Castle, Rizzoli & Isles, crossover. May have some SVU references.
Jane and Maura have a massive fall out that results in a breaking of our favorite pseudo couple. This is Maura finding Jane to try to reconnect. If you like it, I'll keep it rolling but it's not my primary story and doesn't really have a placement in. Rizzles? oh yeah, baby. With a side of Caskett, hold the Rizzkett (sorry).
Authors note: It's just something that kept getting in the way of another story I was writing and My Muse refuses to let it go, so I thought I'd put it out there. Castle, Rizzoli & Isles Xover.
It was raining in New York as Maura Isles climbed out of the yellow taxi that had carried her from Kennedy Airport. Her stylish black trench coat protected her expensive couture blouse and skirt from the rain as she paid the cabbie for the ride. He smiled and waved as she shut the door. He spun out into traffic with reckless abandon as was characteristic of most NYC drivers.
Maura watched as it disappeared in a sea of yellow cabs and black Lincolns. A NYPD police Impala flew passed her, sirens echoing off of the buildings and the lights flashing random patterns but that was New York, the city that never sleeps. Maura checked her watch, 3:30 PM.
She turned around and regarded the building in front of her. It was surrounded by police vehicles, patrol cars, unmarked Crown Victorias, and even a Crime Scene Van. Everything you'd expect to find in front of the New York Police Department's 12th Precinct. Maura looked up to see the multiple floors.
When she had booked the flight, it had been on a whim, a desire to reclaim what she had lost. Hell, it had even made sense to her. But now, staring up at the building, knowing what was waiting inside, she couldn't help but be intimidated. She could hear the husky voice that was not her own echoing in her head, "You've come too far to chicken out now."
Yes, but what would that voice say in another ten minutes. Maura steeled herself and walked through the front door. She was greeted at reception by a jovial old sergeant, "Can I help you, ma'am."
She forced a smile on to her face and pulled her badge from her purse, "Yes, I'm Dr. Maura Isles. Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and I need directions to Homicide, please."
He gently took her badge and signed her in, "Do you know who you're going to see?"
"Yes." She said, but didn't elaborate further. He handed her back the badge and then handed her a visitor's label.
"Check in with Sergeant Beckett on arrival." He said, "Elevator to the third floor and straight ahead."
She affixed the sticker to her wet coat and smiled, "Thank you."
He nodded as she headed to the elevator.
Maura stepped in and as the doors shut, she reconsidered what she was doing for the eighty sixth time today alone. But the ride was short and she was no more certain when she stepped off than when she had gotten off the plane or stepped out of the cab, but her legs kept moving forward despite her uncertainty.
Detective Javier Esposito was trying for the third time to get his computer to open the emails from the latest victim of the murder case they were currently working. Again, his override was denied. He leaned back into his chair in frustration and ran his calloused hand through his almost nonexistent hair.
He decided to take a break when an extraordinarily beautiful woman dressed in clothing worth more than he and his partner's pensions combined walked in to the bull pen.
He eyed her carefully as she looked around. Long honey blond curls that were matted slightly from the rain framed a beautiful face. Her hazel eyes seemed tired and confused. Her trench coat covered a beautiful body with nice hips and full breasts. Legs that were well shaped and obviously maintained were enhanced by the four inch black stiletto heels she wore. The heels matched nicely with the tight black skirt and champagne silk shirt.
Her very appearance said money but somehow, he didn't see her as from Manhattan or New York City at all, for that matter. She looked around for a second before she settled on a desk. The desk belonged to Kate Beckett, his sergeant. But as she approached she turned away slightly. As she reached a hand out to Beckett's partner's desk, he knew he had act.
"Excuse me." He said sharply, "Please don't touch anything."
She drew her hand back but continued to stare at the picture on the desk. "I'm sorry. I was just looking for someone." She said.
He rose from his chair and walked toward her, "I'm detective Esposito. Can I help you?"
Her eyes broke away from the picture on the desk. When she looked at him that was when he noticed the tears. He grabbed the box of Kleenex of the desk. He knew better than to touch the prickly detective's desk but she could get over it.
He handed her one of the tissues and set the box in her lap, "Are you okay?"
"No, detective, I'm not." She said into the tissue. Her eyes wandered back to the picture.
Esposito waited for her to continue, she didn't. Her gaze never left the picture on the desk. He turned to look at it.
Beckett's partner was standing in a family portrait. In an instant he knew who she was staring at. He tensed at the revelation. He watched the woman in front of him with a new view. She was in pain, broken, her very will to live seemed to have ebbed. It was an eerily familiar sight.
He took a step back, "Sit here as long as you need." He said as he eased out the guest chair Rick Castle usually sat in.
He went back to his desk and picked up his phone.
Detective Sergeant Kate Beckett strode off the elevator with a purpose. Her fiancé and ever present shadow marched behind her, trying to talk some reason into her, "I'm just saying that you shouldn't go storming in there with guns blazing."
