Hello everyone and welcome back!

A/N: Hey guys, a little longer than what I expected but here we go. Nothing too important here just pure good ol' fluff... Maybe some angst, you'll be the judges. Hope you enjoy it! Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, reviews and suggestions are very welcome and appreciated.

Thank you for all the support you have been giving me. I wouldn't be able to do these without you guys!

B. M. Adams

Xoxo...

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from R&I, just this plot and OCs

General POV

04/09/2011

"Do I really have to go?" Megan whined, slumping on the chair. The girl was sitting in from the two older women. Both women in front of her knew this conversation was going to start all over again. This has been a staple of Saturday morning since Megan was instructed by her case worker and the judge taking her adoption case to attend to 10 anger management classes following the school incident.

"Megan, we've had this conversation many times already. Yes, you must go" Maura said firmly.

Megan kept on whining "But I don't want to" she pouted slouching further on the chair.

Jane chuckled "And that doesn't change the fact that you have to go" The brunette said, standing up to leave her mug in the sink.

"Can you just say I caught the bug Lily had or something?" She kept on trying her luck to get away with not going to the anger management class.

Maura put her mug down and looked straight at her "Megan, we are not going to lie" she firmly said "I know it feels unfair. I am not going to condone any type of violence, but I know why you did it" she explained.

Jane then chimed in "However, this is the requirement the judge set up for the adoption to go through, so if I have to carry you like a sack of potatoes. You bet I will, kid" She said lightening up the mood of the room "So, go get ready, I'll drop you over to the community centre before I go to work" Jane said. The girls grunted annoyed and stood up from the chair, directly going to her room to get ready.

"I know it is irritating for her that she has to spend half of her Saturday there, but the same conversation every weekend?" Jane questioned, getting tired of the constant whining the teenager did every weekend before the classes.

Maura shrugged and rested her hand on Jane's shoulder, That is a teenager's normal behaviour for you, my love" She smiled and kissed the brunette's cheeks.

Jane puffed "Moody and whinny?" She joked sipping from the coffee mug she had just prepared "I kinda miss the old '16 going 30' Megan" Jane chuckled.

Maura smiled and placed her mug on the kitchen counter "I am somewhat glad she's acting up" Maura said, looking lovingly at Jane.

Jane put her mug down and quizzically looked at Maura, raising an eyebrow, questioning her reasoning "Please, you need to explain why a moody teen is better than a very mature and well-behaved one" Jane asked as she leaned against the kitchen island.

"Well, by what Dr. Mathis said, Megan has been so well-behaved because she feels like if she is not that mature and calm teen, she would be too much for us and possibly we would send her away" Maura explained "The fact that she's acting out, very little for normal teenagers if I may add. Might mean that she feels comfortable and secure enough with us that she is allowing herself to not be perfect all the time" Maura further explained.

Jane stood silent for a few seconds "Why are you always so perfect…and always right" She said, placing a kiss on the blonde's lips. They continue to make up for a little longer. When they separated, Jane quickly finished her coffee and went upstairs to get her things for work and make sure Megan was getting ready. She took her gun and badge from the safe and dressed for the day, she then went into the teenager's room, and she found the girl sitting at the end of the bed.

"Hey, you ready?" The brunette said, sitting next to the girl on the bed, taking a loose strand of hair behind her ear "I know it's boring and annoying. It's just only for a little longer, 3 more Saturdays and it's over" She said giving her a little push with her elbow, trying to coax the girl and lift her mood a little.

The girl got up from the bed "Yeah" she said. The older woman stood up as well, and both walked down the stairs. The teenager was still not happy with going, though she knew Jane was right, it was only a little longer.

Downstairs they said their goodbyes to Maura and the kids, who were now downstairs having breakfast and went to the car. The drive was relatively short, but even on weekends, Boston's traffic was very heavy. "Megan" Jane called the silent girl who was looking mindlessly out the window.

The girl turned around to face the older woman and looked at her, expectant of what she would say. "Why do the classes bother you so much?" Jane curiously asked, actually curious about the girl's resistance to go to them.

Megan sighed deeply "I just don't see the point" She simply replied, turning her head back to the window.

"Come on, Megan. That's not it" Jane said "I know you Megan, you wouldn't simply act out just because" a now worried Jane asked wanting to understand the girl's attitude.

"And how do you know that how I really am?" The girl said defiantly.

"Hey, quit with the attitude, young lady" Jane said sternly, not liking the tone the girl was talking to her with "I know something else is bothering you. Is anyone picking on you at the community centre, is anything else happening? What's wrong? Me and Mom just want to understand so we can help you" She said.

