When the Sun Goes Down
AU: First-year surgical intern, Jane Rizzoli, had the perfect life: a great boyfriend, a loving family, and her dream job. It was everything she had ever wanted...until she met chief of cardio, Dr. Maura Isles: brilliant, intimidating, and strikingly beautiful. But the cold and distant Dr. Isles is more than meets the eye, especially when the sun goes down.
Rating: This will definitely be M rated for future chapters. This is not the Maura you all are used to. *hint hint*
Author's Note: Hello! So the idea for this story would not leave me alone, and I have finally given in and written it. Since this story takes place in a hospital setting, I thought it would be fun to have some Grey's Anatomy characters. However, you do not need to watch GA to understand what is going on here. It is first and foremost a Rizzoli & Isles fic! (If you do watch Grey's, you'll definitely notice a few changes I've made to the characters.) Anyways, give it a try! I think it's going to be a good one if I do say so myself!
Disclaimer: All Rizzoli & Isles and Grey's Anatomy characters belong to J-Tam and Shonda Rhimes. Any lines from either show that I use in this story belong to their respective writers.
Chapter 1
"A month ago, you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play, that's up to you."
Fifteen pairs of eyes watched Dr. Richard Webber walk out of the locker room. His dark eyes crinkled at the corners and his short, white hair was thinning. Stress lines ran along his forehead, adding to the look of exhaustion evident from the bags under his eyes. Dr. Webber was the chief of surgery in one of the best teaching hospitals in the country. He was a legend for being one of the first African-Americans to graduate medical school in the 1970s, but he was even more well-known for his skills as a General Surgeon. His opening speech did little to calm the nerves that had been creeping up on all of the first-year surgical residents, but it didn't taint their excitement.
"I can't believe we're finally here," a young man said as he looked around the locker room in awe. "I'm Barry Frost, but my friends usually just call me Frost."
He held out his hand to the woman next to him. She tucked a lock of dark, curly hair behind her ear before shaking his hand.
"I'm Jane," she said with a distracted smile.
Frost continued introducing himself to his fellow interns as Jane took in her surroundings. The white linoleum floor was spotless and the gray lockers looked brand new. A long bench had been placed down the length of the room. The light, fake wood of the bench didn't match the dullness of the gray lockers, but it added a nice contrast to the white walls and floor. There were no separate changing quarters for men and women, and the showers had no doors, only cheap lavender curtains. The room smelled vaguely of feet and the acoustics made it impossible to make any movements without a loud echo, but to Jane, the room was beautiful.
If it hadn't been for a lacrosse scholarship Jane wouldn't have been able to afford college. She practiced hard and played incredibly well throughout all of high school in the hopes of getting a sports scholarship to BCU. Paying for medical school was harder, but she managed to work two jobs and pay for her apartment and part of her tuition. She knew she would be swimming in student loans for a long time, but she was determined to become a surgeon. It had been her dream since she was child, and it was all finally happening. There she was- a surgical intern. She would be learning from the best of the best. One day she would be responsible for saving thousands of lives.
"Pretty amazing, isn't it?"
She turned towards the voice of her boyfriend, Casey. His smile reached his eyes as he followed her gaze around the room. He laced their fingers together and gave her smaller hand a soft squeeze before leading her over to the locker next to his.
She pulled out a pair of light blue scrubs from the neat pile on the bench, savoring the feeling of the crisp fabric between her fingers. They were still warm from the dryer. When she put on those scrubs it was all going to be real.
Normally Jane Rizzoli was not a quiet person, but she was too overwhelmed with fear and excitement to form a coherent thought. Her feet felt frozen to the white floor as she stared at her open locker. Her brain was telling her she needed to change into her scrubs, but her limbs weren't obeying. A statue was capable of more mobility than she was at that moment.
"Hey, babe? You okay? Our supervisors will be here in a few minutes to take us on rounds. They probably expect all of us to be ready when they get here."
Casey's concerned voice snapped her out of her trance.
"Shit!" she hissed as she whipped her gray V-neck over her head and unbuttoned her jeans. She scrambled into her scrubs before pulling her untamable black hair into a high ponytail. She had just finished tying her shoes when a woman walked through the door.
This must be our supervisor, Jane thought.
The woman had sandy-brown hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail. Her blue eyes glanced down at the clipboard she was holding.
"I'm Dr. Grey," she said as she scanned the room. "Five lucky interns will be under my supervision this year."
Dr. Grey's eyes narrowed and Jane found herself hoping she would not be one of the "lucky" ones. This woman's voice was stern and sharp. She was clearly not excited about having to babysit the interns.
"Barrold Frost."
The man that had introduced himself to Jane earlier stepped forward nervously. Dr. Grey eyed him carefully before continuing.
"Cristina Yang."
