you guys - y'all are awesome! la lisboa and i might have to write cliffhangers more often, because boy did y'all turn up in the reviews to get your feels aired out! we love it, so keep those thoughts coming!

right now, though, it's time for breakfast ;)

Phoebe pushed the hair off her forehead, frizzed and messy from sleep. Bex's mom was looking at her strangely. As Phoebe rubbed her eyes and Bex's mother came into sharper focus, she felt her heart skip a beat.

Dark, curly hair. Friendly brown eyes. Impressive bone structure. Bex had told Phoebe the first time they met that her mother was a homicide detective. She had driven up from Boston. And that name…Jane.

"Hello," she greeted timidly. "I'm Phoebe Callahan."

"Jane Rizzoli," Bex's mom answered, after a slight shake of her head. She reached out to shake Phoebe's hand. Phoebe hoped Bex's mother couldn't feel her pulse racing as they made contact.

I'm shaking hands with Jane.

I've found my mother's best friend.

She's my mother, too.

Jane glanced back at another man and Molly, who were still standing by the door. "This is my younger brother, Frankie."

"It's very nice to meet you, Detectives Rizzoli. Becca's told me a lot of wonderful things about your family," Phoebe said with a smile, directing her statement at both adults. She could feel her stomach bursting with excitement and fought to keep her voice even. She knew she couldn't say anything about her mother to Jane – she couldn't even explain to Jane how she knew who she was – and the knowledge she had to stay silent made her heart ache.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Phoebe, but please call me Jane." Frankie echoed his sister's sentiment, and Jane grinned. "And Becca has told me lots of wonderful things about you as well." Jane paused and then added, "She lets you call her Becca?"

Phoebe glanced over at Bex, a worried look in her eyes, and noticed that her friend was blushing. "Should I not call you that? Does it bother you?"

"Of course not, Bee," Bex soothed, shooting a glare at her gleeful mother. "If it did, I would've said something."

"Okay," Phoebe replied, but her voice was unsure.

"I'm starving," Jane suddenly announced. "Who wants to get some breakfast?"

"Oh, me!" Bex cried, waving her good arm. "You hungry, Bee?"

"Oh, well," Phoebe said nervously. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Hospital food is crap, Janie," Frankie whined, and Bex stifled a giggle while Phoebe stifled a gasp.

"Who said anything about hospital food?" Jane asked with a disdainful expression. She looked at Molly. "Is it alright if my brother and I take the girls out for breakfast?"

Girls. The word echoed in Phoebe's head. She was part of a set. She had never been part of a set before. She belonged with someone. She belonged with Bex.

Bex.

Bex is my sister.

The realization left Phoebe momentarily stunned. She couldn't even hear Molly's reply. She wondered why her mom had never told her that Jane had been pregnant, too. What if she hadn't known? Phoebe remembered that Bex was about three months younger than her. It was entirely possible that Jane had gotten pregnant with Bex after her mother had…

"Bee? Bee? Are you listening to me?"

Bex's voice (Phoebe tried hard not to think her sister's voice) pulled her back to the present. "I'm sorry, what, Bex?" she asked, a blush creeping up her neck.

"I asked where you wanted to go," Bex said, brushing aside her apology. "Molly said we could go anywhere, but we just have to be back here by eight. That's when the doctor comes."

"Oh." Phoebe shifted on the bed. That gave her just less than two whole hours with her…family.

"Um, I don't know," Phoebe said when she realized they were still waiting for her to answer. "What's around here?"

"There's a diner not too far from here," Molly said. "We counselors sometimes go there on our nights off – they're open 24 hours."

"Sounds good to me," Jane said. "What do you think, ladies?"

"Yum!" Bex enthused.

Phoebe gave a little shrug. "I don't much care either way," she said diplomatically.

"Don't I get a say?" Frankie asked.

Jane shot him a look. "Is there a problem?"

He shook his head and winked at the girls. Bex giggled again.

So this is what it's like with family, Phoebe thought. She smiled to herself.

Then Phoebe was struck by a terrifying notion. "We don't have any clothes, Bex!" she said.

"We're wearing clothes," Bex shrugged. "It's like six in the morning, Bee. No one will care that we're wearing our pajamas."

Bee flushed in embarrassment as she climbed out of the bed. She felt severely underdressed in a pair of pink satin shorts covered in smiling daisies and a matching pajama jacket. Bex was wearing a BPD tank top and plaid cotton boxers, which at least looked like clothing (almost). But she didn't say anything as she slipped on her sneakers and followed the Rizzolis to the car.

Bex and Frankie chattered away on the short ride to the diner, with Jane occasionally tossing in her two cents. Phoebe was silent, basking in the glow of their radiant warmth. When they pulled into the small parking lot, Phoebe noticed that there were only a few empty spots left. Her stomach twisted with dread as she thought of all the people who would see her in her nightclothes.

She swallowed hard, trailing behind Bex and Frankie into the restaurant. She paused at the doors, and felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You wanna wear my jacket?" Jane asked, her eyes smiling kindly. "At least until we sit down. That way no one will see your jammies."

Phoebe felt a lump rise in her throat. "Oh, I couldn't—"

Jane draped the blazer over her shoulders. "C'mon, kiddo," she said. "Let's get in there before Bex and my brother eat everything in sight!"

Phoebe felt safe with Jane's jacket and arm wrapped around her. Bex waved her thick green arm at them from a booth in the back.

"I wanna eat everything!" Bex shouted.

"Pace yourself, Bug, okay?" Jane warned. "Your eyes have a tendency to be bigger than your stomach."

