Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!
Here it goes, the next chapter. It took a little longer than I wanted but I hope it's worth the wait. Some things are looking up, some down but overall, hope you all enjoy the ride!
To anyone that is out there still part of this fandom and reading these stories, thank you for all the support to all the writers here!
Please, Let me know your thoughts on this chapter and the story. Any questions, suggestions, comments, or reviews are very welcome and appreciated
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Thank you for all the support you have been giving me. I wouldn't be able to do these without you guys! Really guys, thank you very much!
B. M. Adams
Xoxo...
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from R&I, just this plot and OCs
General POV
03/12/2010
"Dr. Isles" Maura answered her phone, not paying attention to the ID caller on her phone as she was buried in paperwork and reading notes from previous autopsies.
"Hello Dr. Isles, this is Trish". Said the voice on the phone.
At the moment of realization of who was on the other side of the phone, Maura broke her contraction and immediately responded "Hello, Trish, how are you?" she curiously said.
"I am good, Dr. Isles. Is this a good moment? I would like to have a conversation with you, it's kind of important" Trish said on the phone, haste was evident in the voice of the social worker.
Maura was taken aback, and immediately thought something was wrong, as she was not sure why would Trish call so suddenly "Yes, sure. Is everything ok?" she asked.
"Everything is ok, Dr. Isles, don't worry. I am just calling because we have received a petition for adoption for Megan…" Maura then stopped hearing what the woman was saying on the phone. Her breathing became heavy and a little erratic, a buzzing sound ringing in her ears. Her mind could only go to all the time both she and Jane had thought about sending the adoption papers but had put it off to give Megan time to fully adjust to the family dynamics. Now there was a chance that someone else could adopt whom they consider their own daughter. She needed to speak urgently with Jane, they had to put the adoption paper through as soon as possible.
Maura was lost in her thoughts and the anxiety this situation was putting her through, at her own expense she believed "Dr. Isles… Dr. Isles, are you still there!?" the voice on the other line said.
She shook her head "Sorry, Trish, can you please tell me again? Someone wants to adopt Megan?" she said, anguish evident in her voice.
"Yes, we received an adoption petition for her" She commenced her speech again and describe a bit about the family that was interested in adopting Megan, while Maura was nervously playing with the pendant on her neck, this time paying her full attention to what the social worker was saying. "However, I am calling as you have her under your guardianship and that means we have to ask you if you and Detective Rizzoli would like to also petition for adoption. If you decided to petition for adoption the CPS board and the judge will take yours as a priority" she explained,
"Of course, send me the papers" Maura adamantly said.
"I'll send them today by 5 pm, as long as you have sent them to me by Monday, we will start with the process, given that is Christmas soon, the process perhaps will start in January. As soon as I have the papers and send them I'll explain the process and what proceeds". The woman finished explaining.
"Sure" Maura quickly replied, "As soon as we speak with Megan we will send all the paperwork over to you," Maura said.
Maura's heart was pounding against her chest, even though, she and Jane had spoken about making official Megan's adoption, they had not spoken with Lily, Lucas, or the rest of the family. She felt wrong taking a unilateral decision such as this one, but she knew everyone in their family loved Megan deeply and would be immensely happy knowing they would adopt Megan. As well, they needed to speak with Megan. Since they met her, they knew she'd had the last word, and it was only fair for her to be included in the decision.
Now that someone else was interested in adopting her, she felt the possibility of her daughter leaving them, and that was something she was not going to let happen unless Megan herself decided that that was what she wanted. It deeply hurt her that it was possible that they would lose Megan, she could not imagine her life without the teenager, and she was sure, neither could the rest of the family. She then texted Jane to come down to her office, this was an urgent matter and in her mind, they needed to have a face-to-face conversation.
It took Jane less than 5 minutes to come down, as soon as Jane reached Maura's office she opened and closed the door behind her. With her hand on her hips, she then spoke "What happened, is everything ok?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.
Maura stood up and sighed deeply "Trish called; she told me there is a family interested in adopting Megan" She explained.
