A/N: I wasn't actually planning on writing more fanfiction but this just popped into my head and then it snowballed and exploded and another one shot was born. (Also that was two very different metaphors in the same sentence. I apologize.) I haven't read the books, so my info in strictly TV based. This my take on when they first met. (Although, it's not about a certain season 3 spoiler. I would love to read that story though because it would be hilarious. But I am not the person to write that story because I am not funny.) Also, the only medical experience I know is from a Psychology class I took my first semester of college so it's probably not all that accurate. Also it talks about what happened (briefly) in the basement with Hoyt so that may or may not be considered a trigger for being assaulted. I'm not sure but there's the warning just in case. Anyways. This is long. I'll shut up now. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this. They belong to TNT, Tess Gerritsen and everyone else that runs the show/books. I'm not making money off this.
Detective Jane Rizzoli strode through Boston Police Headquarters for the first time in seven months. Uniformed officers and detectives alike congratulated her return, one officer even held the door open for her. For her part the detective took it in stride. None of them knew exactly what went down in that basement. They just knew she had saved that woman's life and it almost cost her hers. To them, for that simple fact alone, she was a hero, a real cop's cop.
Through all the "Glad your back's" and "Good to see you's" she kept her hands decidedly shoved deep into her blazer pockets. She kept her head parallel to the ground, her jaw locked and her eyes straight forward. It had been seven months. She foolishly thought people would be over what had happened, after all, the press had given up after only two months. They were now on to bigger and better things. But judging by the whispered voices and the blatant stares it seemed like it just happened yesterday. She should have known better, these were her people; of course they were going to talk about it once she returned. She took a brief moment to collect herself before she walked onto the now open elevator. "Three." She said barely noticing the woman standing in the elevator. The other woman nodded her head. They were going to the same place.
Dr. Maura Isles tried not to stare at the tall brunette. Dr. Isles had been living in Boston for the first time since her undergrad days and early childhood for the last seven months. She had taken position of Chief Medical Examiner after her predecessor had retired six months ago. She had watched the news. She knew who the dark haired woman was immediately without being told. She had heard the story of how homicide detective Jane Rizzoli was viciously attacked by a serial killer in her efforts to save a woman's life. She had been placed in her new position a month after the incident. But, even if she hadn't watched the news she could tell that the Boston Homicide Unit was struggling. It was evident from the very first case she was handed after she got settled. The detectives seemed to carry a chip on their shoulders, all of them. Anytime anyone, the media or otherwise, mentioned anything about Detective Rizzoli they all stood together and defended her, always talking good things about the woman. It was remarkable. She had never been a part of something like that before. She had never had someone stick up for her.
The elevator doors opened and the detective rushed out. Maura calmly followed. There was a change in atmosphere in the homicide unit, a change she hadn't seen before. It was a feeling like a cold wind through a room with a broken air conditioner during a heat wave. It took her a moment to place what the change was but she finally understood. It was relief. Everyone seemed relieved, rejuvenated even. Detective Jane Rizzoli was back on the job and all was right with the world again.
A man with graying hair and beard walked up to her. He, out of all of them, seemed the most relieved. "Dr. Isles?" He spoke.
"Oh." The doctor said remembering why she was even up there to begin with. "I have the tox results for you on the Patterson case, Detective Korsak." She handed the burly man the file. "It was clean. No toxins or medication in the victim's system at all."
He nodded his head flipping through the file. "Thanks." He said throwing it onto his desk. "It's good Jane's back. Homicide just hasn't been the same without her." Maura nodded her head. Even though Korsak had been pleasant to her she got the feeling that the other detectives didn't like her very much. She found herself more often than not unsure of what to do or say around them. "Well, I gotta get back to work. See ya' later, Doc." Korsak moved to his desk rubbing his eyes. Maura took one last look around the buzzing room before stepping back on to the elevator. She had a feeling that things were going to start to change very quickly.
...
Once off the elevator Jane walked straight into the homicide lieutenant's office. "You're late Rizzoli." The gruff voice of her LT reached her ears the second she opened the door. She had to stop herself from smiling. She was finally home. "Take a seat." He pointed to an empty chair next to a young man in a suit occupying the other chair. He must be her new partner. "This is Detective Frost, he comes from Robbery. He'll be your new partner." Bingo, she was right on the money.
