A/N: Hi there! No, don't worry, I'm not embarking on another fic while I still have two in progress. Not really, anyway. But I know not everyone who visits this site has a tumblr or goes to tumblr, and so I thought for kicks I'd just post some of the stuff I've been putting up over there :)
Specifically, there's a pretty neat tumblr called "rizzlesfanficchallenge," and each week there's a different prompt - usually pretty generic - for writers. I used to think I didn't do well with oneshot prompts, but a few of these have actually spoken to me.

Each chapter title is simply the one-word prompt.
Hope you enjoy!

Conner had dared not mention to his father his suspicions about his mom and her friend, Maura.

He was sixteen, quiet, and a star player on St. Dominic's hockey team. He was the only child in what he'd only realized was a loveless marriage after the divorce.

His father was a lieutenant-colonel in the United States army. His mother was Boston's most revered homicide detective. When Conner was younger, his grandma Angela (or Grangela, as Jane liked to call her) would watch him during the day until his mother got home. His father seemed to stay abroad whenever he could.

Conner had never been shy about telling his mother he loved her. She'd always considered herself this tough, rock-hard detective, but Conner had owned her heart the instant he'd come into her life. When he'd been little, nothing could make Jane melt faster than when she'd get the chance tuck him in at night and he'd tell her he thought she was the best mom in the world.

Jane never knew it, but Conner had never expressed a similar sentiment to his father.

It wasn't that he hated the man. He just didn't know him. Casey was generally good about keeping in touch with his boy, and it had once seemed that Conner used to live for those Skype sessions and special letters and phone calls. He'd never felt ignored. Jane was just everything you hoped a parent would be: devoted, invested, fun, funny, demonstrative. When Casey was home, he never seemed to know how to tell or show Conner how he felt. Inevitably they would end up playing a video game together, and while that was fun in its own way, it never left Conner feeling all that fulfilled. Playing video games with his friends or even his mother was a riot, but with his dad, it just felt like a way to occupy time.

He was torn. He liked having both his parents around, and always imagined that this time when his dad came home, things would be different. Mom would smile all the time. Dad would steal a kiss when he could. They would be embarrassingly affectionate in public, they would laugh and agree on things and love each other fully, so they could be normal like a family was supposed to.

But it just got worse as the years went by. Casey came home, and Jane became increasingly withdrawn. She snapped at her son more. She hugged him less. She worked longer hours than usual, and would sometimes come home tipsy because she'd gone to get drinks with her partner and failed to mention anything about it to her husband. She was irritable, downright unpleasant. Casey at last couldn't take it anymore and wanted a divorce.

Jane had gladly given it to him. Conner had been eleven. Five years had passed, and in that time, Jane seemed more relaxed than she ever had been. Less frazzled, less tense. Happiness had seemed to elude her, though, until a few months ago. That was when Dr. Isles, or Maura (as she pretty quickly asked to be called) started coming around more often.

His mom and the doc had always been pals, but there was something different about them now. Conner had first wondered about it when Jane had brought Maura along to her 25th high school reunion. It'd just seemed odd to him that she would bring a friend to something most of her classmates would be bringing spouses or significant others to, but he'd tried telling himself it would be too good to be true…

Tonight was Sunday, and Conner was heading back from a weekend at his father's. As he had an early practice the next morning, he'd come home a bit earlier than usual, and saw Maura's car had edged him out of the driveway. It was a little past 10:00 at night. Hm… Not minding, Connor drove to the nearest available spot, and decided to go into his house the back way.

On his way to the back porch door, he passed the living room window. He hated the notion of spying on his mother, but there were she and Maura in plain sight, sitting and laughing on the couch. They were sharing a blanket, Jane's knees pulled up to her chest and Maura leaning against the opposite arm of the couch, holding a wine glass aloft. Jane had her own glass, which she was just now finishing before glancing at the clock over the fireplace. Jane was smiling ruefully now, saying something quiet. Maura nodded and sipped the last of her wine, savoring it before leaning forward.

Conner held his breath, feeling partly nervous but so, so happy for his mother as he pleaded almost out loud.

