Epilogue

"Is everyone ready?" Angela asked.

"I'm ready!" said Maura, turning on her camera.

"I have matches," said Jane.

"I'm ready!" said Charlotte, although there wasn't anything in particular they needed her to do.

"Okay, here it comes!" Angela set Eva's very first birthday cake on the high chair tray, where Eva eyed it uncertainly. Jane lit the candle, and Maura began snapping pictures. Eva looked beautiful in the little pink silk dress Maura had gotten especially for the occasion. Her blonde hair just covered her head now, and her eyes were the same green as Charlotte's – one of the few features the two sisters had in common. Eva's face very much resembled Maura's, which felt strange to her. She'd gone most of her life without ever seeing a face similar to her own, and when she finally did, it wasn't quite what she'd dreamed of. This was different. She felt a sort of healing of old wounds when she looked at Eva, a feeling that she was starting over with her genetic material and leaving the mistakes of former generations behind her.

"Blow out your candle!" Jane told Eva after everyone was done singing to her. With a solemn expression, Eva blew very gently. The candle flame wavered, but didn't go out.

"Blow harder!" Maura encouraged. Eva took a deep breath, her little chest puffing out, and blew out the candle. Everyone cheered, which made Eva smile.

"Now eat the cake!" said Angela. Eva looked at the cake hesitantly, then looked from Maura to Jane to Angela as if expecting help.

"Just stick your hand in it and grab some," Jane encouraged her.

Eva lifted a hand and tentatively touched the cake, then pulled her hand away and looked at her fingers, which now had icing on them. A look of horror spread across her face as she let out a single, heart-breaking cry.

"Oh no," said Jane, hurriedly grabbing a napkin and wiping the icing off Eva's fingers.

"She doesn't like to get messy," Charlotte stated matter-of-factly.

"I know, but everyone's supposed to smash a cake on their first birthday," said Jane. "It's tradition."

"She doesn't have to do it if she doesn't want to. It's her birthday," said Maura. She cut a slice out of the cake and put it on a plate, then put a forkful in Eva's mouth.

"Mmmm!" exclaimed Eva, her face lighting up. She swallowed her first bite of cake and opened her mouth for more.

"I guess she didn't need her own cake after all," said Angela.

"What kind of baby doesn't like to get messy?" Jane muttered in Maura's ear, an amused smile on her face.

It was true that Eva was quite different from Charlotte. While Charlotte had always been a torrent of energy, constantly getting into things, Eva was quieter and more observant. She was very curious and liked to explore, but she was cautious, and she usually listened when they told her not to do something. Charlotte was outgoing, while Eva didn't want strangers anywhere near her (possibly not a bad thing, considering that the first stranger she'd ever met had wanted to kidnap her). And Charlotte had always been daring, although she was a bit clumsy. She had started walking at ten and a half months in spite of having poor balance, and as a result had fallen on her face more than a few times. Eva, on the other hand, had yet to take a single independent step, even though she walked perfectly while holding someone's hand. It was like she wanted to be absolutely certain she had mastered it before trying it on her own. She also loved to be held and cuddled, which Maura was happy about. Charlotte would sometimes sit on someone's lap, but it had to be her idea and she had to be in just the right mood. Eva was almost always in the mood. She was very affectionate, and both mommies loved it.

Still, the two sisters got along remarkably well. Eva adored Charlotte and wanted to be near her whenever possible, and Charlotte had an uncanny knack for reading Eva's emotions in any given situation. She was already showing signs of protectiveness over her little sister.

When Eva was done with her cake, Maura took her out of her high chair and handed her the helium-filled balloon she'd been eyeing. Her face became a picture of pure delight as she waved the string around, causing the balloon to hit her face and then fly back up. She laughed like it was the funniest thing that had ever happened to her.

"I've never seen someone enjoy a balloon so much!" laughed Nina, who was holding her infant son Barry in her arms. Barry had arrived on November 15. When Eva was five months old. He had big, brown eyes like Frankie's (and therefore also like Jane's), just a little bit of black, curly hair, and a laid-back demeanor.

"Yeah, at least she's a regular baby in some ways," said Jane, slipping an arm around Maura's waist. "She's probably the only kid on the planet to refuse to smash a cake on her first birthday."

"Oh, I doubt that," admonished Maura. "There have to be others."

"It's hard to believe she's one already," said Nina. "This is also the anniversary of a not so pleasant event for you two. How are you doing with that?"