Megan closed her eyes and exhaled deeply "Sorry" She firstly said "No, no one is picking on me and nothing is happening there. I just don't see the point…" She explained, but paused as she wasn't sure how to fully express her thoughts "…I just don't see the point of doing all this if even so, the judge could just rule against you guys and take me away" The girl explained to the best of her words.

Jane then somewhat understood the extent of the troubled teen's worries "Sweetheart, is that what is being bothering you? That the judge won't allow the adoption to go through?" Jane asked, even though she now expected the answer to come, she wanted to be sure.

"Well… yeah…kind of," The girl said, not knowing how to express how frustrated she felt with the situation. The detective remained silent, allowing the girl to expand on her thoughts "You heard him the first time. He had his reservations because of what happened at the station, and your jobs and now the incident at school" The girls rambled "And every time we see him, he's less convinced and…" She stopped, defeated and her eyes becoming glassy.

Jane sighed, both she and Maura had gone over the same, over the weeks, and yes, the Judge was always extremely overly reserved about their case. Since they petitioned it's been a hard case, with such unpredictable jobs, and the unfortunate events they have been involved in. The possibility of Megan being taken away was latent. Even with Maura's contacts and ability to pay for the best family lawyers, it's been proven difficult to keep their worries at bay.

They stopped at a red light and Jane took her chance to fully turn to the girl "I know the feeling" She stated, the girl looked quizzically at her "I can't simply tell you that everything will be just fine" She said.

"That doesn't really help, Jane," the girls said chuckling nervously, looking down and fidgeting with her hands.

"Let me finish" the older woman said, placing her hand over the girl's ones "Me and your mom are doing everything we can so we can be over this adoption crap" She exclaimed "And we won't stop until this is over and you are officially ours" Jane confidently said.

A little small draw in Megan's face. Jane lifted her face with her finger under her chin "Even if the judge rules against us adopting you, you are our daughter, Megan. No amount of bureaucracy and papers are going to stop us from calling you our daughter" She adamantly said "You're ours, adoption or not" she said heartfeltly.

"I appreciate it, Jane. But there is a real possibility that all the effort goes to waste… And that is something I need to keep in mind" the girls said, absentmindedly looking out the window.

The woman noted the traffic light changing and turned her attention back to the street "Yeah just like there is a chance of getting struck by lightning while at the beach on a sunny day and topless," Jane joked, trying to lighten the mood. The teenager couldn't help but laugh at the joke the older woman made.

"I mean it, Megan" she said, noting the girl still looking straight ahead without blinking, possibly trying to process what was just said by the woman "I don't need a piece of paper to call you mine, neither Mom" she continued, trying to get her point firmly across.

The rest of the drive elapsed in silence. When they arrived at the community centre where the classes took place before the teenager got out of the car she kissed the brunette's cheek "I love you, Jane" she whispered and immediately jumped down the car.

"Be save… I love you, too, sweetheart" Jane managed to say just before the girl closed the door and walked towards the building. Jane continued to drive towards BPD, but contrary to the first half of the drive, this time she had a smile plastered on her face.

Maura's POV

"Ok, I understand, love. We will sort it…I love you" I reassured Jane. She has just called me to let me know what happened during the drive to the community centre. Dr. Mathis gave us the heads-up about this. And It was only normal. She had gotten used to us, the family's dynamics and the life we have built together. And even though it was simply cruel, there was a chance that she could not be adopted and would be removed from our care. It was daunting to think about and unfortunately, there was not much we could do.

I leaned against the kitchen counter, placing my phone on top of the granite, and rubbed my forehead, concerned about the situation. A pair of stopping little feet pulled me out of my trance. "Mom…Mom!" a screaming voice called.

"Lucas, what have we talked about screaming like a rowdy baboon" I laughed "You could simply reach the kitchen and talk normally" I reprimanded the boy.

"Sorry mom…I just finished my English homework, could you check it?" Lucas said, approaching towards me with his book.

I smiled and picked up the book from his hands, guiding him to the kitchen table "Let's see" I said, browsing through the pages. "Ok, everything is good, just be careful with your punctuation and grammar," I said, pointing out the mistakes, and making sure he understood. He started to correct the mistakes while I went to check on Lily, she was peacefully building with Lego blocks.

"Hey, Baby. What are you building?" I asked, kneeling down.

The girl shrugged "A tower" she said, keeping her concentration while she kept on stacking blocks over blocks.

"Oh, is that so" I said "And who is this tower for, if I may ask" I curiously asked the little girl.

"Rapunzel," Lily said matter-of-factly.

I softly laughed at her answer to the apparent obvious question I just asked "Of course it is Rapunzel's tower" I said. We stayed there for a little while stacking Lego blocks. "Sweetie, what do you say if we all get dressed and go to the mall, we can meet Mama and Meggie there" I coaxed the girl, trying to find something we could do as a family to cheer Megan up and spend some quality time together as it has been some time since we had the chance to be the five of us together doing something as a family.

