Rizzoli & Isles, M, Drama/Hurt/Comfort/Romance, Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles
Disclaimer: Rizzoli & Isles, its characters, places, and situations are the property of Ostar Productions, Warner Horizon Television and TNT. Credit for the original book series goes to Tess Gerritsen. This story was written for entertainment not monetary purposes. Original characters, and this story, are intellectual property of the author. Any similarities to existing characters, fictional or real, living or dead, are coincidental and no harm is intended.
Notes: I still can't seem to find a way back into 'Evening, kitchen'. I thought I'd gotten back into the right mind-set with two one shots, but alas, everything I start writing for that story seems wrong. I'm going to put it on hiatus until inspiration strikes. I'm juggling a lot of unfinished stuff and if that pisses people off because consequentially updates are slow, I'm sorry, but that's just the way I work. I can't back off from fresh ideas and I simply can't keep stuff under a tight lid until they're done, especially stories with more than two or three chapters. Yet I always come back to older stories and only dismiss them if I really see absolutely no way to make them work and that only happened once yet.
I'm not going to give away anything about this one, there won't even be much of a summary. I usually post while I write, so if life becomes busy or my other stories need my attention, updates will again come slow. I have a general plan but as I've experienced in the past, that tends not to mean very much. And I'm going a bit OOC here. Not too much I think, but somehow it is necessary for what I have in mind...
So just go with it and let me know if you find it worth continuing.
Takes one to know one
1. Holiday
Det. Jane Rizzoli dug her feet into the warm sand, wriggling her toes, feeling the tiny grains between them and uttered a low, hoarse moan of sweet satisfaction. How could she have denied herself this feeling for so very long. Right now, she just didn't get it. This was heaven. The sun slowly sinking lower in the bright blue sky of the late afternoon, a light breeze wafting over her heated body, the parasol tilted away so she could tan without obstruction, her skin already used to the treatment after three days of nothing but sleeping, reading, listening to her IPod and the occasional swim to cool her down a notch or two. Most of all of the above at the beach.
At the beach. Almost three thousand miles away from Boston. Alone. At peace. Her mind at ease for the first time in what felt like years. Well, it had been years.
To be honest though, the very first day of her one holiday in four years had not been promising. From the moment she'd set foot into the airport in Boston she'd felt like on an emotional rollercoaster ride. She just didn't seem to know what to do with herself, how to even be just herself after all this time. Alternating between a pleasant buzz of anticipation and curiosity, and doubts and insecurities much different from the ones she usually carried around with herself. She'd arrived in Los Angeles late at night, a long and particularly rough work day behind her, all the paperwork she'd yet to finish before finally departing had left her more than late and she'd been glad to have deposited her travelling bags in Maura's office in the morning, had left Joe Friday at her parent's the evening prior, had spent half the night readying her apartment for her leave, so she wouldn't come home to a complete chaos and be already stressed again before she even set foot into the Department. Maura had chauffeured her to the airport, her amused grin at Jane's obvious nervousness taking this trip tinged by the least hint of sadness as they'd stood waiting at the gates.
"Jane. Jane, look at me. You're supposed to enjoy this, you know? You've more than earned a little time to take a breather. Get on that plane, forget about work, forget about the past three years, forget about- you know... And just try to relax and let the experience envelop you. That's what people do when they take a holiday. You're supposed to have fun. So go and have some."
A petite hand swept slowly down her forearm and came to a rest over her own, parched on the handle of her trolley, conveying a familiar mix of trust, encouragement, comfort and calm.
Jane ran her free hand over her face, blinking rapidly to ward off the sudden tiredness, then reached out to swiftly touch the doctor's shoulders with an exerted smile.
"I know, Maur. It's just- I can't even remember the last time I took more than two days off. I think a couple of years ago I went to Vermont for a long weekend with-" She paused and scolded herself inwardly for her hesitation. "A friend. I've never even been this far away from Boston before and all big holidays I remember were family vacations. This is completely new. I'm kinda really looking forward to it, but still..."
