Hello everyone I just wanted to say thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites. It really means a lot to me that you have taken an interest in this story. My main concern right now is making these characters believable, especially Maura because she is an already an established character in R&I. I also apologize if my writing style is distracting, I'm still getting used to this. Also I'm trying my best with the grammar.

I forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter so I'll put it here. I don't own them just borrowing them.

Hope you enjoy

The first day

Gia knocked on the door of the Isles residence at 6:30 in the morning.

Constance opened the door, she was obviously in a rush. "Gia, come in, Maura is just getting ready for school. Make sure she eats breakfast. The bus should be here by 7:15. She has a private violin lesson after school, so you will need to pick her up at 4:30. Make sure she follows her evening routine when she gets home, she'll fill you in about that. Her bedtime is at 8:00 but I won't be home until 10:00. I made a key for you it's on the kitchen table."

"Sure thing Mrs. Isles, have a good day"

"You too, dear" Constance responded and then left.

Gia made her way to the kitchen intending to make Maura's breakfast. She was surprised to see that the little girl was already sitting at the table eating oatmeal.

"Hey Maura, I'm Gia" she put her hand on the little girl's shoulder.

Maura jumped slightly and moved away from Gia's touch. Gia in turn immediately retracted her hand. "I know, my mother told me about you," Maura responded.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" Gia offered a sincere apology.

Maura felt bad for her reaction and thought to herself "Why do I have to be so weird, she was just trying to be nice." She couldn't bring herself to look at Gia, so she just stared at her oatmeal.

"Is my mother still here?"

"She just left."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence, until Gia spoke again.

"I brought my waffle maker over... I wasn't sure if you had one... wasn't sure if you even liked them... I don't know I just assumed I'd be the one making your breakfast."

"I can manage." Maura responded in a low voice, her eyes still focused on her oatmeal.

"Okay" Gia responded, she was extremely uncertain about how to proceed from there. Thankfully the school bus arrived outside and beeped.

Maura put her bowl in the sink and rushed out the door.

"Have a good day" Gia called after her.

Gia felt weird about being in the home after the residents had left. Since she was given no other responsibilities to fill the time between now and picking Maura up, she decided to head back to her apartment. She grabbed the key from the kitchen table and left.

When Gia arrived back at her apartment, she called her old roommate from freshman year of college, before her friend transferred schools to study psychology. The two remain very close.

"Hello" the voice on the phone spoke.

"Val... It's Gia."

"Gia, I'm so happy you called, I need a break from this paper, grad school sucks... Wait, aren't you supposed to be at work right now, taking care of the daughter of your idol."

"I'm on a lunch break I guess."

"It's 8:00 a.m."

"I'm considering it a perk."

"So what's she like?"

"Brilliant, but busy, I think she's working from her studio today, I should find a reason to drop by."

"I meant the kid."

"Oh Maura? She seems like she's a good kid, easy, really quiet, she did something kinda weird though."

"What?"

"Ya know, just because you are going to school for child psych doesn't mean you have to over analyze everything children do."

"Really? I thought that's exactly what it meant," Valerie laughed. "Tell me, maybe I can help."

"She flinched and backed away when I put my hand on her shoulder."

"Did you surprise her?"

"I don't think so, I mean I said 'Hi' first."

::Silence::

"Val?" "Hello"

"Sorry, I was just thinking."

"About?"

Gia could hear the hesitation in Valerie's voice. "It sounds like abuse."

"I don't think she's beating her Val," Gia responded.

"There are other kinds of abuse G, what did their interactions seem like?"

"Constance left as soon as I arrived, Maura seemed to be unaware until I told her."

"She left without saying good bye? That's a bit... Cold"

"She was busy, maybe she forgot, I don't know but the forty five minutes I spent with the kid this morning were awkward. What am I supposed to do for the three plus hours with her tonight?"

"Just be yourself. Let her be herself. Try to accept her and get to know her."

"That doesn't seem too hard."

"That's it, you've got this. Well thanks for the distraction G, I love you and I miss you. Good luck.

"Aw Val, I love you and miss you too. Good luck with the paper."

Gia hangs up.

/

At 4:30

Gia sat in her car outside of Maura's school waiting for her to get out. In a rush of commotion the doors of the school bust open as several kids make their way to their parents cars. Most of the kids were wearing jerseys and carrying sports equipment but a few were still in their school uniforms carrying instrument cases and music sheets. Maura was the latter.

