Please see Ch 1, 5 & 9 for disclaimers… enough disclaimers that they almost need their own chapter…

A/N - thank you for all the fun reviews lately :)

Maura felt the mattress move as Jane returned to the bed and moved up behind her, draping an arm back around her waist with a contented sigh. She slid her hand down Jane's forearm, running her fingertips lightly back and forth along the scar on the back of her hand before pressing their fingers together and drawing Jane's up to fit between her breasts.

Kissing the head in front of her, Jane tried to clear the remnants of sleep from her voice. "I'm sorry I woke you up, I had to go let Jo out."

Maura squirmed back a bit and pressed Jane's hand tightly against her. "What time is it?"

"A little after nine by now." Jane buried her nose in Maura's hair and inhaled. "I'm actually surprised I woke up before you. You never sleep in, even if it is a Saturday."

Maura chuckled, enjoying the sensation of their bare skin brushing. "You're proud of yourself aren't you? I can hear it."

Jane laughed "No, I'm not." She felt a heel connect firmly with her shin and she laughed harder. "Okay, so maybe just a little."

"You're lucky I like you." Maura took any sting out of the words by pulling Jane's hand up to kiss it.

Jane braced up on her free elbow to lean quickly in whisper teasingly in Maura's ear. "What happened to the love?" She quickly nipped the sensitive ear and ran quick kisses down a twitching neck.

Twisting around quickly with a tiny squeal Maura wrapped an arm around Jane, pinning her arm at her side and tossed a leg over Jane's thighs to hold her in place. Nuzzling the hollow of Jane's throat she muttered "You are evil." Placing a kiss there she squeezed her arm and leg in a quick hug. "And the love goes without saying." She slid down and moved her thigh off Jane, tucking her head under Jane's chin. "I actually have to go into the morgue this morning. The funeral home is coming around at 11:00 for Ingrid Gaynor and I wanted to personally release the body."

Jane rubbed her hand along Maura's shoulders. "Do you want company?" The head under her chin nodded. "Okay well, I'll go use the other bathroom and feed Bass and Jo while you get ready." When Maura didn't move Jane chuckled. "To do that you need to let me go." There was still no motion out of Maura. Jane pulled her head and neck back.

Maura opened her eyes and looked up at Jane with a half smile. "I was thinking about it." She lifted her arm off Jane and rolled onto her back with stretch, taking her time, enjoying the fact that Jane's eyes were half lidded and locked on her as she arched up. Maura raised her eyebrows and waited until Jane focused back on her face. "I thought you were in a rush Detective?"She gave a wink and enjoyed the blush that bloomed on Jane's cheeks.

"Oh my god, now which one of us is evil?" Jane rubbed her forehead as she sat up. "You're the one that needs to be someplace this morning." Moving her legs off the bed, she winced and gave a muttered ouch at the twinge in her abdomen as she stood up. She shook her thighs out a bit and started walking to the door until Maura's quiet laughter made her turn around with a frown.

Maura sat up with a huge smile. "Apparently you're going to have to go to yoga more if you expect to keep up with me." Tilting her head she made sure Jane knew she was scrutinizing her."And to think, I wasn't even feeling creative last night."

Jane put a hand on her hip "You should see the smug look on your face right now Dr. Isles." Shaking her head she spun on her heel and walked out, her voice floating back in from someplace up the hallway. "I should be offended but I'll have to get there after I go take a cold shower."

Maura couldn't help grinning as she got out of bed and went to go get ready.

Jane double checked the contents of the filed box in front of her and signed off on the manifest, putting one of the copies in with the rest of the folders. Carefully she filled in the front of the box before moving it to join the two others she'd reconciled before they transferred them to the Boston FBI office.

Glancing up at the clock, she was surprised to see it was already after 2 pm. Frowning, Jane double checked her desk phone and mobile to make sure the sound was on and up on both. Maura was supposed to call her after the funeral home picked up Ingrid Gaynor. She could understand that the funeral home was caught in the Saturday traffic coming up from the Cape but this was getting ridiculous.