She stopped short causing him to run into her, "Rick, this is my friend and my partner you're talking about. I won't let it happen again." She turned to him, "You were there too. I should be holding you back." She turned again, determined to protect her partner at all costs.
Kate walked in to the bull pen determined to throw a certain someone out on her pretty little ass but she stopped short at the sight that greeted her. The beautiful woman was in tears, holding on to her best friend's family picture for dear life. All the anger and determination fled her as she remembered her partner like that only a handful of months ago.
She turned to Castle, "Make sure Lanie keeps her there for a while."
She turned back to deal with the latest chapter in what would undoubtedly end up in Rick's next book. Rick pulled out his phone.
She sat down in her partner's chair, "I have to say that you were the last person I was expecting to see here." Her tone was sharp, as were her eyes.
The ME's hazel ones bet her chocolate ones, the pain increased as the memory of similar eyes racked her. "I'm sorry. I… I just wanted to see her, just wanted to apologize."
Kate stared at her, "You shouldn't be here. It won't do either of you any good."
Maura stared sadly at the woman, "I know." She swiped at the tears again, "I just couldn't stop myself. I know she hates me."
Kate's penetrating stare didn't match the gentle hand she had put on the blonds hand. "She has never hated you. Not even once. She would have given her life to save yours."
The blond curls shook, "Then why doesn't she return my calls, or emails?"
"Pain." She said simply, "You hurt her in a way that no one ever could have."
"You weren't there." She said softly, "You couldn't know."
"I didn't have to be." Kate said, her eyes easing slightly, "I got what was left over. I picked her up, put her back together, and gave her back her confidence and purpose. I gave her all the things that she wanted from you, because you didn't. I don't even know how she even made it here, she was so destroyed."
Sobs racked Maura, "I wanted to. I begged her to stay. On my hands and knees, I begged her not to go away."
Kate watched as Maura's sobs made speech impossible. She could still remember the horrible sobs from her partner. How the other woman would cry most of the night. Thank god Rick had understood, and kept his childish remarks to himself. For nearly two months straight, Kate had slept with in Rick's guest room while she had held a woman who cried herself to sleep, every, single, night.
Kate now wondered if it had been any easier on Maura Isles. She wanted to hold the blond like she had the brunette who lived with them but her loyalty was to her partner. It was not something she could just set aside.
"Is there anyone who helps you in Boston?"
Maura shook her head, "Not anymore. I'm alone again. She made me part of a family and now it's all gone." She turned her eyes up to meet Kate's. "I have no one. I am no one without her. I realize now that I will never be able to live without her."
The words sent a shiver down her spine, "Maura?"
She patted the younger woman's hand, "I'm sorry Detective. I shouldn't have come."
Maura went to stand, Kate pushed her back down, and "I don't like the look in your eyes, Maura."
She stared at the woman, "What look?"
"The one that says 'I'm going to do something stupid'. All of the things I have heard about the great Dr. Maura Isles and her big beautiful brain, I really don't want to believe that you would do anything to hurt yourself."
Maura stared at her, shocked that Kate would come to that conclusion, but Kate continued, "If you were to do something like that, she would die too. You have to know that. She's getting by here but the only thing that keeps her alive is the knowledge that you're alive too."
"Detective, you have entirely the wrong idea!" Maura shouted, "I would never do such a thing! Even if I wanted to I wouldn't do it because I know what that would do to her."
Kate looked around, seeing officers and detectives staring at the woman who started shouting, "Don't you have cases to work?" she said loudly to the room.
She turned back to the blond. "Then what did you mean when you can't live without her?"
Maura searched her face, she found curiosity and interest. Kate wanted to understand so she confided in her, "Without her, I can't function beyond a basic level. Her mother made me go see a Psychiatrist. He's calling it depression. I haven't been back to work since I found out she transferred here. Jordan Cavanaugh has been filling in for me."
"She transferred here six months ago," Kate eyed her, "How long ago did you find out."
"Feels like longer." She said softly, "I came here to tell her this, to beg her to come home." She hesitated and in a voice nearly a whisper, "Or let me stay here."
She took Kate's hand in a hard grip, begging her to hear and understand her, "I love her, Detective. I haven't been with anyone since I realized how I feel and I just want her back."
Kate could see the sincerity in her eyes, and feel the desperation in her grip, "I don't know Maura. I don't think she's ready to face you, or this."
The light in Maura's eyes died at that instant, Kate regretted its loss, "Just give it a little more time, Maura." She said. Kate let go of the woman's hands as an unruly mane of Black hair came around the corner.
Jane Rizzoli froze in place as she stared at the last person she ever wanted to see again. Kate sat across from her.
Maura turned her head just in time. "Jane"
It was a whisper, one that Jane heard as if it was whispered directly into her ear, instead of across a room.
Kate's eyes met hers and the message was clear. Don't run!
