Author's Note: So here I am, writing more fics when I never believed I would write even one. But I have been entertaining the idea of Maura having an intern; a young girl fresh out of medical school, who wants to be everything perfect and "grow up" to be just like Maura. She is virtually infatuated with Maura and thinks that Maura is just perfect. So this will be a little series of ficlets following this young girl, and her morgue adventures with Dr. Maura Isles.
I sit parked, two blocks away from the actual building in which my new job is located, in my little navy blue 2007 Hyundai Sonata. It may not be the most glamorous of cars, but I love it; it does its job and my parent's gave it to me 5 years ago as a college graduation gift. But my car is not what I should be focusing on. I am exactly 21 minutes early on my first day, and I take some of this time to mentally prepare myself. I need to walk these two, extremely boding blocks, up the steps, and through the doors of the Boston Police Headquarters. Located on the bottom floor of this building, upon exiting the elevator, the true location of my new internship is on the immediate left. The morgue is a place most fear, a place where the dead reside. But it is the place where, for the rest of my life hopefully, I will be, working side by side with doctors, technicians, and law enforcement alike. I will work to help solve crimes and bring criminals to justice. I will work to help those who can no longer speak for themselves. I have wanted to do this since I was a little girl, and now the time is here. I am excited, hopeful, anxious, nervous, afraid, happy, and everything in between. I am a whole mix of emotions. It's hard for me to enter a job on the first day and be confident. I have this internal drive to be perfect and the absolute best I can be and I just know that I will inevitably mess up. But, sitting here mulling over my thoughts, I have noticed that 7 minutes have passed and now I need to get moving. Sighing deeply and steadying myself, I get out of the car and begin my not so intrepid hike down those two blocks to the BPD building.
I walk into the BPD building and walk past the Division One Café, where I see Detective Rizzoli standing talking to the woman behind the counter and a police officer who bears a striking resemblance to her. I wonder if that is her brother or something? Detective Rizzoli is tall, dark, and beautiful. She walks into a room and immediately commands attention. And I've heard she is a fine detective, one of the best. Hopefully I'll get to work with her someday. Hmmm… Anyway, I continue walking past the Café and up to the elevator. I push the down arrow and start to feel little butterflies in my stomach. My medical degree and study allows me to identify the true mechanism of said "butterflies", but, at this moment, I am too nervous to even think about that. The elevator dings on the main floor and opens with a shudder, allowing me to step in. The steel doors close and I am alone in the cabin. The doors are reflective and I give myself a once over. I am wearing a nice, plain black dress that is sleeveless and comes to my knees. I figured this would be appropriate for a first professional day. I am also wearing flats. I was unsure if heels would be practical. I don't know! I left my dirty blonde hair down, and didn't do anything special to it. It dries pretty nicely so I just let it be. Light make-up and a spritz of perfume later, here I stand. Professional and ready… kind of.
"Here we go Adi… Keep it together." I mumble to myself as I descend in the elevator. After what seems like ages, or maybe half a second I can't tell, the elevator dings again on the bottom floor, and I step out. The air down here is cold and stale, understandable because this is basically the basement of the building and all air comes through vents, but I don't mind. I slowly walk up to the secretary desk and, clearing my throat, I say, "Umm… Hello ma'am. I'm Adina Collins, I'm the new intern for Dr. Isles?" The receptionist looks up from her papers, reading glasses perched precariously on her nose. She is a wiry, gray haired woman who looks to be in her late 50's. I can tell that she was once a pretty woman, with soft eyes and high cheekbones. She looks at me and then glances down at her planner. Looking back up at me she says, in a very chipper tone, "Oh yes! Welcome Dr. Collins. I'm Louise, Dr. Isles' secretary. I think she is in her office. I'll buzz her and let her know you're coming in. Give me one second…" Turning to the little intercom unit on her desk, she pushes the little red button and informs Dr. Isles of my arrival.
