When Maura awoke the following morning she found herself pinned by her adopted daughter who had opted to use her as a pillow following her nightmare. Alessandra had awoken in the middle of the night sobbing and it took almost an hour to calm her down with the help of some warm milk and plenty of cuddles. Maura ran her hand through the little girl's dark curls and pressed a loving kiss to the top of her head, "I love you", she whispered to the sleeping child in the silence of the bedroom.
The meal the previous night had gone well and Alessandra seemed happy to be telling her two mothers about what her biological mother would do in the kitchen which apparently included a lot of dancing and singing as well as tickles. Jane and Maura attempted to make it fun and it worked as the child enjoyed her dinner time as well as helping to cook the meal. It did not, however, stop her from crying that night for her biological mother due to a nightmare that she could not remember when she woke.
Jane tightened her arm around both her lover and their daughter briefly as she started to wake up. She would have loved a lay-in but she knew that it would not be long before Maura insisted that they get out of bed to get ready for their day.
The Italian woman could not wait for the interviews to be over and for them to be able to put some sort of normal routine in place so that the child could have some sort of consistency in a healthy family environment without being pestered with questions consistently by the FBI employee. Although, Jane did have to admit that the English woman was rather patient with the child and seemed to be very understanding and kind towards her as well. Melody never pushed her like the original agent had and nor did she disrespect any of Alessandra's wishes to leave by forcing her to stay.
"Good Morning", Jane mumbled with a voice that was laced with tiredness as she was still a little groggy from just waking up.
Maura smiled softly and leaned over to the other woman to press a gentle kiss to her lips, "Good Morning", she replied happily, a lot more awake than what her lover was in that moment as she was much more fond of early mornings than Jane was.
"Ma is making pancakes this morning at the cafe", Jane said softly.
Alessandra's head shot up and her eyes were wide with excitement, "Nona pancakes?", she questioned.
Jane and Maura both laughed before the former managed to reply, "Yes, she is and I thought that it would be good to take some breakfast up to Korsak and Frost so that we can have breakfast in the bullpen today".
The little girl sat up from her position where she had been lying partially over her adoptive mother, she then covered her mouth with her small hand as she yawned, "More sleep first?", she asked her parents before lying back down in the same position that she had just moved out of.
Maura sighed softly, "I'm sorry, Allie", she said gently as she ran her hand through the mass of dark curls covering her daughter's head, "We have to get up in a moment so that we can get dressed and go for breakfast before we go and see Doctor Kingston again".
Alessandra sighed in return, "In a moment you said, so not now", she answered as she snuggled up to Maura a little more.
Jane smiled and kissed Maura gently before pulling the other two close to her in a loving embrace which was also a way of keeping them safe.
After spending a few more minutes lying in bed, the family of three started to get ready to leave and it did not take long before they were going out of the door.
Alessandra was dressed in a Burberry Classic Rhonda Dress which had a white, short-sleeved top section which had turn up cuffs to it and epaulets on the shoulders. Then it had a classic checkered Burberry print on the skirt section of the dress with a sash around the waist. The whole dress was made of 100% cotton which included a soft cotton lining. Over the top of the dress, she was wearing a Burberry Sandringham Trench Coat which was honey-coloured and matched the dress that she was wearing. The coat was double-breasted with two pockets on the front and it also had epaulets on the shoulders, buttons on the cuffs, and a buckled belt around the waist. Around her neck, in order to keep her warm, was a matching Burberry Exploded Check Cashmere Scarf that had fringing at both ends of the strip of material. The little girl was also wearing a pair of white tights that broke up the check of the skirt and the check of her Burberry Ally Hc Shoes that were also decorated in their classic check design. The shoes were flat with rubber soles and had decorative black bows on the fronts of them. Her hair had been left in loose, natural curls but a bow had been tied around her head to hold her hair back from her face.
Maura did not dare to mention how much the outfit that their daughter was wearing, especially as the shoes along cost almost 200$.
