The next morning found Jane and Maura awake in different parts of the house, and Wyatt curled in his car-seat, rocking blissfully on the kitchen floor. Maura had awoken to a nightmare not long after falling back asleep with Jane, and the detective had wrapped her arms protectively around Maura until the ME found sleep once again. Nestled inside Jane's strong arms, Maura had found her inner peace rather easily…and had apparently fallen rather deeply into her slumber.
When she woke next, it was to a cold and empty bed; nothing but the Jane-shaped indentation in her mattress and an empty bassinet that had her heart leaping into her throat for a bare moment. Maura exhaled heavily as she threw the covers back and rounded the bed, eyes bright and alert as she stepped down the hallway, calling quietly to her best friend.
Maura found her leaning against the kitchen counter, face nearly falling out of her palm as she held it there as she slept. Safe and warm and quiet, Wyatt lay gurgling quietly in his car-seat by Jane's feet. A soft, amused smile spread across Maura's sleepy face – it was obvious that Wyatt had gotten up somewhere in the middle of the night again. She could only assume that Jane had gotten up with the baby yet again to avoid waking her.
Carefully she stepped up to the slumped woman, whispering Jane's name in a lulling croon. "Jane…."
The woman swayed precariously on her palm and elbow, but remained seemingly deep in the grip of her slumber. She was teetering in her seat by the counter, her toes almost lifting from the ground, and Maura knew she had to wake the brunette before Jane ended up planting her face into the marble and wood countertop at a fast enough velocity to break her nose again.
But Jane seemed to have other plans.
No sooner did Maura take her step towards the half-conscious woman, Jane's head snapped up, and her eyes drowsily forced themselves open as she straightened on unsteady terms. Maura watched, wide-eyed and alarmed as Jane snorted once, cleared her throat, and seemed to regain her bearings when the detective finally turned her eyes on the blonde. Her dark eyes flashed; surprise, recognition, and perhaps something affectionate there as she groaned huskily under her breath and ran a hand through her mess of curls.
"Morning," she greeted the blonde, smiling somewhat sheepishly before stifling a yawn in her hand. It had been a long night of waking, feeding and coaxing Wyatt back to sleep – and then let's not forget changing that diaper of his.
Suddenly Jane had a profound growth of respect for her mother. There was no way she was doing that three times over!
"You could've woken me," Maura replied instead, shaking her head indulgently as she moved around the counter to start the coffee they both needed badly. It was very clear on Jane's face that she was a minute away from collapsing out of sheer exhaustion. She grabbed Jane's arm, stroking soothingly as Jane leaned into her touch wearily, and Maura offered her a sympathetic if chiding smile. "Next time wake me. We're here to take turns, Jane. It won't do for you to take all of Wyatt's responsibilities on yourself."
Jane waved her aside, reaching for the freshly brewed coffee and pouring them a much-needed mug each. "You were tired, so I let you sleep," she told the blonde simply, fingers brushing as she slipped the mug into Maura's hand, lips twitching into a lazy, crooked smile as Maura raised an eyebrow at her. As tired as Jane was too; she couldn't bring herself to waking the ME – she looked so peaceful and beautiful in the big bed, curled like a cat into her sheets and pillow.
After the day Maura had been through; Jane figured she could afford to sleep in a few more hours.
Maura shook her head indulgently at Jane before walking over to the gurgling infant, smiling widely and she bent down to scoop him up from his seat. "Good morning, Wyatt," she cooed, rocking the boy in her arms and kissing him gently on the forehead. "Did you have a nice night?"
"Pretty sure he's one of the only one who did," Jane chortled, and then shrugged innocently when Maura cast a look her way. The rush of heat to her stomach and face was ignored as she rounded the counter, clearing her throat quietly as she moved in closer to where the blonde was rocking the baby and babbling coos at him. "So what now, Maur?" she asked, leaning back against the counter as she supported her weight on her elbows.
Maura raised her eyes to Jane, unable to resist tracking the lean lines of the detective's long body; it was very hard not to – leaning in such an angle against her marble counter, Jane seemed more suitable to be the muse of an artist than a surly Boston detective. Turning to the woman fully, Maura shifted Wyatt over her shoulder and bit her lip in thought. "We don't have much for him," she confessed, patting the baby's back gently as Jane watched her with more warmth than usual. "He's going to need more diapers and more formula, and he'll certainly need more clothes as he grows. Newborn infants grow at least an inch every month until they reach six months of age, and are supposed to gain five to seven ounces a week. He'll double in size by the time he's six months old," she explained absentmindedly, much too busy coddling the baby to notice Jane's perplexed expression.
"So Junior here's going to be fillin' out those diapers and guzzling down baby formula until he gets fat enough to want more?" The look on the Italian woman's face was hardly one of joy or excitement. "I'm not changing his diapers when he starts munching on solids!"
"I'll do it."
The husky voice startled them both, and Jane and Maura whirled to the woman in the kitchen doorway. Jane's shoulders relaxed and a mildly irritable sigh escaped her lips as she glared at the older woman. "Ma," she chided. "You could learn to knock, you know."
"I live here, I don't have to knock," Angela replied smoothly, and strode over to where they stood, plucking the baby out of Maura's arms with the practice of a mother (or perhaps grandmother). "Come here, little man," she cooed, snuggling the baby close to her bosom and planting a kiss on the baby's forehead. "Ain't you a handsome little fella, yes you are."
"A handsome fella that poops like a champ," Jane muttered, wincing after when a sharp slap from Maura's hand reproached her.
Maura perked up suddenly, grasping Jane's thin arm in her hand as she stepped up beside the woman and faced Angela with a wonderful proposition. "We could go to the grocery store this morning and get the necessities for Wyatt if you wouldn't mind watching him," she suggested brightly, dimples showing clear on her glowing face as both Jane and Angela lifted matching looks at her. "Unless of course, you prefer to bring him with us."
Jane cast a look at her mother, brows raising and then pinching slightly when she saw the hesitant look on Angela's face. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Ma," she reminded the woman gently, husky and low and soothing as Angela fingered the edge of Wyatt's blanket.
"I know that," Angela insisted, but still her face told them that something bothered her. "It's just that Stanley's making me work today, and you know what Stanley's like…." She glanced helplessly at the two women before reluctantly passing Wyatt back to Maura. "I'm sorry, you two, but I can't today," she lamented, and gave the baby one last parting stroke on his little downy head.
"Have a good time at the store," she called to them, as she grabbed her coat from the hook at the door and left them staring in her wake. As Angela walked down the driveway and shrugged on her coat, the woman couldn't help but feel like the outing would do good for the pair – Lord knows that they needed the time alone to get things settled after that sculptor fella tried to get his grubby hands on Maura.
Janie never liked to share her things.
The taller woman watched her mother go, eyes dark and sad as she turned back to Maura with a fierce frown. "Stanley's workin' her to the ground, Maura," she growled, and her dark eyes were dangerously black. "Working on a Saturday? I could just -."
"She needs something to do," Maura reminded her calmly, and Wyatt gurgled at the sound of their voices. "You know what your mother is like when she's idle. We'll just put Wyatt in the baby Bjorn and keep him facing into our chests while we shop," she said simply, and then Jane eyed her wide smile and bright eyes suspiciously.
Jane groaned in defeat, shoulders slumping as Maura's eyes glittered in a way that officially told her that she was going to be the one donning this stupid Bjorn thing.