New Years is loud and happy, the Rizzoli family and friends having shown up for brunch and a delayed Christmas. Frankie and Nina show up wearing matching elf Christmas pyjamas that make Maura laugh when she sees them. Frankie with his pants too short and his boyish grin are a sight to behold. Nina catches Maura's eye and winks. Tommy and TJ show up next wearing ugly Christmas sweaters. TJ's has Rudolph on it, complete with a glowing nose that he proudly demonstrates to Maura. Kiki and Vince show up in their own Christmas sweaters, though only Vince's could truly be called ugly. Hope and Cailin are hot on their heels, Cailin in a snow woman onesie and Hope looking lovely in green. Constance arrives well after brunch, pressing kisses to Maura's cheek while she chatters about her flight. Maura can't help smiling at the odd sight of their family. Jane's overly familiar, overly loud, wild side intermingling with Maura's overly refined and emotionally reserved side with plenty of alcohol to go along.
Maura sees Jane snag TJ, whispering conspiratorially in his ear, planting the first seeds. Maura grins when she sees the boy's smile widen, a big white toothy thing. His eyes twinkle and he nods earnestly. Maura glances at her watch. 11:45 am. Jane winks at Maura and wanders away from her nephew. Maura watches TJ a moment longer as he seems to consider what to do. In the end, Boston begging for attention wins out and he runs away, shrieking happily as she chases after him.
Maura spins from conversation to conversation, her eyes tracking TJ as he plays. At some point, Maura notices Jane doing the same thing. Jane catches her eye and shoots her a quick wink before turning back to her brothers. The first crack comes in the form of Nina Holiday. She and TJ are colouring together when she looks sharply up at Maura. She arches one eyebrow and subtly wiggles her ring finger. Maura grins, nodding surreptitiously, before putting a finger to her lips. Nina beams at her but accepts with a nod. Maura is not at all surprised that her future sister in law had figured it out first.
Tommy finds out next. Barreling in to Jane with a teary eyed hug. Maura receives the same treatment with only a little more forewarning. Jane ushers Tommy away, urging him to play along. Maura sees Nina chuckling in the corner. After that things begin to blur together. Frankie and Cailin find out during a round of candy land, Frankie punching Jane in congratulations and Cailin gives Maura a crushing hug. Vince bursts into tears and Maura thinks the big sobs might give the game away but Kiki is ushering him out before anything more can come out. If Jane happens to disappear for a little bit after that and if she happens to come back with wet eyes and a pleased look, Maura would pretend otherwise, for her.
When only Hope, Constance and Angela remain the other adults begin taking bets on who will find out first. Angela was the heavy favourite, given that TJ was her grandson. Hope was a distant second, only Jane and Cailin putting their money on her. No one, not even Maura, expects it to be Constance. Constance just wasn't good with kids. Of course, no one was counting on TJ being good with adults. Their secret bubbles from his little lips just after 2 pm as he reaches past Constance for a snack. Constance looks up to find 8 pairs of adult eyes watching her and she promptly bursts into peals of laughter.
In true Rizzoli fashion, Jane promptly raises the stakes. Terms are laid out and sides are taken. Jane, Tommy, Nina, and Vince are team Angela. Maura, Cailin, Kiki and Frankie are team Hope. Constance agrees to be the impartial juror. Then it is on.
Jane and Nina propose cookie making, much to TJ's excitement. Maura glares at Jane. It backfires spectacularly when Angela opts out, having cooked that morning, leaving Jane and Nina to supervise the act. When the first threads of TJ's attention seem to waiver, Frankie and Cailin begin a game of hide and seek, Cailin miraculously using Hope as a hiding place. Jane groans, a speck of flour adorning her cheek as she rolls out the dough. Maura can't help the smug grin any more than she can help the fondness she feels for that flour covered face. Things escalate from there. Tommy puts on a movie and all but throws TJ into his grandmother's lap. Kiki begins a very loud conversation about weddings with Hope, who looks vaguely uncomfortable.
By dinner time, things between the teams are borderline hostile. The competition comes between couples and siblings alike. Maura isn't sure what would happen if TJ didn't break over dinner. Her family might very well riot. Maura considers calling it off but the thought of Jane's smug tone asking if she was 'giving up' kept playing in her head. Maura has never seen pizza slices passed with so much passive aggressive angst. And then, at 6:38 pm, and straight from the mouths of babes.
