Chapter 4

"Okay, I really gotta go now." Rachel adjusted her bag on her shoulder and untangled herself from her younger sister. "Listen," she lifted Morgan's chin and looked into her eyes, "don't let that stupid lady get to you, alright? Maura and Jane's lawyers are way better and she's just dumb."

Morgan nodded and smiled slightly. She knew all this. But she still worried, Maura knew. "Yeah."

Rachel squeezed Morgan's arm and looked at Maura before giving her a hug, wrapping her arms around the blonde's neck. "Don't let her take Morgan, okay?"

"I won't even think about it." Maura smiled and kissed the side of Rachel's head before letting her go. "She's not going anywhere."

"Good." Rachel nodded and moved to ruffle Anna's hair as a way of saying goodbye before moving to hug Jane.

"Bye, Rach." Jane chuckled and squeezed the girl to her front before patting her back. "Now go, before you miss any more classes."

"Where's Lily?"

"In the shower."

"BYE LILY!"

"BYE!" Lily's voice sounded quiet as she yelled from upstairs.

Rachel chuckled and placed a kiss on top of Morgan's head. "Sorry again for stopping by so suddenly."

"Don't worry about it." Maura smiled and felt Morgan standing in front of her while she wrapped her arms around the girl's chest from behind. "You'll be great in school."

Rachel smiled and opened the door. "Yeah. Bye!"

"I love you, bye!" They watched Rachel leaving and Morgan sighed deeply before turning to lean sideways into Maura's front.

Maura brushed her hand through the girl's dark hair, kissing her head that rested on her chest. "She'll be okay, sweetheart," she said softly.

Morgan hummed and nodded against her foster mother but the way she took a deep breath betrayed the sadness that washed over her. "I'm gonna miss her."

"I know, baby."

"I wish college was closer so we could visit her easily. It's such a long drive!" Morgan pouted and wrapped her skinny arm around her foster mother.

"It is." Maura smiled and rubbed Morgan's back, feeling her bones sticking out under her skin. She had been giving the girl as much carbs and protein as possible, knowing she needed to gain weight. She sighed. Morgan was too skinny.

"What?" Morgan sensed a change in her mother and looked up with her brow furrowed.

Maura shook her head and smiled slightly. "You need to gain weight, baby."

"Why?"

"Because you are underweight."

"The other day you said I was so pretty!"

"You are! Just a few more pounds over these bones," Maura placed her hands on Morgan's sides, feeling her ribs sticking out, "will be good for your health."

Morgan snorted and snuggled back in her mother's arms. "Then I should just eat French fries every day."

"Oh, no." Maura shook her head. "You need your nutrients. No fries." She kissed the top of Morgan's head and pulled her closer. "My beautiful little girl."

Morgan smiled slightly and sighed deeply as she hid herself in her mother's warm embrace. "Mom?"

Maura smiled at the lovely sound of the word 'mom' coming from the young girl. "Yes?"

"That stupid lady can't get to me, right?" she asked softly for the hundredth time.

"No, honey. We'll do everything in our power to keep you here. Everything."

Morgan nodded against Maura's chest and as if the universe heard the question, an envelope landed on the doormat. Lily went to grab it and held it up to read it. "Mommies? This letter is for you guys."

Jane hummed and took the envelope from the little girl, opening it with her brow furrowed. Her brow furrowed further when she read it and Maura saw an alarming amount of concern in her wife's dark eyes. She sighed and shook her head.

"What is it?" Maura untangled herself from Morgan and looked at her wife.

"She sued us."

"What? How?" Maura took the letter from Jane, quickly reading the words that made her heart beat faster. "This-… This won't stand a chance."

"Maur, she's saying we unlawfully took Morgan and Rachel. She demands custody."

"This doesn't mention the fact that she was in Japan for years before we took them in! It doesn't mention the fact that her existence wasn't even in any of the files we got when we filed the reports for fostering them."

"But it does mention we didn't look further than the reports we received from her social worker, and that that specific social worker lost his job a few months after closing our file because he didn't do his work!" Jane pointed at a few lines in the long letter.

"Where-…" Maura looked at the part Jane pointed out and she felt a knot tying in her stomach. "Oh."

"They're calling the decision to put Morgan with us a loophole that caused a big mistake in the foster system," Jane motioned her finger further along the letter. "She even calls us incapable. She says Rachel is too young to have custody even though she is eighteen…"

Maura rubbed her forehead and reread that part. According to the accusation, the fact that both women had full time, demanding jobs, caused an incapability in taking care of a growing teenager. However, it failed to mention the fact they already had two other children that were growing up beautifully and having no problem with their mothers' demanding jobs. Maura decided to ignore the part where the homosexuality theme got described, explaining that Morgan came from a religious family and that religion should be respected.

