A/N- So, last weeks episode was just so openly rizzle shipping that I found it difficult to find a scene I really wanted to exploit, the show had already done it for us. Instead I decided to use this chapter to show where the Jane in this story is at ,in her own mind relating to Maura and Casey and all-o-that. I am sooooo excited about tomorrows episode! Yay!
Picking up where 403 ends...
Adventures in babysitting.
"Wouldn't that be nice?" Maura said dreamily.
"What? Going for a walk with my brother?" Jane frowned sharply.
"No! I mean, Lydia. All she wants from life is a house full of children, dogs and love. Simple."
"Yeah she is." Jane shrugged, sitting T.J into a upright position on her lap. "Come on Maura, we have a dog, Bass and this little guy. We're not doing so bad." Jane said, holding T.J's up again so she could grin into his face.
"Mmm, it's badly. And you forgot that we also have each other." Maura corrected.
"I didn't forget. Anyways, I thought you were going to like...lay an egg or something?" Jane half shrugged.
"Freeze my eggs? I have looked into the process and I do have some reservations. I am not sure if continuing my genetic make up is really as desirable as I once thought." Maura admitted glumly.
"You mean the Doyle legacy?" Jane raised a brow.
"I don't even know if Hope is much better, I hardly know the woman and what I do know, does not lead me to believe she has a natural affinity toward motherhood."
"Well, they made you...maybe it was a case of two wrongs making a right." Jane said gently.
A bashful smile appeared on Maura's face and she averted her eyes from Jane, letting her hair fall a little around her face. "Well, you said you would give me a kidney once, how would you feel about giving me some of your eggs?"
Jane couldn't figure out if Maura was serious and she gave her a doubtful look. "Really? The Rizzoli genes are a better option? You did see the mess that my family is in right? The mess that Frankie left outside your house? The mess that Tommy makes everywhere? My divorced mother messing up your guest house?" Jane continued gruffly, she really did worry, that one day Maura would stop and take a look a the way Jane's family had completely emersed themselves into Maura's home and life and run screaming for the hills.
"Jane, your mother is the mother of all mothers, and she raised the three of you incredibly well. Tommy may have made some mistakes in the past, but he is a reformed character now." Maura argued. "And your all so close, I'd like my children to have that kind of familial bond."
"Yeah we are all up in each others business, it's swell." Jane said with forced enthusiasm as she tickled beneath T.J's chin, eliciting a small giggle from the smiling baby.
"Ooh, let me get out the toys that are appropriate for T.J's age and developmental stage." Maura excitedly hopped up from the sofa and headed down the hall, returning moments later with a box of brand new brightly coloured baby toys.
"You bought all of these for T.J? Or have you already started buying for your future offspring?" Jane teased, taking a weird looking stuffed blue face toy, from the top of the pile and looking uncertainly at it.
"Jane, playtime is important, not only for amusement but for education and physical development. The first three tears are when the brain develops, these years affect a child's life more than any other period. Children have distinct needs specific to their developmental stages. Vision, tactile response, hand-eye coordination and motor skills will all be assisted by the first toys they play with." Maura continued as she placed the box on the floor and began to unpack some of the contents.
"Hmm, it's a shame you didn't have one of these guys free earlier today, that mask I gave T.J is probably going to give him nightmares." Jane stopped suddenly as a thought occurred to her and she gave Maura a suspicious glare. "Or are you purposely trying to one up me and get a head start on favourite Aunt status?"
Maura looked a little guilty as she avoided answering Jane's question. "I just want T.J to feel welcomed and happy coming here, not to mention having your mother feel comfortable bringing him here. This is her home too." Maura finished.
Jane's expression had moved easily to adoring as she heard Maura's defensive reasoning. Maura was likely to be the only woman Jane could never be jealous of when it came to sharing her family.
"Does Casey want a family?" Maura asked, finally managing to pry T.J from the slightly stunned Jane.
"What?!" Jane asked, surprised at where this line of questioning was going.
"Do you know if Casey wants a child? Or perhaps multiple children? Maura asked simply.
"Wha...Do I ? No...I don't know, gee I didn't think to ask between the not speaking to me for several months and the leaving again to go to war." Jane said sarcastically.
"Well, a recent survey by the associated press, found that 8 in 10 men do wish to become fathers, so it is very possible that he will. How do you feel about that?" Maura asked frankly.
Jane was slack jawed, at the question and at the first response she had felt, which had been a resounding negative. She just couldn't see herself having Casey's babies. The truth was, she couldn't see herself being pregnant, sitting home waiting for her husband to drop in from wherever he might be, saving traumatized soldiers.
Why did things have to change at all, she had meant what she had said to Maura, was what they had now so bad? Jane could easily imagine herself doing this for the foreseeable future. More than that, she could easily see herself sharing the responsibility of children with her best friend. Maybe Maura having a Rizzoli baby would be the perfect solution, they could have a baby together, that wouldn't be as weird as it seemed. When Lydia had left a brand new T.J on Maura's doorstep, that is exactly what Jane had considered them doing and if neither Lydia or Tommy had worked out their crap, they may be doing just that, right now. Tonight may have been just a normal night in with her unusual little family.
