I usually hate risking giving away details at the beginning of a story, but this story will contain some very dark themes, which may be triggering for some readers. If reading about mental and physical abuse and rape are difficult or triggering, then please do not continue.
There will be no gratuitous, or graphic, violence. I'm not into writing it any more than you are into reading about it. I will be including only enough mention/description as required to satisfy the plot.
I strongly caution against trying to read this story in one sitting, for those who only read completed stories. It was a very emotionally draining story to write, and I can't see it being any easier to read.
This is a work of fiction. I own no part of Rizzoli and Isles, and have no expectations that season three will in any resemble this story. In fact, I hope it doesn't.
Thanks and credit go to Honorcpt for acting as beta, soundingboard, and consultant. Thanks also go to a wonderful Twitter follower (I didn't ask for permission to name them, but they know who they are) who answered a request for legal clarification, and ended up spending hours helping me figure out details and listening while I talked out ideas and turned an idea for a scene into a story premise. Without them, this story probably would have never been posted.
After the shooting in the burned out warehouse, Jane and Maura's friendship fell apart. Doyle survived, but remained in a comatose state. Having suffered two heart attacks during surgery, the doctors were doubtful that he would fully recover. Even if he came out of the coma, the extent of the damage from the gunshots and both heart attacks meant that he would probably be bedridden for the rest of his life.
Maura visited him everyday and got updates from his doctors. She ignored Jane when she saw her doing the same thing. She'd sit with him, tell him of Constance's progress, and explain what his doctors told her about his condition. She never touched him, and rarely stayed more than a few minutes.
As soon as his doctors deemed him stable enough to move, he was transferred to a secure medical wing in a maximum security prison. Maura's visits stopped.
Jane stopped by the hospital everyday during her lunch. She never went in Doyle's room. She'd get a status update from his doctors, bring coffee to the uniforms stationed at his door, and ask who had been to see him that day. Most days, she saw Maura, usually either coming or going from her own daily visit.
When Doyle was transferred, Jane started calling each day to see if there was any progress.
Maura refused to speak to Jane. At crime scenes she directed all information to either Frost or Korsak. After Jane's first attempt to view an autopsy, where Maura completely ignored her presence, Korsak started making all trips to the morgue and lab. Reports were either picked up by Korsak, or sent up in the interoffice mail.
For the first week, Jane called Maura everyday. Each time, it went to voicemail and she left a message apologizing and explaining herself. After that, she started calling once a week, and emailing everyday. Her calls went unanswered, and her emails were returned, marked as addressed to an invalid address.
Almost two weeks after the shooting, a courier delivered a box to Jane's apartment. It contained the clothing, various hygiene supplies, random belongings Jane had left at Maura's house, and everything Maura had bought to keep at her house for Jo.
Jane stopped calling and emailing.
Two months after the shooting, Maura made the decision to start a rotation. Every other week, for a week at a time, she would work in a different medical examiner's office. During that week, she'd evaluate the work of the resident medical examiner and their staff and make suggestion for improvements. Those she saw as promising for advancement were given the chance to spend a week working out of the Boston office.
She almost entirely stopped going to crime scenes. Even though she still performed autopsies, she tried to limit her duties to administrative work, as much as possible. Each passing week saw less and less contact with the detectives.
Angela moved out of Maura's guest house, not able to handle the strain living there put on her relationship with both women. She was able to find a small efficiency apartment in a relatively safe neighborhood. Taking more hours at the diner and finding an evening job at a coffee shop, she was able to afford rent and living expenses.
Sunday dinners were moved to Jane's apartment, since she was the only one with enough room. With Angela working two jobs, they were lucky to be able to have one dinner a month.
Each missed week brought Frankie and Tommy to Jane. Tommy blamed Jane for shooting Doyle and essentially breaking their family even further apart. Frankie pressed her to apologize to Maura, not believing she had already tried, just to have her efforts ignored.
Frost and Korsak avoided all mention of Maura where Jane could hear. They'd refer to the 'morgue.' Discussion of an autopsy tended to stop suddenly while they looked at Jane in pity and tried their best to find a way to relay the results without mentioning who they got them from.
When Maura started her rotation, it got worse. Mention of whichever doctor was taking Maura's place that week made Jane wince in pain, and sometimes storm off in anger.
They finally settled into a routine of relaying the results with no mention of how or where they got them. Not even the morgue was mentioned, anymore.
Jane fell into a pattern of working long hours, spending only the minimum amount of time with friends and family outside of work that she could get away with, and joking and laughing less and less as time went on.
Korsak and Frost weren't sure how to help, and were wary of pushing too hard or too fast. Angela was too busy working two jobs to realize just how far Jane had withdrawn. Frankie and Tommy still blamed her and thought it was her responsibility to fix things with Maura.
The further Jane withdrew into herself and work, the less everyone tried to keep her involved. Eventually, it was just assumed that she would turn down any invitations to get a drink at the Dirty Robber or watch a game together. The only time she spent with anyone outside of work, were the more and more infrequent family dinners.
No one really saw Maura, or knew how she was doing. Her weeks on rotation were spent living in hotels across the state. When she was in Boston, she stayed in her office as much as possible. For the first time in years, her office door was always kept closed.
She never ate in the diner or stopped by the squad room, anymore. The only time anyone saw her was on the rare occasions she relayed autopsy or lab results, or passing briefly in the hallway or elevator.
During work, she was always professional and as direct and literal as always. The biggest difference was the lack of tangential conversation. She would explain the results exactly, never volunteered any other information, and only corrected them when it was directly related to the case.
The few times they saw her outside of work, usually only passing as they came or went from the building, she was polite, almost to the point of being dismissive and formal. She never asked how they were doing and answered any questions as briefly and vaguely as possible.
The uniforms started calling her 'The Queen of the Dead,' again, and there was no one to stop them. Even Korsak and Frost started using the moniker. There just didn't seem to be anything left of the woman they'd known as their friend. She'd reverted to the distant, exactingly professional, and formal medical examiner she'd been when she first started working there.
Six months after the shooting, their lives were barely recognizable. Friendships were strained almost to the point of breaking, or already broken. The Rizzoli family barely talked to each other. Jane barely talked to anyone. Angela no longer had the time, or energy, to check up on her children. Frost worked more closely with Korsak than either of them did with Jane. Maura was nowhere to be seen