April Fool's Day 2022

Jane was known to be a prankster but she was having problems coming up with pranks this year to pull on her children. Kate, at three-and-a-half years old was a very sensitive child and she didn't want to upset her little girl with her April Fool's Day pranks. She thought about not doing pranks at all but she had been doing pranks on April Fool's Day for as long as she could remember. Since the children had been born, she had only done one or two pranks each year and that was mostly to coworkers.

It was also getting harder because MJ, at almost eight, was very smart and had predicted some of her pranks in the past. Well, all four of their children were smart. She was going to have to start writing down which pranks she had pulled on the children so she didn't repeat any of them.

Maura really didn't like the idea of pranking the children but she knew how much Jane enjoyed this day. Jane had promised that April Fool's Day would be the only day that she would ever prank their children. Jane loved to have fun and Maura didn't want to take all of her fun away, so she agreed to this one day to play a few pranks on their four children.

Maura liked to have fun also and some of the pranks Jane had pulled in the past had been funny. Maura told herself years ago that she had five children because Jane was like a child when it came to days like April Fool's Day.

Jane researched and found a few pranks that she could pull on the children that hopefully wouldn't upset Kate. Maura actually joined Jane in researching some of the pranks. Jane thought that Maura could help to make sure the pranks were okay for the children. She wanted their children to enjoy the day just like she had growing up. Maura had never experienced April Fool's Day until she met Jane. There was so much in Maura's life that she never experienced until she met Jane. Jane wanted their children to have all the experiences she could provide for them. All that she and Maura could provide for them, even if it was Maura's first time experiencing the activity also.

The first prank that Jane wanted to pull was the fake toilet paper rolls in the two bathrooms that the children use. Jane read over the instructions and knew she and Maura could do this prank. They made the fake toilet paper rolls and then stashed them on the top shelf of their closet where the children couldn't see them. She wanted to set it up for first thing in the morning. She would have to set her alarm and then make sure that she went to bed early to make up for having to get up early. She would set up the fake toilet paper rolls in the children's bathroom and the guest bathroom downstairs.

On to the next prank. She continued researching. She wanted to see if she could come up with at least four. She may not be able to select which child the prank would be pulled on but at least with four pranks there was a possibility that she could have one prank for each of the children.

She wished the children ate cereal like she liked to do because she had the perfect prank, frozen cereal. For this prank she would have set the cereal up like normal and then put it in the freezer. She would have Cheerios, that the children love, because Cheerios would stand up to being frozen and hold its consistency. In the morning she would have taken the frozen cereal out added a little milk to the top and it would have looked like a bowl of cereal except when the children went to eat it, they would have discovered that they couldn't get their spoon in it. But she wouldn't be able to accomplish this prank because their children have oatmeal and fresh fruit, like their mommy, most mornings, so she wouldn't be able to use that prank.

After reviewing other pranks, she asked Maura if they could do the cereal prank because it really sounded fun and she could get all of the children with that prank. Maura thought about it and agreed. About once a month the children had cereal so it wasn't out of the norm. she would just make sure to have some fresh fruit cut up and ready to give them along with some unfrozen Cheerios.

After the children went to bed, Jane and Maura rigged up the toilet paper rolls in the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms. Then they rigged up balloons in a bag above the children's doors so that the balloons would fall down on them when they opened their bedroom door. Jane thought of that one all on her own, well it might have been done to her in the past, maybe. She didn't see it during her research. They also set up the cereal bowls.

Kate was the first one out of her room and the balloons dropped down on her. When Jane peeked out her bedroom door, Kate was sitting in the middle of the floor just playing with all the balloons. She had a huge smile on her face. She was so happy. Jane walked over and sat down and batted the balloons around with her. Maura joined them after she had taken a few pictures. Upon hearing the commotion in the hallway, the other three children came out and balloons fell on their heads and Jane shouted, "Happy April Fool's Day."

The six of the them batted balloons around and rolled around in the balloons for a few minutes before they went downstairs and had 'cereal' for breakfast. The children laughed at the frozen cereal and Maura exchanged a frozen bowl of cereal for an unfrozen bowl. Once everyone was seated and had taken a few bites, a timer went off and Jane immediately got up and said, "Come on kids we are going to be late, we have to get ready to go to school."

AJ said, "We just sat down mama, we need to eat."

"Look at the clock son, we don't want to be late." Jane said, she couldn't look at Maura because she was about ready to start laughing. Maura looked down at her cereal to stop herself from laughing.

MJ pulled out his phone and said, "No way mama, you set the clocks forward to prank us." Jane's head sank down, MJ had discovered her prank.

"Yes, I did, I wanted to prank you. I guess you got me on that one." Jane said as she took a bite of her cereal.

"Yes, I did. I am learning mama." MJ said.

Jane took a sip of her coffee and about spit it out. "What is going on with this coffee? It tastes like decaf. Oh, who is the wise guy that tried to prank the prankster?"

All the children looked at each other and then at Maura, "What, it wasn't my idea. I know better than to mess with you and your coffee." Maura said as she handed Jane a fresh cup of regular coffee and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "This will taste better for you, love."

Jane smiled when she drank regular coffee but how could she figure out which child pranked her. She knew it wasn't Kate, or at least she was pretty sure it wasn't Kate. She didn't think Lilly would prank her yet. Although AJ and Lilly were almost six years old and that is when MJ started pranking her back. She would have to think on this.

They finished their breakfast and got ready for work and school and that is when AJ discovered the toilet seat had been covered with saran wrap. He went to get some toilet paper to clean up the mess and discovered the roll had been replaced with a 'Happy April Fool's Day' message. He knew where the spare rolls of toilet paper were kept and cleaned up the mess and then finished getting ready. MJ had the same adventure upstairs in the bathroom. He told himself, 'I'm going to have to come up with something to prank mama when we get home from school.'

