Title: Our Last Days
Category: TV Shows » Rizzoli & Isles
Author: Alwaysbringback-up
Language: English, Rating: Rated: K
Genre: Suspense/Friendship
Our Last Days
Pairing: Jane/Maura
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the R&I universe. All characters belong to Janet Tamaro. I promise that my writing is done purely for recreational purposes only. No ill harm is intended.
A/N: New story! This won't have hot and heavy Rizzles like my other stories. It also won't be fluffy, but rather will be suspenseful. This story centers more on friendship. Though, there may be more Rizzles later on depending on what readers want! Please give it a chance!
"Hey, what have we got?" Jane asked aloud, as she walked into a disheveled living room on the rundown side of town to find Maura kneeling over a dead body. People from CSU were carefully marking off all of the evidence, including the large amounts of blood spatter on the nearest wall to the body. Jane carefully wove her way around the many bodies in the room, making her way over to Maura. Korsak and Frost were right on her heels, gingerly stepping over areas that had already been marked off.
Jane swallowed hard, and staggered to an abrupt stop as she silently took in the scene. Despite all of the years Jane had spent on the force, it never really got any easier for her to walk into a crime scene. After all, she was sure that the victim that was currently lying on the dingy, blood-stained carpet, didn't deserve the horrible fate that they'd been unlucky enough to receive. She snapped her gloves in place and took the last few steps to the body.
She glanced at Maura and was slightly surprised to find the honey brunette thoroughly engrossed in what she was doing. Either that or the blonde was making a point of ignoring Jane's question. Jane took a moment to take in the appearance of the body. The victim looked to be a man in his mid-thirties, and had a slim build. Jane let her eyes rake over the body. He was wearing baggy, ripped up jeans, that she suspected had seen better days, and a white wife beater.
Classy, she thought to herself with a hint of sarcasm. After all, her experience told her that each middle aged male that wore such an article of clothing, often fell into the aforementioned category of wife beater. There were exceptions, to be sure, but not many. Jane's eyes skirted over the rest of him, in order to find a zip-up green hoodie. Much of the man's clothes were covered in a thick crusty coating of blood. Jane crouched down, sitting on her heels as she silently watched Maura work. Finally, after a time that seemed far too long, Maura looked up and met her gaze.
"So," Frost cleared his throat, and looked away uneasily. Dead bodies often made him sick, and Jane looked up to see him swallowing back something unpleasant. "What have you got for us, Doc?"
"Male, likely in his early to mid-thirties," Maura listed off. "Two bullet wounds to the upper torso." Jane watched as Maura pointed them both out with a pinky. Jane let out a sad sigh. It hurt that Maura answered Frost so quickly, especially after the honey brunette had all but ignored her questions.
"You have a name?" Jane asked as she reached out, preparing to turn the body so that she could check the man's back pockets. However, before Jane could even get her hands in place, Maura batted them away. "There must be a wallet on him somewhere."
"Jane, what have I told you about disturbing evidence?" Maura huffed. Finally, Maura deigned Jane worthy of comment. Or at least, of reprimanding.
"I'm wearing gloves!" Jane argued. "Come on, Maura. Nothing you've given us so far will help any. I need something more to go off of!"
"Well, that's too bad," Maura said with a disdainful look aimed Jane's way. "Because I already checked and there's no wallet on him anywhere."
"Fine," Jane retorted petulantly. "Look, can't you tell us something a little more useful?" Jane asked softly. "Or have I just not pestered you enough?"
"You know I don't like guessing, Detective," Maura enunciated Jane's formal title as if she was put off by the fact that she had to have a conversation with someone she currently would rather not have to see at all. Maura took the chance to glance at Jane, and by that I mean really look at her. She could see that the brunette looked sad, and remorseful. "You'll have to wait." Jane sighed and pushed up with her legs, quickly standing.
"Fine," Jane mumbled, starting to walk away dejectedly. "I'll check back with you after you complete the autopsy. Will two hours be sufficient enough? Or will you need more time than that?" Jane didn't even know why she asked. The truth was, she didn't plan on sticking around to get the answer. She wasn't sure if she could bear Maura's cold demeanor for a moment longer. Both Korsak and Frost looked between the two women, trying to discern what had happened between them. You could have cut the palpable and uncomfortable tension in the room with a very dull butter knife.
Jane headed briskly for the door. And Maura felt a pang of guilt.
"Jane, wait!" Jane slowly turned back around to face Maura and the body.
"Look, I know I can't give you exactly what you need, but... This one looks to be the prominent cause of death," Maura said helpfully, indicating one of the two bullet wounds with her pinky. "It's from a .22. It appears to have transected the aorta." Jane nodded and swallowed. "He would have bled out instantly." Then she added. "This is all speculation, of course. Because I won't know for sure until I get him back to the lab and perform the autopsy."
"Of course," Jane replied. Maura was always very analytical, but refused to draw a conclusion until she's looked over all of the evidence. "Thank you, doc," Jane said gently. She was glad that the woman had finally thrown her a bone.
"Oh," Maura added as an afterthought, "I also thought that you might want to take a look at this." Maura held out a small baggie. "Like I said, I didn't find any sort of a wallet, but I did find this in his pocket." Jane walked over.
"Hmm," Jane hummed as she examined it. "What would you say this is?"
"I don't know," Maura replied, being her usual self. "I won't know for sure until I get a chance to put it through a mass spectrometer."
"But if you had to take a guess?" Jane asked, hoping Maura didn't chew her head off for pressing the issue. Maura continued to focus on the body, unwilling or unable to meet Jane's swirling chocolate eyes.
"If I had to guess," Maura grumbled, "I would say that it is a recreational drug of some sort. One that is crystalline in form." Jane snatched it out of Maura's hand. She opened the baggie, and took a sniff of its contents, her face scrunching up due to its unpleasant odor. The stuff reeked.
"Why can't you just say that you think its Meth?" Jane groaned as she tapped the packet with her finger and watched it swing back and forth. "It's definitely methamphetamine," Jane concluded confidently. Maura wouldn't ever draw such a conclusion without checking the substance under a microscope and running it through her mass spectrometer. Jane, however, had seen her fair share of drugs from her time in narcotics and vice, and was comfortable drawing such a conclusion. "You know this is a lot of Meth to have on you at one time," Jane said pointedly. "You think that they cook crystal here? The motive could be drug related."
"No," Maura shook her head, "The smell of Methamphetamine production is very distinctive. You'd know it if that was made here." Jane nodded.
"Still," Jane swallowed as she sealed the bag again and placed it in a larger evidence bag, "I'm going to take a look around and see if they have any more drugs stashed here. Frost?!" Frost followed Jane from the room. Maura nodded, looking up from the body to watch Jane retreat. She stared into Jane's back, watching with a hint of longing, as Jane walked from the room.
Together, Jane and Frost did a quick once over of the house, searching for any other places where the homeowner might have stashed the drugs. "Well," Jane let out a tired sigh. "We've looked everywhere except for the garage and that shed out back," Jane said as she looked out the back window. "Which one do you want?"
"Rock, paper, scissors?" Frost asked with a smile. It was their favorite go to, when it came to drawing straws.
"Sure," Jane smiled. "One. Two. Three." Jane grunted as Frost's paper beat her closed fist. "Two out of three?" Jane asked hopefully, to which Frost's only response was booming laughter.
"You're SOL, Jane. I beat you fair and square."
"Fine," Jane huffed, though she had a hint of a smile on her lips.
"I'll take the garage," Frost said decisively, as he made a point of looking out the back window. "It looks like a bit of a jungle out there. I mean, seriously, has the dude even heard of a lawnmower?"
"What makes you think the garage is going to look any better?" Jane teased. "Good luck, partner." Jane said as she pulled open the slider, "Do me a favor and send a search party if you don't hear from me in a timely manner." Jane stepped through, slid the slider shut, and walked through the overgrown and wild grass that made up the back yard. A beaten path, made her sure that the backyard had seen some foot traffic recently. But there was little else worth noting.
