See Ch 1 & 7 for disclaimers…

Jane slapped the steering wheel with her hands. "Damn it all Tommy."

"I didn't realize that it was going to be this big of a deal." He refused to look at her, choosing to stare out the passenger window.

"Well that is how it usually goes with you, isn't it?" Jane knew she was growling but she didn't care anymore. Not today. Part of her wished she had never walked back into the station.

But she had.

Jane had held the door open for Minnie and followed her through security. She'd ignored the compassionate look Perkins gave her from the front desk when she signed Minnie in and registered her purpose as DCF. By now she figured everyone had heard about Jane Rizzoli and the lobby baby. Fucking Lydia. She really was going to skin Frost alive if that photo had been posted anywhere.

She'd let Minnie into the conference room, took one look at Lydia and her blinking eyes and blotchy face and wanted to slap the look off of her. So she'd turned around and grabbed Minnie's elbow. "You know what? Tommy needs to be here too. I'm going to grab him." She spun back to Lydia, her voice dark, "Where is Maura?" The blank, intimidated look staring back at her sent her storming out of the room.

Frost had been handing Tommy a bag of chips when Jane slammed open the door to the interrogation room. He'd taken one look at her and she had watched him shake his head slightly in warning as he flicked a finger at Tommy.

Jane crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her upper arms for a moment. Frost was standing there calmly, clearly waiting for her calm down. Tommy looked up at her for a moment before turning his attention to opening the snack bag and tentatively offering it to her.

She let out a sigh. "Both of you need to come with me."

Frost shook his head. "Not me. You forget I'm covering for both of us today. You're lucky things are quiet enough that Cavanaugh's been ignoring the fact I've been away from my desk most of today."

"Please?" Jane hated to have to ask but somehow Frost coming as back up was a comforting thought. It was how her life worked when she was in this building. Life threatening situations you went into with your partner at your back. "I really need to find Maura."

It was quiet and sincere. Frost looked at his partner from head to foot, finally nodding.

"Thanks." She gestured behind her. "I'll check in with Cavanaugh and let him know you're helping me out. If he has a problem, you go, no harm, no foul. Would you take Tommy over to the conference room? I don't want Maura having to go back in there alone."

Maura muttered her thanks as she slid into the car, carefully pulling her skirt down as Vince Korsak closed the car door. She rested her head against the seat back and closed her eyes, counting on that to keep conversation to a minimum.

She had always heard people say that having children created chaos from nothing. Changed everything and made you question the manner in which you looked at even the simplest decisions. They changed you.

Unconsciously she had always mentally turned this trope aside. Of course life would change if you became a parent. It was unavoidable in the way that getting married would change your life. Getting a new job would change your life. Significant alterations of your typical subsistence to allow for any change translated into a transformation of some part of you to allow for the adjustments.

It did not mean that it modified your very sense of identity.

Maura opened her eyes to look out at the sights of Boston ticking by.

She had been wrong.

All she had to do was think back to Jane in that room and realize she had been so very, very, wrong.

Minerva thanked God, fate, the Goddess and any other deity that might be listening for the open spot over at Rosie's place. Now she had actual options that made solid sense for Lydia if she wished to mother her baby. She thanked the director at Rosie's Place one last time for holding the space as relief washed though her. She almost never had this kind of luck for finding a placement with the first phone call. Finally she felt as if she was able to give a small thank you for years of friendship at a time that would matter the most to Jane.

She was tapping the end button on her mobile phone just as Maura appeared at the end of the hall, a folder held against her abdomen.

They had looked at each other during Maura's approach and in Minnie, Maura could see understanding and something else she couldn't quite identify.

Minnie lightly clasped Maura's hand in hers. The doctor's hand was cool and the handshake reflexive. The face in front of her was drawn around the edges but otherwise inscrutable. "Dr. Isles, how are you doing?"

Maura often wondered why people would ask a question like that. Usually they did not want an honest answer, but a superfluous acknowledgement, making the question inane. With Minnie however, she suspected the question was sincere. "As Jane would say, I am alive, which is more than I can say for most of the people in my morgue."

Studying the doctor, Minerva wasn't certain if she was supposed to laugh or accept the answer. The other woman's face offered no clues. She went with a little of both, offering a half smile and a basic answer. "That will do, I suppose."

