"Do you want to eat dinner with us? I'm going to pick Sophie up from the cinema later, then I can also take you home if you like?" Jane offered to Amanda who had just appeared with Julia in the living room.

Amanda glanced shyly at Julia and fidgeted with the hem of her top. And Maura gave them an encouraging look. „We are going to order Pizza." The doc chuckled and Ananda was seemingly torn. Jane hoped that she would lose her shyness and begin to feel comfortable with them. For her own but also for Sophies sake.

After calling her parents in the privacy of Julia's room, Amanda finally agreed on staying for dinner. And Maura ordered two large Pizzas with all sorts of toppings. Meanwhile the girls got to choose a movie.

The evening was relaxing, and they all ended up laying around, stuffed with Pizza and tiramisu, joking around. Amanda loosened up, but when it was time for her to drive home, she became shy again. Jane thought that she was really nice, and she knew that Maura also liked her.

If the good impression continued, they wouldn't have a problem with her joining their camping trip. Jane was just happy that Julia had found someone like Amanda. Her first boyfriends had all been jerks to be honest. But she realized that their kids were so much more reasonable then she was at their age and she smiled.

Instead of asking the girl lots of silly questions like her mother would have done she began talking about a song which was playing on the radio. Amanda ended up chatting with her lightly but became shy again upon coming home. Jane wondered if it was because she feared her wanting to meet her parents but sensed something more sinister in her gut.

„Are you going to be okay?" she asked and cringed when seeing some tears brimming in the girls eyes. „Yes. Thank you Mrs. Rizzoli." She replied politely and reached for the handle to open the door.

„Please, you can call me Jane." The brunette mumbled before wishing their guest a good night and driving off with a bad feeling. Yet, she had to find out why she had the bad feeling in her gut and then maybe she and Maura could figure out a way to help her she thought while driving to the cinema to pick Sophie up.

Her girl was waiting for her in the cold and jumped right into the heated car, waving Brian goodbye.

„Hey." Jane greeted with a grin. „How was it?" Sophie who usually was the open one from their girls rolled her eyes and huffed. „Ma!" she said and reminded Jane of herself because she used to say it in the exact same way, when Angela asked her about something and she didn't want to talk about it.

Jane laughed softly and said: „Okay. Okay. I get it." She drove off. „Have you eaten? I mean apart from the Kfc? We saved you a few slices of Pizza if you are hungry."

But Sophie wasn't and retrieved herself to her room as soon as they were home. Jane hung up her coat and got rid of the shoes and padded into the kitchen where Maura was baking a cake. It was Sophies birthday the next day and Maura wanted to surprise her with her favourite cake.

Jane helped her for a while, and they chatted about Amanda. How nice she was and how happy they were for Julia. When Jane brought up her bad gut feeling, Maura nodded. She too had noticed that the shyness of the girl didn't only come from trying to make a good first impression but from something else, none of them could put the finger to it. Jane sighed.

Will was already sound asleep when she checked on him during her nightly routine and then she walked off to do some laundry. With three kids they always had plenty of laundry and plenty of stuff going on. But Jane liked it that way. She whistled while doing her chores and moved on to what they called their office.

Initially it had been Maura's office, but the doc had made space for her at first when Jane had needed it to learn for the sergeant's exam. A while later they had added a second desk and a second computer for Jane to do whatever she needed. Sometimes when Will was sick for example, Jane did some paperwork from home. Cavanaugh was thankfully totally okay with it.

The brunette sat down to her desk and opened the laptop. While watching the movie earlier on she had had an idea. Now she was sitting in front of the keyboard, moving her fingers with a pensive look.

It's been a while since she had wanted to try and write a book. Maybe just for herself. She highly doubted that whatever the outcome was, was good enough to be published. Yet she felt the need to write down a certain story which had been ghosting around her mind for a long while.

After writing a few sentences she leant back to read. It wasn't half as good as she wished it would be, therefore, she closed the lid to her computer and joined Maura in the kitchen for a Sunday beer.

Watching Maura work was always soothing. The doc did everything meticulously. She never hurried as Jane noticed. Unlike her. Probably because she was always better prepared. Maura shot her a soft smile over the counter and made some joke about colouring the cake green to add some fun when cutting the cake in the morning for breakfast.

