Author Note: Well this week has been a washout for writing. My poor car had to go and break, which has really caused too much drama with trying to sort it out. Thankfully I get her back on Monday (all being well) and I don't have work for just over a week! I've also finished a rewatch of a TV programme, so I don't have that to distract myself. I do, however, have The Sims, which I stupidly started playing. Fingers crossed I can get many more updates up now that I'm a bit more free. If there's a specific story you'd like me to update above any of the others, please let me know - my plan is to update Rookie next, but I don't mind doing a different one.

Sometimes stories write themselves, in that something comes to me as the story is being written which changes things (occasionally it's something I had never planned to write), and apparently it happened here...

"All I'm saying is that you've been lucky up to now," Maura said, standing beside the examination bed at the clinic. "It's entirely possible you will still go through a significant bout of morning sickness."

"If I do, then we can tell Ma, but until it happens, I'm not gonna worry about it," Jane said, sitting down in the bed and leaning against it. She clasped her hands across her stomach and closed her tired eyes. "I want to make sure everything's okay first."

Squeezing her shoulder, Maura rested her hand across Jane's, their fingers covering the space where the baby was. "I understand that. After what you went through the last time. I just think that Angela knowing means that she can support us if something was to happen."

Jane shook her head and yawned. "I want to wait. A couple more weeks won't hurt. She's already trying to set me up with women, so we can't leave it too long or I'll have to go on a date."

"You look tired."

"I am."

Brushing back her hair, Maura ran a hand across her face. "Angela's still looking for someone for you?

"I think she thinks I'm incapable of dating."

"You are," Maura said. Jane frowned. "I don't mean you can't, but you're not one to date. I would put you more in the category of passive serial monogamist."

"Meaning?"

"You jump from partner to partner."

Jane rolled her eyes. "What a way to make me sound like some two bit whore. What about the passive bit?"

"I don't mean in a sexual way." Maura dropped her hands to her sides. "You went out with Dean, who pursued you, then after Dean you let me force you to go out with the man from yoga and you hated it. Then it was Casey, who again sought you out, then Silver who did the same. Now me, I think I'm the first person I've known you to chase, and even that took you nearly a decade. You don't date, you have relationships."

"Isn't it weird that we're having a baby?" Jane asked, staring straight ahead, the sound of the Doctor approaching travelled through the door. It opened.

"Good morning," she said, her voice upbeat and peppy. Jane slouched a little in her seat. The doctor glanced at her file. "Jane Rizzoli. I see you're here for an early scan on account of the miscarriage you had a few years ago."

"Yeah." She sat upright and gripped Maura's hand. Maura stepped closer and returned her hand to her shoulder. "I told them I probably didn't need it because it wasn't one that happened for no reason. I'm a cop, it happened because I got injured."

"That may be so," she said, picking up a sheet of paper from the desk across the room and approaching the examination bed. "But it's better to get a full picture as early as we can. I'm Doctor Ko."

She perched on a stool, and with pen in hand, went through a list of questions. Maura listened to both questions and answers, piecing together the information they had. Once the questions had been completed, Doctor Ko placed the file to one side and stood up. She picked up a bottle of ultrasound transmission gel.

"It's great that your friend could come," Doctor Ko said. "Are you happy for her to stay while we do the scan?"

Jane narrowed her eyes and reached up to Maura's hand, she pulled it from her shoulder and clasped it against her stomach. "She's my girlfriend, Doctor Maura Isles. It's her baby too."

"I'm sorry," Doctor Ko said. "Please accept my apologies. With the LGBT clinic round the corner most of our patients don't fit into that category."

Jane gripped Maura's hand tighter. She ran her fingers across the back of Jane's hand. "It's fine. We chose here because it's the very best. You come highly recommended by several of my peers, I did a lot of research and everyone I spoke to said to make an appointment with you."

"Thank you, that's very nice of you to say." Doctor Ko pushed Jane's shirt further up away from her stomach. "Shall we get started?"

Jane nodded. The cool gel spread across her stomach. Maura held onto her hand, watching the soothing action of the Doctor spreading it over her skin. The monitor sprang to life.