Gia watched as the golden blonde made her way down the steps, then stop suddenly when she reached the bottom. Maura seemed to be focused on something that was on the ground. She knelt down in the grass besides the steps of her school. Maura was soon joined by a group of three older girls in their soccer uniforms. "Ewww, freak" Gia heard one of the girls say. Then she saw her shove Maura, while the other two laughed. At this moment Gia leaped from her car and arrived on the scene so quickly that everyone was surprised.

"Maura are you ok?"

Maura nodded.

"Can I help you?" She addressed the main bully.

"Who the hell are you?" The bully asked with an attitude.

"I'm Gia Sparks, and you're out of line"

"Yeah well, she's the one playing with a dead bird, it's disgusting" the bully answered still giving an attitude.

"Wow sounds to me like you are too scared to touch it yourself and are embarrassed, that a younger, smaller girl has more guts than you do." Gia responded.

"Nu-uh I could touch it," the bully said nervously.

"Well then go ahead" Gia called the girl's bluff.

"I don't want to, right now."

"Just as I thought... All talk, you and your followers better leave before you embarrass yourselves any further." Gia made a sweeping hand gesture shooing them away.

The bullies, dumbfounded left the situation immediately.

"Com'on Maura, let's get you home," Gia offered her hand to help the little girl rise to her feet and to Gia's surprise Maura accepted, and then didn't let go.

"Actually that girl and I have the same amount of intestines" Maura said.

"What?" Gia responded in confusion.

"When you said I had more guts than she did."

"I meant braver than her."

"Oh, thank you, and thank you for not getting mad about the bird, I just wanted to see what happened to it... and thank you for standing up for me." Maura squeezed Gia's hand.

"Well... what happened to the bird?"

"His neck was broken, poor thing"

Gia smiled at Maura, who didn't let go of Gia's hand until they got to the car.

/

When they arrived at the Isles residence, Gia let Maura in and she immediately ran to her room to do her homework.

Maura entered the kitchen an hour later to find a place at the table set for her. Gia had spent the past hour making waffles.

"Perfect timing Maura, what would you like on your waffles, I have blueberries, strawberries, bananas, walnuts, whipped cream..." Gia continued to list more toppings until being cut off by Maura.

"Waffles, for dinner?" The tone had a mixture of delightful surprise and confusion.

"My family called it Brinner, ya know breakfast plus dinner"

Maura laughed at the new word "Brinner." She sat at the place set up for her. "I would like bananas and strawberries please." Gia fixed Maura's plate according to her specifications, then placed it in front of Maura.

Maura took a bite of her waffles. "Gia this is delicious."

"Well thank you," Gia put her hand on the top of her chest in a stylistic gesture that suggests that she is confident in her talents, yet flattered at the same time. "I consider myself to be somewhat of an expert in the art of waffle making."

Maura smiled at the woman taking in her unique and genuine personality.

Gia started to clean the kitchen from the organized mess she had made.

"Aren't you going to join me?" Maura asked, padding the seat next to her.

"You know what? I think I will." Gia grabbed a plate and sat next to Maura.

The two ate while Maura talked about her homework.

"That was so good Gia."

"I could tell, you ate three waffles."

"Thank you... I need to practice my violin now."

"Do you mind if I listen to you, it's been a while since I heard someone play violin?"

"Sure, just let me get set up." Maura went to her room to grab her things.

Gia cleaned the kitchen and then met Maura in the living room.

"I've only started last year, sorry if I'm not that good," Maura said nervously.

"I'm sure you're great," Gia responded in a encouraging tone.

Maura played a few songs as Gia sat listening intently.

"Okay Gia, I have one last song, it's my favorite, because it's lovely and it's the one I play the best."

Maura closed her eyes as she drew her bow across the violin producing the beginning sounds to Scarborough Fair. Her eyes remained closed until she finished the entire piece, perfectly. It wasn't until she opened them that she realized that Gia was crying.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. You play beautifully, Maura," Gia said wiping away her tears. "It's time for you to get ready for bed, I'll be up to say goodnight in ten minutes."

Maura was worried that she had done something wrong but did as Gia instructed.

Gia used the ten minutes to calm down and regain her composure using the breathing techniques that Val gave her when she studied for finals.

As promised, Gia went upstairs to say goodnight to Maura and tuck her into bed.

"Sweet dreams, Maura, I'll see you tomorrow"

"Thank you, Gia."

Gia sat downstairs flipping through magazines on the coffee table until Constance arrived home.

"Was she any trouble?"

"She was great, she is great, see you tomorrow."

Gia left in a hurry, and started to cry again when she got in her car.

Hope you like it so far, reviews are obviously appreciated but not necessary. Thank you again for reading. :)