Chapter Text
Everything happened in a rush.
Maura and Jane met the birth mother and everyone agreed to proceed with the adoption. They had to wait seventy-two hours for the adoption paperwork to be finalized, but in the meantime they could visit with the baby in the NICU.
From that day on they pretty much spent any free moment in the NICU. Maura was able to quickly rearrange her schedule so she didn’t have to go into work unless an emergency came up, but Jane didn’t have the same luxury that first week. She spent as much time as she could at the hospital, but she still had to be on call and occasionally make an appearance at the office. Fortunately with the big snowstorm people were staying home, not going out to murder each other.
Angela was a big help, staying at their house, getting Will to and from school, and helping to get things for the baby. Jane would never forget the look on her mother’s face the morning she told her that there was a baby that were going to try to adopt. It was a mixture of shock, happiness, and anger. Angela immediately berated Jane for not telling her sooner about their plans, complete with a dish towel thrown at her, but then quickly moved into expressions of joy and then started making plans for when she would babysit.
For the first few weeks Maura and Jane were limited in what they could do with him. He had to be in the incubator for much of the day with a frightening number of tubes and wires attached to him. There were wires to monitor heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature. He wasn’t able to take food through his mouth right away so he had a nasal feeding tube and, although he was able to breath on his own, another machine helped pump air to his lungs.
For brief periods each day they were allowed to hold him and Jane and Maura took turns holding him against one of their bare chests, which was through to help his sleeping, temperature, and with the parental bonding process. They were also able to help the nurses bathe him and change his diaper.
After the first week, Jane received approval to take a few weeks of leave for the time they had him in the hospital and then to transition him home. She would go back to work while Maura took three months of maternity leave and then Jane would take the rest of her leave when Maura’s ended. When they weren’t in the hospital they were getting the baby’s room and supplies ready and trying to spend as much quality time with Will as possible. They tried to be home for dinner every night, usually with Angela actually making dinner, and then sometimes either one or both of them would go back to the hospital for another few hours.
After two weeks their baby boy had grown enough that he didn’t need to be fed with a tube and they could feed him from a bottle. He also was able to spend more time outside the incubator and they took full advantage of their opportunities to hold him and take care of him as much as the nurses allowed them to.
At the end of the third week, the doctors announced that he would probably be able to go home within a few days. That afternoon Jane and Maura sat with him at the hospital discussing final plans for getting him home. Jane had perfected the art of tiny diaper changes and snug swaddling and now was reclining with him laying against her chest. After a stressful couple of weeks, they were finally able settle down and just enjoy their time with him knowing that they would all be home soon.
“He needs a name,” Jane said after a period in which they fallen into a content silence. They had been referring to him as baby boy, little guy, sweetie, or other terms of endearment in silent acknowledgment that at first they didn’t know if the adoption would be finalized and then they didn’t know how well things were going to go with potential health issues. Now all that was resolved and it was time to move forward. “Do you have any ideas?”
Maura shook her head. “I was actually wondering if you had anything in mind. I chose William for my grandfather. Is their anyone your family you want to name him after?”
“Certainly not my father,” Jane answered. “My mother’s father was Angelo, which I don’t think would be a great idea. My other grandfather was Carmine. Carmine Isles,” she said making a face. “That doesn’t exactly role off the tongue. I wasn’t really close with either of them and it wouldn’t be particularly meaningful to me. We should pick a name we both like.”
“We haven’t discussed last names,” Maura said. “He doesn’t have to have my last name. He can be a Rizzoli.”
“I think he and Will should have the same last name. That just makes the most sense to me.”
“We could all change our names. We could all be Rizzoli-Isles or Isles-Rizzoli, or we could make up a new last name.”
“Making up our own name is little too hippy-dippy for me. And changing names sounds like a lot of paperwork,” Jane joked. At Maura’s fake glare, she said, “I appreciate everything you’re saying and I love you. But nobody has to change their names. Both kids can have your last name.”
Angela arrived then with Will. One of the three women was bringing Will at least once every few days so he could visit with his new brother too. At first he seemed a little freaked out by the hospital setting and all of the tubes and wires, but now he was more comfortable and seemed to have fun interacting with the baby.
“What do you think about a name for the little guy, Will?” Jane said.
Although Jane sort of threw the question out without really thinking about it, Will took it seriously and thought for a moment before saying, “I like the name Alex.”