She looked at the empty Dunkin Donuts bag on her desk. Her breakfast sandwich had definitely burned off. Jane debated starting another box, but while the tedious task did keep her occupied, the repetition was getting on her nerves. Jane sighed, looking at the bullpen door. Finally she just gave up the pretense and headed downstairs. She wanted to go be around Maura, so she was going to just go be around Maura.

Crossing from the elevator to Maura's office and finding it empty, she wandered through the open door to the lab. The space was half lit and deserted but the light was on in the autopsy suite. Approaching the glass Jane was surprised to see Ingrid Gaynor's body out and saw the back of Maura as she sat, staring at the body with a file on her lap.

Jane pushed through the door. "Hey, is there something wrong?"

Maura glanced over her shoulder, her expression serious. "No, I just wanted to thank her. She is something of a hero."

Jane walked up behind her and put a hand on Maura's shoulder. "Hero is an interesting choice of words. Why is she a hero?"

Exhaling, Maura touched the edge of the autopsy table. "Her death was the catalyst to so many answers. Her body provided answers that gave us John Schneider before he continued his spree to honor each of Randy Shaw's burial places with a victim. All those families from Randy Shaw's kills who never knew what happened to their loved ones will at least get closure. I even owe her a personal debt of gratitude." Maura brought her hand up to cover the one on her shoulder, pulling it down against her chest. "Solving her death forced us back together."

Maura pointed to Ingrid Gaynor's case file, touching the picture of her daughter still clipped to the cover tenderly with the back of her finger. "My heart breaks for her daughter. She is going to have to grow up without her mother. Maura leaned her head back against Jane. "Children need their mothers."

Jane moved her other hand to cross over Maura's chest, embracing her, understanding the emotion coming from Maura a bit better. "Ingrid's daughter will at least grow up knowing her mother's killer is behind bars. You gave her that gift Maura. Nobody else came up with the facts that let us solve the case."

Looking up, Maura could see the understanding etched on Jane's face and she pulled her hand tightly against her, swallowing against the tightness in her throat. "This little girl has no mother and I'm selfish enough that I've been obsessing about the one that gave me up and avoiding the one that I have." She blinked hard against the tears.

Leaning over Jane rested her chin on Maura's shoulder and squeezed her gently. "There is nothing wrong with wanting to know your birth mother, don't go there for even a minute. It has nothing to do with Constance and your mother is an amazingly intelligent woman who knows that. I'm not saying that every moment will be easy, but it will be okay."

Maura nodded and tipped her head against Jane's. "My parents want me go down to see them in Connecticut. I think they want to talk about my adoption." She closed her eyes against the tears. "They're offering me what I've always wanted, so why am I so scared?"

Jane didn't have an answer so she just held her and moved her head to kiss her cheek. "I don't know Maura, but I'm right here with you okay?"

"Okay. Thank you Jane." She bit her lip, considering, deciding to risk the question. "Would you go with me?"

The question was so quiet and hesitant. Jane squeezed her briefly. "I was hoping you'd ask so I didn't have to figure out a way to tag along." Her mobile started to blare out her mother's ringtone. "Speaking of mothers, mine has been trying to convince me that she needs to come over and make me dinner. She's been trying to guilt me for days, saying she hasn't seen enough of me because of the case."

Her phone beeped, alerting her to a new voicemail. "She has left me three voicemails so far about it. This makes number four. I hope you're in the mood for a family affair tonight because I think she is showing up no matter what I say."

Maura just smiled. "I love your mother. Tell her I'll make éclairs for dessert."

Jane frowned. "Feeding her homemade pastry is not going discourage this behavior in the future. We'll never get a moment alone again. You forget she lives with you. In fact, because of that, we're cooking at my place tonight."

The loading dock door buzzed and Maura slowly stood up. "I know exactly what I'm doing Jane. We both owe her complaint free pastry and dinners for the rest of her life."

Pulling her phone out to call her mother back, Jane gave a long suffering sigh and called after Maura's retreating back. "You only say that because you want to be the favorite."