Hello everyone, thank you all for your for your reviews, follows, and favorites. You are all amazing. I had a crappy week at work which drained my creativity for a while. If this chapter seems off at all I apologize, but I wanted to get it out there to make my updates consistent. I still love writing this story, it's what got me through for the past couple of days. I hope you enjoy.

Constance was home more consistently after Gia's birthday weekend since she started teaching the spring semester at Boston University. Gia didn't have to work as late during the week, often being dismissed around dinner time when Constance would come home. Maura would have been upset about this, if it wasn't for the fact that they spent every weekend together, because Constance always had out of town plans. In Maura's mind she had the best of both worlds, more time to spend with her mother, while having the weekends just her and Gia. Constance was often busy when she came home from work, and she didn't spend much quality time with Maura who was just happy that she was there even if it meant watching her grade papers.

Gia and Valerie hadn't spoke since the early morning hours, the day after her birthday, when they kissed. Gia tried to reach out to Valerie, calling her and sending letters but she didn't get a response. Maura also asked about Valerie because she wanted Jane's number. Gia explained to the little girl that Valerie was busy with school, which Maura accepted because she knew how busy her mother was. Since Gia had more free time, she spent a lot of it with Hope. The doctor enjoyed Gia's company immensely and was always happy to see her friend passed out on her couch when she came home after work. After giving Gia a key, her friend was over all of the time, which cured the loneliness that harbored her existence for the past few years.

/

Friday, February 11th 1983

Gia was late getting to the Isles residence which was making Constance late for work. Maura was already up and fixed herself some oatmeal. She was surprised that Gia was late because it was out of character, and she began to worry as she often did. She was relieved when she saw Gia's car pull up.

"Gia you're late." Constance chided as she passed Gia on the walkway heading to her car.

"I'm really sorry, I hit some traffic." Gia responded apologetically.

Constance could see that Gia appeared restless like someone who had stayed up all night and her next comment was based on that assumption. "I know that you're young and that you go out at night, but you have to be responsible. I know this the first time so I'll let it slide, also I won't be back until Tuesday night because I'm going to London to meet my husband for Valentine's Day."

"Okay, and again, I'm really sorry."

Gia walked into the Isles house as Maura's school bus arrived, Maura quickly washed her bowl in the sink and grabbed her school bag from the counter. She walked over to Gia, grabbed her hand an squeezed it. "I'm sorry my mom was short with you, she's teaching a lot of classes this semester, I think she's having a tough time adjusting from her sabbatical. There's coffee in the kitchen if you want some but I hope you decide to nap instead."

Gia just smiled at her, she had a rough night and it was taking a toll on her.

Maura walked to the door to leave, turned around quickly and ran back to Gia and hugged her.

"What was that for, Peanut?"

"It just looked like you needed one, that's all." Her bus began to beep. "I have to go the bus driver is very impatient. Take that nap" she shook her finger at Gia, "Doctor Peanut's orders." Then she exited her house to board her bus.

Gia looked at her watch, Hope was done work in an hour and Gia promised she'd stop by to talk about how last night went. She walked to the kitchen and had a cup of the coffee Maura mentioned, to get her through the drive to Hope's place.

/

When she got to Hope's house she plopped down on her couch. This action caused her to knock a book off of the coffee table, when she picked it up, a photo fell out. She picked up the photo and looked at it, her expression quickly changed from one of exhaustion to one of sadness. The photo depicted her friend in a hospital bed holding a newborn, she looked really happy. Gia remembered what Hope had told her about having a baby that died shortly after birth, but didn't go into much detail. She had no idea that Hope was so young. Then Gia heard commotion coming from outside and figured the doctor had come home, she quickly and carefully put the picture back in the book and lay on the couch.

Hope entered the house. "Hello, Gianna." She walked over to her friend and tapped her head. Gia got up and Hope sat down, Gia's head fell on Hope's lap and she sighed.

"That bad, huh?" Hope addressed her friend.

Gia was silent.

"What did she say?" Hope continued.

"I didn't get a chance to ask, because I didn't see her. She's clearly avoiding me. Her friends made excuses. I looked around for her on campus and off campus, I felt like a stalker. To add insult to injury, I ran into some former classmates who were all in grad school or working at a studio. I felt like a failure. I never want to go Rhode Island again."

"I'm really sorry, Gianna. People are complicated and scared. Also, you shouldn't compare yourself to others." Hope tried to offer in consolation.

"It's okay I guess, but I don't want to talk about it anymore. How was your day?"

"He came in today, with flowers, I haven't seen him in three years." Hope said flatly.

Gia immediately knew who Hope was talking about, the only man she ever mentioned, the one she referred to as the true love of her life. "Oh yeah?"

"He asked me out for tomorrow night. I probably shouldn't go, but we have so much history, we've been through so much together."

"What did you tell him?" Gia inquired as she sat up to be more attentive to her friend.

"That I'd let him know. What do you think?"

"I think that you need to do what your heart tells you to do. You may get hurt but at least you'll have no regrets."

"I think, it's a little late for the no regrets for me."

"I'm sorry Hope, I wasn't thinking."

