For You

It was strange how quickly we seemed to fall back into a regular routine once Jane had been home for a few days. She drove the girls to school, picked me up on the way to work and then I picked the girls up in the afternoon. The only real difference was the fact Jane opted to sleep at her mothers every other night, creeping back in in the morning before the girls woke up. I was yet to ask for a reason for why she was doing it, but if she was happy and not drinking; I wasn't going to ask too many questions.

My phone buzzed in the steel bowl I always placed it in while I was doing an autopsy, and I frowned as I had to place the heart back into the chest cavity. My brow furrowed as I pulled my gloves off, noting the blocked caller ID on the screen.

"Dr Isles." I spoke into my cell phone, my tone more annoyed than I had meant.

"Mom?" My eyes widened as I caught wind of my daughters voice. "Can you come get me?" I wasn't oblivious to the anxiety that strained behind Emys voice as she spoke, and I did my best not to cave in and say yes immediately like I usually would.

"Why aren't you at school?" I asked, my dominant parenting tone coming out as I spoke. I hated the way my voice sounded with that edge. Jane was always better at this. This was not the first time since Emy started high school that she had called and begged me to pick her up because she forgot homework. My eyes moved back to the body in front of me.

"I am at school. I… Mom…" I could hear the tears on the other end of the phone, and before I knew what I was doing I was headed out the door, pressing the elevator button over and over again.

"Listen to me, go to where I usually pick you up." I instructed her as I stepped off the elevator, Janes eyebrows lifting when she saw me approaching. "Give me your keys." I demanded, holding my hand out toward her. Jane tilted her head to the left as she pulled her keys out of her back pocket, placing them in my hands as she placed her ear against the phone that was pressed to mine, trying to hear what was going on. I heard Frost laugh at her action.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes baby." I said down the phone, handing it to Jane without saying a word before I made a b-line for the elevator again.

"Maura?" Jane asked, running to catch up behind me, the phone against her chest.

"Are you coming or not?" I knew Jane would try and talk me out of going to get her if I just stood here and talked about it. After all the girls had been through this past month, I wasn't leaving her at school when she was as upset as she seemed to be. Without saying a word to me, Jane bought the phone back to her ear.

"Yeah babe, we're leaving now."

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We drove home in silence; Emys eyes covered with dark sunglasses but the redness around her nose giving her away. Jane kept shooting me worried glances, silently asking me when she or I should speak up.

"Baby…" Jane started, biting down on the inside of her mouth as she turned around in the passenger seat. Emy didn't look in her direction. "What…" Jane started, her eyes widening as she climbed into the backseat

"Ma!" Emy panicked, her hands instinctively holding the glasses on her face in place. Jane sat beside her, looking at her face before she turned to look at me in the rear view mirror.

"Pull over." I didn't ask why as I pulled the car to the side of the road, unbuckling my belt to turn around and try to understand what was going on. "Emy, did someone hit you?" Jane asked quietly, my eyebrows raising as I noticed for the first time the dark purple bruising that was peeking out from the side of her glasses.

"You run into a door?" Jane asked; her voice not sarcastic enough for our twelve year old to catch on. She nodded, forcing an embarrassed smile, my stomach dropping at the simple act.

"Jane…" I whispered, my eyes on Emys hands that were sitting awkwardly in her lap, bruises forming on her knuckles. Jane took a deep breath and nodded slowly, both of us trying to decide what the right thing to do in this situation was.

"Want to go shopping?" Jane offered, Emy giggling as she nodded.

"Um…" I started, completely oblivious to Janes course of action. She kissed Emys head softly before she climbed back into the seat beside me, smiling softly at me as she buckled up.

"One of us is going to have to pick your sisters up baby." Jane said, looking over her shoulder at our eldest daughter. Emy nodded in understanding, her eyes seeming to settle on me in the mirror. Jane laughed and nodded. "I'd want to go with your mom too."

"I'm lost." I told Jane, my brow furrowed in frustration at being completely left out of whatever parenting technique Jane was using.

"Take her shopping, get her talking. She just needs her mommy." Jane whispered, her eyes never looking in my direction as she spoke. I pursed my lips and wondered if this was really the right thing for me to be doing as a parent. Everything inside me told me to get down to Emys level and talk to her like an equal.

