Maura had to stay one more week in hospital and do some more exams to make sure that she was really cancer free. The rate of healing of the head wound was good and she slowly began gaining weight again. This was partly due to Angela who kept bringing her cookies and warms meals like Gnocchi and Lasagna.

"The food in hospital is not good." The matriarch had winked and grinned knowingly. Sometimes it was far too much, and Maura kept the leftovers for Jane who still came by every evening after work. Feeling better she also got to see the girls more often. The girls often passed after school.

They too, happily helped Maura to get rid of the daily delivery of sweets. The doc loved seeing them and to listen to their narratives about the new school, the new classes, and new classmates. All three were attending the same class and were called the triplets by their school colleagues.

Sophie had already found interest in one of the boys, who had invited her to watch a movie at the cinema the upcoming weekend. The thing that made Maura the happiest was that life was getting back to normal. She had the feeling that in just one or two more weeks it would be as if the past months had just been a bad dream. At least that's what she hoped.

Right now, she wasn't thinking about going back to work. Maybe after Christmas she decided. There was still a lot of recovery ahead of her. And a lot of processing. She had been seeing a therapist for a while but found it hard to talk about how she felt while the tumor was still threatening her life. But there was a lot she needed to talk about now that she felt so much better.

And she decided that it was time to take care of Jane who had been holding her hand through all of this. Maura had the feeling that she could never thank her wife enough for spending countless hours at her bed, no matter how tired the brunette had been.

Jane had used up a lot of off time from work. But Maura hoped that she would get a week off so that they could take a vacation around Christmas. She dreamt of taking the whole family to a sunny place. Maybe Hawaii or the Maldives. It would do them good after the past months.

She lifted her eyes when the door to her hospital room opened and Amanda walked in. To her surprise the girl was alone. And checking the watch she saw that the girl must have left school earlier.

"Hey!" she greeted her friendly, deciding against scolding her for not being at school like she should. One reason was that she knew that Amanda must have something on her mind to come and see her. Another one was that Amanda was doing great at school and Maura was sure that it wouldn't harm her career if she missed out on one or two hours.

"Hey!" the girl greeted back shyly, reluctantly taking Maura up on the offer to sit on the edge of her hospital bed. Maura herself was sitting crossed legged and gave her a curious look, asking herself why Amanda was coming to her. So far, she had developed a stronger connection which Jane.

"How are you?" Maura asked with a smile.

"Good. I mean… I skipped school today. Told everybody that I was sick…. Its not that I don't like school… I…" the girl rambled, and Maura felt the need to reach for Amanda's hand to calm her down.

"I understand." She stated and caught a surprised glance from the girl. "Sometimes we need a time out. It doesn't always have to be physical sickness but can also be that something is weighing heavy on our soul."

Amanda nodded slowly with a pensive expression on her face.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Maura nudged her gently and Amanda's expression changed to surprise. The doc assumed that she was surprised to find so much understanding.

"How are you?" the girl asked her gingerly and Maura explained that she was still tired, but much better. "But it doesn't matter. You are one of my kids. And when I gave birth to Sophie, I swore to myself to always make room and time for my child."

"Sometimes I think that you are too good to be true." Amanda chuckled sadly. "I still don't understand how and why you took me in as if I was one of yours." Her eyes were falling to her lap, where her hands were playing with the hem of her shirt.

Maura felt sad about this admission. She bit her lips. Amanda had always been careful not to ask too much. And most of the time Maura and Jane wished that she would just let them be the parents to her that she deserved. They had often wondered if it was that Amanda wasn't used to being loved like she was supposed to be loved or if it was because Amanda was scared that they would deceive her one day like she had been deceived by life and her family all her life.

The doc was looking for words because honestly, she wasn't as good at expressing her feelings like Jane sometimes. Both parents complemented each other which meant that the kids decided after the nature of the problem to whom they went.

"Well, I can assure you that you are part of our family. It doesn't matter if you were born by either one of us. We love you the same as we do Julia, Sophie or Will. If it comes to us, you are our daughter, and we will still try to adopt you because we love you." Love was hard to explain, Maura mused while hoping that she had at least managed to reply something helpful to Amanda.

"Yes, but why?" the girl asked, and Maura cringed. "I brought you nothing. I only cost you money."

Maura scoffed. "Excuse me? You bring us joy. That's all you need to bring."

Amanda smiled. "I basically came because I was worried about you. That's all. I'm gland to see that you are okay."

Maura's heart melted. "I'm okay. Its going to be fine." Amanda nodded, looking relieved.

"You are going to adopt me?" she came back to what Maura had said.

"Yes. But only under one condition." Maura lifted her index finger. Amanda hitched a breath.

"You stop asking yourself what you bring to us and relax into the family." Maura smiled.

Amanda swallowed with a smile and then reluctantly asked: "Can I hug you mom?"

Maura nodded and opened her arms. Amanda stayed in the hug for a very long time and Maura could feel her tears in her neck. She could only imagine the things the girl had gone through. And she hoped that Amanda was finally able to believe that she was being part of this big family of nutballs.

Her cancer hadn't probably helped to make the girl feel at home or wanted for it had caused quite some chaos. But she vowed to herself to take better care of her.

"Would you like to see a therapist?" Maura asked gingerly into the hug. Amanda tensed a bit into her arms. "Not really. But can I come back to your offer if I change my mind?"

Maura nodded. "Sure. You know there is nothing wrong to see a therapist. Im seeing one myself."

Amanda glanced at her with wide eyes. "It can be helpful." Maura shrugged.