"You won't get to see a lot today," she said, adjusting the device. "But we're gonna make sure you hear your baby's heartbeat. How does that sound?"

"That sounds good," Jane said, looking at Maura.

Maura squeezed her hand again, hoping to alleviate the panic stricken look in Jane's eyes. She edged closer, holding her hand against her chest. She lowered her head to Jane's ear. "You're doing great. It's going to be fine."

"We don't know that," Jane whispered, her hand shook a little. Maura squeezed it tighter.

A second later, Doctor Ko flicked a switch and a loud thumping emanated across the room. Jane's eyes lit up, catching Maura's gaze. She squeezed her hand back.

"That's your baby's heartbeat. It's strong, well within the realm of normal."

"What number?"

"One sixty one to one sixty six."

"What does that mean?" Jane asked, turning her head toward Maura. "That sounds fast."

"It's supposed to be," she said. "It's within the normal range. Anything between one twenty and one eighty is okay."

"You sure?" Jane stared back at the doctor.

She smiled. "Listen to your girlfriend, Maura is right. It's perfectly normal. From what I can see your baby is...oh."

"Oh?" Jane sat upright, the doctor's hand slipped away from Jane's stomach. She gripped tighter to Maura's hand.

Maura squeezed it back, resting her other hand down on Jane's thigh. Her heart leapt. "It's okay. Is it, Doctor Ko?"

Doctor Ko smiled, her lips curved wide across her face. "Just give me a moment to double check, but I can assure you, it's not a problem with the baby."

"Then what is it?" Jane asked. "You said oh. People don't say oh unless there's something wrong."

She pushed the device back across Jane's abdomen. The sound of the heartbeat filled the room again. She moved the device a little to one side and it changed slightly. She slid it back and it increased in speed. As she shifted it back and forth a couple of times, the heart rate fluctuated.

Maura lifted her hand to her mouth, dropping Jane's hand suddenly. Jane turned to her. "What's wrong? What is it?"

Grabbing her hand again, she tried to hide the smile forcing its way across her mouth. "How would you like two babies?"

"What?" Jane turned to the doctor, her eyes wide. She turned back to Maura, who grinned at her. Somewhere in the midst of exhaustion, she felt herself more awake. "Like twins?"

"Exactly like twins," Doctor Ko said. "There's two heartbeats. The second one is a little slower around the one forty-five mark. Two healthy babies."

x

"What can I get you?" Angela asked as Jane and Maura sat down at the bar. "Beer?"

"No, I'm pregnant," Jane said, the words tumbling out with ease. Despite her earlier reservations, she felt a sense of calm. She rested her elbows on the bar and supported her tired head. Her cheeks ached from the suppression of the biggest smile.

"What did you say?" Angela asked, her mouth dropped open. She turned her attention briefly to Maura, who only stared at Jane, then back to Jane again.

"I wasn't gonna tell you for a few more weeks but we went for a scan this morning."

"We?" Angela narrowed her eyes and turned to Maura.

Reaching for Maura's hand, Jane stared into her eyes, trying to share a conversation. She held their hands up on top of the bar. "We're together, Ma."

"Of course you are," Angela said, rolling her eyes. "You think I was born yesterday?"

Maura frowned. "You knew?"

"I suspected, you just confirmed it," she said. "I don't buy Jane not turning up to your house in the mornings for weeks, not when you do it all the time. A couple times I saw you leave after Maura."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I figured you'd tell me in your own time." Angela sighed. "The only thing I don't understand is when you two had time to get pregnant when you've not been together for long."

"It's a long story, Ma," Jane said. "I'll have a coke, Maura'll have some wine."

She filled a glass with coke and placed it in front of Jane before opening a bottle of wine. Jane watched her, trying to read her reaction. The shock was understandable, but the reaction was not quite what she had envisaged after years of her mother expecting grandchildren.

Accepting her glass of wine, Maura handed Angela a twenty-dollar bill. "We both wanted a family, neither of us was in a position to have one with someone else. So we decided to have a child together."

"As friends?" Angela asked, her eyebrows knitted together.

"Yeah," Jane said.

"Now you're not just friends."

