Author's note: I wanted to get this posted to keep my story going before tomorrow's episode. However, I am very tired and wasn't really capable of proof-reading. Also, my french is super-rusty. So please excuse any mistakes! As always, feedback is appreciated, both positive and constructive! It is what keeps a writer going! (Also, cash. But I realize the likelihood of that... ;-) )

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Maura was finally sitting at the kitchen island, more playing than eating her food, but still occasionally taking a bite of the dinner Angela had cooked. It had taken a good amount of persuasion, both from Jane and Angela, to get Maura to eat, but after the mother-daughter-duo had insisted, Maura had finally relented. The doctor still didn't feel like eating, but she knew Jane would not let her go to sleep without at least some food in her system. She was glad that her best friend was there to hold her, talk to her, take her mind off the events that had transpired earlier this evening.

When the doorbell rang, Maura looked at Jane with pleading eyes. Needing no words from her best friend, Jane knew Maura wanted her to deal with whatever was out there.

Jane opened the door and saw a young redhead standing there, seizing her up. "You don't look like me at all. Mom said we look alike." The girl scrunched up her nose, clearly irritated and confused.

Jane looked at Maura, still sitting at the kitchen island, then back at the girl on the doorstep. "I think you're looking for Maura. I'm Jane." Jane extended her hand and invited Maura's sister in.

"Cassandra," said the woman as she stepped into the house. She looked at Maura, her face bright and smiling. "So you are my sister!" Cassandra exclaimed, walking over to Maura and hugging the doctor. "I always dreamed of having an older sister, even though I knew that that was impossible. Guess it wasn't all that impossible after all." Maura stiffened, barely accepting the hug without making any attempt at reciprocating.

"Half-sister. You are my half-sister. We only share one parent, our mother, so that makes you my half-sister." Maura stated a scientific manner, barely looking at Cassandra.

The girl shrugged. "I don't care. Half is better than none, in my book."

Maura nodded, staring at the plate of food in front of her as though it was the most fascinating science project she had ever encountered. Silence fell as Cassandra looked around the room, exploring the house her half-sister lived in.

Jane pushed her mother forward, urging her physically to break the awkward silence.

"Your name is Cassandra? That is a beautiful name. I'm Angela, Jane's mom." Angela smiled as they shook hands. "Can I offer you something to eat or drink?"

"I already ate dinner, but if you have some dessert…." Cassandra said, eyeing the many dishes on the table.

"I have some tiramisu if you like, made it just this morning."

"Oh yeah, that sounds great!"

Angela made herself busy pulling out four dessert plates, taking the tiramisu out of the fridge and carefully cutting it into pieces.

"So, how did you get here?" Jane, always the detective, asked, trying to strike up a conversation with the young woman.

"Well, mom told me all about Maura when she came back from dinner all upset. I made her drive me here, would have walked if she hadn't agreed to drive me."

"Where is your mom now?" Jane asked curiously, her eyes on Maura's face, waiting for some kind of a reaction or emotion.

"Out in the car, deciding whether she wants to come in or not."

At that, Maura looked up from her plate to stare at Jane, panic on her face. Cassandra, blissfully unaware of the tension in the room, kept looking at Jane.

"All of you live here? You two a couple or something?" The girl asked, pointing her fork back and forth between Jane and Maura.

Jane chuckled. "What? No, I don't live here. My mother is just staying in the guest house temporarily." Jane's face and voice didn't show the emotion she was feeling at Cassandra's comment. She knew people generally assumed that her relationship with Maura was more than just friendship and she herself had wondered about that in the past sometimes, but she knew Maura was straight - loved men in fact - so she didn't dwell on the subject. Sure, she liked to take care of and protect Maura and loved spending time with her, but wasn't that just as much a definition of best friends as it was of lovers?

Angela, surprised by Cassandra's off-hand comment about her mother, walked over to Maura, putting a plate of Tiramisu in front of the doctor. "Would you like me to invite your mother in? Maybe she wants some dessert too?" Angela asked softly, while she rubbed her hand over Maura's back soothingly. The younger woman looked up at her substitute-mother and nodded, giving her a small smile despite the knots in her stomach.

As Angela walked outside, Jane once again tried to strike a conversation with Cassandra, hoping to pull Maura out of her shell and into actually talking to her sister.

"Cassandra, what do you do now? Are you still in school?"

"Well, I just graduated," the girl said with pride in her voice, raising her arms above her head to strike a pose, a full smile on her face. "Now I'm waiting for the fall semester to start. I'll be attending to Boston University." At that, Maura finally looked up from her plate and eyed Cassandra. There was a topic she was comfortable discussing, something that had nothing to do with family, adoption or their mother.

"What are you going to major in?" the doctor asked with genuine interest.

"I haven't decided yet. Probably biology, but I'm really not sure yet. I want to be a scientist, but I can't seem to choose."

"Well, biology is a good start. You can take a few elementary classes to experience all the sciences before you make your final decision. What kind of a school did you go to before?"

"Lycée française. We moved around a lot, often lived in places where I didn't speak the language. So it was easier to go to those schools, where I could just pick up where I left off at the previous school."

"Ah, tu parle Francais is, alors?" Maura smiled, finding more and more commonalities between her and her younger sister. Half-sister, but she didn't want to dwell on that since her sister didn't seem to mind either.

"Oui, bien sur. Je meme prefer Français de l'Anglais."

Jane smiled at the interaction between the redheaded women, glad that Maura had somewhat returned to her upbeat and happy self. Not wanting to interrupt their bonding, she still didn't want to feel like a fool listening to a conversation she couldn't understand. She cleared her throat, cutting off Maura's response.

"Remember, not all of us went to fancy schools in Europe." She teased, smiling at her best friend.

Maura chuckled and smiled back, glad that her best friend was there to calm her and make her laugh. She turned her attention back to Cassandra, who was eagerly asking her questions about her schooling in Europe.

As the sisters continued their conversation, sharing their experiences with each other, very different and still similar in some ways, Angela was outside the house, trying to get Hope to open up to her.

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Up next, a conversation from one mother to another and will Hope actually face Maura again?