"Who wants more lasagna!?" Angela shouted from the kitchen.
"Geez, Ma, are you feeding this baby lasagna?" Jane called back from the living room as she held up Nico in front of her. "He looks like he's grown since yesterday."
"He probably has! I had to stop and feed him four times today already. I thought Mr. Stanley would have a fit."
"Unlikely," Maura whispered. "Infants grow very rapidly, but not that fast. Maybe his diaper's full."
"Uh, I think you're right," Jane scrunched up her nose as she took a whiff. "You wanna…"
"Why me?" Maura scoffed. "I'm sure you know how to change a diaper."
"I do, but…you're the more maternal type, obviously. I thought you might like to do it."
"Nobody likes changing diapers, Jane."
"That's not true!" Angela corrected as she joined them. "I always loved changing my kid's diapers. It was one of the only times I could get 'em to hold still. Except for Jane. She tried squirming away even then. One time she ran right down the hallway, naked as a…"
"Ma, stop!"
Maura laughed so hard she had to wipe away a tear. Jane scowled at her and tried to hand her mother the baby.
"I'm not done with the dishes," she argued. "Where's Tommy? He needs to learn how to do it."
"He said he'd be back tomorrow," Maura told them. "He had to run out and meet his friend to set up a schedule for painting houses next week."
"Well then, I guess you two will have to duke it out for who gets the honors!" Angela smiled before returning to the kitchen.
Jane finally relented to helping Maura. The two went into the bathroom and laid Nico on the counter. Jane stood by with the clean diaper and wipes while Maura did most of the work.
"Tommy's not staying here too, is he?" Jane had to ask.
"No," Maura confirmed. "He'll visit every day and vowed to support the baby financially, but your mother pretty much insisted she'd be the full-time caretaker for now. At least until he's a little older."
"Who, Nico or Tommy?" Jane smirked.
Maura glared back playfully.
"That's good," Jane sighed, relieved. "My brother can barely take care of himself, let alone another human being. Plus, you know. I wouldn't want it to be awkward for you with him staying here."
"It's not awkward," Maura insisted. Since she told Tommy there was no chance of them getting romantically involved, he had backed off. For the most part. "Not that awkward."
"If you say so," Jane huffed.
"Maybe it's awkward for you," Maura smirked.
"What?" Jane's stomach did a flip.
"I mean, because he's your brother. And I'm your best friend. It's understandable."
Jane didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she shook it off and changed the subject back to Nico, who Maura had cleaned up very nicely. The blonde looked down at him adoringly and tickled his tummy. It made Jane feel both warm and empty inside.
"My mother's gonna be exhausted," Jane sighed. "She's a lot older than when she had us, as much as she doesn't want to admit it. I don't know if she can do this on her own."
"She won't be on her own," Maura shook her head. "She has me."
"Yeah, and you're busy enough as it is," Jane reminded.
"Well," Maura changed her tone to a sweeter, more convincing cadence as she turned around to face Jane while holding Nico against her chest. "I know we were joking earlier, but you could move in too. At least temporarily."
Jane tried not to let her jaw drop all the way to her chest.
"I…uh…I wouldn't want to overcrowd things here…or, I mean, you know, cramp your style."
"Jane," Maura laughed. "I've got a two-day old baby and your mother staying with me already. Obviously I'm not worried about 'cramping my style.'"
"I just mean…I mean…where would I sleep? Here? In the guest house? With my mother and…"
"You can sleep with me," Maura blurted out, seemingly unaffected and unaware of what that sounded like.
"Uh…" Jane continued to fumble.
"It's not like you don't sleep here half the time anyway," Maura argued. "But you know what, it's fine. I understand if you need your space."
"No, no," Jane jumped in. "I don't…I mean, I like my space, but you're right. I should be here." She swallowed before continuing. "I wanna help out."
"Great," Maura smiled. "It'll be fun. Between the three of us, we'll be just fine."
"Great," Jane smiled awkwardly. "So…maybe I should go home tonight and get some things together, and then tomorrow I'll start staying here, maybe just, you know, a couple nights a week."
"Okay," Maura nodded. "Whatever you're comfortable with. I appreciate it."
"Of course," Jane smiled nervously.
She said goodbye to her mother and kissed Nico on the forehead before heading back to her apartment to pack a suitcase. She couldn't believe this was happening, but felt like the more she protested, the more obvious it would be. The truth was, she was so in love with Maura, she knew it would be absolute torture sleeping in the same bed with her night after night and not being able to hold her like she wanted, touch her like she had craved from the moment she laid eyes on her.
Sleeping in the same bed every once in a while was one thing. She always had plenty of time to recover once she was back in her own space and could remind herself why she could never tell Maura how she really felt. Their friendship meant way too much to her for anything to screw it up. Besides, she had worked so hard all her life to ignore those feelings, starting all the way back in elementary school. Ginny Ribese was the most beautiful girl in the second grade, and Jane knew she liked her differently than the other girls.
But everything in her world told her she was supposed to like boys. And she did like boys, well enough. She did like Dean, and Casey. She enjoyed having sex with them once she was finally able to talk herself into it. But it was never enough, and deep down she knew it never would be. She tried her best not to think about it because it made her more depressed and anxious than any murder case ever had. But now, her worst fear and her biggest dream were staring her right in the face, and there was no looking away, no ignoring it. She'd have to find a way to deal without messing up the best relationship she'd ever had.
