I took this down a couple of months ago, and I realized that I shouldn't have. I've grown to hate the Criminal Minds fandom, and they've grown to hate me, but it's okay because I've got Rizzles and they're perfect.

If you don't remember, Baby Makes Three takes place immediately after Melt My Heart to Stone; Jane finds TJ (although here he isn't named TJ) on their doorstep.

It…was a baby.

There was a baby in her arms.

There was a cold, snuffly, boy baby in her arms.

A cold, snuffly, boy baby that could either be her nephew…or her brother.

Oh my God.

"Oh my God," Detective Jane Rizzoli breathed, as she stared down at the bundle in her arms and tried to register the fact that the tiny, - admittedly adorable – being she held there shared her blood, but also that his mother had left him in a basket on their doorstep. The doorstep of the family that she had essentially torn apart, and then taken advantage of and –

The baby started to fuss, and Jane felt the panic kick her in the gut as he began to writhe about restlessly. "Okay, okay, it's okay, baby, please don't cry," she hushed him hurriedly, pulling him closer into her arms and rocking him gently as she crooned and hushed him into silence. The baby was small and wrinkly, but still cute, and the blue cap on his head was pulled low over a scrunched up nose and rooting mouth. For all intents and purposes, Jane could appreciate his adorability as, well, an infant, but he was also the last thing they needed to handle at the current moment.

Vaguely she could hear Angela calling her from the living room – the living room where her best friend was recovering from yet another traumatic incident -, and Jane pulled the baby to her chest, as if she was afraid Angela would hear him. Jane made a face as she groaned, staring down at the baby boy with torn dark eyes as she struggled with her decisions of what to do with him. She could drive over to Tommy; drop the kid off there because hey, it might've been his! She was tired of handling all of Tommy's crap anyway, and the damn boy had to learn how to take responsibility of things!

But then the hard-ass Boston detective stared down at the little baby's innocent face; the sweet and untouched face of a child that had come into the world in circumstances he did not choose, and Jane felt her heart break into a million pieces. She couldn't do that to the baby. She couldn't turn him to a train wreck like Tommy – not after his train wreck of a mother had abandoned him.

"Damn it," she mumbled, wincing as the baby snuffled in her hold again, but breathed a sigh of relief when he did nothing more. Jane couldn't help the warmth that spread through her chest at the sight of the bundle; damn her female natural instincts of motherhood, but she was falling in love with the baby and she knew that she wasn't supposed to.

"Come on, little man," she murmured to him, husky voice surprisingly soothing to the infant as she turned back into the warmth of the brownstone hallway. "Let's go see Maura, huh? You'll love her."

Jane and Maura sat on the couch, knees touching, bodies nudging as Jane leaned over into Maura's shoulder and watched in awe as the ME cradled the baby boy lovingly in her arms. Angela had all but snatched him out of Jane's arms when she'd walked back into the living room with him, but Jane had somehow managed to steal the baby back when Angela began shrieking about calling Tommy and Frankie and finding Lydia. Not that Jane minded though – let the boys handle the drama for once; Maura was recovering, and she was on Maura watch.

"He's so tiny," Maura sighed, a dreamy undertone to her words as she stroked her slender finger along the baby's downy cheek. He was nestled comfortably in her arms, resting in the nook of her elbow as he snuffled and puffed in his sleep. Her hazel eyes were warm and loving, so openly adoring of the baby that Jane was almost thankful that Lydia had left him on their doorstep.

It gave Maura something else to think about, other than very nearly dying for the billionth time.

Jane made a note to keep her stitched to her side from now on.

"Yeah," Jane breathed; her hot breath tickling Maura's ear. "I damn near thought it was a doll when I first opened the door."

Maura tsked, turning to glare mildly at her best friend as she held the baby closer to her. "Jane," she admonished the Italian woman, eyebrow arching when Jane let out an incredulous 'what?' "Language – babies learn to recognize and adapt to their mother's voice very shortly after birth. Don't swear in front of him!"

