Chapter one

Mauras POV
I guess in the scheme of things; we were lucky. We never had to meet boyfriends, never had to go through the pleasantries of meeting our daughters partners family. We were spared all of that for a long time. Part of me was sure that the only reason she never bought boyfriends home was because she knew how Jane would treat them. No one was ever going to be good enough; and Ella obviously had never found anyone good enough for herself; until now.

"Do you even know his name?" I asked with a slight frown as I realised just how little of our daughter's boyfriend we knew. Jane shrugged as she glared at the front door, bringing her beer to her lips as she slowly started to shake her head, her eyes widening.

"Why didn't we ask his name?" She asked me. Sure, Ella was not willingly giving us any details about him until last week; but surely one of us should have thought to ask the boy's name. "She's really secretive about him." Jane noted, pulling her body up onto the kitchen bench as I placed the lasagne I had spent the afternoon making into the oven to reheat it.

"She has been." I agreed, nodding as I realised that most sixteen year old girls would be over the moon about their first, or I'm assuming her first, boyfriend. Not my little girl though.

"She's like her mom." Jane smirked at me from the kitchen bench. "Do you remember how weird you were about telling people about us?" She asked, bringing back a flood of memories.

We both let out a small smile as we heard our daughter's car pull into the stone driveway outside. I pulled Jane off the counter and placed a bowl of unmixed salad in front of her. "Mix." I instructed, handing her two sets of tongs. She did as I asked, nudging my hip excitedly with her own as the front door opened.

"Well that explains why we don't know his name." Jane said under her breath as our daughter walked through the door, a dark haired girl giggling as she entered behind her. Ella stood at the doorway with her lips pursed as she waited for us to make a comment, reaching to hold the hand of the girl standing beside her. "Hi." Jane said after a few seconds of awkward silence. I could hear my heart beat in my ears.

"Hey." The shy girl responded, lifting a hand to give us a slight wave. "I'm Bailey." I was unable to take my eyes away from the girl holding our daughters hand. I was bewildered as to why Ella had never thought it necessary to correct us every time we referred to her partner as her boyfriend. The thought also ran through my mind that she clearly wasn't comfortable enough to tell us about her. That bothered me; A lot.

"Mom?" Ella's quiet voice came from the doorway as Jane nudged me, pulling me from the trance the two girls had unwillingly placed me under.

"Hi baby." I said through a sigh, making my way over to where they stood, embracing my daughter who never let go of her girlfriends' hand. "Hi." I smiled, turning to look at the dark haired girl. "I'm Maura." I introduced myself, extending a hand as I tried not to look the girl up and down and assess if she was worth of our family.

"Bailey." The girl smiled up at me timidly as she took her hand in my own lightly. I gestured for them to make their way to the dining room where they took seats right beside one another. Jane left the salad on the counter and took a seat beside me, resting her hand on my thigh under the table.

"How did you two meet?" Jane asked, squeezing my thigh as Ella looked awkwardly between me and the table in between us. Janes job had given her the ability to see a hundred things, not literally of course, at once. So I wasn't surprised that she had noticed me staring at our daughter and how awkward it was making her.

"Hey." Our youngest daughters voice came from the bottom of the stairs, her cell phone in her hand; she didn't even bother looking up.

"Harper, we have company." I reminded her, frowning in her direction as her head lifted to look between Bailey and Ella. She smiled as she walked over to her sister, kissing her cheek as she picked up an apple from the fruit bowl on the table.

"I thought you weren't going to tell them until Christmas." Ellas eyes widened at her sisters words. I turned to look at Jane who had a small smirk on her lips as she looked at Bailey, waiting for her to dig herself into a deeper hole. "Oh my god, did you not tell them yet?!" Ella shook her head, her eyes still wide, her way of silently begging her sister to shut up.

"Harp…" Jane started, but the fourteen year old girls eyes were apologetic as she looked at me this time.

"I've only known for like eight months and…"

"Harper, seriously!" Ella exclaimed loudly, standing up to cover her sisters mouth with her hand. I turned my attention to Bailey who was sitting with a bewildered expression on her face at the interaction between the sisters.

"Only child?" I asked with an understanding smile. I remember the first time I saw Jane and Frankie play fight. As an only child, it makes no sense. Bailey smiled and nodded at me, her eyes lingering on mine for a moment before they returned to Ella.

"We're going to go upstairs and…" Just as I was about to argue, Jane beat me to it.

"Nope." Jane said, cutting off Ella as she took another sip of her beer. I smirked as I covered my mouth, proud and unsurprised by my wife's reaction. Ella rolled her eyes as she released her sister who retreated back to the safety of her bedroom instantly.

"We have a lot to talk about." I said, backing up my wife's point as I nodded to the chair across from me. Ella huffed loudly as she dropped down into the chair, turning to look at her partner before she spoke.

"I am so sorry for whatever is about to happen."

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Janes POV
"That was… surreal." Maura said as I unzipped her dress later that night. I nodded in agreement as my brain worked back over what the night had given us. "Did you know that only children have only got approximately a 2% chance of growing up to be homosexual." I wanted to roll my eyes at the word homosexual, but this was a fun fact I was actually interested in.