The idea of Maura spending so much money on singular clothing items for the child was something that baffled the Detective as during her childhood she did not have such luxuries. Maura seemed to spend more money on clothing for their daughter than what Jane was willing to spend on herself. That meant that Jane did not even want to ask how much each clothing item was worth, especially not after the dress incident because otherwise, she would probably feel the need to wrap the little girl in cling film so that she never got dirty ever again. She did, however, have to admit that her daughter always looked great in whatever Maura opted to put her in and Alessandra seemed happy in it. Maura was also happy with her choices but it seemed to give the woman a chance to dress their daughter like a life-sized doll.
The Chief Medical Examiner was wearing a red designer dress which matched the red lines in Alessandra's outfit and she was wearing high heels as per usual.
Jane, who was wearing clothing that was a little bit more casual than her lover, was wearing a Red Sox top that Maura had recently purchased for her with a pair of black jeans and a pair of boots.
As they reached the cafeteria, Jane put Alessandra down on the floor where she was able to run directly to Angela in the mostly empty cafe. Angela grinned happily as she bent down to welcome her adoptive granddaughter into her arms. The woman was extremely glad that the little girl had become so comfortable with her over the time that she had been with the two women as she remembered the timid and terrified little girl that she had been in the hospital room not too long ago.
Angela laughed, "What has you so excited?", the woman questioned happily as she scooped the child up onto her hip.
The child froze momentarily as she always did when she was picked up by someone that was not either of her adoptive mothers but after a moment she relaxed a little before exclaiming with excitement, "Pancakes!".
"Well, if you go and sit down then I'll start making the pancakes", the woman said with a smile as she loved to see Alessandra so excited over her food. The Italian woman loved it when people enjoyed her cooking as it was something that she loved to do. Her daughter, however, was the opposite and hated to cook so she often pretended that she could not cook at all despite the fact that she could. Jane had a habit of never sticking to the recipe though and would always take things out or add things in, no matter what Angela told her when she was growing up.
"Hey Ma", Jane said as she got closer to her mother and they greeted each other.
Once all three adults had greeted each other good morning, Maura and Jane moved to stand to the side so that they could continue to talk to the woman as she cooked their breakfast. Angela had passed Alessandra over to her adoptive mother and Maura was more than happy to accept the child into her arms.
It didn't take long for the older Italian woman to make enough bunny shaped pancakes for all of them and to package them up along with a selection of toppings for them. The woman also made sure to get their coffees, although it was a hot chocolate for Alessandra as there was no way that she was going to make coffee for her granddaughter despite the fact that she had a habit of sneaking sips of Jane's drink.
Once the food and drinks were ready, Jane hooked a bag on each arm and picked up the cardboard containers that held the drinks with one of those in each hand. She opted to carry the items herself as she knew that it was easier as Maura would be carrying their daughter up to the bullpen. Alessandra was still rather nervous around too many people and that had been shown during their trip to the zoo so she did not want the child to become agitated or scared on the way. Especially as she knew that it would be stressful enough to be interviewed yet again by the FBI psychologist about the ordeal that she had been through and about the information that she knew on the victims that Hoyt and his accomplices had murdered during that time at the cabin.
"I'll see you tonight for the movie night", Angela said as the three of them left the cafeteria.
"Bye Ma", Jane called out as they left despite having already said their goodbyes to the woman before they started to leave.
As they walked through the precinct many of the people in the hallways turned to look at the little girl and her adoptive mothers, the happiness and joy that the child had been rescued had not died down and the officers loved to see the little girl that they had spent so long on the lookout for and even doing overtime trying to find. They did not have the ability to interact very much with the child as she was rather skittish and her parents, especially Jane, were extremely protective of Alessandra. The protectiveness was understandable though and so the officers kept their distance, just happy to see that the child was happy, loved, and cared for.
When they arrived in the bullpen, Maura put Alessandra down carefully whilst Jane put the drinks on the table before she put the food on the table, "I have breakfast!", she announced as if she had brought gold or some sort of other treasure with her.
"Your Ma is the best!", Frost declared.
"Hey, I brought it up here", Jane replied with a fake pout.
