She is sitting on a barstool at the kitchen island eating a piece of toast late one evening when Cameron appears in the doorway clad in his boxers. He leans down as if he is going to kiss her.

"The camera picked up someone at the east end of the property. They are heavily armed. I think our cover has been blown."

She instinctively reaches underneath the countertop, and removes her weapon from the underside. He subtly shakes his head.

"I've already called for back-up on my way down the stairs. You have to leave."

"I am not just going to leave you here as a sitting duck."

"I am your superior officer," he reminds her. "I don't have time to argue. You have to go. For me. For our future."

She furrows her brow in disbelief as he leads her to the basement door. She kisses him as he holds her close. Every fiber of her being tells her to stay. Her feet carry her down the stairs against her will towards the tunnels that lead to an adjacent property to safety. She keeps her weapon drawn, knowing danger could lurk around any corner. A single conversation in recent history solidified their course of action should their cover be blown. Her heart thuds in her ears as pulls a dusty tarp off a Jeep hidden in the woods. She watches in the rearview mirror as she tires carry her to a rendezvous point nearly a mile from the home they have been staying in for the length of the assignment. Before she reaches the rendezvous point she can hear a chopper buzzing overhead.


"He was killed in an ambush. I replay that day on loop, because if I had chosen differently he might still be here."

"Statistically speaking the more likely outcome is that you would both be dead," Maura responds bluntly.

"The pattern of cognitive distortions that play in my brain beg to differ."

"It seems like that would make you want to come home."

"I am home."

"Despite the definition of home, it isn't actually a place. You taught me that."

"The armor around my heart is pretty vulnerable these days."

"You can't shut all of us out forever, Jane. I know that we are nosy, and the lot of us can be completely overwhelming, but we are all in your corner."

"There were some things I had to figure out for myself."

"That is understandable."

"I resigned my post in D.C."

"You are officially transferred back to Boston?"

"I resigned my post at the FBI."

Maura furrows her brow, "So what is your next move?"

"I have been offered a position with BPD," Jane reveals.

"When do you start?"

"I won't start for several months. The person who currently holds the position is retiring. It works out perfectly, because I have some duties to attend to before I'm ready to jump back into things."

"That is great news. I am just so happy that you are back."

"Enough about me. How are you holding up?"

"I spend the majority of the time covered in bodily fluid that isn't mine. I would like to offer some scientific phrase to how I feel, but honestly the only description to explain how I am is that I feel like a zombie. My current state of symbiosis is exhausting."

"So you're definitely pregnant?"

"In your absence two months have passed. I'm into my second trimester these days, Jane."

"How did Kent react to the news?"

Maura shrugs as her face puckers, "I don't know."

"Maura, you've told him, haven't you?"

"I am waiting for the right moment," Maura insists.

"There is no right moment. The only thing we have is the present," Jane argues.

"It is complicated. I don't have romantic feelings for him. The last thing I want to do is give him the wrong impression. I certainly don't make a habit of having one night stands with my co-workers. What would I even say to him? 'I know that several months ago we had a drunken fling, but surprise, we managed to successfully to engage in a process of meiosis, and now I am gestating…'" Maura trails off.

"It sounds nerdy enough for him to understand. Have you considered the thought that he may want to co-parent with you?"

"I am an awkward enough individual without being entangled in the logistic nightmare that comes along with co-parenting."

"It is better than the alternative, isn't it? You aren't superwoman. How are you really planning on managing three humans under a year old?"

"I'm not," Maura insists on the verge of tears.

"A healthy veil of denial will not keep it from happening."

"I am pregnant with twins."

Jane starts cackling, "You don't have to go so such lengths to try and cheer me up."

Maura's facial expression doesn't offer a single hint of humor. Jane notices the heavy circles highlighting her eyes, and strands of undyed hair.

"You're serious? Oh, Maura. I don't know what to say. The thought of one baby sounds terrifying to me. You are going to have a whole house full of them."

"You should give me a tour," Maura attempts to salvage the conversation.

"That's your way of saying that you are feeling too vulnerable to finish the coversation? We can both pretend that you would rather feign interest in my minimalist design choices than further discuss your baggage?"

"Please," Maura softly implores.

Jane tosses the fleece blanket on the back of the couch, and vacates her seat to offer Maura the complimentary tour. Maura doesn't budge from her seat. She throws a look of confusion in Jane's direction. Jane suddenly begins to feel overwhelmingly self-conscious.