Jane's forehead crinkled into a frown of utter confusion, "What… what is this?", she asked softly before she glanced towards her best friend who was sat in the passenger seat of the car.

The honey blonde Medical Examiner turned to her best friend and sighed heavily, biting her lip gently before speaking, "Don't marry him Jane", she said gently, "Marry me". Her eyes were filled with love and adoration but also fear. Fear that this beautiful brunette beside her would say no. Fear that she would lose her best friend. Fear that she would lose the woman she had fallen in love with.

Detective Rizzoli looked down at the black velvet box that was in her hand, the lid was open and the lining was the same colour as the outside of the box. Inside of it was a platinum engagement ring, the material had been chosen because it was the most practical for Jane because of her job. The ring wasn't a traditional engagement ring but instead a stack of three rings. The top was diamonds with rubies, the middle was simply diamonds and the bottom was diamonds with sapphires. Maura had chosen the ring stack because the colours were perfect for Jane as they were the team colours of the Red Sox but also because she knew Jane then would have a choice about how the ring sat with what colours would go at the top or bottom and also she knew then that Jane could choose which parts of the ring to wear at work or which part would go with a different outfit. She had looked at many rings but that was the one that jumped out to her. Or to be accurate the stack of three that stood out to her.

Doctor Isles bit her lip and turned to look out of the window, Jane hadn't said anything for a few minutes and Maura was starting to panic that her friend would decline the offer, or worse… that she would lose her. The Detective was looking at her, then at the ring set and then back again with a fish impression look on her face.

Casey's ring wasn't on her finger, it hadn't been since she announced her engagement that morning and truth be told it hadn't been on her finger for long before that either.

Maura looked up to the ceiling of the car, before looking out of the window towards Jane's apartment where she had pulled up to only a few minutes before proposing. They had spent a couple of hours at the Dirty Robber and Maura had driven Jane home as the woman's car was in the garage all day. "Please say something", she said in an almost whisper as she looked at Jane, "Please". She bit her lip, "I'll understand if you… if you don't want to", she said softly, Why would anyone?, she thought to herself, "But I love you Jane". Her admission forced Jane to move her eyes from the velvet box to the woman beside her who had tears streaming down her face, "I promise you that I will support whatever decision you make and that if you don't want to marry me then I will leave and you can pretend that this… never happened".

"What if I don't want to pretend this never happened Maur' ?", she asked softly as she reached out with her right hand to cup the other woman's soft cheek, "What if I love you too and…..". She paused watching the woman's facial expressions and rather than finishing the sentence, she extracted her hand from the woman's face to slip the ring onto her engagement finger, "What if this is my answer?", she said holding up her hand.

The biggest smile that Jane had ever witnessed burst out onto the Chief Medical Examiner's face and the honey blonde almost launched herself towards the curly haired Italian woman as she embraced her tightly. Jane held her close, "I love you Maur'", she said softly with her hand laced into the honey blonde locks of her fiancee.

"I love you too Jane", she said leaning back slightly to look into the face of the woman she was looking forward to marrying, "What happens now Jane?".

Jane smiled but didn't let up her hold on the other woman, "I'm going to take my beautiful fiancee out on a date because apparently we do it backwards and get engaged before we even go on one date", she said with an amused smirk.

Maura smiled and leant up to kiss the woman briefly and softly upon the lips, "Jane? We've been dating for years", she said softly making the brunette smile as she remembered all of the lunches, dinners, sleepovers, cinema nights, day trips, and events.

The Detective leant forward and captured her fiancee's lips in a searing and passionate kiss, "I'm still going to take you out on a date tonight Maur'", she said softly, "As our first official date".

Doctor Isles nodded, "That sounds like a great idea", she said softly, "Where are we going?". She asked the question softly as she leant her head onto the other woman's shoulder, leaning into her embrace comfortably.

Jane smiled softly, "It will be a surprise", she said softly, "but dress casual". She added the dress comment at the end which made Maura smirk because Jane had known the reason why the honey blonde asked. She had wanted to know what she needed to wear for the night.

Maura nodded and laced her hand with the Detective's as she looked at the ring which was residing where it belonged. On the finger of the stunning Italian woman she had fallen in love with. "What… what are you going to do with Casey's ring?", she asked softly as she looked up into Jane's eyes so she could watch the woman's facial expressions.

"Nothing", she said softly, "I sent it back to him this morning about an hour after I told you that he asked me to marry him".

Maura looked confused, "Why so soon?", she asked softly, although she wasn't complaining because she hated the fact that she had his ring on her finger at all.

The brunette bit her lip and tilted her head slightly to get a better look at the woman in her arms, "When I told you that he asked me to marry him… you looked like you was about to cry", she revealed softly, "I couldn't do that to you… I couldn't stand to see you hurt". Her hand reached up to cup the other woman's cheek, "I knew in that moment that my feelings for you weren't one sided and that there was a chance that you loved me too", she said as she looked into Maura's eyes, "I knew that if there was a chance of being with the woman I love then it would have been the biggest mistake of my life to settle for a man I could never love as much as I love you".

The tears in Maura's eyes glistened and she reached up to pull the woman into a passionate kiss that left them both desperate for oxygen when their lips finally parted.

"How about we go upstairs and you can get ready, then we'll go back to mine and I'll get ready?", she suggested softly with a smile, "Then we can go out on our first official date". Maura seemed genuinely happy as she said the words, it was clear in the sparkle that was contained within her eyes, the smile painted on her face and the excitement within her voice.

Jane nodded, "That sounds like an excellent idea", she said softly.

A/N Just a random short thing inspired by an edit on facebook … and the ring is real if anyone wants to take a look… I was trying to find a ring to write about but it was the one that jumped out at me so voila!

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