'Auntie Maura?' TJ asks innocently, 'will you have pizza at the wedding or lasagna?' The table freezes.
Angela's head whips up, her eyes darting from Maura to Jane. Maura, feeling a tad like a deer in the headlights, gulps.
'Pizza,' Jane says confidently, breaking the silence, 'definitely having pizza at our wedding.'
'Your wedding?' Angela whispers.
Hope smiles warmly at Maura and it gives her the courage to speak at last, 'yes our wedding.'
'Uh-oh,' TJ says, his face looking crestfallen, 'I'm sorry Auntie Janie. I told and I wasn't supposed to.'
This startles a laugh from the table. 'Actually, buddy' Jane says, walking around and giving the boy a hug, 'you were supposed to. We were playing a game. We wanted you to be the one to tell everyone that Maura and I are engaged.'
'You did?' TJ asks with a sniffle.
At the same time, Angela says 'engaged?'
'Yeah, buddy,' Jane says ruffling his hair and placing a kiss on his head, 'you did great.' Her eyes don't leave her mother.
'Is this for real?' Angela asks, the whole table hanging on her every word.
'Yeah, Ma,' Jane replies, her own voice thick with emotion, 'we proposed on Christmas.' Jane fishes out her ring, showing it to the table. Maura does the same.
'You both proposed?' Angela asks, still in a state of shock. She accepts both rings. She holds them all there in animated suspense before she lets out a happy kind of squeal. 'My babies are engaged!' The table cheers then and official congratulations are offered. Constance calls the bet, officially, a tie.
Angela, true to form, insists on hearing every detail. Maura let's Jane take the lead there, hoping to resist the impending hives. Maura isn't sure how Jane does it but somehow she manages to tell her mother enough that the question of what they were wearing was not belaboured and Maura is truly grateful she doesn't have to tell her future mother in law that they got engaged while Maura was nude under her robe.
Noemi comes home just as they are finishing dessert. The girl had claimed she had on-boarding things to do but Maura would not be surprised if the woman had also gone out of her way to be away. Maura couldn't imagine how much she was hurting and to be surrounded by a happy family, a happy family celebrating an engagement, would be overwhelming. Maura and Jane trade looks and Jane follows the woman to her room. Jane would share their news and make sure Noemi was alright.
Jane returns a little while later, she flashes Maura a smile and wiggles her ring finger where Maura's ring glinted. Maura nodded, her own ring firmly in place. They'd agreed to wait to wear them until their family's knew and Maura was reluctant to take it off. Of course, now that almost everyone knew, she didn't have to. Maura nodded her head to the tree where a final round of presents now sat. Jane nodded and whistled loudly. 'Alright everyone, we have one more round of presents for you. Could everyone gather around?' The family assembles as Jane and Maura pass out their presents. The gifts had been Jane's idea but Maura had procured them, finding a last minute artist to help make them happen.
'Everyone has theirs? Don't open it yet.'
'No peeking, either,' Cailin whispers loudly, swatting at Frankie's hands as he tried to peek. It makes the group laugh.
'Maur,' Jane says, gesturing for Maura to take the lead. They'd discussed this but somehow Maura was nervous. Her stomach churned.
Maura looks at Hope, Constance and Angela. 'This present is special to both of us but to me in particular. And it is special because of the three of you. Angela you are such an extraordinary mother. You show so much love to the world and you collect children like Vince collects strays. Yet somehow you always have more love to give. Thank you for choosing me, for collecting me, for loving me.'
Angela smiles wiping at her tears, 'of course honey.'
Maura looks at Hope and already her eyes are misting, 'Mother is a complicated word between us. You brought me into this world. You loved me even as you grieved me. So much of who I am is because of who you are and the more I get to know you the more grateful I am for that. I know that for all of the complications between us, knowing you has made me better. Thank you for giving me life. And for the second chance to be a part of yours and Cailin's life.' Hope ducks her head but Maura sees the tears.
Finally Maura looks at Constance. There's ache there that Maura had never seen before. A longing that Maura knew was birthed from the envy felt over Maura's relationship with Angela and Hope. 'Mama,' Maura begins softly, 'those were the first words I spoke to you because you were and will always be my first image of motherhood. I owe you so much more than I will ever be able to repay. For taking me and loving me and raising me and giving me a family. I'd like to think that this present honours you the most.' Constance openly blots at her own tears, too choked up to speak.
