Maura looked down at the address that Jane had scrawled on a piece of paper and then up at the front door to ensure she had the right place. She ran a hand over her skirt nervously before she lifted her hand to knock. There was the sound of movement behind the door before a light flickered on and the door opened to reveal Jane stood there.

"Hey." The detective smiled. "Come in. Sorry about the mess. Working full time and having an eleven year old, it's hard to keep the house tidy all the time." She led Maura through the hallway and into the living room. "Can I get you a drink? Water? Coke? Juice?"

"Water, please." Maura accepted and let her eyes float around the room. Jane's house was the complete opposite to Maura's. Maura's house looked like a showroom. Everything had its place and was always meticulously tidy. Jane's however had stuff thrown everywhere, books piled on the coffee table, paper and an open pencil case on the dining table, framed photos on most surfaces along with hand drawn pictures. This house felt lived in, the complete opposite to her own.

"Here you go." Jane appeared at the blonde's side and handed her a glass of water. "I know, I need to clean up." An embarrassed blush crept up her cheeks as she watched Maura look around.

"Hey, Dr. Isles," Luna called cheerfully as she bounded into the living room and jumped onto the sofa, a book in her hand.

"Hello, Luna."

Jane gestured for her to sit down so she chose the chair that only had a jumper thrown over the back of it while Jane joined her daughter on the sofa. "I've ordered pizza, it should be here in the next half an hour. I should have asked you what you liked so I ordered a cheese pizza, meat feast and a vegetable pizza. I hope that's okay." Jane suddenly realised that Maura didn't come across as the type of person who ate pizza and had probably accepted the invite out of polietness.

"Of course." Maura lent forward and placed her glass down on the coffee table. "Have you lived here long?"

"This house or Boston?"

"Both."

"I've lived in Boston my whole life." Jane lifted her arm as Luna leaned into her side with her book in her hands. "We moved into this house about five years ago."

"It was the only house Nonna didn't hate," Luna commented without pulling her eyes from the pages.

"That's not the only reason we bought this house." Jane playfully poked her daughter in the side and earned herself a giggle. "I'm not big on decorating so most of this is things we've just picked up along the way or hand me downs. It's not much but it's ours." She gave a small shrug as another blush crept up her cheeks. She had worked hard to create the life they had. She knew it wasn't much but it was theirs.

"It's lovely. It gives off a very homey vibe." Maura smiled softly and watched as Jane tenderly ran her fingers through Luna's curls.

"It's also close to my mother which makes babysitting a lot easier," Jane explained.

"That is handy," Maura agreed.

"What about you? How long have you been in Boston?" Jane turned her attention back to the doctor.

"I moved back about four years ago. I grew up mainly in France. I came back for University and then left again."

"Can you speak French?" Luna had rolled onto her side to face the blonde at the mention of another language.

"I can, yes." Maura nodded.

"Can you teach me?" The girl asked hopefully. "Please?"

"Luna, she's already doing enough for us as it is by letting you stay in her office for the next two weeks. Don't push it," Jane warned her daughter who gave a small huff and turned back to her book. Jane gave an apologetic look to the doctor and took a sip of her glass of water. Maura wanted to offer to teach Luna French but she wasn't sure that the detective would allow it. Even though she had been invited into their home for dinner it still seemed like Jane was a little reserved and unwilling to let Maura fully in. The sound of the doorbell saved them from the awkward silence that had settled over them. Luna jumped up ready to set the table while Jane answered the door for the pizza.

"Which is your favourite?" Luna asked as she reached for a slice of the meat feast and placed it on her plate.

"The vegetable." Maura smiled and reached for a slice. She noticed how Jane and Luna had instantly gone for the other two pizzas first.

"Good, that's our least favourite but Ma says we need to have vegetables." Luna pulled a face before she took a big bite of pizza.

"She's right," Maura agreed.

"See, the doctor says so." Jane nudged her daughter before she bit into her own pizza.

"How's your nose feeling?" Maura asked after a few more slices of pizza.

"Fine." Luna gave a one shoulder shrug and pushed her plate away from her to indicate she had finished. "Why do you work with dead people?" she asked curiously. "Why not live people?"

"The dead don't judge." Maura gave a sad smile. The truth was it was much easier to have contact with the dead than it was with the living. The dead didn't judge her, they didn't mock her, they listened when she talked.

Luna scrunched up her nose in thought. "I want to be a doctor to the living."

"I'm sure you'll be a great doctor," Maura reassured her which earned her a grin in response.

"Okay future doctor, time to load the dishwasher." Jane stacked the three plates and placed them in front of Luna who carried them over to the kitchen. The detective stood and moved the left over pizza slices into one box to keep.

"Thank you for the pizza, it was lovely." Maura stood up to help clear up but Jane ushered her back to the chair, refusing to let her help. Mother and daughter made quick work of the clear up together before they returned back to the sofa.

"Are you sure you don't mind Luna sitting in your office this week?" Jane asked again. She was unsure if the offer was genuine or if the doctor had said out of politeness.

"Of course not. I'll be in either my office or the lab right next door so it's no trouble."

"Well, we really appreciate it. Thank you."

