"Helloooo?" a greeting resonated through the house.
Maura turned over from the kitchen counter she was sitting at, and saw five beaming faces looking back at her.
"Hey Maura." Tommy smiled and walked over to hug her as he did every time they saw each other after they lost Jane.
"Hi Maura…" Lydia smiled and added apologetically: "TJ insisted he NEEDED to see you, so we came over for a little while, do you have a time for us?"
"AUNTIE MAURAAAA!" TJ screamed and ran towards Maura to hug her legs even before she had a chance to actually answer.
"Hi!" Maura genuinely, happily smiled and squatted to hug TJ. "Of course I have time for you – would you like some tea or coffee?"
"I'll handle that, so you can talk with them – I've been with them for more than two hours already!" Angela grinned, handed Dylan over to Maura and walked to the kitchen, putting the kettle on.
"Hi sweetheart," Maura kissed Dylan's forehead and Dylan put her tiny hand on Maura's cheek. Maura playfully turned her head and kissed the little girl's palm, which earned a chuckle as she pulled her hand away quickly.
"Let's sit, shall we?" Maura motioned to the couch and Tommy with Lydia and TJ aimed in that direction.
"So what did you do all day?" Tommy asked as soon as they all sat down.
"I went through Jane's documents and papers – I'm still working on finding out what's there."
"I see – did you find anything special?"
"Actually, I did." Maura smiled mysteriously and watched Dylan in her lap, who was playing with the ends of Maura's hair.
"Aaaaand will you share?" Angela carried a try with cups and tea pot.
"I found Jane's Last Will – I don't know if you're familiar with its content?" Maura paused, but nobody gave a sign of knowing it, so she continued. "Jane wanted Angela to take custody of Dylan, as you probably know, but she nominated me as well. She even prepared an adoption form for me."
"That's great!" Tommy exclaimed, looking at Lydia, who nodded "I'm happy for you!"
Angela was silent, but she was smiling. Maura turned to her, insecurity lacing her words. "What do you think of it Angela?"
"I hope you're gonna do it. You take great care of her, Maura. We already agreed she will call you Mommy. This is the right thing to do. Jane wished it to happen, so even if I was against it, I wouldn't stop you, you know." Angela smiled with tears in her eyes and went in to hug Maura. "Do it." she whispered while doing so.
"Thank you so much." Maura was simply touched. This family was more of family than her real one ever was.
"TJ, you can go for your toys, as always," Maura smiled and TJ nodded and ran away.
Angela took Dylan and put her into her playpen together with her favourite toys. She knew TJ will play with her when he comes back– he always played with his little cousin and it was amazing to watch that.
"Also do you want to know who stopped by, when you were gone?" Maura smirked. "Casey."
"WHAT?" three voices echoed through the room.
"Yes, he said that he has a right to take Dylan, because if Jane didn't say otherwise in her last will, he has the custody right. And he was sure that Jane would have told him if she did that, because-" Maura suddenly stopped and hoped nobody would notice. She didn't want to say what Casey did. It felt like he stabbed her with a knife and left it there. Thinking about it was like twisting the knife in the wound, saying it aloud would be like adding salt.
'Because she loved ME' resonated in her mind in his cocky voice.
"Because?" Angela asked, Tommy and Lydia exchanged looks.
"Nevermind." Maura said quietly, her gaze running away from them.
"But she did write it in her will, right?" Lydia assured herself.
"Yes, she did."
"Did you tell him?" Tommy asked, a hint of anger in his voice. Maura nodded and hummed in agreement.
"And what did he say?" Tommy smirked, imagining the stupid surprised look on Casey's face.
"Nothing, I closed the door in front of him." Maura finally lifted her eyes and smiled lightly.
"I'm proud of you, Maura!" Tommy exclaimed. "I would rather hit him, but this is the second best thing you could have done."
That made Maura laugh and she shook her head. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked into smiling face of Angela. "Thank you, for everything. That asshole doesn't deserve Dylan."
"Language, Ma!" Tommy said, looking all scandalized at Angela, while Lydia looked for TJ – he was in the dangerous age of repeating every swear word you didn't want him to hear.
"What? It's true!"
"I'm not saying it's not, but remember what I said about TJ."
"Oh sorry!" Angela scanned the room for the little boy, who hasn't come back with the toys yet. "Where is he anyway?"
"I'll find him," Lydia got up and aimed in the direction her son left.
Lydia came back minutes later with TJ in her arms and bag of toys hanging from her little finger. She put TJ down and he ran to Dylan to play with her and the toys Lydia brought.
"What happened?" Tommy said quietly, the image of worried father seeping on the surface again.
Lydia's voice dropped to whisper, eyes turning to Maura "I'm sorry, he somehow came across a Jane's photo album and I found him sitting on the ground, crying with the album in his hands… I don't know where he found it, I hope you're not upset…"
"It's okay, Lydia, don't worry… He just looked through his Aunt's photos, that's not a bad thing." Maura smiled encouragingly.
"Is he okay?" Tommy put his hand on Lydia's to get her to look at him.
"Yes, I talked with him about it." Lydia turned her hand upside down and intertwined her fingers with Tommy's.
Maura watched their interaction and smiled painfully. Simple gestures like this were something she wanted to do with Jane, but never had a chance. But Casey had. The knife took another twist and this time Maura lightly writhed because the pain grew from emotional to physical, or at least it felt so.
Angela decided to break the silence. "Does anybody want something else? Tea, coffee, ice-cream?"
"MEEEEE!" TJ jumped up and ran towards the kitchen with his Grandma.
Maura and Angela exchanged a look – Maura wordlessly thanked her.
The atmosphere didn't feel so heavy anymore.