A Simple Matter
A/N- New story :D This isn't connected to any of my other works. I label it AU simply because I seen to stray from canon and figure it's better to label it AU than not.
It's a Rizzles tale but the road to said Rizzles for my favorite dynamic duo is a little bumpy this time. Nothing super major/heavy in the drama department but definitely not smooth and easy discovery and exploration of their relationship this time. (Also, I do promise not to have any 'dream' endings. Once was my limit I swear.)
Because I just can't help it, it's Rizzles with a bit of case/crime story. But by now you should all know me well enough to expect that. Oh, and a few cliffies too. I know, I know- big shocker. There is a lot of bouncing around for this story so please always be mindful of the dates as they will help you keep tabs of when/where we are as the story progresses. Sorry for the flashing but it is meant to add to the suspense.
Review/PM me as you feel the impulse. All comments are always welcomed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles nor should I. I just like to play.
Chapter One
May 20th
There were times when Maura craved silence. For years the silence of her life was her comfort zone. Her escape from the day to day grind that life always seemed to hand everyone. In silence Maura was always able to focus her mind. To organize her thoughts. To center herself and find a peace that allowed her to release the images of all of the horrors she encountered on a daily basis.
But today Maura was struggling with silence. It was threatening to consume her as she now found it anything but peaceful. Silence was betraying her. Where she once sought refuge and escape she now found self doubt and recrimination. Judgement and despair. And she couldn't even dismiss any of it as unjustified.
She looked around the room and tried to remember if she had ever been in such an uncomfortable space before. Cold. Uninviting. Bleak. A part of her wanted to just walk out the door. Get out of the room. But, she knew she wouldn't. Knew she couldn't. Not yet anyway. Not until there was some indication of change.
Her eyes turned their attention back towards the body lying on the bed. She wasn't sure what she was expecting. There hadn't been a change in hours. She glanced up at all of the machines surrounding the bed. All the readouts were the same. Heart rate. Temperature. Oxygen levels. Blood pressure. Blood gases. All the same. Almost cruelly the same.
Leaning back into the chair that she had now logged too many hours Maura allowed her eyes to close. Her mind was still racing too much for her to even think about sleep but she needed the break from the sight in front of her. With her eyes closed she found herself cursing the silence once again.
The opening of the door temporarily disrupted the silence that hung in the room and forced Maura to open her eyes. She was expecting a nurse making rounds. It had been about that time. But it wasn't a nurse walking into the room.
"Hey," Angela acknowledged at Maura as she fully entered the room.
"Angela," Maura replied a bit surprised to be seeing the elder Rizzoli.
Angela approached Maura extending her hand which was holding a cup of coffee for the medical examiner. "Any change?"
Maura gratefully accepted the coffee but shook her head. "None." She didn't even attempt to hide her frustration.
Angela looked towards the hospital bed. "Isn't no change somewhat good news? I mean, at least his condition isn't getting worse." She was trying to find some kind of positive spin.
Maura nodded slightly. There was some truth what Angela was saying. His condition had in fact not deteriorated in the last twelve hours. But Maura couldn't find the comfort in that sentiment.
He's lying here and it's all my fault. Everything was all my fault.
"This is all my fault," she said releasing a sigh.
"Maura, stop. This was not your fault," Angela responded.
Maura wasn't up for this particular disagreement so she attempted to change topics. "Have you heard from Jane?"
It was now Angela's turn to shake her head. "I keep getting her voicemail. I haven't been able to talk with her since early this morning." She gave Maura an apologetic look.
Maura couldn't help but sigh again. She turned to look at Angela for a minute but then looked back at the man lying on the hospital bed. "How did things go so wrong so fast?" She asked the question out loud but she wasn't necessarily asking Angela for that answer.
Angela, not fully understanding everything that had occurred over the previous two days, didn't even attempt to offer up an answer she did not have.
Both ladies were interrupted by the night nurse. "I'm sorry Dr. Isles but I need the room for a few minutes."
Maura stood up and nodded at the nurse. She approached the bed and leaned down. "I'm just stepping out for a few minutes. I'll come back though. I promise." She straightened up and headed for the door with Angela in tow. She really did need to get out of the room and stretch her legs anyway.
The nurse turned to them as they were almost completely out the door. "I'll only need about thirty minutes with Mr. Washington," she said. "Thank you."
The door closed behind Maura and Angela. Angela stood close to Maura trying to quietly convey that she wasn't going to simply leave because they were asked to leave the room. She hesitated for a minute before speaking what she had been thinking all day.
"Maura, maybe you should try to call Jane. I'm sure she would like to hear an update on Rondo's condition." She paused trying to gauge Maura's reaction. "And I think she might actually answer if she saw that it was you calling."
Maura merely shook her head. "I'm sorry Angela but I think I'm the last person Jane wants to speak with right now." And with that, Maura slowly walked down the hallway without really caring if Angela chose to follow her or not.
