Author's note: thank you very all your reviews!

Chapter Forty-Two: Sniglar and Sundvik

It wasn't a mock of disgust but horror. A simple, bare one. The kind that made Jane step backwards and wonder if she shouldn't have chosen different words when answering Maura's question. Too late, though. Now she would have to deal with the consequences of her acts.

In the middle of a crowded Ikea.

"The cheapest one? You want to buy the cheapest cribs for our daughters?" List in hand, the blonde bit her lower lip to swallow back a sigh of annoyance. They had just made it to the store but had definitely entered Hell within a second as well.

Slumped against the trolley, Jane shrugged and pointed at the crib on her right. "But it's the cutest one! We wanted a plain one. Wood. The others are either white – blue – or pink. Don't tell me you think the pink one is great."

Maura looked at the beds and made a face. Jane was right. The crib they wanted was the cheapest one. Feeling somewhat guilty, the medical examiner frowned before approaching it very slowly.

She brushed the little mattress almost dreamily and with a timid voice – full of uncertainty – confessed her fears. "I just don't want Alba and Lucie to think that we see them as a bargain. They are important – very important – to me."

Jane smiled, touched by the genuine remark. She straightened up and walked to Maura before passing an arm around her waist to hold her tight. Her dark eyes landed on the crib. "You don't measure love to what you buy for someone, Maur'. And look at it. It's a very cute crib. Perfect. They won't stay in it for the rest of their life. Before you have time to realize it, they'll be asking for a king size."

The honey blonde laughed and written down the number of the piece of furniture but pressing too hard on the sheet of paper, the lead of her pencil broke. "Oh no! We have to go back to the entrance to get a new one."

Jane shook her head – checked their surroundings – and took a dozen out of the pocket of her jeans. "I have a whole collection. Pick up one."

"You know that you are supposed to only take one, don't you?" But Maura's serious tone vanished in a laugh as she grabbed one and checked her list. A slight pain on her side made her wince. She brought a hand to her stomach and began to rub it.

Jane didn't miss the gesture and swallowed hard. "Are you alright?" She hadn't meant to sound scared but since their last visit at the ER, she had a hard time to relax whenever Maura seemed to give into a rather unusual behavior. She was on alert. All the time.

"Lucie is pulling on my skin. This isn't pleasant to say the least." She was about to add something when Jane grabbed her hand and forced her to sit down on the trolley; up on the cushions and blankets picked up previously. "What are you doing? I said that we would sit down and have lunch at their restaurant – once we are done with this shopping list – so it isn't the right time to..." But before she had a chance to finish her sentence, the brunette was already pushing the trolley in the alleys. "Oh god... Slow down! I am going to fall down!"

But getting used to the idea, Maura settled on the long strolley and checked the list she was holding as Jane took her to their next spot; not caring much about customers' amused gazes on them. If someone recognized her, at least they would be able to say that the Chief Medical Examiner wasn't as icy as she appeared to be on television.

An hour later and finally eating at the restaurant of the store, Jane cast a glance around her and nodded to nobody but herself. "We should come here more often. This place is cool."

"I didn't know that you had a soft spot for Stoughton..." Maura smirked and grabbed her fruit juice. It wasn't as bad as what she had assumed. The food was good, the drinks as well.

Her remark made Jane raise an eyebrow. "Really? You never got how much I loved the suburbs? Weird. I must've missed something."

The nightmare of the beginning had melted into something sweeter as they had gone from an alley to another. Finding back their team spirit – adapting it to a new environment that had little to do with a crime scene – they had turned to be rather effective. Joyfully.

Let's see if it lasts when we decide to finally assemble the whole thing.

"We've bought thirty pieces of furniture, Maur'. I don't wanna scare you or anything but do you realize what that means? How many 'extra' screws are going to land on the coffee table? We've just signed up for Hell."

The honey blonde smiled and shook her head playfully whle chewing on her French fries. "There are a lot less pieces to deal with. Something tells me that it is going to be a piece of cake. By the way, I have finally checked on the web and it seems like the extra screw isn't extra."

"No kidding."

Not paying attention to Jane's ironic tone, Maura kept on talking. "It has to do with the brakes. I will check it when we go back home. It seems like that we forgot to put it on somewhere around phase 12."

"The brakes?" Jane blinked and stared in disbelief at her wife. Was the scientist joking? She looked a bit too calm for someone who would have found out that the stroller she was about to use for her twins had a brake issue.

But focused on her fries, Maura nodded. Not troubled at all by such confession. "I checked yesterday as I had a bit of spare time at the office. And retrospectively now I think about it... We haven't tried the brakes."

No, they hadn't. Mainly because Jo Friday had grown tired of it and had decided to jump out of it after a couple of minutes of ride through the house. But still, that didn't explain Maura's serenity.

Not at all.

"And you blurt this out like that, in the middle of Ikea?" Jane scoffed. "We're talking about my babies, here. My babies! And you tell me that we were about to put them into a brake-less stroller? While we live on Beacon Hill?"

Maura finally put down her fork and smiled reasurringly at Jane. What was going on? The Italian was supposed to be the cool one. Not the other way around.

Grabbing her wife's hand, the honey blonde seemed to repress a laugh. "Honey, I am not supposed to give birth before at least April... Do you really think that I would have not checked before on the web what this screw was about and that I would have left newborns in a stroller that wouldn't have passed with flamboyant colors all the tests?"

"Flying. With flying colors." Jane pouted and looked at a family at a table close to theirs. The toddler was in a baby seat and seemed to be enjoying the idea of throwing macaronis to his older sister. Focus back on Maura. There was no need to have a vision now of what was waiting for them. "And... True."

"Good." Straightening up on her seat, the scientist grabbed a brand new piece of paper and the pencil she had kept in her bag. "Now we need to establish a schedule to assemble all of this. We have every single piece of furniture in double. It should be easy to dispatch the activities."

And... End of the joyful journey to Ikea. Jane made a face and grabbed a muffin out of frustration. Did they really have to do that now? She just wanted to enjoy her day off and try to not think about the trial she would have to attend on Monday nor the way the human traffic case seemed to be stuck in a terrible dead-end. Blame the feebies, though. They are the ones who slow it down like this.

"Shouldn't we start with the painting?" Hide your enthusiasm, Riz'. Really. "I mean I don't mind doing that – the all assembling thing – but if we have to paint the room then maybe it'd be clever to do that... Like, you know... Before...?"

Suggesting a change of plan to Maura was a very delicate mission. Especially when she was eating. It was very, very dangerous.

A few seconds passed by before the honey blonde to finally react. The depth of her features melted into a softer nuance but Jane knew better than to feel relieved. Anything could still happen. "Of course! But we haven't gone to Home Depot yet. How about... Tuesday evening?"

Ugh. "I don't know, I'm working on Tuesday."

"And what do you think I am doing? I am working for the two upcoming weekends so we need to find a way to figure it out. Unless I just stop by a local shop on Beacon Hill, on my way back home. This is a possibility as well. What do you think?"

What did Jane think? A thousand things. Starting with why wasn't she on a call? Why did her phone remain quiet? Why couldn't she be saved by the bell? Anything. Even an earthquake. She would have accepted anything to escape from this conversation.

Miracle. Maura's cell phone began to vibrate. The scientist grabbed it immediately and took the call. It was a sign, Jane knew it. A sign for them to postpone the whole painting and assembling.

"Hi, Lisa!"

Bless the art dealer. Jane smiled.

"Oh my God."

But as Maura's worried tone rose in the middle of the restaurant – her voice blatanly shaking – Jane felt a wave of guilt pass underneath her skin. Obviously this phone call shouldn't have made her happy.