Jane arrived at the small outbuilding, and walked the perimeter of it. As she walked around the building's edges, she was struck by the sheer size of it. It was deceptively large. In fact, it was a lot larger on the inside than she'd originally thought, looking at it from the back window. Jane heard a loud hum, and looked up in order to ascertain its origin. She found it soon enough. The humming was seemingly coming from an air conditioning unit that was stuffed into the shed's only window. Strange, she thought. Why would someone need climate control for a shed like this?
She opened the reinforced glass door and stepped inside, and hesitated as a burst of icy air blasted up and into her face. An involuntary shiver seized her body as frigid air licked at her skin. And she quickly realized. That not only was the shed climate controlled, but it was practically an oversized refrigerating unit. Jane took a hesitant step inside, as if testing the waters. She released the handle of the sliding glass door, and crept into the room.
Jane knew that she wasn't standing in an ordinary shed, but rather, she was inside some kind of a run down lab. Jane quickly raised her shirt to cover her nose and mouth. The smell was acrid and overpowering.
"This has to be where they were making the drugs," Jane muttered as she slid the door shut behind her with a loud clank. If she had to guess, Jane would have surmised that the glass was bulletproof. It had a wire mesh that also made it impossible to break.
She was surprised when a noise much like an electronic whirring sounded, as the room sealed itself shut. Faint light spilled in through the thick plane of glass, but for the most part, Jane was in utter darkness. In the eerie darkness Jane groped around for a light, on either side of the door, but had no such luck. Then she looked up to find overhead fluorescent lights in rows on the ceiling. After some more groping around in the dark, she finally found a chain hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room and pulled. A series of fluorescent light bulbs came to life with a dim whine, and lit the space under a blinding white glow.
Jane looked around slowly, her eyes raking hungrily over every surface. Stainless steel covered the majority of surfaces all over the room. The counter tops of several large benches were stained and scoured, but overall the place was pretty clean. Jane swallowed thickly, as she started walking.
Banks of cupboards covered the far wall and Jane walked over to investigate. She pulled on her gloves and wrenched open the cupboards. Bottles lined the shelves. Many of them were labeled in formulas that she didn't understand, but some she was able to recognize as highly corrosive acids, such as undiluted sulfuric acid. There were also many bottles of potent cleaners, such as bleach and the like. As for anything else, well, perhaps Maura might be able to make sense of the ones Jane couldn't identify. Jane picked up one of the bottles and looked at it. She scrutinized the writing on its edges, and put it back into the cupboard.
She checked all of the other cupboards without making any worthy discoveries and continued walking slowly to the back corner. On the small island across from the back wall there were several microscopes, as well as a large centrifuge. She'd seen Susie using machines like this in the forensic science lab on occasion. Jane froze as she noticed an abandoned test tube rack, full of sealed test tubes. Carefully, Jane picked a test tube at random and lifted it, holding it up against the light. It didn't take much guessing to surmise what was inside. Blood. The substance was dark, almost black, but it was definitely blood. Jane studied it, looking for markings, but all she found on the label was an alpha-numeric code inscribed in neat print. Quickly, Jane pulled an evidence bag from her pocket and dropped the test tube into it before sealing it. She decided that this could have something to do with the murder, no matter how strange it seemed. Then at random, she picked another glass tube from the rack and did the same. She sealed the bag and stuffed them back into her jacket pocket.
Jane turned around, her eyes growing wide as she saw the counter on the front side of the lab space. Jane carefully made her way around the island.
In comparison to the other side of the room, the counter's surface was an absolute mess, and riddled with an assortment of broken glassware and other materials. Jane quickly decided that its purpose must be different from the other parts of the room. She honestly didn't know what to make of it. She took another step towards the counter to investigate, only to stumble over something taught, a wire only about a foot from the floor. A hiss of air left Jane's lungs as all the tension in the wire broke and she nearly fell forward. Instinctively, Jane's right arm darted out, searching for anything to grab in an effort to regain her stability, and keep her from falling to the floor. Finally, Jane's hand managed to find purchase as it latched onto the counter. She knocked against the counter with most of her body weight, jostling it and its contents.