It was something they had shared for years, an uncanny ability to speak without speaking. With a look, either one could understand what the other was thinking. Most of the detectives here didn't see it; they simply believed the two thought that much alike. Ryan and Esposito joked that they were psychic, but it was just something they could do. In all things, Jane trusted Kate completely, in her judgment, her instincts, with her life, and it was reciprocated in every way. But at that moment, Jane turned away from her partner.
She managed a look that said I'm sorry before she bolted down the hall.
Jane ran down the hall, she watched as the elevator light headed down and knew she would be caught before it came back up. She knew the stairs were the next logical choice. She ran to the interrogation rooms but at the last minute, slid into filing. She grabbed the paralegal there and pushed her out the door before she slammed it shut and locked it. She put her back to the door and slid to the floor.
The tears she had managed to keep under careful restraint erupted from her, violently. She buried her face in to her knees and wrapped her arms around them. She sobbed, as quietly as she could but she had learned that once she started, it was easier to let them out. It gave her more time in between spells. And it allowed her to keep them until bed, when she could let them out without anyone knowing.
Except Kate. She was the only one who knew how fragile she had become, but she knew that she would never say anything about it and Kate knew she had it on the job.
It only took a few minutes before Kate found her; it never took her partner long. "I'm here, Jane, and I'm alone." She said through the door. "You going to let me in or should I just sit out here with my back to the door.
God she hated how her partner could read her at times. Jane flipped the lock and slid away. She stayed on the floor though, with her back toward the door. Kate slipped in and relocked it before she slid to the floor, too. She put her back in to her partners and stared at the door. Her position mirroring Jane's except for the ebony head buried in her arms and legs. Kate sat quietly, knowing that Jane needed a minute.
Maura Isles was in tears, again, as a tall man in clothing of equal quality to hers passed her a tissue. "You need to give her time, Maura."
She looked up at him, "How do you know my name?"
He smiled. It was warm and soothing as it reached his eyes, "I know Jane." He slid Beckett's chair over and gently eased Jane's back under her desk. He slid the garbage can out and began tossing the tissues away.
"Who are you?" she asked between breaths.
He smiled that charming smile again, "I'm Rick Castle, Kate's fiancé."
"Are you going to berate me, too?"
He shook his head, "No. I think you've both been through enough." He handed her another tissue. "Actually, I don't think I've ever seen two people in more pain than you two."
She sniffed softly, "She doesn't want me."
"You're not what I had expected." Rick smiled again, as he stood up, "C'mon, let's take a walk." He held a hand out to her and she felt compelled to take it. He stepped over to Kate's desk and pulled a brown package out of the drawer. He tucked it under his arm and walked her out.
As they passed interrogation he noticed the three officers outside of the file room. He called out, "Hope you're not in a hurry."
Maura looked at him then, "What?"
He smirked, "Nothing, Just giving a couple of guys a hard time. It's expected around here."
They rode the elevator to the first floor, Maura hesitated at the lobby, and "You're walking me out?"
"Not really, I have to make a run to the mail room and thought you could use the break." They veered off from the lobby and headed to the NYPD 12 post office. "You want to hear an odd thing?"
She sniffled, "Sure."
He held up the brown package, "For the longest time, I didn't really know what to do with this and then I met you and now it's clear to me why I've been saving this." He said as he stepped up to the counter.
The postal worker greeted him warmly, "Hey, Rick. What do you have today? More court summons for Beckett?"
"Hi, Charlie." He said, "No summons today. Just a private package."
He placed the brown package on the counter. As the man took it, Maura saw her name on it. She reached for it but Rick stopped her.
"You addressed that to me." She said, incredulous.
"Yep, and it will be waiting for you in Boston." He said with another smirk. "Make it go out today, Charlie."
"You got good timing, my friend, the van is here right now." He said as he dropped it down a chute and hit a buzzer.
Rick turned away and walked Maura way from the Post office, "I'm standing right here and you couldn't have handed it to me?"
"No." He said and patted her hand. "Because if I gave that to you, you wouldn't be leaving New York. This is better. It gives you time to read it and process it."
He said as he walked her to the lobby door she stared at him, "Why?"
"Because if you were the cold hearted bitch we all thought you were, I'd have burned it. Now I see that you're hurting as much as she is, I knew what I had to do." He took Maura's hands into his, "I'm going to give it back, Maura. It was taken from you and from her, and by some bizarre cosmic fluke; I have it to give back. Now it's time for you to go home and wait for that package."
She stared at him, surely he was crazy. "What are you talking about, what was in that package?"
He held her hand for a moment longer, "The Diary of Jane." He patted her hand before he walked away, "It's the first eight months of Jane's stay with us. But you should know it'll break your heart wide open."
Her eyes wide she called back to him, "Who are you?!"
He smiled as he stepped into the elevator, "I told you, Kate's Fiancé, Rick Castle." The doors swoosh closed.