Author Notes: Welcome to part THREE of this series. If you haven't read parts one and two, well, many, many things in this one will not make much sense. So look for 'In a Moment' and then 'Who Am I To You?'

If you were hoping for a story full of sunshine, roses and puppy dogs, you are in the wrong place. I tend to like to write flangst - that's a mix of angst and a bit of fluff. Though each story has more control over itself than I'd like to believe. So it doesn't always work out that way.

Here is the start of part three...

Prologue

"Where's Toby?"

"I didn't bring him."

"Why not?"

"It's a jail, Jane. He's six. I won't let him see you like this. I don't want him to have a memory of you in jail."

Jane tapped her fingers across the table. From thumb to pinky finger and back again. She drummed back and forth several times. She glanced at the closed door, her eyes dancing in their sockets. Thankful for the privacy in an otherwise very public, very open arena. She sighed.

"Come on, Maura. I've not seen him in over two weeks. Doesn't he wonder where I am?" she asked. She slid her hand across the table. Her pinky finger wrapping around Maura's.

She swiftly pulled her hand away and wrapped it back around the baby dozing in her arms. "Of course he does. In case you've forgotten, you've not seen Maggie or I in two weeks either."

"But you're here. He's not."

"I made a decision that was right for my son."

"Your son?"

"Our son."

Jane gritted her teeth. "But you said my."

"Slip of the tongue. I apologise."

She didn't know whether to believe her or not. But she had to hold onto any ounce of hope she could. "What did you tell him?"

Maura shook her head. She didn't want to lie to him, but there was little option. "I told him you've gone to visit Tommy. He wanted to go too, so he could play with TJ and Evan...he misses you."

Brushing a tear from her cheek, Jane cleared her throat. "I miss him too. Will you bring him next time?"

"No."

"This isn't fair Maura."

What wasn't fair was that Maura was there at all. Of all the places she expected to have to visit Jane during their life together, jail was not one of them. What wasn't fair was that she had to bring their three month old daughter with her.

"You got yourself into this mess, Jane."

"You know why I'm here."

"That doesn't make it okay." Maura shifted the baby from one arm to the other, then waited a moment to be sure she'd settled down again. "You made a decision and I don't have to support it."

"I had to."

"Had is debatable. You've hurt me, you've hurt our children." Maura lowered her head. She stared down at the soft features of their daughter. Her small button nose, her eyes tightly closed, her tiny lips twitching in sleep. "Don't even get me started on your mother."

"She knows?"

Maura rolled her eyes. "I was hardly going to lie to her. You're in jail. She needed to know."

A sound escaped Jane's lips. A guttural moan that joined the clenching of her fists on the table. She thrust herself backwards. Her feet flat on the floor as she leaned as far back as the chair would allow.

"Don't," Maura said.

"Don't what?" Jane tensed in her seat.

"Act like this doesn't affect anyone else."

The steely gaze of her wife spoke volumes. Jane closed her eyes. The baby stirred once more, her gentle coos filled the air. Jane wanted to look, to see her eyes open, to watch her silent wonder. She lowered her head and, instead, watched her fingers as she picked at her cuticles.

"I wasn't," Jane said. She knew she was. Maura knew she was. But verbal defence was all she had left.

Maura reached out to her arm. Her fingers wrapped around Jane's wrist. "Your mother is upset. She doesn't understand."

Jane finally looked up. "Did you explain?"

"What could I say? I could hardly tell her the truth." Maura let go again. She wanted to feel comfortable with Jane being in jail, but she just couldn't allow herself to do that.

In the distance the jingling of the prison guard's keys travelled through the air. The baby's coos continued to overshadow it. Jane's foot tapped noisily on the concrete floor, her only distraction from everything else going on in life. She could almost hear the whirring of Maura's brain.

"I miss you," she whispered, her voice small, her head bowed.

"I'm sorry," Jane said, standing up. Her eyes trailed across Maura's lowered face, across the baby staring back at her with curiosity. A lump formed in the back of her throat, painful to swallow, and impossible to shift. She turned and walked to the door she'd been allowed in through just a few minutes earlier. She banged on it until it opened again. As she walked out, she glanced back at Maura still sat at the table, still avoiding her gaze. Then she whispered once more, quieter still. "I'm so sorry."

Author Notes: Quite a short introduction. It's kind of obvious from what I wrote, but we have jumped forwards about 5 years from the end of the last story. I know this sounds very dramatic and like "what the hell have you done to Jane"?! But I promise this is only the beginning, there is so, so much more to come. Let's face it, this is mostly just the hook. That's why it's short and dramatic. So please stick with it. Trust in the process!