Jane raised her eyebrows, giving Maura a questioning look.
“Alexander means ‘defender of mankind,’” Maura said. “I like it.”
“Alexander Isles has a nice ring to it,” Jane agreed.
“Or Alexander Rizzoli Isles,” Maura suggested. “We can use your last name as his middle name,” she said to Jane.
“Is there any particular meaning of the name for you or any reason you suggested it?” Jane asked Will.
“No, I just like it,” he answered.
Jane looked down and said, “What do you think little guy? Are you an Alexander?” After giving one last confirming look to Maura, she said to Will, “I think you just named him, big brother.”
“Cool,” Will responded. “Can I tell everyone?”
“Of course, honey,” Maura said.
“Grandma called the house this morning,” he said to Maura. “She wants to come visit next week.”
“Next week?” Maura said in exasperation. “We’re not even going to have him—I mean Alex,” she corrected herself with a nod toward Will, “settled in yet.”
“We’ll have him home,” Jane said. “What else are we going to do to get him settled? The more the merrier, right Alex?” she said the to bundled up baby in her arms. “Pretty soon you’ll have met everyone, little buddy.”
Angela moved to take Alex out of Jane’s arms, as Jane knew she would as soon as possible, and immediately began cooing over him and talking to him while taking the seat Jane vacated for her.“I’m going to go call my mother,” Maura said. “Maybe she can delay her visit a week or two.”
Jane shrugged and said, “We’ll manage it whenever she comes.”
“Has your father stopped by yet?” Angela asked her daughter when
“Nope,” Jane answered in a tone that suggested she didn’t want to discuss it any further. Attempting to end the topic of discussion, she added, “Frankie and Tommy have both visited a few times.”
Ignoring Jane’s response, Angela said, “I told your father when and where to come. I thought he was going to.”
“Well, he hasn’t come and I’m really not feeling surprised or upset about it.”
While the two women talked, Will stood over Angela’s shoulder and made silly faces at Alex and laughed at the baby’s entirely involuntary reactions. To Angela he asked, “Are you going to be called Grandma too or something else?”
“In my family instead of Grandma we usually use Nonna. It’s the Italian word for grandmother, so I think I’ll be Nonna,” she answered.
“Oh,” he said.
“You can call me Nonna too if you want,” Angela told him.
“I can?”
“Of course. You’re my grandson now too.”
“Oh yeah,” he said, as if he hadn’t considered that before. “Cool. Can I hold Alex now?”
Angela reluctantly gave up her seat so Will could sit down and carefully placed Alex in his arms and said, “Remember to support his head.” Stepping back to where Jane stood across the room, she said softly, “You have two great kids, Janie.”
“I know. Crazy right?”
“Will obviously takes after his mother,” she said and Jane laughed. “I hope Alex takes after you enough to give you at least a little bit of hell, especially during his teenage years.”
Jane laughed again and said, “Yeah, well, be careful what you wish for. If he starts getting too wild, I’m sending him to live with you.”
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Jane and Will sat on the floor of the living room in front of the television playing a game on the xbox. Maura, Constance, and Alex had gone out to go shopping. The truth was that Jane would have preferred to have kept Alex in her arms in the house all day, but she was also happy to let Maura and her mother spend some time together, and in reality there were supplies and clothes they still needed for Alex. With so little time to prepare from his arrival, it seemed like every day they figured out something else that they didn’t have or didn’t have enough of.
But now that they were out of the house Jane was going a little stir crazy without the baby to focus her attention on. The snow was still piled high outside from an endless string of snowstorms and spring seemed nowhere in sight. She suggested the game to Will, looking for an opportunity to work off some energy by focusing her concentration on something else.
During the middle of playing Will asked, “Jane, can we get a dog?”
“You just got a new brother, now you want a dog too. What are you going to do with a dog?”
“Play with it. Teach it tricks. Go to the park.”
“I’m allergic to dogs,” Jane responded.
“Can we get one anyway?” Will asked, undaunted.
“Ask your mother,” Jane said.
“You’re my mother too,” Will shot back.
Jane grinned in exasperation and said, “Ask your other mother, but not while your grandmother is here. And maybe not until Alex has been home for at least a few weeks.”
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Meanwhile, Maura was pushing Alex in the stroller through the shopping mall with her mother walking beside her.
“I still don’t understand why you wanted to go to the mall,” Constance was saying.
