She swallows hard, trying to keep her tears at bay. She looks at her son. He is a perfect mix of her, and Tony. She tries to carefully plan her answer, but she knows that time is of the essence.

"Gabe I am sorry if I have ever made you feel that way."

"I feel that way all of the time."

"Sometimes people make the wrong choices. We do things out of fear, instead of doing things for the right reasons."

"I don't understand."

"Gabe I'm sorry. I am sorry for everything."

"Why didn't you want me?"

She shakes her head, "I always wanted you."

"But you gave me to Rachel. Then you gave me to dad, without even fighting. You didn't want me."

"I wanted you to have things I couldn't give you."

"That sounds like an excuse."

"Gabe, I have always wanted you."

"Then why are you here, and I'm not?"

"I was afraid."

"Of what? You were afraid of me? I was a baby."

"No. I was afraid of losing you."

"Losing me? You gave me away. That doesn't make any sense at all."

"I was afraid that I would do something that would hurt you."

"What do you mean?"

She breaks eye contact, "I didn't think I was a good mother. I didn't think that I could take care of you. It was never because I didn't love you. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was trying to protect you."

"From what?"

"From me."

"Why?"

"Gabe there are some things that you are just too young to understand."

"I don't want to hear that," he argues, "I just want the truth. Why didn't you want me?"

"I always wanted you. I wanted you more than anything."

"The things you do don't match the things you say."

"Gabe when you were a baby something happened."

"What do you mean?"

"It was an accident."

"What kind of accident?"

"Gabe when you were born you had a twin brother," she begins to explain.

"What? Where is he?"

"He spit up a lot. One night when I put the two of you back in your crib he spit up. I didn't know it. He had fallen asleep. The fluid got into his lungs, and he died," she reveals.

"Why didn't you ever tell me that?"

"I thought that you were too young to understand."

"So then what happened?"

"I felt like it was my fault. I didn't think that I was capable of taking care of you. I was afraid that something would happen to you. I decided to give you to someone who I knew had experience. I just wanted you to be safe. And I couldn't tear you away from the only family you had ever known, just because I was selfish, and wanted you back."

"You're my mother, that isn't selfish."

"Gabe I am so sorry. I was scared, and I made some really bad choices."

Without a word he gets up. He wraps his arms around her, as the tears begin to fall. She wraps her arms around him, and holds him tightly. She kisses his cheek. Finally she lets go of him, and wipes the tears from her eyes with a tissue.

"You are such a good boy. You are smart, and kind. I don't want you to ever think that you did something to make me not want you. I have always wanted you, I have just never been any good at trying to show you that. I am really sorry for the mistakes I have made."

"Sometimes I just need you," he admits.

"I'll tell you a secret, no matter how old you get, sometimes you just need your mom."

"Are you going to send me back?"

"Gabe are you unhappy with Tony?"

He shakes his head, "No. I just don't want to go back yet."

"You don't have to go anywhere."

"Did you bury him?" Gabe probes.

"Who?"

"My brother."

Maura shakes her head, "No."

"What did you do with him?"

Maura gets off the couch. She moves towards the back door.

"Come on," she tells him.

"Where are we going?"

"Into the back yard," she answers.

He follows her into the back yard. She stops in front of a tree.

"You turned him into a tree?" he wears a goofy grin, knowing that it is impossible.

"I planted this tree when I moved here."

"He's under the tree?" Gabe quizzes.

"I had him cremated."

"Turned into a pile of ashes?"

"That is the basic principle."

"So he's somewhere near this tree?" he guesses.

"I dumped his ashes in the whole with a tree."

"Why?"

"I wanted him to be somewhere I could always see him."

"And he still gets to grow up," Gabe points out.

Maura smiles at her son, "You're absolutely right. He still gets to grow up."

"Do you have any dead bodies back here?" he shifts the focus of the conversation, ever so slightly.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Because you play with dead bodies for a living."

"I don't play with dead bodies," she attempts to correct him.

He cuts her off, "I know, you dissect them, and figure out what killed them."

"Yes."

"So can I see one?"

"Why would you want to see a dead body?"

"Why wouldn't I? Dead bodies are awesome."

"There is no doubt that you're my son."

"It will be a cool story to tell all of my friends at school. I wonder what Olivia will say when I tell her?"

She shakes her head, "...and you are definitely your father's son, too."