A/N: A quick one-shot for 2-22-22. The subject is of miscarriage is brought up in the fifth to last paragraph. It is not really discussed, just mentioned as something that happened in the past. I just wanted to let you know so it will not trigger anyone.

February 22, 2022 (2-22-22)

Jane and Maura were enjoying a day off from work. It was 9 AM and they were enjoying a cup of coffee while reading. Jane was reading the morning paper and Maura was reading a scientific magazine that she had been wanting to read for a few days now. The children were all at school.

Jane looked up from the paper and adjusted her reading glasses and looked at Maura and said, "Maur, you realize today is 2-22-22? This is the thirteenth time this has happened in our lives." Maura put her magazine down and glanced over at Jane who then continued, "The first time was 01-01-01. I was a beat cop then. Man, that seems like ages ago. I hated wearing a uniform. I strived everyday to do my best so I could make detective as fast as possible and get out of having to wear my uniform. I loved being a cop I just hated the uniform. I always felt like it made me look like a man."

Maura squinted like she was thinking and then said, "I was doing my residency in New York then. I remember people fussing over the date. I didn't do anything special, it was just another Monday and I was busy. I had so much to learn and so many situations were being tossed at us to handle. It was a very crazy time in my life."

Jane didn't hesitate and said, "The second time was 2-2-02. I was still a beat cop and 9-11 had happened a few months earlier and we were still feeling the effects of that terrible day. My friend JJ died that day and it took me a while to get over his death. He was a great guy, you really would have liked him. I know I didn't know him long but we had a deep bond, he was like a brother to me."

"I remember you telling me about him and that is why we named our second son Angelo Joseph, AJ. Angelo for Arianna's husband and one of your best friends and Joseph, after JJ. I loved that we named our son after two great men in your life. I only wished I would have been able to meet both of them. As AJ gets older, we can tell him who he is named after. I hope the girls don't get mad that we didn't really name them after anybody. Please don't try and tell me that Kate is named after Kate Todd from NCIS because there is no truth in that statement."

They had a good laugh about that and then Maura continued, "On that day I was still a resident in New York but I had learned so much and felt better about being a doctor. I wasn't doubting becoming a doctor, it was just hard some days. There was so much information thrown at you and you had to think and act quickly. I understand why the wash out rate was high. I was able to absorb the information and process it in a timely manner. That was a Saturday, and we only had to work a half day on Saturdays. They figured they needed to give us some time off."

Maura got up and walked over to the refrigerator, "Love, what would you like for breakfast this morning?" She was getting hungry and wanted to have a little bite to eat before they continued this conversation.

"Maur, how about we go out for breakfast? We don't get to do that without the kids to often and I think it would be great. We can keep talking about these days and the memories they bring up. I am enjoying this little walk down memory lane." Jane stated.

"That sounds great love, I can be ready in about twenty minutes." Maura said as she walked back over to Jane and gave her a kiss on the cheek and attempted to head upstairs to get dressed.

"Not so fast, I want a real kiss." Jane said as she pulled Maura into her lap and began to kiss her hard.

"Jane, if you keep this up, we will not make it to breakfast." Maura said as Jane pulled away and thought about that.

"True, I am getting hungry so I guess I can let you go for now, but I reserve the right to resume this activity later on before we have to pick up the children from school."

"We don't have to pick up the children today. My parents knew it was our day off and mother said she would keep the children overnight and take them to school in the morning. They have clothes over at their house so she doesn't even need to stop by for clothes."

Jane gave Maura a look and said, "And you're just telling me this now."

"Well … umm I guess I could have told you earlier." Maura tried to squirm out of Jane's lap and Jane wasn't letting her go. She started tickling her as punishment for not sharing that tidbit of information earlier.

Jane's stomach made a gurgling noise and Jane stopped and let Maura go. "I guess we better get dressed and get to breakfast, my stomach always ruins my fun." Maura took this opportunity to rise out of Jane's lap and run up the stairs. Jane was in hot pursuit. They didn't make it out of their room for breakfast but a few hours later they surfaced for lunch. They went out and had a nice lunch away from the normal places that they would go to on a workday. Jane had a granola bar tucked away in her nightstand and ate that to give herself energy and to stop her stomach from making noises.

On the way to lunch Jane continued their earlier conversation, "Back to our earlier conversation, the third time was 3-3-03."

Maura asked, "Wait are we going to recap all of these occurrences?"

"Yep, that is my goal. I like having these little flashback sessions with you. Do you object to this activity?" Jane questioned.

"No not at all, I was just curious." And Maura was curious. She wasn't great at figuring out people and she knew Jane well but she still knew that her wife had very complex thoughts sometimes. She never knew what Jane was going to say or do. She rather liked that though. Jane kept her on her toes.

"Well, I love to look at how far we have come and what great things have happened in our lives. So, back to March 3, 2003. I was in my fourth year on the force, still hating the uniform and still working towards my goal. I had been able to hang out with Korsak and he let me help him with some cases once in a while. I loved it and he loved how my thought process worked. He really wanted me to make detective so I could work with him. I thought he was going to be in trouble one time when I was helping him with a case. His lieutenant walked in and saw me going through all the evidence and called Korsak into his office. Korsak explained to the lieutenant about my ability to piece things together and he let him continue to work with me. He just reminded him that my primary duty was patrol and not homicide."