Angela stood in the hallway watching Maura walk away. "Oh Maura, what happened between you two?" half mumbling the question to herself. After a few moments, she took off determined to catch up to Maura.
R&I
"We have the ballistics report back from the bullet they recovered from Rondo," Frost said talking to both Jane and Korsak. He had the file in his hand as he reentered the bullpen. "Jane, you were right. It's a match to all the others."
Both Jane and Korsak looked at Frost and simply nodded. Neither was too surprised at this point. Jane pushed herself away from her desk and groaned in frustration. The ballistic results would help in building their case but it wasn't delivering their suspect.
"We need to find this guy," she said letting a look pass between herself and her partners.
"There's a BOLO out for the car. The composite sketch is in the hands of every uniform on the street and it's running on all the local news stations with our tipline number. Jane, we will find the car or someone will recognize the sketch. It's just a matter of time." Korsak tried to reassure Jane.
"Time is something I'm afraid we are running out of," Jane stated in frustration.
The three detectives were all frustrated. They had been chasing after their suspect for two weeks now and really didn't have anything to show for it. A composite sketch. A vehicle description. Another ballistic match. But no identification. No name. No real idea of where to head or look next.
"Jane," Frost started but really didn't know what to say next.
"This guy is a ghost. A shadow. How can we keep coming so close to catching him but yet still have no idea who he actually is?"
"We are getting closer Jane. He's starting to make mistakes," Korsak pointed out.
It was true. Two days ago they had absolutely nothing. But then the guy tried to attack Dr. Isles. That gave them the sketch now circulating in the press and with all the officers. And after what happened last night they added a vehicle description to their information as well. No plate but at least a decent vehicle description.
"Guys, this man has killed three people, he tried to attack Maura and he's the reason Rondo is in that hospital fighting for his life. We need to find him before he hurts anyone else."
Jane opened the ballistic report Frost had carried into the bullpen. She knew it would match the slug that they had recovered from the car in the parking garage. Just as she was certain those bullets and the one removed from Rondo would match the 9 millimeter their suspect had used to kill the three victims over the last two weeks.
"Rondo is going to be alright Jane," Frost tried to offer.
All three of them were worried about Jane's smooth talking confidential informant. A man all of them had come to see as a friend. A man they also now all considered a hero after what had happened the day before.
Jane gave a slight nod but wasn't in a place where she could let herself focus on that. Flashes of Rondo laying on the ground bleeding from the gunshot wound flashed through her mind. She forcibly squeezed her eyes closed shaking her head slightly trying to get the images out of her head.
Both Frost and Korsak were looking at each other not trying to hide their concern. Concern for Rondo but also concern for their partner. Jane was hurting and had been over the last two days and neither man really knew what to do for her. Rondo's injuries just seemed to pile onto the problems Jane was already having. Neither detective understood the extent to which or the real reason behind the fact that Jane was hurting but they knew her well enough to know she was on the ledge and it frightened each of them a bit.
"Have you had any updates?" Korsak asked quietly. He was treading lightly on this as he fully understood where any update on Rondo would be coming from and he was pretty sure Jane wasn't ready to talk about any of that, or her, yet.
"Not since late last night when Frankie was ending his protection detail shift," Jane mumbled.
Both Frost and Korsak took that to mean Jane still hadn't spoken to Maura since the incident.
"Jane, maybe you should..." Frost started to offer up but the look that immediately swept across Jane's face stopped him mid sentence.
"No," was all she said. She knew what he had been about to suggest. He was about to suggest that she should talk to Maura. But that was the one thing that Jane wasn't ready or able to do.
This is all my fault. I'm the last person Maura wants to be dealing with right now.
The ringing of Korsak's phone interrupted any of them from being able to say anything more.
"Korsak," Vince said into his phone and then listened. Frost and Jane stared at him expectantly. "We're heading out." He hung up the phone and turned to his partners. "We may have him. He may be holed up at a no-tell motel off 95. Two officers called in a possible hit on the vehicle and the desk clerk gave a tentative ID from the composite sketch. SWAT is mobilizing."
All three grabbed their jackets and headed out without further comment. All three thinking the same thing.
Please let this be the guy. This needs to end.
R&I
Angela finally caught up with Maura but not before the ME had walked out into the hospital's outdoor atrium. Maura had taken a seat on a bench and Angela sat down next to her. She wasn't sure if Maura wanted to talk or just sit in silence so she didn't say anything. Instead, she just reached over and took Maura's hand in her own.
After a few minutes in silence Maura turned her head and looked at Angela. "I messed up Angela. I think I may have lost Jane forever." She couldn't stop the single tear that escaped down her cheek.
"Maura," Angela started while reaching up to wipe away the tear running down Maura's cheek, "what happened between you and Jane?" She just didn't understand anything that had gone on between the two over the last two days. "I don't understand why you think you've lost Jane or why you even think she wouldn't want to speak with you."
Maura looked at Angela and wasn't even sure she could begin to explain what had happened. In truth, she was completely confused by the entire situation. Especially her own actions.