Amy texted Jane on a regular basis. But there weren't many exchanges as they didn't know each other well enough for deeper conversations. For Jane, the main thing was, that her daughter showed interest in a relationship between them.
It was the Saturday, a month after her visit to New York and Jane inspected her apartment one last time before driving to the airport to pick Amy up and hopefully change the not knowing each other part of their relationship.
Frankie had given her a prep talk in the morning, knowing that Jane would be nervous. She had just found her daughter again and didn't want to lose her before getting a chance to spend time with her. Too much time had already passed in her life without Amy.
Her phone rang and as much as she wanted to ignore it, she had to pick it up. Cavanaughs voice almost instantly penetrated her ears as she held the device to her ear while walking to the car.
"Rizzoli! I know how I chewed your ear off to take your days off, but you can't do it now." Janes heart sank immediately. "We've got a … uhm… we need you!" he stumbled around and ended with an order.
"But I can't. I have plans…" Jane tried. Cavanaugh wouldn't have it and hence she gave in. If Cavanaugh ordered her to a crime scene it must be bad anyways. She dialed Frankies number who also had the day off and explained the situation to him. He agreed to pick up Amy at the airport. Then Jane texted Amy that she was called in for work and that uncle Frankie would pick her up. She added a picture of Frankie making a goofy face and chuckled at her teasing towards her little brother.
The case turned out to be a murder suicide by a local politician and his wife. Nothing exciting, not much work at least. Jane would write a report and then head home as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile Amy had texted her that she had arrived safely and that she had gone to Frankies and Ninas. This is where Jane was to pick her up. Nina greeted her with a wide smile and one of their toddlers on her arms.
"Hi!" she said warmly. "Come in! Dinner is almost ready."
It wasn't unusual for Jane to sometimes get dinner after work at their place. But she would have preferred to spend some alone time with Amy tonight. How selfish she thought and shook her head. Now she was more worried that Frankie had told Amy lots of bad stories about her.
"Hey you!" she greeted her nieces and Frankie as she stepped onto the deck. Amy stood and they hugged. "And hey to you too." Jane said sort of breathlessly wondering why she was still so nervous in the girls presence. "How was your flight?"
"It was great. I even had a window seat." Amy smiled. One of Frankies girls tugged at Janes sleeve. "elicopter" she said, and Jane laughed. "All right." She said as she got rid of her suit-jacket to swirl the girl around in the air. Amy seemed to study her with interest which made Jane wonder what was going through her mind. Could she remember how she had done the same with her when she was little?
Frankie stood to help Nina with setting the table and left Jane and Amy to watch the kids.
"So, this is uncle Frankie huh?" Amy smiled while Jane kept playing with the kid.
"Yeah." Jane replied.
"I like him and Nina." Amy's voice was soft.
Jane felt that she was going to say more, but nothing else came. It occurred to Jane that she might have wanted siblings as well. Or a huge family like Janes. She was glad that everybody in her family was easy going. Unlike Mauras family who had always disliked Jane being with the doc. Yet Maura had managed to raise her kid like Angela had hers.
The fact that Amy was all relaxed and wearing jeans spoke volumes to Jane. And she silently thanked Maura for having done such a good job on their daughter.
Amy was integrated quickly, and it was as if she had ever been there which made Jane happy. They talked a lot about sports and baseball in particular. Janes ears perked up when Amy mentioned that she had gotten an offer to study at BCU, receiving a full scholarship when joining their team.
Mauras alma mater would certainly come into deeper consideration which meant that Amy could soon be living closer to Jane.
"Mum says that she won't push me, although I have a strong feeling that she would like me to be here. Also, because I have family here." She laughed and Frankie chuckled.
"We would like to have you here. We could help you move and find a dorm and you could spend the weekends with the family." He offered instantly.
"I could babysit your girls." Amy was beaming. It was becoming more and more obvious that she liked the Rizzolis. Hanes head was spinning.
"We could go and watch some games of the Red Sox." Jane chimed in.
"Oh yeah. I would love to see them play. I mean I have seen them on TV but never attended a game in person."
Good that I already planned that for her stay here, Jane thought with a smile.
"We could also throw balls in the park." Amy said, slightly hopeful. Jane beamed. After seeing her daughter in action on the field, she would have never expected her to be interested in such trivial thing.
