"Katherine!"

The only person who doesn't turn around at the name is the baby, and that is only because she is facing the other way in her stroller, securely fastened in.

Maya, Zoe and Maura all turn around at the cry, looking to see who would have the audacity to use such a sacred name.

The woman is old, tall, with fine white hair, and her eyes are fixed on Maya with hungry intensity.

The old man standing next to her puts his hand on her shoulder, opening his mouth to shush her. He shakes his head sadly, and looks up in their direction. When he sees Maya, his entire body seems to freeze. Maura sees his mouth move over the name as well.

She knows who these people are, and she knows why they have reacted this way, though knowing does not make this any less horrible.

Maya is staring at her grandparents as though she is transfixed. As though they too are spectres. Maura wonders if, after spending the majority of her life marking familial traits by photograph, it is now possible for Maya to see something different in the real flesh and bone people in front of her.

Maura wants to flee. She wants Jane with her. But she does what she thinks is right, and turns the stroller around, going back to the man and woman who are standing like statues twenty feet away.

She says the first thing that comes to her mind. "Small world!"

Zoe looks at her oddly, and she knows it's because her voice sounds cheerful, as though these people are long lost friends.

The man (his name is Howard, Maura remembers the way Jane had growled it) glances at her.

"Who are you?" He asks, not angry, just irked, like she has come to stand in front of the TV during his favorite show.

"My name is Maura Isles," she replies, resisting the urge to pull Maya close to her. "I'm-"

"She's our mom," Zoe says pointedly. She is looking at Maya, her mouth a thin line of disapproval.

The woman's eyes snap to Maura's She looks both surprised and disgusted. Her lips curl into a very complicated shape, and her similarity to her daughter and granddaughter decreases somewhat. Sandra. Maura pulls the name up out of the depths of her memory.

Howard and Sandra Hodgkinson. Katherine's parents.

"Are you-" Maya's voice is small and uncertain. "Are…"

"We're your grandparents, Maya," Sandra says, and Maura watches them stare at each other, each one greedy and entranced. She wants the two of them for a long minute, until the baby, in her stroller, starts to fuss at the lack of movement. Maya and Sandra don't notice, they don't seem to be noticing anyone except for each other, and Maura wants to rip her oldest daughter away from this and drag her home. She wants to pretend that none of this happened, and go back to the argument they were having before all of this happened.

She would gladly take the argument.

Maura does the only thing that is possible in the moment.

She invites Maura's biological grandparents over for dinner.

"We're parked just outside of Macey's," Maura says, while Zoe shoots daggers at her, and Maya looks like she's been offered something that is both too amazing, and too good to be true.

Sandra looks at her husband, her eyes darting around his face in excitement, looking for any sense that he might decline.

"That sounds fine," he says. We're in the city for the next two evenings and didn't have any other plans.

Sandra turns back to look at Maya. "This is your mother?" She asks, as though Maura doesn't exist. "Well what happened to Janet?"

"Mom got remarried," Maya says.

"Her name is Jane," Zoe says. Maura can tell she's bordering on fury, and she puts her hand gently on the back of her neck, the same way she would for the detective.

"We'd love to come to dinner," Howard says, as though Zoe hasn't spoken. "We'd love to come to dinner."

"Where are you parked?" Maura asks. It is easier at this moment to focus on the logistics, and not the look on Jane's face when they come through the door. Not the questions that both girls will have, or the reaction the Hodgkinsons might have when they learn of her youngest child's name.

"We're parked outside of Macey's as well," Sandra says. "We'll follow you, shall we?"

Maura nods. "Perfect."

…

…

When Maura and the kids come through the door thirty five minutes later, the house smells like lemon and rosemary, and a football game is blaring from the sitting room.

Jane comes around the corner, dish towel over her shoulder, hair in a messy, hastily done ponytail that lists a little to the left. Maura can't help smiling.

¨Hello!¨ Jane says. ¨Hello my loves. Wait until you see what Mama has whipped up for-"

And Jane's voice stops dead.

Katherines parents have entered the house behind them, and Jane looks over Maura's shoulder, and her body goes very, very still.

Before anyone can say anything at all, Sandra has pushed her way past Maura. She walks right up to Jane, and slaps her across the face. Hard.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE TOLD US?!" She screams.

Her voice startles the sleeping baby in Maura´s arms, and she awakens with a jerk and little mewl of surprise.

Jane´s face snaps to the side and back with the force of the hit, but the rest of her body stays still.

¨Hey!¨ Zoe yells, taking a step forward.

Jane raises her hand, just to her waist, telling her to stop. She is looking at the floor, and her mouth works, like she´s tonguing the inside of her lip to check for blood.