"No," Maura said, sipping her wine.

Angela shrugged and filled another glass with wine. "That's a weird way round to do that."

"We know," Jane said, squeezing Maura's hand. "We've got more news."

"More? What more is there?" Angela gripped the edge of the bar, her face lit up, then fell. "Are you getting married? Oh God, please tell me you're not moving."

Maura reached across the bar and covered Angela's hand. "We're not moving anywhere, Angela. We're not getting married, either. We're expecting twins."

"Twins?"

"Two babies," Jane said.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Angela asked, resting a hand over her heart. "Why didn't you say that in the beginning?"

Jane shrugged. "We weren't gonna tell you anything until our next scan."

"Two grandchildren," Angela said, putting the empty wine bottle in the recycling and carrying the glass around to the other side of the bar. Jane stumbled back a step as Angela wrapped her arms around her and kissed her cheek. "Congratulations. You've made my year."

"I knew you'd be happy," Maura said, staring at Jane.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You were right."

"Thank you, both," Angela said, pulling Maura in with the other arm. She held them both together for a moment, then raised her glass between them. "To my baby girl and my surrogate daughter. May you always be as happy as you are right now."

"Ma," Jane said, wiping fresh tears from her cheek. "Stop it."

"Hormones?"

"No." Jane rolled her eyes. "I cry every time you speak."

"How did you get pregnant?" she asked, cupping Jane's cheek and brushing away a few tears. "It's not like Maura has male genitals hiding out inside her panties."

"Ma!"

"It's a valid question for a mother to ask."

"No, it's not."

"We used a sperm donor," Maura said.

"Did you do IVF?"

"I think it's none of your business," Jane said, glaring.

"I'm your mother, I'm trying to understand how my grandchildren will come into the world."

"About the same way as kids usually do, Ma," Jane said. "Though I'm kinda hoping for a c-section since there's two of them."

"You do realise you'll be laid up for a couple of months if you get a c-section," Maura said.

"That long?"

"It is surgery."

"It's not like I'm getting my appendix out!"

"It can be worse, too, because unlike other routine procedures, you have a child to look after post c-section. In our situation, we will have two."

"So, no c-section?"

"I didn't say that," Maura said. "I would suggest we only consider it if it's medically necessary."

"I can't believe you're having twins," Angela said, excitement obvious in her voice. "Two babies."

"Neither can I," Jane said. The more she thought about it, the more frightening it was. She wasn't even sure she could take care of herself most of the time, two babies was something else entirely. "I guess the twin thing came from the donor."

"It's highly unlikely," Maura said. "Your family history is more significant than that of the donor when it comes to multiple births."

"But we don't have any twins in the family."

"Sure we do," Angela said.

"We do?"

"Yeah. My cousin had twins; Maureen and Molly."

"Which cousin?"

"Alice."

"I don't remember Alice."

"She was my mom's aunt's daughter."

"Nonna's cousin then."

"She is your second cousin, Angela," Maura said. "Making her Jane's third cousin."

Jane narrowed her eyes. "That is not the point. I've never met these people."

"Sure you did. They live in Canada, they came over for Frankie's baptism."

"So, not really, then." Jane finished her glass of cola and stared longingly at Maura's glass of wine. "The only thing we share is some genetic thing that's made me carry twins."

"Yes, and no," Maura said. "It's also more likely for a woman who eats meat and has a higher fat diet to have a multiple birth, as well as women who have babies later in life."

"Not genetics then?"

"Your third cousin's twins may have had some influence, but there's a lot more to it."

Jane sighed. "This is why these babies needed you to be their mother, the Rizzoli family leave a lot to be desired in the intelligence stakes."

"That is not true," Maura said, slipping an arm around Jane's waist and pulling her in close. "You have a very different kind of intelligence that I could only dream of."

"I should get back to work," Angela said, picking up a glass as she returned to her place behind the bar.

"I should too," Jane said, stifling a yawn. "Would help if I didn't want to go to bed already. Why does pregnancy make you so tired?"

Maura ran her fingers through the side of Jane's hair, brushing it back from her face. "You're growing a human inside of you, of course you're going to be tired."

