A/N I do not own Rizzoli and Isles (even though I absolutely wish that I did)
Jane leaned heavily against the counter and sipped her coffee. She had been up most of the night helping take care of the baby. She sighed into her mug as she thought about last night and dreamed about what it would be like to do this with her kid.
Maura walked around the corner and into the kitchen – looking stunning even in her pajamas. Jane glanced at her as she entered and her heart skipped a beat. She pushed a hot mug of coffee in Maura's direction.
"Drink," Jane instructed.
"Thank you," Maura said gratefully. She took a sip and immediately spit it back into the mug. " Instant? You served me instant?"
"I'm so tired, you're lucky I didn't serve you drano," Jane snarked. "Besides, you're gonna have to get used to instant. When we have a kid you're gonna be too tired to make your fancy coffee."
"Well, I won't even be able to have coffee when I'm breast feeding, so I will have to learn to get by without coffee."
"Oh great, I'll take this back then." Jane grabbed the mug and pulled it closer to her. Now she had two coffees.
Maura slid over to stand beside Jane. She put one hand on Jane's back. "This is good practice, right? For when we have a baby?"
Jane stood up straight and grabbed Maura's waist to pull her closer. "Absolutely." Jane leaned in and kissed Maura lightly on the lips. She rested her forehead against Maura's and whispered, "I can't wait."
The back door opened and Tommy walked in, carrying a car seat. "Why would people have more than one of these?"
Jane moved away from Maura and towards the baby. Tommy had set him down on the counter. "How'd you get him to stop crying?"
"I did this-" Tommy made a swinging motion with his arms "-for two hours. My arms are wrecked."
"He'd be better if he was breast-fed," Maura commented.
"Don't look at me." Tommy replied.
"Newborns need a lot of human contact to properly attach," Maura stated. "Take him out of the car seat."
Tommy protested, "No, he was almost falling asleep." Jane reached into the car seat and picked up the baby. "His name's Mario."
"No, you can't name him Mario!" Jane objected.
"Why not? It's Latin. It means 'manly.'" Maura informed.
Tommy turned to Maura and asked "Hey, Maura, you ready to swab me?"
Jane was taken aback. "What?"
Tommy explained, "I'm gonna find out if he's my kid today. Let's do this." He watched Maura get what she needed. "Wait ... is this gonna hurt?"
"Oh, my god. Tommy, it's a giant cotton swab." Jane said.
Maura held the cotton swab in front of Tommy's mouth and instructed him to open. She swabbed the inside of his cheek then grabbed a new swab and repeated the procedure on the baby.
Jane continued to hold the baby. She was a natural. "He looks just like you, Tommy. We should name him TJ, for 'Tommy Jr.'"
Tommy whispered to Maura, "It's weird that she's so good with babies."
"Mmm I'm not surprised at all." Maura smiled. She was busy picturing Jane with their baby. "You know, baby elephants are raised by the female relatives in the herd - the aunts, the sisters, grandmothers."
"I wish we were elephants so we could keep him," Jane said.
"Maybe me and Lydia could share him," Tommy suggested.
Jane clutched the baby a little tighter. "No, Lydia abandoned him."
"Well, technically, she didn't abandon him. She left him with family," Maura said.
"Which is why I can't arrest her," Jane grumbled.
"Maybe she was just scared," Tommy offered. Jane's cell phone chimed and she reached it. Tommy was very impressed by the way Jane could hold the baby in one hand and check her phone in the other. "Wow! One hand! Can I try?"
"No!" Jane snapped. She knew Tommy was not ready for that. "That doesn't make any sense. 'Suspicious death at the Division One café'? I hope Ma's all right." Jane called her mother's phone. "It's going straight to voicemail. Maura, come on. We've got to go."
"But I'm in my robe, and you're in your pajamas," Maura remarked.
"You're right. Quick change now. Let's go," Jane handed the baby to Tommy.
"Wait ... w-what do I do with him?" Tommy stuttered.
"Use two hands," Jane answered.
"W... I ... alone? Jane?"
...
"Maura, I want one," Jane stated as they walked into their closet.
Maura chuckled. "I never would have guessed you'd be one to get baby fever."
"He's just so cute." Jane stepped closer to Maura and put her hand on Maura's waist. "And, I don't know, watching you with him, just made me excited to watch you with our kid."