“Because this is where the diapers are,” Maura responded.
“Couldn’t you have ordered them online?”
Maura stopped walking and said, “Alex is still underweight and I don’t like the small diapers we have. They’re giving him a rash. I want to get new ones today, and I want to look at them in person so I can pick the ones I like. And there’s some other things we need. You didn’t have to come and if you had waited a week or two to visit, we would have been more settled.” Maura had actually wanted to get out of the house for a little while and had assumed her mother wouldn’t volunteer to come along. Constance wasn’t doing anything particularly annoying, but Maura had suggested she wait before visiting and she was simply aggravated that Constance came anyway.
“Maura, darling. I have a new grandson. Of course I wanted to come as soon as possible to meet him. I’m sorry if you feel like I’m putting you out.”
Maura shook her head and said, “No, I’m sorry. It’s been a stressful few weeks. Wonderful, but stressful. I’m glad you’re here to meet your grandson. Why don’t you take Alex and just walk around or go to any stores you want. I’ll go pick up what I need to and then we’ll go out for lunch?”
Constance agreed and when they met up again an hour later, her hands were full of shopping bags. At first Maura assumed they were things she purchased for herself, but then she saw the store names on the bags.
“What on earth did you get?” Maura asked.
“Just a few things for Alexander. Clothes, toys, things like that.”
“Just a few?” Maura said incredulously.
“Yes, well, you can never have enough clothes right?”
Maura smiled and said, “Thank you. I love you.”
“Now, how about lunch? We’re not going to eat at the mall, are we?” Constance asked, crinkling her nose.
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A little after midnight Jane and Maura lay in bed with Alex sleeping between them. He had woken up for his midnight feeding and after feeding him his bottle they put him on the bed between them so they could simply enjoy him and each other for a few peaceful minutes.
“When you go back to work next week, you’ll have to let me do this feeding so you can sleep,” Maura said softly.
Jane shrugged a shoulder. “I”m used to irregular sleep schedules. We’ll see what works. Maybe I’ll do the morning feeding so you can sleep in and I’ll go to work early.”
“You’re volunteering to get up early?” Maura said in surprise.
Instead of directly answering her question, Jane said, “You know I love you, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“And Will,” Jane quickly added. “I would do absolutely anything for both of you. But I can’t even explain the feeling I have for Alex, to be responsible for this little tiny being. I feel like my heart is going to explode from my chest.”
“Are you sure you don’t have a serious medical problem?” Maura replied.
Jane rolled her eyes and said, “You know what I mean, right?”
Maura reached out to take Jane’s hand and, smiling, said, “Yes, I do. I know exactly what you mean.”
“Will it always feel like this?” Jane asked.
“It will fade some. It won’t always be so intense. But then something will happen, or he’ll do something, and that feeling will hit you again. Sometimes Will does something really sweet or he’ll say something or do something that will make me realize how much he’s grown or how smart or sweet he is, and I’ll be overcome with the feeling you’re describing.”
“So I have years and years of this to look forward to?” Jane asked.
Maura smiled and answered, “Yes.”
“Good,” Jane said with a chuckle. “I guess I should move him to his crib now. He should be out now for a few more hours at least.”
Maura nodded and Jane picked up Alex to carry him to his crib in the yoga room that was now his temporary nursery. Once he was sleeping through the night, they would move him to his room on the second floor, but for now they decided it was easier to have him in the adjoining room.
When Jane returned and got back into bed, Maura said, “You’re great with him. You’re a natural mother.”
Jane grinned but then shook her head and said, “Earlier today Will asked me if we could get a dog.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him to ask you,” Jane answered.
Maura laughed. “Well, what do you think about getting a dog?”
“I think I’m allergic to dogs.”
Smiling, Maura said, “Can we get one anyway?”
Now Jane laughed and answered, “Probably.”
Jane was laying on her back and now Maura moved on top of her, straddling Jane’s waist. She leaned forward and rested a palm against Jane’s chest between her breasts. “You know that feeling of your heart beating out of your chest?” Maura asked and Jane nodded. “You give me that feeling too. All the time.”
Jane reached out to brush her fingers against Maura’s cheek and then moved her hand to the back of her neck to pull Maura’s head down so she could bring their lips together. Soon clothes were shed and bodies were moving together, starting slowly and building until they collapsed in a heap of tangled and sweaty limbs for a few hours of sleep before Alex woke them up again.