¨She didn´t want to,¨ Jane says, not taking her eyes off the floor. ¨Her decision. Her death didn´t change that.¨

¨Like hell it didn´t,¨ Howard rumbles from behind Maura. He hasn´t run at Jane like his wife, but his expression says that he would very much like to. ¨We have a right to know.¨

¨No. You didn´t,¨ Jane says firmly. "I am her mother. It's my decision."

"Yours and whatever new whore you decide to marry. Already well on your way to two more I see."

Jane lifts her eyes to Sandra's for the first time. "Do not speak about Maura like that," she says lowly. "Ever. She's a wonderful mother."

"Pfft," Howard scoffs. "Yeah. Been wonderful since Katie was barely cold in the ground from what I understand."

"Hi!" Katie says from Maura's arms. It is her typical response when anyone says her name, and though both Howard and Sandra turn to look at her, neither seems to make the connection. Maura is glad about this. At least there is nothing more they have to tackle in that moment.

"Mama," Maya says. She has her arms crossed around herself, and she looks like she is about to cry.

Jane can tell this too, and she sets her jaw preemptively against whatever her daughter is going to say.

"Mama, we invited them for dinner. They're here for dinner."

Maura bounces Katie on her hip absently, trying to think of something that will smooth the moment over.

"Surely we can all be civil through a dinner," she suggests. "I think...if it means this much to Maya, we can all work on it. For her sake?"

Jane raises her eyebrows at Sandra, as if to say that she is not the person hitting others.

Sandra clasps her hands together.

"Yes," Howard says in response. "I think we can."

"My-my," Katie says. "Myyyy-my! Me!" Katie reaches out her arms to her sister, still oblivious to the tension in the room, and Maya takes her, smiling faintly as the little girl nuzzles against her.

Zoe has been hanging back by the front door since her mother was slapped, her hands deep in her pockets. At Maura's suggestion about dinner, she had shaken her head imperceptibly, and now she steps forward, her face a perfect match to Jane's at it's meanest.

"My little sister's name is Katie," she says.

And that is the end of that.

…

Kate wraps her arms around Jane's neck, giggling as the brunette blows raspberries on her of the things that she likes the most about her girlfriend is how easy one emotions flows so easily into another. Jane isn't like any other woman she's been with and she's definitely not like any other man. She is tough, and kind, and funny, and she looks at Kate like she's the most precious thing in the world.

"Can you believe this is our bed?" Jane says against her ear. "This is our bed, in our apartment. If I don't want to get dressed, then I don't have to. I can walk around naked until dinner; I can eat dinner maked if I want to." Jane pulls back to look at her, propping herself up on her elbow.

Kate pushes some of her long hair away from her face so she can lean in for a kiss.

"Just you?" She asks with a laugh. "Can't I eat dinner in the nude too?"

"No!" Jane says, sounding shocked. She looks serious, and confused that Kate would ask her such a thing. "Of course you can't."

Kate frowns. "What? Why?"

There is only the slight tug of Jane's lips to show that she is about to crack a joke. "If you're naked, I'm going to be on top of you," she growls, and with that she pushes Kate back against the sheet, kissing her hard.

And just like that, they are climbing steadily toward hot and heavy again.

"God," she pants, as Jane' s long fingers slide between her legs. "What you do to me."

"The same thing you do to me," Jane breathes. "Can't you tell?"

Kate goes to answer, but it comes out a groan. "This was a mistake," she laughs, already so close to anoint her orgasm that her thighs are shaking a little. "We shouldn't have moved in together...oh! Fuck, yes. There...You're going to kill me!"

But Jane rocks her hips and tumbles them both down into oblivion together, and whatever she says as it happens, is lost in the happy explosion of of Kate's senses.

When she recovers, Jane is looking down at her, grinning from ear to ear.

"What?" She asks, feeling herself blush.

"You're gorgeous," Jane answers. "I hope our babies look just like you."

This is enough to bring Kate fully back to earth with an unpleasant thump. "Babies?"

"Yeah," Jane is still smiling. "I want to have babies with you. Like...four...hundred. And I hope they're all just beautiful little copies of you."

Kate sits up, pulling a sheet around herself, feeling her heartbeat jump a little erratically at Jane's words.

"Katie?" Jane sits up too.

"You've...thought about having kids with me?" She asks quietly.

There is a pause, and she knows that Jane is doing furious mental mathematics, trying to see where she went wrong.

"Uh...yeah," she says finally. "You know...after we got settled somewhere. When we had more than a one bedroom apartment in the Meatpacking district. Yeah." She pauses again, and her eyes on Kate's back feel like lasers.

"You haven't thought of us like that?" Jane's voice is small.

