A/N: Thank you all for the lovely reviews. I'm glad you are enjoying the story. It's fun writing it. Back to the fun!
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Chapter 10
The women were enjoying their meals and quiet conversation but Maura could still feel the tension rolling like waves off of Jane from the incident with her brothers. She would occasionally notice Jane's hand shaking or feel her leg bouncing under the table. When this happened, Maura would nonchalantly reach under the table and gently caress Jane's thigh which seemed to calm her down.
There was a lull in the conversation and Mario let out a squeak. Jane jumped up so fast that her chair went toppling over.
"What's wrong with him? Is he alright?" she said, voice full of tension.
The bassinet had been placed, strategically and purposely by Angela, between the grandmothers and they were both looking at him.
"He's fine, Janie. He just talked in his sleep, much like you used to do." said Angela. "Relax, honey, the babies are fine."
The rigidity of Jane's back and shoulders softened somewhat but Maura knew she was far from being relaxed.
"Is Lucia alright?" she asked.
"Darling," Constance said, "both children are sleeping peacefully. They are absolutely fine."
Jane nodded her head but continued to look at her babies.
Maura stood up and picked up Jane's chair then placed her hand on Jane's back and rubbed gentle circles and said, "Why don't you sit down and finish your dinner. The babies appear to be just fine. Nothing will happen to them, especially with their grandmothers on either side of them."
"Yeah you're right, Maura. Guess I'm still a bit jumpy."
Maura continued to rub Jane's back as they sat down and resumed eating. She could almost feel the last bits on tension leave her wife's back when the patio door opened and Tommy stuck his head in. Instantly, Jane went stiff as a board.
"What do you want?" she said to her brother with an icy tone that chilled to the core.
Tommy hesitated then took a tentative step into the dining room. "I, uh...I, uh...I'm hungry and wondered..."
Jane continued with her icy glare and said "Oh, you nearly kill Maura's and my children acting like a complete jackass and you think you can waltz back in here and get something to eat?"
Tommy stepped further into the room and said to his sister, "Come on, Janie. Don't you think you're overreacting just a bit? You and Maura had the babies on the couch. They weren't even close to getting hurt. Stop with the drama queen act already."
As soon as he said that last sentence, Tommy knew he had crossed the line.
Jane jumped up from her chair, toppling it once again and lunged a her brother. She caught him by the shoulders and pinned him against the wall. With her face mere inches from his and a rage that no one had ever seen before coming from her, she hissed through clenched teeth, "They are MY children and this is MY house. Don't you ever come in here and tell me how to act in my own home. Have you forgotten what all I went through to have them? How they were conceived? You're an asshole, Tommy!"
Hearing the commotion inside the house, Frankie (who had been lurking outside the door to see if Tommy would get served dinner) walked in. He hadn't expected to see his sister pinning their brother against the wall and looking like a mad woman.
"Janie. Control yourself. You're gonna hurt him." Frankie said as he grabbed her shoulder.
Bad move.
Jane never took her eyes or hands off of Tommy but instead, quick as a cobra strike, kicked out and hooked her leg around the back of Frankie's and dropped him to the floor. Then she threw Tommy onto the floor beside his brother and jumped on both of them.
"Control myself." she howled. "Control myself! Who are you to tell me to control myself. I nearly died the night they were conceived then nearly died several more times thanks to their father. You should know that Frankie. You're the one who killed him before he killed me and the babies! He shot Maura. We went through hell for those babies and won't have you two coming in here and jeopardizing their safety and well-being. Get out of my house, now!" She was practically growling now and her hands were creeping closer and closer to her brothers' throats.
Maura snapped out of her shocked disbelief and came to the rescue of her brothers-in-law. She placed a hesitant hand on Jane's shoulder, afraid Jane would take her down the way she had Frankie.
Jane shook her hand off as she continued to growl and breathe heavily.
Maura tried again but this time said as gently and softly as she could, "Jane, honey, why don't you get up and come over and sit back down."
Lucia chose this moment to let out a cry which seemed to snap Jane back to her senses and she looked at her brothers like she couldn't figure out why they were on the floor or why she was on top of them.
"Yeah, okay." she said, voice devoid of emotion, and allowed Maura to help her to her feet and onto a chair.
Constance and Angela both stood, each holding a baby, and stared at Jane. Neither knew what to say or do, having never seen Jane like this before.