Maura responded by saying, "I was in my last year of residency and putting in applications at various hospitals but ultimately, I decided to go with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF - Doctors Without Borders). A few months later I was in Ethiopia for a one-year tour of duty. Working with MSF was very rewarding. Personal relationships during that time not so much. Although I did have a few great nurses working with me and I appreciated their assistance. We won't bring up that doctor I dated while working with MSF."

"God no, I don't ever want to discuss him or anybody that you were with before me. I love to think that neither of us had anybody before we met." Jane explained.

"Jane, you know that is unrealistic." Maura didn't get a chance to finish as Jane put her hand over her mouth.

"I know but I like to think that way and block out all memories of anybody that had their hands on your body before me." Jane stated as she released her hand from Maura's mouth. Maura just laughed there was no changing Jane's mind on that subject, so she just let it go.

They arrived at the restaurant a few minutes later and enjoyed a nice relaxed lunch. They talked about the years 2004 to 2008 briefly during lunch. Major things had happened for both of them. Maura had gone to Kenya for a year with MSF and then took a position in San Francisco for three years before moving back to Boston. The biggest event for Jane was she made detective and was able to get out of wearing her uniform every day.

As they exited the restaurant to go back to the car Jane said, "Although 2009 had a horrific event happen for me earlier in the year, it also had the most important thing happen, I met you." Jane opened the car door for Maura and before she got in Jane kissed her. After a few minutes of just standing there kissing, Jane broke the kiss and stepped back so Maura could get into the car.

They drove back home and Jane continued her recap of 2009. "In August, I took you to your first Red Sox game. I knew then that I was having feelings towards you and that I wanted to spend all of my time with you but I was frightened, we were both women. According to my Catholic upbringing I wasn't supposed to be having romantic feelings for a woman. It took me months of fighting with my inner voices to ask you out. I am so happy I did."

"2009 was a life changing year for me. I set up MDI Photography and that led me to Greece and taking that picture of you and Nicky. I truly believe we are here today because of that picture." Jane reached over and took Maura's hand in hers. Maura immediately wrapped her other hand around their hands. It was quiet for a few minutes as they both reflected on what Maura had just said.

Jane broke the silence by saying, "By 9-9-09 we were friends and my life was so much happier. By the end of the year, we were dating. By the time 10-10-10 rolled around we were engaged and planning our wedding in Santorini for March of 2011."

They arrived home and went to sit on the couch. Once they were snuggled up, Jane continued their conversation, "Right after October 10, 2010 we had our courthouse wedding. We didn't take a honeymoon as we were planning our wedding in Santorini. We had found out that being a same sex couple, we wouldn't have been able to be married in Santorini so it was great that we had the courthouse wedding. I got promoted to Sergeant a few months later."

"Yes, 2010 was a great year with you by my side. My life was finally making sense to me. I was happier than I had ever been in my life, both personally and professionally. I have you to thank for that. Well, it's not that we wouldn't be able to be married in Santorini, it was that our marriage wouldn't have been recognized in the states, so yes, it was great that we got married at the courthouse before we went to Santorini. I was ready to be married to you. I got to marry you twice this way. It was crazy how things were back then. Even crazier years before when same sex couples couldn't get married at all. I am glad the laws changed because I love being married to you."

"I love being married to you also. You are the perfect person for me. I am just so sorry I wasted time denying my feelings for you. I got over myself though and figured out my little brother was right, maybe I was supposed to be with a woman, not just any woman though, just you."

She then said, "Then we had our wonderful beautiful wedding in Santorini." Maura smiled at this so Jane continued, "Nicky and Giana were so excited to be taking part in our wedding. I am glad we let them take part. I love those two kids so much."

"Yes, me too. I really feel like I have six children at times."

Jane then continued, "The eleventh occurrence was 11-11-11, by this time we had our one-year anniversary for our courthouse wedding and we were talking about having children. Right after Thanksgiving you were implanted for the first time. Arianna and the kids came over for Christmas."

Maura held her hand up, "Don't say it Jane, I don't want to talk about the miscarriage. I want to talk about positive things. We are past that. Everything worked out and that is what is important." Jane pulled Maura in close to her and actually ending up pulling Maura up onto her lap. She held her so tight. She knew she should have skipped over talking about 11-11-11 but the miscarriage is a part of their lives and they are stronger now than they have ever been.

"2012 was a big year for me. I found my birth mother and found out I had a half-sister. I donated a kidney to her. I hired Dr. Drake and fired Dr. Pike and Dr. Popov."

"Ya, those firings were major events in our lives." They both laughed as they both didn't want to work with those two ever again. "The thirteenth occurrence is today, 2-22-22 and look where we are. We have been married for over ten years and we have four beautiful children. I am a lieutenant and have been with the force for over twenty years. You have totally relocated and expanded the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. I would like to officially say that we have done very well since meeting each other all those years ago."

"I am rather pleased with our lives. I am so happy I took that picture in Greece. I am staying with my belief that a picture is worth a thousand words and that one snapshot has so many words to go with it. It has truly changed my life for the better." Maura had small tears in her eyes and Jane saw that and pulled her back in for a hug. They sat like that until Jane's legs felt numb from having Maura on her lap for so long. Maura picked up her iPad and facetimed her mother, she wanted to see their children. So many memories had been shared today and it was fitting that when she ended the call and the screensaver appeared the snapshot of Jane and Nicky in Greece came up.