"I feel the same way. You are going to be an amazing mother, Jane." Maura cupped Jane's face in her hands and kissed her.
They were both so excited for this journey that they were on.
...
Jane, Maura, and Frankie were down in Maura's office. Frankie relayed to them that when he stopped by the house earlier at Tommy's request, Lydia had shown up with her mother to retrieve the baby. Now Jane was on the phone seeking legal advice.
"No, I understand. Thanks for your help, Dan." Jane hung up her call and addressed Maura and Frankie. "Okay. That was the A.D.A. It's what I thought. As his mother, Lydia has a legal claim. She holds all the cards."
"What about Tommy," Frankie asked.
"We didn't get the paternity test back yet," Maura said.
"A relative can file a motion for temporary guardianship," Jane added. "But it's a three-month wait for a hearing."
"Which means T.J. goes into foster care," Maura stated.
"We can't do that to him," Frankie said.
"Lydia does seem a bit hapless, but she doesn't seem evil," Maura remarked.
"I mean, I don't like her, but T.J.'s definitely better off with her than being bounced around in the system." Jane sighed. "Frankie, you don't think she'd hurt him, do you?"
"No way. I wouldn't have let her take him if I thought something was gonna happen to him."
"Well, what about Lydia's mother? Lydia said that she doesn't like babies," Maura said.
"Maybe we should try to get him," Jane said.
Maura's eyes widened as she looked at her fiancé. "What? You would like to raise T.J."
"Sort of, yeah. I mean, not full time. Just... some of the time. I don't know!" Jane looked between Maura and Frankie. "We should tell Ma."
"Well, Tommy wants to tell her once he gets the paternity-test results," Frankie said.
Susie interrupted with important case information for Maura. "Stomach-contents results came back positive for high levels of warfarin." She handed Maura a file.
"Which means that the portal of entry is the food that he ate," Maura stated.
"Okay, so we need to get that food," Jane said. "Frankie, will you get the CSRU techs, go through the garbage? Ma said the victim had a breakfast special."
"You want me to look for his scrambled eggs and half-eaten pancakes? Are you kidding me?"
"It doesn't look like she is," Maura said, matter-of-factly.
"Please?!" Jane begged.
"The culprit could also be the coffee, although the café doesn't serve chocolate-mint coffee," Maura mused.
Jane instructed, "Okay, so put a disposable coffee cup on your treasure-hunt list. Thank you!"
Frankie rolled his eyes at his sister and left to complete the task she assigned him. Maura put the file Susie handed her on her desk, then leaned back against it.
"You want to raise TJ?" Maura asked Jane.
Jane stammered, "I-I don't know. I want Tommy to raise him, you know, if he's his. I don't think Lydia is what's best for him. I just want him to have a good life."
"I know. But if you feel like you want to take in a child, you need to talk to me. We're in this together, Jane."
Jane moved from her spot by the couch over to Maura. "I think having TJ around, it makes me want to start a family with you like 1,000 times more than I already did."
"We can't raise TJ, though." Maura reached for Jane and Jane came to her. Jane's hands found their natural resting place on Maura's hips and Maura's hands gripped Jane's arms.
"I know. We aren't elephants. We have to give him back to his parents."
"We will have one of our own soon. And it will be so much better and so much less complicated."
Jane smiled and Maura smiled back. They leaned in and kissed.
"Maura, is that why you moved the bookshelf?" Jane gestured to the window looking into the morgue. "So you could see all the dead bodies come in?"
"Yes. Isn't it convenient?" Maura watched as a fresh corpse was rolled in.
"Oh, yes. I'm forgetting all my troubles," Jane snarked as they headed out of Maura's office and into the morgue to check out the body.
...
Maura and Jane headed over to the morgue tech that was standing by the newly arrived body. "I'm sorry. I don't recall your name," Maura said.
"Alex. Alex Simmons. I haven't been doing many shifts lately ... not since I started medical school."
"Wonderful. Congratulations." Maura congratulated.
"Thank you. It's a lot of work, but it's what I always wanted to do." Alex paused, then said, "Dr. Isles, is that a Casandra Strickenberg?" He gestured to Maura's skirt.
"Uh, why, yes, it is." Maura stifled a chuckle.
Jane rolled her eyes. "So, Alex, why don't you tell us about the victim?"
"Lucy Cox, 32. Found dead in her apartment in Dorchester. No signs of visible trauma."
Maura began her examination of the body. "Bloody mucus. I'll have to do a gram stain for the sputum." She looked at Alex and asked, "The paramedics note how long she was ill?"
"A week?" He answered. "Neighbor said she was at home from work with a bad cough."
"Significant pleural effusion. Splinter hemorrhages." Maura's brain was in over time considering what this means. "Oh, no. I'm gonna tell you both something very frightening, but I don't want either of you to panic, all right?"
"Maura, what is it?" Jane tried to remain calm, but she knew that if Maura was telling her not to panic, something was very wrong.
"Hold your breath and move as fast as you can to the crime lab," Maura directed. She walked over to a huge red button on the wall and pressed it. "We have a code red. Go now!"
Jane and Alex moved quickly out of the morgue and into the crime lab with Maura close behind.
...
Jane was panicking. "Come on. I'm asking you to list the possibilities. All right? That's not guessing."
"Jane, try to stay calm," Maura said.
"I am calm. It's my imagination that's hysterical. Is it Ebola or Leprosy or die-before-lunch syndrome?"
"Ebola is a possibility. So is SARS, Anthrax, Dengue fever, west Nile virus, drug-resistant tuberculosis..."
"Ugh! I was really looking forward to marrying you."
"We're going to be fine. Even if we are infected, we can be treated. Our wedding will happen."
A man approached the doors of the crime lab in a full hazmat suit. He stood outside the doors and introduced himself. "I'm Captain Green, incident commander. I need to know your level of exposure."
"Limited physical contact, possible aspiration," Maura supplied.
"Remove your clothing. Place it in these bags. Shower with the decontamination soap. Change into the Tyvek suit," Captain Green instructed.
Maura walked over to a corner in the crime lab. She pulled down a shower head from its place in the ceiling. There was no door, no curtain. "You need to take a decontamination shower."
Jane stammered, "Wh... Where's the stall?"
"Well, now is no time to be modest, Jane. The longer you delay, the more chance you have of becoming infected."
Jane had no problem undressing and showering in front of Maura. She did that frequently. She did have an issue undressing and showering in front of Alex the morgue tech and the hordes of people in Tyvek suits loitering the hall. "Well, this is awkward." Jane and
Maura and Jane both started disrobing behind Maura's desk.
...
Jane pulled the handle to turn the water from the decontamination shower off. She grabbed a washcloth she had laid nearby and started to dry off. Maura came over with Jane's Tyvek suit and handed it to her. "Here, Jane."
"Thanks." Jane took the suit. She looked across the room at Alex, who was yawning. She grabbed Maura and positioned her in front of her so no one would see. "Can you, just stand right there?" Maura glady obliged until she heard her computer beep and she made a move to go check it. Jane yelped, "Hey! You're my cover." She moved Maura back in front of her as she put on her suit.
Maua looked behind her at Alex. "Jane, he hasn't attempted to look at either one of us."
"I don't know if I should be relieved or offended."
"I go for relieved. I have no desire for my morgue tech to see my fiancé naked."
Jane zipped up the suit. "Yeah, but you'd think he'd at least try. I mean we are both very hot."
Maura shrugged. "Maybe he's not into women."
"That'd explain the yawning."
"I can check my computer now?" Maura asked. Jane was properly covered, so she figured it was safe to move.
"Yes, thank you."
Maura headed over to her desk to check her messages. "Hm. This is interesting."
"What?" Jane moved to stand next to Maura's desk.
"I'm talking to an official from the CDC. No reports of any hemorrhagic viruses anywhere in Massachusetts."
"That's great news."
"But there's an outbreak of bacterial meningitis in Boston."
"Is that treatable?"
"Yes. There's a gram stain test coming back soon."
Frost and Frankie approached the door to the crime lab. "You guys okay?" Frost asked through the door.
Maura responded, "We're fine. Thank you."
"Yes, we're fine. Just peachy. I love being Jane the bubble girl," Jane snarked. "Frankie, you didn't tell Ma about me or the baby, right?"
"You kidding me?"
"Did you find the food?"
"No. I'm sorry."
Jane sighed. "Bring me up to speed on the case."
Frost replied, "Jane, it can wait."
Susie came around the corner with a folder. "Susie, is that the gram stain test?" Maura eagerly asked.
