Author's Note: Thank you very much for all the reviews; I'll try to push to 40 chapters for this story so it should be over by Friday and then we're onto the sequel.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

"You're a natural." Maura laughed lightly. Kent was holding Camille in his arms and the baby seemed to enjoy it a lot. She looked at him with herbig gray eyes. Maura cast a very amused glance at Jane but her joy wasn't contagious. Jane looked embarrassed and uncomfortable. Maura smiled at Kent anew though. "Perhaps you could babysit her from time to time."

Kent's cheeks turned pink. A mysterious smile reached his eyes nonetheless. Obviously Maura's compliment had touched him a lot. The mix of emotions that showed on his face was confusing though. He remained quiet and focused on Camille.

"Where did you learn to take care of newborns? Do you have cousins, nephews?"

Kent wasn't a pediatrician.

"Maura." Jane's voice hit the air with an authoritative timidity as she sat up on the armchair and implicitly asked her partner to stop. Jane had feared this moment since she had learned that Kent would stop by. She couldn't help thinking about his past, his terrible past that very few people knew about. "You're not in the interrogation room, you know."

A veil of confusion darkened Maura's traits as Jane's words sank in. She didn't understand her partner's remark for she – Maura – was simply making conversation. Light conversation, besides. She hadn't said anything wrong at all. Kent's voice caught her attention as he addressed Jane.

"It's okay, Jane. Really." Kent looked at Maura with great hesitation. His uncertainty showed in his eyes, and in his suddenly fragile smile. He finally cleared his voice before taking a deep breath in order to find the courage to let Maura know what was going on with as much tact as he could. "I used to have a son."

Used to.

Maura didn't miss the tense used by her employee but as much as she knew that he spoke proper English, a part of her refused to see it as anything but a mistake. An incomprehensible mistake.

"Where.. Where is he now?"

The truth was that Maura didn't need an answer because she had understood everything way before even asking her question. She just wasn't ready to accept it. Even less now while she had just given birth to Camille.

She swallowed hard as she began to feel stupid. It wasn't her fault though. As a matter of fact, it was nobody's fault. Jane hadn't told her about the accident that had ocurred in South Africa because she had simply wanted to protect her. It was more than fair. The only unfairness was the evident death of a child.

"He passed away." Kent didn't want to lie to his boss but he immediately tried to soften the news nonetheless. "It was a long time ago."

Of course his last remark didn't fool anyone. Maura knew that time couldn't heal the loss of a child. It wasn't true. She understood it even better now that she was a mother herself. Perhaps you could accept such terrible truth but you never turned the page over it. It was impossible. It was the kind of tragedy that you couldn't overcome.

"Oh."

Maura found herself looking for her words. Plain apologies – polite ones – passed her lips in a barely audible reply. As much as she was glad to know a bit more about her employee's past, she still felt very awkward.

Especially as he was holding her very own child in his arms.

The conversation resumed without any specific awkwardness. Kent had accepted his fate. Thus he didn't have any issue facing it. This was something that Jane had noticed on the day they had gone out for a drink together.

If he had told her a bit more about his life in South Africa, he had also been able to speak freely about the rest with very little transition between subjects. Only time could help him do that.

But the moment he left the room – the moment Jane closed the door behind him – Maura burst into cries. The tears ran down her cheeks silently. Bitterly.

"Would you lik-..." Jane turned around to look at her partner but she froze right away. "Maura!" She rushed to Maura and – without thinking twice about it – she took her partner in her arms. Neither she nor Maura were very fond of hugs but the distress that showed on Maura's face had pushed Jane to hug her nonetheless. "It's okay... He's okay now."

Maura nodded between two sobs. She knew that Jane was right for she had witnessed it by herself.

Perhaps she was simply tired and the ballet of hormones that was currently happening in her body made it hard for her to stop crying. The tears had to come out. She could feel it. As a matter of fact, it felt immensely relieving.

She was lucky. She had Jane, and Camille. Their daughter was healthy and everything was going well. Kent's story was still a reminder of how fragile life could be. She didn't have to forget this.

...

"Who wants to do this?" The nurse flashed Jane and Maura a bright smile. She was still holding Camille but one of the baby's mothers was supposed to now take charge. "Jane?"