"Janie?" Angela asked timidly as she cuddled a crying Lucia to her chest. "Honey, are you alright?"
Jane was shaking violently and Maura was sitting on a chair beside her with her arms wrapped tightly around her wife to help control the tremors and both sobbing.
Maura kissed Jane on the cheek and temple and cooed soothing words to her with the hopes of calming both of them down. She never loosened her grip on her wife.
Tommy and Frankie remained seated on the floor, still in disbelief of what had just happened and were smart enough to keep their mouths shut for once.
Lucia wailed even louder and Mario let out a few cries as well.
Jane looked up from where her head had been resting on Maura's chest, into her wife's tear-filled hazel eyes and said, "What happened?"
Maura returned the gaze into her wife's red, puffy, and bloodshot eyes and asked, "Don't you remember?"
Jane whispered one word, "No." then started to cry again.
Maura then asked, "Do you think you can stand?"
Jane nodded her head.
"Would you like to go into the living room?"
Nod again.
"Alright. Let's go in there and relax a bit. I think Lucia and Mario need some Mama time."
Jane nodded yet again.
Maura helped Jane to her feet and was shocked to find how weak she was. Maura wrapped her arm tighter around her wife and practically dragged her into the living room and helped her onto a couch while Constance and Angela followed with the babies.
As they walked past the boys, still sitting on the floor, Angela shot them a death glare.
"What?" Tommy mouthed to his mother.
Angela stopped and said in hushed tones, "You two stay out here. Get plates of food then leave. Go back to the guest house. You have caused your sister enough trauma for today."
They just stared at their mother then slowly got up and went to the table, made their plates and slipped out the patio doors and back into the guest house.
"What was that all about?" Tommy asked his brother.
Frankie looked at his brother and said, "We really fucked up this time."
"What'd we do?" Tommy asked stupidly.
"Janie." Frankie said.
"What about Janie?" Tommy asked.
"She has PTSD and we caused her to have a breakdown by acting like asses." Frankie said, finally realizing the magnitude of the distress he and his brother caused their sister today.
"She has an STD? Did Maura give it to her?" Tommy asked.
Frankie slapped Tommy across the back of the head. "No you idiot. She has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and we caused her to relive those horrible things that Casey did to her."
"You mean 'cause we knocked over that crib?" Tommy asked, still not getting it.
"Yeah moron." Frankie said as he went to slap Tommy again but instead let his hand fall back into his lap. "God. I need to talk to her. I need to put this right."
"I...I...wouldn't do that." Tommy said as he held up his hands in an I surrender gesture. "She was pretty pissed off and she's really strong, besides Ma said to stay here."
"Yeah." Frankie said as he looked in the direction of the main house and wondered what was happening in there right now.
Back in the main house, the women were still trying to calm Jane down enough that she could hold and in Lucia's case, feed, the babies.
Maura grabbed an afghan from the back of the couch and wrapped it tightly around Jane's shoulders then sat down and once again embraced her.
"What happened, Maur?" Jane asked huskily.
"You don't remember anything?" Maura asked, concerned.
"I remember us sitting there, eating, and Mario making a noise then it kind of goes black after that." Jane said.
Angela and Constance were sitting on the couch opposite the one Jane and Maura were on and said nothing. This unnerved Jane more than not remembering. Her mother and mother-in-law were regarding her with wary eyes and she was afraid of what she had done to cause them to look at her like that.
"Will someone say something." Jane said pleadingly. "Tell me what happened and why you two are looking at me like I killed someone."
"Oh Janie." Angela said as her voice broke. "I've never seen you like that. I was so scared you might hurt one or both of your brothers or hurt yourself."
"What?" Jane asked as she looked from her mother to her mother-in-law, to her wife. "What are you talking about?"
Maura cleared her throat then said, "It seems like you had some sort of a breakdown."
Jane's eyes widened with a horrified look. "I went...crazy?" she whispered the last word.
"No, sweetheart, not crazy. I think you had a post-traumatic flashback set off by your brothers almost hurting the children." Maura said as she leaned her forehead against her still trembling wife's.
"What, exactly, did I do?"
"Well it was actually quite impressive, darling." Constance said.
"Mother!" Maura reprimanded.
"What, my dear? You mean to tell me that you weren't impressed by your wife's abilities?"
"Yes but..." Maura stammered.
"Will somebody, please, tell me what was or was not so impressive?" Jane interjected.