"Maura?" Morgan's voice sounded worried and she looked at them with wide eyes. "Jane? What's going on?"

Jane sighed and shook her head. "This woman wants custody over you but we're not gonna let her."

Morgan's eyes widened further and she gasped softly. "No! No, why does she want me? I don't understand!"

"Honey, I'm going to have a talk with my lawyer and fix all of this." Maura walked towards the kitchen to grab her phone from the counter, brushing Morgan's hair back while she passed her. "You're not going anywhere."

Morgan nodded but Maura saw the concern growing in her blue eyes. She called her lawyer to inform him on the whole situation and after a long talk, they agreed on a meeting to determine their strategy. She paced through the bedroom while she talked, looking out of the window to see the sun shining, the sky blue above the backyard where Lily was running around for no apparent reason.

After a few more moments of complicated talk, Jane appeared in the doorway, looking at her wife with her brow furrowed in concern. Maura smiled a small smile and continued the conversation before confirming the day of their meeting and hung up the phone. She sighed deeply and sat down on the foot of the bed.

"And…?"

Maura looked up at her wife. "He's confident."

Jane nodded and sat down next to the blonde, her hands fumbling nervously.

Maura gently took her wife's hands in hers to massage her palms, brushing her fingers over the scars there.

"We can't lose her, Maura," Jane whispered, her gaze focused on their intertwined hands. "I can't lose that little girl."

"We won't." Maura leaned closer towards her wife and pressed her lips against her cheek, placing a few kisses on her cheekbone before wrapping her arms around the brunette and hiding herself in the crook of neck. "We won't lose her. The universe is not that cruel."

Jane's long arms wrapped around her wife and she pulled herself impossibly closer against her.

"I love that beautiful sweetheart with all I have and I wouldn't even know how to handle losing one of my children."

"We won't lose her," Jane repeated softly, her voice surprisingly hoarse.

Maura nodded and managed a small smile leaning in to kiss her wife until the sound of footsteps announced the arrival of one of the kids. Maura looked up and saw Anna in the doorway.

"Morgan is crying," she said softly, her expression dropping as she fumbled with her blouse. "I can't get her to calm down."

"I'll go." Maura sighed and stood up from the bed, placing a kiss on top of Anna's head before heading downstairs to comfort their crying daughter.

Jane looked at Anna and saw unshed tears shimmering in her grey eyes. "C'mere, peanut," she said softly while she opened her arms for the young girl.

Anna smiled sadly and sat down next to her mother, gratefully burying herself in strong arms. "You haven't called me peanut in a long time," she whispered.

Jane chuckled. "Well, you're still my peanut."

Anna nodded and took a deep breath before wiping a tear that fell down her cheek. "Mama?"

"Hm?"

"You're worried, aren't you?" she whispered, her voice laced with concern. She lifted her head from Jane's chest and looked at her mother. "She smarter than you thought, isn't she?"

Jane sighed. There was no use in denying it, Anna was too smart. "Yeah. The case is more solid than we thought but Mom just called her lawyer and he's confident Amelia will lose."

Anna nodded slowly and her brow furrowed in thought. "Morgan can't go to New York, Ma," she said quietly. "That's way too far away. And she's gonna be really unhappy with that lady."

"She's not going to New York." Jane pulled her daughter back to her chest and kissed the side of her head. "She's going to stay with us, where she belongs."

"Yeah." Anna nodded in agreement. "I like having three sisters."

Jane smiled while she rubbed her hand up and down Anna's back. "I like having four children."

"Well, one of them is away at college so at home you only have three."

"That's true, but in my heart I have four."

Anna chuckled softly and snuggled into her mother's side. "Big heart."

"You have no idea." Jane pulled her beautiful girl impossibly closer. "We're gonna be okay, baby. We'll do anything to keep Morgan in our family."

Anna nodded and sighed contently while she put her feet up on the bed and hugged her knees to her chest while she leaned against Jane's side.

"How was school?"

Anna shrugged. "Fine."

"How'd you do on that English test?"

"I think I did pretty good, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Just-…" she sighed and stopped talking. "Never mind. It was fine."

"What is it?"

Anna took a deep breath and shook her head. "Just the kids in the back are always being stupid. But it's okay, I know how to ignore them."

