AN: Hey y'all, I'm going to have a bit longer of an AN at the end of this one. For now I just want you to read and enjoy the chapter! Thanks!

The alarm started beeping what seemed like too soon the next morning. As her senses kicked in though she realized there were long, lithe legs tangled with hers and strong, but gentle, arms wrapped around her torso almost cradling her.

Maura shifted gently so that she could reach for her alarm to turn it off without disturbing Jane too much. The second the noise stopped though she heard the disgusted groaning of her friend who still wanted to fight waking up. Maura turned back over so that she could look at the stubborn detective who was still pretending to sleep.

She smiled as she guided a small lock of hair behind Jane's ear and earned a smile in return. "Morning," Jane said as she cracked open one eye. "Did you get any sleep?"

Maura's smile widened a little. "Yes," she said quietly, "The best night I've had in a few days."

"Good," Jane said as she started to stretch. She reached out and took her best friends hand. "I'm glad that we had a chance to talk a little bit last night." She looked Maura in the eyes now, "I'm sorry that Nate turned out not to be the kind of man that either of us thought that he was. It's going to be okay though. I'm here, and you're not going to be alone in this."

Maura looked at her best friend past the tears that were starting to glisten in her eyes. "Thank you, Jane. I know that we've had our share of differences lately, but I'm glad that we can still be friends. While deep down I know that I could do this on my own, because I've done so many other things that way, I wasn't looking forward to it. It's wonderful knowing that I'll have you."

Jane chuckled a little. "Just remember you won't have just me. Ma will be around too. I wasn't kidding when I said that you'd be lucky if she didn't move in with you again."

A sly grin appeared on Maura's face, "And how do you know that I haven't already asked her to move in again?"

Jane plastered on a face of mock shock. She knew better. "Maura Isles, I would hurt you if you'd done that already. No, really though, Ma would have been freaking out and calling me non-stop talking about baby things if you'd already told her. Not to mention that she probably would have roped me, Frankie, and Korsak all into helping her move her stuff back in here by now if you had."

Maura chuckled as she made a move to get off of the bed. "It just doesn't ever stop with you does it?"

"What?"

"Your detecting, Detective."

Jane shook her head as she also moved to get out of the bed. "Well if you can't turn off your google mouth I don't see what the big deal is that my detective skills don't turn off." She winked at Maura so she would know she was kidding. "Besides, right now I need my detecting skills. I need to figure out where you hid my instant coffee so that I can have some."

Maura made a disgusted face as she headed for the bathroom. "Why don't you just use the machine?"

"Well I would if that machine were at all possible to figure out. I swear it takes a Doctorate to be able to figure out how to use it. Plus since you're not drinking caffeine there's no need to worry about the machine since I like instant just fine."

R&I

Jane knocked on the door to the operating suite later that morning. It appeared that Maura was somewhere in the middle of her autopsy. "You got anything for me yet?" Jane asked as she fully entered the room.

Maura looked up through her safety glasses at Jane. "Nothing that's really conclusive yet. I was just getting to my favorite part," she smiled.

"Ugh," Jane groaned slightly. "How do you even stand to do that while you're pregnant? I would think that it would trigger morning sickness."

Maura simply shrugged her shoulders. "I did find some fibers that didn't seem to match the victim's clothes on his body. I sent them to Susie. She also took his fingerprints. Last I had heard from her she was running the fibers for a match and the fingerprint was still running as well."

"Wonderful," Jane commented with a slight irritation. "That is just what I wanted; to have a John Doe that we might never find anything for, except that he was murdered."

"I also found what looked like a hypodermic puncture mark on the body. He doesn't appear to have a drug problem of any kind, so something could come back in the tox screen."

Jane seemed to perk up slightly at the news. "Well that's more than we've had to go on with some cases," she said trying to remain positive.

"Yes, it is," Maura agreed. She turned back to her autopsy and Jane stood watching her for a moment. "Will you go to my ultrasound with me?" she asked suddenly as she continued with her work.

Jane noticed that it sounded like there was a lot of hesitation in the question, but also a lot of excitement as well. It seemed as though Maura really wanted her to go; was excited to share the experience with her, but nervous that her question might not be well received. "I thought you already had one of those things done?"

"I did, yes, but there's more than one done during pregnancy," Maura replied as she looked up from her work once again. "Last time the doctor had to use a transducer probe and the image wasn't all that clear. Though it would normally be a few more weeks before I was supposed to have another one done the doctor agreed that another one wouldn't hurt, just to check on the baby's progress."

Jane had only understood about half of what had been said, though that was typical when she was with Maura. "Okay, if you really want me there then I'll be happy to go."

The brightest smile she'd seen from her best friend in a while lit up her face. "Oh, thank you Jane! I think you're really going to like it. We'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat and maybe even make out some features."

"So, when is the appointment?"

"Right," Maura said as she tried to calm down a bit, "It's the day after tomorrow, during our lunch hour."

Jane paled slightly when she heard the day. "Uh, right. Okay. I… will… be there."

"Jane, are you alright? Is there something wrong? You don't have to go if you don't want to."

"No, no. It's fine," Jane quickly responded. "It will be fine. I'll be there."

"I was hoping that it would be uneventful that day and we could just go to the appointment together."

Jane nodded. "That actually sounds like a good idea. I'm glad that you've got this all thought out." She smiled at her best friend. "Anyway, I think that I'll head over to the lab and see if Susie has anything for me and then check back here once you get the report written for all of this."