"What are you gonna get, Bee?" Bex asked, ignoring her mother completely. "Maybe we can share. I want eggs, and bacon, and chocolate chip pancakes, and sausage, and waffles, and—"

Phoebe's eyes widened. "That's…quite a lot of food," she choked out. "I was probably going to have granola and yogurt."

"That's it?" Bex asked incredulously. "C'mon, Bee! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"

Phoebe winced internally. It wasn't that she wasn't hungry – but Jane would be paying for the meal, and Phoebe didn't want to put her out.

Jane intervened. "Bex, Phoebe can get whatever she wants. Even if it's just yogurt and granola." Jane was still looking at Bex, but Phoebe could tell that the next comment was directed at her. "But breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Phoebe finally agreed to split an order of chocolate chip pancakes with Bex, along with the granola and yogurt, which seemed to put both Jane and Bex at ease. After the friendly waitress had taken their orders, Phoebe felt Bex poke her arm.

"Look, a pinball machine! Do you wanna play with me, Bee?"

"Um." Phoebe bit her lip. She was terrible at all games that required hand-eye coordination. She said this to Bex, who merely shrugged.

"Please, it'll be fun!" she urged, her eyes shining.

When Phoebe continued to chew on her lip, Frankie cut in. "I'll play with you, Bex. You need someone to make up for your bum arm."

Phoebe watched as Bex and her uncle wandered over to the machine. She wondered what it would have been like, growing up with men. Would she be more outgoing and better at sports like Bex? Or would she still shy away from the ball in gym class?

"Are you sure you don't wanna play?" Jane asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Phoebe looked at her. "I'm sure," she said cheerfully. "I really am terrible at those games. Oh, but you can play if you want!" she added nervously. She wondered if Jane was only staying because she'd refused to play.

"No, it's all right," Jane said. "I'm not great at those games either."

Phoebe sensed that Jane was lying, but she didn't want to say anything about it. Instead she looked down at her hands, trying to come up with an innocent question to ask.

"Where are you from?" Jane asked, beating her to the punch.

"Um, Maine," Phoebe replied, looking up. "Not far from here." She wondered if Jane thought it was strange that she wouldn't specify a city, but her mother's words rang in her ears. The first rule: never reveal your location.

"That's nice," Jane said. "You're not too far from home then. Do you miss your family?"

"I miss my mom, yes," Phoebe replied quietly. Now more than ever.

"Any siblings?"

"Um, no. I'm an only child. Just my mother and me." Phoebe hoped she wasn't giving away too much information, but she couldn't see how she was breaking any of the rules. Besides, it wasn't like Jane was out to kill her mother.

"What does your mom do?"

"She's a science teacher," Phoebe answered. "She really likes science."

Jane smiled. "Do you like science, too?"

Phoebe nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes! It's my favorite subject in school."

Phoebe noticed that Jane's smile faltered a bit, and she wondered if she'd said something wrong.

"What do you like about science?" Jane asked.

School was a safe topic – and one of Phoebe's favorites. "Absolutely everything," she gushed. "But I think my favorite thing is that it all makes perfect sense. My mom always says that science doesn't lie – it doesn't change its mind. It just is."

Jane let out a tiny gasp, and Phoebe's eyes widened.

"Are you alright, Det-um, Jane?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah," Jane said, her voice rough. "You just…uh, someone I used to know said something like that to me."

Phoebe bowed her head. She hadn't meant to make Jane sad; she just wanted to be with her, even if only for a little while. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to bring up a bad memory."

"You didn't," Jane countered. When Phoebe didn't meet her eyes, she said, "I mean it, you didn't. All those memories are good ones, I swear."

Phoebe gave her a little smile. "That's good. It's nice to have memories of the people you love, even if you're not with them anymore."

The minute the words left her mouth, Phoebe realized her mistake. Jane's mouth dropped open, and her dark eyes narrowed.

"What do you – how—"

"Just, you know, speaking from my own experience," Phoebe covered quickly. "Like at camp – I have memories of having fun with my mom that keep me happy. And after camp, I'll have memories of Bex so I don't miss her as badly." Phoebe knew that was wishful thinking, but she didn't want to consider what it would feel like to say goodbye to her sister.

Jane nodded slowly, but kept a wary eye on Phoebe. "Right," she said. "Well—"

"Food, food!" The waitress was back, and with her came their breakfasts.

"I'm going to go get them," Jane said quietly, sliding out of the booth.

Phoebe waited patiently while the waitress arranged the plates on their table and Jane corralled Frankie and Bex. Bex slid in the other side of their booth, and it was then that they realized the problem.

"I'm left-handed," Bex said suddenly.

"Yeah, like me," Jane nodded, speaking through a mouthful of eggs.

"But you broke your—" Phoebe began.

"Yeah," Bex wailed. "How am I supposed to eat?"

"You can use your right arm," Frankie coached.

Bex frowned, but picked up the fork and began hacking away at the stack of pancakes at her place.

"Ugh!" she moaned in frustration. "This is impossible!"

"Here, let—" Jane began, but Phoebe had already slid the plate over to her side of the table. She began to delicately slice the pancakes into bite-sized squares, moving half to one side of the plate.

"Start with that," she said gently. "While you were playing pinball, I buttered the pancakes, so they should only need syrup. Okay?"

Bex nodded, smiling gratefully at her friend. "Thanks, Bee," she said.

"Of course," Phoebe replied, taking up a dollop of yogurt with her spoon. "What are friends for?"