As a child, she had never had a best friend. She'd watched as other girls at school giggled and whispered at lunch, and walked home together. Invitations to sleepovers had been few and far in between, and usually ignored. Then there were the nicknames. The teasing. Children were cruel, and they had shown no mercy in teasing the slightly chubby child whose name was Jane Rizzoli. Rollie pollie Rizzoli was the one she remembered the most. Just thinking of the name still made her cringe. High School had been better, but not remarkably so. There had been girlfriends sprinkled throughout her four years before the Police Academy, but no one that she been especially close to. Any problems she had were usually told to her Dad. Her brothers, who had in turn confided in her on more than one occasion. She'd never had anyone to tell her secrets to, to completely be herself with. The truth was, there were very few people she could be herself with. She could be herself at work, though she had a reputation to keep. She could be herself around her mother, though there were things she didn't like the idea of the woman knowing. Not Casey, not any other flings she might have had both in High School and after. Korsak, Martinez, Frost. She could relax, she could let her guard down, if only a little bit. Korsak might have loved and protected her like a daughter, but she had never found herself spilling everything to him. Close, but not completely. The bond was there, and they might have shared their lives, but there were still secrets. Little ones, harmless ones, but they were still there. Korsak and Frost meant the world to her, but they had not been what she had needed. There had been no one, and she had been okay with that.
Until Maura Isles had come along, that is.
Maura was the kind of person that you either loved or hated. You could either find her personality fascinating, endearing, or annoying and grating. She still wasn't sure how their friendship had started. It had just... happened. One day it wasn't there and the next, it had been. Oh sure, she remembered how they'd first met. The thought was almost enough to make her groan in something resembling embarrassment. How many people could say they had met their best friend while undercover as a prostitute? After the incident in the cafe, she hadn't seen Maura for a long time. She'd stewed over the incident until something else had come along to distract her, and then the woman hadn't even crossed her mind until she had transferred over to Homicide. The Chief Medical Examiner had been an every day part of life after that. Somehow, they had just clicked.
It was surprising if you really stopped to think about it, and yet, to Jane, it made sense. Maura was a woman of class. Always dressed to impress, able to elbow her way through the highest of social circles. She had grace, an elegance that was present no matter what she might have been doing. She was smart. So smart that sometimes she got a headache from being around the woman. She seemed to know everything about anything, and while the cop may have made it a habit to tease her as often as she could, it never failed to impress her. In the beginning, she had felt intimidated. Sometimes she wondered if Maura had even realized it. Maura could never quite grasp why people were intimidated in her presence. She was both cocky and humble, and it always made Jane smile.
She herself was a rough and tumble kind of girl. She had always played sports, had always hung out with boys. She'd never been into Barbies, had to be forced to wear a skirt or a dress. She could have cared less what she looked like, but always made sure she was presentable for work. She didn't consider herself beautiful in any sense of the word. Especially not like Maura, who was gorgeous.
But the thing about Maura was that her beauty was not just on the outside, but the inside as well. Jane couldn't remember knowing someone who had cared as much as Maura did. She was the best at what she did because she wanted to figure out why someone had been murdered, and who had done it. She wanted justice for the person on the table in front of her. She had always seemed to relate better to the dead than to the living. And to be honest, Jane couldn't blame her. As a Cop, she saw the worst kind of people. And the worst in people you might have thought were good people. Sometimes Jane wondered what Maura would be like if she were a Cop instead of a Medical Examiner. As even tempered as Maura seemed, she wasn't someone you angered. You didn't threaten her, or the ones she loved. She was anything but weak, anything but the high society snob she might have seemed to some people. She was fearless. Jane might have been the warrior, but Maura was fearless. She might shed tears of anger or sadness, might have been terrified of someone or something, but that never stopped her. Jane respected her for that. She respected her for being the kind of person that gave you a little bit of faith in humanity. She respected her because it took more than a little bit of stormy weather to bend the Doctor.
And she loved her because she had always been there. Always.
She had been there, in the days following the incident with Charles Hoyt. She had been there at her bedside, ready to hold her as she cried. She had been ready to let a Nurse know when her best friend needed something, or if she had questions about the treatment. She hadn't batted an eyelash at the bloody bandages wrapped around Jane's hands. She had been strong, for Jane and for herself. She had been strong when Jane couldn't. She was the only person that Jane could break in front of and not be ashamed. She didn't hide from her, like she hid from Korsak. She might have tried to lighten the mood and tease over it later, but she welcomed Maura's comfort. Even if it was just random facts spoken to entertain, distract her. Maura was always there. She had seen Jane at her worst, had been there for her at her worst. She was snapped at, griped at, yelled at. She wiped tears, gave hugs that always seemed to make everything a little better. She tolerated more than she should have had to, and yet it never seemed like a chore to her. She was always there to smile and find some way of reassuring her best friend. Jane wasn't sure how they had chosen each other, but she was glad. Because her life would have been incomplete without Maura. And it was no lie. Arguments that lasted longer than the conversation where they started always ate away at her. She hated the thought of Maura being angry at her, and yet, it always seemed that Jane was doing something to provoke a spat. She was reckless, and though she would never admit it, she hated it. Maura always forgave her, always worked hard to make things right between them. Jane only hoped she as good a best friend to Maura as the woman was to her. She did her best, but there were always doubts. Sometimes her best didn't feel good enough. And yet, it was always enough-more than enough- for Maura.
It wasn't something you could easily explain, but the two shared a bond that came along once in a lifetime. They could hold a conversation without uttering a word to each other. They somehow could always tell if something was off about the other, no matter how much they both might have tried to hide or ignore it. They knew each other's little quirks and habits that usually would have gone unnoticed. They knew preferences, right down to what the other wanted to drink when they were in a certain mood. They knew how to make each other feel better, knew that sometimes all they could do was be there for the other. As long as they were there for each other, that was all that mattered. Men would come and go in their life. They might both get married, have children. But their lives would never separate. They would always be sisters, because family was more than blood. And they would always love each other. They might hurt, might argue. They were human, they weren't perfect. But they were stuck with each other. And Jane wouldn't have it any other way. They would work together, gossip together. They would be each other's Maid of Honor. They would raise their children to be as close as they were now. Hell, they would probably still be playfully bickering when they were old enough to be in a retirement home, their husbands taking bets on who would cave first on the side.
"Jane? Jane, have you been listening to a word I've been saying?"
Still smiling, Jane looked up to a questioning, somewhat annoyed stare. Maura, on the other side of the table, had already finished her drink and apparently her story. "No." She admitted slowly, trying not to laugh when Maura's expression went slightly darker. "But," She was quick to add before the other woman could scold her. "Tell me again. Please?" She put on her best smile, that was quick to make Maura soften and shake her head.
"What were you thinking about, anyway?" She asked with her own smile widening.
"Oh, nothing." Jane shrugged, reaching for her slightly watered down soda. "Nothing at all."
Just thinking about my best friend and how lucky I am to have her.
A/N: This is special to me because not only does it describe my favorite characters and their friendship, but mine and my best friend's as well. Hope you like, woman. Happy Birthday and here's to another year!