Author's note: thank you all for your reviews and your patience (we're getting there).

Chapter thirteen: Living With Jane

Jane stepped out of the dressing room after making sure that nobody but Margot was around. Arms crossed against her chest, she looked at her reflection in the big mirror in front of her then shook her head right away.

"Nope. Don't like it."

Margot rolled her eyes but didn't give the Italian a chance to run back to the dressing room. Not this time. She had already missed three opportunities since they had started their shopping spree. With a rather impressive reflex, she grabbed Jane's forearm to stop her halfway.

"Stop with the black. You're not going to a funeral and you're not invited for a dinner at the Adams' family. Try that one instead."

Jane cast a glance at the dress that the teenager was holding out to her and burst out laughing. There was no way she would even try it on. She had her limits and this piece of clothing went way beyond them.

"Did you sneak in the restroom earlier today just to take drugs? Seriously, Margot... Have you lost your mind? This isn't me."

"Oh yes, it is. You simply ignore it. And no. I am not on drugs. I stopped smoking pot when I was fifteen. That phase barely lasted for a year."

The comment took Jane aback. She hadn't expected Margot to be as literal as Maura in her answers. And she certainly hadn't imagined that she had tried drugs. Of course, it could have been a joke but the seriousness on the teen's face didn't let Jane think so.

Margot felt her host's confusion and giggled lightly.

"Most of teenagers smoke pot at some point... Or at least in France. I don't know how it works here but – believe me – if you and Maura have a kid one day, chances are he or she will try it." She took advantage of Jane's slight shock to drop the dress in her arms and push her back in the dressing room.

The door got closed.

"And don't even dare to tell me it doesn't fit before showing it to me!"

Jane made a face. What was it that all the people who went shopping with her ended up adopting her mother's tone at some point during the day? It was troubling and not very pleasing.

It wasn't that many people had actually ever felt the desire to spend a few hours going from one store to another in her company but Margot's authoritative tone surely reminded her of Maura's.

C'mon, Rizzoli. Your life's being dictated by a sixteen-year-old. Do something, dammit!

"It's pink. I don't wear pink."

"This is dark red and Maura loves seeing you in this color so now you're going to make me happy and try the goddamn thing." Margot paused and menacingly approached the door. "Understood?"

Jane hung the dress on the wall hoping that the French girl wouldn't hear her mumbling. Why had she let Margot take her to the stores in the first place? The adolescent was extremely persuasive.

Besides, Jane had just come back from Quantico and felt guilty. She had run away from Boston way too quickly, leaving Maura deal with Margot on her own when it was not what they had planned. If the distance from her friend had brought her relief, she had felt sorry for the teen.

"She... Maura does?"

An important evening. Margot had refused to say more but that was the reason she had given Jane when she had told her that they would shop for a dress. Something elegant, classy.

"Remind me to buy Maura a bottle of wine on our way back home, okay?" Jane put the dress on and looked at her reflection in the mirror of her small dressing room.

The relation she had with Maura seemed to have come back to what it used to be before that night.

The scientist had picked her up at the airport – all smiles – and they had chatted all the way back to Beacon Hill.

Perhaps she had been right to leave for Quantico. She hadn't been thrilled at first when Cavanaugh had asked her if she agreed on meeting a few agents to discuss an old case but the truth was that the timing had been perfect.

She had needed the distance.

Oh please. You've been coward, Rizzoli. Plainly coward. You ran away from something that didn't even happen!

"And a bouquet of flowers. You never buy each other flowers? Which ones are her favorite?"

"She likes..." Jane opened the door and stepped out again. "She likes poppies...?"

Her answer didn't satisfy Margot. The French girl sighed of despair then bit her lower lip before shaking her head.

"It's not the season. We'll have to find something else." Her priorities lay somewhere else, though. She grabbed Jane by the waist and went to position herself behind the detective. "Now this is one gorgeous dress. You look stunning. Look at you!"