"So I just got lucky with you, huh?" I joked as I pulled my clothes off my body, climbing into our bed in just my underwear and a tank top on. She giggled at me as she continued undressing. I was quite happy with my place on the bed as I watched her change. "Wait 2%? That can't be true." I said, really thinking about what she had just said. Mauras fingers stopped before they unclasped her bra, moving instead to pick up her iPad. "No! I believe you!" I knew if I didn't say I believed her; I was in for a twenty minute presentation.

"Do you think Harper is going to be a homosexual too?" She pondered, finally taking off her bra but quickly pulling on a silk slip

"Okay you need to stop saying that." I warned her, frowning as she crawled into the bed beside me, her fingertips cold as she moved to wrap an arm around my stomach.

"What's wrong with the word homosexual?" She pondered, and I swear I could feel her head tiling to the side as she spoke.

"No, I mean Harper. It's officially gotten weird, babe." I told her, still frowning lightly. When Harp was growing up, that's exactly what Maura used to call her. I couldn't think of a reason why it had suddenly changed lately.

"She doesn't like being called Harper?" Maura asked, sitting up slightly to look at me, a concerned expression on her face at the mere thought that she had offended our daughter.

"No, it just makes you sound like you're constantly mad at her." I told her, moving my hand to softly stroke her honey blonde hair until she sighed and lay her head back on my shoulder.

"I wonder if it's something we did while she was growing up." Maura wondered aloud, and I knew we weren't talking about Harper any more. I couldn't help but chuckle. "What?" She questioned, smiling as she looked up at me.

"Isn't that what straight parents are supposed to ask?" I noted, making her giggle quietly.

"I guess we parent the same." She shrugged lightly, a quiet tapping on our bedroom door making both our heads turn towards the sound. "Come in." Maura called, frowning when after a few seconds, the door remained closed.

"Get your butt in here." I added, smiling when Ella appeared, closing the door behind her. I shoved Maura over and opened my side of the blanket, patting the mattress until she came over and crawled in beside me. Maura sat up beside us as Ella laid in the exact position her mother had just been in. Arm draped around my middle, her head resting on my shoulder.

"Are you okay bunny?" Maura asked, and I could just imagine Ella rolling her eyes. She was my daughter through and through. I pressed a light kiss to her blonde hair and waited for her to speak.

"I'm sorry." She whispered before suddenly groaning, moving her arm from around me to lay on her stomach, hiding her head until the pillows. I looked at Maura and nodded toward the bedroom door. She nodded, leaning across to kiss my cheek before she left the room. "Is she gone?" Ella asked from under the pillow.

"She's gone." I confirmed, smiling sweetly at my daughter as she pulled her head out, sighing as she turned onto her back, staring at the ceiling above us. I mirrored her action, knowing she needed a calm, relaxed environment if she was going to open up to me. "You need to learn how to talk to her too, baby." I told her. She had inherited her mother's fear of people, yet we never expected her to be scared of talking to Maura. I was getting bored of having to re-tell any serious stories our daughter told me to my wife.

"Are you mad I didn't tell you sooner?" She asked, biting down on her bottom lip as her head dropped in my direction, looking me straight in the eye.

"We're upset you didn't trust us enough to tell us, but we're not mad." I always made a point of using the term we when she and I were having these discussions as to not ever leave Maura out. "I can't believe Harper kept it a secret for that long." We both laughed at my honest words.

"I was nervous you'd think I was only dating her because of you and mom." She admitted slowly, still biting down on her bottom lip. I nodded, processing her words before I chose how to respond.

"Don't you ever, ever hesitate to talk to us about anything. Do you hear me?" She looked at me with an apologetic smile, nodding slowly.

"Can I come in?" Mauras quiet voice came from the other side of the closed door.

"Yes please." Ella responded before I could speak. As soon as Maura was in the room, our daughter had moved over and held her arms out to Maura. My wife's eyes softened as she crawled into the bed, wrapping her arms around Ella instantly, holding her tight against her chest. "Can I sleep in here?" She asked, making me chuckle. Maura looked across at me, letting me know it was my call.

"Only if you sleep in the middle." I teased, nodding toward our daughter who happily obliged. I had never been happier to have a king size bed.

"Do you want to go for a drive with me tomorrow?" I heard Maura ask Ella. I had promised Harper I would spend time with her for the past month, so I could not have been more okay with this plan.

"I have a date with Bailey next weekend, maybe we could go get a dress?" I could only imagine the excited expression on Mauras face at our daughters words. "Ma…" Ella started, her hand scrambling to grab onto me suddenly.

"Maura what are you doing?!" I asked as I noted tears falling from my wife's eyes. I felt Ella try to squirm out of the bed and I placed a firm hand on one of her hips, holding her in place.

"I'm taking her dress shopping for a date." Maura whimpered, making me sigh as I rolled my eyes, falling back onto my back as I chuckled at my wife's reaction.

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OKAY so I have no idea if this is going anywhere but I would LOVE some opinions on if you think this story could go somewhere!