Two Weeks on Lake Michigan, Chapter 1
This takes place when Jane is a new detective. There is no Hoyt so it's AU, and I've made up the Aunt and her story. Can't give away the Maura connection just yet, but this is a romance.
The sky was a white blue, the temperature was a perfect seventy, there was a slight wind, and the water was lapping up against the shore. She had walked for over an hour, bare feet dipping hesitantly in the chilly Lake Michigan water. September in Michigan could be cold and rainy or hot and muggy. Actually, it changed day to day, so you could never be sure. But today was perfect, and she was finally feeling herself relax.
It was Angela's idea for her to come here, and for once she had agreed without too much of a fight. Her father's sister, Marie lived in a quaint little town on the coast, and she had invited her to come and stay for a week or two. It was up to Jane to decide how long.
The last few months had been really rough on her. She had never felt the need for a vacation before, but the tension from the last few cases had taken its toll. There had been a child murdered, Frankie had been shot and she had suffered a concussion when a suspect hit her from behind with a steel pipe. She'd spent a few days in the hospital, and when she came home, she'd had trouble sleeping or concentrating and her mother had noticed that she was not herself.
Angela had approached her cautiously, given her ever-present bad mood, and had suggested she might enjoy some time out of Boston.
"Ma, I don't need a vacation, I'm fine."
"Really, Jane, because you seem really depressed lately and you're snapping at everyone at the office. So, if you're fine, does that mean this is going to be your permanent personality? Because if it is, not only will no one ask you out on a date, but no one is going to want to work with you either.
Remember your dad's sister, Marie? She lives in a beautiful little town on Lake Michigan, and she asked your father again when we were going to come visit. Neither your father nor I can take any time off, but you can, Jane. You have a million days accumulated because you never quit working."
"Ma, just give me a couple of days to think about it, okay?"
"Alright, honey, just let me know so I can call Aunt Marie and let her know if you decide to go."
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Jane had flown into Chicago, rented a car, and had arrived at her aunt's house just in time for dinner. They'd spent the evening after a delicious meal catching up on family gossip and the latest news about Jane's brothers, the rest of her dad's family and the other cousins. She found her aunt easy to talk with, funny, irreverent and delightful. She was going to enjoy her stay here. All of her fears about Marie being anything like her parents were washed away with a few beers and some funny stories. Marie was close to seventy, but looked closer to sixty. She was still pretty, had kept herself in shape, and had finally retired. After working at the local factory, she had put herself through college and wrote news articles for the local paper.
Jane woke up early her first morning there, before her aunt was up, put on a pot of coffee, dressed in comfortable shorts and a t-shirt and went down to the beach.
The beach was long and deep and beautiful. The town took care of straining the sand and moving it around with little tractors, and it looked pristine. She loved how it felt when she took off her shoes and made her way to the harder sand near the water's edge.
She walked or ran until she felt the tension leave her body and a calm glow take its place. There was a portion of the beach where the houses were closer to the water, the beach skinnier, and she thought how nice it would be to wake up every morning with the sound of the waves as your wake up sound. She decided she would make the most of being here, and enjoy every minute she could until she felt like herself again. She knew she was tense, that she had been hard to be with, and she finally realized that she actually needed this time away. She'd only been here overnight, but the sound of the water and the quiet helped her enjoy the best night's sleep she could remember.
As she slowed down to cool off, she began to stretch, and as she did, she looked up at one of the houses. It was large, blue with white trim and had two story windows facing the water. There was a woman standing on the porch leaning on the railing looking toward her. She was blond, Jane could see that much, but she didn't want to stare so she averted her eyes, turned around, and continued back the way she'd come. She fought the urge to turn back to see whether the woman was still there and began an easy run.
Her jog gave her time to reflect on her life. She was 35 years old, childless, alone, and worked way too much. Work was where she got her identity, she was Detective Rizzoli, crime fighter extraordinaire, but she had recently begun to wonder what had happened to Jane.
She made her way back down the beach looking forward to lunch with her aunt. Marie was the youngest of her father's siblings, and had never been married. The Rizzoli family was like her own in the way her grandparents constantly nagged about marriage and children, and for that reason she had moved away from Boston. She was still very fit and had been the most beautiful Rizzoli girl before Jane was born. She had Jane's coloring but her black curly hair was short. In the few hours Jane had been there, they had already realized how much they enjoyed each other's company, how alike they were.
Marie's house was right on the beach. It was smaller than the monsters that had come both before and after, but it was still roomy, comfortable and warm. The outside was natural wood and had a huge porch that looked out on the lake. The inside was also natural wood, almost like a log cabin, with exposed beams, a double wide stone fireplace, comfortable chairs, a big stuffed couch and beautiful large woven rugs. There was one bedroom upstairs that had a king size bed, and a giant tub with windows that looked out on the lake. There were two smaller bedrooms and a small office on the first floor. Since her aunt loved to cook, she had the most amazing kitchen Jane had ever seen. It was outfitted with all stainless appliances, including a professional gas stove, beautiful natural oak cabinets, a large island in the middle and a small area that included a rustic looking dining table.
Jane came into the house from the beach after she rinsed the sand from her legs and feet under the outdoor shower.
"Hey, Aunt Marie, thanks for making lunch."
"How was your run, Janie?"
"It was great. God, that beach is beautiful. And, those houses about two miles south of here are pretty amazing."
"The blue one with the white trim and the two-story windows is probably my favorite. There used to be a family that lived there named Stewart. They were billionaires from Chicago, came over here one summer and built that house, stayed only a few weeks, then left and sold the place. We get a lot of that here."
"Actually, I stopped to look at that house before I turned around to come back. Why would they build a big beautiful house like that, then leave?"
Marie hesitated and pushed her salad around on her plate.
"Janie, I don't know how much of the Rizzoli gossip you've heard about me. But I would love it if the two of us could be really honest with other while you're here, and hopefully when you go back home as well."
"Aunt Marie, I would love that. I would love to be able to talk with someone in my family about what's going on for me, and I would love to know all about you. I would especially love it if it was our secret."
Marie smiled. "Okay, Jane, let's move out to the porch. Let me get you more ice tea, and I'll tell you about that great house."
They moved to the porch and Jane put up the large table umbrella. The sun was still pretty hot and they could both appreciate a little shade.
"Thanks, honey. So, that house that we both like was owned, like I said before, by the Stewarts. They had it built and moved in the summer of seventy-four. I guess I was about thirty at the time and still working at the factory. I didn't have to be at work until ten, so I would get up every morning, just like you do, and run on the beach. One morning as I was getting near that house, I saw a woman and two small children sitting near the water. The kids were playing with buckets and shovels, you know how kids do, and the woman, who I suspected at the time was their mom, was sitting in a beach chair reading."
She paused and took a deep breath. Jane just watched her quietly thinking that something important was being remembered by her aunt.
"She had blond hair that was pulled back into a pony tail, a big hat and sunglasses. And as I got closer and tried not to be too obvious, I glanced over. Jane, she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen."