Author's note: Thank you very much for all the reviews!

Chapter Twenty-Three: We Will See

Margot observed the scene in silence. Sitting on a stool in the kitchen, she watched Maura hold Maddie's hands as the one-year-old toddler made her first steps towards an ecstatic Jane. Small – unsteady – baby steps; the ones they would never forget.

Jane had squatted and opened her arms widely to welcome her niece against her frame. She was cheering out loud at her, yelling of delight.

The moment Maddie reached her destination and Jane took her in her arms, Margot's smile vanished swept away by a wave of bitterness. Life wasn't fair. Jane looked in her element with the toddler – a honest grin lighting up her features – while Maura covered Maddie of light kisses.

The insemination hadn't worked out. There wouldn't be any Christmas baby.

It's the game. That's life. We knew it didn't have many chances to work out.

Jane had shrugged - forced a smile - then passed to something else almost right away in a vain attempt to hide better her disappointment. Maura had simply nodded.

Meanwhile, Margot's heart had broken into a thousand pieces.

"You're made for this." Aware that perhaps she was rubbing it in, Margot tried to smile as brightly as she could. "Look at you two with Maddie. You can't give up already. You'll be awesome with your own baby."

Jane and Maura looked at Margot in silence. They hadn't taken the failed insemination as badly as Margot had and the truth was that they didn't know how to comfort her. They hadn't expected such reaction from her part.

Maura took Maddie in her arms and began to rub the toddler's tiny back almost subconsciously.

"We haven't given up. We are just studying our remaining options. We need to learn from what..." From what had happened, or better said had not happened. "We just need a little break now and rethink our strategy."

The turn of phrase made Margot smile. It was so typical from Maura to put a subconscious distance between her acts and her speech. She had a very academic way of presenting things.

"You don't wanna try a second insemination?"

Jane walked to the kitchen counter and grabbed Maddie's plastic cup. She held it out to Maura and started sweeping away the crumbs of the birthday cake she had baked. Maddie had loved it.

They hadn't been able to attend the official birthday party so they were now catching back on it as much as they could. It mostly resulted in a huge multicolored cake and a dozen of presents that lay now on the living-room floor. And a very excited Maddie who loved spending time with her aunts because she knew that it would be all about her and she would be spoiled until the last second.

"Not yet, to be honest. It's physically and emotionally exhausting. The injections, the wait... I don't think I'm ready for a possible second failed attempt."

At least Margot was glad to see that it wasn't taboo. Jane and Maura hadn't let anyone else know after all. It was a delicate matter but seeing that they didn't have any issue whatsoever to talk about it comforted her. If only a bit.

"I understand that. I just really hope you won't give up completely because when I see you interact with Maddie – and with TJ when he's here – I know you're made for it. You're great with kids. You have been great with me."

...

"Oh... Are you Jane Rizzoli? Or should I say, Jane Rizzoli-Isles?"

Notebook in hand, Jane cast a confused glance at Frost before nodding at the woman who had just stopped her in the middle of the street as they were walking out a building after interviewing some guy for their current case.

Who was she?

"Oh my! If I had known I'd meet you one day in real life." The woman bit her lips and shook her head in obvious disbelief. "How is your daughter doing?"

Frost held back a chuckle but turned his back at the stranger to make sure that his reaction would pass unnoticed. Jane remained still, divided between the desire to hit her colleague and run away. Both were tempting. Another one who had probably read the interview of her and Maura in Out Magazine.

"She's... She's doing great, thank you for asking. She's almost done with her first year of college."

The woman looked impressed.

"She's in Cambridge, isn't she? You must be so proud... Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for the interview you gave. My sister and her partner just had a little girl and they're a bit worried about it. They're afraid people will end up making remarks and all... They're afraid their child might suffer from remarks, you know... Your story cheered them up. You're the proof same-sex couples are just as good as parenting as straight couples. We need to see this more in the media."

Alright. Perhaps Jane had misjudged the woman a bit too quickly. As much as Margot wasn't their daughter, she knew that they had taken the right decisions whenever she had been under their roof. Yet she had never imagined that the interview would have such impact on other couples. A positive one.

"Say hi to Maura for me."

The woman waved ggodbye then left just as quickly as she had appeared. Jane waved back – a bit late though – and looked at her go away.

"Do you think we'd be good mothers?" She hadn't had time to control her words. They had come out all by themselves, hitting the air with a disturbing fairness. She turned around and decided to assume it until the end. "Do you think Maura and I would be good parents?"

Frost didn't seem taken aback by the question the slightest bit. He immediately nodded, as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

"You're a balanced couple. You bring Maura what she needs and vice-versa. The result is that you're a good team; at work and outside of work. So... Yeah. I think you'd do well with a little one."

"Hmm." She paused – at the mercy of inner thoughts – then looked all around rather feverishly. "Go back to the BPD without me. I need to run a few errands."

Frost squinted his eyes at her sudden odd behavior. Had he said something that he should not have said? What had happened?

"You're okay?"

Jane nodded until her blank smile melted into a laugh. She ran a hand through her hair and locked her eyes with her colleague's. She grabbed him by the shoulders.

"I'm good. I just... I just need something. Something for Maura and I." And maybe a large bouquet of flowers too. And champagne. Maura never said no to champagne. "If you see Cavanaugh... Tell him I'm taking the rest of the day. I gotta work on something."

Before Frost had a chance to ask for further details, Jane ran away and crossed the streets. She had not forgotten the address and if she hurried up a little then she should be there within ten minutes which should give her enough time to prepare the rest.

"Ouch!" If she didn't pay more attention to the other passers-by, chances were that she wouldn't be ready for anything whatsoever. "I'm sorry." Hand in the air, Jane looked up to apologize and froze. This had to be a joke. "Constance?!"

Only you, Rizzoli. Only you could bump into your mother-in-law in the middle of the city while she's in Boston twice a year.

"Jane, what a surprise! I was about to call Maura to let her know that I was in town. How are you?" Constance studied her from head to toe. "In a hurry?"

"Kind of...? I ahem..." She couldn't dismiss Maura's mother. Yet what a bad timing to see her. "I'm... I'm on my way to ahem..."

Then it hit her. Why did she have to keep on hiding things from others? She looked around her for a very last time – as if to look for approval – then smiled at Constance. She didn't really believe in all these fate things and such but perhaps it was meant to be.

What was the percentage of chances for her to meet Constance by accident in the street?

"Have you something planned or you can spend the rest of the afternoon with me? It's... I need to do something very important, something for Maura and I. Something she doesn't know about and it'd be nice if you could come with me."

Constance didn't hide her surprise but immediately nodded.

"Sure...! I have just arrived and wanted to go for a walk then maybe buy flowers or a bottle of wine for the two of you. I was hoping to have dinner with you. If I can help you..."

"I think you can do a lot more than just that, actually." But there was no time to lose now. She had lost enough like that for the moment. Jane motioned her the way and resumed her fast walking. "I have to say it might take you aback and... Maybe it's not the best way to let you know but it's fair enough you get to be a part of it. Maura doesn't know, of course. But I know she'll think just like me."