"We prefer to remember the positive aspects of that day," said Jane, giving Maura a squeeze. "That day, I survived giving birth in a small room with no drugs, my amazing wife delivered a healthy baby and then took out a serious threat, thereby saving us all, and we got a precious little girl. All in all, it was a good day."

"I'm just grateful that we still have our Eva," said Maura, hugging Jane back. "I don't know what we'd do without her." She looked fondly at her younger daughter, who was still having fun with the balloon. Charlotte had gotten her own balloon and was now playing with Eva, both of them laughing. Maura couldn't imagine living without this, or without any of the sweet little moments they'd had with Eva over the past year. When she thought of the damage Diana had tried to inflict on their family, she found it hard to feel bad about crushing Diana's trachea. Diana had recovered with the help of surgery, but there was a possibility of future complications. Her defense attorney had made much of the crushed trachea during the trial, insisting that Maura was no victim if she was capable of inflicting that kind of injury, but the jury had sided with the mother defending her newborn baby. Diana had been convicted on three counts of kidnapping at gunpoint, one of a minor, and sentenced to twenty years in prison. By the time she got out, Eva would be in college.

"We never would have let that woman take our baby," Jane assured her. "I'm just grateful you still find me attractive after that experience."

Maura laughed. "You've seen me give birth, and you still find me attractive!"

"Yeah, but you weren't naked and screaming with your butt in my face."

Nina laughed too. "I'm glad Frankie didn't have to deliver Barry, but I think it's kind of cool Maura delivered Eva."

"It was cool," Jane agreed, smiling at Maura. "I mean, it didn't seem that way so much at the time, but in retrospect it does. On that day, Maura was a doctor, a midwife, a nurse, a doula, a labor coach, a bodyguard, and a mother. And the first two people to touch Eva were her moms, not a doctor." Jane kissed Maura's head. "She's the best mother I could possibly have chosen for my kids."

Just then, Eva lost her grip on her balloon and it drifted up towards the ceiling. She instinctively took a step towards it.

"Jane," said Maura softly. "That was her first step!"

"Well, her first step without hanging onto something," said Jane. She grabbed the balloon and held it down to Eva's level, a few feet away. Eva reached for it but remained planted in her spot. "Come on! You can do it! You already took one step by yourself!" Jane encouraged her.

"Come on, Eva!" Charlotte took her little sister's hand and Eva gratefully started walking towards the balloon.

"Let go of her hand and see if she keeps walking," Jane told her.

Charlotte let go, and Eva faltered. She cried out "Balloon!" in her saddest voice, and Maura worried Jane would give in (people thought it would be Maura, but Jane was the real softie where the kids were concerned).

But Jane stayed strong. "You can do it, Eva. It's just a few more steps."

Eva hesitantly put one foot forward, then the other, until she had crossed the small space between herself and Jane. "Good job! I knew you could do it!" Jane said, handing over the balloon and giving Eva a kiss. Eva just looked happy to have her balloon back.

"Can you walk to me?" Maura asked, kneeling on the floor. Eva looked at her thoughtfully and then began to walk, slowly and then a little faster, until she reached her Mommy. Maura scooped her up in her arms and stood up. "I'm so proud of you!" she told Eva.

"Balloon," said Eva quietly, still gripping the string.

"So she was born on her due date, and now she starts walking on her first birthday," said Jane. "That kid is on a strict schedule. How do we convince her she's not scheduled to go on her first date until she's thirty?"

Maura smiled. "That means we'd be in our seventies when she started dating. It might be difficult for you to threaten her dates within an inch of their lives at that age. And I know you'll want to, whether they're male or female."

"Nobody's breaking my babies' hearts on my watch," promised Jane, planting a kiss on Eva's head. Eva continued to play with her balloon in Maura's arms, oblivious to the life-changing milestone she had just achieved.

XXX

It was a beautiful June day, so they ate Eva's birthday dinner out on the patio, and then the kids ran around the yard until dusk. Eva quickly learned that it was easier to follow her sister everywhere now that she was traveling on two limbs instead of four, and she had a grand time playing with Charlotte and T.J. while Barry watched from his blanket. When the guests were finally gone, Angela helped Maura clean up while Jane took the girls upstairs to give them a bath. Then Angela went to Ron's and it was just the four of them again.