Moving over to the window, Maura could see Lydia and the baby clearly. She was surprised to see Angela and Vince seated casually next to each other. Tommy was talking with Lydia, staring at the baby intently. Frost was pacing uncomfortably at the back of the room, occasionally running a thumb over his chin and glancing at the door. "Where is Jane?"

"I believe she is fetching you actually."

Maura nodded while studying the room. "I should have realized Tommy would need to be included, but somehow I keep failing to remember he is involved intimately in the situation."

Minerva wasn't certain what exactly to do what that statement. Frowning she tried to reconcile the cool professional in front of her with the distressed voice on the phone.

"Frankie isn't there."

Again, the unexpected statement caught Minerva off guard. "He was pulling a double today covering for a buddy's sick leave. "

There wasn't any acknowledgement as Maura left her, entering the room. Minerva watched as she greeted each person. Calm, cool and collected.

Maura accepted the murmured responses and greetings as she debated the seating options. Deciding to leave the head of the table dynamic for Jane to operate, she sat down in an open chair next to Lydia.

Exasperated Tommy tossed a foot onto the car dash, ignoring Jane's pointed look. Irritating her felt good at the moment. "When Frankie found me he was freaking out and fucking clear that you were going to twist my balls off. So I go try to actually fix things by finding Lydia so you wouldn't be stuck with my problems and now you're going to kill me over that." He glared at his sister. "I can't win with you."

She shrugged, not caring. "Sucks to be you." Jane pictured Maura looking at her when she had first walked into that room, sitting there stiffly next to Lydia. "Sucks to be you and it sucks to be me."

By the time she had managed to find Cavanaugh and finally talk through the entire situation Jane wasn't surprised that Maura's office was empty. She didn't bother going into the lab or the autopsy suites. She knew where Maura was by the pure pinpricks of pain that made her wrap her arms around her stomach as the elevator climbed upward.

Minerva was leaning against the wall right outside the door. "Ahhh, there you are. Everyone else is already inside." She moved to walk in behind Jane.

"Everyone?" Jane paused at the door.

"Feels like it. You'll see."

And she had, looking through the window and assessing the situation. Frost was pacing behind Maura, obviously uncomfortable but he had stuck around which she was thankful for. She could count on him to prevent her throttling somebody if it came do that and he was the best choice for the job. They understood each other.

As her eyes fell on the next occupant, Jane groaned. "Why is my mother there? I thought she had to work the afternoon shift. And why in god's name is Korsak in there?" She gestured towards the window. "If everyone else is now part of this disaster, where is Frankie?"

"Stanley is covering your mother for a few hours, Angela wanted Sergeant Korsak with her and Frankie is pulling a double shift I understand."

Absently, attention still on the room, Jane sighed. "Ahhh, yeah, McKinley is still out. Figures he'd have a way to legitimately duck out on this. Fuck me." Squaring her shoulders she grabbed the door handle.

Jane was just about to open the door when Minerva grabbed her elbow. "Jane, remember, no matter what you are not losing this baby. He is still going to be part of your family and by default, should she keep him, so will Lydia." Jane winced but ultimately nodded slightly before walking in.

There was only one person she cared to look at when she opened the door. Maura was contained, professional and she met Jane's eyes steadily. Only when she flicked her eyes down and noticed Maura spinning her ring around her finger did Jane understand exactly what rolled under the calm exterior. For a moment all she wanted to do was grab Maura and leave. Let everyone else sort out this mess on their own. There were plenty of them to do it.

When she managed to get a grip on her emotions, Jane shifted her attention back to Maura's face, offering her a small smile, refusing to look away as she made her way over to an empty chair at the head of the table.

She gave Maura her entire focus, refusing to back down until Maura stopped spinning her ring, until her eyes lost their shutters and she let Jane back in. Her smile was returned with a soft, sad quirking of lips. Deliberately Jane ripped the chair away from the table end and dragged it with her until she was next to Maura. She finally spoke to Lydia. "Mind moving down and making some room for me?"

When Vince put the car into park in front of her house Maura invited him in. "It will only take a moment to pull everything together."

She settled him at her kitchen island with a glass of water and turned down his third offer for help. This was something she wanted to do herself. Maura awkwardly patted his shoulder. "Thank you, but honestly I'll be okay."