Their foreheads met, and with Maura's hand on her knee, Jane kissed her quickly on the cheek. Maura responded with a swift kiss on the lips, which Jane couldn't help returning. They stood up in unison, both grinning. It looked as though they were headed for the front door, and Conner tried to decide if he wanted to wait and give his mother the chance to pretend Maura hadn't been there, or if he wanted to surprise them.

He wound up doing something halfway between both: he walked around the front of the house just in time to see Maura walking down the porch. She was smiling to herself in a girlishly happy way. Maura had always been a pleasant woman, and very demonstrative in her affection. But Conner had noticed, even as a kid, that there seemed to be a special attitude and smile she reserved just for Jane. Like Detective Rizzoli was the only one who knew just how to make her laugh, just how to make her day, just how to make her comfortable.

"Hey, Maura."

She looked up in surprise, but her smile didn't fall. In fact, it only got wider. "Hi, Conner! How are you?"

"Good. What's up, is everything okay?"

"Of course," she said, noting the concern in his voice. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well it's…it's just sorta late, I guess," he said with a shrug.

"Ah, well," she laughed. "Your mother's waiting for you, dear."

Conner hated pet names. As a kid, he'd given Angela the silent treatment until she promised to stop calling him "cherub." Casey called him "sport," which was all right enough. If anyone else tried calling him "dear," he'd probably retch. But there was something sweet about it when Maura did. He just grinned back, giving her a one-armed hug before walking into the house.

"Mom?"

"Hey, kiddo!" she said. She'd just been putting the wine bottles in the sink. "How was the weekend at dad's?"

"Okay," he said with a shrug, setting himself at the kitchen table and throwing his bag down on the floor. "We took Sam for her first tricycle ride. I thought Wendy was gonna have a heart attack, she was so nervous about it!" (Wendy was the woman Casey had married six months after his divorce from Jane- a nurse who had been helped him recover from his first major injury in the field. She was also the mother of his second child, Sam, who Conner was crazy about.)

"Sam's a tough kid, right? I bet she loved it," Jane said.

"Yeah, she did okay." He cleared his throat. "So."

Jane dried off her hands and joined him at the table. "So…?"

"I ran into Maura."

"Really? Where?"

"Um…leaving the house just now."

Jane smiled nervously, clenching one of her fists. "Ah." Conner didn't say anything else, but she seemed to be waiting for him to. She stole a glance at him, and saw only a patient expression on his face. "When're you gonna cut your hair?" she muttered, reaching over and trying to brush away some of his bangs. He laughed and ducked out of the way, and the affectionate sound gave Jane a little boost of courage to go on. "Hey, Conner?"

"Yeah, mom?"

"I've… we need to talk."

Conner whistled and leaned back in his chair. "Uh-oh. You know those are the exact words Kaitlyn used right before she broke up with me? So what does it mean when my mom says it? Don't tell me you're taking me back to the circus you kidnapped me from."

"Oh no, nothing that horrible," Jane chuckled. "I wanted to ask you what you thought of… Maura. I mean, I know she's kind of been around a lot lately, and…"

"And that's great. It's nice to know you actually have, like, friends. Hey!" he said, when Jane slapped his arm. "I was kidding! C'mon, mom, I've known Maura forever. She's really chill."

"Chill. That's a good thing, right?"

"Geez, you're starting to sound like Grangela. Yes, it's a good thing. Remember how I introduced her at career day last month?"

"Oh yeah," Jane laughed. "'Dr. Isles is the illest.' I'm still not sure she got that, but I guess it's the thought that counts."

"Mom, she's great. She helped me ace my bio midterm and she actually makes like, real food."

"Hey, I can…microwave stuff as well as anyone else…"

"Which I appreciate. I'm just saying Maura sort of balances us out a bit. I like having her around, it's cool. I…"

I really love how happy you are when she's here. I really love that she makes you laugh. I really love how you don't care if she sees you act like a clown and how you don't have to be tough or too-sweet when she's here, like you were for him. I love that you're just you. I feel like I know you and I understand you now. But please don't make me say this to you because I don't know how. I love you. I love you both, and I love you together.

"Conner? I'm just gonna put this out there."

"Yeah?"

She clasped her hands together on top of the table, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "I'm taking Maura out on a date this Wednesday."