They had a few pranks pulled on them at school. One teacher told the class they were going to have a surprise test. After all the students fussed, she told them, "April Fools! No test today." The students were happy. At lunch initially the cafeteria had a sign up that said, 'Closed.' MJ knew that couldn't be right and opened the door and went inside. The cafeteria workers were wondering who was going to be the first student to actually come in for lunch.

MJ about had his fill of being pranked. He was ready for this day to be over. He just wanted to go home and see what other pranks his mama had in store for him and then go to bed, knowing when he woke up on Saturday morning there would be no more pranks.

Jane and Maura picked the children up from school. The children were surprised as they expected their nonna to pick them up, especially when they saw their nonna's car. Jane had swapped cars with her ma to prank the children. She had also taken the day off of work because she didn't want to get pranked at work. She had pranked so many people over the years at BPD she knew they were conspiring against her. The only way she could think to combat that was to take the day off. Maura didn't want to get behind on her work so she went to work.

Right as all the children were loaded up in the car, Jane's phone rang, she answered it, "Rizzoli. What do you mean I have a murder? I am not on the schedule until Monday. Fine I will call the team in." She hung up the phone and told Maura, "I have a VIP case, Frost is already at another high-profile case. I will have to drop you guys off at home and go in."

Jane was not happy. She took her family home, changed her clothes and went to the scene. When she arrived there was no murder, well there was a body, a dummy posed at a murder scene. A bunch of unis were standing around waiting to be given their orders. Once Jane got closer to the body, the unis spread out a sign that said, 'Happy April Fool's Day, Captain Rizzoli-Isles.' Jane just laughed at them. That is when she saw Frost and his huge smile. She walked up to him and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Thanks, Frosty."

They helped the unis break down the crime scene and then Jane and Frost went to Jane's house. Frost wanted to see Maura and kids and hear about all the pranks that had been pulled on them today. Frost had been the recipient of quite a few of Jane's pranks over the years, he was just happy he could prank his old partner. Even though it was a light prank compared to some of the elaborate pranks Jane had pulled over the years.

Frost remembered one year when Jane pranked him, "I remember when Jane taped over the sensor on the remote control. It was my night to work the remote control and the darn thing wouldn't work. I swapped out the batteries and everything. She told me, 'some detective you are. Did you check the sensor?' I checked the sensor and found a small piece of tape. We laughed for a few minutes. Her pranks were always in good fun, not mean or cruel."

"Ya, that was so funny. I had so much fun pranking you." Jane said.

"Barry, can you stay for dinner? I know Susie is working late." Maura asked hoping he would say yes.

"Sounds great, I would love to join you." Barry said as he patted AJ and MJ on the head. They had both come out to see him.

"Uncle Frosty are you staying for dinner?" MJ asked. MJ loved his uncle Frost and loved when he came to visit.

"Is that okay with you?" Frost asked a smiling MJ.

"Yes, I love when you come visit us. Are you going to play with us?" MJ gave his best puppy dog eyes. Frost played with the children until dinner time.

When the children sat down for dinner, their nonna brought over cupcakes. She said that they could have dessert first. The children were all excited, especially the big children. She placed a cupcake in front of them and then put a grilled cheese sandwich next to their cupcake. They liked when nonna cooked because sometimes they didn't have to have vegetables. When their mothers cooked, they always had to have vegetables. Well, when Maura was around. If Maura wasn't there, Jane quiet often made it a pizza night. She always told Maura, "What, there are vegetables on pizza."

MJ was the first to bite into his cupcake. "What the heck," he said as he swallowed his bite of his 'cupcake.' The other children and Frost all made funny faces. Angela, Jane and Maura were all trying not to laugh. He then said, "Nonna, this is not a cupcake this is meatloaf and mashed potatoes." Maura and Jane were so happy that Angela had agreed to cook these for them as they weren't sure how they were going to be able to cook the dinner with the children present.

MJ then got brave and said, "So, I guess this isn't a grilled cheese sandwich either. I wonder what this is." MJ took a bite and said, "Yummy, cake."

"Cake, I want cake." Kate said as she put her cupcake aside and grabbed a slice of her grilled cheese sandwich. "Yummy, cake, so yummy." Kate was all smiles.

"April Fools! We fooled you." Angela told her grandchildren. They spent the next twenty minutes finishing their 'cupcakes and grilled cheese sandwiches.'

"Okay, I know you all love brownies, so we made you some brownies." Maura walked over to the countertop and picked up the pan of brownies off of the countertop. MJ lifted the foil off of the pan and was disappointed. There in the pan was brown construction paper 'E's. She really did make some brownies so it smelt like brownies. MJ jumped down off of his chair and grabbed the other pan and brought it over to the dinner table. The children opened the pan and found the real brownies. Maura cautioned them, "Only one each please."

When it was time for bed, Angela and Frost said goodnight to everybody and went home. The children took their baths and Jane and Maura read them a bedtime story. It was a very nice end to their day full of pranks. That was until they went to get into their bed and discovered it had been short sheeted.

Jane and Maura just laughed as they went to the closet and pulled out some sheets and made their bed. They assumed that MJ must have done this to prank them. They knew he wanted to find a way to prank his mama. He always tried to think of something to prank Jane. Jane walked over to the bedroom door and made sure to lock it, she didn't want any other pranks. It was the weekend, she just wanted to snuggle up with her wife and get some sleep, well after she show Maura how much she truly appreciated her.