I look at the clock overhead, 8:22. I was supposed to be here at 8:30. Early bird catches the worm I guess? I don't know. Now I'm worrying that I am too early and Dr. Isles will be annoyed. I so desperately want to make a good first impression with her on the job. She did interview me a few weeks ago and that went very smoothly. But performing in the workplace and speaking in an interview are much different. Interrupting my inner monologue, I see Dr. Isles come around the corner with a wide smile on her face. She is wearing this beautiful turquoise blouse tucked neatly into a knee length, black pencil skirt. She is taller than me too, because she is wearing 4 inch heels. But it looks to me that if she wasn't wearing those, we would be about the same height. The things I think about are so trivial some times. I quickly step forward and make eye contact; her eyes are an entrancing hazel color, they put my own blue ones to shame. Everyone who works here is so beautiful! She holds out her hand for me to shake and says, "Welcome Dr. Collins. I know we've met briefly, but again, I'm Dr. Isles. You will essentially be shadowing me for the entirety or your forensic pathology internship and residency here at BPD."
"Yes hello Dr. Isles. Thank you once again for this opportunity! I am excited to be here." I reply, shaking her hand and releasing it. She gestures for me to follow her and as we walk she gives me a quick introduction to her morgue. "Ok so let's get you acquainted and situated here. In here we have the Autopsy Suite. That is self-explanatory. If you follow me down the hall, at the end here, this is my office. If the door is open, you are welcome to come in and ask me any questions or begin a discussion. Here we have the evidence locker, the refrigerated body storage room, the Viewing Suite, and other staff work areas. Your office will be adjacent to mine, feel free to do with it as you please." She turns to look at me. "Any questions so far?"
I look at her, wide eyed, and just shake my head. I don't really know what to say here. She just smiles and turns, pointing to the little office that will soon be my own. "Ok well, here's your office. I'll expect to see you in the Autopsy Suite in a half an hour to begin training and further introductions." With that I nod, and she turns away, heading into her own office right next door to mine. I turn and enter my little room. It has a desk and chair with a computer and printer, a bookshelf, and a small table. I brought nothing with me in the ways of decoration or personalization, so I just sit down and take a deep breath. I am here. I have begun. This is it. 3 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and now here I am, about to start a 4-5 year training period to become a forensic pathologist.
I put down my purse, fiddle with my computer, stare off into space and day dream, and finally it is five minutes to 9. Time to go to the Autopsy suite. I walk in and the only other person in there is Dr. Isles. She looks up and smiles, and just as I step in she smiles an even bigger smile. I turn around to see Detective Rizzoli come barreling into the AS. "Hey Maur am I late? O hey this is the new girl! I'm Jane…" She says with a toothy grin as she extends her hand. I smile and shake her hand, "Adina Collins." She turns back to Dr. Isles, "So whadda you have for us today?"
Dr. Isles sort of just looks around the room, "Well, I was going to go over where all the tools and equipment and everything is located. Then I was thinking we could begin to work on your John Doe." Jane just quietly chuckles at that and looks over at me. What the heck does that even mean? I must have looked a bit startled, or maybe even mortified, because she turns back to Dr. Isles and says, "Well let's get started then!"
After a good amount of time spent with Dr. Isles going over the technicalities and locations of everything in the AS, she disappears down the hall to the body storage. About 3 minutes later she reappears, pushing a gurney with a large black body bag on top of it. How she got that thing on the gurney I have yet to figure out, but I am sure I will learn some day. She rolls the gurney right parallel to one of the autopsy tables and locks the wheels. Jane is still snickering as she begins to unzip the body bag; her face on the other hand is as straight as a board. As she completely unzips it, I peek inside. I audibly gasp and jump and my hand flies right to my chest. That is easily one of the most gruesome, disgusting, vile bodies I have ever seen in my entire life. Jane laughs out loud and nudges me in the side with her elbow. "Welcome to Day 1, Kid."
A.N.: I rated it K+ but I don't know if she will get herself into some PG-13ish trouble or not. Tell me what you think in the reviews or PMs. Also, any and all opinions will be appreciated! This is only my second fic and second time publishing anything. I promise there will be much more Jane and Maura in the future, this was just an introduction.
