Author's note: thank you very much for all your reviews and messages, I'm glad to see you all back here.

Chapter two: Margot's Way of Life

"How's the boyfriend doing? He was okay with... The idea of you coming here for a year?"

Jane's question made Margot smile. They had spent the day together going from one spot to another in Boston and were now enjoying an iced coffee at the terrace of a cafe in the shadows of some trees. Maura would join them soon. She had worked all day long but had promised to leave her office early enough to enjoy an evening out in the city with them.

An evening out, the three of them. Just as it had to be.

"There is no boyfriend."

"Girlfriend then...?" Jane made a face and giggled before shaking her head, implicitly asking the young girl to not pay attention to what she had just said.

She knew that Margot wasn't into girls but she had a hard time believing that she had been single for the last two years. It didn't make sense. Margot was bright and pretty. Young too. She should have been dating someone. College students did.

You're thinking like ma', Rizzoli. Watch out. What's next? You'll harrass her with marriage? Calm down and let her live, dammit.

"No!" The French girl grabbed her iced coffee and held it tightly between her hands. "I am simply... On a break."

"Bullshit. I've been your age too... Once..." Jane made a face as she realized that her twenties were long gone now. "And you shouldn't be leading the nun life you're having right now. You'd go out and take advantage of your youth!" Jane winked to let Margot understand that she was only kidding. "Sorry to break the news but it won't last, you know. One day you'll wake up tired and sore. You'll be too old for that. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about."

The 2.0 Angela Rizzoli Method miserably failed.

Margot didn't look convinced. She pouted and focused on a tree nearby. Its green leaves seemed to float in the summer breeze like a thousand flags.

"Maura never told you?"

Jane frowned in confusion. She hadn't meant to sound intrusive at all but the fragile tone of voice Margot had just used tended to let her think that she had crossed some limits. Some limits she should have never reached in the first place.

"Told me what...?" She straightened up, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

Margot locked her eyes in hers; chin up, almost in defiance. She wasn't angry – she never was – but a painful pride seemed to have invaded her. Something Jane had never witnessed before. The French student swallowed hard.

"I went through a bad patch when I was fourteen. I don't even know why. I didn't do drugs but... It's when I started going to parties and life went a bit wild. Nothing serious but suddenly I..."

Jane's heart had started beating faster. She hadn't expected any revelation whatsoever. It had been a light day. They had simply stopped by a cafe to have a drink and wait for Maura. The situation was beyond her. She wasn't ready for that.

"I went from one guy to another. All these parties... It was so easy! Alcohol made it easier too." Margot frowned and looked at the table. "I guess I just wanted to feel alive...?"

"Did it work?"

Margot shook her head and let a bitter laugh pass her lips.

"It only made me feel dead inside." The shades of loneliness didn't last long on her face. She soon started smiling again, as she always did. Margot was a joyful person; easy going. "It belongs to the past. It's almost... You know, like another life, another person. It was already behind me when I came here two years ago."

"That doesn't mean you can't be in a relationship anymore." It was ridiculous but Jane was really trying to not sound shocked by the news. It didn't fit. Margot couldn't more different than the person she had just described. "I mean... There's no rush but don't prevent yourself from... From living."

Margot nodded as a grin lit up her features. A honest one, bare and strong at the same time.

"I know. It's just... It's just that now, I prefer to wait for someone who'll make me feel special and not just the first guy who'll appear at the corner of the street. I'm really over that. It was stupid. A very... Teen crisis thing."

A pair of hands on her shoulders made Jane slightly jump in surprise. She leaned her head backwards just as Maura was bending over to plant a kiss on her lips.

"Hi, you." Maura exchanged a knowing look with her wife – went to kiss Margot on the cheeks – and finally sat down on a chair. "I had said 5pm, it is 4.55pm... Perfect! So, how was your day?"

Jane didn't manage to reply. Margot's confession had taken her aback. She simply cast a glance at Maura and grabbed her hand to hold it tightly. She needed the touch. She needed to feel loved.

"I took her to the museum and it had nothing to do with sports."

Gasp. But Maura turned out to be faster. She burst out laughing and kissed Jane's cheek as if to sweep away the mock of betrayal that was now deepening her features.

Jane squinted her eyes at Margot – pretended to be offended and angry - but she failed. A grin soon lit up her features. She laughed.

"I love it when you make an effort to please people you love, Jane."

Her wife's compliment went straight to her heart. Maybe she hadn't lost everything in this vain battle against the two nerds Maura and Margot were.

"Of course that means I'll watch the game on Sunday. I need to have a balanced life. Too much art kills art."

Maura rolled her eyes but didn't insist. Since Margot had come back to Boston, she felt a lot more serene; at peace with herself and her rather stressing life to the point she didn't even feel the urge to bicker with Jane all the time.

"Do you have an American cell phone number, now?" Nod. "Perfect. It seems like you are settled for the year. The campus, a bank account, a phone... It is time to celebrate!" Maura grabbed Jane's iced coffee and raised the glass. "Cheers." She took a sip.

"Hey! That's mine!"

Jane's vehement protest didn't scare Maura the slightest bit. On the contrary. She lightly laughed then winked at her wife before engaging in a conversation with Margot about the advantages of living on the campus.

Margot would move there in September when the summer classes were over. In the meantime, she had found back her bedroom at the Beacon Hill townhouse. And everything was alright.

...

"What are you doing?"

Her lips on her wife's bare shoulder, Jane looked up and echoed Maura's light laugh.

"Don't you know it by now? It's my way to ask you if you'd like to play Scrabble with me." Pause. She rolled her eyes before Maura's confused look. "No, not really... What do you think I'm doing... Kissing your shoulder while getting you undressed?"

"I thought you were tired." Maura leaned up on her elbow and raised an eyebrow at Jane. "This is the reason you gave me to postpone our European move night. Did you lie to me?"

Busted, Rizzoli.

"Well..." Jane let the strap of Maura's negligee slide between her fingers, brushing from time to time the hot skin under the thin piece of clothing. "I can't sleep. Frenchie's not back yet."

"So you assumed that sexual intercourse would be a nice way to spend time until you hear the door gets slammed?"

Alright. Perhaps she hadn't come up with the right excuse. Jane sat up in bed and sighed. Obviously, Maura wouldn't let her do anything if she didn't find a better way to express herself right now.

"Aren't you worried? Not even a bit? She's out and it's 10.15pm."

"She is eighteen years old, Jane. Besides, I trust her. There is no curfew. She went out with people she met two years ago and they have kept in touch. She is hanging out with friends. She is leading her life!"

Jane looked down at Maura's lowcut. She had turned on a side to rest in a position that really didn't leave much to the imagination. It wasn't helping at all.

Yeah and I wouldn't mind leading mine too.

She approached a finger and began to trace an invisible path on Maura's shoulder. The touch made the scientist swallow hard. Jane smiled. It worked every single time.

"C'mon, you know you're not a hobby. I'm a bit worried because it's getting late and she's out and... She's under our responsability as much as she isn't sixteen anymore." Strap: down. Victory. "But I also want you. Right now."

Before Maura had a chance to reply, Jane softly pinned her under her body and captured her lips in a mischievous kiss. The unexpected move made Maura smile. She gave in, wrapping her legs around Jane's waist to hold her tightly.

Margot was back but she had changed and they had to accept it. She was an adult now and was free to go out if she wanted to. She had let them know, besides. It wasn't as if she had run away just like that in the middle of the night.

She's leading her life, Rizzoli. Shouldn't you be happy about that? She's having fun right now. Just as she should.