I know my first chapter was like the shortest thing ever and you're all probably dying for more. So here's the second.
Enjoy! :)
Chapter 2
The first few weeks of the new job had gone by without a hitch for Maura. In between calculating the cause of death for the people brought into her morgue and attempting to bring them some form of justice however small and regardless of how they're not around to care anymore, the majority of her musings have remained on that fateful night she nearly ran over the stranger. Except, she can't get over the fact that they weren't strangers. She's convinced that the person she saw was Jane.
And she's determined to find her.
Because despite the accolades and travelling and work she has done in order to both enhance and advance her career, there's a reason why she's never settled in one place for very long. And it's because of Jane. The only person who has ever held the key to her heart. But sixteen years ago, Jane disappeared on her, and she could never quite bring herself back to Boston till now.
It had been time to stop running.
From the past.
You have to start somewhere in order to fit the pieces together.
The words from long ago reverberated in her mind. The day after she'd seen Jane, or at least, the person whom she thought to be the brunette, she had walked through the doors of BPD, her mind swimming. She saw Jane. She's sure it was Jane. And now, all she's left with is how on earth she's going to find her. The only problem is, she has no idea where to start. Her brief sighting has conjured all sorts of ideas in her mind as to what had happened to Jane. But she doesn't know where to begin looking.
Recalling the bandaged hands, she had played around with the idea of using her medical connections to find out if any one of the people she knew had treated, or heard someone who had treated another as a result of hand injuries sustained but apart from that small thing called patient-doctor confidentiality, she would be playing with fire, and likely end up losing her medical license, and where would she be then? She'd have less than what she started out with, that's where. And she still wouldn't have Jane.
Drawn by curiosity, she had driven herself to Jane's old house, almost on autopilot, startling herself as to how she had come to be there. Having realised her location, she had gotten out of the car, made her way up the path before promptly turning back the way she had come and getting back in. It was just as well, because not a second later, an SUV had drawn up. Its occupants got out and Maura breathed a sigh of relief as she saw they weren't the Rizzolis. Which only put her back at square one.
Perhaps a private investigator would be good, she mused as she carefully took out each and every organ to weigh. Till she realised all she had was her name, age and date of birth. No social security number, no clue as to her address, her workplace, nothing. Still, it was better than doing nothing. It may takes weeks, months before the PI turned up anything but given how long she had waited to find her, to come back home, she figured it would be worth it. After all, what were a few more months if she were to get answers to her questions, if she were to be able to put her racing heart at ease.
She took out the man's liver, examining it from every viewpoint before concluding it was perfectly healthy for someone who was 45 years old. She placed it in the scale noting its weight and picked it up again intent on placing the organ back in its rightful place when the doors to her morgue opened and in came Detective Korsak with a very familiar looking man following behind. She observed the slight greenish hue that was starting to replace his dark skin tone, the suit that fit snugly around his body before her eyes traveled back up again to his face, clearer now that he wasn't being blocked. And for the second time since she'd come back, she found the past hitting her full force again. Because stood in front of her, was Barry Frost, Jane's best friend and confidant. Or at least, he had been. She stood there, mouth open, liver in hand and saw she was doing no favors for herself as Korsak stood there eyeing her quizzically. She didn't doubt she looked a strange sight, mouth open, liver in hand. In fact, she was surprised to still be holding the poor man's liver, so in shock she had been that she was sure she would have dropped it had she not had such a firm grip on it. He hadn't made eye contact with her yet, instead choosing to take in his surroundings albeit, somewhat uncertainly. She held back a giggle as the memory of Frost fainting when he saw the blood oozing from his knee came to her.
So, he was a detective now..?
With quickness and precision, she put the liver back, covered the body temporarily and snapped off her gloves.
"Detective Korsak," she greeted.
"Doc. Hope we haven't come at a bad time?"
"Not at all. What can I do for you?"
He glanced behind him and tried not to roll his eyes. Jesus, if the kid couldn't even stomach a morgue, there was no way he'd do well at a crime scene, he thought. "This here's Detective..."
"Barry Frost." she finished for him. His eyes widened as he realised the two knew each other. He moved aside giving Maura full view of the kid as she stepped forward. "Starts in homicide come Monday." The man finally looked at her and squinted before it hit him. His expression lit up.
"Maura?" She held out her hand in greeting but was instead scooped up in a full fledged embrace. She squeaked a little having been unprepared for the hug.
Korsak grinned at the astonished look that graced the ME's face. He'd never taking her for a hugging kind of gal. Now, he'd been proved right. Seems his detective skills weren't too out of shape then but never being one for avoidance, he got to it. "I take it you two know each other." Frost released the blonde blushing slightly. He'd never been so grateful to see a familiar face in his life. He grinned sheepishly.
"Sort of yeah." Maura looked down smoothing the invisible wrinkles from the dress that was hidden beneath her lab coat. Frost smirked to himself, permitting himself a small, albeit brief eye roll. Some things never changed.
"Years ago."
Doing a quick calculation in his head, he said, "It's only been what, sixteen or so years?"
"That is correct."
"You shoulda kept in touch." He held back the urge to punch her in the shoulder, remembering that even when Jane had been around, Maura had never totally been one of the guys. Not in that way. No. The blonde had been pure class in comparison to the little 'leftover' group.
The ME looked down at her shoes willing the sudden sadness that overcame her away as she recalled with blinding clarity, the main purpose for her return. The person for whom she had returned. She swallowed. "I couldn't." Not after Jane.
They both knew what she meant. Korsak looked between the two of them as they shared their own private moment, thoughts of the past running between them. He cleared his throat and they both jumped having forgotten he was in the room.
"Not to interrupt or anything, but if you'd like I can show you around the rest of BPD, introduce you to some of the others, show you the cafe, the break room..." He paused for a minute as he thought about the gunk they kept upstairs called coffee. Frost, eager to meet some of his fellow colleagues and get a feel for the place in general, the atmosphere. He had yet to meet his new partner. The two of them headed out as Korsak called out a "see you later, doc" over his shoulder. Understanding that the conversation had come to an end, Maura headed back over to the body and was just in the process of putting on a new pair of gloves when her morgue door opened once again.
"Hey, Maura?" She turned to find Frost's head poked round the door. "You wouldn't like to get lunch or something today, would you? Be good to catch up." He looked at her hopefully.
"Lunch would be perfect." Happy with her response, he grinned.
"12 o'clock at the cafe upstairs? I'll try not to be late but this place is a maze."
She grinned, nodding her head in response and he popped back out, watching as he turned to the right.
"Other way," she called out, as he headed in the wrong direction. "Unless, of course you're wanting to see more of the morgue." She shook her head chuckling a little at the quick one eighty he did, tripping over his feet in the process, and looking ever so slightly more green if it were possible. Giving her a thumbs up in thanks, he quickly dashed in the direction of the elevator where Korsak was waiting.
Her last thought before she got back to her examination was, he always did have a terrible sense of direction...
