Epilogue

Two Years Later

"No! Margot! Come back here immediately!" Maura rolled her eyes. Of course, it wouldn't work. It never did. The toddler looked at her – laughed – then ran away in the opposite direction. And fail. "No..."

Sigh. Her daughter never listened to her. What would it be when she turned fourteen? She was only two years old. It shouldn't be so difficult. Maura shrugged in abdication and walked to the kitchen; pair of underwear in her hand. She looked at Jane and pouted. Puppy eyes: on.

"Can you try? Please...? It doesn't work with me. She doesn't take me seriously. She never does..."

Jane nodded – put down her coffee – then grabbed the pair of underwear.

What was it that Margot never wanted to get dressed? It took them forever every morning to get the little girl to put on her clothes; even the ones she had chosen herself. She preferred to run around the house naked. Or at least half-naked since she had accepted to put on her dress today. It was a miracle in itself.

"Margot Rizzoli-Isles, come over here. I won't repeat it." Jane held back a chuckle. This had never worked on her so why would it work on her daughter? She was just as sneaky. "And don't sit on..." Sigh. "On Bass' shell. He isn't a chair."

Margot giggled. She stood up – approached Jane – but ran away as soon as her mother made a step towards her.

Time for a chase. Jane started running after the toddler, avoiding every single obstacle that came between her and her daughter. Just another day at 5801 Pickney Street.

The door bell rang.

"Ma'goooo." Exit Jane: the little girl ran to the door and jumped over and over in an attempt to grab the large door knob.

Maura walked to the lobby. Apologetic smile at Jane. The conclusion was tragic: they both cruelly lacked authority. Jane pursed her lips but ended up shrugging.

"It's okay, Maur'... We're in August anyway. It's not like she needs underwear."

What a pitiful excuse, Rizzoli. Pitiful. A two-year-old is driving you nuts - makes you run around the house - and you can't even admit it. Now, this is sad.

"Ma'go! It's Ma'goooo!"

Maura took her daughter in her arms and nodded at her.

"MaRgot. It is – indeed – Margot. With an "r", sweetie. Just like you." She opened the door and almost lost her balance as the toddler threw herself in her godmother's arms without any warning.

This child was way too full of energy. This wasn't normal. She was a tornado. A 24h/7 tornado.

"Watch out, she's going commando."

Margot looked down at the little girl – a bit worried at first – but ended up shrugging away Jane's comment.

"It's okay, she's wearing a dress anyway. Who knows what I'm wearing under mine, after all." She laughed and covered the toddler with kisses.

Jane blinked. She would never get used to the French girl's sense of humor. Nope. Never.

"We are potty training." Maura closed the door behind Margot and planted a warm kiss on her cheek before motioning the patio. "Everything is ready. You can go and lie down in the hammock if you want or... Just play with Margot... She hasn't stopped talking about you, this morning."

"Am I the first one?" Margot looked at the living-room. If it weren't for toys thrown haphazardly all around, the house looked empty. She locked her eyes with the little girl and squealed in delight. "It is your birthdayyy...! Look at you... You're a big girl now. How old are you?"

The toddler proudly nodded and showed Margot two fingers.

"I'm thaaaat big!"

Just after they had got the green light from the adoption agency, Jane and Maura had received a dozen of birthmothers files who were due within the year. They had checked each one of them meticulously and Penelope had turned out to be the right one.

A twenty-two-year-old student whose pregnancy had been an accident. She wanted to stay in touch with the baby and was more than glad to see the child being raised by a same-sex couple. They had met and had hit it off right away.

Penelope had accepted the adoption.

Everything had gone very fast. Jane and Maura had been there for the delivery that had happened a month earlier than planned. A little girl. They had named her Margot. A joyful baby; fair hair, blue eyes. Six months later, they had got the official papers from the court: they were now parents. Legally, according to the state of Massachusetts.

End of the story. Unless it was just the beginning. The beginning of the rest, of everything; a second life for the two of them.