Jane and Amy enjoyed the evening. When the clock turned to 8pm and it was time for the kids to go to bed, they left.
"Want some desert? There is a great ice cream parlor on our way home." Jane asked. Amy immediately cheered like a kid although she had rubbed her full belly only ten minutes ago. But ice cream would always have space in her stomach she assured Jane who chuckled.
And so, they enjoyed each a cup before finally driving home. Jane showed Amy the guest room and gave her fresh towels before leaving her to unpack. The conversation was flowing easily the whole time.
"My bedroom is right next to yours. So, if you need anything just ask. Feel free to eat whatever you want." She said and left the room with the plan to settle onto the couch and work on her next episode of her true crime podcast.
She had been releasing an episode weekly for the last two years and people loved it. Just as they loved the Thrillers she had published. At first, writing had been a diversion from her loneliness after Maura had left. When being successful and even reaching the Top of some bestsellerlists in the US but also in Europe, it had become fun. The royals had allowed her to buy this beautiful apartment in one of the better parts of the city and Jane was mighty proud.
Being emerged in her notes she didn't hear Amy approaching the couch. Only when the girl dropped down next to her, she became aware that she wasn't alone anymore. She moved to close the laptop, but Amy asked if she could see what she was doing. Jane glanced at her notes and bit her lips.
No one except for Frankie knew what she was doing. All of her books had been published under the name JARI. This had led to some funny situations in the past, for example when her mother had discovered this fantastic writer she wanted everybody to read. And she was even willing to lend the books to her kids.
Jane blinked at the page and then handed the laptop over to Amy. "It's for the next episode of my podcast." She explained.
"You have a podcast? Wow, that's soooo cool!" her daughter exclaimed, which made Jane chuckle shyly. "Well, it's not that big of a deal." She stated. But of course, it was to Amy who wanted to know everything – especially its name.
"It's called coffee and crime. My two most favorite things in life…. I mean before we met a month ago." Jane blushed slightly. And maybe it was too soon to tell her that she loved her, but Jane wanted her to know how important she was to her.
Amy blushed slightly as well. "Can't call it: coffee, crime and Amy." She joked to deflect. A habit she had dobviously inherited from Jane. Jane laughed.
"No, that would sound weird." She admitted. She stood to get them some juice and water and give Amy some space to read through the notes. Upon returning Amy praised her.
"This is really good m.. I mean Jane." The brunette wondered if she had imagined the part were Amy had almost said mum.
"Mhm, you think so?" over half a million listeners worldwide would suggest that it was so. But Amys opinion mattered most to Jane. Jane would have loved Amy to call her that, on the other hand she wasn't sure if she could handle it.
"Yeah. Of course. Can I join you for one episode? When will you be recording?"
Jane hadn't planned on recording for the two weeks Amy was in town. Unless the girl wanted to do something on her own, which could happen with teenagers as she had seen with Frankies oldest one who was almost Amy's age.
"I usually record on Sunday and release it on Thuesday." She replied. And yes, Amy was more than welcome to join her if she wanted to.
"Great!" Amy cheered and threw herself into Janes arms. Jane who wasn't a big hugger really grew to her daughters hugs.
After working together on the notes, they flipped on the TV. Her phone buzzed and she checked to find a message from Maura.
How are you? Not sending her home yet, are you?
The message was also bearing a laughing smiley.
Nope, so far so good. We had dinner with Frankie and Nina and now we are watching one of Amy's favorite shows. How are you? Miss her?
Amy was busy texting with a friend, so she didn't look up from her phone to check to whom Jane was writing..
Actually yes. At first, I thought that the freedom would be nice, but….
Jane knew that this was how she was going to feel once Amy had left to go home. And she knew the feeling all too well from another time. Feeling the anger about the way Maura had left her, she dropped the thought and focused on the TV again.
Amy was wearing some pj pants and a cozy hoody and now snuggled into Janes arms. It didn't take her long to fall asleep and Jane wondered if she should wake her to go to bed or what to do. Of course, she could ask Maura for advice, but Jane thought that she needed to get this on her own.
She watched for 30 more minutes before gently trying to slide away and let Amy down to the couch. Thank god, she always kept a blanket there so she could cover the girl that was sleeping soundly.