May the Fourth Be With You 2023

In the early days of April one day after school, the children held what MJ called a 'RIC Meeting.' He named it that because he thought it sounded great. They invited Kelly and Erica to attend because they would need their help. MJ explained to Kelly and Erica that RIC stood for Rizzoli-Isles children. They held their meetings whenever they needed to plan something without their mothers' knowledge.

MJ called the meeting so that they could discuss what they would do for May 4th this year. Each of the children presented their idea and then they discussed the ideas and decided which idea they would follow. After a half hour discussion, the children all turned to Kelly and Erica and asked for their thoughts. Kelly and Erica were both excited that the children were asking them to participate in their discussion.

Kelly looked at Erica and then said, "After hearing all four of your ideas, I like Kate's idea the best." Erica nodded she agreed. Kate was so much like Jane and they both knew that Jane would love what Kate had proposed.

"I don't want you to think that I always agree with my wife, but in this case, I also think that Jane would get a kick out of Kate's idea." Erica said as she looked into each of the children's eyes.

Lily was first to comment, "Kate does seem to have great ideas sometimes, but I agree, mama would get a kick out of Kate's idea."

"AJ what do you think?" MJ asked after a few moments of silence. If AJ agreed then they would go with Kate's idea.

"Yes, I can agree that we should go with Kate's idea." AJ stated

"Okay, Kate's idea won." MJ announced as everyone got up so they could go play. Kelly and Jane went upstairs so that they could start on dinner.

One day in Mid-April, before Jane and Maura left work, they sat down in Maura's office and ordered new May 4th t-shirts for their children. Jane loved the idea of the children having new t-shirts each year. They also ordered t-shirts for Kelly and Erica. This would be Kelly and Erica's first May 4th celebration with the family and Jane was excited to share the celebration with them.

Evening of May 3rd

After dinner, as was their tradition the last three years, they presented the children with their new t-shirts for May 4th. After all the t-shirts were passed out. Kelly grabbed Erica's hand and they were about to get up when Jane tossed them each a t-shirt and said, "Welcome to the Rizzoli-Isles 'May the Fourth Be With You' t-shirt tradition." They both smiled and thanked Jane and Maura.

Morning of May 4th

The children arose bright and early and dressed in their new 'May the Fourth Be With You' shirt for school. They went downstairs and were happy to see Kelly and Erica wearing their new t-shirts. They were sad to hear that Jane and Maura were called out to a crime scene earlier so they did not get to see the smile on their faces. Kelly said, "Your mama told me to make sure that I took a picture of the four of you in your new t-shirts and send it to you."

The children all posed for a picture and then MJ said, "Now, let me take a picture of the two of you so you can send it to mama."

Kelly and Erica posed for a picture as MJ snapped the picture. Kelly then served the children Star Wars themed waffles. Kate was so happy she immediately gave them both a hug before smearing syrup all over her baby Yoda waffles. Lilly had Princess Leia waffles and MJ and AJ each had a Hans Solo and Luke waffle.

After they dropped off the children at school they returned to the house and started preparing for the surprise the children had planned for their mothers.

When they picked up the children at the end of the day, they were excited to get home so they could finish the preparations. Kate wanted to see the look on her mama's face. She loved surprising Jane and was a little upset when she didn't get to tell her mama, 'May the Fourth Be With You' when she woke them up in the morning. Kate always wanted to start her special days by waking up her mothers. Kate loved Star Wars just as much as her mama. Maura just shook her head at Jane in the morning when Jane pouted about not be able to share the greeting with the children before they left. She wanted to wake Kate up. She knew Kate wouldn't be upset but Maura said to let her sleep.

Kelly went downstairs to the media room to tell the children that their mothers were ten minutes out. They were all excited, they couldn't wait for their mothers to be home. Ten minutes later Jane and Maura walked into the house. The house was quiet. They wondered where the children were. MJ then thought, "Oh, what if they take the elevator instead of the stairs?"

"MJ, they will take the stairs, Kelly and Erica know to lead them down the stairs." Lilly informed him. Sure enough a few minutes later the light came on for the stairs and they could hear the four adults walking down the stairs.

Jane was surprised that the media room seemed empty she had expected to see the children in there. The room was decorated and there were Star Wars cupcakes on the table but no children. The adults waited for a few minutes and then the children jumped out and yelled 'surprise.'

Jane and Maura's faces lit up, they loved the costumes the children were wearing. MJ was dressed as Hans Solo, AJ as Luke Skywalker, Lilly as Leia Skywalker and Kate as Chewbacca. They were so cute in their costumes. Jane then asked, "So where did these costumes come from?"

Kelly spoke up, "From me and Erica. Last month the children invited us into their RIC meeting and we decided we would purchase the costumes for them."

"Wait, what is an RIC meeting?" Jane asked a little confused.

"Mama, RIC stands for Rizzoli-Isles children. We meet whenever we need to discuss something without you knowing about it." MJ offered.

"Oh, okay, thank you." Jane told her oldest son.

"We prepared a video for you." Kate said as she handed her mama the remote control.

"Can mommy and I go upstairs and put on our t-shirts first?" Jane asked.

"Yes!" MJ replied as Jane helped Maura up and took her hand as they walked over to the elevator, as it was the quickest means of getting upstairs.

They rode the elevator back down and when the doors opened, Kelly, Kate and MJ stood on one side and Erica, AJ and Lilly stood on the other with the lightsabers extended making an arch. Jane started laughing as she escorted Maura through the lightsabers arch.

The family sat down and watch the short video that the children had put together. The video showed clips of all of the children and Jane and Maura in their various t-shirts over the last few years. Kelly called in the pizza order and they all ate pizza and popcorn and watched Star Wars movies until it was time for the children to go to bed. They bypassed story time for additional movie time.

Kate was comfortable on Jane's lap looking towards Maura as she had one of her hands outstretched so she could hold Kelly's hand. Lilly was curled up next to Erica with AJ curled up to her. MJ was curled up to Maura's side. The children were exhausted but they all had smiles on their faces. Each adult took a child upstairs and tucked them in for the night.

As Jane and Maura were getting ready for bed, Jane told Maura, "I wonder what the children would do next year."

Maura reminded her wife who was not very patient, "You will just have to wait until next year."

"Maur, you know I hate waiting."

"True, but there is nothing I can do about the fact that May 4th only comes along once a year, so in 364 days you can find out how the children will share this day with you." Jane fell asleep with thoughts of what their four wonderful children will come up with for next year and how much she was looking forward to eating Mexican food tomorrow for Cinco de Mayo.