"This is all your fault," Jane said, rolling her eyes.

Maura laughed. "It's not my fault you wanted to do this."

"It's your fault for putting the idea into my head."

"You're doing this because we both want to be parents," Maura said, giving her hand a tight squeeze. "I couldn't be happier with, or prouder of, you than I am right now."

"Are you trying to butter me up?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Bite me."

"You know how thankful I am."

"Thankful doesn't give me energy."

"I know." Maura swallowed the last bit of wine and placed her glass back on the bar. "I promise to give you a massage tonight."

"A naked one?"

"I would expect you to be naked, or at least partially."

"No, I mean you."

Maura raised an eyebrow. "I can be naked if you'd like me to be."

"I forgive you," she said. "Now take me back to work before I collapse in a heap."

x

Cailin sat in the office when Maura arrived back at Boston Police Department. She laid her jacket down on the arm of the couch and sat opposite her.

"How has your day been so far?"

"Boring," Cailin said. "Kent won't let me do anything without your supervision, so I've been sat here reading about how to write autopsy reports."

"That sounds like a worthwhile use of your time," Maura said, placing her purse down on the floor. "If a little tedious. I find the best way to learn something of that nature is by doing."

Waving a hand across the room, Cailin refocused her attention on the laptop. "A package came for you a couple hours ago."

Maura turned and walked across the room, she opened the box carefully and lifted out one of the carefully packages glasses. She watched Cailin from across the room, her eyes rolled back, her shoulders slouched. She took a couple of steps toward her and placed the glass down on the desk.

"I wasn't going to give this to you today but I think it will make up for the hours I've not been here to teach you." She lifted her head and glanced down at the glass. "It's for you."

She read the words carefully engraved into the side of the crystal glass, then squealed. Maura jumped as Cailin ran around the desk and scooped her into her arms.

"You're pregnant?"

"No."

"I'm confused. It says I'm gonna be an aunt." She stepped back, and frowned. "Wait, is Jane?"

"Yes, she is."

"This is the best news," Cailin said, squeezing her tightly in her arms. "Oh my gosh, why didn't you tell me sooner? I can't believe you kept this from me. How long have you known?"

"We went for a scan this morning, we're eight weeks in."

"This is the cutest," Cailin said, letting go of her and picking up the glass. She turned it over in her hands. "What a great idea."

"I need you to promise you won't tell Frankie," Maura said. "There's a whisky glass for him, and one for Jane's other brother Tommy. We also have one for Korsak, and similar gifts for other family and friends. I'd rather they find out when we're ready to tell them."

"My lips are sealed." Cailin stared down at the glass again, her lips curved at the edges. She looked up at Maura. "Does anyone else know?"

"Angela. We told her after the scan. Nobody else." Maura walked around her desk and pulled up a file on the computer. "How would you like to help out with an autopsy?"

She stared at her, her hands outstretched at her sides. "Seriously? You're not gonna give me any more time to take this in? I'm gonna have a niece or nephew soon. You've had eight weeks to get used to this, give me an hour."

"I really need to get back to work," Maura said.

"Then I guess I'll carry on reading about autopsy reports," Cailin said, rolling her eyes.

"One other thing," Maura said. "It's nieces or nephews."

"That's what I said?"

"No, I mean, plural. We're having twins."

Cailin's mouth dropped. She stepped forward and gripped Maura's wrists. "Seriously?"

"I see no reason to joke about the number of children Jane and I are expecting," Maura said, smiling. "It'll either be two nieces, two nephews, or one of each. I don't mind as long as they're both happy and healthy."

"How are you so calm about this?" Cailin asked, her face lit up.

"I have a lot of work to do that I was unable to do this morning," Maura said. She sighed. "And if I think about it too much I doubt my ability to handle more than one baby, so I'd much rather focus on finding out how Mr Bertram died."

Tilting her head, Cailin clung to Maura's hands. "You're gonna be an amazing mother. You both are. Let's go and open up Mr Bertram."

"Are you sure?"

"I'd rather help keep you sane than read about autopsy report writing. Besides, the sooner you're done the sooner we can go home and celebrate!"