Jane obliged. She was forced to recognize that Margot was right. The dress suited her perfectly. It emphasized her curves in a very feminine way and she felt at ease wearing it. A classic - knee-length - dress; a deep red one.

"I still would like to know why I'm supposed to buy it. I hate surprises. Ask Maura, or my mother... They'll tell you what I think of them."

But Margot didn't listen to her.

"Tulips! Of course... You'll get her tulips. Dark red tulips. Do you know the significance of tulips?"

Jane made a vague gesture of the hand – kicked the air with her foot – then shrugged while looking down at the floor. She was forced to recognize that she didn't.

"Nah. I skipped that class." An odd sensation sent a shiver down her spine. She looked up again and squinted her eyes at Margot. "Why? What do tulips mean?"

The French girl didn't reply. A smirk curled up her lips but as soon as she approached Jane to unzip the dress, the brunette jumped away then rushed back to the dressing room.

"Obviously, we take this one, Jane. And now I offer you a coffee. What do you think about it? Deal?"

The silence that followed turned out to be loud and explicit enough. If this meant the end of shopping torture then how could Jane actually say no?

"Margot... Don't take it bad but are you sure you wanna be a librarian? You're not shy enough for the job. You're a leader."

Back in her own clothes, Jane stepped out of the dressing room; dresses on her arm. The teenager grabbed the one she had chosen and turned around.

"I can be at the head of the whole library staff, can't I? There's always a way to be a leader." She smiled. "Especially when you have some plans in mind."

Jane frowned. She wasn't particularly fond of this last comment.

...

"Okay so..." Jane bent a bit over her cup of coffee and smirked. She lowered her voice, locked her eyes with Margot's. "What did you talk about with Maura while I was gone?"

She wasn't a shopping queen but she had to admit that she was having a fantastic time with the teen. The afternoon was going smoothly; sweetly. So far from her daily little problems. For the very first time since the beginning of the experience, Jane felt at ease with the idea of parenting. Perhaps this was not really how it worked with children but Margot still depended on her. She was a minor and had to follow her rules. Jane was somehow her temporary mother.

Margot seemed to hesitate. Playing with the straw of her hot chocolate, she looked around her and finally focused on the television screen of the cafe. She remained quiet for a few seconds.

"We talked about irreversible things. Inexorable ones."

"Nothing is irreversible. You can always change something if you don't like it. You can always... I don't know... Improve things. Nothing's settled for sure."

Margot shook her head and rubbed her nose. She grabbed her mug more in an attempt to warm up her hands than anything else.

"Even feelings? You don't have a hold over your feelings and sometimes, they happen to be... Just that. Irreversible."

"There's nothing more unpredictable than feelings!" Jane's laugh only betrayed her uncertainty. She decided to not add anything. Her argument was fragile and she knew it.

"You don't think that your love for Maura is eternal? You can actually imagine yourself without her by your side?"

Jane's smile flinched. Margot had outsmarted her and blown away her argument in the fairest way. She was wise for a sixteen-year-old. Oddly wise.

The detective opened her mouth to reply but laughed instead. Something bitter passed underneath her skin, something she couldn't put a name on but that made her feel like crying. Something honest, strong.

"I owe her everything. Eternal isn't enough of a word to describe..." Jane looked down. "To describe the way I feel for Maura."

Margot grinned. Satisfied of the answer, she took a sip of her hot chocolate then grabbed a cookie to eagerly bite into it.

"You know, I hope that – one day – I will live with someone what you live with Maura... Do you see what I mean? You're both so lucky to have found each other. I'm not sure you realize it. You're living a dream."

Jane pouted and raised her eyebrows. She wasn't convinced at all by Margot's words. Perhaps that was how people saw it from outside but the truth was that it was actually completely different.

"There's nothing less sure, Margot." She swallowed hard as her voice broke. "There's nothing less sure at all."

Nothing less sure.