She turned her head to the junior detective sitting next to her. He was nervous. He almost extended his hand before thinking better of it and dropping it back to his lap. "Good to meet you, Frost." She said offering him a smile. "When can I get my gun back?" She asked turning back to the LT.
"You know the rules, Rizzoli. Recertify." Jane pulled a folded up piece of paper from her blazer pocket and handed it to the older man. After a moment of looking over the paper the lieutenant grumbled something and unlocked a drawer in his desk. He slid Jane's gun and holster across the wood towards her. "Now get out of here." Frost stood from his chair walking to the door briskly. "It's good to have you back, Rizzoli." Her LT said one last time once the rookie detective was out of the room.
Jane stood slowly grabbing her gun. The cold metal felt good in her hands. Looking at the scars that were now a permanent fixture on her tan skin, she knew how lucky she was to be back so quick. As bad as the scars and the pain were it could have been a lot worse. Her occupational therapist had given her a time frame of six to twelve months of getting back. Of course, given the option, she always chose the shortest path. Being back on the job didn't mean that her hands were at one hundred percent though. Small things like writing, typing, brushing her teeth, and using scissors, just to name a few, were still hard to do. But she could manage. She was getting better. She still had mandatory therapy that would last for at least another month but at least she was back on the job. "It's good to be back, sir." Jane said before striding out of the officer. Fixing her gun to the left side of her hip she caught up with Frost. "Okay, kid I'm going to teach you the ways of homicide paperwork." She said grinning, clapping him on the back. She finally felt like her old self again.
...
Dr. Maura Isles was down in the morgue about to do an autopsy. Most of her assistants had gone to lunch already or were headed that way. She was alone with only the dead body on her table for company. At least, she was before the double doors swung open. Detective Rizzoli strutted through the doors with an air and confidence of a woman who thrived in a man's world. "Hi, again." The raven haired detective started. "Korsak brought me up to speed, said you are the new Chief Medical Examiner. So I thought I'd come down and introduce myself since we'd probably be working together and all. I'm Detective Jane Rizzoli, Boston Homicide." Maura noticed the woman did not extend her hand to shake but she was smiling.
The medical examiner nodded her head with her own smile. "It's a pleasure detective. I'm Dr. Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner." She knew she didn't have to throw her credentials around but after Jane had she figured she might as well too. "I'm just about to start this autopsy. I know it's not your case, but you're free to watch if you like." Jane nodded her head. Maura then picked up a scalpel from her tray of instruments.
The shift in the room was instantaneous. Maura looked at the detective to see what was wrong. Jane had backed up considerably from where she had previously stood. Her chest was visibly heaving as she struggled for air. The color in her skin paled. But the most telling were her dark eyes. The detective was staring intently at the scalpel in the doctor's hand. Her eyes took on a faraway haunted look. Wherever Jane had gone mentally she was definitely not somewhere she felt safe.
Maura immediately placed the medical tool back onto the tray chastising herself for her carelessness. It was easy to forget that the other woman had gone through any kind of trauma. She didn't show the classic signs of post-traumatic stress or if she did she hid them very well. She remembered seeing the images of a dark haired woman being loaded into an ambulance with her hands bleeding through gauze on the news. It was all anyone talked about for weeks. The horror that must have gone on in that basement was something she always thought anytime someone brought it up. She should have realized and not been so careless.
Everything had been fine for Jane until the honey-blond doctor picked up the scalpel. She had agreed to the autopsy out of habit, forgetting for a moment that scalpels were involved. So when the doctor picked up the silver instrument her façade had fallen to pieces around her. She felt just as weak as she had seven months ago pinned to that dirty basement floor. She could feel the panic building in her chest. She couldn't breathe; it felt like an elephant had taken place on her chest. She needed to move, to get out of the morgue. But it was too late and her feet were glued to the floor. Images flashed through her mind like they did so often lately.