And she would be, after everything was out of her house and after she had a moment to sit down and remember who she was and what she wanted in life before there had been a baby on her doorstep. Before that baby had created a situation where the boundaries of friendship were obliterated by necessity, forcing an intimacy that she and Jane may never have experienced otherwise.

Maybe, if she tried hard enough, she would be able to forget what it was like to have Jane breathing her air and slipping into her. Showing Maura how, long before their lips had touched, she had made her way deep into every crevice she had. Each brush and stroke confirmation that Jane already owned parts of her that she had not realized she'd relinquished. Forcing her to realize that everything she had ever wished for when a night was particularly lonely had been there all along.

For a second she could feel the ghost of Jane's hands on her biceps, her heat along her lips.

Maura rubbed her arms hard. She needed to move past this entire situation. It was entirely too much. This was tearing her apart in ways that not even Hope running out of her house had been able to do. She moved rapidly out of the room, calling over her shoulder as she made her way through her living room. "The baby wasn't here long so there isn't much to gather. I'll be back in a moment."

Korsak sighed as he watched Maura walk away and fished his phone out of his pocket, realizing he had a call or two to make.

Maura barely heard the words falling from Minerva's mouth. She ran her palm over the folder on the table before sliding her hand from the table and onto her lap. At some point she had stopped watching Angela's tear filled face across the table, her own happiness warring with the sadness Maura could see directed back at her from the second the DNA results had spilled from her lips.

She could not handle watching Tommy looking at Lydia and the baby, his chair now close to them, his finger lightly tracing the baby's head, as if he couldn't believe that he was truly his son. Anger simmered that a forgotten condom gave him more rights than she had after days of caring for that baby boy.

Maura did not want to see one more second of Barry or Vince's concerned expressions or Minerva's empathic eyes as she carefully started to outline the options that Lydia had. Maura finally looked up against her better judgment and watched Lydia clutch the baby, her son, a little closer, starting to look hopeful when Minerva explained about Rosie's Place. At that moment Maura felt everything seize inside.

This was the outcome she knew she had purposefully helped bring forth as an option, but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt. It had taken all she had and now she wanted nothing more than to go home. She clutched her hands tightly together and stared at the way the pressure pushed the blood flow away, leaving white and mottle pink spots as she gripped even tighter.

Staring into her lap she watched a familiar hand cover both of hers, long fingers pushing, forcing their way in. Breaking her grip until Jane's hand was securely holding hers. The firm squeeze was echoed instantly in the building tightness in her throat and the prickling of tears in her eyes. Maura kept her eyes firmly in her lap. Without question she couldn't look at Jane, she had nothing left to handle that moment with.

They had been driving in silence since Jane's last retort and some of her anger was melting away. She wasn't angry at Tommy. Not really. The longer she was silent the more she realized she was perhaps a little jealous. No matter what kind of trouble he caused he always seemed to climb out of it. Forget a condom, end up with a beautiful son. One that Maura had fallen hard and fast for. That was something she could never give Maura. She had no way to fight for that baby but nobody could take him from Tommy as long as he didn't screw it up.

Jane blinked hard, pushing back any emotion. She had tried her damndest and Maura had still lost that baby. Even if Maura was the one that set it up, Jane had promised she would make it okay. This right now, did not feel okay and there was nothing she could do about it.

In the end, for all her promises, Jane Rizzoli hadn't been able to do anything except accept Minnie's heartfelt hug. It hurt, watching Lydia walk away with Minnie. She had watched as they made their way into the parking garage, her last thought as the baby slipped from sight was she hoped Lydia would remember to pay attention to how much he was eating and if he started to dehydrate. He'd been dehydrated when he'd been dropped off at Maura's. She had reached for her phone, ready to call Minnie when Tommy appeared at her side and she realized she had to let it go.

Jane glanced at her brother and let out a long sigh. Tommy was right. He had tried to fix the situation. Christ if she was honest, he had fixed the situation. Her anger banked to a low glow. It was simply a fucked up set of circumstances that wasn't going to have a good outcome the minute that baby had been left on Maura's doorstep. Particularly on the exact night he had been left on Maura's doorstep. She had called it partially right that first night. The entire situation had brought heartbreak. Only not to everyone like she first thought. She knew Maura's heart was broken. She knew there was a burning in her own chest that didn't seem to be easing up. Everyone else was looking at a happy ending. But that wasn't Tommy's fault. Not entirely. She tried to press the anger down further.