"Why darling." Constance said, "You took down, I believe the cop lingo goes, both of your brothers at once. Actually, you took down Frankie whilst your back was to him and both of your hands were restraining Tommy against the wall. I for one, was most impressed."
"I did what?" Jane asked in total disbelief. "Did I really do that?"
Maura nodded and Angela let out a howl of laughter that set Lucia to crying again. Jane held out trembling arms for her daughter.
"Oh Janie." Angela laughed as she got up to give the baby to Jane. "I hope you at least can remember the looks on your brothers' faces when you jumped on top of both of them. Constance is right. I was damn impressed by your moves. Frankie never saw it coming. Mind you, it was terrifying to watch at the time but now it's just hilarious."
Jane struggled to open her shirt and nursing bra as she looked at her mother in disbelief.
Maura leaned over. "Let me help you, honey." she said as she swiftly and expertly unbuttoned Jane's shirt then unhooked the nursing flap of her bra. She looked away before she, also, broke into fits of giggles.
"Maura." Jane whined. "Not you too."
"I'm sorry Jane, I know what you went through was not funny, but the look on Frankie's face when you hooked his leg with yours and laid him out flat on the floor was priceless."
Jane still couldn't believe that she had done all of that and turned her attention to her crying daughter who was greedily rooting at the front of her mother's shirt for her dinner.
Once Lucia was latched on and sucking noisily, Jane blew out a huff of air and said, "Bet no one even thought to record this monumental event, did they?"
"No but I wish we would have." Angela said, still laughing.
Jane finished feeding Lucia and by that time, Mario was awake and she fed him as well while hers and Maura's mothers cleared the dining room table, put the leftovers away and cleaned up the kitchen. They returned to the living room to see Maura holding a sleeping Mario and Jane sleeping on the couch.
"She's exhausted." said Maura. "I think the events of the day have finally caught up with her and the adrenaline has worn off. She could hardly stay awake to finish feeding him." Maura indicated the sleeping baby in her arms.
"I'm sure it has, dear." said Constance. "She really did have a traumatic afternoon. Do you think she will be alright?"
"I believe she will be but I'm going to call Dr. Meyer tomorrow and discuss what happened and see if he feels Jane needs to be seen."
"Seen for what, sweetie?" Angela asked.
"I feel Jane is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and had a flashback today when her brothers threatened the safety of our children."
"Is that what caused her to act like that?" Angela asked with concern.
"Yes. She entered an almost feral state and instinctively acted as one would in the wild to protect their young from predators." Maura explained.
"All this went back to what Charles did to her and to you then was brought on by the actions of her brothers?"
"That is exactly what happened."
"Oh my poor baby." Angela said as tears rolled down her cheeks. "She's never talked about what happened. She must have gone through hell from that man."
"She did, Angela. Even now, she has nightmares about it and wakes up shaking and sweaty and jumps out of bed and holds the babies for hours just to make sure they are safe."
"I had no idea." Constance said.
"Neither did I." said Angela.
"She talks very little about what happened and it causes her too much anguish for me to push her to talk so I just let her tell me things as she feels safe enough to do so."
"Give her a kiss for me, darling, and tell her I will see her tomorrow." said Constance as she kissed Maura and Mario before going to the bassinet and kissing Lucia and leaving.
Angela sat down beside Maura and looked at her sleeping daughter and said, "Do you really think my Janie will be alright? It was frightening to see her like that and the fact that she can't remember what happened."
"She will be fine, Angela. We will work through this. She will probably still be exhausted tomorrow and will be sore from the physical exertion but she will be fine."
"If you are sure, sweetie."
"I'm sure."
"Alright then. I'll go home and deal with those two idiots and you take care of your family." Angela said as she kissed Maura on the cheek then Mario and then Lucia. "Give Janie a kiss from me as well. Love you, sweetie."
"I will and I love you too." Maura said as she watched her mother-in-law leave. "God help your uncles." she said softly to her son as she heard the door click closed.
Jane let out a small snort in her sleep and her eyes fluttered but she didn't wake up and Maura decided to get the babies upstairs and settled for the night before waking her but the slam of the door from across the patio woke Jane for her.
"What was that?" Jane asked, half awake.
"I do believe that was only the beginning of a very long and sleepless night for your brothers." Maura said with a smile. "Come on, honey, let's go up to bed."
Jane willing obliged.