She was back in that basement being pinned to the floor. Then there was blood. Her blood was everywhere. She didn't know if it was her mind making the nightmare more intense but it seemed like there was so much blood. Everything was stained red. A person shouldn't have that much blood in their hands. Late at night, when the world was asleep, she could still feel him surrounding her. She could smell his stale breath and bad cologne. She could hear his sick laughter as he stabbed each scalpel through each of her palms. She could feel him over her, too close, touching her, fondling her breasts. If she could just move her hands… She could hear a voice off in the distance. "Detective?" She blinked. "Detective Rizzoli?" She was back in the morgue. Her hands were shaking in her pockets, throbbing. What had her shrink said before clearing her about panic attacks? Focus on breathing. Focus on the pain. Focus on anything. Just focus. But the only thing she could focus on was heartless, cold, blue eyes. "Jane!" The detective snapped her eyes to the person the voice belonged to. She stared into the medical examiner's hazel green eyes. They weren't blue. The shorter woman's mouth was moving but the words were coming in jumbled. She squinted her eyes trying to understand the words. Was she even speaking English? Wait, was she talking about France? What did France have to do with anything? And Turtles? What the hell was this woman talking about? Maura was talking so much Jane could barely keep up. She wanted to tell her to shut up and let her talk forever all at the same time. After a moment or two of continued disorientation she realized Dr. Isles had given her something to focus on as her breath finally came back to normal and her demons were pushed away again. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have – "
"Whoa." Jane held up her left hand in front of the doctor, her brain finally catching up to the present. Maura took a good look at the palm displayed in front of her. The scar in the middle of the hand was pink, newly healed, fresh. She knew the detective would probably feel pain there for the rest of her life. Jane, having caught Maura looking, shoved the hand back into her pocket. "You have nothing to apologize for. You were just doing your job, Dr. Isles. I heard you're pretty good at it too." She cracked a small grin at the doctor before it fell into a grimace. "Thanks for whatever you were talking about, I couldn't really pay attention to the words, but it – you – helped me find my way back." Jane's voice quickly faded to almost nothing towards the end of her sentence. Maura had to strain to hear the last words. "And uh – I'd appreciate it if we could keep this on the DL."
Maura furrowed her eyes in confusion. "DL?"
Jane quirked her left eyebrow. "Down low? Like don't tell anyone about my freak out. Stays-between-us kind of thing."
"Oh." Maura said quietly. She had never been any good at slang. She looked up into the taller woman's dark eyes. She looked wounded, vulnerable, and a little bit defeated. Even after only knowing the woman for a few hours she knew from what others spoke of her and the ways she held herself those were not words usually associated with the strong detective. But, she thought, no one could be that strong all the time. Even steel had its breaking point. "Of course, detective." Maura said forcing herself to not go into details of panic attacks after traumatic experiences and how they were normal and nothing to be ashamed of.
Jane smiled once at the doctor before turning on her heel heading to the door. At a half second decision she turned back around to face the new medical examiner. Upstairs they had told her the woman in the morgue was a mystery. She came from money and didn't need a job, what the hell she was doing with them was beyond their comprehension. They said she was cold, almost robotic, smart though. They even gave her the nickname "Queen of the Dead." But looking at the small honey-blond haired woman in the morgue all by herself Jane didn't see any of those things. Well, she was a mystery and Jane could definitely tell she was smart, but she wasn't cold or detached. The woman had just helped her get through a panic attack. Most people would have either laughed at her face or would have been too shocked and done nothing. The woman was not robotic or a "Queen of the Dead." In fact, she looked lonely, like she could probably use a friend. Jane realized she could use a friend herself. "You wanna grab a late lunch later, doctor?"
The smile that lit up Dr. Isles' face was more than enough to confirm her theory and tell her she had said the right thing. "That would be lovely, detective."
"Jane's fine." She said. "So uh," She looked at her watch. It was almost one. "I'll come down in two hours?"
"That should give me proper time to finish this autopsy." Maura said nodding to the body on her table. "Maura's fine, Jane." She added quickly shooting the detective another smile.
Jane grinned nodding her head. "See ya then, Maura."
As Jane made her way back to homicide she made the decision that no one was going to pick on Maura anymore, at least not in her presence. She would take the socially awkward medical examiner under her wing and if any more of her colleagues wanted to poke fun at her they would have to go through Jane first.