2 years later….
It was a wonderful summer day in July. Julia and Sophie had just turned 14 and had asked for permission to go to the cinema alone. Maura was driving them while Jane sat on a blanket in the gras, playing with Will.
Will was developing fast. Too fast for Janes taste. She had taken her steps with 9 ½ months, her first word had been Ma-ma and as soon she could walk she had started following her big sisters around. Sometimes they liked it and played with her, but lately they more often acted unnerved.
But all in all, they loved Will and family life was good. She caught Will instinctively as the girl had stumbled. She pulled the tiny body into her lap and tickled her. Will laughed. She was so much alike Julia when she was younger. A happy toddler, not shy to explore the world around her and she always had a big smile on her tiny face.
Will giggled some more as Jane started to plant kisses all over her face. Dark curls were shaking as the girl tried to escape the attack. The brunette let go of her. Her eyes watching as the toddler walked away from her.
"Hey!" Maura greeted Jane and they exchanged a kiss. "You wouldn't believe me!" she pouted. "The girls asked me not to kiss them goodbye in public. This is the stage we are at now, Jane! No hugging, no kissing no nothing!" she cited Julia and Sophie.
"Hey yourself!" Jane replied with a soft smile. "I know. They did the same thing to me when I dropped them off at school yesterday." She smiled at Maura's horrified face, imagining how Maura just pictured how the teenagers were already 18 and moving out.
"They still need us, Maur. We can still cuddle them at home. It's just that don't like it in public. They are still our little girls." She said reassuringly and patted Maura's knee.
Maura made a snorting sound, as if expressing that she didn't believe Jane. They both sat and watched Will walk around in the grass for some time. Their holidays were just around the corner and Jane started a mental list of stuff they needed to buy like sunscreen and games. Maura was meanwhile busy trying to catch up with the girls growing up.
The blonde secretly glanced at Jane who had started to dye her hair lately and little wrinkles started to show on her face. Most of them coming from laughing. She was still the most beautiful woman to Maura who leant over to plant a kiss on her cheek before getting off the pick nick cover to shower and prepare dinner.
"Uhh, what was that for?" Jane asked grinning sheepishly.
"No special reason, except for the fact that I love you." Maura smiled at the warm chocolate brown eyes. Jane watched her walk towards the house and smiled too. You are really lucky Rizzoli, she thought overseeing that Will was about to trip.
She went to pick up the crying girl from the grass and lifted her into the air to check if she was hurt. As she saw that Will wasn't she pulled her into her arms and carried the girl into the house. It was feeding time anyways.
Later Jane went to pick up the girls because Maura was preparing their dinner. As Jane drove Julia and Sophie home, she watched how they chatted excitedly in the back seat with each other. The times when they felt the need to tell her everything that had happened during their days seemed to be long gone and she sighed.
Both girls were starting the process of encapsulating from their parents, which was normal for their age. But it was still very scary to Jane. Even if she had acted cool about it towards Maura, there were moments she was worried.
Especially as the bound between Julia and Sophie sometimes appeared so strong that they wouldn't need any of their parents.
Moreover, there was an increasing interest in sexuality in all kind of variations which could be quite challenging sometimes. Jane chuckled slightly as she recalled how Sophie had bluntly asked about sexual intercourse leaving Maura and Jane speechless in surprise.
And of course, there had been the question at one point why Willow had a penis unlike them. Both, Maura and Jane, always tried to answer as honest as possible. This was no exception. Sophie and Julia were silently retrieving into their room for a while after Maura had explained to them that Will was intersex and what it meant.
Jane was aware that it was a lot to process for the 14-year-old girls and wanted to check up on them two hours after they answered their question about Will. But Maura held her back: "They will come once they are ready. And they will ask if they have more questions. They always do." The blonde said, cupping Janes hand on her thigh.
The brunette bit her lip and nodded. Maura was right. Still, it didn't sit right with her. "I just want to see if they are okay." She said, getting off the couch walking to their room. She found both lying on the bed talking. When the door was opened, they stopped, giving Jane the typical teenage you are interrupting us with something that is none of your business stare.
The brunette backed up walking back into the living room. She hoped that Maura wouldn't give her the I told you so look now. But the blonde didn't. Instead she reached for the brunette's hand. "Let's watch a movie and relax." Maura said with a soft smile.
Jane grunted and put her feet onto the coffee table noticing the bottle of beer which Maura had brought along with her glass of wine. Her hands grabbed it thankfully and she took a big sip. "Haven't seen that in a long time." Jane commented as Mrs. Undercover started to play after the blonde had pushed the play button.
"I figured we needed something light and happy tonight." The blonde stated and Jane smirked. The smirk mixing up with a grin. "Yeah. That was a perfect idea." The movie did indeed lift the heaviness of the topic out of the air.
Afterwards the couple checked on the girls and Will. All three of their kids were sound asleep so they crawled into their own bed after a quick shower. Jane flipped the light switch and watched the room go dark. And with the darkness her mind started to work.
So far, Will was healthy and fine. Every few months they had to bring her into the hospital for examinations like a status test of her hormones. This would be vital for later, when they had to take a decision – or better said had to help Will a decision.
Maura kept saying that it was important to see it as a chance, rather than a burden. Will was special and despite Maura's denial Jane felt as if the girl had this information implanted in her. Like she had always kind of known that she was gay and that this made her different.
She had spent hours reading up literature about the sub-consciousness and more hours about testimonies of intersex people. Only few described it at easy, but most claimed that their sex weighed their down. The psychological effect of not being normal was always there without doubt. The self-consciousness about being different was well known to the brunette. But Jane couldn't tell how big the difference was between struggling to come to terms that you're gay and struggling to come to terms that your intersex. There was a difference for sure.
Another thing was sure though: Maura and her would always be by her side and help her as much as they could. They would be there every step of the way and they would fight for Will as of course they also did for Julia and Sophie.
She closed her eyes and sighed as Maura spooned into her. Their warm bodies seemed to melt into one and the brunette rested one leg between her wife's as they fell asleep.