„Ma?" Julia stepped onto the deck where Jane was enjoying the evening sun while Maura and Sophie had gone on a shopping trip. It was very rare that Julia denied the opportunity to go shopping which let Jane already know that something was wrong with her girl.

"Yes, baby?" the brunette replied, watching her girl pad over to sit next to her on the steps which led into the garden. Julia had inherited her tall and lean shapes. Moreover, she had the same dark curls, voice and chocolate eyes. Jane used to think that most of the similarities between her and her daughter would all grow out. But as her mother pointed out the other day, Julia was just the same as Jane was at that age.

The girl was growing into a beautiful woman and it made Jane smile. The fact that Julia was also highly intelligent made her also proud.

Julia leaned against her shoulder and huffed in frustration. "What is it baby?" Jane asked and pulled her arm around the girl's shoulder.

"How was it when you met Mommy? Were you in love right away?" the question startled Jane but let her know where this conversation was heading. She highly doubted that she was the right person to give advice if it came to love but Julia had come to her and she would do her best to help her.

"Uhm. We met when we were in our late 20's. That's when she became the new chief ME of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. And no, we didn't fall in love right away. We first became friends and then it got complicated and well then, we didn't speak with each other for a while because it became even more complicated. And at the end it was you girls who brought us together I guess."

Julia scrunched up her nose and glanced into the garden. "That's not very detailed." She huffed and Jane laughed. "What exactly do you want to know?" she asked and placed a kiss to Julia's forehead. It was one of the rare moments the 15-year-old accepted such gestures.

"I don't know. There is this girl at school. We are sharing a desk in math's. She keeps slipping me papers. At first small notes. You know like nice pen, or math sucks… Stuff like that. Then she asked me if we would spend our lunch break together and I agreed. She is a lot of fun and I like talking to her. When I told her, she became distant and began evading me."

Jane felt the pain of rejection weighing hard on her daughter and pulled her into a hug. "I know what it feels like to be rejected. Sometimes people do the weirdest things because they are scared. I don't know about your classmate. I don't know her. But with Maura and me it was that way that Maura rejected me out of fear. It didn't mean that she wasn't in love with me. But she needed time to realize and accept it."

Julia gave her a pensive look. "You think that Amanda is afraid?"

"I don't know, baby. But if she gave you notes and stuff it means at least that she likes you. Of course, it can also mean that she just likes you as a friend. Maybe her parents told her that being gay is bad like granny told me. Its difficult to tell. What did you tell her?"

"Just that I liked her." Julia kicked a stone of the stair with her feet.

Jane thought that she was really not the person to give advice because she felt lost. But she tried.

"Did she ask how? Or what did she say?"

"She just said Thank you. But she never asked or talked to me again."

The detective bit her lips. "If you try to talk to her again? Tell her that you have the impression that she's evading you. And if it was something that you did wrong." Jane stated after a pause.

"She already thinks that I'm a moron. My parents are gay. Who knows what she believes?" Julia said stubbornly.

"Yes, still. Maybe she doesn't mean it. You like her so you should give it another chance. Maybe you know then and have closure."

"When did you have sex for the first time?" Julia deflected and Jane gasped at the question but also at the sudden change of topic.

"What? Sex? Uhm." She blushed and Julia nudged her. "Come on Ma. Just tell me. You had no problems telling me that you have smoked pot."

"Well, if you must know I was 17."

"Was it with dad? Who is my dad anyways? You always said that we will talk about it later when I'm old enough. I think I'm old enough now."

Jane sighed. "No, it wasn't with your dad. Your dad was uhm.. he is a very bad man. He did horrible things."

Julia looked at her and Jane sensed her being torn between asking further questions or not wanting to know. The girl decided for the first. "What horrible things?" she asked silently, and Jane glanced at her hands. She had known all along that the time would come where she would have to answer this question. She wasn't ready, but she would have to answer them one day and Julia was really old enough to know now.

The question was how to tell her though. "The day I got pregnant with you I was chasing a perp in a dark alley." Jane began slowly. "I was alone, and he surprised me. There was nothing I could do." She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"You got raped!? My dad is a rapist?" Julia exclaimed. Yeah, well she got the point Jane thought and nodded. "I'm sorry." Jane whispered. "Hell, what are you sorry for? You are a victim!" Julia said angrily.

"What did you chase him for? No, wait! You are a homicide detective." Julia's eyes narrowed to small slides and she jumped. "I hope he is rotting in hell!"

"Julia." Jane softly said and took her girl's hand. "Its okay baby. You wouldn't be here if .."

"Maaa!" her daughter was understandably upset, and Jane wished she could tell her something different. She watched Julia fly up the stairs and heard several doors slammed shut until Julia had reached the safety of her room.

R&I

"What happened?" Maura stepped out onto the deck shortly after.

"She asked who her dad was." Jane stated flatly and sighed. Maura dropped onto the spot which had just been vacated by Julia.

"Did you tell her?" the doc asked, and Jane nodded.

"Of course. It wasn't the first time she had asked. And she's 15. I had to tell her one day. Was it wrong?" Jane asked and glanced at Maura who eyed her with warm eyes.

"No, I don't think so. The questions became more frequent anyways. She wants to know where she's coming from which is only natural." The doc softly said and took Janes hand. The brunette watched how their fingers entwined and sighed.

"How am I going to survive this?" she whispered, and Maura chuckled softly while pushing a strand of dark curls behind Janes ears.

"She's going to be fine. Its better you didn't lie. She would have found out one day, just like I found out about by birth parents. And I bet its nicer to hear the truth from your mother, even if it hurts."

"What if I damaged her for good?" Jane was close to tears.

"You didn't. She's your daughter. You know her as she is like you." Maura whispered and placed a kiss to her forehead. They jumped when they heard a thumping noise. "Are you sure? It sounds a lot like she is about to destroy the house?" jane was worried.

"She is going to be fine. Believe me. You can also be very self-destructive. But like you she knows the limits."

"I hope you are right Maur. I so pray to god that I did the right thing." Jane said and Maura nodded.

"Give her time."

"She came to me because she told a girl that she liked her and got rejected. She was already down. I shouldn't have…"

"Jane. Calm down. Remember your teenager years? When you thought that the whole world was against you and going against you?"

The detective huffed. "Don't remind me." She stated and rubbed her head.

"There are things we have to go through. I don't want them to suffer either. But she would have wanted to know. If she had found out the way I did, she would have been so mad at you. It would have shattered her trust into you." Maura sadly said and Jane knew that she was right.