Jane sighed and felt anger burning in the pit of her stomach. She knew a few kids were always teasing Anna. She didn't know why, but she knew they made fun of her. She was smarter and prettier than all of them but they still targeted her. The fact that she was smart and pretty was probably the reason they made fun of her. They pulled her down to feel better about themselves and even though Jane was proud of her daughter for ignoring them and taking the high road, she hated those kids with all she had. "What did they say?" Jane asked softly.

Anna shrugged. "Just that I was probably gonna get an A+, because I'm such a nerd and stuff. But they're just mad because they can't get above a C or something. Especially Vicky, she always gets D's." She sighed and let out a sad chuckle. "She's the worst, she puts the guys up to it. She's always whispering behind my back and stuff. And as soon as I turn around, she stops and smiles that stupid smile of hers. Morgan always calls her bracefrizz, because of her braces and frizzy hair."

Jane knew she should tell her that wasn't a nice thing to call anyone but she couldn't bring herself to it. Anyone that made fun of Anna deserved to be called names. Bracefrizz didn't even do the trick in Jane's opinion. "She probably can't help that she has braces and frizzy hair, baby," Jane whispered in sharp contrast to what she was thinking. "But she can help how she treats people and if she treats you badly, she's a bad person."

Anna nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"They're just jealous, peanut. They know you're the smartest in your class and they see how pretty you are and they don't even come close to you."

"I don't even want to be pretty!" Anna groaned and snuggled herself into Jane's chest. "I don't care about that!"

Jane chuckled. "You are, baby. Nothing you can do about that." Jane smiled when she looked at her daughter on her chest, looking at the freckles on her nose, her sparkling grey eyes, her porcelain skin and light blond hair. She was a sight. "Life will be easier when you're pretty," Jane whispered, knowing how much she had to endure as a child with wild curls, crooked teeth and long limbs. "No matter how unfair it is, that's usually the way it works."

Anna sighed deeply and nodded slowly. "I hope so." She rested her head on Jane's chest and fumbled with the hem of Jane's T-shirt.

Jane pulled her as close as she could, thinking about how much Anna had grown in the past ten years. The decision to adopt this little girl was the single best decision they ever made.

"Mama?"

"Yeah?"

"You're going to adopt Rachel and Morgan, right?"

"Yeah, we're working on that."

Anna nodded. "Good. Then that lady can't do anything any longer."

"That's right." Jane kissed the top of Anna's head. She couldn't wait to adopt those girls. She loved them with all she had and she just wanted it to be official.

"Mama!" The sound of Lily's voice interrupted their moment and she walked into the room but stopped when she saw Anna and Jane in their embrace. "Oh."

"What's up?" Jane smiled at her youngest daughter.

"I uhm… I wanna play baseball but you're busy so…"

"It's okay," Anna said, "I'm gonna go finish my book anyway." She untangled herself from her mother and stood up from the bed before Jane pulled her back down.

"Hold on, peanut." She chuckled and cupped her face, pressing her lips against the girl's forehead. "I love you."

"Love you too," Anna smiled before straightening her back.

"Mush mush mush!" Lily giggled and playfully slapped Anna's arm before pulling Jane up from the bed.

Anna jumped away from her sister with a smile and hurried towards her room to get one of her many books. Jane took Lily's hand in hers, smiling as she watched her messy curls bouncing on her back.

"So, baseball?" Jane asked as she hurried after her daughter down the stairs.

"Yep. Or soccer, whatever." She looked up at her mother while she took her outside towards the backyard, immediately speeding off to get the first ball that she found.

"You sure have a lot of energy." Jane chuckled and caught the ball Lily threw towards her with force. She had a strong arm.

"Yeah, everyone is crying and worrying and stuff." Lily shrugged and ran towards her mother to get the ball back. "But I don't feel like crying."

Jane chuckled and dropped the soccer ball, skillfully kicking it away from her fast little girl. "You need a different outlet."

"Something like that, yeah," Lily replied absentmindedly while she kicked the ball back. "Morgan's not gonna go to New York, so I'm not so worried."

"No?" Jane maneuvered herself around Lily with the ball. "How do you know?"

"C'mon! You're a cop, and Mom is like, the boss and that Isles thing has a crazy lot of money." Lily shrugged and ran away after she took the ball. "That lady's stupid for trying!" she called from the other side of the backyard. "She has no idea who she's dealing with!"

"That's right." Jane chuckled and ran after her daughter, happy for an outlet herself. A part of her worries faded away in the late summer sun as she engaged in a playful fight over the ball with her fierce little girl. They would be fine. Yes, Amelia had a stronger case than they expected but she was up against Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles. And Jane and Maura didn't allow anyone to mess around with their children.