The next day was Saturday and Jane had spent the whole day at work. Frankie came by in the evening to watch a game with Jane. The talk to Harry the previous night had been fruitless, and the boy had been hiding in his room for the entire day.

"Hey Maur." He greeted the doc who was standing in the kitchen.

"Hey Frankie. You're just in time for dinner." Maura stated and smiled. He chuckled and made a sniffing sound. "Yeah, smells great. Pizza?" he replied, and Jane nudged him as she passed to take two beers out of the fridge.

"Homemade pizza with whole wheat." Maura proudly said and Jane chuckled when Frankie's expression lost some of its excitement. "How was your day?" she asked her brother while handing him a bottle. "Nice." He shrugged. Jane who knew that he had had a date wiggled her eyebrows.

"Nice enough for a second date?" she asked, and he huffed.

"You're as nosy as ma." He whined which made her choke on her beer. "Excuse me?! I'm not!" she emphasized but he told her that she was. They were starting one of their sibling fights, when Harry silently sneaked into the room.

His eye wore a nice blue and Frankie almost dropped his beer. "Hell, what happened to you buddy? You remind me a lot of Jane. Always bruises and sometimes a blue eye." He chuckled and gave her a meaningful glance.

Jane huffed. "You're totally overdoing it!" she said indignant. "I'm not!" he feigned indignance too. Maura rolled her eyes. "You and you!" she pointed at the siblings. "Stop fighting!" she ordered, and Jane stated "WHO's like ma now?"

Frankie scoffed when Maura punched her slightly. "Great role models we are." Jane said with an eye on Harry who was still standing in the kitchen.

Dinner was perfect and so was the evening afterwards. Harry sat next to Frankie during the game and watched in silence. His eyes never left the TV screen and Jane started to really get worried. So much so, that she couldn't focus on the game.

R&I

The weekend had passed quicker than Jane would have wanted to. Harry had warmed up a bit again as she had practiced throwing balls with him on Sunday. By the time he was allowed to go back to school he was almost normal again. Although they hadn't managed to solve the problem or find out what had made Harry start a fist fight.

"Okay." Jane said as she handed him the lunch box. Maura had been called in for work early in the morning and it was up to her to bring him to school. She felt mighty proud of having managed the process of waking him and getting him dressed. He even ate some muesli.

They joked around for a bit and he ate it with a scrunched-up nose while Jane drank her coffee. Then she became serious. "No punching today." She said and he rolled his eyes. "I mean it. I know how you sometimes feel so angry that you want to punch someone. But its never a solution. Believe me, I speak from experience." She didn't expect him to accept her speech but to her surprise he silently said "I know." He looked guilty and Jane felt sorry for him.

She walked around the breakfast bar to hug him. His tiny arms swung around her, and he held up to her like a drowning pet to a straw. Jane felt that he wouldn't tell her why he had punched the other kid and she didn't bother him with questions. She just offered him a hand to hop of the stool before placing the empty bowl into the dishwasher.

"C'mon." she said softly as they walked to her cruiser.

R&I

Jane stood at the fence where the school team was practicing. She had just spent one hour interrogating a witness and felt like seeing how Harry was doing without him knowing it. She assumed that he'd probably be mad if he knew. Maybe he'd think that she would spy on him to see if he was being nice.

But when the referee made a bad call on his actions for the third time she couldn't hold back any longer. To her it was obvious that one of the classmates was being mean to Harry and that he was the one doing all the fouls not Harry.

Jane was enraged as she walked onto the field towards the man to ask him what he was doing. He should be fair not side with a person or a team. Harry had wide eyes as she stopped short in front of the referee and poked her finger into his chest to give him her piece of mind.

She basically told him, that he was not doing his job properly and when he said that he did, she counted one example after the other of her fingers where he had failed Harry.

"And just to be clear. No one hurts my son!" she said, glancing at her boy whose nose was bleeding from a punch inflicted by one of the bigger boys during the game.

Then she crouched next to Harry and handed him a handkerchief so he could hold it to his nose. After checking that he was all right otherwise she asked if he wanted to come with her. But he shook his head. "I want to finish my practice." He said and Jane admired his strength. She didn't give in to her need to kiss his forehead because she assumed that it would make him look like a baby in front of the others. And she also knew that it would provoke more teasing. So she left after saying goodbye to her son.