"Jane." The implication in Maura's intonation made Jane's head whip up and she frowned at her friend, who had made it a habit to express so much more with just the different ways she said the Detective's name than other people could express with a whole sentence and various expression on their faces. This one was humorous exasperation. Maura's brow quirked upwards and she presented Jane with her best incredulous stare that didn't give away if she'd noticed the slight hesitation in Jane's sentence, just that she definitely had something to add to her friends reluctance to take a trip half the Department was jealous of.
"What's so scary about new?" She inquired with a lazy and calming smirk.
There it was again. The other reason why Jane could barely tear herself away from here, from her routines, from home, from her workplace, from this city. Just the thought of not- Jane discarded the thought the moment it entered her conscious brain and instead she voiced again what she had several times during the planning stages of her holiday.
"I wish you could've at least come with me. I think I would've felt much more comfortable having you around, having my best friend around and sharing this and- let's face it, you could need that 'breather' just as much as I guess I do."
"Jane." Again. So much more than just her name. Maura's tone was in equal amounts apologetic and beat now, she squeezed Jane's hand and ran her thumb over the scarred skin on the back.
Jane captured her lower lip between her teeth and started worrying on it, unease and disappointment still visible in her expression, though she tried to mask it quickly.
"We talked about this. I have to attend this conference, it's almost mandatory as well as very fascinating and I haven't missed it once in the past 7 years. And since Cavanaugh left you no other choice but to either take these exact two weeks or only get a new chance next year, there was no room to argue. I'd love a couple of days at the beach." She sighed wearily, tearing her gaze away from where it rested on their joined hands and up to Jane's face.
"Maybe next year. Maybe somewhere even further away. Holiday my style. Okay?"
Jane huffed and grinned involuntarily.
"Not so fond of the three star hotel I picked and the prospect of despicable hotel food, overcrowded beaches and hiking around in a nature resort, sleeping in a tent?"
She pointed at the camping gear accompanying her luggage and Maura gave a high, clear laugh of honest delight.
"Well, that would certainly have been a first for me."
Jane chuckled, once more amazed but not surprised about all the things her friend had yet to experience.
"I'll take you camping one day, Maura. But a weekend should be enough for you to be that adventurous."
The announcement of her flight being ready for check-in cut their banter short and Jane withdrew her hand from under Maura's reluctantly, but only to pull the caramel-haired Doctor into a short, but heart-felt embrace.
"I promise to enjoy myself. After all, it is California, huh? Be safe Maura, we'll talk sometime this week, okay?"
The shorter woman returned the hug and then took a step back to scrutinise the lanky brunette thoroughly.
"You take care, Jane. Don't do anything I wouldn't do either." She'd picked up on that phrase a couple of weeks ago as Frost had used it to send Frankie off to a date and she'd wanted to use it ever since, showing that she slowly picked up on colloquial terms.
Jane smirked, acknowledging the intent.
"What am I gonna eat, then? Where am I gonna sleep?" She replied, with a mock-panicked widening of twinkling brown eyes.
At Maura's playful scowl, she winked and reached for her luggage.
"Keep an eye on the boys for me will you? I'll text you when I'm in my room. Have fun at that conference. Bye Maura."
She lifted her bag and gave the trolley a push, ready to roll.
"Oh, I surely will. Have a safe trip Jane. Good-bye."
With one last tender smile, Jane turned and walked towards the check-in counter. During the routine security check, she glanced towards the place she'd left Maura behind at and gestured her with a tilt of her head and a furrowing of brows that it was okay for her to leave now.
Maura nodded, waved a bit and then broke their gaze and headed for the parking lot.
Jane Rizzoli took in a long and cleansing breath, her shoulders rising and falling with the expansion and deflation of her chest and only looked away as the elevator doors closed behind Maura.
Maybe she needed this. Maybe it was just the right time to have a bit of time all to herself. The tug she felt in her guts told her that yes, it was time. Time to wrench her thoughts away from one Dr. Maura Isles and all the things she didn't want to think about when it came to her best friend. She really shouldn't think about.