R&I

Jane shook her head as she headed down the hallway of the basement two days later to meet Maura to go to the appointment. Ultimately she knew that she was doing the right thing. She needed to be here for her best friend, despite what anyone else might think.

"Hey," she greeted as she knocked on the door. "I finished up my paperwork a little bit early so I decided to head on down. Hope that's okay?"

Maura smiled as she watched the Detective walk into her office and sit down on the couch. "Actually, you have good timing. I just finished up my paperwork as well." Maura closed down the lid on her laptop. She rolled back from her desk and stood to gather her purse and her jacket.

They easily made their way out of the station to Maura's car and climbed in. "So, how far is this place?" Jane questioned.

Maura's attention didn't sway from the road as she answered the question. "It's about ten minutes form the precinct. We should be finished in plenty of time that we can grab a bite to eat on the way back to the station."

Jane nodded, "Sounds good to me." She turned her attention out toward the street and started watching everything that they passed. Her mind wandered as the surroundings became a blur. Her mind was running though several different scenarios of what her life, a life that included Maura, could have been if she hadn't let go fourteen months ago. Could she and Maura have started a life together? Would they be dating, married, preparing to have a baby?

"Jane," Maura said rather forcefully, pulling her from her thoughts. She must have missed Maura saying her name more than once already. "Sorry," she quickly apologized as she realized that they were stopped in a parking lot. They had arrived at the doctor's office while she'd been daydreaming.

She stood in awe as she looked around at the waiting room. Most doctors' offices she'd been to felt sterile and cold; you wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. This waiting room was the exact opposite. It was warm and inviting here; a place that you wouldn't mind waiting if the doctor were running behind on their appointments.

There was something else that she noticed about the office. There wasn't anyone else in it. It was completely empty, almost as though it were closed. Something had to be going on here; she just couldn't put her finger on what. "Maura, she's waiting for you in exam room two," the woman said as they made their way to the desk in the waiting room.

"Thank you Jennifer," Maura said politely as she redirected herself to a doorway for them to go through that presumably led to the exam rooms.

Behind the door was similar to the waiting room out front, in that it was also rather warm and inviting. It wasn't as cramped as you would typically find an office. Instead of having as many exam rooms as possible packed into the space there were just three, and they all looked to be rather spacious.

"Maura," a woman greeted her best friend as they made their way into the middle exam room.

"Hello Carol," Maura greeted in return. "Thank you for doing this during your own lunch hour."

That explained the empty lobby. Now that she was in here, Jane was feeling somewhat nervous. What if things didn't turn out right? Would she be the right emotional support for that kind of situation? She took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

"Oh, Dr. Carol Williamson, I'd like you to meet my best friend, Detective Jane Rizzoli. I asked her to come along today, I hope that's alright."

"Yes, of course. As long as you're happy and comfortable and things remain calm, you can have anyone here that you like."

Maura turned now to Jane, "Jane, this is my OB/GYN, Dr. Carol Williamson."

"Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Williamson," Jane greeted as she reached out to shake the doctor's hand. "This is quite the office you have here."

"Wonderful to meet you as well, Detective. Please, feel free to call me Carol though. I prefer to be on a first name basis with my patients. We usually spend quite a bit of time together through the whole process from conception to birth. That's also part of the reason that we have the office set up the way we do; we want it to be comfortable for our patients to be here."

"You certainly do a fine job of that, in my opinion. And please, call me Jane."

The doctor nodded at her and turned her attention back to Maura. "Alright Maura. If you could just lay up here on this exam table for me and open your blouse, this should only take a couple of minutes."

Maura followed the doctor's instructions. A couple of minutes later Jane watched as Carol then squeezed out the gel and prepared to rub the transducer over Maura's abdomen to create the picture. Jane held her breath without even realizing it.

A couple of minutes later they were all holding their breath as the machine remained silent. It hadn't yet started the thrumming that signaled the baby's heartbeat. "It's alright I'll find it in just a minute," Carol reassured them.

Another minute or so ticked by as the transducer was passed slowly over Maura's abdomen. Jane could see that Maura's eyes were brimming with tears and she took a hold of her hand for support. In that instant though the machine started thrumming away. Jane and Maura both let out a breath they didn't realize they'd been holding.

"There we go," Carol said as she started to adjust the monitor. "The position had changed a little bit from last time, but everything appears to be just fine. You look to be right at eleven weeks. Take a look."

Jane looked up at the picture on the monitor. She stood there stunned. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Though slightly fuzzy simply because it was an ultrasound, there was very clearly a baby there. She could make out the head and the little arms, and even little legs.

She looked back down at Maura and saw one of the biggest smiles out of her friend that she could ever remember seeing in the time of their friendship. Jane squeezed Maura's hand that she was still holding to let her know that she was still there. She couldn't help but look back up at the screen. Tears started to well in her own eyes now. At this moment she knew one thing for certain; she was still in love with her best friend, and now this baby too. She knew she could never have them, Maura needed a friend not a love interest, but she loved them nonetheless.

AN2: So, this is probably my last post of the year. I just wanted to say thank you all for making it a wonderful year. Without awesome readers like you, there wouldn't have been any reason to write and post stories here. Without an awesome fellow writer, wolvesjr34, this story wouldn't even be possible; thank you wolves for allowing me to play around in your universe a bit. I am excited to see what this next year is going to have in store for me. I hope you all will join me in it as I finish off this story. Thanks! Oh, and don't forget a review on this chapter! I think this one was my favorite one so far and I'm curious to know what you thought of it as well.