"Can we go to the toy store?" The girl pleaded with shimmery eyes, making a pouty face.

I could only laugh at her enthusiasm "Did you finish your homework?" I asked.

"Yes!" she said standing up and hopping to the desk "Here it is" she said excitedly, showing a proud smile. It was a typical year 1 student homework. Some basic math and some written exercises. I checked on it, making sure she understood the part where she had some mistakes. The math exercises were mostly well resolved, though some little mistakes that we together corrected, and the writing exercises were all fine. "So, it looks we can give a quick look to the toy store," I said, booping her nose and kissing her cheek "Go get dressed," said to the girl, who quickly went up to her room to put some clothes on and I went to the kitchen to let Lucas know the plans.

In a little over 30 minutes, we were ready and on our way to the shopping mall. I let Jane know the plan and she was just as excited as the kids, on some occasions, I felt like having four children.

Both kids and I got in the car and drove to the shopping mall, the kids were happily singing in the back seat, I could only watch them once in a while, smiling through the rearview mirror. We arrived at the shopping and the kids were excited to go to the park, so we went there first, while we were there I sat on the bench in front of the park and called Jane to let her know we had arrived.

"Hey, love. You guys are at the mall already?" Jane asked surprised as they got there so quickly.

I chuckled "Yes, the kids were oddly well-behaved today" I said.

Jane laughed "Well, it's been a morning of surprises" she said.

"Indeed" I replied, "How is work?" I asked her.

Jane scoffed "Well, I have been stuck for 3 hours doing paperwork… It's been impossibly boring" She said in an annoyed tone "But on the bright side, I'm about to finish" She continued.

I laughed "Is your handwriting legible? Or have you gone, as Vince would call it, the 'scribble-scrabble' way?" I teased her.

"Ha-Ha. Very funny love" she replied, "I should be getting out of here in 20 minutes, I'll pick Megan up and meet you three there…Because I am starving".

"That sounds perfect, see you soon love" I replied. Jane did the same, blew me a kiss through the phone and hung up. I remained seated there, watching the kids and occasionally browsing through online journal portals.

A little less than half an hour later, the kids and I went to one of the restaurants and waited for Jane and Megan to arrive. They didn't make us wait long, as they approached the table Lily ran to hug her mama.

"How's my baby girl?" Jane asked her, pulling her up in her arms and kissing her cheek.

"I'm great!" the girl happily squealed "Mommy said we could go the toy store after lunch" She exclaimed excitedly.

Jane's eyebrows raised "Oh! Did her now?" She said, pretending to be surprised "Well, looks like we are going to the toy store" Jane said as the girl squirmed out of her embrace, jumping now to the teen.

"How's the little monkey" Megan said when Lily jumped onto her.

"Good!" Lily exclaimed "Look, I have tokens" She then said happily showing her the coins "Let's go and play! I want that fluffy teddy bear" she said squirming down Megan's arms and grabbing her hand, pulling her to the arcade games. She turned her head towards me and smiled, waving.

Lucas then left the booth and quickly greeted Jane, running towards the two girls in the play area "Wait for me!" He yelled.

Jane laughed and kept on walking to the table "How are you, beautiful" she said, pecking my lips.

"Now that you are here, I'm even better," I said, returning the kiss.

"So, how did they convince you to go even near Chuck-E-Cheese?" Jane asked laughing sweetly, stealing a sip from the sippy cup with juice next to her.

I laughed "They can get pretty convincing". I explained "And would you stop drinking Lucas's juice" I said, shaking my head and calling the waitress to order something to drink while the kids indulged in the arcade area.

"What, I'm thirsty" she excused herself smirking and winking. We ordered a couple of beers and watched the kids play air jockey, Lucas and Megan always competing and Lily attached to Megan's hip. In fact, she was piggybacked on her while they duelled on the table. Jane had the same silly smile I must have had. But that smile of happiness started to fade on Jane's face it was inevitable to think about the possibility of this being ephemeral. The reality of things was that it could all be temporary I was unsure we could go back and live before she came.

I knew Jane was thinking the same as I "I will call Matilda on Monday first thing" I told her. Jane was quizzically looking at me waiting for me to continue "I'll ask her to follow up with the process, we are doing everything the board has said we had to do for us to adopt Megan" I said.

"Great," she said. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed "I'm just tired of all this…. edginess" she explained "I just can't think f the judge ruling against us, but is…" She trailed off.

"But it's inevitable" I completed her sentence.

she exhaled loudly "Yes… Inevitable," she said, turning her head again towards where the kids were.

"It a possibility, we might not be able to adopt her. We must be aware… and prepared" I said resigned to the possibility of the worst-case scenario happening.

