I meant to update sooner, but I moved so I have been quite busy. Thank you all for your reviews for the last chapter they meant a lot to me, especially during my stressful times. I would also like to thank any follows or favorites as well. Here is chapter 24.

Present Day

It was nearing the end of a particularly hectic day, Maura had just finished her paperwork and was in her office shoe shopping online while waiting for Jane who was upstairs to finish hers. She heard a small knock at her door and answered it.

"Hello senior criminalist Chang, you're still here," she asked.

Susie was holding a large box. "I needed to finish a few things. This came for you while you were in the field today, but then we got so busy I forgot to give it to you," Susie handed Maura the box.

"Thank you Susie and go home and get some sleep, today was a long day."

Susie smiled and nodded, then left.

Maura looked at the box an immediately recognized the address as her parents summer home in France. She grabbed a box cutter from her desk and carefully cut along the packing tape until she was able to open it. On top of a bunch of packing peanuts was a letter which she opened and read.

Dearest Maura,

I found these items while cleaning the attic of our summer home in the French Riviera. I thought you'd might like them, most of the items are in good condition, but one seems to have suffered some water damage. I hope you are well dear.

Love,

Mom

Maura put the letter to the side and reached into the sea of packing peanuts to find the first item which was the stethoscope that Gia had given her for Christmas. Memories of the former nanny came flooding back to her, growing more and more vivid with each item she found. Among the other items were, her Halloween costume, the charm bracelet, the glass heart and some of the other art work, Gia's childhood picture, and Manila envelope with all of Gia's letters. The last item found was the picture strip of her and Gia which was destroyed by rain damage and faded to the point where it was barely recognizable. This made Maura upset because she wanted to see Gia's face as she remembered it. Curiosity got the best of her and she did a google image search. She scanned through a few pictures of Gia at her various shows before finding one that was quite surprising. The picture featured Gia with her arm around a woman that looked like her biological mother. Maura clicked on the source of the picture which confirmed her assumptions.

"Hope knows Gia, maybe they still talk, I'd love to know what she's been up to," Maura thought to herself. She called Hope.

"Hello Maura, it's so nice to hear from you, how are you?"

"Hello, Hope, I'm okay how are you?"

"I'm fine, are we still on for a late dinner?"

"Yes, but I actually called to ask you something."

"... Okay," Hope replied nervously.

"Do you by any chance know a Gia Sparks?"

"Yes I know Gianna Sparks, she was a brilliant artist and an even better friend, have you come across work that she has done, if so I'd be very much interested in purchasing it."

"No, I haven't come across any of her work, I just found a picture of you two. You know her?"

"Yes before she became famous, it's actually and interesting story, she was a patient of mine, I treated her for a broken clavicle."

"Was it in the Christmas of 1982?"

"Why yes, how did you know that?"

"I know that because... I was the little girl who called you that day she returned to work against your advice."

There was some silence on the other line as Hope was realizing what that had implied.

"Hope?"

"You were the Peanut," Hope replied in a barely audible voice.

"Yes, that's me, and you must be Gia's doctor friend."

"I now regret declining Gianna's offers to come hang out with the both of you." Hope started to remember some more things, "I was only one room away from you when I went to visit her on her birthday."

"Do you two keep in touch? I'd love to know what she's up to these days."

Maura could hear Hope take a deep breath before her reply.

"Maura I am very sorry to be the one to tell you this but Gianna died almost five years ago."

"... But that would have only made her..."

"Yes, Maura, she was only 49."

"She was so young, what happened to her," Maura asked while starting to cry.

"She was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after her girls turned fourteen, she fought like hell for three years, before it took her life.

Maura immediately put her own personal loss aside the minute Hope mentioned that Gia had children. She knew that their loss was greater than her own, and she felt bad they had lost their mother at such a young age. "Her girls?"

"Yes twin girls, I delivered them myself, my first set of twins. I remember how happy Gianna was, she called them her masterpieces. I stayed with her for a year to help her with the girls, before I went back to the Sudan. Then, when I came back two years later because I was pregnant with Cailin, she helped me. We raised the children together for the next five years until I was relocated to London. Gia also retired from the art world at that time and moved to San Francisco to do art therapy for a children's mental health facility that her friend Valerie created. We still got together most holidays. I moved back for the last six months of her life, helping Valerie and the girls take care of her. The girls and Cailin became really close during that time and still remain very close to this day. I personally think they are the reason Cailin warmed up to Boston."

"Her girls live here?"

"Yes, they own a cupcake bakery, they're quite popular, they plan on opening one in every city that their mother lived in, so far they have one in San Francisco, two in Philadelphia, and one here."

"Wow that's impressive."

"Yeah, they are terrific kids, very sweet, you should stop by their shop, I'm sure they'd love to meet you."

"... But they don't even know about me."

"On the contrary, Gia talked about you often, you were the subject of some of their favorite bedtime stories. They know you as the Peanut. She thought about you often."

This was bittersweet for Maura, she devastated by the loss of her dear friend but happy that she was remembered so fondly. "I am curious to see what her children are like. What's the name of their bakery?"

"Double Trouble Bakery, they're open until six. They look just like her, you'll recognize them right away."

"Thank you, Hope. I'm glad you were the one that took care of our Gia that day. I'll see you later tonight."

"See you then, Maura."

After hanging up, Maura looked at all of her belongings that reminded her of Gia. She cried not only for her own loss, but the loss of Gia's daughters. She wondered what she should say when she met them. Maura's thoughts were eventually interrupted by the appearance of her friend Jane.

"Are you okay Maur, it looks like you've been crying."

"Can you take me to get a cupcake?"

"Are ya sure you don't mean kale or something else green and leafy," Jane joked in attempt to cheer up her friend.

"It's important."

"Yes a most important cupcake mission." Jane continued to joke.

Maura started to tear up again.

When Jane realized this she apologized immediately. "I'm sorry for making fun of you Maura."

"It's not that, but we need to go now, I want to get there before it closes. I'll explain everything on the way."

I plan on picking up with the car ride to the bakery, then Maura meeting Gia's daughters. I hope you enjoyed.

Be well and have a splendid day.