"I can't believe that it has been two years already..." Maura shook her head as she watched the little girl take Margot by the hand to lead her to the patio. "I am feeling old, suddenly."

Jane went to stand behind her wife – passed her arms around her waist – and leaned her chin on her shoulder. She planted a loud kiss on her neck.

"Well... You are old, Maura."

Gasp. Visibly offended, the medical examiner freed herself from the hug and turned around to frown at Jane. Hands on her hips. Lips pursed. Her anger was more than palpable to say the least.

"Excuse me?!"

Jane raised her hands up to apologize.

"I'm kidding. You look like you're eighteen. You're gorgeous. Satisfied? Jane rolled her eyes but didn't laugh; she did know better than to do that.

"No, not really. I didn't know that you had a thing for eighteen-year-old girls, Jane."

Oops.

"I don't! It was just... It was..." No reaction from the scientist. "Oh, Maura... Please. Don't make a scene now. Not today. C'mon!"

Gasp.

"Are you insinuating that I am a drama queen?"

You'll never learn, Rizzoli, will you? Nope. Of course you won't.

...

"Honey, you have more cake on your face than in your mouth. Wait..." Maura laughed - grabbed a napkin - and cleaned her daughter's face full of chocolate.

Angela laughed as well.

"She looks more and more like you, Janie."

Focused on a set of new toys she was desperately trying to assemble, Jane raised an eyebrow at her mother's comment and pouted. Every single time that there was a family reunion, she got the same speech from her mother. But then what could she say? Tommy got it too; only twice more since he had TJ and Maddie.

"I'm not her biological mother, ma'. She can't look like me. She's blond with blue eyes, besides. Tell me how she can look like me exactly...? Impossible."

"I guess your mother didn't mean physically. The temper..." Constance kissed her granddaughter's nose. "She has a bit of you and a bit of Maura... You are the ones who are raising her, after all. You are her role models so it is only fair that she copies you one way or another."

This time, Jane looked up and observed every single guest sitting at the table. Her relatives – as well as Maura's – and Penelope. They wanted to include her for Margot's birthdays. It was only fair.

Her eyes landed on Margot, the "French version" as she liked calling her.

If Jane had placed her bets on a possible return to the US before the French girl's master's degree, she would be rich by now.

Margot had decided to come back to Cambridge after a year spent in France. She didn't know if she would try to stay permanently once she graduated from college but her life was here, for the moment. And she loved every single second of it.

Especially now that Little Margot was around.

"Do you think you're more like mom or mommy, Little Bug?" She took her daughter in her arms and hugged her tightly against her.

The little girl frowned – wrinkled her nose – and finally pointed out Maura. The scientist blushed. Jane chuckled.

"You're right. I'm certainly not the one who would go commando in a dress!"

One. Two. Three. Expected gasp from Maura.

"Jane!" Maura sat up and forced a nervous smile at their guests. "She usually is fully clothed. We are potty training...? We are simply taking advantage of the summer to go diaper free."

Which was not a big success for the moment but Maura preferred to keep this part for herself. They had all the time in the world, anyway. Margot had just turned two. It would happen. Eventually. Like all the rest: the first tooth that she would lose, the first time she would go on a date. College.

Maura made a face.

She wasn't in a hurry to see all this happen. As a matter of fact, her only wish right now was to make time freeze. Then she would spend the rest of her life enjoying the innocence of a two-year-old child, the happiness she brought them on a daily basis. The love as well. This inconditional - intense - feeling she could hardly describe.

The one she woke up to every morning and made her think that she was the luckiest woman alive.

Maura passed an arm around Jane's waist and planted a kiss on top of their daughter's head. She cast a brief glance at her own mother; at Margot to whom she owed all of this.

She smiled. Peacefully.

The things she would have missed if Margot hadn't existed...

The End

Author's note: thank you very much for all the reviews and messages you sent me over these two stories, I really appreciate it. A brand new story is coming, I will start posting it on Saturday. Rizzles endgame, of course. I hope you will enjoy it as well. Thanks again.