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Chapter Forty-Five: It Takes A Lab Village

If she had no idea when it had gone wrong, by the amount of screws and wooden pieces now littering the nursery floor, Maura knew that she had reached a point of no-return. Better later than never. A pout on her lips, she grabbed the first thing on her right to help her stand up. Big mistake. A sound made her wince in pain and with terror in her eyes, she looked up at the damage. Why? Why had she pulled on a pair of new curtains Jane had installed the day before? She had torn down the fabric on its length. Hard to make it pass for another Coco Loco's misadventure unless the cat had turned into a tiger without any warning.

"Oh no..." And she wasn't even standing up on her feet yet. Casting a glance at the open door – she bit her lips – and pondered an idea that she didn't even want to say out loud for it being shameful. Way too shameful. "Oh, and so what?" She was alone, anyway. Nobody would see her do that.

With the poor amount of self-esteem left, she walked on her knees to the door and made it to the corridor – rather quickly – before heading towards the stairs. There, she grabbed the banister and after big efforts finally managed to stand up.

Note to herself: never sit down on the floor ever again. Not when alone.

Yet it didn't solve the mess that she had left behind. Jane would kill her. They had agreed on assembling the furniture over the weekend but after an hour fighting an incredible boredom in the kitchen, Maura had not paid attention to this wise voice inside her head and had gone upstairs to do something of her day off.

Bad idea. Very, very bad idea.

Slightly breathless, She went down to the main floor and walked to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. She was dying of thirst and her back was killing her.

Earlier in the morning, she had met her own reflection in the mirror and had barely had time to restrain a scream of horror as she had seen her stomach. It had reached a size that had barely to do now with human proportions. How come it hadn't striken her before?

Her daily routine had had no choice but to adapt to the transformation yet she hadn't realized until now that it had turned so big.

Not even trying to sit on a stool – she had given up the idea a thousand years ago – she headed straight to the couch and grabbed her tablet. She couldn't leave the nursery in such a state. She needed help. As much as she hated recognizing it.

Yet who? Tommy was working – Frankie as well – and Lisa was probably enjoying her time at home with Guadalupe and Haumea. There is a name but... Maura pouted. She knew that Susie was on a day off as well but would the Senior Criminalist be good at assembling furniture? That hadn't appeared on her resume when she had been hired at the morgue.

You know that she will not turn you down, go for it!

Forty-five minutes later – while she had just finished to prepare sandwiches - Maura trotted to the door as the bell resounded loud. "Hello, Susie! How are you? Come in."

The young woman obliged, almost timidly. As much as she had somewhat bonded with Jane over the Red Sox, it was still quite rare for her to be invited at the Beacon Hill house. "Dr. Isles..."

Not losing time in pointless conversation topics, Maura went back to the kitchen – grabbed the basket she had put the sandwiches in – and happily motioned at the first floor before taking the stairs. "Let's go up there."

They had four hours and a half before Jane coming back home. Five if the brunette stopped by for some beers with Frost and Korsak. The situation was critical. There was no time to lose and thirty elements to assemble in a freshly painted nursery.

"How do you feel with these Ikea methods?" Sneaky question but Maura had to ask. She had been a bit vague in her email about the reason why she wanted Susie to come over to her house and felt bad about it. Kind of. Quite a bit.

Alright. A lot.

With her typical seriousness, the criminalist adjusted her glasses and nodded with determination. "All my furniture was bought there so I have experience on the matter."

Good. Maura didn't. Unless she included the terrible experience of Jane's old bed.

But as much as Susie owned Ikea skills, the young woman couldn't help but gasp as she walked in the nursery. She blinked, remained quiet for a long time as if looking for her words.

"Oh. I see that you've decided to open all the cardboard boxes at the same time." Diplomacy attempt. There was no way she would - could? - hurt her boss.

Smiling timidly – almost apologetically – Maura looked at the floor and let a nervous laugh pass her lips. "A matter of circumstances. I decided to start with a crib but found it too hard so I passed to this chair but it turned out to be just as hard... Needless to say that – before I had a chance to realize what was happening – everything was out of the boxes." And out of control.

Silence. A heavy one.

Feeling more and more embarrassed, Maura cleared her voice and unfolded a picnic blanket on the floor before sitting down – trying to ignore how hard it would be for her to stand up again – and proceeded to take the food out of the basket. "How about we start with this little lunch? We need forces!"

Susie nodded and sat down by her boss.

…

It was cute. A bright smile on her lips, Jane nodded at nobody but herself and stepped in the nursery as Maura followed her quietly. The result was better than what she had imagined. The small lamps gave a peaceful shade to the room, embracing the natural wood of the furniture warmly. As she turned around to look on the opposite wall, the brunette stopped and gasped. Taken aback.

Maura had framed and hung up there a series of black and white portraits Jane had taken of them with her new cam during the past couple of months. One from their getaway to Provincetown, others from the BPD or home.

Before the Italian's silence, the honey blonde shrugged timidly and passed an arm around her wife's waist.

"I assumed that it was a nice way for us to welcome the girls. Each of them represents a moment during these incredibly long nine months... I hope you like them. As a matter of fact, I hope you like the whole room. I would have never managed to do it without Susie. You owe her a season ticket for Fenway!"

Jane laughed lightly. She was tired – her workday had been long – but as soon as she had stepped into the house and seen Maura, everything had turned out to be just fine. Odd feeling. The scientist seemed to own this power to sooth her whenever she needed it.

"I'm kind of glad you didn't wait for me to assemble it all." Time to be honest. She had postponed such activity – using more or less fair excuses – for way too long. Maura was almost seven-month pregnant. She was closely watched out, now. The mere medical appointment could seal the fate of a labor.

"I thought you wanted to do it! You didn't stop saying that it was something we had to do together..." A note of surprise rose in the medical examiner's voice as she made a step aside to properly look at Jane.

The brunette made a face and shrugged.

"... Yes ..." She could have hardly sounded less convincing. Jane sighed and approached a hand from a crib. She caressed the blanket, rolled her eyes. "It's just I suck so much at assembling stuff. Looks like you're way better than I am."

Maura chuckled and shook her head before going to sit down on the couch she had spent way too much time staring at when it had been laying on the floor in a thousand pieces. "Oh God no! I would have not managed to do half of this without the help of Susie. It takes a lab to assemble a nursery!"

A well-known sound of little paws on the floor caught both women's attention. They turned their head only to see Jo Friday come in and head straight to Jane. The brunette grabbed the dog in her arms – kissed her on top of the head – then went to sit down on the couch by Maura. She scanned the room one more time.

"It smells of new."

"I didn't burn any incense stick yet. I have organic ones but I am not sure which fragrance I should use. Do you have any favorite?"

Jane frowned, looking straight in front of her; caressing absentmindedly Jo Friday who had settled on her lap.

"Anything but patchouli. This stuff is just awful." Pause. "Did you send Susie back home like that? I can't believe you used her!"

Gasp. Offended, Maura leaned up on her elbow and shook her head at her wife. "I did not! She seemed to have other plans. But I certainly invited her to stay for dinner... And had prepared a lovely picnic for us in this room."

Jane made a face and giggled. Maura was cute but she would have been a terrible lawyer if she had had to defend a culprit. "Wow. Five-star treatment, I see."

Snap on her head.

"Ouch!"