Maura gave her partner a nod as Jane looked at her a bit timidly. As a matter of fact, it had always been cleared in Maura's head that Jane would give Camille her first bath. Maura couldn't pump milk yet which meant that Jane couldn't feed their daughter at the moment. Thus Jane and Camille needed to bond over different activities and bath time was one of them.

Besides, Maura knew how Jane loved it when the nurse stopped by the room in order to teach them how to take care of a newborn. It showed in her eyes. They always began to glimmer like a thousand diamonds. It warmed up Maura's heart.

Jane carefully took Camille in her arms. The baby was very quiet but then she was still fully dressed and a tad sleepy. Things may begin to change once Jane would undress her.

"Have you ever given a bath to a baby?"

"Not to a newborn, no." However Jane had read several books on maternity. She had even taken notes on all these daily activities. "I just know that they don't like being cold."

The nurse laughed lightly.

"It's an understatement. That's why you have to make sure the bath is ready by the time you want to undress your child. Same for the bath towel. It has to be at reached when bath time is over. Don't make your baby wait for too long. Nobody likes being cold and wet."

Jane nodded. She was a lot more insecure about the cares she had to provide to Camille's cord. She was actually very afraid of hurting her for it was a very unusual situation to deal with. The moment was important, very important.

Maura watched how carefully Jane followed the nurse's instructions. As a matter of fact, she had rarely seen Jane be so serious and focused in her life. Jane even didn't notice it when Maura began to snap pictures of her giving Camille her first bath.

They were a family. Maura had made this idea hers way before giving birth but this first bath really brought a complete dimension to it. It looked a lot more realistic now. It was overwhelming somehow.

"Do you have a shower or a bath tub at home?"

"We have both." Jane answered the nurse without breaking eye-contact with Camille who seemed to be slightly taken aback by her sudden liquid environment. The baby wasn't crying. As a matter of fact, Camille was very quiet but you could tell that she didn't really understand what was happening to her right now. The look of perplexity on her face was telling. "The bathroom Camille may use when she grows up only has a shower though. We have to change that?"

It hadn't crossed Jane's mind until now. She landed panicked eyes on Maura who seemed to be just as much in doubts as she was. The nursery had an ensuite bathroom but it only had a shower. Perhaps it was time to change it for a small bath tub. The room was a lot smaller than Maura and Jane's own bathroom though.

"Oh, no! Don't be worried. Many families don't have several bathrooms nor a bath tub or a shower. You'll do just fine. Besides, your daughter seems to enjoy bath time a lot so she may be a shower kid."

Jane was taking great care of Camille. She kept on interacting with her, on kissing her little toes and arms. The moment was very peaceful, and quiet. Maura simply hoped that she would handle it just as well when Jane wouldn't be around.

She talked to Camille a lot but she wasn't as exhuberant and loud as Jane could be. It made her feel a tad bad.

Camille barely reacted when Jane took her out of the bath to wrap her up immediately in a warm towel. It had been a complete success, one that made Maura feel extremely proud.

"You're doing very well. Camille has two fantastic mothers, congratulations." The nurse smiled at the baby before looking at Maura anew. "How do you handle breastfeeding? Does it hurt?"

Maura shrugged. The sensation wasn't unpleasant unless Camille wasn't in the right position. But Maura enjoyed it a lot. She saw it as a privileged moment between her and her daughter. She was looking forward to it all day long.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you very much." Maura went to put Camille back into her crib. The baby was wearing the blue-gray pj's that Nina and Frankie had bought and the color suited her pale complexion very well. Maura thought that Camille looked very pretty in it. She simply didn't dare to say it out loud for fearing to sound like someone who would brag about their child. "I'll start pumping as soon as possible though to make sure that Jane can feed her too."

Hopefully it would work out. Maura knew that some newborns didn't like both methods. Camille did very well with breastfeeding but perhaps she wouldn't like being fed with a bottle.

It would break Maura's heart if this ever happened. Jane deserved these moments with their daughter.

The nurse approved the idea before leaving the room anew.

"I love you." Maura's words came to die in the crook of Jane's neck as she came closer to her partner and kissed her jaw quietly. The reminiscence of Jane's proposal the day before had rushed back to her heart during Camille's bath. It really sounded right. "Thank you for being part of my life."