Jane's eyes went wide "What!?" she said "So, someone else is taking our daughter? Just like that… first come, first serve as if she was an item you can purchase…" Jane kept ranting.
Maura was certain that all this was coming from the hurt and despair Jane was feeling at the thought of losing her daughter "Jane, Jane! Stop" She hushed the brunette, coming closer to her and holding her hands.
Jane stopped talking and looked at Maura right into her hazel eyes "Yes, another couple has expressed their interest in adopting Megan" she said "However" She emphasized "As she is under our guardianship, we can petition to adopt her, and we will have the priority over anyone else" Maura finished explaining the situation.
Sighing Jane sat down on the couch in Maura's office, "What do we do now, what paper do we have to send?" Jane eagerly asked.
Maura looked at her, moved by the excitement in her wife's voice. She walked to the coffee table in front of the couch, and sat in front of Jane, holding her hand "I think we first have to talk to her" Maura said, waiting for a few seconds, closely watching Jane "We need to tell her that there is another family, and she needs to make this decision" Maura expressed.
Jane remained speechless, she didn't know how to cope with the thought of their daughter leaving them "Maura, what if she decided to go with that other family?" Jane asked genuine concern in her voice.
The blonde looked to one side, not sure what to answer, she shrugged and took a few more seconds to come up with any words to say. She was met with the deep dark eyes of her wife "Then there is not much that we can do" she said, obviously not the answer Jane wanted "Not much more than support her and let her know we will always be there for her" Maura added.
"I feel like signing the papers and just taking the decision ourselves," Jane said, still holding Maura's hands "But I know we have to make her part of the decision," Jane said resigned. "So, when are we doing this? I assume we need to tell the kids and our families" Jane asked.
"Yes, and well, we have until Monday to send Trish the adoption petition, so we have to do it this weekend" Maura explained.
"I'm pretty sure no one will have any objections, though," Jane smirked, a spark of happiness coming back to her voice.
Maura smiled "Everyone will be really excited," She said. Jane smiled and deeply kissed the M.E. Lips. Their moment was interrupted by the ringing of Jane's phone. She took her phone from her pocket and laughed "Speak of the devil" She said, showing Maura Megan's number on the screen, making the blonde laugh as well.
"Hi, sweetheart" Jane responded on the phone. "Hello, my love" Maura then chimed in.
"What's up, kiddo?" Jane asked her.
"Hi, guys. Nothing really, I just forgot to tell you guys that I have rehearsals after classes for that Christmas play we have for next week" The sad, annoyance in her voice was evident.
"And why is that a bad thing?" Jane asked, knowing fully well that the teenager was reluctant to do things in public, let alone play the piano in front of the whole school.
"Really, we gonna do this again?" Megan said, Jane knew she was rolling her eyes at her comment.
Jane laughed "You'll do amazing, Megan" She joked "And no eye-rolling, young lady" She kept on pushing the teenager.
Megan chuckled "Yeah, well… I think we should be finishing at around 6-ish" she then said.
Jane looked at Maura "No problem, Sweetheart. We caught a complicated case, so my Ma will pick the kids up, and then just call her, I'll let her know you'll call her when you ready".
Maura looked at her puzzled; they haven't actually caught any case recently, and she was not sure where Jane was going with that. As Jane hung the phone up Maura asked her "We have no case right now, what are you planning, love?"
"Well, my really fast mind thought that if we tell Ma to pick them up we can have time after work to fill the paperwork and have it ready, tell the kids, my brothers, Ma, and call your parents. As well plan something up to tell her tomorrow," Jane says excitedly.
Maura walked closer to her and kissed her "Clever, my love" Maura said, stopping their kiss "Very clever" she said, and continued kissing her wife profusely.
"Mmm… ok, we need to stop, this is not the place" Jane joked. Maura laughed.
They separated and remained silent for a few minutes until Jane spoke "I can believe we going to adopt her" Jane said, hope and love sparkling in her eyes. "I mean, I know it won't change anything, but it just feels…" She could not come up with the right words to express the emotions that were flooding her.
