Adaptations

Chapter 2

Pairing: Jane/Maura
Rating: T
Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me.

Warning: Spoilers for Episode 3.10. See chapter 1 for full summary.

Jane arrived at Maura's house Saturday mid-morning, but her first stop was the guest house, which she barged inside and yelled, "What the hell, Ma?"

"What?" Angela said innocently from her seat on the couch where she was reading a magazine.

"Come on, Ma, the whole blind date thing? 'Oh, Jane, don't worry if isn't a love connection.' What the hell was that about?"

Angela shrugged casually. "I don't know why you and Maura are fighting but I figured if I could get you two in a public place together you could talk it out and get over it."

Jane felt the now very familiar tightness creeping across her chest. She clenched and unclenched her fists as she paced in front of Angela. "Maura and I aren't fighting."

"Then why are you never here anymore? You used to be at Maura's house practically every day. Now you're never here and I know you don't see her as much at work. So something must have happened."

"Yeah, she's got a kid now, Ma. It's not the same," Jane said.

"What isn't the same? Sure, she has a baby. She plays with him, feeds him, and puts him to bed. Then she eats dinner alone, reads on the couch alone, and goes to bed alone. That doesn't really sound all that different to me than before Teddy came along, except that you aren't here."

"It's completely different. You don't understand," Jane argued.

"I understand how you're feeling. You two are so close and right now you aren't the most important thing in her life. Frank acted the same way when you were born. It won't last forever though."

"Maura and I aren't a couple, Ma. You can't use you and Pop as an example for everything with me and Maura."

"Fine, then I don't understand. She's your best friend. Now she has a baby but she's still your best friend. You knew eventually she was going to get married or have kids or both. Unless..." Angela started but then trailed off while looking thoughtfully at Jane.

"Unless what?" Jane said, jaw clenched.

"Nothing," Angela said, waving it off. "All I'm trying to say is that you should just tell Maura the truth about how you're feeling. She deserves that at the very least. And whatever you're feeling I think you should do a better job of being a good friend to her right now. You aren't the only one going through all of these changes."

Jane sighed, hanging her head. "I know, Ma. I don't want things to be like this. I'll try okay?"

Jane left the guest house and went over to Maura's house where she found Maura curled up on the couch with her laptop. "Hey," Jane said as she took a seat on the other end of the couch.

"Hi," Maura said, looking up and smiling brightly. "Teddy is napping. I was just finishing reviewing this week's autopsy reports."

"So," Jane said. "What are we going to do today?"

"It's so nice out today. When Teddy wakes up from his nap, I thought we could walk down to the Common or to the gardens. We're not going to have many more nice days this fall, I think we should take advantage of it. We can give him his bottle and then he'll play and maybe nap again and we can eat lunch."

"Alright, that sounds good," Jane agreed.

A cry came over the baby monitor. "Oh, there he is," Maura said.

"I'll get him," Jane said, jumping up off of the couch.

"Okay, just check and see if he needs a diaper change. His clothes for the day are on the changing table. "

Jane went upstairs to the guest room where Teddy was fussing in his crib. Jane picked him, saying, "Hey, little buddy. Let's check your diaper, okay? Yeah, alright, that needs changing."

Ten minutes later Jane was finally back downstairs with a freshly changed and dressed Teddy. Maura had changed and gotten the stroller and all of the baby supplies ready. "Ready?" Maura asked.

"Let's do it." Jane secured Teddy in the stroller. "Damn, this thing is nicer than my car."

"Probably safer too," Maura added.

"Yeah, probably," Jane laughed. "Okay, he's all set. Why don't you give me that bag to carry?"

"I can put in the bottom of the stroller."

"I'll take bag, you push the stroller," Jane said, taking the diaper bag out of Maura's hands and slinging it over her shoulder.

They walked down Maura's street to Boston Common and then meandered their way through the common and into the public garden. They found a spot near the lagoon and Maura pulled a blanket out of the bottom of the stroller and spread it on the grass.

"We could go for ride on the swan boats. I've never done that," Maura suggested.

"No thanks. We could walk around the whole thing faster than the poor guy can pedal that boat around."

"I don't think speed is the point of the swan boats."

"They're for tourists. Let's just relax here and get this little guy his bottle."

"Do you want to feed him?" Maura asked.

"Sure." Jane took Teddy out of the stroller and cradled him in her arms while Maura finished prepping the formula bottle. "So, does he get to try real food soon?" Jane asked after Teddy was happily sucking away on the bottle.

"He can start trying some soft foods soon. He just started teething. He's got a couple of teeth ready to come in."

"Cool. Are you going to be a picky eater or an adventurous eater, buddy?" Jane said to Teddy. "I hope it's adventurous because your Mom likes to eat a lot weird stuff."