A short, Asian woman stepped forward. Her hair was even curlier than Jane's and her eyes looked intense. She had an air of confidence as she stepped forward and raised her hand.
"Yes, Dr. Yang?" Dr. Grey responded, almost looking amused at the juvenile gesture.
"I just wanted to express my enthusiasm for beginning my surgical residency with this program. This hospital is-"
Dr. Grey cut her off. "I'm pleased to hear that, doctor, but you'll have all day to be enthusiastic, and right now we need to hurry and start rounds."
Cristina sank back a little, dejected. A few interns chuckled. Jane rolled her eyes, hoping that she wouldn't have to put up with Yang all year. She didn't have the patience for brown-nosers.
"Calliope Torres."
A beautiful, Hispanic woman stepped forward with a huge smile and waved to her fellow group members. She did not seem fazed by the nervous energy in the room.
"Alex Karev."
An attractive man made his way to the front of the room looking smug. He winked at Dr. Torres, who rolled her eyes as she smiled. He looked slimy, and again, Jane hoped that this wouldn't be her group.
"And Jane Rizzoli."
Jane suppressed a groan as she looked at Casey. He was clearly upset that they wouldn't be in the same group, but he gave her an encouraging nod as she stepped forward.
"Follow me," Dr. Grey said as she turned on her heel and exited the room. Her interns almost ran to the door to keep up with the older woman.
She walked quickly as she spoke to them. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you that people's lives are in your hands. If you are unsure of something, ask. If you think you did something wrong, tell me. If you're sick or tired, too bad. This program is not easy and competence is expected at all times. Do you understand?" She turned around so quickly that the interns almost ran into her.
They gave hesitant nods, fear and determination written on every one of their faces. Dr. Grey's eyes softened as she took in the five young doctors before her.
"It's not as bad as it may seem. You'll get the hang of it. I'm here to teach you what you need to know to become a great surgeon, and I intend to do just that." She gave them all a genuine smile before turning and continuing down the hall.
"Geez, bipolar much?" The bubbly doctor whispered to Jane as they walked.
"Seriously, though. She really freaked me out at the beginning there," Jane answered with a chuckle. "I'm Jane." She offered her hand to the shorter woman.
"Nice to meet you, Jane. I'm Callie." She smiled widely as they shook hands.
Before they could even make it to their first room on rounds the doors to the East wing flew open and three doctors ran through with a stretcher carrying a young man and a blonde woman in dark blue scrubs who was performing CPR on him. Her gloved hands were covered in blood, as was most of the man's torso.
"He needs two bags of A negative," she stated, glancing at the nurses station momentarily before returning her attention to the patient. The nurses seemed rooted to the spot, panic clearly etched on their faces. "I don't mean that hypothetically," she added when none of the nurses had moved.
They all went into action at once, scrambling around nervously to comply with the woman's request. She had spoken quickly, and almost quietly, as if her voice was the only thing to be heard in the noisy hospital. Judging by everyone's reactions, it was.
A small nurse came running towards the scene with two bags of blood and an IV line. Jane watched from afar as one of the men pushing the stretcher took over CPR and the blonde woman expertly placed the needle in the patient's arm and taped the line down.
They had made it to the elevator and the woman was still giving instructions to the men pushing her as the doors closed. Instantly, the tension that had been heavy in the air vanished. Shoulders relaxed. Some exhaled a sigh of relief. The nurse that had brought the blood looked shaken up as she walked back to her station, and her co-workers patted her on the back and assured her she did a good job.
Jane looked to her right and saw four dropped jaws. Then they all spoke in a daze.
"Oh my god."
"Was that…?"
"It couldn't be."
"Couldn't be who?" Jane asked, frustrated that she seemed to missing out on something big.
Cristina looked at her incredulously, then turned to Dr. Grey. "Was that really her?"
Dr. Grey had looked just as nervous as everyone else a moment ago, but was able to recompose herself quickly. She wasn't surprised by the interns' reactions.
"Yes. That was Dr. Isles. Let's get going."
A/N: Thanks for reading! I apologize for any mistakes I make when writing the medical stuff. I am not a doctor, nor do I claim to have any knowledge about surgical procedures or terminology. I will be doing some research to make it at least a little bit believable, but I'm pretty positive I will still screw some things up. Feel free to tell me what I did wrong in reviews, but I'd rather hear what you think about the story as a whole! So please let me know what you thought of this chapter! I have the next couple written, but reviews will really help me keep going! I'm really determined to finish this story in a timely manner, and I plan on it being pretty long.
What do you think about how I incorporated some Grey's characters into this? I plan on having more, but if you guys don't like it then I won't. More R&I characters will be in this story as well. And I am super excited about writing this version of Maura. She'll be pretty different, but hopefully you'll all still love her.