Maura looked at the three of them and then looked at Jane with a sappy smile, 'we love you and we want to honour all of you so…' Maura gestures for them to open their presents.
'That was your cue to open your presents,' Jane says with an eye roll when they don't get it. The three of them do and a happy squeal from Angela comes first. She pulls out a coffee mug that says 'Promoted to Nonna, again!'
Maura doesn't see Hope or Constance's reactions as Angela has flown from her seat to wrap both Jane and Maura in a strangling hug. The room bursts into cheers and Jane groans as her mother presses a kiss to her cheek. 'You lot can open yours now,' Jane shouts to be heard.
Frankie and Tommy pull out matching 'Funcles' t-shirts. Nina and Cailin get an 'Auntiecorn' mug with a unicorn in a leotard doing a dance move that Jane had called a dab. TJ gets a shirt that says 'my cousins think I'm cool.' Vince cried openly over his 'my favourite people call me poppy mug' and Kiki beamed over her 'promoted to Gigi' mug. Maura strains to see over the ruckus what Hope and Constance thought of their grandma mugs, hoping she had not chosen the wrong name but she can't seem to catch a glimpse of their faces.
Jane takes the lead on answering their questions about foster care and how it worked. Maura decides it's a good time to step away. She takes the dogs out for a break. Hope and Constance find her there.
'Here you are darling,' Constance says, her warm voice soothing. 'We were looking for you.' Hope smiles and wraps a tentative arm around Maura's shoulders. Maura leans into it for only a moment.
'Mothers,' Maura says softly, feeling suddenly self-conscious. She wasn't certain she ever had had a conversation with just the two of them before. 'I hope you liked your mugs.'
Constance chuckles, 'I did. Your Mémère would certainly approve.'
'I never pictured myself a Nana,' Hope offers softly, 'but I'm certain I will grow to love the term.'
'We can always change it, if you would prefer,' Maura offers nervously.
'It was perfect,' Constance says, her hand landing on Maura's forearm, stilling Maura. 'A wonderful surprise.' Constance presses a kiss to Maura's cheek in a rare display of affection.
'But we're more touched that you want to honour our story through fostering and adoption,' Hope says quietly. 'I obviously wish things had been different for us but I'm so grateful for you Constance.' Hope gulps softly. 'You raised this beautiful woman so well. I shudder to think of how things would have gone if she hadn't had you. You were a good mother Constance and I'm so grateful.
Maura stares in awe at her mothers. This was unexpected and overwhelming in the best kind of way. Constance seemed to be feeling similarly because she blinked, shaking her head lightly before looking away. 'I am grateful to you, Hope. I didn't know… I never would have… if I had known….' Constance struggles to find the right words.
'I know,' Hope says, cutting off the notion entirely. 'I know you wouldn't have. What mother would?'
'But you unknowingly gave me the world's greatest gift.' Constance smiles at Maura with raw affection and Maura truly wonders if her mothers have been drinking or perhaps if this was some gloriously uncomfortable dream. 'And now we get to watch our daughter become a mother and outshine us both. How lucky are we?'
'Very,' Hope agrees, her eyes twinkling, 'we love you Maura.' Hope kisses Maura's temple gently.
'And we're proud of you, both of you,' Constance says, shooting a look back toward the door where Jane was standing nervously. Constance presses a kiss to Maura's cheek, 'we'll let the two of you talk.'
Jane swoops in as Hope and Constance leave, her arms wrapping around Maura's waist, her chin resting on Maura's shoulder. Maura relaxes into it completely. 'Everything okay?' Jane asks her voice husky, tendrils of steam coming from her lips in the cold.
'Yes,' Maura says, her own voice breaking with emotion, 'just feeling emotional.'
'I can imagine,' Jane offers. She presses a gentle kiss to Maura's neck, 'that was the first time I think I've seen just the three of you talking.'
'It was,' Maura affirms.
'Was it…' Jane pauses, 'did it go okay?'
'Yes,' Maura whispers, feeling grateful, 'it was perfect.' Maura turns her head to kiss Jane's cheek. 'Our children are very fortunate to have three grandmothers.'
Jane chuckles, 'until they realise how overbearing their Nonna is.'
Maura chuckles too, 'they'll still be lucky to have her.'
