Leading up to the Weekend

NOTE:

Set between 5-18 & 6-1. Story as a whole contains spoilers particularly for 5-12,13 & 17. (References made to developments throughout the series.)

Please forgive all the name-dropping and brand identification. It's integral to my story, settings, and characters.

Rizzoli & Isles characters are not mine. Established, known brand-names, places, etc. are not mine. Other characters, settings, and the story events are mine. I receive no financial or other remuneration from this story.

*Although each chapter has a title they do not stand alone. They are sequential.

This is my first work of fiction anywhere. Hope you like it!

Maura got off the elevator and walked toward the bull-pen. Seated at her desk and a little preoccupied, Jane heard approaching stilettos on tile and recognized the walk, sometimes as individual as a fingerprint. But she was was delightfully stunned at the next sensations: a tantalizing fragrance suddenly overwhelming her as Maura came up close behind, locked her arms around her shoulders, took her earlobe playfully between her lips for a few seconds, before moving those lips down to plant a kiss at the corner of hers.

Still locked in Maura's clinch, Jane twisted around. "Maura! We're in the office!" She said in an anxious, yet loving whisper.

Grinning from ear to ear, Maura released her hold, straightened up, and looked around the empty bull-pen area. "Jane, it's lunch-time. There's no one here. A couple people out in the hall, and Cavanaugh might be in his office, but otherwise...no one."

"OK, then.." Jane began sarcastically, jumping out of her chair. "Why don't I just sweep everything off my desk," her arm gesture matching her words, "and we can really go for it! Be a shame to waste an empty office," her voice low and constrained compared to the dramatic gestures.

"Jane, you're so jumpy!" Maura said, placing a hand on Jane's arm. "Besides," she continued matter of fact, "in my experience, doing it on a desk is very uncomfortable, and you can bruise the area around your coccyx."

"My what? Maura, whatever you just said sounded kinda rude," chuckling, "and I'm pretty sure it included something we're not supposed to have, being girls and all."

"'Coccyx'?" Maura asked, puzzled.

"Yeah that! It sounds like you're saying," looking around and lowering her voice again, "sounds like 'cock sucks'."

"The word is 'coccyx', Jane. And we all have one. It's your tailbone."

Steering away from a conversation that had Jane in a constant state of agitation, Maura shook her head to change the subject. "Anyway, I came up to give you more details on the exact cause of death for our first victim. As you know our first victim looked like a case of cardiac arrest due to either accidental or deliberate inhalation of a dangerous substance, rather than a murder. But I though it looked suspicious."

Jane was listening with her rapid nod 'I know this part. Can you please get to the part I don't know', mannerism.

"Deliberate inhalation of substances found in ordinary household products, to induce intoxication is known on the street as 'huffing', or 'choming'; sometimes 'glading', or 'dusting'." Maura continued. Nodding some more, Jane bit her lip.

"After the murder weapon for the second victim was traced to your suspect, the house search turned up the soaked cloth in the garbage. By identifying the substance on that rag, we could then run a tox screen that matched the first victim cause of death, which was tetrafluoroethane forced through the nose and mouth, effectively 'huffing', causing hypoxia."

"Right..OK.." Jane frowned, "Maura, run that by me again, this time in..basic Earthling."

Maura explained: "After being knocked unconscious he had the refrigerant soaked rag, that you found at your suspect's, Roland Duff's, house, taped across his nose and mouth, resulting in SSDS, Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome; in this case simply displacing oxygen in the lungs, and eventually causing heart failure from an irregular heartbeat.

"But, why don't we continue talking about it over lunch. We still have nearly an hour left, and I'm hungry..I mean for food too," Maura said with a dimpled smirk. "But not the cafe, Jane. I feel like going somewhere outside. Join me?"

"OK, why not. Besides I'd like to hear about all those desks you've had sex on." Jane said, straight-faced as she processed all the information Maura had just imparted. "And it's really warm today," she said with a stretch and a happy sigh. "Spring is here, Maura!"

"Yes it is! Meet you in the lobby in 5. Have to get my coat and purse," Maura said walking back to the elevator.

As the elevator doors opened, someone stepped off. As she stepped past him onto the elevator, Maura nodded curtly with a very slight, and formal smile, "Detective Crowe."

"Oh!..d-doctor Isles. G'ahm..good afternoon," he stammered out, with a submissive sneer.

Turning back to the open elevator doors, "Good Afternoon," she replied nonchalantly, looking briefly at him, then dismissively away as the doors closed.

Detective Crowe had yet to recover from his last clash with the Queen of the Dead. When he had made an uncalled-for disparaging remark about herself and Jane in her presence, the Commonwealth's Chief ME had handled him with finesse!

Wielding the weapon of her status and prestige, she had shot him a cool and condescending look, effectively calling attention to his shamefully bad manners. And to all around at the time he was no longer the usual 'smart-ass', he had now downgraded to 'dumb-ass'!

