"Can I show you the tree house next? Papa made it for us before I was born" Alessandra asked them both after she had shown them both every possible aspect of the boat in the basement.
"Of course you can," Maura answered her with a smile before putting her hand out to the young girl so that she could lead them to the tree house in the back garden.
Alessandra grinned happily and took hold of the woman's hand before she launched herself up the stairs, running excitedly through the kitchen towards the back door. The back door was wooden and it had four rectangular windows in it which was covered with a thin net curtain whilst the wood itself had been painted white. To the side of the door was a metal handle with a lock beneath it.
The little girl let go of Maura's hand in order to unlock the door using the golden key that had been left in the lock before pulling open the door and running outside, excited to show them the tree house.
Just like the front garden had been, the back one had also been tidied up by a gardener. Leaning against the wall were four bikes; the largest having belonged to Christian which was a metallic grey colour and a slightly smaller one with a camouflage design all over it which was Tyler's. Then there was even smaller one which was a bright pink colour with pink and white tassels on the handlebars, a small seat on the back for a doll or a bear, and a small white basket on the front. Lastly, there was the smallest bike which was red and white with the Red Sox logo on the side, it had a white seat on the back and a white basket on the front but unlike the other bikes, this one had stabilizers on it.
To the side near the door was wooden bench, in the middle of the garden was a swing set made from wood, and scattered around the garden were a range of different toys including a wooden truck at the edge of the patio, a football near the gate, and a plastic water pistol under the bench. Alessandra ran past those items, ignoring them, and made her way straight over to the tree house in the left corner of the yard quite excitedly.
"Come on!" she called out happily as she clambered up the steps that had been attached to the tree for the children to climb up to the tree house.
"Come on, Kelly!" Alessandra called out as she clambered up the steps to the tree house with the ease of a little monkey.
Kelly followed laughing, "I'm coming!" the 7-year-old girl called out to her sister.
"Hurry up!" Alessandra called out from the top of the tree house to her slower sister.
"Calm down, Andra," Kelly said with a giggle, "We have forever to play!"
Jane waited for Maura to climb up first, making sure that both her and Alessandra got up safely before she climbed the steps. The Detective was quite, although silently, impressed that her girlfriend managed to climb up with her heels on and had made it look effortless. Alessandra on the other hand had scrambled up the steps so quickly that it was obvious she had done it many times before, although it did make her look a little like a monkey rather than a turtle.
When Detective Rizzoli climbed up into the tree house, she was greeted with the site of Maura sitting with her legs crossed and Alessandra sitting in the woman's lap. The tree house was all hand made from wood with proper windows fitted into them, although two of the windows seemed to be the circular kind that you would find in the side of the boat. Inside the tree house was a long bench along one side of the tree house, pillows scattered around along with a couple of bean bags, a few framed photos on the wall, and some toys that resided in the corner of the tree house.
Alessandra leaned back against Michelle, the woman's arms were wrapped around her daughter whilst she read to the girl, "...and the Princess lived happily ever after."
"Read it again," the little one mumbled before yawning.
"No, my little love, it's time to go inside now," her mother said softly, "I think it's time for us both to take an afternoon siesta."
"I don't want to take a nap," she said with a sigh.
Michelle laughed, "Did I say nap?"
"You said 'siesta' which is the same thing," Alessandra replied with a roll of her eyes.
"My clever girl," she said with pride as she kissed the top of her daughter's head.
"Mammina used to read stories to me in the tree house when everyone else was at school," Alessandra said with a smile, "We used to have picnics up here as well, Mammina would make the food whilst I set up the picnic set in here for us." "The picnic set is in a box inside that bench," she said pointing to the bench at the side, "The top lifts up s we can put toys inside it."
"How about you tell us about the photos?" Jane asked after a moment, wanting to know more.
"That photo is when Mammina was pregnant with me," she said pointing to a photo near one of the windows.
In the photo was Thomas with his arms wrapped around Michelle and his hands on her protruding stomach. Both were smiling brightly in the black and white photo and surrounding them was Christian, Tyler, and Kelly.
"That's Kelly, Christian, and Tyler," the little girl would point out each of the children in the photographs and each of her biological parents too.
The photo next to it was the children at the same shoot but without their parents, then there was a photo of Tyler and Christian at a ball game at around the same age.
"That one is my first Red Sox game," the little girl said pointing at a different photo.
The photo had Alessandra at approximately a year old in Michelle's arms with Kelly, Tyler, and Christian around them.
"Papa said he was the one that took that photo," Alessandra explained, "He said it was the best photo."
The next photo was of Thomas building the tree house with a three-year-old Christian grinning beside him.
"Papa built it with Christian when he was little," Alessandra explained, "Tyler was there too but he was only a baby." "It was so long ago that even Kelly hadn't been born yet," the little girl said with an tad of dramatic flair, "So this tree house has been here forever."
Then there was another photo next to that of all four children playing in the tree house, they had a picnic in the middle of them and they were all wearing their swim clothes.
"We had lots of picnics up here, Mammina liked to take photos of us playing and this was her favourite one," Alessandra explained, "She said it was her favourite because she managed to get us all in one photo." It was always hard for her to get photos of all four of her children together because they were always running off in different directions.
On the opposite wall of the tree house was an official photo of all of them, Thomas was in his uniform whilst his wife was stood beside him and the children were surrounding them.
"That's my favourite though," the little one said before pointing out each person.
"Which one is your hand print?" Jane asked pointing at the six coloured hand prints on the wall.
"The purple one," she said pointing at the very tiny one, "Kelly's is pink, Christian's is yellow, Tyler's is green, Papa is blue, and Mammina's one is red."
Both women found themselves staring at the hand prints for a moment, the coloured hand prints that lay beneath the family portrait. Jane found herself imagining the family pressing their hands into the paint to press against the wall and then helping a baby Alessandra to do the same.