The first day of their vacation started slowly. The sun was already warming up the tent when Jane opened her eyes first. The rest of the gang was still sleeping. She glanced at the various body parts tangled up in knots.

She grunted happily as she was able to untangle her long limps to leave for the toilet. The first thing she did upon leaving the tent was straighten up and stretch her body. They were still sleeping when she returned with a bag full of Croissants, rolls and bread.

That moment she was grateful to have insisted on storing their luggage in the midsection of the tent. Going through her duffle bag she soon found shorts and a t-shirt. The brunette took a run around the lake which took her for about an hour.

She enjoyed the warm sun on her toned skin and every step made her body relax. It felt as if she had finally arrived at the vacation. When she came back Maura and the girls were sitting at the table which was ready for breakfast.

The brunette bent down to place a gentle kiss to a soft spot close to Maura's ear whispering: "I love you." Maura mirrored her wide smile and reached for Janes chin to pull her closer for a kiss. "I love you too." She said. Their little moment got interrupted abruptly though when Julia and Sophie exclaimed: "Ma, Mum!" They rolled their eyes.

"What? Were old but we are not dead." Jane said with an amused look, sitting onto the empty chair next to Maura who was holding Will. The joke stuck in her throat when she realized that the girls might have a problem that they were gay.

"Why is it a problem when I kiss Maur?" she asked, cringing.

She relaxed though when the girls explained them that they didn't want to know about their sexual life and that kissing was disgusting. Neither Maura nor Jane felt the need to correct them, knowing that they would find out sooner or later how wrong they were. They exchanged an amused look and started eating.

Afterwards they walked down to a small beach at the lake. Jane was lying on her side, her head propped up on her elbow. Will was silently playing with toy cars on the blanket between Maura and her.

"Are you staring at me?" Maura asked, her head stuck into her medical journal.

"Maybe." Jane replied with a smirk. "Do I make you nervous?" she asked.

"Not at all. I was just wondering."

"You're beautiful, Maur." Jane said and smiled when hazel eyes turned to her. "You are not so bad yourself." Maura teased her, putting the journal aside, smiling. They watched in silence as Will moved a yellow toy car over the blanket, trying to imitate a cars sound.

Jane watched Maura strike over her soft dark hair and kiss her forehead. The girl smiled at her. One night, when they hadn't been able to sleep, Jane and Maura had established some rules. One of them was not to overinterpret whatever Will was doing or with whatever she was playing with. It might sound a little bit weird, but sometimes it was very tempting like now.

The girl dropped the car and crawled into Maura's arms. Her eyes were heavy, and she put a thumb into her mouth before falling asleep.

"Have you ever played with puppets?" Maura asked Jane. The brunette scratched her head. "No. I was more for the boy's games which might come as a surprise to you now." She winked. "Oh, hell yes. I'm shocked!" Maura said playfully.

They discussed about stereotyping for a while, until Julia and Sophie arrived to sit on their own blanket. Jane watched how their eyes kept darting back to a group of kids of their age, playing soccer on the beach.

They also, shot some looks towards the girls. One of the taller boys left the group, a ball under his arm. He walked towards them. "Do you want to play? We are two men short." He asked the girls. They hesitated but then shot their parents a questioning look. Maura and Jane said okay and saw them following the boy.

"That's what summer holidays are supposed to be like." Jane said feeling happy and recalled her childhood. Memories of endless seeming summer days were warming her heart as Maura agreed sub-consciously caressing the girls head in her arms with her thumb.

The evening came far too soon for everybody's taste and Julia and Sophie were a bit grumpy as they had to leave the game and their new friends. But their mood lit up as soon as each got served a huge portion of spaghetti Bolognese. They dug in as if they hadn't eaten in days.

Jane enjoyed her steak, which was just as she liked it: medium and Maura shared some Gnocchi with Will. Well-fed and totally content everybody crawled into the sheets for a good night's sleep only to find a new and sunny day awaiting them the next morning.

They rose early because they wanted to go on a hike. Jane carried the toddler in a carriage attached to her back and waist. Maura finished applying sunscreen on Wills face, touching Janes hips to walk around the brunette who shrieked.

"What are you doing, Maur?" she asked feeling soft hands on her face. "You also need sunscreen despite your tanned skin." The blonde stated simply as she applied some of the lotion onto her face and especially on Janes nose.

"Well, you know, I can do that on my own." Jane chuckled, enjoying Maura's touch.

"I know." Maura said with a smile. "But I just felt like doing it for you." With that, the blonde turned on her heels to do the same to Julia and Sophie and then grabbed the backpack.

Jane walked ahead on a rather small and rocky path, followed by Julia and Sophie and Maura was last. The hike was more exhausting than anticipated but none of the women complained about the weight on their backs. At the end it was totally worth it.

The family stood at the peak, sweating and panting but happy. They looked around getting a beautiful sight of other mountains, valleys and small lakes. Maura pulled her phone out of her pocket and asked another couple to take a picture of them.

Whenever the girls spotted an animal or flower they stopped, which meant that they stopped a lot. Janes heart warmed when she found Maura excited about the girl's interest, telling them a lot of facts. Jane recalled the snail incident in school and giggled when Sophie shrieked after Julia had pointed out a snail to tease her.

Just as their parents they had developed a habit to tease and banter. Will was giggling when Sophie jumped away from the snail. She wore a sunhat and looked quite adorable which made Maura take what felt a thousand of pictures.

Once back at the camp they ate a bite and left for the lake again. Julia and Sophie had been whining about wanting to go. They immediately joined the group of their new friends to play another round of soccer, while Maura and Jane cooled down after the hike in the lake.

The toddler was held firmly by Janes hand and the brunette dipped her carefully into the water. "Seems like Will likes it." Jane grinned at the child's laughter. Then Maura took Will so that Jane could swim a bit.

The water was cool, but not too cold. The brunette swam to the other sore and when she returned, she found Maura and Will on their blanket, warming up in the late afternoon sun.

R&I

It was on their last day of the holiday that Jane noticed how Sophie was especially interested in the tall boy, who had asked them to play on their first day on the beach. Maura was sleeping on the blanket next to her, a totally relaxed expression on her face. Jane pulled her legs towards her body and watched in silence how the boy and Sophie were sitting a bit apart from the rest of the group on a stone.

They were throwing stones into the water and laughing. His hand was touching hers slightly. It was sweet. She sighed and grabbed for her phone when it buzzed. It was her mother asking when she should come to pick the girls up. It was the same routine every summer. Julia and Sophie spent one to two weeks in Boston at the beginning of their holidays and then one or two more weeks at the end.

Either Maura and Jane drove them there staying over the weekend to also see some old friends like Korsak. Or Angela picked them up, spending a few days in New York to see Frankie and his family. It worked perfectly well for all of them.