Jane froze as a light bulb near the edge of the counter was jostled and rolled towards the edge. She lunged for it, trying to keep it from falling, but she couldn't reach it in time. The lightbulb fell off the edge, hit the floor, and shattered into a hundred tiny shards. Jane instinctively reached up to cover her nose and mouth, but it seemed to be too little too late, as she was quickly engulfed in a large white cloud. Jane coughed, her lungs burning furiously as she struggled not to breathe in the cloud of powder kicked into the air. But it was too late. Jane was pretty sure she'd already inhaled some of it. Jane took a step back and lowered her elbow from her nose and mouth.
Just when she was starting to think that things couldn't get any worse, they did.
Jane reflexively clamped her hands over her ears, as an alarm started going off. Red light bulbs on the walls started flashing in a dazzling sort of pattern. Jane started shivering violently as a sprinkling system kicked on and water started gushing from pipes on the ceiling. The water was freezing cold, and it caused Jane to shiver involuntarily.
Whomever it was that had set up the trip wire, wanted this to happen. And Jane had walked right into it. She felt like a fool.
Jane gingerly moved around to the other side of the table. She found more bulbs filled with the white powder. She didn't want to break any more open. She had no idea what kind of powder was inside. "This is bad. This is really bad," Jane breathed as she examined the powder closely. "What the hell is this?" Jane pushed some things aside, examining the papers underneath. The ink was already running together, making the words indecipherable.
Jane picked up the broken glassware that still had some powder in it and dumped it into an evidence bag. Frantically, Jane looked around. She spied some other peculiar equipment in the other corner, on the right hand side. Jane winced as she walked over to the counter, broken glassware clinking under her feet.
She found a sink.
She quickly occupied herself by peeling off her gloves and tossing them in the trash bin. She found soap, and scrubbed the skin on her hands and arms raw. When she cut the flow of water in the sink, she was surprised to hear, an undercurrent of sound. She turned around, wondering how she hadn't noticed the two transparent mini-refrigerators (or were they freezers?) that stood side by side.
She quickly pulled on a fresh pair of gloves and opened the door. Inside were rows and rows of petri dishes. All of them were filled with different substances. As she'd done with the test tubes, Jane looked to the labels. In this case, she found them labeled in latin. All blood drained from her face.
"Holy crap," Jane breathed as her eyes raked over all of the evidence in front of her. So it wasn't about drugs like she had originally anticipated. Instead it was about something worse. Much worse.
Her eyes flashed over something, and darted immediately back, freezing over the two words that turned her world upside down. Bacillus Anthracis. Maura had told her what it was, once. Anthrax. It was freaking anthrax. Jane shut the door and took a step back, her body shaking. Numbly, she pulled her police issue radio/walkie talkie from her hip and switched it on. Korsak always teased her for not using it, but she figured that if a situation ever warranted it, it would be this one. She clicked it on, checked to make sure that it was on the right channel and pushed down the button.
"Hey, Frost," Jane tried to keep the tremors from her voice. "I think I found something. Can you come out here a minute? We have a situation," She released the button and waited for a reply.
"Sure thing," she heard Frost's voice through static. Jane examined the countertops next to the fridges, but found nothing. Then, as luck would have it, she spied something tacked to the board above it. She leveraged herself on the counter and pushed herself high enough to pull it off of the back wall.
It was an inventory list…an inventory list of some of the most deadly pathogens known to man, and it made Jane's blood run cold. She stopped breathing. She stopped breathing, because in her heart she knew what had been in the lightbulbs. It had been Anthrax or something equally as awful, and Jane had freaking inhaled it. Jane swallowed thickly, coughs wracked through her body and she was suddenly unable to breathe.
A/N: Please don't hate me! Review and let me know what you think!
I'll explain more about what Maura and Jane's fight was about in future chapters!