It had been 10 challenging days solving this double homicide, the first one only yielding its first clue, after the second murder. Now the homicide division were 24 hours away from closing in on the suspect, and all staff involved were hoping for a breather before the next case. After work, Jane and Maura went to their separate homes, and spoke on the phone that evening.

"Jane, you remember my friend Robert Kynaston? The one I met when I attended that lecture at BCU a few weeks ago, the one on Digital Forensics The Next Generation?"

"No. You sure you told me about this one? I don't remember that name in my files" Jane said.

Maura continued. "Yes, Jane. Very funny. I did mention him. Anyway, he's been in Europe for a few weeks, lives in Boston, and just got back, and would like to get together with me."

Jane perked up. "He does? What the heck for?"

"Well," a little taken aback by Jane's reaction, "nothing in particular, Jane, just getting together as friends...with interests in common. As it turns out we also have mutual family friends. He introduced himself after the lecture because he thought he recognized me. We were thinking of getting together on Friday night. I've mentioned you to him, and he says he'd love to meet you."

"Me? Really? What, is he one of those guys who wants to make it with two women at the same time?"

"Jane, do you ever listen to yourself?

"Anyway," Maura continued not waiting for Jane's answer. "I'm pretty sure Robert doesn't...have anything like that in mind. Besides, he was thinking to bring along his friend Richard who was with him at the lecture. I met him too. Although, at the time we were introduced, Richard looked like he was just coming out of a deep sleep!"

Jane laughed. "Well, no wonder! 'Digital Forensics, Next Generation' Yawn!"

"Yes, Jane. I know! And I also knew better than to invite you didn't I? Anyway, Richard was very nice. He was also quite gorgeous! Looks like Hugh Jackman!"

"Well why didn't ya say so?" Jane said with mock enthusiasm, still not taking the conversation entirely seriously.

"I just did. So! Jane! Can I tell Robert that we'll go out to dinner with them on Friday night? A double date, sort of."

"Yeah, OK. Do I have to wear a dress?"

"I would say, yes, you do." More entreatingly, "If not for them, Jane, how about for me?"

"Okaay.." Jane said, as though very inconvenienced; and knowing how much harder it got every day, to refuse Maura anything!

Jane then asked, "So, how old are they? Like around our age?"

"I don't know their exact ages," Maura replied, "but I would put them in their early 40s. And apparently both athletic champions who've been on former US Olympic teams!"

"Wow, Maura! Why didn't you say so?"

"Jane, I.. just did. OK! Just so you can plan for it, why don't you come over here on Friday night, and they can pick us both up. OK?

That settled, Maura began to wrap up the conversation, telling Jane that she was getting tired.

"OK, sweetie..I'm obviously a bit punchy myself." Jane, continued more sincerely. "And lunch was fun today. Before lunch was fun..I know I didn't show it at the time. I'm still kinda get used to..us, you know..in front of people. And Maur, you know when I'm teasing, don't you? Just giving you a hard time..for fun?"

"Yes, Jane, I'm learning. And yes, it was fun. You were fun-ny, in the office after I..grabbed you. I guess I tease you too, in my own way. Anyway, g'night now. Love you."

"Love ya too, Maur, more than you know."

About an hour after this, Maura's phone rang again. Answering it, she was pleasantly surprised to hear Constance on the other end.

"Darling! How are you? I hope I'm not calling too late, but I just got out of an all-day function here in Philly, and I wanted to call you as soon as my plans were finalized.

"Mother..It's OK. I was just getting into bed. How are you? And what plans?"

Constance quickly explained that she was flying to Toronto for the week-end to assist with an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and wondered if Maura and Jane would like to come along.

Although she would be busy much of the time, she thought they might enjoy seeing Toronto and attending the party at the AGO on Saturday night. She had the usual 2 bedroom suite at the Hilton reserved, would be passing through Boston on Friday afternoon, stopping for a couple hours, and getting back on the private jet taking her to Toronto.

However, Maura had already called Robert to accept his invitation for Friday night, and since both he and Richard would be leaving again in a few days she didn't want to cancel with them. So reluctantly, she declined Constance's invitation, and they made plans for late May when Constance would be back in Boston.

When Maura finally wound down from her day's activities, she fell into a much-needed 8 hours of sleep. Jane was not quite so lucky, as the details for tomorrow's sting flooded her mind. But eventually, she too drifted into an albeit, fit-full sleep.

The next morning BPD was a flurry of activity and planning. Duff had been tracked to an abandoned SoBo building where he had been holed up for a week having turned a section of the building into a booby-trapped lair. Intelligence gathered also showed him to be cunning, ruthless, and armed, with at least one automatic weapon!

He had killed his first victim using a relatively neat and clean method of toxic suffocation, but the second victim had ended his nefarious days on the 'business end' of a Walther automatic; a blackmail transaction gone terribly wrong!