"Can I read some more of your books?" Luna asked hopefully.

"Once you have finished your school work." Jane turned to face her daughter who playfully rolled her eyes, a good imitation of her mother. "You need to get to bed though, kiddo. You might not have school tomorrow but you've got to be up to come to work with me."

"Fine." Luna sighed and leaned in to give her mother a hug and kiss on the cheek." Night Ma, Night Dr. Isles." She bounced off of the sofa and up the stairs to her room.

"She's going to be awake for the next two hours reading." Jane watched her daughter go with a tender look on her face. "She's always got her head in a book once she sits down."

"She seems like a smart kid."

"She's smart but she has a taste for trouble. She's got the Rizzoli blood in her, that's for sure. I just hope the smarts outweigh the trouble. I understand how my own mother feels now." Jane let out a laugh. "She had three of us driving her up the wall. Now she worries because two of her children are in the police force and her granddaughter is exactly like her mother."

"I imagine your parents are very proud of you all, though."

"Yeah." Jane glanced down at her lap with a mixture of emotions crossing her face. "My mother is anyway, even if it's not the lives she envisioned for us."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." Maura tried to backtrack. She always managed to say the wrong thing. That was why no one ever wanted to be around her for long.

"You're not prying." Jane looked over at the doctor, her head tilted slightly. "Prying would be asking what we all did wrong." Maura opened her mouth to say something but found she didn't know what to say so closed it again. "My family's messy," Jane admitted, "you don't want to hear about them."

"You said you had a brother or sister in the police force?" Maura wanted to change the subject but wasn't sure where else to take the conversation. Socials cues were never her forte.

"Yeah, Frankie. You've probably met him. He's still in uniform. My youngest brother Tommy kind of floats from job to job right now. He's doing okay for himself though. Do you have any siblings, Dr. Isles?" Jane leaned back into the cushions on her sofa and eyed the doctor. She'd heard all the rumours and names that the other detectives would call Maura behind her back. Jane had never understood where any of it had come from. They'd always seemed to get along while working a case together. Maura also couldn't be that bad if she was happy for Luna to hang out in her office.

"No." Maura shook her head sadly. She'd always dreamed of having a sibling, just so that she had someone else. She would probably be less lonely if she had a sibling.

"Do you wish you did?" Jane asked seriously.

"Sometimes," the blonde admitted. "It would have been nice to have had someone else while growing up. I didn't have many friends." She dropped her gaze from the intense look that Jane was giving her.

"I worry how Luna will feel if she stays an only child. The likely hood is she will be an only child." The detective let out a sigh and ran a hand through her curls.

"You don't want another child?" Maura asked before she could stop the words tumbling from her mouth. "Sorry." She blushed.

"I'd need a partner to have another child." Jane gave the blonde a lopsided smile. "And seeing as once I tell someone I have a daughter they suddenly lose interest I think I'm going to be single for a long time."

"Sorry, I just assumed you were with Luna's father." Maura glanced around again but nothing hinted at what Jane's relationship status was.

"I get why you assumed but he split as soon as I found out I was pregnant. We were young." She gave a small shrug. "He didn't want to be a dad so he left. Haven't heard from him since."

"I'm sorry," Maura whispered.

"If he wasn't capable of being the dad that Luna deserved then it was for the best. My brothers have doted on her since she was born. My mom too."

"But not your dad," Maura filled in the silence which caused Jane to study her quietly.

"I don't tend to talk about my private life with colleagues. It's hard enough being a woman in a male dominated field but once they know things about your private life they can use it against you. Knowing you're a mother they'll say you're not dedicated to the job, you're too soft."

Maura gave a small nod and ran her hands over her knees. "I know what it's like when people talk about you behind your back without even knowing you."

"I grew up Catholic. My father wasn't very happy when he found out I was pregnant young and out of wedlock. I was struggling to come to terms with the fact I was going to be a mother but his lack of support really hit me hard. He started to drink more and his words stung. After Luna was born I realised I didn't want her to be around that kind of attitude so I told my mother that I couldn't have a relationship with him anymore. I wasn't prepared to have Luna grow up hearing all of those things. I never asked her to pick between us but I think once she held Luna for the first time she realised she deserved more. She moved out a week later and I spent the next few years living with my mother and a baby."

"It's nice that you're so close with your mother." Maura felt a small pang of jealousy comparing her relationship with her mother to Jane and her mother's.

Jane gave a snort of amusement. "I owe her a lot but sometimes I wish she would back off a bit. She means well. Our relationship is certainly better when we don't live together. I shouldn't keep you long. You've already spent an afternoon with my daughter and have another two weeks to go. I can't take up all of your time." She realised she had told Maura a lot more than most of her collegues. Korsak and Frost were the only two who knew her so well. Maura didn't seem to be the type to gossip about others but Jane felt a small panic inside of her at how easily she had opened up to the doctor.

"Thank you for the pizza. It was nice." Maura gave a small smile as she stood to leave. "And I really don't mind having Luna in the office. It livens up the place."

Jane gave a chuckle as she followed Maura to the door. "That's one way to describe it. Goodnight, Maura."