I guess I would try manipulating her with shopping first.

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"Shouldn't we be looking at clothes I can wear to school?" Emy asked, her voice full of confusion as I walked with her hand in hand into Alex and Alexa. I smiled at her and rolled my eyes as she took off her sunglasses. My heart dropped at the visible bruise, but I pushed past it.

"You could wear clothes from here to school." She giggled at me as I spoke.

"Mom, this shirt is $400. No, I can't." She was too much like her other mother.

"Whenever I'm really upset about something, this is the one thing that usually helps." I knew that my daughter wasn't half as interested in fashion as I was, but the light in her eyes as she skimmed over the floor length formal dresses told me her mind was changing.

"Do you want to tell me what happened today?" I asked softly, my eyes looking up at her as I continued skimming through the racks.

"Jessica was picking on this kid from the special unit, I told her to stop, we fought, she hit me so I hit her back." The words left her mouth with such fluidity it amazed me. She barely looked up at me as she spoke.

"Your friend Jessica?" I clarified, trying to decide if it made me more or less proud of her that she fought over a total stranger with her best friend. She nodded slowly.

"It reminded me of when kids used to say things to me about you and Ma." She started, smiling apologetically at me before she continued. "I can't help who my parents are as much as he can't help that he's got a disability, it wasn't okay for her to say what she was saying to him." I tried to hold my smile at bay.

"When am I ever going to wear this mom?" She laughed as I picked up a floor length black dress, draping it over my arm. Her change of subject told me we were done talking about this today.

"We'll go somewhere really nice tonight." I told her, smiling at the excited expression that came across her face at my words. I made a mental note to call Jane and let her know we were taking our daughter out tonight before we went home. I knew Jane would complain to no end about having to go somewhere nice.

"Ma will freak if she sees me wearing this." Emy said quietly, her fingers slowly tracing over the sheer fabric of the black dress I had in my hands. I knew the look on her face like the back of my hand; she was in love with it.

"We'll take this one please." I said simply to the woman behind the register, placing the dress on the counter before I led my daughter back to where the shoes were, and picking up a pair of black kitten heels. I smiled down at the shoes, remembering my own very first pair of high heels.

"This is way too much." Emy laughed, shaking her head as I placed them on the counter beside the dress. She wrapped her arms around my waist when I ignored her lacklustre protest, sighing as she nuzzled her face inside my side. "I love you." Maybe Jane was onto something with this new parenting technique.

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Emy was right, Jane did freak out when she saw our twelve year old dressed in a black formal dress with make up on and her hair pulled back off her face in the way mine always is. The make up was able to perfectly cover the new bruise; a fact I was quiet proud of.

"You look beautiful." I told our daughter, my heart racing as I noted just how grown up she looked standing before us. Janes hand was gripping my thigh so hard I had to pry it free.

"You look really grown up." Was all Jane could say, her eyes scanning over Emys dress.

"This really did make me feel better." Emy said quietly, running her hands along the sheer fabric that ran down the length of her body. She smiled at us both as Ally walked into the room, her eyes wide when she caught sight of her sister

"You look so pretty." Ally told her, holding her arms up to her older sister. Emy let out a quiet groan as she lifted her four year old sister off the ground, resting her on her hip. It was the scariest thing I had ever seen.

"Jesus, give her a wine glass and that's you." Jane told me, shaking her head in complete bewilderment. It was the first time I had ever noticed just how alike my daughter and I looked. "Okay nope this is too much for me." Jane exclaimed suddenly, taking Ally out of Emys arms and pulling her tightly into her chest. I couldn't help but laugh as Ally climbed into my lap, frowning at her other mother who was stealing her cuddles.

"I don't want to go anywhere tonight; I just wanted to feel this." Emy told me, looking past Jane who was still holding onto her.

An hour later all five of us were in our pyjamas squished onto the three person sofa. I had Ally in my arms, Emys head resting on my shoulder while Jane had Madison in her lap.

"Thank you." Emy whispered to me while the rest of the family continued arguing over what movie we were going to watch. "For today." Emy concluded, clearly noting the confused expression that must have crossed my face. "You're the best mom."

What more could I ever need?