Jane was exhausted as she came into her house and was almost thrown off balance as Alexis launched herself at her legs. "Mama!" Jane rebalanced herself again and lifted her eyebrows. "Jesus Christ, what's going on here?" Alexis clutched at her legs like they were her life line. "Mama, I missed you." Jane drew her eyebrows together as she looked down at her daughter. "I missed you too, baby. What's wrong?" Angela came around the corner and rolled her eyes as she saw the sight. Jane looked up and frowned deeply. "Hey, Ma. What's going on here?" Angela tried her hands in the kitchen towel and sighed. "She's been a bit iffy the whole day. I don't know why?" Jane lifted Alexis up and looked straight into her daughter's brown eye. "What's the matter that you are iffy?" Alexis decided to ignore the question and looked over Jane's shoulder. "Where is Mommy?" Angela raised her eyebrows. "That's a good question. Where is Maura?" Jane adjusted Alexis on her right hip before she walked into the kitchen. "Maura had to work a little longer. A last second body arrived as we were about to leave. But it shouldn't take her too long to come home." Alexis tugged at Jane's hair. "Where is Mommy?" Jane looked at her and sighed. "Baby, Maura is Mommy's name. You don't think that Mommy's parents named her Mommy, do you?" Alexis frowned and then started to giggle as the realization hit her. Jane smiled and kissed her cheek. "Mommy still has some work to do. Now you have to deal with me." "The two of you should wind down your work.", Angela stated seriously. "Especially now when Maura is pregnant." Jane rolled her eyes as she fished out a beer from the fridge. "Really, Ma? Again that speech? I mean, we know how much work we can do, especially because Maura is pregnant. The last pregnancy turned out quite well." "Beside the fact that Maura almost delivered in the morgue. Poor Frankie.", Angela said. Jane rolled her eyes, put the beer on the counter and started to examine her daughter. Alexis giggled and squirmed. "Ma, what are you doing?" Jane still examined her. "I'm checking to see if there's anything wrong with you. but ... you seem pretty fine to me. You have ten fingers, ten toes. Hmm, and you are heavy." Alexis gasped and pushed herself a little away from Jane. "You are tickling me." Jane beamed and sat Alexis on the counter. "Sit still, okay?" "But Mommy says that I shouldn't sit on here." "I don't see Mommy anywhere.", Jane said with raised eyebrows. "Do you?" Alexis shook her head with a big grin. Jane braced herself at the kitchen counter and sipped her beer. "Alexis looks pretty fine to me, Ma. It was a bad timing that Maura wanted a coach when she had contractions. And what do you mean poor Frankie? He wasn't in the labor room getting his hands almost smushed." Angela rolled her eyes and slumped her shoulders. "He was as white as a ghost when he guided Maura through the foyer. Do you want the twins delivered at the Department?" Jane stared at her mother in disbelief. "I am not really sure what we are discussing right now and ... why. Because the due date isn't even close. So who is iffy today? You or Alexis?" Angela huffed and turned to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. "I am just worried about the two of you. You both work too much." Jane rolled her eyes and sipped her beer. She winced as Angela hit her on her shoulder with the towel. "Ow!", she laughed. Angela smiled broadly. "Don't roll your eyes at me, Janie." Jane chuckled and sipped her beer. Maura came home later that night and sighed as she was welcomed by total darkness. She slipped out of her shoes and tiptoed to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. It was later than she had planned to come home but she had to take a few breaks during the autopsy. "Maura?", someone in the dark whispered. Maura winced and chocked on her water as she heard her name whispered. She searched the dark living room.. "Hello?" "Maura.", her name was whispered again. Maura followed the source of the voice to the couch and had to smile at the sight in front of her. Jane laid with her back on the couch and on top of her laid a sleeping Alexis who used her mother as a mattress. "Why are you down here and why is Alexis not in her bed?" Jane rolled her eyes and wrapped arms around her sleeping daughter. "Alexis wanted to wait for you but felt asleep two hours ago.", she whispered. "And you just laid on the couch and let her sleep?", Maura whispered back. Jane shrugged a little and frowned. "Maybe I fell asleep too from all her snoring." Maura chuckled, leaned over the back of the couch and kissed her wife's lips. "Hi." Jane smiled broadly. "Hey. I would offer you a spot to lay down too but ..." Maura furrowed her eyebrows. "Thank you for that offer but I politely reject it." Jane grinned. "I thought so." Maura smiled and ran a hand over her daughter's hair. "Shall we take her to her bed?" Jane nodded and sat up carefully. Alexis stirred a little and frowned but immediately relaxed and snuggled into Jane's chest. Jane looked at