Doing a victory dance around the kitchen might not be appropriate. Joking too hard might not be, either. It was a fine line. Maybe straightforward was the best way to go: "This isn't actually your first date, is it?" he asked, honestly curious.

That wasn't at all the response she'd been expecting. "Excuse me?"

Very matter-of-factly, he went on: "Your high school reunion was the first date, right? Or did it start before that?"

"I…"

"Mom, it's okay," Conner said softly, the hint of a laugh in his voice. He reached for her hands, taking one of them, and he smiled piteously when he realized how sweaty it was. She got that way when she was nervous. "If we're talking a coolness scale here, Wendy's like a 7, and Maura's like …99, maybe."

"What is this, a scale from one to a hundred? Little mean to Wendy, isn't it?" Jane asked, joking around as she really had not prepared for a way to react to Connor's reaction.

"No, one to ten."

She grinned wide, leaning over and pulling Conner into a hug. He was happy to return it, patting her on the back and letting her kiss him on the cheek. "Son, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that," she said, tears in her eyes as she pulled away. Her hand still rested on his cheek, her thumb brushing it tenderly. "I'm so blessed to have a kid like you. I am."

"You didn't think I'd be like, mad, did you?"

"Hey, I didn't… I mean no, I know you wouldn't have hated me for it, or anything like that. I just thought you might need some time to adjust to it, or it that it might be weird for you."

"Wanna know the truth, mom?" he asked seriously, and she nodded, her smile fading. "The more I've thought about it, the weirder it seems to me that you and dad were married." He felt a little embarrassed to say it and wished he could take it back, not wanting her to harp on her past mistake or make her feel bad. Ultimately he just wanted to try and say how right Maura felt for her in comparison.

"You're right, Conner," she admitted before he could say anything else. "Your dad and I were kind of a weird couple. Just didn't work. See all the heartache Kaitlyn saved you from by ending things last year? Otherwise you could've ended up just like dad and me. Conner, look. Your dad is a great man in a lot of respects. He's courageous and he loves you. But you're right, he and I were not great together. There comes a point when putting on a good face for everyone just sort of wears you down, and when neither of you wants to put on that face for each other or even yourself anymore, that's when you know you're in trouble."

"Were you ever really in love with him?" Conner asked a bit timidly. There were dozens of questions he wanted to ask, not sure what would be considered insensitive or not- was she a lesbian, bisexual, or was Maura a special case? Had she always been attracted to women, and had the marriage to Casey just been an attempt to put a lock on her closet? Or had they just fallen out of love, and Maura happened to walk in at the right time?

Jane considered the question. "I loved him at one point, yeah. I loved what he was. In love, though? That's a tough one, I guess. I don't know. He was my friend, so I looked forward to our time together, but…" She just shook her head, wishing she had a better answer for her son. "I don't know."

"Did you ever love dad as much as you love her?"

The question hung in the air between them, and Jane's heart jumped. How much had Conner figured out, exactly? All she'd mentioned was dating Maura. The word "love" had been exchanged between the two of them frequently, but Jane hadn't mentioned that yet to Conner. She hadn't mentioned all the family vacations she had envisioned bringing Maura on, the Christmas pictures she'd imagined sending out, the home she fantasized about waking up and going to sleep in. Maura rounded them out, and it was a fantasy Jane had adored and feared losing if Conner couldn't reconcile it. But he was in favor of it. He was supporting her, them. This could be real.

"No, son," she said, again tearfully. "I have never loved someone more than I love that stupid genius Maura Dorothea Isles."

He smiled and folded his arms, a classic told-you-so move. "Solid."

When Casey had first mentioned his engagement to Wendy, it had been a surprise to say the least and Jane had been a mess. She could care less about Casey moving on, but she couldn't help feeling nervous that Conner might like Wendy more than her. A woman who was home more often, who made nice dinners, who kept the house tidy and her husband happy? How could Jane compete? It was irrational, she knew, but she jealously hated the notion that one day soon Wendy might have a "best mother in the world" award or certificate on her shelf, made by Connor like the ones Jane proudly kept at her desk in the bullpen. That was a title she couldn't bear sharing with anyone else.

Not until her stupid genius later became Maura Rizzoli.

And Connor, ever a fair judge, decreed that from then on, the award would be a joint one. It seemed only fair for the best mothers he ever could have asked for.