She nodded "I know, but it's just like resigning ourselves to lose a child" She exclaimed "How does a parent prepare to lose a child?" she asked defeated.

"It doesn't happen" I surely said "I don't think a parent will ever be prepared for that," I said pursing my lips.

"I have been going over several scenarios" Jane said, keeping an intent look on me, expectant of her discourse "The worst-case scenario is that we can't adopt her" she said. I only nodded "Megan is 16, 17 in not too long. If and only if we can't adopt her and she has to go somewhere else, she would age out of the system and as soon as he does, she can come and live with us again" She said. I compassionately looked at her, understanding where she was coming from.

"It's a shitty scenario, but I can't think of life ahead without any of them," she said, pointing at the three kids.

"Me neither" I whispered, rubbing the back of her hand in a circular motion, trying to comfort her.

"Then I think what if she finds that she prefers to live on her own or if she is placed in someone else's home and she prefers living with them than us… Those scenarios are all crap" she said sighing and placing her other hand on top of mine.

"Love, those are all possibilities" I truthfully said "But they haven't happened and even though I have been trying to wrap my head around every possibility there is for the adoption situation, it is hard" I exclaimed "But in the end, we have to be as ready as we can to affront any of them" I rationalized "for them" I finished looking at our children.

"You know. Know that if we can't adopt her it's gonna be incredibly painful. But it worries me how are we gonna explain it to Lily and Lucas" Jane said, genuine concern showing on her furrowed brow. That was something I had overlooked while trying to figure everything out.

"It is difficult to understand for us, imagine for them" I said not really sure how to process that information.

"We kinda have to have a plan for it" She said. I nodded, knowing she was right. We noticed the kids coming towards the table "Hey! You had fun?" Jane asked.

"Yes! We're hungry now" Lucas said getting in the booth next to Jane, with Lily following him nodding.

Megan sat next to me but remained silent "How was today's class" I said, trying to get the girl to talk.

She looked at me "Boring… as always really" she said, "But nothing like a Chuck-E-Cheese to cheer you up" She smirked stealing a sip from Lucas's juice, just like Jane.

"Hey, that's mine" He whined.

The girl laughed "Tough luck, Luc" she said, giving the juice another sip and returning the cup.

She then took Lily's cup and sipped from it "Hey! Mine!" Lily whined as well.

"That's called karma, you should not laugh at someone else's misery," she said laughing and returning the cup to the smaller girl.

Jane laughed and I just shook my head "I'll call the waitress before this ends up in disaster" I said smiling brightly.

The afternoon went by between laughter and giggles and the doom and gloom brought by the thoughts of a failed adoption disappeared. We knew that was a possibility but, at the same time, it was also a possibility for her to stay and be a family permanently. We were already a family, though we just needed that paper signed, and it would all be perfect.

I decided to go downstairs for a cup of tea before going to bed, while I was going back to bed, I went through the kids' rooms, and both Lily and Lucas were fast asleep. I went to Megan's room and as I expected found her awake, going through her phone.

"Hi," I said, after knocking on her door.

"Hey," she said, lifting her gaze from the phone's screen.

"Just came to say good night," I said, getting close to the bed and sitting on the edge of it.

She smiled and put the phone on the nightstand next to the bed "And to ask me how I'm doing" she said, knowing part of the purpose of my visit.

"I was not going to ask, but now that you insist," I said, pretending to hide my intentions. I did go to say good night and try to have a conversation with her.

She chuckled "I'm ok" she simply said, but she knew I would need more words "It is what it is Maura" she said, now puzzling me.

"The whole adoption thing. I know Jane filled you in" she said matter-of-factly "I just want to be prepared" she rationalised.

I breathed deeply and moved close took her, taking her hand "I understand sweety, it's hard living with the uncertainty of what is going to happen" I explained "And we can't cover the sun with one finger. There is a chance that the adoption doesn't go through" I said "But, that is not going to stop us from doing everything we can to make it happen" I firmly said, "Simply because you are so much worth it" I said, "Because this family is so much worth it, and it's a fight me and your Mama are glad to fight until its last instances" I finished, caressing her cheek with my thumb. The girl was smiling a small smile.

"Now, that is something we can worry about later. Go to sleep, sweetheart. Angela and everyone else will be here early for a much-needed Rizzoli Sunday" I smiled, winking and kissed her forehead "Good night, sweety".

Megan then sat up from the bed and hugged me, surprising me "Good night, Maura" she whispered squishing me a little bit harder. I kissed the top of her head, and I went on my way to my room, feeling blissfully but strangely certain that we would sort any vicissitude of destiny.

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, reviews and suggestions are very welcome and appreciated... And excuse any grammar mistakes.

Thank you for all the support you have been giving me.

Xoxo...