Julia walked into the kitchen to get herself some water. „Honey, could you please give me some milk while you are at the fridge?" Maura asked her and thanked her when she got it.

The girl sat down to a barstool next to Jane. „I think I know why Amanda was pushing me away at the beginning." She stated thoughtfully. And both women looked at her. „Not because of your pimples?" Jane asked and Julia nudged her. Then the girl became serious again and liked her lips nervously.

„You work for law enforcement. I mean you know stuff, right?" Jane had an earie feeling when nodding slowly. She didn't like where this was going, and neither was her wife as she could see. She reminded herself to stay calm and breathe and not to jump into anything.

Julia stayed silent for a while, obviously thinking, making Jane nervous. The brunette wondered how Maura could always stay so calm and patient. Patience was clearly not Jane's virtue.

Julia liked her lips again and began talking. „I haven't asked her. It's just a hunch. But she said stuff that made me think." Jane nodded for her to continue. Julia probably hadn't only inherited her look but also her gut feeling. She had already thought so more often and the proves kept coming in.

„I think that she has problems at home. I think her father might abuse her." Julia rushed out nervously, somehow confirming Jane's suspicions that something was off. „I know that these are serious allegations, but I saw her when changing into her gear for sports and she had bruises several times. Not the usual bruises." Her voice trailed off and Jane had the impression that Julia suddenly felt the need to defend herself. As if they wouldn't believe her.

Maura stopped the mixer and only then Jane realized how loud it had been in the kitchen. Julia blushed under her parents looks. But Jane quickly pulled her into a hug. „It's okay baby. We believe you. If you are right we need to find a way to help her."

She pulled away and noticed some relieve on the young girl's face. „Can we help her? I mean can you help her? You are with the police." Julia asked in a small voice which was hopeful.

„Of course we will honey." Maura chimed in, resting her hands against the kitchen counter. „But we need her to talk to us. Or prove that our suspicion is right."

„She will never do that. If we are right she will be too scared of her parents and to get hurt." Jane scratched her head and Julia nodded. „Ma." She whispered. „I don't want her to hurt. She looks so sad sometimes when she thinks that I don't notice."

„Since when do you have a suspicion? " Jane asked and Julia shrugged. „It's been a while since I noticed the bruises. I found it odd because no one bruises so frequently but I didn't think much more of it. I guess I started only this afternoon."

„Okay. You know what? We will think of something. We talk about it tomorrow. I'm sure there is a way to find out and help her. Maybe we are just overreacting. But if there is something wrong with this family we will find out and help her. I promise." Jane pulled her hand through Julia's hair.

The girl seemed to be relieved somehow and went back to her room.

R&I

Needless to say, that Amanda was a lot on Jane's mind as she went to work the next day. When Julia asked if she could bring her girlfriend home to do homework after school she agreed. They had formed a family WhatsApp group in which they discussed family matter or let each other know where they went.

That way they could be sure that there was always one parent answering. Seeing how Jane was usually close to the phone she was usually the one to reply first. She typed an okay as a reply and added with a winking emoji that they should really do homework and nothing else.

She knew that her kids were clever enough to do what needed to be done, but sometimes she just had to be a normal parent. She chuckled at the rolling eye emoji her daughter sent back and continued to work.

When she came home by late afternoon all three girls were sitting peacefully on the couch with some soda and talking about girl stuff. The birthday cake was almost gone, and the brunette snatched a small piece from the rest on the coffee table before walking off to the office to give her writing another try. It was a fun evening with Amanda staying over for dinner.

Maura who had made it home shortly after Jane had prepared Sophies favourite food. It was hard to believe that Sophie had turned 16 already. Suddenly they were facing challenges and topics like driver's license and cars.

The girls had made a pact a long time ago, to take the driver's license together. But Sophie suddenly seemed to be eager to start, despite Julia was only one month behind. There was a fight from one of their rooms when they went to bed later.

Jane had again offered to bring Amanda home. Feeling her unease, Julia had joined them for the trip. It was obvious that Amanda had never witnessed some family banter or anything similar. Jane could see through the rear-view mirror how her eyes widened as they teased each other lightly in the front seat. The signs began popping up one by one, that Amanda was stressed in her homelife.

„It's totally fine if you bring her home to do homework every day if you like." Jane said to her daughter on their way home. „I like her. She's a good girl." She received an unexpected hug when she got out of her car later.