Work Text:
Jane Rizzoli was not having a great day, which seemed to be the theme of the week that was finally ending. Work had been less than stellar, what with lost and misplaced evidence, nerve-grating interference from an out-of-state detective that kept questioning her every move, and a shouting match with said detective that ended with a bruised fist and a bloody nose. And to cap off her Friday evening, 8-month-old baby Sarah had been in the the throes of a crying fit for the past half-hour, that would not be soothed by any amount of cooing, rocking, swaying, diaper checks or feeding attempts. Her little girl was upset, and Jane could not figure out what was wrong, as she paced the length of the living room, while throwing mildly apologetic looks at a frowning, recently-turned-fourteen Eleanor Mackenzie.
“I’m sorry about this, kid…” The woman offered over Sarah’s hysterical wailing. “This was not what we had in mind for your stay with us this weekend…”
It was only the third time Kenzie would be staying overnight at the Rizzoli-Isles home. And it was the first time that she’d spend an entire weekend with the two women that had, somehow, stuck around for months, in spite of her adamant dismissals of their intentions to help her off the streets and away from the drug-running mob that she was peripherally acquainted with, and in spite of the sometimes downright aggressive and heated fights she’d had with the detective.
The girl shrugged and offered a tiny smile from where she sat somewhat stiffly at the dinning table, still entirely uncomfortable in the large house and unsure how she was supposed to fit in with this family. “It’s okay… I guess she’s not having the best day…”
The baby was indeed still crying her little heart out and her chubby little cheeks were an angry red. Jane continued to pace and rub soothing circles on the baby’s back, trying to calm her down.
And when the detective’s phone rang, her mood only soured further when she saw that the caller ID was from the precinct. “I swear if that entitled prick is having me called back into work, I will murder him and have Maura hide the body…” She muttered menacingly, glaring at the offending device.
When the call went unanswered only for the phone to start ringing again, Jane looked helplessly at her still crying daughter and then turned to look appraisingly at the teenager at the table. “Do you… have you ever held a baby?”
Kenzie’s eyes widened in alarm. “I- no? When would I have held a baby?!” The girl hissed.
“Well then, first time for everything.” Jane looked the girl dead in the eye. “They are not gonna stop calling until I answer, so…” She said seriously, as the phone went silent and then started ringing again.
Kenzie hesitantly rose off her chair and walked over to the detective. “Are you… sure?” She asked, looking up at the woman, uncertainty written all over her face.
Jane was still looking at her very seriously, but then nodded surely. “Look kid, I don’t like the people you hang out with, but I know you won’t hurt the kids.” She declared, much to Kenzie’s complete disbelief and bewilderment. Then, she carefully, and after some instruction on arm position and body support, settled baby Sarah firmly in the shocked girl’s arms.
It was then Jane’s turn to be completely stunned, as the baby promptly stopped crying to stare wide-eyed at this new person holding her. There was a full minute of shocked silence, while baby Sarah stared at Kenzie and the teenager stared right back, and Jane looked at them both, mouth hanging slightly open.
And then, of course, the detective’s phone started ringing again. Jane actually jumped and glared at the damn object as if willing it to spontaneously combust right where it sat on the kitchen island. Kenzie blinked and then mildly panicked as the baby in her arms scrunched up her little red face as if to start wailing again. Without really thinking about it, she brought the baby to her chest and, as gently as she managed, settled her left arm under her little butt and her right hand on her back. Sarah sniffled and whimpered uncertainly a few times and then settled her little head on the older girl’s shoulder, clumsily grasping at the fabric of her shirt with a hand.
Jane smiled tenderly at her sad baby, gently wiping the fat tears that still clung to her eyelashes and chubby cheeks. “It’s okay, baby. You’re alright…” She soothed. “Kenzie will hold you a minute while I get the phone…” And with a kiss to the back of the little girl’s head she moved to answer the phone with an annoyed hiss, leaving a completely bewildered Kenzie looking down at the baby in her arms.
When asked, Kenzie could not tell you (even to this day) how she’d found herself sitting on the couch of the Rizzoli-Isles living room half an hour later, with baby Sarah settled somewhat contently against her chest. Jane would later tell her that when she’d finished her phone call three minutes after answering, she’d found the two girls still in the same spot staring at one another. And that when she’d moved to take the baby back, Sarah was having none of it, whimpering in distress and clutching tightly to the teen’s shirt. And that when she’d tried another two times to take her, Sarah was just as unhappy, looking at her mother with the cutest angry scrunched up face, as if utterly offended. And that she’d decided it was best to just let the finally calm baby be and had directed the amusingly (to Jane) dumbfounded teen to the couch, to let her bond with her future little sister.
Kenzie only became really aware of her new location when the front door opened to admit a tired, but amused Maura and the cheerful three-year-old twins. Jane moved to help her wife with the grocery bag and the three boxes of warm pizza, chips and chicken nuggets. Kenzie watched in trepidation as Maura smiled gratefully at the other woman and then noticed her presence on the couch.
The doctor blinked at the unusual sight that greeted her from her living room. For a few, infinitely brief, moments, she was startled at the sight of Mackenzie holding her baby daughter. However, Maura knew the girl would not hurt her children, despite what some people had been suggesting since her and Jane had met the girl and were made aware of her background, and her apprehension quickly faded into a gentle smile and a warm, quiet greeting for the anxious-looking teenage girl.
Kenzie only relaxed marginally at that, answering with a very unsure smile.
Of course, that was when the twins noticed the presence of their new favorite person. “Kennie!” They greeted excitedly, grinning wildly and hurrying to the couch, stopping shy of throwing themselves at the girl when they noticed their baby sister. “Oh!” Mike exclaimed. “Baby cuddwes!” He bounced on his toes, grinning from ear to ear.
“Baby cuddles?” Kenzie asked, confused.
“Yes!” The little boys intoned simultaneously and then haphazardly launched themselves onto the couch next to Kenzie. With no regard whatsoever for the girl’s personal space and once again alarmed look, the boys shuffled themselves to sit as close to her as possible, much to little Sarah’s annoyance. The baby made her displeasure known at being slightly jostled from her very warm and comfortable spot by glaring cutely at whomever was disturbing her and whining petulantly.
Mike leaned eagerly into his brother and, squishing him further into Kenzie’s side, reached out a hand to gently touch the baby’s cheek. Sarah pouted angrily for another second, before recognising who was touching her and cooing a greeting. She flailed her left arm until she managed to grab onto one of Mike’s fingers and then gurgled happily.
“Hi baby!” Danny greeted quietly, settling one of his own hands over the baby’s own holding Mike’s fingers. He settled his own head against Kenzie’s shoulder and started talking quietly to the baby, telling her a story about ducklings.
Mike looked over his brother’s head at the utterly bewildered teenager. “Baby cuddwes!” He proclaimed with a wide grin and then focused his undivided attention on his cooing baby sister.
Jane and Maura had quietly watched the whole thing, still standing by the door and with Jane still holding the boxes of food and the bag of groceries. And when Mackenzie looked their way mildly alarmed and entirely flummoxed, Jane chuckled. “And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say, that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day…” She murmured quietly enough not to disturb the scene, but still loud enough to earn herself a raspberry from Kenzie.
“That is both medically alarming in the literal sense, and outrageously and sweetly accurate in the metaphorical sense…” Maura chuckled, kissing her wife on the cheek and moving further into the house.
Kenzie had to roll her eyes at the doctor’s amusement, if only to maintain a modicum of her hard-earned street cred, while squished under the cutest and sweetest little children she would ever meet.