The M.E. smiled "But it feels right… that makes it fully ours, no CPS reviews, no questioning… No fear of her being taken away from us ever again" Maura said, completing Jane's sentence.
"How do you do that," Jane asked.
Maura furrowed her brow, not understanding what Jane was meaning "How do I do what?" she asked.
"That" she pointed out as if it fully explained what she meant "knowing exactly what I mean and how I feel" Jane explained further.
The blonde laughed "Because I know you and right now, I feel exactly the same as you" She said, caressing her cheek, making the detective lean into her touch. "I think we should get back to work, we have an eventful day ahead" Maura rationalized.
"Yeah, I'll see you later, love. I will call my mom and her to pick the kids up" Jane said, kissing Maura one last time before exiting the office, and going toward the bullpen.
"Hey Ma!" Jane spoke on the phone.
"Hi, Janie?" her mother responded, "What can I do for you?" she then said.
"Ma, is there any chance that you can pick Lily and Lucas up from school this afternoon?" she asked her mother.
Angela took a few seconds to reply "Sure, no problem. Is everything ok at work?" she asked.
"Yeah," Jane rapidly replied, "We just have to figure some things out, I'll tell you at home, and we will meet you there".
"Ok," nonchalantly Angela said, knowing something was going on "What about Megan, should I pick her up too?" She then asked, realizing that her daughter mentioned only her two younger grandkids.
Jane rubbed her forehead before replying, leaning against the backrest of her desk chair "Yes, she will stay until later, she has rehearsal for the Christmas play next week. I asked her to give you a call when she's ready".
"Ok, that's fine, Janie. See you later, honey" Said the woman, hanging up the phone.
Jane was staring directly at the monitor of her computer in front of her. Her eyes were glued to the black screen, her head resting on her fingers, intertwined in her chin. But a goofy smile drew on her face at the thought of what was going to happen that weekend.
"Earth to Jane" Frost called her.
She was taken from her trance "Wh…what's up?" she managed to say, looking up at her partner.
"Where were you?" Korsak joked, laughing at the confusion on Jane's face.
Jane looked between both men, debating on what to say "We are adopting Megan" she just said looking at them and not saying anything else.
Both men looked at each other and then at the woman in front of them laughing softly "I was about time" Frost said making Korsak laugh as well. Jane quizzically looked between the men with a raised brow.
"Jane, the kid has been living with you since early May" Said Korsak.
"You've been calling her your kid since before the shooting and you speak as much of her as you do of Lily and Lucas" Added Frost.
"And not to mention, you have a picture of her next to your kids' and Maura's on your desk".
"Ok, ok. I get it" Jane wanted to say something else, but she did not know what. Her mind was running through all possible scenarios of what could happen when they ask Megan if she wanted to permanently live with them. She was aware that one thing was a temporary living arrangement, another very different one was a permanent arrangement, and that was what worried her the most, that the knowledge of being something permanent might scare her off. Jane was aware she was worrying about things she should not worry about, either with them or another family, adoption was permanent, but she could not help her mind to run in too many directions, planning for the worst-case scenario, it was her way to protect herself in case Megan decided to go with the other family.
"Why are you so worried, Jane" Korsak asked, looking at the lack of response from Jane.
Jane rested her elbows on her desk and intertwined her fingers "There is another family that petitioned for adoption" she said.
Frost and Korsak were perplexed, they didn't know what that fully meant. Frost moved to his chair and leaned on it from behind, resting his elbows at the top of the backrest. "And what does that mean?" He asked genuinely curious.
Jane sighed deeply "Well, we are going to ask her what she wants to do" Jane explained.
"Like, you going to ask her whether she prefers to stay with you or go to two complete strangers?" Frost questioned. "Not sure where the worry is coming from" He admitted.
"That doesn't worry me much in itself," she said. Jane looked around to see if there were more people around, she didn't want the whole office to know something so personal. "What worries me is that, even though Megan wants to stay with us, the other petition is also taken into account" she explained and stood up to pour some coffee into her mug.
Korsak then spoke "I don't think any judge will decide to send her to some stranger the kid doesn't know just because" He chimed in.
