snowy weekend the three of them sequester themselves in the house and marathon Brady's season because Chloe never watched it. They mock Brockton, swap theories about Kelly and Mel, share their war stories, and Jane and Maura finally tell Chloe about how they really fell in love in the house. She squeals in all the right places and cements her place as their adopted little sister.

She and Frankie get married in a small church the next fall. Their babies are adorable.

Every Thursday they watch The Bachelor and every Thursday, after Chloe and Frankie and the rest go home, Jane turns to Maura and asks: "Any regrets?"

And every Thursday, without hesitation, Maura grins at her. "Not one."

Jane proposes on a quiet rocky beach out at the end of Cape Cod. There are no cameras, no gowns, no real surprises or suspense. Maura helped pick out the ring herself months before, but Jane had made it clear that she wanted to be the propose-er, and Maura was content to wait until Jane was ready.

The wind destroys their hair and they don't care. There are no commercial breaks and no product placement. Just two people who chose each other, fought for each other, and have already dedicated years of their lives to each other.

There are no roses at their wedding.

They send Christmas cards to Constance every year. They never hear back.

They send a wedding invitation. She sends her regrets.

They send her a pregnancy announcement and she doesn't respond.

Angela calls to invite her to the baby shower, and she, absolutely shockingly, accepts.

She sits, wide-eyed, in near complete silence for the entire shower. Her daughter's stomach is huge and Jane waits on her hand and foot. Constance watches as Jane explains every present, and ranks every wrapping job, to the fetus, who she insists on calling "Rookie." Constance watches as Maura laughs more in that hour than she's ever seen her do in her entire life.

Constance makes a lot of mistakes, but, with Angela's help, she slowly works her way back in her child's life.

She slowly slips from "Grandmother" to "Grandma" to "Gramma."

She only receives the second pregnancy announcement as a formality, because Maura called and told her about the pregnancy weeks before.

When they renew their vows after ten years of marriage, Constance is in the front row.

At the end of the renewal ceremony, Maura asks: "Any regrets?"

Jane grins. "Not one."

Brockton rots in prison. The first six months or so he gets some pictures of Kelly's tits in the mail, but then even those peter out.

The last piece of mail he ever gets is Jane and Maura's wedding invitation, with "Thanks, douche!" scribbled on the back.