Disclaimer: Same as always, I own nothing. Not the Rizzoli & Isles stuff or the song you may recognize in this. They of course belong to whoever it is that holds the copyrights to them.
Hey everyone! I know it has been a little while, but I am back with another story for you. If you've ever heard Carrie Underwood's Good in Goodbye then you may have heard the inspiration for this story. Also if there are any grammatical errors in this they are completely my own and sorry about that. This one I haven't let my beta take a look at. Sometimes I like to try and get it all on my own and surprise her with a story she didn't know I had. Enjoy!
Jane looked down at the digital clock on the radio in her cruiser. Yep, she was already late and still at least five minutes out from the restaurant. For a split second she considered flipping on the lights and sirens to shave a couple of minutes off her time. But she wasn't in the mood to receive a lecture tonight on the inappropriate use of them. She stepped down on the gas pedal a little more and just made it through the light before it went red, grateful that she didn't have to stop for at least one light.
It took her eight minutes to make it to the restaurant from the time she had checked the clock. Honestly that wasn't too bad of a time considering it was rush hour and the streets were a mess, but considering the fact that she was already late she knew her family wouldn't be too happy with her. At least she had made dinner this time, unlike the last time when she had been called out to a scene half an hour before they were supposed to meet.
She got lucky as she swung her cruiser into the parking lot. Someone else was just leaving and she was able to grab their space. This saved her a few more minutes of circling to try and find a space. She locked up the cruiser and headed around the side of the building to the front of the restaurant.
She had made it almost to the door when she heard a familiar laugh behind her. She stopped dead in her tracks. That was a laugh she hadn't heard in a long time. One she never thought she'd hear again.
It took her back to years ago. All the way back to high school actually. He used to laugh the same way at her when she'd done something that entertained him. She had been less than graceful back then, so it seemed like he constantly laughed at her. She hadn't minded though. Really he was one of the few people who noticed her and she developed a major crush on him in high school. Although they hadn't started a relationship until years after their high school days were over.
Jane couldn't help herself. She stepped away from the door and turned around so she could catch a glimpse of him. Would he still look like he did the day he had to rush back to Afghanistan with his unit? That was she last time she had physically laid eyes on him. She knew her family was waiting on her, but she just couldn't help herself so she turned around to see just where his laugh had come from.
For a moment she was hit with a stinging pain, recalling the times they had spent together. When she first caught a glimpse of him she thought he looked a lot different from when she'd last seen him. But the more she studied him she realized that his changes weren't so much physical. True his hair had lightened up a little in preparation for it to start turning what she thought would be an attractive shade of grey, but the man that she now looked at looked so happy. She wasn't sure she had ever seen him that happy the entire time they had been together. He had a little girl in his arms that he was just preparing to lift onto his shoulders. The little girl had the same grey blue eyes he did. At one point she had loved those eyes more than almost anything else and hoped that their children would have them. They'd never made it to discussing if they wanted children.
She had held onto him for as long as she could; longer than she really should have. Their relationship had been rocky from the start, but she had been willing to overlook all the little details that said they weren't right for each other until the last email. She hadn't experienced a worse pain in her life than when she opened his email and read that he'd changed his mind about leaving the military.
In that moment she'd realized he had to say goodbye to him, and this time it had to be for good. It hurt more than anything to place that ring in the box and address it to him, but she had to do it. For a long time all they had been doing was hurting each other. They had tried for so long to be together that she thought she deserved him. It was part of the reason she had accepted his proposal in the first place. Maybe he had felt the same when he proposed. That wasn't something they'd ever had the chance to discuss either.
Looking back now she didn't regret anything that had happened. She would always remember the time that they had spent together. It was something she couldn't run from, not that she really wanted to. Their memories together started all the way back in high school before they had been together and she couldn't forget those moments. Even after they were together they still had a lot of good times that weren't filled with hurt and she didn't want to forget those either. Life had just taken them down different roads to where they really belonged.
Jane turned back around and made her way once again to the door at the front of the restaurant. She stepped inside and took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the interior of the building as she looked around for her family. A few seconds later she spotted that head of honey blonde hair that she loved so much at a table off to the side.
A huge smile lit up her face as she made her way back to the table with the three people waiting for her.
"Hi, baby," she greeted her wife as she stepped up behind her, catching her a little off guard. She leaned over and placed a kiss on her temple. She could feel the slight bit of annoyance brought on because of her tardiness.
"Mama!" The almost 4 year old squealed with excitement and nearly jumped out of her chair when she realized Jane had arrived.
"Hi, Pumpkin," Jane reached down and scooped up her daughter. "Did you have a good day today?" she asked while giving her a hug. Jane felt a small head nod against her shoulder. "Good. Do I get my kiss now?"
After receiving what was usually her welcome home kiss she placed the little girl back in her chair and moved to take the empty seat at the table. She pulled out the chair and took a seat and then turned her attention to the little boy in the high chair beside her. At just over a year old he didn't have much to say, but he did look like he was happy to see his mama. Jane leaned over placed a kiss on his cheek and gave him a smile along with, "Hey little man." She wanted to pick him up and hold him for a few minutes, but she didn't want to have to mess with getting him out of and back into the chair.
Now that she had greeted her kids, she could turn her attention back to her wife. "Hi," she said again and reached across the table to take her hand. "I'm sorry," she started and looked into those beautiful hazel eyes that she loved more than anything else in the world now before continuing. "I know I'm late. I lost track of time and then hit traffic."
"Well, you're here now," Maura replied.
It wasn't quite an acceptance of her apology because Jane knew that she would probably have to hear more about it later on, but right now she knew they both just wanted to enjoy their family.
Well I do hope you enjoyed this half of the story, and I would love to hear from you all in reviews whether or not you have. I will be back with the other half of this story soon. I won't promise that it will be tomorrow, but I will say that getting a lot of reviews for this could persuade me to change my mind about that. ;-)