Jane rolled her eyes, leaning back slightly to throw her arm over Maura's back as the honey blonde leaned back into her arm. "Yeah well, I'm not his mother, and he doesn't know what I'm saying anyway," she grumbled. Presently though she found herself staring down at the baby, brows creasing with her troubled thoughts as she struggled to figure out what to do, who to call and how to react if the baby decided to wake up and demand a boob in his mouth.

"What do we do, Maura?" she husked quietly, her voice lower than usual – she was tired, they all were, and Jane was sure if she downed anymore coffee, she was going to lose her voice entirely. She dropped her head back onto the back of the couch, sighing heavily as she dragged her free hand over her weary face. Her other hand was now wrapped around Maura's slender frame, holding the woman close as Maura dropped her head onto Jane's bony shoulder and relaxed into the taller woman's body.

Maura sighed quietly, feeling her body mold into Jane's side as she held the baby higher in her arms and draped him over her shoulder to lie vertically on her chest. They were practically lying on the couch now, but neither Jane nor Maura seemed to mind the slightest. Maura worried at her bottom lip as she glanced up at her best friend's tired face – she was tired too; tired and scared and just…drained, but she felt the tug in her chest that Maura could never deny.

"We could…keep him," she uttered lightly, trying her best to sound blasé, when in reality the ME was suggesting something equivalent to marriage. "Lydia left him here with us – it's obvious that she trusts us enough to know that we could provide a better home and a happier life for him than she could have."

Jane's face scrunched up again as she groaned lowly, turning her head to give Maura a pained sidelong glance. "We can't keep a baby, Maura," she croaked; the sadness in her voice was almost overwhelming. "We don't have the time or the skills; we work almost 20 hour days, we literally throw our lives down on the table almost every day -." She shook her head incredulously.

"It wouldn't be fair to him, Maura. It wouldn't be fair to him, and us." Jane turned her head fully now to regard Maura, dark eyes pleading with the ME's stubborn hazel gaze to understand what she was saying – to understand why this was such a bad, bad idea.

Maura frowned at her stubbornly, hazel eyes suddenly indignantly bright and lips pursed in a hard line. The baby snuffled slightly in his sleep, but remained asleep as Maura extracted herself from Jane's embrace to turn to the Italian detective with a firm glare. "My parents worked as well," she reminded Jane, gratified when Jane looked away almost guiltily. "Perhaps they may not have been the most attentive parents, but I'm very certain that I will never in any way neglect a child – be it of my own blood or otherwise. These circumstances almost mirror my own when I was given to Constance by my…father."

The well in her throat caught Maura off-guard, and Jane rubbed at her thigh soothingly when she realized this. But the Chief Medical Examiner shook her head resolutely, cleared her throat, and continued. "I'd like to keep this baby, as Lydia would have wanted us to. I'm a successful, well-paid professional woman with access to the best medical care and insurance to cover family and children; I have a comfortable home and a vast variety of connections. I don't think I could live with myself if I let him…bounce around in the system!"

"I'm not saying that you would, Maur," Jane insisted, sitting up as well now. "I'm just saying that – a Medical Examiner and a Homicide detective don't exactly make for the best parents to raise a kid!" she exclaimed, gesticulating in emphasis between the limited space between them. Jane stared at Maura for a moment, wide-eyed and breath-held, before sighing heavily and running her hand through her dark hair. "Maur, how are we going to wake up with him a four o'clock in the morning, feed him and change his diapers if we're too busy chasing down perps and serial killers?!"

Later on though, looking back, Jane would realize that she had found no issue in the fact that she did not exactly live with Maura, and 'their' doorstep was actually 'Maura's' doorstep.

"…I never said you had to raise him with me."

Jane's brows met in confusion, turning to Maura. "What are you talking about? What -."

Maura inclined her head calmly, rocking the baby gently in her arms. The motion seemed to soothe both the baby and the woman, and so the ME continued her gentle swaying as she regarded Jane's bewildered stare with an almost coy indifference. "I never said you had to raise him with me," she repeated again. "I said I wasn't going to neglect the child." She smiled at Jane slightly when the woman began to sputter indignantly; reaching out with her free hand to rest over Jane's to silence her.

