Author's note: thank you very much for all your reviews and suggestions!

Chapter Seven: How To Survive A Bad Day

"What do you mean you can't?"

Visibly uncomfortable, Tommy forced a smile then shook his head at his sister. He had been looking at the water heater for two hours now and the conclusions weren't very optimistic to say the least.

"It's dead. All I can do right now is order another one but it'll take one week or so before you get it." The young man looked down at his feet and twisted his hands nervously. "I'm sorry, Jane."

Shocked – halfway between reality and a nervous breakdown – the brunette remained still and quiet as the only sign of life seemed to come from her constant blinking.

"The good thing is that it's just water!" Tommy laughed but made an immediate step backwards and cast a sideglance at the nearby exit if he ever needed to run away to avoid his sister's rage.

"Of course." Jane grinned and raised her hands in the air before shrugging nonchalantly. Or so. The light in her dark eyes had rarely been that intense. She let escape a bitter laugh. "Who cares if there is no water here for the next few days? I mean it's not like we have anything big planned. Nope!"

Discreetly, Tommy reached the door and began to step backwards in the corridor. The surface of the room had suddenly been reduced to nothing.

"Maura's family only arrives on Thursday. That leaves you two days to find a hotel and our relatives all live in Boston except for a few of them who – anyway – weren't supposed to stay here. It's going to be alright. Don't worry."

"No, it's not!" And there she was, yelling like a mad cow as she was just making it to a new level of stress. If her heart survived this week then Jane was certain to make it to one-hundred years old. "It. Is. Not. Okay. And don't you dare to tell me it is. You have no idea what it is to prepare a wedding!" Raising a menacing index in the air, the detective took a deep breath and made a step towards her brother.

"Hey, it's not my fault! I repaired the issue in the guest house but I'm not Super Mario!" But eager to remain alive for a bit longer, Tommy turned around and rushed to the living-room where Angela – bouquet of flowers in hand – was trying to tidy up the mess left behind on the kitchen counter. "Ma', she wanna kill me!"

The matriarch rolled her eyes – not really worried by the whole scene – and sighed heavily as Jane stormed in the room.

"It's not your brother's fault. Just stop it now and look for hotels on line, instead." Angela bit her lips knowing beforehand that most of hotels were full this week due to an international convention.

This was not mission impossible but quite close nonetheless.

Jane stopped – turned around – and looked at her mother in despair. Anger had melted into panic, an ocean of doubts. She swallowed back a wave of tears that were asking for nothing but to come out.

"First my car, now the water heater... Why?" Fists clenched, she shook her head and let herself fall on one of the stools before plunging her face into her hands. "It's a conspiracy."

Tommy approached carefully before exchanging a sorry look with his mother.

Hard to say that his sister was exaggerating.

...

"Do you like it, TJ?" Holding the toddler by the waist, Maura let him come closer to Jane's dress as she noticed the way the little boy was admiring it. "She will wear it on Saturday."

Sitting on the armchair of the laundry room – glass of wine in hand – Amy raised an eyebrow at the child and smirked.

"Shortie surely likes dresses and has great taste. After your Prada, he is on Jane's wedding dress."

Maura rolled her eyes at her cousin but didn't hide her amused smile. Amy was right. TJ seemed to have developped a fascination for women's clothes and loved spending time in the laundry room.

"He just likes Jane a lot... She is a great aunt and always enjoys her time when she babysits him. It doesn't happen as much as it used to, though. Lydia and Tommy moved a bit too far from Boston but we try to see him every two weeks nonetheless."

"He likes you too." Amy brought the glass to her lips and took a sip. "Do you want children? Have you talked about it with Jane?"

The socialite's tone of voice had suddenly turned serious, contrasting thus sharply with her rather nonchalant pose on the armchair and the way she kept on playing absentmindedly with a scarf.

Maura swallowed hard and looked down at TJ. The toddler was holding a juice cup and tried with his other hand to grab the wedding dress. She smiled at the scene, bitterly enough though.

"No. We haven't talked about it... I guess it is too complicated. We have very demanding jobs and... We don't lead a life that could suit any child. But it is okay. We have TJ and – who knows – maybe other nephews and nieces will join within the next few years."

Amy smiled yet rather unconvincingly as a heavy silence seemed to start weighing on the room.

"Oh my God!" Maura's shriek put an abrupt end to the bittersweet atmosphere as she took TJ away from Jane's dress immediately.

Too late, though. The toddler had spilled his strawberry juice on the white piece of clothing; leaving behind a torrent of pink liquid on the delicate fabric. Maura swallowed hard, started breathing a bit too loudly to not sound panicked.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Nooooo. Not that. No, no, no, no, no."

Amy finally moved from her seat to check the damage; yet making sure to leave her own glass of wine at a reasonable distance. She pursed her lips – tilted her head on a side – and made a face. It was not that she wanted to sound quite pessimisstic but the situation had just reached a very bad level on the hope scale.

"It isn't too late. Take it to the dry-cleaner's immediately. I am sure that they can get it back to err... Well, you know... A strawberry-less state." The British woman cast a glance at TJ. "Now well done, Shortie. Really."

"It isn't his fault, Amy." Maura shook her head and – remorseful – bit her lips. "I should have been more careful. I knew that he was holding his cup but I thought the protection cap was enough to avoid this."

"Maura, are you there?"

Jane's voice resounded loud and way too close.

Panic mode: activated over and over.

Not knowing what to do, the medical examiner sat in front of the dress to hide the damage part and grinned just as the brunette opened the door to poke her head inside. Jane frowned, slightly taken aback. She paused, laughed nervously.

"What are you all doing here?"

Amy shrugged and took a sip of her wine as if nothing had happened. Maura squinted her eyes at her cousin, suddenly envious of her capacity to feign absolutely everything. Needless to say, she had to remain quiet herself if she didn't want to sound suspicious to Jane.

"Just having a bit of a talk and enjoying your nephew's presence among us. He is very cute. You must be proud of him."

Touched, Jane nodded enthusiastically before taking TJ in her arms to make him twirl around. The toddler burst out laughing; delighted. She squeezed him against her hip and smiled brightly.

"Oh. You are still holding your juice cup, lil man? Thank God it's empty. With all the issues going on, the last thing I want is you to spill some on my wedding dress. Hahaha!"

Amy forced a smile – a light laugh – to cover Maura's sudden moan of despair. Running a hand – not so casually – through her hair, the scientist frowned at her future wife as the last statement Jane had made reached her mind.

"Issues? What kind of issues?"

The Italian sighed and swallowed hard. She would have loved stopping by the laundry room for a more optimistic conversation but after a quick check on the web, she had had no other choice but to let Maura know about the current situation.

"Your water heater is dead. We won't have a new one before a week or so which means no hot water in the meantime." Jane shook her head and tried to calm down her heartbeats. "So I've checked with ma' a couple of hotels but they're all full and I don't want to send your family to Brookline."

"Oh."

Perhaps if she had witnessed the scene from an external point of view, Maura would have found it rather entertaining but being the first concerned by it, she was actually closer to passing out; juice hidden in her back on Jane's dress had turned into an insignificant detail, all of a sudden.

Or almost.

Because as she was about to reply – advancing that they had two days to solve the issue – bagpipes resounded loud. A few feet away. Out there on the street. Jane blinked and rushed to the main door that Angela and Tommy had opened.

The whole Scottish clan was standing on the sidewalk, in kilts. Playing music.

"Oh shit..." Jane bit her lower lip, swallowed hard.