"Yeah, the problem is there is the incident with the shooting. Megan was here and CPS gave us hell because Megan was at the station when it happened. If the judge thinks that our jobs could possibly endanger her…" She trailed off, Jane didn't want to voice her worst fear. A judge sending her away because of their jobs.
"So, cops shouldn't have kids?" Frost said, "I don't think that's a valid reason to send her to someone else, to be honest, Jane". He tried to reason.
Jane left the cup on her desk "It becomes a valid reason when it comes to foster kids" She said, "With CPS is funny, there are abusive families with multiple foster children and good families are blacklisted because of accidents, is unbelievable how many cases there are" She explained annoyed "If the judge feels like we endanger her in any way, they could easily send her away. The other family is a couple, the husband is a geography professor at Boston University, and the wife, she is a piano teacher" Jane said, her voice defeated and genuinely sad.
"Yeah, it doesn't get more boring than that" Frost chuckled.
Korsak took his glasses off his face and left them on his desk, before standing up, and walking closer to Jane "I have no doubt what Megan's answer will be, but I do understand your concerns" He said "Independently of what anyone said, the shooting was not your fault and Megan being here was pure coincidence, any judge with two fingers of a forehead will see that" He consoled, trying to bring some of Jane's worry to peace.
"In fact, Maura asked her to come here so she could leave work and take her home, and not make her walk. I think that shows a lot of caring" Frost pointed out before sipping from his cup of coffee.
Jane looked at him grateful "Thank Vince, thanks Frost" She simply said. The older man left the room, leaving both younger detectives to finish their things.
Jane's POV
We arrived home after finishing the paperwork to file it as soon as we spoke with Megan. We knew her answer could come either way. If it was Megan's choice to leave, we will respect her decision and always support her. After all these months, it was going to be difficult to fully let her go and not have her in our lives, not only for us but for the kids and the rest of the family will prove to be difficult to get used to not having her around. Knowing the girl as I knew her, I was almost sure she would choose to stay with us, but deep down a little uncertainty was settling in my stomach, I assume it was my defense mechanism kicking in again.
I parked the car in front of the house, and we sat there in silence for a few seconds "My mom is home with the kids" I said in a hushed voice.
Maura nodded; I was sure she was having the same worries as I did. "So, we are telling them together or we are telling the kids and then your mother, or how…" She trailed off. "I'm not sure if to tell the kids just yet," she then said abruptly.
"Why?" I asked, fairly surprised by Maura's words.
"Well, I'm thinking we need to ask her what she wants to do, and it's going to be difficult for them to fully understand that maybe, Megan is not staying with us" Maura reasoned.
"Hell, I don't get it myself," I exclaimed, fully understanding where Maura's thoughts were coming from.
Maura took my hand and looked lovingly at me "Why don't we speak to your mother? I think she should know and perhaps she can pick the kids up in the morning, take them somewhere for a while and we can meet them anywhere in the afternoon after we have spoken with Megan… And if Megan says she is staying, maybe tell the rest of the family and we can go and celebrate somewhere?" Maura suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," I said. To be honest, asking her first was a good idea, explaining the whole story to everyone was going to be hard, there were too many edges, and the priority was to speak with the girls. I took Maura's hand and kissed the back of it "Shall we?" I said, inviting her to go inside the house.
We went in and were welcomed by a pair of daredevils running toward us. "Hi, my loves," Maura said, giving each kid a hug and a kiss atop their heads.
As Maura did, I gave each kid a kiss and a tight hug "How was school today?" I ask them.
"Oh! We had a fireman talking to us today" Lucas said excitedly "And Mr. Jones said we need to pick a book to write a report" he said, now with a little less excitement.
"Well, we have to pick a really cool book for your report," Maura said cheerfully. "What about you baby?" she asked Lily.