The assault-force team of 12 which included Jane, Korsak and Frankie, prepared themselves to come back unscathed; between them, donning all levels of protection from bullet-proof vests to full-body armour, helmets and shields. Yes, all this just for a maniac flying solo, but a desperate and dangerous one!

Meanwhile, late morning found Maura on the phone again, with Constance updating her on a slight change of plans, and with another invitation to join her for the weekend.

"Maura my love, I wanted to run another possibility for the weekend by you. I know you're busy, so I'll explain quickly. You may remember Elizabeth Breakspeare, the AGO curator organizing this exhibition. Well, she and I have some last minute changes to work on, as there always are, so Betty has suggested that I stay with her instead of going the hotel, thus saving my going back and forth. So the suite will be completely empty, and of course, has 2 bedrooms.

"Now I know this is very short notice, but I thought no harm in asking you again, if Jane and your boyfriends might want to come along, and make a nice weekend of it."

Sighing, Maura answered, "Oh, Mother, I don't know. I'd like to..it is kind of short notice. Let me check with the others and get back to you."

"Alright. But to save us calling back and forth, let me tell you a couple of things. We'll be flying out of Hanscom on Paul Valeur's jet...don't think you've met him...at about 4:00 tomorrow afternoon. You'll need your passports to enter Canada, and I'll need the gentlemen's full names so that Paul's pilot can file his passenger manifest tomorrow morning. OK? Have you got all that?

"Yes..writing..it..down."

"OK, call or email me."

"OK, Mother I'll get back to you latest..tonight. And thanks. Whatever happens I appreciate you asking us."

"OK, darling, I'll wait to hear from you. Good-bye."

For a few moments, Maura allowed herself to feel slightly overwhelmed with the logistics of the next 24 hours. Although she wanted to reach the 3 other parties, and settle plans as soon as possible, the one that it made sense to settle first, Jane, would be unavailable for..who knows how long.

"I wonder how things are going with the capture operation," she almost mused aloud to her empty office. Feeling a bit at loose-ends, she decided to go out for an early lunch, since by early afternoon things were bound to be hectic.

Shortly after 12 noon when Maura returned to BPD, she noticed Jane's car parked out front, and felt it safe to breathe a sigh of relief! Rather than going down to her office, she went up to the bull-pen. As she walked in, Jane was just coming out of Cavanaugh's office, looking none the worse for her morning's ordeal, her clothes only a little dusty in patches. Her hair was pulled back in a pony-tail.

Seeing Maura standing by her desk, Jane's eyes brightened, and she walked toward her desk exhaling, yet again, with relief. Reaching her desk, she sank down into her chair and said reflectively, "Well..it wasn't easy, but it was easier than we expected!"

Then, more directly to Maura, who now perched on the side of her desk, "Korsak and Frankie are grilling the bastard right now. We had 3 injuries, just minor. Good thing we went in so prepared. God! Maura you should have seen the place! It was a fortress; about all that was missing was a moat and a drawbridge!" She said laughing.

"At one time he had an automatic in each hand firing on the officers as they closed in like an old-west cowboy or something!"

"Well thank goodness you came away unhurt." Maura said, looking Jane up and down again, stroking her arm from top to bottom, and briefly squeezing her hand.

And how was your morning?", Jane asked.

"It was fine, thank you. Jane I have something to run by you. Mother wants to fly you, me, Robert and Richard to Toronto for the weekend." Smiling, she continued, "But I know it's short notice, and after this case you're probably tired...and after having dinner with the guys tomorrow night, just want to spend a relaxing weekend at home."

A few expressions played across Jane's face as she processed this information, and as she opened her mouth to speak, Maura spoke first. "I know. It's a bad idea. I'll tell Mother we can't make it."

"No! No, that actually sounds..like fun!" Standing up, and walking a couple circles near her desk, Jane said, "I'm actually not that tired. I don't know if I'm running on adrenalin, or what... But I feel," taking a deep breath, searching for the right word...

"Elated?" Maura supplied it.

"Yes, 'elated'!" Jane agreed.

"Exhilarated?" Maura continued, laughing, and feeling exhilarated herself!

"Yes, 'exhilarated', too!" Jane answered, laughing affectionately with her human-thesaurus friend.

"Can you get the weekend, and tomorrow and Monday off?" Maura then asked excitedly.

"Lemme go check with Cavanaugh, right now." Jane said as she started in the direction of his office.

A few minutes later, Jane returned to happily report that she had the next 4 days off. Confirming with her that her passport was up to date, Maura, now in a more hopeful mood, excused herself to go back to her office to call Robert immediately.

Within a couple of hours she had confirmation from Robert that both he and Richard were fine with the idea of moving their dinner-date to Toronto, and were free to accept the invitation.

This left Maura the last few hours of this Thursday afternoon to prepare to be out of the office until the following Tuesday. After getting back to her mother, she went about her work, pleasantly diverted with a mental inventory of her closet, as she planned her weekend wardrobe.