"It's bacterial meningitis, Dr. Isles," Susie replied.
Maura breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, that's wonderful."
"Yay?" Jane questioned.
"You are free to go," Captain Green said as he entered the crime lab without his hazmat helmet on.
"Yes! Whoo! Thank you," Jane cheered as Maura smiled.
...
"Ma, I'm so sorry," Jane said. They – Jane, Maura, Frankie, and Tommy - had just finished telling Angela about Lydia and the baby.
"I just don't understand. We just can't walk away from that baby," Angela replied.
"I talked to Lydia," Tommy said.
"Is she gonna share custody?" Jane asked.
"No, she says she can't forgive herself for abandoning Mario.
"'Mario'?" Angela was bewildered. "You named him Mario?"
"Lydia named him Thomas Sparks Jr." Tommy said.
Jane smiled. "'TJ'"
"I have the results of the paternity test." Maura held up her phone. Susie had just emailed her the lab report.
"And?" Jane prompted.
"TJ is Tommy's."
"Tommy's a baby daddy," Frankie rejoiced.
"I-I told you what I did," Tommy stuttered. "I mean, I can't be a father to him. He almost got killed."
"Oh, Tommy. He rolled off your chest. I dropped you once," Angela recalled.
"Oh, my god!" Jane exclaimed.
"Is that what happened to him?" Frankie joked.
Maura tried to laugh at Jane's and Frankie's reactions.
"I was rocking him, and I fell asleep. You were fine. You, uh... bumped your lip. I cried. You cried. And look ... it's all okay," Angela explained.
"Tommy, it's all right, okay?" Jane consoled.
"We'll all help you." Maura added.
"Yeah. Come on, Tommy. Man up. Lydia's mom says they're coming after you for child support, anyway." Frankie said.
"Well, I'm gonna pay child support. I'm no dead beat Dad.," Tommy said. "But I don't have a steady job, and Lydia and I aren't a couple."
"Tommy, we want TJ in our lives," Angela insisted.
"So do I," Tommy replied.
"All right. So you fight for joint custody." Jane said.
"Tommy... there's another way to do this," Angela said.
...
A couple nights later the Rizzolis were all gathered at Jane and Maura's. It was time to make peace. The doorbell rang and Angela took a deep breath before answering. "Nice to finally meet you in person," she greeted Lydia, baby TJ, and Lydia's mother Rene.
I don't know how to apologize enough for all that I've put you through," Lydia started. She had TJ in her arms, bundled in a baby blanket.
"It's okay. Let's start fresh." Angela ushered them further into the house.
"We are so glad that you could join us for dinner," Maura said from the kitchen.
"Can we get you something to drink?" Jane asked.
"Water for me," Rene replied. Then she looked between Jane and Maura and asked, "Which one of you is the doctor?"
Maura raised her hand. "I am."
"I need that stuff ... uh, makes you sick if you drink."
"Antabuse. I can write you a prescription."
"Can you believe it? All because of this little guy," Lydia said.
Jane walked over to Lydia. "If you get tired or you need to go to the bathroom or anything, I'd be happy to hold Tommy Jr."
"Oh ... 'TJ'. Here." Lydia placed TJ in Jane's arms. "He likes it when you mush him against your breasts."
"I bet he does. I still like that," Tommy said as he watched TJ.
"Tommy," Frankie scolded.
Tommy responded, "What?"
"Shall we sit down and eat?" Maura asked.
"I never turn down a free meal," Rene said.
Jane handed TJ off to Angela and headed back to the kitchen to help Maura place the food on the table. "Think how much fun we're gonna have at Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's."
"Mm," Maura hummed. "I can't wait for TJ to have cousins to run around with."
"Cousins? As in more than one?"
"Maybe."
"Okay, let's start with one and then go from there."
"Okay.' Maura smiled and placed a chaste kiss on Jane's lips.
"Who's hungry?" Jane asked as she grabbed a dish and headed towards her family.
A/N: I need you, loyal readers, to help me out. I am planning Jane and Maura's wedding and I have pretty much every detail but one. The wedding party. So I want to know, who do you think would be Jane's and Maura's wedding parties? I was thinking Frankie and/or Korsak would be Jane's best man or bridesmen, but I have no idea who would stand up with Maura. Any ideas?