Jane watched Maura kneel on the carpeted floor and place T.J down on his front, the baby boy lifting his head up and craning his neck with obvious effort to look up at Maura who was calling his name like a song, and grinning endlessly at him, a grin that brought a sparkle to her already shining, hazel eyes. Maura selected a wooden stick toy with small bells on it and shook it lightly in front of her. T.J grinned and poked out his tongue as he tried to wriggle toward the noise, inadvertently blowing tiny bubbles as he gurgled.
Jane's big ole heart filled up and over as she watched the cool, clinical medical examiner giddy and full of wonder at the prospect of entertaining the youngest Rizzoli with her carefully chosen toy collection. Jane could get used to this, and she was reminded of how hopeless she was when it came to Maura. Hopeless for her. She felt too much and she didn't care.
Jane had taken every touch, every look and every word that Maura had ever said into her heart and found quickly that her feelings for Dr Isles had earned her a one way ticket way beyond professional station, not stopping at friendship hill and reaching the end of the line at besotted-ville.
As for Maura's feelings? How would Jane know? She knew Maura loved her, knew that Maura was very sexually liberated and knew when she was being flirted with. Yet Maura was her own special case, when it came to interpersonal relationships and social interaction, Maura's genius suddenly ran out. Did she even know she was flirting? Did she realise that their relationship regularly went beyond the usual boundaries of friendship? If so, why would she not have mentioned this in her casually blunt way?
But Jane had come up with a million different reasons why she and Maura would never happen. In every other aspect of life and in particularly in her work, Jane was impatient, instinctive, spontaneous and a risk taker. Yet somehow in her love life she had become, stuck, immobile...a procrastinator. Each time she had considered making a move with Maura something had gotten in the way. Like Hoyt, Ian and even Dr Byron and now the ultimate in subterfuge, Casey.
It wasn't that Jane didn't have feelings for Casey, she did, she had all of them. He was the guy she had dreamed about as a young women, the one who didn't know she was alive. When Jane met him again, with his accent and his uniform and his obvious interest in her she had been flattered. It had even seemed to fit in with her lifestyle well, that he would be away for weeks, maybe months at a time. She could have a relationship with him and she wouldn't have to change her whole life.
It had hurt when he had seemed to reject her again, the pain of rejection perhaps making her feel more for him than she really did. The knock back from Casey mixing with her general feeling of being a lovesick fool over Maura and resulting in a giant pity party, complete with parade and grand marque. The sick thing being that her sorry state actually succeeded in getting her a great deal of attention from Maura, which while she couldn't not want it, only made her feel how pathetic she was amplified.
An hour later Jane was taking T.J on a stroll of Maura's house, stopping at each piece of art work or sculpture and giving her own critical review. Maura was pretending not to approve despite both women knowing that she was highly amused, which only spurred Jane on to more scathing criticism.
"And this picture looks a lot like the last thing you spat up, except it cost the same as your future college education." Jane teased.
The doorbell sounded. Pizza. Jane rushed to the door with T.J still on her hip. Only realising when she had flung it open that her wallet was going to be difficult to navigate with a hand full of baby. Jane nodded at the vaguely familiar face of the delivery guy, who looked slightly too old and well kept to be delivering pizza for a living.
"Oh, hey Maur, could you just give me a hand?" Jane called, as she repositioned T.J onto the opposite hip so Maura could access the pocket with the wallet.
"Wow, hey little guy." Said the young man at the door. "I didn't know you two had a kid? Congratulations! He is such a cutie!"
Jane was concentrating on standing still as Maura rummaged inside her trouser pocket for the wallet and almost missed the comment.
"What? Thanks, oh he is not ours...I mean..." Jane began.
As Maura triumphantly held the wallet aloft, Tommy and then Lydia appeared over the Pizza guys shoulder.
"Hey T.J, Mommy and Daddy are home!" He called, shooting Lydia a goofy smile.
"Oh!." Pizza dude nodded with a hint of disappointment, accepting the cash from a friendly smiling Maura and handing her the Pizza box. "Still, it looks good on you, you two should definitely think about it." He added as he turned to leave.
Jane stared after him for a moment as everyone else bustled past her and into the house, Lydia having taken T.J from Jane without the slightest protest. Jane slowly let the door fall to a close and turned to the room.
"Pizza!" Tommy said excitedly.
"No way!" Jane called. "Get your own!" Jane paced over to the counter where Maura had placed the pizza box as she went in search of a plate for herself. Jane refusing to eat from one.
"Come on Jane, I am starved!" Tommy pleaded.
Jane noticed Lydia looking hopefully a the box too.
"There isn't enough for everyone." Jane reasoned, placing herself between Tommy and the box now. "Why don't you take Lydia to that little Pizza place you like huh?"
A light shone on Tommy's face and then flickered out a moment later as his hands went automatically to his empty pockets. Jane reached for her wallet, where Maura had left it on the counter top and silently took out some notes that she stuffed into her brothers hand.
"Go!" She said. "T.J can stay here tonight, Maura has everything he needs." Jane insisted.
Tommy looked to Lydia who grinned her consent and the couple hurried out, calling their thank you's as they went.
Jane sighed contentedly. Now she could enjoy the rest of her evening, with Pizza, Maura and her favourite nephew. What could be better?
A/N- Reviews are always welcomed, thank u xx