At least she intended to do so, when she heard the referees voice in her back: "He can hardly be your son unless you have a dick. So don't overdo it." His voice was sharp and Jane froze.

R&I

The well-known clack clack of high heels on the linoleum floor of the school announced Mauras arrival. Jane and Harry were sitting on the bench in front of the principals office and they both looked away when Maura rounded the corner.

The late afternoon sun was shining through a window enlightening Maura's facial expression. It told Jane that she was in trouble. When Jane stood to go with her into the principals office, Maura just shook her head. So, she sat back down, noticing that Harrys nose was still bleeding when he pulled the handkerchief of it.

She saw his hand shaking from holding it long in the same position and helped him by holding a fresh handkerchief to his nose. "We're in trouble." She mumbled to him and didn't know if it was appropriate to chuckle. Jane had given her side of the story to the principal earlier, feeling like a dumb school kid. It was ironic, because she had never actually had to go to principal when she was a pupil herself. But today had been worth it she decided and gave a small chuckle.

The corners of Harrys mouth tugged suspiciously as if he tried to hold back a laugh himself. Both glanced up, when the door opened half an hour later and Maura commanded them to the cars.

R&I

"What on earth have you been thinking Jay?" Maura said as she paced in front of the bed where Jane and Harry were laying. She had not spoken about the incident for the whole evening until they had finished dinner. Then she had ordered them to Harrys room.

"I just defended my son." Jane said, holding up the palms of her hand as if saying that she was innocent. Maura huffed. "We told Harry that its not okay to punch people and yet you hit the referee?"

"No, I didn't. I might have touched him by coincidence when I was talking with my hands. You know how I have Italian roots. And we Italians like to use our hands during conversations. It was never my intention to hurt him." Jane explained. Maura gave her an incredulous look. "He ended up on the ground, didn't he?" she narrowed her eyes and Jane scoffed.

"Yeah. I might have been enraged about the things he said. Its his fault. He had it coming. I was already about to leave when he said these horrible things. And the more enraged I am the more I need to use my hands to talk."

Jane giggled slightly when seeing how Maura had to force herself to stay serious. Jane had already told her what the referee had said to her, and it had enraged Maura too. Actually, it had been the first time that Jane had heard Maura swearing.

Yet, it didn't justify Janes actions as Maura had explained. But Jane had shrugged. That was who she was. If she loved somebody, she had to defend them. No matter what. This included herself. Truth was, that the referee had rubbed salt into a wound that Jane had believed to be long closed. Turned out it wasn't. Her sexuality would probably always be a trigger for her.

"Its not okay to punch people. I don't know how often I have to tell you." Maura said glaring at them after feeling strong enough to hold back her giggles. "I have a job to do. I don't have the time to see the principal all the time just because you cant control your anger." She added. Jane hitched a breath and made an innocent face. "Of course, we can control ourselves." She found Maura very sexy as she studied the petite in her pencil skirt and white blouse. Fighting under these circumstances was highly unfair and she would tell Maura so later in bed.

Anyways, the blonde stopped in her tracks, unable to hide her amusement about the situation any longer. She chuckled. "Okay, this is really weird. But I have to admit that it wasn't fair from the referee. And I appreciate you defending our son Jay. I really do. But still. Maybe you could solve the problem otherwise the next time."

Jane sighed and pulled her hand through her hair. "Okay. I can try."

"And I hope you'll try too honey." Maura said, turning to the boy who nodded seriously. "Of course." He promised. "But do I have to if somebody insults another person?"

Both looked at him and he shrunk a bit. He's so much like me Jane thought and almost shivered at the realization. She could read the same thing on Maura's face. "What do you mean?" Jane asked pulling an arm around him.

Harry seemed to struggle, so did his hands in his lap. "Well, that's why I started the fight. People made fun of me, but I can handle it. But they also make fun of this boy who can only walk on crutches. And they stole his schoolbag and were about to steal his crutches. So I punched one of the boys."

Janes heart literally melted of pride. Maura had to sit onto the bed with a stupefied expression on her face.

"But why didn't you tell your teacher?" Maura asked and the boys face turned angry. "I told her several times. Its always the same group of boys that bully some of the kids. She wouldn't listen to me. Besides they would have hurt him by the time I had found the teacher. I had to act instantly." Harry defended himself.

"Well, I think that its time that we paid the principal another visit." Jane said.

"I think so too." Maura stated with a pensive look on her face.