"Healthy, organic food is not weird. And you always love my food."

Jane just grinned at Maura in response. She held up the bottle and shook it, seeing if there was anything left, and put it back in Teddy's mouth for one last drink. "He really sucks this down, huh?"

"He does have a very healthy appetite."

With the bottle empty, Jane handed Teddy to Maura and said, "I'm going to run across the street and grab sandwiches from that cafe you like, okay?"

"Half sandwich, half salad for me, please?"

"Of course. I know what you like," Jane said over her shoulder as she wove her way through the other picnickers towards the cafe.

Fifteen minutes later Jane returned with two bags of food. Maura was lying on her side, rubbing Teddy's back and talking softly to him while he was lying on his stomach in the middle of the blanket. Jane paused behind them and watched the scene for a few moments until Teddy started crying.

"Hey, what's going on little guy?" Jane said as she sat back down on the other side of him.

"We're doing tummy time," Maura said.

"Tummy time? Is that the technical term for it?" Jane joked.

"Yes, I believe it is," Maura said, laughing. "It's to strengthen his neck and back muscles so that he'll be able to sit up on his own and crawl. He usually gets frustrated after about five minutes though because he can't move around yet like he wants to." Maura put some new toys down in front of him and Teddy stopped fussing momentarily.

Jane handed Maura her lunch and asked, "What were you telling him before I got back?"

Maura looked up at Jane with a curious expression for a moment before she shook her head and said, "Nothing really. I was just talking."

Jane missed the way Maura was looking at her and said, "Well, I'm sure it was very informative, whatever it was."

They ate lunch mostly in silence except for Teddy's occasional frustrated cries. Soon Maura put him back in his stroller and alternated between eating and helping him play, which mostly involved him holding onto a toy briefly and shaking it until he lost his grasp and Maura gave him something else to grab onto.

At least that's what it looked like to Jane. She was sure Maura could have told her how it was helping his brain development and hand-eye coordination or something like that. Jane just quietly watched Maura, somewhat in awe of how natural she was with him and how she was so calm and confident about how to take care of a baby.

Maura gave Teddy his pacifier when his eyes started to droop and he was quickly asleep again. When Maura turned toward Jane and found Jane staring at her, Maura said quietly, "What?"

"Is he going to be able to sleep okay out here with all the noise around us?" Jane asked.

"Probably. Once he is asleep, almost nothing wakes him up. Why were you looking at me like that?"

"I'm just amazed at how natural you seem with a baby. Not that I'm surprised, I didn't mean it like that. But I am impressed. You make it look easy," Jane said with a slight shrug.

Maura didn't respond, she just stretched out on the blanket and finished her sandwich. Jane pretended to watch other people walking around the gardens for a little while and then she stretched out on her back with her hands under her head.

"I'm curious about something," Maura finally said.

"What's that?"

"Did you ask your mother why she set us up like that the other night?" Maura asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I did. I guess she thought that we were fighting and she wanted to get us together so we would make up."

"Hmmm. Are we fighting?" Maura said, genuinely curious.

Jane turned on her side so they were facing each other and she was struck by the honest questioning and vulnerability she saw on Maura's face. "No, we are not fighting. We are just adapting to new circumstances and I am not doing a very good job adapting. I'm working on it, though."

Maura reached out and took one of Jane's hands. "I'm sorry. I promise that my schedule will improve and I'll have more time to spend with you like we used to," Maura said so earnestly that Jane wanted to kick herself for letting Maura be so selfless and take the blame for what were really Jane's own issues.

But Jane didn't say anything in response and Maura looked at her watch and said, "We should walk back while he's still asleep. Once he's up he'll want to eat again and I don't have another bottle."

They packed up and walked back to Maura's house. Teddy was still sleeping peacefully and they left him in the stroller while Maura bustled around the kitchen cleaning bottles and preparing formula while Jane stood around watching and feeling unhelpful.

"After he has his bottle," Maura said, "I'm going to give him a bath and then put him to bed. You can help if you want. Then we can order some food and maybe watch a movie or something."

"Actually, I'm gonna head out now," Jane said.

"What, already?" Maura said, the confusion and hurt evident on her face. "I thought we were going to spend the evening together too. I thought maybe you would even want to spend the night."

"I can't, okay? We'll talk later," Jane said lamely.

Jane headed to the door to leave, but Maura caught up to her and said, "Jane, please don't leave. Will you just tell me the truth about what's bothering you."

Teddy cried from his stroller as he woke up and Jane looked toward him and then back to Maura, but she couldn't hold Maura's gaze. Jane looked to the floor and said, "I can't pretend...I can't play house with you like this. I just can't." Jane opened the door and left, leaving an even more Maura confused behind her.