"Like I'd let you get stuck with my wreck of a brother – or father –'s baby!" Jane scowled at her. God, she was handling enough Rizzoli family drama to already count as a Rizzoli herself! Unfortunately though, Jane found herself unable to maintain her defiance, as always, when it came to Maura, and her dark eyes softened on the pretty ME. "We're in this together, Maur. Ain't nothing's gonna change that – not even stinky diapers and 3am feedings."

The blonde nodded her head at her best friend with a smile, stroking Jane's scar with her thumb soothingly until she saw the tension seep from Jane's wiry shoulders. The detective was high-strung on a good day – after having to save her for the umpteenth time, Maura was sure she would work herself up into a frenzy. "I know these aren't the most favorable circumstances to endure, Jane, but I…I think we were meant to keep him."

Maura gazed down at the baby boy's innocent face; the Cupid's bow mouth and soft cheeks and long lashes – he was definitely a Rizzoli. She turned back up to Jane, and was pleasantly surprised to find the woman staring back her almost lovingly, tears welled in her eyes. "So what do you say, Jane?" she whispered, clutching tight to Jane's hand, where the Italian had taken hers in both hands and begun to massage along her wrist.

Jane sighed huffily, casting a sidelong benevolent glare at her best friend before staring down at the baby asleep in Maura's arm. It was a good look on her; motherhood. She could already imagine coming home after work, seeing Maura with the baby in his nursery, playing with him at bath time, reading him bedtime books and teaching him about the Sox and Celtics and how to steal base. Jane heaved another sigh, cursing herself for already picturing what it would be like to come home to Maura and a little boy – a little boy with dark hair and dark eyes like her, because he was a Rizzoli after all.

"I think…," she began slowly, turning to Maura with a careful, unsure glance. She saw the hopeful, pleading look on Maura's face there, and she knew she was utterly, completely whipped into diaper duty for the next six months. "I think he needs a name, doesn't he?" A slow smile began to spread across Jane's face when she saw Maura's eyes light up and a grin split her mouth, and suddenly it didn't seem like such a bad idea. "I mean, we can't be calling him Rizzoli Junior forever, can we?"

"Why does he only get your last name?" Maura countered, brows pulled together adorably. "I'm raising him too."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Fine then, you pick his name."

Maura gazed down at the baby for a moment, tickling his chin slightly as he yawned and flailed his little tiny fists out, smiling widely. "I've always liked the name Wyatt," she said quietly. "It's Old English for 'warrior strength'." She turned to Jane with a radiant smile that the detective could've sworn melted her heart into a mess at her feet.

A crooked smile graced Jane's face, and she moved in closer to Maura's side. "I guess that's what a Rizzoli is essentially, huh?" She reached down and stroked the baby's head, tracing his features with a gentle finger as she leaned into Maura and shared a smile with the woman for a long moment. "That's pretty much what an Isles is too."

There was a rush of heat to Maura's cheeks, and the ME smiled shyly at the woman's intense gaze. "Do you want him to have a middle name?" she asked Jane. They both had middle names – Jane had one long-sufferingly – she thought it best to name the boy something he'd be proud to write on his books and papers.

Jane licked her lips, gnawing at her lower lip as she thought for a moment, frowning as she remembered a particular name she'd always thought to name her kids. "Alexander," she said slowly, and Maura physically had to suppress a shiver at the way it rolled off Jane's tongue.

"That's a good choice," she said finally, a little breathless. "Alexander comes from the Greek words for 'defender of men'." They shared a wry smile. This baby was definitely a Rizzoli, through and through.

"Alright then, it's settled," Jane announced, slapping her thigh slightly before straightening with a dramatic flare. "Welcome to the family, Wyatt Alexander Rizzoli-Isles." She shot Maura a look.

"Why does your name go first?"

Jane groaned, slumping back onto the couch. "Maura!"