Chance Encounters

Chapter 23

Pairing: Jane/Maura
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles do not belong to me.

A/N: This chapter is going to wrap up this story. See the author's note at the end for a few more thoughts. Thanks for reading!

Jane arrived at Maura's house with Chinese food for dinner. As she worked in Maura's kitchen, taking out plates and utensils and dishing out food, Maura watched quietly.

Jane set a plate down in front of Maura and said, "You're awfully quiet tonight."

"Mmm," Maura responded.

"And you look tired. What's going on?"

"I didn't get much sleep last night," Maura with a sigh. "I kept getting calls from reporters. I turned off my phone but my whole night was off. Then I slept late today and wasted the day away watching the news."

"Why didn't you call me? I would have kept you company."

Maura shrugged. "I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about everything that's happened the past few weeks. I think I needed some time alone."

"You don't have to figure it all out right away. What's the rush?"

"I'm not in a rush. But everything happened so quickly, I haven't had time to process it yet."

"You're free of your father's criminal past. You should just relax and enjoy it."

Maura didn't respond and they finished eating in silence. Jane filled Maura's wine glass and sent her to sit in the living room while she cleaned up dinner. Then she filled her own wine glass and joined Maura on the couch.

"I'm sorry," Jane said as she sat down. "I wasn't trying to tell you what to do. I really don't know what you're going through. I just want to be supportive in whatever way you want me to be. Just know that I'm here for you."

"I know you are."

Jane took Maura's empty wine glass and put it with hers on the coffee table. Then she shifted so she was facing Maura and took hold of one of her hands. "So, I have some news to share, if you don't mind me changing the subject."

"What is it?" Maura asked.

"I got called into headquarters this morning and found out that I'm being moved into Homicide."

"Jane! Congratulations." Maura gave Jane a quick hug, but noted her apprehension. "This is what you wanted, right?"

"Yeah," Jane said hesitantly.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Jane sighed at Maura's knowing look. "It's stupid. It's just...I've always wanted to be a homicide detective, but it didn't happen how I thought it would."

"What do you mean?" Maura asked.

"The way I was called in this morning, at first it seemed like I was going to be fired. My Lieutenant and Captain from Narcotics were there, along with my new Lieutenant and Captain in Homicide. They all just sat there stone faced while the Deputy Superintendent told me there were people in BDP who didn't trust me but that I was moving over to Homicide. I think he and some other people still do want to fire me but they can't because it will look bad for the police department to fire the cop who brought in Doyle. I thought when I made it to Homicide, it would be because of my outstanding record, not because it's the only department that wants me right now."

"You'll prove soon enough that you belong there," Maura assured her.

Jane sighed and leaned back against the couch, turning away from Maura. "I hope so because I'm sure there will be people just waiting for me to slip up so they can get rid of me."

"When will you start?" Maura asked after a moment.

"As soon as Internal Affairs finishes its bullshit investigation of me. But that means it could be any day now."

"So you can't go anywhere right now?" Maura said with a sad look.

"I'd rather not. I want to be ready to start right away. Why? What did you have in mind?"

"I've been thinking today about a lot of things. Things I should do and things I need to do. I was thinking about Hope Martin, my mother."

"What about her?" Jane said neutrally.

"I think I would like to get to know her. She emailed me yesterday and said she had to go back to Chicago already. I was thinking about taking a trip to see her. If she was still willing to see me."

"Do you have to go there? Why not invite her to Boston?" Jane suggested.

"I could do that, but she was just here and I wasn't exactly welcoming to her."

"Which was perfectly understandable."

"Still, I'd like to make the effort. And going to Chicago lets me do things at my pace. I can stay for as long or as little as I want to."

"What other things are you planning?" Jane asked warily.

"Jane," Maura drawled playfully, and when Jane didn't look at her, she moved to straddle Jane's lap, smiling as Jane's hands automatically wrapped around her waist. "I'm not planning anything else. Even going to Chicago is just an idea. But I have a lot to think about. The clinic is practically running itself now. I can step away from that and figure out what I want to do next."

"Just promise me you aren't going to run off to Africa for a year or something, okay?" Jane said seriously.

"Run off to Africa?"

"You know what I mean. I thought things might settle down for us a little now and we could…I don't know...I want you to do what you need to do, but come back to me, okay?"

Maura leaned forward and kissed Jane's lips. Jane wrapped her arms tighter around Maura's waist and pulled their bodies together as she deepened the kiss, parting her lips and pushing her tongue inside Maura's mouth until Maura pulled back with a satisfied sigh.

"I'll come back to you," Maura said seriously. "Whatever my future plans are, they include you. I love you, Jane. I was hoping you could come to Chicago with me, but if that won't work for you, we'll figure something else out."

Jane shifted and pushed Maura backwards onto her back on the couch and moved over her. She kissed her lips once more and then moved to her neck as her hand slipped under the hem of Maura's shirt and moved the over bare skin of Maura's abdomen. Maura's hands went to Jane's hips and pulled her down against her.

"Maybe we should move in together," Jane said against Maura's neck.

"Didn't you say it was too early for that just a few days ago," Maura said, grinning.

Jane raised her head up to look at Maura again. "That was before you were talking about going off to Chicago and who knows where else."

"Jane, I have one possible trip planned and it's not even definite."

"Okay, but my schedule may be different now too. When I'm on a case I may gone for forty-eight or seventy-two hours at time. Or on call every night for a week. When I'm not working and you're not doing whatever it is you're going to be doing, I want us to be able to be together."

"That's sweet."

"Maur," Jane said with a pout. "I'm being serious. I love you and I know we haven't been together very long, but we've been through a lot. And after everything we've been though recently, if we still want to be together, let's go for it and see what happens."

"Okay. Let's move in together," Maura said happily.

"Really? Are you sure? I'm not trying to rush you."

"How about this? We'll find a new place that works for the both of us. That way we can take our time and figure out what we both want and we won't be rushing into it. How does that sound?"

"That sounds very rational."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Good. It's a good idea."

Maura pulled Jane down into another kiss and then said, "Right now, why don't we move upstairs to the bedroom."

"Also, a good idea," Jane said. She stood up, helped Maura up, and then let Maura lead her upstairs for the rest of the night.

A/N: When I started this story I had some ideas that I never got around to actually getting in the story. I was going to have Casey come back and cause problems, but that was planned before he became such a problem on the show. Tommy was going to get out of prison and be a pain in Jane's ass somehow. And I thought I'd get Jane to Homicide and have her encounter Hoyt and see how being in a relationship with Maura would change how she went after Hoyt.

I ended up spending more time on Doyle more than I originally expected to, so for better or worse that plot line became the focus of this story. I'm going to end this story here now that the Doyle plot is wrapped up. I went back and forth for awhile about whether I should continue with this story, but given how little time I've been devoting to it, I decided it's better to end it now. I know updates have been few and far between recently so thank you to everyone who has stuck with it to the end.