Author's Note: The characters Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles were originally created by Tess Gerritsen and shared with TNT who created the TV show. I do not own these characters nor am I profiting from the stories created herein.
This series takes place one year after my story In the Beginning. I didn't originally plan for so much time to have passed in the storyline between the two installments but it seemed like a natural place for me to pick up once I started to write. While most of the material is original there may be references to cases from the TV series from seasons one and two.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Feel free to review; I want to be a better writer for the both of us! =) As a side note, the name of this story is also the name of a Missy Higgins' song. When I heard it I immediately thought of the complicated relationship Jane and Maura have. Check it out; it's an awesome song.
Chapter One
Jane sauntered into the morgue looking for her best friend and Boston PD Medical Examiner.
"Maura?" Jane poked her head into Maura's office to find it empty. It wasn't like Maura to be late to work. Jane checked her watch and debated whether or not to call. Jane knew that Maura had been on a couple of dates with some massage therapist named Derrick that she met while at the spa with Jane a few weeks ago.
She hated to think that it could have been he who was causing her punctual friend to be late to work. "Vomit…" Jane couldn't help herself from muttering the words aloud. She had no idea what Maura saw in the guy. He was good looking, sure, but couldn't hold an intelligent conversation to save his life… although if he is good with his hands…
Jane shook her head at the thought and unconsciously placed her hand over her stomach where a gnawing feeling arose. The fact was that Derrick wasn't good enough for Maura and that's all that mattered.
"Jane!" Maura walked into the morgue holding a beautifully potted plant in her hands.
"Hey… what's that? Derrick doesn't know that girls are supposed to get roses?" Jane's words were dripping with sarcasm, showing her disdain for the man who was spending too much time with Maura.
"Derrick and I aren't seeing each other anymore, and actually, I purchased this for you. Crassula ovata, commonly known as the jade plant. It's the friendship tree…" Maura stopped her description of all things botanical once she registered Jane's perplexed look. "You don't know what today is, do you Jane?"
"Umm… friendship day?" Jane's continued sarcasm overshadowed her happiness that Maura and the massage therapist were no more.
"It's our anniversary. We worked our first case together one year ago today. I can't believe you don't remember." Maura rolled her eyes and unceremoniously dropped the deep green plant with small whitish-pink flowers in Jane's arms and walked into her office before closing the door behind her.
"Crap! Maura, I'm sorry… of course I remember that our first case together was a year ago today… C'mon, Maura. Open up…" Jane was wrestling with the locked door handle to no avail.
"Eh-hem… Detective?" Jordan, one of Maura's assistants had walked up and was eyeing the detective with a smirk on her face. "Trouble on lover's lane?" Jordan laughed at her own joke.
"Very funny." Jane made sure to knock shoulders with the assistant as she left the morgue.
Jane dropped the plant onto her desk and waved her hands at Frost to prevent the onslaught of questions before her partner could even begin. "Don't ask, Frost, or I swear to god…"
"I was just going to tell you… that… umm…" Frost's phone rang, saving him from his partner's threatening glare.
"Detective Frost… yeah got it… tell me the address again. Be there in twenty." Frost hung up his phone. "That was Korsak. Got a new case down at the harbor."
"Hey, Maura, what have we got?" Jane was donning a pair of gloves as she approached the medical examiner leaning over the body of a 20-something year old male. Maura continued to pencil notes in her journal as she pretended not to hear Jane.
"Um… Dr. Isles?" Frost lifted an eyebrow towards Jane as he tried to garner the doctor's attention.
"Yes, Detective Frost?"
"Umm… cause of death?" Frost looked thoroughly uncomfortable as Maura continued to only answer him, and to move around Jane as if she weren't standing there with the most dumbfounded look on her face.
"Maura? C'mon… don't do this…" Jane was beyond miffed at Maura's lack of civility. How was she supposed to know that it was customary for friends to exchange gifts on anniversaries? In fact… she was pretty sure that it wasn't customary.
"Forget this… you know what Dr. Isles… when you're ready to talk to me, you know where to find me." With that Jane left Frost with Maura and began processing the rest of the evidence.
Two more days went by without a word being uttered between Maura and Jane. Frost, Korsak, and Jordan were getting tired of the constant errands between the morgue and bullpen so that information could be exchanged between Jane, who was still lead on the case, and Maura, who was furiously processing data before she was to leave for a conference on Saturday. The trio hadn't realized before how much time was saved by Jane and Maura being constantly in each other's presence when working a case.
It was Friday afternoon when Jane finally slammed shut the case file in her hands and uttered a not-too-subtle "Fuck this! Frost, I'm cutting out early, cover for me?"
"Sure, partner. Whatever you need."
With that Jane gathered up her jacket and texted Maura as she headed out the door.