Maura finished putting the house back in order and then found her family in the living room, both girls in their pajamas and smelling strongly of shampoo. Jane was nursing a sleepy Eva on the couch, while Charlotte sat on the floor building with wooden blocks, her favorite stuffed rabbit beside her.

"Hi sweet girl. What are you building?" Maura asked, getting down on the floor with Charlotte.

"A castle," said Charlotte, unsurprisingly. She was very interested in fairy tales.

"Mm. I like it! You're a good architect."

"You can live in my castle," Charlotte offered.

"I would love to live there! But only if you and Eva and Mama live there too."

"Okay." Charlotte continued building. "Can a castle have two queens?"

"It most certainly can," Maura assured her.

Charlotte lined up four wooden peg people on top of the castle. "This is Queen Mommy, and Queen Mama, and Princess Charlotte and Princess Eva."

"I like that," said Maura. "I think we'll be excellent rulers."

"Uh huh," said Charlotte. "We give food to all the people that don't have enough food."

"No one goes hungry in our kingdom," Maura agreed, kissing Charlotte on the forehead before getting up to join her wife on the couch.

"Well there's no king, so it's a queendom," said Jane. "But I'd rather be a knight. Can I be a knight?"

"You can be a queen knight," Charlotte told her.

"You married the queen. That makes you a queen too, even if you're a knight," Maura told her logically.

"Fine, as long as I get to keep my sword. And my shiny armor. And my trusty steed." Eva was out cold by now, so Jane put her exposed breast away. Maura leaned her head on Jane's shoulder and lightly touched Eva's hair.

"I wouldn't dream of taking those things away from you," Maura said sleepily. "What could be sexier than a breastfeeding knight?"

"Might be tricky with the armor, but I'd find a way. I think we probably fell in love after I slayed the dragon that was threatening your castle."

"No, the dragon is our pet," said Charlotte, holding up a toy dragon.

"Fine, I tamed the dragon."

Charlotte, starting to look sleepy herself, picked up her rabbit and climbed into Maura's lap. Maura wrapped her arms tightly around the three-year-old, still leaning against Jane.

"Remember on Charlotte's first birthday when we had to wash icing out of her hair and out from between her toes after the party?" Jane asked Maura.

"Yes," Maura agreed with a smile.

"There wasn't any on Eva. And her silk dress that can't be washed normally? Spotless. I'm not sure she's a real baby."

"She's just a tidy baby."

"That is an oxymoron. As for Charlotte, it was a good call putting her in a cotton dress. Her dress had grass stains on the front and back, as well as icing and a few food substances I couldn't easily identify. She took longer to get clean than her little sister."

"They have very different personalities."

"Yeah." Jane looked at Charlotte, who Maura noticed had fallen asleep. "You know, I have to be the luckiest person in the world to get to spend each day with these three loves ladies."

Maura smiled, though she could barely hold her own eyes open. "I am too. I'm glad no one separated us."

"No one could ever have the power."

"Sometimes I look at Eva and just think, 'She's still here. We still have her. No one took her away.' And I feel so…"

"Triumphant?"

"Yes, among other things."

"Sometimes I look at you and think the same thing. At least no one can say we don't appreciate what we have."

Maura let her eyes close. Quiet evenings like this, when they were all together, were her very favorite thing. Everything she wanted in the world was right here within her reach, a feeling of safety surrounding their little family. She thought about the past year, Eva's first year, the first year since their family became complete. It had been in so many ways an ordinary year. No one had threatened them, pointed weapons at them, given them weird notes, spread lies about them on the internet, killed people to get at them, or forced them to be anywhere they didn't want to be. They had simply enjoyed their maternity leave and then gone back to work, Jane working part-time at the Academy and Maura working her usual post-Charlotte hours at the ME's office. Eva had gone through the usual series of firsts – first tooth, first Christmas, first word. Maura had published her second book. Barry had been born. They'd had to deal with Diana's trial, but that was over now, and Diana would be behind bars for a long time to come. In truth, it was probably the most peaceful year she and Jane had experienced together.

And maybe, Maura thought as she drifted off to sleep, it would actually stay like this.

The end! Thank you so much for reading! I loved the reviews, particularly the speculation about what might happen. I'm sad to be finished with this trilogy, but this is not entirely the end. I currently have a just-for-fun story up called Dancing in the Shadows that is basically a series of one-shots about this family. It isn't updated very frequently, but each chapter is a self-contained story and they're all full of fluff and smut. Thank you again for being so awesome and making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! :-D