Frost laughed, "But she cooked it", he responded, "She told me this morning that you were coming up with breakfast and warned me not to eat before then".
"Let's go into the meeting room", Maura suggested, "That way we can spread out the toppings on the table and everyone can reach them".
"Good idea", Jane said as the others agreed too.
Maura put her hand out to the little girl so that her daughter could hold her hand as they walked.
Jane walked ahead with the food whilst Frost carried the drinks, and on instinct, the two men waited to follow Maura and Alessandra, it was a protective motion that they had formed over the short time that the girl had been with them. If they walked behind then they could see any dangers and could keep an eye on their surroundings and that of the child.
Alessandra looked around the room with caution and hesitated as she usually tugged at the material of either of the women's clothing until she was picked up and carried but this time she did not do that. This time she took Maura's hand, although with a little hesitance, and started to walk with her towards the meeting room that Jane was already walking towards. The room was not far and they did not have to go out into the busy hallways so she did not become too anxious about her surroundings.
Jane put the two bags down on the table and started to extract the take-out containers that were filled with pancakes. She put each of the containers in front of a chair where one of them could sit although she put Alessandra's between hers and Maura's as she was sure that the child would want to sit on one of their laps as she would not be able to reach the table otherwise.
When the others arrived in the meeting room shortly after Jane did, Frost put the cardboard containers with the drinks in on the table. He looked at the markings on the cup where Angela had written their names on their take-out cups and he handed out the drinks to where each of the people were starting to sit down.
Alessandra, as Jane had predicted, ended up being tugged into Maura's lap where the woman was hugging her tightly.
Jane put the toppings in the middle in their small plastic containers that her mother had put them in before sending them up with her, "Dig in!", she announced with a grin.
"What would you like on your pancakes, Alessandra?", Jane asked her daughter as she sat down in her chair and opened up the container that held the little girl's breakfast.
Alessandra looked around at the toppings and smiled as her adoptive grandmother had included some of her favourite toppings, "Strawberries please".
"Of course, my little turtle", Jane said with a slight smirk, "What else would you like?".
"White chocolate sauce", the child answered instantly as she always loved those two items mixed together, "With caramella fondente pieces".
"That's fudge pieces right?", Frost questioned as he held up the small pot of fudge pieces to the little girl.
Alessandra nodded with a bright smile.
"Yes!", Frost said as he did a little fist pump, apparently, he was rather happy that he had deciphered what the child was saying in what appeared to be Italian.
Sometimes the child seemed to prefer to speak in Italian and sometimes it was just the random word that she would use. Often it was Jane that translated the little girl but the non-Italian speakers had been making quite an effort to learn the language in order to make the child feel a little more comfortable. They knew that her biological mother had been Italian as a result had spoken it fluently within the household and the other family members also spoke Italian although the father had not spoken Italian previous to being with Michelle. He had learned it whilst they were dating in order to try and impress her which lead to him even proposing in Italian.
Alessandra giggled at Frost's enthusiastic response to getting the Italian interpretation correct whilst Jane put the toppings on the little girl's pancakes.
"What would you like, Maur'?", the dark-haired woman asked her lover as she knew that with Alessandra on her lap she would not be able to reach the food items.
"A small drizzle of honey and some fruit, please?", Maura replied politely with a smile.
Jane put the toppings that Maura had asked for on her breakfast before sitting back properly in her chair in order to put toppings on her own, which turned out to be a sugary mess of different chocolate sauces along with chocolate shavings and fudge pieces. At the look on Maura's face at the amount of sugar on the woman's plate, Jane picked up a small strawberry on put it on top of the sugar pile, "There⦠it has fruit so now it's healthy", she declared with a grin.
Maura rolled her eyes whilst Alessandra burst into giggles and the others chuckled at the Detective's response.
A/N: Thank you for all the kind reviews and encouragement. I am glad that so many of you are enjoying the story and seem eager for me to write and post the next instalment of their story. I am hoping to have part II up within the next couple of days.
luckypenguinbuddy - unfortunately, it gets a little worse before it gets better but there will be a happy ending for little Allie.
