Author's note: thank you for all the reviews; I take note of the suggestions; as for the names, I stick to the fact the twins go to French school with, thus, French expats whose names are popular in France.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Seventeen and a Half Years Old

"I can't find it..."

Focused on the ceiling – her hands tapping nervously on both sides of the matress – Jane sighed but winced in pain. Apparently, even breathing had turned complicated. A cell phone rang in the house.

"Oh, it must be Brad. Here's my bag, the painkillers are somewhere in it. Look for them!" Alba let go of said bag next to her mother and ran out of the bedroom.

Brad. Jane rolled her eyes, mumbling away her disapproval. The boy was nice but she couldn't get over his name. It had been a source of conflict and she still had in mind Maura's shocked face when she had said his name sucked.

But that was the way it was: she hated her daughter's boyfriend for him to have such a soap opera name. Yet she was in progress and had stopped making fun of him.

One thing at a time.

Unable to move, she grabbed the bag blindly and plunged her hand inside. Had Alba so many things in that purse that she couldn't find the tissues anymore?

So much for Maura teaching her a way to have the whole thing organized.

But suddenly, her fingers hit a rectangular pack and put an end to her wonders. She let a smile of victory play on her lips and took the object out of the bag. Perfect. Although she wouldn't get water to take the painkillers down. Her sciatica prevented her from moving an inch. And Maura was still in the bathroom having a shower.

She lifted the pack in the air to properly open it then froze. Her smile disappeared right away.

What the f...

Red alert: activated.

"Maura!"

Who cared about the honey blonde's shower? There were suddenly more improtant things to face – right in this room – and without waiting a second more.

"What?" Stifled voice. Not in the shower anymore but obviously not in the bedroom either.

Trying to not sigh anew – if only to spare herself another wave of excruciating pain – Jane pursed her lips.

"Come over here! And make it now!"

Stifled steps. Jane turned her head around and frowned as her wife finally walked in, wrapped in a bathrobe; her hair still up in a towel. A green clay facial mask on.

"What is going on? Have you moved? I told you to remain still."

Instead of replying, Jane held out of the box to Maura and raised a confused eyebrow. The scientist grabbed it; squinted her eyes at it.

"Oh. Why do you take..."

Scoff. Pain. "It belongs to Alba. I found it in her bag. Have you forgotten to tell me something about her or she didn't mention it to you either?"

Unable to stop staring at the box, Maura shook her head but suddenly frowned at her wife. "I can't believe that even stuck in bed you manage to spy on our daughter. Jane, you are a lost cause! How dare you do something like that? It is violation of privacy."

"What?! I didn't! She was looking for tissues in it – for me – when this twat of Brad called. So she left me with the bag, asking me to look for them myself... And this is when I came across it." Jane marked a pause but scoffed – offended – as she realized that Maura didn't seem to believe her. "I swear it's the truth! As you said, I'm stuck in bed. How would I be able to have her bag if she had not brought it herself?"

Fair point. Jane barely hid a smile. Her BPD experience coud finally serve her outside of work. It was definitely about time.

"Alright..." Uncertain of the way things were supposed to turn in now, Maura chewed on her lower lip and sat on the bed. "I guess we should confront her."

"You bet we should! And bring Lucie along. Who knows what this one's hiding from us. Ugh!" Fist clenched, Jane squinted her eyes at the ceiling; swearing against her sciatica. If it hadn't been for it, she would have already rushed to Alba's room.

"Jane... Calm down, okay? I am as surprised – and disappointed that she didn't tell us about it – than you are but it isn't a reason to scare her. We knew that this would happen one day or another..."

Silence.

Maura sighed. "Fine." She turned around towards the door left open. "Lucie! Alba! Come over here, please. There is something we would like to talk about."

The cello stopped somewhere in the background and soon enough Lucie appeared in the door frame unsure of whether she should come in. Alba joined her, still on the phone.

"It's not me!"

Lucie's complain made Maura chuckle. They hadn't even mentioned anything. How come the twin could assume that the situation was somewhat critic?

"We know that. But still, come over here and sit down. Alba, put an end to this call immediately or I will do it for you."

The girl rolled her eyes but nonetheless obliged and joined her sister by the bed. "What's going on?"

Maura waved at the box she was still holding. "Since when are you on the pill?"

Jane scoffed – shook her head – but remained quiet; desperately stuck laid on her back, staring way too angrily at the ceiling. Perfect timing for a family talk, really.

"Oh..."

"This is all you have to say, Al'? How did you get them and why you didn't tell us in the first place? Damn, Maura is a physician!"

Suddenly nervous and uncomfortable, the adolescent twisted her hands and looked down at them.

"I know but it's not easy to talk to you about... This. Although I didn't sleep with Brad! I... I swear I didn't... We didn't do anything."

Jane frowned. Somehow, the news were comforting. "Were you afraid of telling us? Seriously? For years we told you that it was fine and sex was okay – as long as you are thirty-five – and that if you felt the urge to come to us to talk about it then it was just great... What happened? You don't trust us or what?"

Her tone of voice didn't reflect anger but pain, and disappointment. Because this was exactly what it was in the end. Their daughter hadn't come to talk to them about an important stage of her life. Jane felt – ridiculously enough perhaps – betrayed.

"And why are you on the pill if you don't sleep with Brad? Or whoever has a decent name. It's not an acne issue, you don't have any. Unbearable cramps? It doesn't seem like so either."

Alba shrugged at Jane's questions. "Because I want to be ready for the day it happens." She marked a pause, ran her tongue over her lips. "You should be pleased to see I'm being responsible."

"And we are but what were you afraid of that you didn't tell us?" Maura locked her eyes with Alba's and sighed, visibly upset. "We would have booked an appointment for you... Just as we had always told you that we would when you felt ready for it."

The adolescent shrugged. She seemed embarrassed. "I don't know. I guess I wanted it to come from me and be something I'd be in charge of from the beginnig to the end. Without you making it easier. A sort of... Adult decision from me." She cast a glance at her sister. "Gosh I'd have been a lesbian... At least Lucie doesn't need any of this to sleep with Barbara!"

Maura snapped her head at Lucie. Jane tried to repeat the gesture but the angle was such that all she managed to face turned out to be the wall. She cringed.

"Who is Barbara?" Maura blinked, swallowed hard. Way to go, Isles. Within five minutes you get to find out that one of your daughters is on the pill while the other is – apparently – sexually active.

"Err..." Lucie shot a frosty glare at Alba and pursed her lips; her cheeks turning red like a brick. "A girl from school...?"

"What's with the question mark? You don't even know whom you're sleeping with?"

Maura buried her face in her hands before Jane's sudden outburst and mentally said goodbye to the quiet evening she had hoped to spend at home. Sadly, the next hours would be about trying to calm her wife down which was mission impossible. Jane was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her sciatica not really helping.

"What is it that you two don't share with us those precious – important – moments of your lives? I don't get it... Do we look like monsters or something?"

Jane smirked and pondered Maura's question. She was stuck in bed – on her back – and the blonde was having the conversation of her motherhood life while wearing a green clay facial mask. It may not make of them monsters but excentric parents, definitely.

Alba and Lucie 1 - 0 Jane and Maura