A Matter of Fate
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Before there was a beginning to my story…
So I'm standing here looking down the barrel of a gun. Okay. That's half-truth. I'm sitting…okay I guess that isn't totally accurate either. I'm laying on my side, holding my stomach cause at any given moment I think I might toss up my lunch. I'm not looking down the barrel of a gun. I'm looking up the barrel of a gun. Three guns to be exact. Three guns being held by three very unhappy men. Three unhappy men that have decided I'm the cause of their distress. I, Jane Rizzoli am…screwed. And we're not talking in the good, 'smoke them if you got them after sex' way.
You know…25 years ago when I first met her, I remember thinking I'd die for that smile. If only I knew how accurate that would be here and now. I can't blame this all on her. In fact- I guess I can't blame any of this on her. I just find it ironic. If I wasn't looking up at three guns and trying desperately to hold back the bile in my throat…I'd probably laugh at the irony.
She was seven.
I was eight.
It was love.
Her name was Maura Isles.
We were playing out in the school yard. It was a big schoolyard. It was a big school. It was the third day of first grade. I remember I had been watching the older kids play marbles. I wanted to join them…but they wouldn't consider it.
That's when I heard it.
A small voice asking them to stop. To leave her alone. The kid who I only knew as "prep school". I cocked my head to the side and looked back seeing the dirty blond move her head back and forth between the two boys who were no bigger than myself.
"Give it," she asked pleading with them. They only laughed harder at her.
"Hey," I said coming up to them slowly. "Give that back to her."
The bigger of the two boys looked at me. "Who's going to make me?" he laughed pushing me back. "Not some stupid girl with cooties…"
Well…I was never one to take an insult well. My mom used to tell and my brother Frankie that our tempers would get us into trouble one day. The day had come.
Next thing I knew, Mrs. Davis was pulling me off Billy…or Bobby…or whatever his name was. He dropped out in the eighth grade I think. Anyway…next thing I remember Mrs. Davis saying was, "Girls should rough house Jane. Get moving…"
I spent the next week against the wall, watching all the kids play. Billy…or Bobby…had to stand next to me. There was nothing worse than being forced to stand still, outside on a nice day, while hundreds of other kids played around you. If I knew what the term, "this sucks," meant…I'd have repeated it over and over again under my breath.
"Thanks," I heard her small voice say to me. I turned my head and smiled. "I'm Maura."
"Jane."
"Hi," Maura smiled at me. She smiled and I thought…I'd die for that smile.
Oh wait. I digress…
That's right.
Floor.
Gut.
Bile.
Angry men.
Barrels.
Three Barrels.
"Listen guys…"
"Shut your fucking mouth," the one with the limited vocabulary said. I wondered quickly if he even knew a sentence that didn't start or end in that word. Maura hated that word and almost any other curse word for that matter. Another thought that would have made me smile had the situation not been so drastic.
'How the hell did I get here?' I wondered as I squinted in an attempt to focus. The overhead florescent lights were blinding. The last twenty years of my life flashed quickly. I saw them as though they were slides being clicked after a few seconds.
Maura and I rode our bikes together.
My Dad opened his own plumbing business.
My brothers Toomy and Frankie climbing a tree. Tommy broke his arm trying to out climb me.
I won the spelling bee in the 5th grade.
I found out there was no Santa the night I caught Dad and Mom under the tree. Mom cried. Dad smiled.
Maura and I didn't have any more classes after the fifth grade together. It was one of the last years we ever really hung out. She was going to a prep school now.
I got accepted to the 8th grade scholastic achievement school for the summer.
I played my first varsity basketball game on the road.
I quit band because it wasn't cool anymore.
I had my first kiss with Joseph behind the soda machine in the cafeteria.
I was the captain of the track team and the Softball team.
I was nominated most athletic. Most funny.
I graduated eighth in my class. Maura I had read in the paper, graduated first.
I went to college and got my BS in criminal science.
I had my first kiss with Jen behind the soda machine. In the cafeteria.
I won an academic excellence award for social society structures.
I came out to my parents, and brothers.
I joined the police force four months after graduation.
I broke up with my first and only girlfriend after six years of dating.
And then…well the rest would take way too long to explain.
And well…here I am.
Three barrels looking down at me.
A headache that could wake the dead.
I felt a kick connect with me stomach. I closed my eyes as blackness engulfed me. The last thing I saw as the bright light shinned in was her face. She looked just the way she did all those years ago and I knew I'd die to see that smile.
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7 months before…
Jane smiled at the rookie over her coffee cup. "Smart ass," she laughed and shook her head.