He was her brother. That was her nephew.

Jane cleared her throat and Tommy glanced over at her, waiting, expectant. "If Ma hadn't insisted, did you really not want to know which one of you was the father?"

Tommy shrugged, thrown off by the calm question. "Eventually I would, but it doesn't matter you know? It doesn't change the fact that I kind of brought Lydia into the family. Jesus, I'm not stupid enough to think that if you, Maura, Frankie and Ma had to raise him that I wouldn't be involved or whatever." He gestured between Jane and himself. "We're his family."

It didn't escape Jane that Maura came right after her. Even in Tommy's mind they were linked. That only made that moment when Maura pushed her away all the more confusing.

Minerva turned slightly so she was angled towards Lydia. "So those are all your options Lydia. It appears you have the entire Rizzoli clan willing to raise him if you still feel that you can't. We're also very fortunate that Rosie's Place has a bed available. You could go, get some additional workforce education and get on your feet. You can do this and keep your son with you."

There was a long pause over the room. Almost as if everyone had forgotten to breathe until Lydia's voice crushed the silence.

"I want to keep him." Lydia was crying and she looked at Angela first. "I didn't want to leave him in the first place. I thought it was the right thing to do."

Angela's mouth tightened briefly before she responded. `"But you did. I am not saying I can't understand why you did it, but you left him Lydia." Angela pointed a finger at her. "You think long and hard. You said you came here to learn how to be a good mother? Lesson one; you don't ever walk out on your kids. You can't take care of him, you give him to family, or you give him up for adoption if there wasn't family, but you don't dare disappear. You owe him more than that. You owe all of us more than that."

Jane squeezed Maura's hand tighter while her mother spoke.

Angela continued. "Tomorrow morning when you wake up and you still get to hold your son close, you had better think of Maura and send a prayer of thanks up to God that this girl is as kind as she is. You owe her for your second chance."

Lydia turned immediately around. "I do. Thank you Dr. Isles. Thank you so much. I swear I'm going to take good care of him."

When everyone focused on her, Maura looked away from her lap. Every eye was on her and she could feel her composure slipping. The idiotic words out of Lydia's mouth grated on her, anger warring with the sadness. For one selfish moment she wanted to quip that he deserved more than Lydia. For a few seconds she wanted to take it all back. She could offer him so much more. But now she knew. Given the option, given a chance, Lydia wanted her son. She wanted to be his mother. Lydia had the choice Hope never had.

However, enough was enough. She had kept her promise and now she was free to go.

Gracefully, Maura stood up, surprised when Jane didn't let go of her hand. When she looked down she could to see her own misery reflected back at her. She offered Jane a small smile and carefully pulled her hand away.

Taking a deep breath, Maura nodded once at the room. "I will leave you all now to sort out the particulars. Vince, if you could please so kind as to drive me home I'd appreciate it, I have some items of TJ's that should be brought back here for Lydia to take with her. Angela, I'll leave my keys with the front desk so you will have a ride home after your shift."

Jane went to stand up and was surprised when a firm hand pressed her back down. Maura's face was a mask that Jane couldn't quite decipher her voice was strained but firm. "Jane, stay and deal with your family. Bring Tommy home, Barry can't, he's covering you both. Frankie is already in the field. Angela has to work. Vince will help me home."

Maura could tell Jane was going to refuse and argue. "I'm okay. I would like to go home and finally have a chance to have a moment by myself. The past few days have been trying. Stay here, please. Your family needs you." She turned and left the room without another word.

Maura walked into her guest room, quickly grabbing the extra baby monitor and placing it into the bag along with the spit-up cloths on the bedside table. When she stepped back to survey the room she noticed that the spread was off center and obviously pulled up in a hurry this morning. When she fixed it, she noticed a small lump under the duvet. She had a clear picture of Jane scrambling out of bed and half heartedly making the bed, not caring if it was tidy or if anything was under the covers. Reaching under she pulled the object out and stared at the pacifier in her hand. Their argument over it came flooding back and when tears threatened she forcefully shoved it into the bag.

