The car came to a slow stop in front of the house.

Jane hadn't looked up yet; she hadn't even realized that the car had ceased moving, because her eyes were downcast towards she and Maura's son, whose car seat was wedged in between the two in the backseat. It was her wife's fingertips dancing against her wrist that caused her to look up, and a small shiver ran down her spine.

She hadn't laid eyes on the house since she locked the door and walked to her car with the last box.

"Ma," Jane said quietly. "Mind if Maura and I go in first?"

Angela smiled and it was all the blessing Jane needed. Leaving the baby with her mother, Jane and Maura walked up the old driveway together. Maura handed Jane the key as they got to the front door.

"We didn't do much," she said. "Just the nursery. Everything else I thought we should do together."

The door creaked open.

The sentimental part of Jane wanted to lift Maura up and carry her over the threshold, but her inner child was far too excited at the prospect of being home. There was an energy building inside her that she hadn't felt since she was eight; the kind of energy that comes after a long vacation or a week at summer camp.

Jane wandered up the stairs. Just as she remembered, as her foot thumped against the fourth stair, it whined and squeaked. She paused here and smiled. Her mother never fixed that stair because she said it was the best alarm system that she had. Jane had learned many a times that her mother's ear was keenly tuned for the sound of that stair in the middle of the night. It was the sound of sneaking children.

Her bedroom was in the back of the house, tucked in a corner just across from the bathroom and next to the room Tommy and Frankie had shared for several years. She walked towards it in a kind of trance, her mind filled with the sounds of her youth; slamming doors, laughter, knocking, dinner's almost ready, Janie, set the table!, books falling from her desk, the television blaring from the living room and coming in clear through her vent... her hand rested on the doorknob.

"This was my room." she said simply.

"I know," Maura responded. "Open it."

Jane did.

No longer were the walls a sickly yellow. The room was blindingly white with a red stripe stretching along the perimeter, painted perfectly in the middle of the wall. Little baseballs danced against the line all the way around. The carpet, accentuated nicely with the wall stripe, was a bright, vibrant red and so fluffy that Jane could feel her feet sinking down as she walked inside.

She couldn't stop herself from chuckling.

"Is this why you objected so hard to a Red Sox theme in the nursery at the house?"

Maura nodded. "I wanted this to be a nice surprise."

"It's so cool, Maura," muttered Jane as she looked around. She walked to the crib and picked up the teddy bear that she had bought for Maura when the pair went to their first baseball game together. "You sure you want to part with this?"

"I decided that Vincenzo could borrow it."

"How nice of you," said Jane with a smile. "You know, my bed used to be pushed up against that window." She pointed and crossed the room, gesturing for Maura to follow her. "See how this latch opens," Her fingers flicked the golden latch and she pushed with her shoulder. "Look down. It opens onto that little bit of roof, you see? But our treehouse is there. I used to sneak out by jumping from the roof to that branch right there. Never fell, not once. Climbed down the tree and out the yard."

Maura gaped. "Didn't Angela know?"

"Sure, after Tommy caught me one night and told on me. I think he was hoping Ma would move us rooms so he'd be in here. He was always jealous." They both slid from the window sill and Jane sunk down into the rocking chair, patting her lap for Maura to join her. Maura slid her arms around Jane's neck and rested their heads together. "You know, it's weird." said Jane quietly. "I never came back here. Not once. I was so mad at my dad, you know? I didn't want to come back here. I felt like I had been lied to for years, like their entire marriage was a sham. I thought it wouldn't feel the same, like it had been tainted."

"What had been tainted?"

"The house."

"That's not true."

"I know. But I was 35 years old and my parents were getting a divorce. I guess I've never wanted to look at how deeply it affected me. It's not supposed to when you're that old. I grew up here. I sat in this corner doing my homework. Me and my friend Georgia Hayes had our first beer sitting in front of that door because we wanted to be able to hear Ma coming up the stairs. I've climbed outta that window more times than I can count. And every night for years, Ma and Pops came up those stairs and said goodnight. I lived through something here. This is my story, their story. I thought I knew the ending until my parents divorced."

"Jane," said Maura softly, lifting her wife's chin. "This house built you, but it doesn't define you and it doesn't define your family. Endings change all the time because we have the ability to create new stories. That's what we're doing right here with Vincenzo. Come here," she stood and pulled on Jane's hand, dragging her back over to the crib. A multi-picture frame balanced above the crib. Jane hadn't noticed it before. The first photograph was grainy, but still clear. A young Angela and Frank stood at the sides of a crib. Jane, just a newborn with a mop of curly brown hair, laid with a sloppy smile on her face. The photograph slot beneath it was empty. "That was the beginning of your story." She dug through her purse and pulled out a photo that Angela had gotten printed for her before she came to the hospital. "This is the beginning of ours,"

The photo had been taken at the hospital. It was nearly identical to the photograph already on the wall. Jane and Maura were each at the sides of Vincenzo's hospital crib, his wrinkly face scrunched up with a small curve to his lips.

"I thought coming back here one day would fix me. I'd be whole again or something. Maybe I would figure out who I am... more than Jane the cop, Jane the daughter. But you're the reason I'm okay now." Jane looked up from the picture. "You make me whole."

Jane walked out of the room. Maura followed. They traipsed down the steps and Maura watched as Jane opened the front door, her hand waving Angela in.

"It's time for our son to come home." said Jane.

The two grabbed hands and walked down the drive to help Angela bring up the bags.

Finished.