'That they will,' Jane says swaying softly, 'I love our family. I can't wait to meet the rest of them.'
'Me either,' Maura whispers. They stay like that a while longer, swaying in the cold, dreaming of a not so distant future together.
January is spent in a flurry of motion. They buy furniture, frequent consignment stores stocking up on everything from books and toys to cloth diapers and winter clothing. They organise clothing by size, toys by age and books by page type. Things are cleaned, labeled and put away in their appropriate bins. Nia does two walkthroughs, following a check list of safety features but finds nothing wrong on either visit. Maura had made sure of that. They are ready for their first placement long before the system is ready for them.
Amanda Stephens, during a video call in which Panda showed off her new baby sister, called this stage the 'hurry up and wait' stage and Jane hated it. She hated thinking that their kid could be out there, waiting on red tape to come home. She hated that her heart skipped a beat every time her phone rang. She hated walking by the open door of that empty room every night when all she wanted was to hear laughter and life coming from inside of it.
While Maura never mentioned it or complained, Jane was fairly certain that Maura hated it too. That is, if the number of boxes arriving daily had anything to say about it. Even Berry had taken on a morose mood. The russet pup had claimed the child's room, laying in the middle of the floor her head turned toward the crib in expectation. The first time she had done it, Jane had grinned. Maura had not believed her. The second time, Jane dragged Maura up the stairs to look at the pup.
'She knows,' Jane says with a grin.
Maura frowned, 'that is not possible. She's never lived with a child before.'
'She still knows,' Jane says going in to give the pup head rubs, 'don't you girl.' Berry, always happy to receive Jane's attention chuffed and wagged her tail, eyes closing in bliss.
Maura joins them, tugging an ear in Berry's favourite form of affection, 'perhaps the bars on the crib remind her of the rescue. Do you think it could be fear?'
Jane considers it, her hand running over silky strands of red fur. 'Nah,' Jane says at last, 'she's too happy. She knows what is coming and she's excited.'
Maura hums and Jane can tell she's still skeptical but Jane isn't. Berry was intuitive, just like her namesake. She had stayed with Noemi every night after Aarna left, refusing to leave the sad woman alone. Jane almost felt guilty for splitting the pair up when they returned to DC. 'Some dogs can sniff out a pregnancy before those pee sticks do,' Jane offers.
'But we aren't pregnant,' Maura says softly.
'Okay but couldn't our hormones still be changing? Something detectable?' Jane asks.
Maura shrugs, 'I suppose it is possible.'
'But you don't think it's likely,' Jane finishes for her.
Maura sighs, petting Berry once more before standing up, 'I don't know what to think but so long as she is happy and healthy then so am I.'
Maura leaves the room but Jane lays down next to Berry, whispering conspiratorial, 'I know you know Ber. And I promise they'll be here soon. Okay girl?' Berry chuffs again. Jane feels silly for the superstition but she's a woman who follows her instincts, so she whispers 'and Frost if you're listening, watch over them until they get here. They might need their Uncle Barry.' Jane sniffles, burying her face in Berry's fur, drawing comfort from the pup.
Boston interrupts the snuggle session in true Boston fashion, simply barreling over the pair and flopping on Jane in dramatic fashion, her tongue lolling out of the side. It startles a laugh from Jane. 'Alright, enough moping,' Jane says scratching Boston's chin, 'lets go take Maura for a walk.' At the 'w' word both girls jump up, tails wagging eagerly. Boston darts from the room and Jane can hear her feet thundering as she descends the stairs to where her leash is kept. Berry is hot on her heels but only after pausing to lick Jane's face. Jane grins. The dog knew. She always knew.
Life goes on between the waiting. Maura takes the early morning shift at the clinic, making sure she can be there for after school pick ups if it's needed. Jane makes sure her first class starts at 9 am, allowing her to do school drop offs if needed. Jane starts with a new batch of recruits, most of them predictably young, white and male, making Jane miss Aarna and Noemi. January turns slowly into February and they settle quietly into their new schedules.
News comes on February 12th in the form of Nia Williams herself. She smiles and congratulates them of receiving official state approval to be foster parents. Jane and Maura celebrate with dinner out and canolis for dessert and then they hurry up and wait some more. Jane hates the waiting but every time she begins to feel impatient and frustrated, Jane peeks into the nursery, looks down at that little red dog watching over that crib, and Jane remembers that it will be worth the wait.
