"Where's Mommy?"

Angela skillfully avoided the question by moving around behind Addie and straightening her crooked bow. Not that it was her place to answer, exactly, but Jane had kind of hoped she might be able to dodge a bullet. Of course when her own mother decided to be quiet for once it happened to be during a crisis like this.

Jane crouched to her daughter's level, pressing her lips together briefly before she attempted to answer. Maura had wanted to be there, after all- more than anything. Probably a hell of a lot more than Jane wanted to be there. It had been a long, terrible week and Jane's headache had lasted for half of it. What she really wanted to be doing right now was sleeping. But Addie needed her to be there. And she wasn't going to ever be the kind of parent to let down her own child like that, so she had popped some Advils and decided to grin and bear it.

Of course, then Maura called, with an urgent conference call with Quantico suddenly scheduled, and Jane's last resort was to pick up Angela and hope to God that question wouldn't come up, even though she knew it would.

"Uh." She cleared her throat and glanced up to see Angela raise an eyebrow, still messing with the stupid bow, offering no help whatsoever. Of course. "Mommy had to stay at work for a while." Addie's eyebrows drew together in an almost comically reminiscent way of the hundreds of times Maura had made that exact face at something Jane had said. "She's not gonna be here?"

Angela finally jumped in, pressing a reverent kiss to the top of the little girl's head. "Don't worry, angel, I'll videotape it so she gets to see the whole thing." In the background the girls started to gather as the teachers rounded them up to head backstage. "Hey," Jane finally managed to get her mouth moving again just as Addie started to go, "it's gonna be okay, alright? You'll be great."

She stood up and gave Angela a significant look. "Shut up," she said under her breath, "Maura's the one that's good at this stuff, not me."

.,.

Twenty minutes passed. Jane checked her phone so many times that even she realized she looked stupid, but she couldn't stop. If there was even a tiny chance that Maura could get there in time to see Adeline dance, disaster could be averted. If not…she had no idea. Maura was Mommy. She was Mom. She was the cool one, the one Addie went to when she wanted to go swimming or sledding or out for ice cream. She wasn't the comforting one, she was the fun parent.

Who knew having a five-year-old was so goddamn complicated?

She was jolted out of her thoughts when a thin blonde crouched next to her seat and touched her arm. "I'm Addie's teacher," she offered by way of explanation. "We have a problem." Angela, of course, immediately leaned forward, eyes alight with the possibility of a disaster she might be able to make even worse by trying to fix.

"A problem?"
"I'm afraid Addie doesn't want to dance."

That's it? "Oh, okay. Uh…I'll just go get her, then." But before she could get up, the other woman had stopped her with a firm shake of her head. "It's vitally important to Addie's self-esteem that she perform tonight, Mrs. Rizzoli."

"Detective," Jane muttered, completely out of instinct. "I'll go talk to her. Do I have time to talk to her?" Maura would know what to do.

.,.

"Addie?"

Her daughter turned to look at her but didn't leave the little makeup table. There was something a little grotesque about the child-sized sink and makeup, and definitely something awkward about sitting on a stool that was so small, but she managed. "Hi, sweetheart. Your teacher tells me you don't want to dance."

Addie shook her head, her little brown ringlets bouncing every which way.

"But you practiced so hard!"

Addie shook her head again, adamant. A thought occurred to Jane, far too slowly and far too late. "Are you upset because Mommy's not here?"

There was a pause, and then, slowly, Addie nodded. Jane tipped Addie's chin up with her index finger and did her best to do Maura's job- fix it. "She's so proud of you, sweetheart. I promise she is, even if she's not here."

"I'm not dancing," Addie said in reply, though her resolve seemed to soften. Jane sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Okay, okay, fine. Tell me what I have to do. Candy? A puppy? What?"

Addie leaned forward and Jane obediently did the same so her daughter could whisper in her ear. "Can you dance with me?" Jane immediately jerked back with a nervous laugh, shaking her head. "Oh, no. No, no, believe me, that's a bad idea. No way, I…"

It was like Maura's stupid puppy-dog eyes were peering at her from Addie's face. How could she say no? How could she screw up such an important night? This wasn't about her. This was about Addie, and it was about damn time she grew up and did what she was there to do. "Okay," she said, finally, and the smile that broke across her girl's face was more than worth week upon week like the week she'd just had.

.,.

Maura arrived seconds before they took the stage. She stayed back against the recital hall's back wall for fear of disturbing anyone, but when the lights came up and Addie took the stage with Jane in tow, she felt sure her gasp could be heard up in the front row.

Addie took first position. Jane attempted the same. The audience was silent, but Maura had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud at the sight. As the dance went on, her smile grew, until it was so wide that it hurt, and her heart so full of love for her family that she wondered how she had missed this side of Jane for so long.

When the applause began, hers was the loudest, and when Jane looked out into the audience and saw Maura's face, she discovered something that she had never realized before.

She was just as much Mommy as Maura was.