Had it truly only been this morning when Jane had been awkwardly fumbling at her door with a cup of coffee and the baby?

Even with Vince downstairs, standing in here, her home felt empty. Tears blurred her vision and she sat down on the corner of the mattress, breathing deeply until her composure was back.

Eventually Maura made her way back into her living room and realized Vince was bent over, scratching Jo's belly. She had forgotten she had Jo with her. She dropped the bags off with Vince and went to get Jo's leash at the back door, pulling it off the hook when she suddenly couldn't do it and put it back. She couldn't give up another connection today.

She'd let the baby go.

She'd given Jane a choice even if she didn't realize it yet. But she would, Maura was sure of that.

Back in that room, realizing Lydia was truly keeping the baby, she had centered every feeling on the grip Jane had on her hand. Realizing Jane would do anything for her. It was only fair she do the same. So she had.

She offered Jane her life back. Back to the way it was before Maura announced she was keeping the baby. Now Jane did not have to be with her to make sure she was able to keep the baby or provide a co-parent for that child. Jane was free to go back to being Jane Rizzoli.

But today, if Jo left, her house would be back to exactly the way it was before. Back to just Bass for company in all this empty, echoing space. Exactly what she had created for herself, had thought she wanted, before she knew what it was like to actually have everything she had ever wished for.

The warmth of a family sharing each square foot of her house, making the walls vibrate with the noise of a home.

The taste of a lover's lips who knew her in her darkest hours and chose to love her all the same.

"Vince, tell Jane I'll keep Jo for her tonight so she doesn't have to worry." Maura grabbed the bottle warmer off her counter and put it into one of the bags. She rummaged through the cabinets, filling one last tote full of formula. "I believe this is everything."

He nodded. "Are you sure you don't want me to take Jo? Jane will probably be by tonight for her anyhow." When the flash of hope crossed Maura's face, Vince sighed. He would never understand women. "Maura, I don't know what is going on with you or Jane right now, but I hope you realize, especially after Rockmond, that the baby has nothing to do with anything between the two of you."

"I…" Maura could feel herself stuttering slightly.

Vince simply stood up and clapped her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it Doc, I got you. Just be careful, you're never one to call blood anything but a reddish, brown stain. You're always cracking me over the head about assumptions. Follow the scientific evidence right?" He backed off and picked up the bags, lofting them up and down. "We're good?"

Maura wasn't sure what exactly which question he was referring to so she nodded.

"Okay then, I should get back."

When Korsak loaded the last bag into his car he offered a wave to Maura, waiting for her to return it before he got into the driver's seat and backed out of the driveway. When he reached the end he looked towards the door, not entirely surprised that it was already closed.

Through the windshield of her car Jane watched Tommy disappear into his building. The second he was gone she realized it was truly over. Korsak had come back from dropping off Maura, loaded down with all the baby supplies she and Maura had purchased together.

She rubbed her hand against her forehead, willing away the image.

It was over. She was a free woman tonight.

Lydia was with Minnie being set up at a home for displaced mothers and children. The baby was with her. Hell Maura even had her dog. She was free to do whatever she wanted. She could go back to her place right now and watch the entire Die Hard series in her underwear, fall asleep on her couch and wake up tomorrow without one other living creature disturbing her.

Only problem was she'd been there and done that.

Going back to her place felt lonely.

Jane watched the sidewalk traffic for a few minutes. When a cheerful young couple walked by pushing a baby stroller, talking animatedly, Jane didn't bother to stop the tears from spilling over. She could almost hear the words from the family at the baby store. "You make a lovely family. Enjoy him."

After a few minutes she swiped at her cheeks with short angry strokes.

Fuck this.

She put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb.

A/N - PITA chapter to write/edit (try over double the time)... actually had to rope someone else into reading it... I figure every story has to have one of *those* chapters... this one was it for me for this story, but if I edit it anymore I'm going to wreck it I think... so here you go.

Late add on A/N - Rosie's Place is very real and an organization I personally support. Did some volunteering back when I lived in the area. For women like Lydia they provide opportunity and a path in life. Google them...send some good thougts their way... heck... donate to them during the holiday season.