"What? What did I say?" Frost asked smirking and ducking as Jane tossed the papers at him.
"You don't have to say it. I know you're thinking it."
"Well she is a pretty woman Jane. Don't tell me you weren't thinking it too." Frost paused and just eyed the Detective. "Jane you're full of shit you know that don't you."
"Eat your donut," Jane laughed.
"Is that some stupid cop joke?"
"Wow. You're funny today," Jane smiled and looked back down at her folder. "So any new leads?"
"No," Frost shook his head. He snapped back into cop mode just as quickly as Jane did. "Same MO and nothing else. No new evidence. No ID. Nothing."
Jane studied the pictures. "Makes me wonder how he got the girl into his car."
"You're assuming he moved her by car."
"He had to," Jane said looking at Frost. "Someone would have seen her if he didn't. And more than likely he drugged her."
"Before or after?"
"Before is my guess," Jane said looking over the tox screen report on the Jane Doe they had been called in on two days earlier. "Have the labs been able to ID the drug yet?"
"Still working on it," Frost said taking another bite of his donut. "Come on Jane. She was hot wasn't she?"
Jane smiled. She didn't look up from her folder. She just let out a long sigh. "Yes. She was hot Frost. Now go enjoy your stupid little boy lesbian fantasy." Frost just laughed.
Jane got out of her car and clicked on the alarm as the beep beep could be heard echoing through the parking garage. She had one small bag of groceries tucked under one arm and her uniform for the chiefs speech on Friday tucked under the other arm. Keys in her mouth, she shuffled her feet toward the stairs when she heard the echoing of shouts. She dropped the bag and dry cleaning and took off running toward the sound of the distress which was becoming louder with each second.
"Hey!" she called approaching the young men who were fighting with another young couple. There were three of them…Jane just evened up the young couples odds. "You want trouble you found it."
"Step off bitch," the younger of the men said. "This ain't your business."
"I'm a cop," Jane said. "This is my building. You're making it my business."
"Damn man," one of the other men said hissing. "She's a cop. Let's roll."
"No man," the first man said. "She ain't no cop. She ain't got no gun."
"No…I don't. But the backup I just called is going to be here in about 45 seconds so I suggest you start running now." Jane prayed her bluff would not be seen through. Silently she cursed herself for keeping the gun locked in her car and not calling back up before her now grossly underestimated encounter.
"You ratted us out man," he shouted to the young man with his girlfriend. "You know we Dee's don't stand for that bro. You and your bitch gonna pay for that," he said roughly as he pulled out a knife.
"Shit," Jane mumbled under her breath as the young man, who was clearly protecting his girlfriend, charged at the thug holding the knife.
"Aw Hell…" Jane jumped in.
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"You okay Detective?" The EMT asked Jane as she was holding her side.
"Jane," Jane hissed through clenches teeth.
"Jane," the EMT nodded. "We've stopped the bleeding."
"Where's the kid?" Jane asked looking around the ambulance as she became more aware of her surroundings.
"He didn't make it," The EMT shook his head. "GSW to the chest."
"Gun?" Jane squinted as she tried to remember. "They had a gun?"
"Which young man are you talking about?"
"The kid who was jumped," Jane said feeling the pain run down her side. "Shit why does that hurt so much?"
"You were shot," the EMT said taken back that Jane didn't know.
"That would explain the pain," she tried to breathe.
"I just gave you some morph…give it a second to kick in."
"The girl. Is she ok?"
"Yeah the police are questioning her now."
"Her boyfriend?"
"Cut on his arm. He's alright though."
"Who was shot?" Jane asked feeling the drugs kicking in.
"Attacker. Girl hit him."
"She shot him?" Jane asked shocked and now very sleepy.
"And you," The EMT nodded. "Okay we're here. Let's roll her…"
Jane saw the passing lights as she squinted from the overhead fluorescents. "GSW to the shoulder. Vitals good. BP good. Bleeding controlled," the EMT said running off the list to the ER doctor.
"Good," the Doctor said nodding. "Detective? Detective?" the Doctor called.
"Her name is Jane."
"Jane," The Doctor said the name softly. "Can you hear me?"
Jane turned her head slowly and looked up at the Doctor. "Hi," she said clearly under the affects of the drugs. The Doctor smiled. Jane quickly realized she'd die for that smile.
"Maura…" Jane breathed as the mask fogged up.
"Jane…" Maura felt her heart skip a beat. It had been so long…
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A:N/ This is a AU story. Characters will be the same as R&I but I'm changing them up a bit. I hope you enjoy. Thanks again for all the support and all my new followers for the stories.