As she picked up her wallet, keys, cell phone, small change and shoulder bag behind the security gate, she felt stripped without her badge and service weapon she'd left behind at the station, but decided that from this moment on, she'd be just Jane Rizzoli, on her way to a fabulous, sunny, entertaining, relaxing holiday. She plunged into a chair in the airline's waiting lounge, plugged her ear buds in and stretched her long limbs, Florence and the Machine singing to her that the dog days were over...
The equilibrium Jane had thought she'd found hadn't lasted long. The flight had been rough, the weather grim over a couple of states, the seat-belt signs flashing red for most of the ride. She wasn't afraid of flying, but she also didn't particularly like it. Like all situations where she wasn't in control, where she had to trust someone and even something else with her safety. Like this shaking, jolting, vibrating box of metal. She hurriedly left the plane among the first few passengers once they'd reached the gate at LAX, quickly gathering her luggage and fetching her pre-confirmed rental car, a brand new Jeep Wrangler she'd be glad to have for the middle part of her trip, her little camping adventure.
She reached the hotel, a rather modest one for being situated in Santa Monica, but somehow Jane had wanted the full experience. Yes, she wanted to be just Jane Rizzoli for a change. The Jane it was hard to be in Boston, the Jane that had been taken over by her cop persona, the Jane that had been numbed by trying to protect her integrity, her believability, her stand among the other officers, her face-offs with Charles Hoyt and the mask she'd learned to wear to make it through the fear and finally, the shooting. But here, there was no family, no friends, no job, no city where every second citizen knew her face from the papers, just no one around her she knew, no one who had pinned certain expectations to her like post-its to a refrigerator door, no one she had to play pretend for. The prospect made her almost giddy and at the same time it frightened her. Obviously what she'd had in mind was much easier though than done. When had been the last time that she'd let go, when did she not assess her surroundings with the ever wary and attentive eye of a Detective? When did she allow herself to really have fun for the last time? Without thinking about a current case, without thinking about what people would say when they'd see her relaxed instead of tense, honestly happy instead of brooding and concentrated. When had she allowed herself to really be herself for the last time? Too much had changed her perspective over the last years, too much had altered her perception of herself. Would she be able to find at least a bit of what she had left behind again? She only had two weeks, after all.
She steered the Jeep into the hotel's underground parking, heaved her trolley and bag out of the back of the car but left the camping gear.
After a rather interesting process of checking in, Jane stood in front of her room, still chuckling lightly. It had been so easy. Could it really be that easy to flip the switch? She'd just spent the last ten minutes blatantly flirting with the front office clerk. Yep- hello holiday Rizzoli. Jane swiped the key card through the slot, waiting for the green light to signal her she could enter, pushed the door open and instantly groaned. Then chuckled again. Then thought about Maura's offer for a joined vacation the following year. She should so take her friend up on that offer. She maneuvered her luggage into the tiny room that left barely enough space between the wall and the foot of the bed to get her trolley through to the smallest of wardrobes she'd ever seen. At least she had an adjoining bathroom with a shower. What the hell had she been expecting for 89$ per night? A suite at the Waldorff-Astoria? Ocean view? Golden faucets?
Jane huffed, her mood gone from chipper to weary within less than two minutes again. She let the shoulder bag slide down onto the bed and sank into the soft mattress beside it, sudden exhaustion settling in with the diminishment of the adrenaline her trip had been producing, which must have been all that had kept her going the last couple of hours. The bedside clock read 3:47AM.
She kicked off her boots and they tumbled to the floor, wriggled out of her slacks and shed her jacket. Just the soft thud of the cell phone falling out of her pocket during the process reminded her of the promise she'd made to Maura. Yawning, she pulled the covers around her lower body while simultaneously typing a short message into her phone, reassuring Maura that she'd reached her destination safe and sound, albeit terribly tired and wishing her a good rest of the night. Ignoring the faint light from the small lamp at the wall, too tired to get up again and turn it off, Jane just rolled over, the unfamiliar and too chemical smell of foreign bedclothes in her nose and fell asleep before the slight discomfort could even really bother her.
So... How's that for a beginning (of sorts)?