"I…" Kate tries to think about how she wants to word her dilemma. "I think about us," she says finally. "I think about us living together for a long time, and, you know, getting a house or maybe...a dog." She grins. "Or like, a lizard or turtle that doesn't need to be walked."

She can feel that Jane doesn't crack a smile without even turning around.

"But no kids." Jane's voice has gone a little bit hollow, the way it does when she's hearing something she doesn't like.

Kate finally makes herself roll over to face her. "I don't know, Jane. We're...not that old. I just finished school, and I'm not even making any money yet. I might never make money at this."

"Of course you will," Jane says. "You take some of the most amazing photos that I've ever seen. Of course you will. And I'm not talking about tomorrow. I'm talking about someday."

Kate rolls onto her back. "Someday," she says softly.

Jane snuggles in next to her, kissing her temple. "Talk to me, Kat. What's going on?"

"Do you think my parents will come around 'someday,' Jane?" She doesn't mean for her voice to crack, or for her tone to be so bitter, but she can't help it. "Will yours? And if the answer is no-" Kate cuts off Jane's protest, "then what kind of life is it to raise a kid whose own grandparents hate him."

Kate closes her eyes, and tears spill onto her cheeks. "They hate me," she sobs, as Jane pulls her to her chest. "They'd hate our baby."

"Shhh," Jane murmurs into her hair. "Shhh, no. They don't hate you, beautiful. They could never hate you. You're amazing. They just don't understand."

Jane pulls her hand through Katie's hair, murmuring softly until she quiets, and then she kisses her forehead.

"I'm sorry," Kate says, sniffing. "I got our new sheets all snotty."

Jane chuckles. "It doesn't matter. I get it. It was a big move. We just took a huge step, and then here I come with like seven more life changing ideas. I'm sorry. I'm an idiot."

Kate smiles. "You're my idiot," she corrects. "Promise me that you'll be my idiot for a lot more time."

There's that look again. Kate has never seen Jane look at anyone the way she looks at her.

"Forever and ever, Katie. No matter what."

…

…

We'll see her! We'll see our granddaughter or you will hear from our lawyer!

That was the last thing that the Hodgkinsons had said before storming out of the house. And although that effectively ended one argument, the one that arrived immediately after was no less fierce, and possibly even louder than the one that came before it.

Maya, fourteen years old and full of emotions that she does not have the ability to work through calmly. She screams at her mother with all the rage and fury that come with her fear.

How could you not tell them mommy was my bio mom?

How could you not tell me they might want to see me.

How could you not think I might want to see them!

Zoe had retreated to the second floor landing, holding holding Katie up at Maya like proof of something as she went. This is your family! THIS is your family. Not them! That is what she had been yelling.

Jane yelled too, though she wasn't crying. Maura could tell she was as close as possible without tipping the scale, but her own form of terror and anger kept her from doing so.

And Maura raised her voice, finally, at the end, telling everyone to stop shouting. She ordered all the members of her family to separate corners, demanding that they cool down.

Now, the house is eerily silent. As she pushes the door to her bedroom open, she can hear it sigh softly on its hinges. She wonders how long it has been doing that, without anyone having a chance to hear.

Jane is sitting cross legged on the bed, her head in her hands.

The cant of her shoulders tells Maura that she is not crying, at least not anymore. She goes to the bed and climbs up on it, kneeling behind her wife and pressing her thumbs deep into the knots of her shoulder blades.

"Your mother has come such a long way," Maura says, "Even in just the short time I've known her."

Jane sighs. "Yeah," she says. "I know."

Maura realizes that there will be no fight between the two of them over this. She smiles. For all her noise earlier, there was never really a question about what Jane would end up doing. Maura has seen her force herself to talk about Katherine, and force herself to stop talking about her, both for the needs of her children in the moment.

"She didn't want this," Jane says from between her fingers. "She didn't want this. Ever."

Maura sighs. She doesn't stop kneading. "Unfortunately, Jane," she says softly, "she's not alive anymore. Maya is. And she has questions we can't answer for her."

Another sigh. A minuature nod. "You're their mother, Mo," she says after a long moment. "You."

Maura bends to kiss the crown of Jane's head. "Thank you," she murmurs. "I needed to hear that."

"I love you," Jane says. It comes out like a confession. Tonight, that's what it is.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

"Will you talk to her? When she and I fight like that...we need time, I think."

Maura nods. She presses another kiss to the top of Jane's head, and then slides back off the bed.

"The Baby's down," she says. Go check her for me, will you?"

Jane is watching her go, a small, affectionate smile on her face. She nods.

"It's going to work out," Maura says.

And then, because she has spoken the words into existence, she has no choice but to believe that they are true.