The little girls run to the coffee table in the living room and brought a picture she had made "We had art class today, and we had to paint our family" she proudly said, showing us the drawing. It consisted of 5 stick figurines, two tall ones, one blonde and a brunette, two small ones, a boy, and a girl, and a fifth figurine, not so tall and not so short, with brown hair. Maura and I looked at each other, with silly smiles plastered on our faces. There was not much reassurance needed that they would be thrilled to have Megan permanently at home. "It's Mama, Mommy, Luc, me, and Meggie," she said smiling proudly while she pointed at each of the stick figurines she had drawn.
"It's beautiful, baby girl," I said, ruffling her hair "Why don't we put it on the fridge?" I said smiling and went into the kitchen, hinging the drawing on the fridge.
"Hello, Angela" Maura said, rounding the kitchen island to greet my mom. "Hey Ma!" I said, giving her a hug. The kids went to the playroom, Lucas most likely to play videogames as it was Friday and it was the day he was allowed to play with them and Lily to paint or play with her dolls, leaving the three of us in the kitchen.
"So, what going on?" My mom asked casually while taking some water from the fridge.
We looked at each other "Today I received a call from Megan's social worker" Maura chimed in first, my mother left the glass of water she was holding on the kitchen counter and leaned against it, waiting for us to continue, "She called because there is a couple that has petitioned to adopt Megan" She explained.
"And what does that mean," My mom asked, raising her eyebrows, and crossing her arms in front of her chest, while she stood upright.
"It means we have to send the paperwork by Monday, so we can have priority over the other couple to adopt Megan… because we are adopting her," I said, not able to stop the smile forming on my face, I had yet to say it out loud and realize what was going to happen, we were finally adopting her, and it felt right to say it.
My mom when straight to Maura and hugged her, she then came and hugged me too. "That is wonderful news, darlings!" she said excitedly. "But you look worried" she then said realizing that our faces were also should restlessness.
"Well, we are going to ask Megan," I said, not able to explain much as my mother then chimed in "What do you mean?" she asked.
"When we met Megan, we gave her the choice to come or not with us, we feel is only fair for her to decide this time too" Maura explained.
"I don't think she will choose to go anywhere," Angela said, very sure of her words "But what if she chooses to go to that other family?" She then asked.
I shrugged "Support her and let her know we will be there every step of the way" I simply responded.
My mother nodded "And who are these other people?" She asked.
"We know what the social worker said, they are a couple with experience in fostering and have adopted another child about 10 years ago. He is a university professor and she is a piano teacher" Maura explained "I don't feel comfortable with the idea of Megan going anywhere but we have to let her choose" Maura then reasoned, not fully happy with the idea, but convinced it was the right thing to do.
"I wouldn't worry too much, Megan has taken you two dearly, and the kids too. I'm sure she will decide to Be part of this crazy bunch" My mom cheerfully said.
I walked towards her and hugged her "Thanks ma" I said, really grateful for her sweet words and happiness at the idea of adopting Megan.
"Have to tell the kids yet?" My mom asked.
"Not yet, we want to talk to her tomorrow, so we can have some peace to ask her and giver their time to process all the information, then when she has taken a decision, we will tell everyone" Maura explained.
"And for that, we need your help again," I said, "Can you pick the kids up tomorrow morning and take them to the park or a soft play park?" I asked her.
"Of course!" She quickly replied.
"We'll then call you and let you know what she said, and we thought that depending on what unfolds tomorrow, can go somewhere nice to have lunch" I added further.
"Yes, sounds good," She said. A few seconds later, her phone rang "Look who's calling" she said, showing us the screen of her phone. She spoke with Megan in the living room and came back to pick her car keys up "I'll pick up my granddaughter, see you in a bit" she nonchalantly said with a smile, walking out the door. It made us smile that she called Megan her Granddaughter, she had let it slip sometimes before, but this time it was a close possibility, and that made my heart jump a little. I am sure Maura was feeling the same, her smile showed it.
Maura came towards me and hugged me "I'm scared and so excited at the same time" She said. I rested my chin on her head "Me too, but I feel everything will be fine" I reassured, not sure if to reassure Maura or myself. She nodded and untangled herself from my arms, giving me a sweet kiss and walking towards our room to change for the night, I followed closely, anxious but happy and with a warm feeling inside about tomorrow.