her and smiled. "She's just like you." Maura chuckled and shrugged. "She lived nine months inside me. I am not to blame." "Yeah, yeah. Whatever.", Jane mumbled as she got to her feet and looked lovingly at her wife. She closed the bedroom door after they had taken Alexis to bed and frowned as she looked at Maura. "You look exhausted." Maura sighed as she pulled her night gown over her head and frowned. "I am exhausted. I don't know what it is, but I had some problems concentrating on the last autopsy. I had to take some breaks during it." Jane's frown deepened and her expression turned to worry. "You okay? Maybe you should slow down a little bit. I mean, we've had a lot to handle these past days." Maura walked to her wife and wrapped her arms around Jane's neck. "I am alright. Stop worrying, Jane. Please. All I need is a good sleep and maybe ... just maybe ... a big cup of coffee in the morning.", she said and kissed Jane's lips gently. "Now ... let's go to bed. We both need sleep because you look as exhausted as I feel." Jane smiled and nodded. Finally they were back again, like their old selves. Like they were before Masterson had made such a problem. She laid down on her side of the bed and tugged at Maura. Maura looked at her and smiled when she saw her wife's expression and laid her head on Jane's shoulder. Jane took a deep breath and hummed content. "I think we should take the day off tomorrow." Maura frowned as she looked up. "Even with that open case?" Jane shrugged and sighed. "I think Frankie and Korsak can handle the case for a day on their own and I'm sure Cavanaugh will be happy if I take a break. And Ma thinks that we're neglecting Alexis." Maura put her chin on Jane's collarbone and looked in Jane's eyes. "Did she say that?" Jane put a strand of hair behind Maura's ear and shook her head. "No, she didn't. She just said that we are working too much.", she paused and chuckled. "Oh, and that you will deliver right in the morgue." Maura slapped Jane's shoulder and smiled. "She didn't say that I would deliver like some cow on a farm?" Jane stifled a laugh and raised her eyebrows. "No." Maura rolled her eyes and laid her head back on Jane's shoulder. "You are impossible, Jane." Jane smiled broadly and closed her eyes.
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Angela came the next morning into the kitchen and stopped dead in her movement as she saw her daughter sitting at the kitchen island. She looked at the kitchen clock and frowned. "Did I woke up in a parallel universe?" Jane looked tiredly at her mother and frowned. "Hey, Ma. What are you doing here?" Angela raised an skeptical eyebrow. "I was supposed to watch Alexis after you and Maura went to work. I also have a question. How does it happen that you are already awake and since when are you up?" Jane stifled a yawn and sipped her coffee. "That was two questions in one sentence. But to answer them ... Maura and I decided to take a day off and share it with our daughter.", she looked at the clock too and frowned. "And we are up since ... uh ... Alexis did woke us at half past five." Angela pured herself a cup of coffee. "Where are Maura and Alexis?" Jane sighed and laid her head on her arms on the kitchen. "They're taking a bath." Angela sipped her coffee and raised her eyebrows. "You mean, Maura bathes Alexis." Jane rolled her head back and forth. "No, I mean that Maura have to take a bath with Alexis. Alexis didn't wanted to brush her teeth or bath without Maura. So Maura agreed to do as our daughter pleased. I don't know why Alexis is suddenly so clinchy." Angela shrugged and raised her eyebrows. "Maybe because Maura and you spend a lot time at the Department." Jane rolled her eyes and sighed. "Again,Ma?" Angela raised an hand to stop Jane's protest. "Or it could be because Maura is pregnant. And Alexis isn't the only one anymore." Jane drew confused her eyebrows together. "What do you mean with that?" Angela opened the fridge door and inspected the items in it. "Alexis was for almost four years your one and only. The center of your universe. And soon she have to share your attention with two other babies who will require your full attention. As I was pregnant with Frankie you acted almost the same way." Jane lifted her head up and looked questioningly at Angela. "You mean that Alexis is jealous of the babies already?' Angela shrugged and closed the fridge door. "It happens, Janie. A healthy relationship between siblings needs a healthy rivalry. And it will happen, no matter what you are doing. You just can make sure that your children knows that you love them on the same level." Jane frowned and sighed. She knew that it wouldn't always be easy with three children but it never came to her mind that those fight she and her brothers have had already started as Frankie and Tommy still were in Angela's womb. And she never saw herself in the same position like her mother was once. "I think we have to talk to Alexis." Angela nodded in agreement as she sipped her coffee. "Do it. It will clear things out."