"It's okay Gianna, really, I appreciate your help. You're a really good friend, you don't run away when things get messy, that's really important to me." She then looked at her friend who was clearly exhausted. "Driving all night with no sleep is not good for you, please take a nap."

"You're worse than the little girl I work with, well actually you're about the same." Gia said as she lay her head on the pillow. Soon after she was in a deep sleep.

Gia woke up after a four hour nap, and hour before she had to pick Maura up from school. She wasn't fully rested but she did feel slightly refreshed. Hope exited her bedroom wearing a dress.

"I was just about to wake you. What do you think of the dress?" She did a cute pose.

"Wow, you look beautiful, I've only seen you in scrubs and pajamas, you clean up nicely my friend."

Hope smiled at Gia. "Thank you, I called him back and said yes."

"Well I consider him one lucky guy." Gia responded.

Hope looked at the time. "You better get going, you're going to be late."

"Okay, but I wanna here all about it." She gave Hope a hug then left to pick up Maura.

/

Gia waited outside of school for Maura. She heard the bell ring and watched a mob of children exit the school. The little girl was always the last one out of the building. She took her time, taking in her surroundings, her campus was beautiful and she admired that, even in the dead of winter with no leaves and hardly any animals, she loved it. As Gia watched her amble towards her car she hoped that Maura would never lose the thoughtful way she viewed the world.

"Hello, Gia." Maura said as she got into Gia's car.

"Hiya, Peanut, how was your day."

"Great, I aced my math test." She reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper with a sticker and a note that said "great job".

"This is wonderful, Peanut" She gave Maura a high five.

"Celebratory dance party?" Maura asked as she turned on Gia's radio and danced to the music.

Gia laughed and the two made their way back to the Isles residence singing and dancing to the radio.

When they arrived Maura and Gia went into the house and Maura changed out of her uniform and Gia went into the kitchen to start dinner.

While enjoying Gia's homemade macaroni and cheese Maura asked whether or not Gia took that nap.

"Well, I went over my friends house, the doctor, she made me take a nap, you'd like her, you two think the same."

"She sounds nice, maybe I can meet her one day." She smiled. "Now you should go to sleep, you need to get your circadian rhythm back on track."

"I'm kind of tired but I don't think I can sleep now." Gia admitted.

"Nonsense, I have an idea, go up to the guest room and I'll meet you there in five minutes."

Gia did as Maura requested and five minutes later Maura entered the room with her violin.

"Okay, lay down and close your eyes."

Maura sat on the foot of the bed and took her violin out of her case. "I'm going to play a song that should have a soporific effect on you." She placed her violin under her chin, drew her bow across the strings, and started to play Brahms lullaby. After the second round of playing the song she could see that Gia was fast asleep. Maura was proud of herself, she walked over to her sleeping nanny and friend and kissed her forehead. "Good night, Gia." Then she made her way to her room to read before retiring to bed herself because she an early ballet practice the next morning.

/

Saturday, February 12th 1983

Gia woke up the next early the next morning feeling well rested. She smiled to herself remembering how Maura played her a lullaby and how adorable it was. She looked at the time and was happy that she was able to fix Maura a nice breakfast before her ballet class. She walked down stairs to the kitchen to make pancakes, she used the cookie cutters they bought after they took the cookie decorating class to make star and heart shaped pancakes.

Maura came down stairs dressed in her tights and leotard just as Gia was finishing her cooking.

"It smells great, Gia." Maura never ceased to be amazed a Gia's skill in the kitchen.

"That would be my homemade blueberry syrup, we were out of maple syrup so I decided t make this."

The two ate together making small talk, happy just to be around each other. After finishing breakfast they cleaned up and Gia drove Maura to ballet.

When they arrived at the studio Gia walked in with Maura. Maura joined her class and Gia sat far away from the mothers who she had not seen since her last encounter with them. A few moments later one of the mothers approached her.

"Hi, I'm Rachel, Hannah's mother, we took her to the doctors. The mole was precancerous and we had it removed. It was really scary. I just wanted to thank you so much for letting me know."

Gia stared directly at the woman. "Well, you should be thanking Maura, you know the "little freak" and not me."

The woman winced at her own choice of words that described the little girl that day. "I'm sorry, that wasn't one of my proudest moments, actually Hannah and Maura have been getting along lately, and I was wondering if you would like to join us later. I promised Hannah we'd go to the Pizza Pit after her lesson. She asked me if Maura could come this morning."

"If it's okay with Maura, it's okay with me." She told the woman, who took a seat next to her away from the other mothers as well. The two watched the girls practice.

After practice was over Maura ran over to Gia with Hannah.

"Gia, can we go to the Pizza Pit with Hannah and her mom?"

"Sure, Peanut."

They four exited the studio getting into their respective cars, and Gia followed Hannah and her mother to their destination.

Reviews are most certainly welcome. I hope you liked it. I plan on picking up with the Pizza Pit trip. I am really enjoying the friendship between Gia and Hope, (I really like Hope in general) it will all make sense in the end. Thank you for reading. We still have a fair amount of chapters to get through.

Be well and have a splendid day!